Forum - DDraceNetwork

Problem & frustrations
Can something be done about the misuse of the DDNet hosted zCatch mod? I'm getting quite frustrated with the 95% of players that seem to think it's gDM. I played TeeVision's zCatch quite a lot and so did many others. Unfortunately, these days it's not as popular as it used to be. I'm not online 24/7, but your zCatch server pretty much always has less than 10 players. For some reason, the Required Minimum Number of 10 Players (RMNP) is required by DDNet to actually start the zCatch gameplay.* This mod-killing RMNP turns players into "rls or ban" monsters, resulting in further killing the zCatch gameplay. I remember clear rules stating "release is optional" in the olden days but it seems those have been bodged and replaced with gDM encouragement.

Solutions
So far my complaint — the easy part and getting it out of my system. In the hope of real improvements to the zCatch mod, here are some solutions that might bring back the zCatch gameplay and decrease the toxic gDM release gameplay.

• Bring back the rules in the server info tab that includes but is not limited to:
  • Release is optional.
  • No grenade spamming or spraying.
• Lower the RMNP to start the zCatch gameplay. I understand that zCatch with 3-5 players can be tedious when the map is not small enough. But 10 is definitely too high. So perhaps an RMNP of 7 to be able to finish a game?*
• Host the gDM mod for those who would rather play gDM instead of zCatch. I don't favour this option because it might result in splitting the already small zCatch community in half.
• At the moment, it seems like there are no rules on the zCatch server. Without rules, you can't break a rule. So you could turn off call voting players. This would combat call voting players that don't release (thus adhere to the zCatch gameplay). Though this option is just to illustrate my point of adding rules. I don't favour disabling call voting players despite zCatch handling spam & spray and the client handling muting other players.
• Make a clear distinction between the 1-7 players gameplay and 8-16 players gameplay by auto-releasing players if the required minimum number of player hasn't been reached. The broadcast text can be used to notify players of the gameplay switch. I don't favour this option because it can be confusing.

Summary
I hope to see improvement in the zCatch server. I think adding rules will change player's perception of the zCatch gameplay the best by planting the seed/thought that release is always optional. I also hope the RMNP to finish a game will be lower to at least 8, but preferably 7.


* I have come to understand this the RMNP has been increased from 5 to 10 players as a quick fix to patch a ranking system exploit. If this is the only reason for the number to be this high then you might as well lower it because I see no reason to have a ranking system for a mod that can hardly fill 10 player slots, let alone a full server with much competition among players.

To be honest we don't really care about zcatch that much and mostly run it just because we have the servers already and people asked us. The mod is not that popular, see https://ddnet.tw/stats/ . If you can implement the changes in the mod, we could consider running it.

Sad really, but there is an .7 server that is serious about Z-Catch called "simply zCatch Grenade" hosted by jxsl13

i use an .7 client & mostly play Z-Catch now(life) but can still play DDnet when i have the time.

@deen, do you have the source of the currently running server? Reducing the RMNP should be a simple number change. Else I'd have to start from zScratch .

@GG Kid, Right. I use the native 0.7 client just to play proper zCatch too. The client is also much smoother FPS-wise but I miss tonnes of DDNet features.