Tribes 2 // Mod Development Handbook GitHub

39 · Classic 1.5.2 — the baseline ruleset

Released 15 May 2004, and still the floor every modern Tribes 2 server builds on. TacoServer’s install instructions in 2026 begin “Update to Classic 1.5.2” [mod-script]; twenty-two years after release it remains the reference ruleset.

Source: classic_v152.zip, which contains classic_files_v152.zip — the actual payload — plus a thirteen-line install note.

   
Version 1.5.2 (5/15/04) [mod-script]
Scripts 72 .cs (1.1 had 67)
Ships classic/ tree, base/zz_classic_client_v1.vl2, three .bat launchers
Install Unzip into the Tribes 2 directory, overwriting

It is genuinely the same mod

Fingerprinting every .cs in 1.5.2 against the 1.1 tree shipped in the retail install:

  Count
Byte-identical to 1.1 10
Modified 56
Removed since 1.1 1 — autoexec/minivstationx.cs
New in 1.5.2 6

Ten files survive eighteen months and four releases untouched — deathMessages.cs, message.cs, aiPracticeCtf.cs, three turret barrels, two vehicles, ELFGun.cs and grenadeLauncher.cs. The mod’s authorship is continuous: z0dd’s signature still marks the new work, dated 5/07/04.

The six new files:

File What it is
SCtFGame.cs, aiSCtF.cs Spawn CTF — new gametype in 1.4
forceField.cs Force-field handling, extracted for repeated bug-fixing
camera.cs Camera control, split out of the observer work
weapons/blaster.cs Needed once the blaster became toggleable (section 40)
weapons/sniperRifle.cs Same — ammo-based sniper became a server option

Two of the six exist only because 1.5 made those weapons configurable. A datablock that used to be a constant now has to be a file, because it has to branch. That is the structural cost of the toggle system and it is worth anticipating in your own mod.

The four releases that made it

Version Date Character
1.2 02 Jan 2003 Server tuning — packet rate and size, dual-CPU stutter fix, TR2 opt-out
1.3 03 Jan 2003 A single vote-list bug
1.4 20 Jul 2003 The big one — Spawn CTF, anti-turtling, admin punishments, word filter, exploit sweep
1.4.1 11 Aug 2003 Spawn CTF hardening, autopassword fix, clan-tag throttle
1.5 07 May 2004 The toggle system, exploit fixes from the community, random/cycle mission types
1.5.1 13 May 2004 Force fields, Siege tournament mode, vehicle respawn
1.5.2 15 May 2004 Three fixes

1.5, 1.5.1 and 1.5.2 land inside nine days, which tells you 1.5 shipped with problems. That is normal and the changelog is honest about it — the value here is that the final state, 1.5.2, is what stabilised.

1.4 — the ruleset gets opinionated

The 1.4 changelog is where Classic stops being a tuning pass and starts being a competitive platform [mod-script]:

  • Anti-turtling — flags auto-return to the stand after $Host::ClassicAntiTurtleTime (default 5 minutes), disabled in Tournament Mode. A public-play fix explicitly excluded from competitive play.
  • Admin punishments — mute, freeze, boot-to-rear, explode.
  • Server-side bad-word filtering.
  • Console access for SuperAdmins, gated behind $Host::ClassicAllowConsoleAccess.
  • Client clan-tag switching without reconnecting.
  • Armour limiting and vote entries for it.

The design instinct visible throughout: a rule that helps public servers is added, then turned off for tournaments. Classic maintains two audiences in one codebase, and the split is expressed as configuration rather than as a fork. Section 40 is where that becomes systematic.

The 25034 interaction

1.4 contains the only changelog entry in this handbook that names the engine build directly [mod-script]:

“Cloak Pack energy drain reduced, and now matches the Sensor Jammer Pack. This was changed to improve the pack slightly due to a bug introduced in version 25034 that allows cloakers to be detected by cameras.”

A retail patch changed cloak/camera interaction, and the mod compensated with an energy buff rather than trying to restore the old behaviour — which it could not do, because the change was in the engine. When the binary changes under you, rebalance around it. See Install anatomy for what 25034 is.

1.5 — community exploit fixes land upstream

The 1.5 list credits individual community members by name for security work [mod-script]:

Credited Contribution
ilys Team-join exploits, MPB terrain passage, rapid-fire shocklance, forcefield animation abuse, standing-pilot bug
Tracer DX / ilys NULL-voice server-crash exploit
Founder Off-centre projectile drift
Lag_Alot AI code, vehicle respawn
Aureole CSV connection logging (“AurLogging”)

That ilys cluster reappears in Evolution as the AntiLou fix set (section 45) and in TacoServer as autoexec/AntiLouExploitFixes.cs (section 48). The same body of security work propagates through all three codebases across twenty years — tracing it is the clearest single thread in the Classic lineage.

Gameplay state at 1.5.2

Beyond 1.1’s baseline, the defaults a player meets on a stock 1.5.2 server:

Change Detail
Station trigger speed ~77 kph → ~125 kph (1.2)
Heavy jet vector 30% forward / 70% up → 60/40 (1.2)
Mine damage to heavy ×0.8 → ×0.7 (1.2)
Mine damage to MPB ×3.25 → ×2.85 (1.2)
Anti-turtle return 5 minutes, non-tournament (1.4)
Spawn/team switch wait 20 s → 15 s (1.4)
Unmanned turret kill 3 → 5 points (1.4)
Flight ceiling Minimum 350 m enforced on every mission (1.4)
Havoc forward thrust 71 → 80 (1.5)
Target beacons Restored — the 1.1 marker-only change reverted (1.4)
Team Rabbit 2 Disabled by default, $Host::ClassicLoadTR2Gametype (1.4)

The heavy-armour jet change is the most consequential for play: reweighting from 30/70 to 60/40 turns the heavy from a hoverer into something that can actually traverse, which is what made heavy offence viable in competitive Classic.

The flight-ceiling floor is a good defensive-programming example — rather than trusting every mission to declare a sane ceiling, 1.4 clamps it: “If flight ceiling is below minimum, it is set to minimum” [mod-script]. Missions are third-party data; validate them.

Skiing, friction and momentum: unchanged since 1.1

38 · Classic 1.1 documents the full field-by-field movement physics change — the deleted horizontal speed governor, noFrictionOnSki, halved drag, raised jet force, unified vertical speed cap. Fingerprinting every PlayerData movement field across all three armours confirms it is byte-identical between 1.1 and 1.5.2 [mod-script]: runSurfaceAngle, horizMaxSpeed, horizResistSpeed, horizResistFactor, drag, maxdrag, jetForce and upMaxSpeed/upResistSpeed carry the same values in every release this page covers. Four version bumps and eighteen months of exploit fixes, admin features and gametype changes never touched the movement model — it was set once, in October 2002, and never revisited.

Running it

Install order matters, and the community convention is unforgiving:

  1. Start from a clean 25034 install.
  2. Delete the old Classic folder entirely — do not merge.
  3. Extract 1.5.2 into GameData.
  4. Run once to generate Classic/prefs/serverPrefs.cs.
  5. Edit that file; not serverDefaults.cs.
  6. Launch with Classic_dedicated_server.bat.

Step 5 is the one people get wrong. scripts/serverDefaults.cs is the mod’s shipped defaults and is overwritten on every upgrade; prefs/serverPrefs.cs is yours and persists. This is the vanilla prefs/defaults split, documented in Hosting and testing.

Under the community patches

1.5.2 predates TribesNEXT and RC2a. It runs unmodified under both, and every codebase in sections 45–50 assumes it as the substrate. The only practical adjustments:

  • Authentication — Classic_dedicated_server.bat expects WON. Use the patch’s launcher, or -nologin for LAN.
  • $Host::ClassicAllowConsoleAccess grants SuperAdmins arbitrary console execution. On a patched, internet-reachable server that is a remote code execution surface. Leave it at 0 unless you control every SuperAdmin account. See Modding a patched install.