## The UTeamFix Serpentine Game Bridge

If you are unfamiliar with Serpentine, I suggest you visit the original Serpentine page first, you can find it here:
http://www.unrealized.com/serpentine/

In short, Serpentine is a total weapon conversion mod for Unreal, replacing Unreal guns and items with "real life" weapons and items, such as MP5s, Shotguns, Glocks, Leather Armor etc... Also recoil effects and real bullet travel is reproduced as well as accuracy impacts on sustained firing or "eye-strain" looking through a sniper scope too long...

### Installation

As any other Game Bridge :) See the page you just came from! To RUN the Serpentine games after installation, you have to activate a new mutator called "GB_Serpentine".

### Game Bridge Accuracy - how "original" is it

I'd say about 95%, if you ignore mininal visible differences (see below) I would even say 100% was it not for the Ithaca Shotgun issue.

### Original game-modes vs UTF Game-Bridge Game modes

Original Serpentine 8 was used to compile the Game Bridge. I do not support nor make any guarantees with any hacked Serpentine or Serpentine make-offs, I was using the only really classic sanctioned version of Serpentine.

Serpentine 8 had normal DM, Team-DM, KOTH and DarkMatch (called "DarkSerpent"). All of these game modes exist in UTeamFix, DM and Team directly, KOTH and Dark can be added using Mutators. Therefore, the Serpentine Game Bridge itself is a single Mutator itself! Just activate it and you have all of the original game modes available by choosing the corresponding UTF-game modes and mutators. Alas, the game mode conversion is 100%. Probably even 120%, because "DarkSerpent" was extremely buggy!

### Extra Features (non-original)

- JumpBoots may be kept on maps (optionally) - set bAllowBoots true or false at will in the GB_Serpentine mutator
- If you have selected to add in an Automag or Dualmag in your normal Unreal Fairplay options, you will get an additional Colt 1911 .45ACP, because that is what this weapon is normally changed to by the Serpentine mutator
- You can use the command UTF_ReloadWeapon also to reload your weapon (or use the original bExtra3 keybind)
- Skaarj player support - I know Skaarjs look silly in a game which is supposed to be "real" so just turn on "bHumansOnly" to correct this if you want!

### Visible Changes to original

- MOTD on HUD is BLUE not RED
- HUD always displays ClipAmmo in HUD-Mode Zero
- The WARNING message was not included into the Game Bridge, all it ever told users was when a map did not have bot-support, and UTeamFix handles this particular event differently, so the warning message had no meaning
- There is a 2 or 3 second delay before players are reduced to the correct "foot" speed of Serpentine - this usually makes no difference at all because 2 or 3 seconds are needed for the client to initialize properly anyway in online play
- The Ithaca ShotGun Issue (see below)
- Safe Coop Weapon Mode - this means that you can safely turn weapon stay ON and still be able to pick up any number of grenades!

### Non-visible Changes to original

- Bot reload strategy is that of UTeamFix, not that of original Serpentine, making Botplay slightly less challanging than in original Serpentine - you will still find Bots on higher skill settings to be an extreme nuisance because they make use of their enhanced UTeamFix AI on the other hand...
- Bugfixes for the RPG, Shotgun and Binocs

### Settings (mutator)

The Serpentine Mutator has only ONE setting so far. You can find it under advanced options - mutator - GB_Serpentine.

Setting | Effect | Default
--- | --- | ---
bAllowBoots | If true, JumpBoots will not be destroyed by the mutator. | false

### Special conversion issues

The only real conversion problem was the Ithaca ShotGun Issue. Honestly I don't know how original Serpentine could ever work properly, or better said, how that particular gun was supposed to function correctly!

On my computer, the original code of the shotgun caused numerous malfunctions, either, the fired pellets would have a range of just one centimeter (could only hit an enemy I already BUMPED INTO) or they would accelerate to infinity causing massive damage over large distances (killing a Titan in a single shot...).

Either way, however the shotgun was supposed to function, neither of these appearances could have been it! Therefor I rewrote one function entirely, which probably gives the shotgun a greater range than originally, however, the effectiveness should not be too much different. The chance that you hit anything with the ShotGun on medium to long distance is minimal to none, all you are going to see are the pellets hitting the wall or floor... Effectiveness on close range is exactly what you would expect from a saw'd off... BOOM! Point-blank damage is about 250 HP, anything a meter away will still die from one good shot on normal health, further away targets require several punches.

This is --roughly-- how I experienced the shotgun years ago when I played it. I hope this is about how it should be, if not I am sorry, but the original code was entirely useless. Maybe it is tickrate() dependent, in which case the code is technically bad anyway, because the dealt damage of a weapon, or its "effectiveness", should not be depending on tickrate :-(

### Compatibility with other mutators

The Serpentine Game Bridge is a mutator. The general rule is (or should be), that any mutator can be combined with any other mutator, exceptions existing only when one mutator does the opposite of another, but also other cases may occur wher incompatibilities may arise.

Some noteworthy interactions:

- MonsterMash
  In general, compatibility is granted with MonsterMash, indeed you should find it very entertaining shooting critters with REAL guns for a change - note that enemies get Serpentine Weapons too if they normally have an Unreal gun, in particular the SkaarjGunner gets Grenades and usually blows himself and whoever stands around him up...
  Use low amount of BLUE BALLS - Serpentine converted weapons can not be upgraded at the moment, so only the "general" upgrades exist.
  You will also notice, Guns have no ammo clips in MM.
- AntiClipGuns
  Actually that mutator was written with a little thought of combining this Game Bridge with it sometimes, if you like the guns but hate the reload, this mutator is for you!
- ClipGuns
  All Serpentine Weapons ARE already Clip weapons, this mutator is useless and even an obstacle - try to imagine clips on a pack of hand-grenades...
- GunSpeed
  Not working right now...

### Legal Issues

Chrystalline Design explicitely prohibits deriviative work from their mod. As I mentioned on the general Game Bridge page, I hereby state, that this Game Bridge is no Serpentine-deriviative work of any kind, it is a bug-fix and compatibility adjustment! I have preserved all original features as good as my abilities allow, and I believe I have converted the entire Serpentine mod as it is in its entity with minimal/negligible changes to its code, effectively preserving the original intend of the mod.

## CAREFUL

You --should-- set fair play rules so that you only have one second spawn protection. The expiration when a gun is shot does not work in game bridges (yet). Do NOT tamper with the Standoff fairplay rules though!