TOPIC: [TTT] Add spectator deathmatch (repost)

Server Name:
TTT

Suggestion Title:
Add spectator deathmatch

How would it benefit the server:
I think it's fair to say that the worst part of TTT is the idle waiting once you die. You can't interact with the game in any way and you are forced to wait sometimes up to 6 or more minutes before the round ends.

Besides flying around as a prop and bashing peoples' skulls, spectator DM is a great way to pass the time as you wait for a new round to start. It lets people interact with each other and alllows you to improve/test your skill.

Potential Issues/Exploits:
There used to be reports of spectator DM causing performance issues. I'll elaborate below regarding this.

Additional notes:
First of all, I'd like to apologize for posting this same suggestion after making a post about it just over 2 months ago. I am now making a new post because jimjam is no longer owner and I truly believe this addon deserves a chance.

The common criticism against specDM is that it causes issues. This always struck me as odd. An old server I used to play on years ago had the addon and it ran perfectly fine. I decided to look around on google, and these are the results I found.

First of all, spectrator DM has been suggested on zarp at least 3 times. The first time was close to 5 years ago, and went largely ignored (looks to be by xnator) at the time. Already 5 years ago this person begged the staff to give it a try and not just write it off with the same old answer of "it causes performance issues".

Second, someone suggested it 2 years and 4 months ago. The suggestion was immediately written off by jimjam with the same old answer "Was on the server in the past and caused too many issues regarding server performance".

Third and last was two months, my own post which jimjam denied with the same answer of "SpecDM is really unoptimised and has proven to cause performance issues in the past, and is not something we are looking to add at this time."

Just for good measure, here is a forum post from 2021 in a different community where somebody suggests adding specDM. He gets a reply of "it causes issues", however the latest responder claims that the addon does not actually cause issues and that it has been tested.

By looking at the last 3 suggestions on ZARP, it looks as though the addon hasn't been on the server for at least ~5 years. To me it seems as though once jimjam became owner, he never bothered to test the addon again and would instead just respond with the easy answer.

Seeing as:

1. We have a new owner
2. Lots of new staff is applying
3. The server is "dead" and desperately needs changes to be revived

I believe now is the perfect time to try out the addon again, see if the community likes it and conclude whether it actually does cause issues or is a perfectly good addition to the server. My personal opinion is that even if the addon ends up causing minor lag, it's still better to have it than not.

If tested and if it worked properly, I see no issue with this. However I have a hunch that this most likely won't get added. Not my decision yet tho

Because it did cause huge perfomance issues when was added, large amounts of lag so we had it removed. But I guess you can always try again if a lot want it?

Chipp wrote:
For a FPS gamemode, I would rather have no lag and watch youtube than minor lag. You don't know how bad it was.

I'm kind of neutral on this. The Ghostmode feature on Deathrun (which works similarly to your suggestion) caused many of the same issues that have been mentioned about Spectator Deathmatch in the past, even though Ghostmode is much simpler than DM since you don't need to interact with other players or entities (like interactable props). However me and my partner fixed Ghostmode when we were owners on Deathrun, so it might be possible to do the same with DM, but like I said, Ghostmode doesn't require as much interaction as DM so it will most likely be much harder to solve a lot of the performance issues compared to Ghostmode

So I think it could be worth a shot if it hasn't been tested in some years, since Ghostmode ended up working out well, but it will probably be quite a bit harder to solve whatever issues it had in the past.

Looking at deathrun's ghostmode like Rule says. That runs smooth. SpecDM could work if it's made by competent people. I've played on TTT servers before where hit reg and fps seemed better in spec deathmatch compared to being alive.