Valhalla-The great hall in Norse mythology where the souls of heroes slain in battle are received.

Avatar-An incarnation in human form.

Right, so what on earth does this mod do?

Valhalla Avatar (VA) is a mod that allows clients to use any model, skin, or voicepack on your server, regardless of whether or not it is installed server-side. Many games, such as the later Quake games (2 &3) already have this supported, unfortunately UT's custom content system is quite limited. Many have wished for a more custom content friendly sytem in Unreal Tournament, and I created this mod as an answer.

What are the new features in Valhalla Avatar Beta2 (Version 0.9) for UTPure?

-The start of a menu system has been created! The most important menu is playerinfo, which allows you to view what models, skins, and voicepacks players are using!

-Fixes for all bugs reported, including, but not limited to: Frozen players, players animating at endgame, gibs not showing, and bad skins.

-Unreal I skins are now forced into the player menu. Also, the skin support system for Unreal I models has been upgraded to OldSkool 2.30 standard.

-Support for the challenge animation (taunt challenge).

-Some other cool stuff. :)

So what cool features does the mod at this time?

-Clients can use any LEGAL model, skin, or voicepack on the server. They are no longer limited to what the server admin has installed.

-Any client who has this model/skin/voicepack installed will see it. Otherwise it will revert to a selected default (see configuration section below).

-Unreal I models are supported and are automatically added to the player setup menu.

-Models can now be swapped in game!

-Gestures can be stopped or reduced.

-Menus can be used to view the model, skin, and voicepack of other players on the server!

-Some enhancements from CTF/E by Dr SiN have been included. These allow you to use teleporters in waiting mode and also to use flags in teamsay (more info below).

-In theory, lag should be reduced, do to less information being transfered.

What will be present in the final version?

-A highly advanced menu system to configure options and see information about other players.

-POSSIBLE: An external downloader that will attempt to download a model/skin/voice pack from a master server that you do not have installed. However, do not get your hopes up about this.

-More options to control skin and mesh reverting. Possibly multilpe meshes you can choose which are randomized.

-Name scripts: Somewhat like Quake I, this will allow your name to animate (and no, this will not make it harder to kick you from the server :P)

-More limits on new mesh/skin loading. Through options, you can limit the swap until the player dies. You will also be able to not load any new meshes until you die or view the scores.

-Much more powerful console that will allow you to change your skin, view info, etc. through just console commands.

-Support for Rocket Arena.

-Some stuff that have yet to be suggested. Email me at usaar33@yahoo.com if you have an idea for a feature!

Sounds nice, now how do I install it?

To install VA, you should extract the files starting with "va" from the UTPure zip file and into the UnrealTournament\System directory.  Once installed, you will need to load up UNREALTOURAMENT.INI in to a text editor.  Multiple Servers Note: You will have to do this step for each .ini file you use to run your servers.

Find the section labeled [Engine.GameEngine].  This section contains all of the server actors and packages for UT.  You will need to make 2 changes and they can be anywhere within this section.  Add this line:

ServerPackages=VAHandler5b

Now open up the UTPureRC5e.int. Remove ALL playerpacks (VA is not compatible with any others). Now add:

PlayerPacks[0]=VA

Once you have made these 2 changes, VA is ready to go.

Also, feel free to remove any voicepack, skin or model related serverpackages, if your server does not use bots. However, if bots are used, you must keep the serverpackages of their models/skins/voicepacks. Removal will result in them being hidden in game/being a green skin.

Running Valhalla Avatar?

Once the above is installed, start your server as you always would.  Simple as that.  When it first starts, VA will an entry in to your log file similar to this one:

Players can see that they are on a VA server by reading the message given in their console and also noting the new VA menu on the UT desktop.

Setting up Valhalla Avatar

You may use the ValAvatar.INI file included in the ZIP to set up Valhalla Avatar. Please note that there are options in the INI other than the ones that follow. However, these are NOT supported in the BETA (but will be in the final).

Valhalla Avatar has the option of filtering out models the admin does not wish to have used on their server. Simply enter in the class name you do not wish to be used. For instance if you do not wish to have the Skaarj Trooperon your server, simply have:

BadClasses(0)=unreali.skaarjplayer

Players will now no longer be able to play as a Skaarj Trooper (you may want to disable support for team games).

Simply replace with the class you wish to have used if a model is filtered. For instance if you want all filtered models to become warcows, use:

DefaultPlayer=multimesh.tcow

This is perhaps the most important option in Valhalla Avatar. If this is true (default), then clients are free to use any model they wish to replace one that they do not have installed. While this does increase the custom models in game, there is a potential risk of CHEATING. If you are the paranoid kind of person, set this to false. The model reverted to on the client system will then be forced to the Male Commando with Blake skin.

Gestures, everyone loves them! Or maybe not.... This option controls the delay between gestures. If a client tries to gesture before the delay has run out, the animation will simply not play. If you are a true tyrant, set this to 0, and no gestures will be allowed on the server at all. Note that this option is ignored when gameplay has ended.

Due to Valhalla Avatar only using one player class, it is now possible to swap modelsin game! However, this option controls that.

CONSOLE COMMANDS!

Valhalla Avatar has various console commands. Please note these will only work if you are a player, not a spectator.

Who even made this?

Programmer: UsAaR33

DPMS Core: Ob1-Wan

Some code by: Psychic_313 and Dr. SiN

Special thanks to:

Mongo (for a lot of help)

Darkbyte (Testing/help)

The_Lamb (Valhalla portion of name)

Psychic_313 (Avatar portion of name)

Epicknights, PuF, and GTF (encouragement)

Reporting Bugs | Suggestions

Please note that this will not run under mods that have custom playerpawns. Note that this only applies to 2% of the mods out there, but that 2% includes: Rocket Arena, Tactical Ops, Infiltatration, Strike Force, Matrix Moves, Unreal Fortress and Weapons Factory. You may note that most of these mods have their own forced skins anyway, so VA shouldn't be run under them to begin with..... And UTPure doesn't support them at time of writing anyway.

This is a beta version, so there probably will be problems. If you find any. simply email me at usaar33@yahoo.com