Duke Nukem: WMD

[Dopefish7590]

ok... =\

[DeeperThought]

Version 1.0 of the DNWMD mod is just over a week away, so the time has come for the second and final phase of beta testing. I'm going to start fresh, with no presumption that it will be the same beta testers. Those interested should send me a PM.

Here is a link to the current documentation, which includes some screenshots:

http://www.csus.edu/indiv/g/gaskilld/DNWMD_doc.htm

The screenshots are old, but the doc itself has been updated since last time.

Here is a brief video showing the new spinning hook kick, which is one of things that probably needs tweaking:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5jrIekzpQk

If you do want to beta test, I hope you will have enough time to play to the end of an episode, because balance issues towards the end are what I'm most concerned with. I don't have time to do extensive play testing myself, so I'm largely relying on others for input.

[C. M. Dratz]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FeIslGXKto
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gp8b8y12MoQ
ahahahahahhha hhaaaa
[Edit: More seriously, I do like the new kick.]

[DeeperThought]

Originally Posted by C. M. Dratz

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FeIslGXKto
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gp8b8y12MoQ
ahahahahahhha hhaaaa

Yeah, I'm saving the rest of those moves for the sequel --
Duke Nukem: Fists of Fusion.


Beta testers (there are two of you as of now): This attachment fixes a bug with the Dukebot which would cause him to get confused sometimes.

DTGAME.rar

[Reaper_Man]

Originally Posted by Reaper_Man

Deeperthought - I have some enemy code that I have unused for an AMC community mod a few years ago, that if you wanted I'd be happy to pass off. The 2 main things were a Liztroop Commander (yellow pal, that teleported in more Liztroops and Liz Captians) and the Displacer Beast (blue, transparent version of the Newbeast that teleports around randomly instead of shooting the shrinker).

Not sure if this would be up your alley.

Not sure if you saw this deeperthought.

[DeeperThought]

Originally Posted by Reaper_Man

Not sure if you saw this deeperthought.

Oh, right. Those are really nice concepts for enemies. I don't think I would use them at this point, because things are already so chaotic. I already have semi-invisible newbeasts which you can't kill unless you use the goggles to make them solid. I have various enemies that make clones of themselves. I have mini-boss queens who spawn baby newbeasts. Etc.

The one thing I would be curious about is how you control the teleporting so that actors don't end up in bad places. I mean, you can check to make sure it's inside of a sector, obviously, but then there's the problem of having monsters in places that are weird or inaccessible. For example, there are solid but invisible sector lines which projectiles and hitscans can cross but the player can't. As long as there is a sector on the other side, I don't know how you would prevent something from teleporting over it. In fact, I already have that problem with certain sprites who change from being projectiles into regular actors.

[Reaper_Man]

I went a much simpler route and used a third actor to act as a spawn locator. At the beginning of the animation to teleport in new Liztroops, the Pal 23 Liztroop spawns X number of the locator actors that are invisible and never seen. This actor just simply "move"s out at a random direction, and when the teleport animation completes from the originating Liztroop, the temporary actors spawn in new Liztroops and killit. You can even do something like this with non-Eduke versions and simple count or actioncount commands, but using gamevars makes everything sync up and appear more uniform.

You could in theory do actual dynamic spawning, but like you were saying it would require a ton of intelligence checks to make sure the actor actually could be where it was going to be spawned into.

If I recall, the Displacer Beasts did the same general thing, except the locator was used to define their new X/Y/Z location.

[Dr. Kylstien]

I'd be interested in that code, Reaper_Man. I've wanted to make the Lizard Captain call re-enforcements for a long time.

[DeeperThought]

Beta testers: Attached are some cons that fix bugs. For example, the reflect power of the force shield actually works now

DNWMDfixes.rar

[Hendricks266]

The file transfer service you used seems to cut me off after a while of downloading. I tried multiple times (once I got to 97% ), but I always got cut off and resuming is not supported. Could you re-upload it to another site (perhaps files.to)?

[C. M. Dratz]

Does the crouch shield still trigger trip mines layed above you that you are trying to pass under? If it does, maybe you could find a way to when needed crouch without the shield, to make the shield not extend too high, or find any other solution you desire...or perhaps you like it the way it is.
[Edit: Yeah, a...um, uhh...reflective shield. At least it works for maps that already have trips set in them. What if you caused the shield to work when you crouch but when holding crouch if a player presses jump the shield stops for the duration of that jump key press and resumes on release when still crouching?]

[DeeperThought]

Originally Posted by Hendricks266

The file transfer service you used seems to cut me off after a while of downloading. I tried multiple times (once I got to 97% ), but I always got cut off and resuming is not supported. Could you re-upload it to another site (perhaps files.to)?

Sorry about that. I will try your suggestion as soon as I finish typing this reply.

Originally Posted by C. M. Dratz

Does the crouch shield still trigger trip mines layed above you that you are trying to pass under? If it does, maybe you could find a way to when needed crouch without the shield, to make the shield not extend too high, or find any other solution you desire...or perhaps you like it the way it is.

That was one of the things I just fixed in the cons attached above. I told the alt-trip not to launch if it is hitscanning a shield. I forgot to make it check who owns the shield, though, so it might not launch on enemies that use shields. Hmmm. Consider it a defensive feature of the shield

[Dopefish7590]

sendspace.com i found best for uploading

edit: LOL i tried the new kick and the thing really works well

btw what a battle with cyclazoid emporer you canged it to a ressurection as apposed to second phase right off the bat

[DeeperThought]

I'm thinking I might nerf the special ammo pipebomb. One of those can pretty consistently freeze a whole room full of enemies, including a battlelord.

@Dopefish: If you've beaten an episode, check out the high score screen. Then, try that episode on DAMN I'M GOOD and see how it plays.

[Dopefish7590]

wow no kidding DAMN IM GOOD

[Hendricks266]

I have a report of my findings so far:

• There are five Thumbs.db files in your archive that are taking up 439 KB of space, packed. That's quite a bit of wasted space.
• The 3 .ART files will produce errors if they are not loaded directly from a .grp.
• When fighting hordes of Assault Captains, you don't have much of a chance to fight back because of the constant barrage of those annoying projectiles. Could you tone down the amount of screen tilting?
• Occasionally, a body of a LIZTROOP becomes solid. This has only happened to me a few times.
• Aren't turrets supposed to give off coins when killed?
• When your stamina gets low, the “MINA” part of the label disappears. If this is supposed to be a feature (i.e. shrinking text) it needs to be much smoother, not just chopping off half of the word.
• Instead of eliminating the story help screen to make room for the DNWMD help screen, why don't you restore the default help screens and put the DNWMD help screen in the upgrade menu in one of the corners (like the High Score chart)?
• In the original game, when Duke crouches and kicks, there are no special frames displayed (i.e. F7 mode). With the vampire kick and roundhouse kick, however, the animation is displayed, but with duke halfway submerged in the floor.
• Sometimes coins bounce\float over water.
• With all the spawning enemies, it is very easy to exceed the amount of enemies placed in the map. This code should fix that when placed in EVENT_EGS for all enemies:
  

  getactor[THISACTOR].owner temp
  ifvarvarn temp THISACTOR
    {
      getplayer[THISACTOR].max_actors_killed tempb
      addvar tempb 1
      setplayer[THISACTOR].max_actors_killed tempb
    }

• While playing E2L3, a normal colored Protector Drone spawned. I switched to the RPG, fired a railgun, got a headshot notification… but its health wasn't fully depleted yet. I fired another, again got a headshot notification, but it still had some health left. Finally, I shot another, got yet another headshot notification, but it did its death animation. The headshot notifications shouldn't have appeared or the headshot should have actually happened.
• Instead of using pals 1 & 2 to turn your baby Protector Drones blue & red, respectively, use palettes 19 (red) and 17\20 (blue) with these skins: PDRedBlueSkins.zip (I made them for H266MOD). They will look the same, but their teeth will not be turned red\blue. (8-Bit Compatible!)
• If mouse aiming is disabled, then the upgrade menu cursor will not work.
• I was playing _ZOO.MAP, when, all of a sudden, the Battlelords came right off the wall and started attacking me. WTF?
• I think the Cycloid Emperor's jumping around is kinda freaky.

So far, excellent work! DNWMD has progressed so far from DTMOD.

BTW, I do take hand-written notes while I'm playing. There's no way I could have remembered all of that.

[DeeperThought]

Thank you for all your thoughtful feedback

• Well, I just found and eliminated 3 of the Thumbs.db files. I don't know where the other 2 are hanging out.
• I know that .art files have trouble loading when they are inside of a .zip, but I've never had problems with having them loose in the directory, which they are in this case. That is just the standard way of doing it which mappers use all the time.
• I'll think about changing the shock bolts so they are less annoying. They are supposed to be annoying, though. By the way, they don't just tilt the screen; they actually lock you in place for half a second.
• Drat, I thought I had fixed that solid LIZTROOP body bug! I guess I just reduced it. It hasn't happened to me at all lately.
• Turrets do sometimes spawn coins, but not very often because they aren't worth many points.
• Yeah, the stamina thing is a feature, but you're right, it should be smoother.
• That's a good idea about making the help screen linked to the menu. Then I can add my own story screen to replace F1, too.
• The floor submerging happens because Duke is lower when kicking (to simulate his leaning back). I don't use view mode myself, so I'm not too concerned about it.
• Water messes up coins. I used to allow them to drop into the water, but then I found they would disappear from the map completely. Call it laziness, but at this point I'm content to have them float over the water. Maybe I could make them float a bit lower, though.
• That's a good point about spawning enemies. I do have some code for this already, but it isn't consistently applied. That code you posted has a couple of problems. The trivial problem is that you accidentally used ifvarn instead of ifvarvarn. More seriously, it looks like it will add to max_actors_killed whenever enemies shoot projectiles and when the player spawns a Dukebot, etc. However, this can be fixed with a few extra checks (I would check statnum and extra, and if necessary, the picnum of the owner).
• I can't tell whether the alien drone headshot incident you describe is actually a bug. Are you saying that the headshots weren't counting, because it would have been dead after one or two shots if they had counted?
• Thanks for the skins. I haven't decided whether to use them yet.
• Yeah, the menu will not work with mouse aiming turned off, and I don't feel like fixing it. Consider mouselook to be a game requirement, just like using models is.
• Ha! Yes, in some maps inanimate monsters come to life. This is because some of the monster variants are defined as tile numbers nearby to the regular actor tiles, and in some maps these tiles are used as decorations. When the game finds these tiles in the map, they come to life. The same thing happens in ROCH1 in the grocery store. There are a bunch of monster "toys" in the back, some of which come to life. I guess I should fix that.
• I'm not sure if you're saying that the jumping is bad. Anyway, I'm not taking it out now.

Thanks again for the comments. I hope to post some con updates soon. I also fixed some bugs that you didn't mention (I've already forgotten what they were).

[Hendricks266]

The max_actors_killed code is supposed to go into EVENT_EGS for all enemy actors as a state. (LIZTROOP, PIGCOP, ROTATEGUN, OCTABRAIN, RECON, BOSS1, LIZMAN, DRONE, EGG, GREENSLIME, COMMANDER, BOSS3, SHARK, BOSS2, NEWBEAST, TANK, BOSS4, plus any new enemies you have) I don't see how this would effect projectiles or the HOLOBOT.

For the Protector Drone headshot bug, I had the “HEADSHOT!” text appear, but nothing else out-of-place happened. If headshots are supposed to instantly kill enemies, then the text is okay but the drone just took damage from it, not killing it.

I wasn't saying the CE's jumping was bad, it just looks like he levitated off the ground without proper animations. The shockwave effect is pretty neat.

[DeeperThought]

Originally Posted by Hendricks266

The max_actors_killed code is supposed to go into EVENT_EGS for all enemy actors as a state. (LIZTROOP, PIGCOP, ROTATEGUN, OCTABRAIN, RECON, BOSS1, LIZMAN, DRONE, EGG, GREENSLIME, COMMANDER, BOSS3, SHARK, BOSS2, NEWBEAST, TANK, BOSS4, plus any new enemies you have) I don't see how this would effect projectiles or the HOLOBOT.

For the Protector Drone headshot bug, I had the “HEADSHOT!” text appear, but nothing else out-of-place happened. If headshots are supposed to instantly kill enemies, then the text is okay but the drone just took damage from it, not killing it.

I wasn't saying the CE's jumping was bad, it just looks like he levitated off the ground without proper animations. The shockwave effect is pretty neat.

Oh, I didn't realize you meant for that code to be placed only for certain tile numbers.

Headshots are not automatic kills like they were a long time ago. Now they do double-damage (which is still quite powerful). I'm pretty sure it says that in the documentation.

EDIT: Heh, it's been a while since I looked at the enemy counting code and I had forgotten what I had already done. When an enemy is spawned, max_actors_killed is automatically incremented. The only time there should be a problem is when you have one actor spawning another and then killing itself (instead of using cactor) because in that case the player can't get credit (unless it uses addkills before killit). So, in that case, I subtract one from max_actors_killed.

[C. M. Dratz]

Originally Posted by DeeperThought

• Drat.

Yes?

[DeeperThought]

This is the Devastator Drone.

Yes, the big guns can fire too, and they alternate sides, just like the Devastator weapon. The little guns are separate actors, but they stay attached in their relative positions.

I think that's the last enemy I'm going to add before I release it next week.

It was tricky because of lots of little things not working smoothly (e.g. the model not being centered). Don't try this at home, kids.

[eyceguy]

"I think I just soiled my armor!"

[Hellbound]

Haha, DT, you have some crazy ideas
You can add enforcer standing on it (but he's not shooting with his gun, he's just 'driving' that thing), what would look like surfing
And you can try to shoot enforcer (and unguided Devastator will fly with big speed and crush out when hit the wall... or you, or whatever)
or you can shoot the devastator - harder way but when it explodes, Enforcer has some jibbin'

[Hendricks266]

Originally Posted by DeeperThought

This is the Devastator Drone.

Yes, the big guns can fire too, and they alternate sides, just like the Devastator weapon. The little guns are separate actors, but they stay attached in their relative positions.

I think that's the last enemy I'm going to add before I release it next week.

It was tricky because of lots of little things not working smoothly (e.g. the model not being centered). Don't try this at home, kids.

That's certainly… creative. Are you going to make Mighty Foot Drones, Pistol Drones,
Shotgun Drones, Chaingun Drones, RPG Drones, Pipebomb Drones, Shrinker Drones, Expander Drones, Tripbomb Drones, and Freezer Drones too eventually?

BTW, why is there the Chaingun HUD muzzle flash floating in mid-air in front of the left turret?

[DeeperThought]

Originally Posted by Hendricks266

That's certainly… creative. Are you going to make Mighty Foot Drones, Pistol Drones,
Shotgun Drones, Chaingun Drones, RPG Drones, Pipebomb Drones, Shrinker Drones, Expander Drones, Tripbomb Drones, and Freezer Drones too eventually?

BTW, why is there the Chaingun HUD muzzle flash floating in mid-air in front of the left turret?

The Devastator model is fairly well-suited for being an enemy or a space ship, imo (for a space ship, the gun barrels would be thrusters). Most of the other weapons are not, although the shrinker might have some potential. The left turret is firing, hence the muzzle flash. Those turrets fire bullets instead of lasers, so I felt that a clearly visible muzzle flash was called for, to make it obvious where the damage was coming from.

[Dopefish7590]

lol thats awesome

[C. M. Dratz]

From this angle, the devestators do look like a set of machine tits or something....

Originally Posted by eyceguy

"I think I just soiled my armor!"

"You tit! I soiled my armor I was so scared!"
"I've done it again."
http://writeonlymemory.net/python.pdf

[eyceguy]

Originally Posted by C. M. Dratz

"You tit! I soiled my armor I was so scared!"
"I've done it again."
http://writeonlymemory.net/python.pdf

Ahh thanks for the correction, its been some time since ive seen it.
But at least someone else got it!

[DeeperThought]

Originally Posted by C. M. Dratz

From this angle, the devestators do look like a set of machine tits or something....

You're very close. It's actually Madonna's touring bra.

[KillerBudgie]

Oh boy, oh boy! Just one more day to go!

[Geoffrey]

Sunday will be spectacular

[Hendricks266]

I still find it ironic that Easter is DNWMD day, or vice versa.

[DeeperThought]

Originally Posted by Hendricks266

I still find it ironic that Easter is DNWMD day, or vice versa.

Sheer coincidence: It just happens to be the first anniversary of my joining the 3DR forums. I'm not trying to insinuate that the overhaul of DNWMD is the Second Coming or anything like that.

[Hendricks266]

Yes, I know.

[Zaero]

I like the mod very much but some things are too crazy and unrealistic. I know is kinda "for fun" mod, still it's too bad that it lacks some realism. So, things that I LIKE are:
-all upgrades
-the need to have some points before upgrade even if you have enough coins
-mini bosses and evilduke (but not the small duke and "colorful" bosses, I like the standard ones). I think they should replace small battlelord (random). It's quite realistic, becouse evilduke will not spawn in the first episode (the Duke's DNA was taken in the detention center, before he was almost executed dont ya think? )
-damage related gun sounds
-doublejump and headshot idea


I do NOT LIKE:
-upgrade menu does'nt pause game (probably simple to fix)
-spreading coins idea (I dont like to look for them all the time)
-whole icon idea exept boss and ammo icon: it's nice to choose when you want to end an episode, and be able to buy special ammo. But I think that soul coins should be replaced with some sort of exp (points for example).
Inventory coins replaced by items.
-strange monsters (robots, fire, ice, toxic...i just like the classic ones)
-whole dimension-x idea (turn googles on, then off, then on...and so on)
-altfire idea is great, weapons packed with fun, but most fireing modes
...unrealistic.
I like my idea more http://forums.3drealms.com/vb/showthread.php?t=25255
-"killme" babes monster spawn

I can't remember more ATM..

EDIT: I also like:
-gib models, flyby sounds, pigcop duck fix, rocket pitch, bar music - simply all the tweaks
-chaingun altfire (now I works like a ripper)
-shotgun knockback and weapons recoil (it feels powerful)

[Hellbound]

That's one of the most lolish posts I've ever seen. Geez. What was the sense of writing it?

[Zaero]

Originally Posted by Hellbound

That's one of the most lolish posts I've ever seen. Geez. What was the sense of writing it?

Maybe DeeperThought is interested in some people's opinion, even if it's TOO honest?
Also I think that most of WMD features are so cool, that they should be an update to classic gameplay (like sd_mod) but not too far from classic. So.. some Lite version maybe?

[Chip]

This is actualy the first time I've realy looked at this and I must say its truely amazing.

I'm downloading it right now


This has in a way inspired me to come back to Duke modding and when I get my tank model done I am going to try and get that fully coded and to high standards (If I can manage that)

[Geoffrey]

Originally Posted by Zaero

Maybe DeeperThought is interested in some people's opinion, even if it's TOO honest?
Also I think that most of WMD features are so cool, that they should be an update to classic gameplay (like sd_mod) but not too far from classic. So.. some Lite version maybe?

Some of the things you've mentioned have been in WMD since the first release though, so I wouldn't count on those being modified any time soon.

[DeeperThought]

Originally Posted by Zaero

Maybe DeeperThought is interested in some people's opinion, even if it's TOO honest?
Also I think that most of WMD features are so cool, that they should be an update to classic gameplay (like sd_mod) but not too far from classic. So.. some Lite version maybe?

Having two different versions of the mod would cause confusion and make it more difficult for me if I decided to change something. Before I had my own mod, I remember making suggestions like this, but now I understand what it's like from the other side. The mod evolved in a certain way, based on what I knew at the time (not much, in many cases) and what I thought was cool. If I were to do it over again, it would be very different. Probably, it would be more subtle. There would be fewer features and they would fit together seamlessly. The enemies would be more coordinated. The code would be cleaner. And so on. As for the weapons: No, they are not realistic, but they were never intended to be. So, it is what it is.

If you haven't already, you might try my Duke Nukem Arena mod, which has some of the same stuff in it, but could be considered Lite in some ways. It looks like I'll have to scale back my plans for that one, but there will be at least one major update to DNA at some point, since I don't want to leave it in its current state.