[quake3-bugzilla] [Bug 4962] Protocol version 69 + legacy support

[bugzilla-daemon at icculus.org]

https://bugzilla.icculus.org/show_bug.cgi?id=4962

--- Comment #14 from Simon McVittie <smcv-ioquake3 at pseudorandom.co.uk> 2011-06-27 09:32:33 EDT ---
(In reply to comment #13)
> * The cvar names protocol and protocolver are pretty horrible and misleading.

(Where I say "idtech3" here, I refer to the entire family of Q3-based engines.)

I think part of the problem is that "protocol" is being used to mean two
things: a version of the idtech3 network protocol, and a set of incompatible
game content being used over that protocol.

In practice, all ioquake3-based games use idtech3 network protocol version 68,
but some (e.g. OpenArena) re-label it with a different number in order to
express that their game content is not compatible. (Or perhaps the network
protocol version already encapsulates incompatible changes within the history
of the Quake 3 game content? I don't know.)

So, perhaps we really want something like:

* protocol, with its current strange semantics, for interop with idquake3,
  older ioquake3 versions, and older ioquake3 forks like the one in
  OpenArena 0.8.5 releases: "use the idtech3 network protocol v68, but
  tell everyone that it is protocol version n"

* ioprotocol: underlying network protocol to use when in "new ioquake3" mode
  (probably best to make this visually distinct from protocol - start again
  at 1, or start from 100, or use a non-integer, or something)

* gamecontent: high-level game which you (are compatible with|require),
  example values "Quake3-1.0" and "OpenArena-0.8.1" - Q3's content has
  been backwards compatible with pak0.pk3 all the way back to the retail
  release, while OpenArena 0.8.5 is backwards compatible with 0.8.1 but
  no further back. Like com_basegame, this would only be relevant to
  complete games (like OA); any Q3 mods that require pak0.pk3 would still
  be "Quake3-1.0".

This would make gamecontent somewhat similar to com_basegame, but with the
addition of an idea of "last compatible version".

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