RubberWorm

RubberWorm
Developer:	Pisto
Latest version:	0.7.32 / 3 August 2008
Supported games:	W:A
Language:	C
License:	Partially open-source
Download:	3.6.31.0 installer, DLL; 3.6.29.0 official; 0.6beta2 source (6kb)

(Up to WormKit)

RubberWorm (or wkRubberWorm) is a module for WormKit that can modify parts of the Worms Armageddon physics to create WormPot-like effects, and adapts some features of wkMagic to the 3.6.29.0 and 3.6.31.0 versions. It was originally released by Pisto on 6 April 2008.

RubberWorm's effects are applied to the game when certain scheme settings are set to certain values. These settings are normally unused, such as crate probabilities for superweapons. As such, only an external scheme editor can create schemes that will enable RubberWorm effects, though RubberWorm does also provide a chat command interface allowing a host to enable RubberWorm effects in the lobby of a WormNET game. The scheme can then be extracted from the replay afterwards.

For a complete and trusted online play, all players must run WA through WormKit, and should have the same version of the RubberWorm dll file.

General Info

Installation and use

As any WormKit module, it has to be placed with the WormKit files in the W:A main folder, and the game must be run through WormKit.exe instead of WA.exe (the same applies for watching replays of games played with RubberWorm). Changes are applied only when using special schemes with some altered bytes.

Antivirus issue

Some antivirus programs may treat RubberWorm (as well as Wormkit) as a virus. It is a false alarm: it happens because RubberWorm uses some technique and Dlls abused by malware too.

Source code

wkRubberWorm is written in C, and a part of the source code, lacking of addresses and structs (as wkMagic), is public for demonstrative purpose.

3.6.31.0 custom version

There is a 3.6.31.0-compatible RubberWorm version, modified by Kawoosh to work on 3.6.31.0. It has all basic features of old RubberWorm, KaosMod and LaserFix and will not make desyncs when playing with an old WA+RubberWorm user*. Read more here.

*If none of the new features, listed below, is enabled. Some of them were also part of old LaserFix module, and are though compatible.

New features

/wdca - weapons don't change automatically.

/ope - enables a special game mode in which all objects can be pushed by explosions. Like ldet and sdet, it is stored in the same byte as 6th bit.

/flames - allows you to enlarge the number of max possible flames at the map, up to 25500. Activated by the Scales of Justice crate probability parameter.

/kaosmod - this mod is only needed for kaos players, as it changes the utilities crate probabilities percentages, needed for a kaos scheme and league.

/kaosmod2 - a new version, needed for the season 2 of kaos league. An explaination table is here.

Features

Bouncing worms

The original purpose of RubberWorm. Every time a worm hits an object or the terrain (in any direction), it bounces off of it. If it's during a rope roll, it can continue roping, and it never takes fall damage or loses the turn. The feature is always off if the worm is flying for a jump.

The worms' "boing" sound can switched on/off typing in the in-game chat /boing.

Worm bounciness (or technically, the coefficient of restitution) is determined by the quotient of the value for the Armageddon crate probability divided by 255. For example, if the value is set to 0, the coefficient of restitution is 0, resulting in no bounce. If 255, the coefficient is 1, resulting in a perfectly elastic collision (the worm bounces with the same speed with which it hit the object or terrain).

Gravity modifications

Gravity can be made stronger or weaker, eliminated or even reversed. When reversed, a worm can stand on its head and shoot, but walking is obviously buggy. Also, should an object encounter no obstacle and fall into the sky, it will be sent to water when it reaches a certain height, otherwise it would block the game indefinitely.

Activated by the crate probability of the Mail Strike, if the high bit (eighth bit) is clear. The other bits control the strength of gravity, from -64 to +63 in two's complement format (the seventh bit is the sign bit); a value of 0 or 12 results in default gravity.

Central gravity (black hole mode)

Gravity points towards the center of the map, or away from it (anti-gravity). These modes can either be proportional, where gravity is stronger near the center of the map, or constant, where gravity is the same strength for all locations.

In black hole mode, the object may either start a steady orbit or fall in the middle of the map and never stop flying: to avoid the first case objects that don't explode after some seconds (like worms, mines, crates and barrels) have a very small air viscosity value (see below); for the second case, objects nearer than 15 pixel to the center are sent to water.

Anti-gravity has a similar safeguard to reversed gravity (see above).

The strength of the gravity can be adjusted.

Activated by the crate probability of the Mail Strike. The high bit (eighth bit) enables black hole mode; the seventh bit enables proportional mode; the other bits control the strength of the black hole's gravity, from -32 to +31 in two's complement format (the sixth bit is the sign bit).

Air viscosity

Objects flying through the air lose speed up to a steady velocity, determined by gravity and wind (imagine throwing a rock in the water). Some objects, such as crates, graves, barrels, parachuting worms, and Mail Strike letters, will not experience this effect. It is adjustable: a value of 63 makes the air pasty as water.

Activated by the crate probability of the Concrete Donkey. A higher value produces a stronger effect. If the value is odd, the effect will apply to worms as well as objects.

Wind influence

Like air viscosity, it can be applied to only objects or worms too, but never to those objects (like bazooka) that are already influenced by wind or crates, graves, barrels. How much the wind moves the objects is adjustable.

Activated by the crate probability of the Suicide Bomber. A higher value produces a stronger effect, with the highest value (255) corresponding to the wind susceptibility of the Bazooka. If the value is odd, the effect will apply to worms as well as objects.

Anti worm sink

If activated, a worm that hits the water is prevented from drowning and instead teleported to the last location where it has been motionless. The turn does not end. If the teleport results in the worm falling and hitting water again (for example, if the terrain has since been destroyed by a weapon), it drowns normally.

This feature is activated by a non-zero value for the crate probability of the French Sheep Strike.

Crate finder

Arrows point to crates, as they do in certain missions. This feature can give a player an advantage if other players do not have RubberWorm, so a chat message is used to alert other players to its use.

Type /arrows in the in-game chat to activate this.

Friction modifications

Currently, the velocity of a worm is slowed by 4% each frame that a worm slides along the terrain. This is given by multiplying velocity by F*0.01, where the default F value is 96. A lower value results in a higher degree of friction, with F=0 reducing velocity to zero immediately (infinite friction). Values between 96 and 100 give slippier terrains, while a value of 100 results in no friction. Values above 100 will result in the worm's velocity actually increasing as it slides.

The friction value is stored in the crate probability of the Salvation Army.

Shot doesn't end turn, Loss of control doesn't end turn, Fire doesn't pause timer, Improved rope, Continuous crate shower

To edit these options, start with a value of zero and add the corresponding number for each option you want to enable (listed below). Then set the crate probability of the Mole Squadron to the resulting sum.

Shot doesn't end turn

Firing a weapon doesn't end the player's turn. There's no retreat time and you can't control any weapon (such as Sheep or Supersheep) when turn time runs out.

Controlled by the first bit of the crate probability of Mole Squadron (add 1 to enable).

Loss of control doesn't end turn

When activated, control of the active worm will not be lost in any circumstances (fall from a great height, weapon explosion, etc) except death.

Controlled by the second bit of the crate probability of Mole Squadron (add 2 to enable).

Fire doesn't pause timer

The timer doesn't pause while firing any weapon. Useful with Shot doesn't turn, because without it one could extend his turn time for a very long time using drill or blow torch, for example.

Controlled by the third bit of the crate probability of Mole Squadron (add 4 to enable).

Improved rope

Changes the rope physics to simulate Worms 2 (higher accelleration, 162 degrees of shooting)

Controlled by the fourth bit of the crate probability of Mole Squadron (add 8 to enable).

Continuous crate shower

Normally, the game checks between turns the crate probability settings, and determines if and which crate must be spawned. With this feature, you can force the game to do this job every 5 seconds, also during turns. If you want a crate shower like Worms World Party, use SchemeEddy to check that the probability of no crate falling per turn is 0%. Keep in mind that the WWP crate shower spawns a completely random crate, that is it doesn't check the probability of each single weapon (that's why you can grab even Surrender).

Controlled by the fifth bit of the crate probability of Mole Squadron (add 16 to enable).

Version override

There are many engine version that come with the last update, and some of them may be interesting for their different behaviour. Some users report that this feature doesn't work (sometimes or at all) in network games: if the host sets a particular version, this change is not propagated to the other players, and so the game will end immediatly due to desynch. A 1-player game should work always, anyway.

Version is set by the crate probability of Select Worm.

No objects speed limit (/version65 or /ts3)

Teststuff3 (3.6.27.9[teststuff3]) is an old version of teststuff (already available with 3.6.26.5). It is almost the same of the public teststuff5, but it doesn't just double the speed limit, it is removed.

Activated by a value of 0x41 (65 in decimal notation) of the crate probability of Select Worm.

All objects pushed by explosions (/version78)

This version (3.6.28.17-19) contains a bug that enables a more realistic behaviour of objects (though it's not always good from the gameplay side): all objects (including grenades, cows, banana, fragments of cluster grenade...) are pushed by an explosion, with a force decreasing with distance from the center of the explosion of course.

Workaround for the lasersight bug (/version79)

This version (3.6.28.20-21) is the most recent one that doesn't have the lasersight bug, which affects some versions before 3.6.30.0 and can cause desynchronization in online games and replays. WARNING: this engine version does not include the undefined crate contents feature (crate contents choosen when you actually grab them), which is a very strong weapon against cheats. If you are sensible to this problem, consider LaserFix.

Crate rate variability

Controls the number of crates that appear per turn. When a value of Crate Rate exists, the Crate Count automatically will be turned on.

Set by the crate probability of the Indian Nuclear Test. The value 1 only will turn on the Crate Count

Crate limit variability

Controls the number of crates that can exist on the map at any one time (five at default)

Set by the crate probability of the Magic Bullet.

Chat command interface

These commands can be used in the host/join lobby. Omitting the parameter either activates the feature with a default value, or sets it off.

Command	Effect
/help	Displays list of commands in the chat window.
/show	Displays a list of all enabled features to all players.
/showme	Displays a dialogue box with all enabled features to the host only.
/clear	Disables all features.
/sdet or /multishot	Enables the shot doesn't end turn feature.
/ldet or /stoicworm	Enables the loss of control doesn't end turn feature.
/fdpt or /nopause	Enables the timer doesn't pause while firing feature.
/ir or /rope+	Enables the improved rope feature.
/rubber### [0-255]	Enables the bouncing worms feature. 0 .............. no bounce 255 ............ fully elastic bounce
/version### [1-255]	Enables the arbitrary version override feature.
/version or /fr or /ts3	Enables the teststuff3 feature.
/antisink	Enables the antisink feature.
/visc### [0-255]	Enables the air viscosity feature. odd number ..... affects worms too
/wind### [0-255]	Enables the wind response feature. 1 to 255 ....... low sensitivity to wind 255 ............ same sensitivity to wind as Bazooka odd number ..... affects worms too
/jetpack### [1-255]	Sets value of jetpack fuel. 255 ............ infinite fuel
/friction### [0-100]	Sets terrain friction. 0 .............. infinite friction 1 to 95 ........ high friction 96 ............. default friction 97 to 99 ....... low friction 100 ............ no friction more than 100 .. anti-friction
/glue	Alias for friction0
/ice	Alias for friction99
/gravity### [-64 to 63]	Sets gravity strength. -64 ............ reversed gravity, strength 5.3x -13 ............ reversed gravity, strength 1x -1 ............. zero gravity 0 .............. default gravity 1 to 11 ........ low gravity 12 ............. default gravity 13 to 63 ....... high gravity 63 ............. high gravity, strength 5.3x
/pbh### [-32 to 31]	Proportional black hole (variable is gravitational strength)
/cbh### [-32 to 31]	Constant black hole (variable is gravitational strength)
/defg	Disables all gravity modification features.
/cratelimit### [1-255]	Sets maximum number of co-existing crates.
/craterate### [1-255]	Sets number of crates spawned per turn and enables the crate counter.
/cratecount	Alias for /craterate1 (just enables the crate counter).
/crateshower	Enables the continuous crate shower feature.

Future plans

Pisto gave up coding RubberWorm, though version 1.0 has been developed inconstantly for over a year. He lost interest in Worms, but also in programming in general. The source code of RubberWorm 0.7 (a version compatible with the old 3.6.28.0 update, much similar to the current version) and of the never going to be 1.0 has been given to Deadcode: his aim is to add the emulation of RubberWorm in the official updates. This is going to happen in the next update after 3.6.31.0.

Pre-release with aliased-bounces

On 26th August 2009 a test build of RubberWorm 1.0 has been released. The reason for sharing it is to show some of the new features, mainly aliased-bounce. It allows to emulate the real behaviour of an object colliding with an object with a slope, a great lack of the Worms Armageddon default engine.