Outcast [v1.5b] - new Virus class added!

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SwordGrunt
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Outcast [v1.5b] - new Virus class added!

#1

Post by SwordGrunt » Sun Apr 10, 2016 5:43 pm

Outcast is a flexible gameplay-altering mod, fully compatible with Doom, Heretic and Hexen as well as offering compatibility with many existing mods.

Download links
Outcast v1.5b - TSPG | Dropbox

Resources v1.1 - TSPG | Dropbox (loaded automatically by the mod: do not include this in the loaded files)
Skulltag actors patch - TSPG | Dropbox (if using skulltag actors/data)

phpBB [media]


What is Outcast?

Simply put, the most fun you can have on the Doom Engine. Instead of our well-known protagonists, you are now playing as the monsters of the four games: Doom, Heretic, Hexen and Strife, as well as the mod that is practically a game in itself, Virus. You start out as a pitiful Zombieman or wimpy Gargoyle, but by spreading chaos upon enemies you will evolve into stronger beasts such as the Hellknight and the Weredragon. Of course, you can choose to become any monster you've unlocked, the situation sometimes calling for a weaker, but more efficient monster in that scenario. Nearly all playable monsters were coded to be as close to their original as possible in terms of behavior, and only the most careful eyes will notice some of the deepest details that are kept exactly like the original.

Monsters use mana as the resource for their power, which all kinds of ammo of the original game spawn as. Mana is very plentiful and you often won't need to worry about running out of it; if you do, however, your attacks will still be usable, but at a rate around three times slower. Weaker monsters use little mana and only one kind, while stronger ones will often use both types of mana at once and in greater amounts. Melee attacks do not cost any mana and will never be slowed down. Most powerups from the original games retain their functionality, such as the Soulsphere and Megasphere giving you +100/+200 health respectively, bringing you to up to twice the amount of health of your class, and the Berserk pack strengthening all your melee attacks.


Whether you're choosing Doom's tough hellspawn, Heretic's swift creatures, Hexen's unique monsters, Strife's versatile robots and aliens, or Virus' tanky machines, you're guaranteed to have a load of fun blasting monsters away as if you were one of their own. Try Outcast with your favorite map packs and mods! Suggestions and constructive critics are welcome, either in this thread or directly to me via IRC/Steam.


Gamemodes and customization

Outcast is optimized for a cooperative environment, with survival and invasion being fantastic but regular cooperative not falling behind at all.

Competitive gamemodes are also supported, and there is currently one custom gamemode: Terminator, optimized for Outcast. In this mode, similarly to the default behavior, the Terminator sphere spawns somewhere on the map. However, the player picking it up receives one of the strongest monsters available while all others remain among the weakest. Effectively, it's a one vs. all battle - the Terminator wins if they reach the fraglimit, but everyone else wins if they kill the Terminator before that happens. Try it!

Gameplay can be heavily customized with console variables:
Spoiler: CVARINFO.txt (Open)
outcast_flight (default: true)

Allows flying monsters to retain their power. If false, they will only walk.
Normally this should be turned on for competitive gamemodes or maps that
won't have their flow broken by flight, such as most invasion/slaughter maps,
but turned off if playing vanilla Doom/Heretic wads.


outcast_hitbox (default: false)

Monsters retain their real size for collision checking, instead of having
the same hitbox as the doom marine.
Normally this should be turned on for competitive gamemodes only.


outcast_hubrank (default: false)
outcast_globalrank (default: false)

Keeps your rank and subrank during a hub, or during the entire game.
Global takes precedence (if it is set, your ranks will never be reset)


outcast_survivalkeeprank (default: true)

Keeps your rank after running out of lives on Survival. If all players die,
this also resets your stats back to how they were when the level started.
Logically this only works when combined with globalrank, as the engine does
not support survival for hubs.

Some further insight: if globalrank is on and survivalkeeprank is off, you
will keep everything across levels, but should you ever run out of lives on
a map, you lose everything. This makes for a very high risk gameplay style.


outcast_doublepointswithstrength (default: true)
outcast_quadpointswithdoomsphere (default: false)

Somewhat self-explanatory; Doomsphere is particularly game-breaking
so quad points are off by default, while Strength is acceptable since it
competes with Rage and Spread at about the same level.


outcast_pointpickups (default: true)

If set to false, no pickups will give points. The Krater of Might will heal
players by up to 200 health points if this is off


outcast_pointmultiplier (default: 100)

This is a multiplier of the default value (100%) of points received.
For example, setting it to 200 doubles the amount of points you get every
shot, while setting it to 20 reduces the amount by five times.


outcast_damagemultiplier (default: 100)

The same as the above, but scales the actual damage dealt by players.
Great for difficulty adjusting; keep both variables set to the same
value if you want to keep rank progression!


outcast_startrank (default: 0)

Which rank players start the game on.
If you want all monsters to be unlocked, set it to 14.


outcast_startmana (default: 40)

The amount of mana you spawn with: if you have less than this amount
when ranking up, you also receive mana to reach it.


outcast_fraglimit (default: 10)

Frags needed for the Terminator to win in the gamemode of the same name.


outcast_morphrandom (default: false)

If enabled, players spawn as a random monster of their class.
Ranks are ignored and disabled entirely when this is on.
Bots always morph into a random monster, and ignore the hitbox CVar.


outcast_tomefrag (default: false)

If enabled, players receive a Tome of Power on any frag.


outcast_showhelp (default: true) - client variable

Whether to display the help messages upon starting a new game.
You can set this to 0 in the console to disable them for you.


outcast_usedamagefactors (default: true)

Whether player damagefactors are changed or not. This is very useful for
Survival but with unlimited lives it doesn't matter as much. This only works
in cooperative gamemodes. More info on damagefactors below.


outcast_damagefactor_doom_initial (default: 0.5)
outcast_damagefactor_heretic_initial (default: 0.5)
outcast_damagefactor_hexen_initial (default: 1.0)
outcast_damagefactor_strife_initial (default: 0.75)
outcast_damagefactor_virus_initial (default: 0.6)

The base damagefactor applied to the player at rank 0 (initial rank).
Standard damage is 1.0; lower values mean you take less damage.
e.g. Doom takes half damage at rank 0 (Zombieman).


outcast_damagefactor_doom_per_rank (default: 0.1)
outcast_damagefactor_heretic_per_rank (default: 0.1)
outcast_damagefactor_hexen_per_rank (default: 0.25)
outcast_damagefactor_strife_per_rank (default: 0.25)
outcast_damagefactor_virus_per_rank (default: 0.15)

How much the player's damagefactor increases with each rank gained.
e.g. Doom takes 0.6 damage at rank 1 (Shotgun Guy), 0.7 at rank 2 (Imp), 1.5
at rank 10 (Arachnotron) and so on.


outcast_damagefactor_doom_first_rank (default: 0)
outcast_damagefactor_heretic_first_rank (default: 0)
outcast_damagefactor_hexen_first_rank (default: 8)
outcast_damagefactor_strife_first_rank (default: 0)
outcast_damagefactor_virus_first_rank (default: 1)

At which rank the player's damagefactor will start to increase.
This makes more steep difficulty curves possible, but only after a certain
point of the game so as not to ruin the early part of it.
e.g. Hexen has ranks up to 8 with base damagefactor; it will then finally
increase on rank 9, and keep increasing as normal from there.

Note: this is essentially which rank is treated as "rank 0" for damagefactor
purposes; a value of 3 means rank 3 (e.g. Demon/NitroGolem) will use the base
damagefactor and it starts increasing from rank 4.

Note: Strife only applies damagefactors after a sub-rank is chosen.
Stalker, Acolyte and Sentinel are treated as rank 0, using the base value;
Reaver, Macil and Crusader are rank 1, and so forth.
With the proper settings, competitive play can be just as fun: try the Last Man Standing or Possession gamemodes, for example!


Main features
  • Independent points and rank system for each class. You can switch classes on the player menu and keep your progress in all of them
  • Score system is compatible with any custom monsters: points are given for hitting shootable actors, so monsters are not replaced
  • Have the feel of truly being part of each game, with the HUD and item pickup sounds being customized for each class
  • Tome of Power is also available in Doom (replacing plasma weapons) and all monsters have powered-up attacks
  • Adjust the difficulty of the game to perfection with CVar control: real-size hitboxes can be enabled for competitive play
  • Adjust the pace of the game: stats can be kept within each level, within a hub or for the entire game
  • Full vanilla Doom, Heretic and Hexen support
  • Full dynamic light and decal support
  • Customized Terminator gamemode, where one player takes the role of a boss against other lesser monsters
  • Zandronum bots are available, one for each class, which morph into a random monster of their class upon spawning
Planned features
  • Multiple color translations for each monster that can be cycled through with a bind - normally, morphed players do not have coloring
  • More custom gamemodes, including modified versions of (Team) Possession and Capture the Flag
  • Strife support is something I still have to tackle - things such as receiving the Sigil may or may not work with morphed players
  • New classes may be added, but they're not the current priority. Duke3D is the most commonly requested, and I would be happy to work on it at some point
  • And possibly much more - your suggestion could make it in, so if you have an idea, be sure to let me know!
Recommended settings

sv_unblockplayers 1 - allied players already pass through each other in Outcast, and this is crucial so that telefrags do not occur. Should be kept off in non-cooperative modes, however

sv_chasecam 1 - it's amazing to play Outcast with chasecam on. Try it!

sv_norespawninvul 1 - Outcast already has its own respawn invulnerability system, and Zandronum's default interferes with it, so keep it disabled.

sv_nodrop 1 - although not gamebreaking, it is recommended to keep this on

Some basic config files are available on TSPG: outcastsurvival.txt, outcastinvasion.txt, outcastcompet.txt. You are still encouraged to customize the game to achieve the desired playstyle, these only set basic flags for gamemodes to function properly (for example, hitboxes on for competitive modes, jump and flight off for survival).


That's all you really need - choose your map set, adjust the game settings to your liking, and let the fun begin!
Last edited by SwordGrunt on Sun Jan 29, 2017 3:00 pm, edited 24 times in total.

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Re: Outcast [v1.02] - united Monsters of the Doom Engine

#2

Post by -_- » Mon Apr 11, 2016 12:15 am

Nice and interesting mod, i played it alot while testing alpha/beta versions and it was very fun.I recommend everyone to play it.

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Re: Outcast [v1.02] - united Monsters of the Doom Engine

#3

Post by Monsterovich » Mon Apr 11, 2016 10:10 pm

Samsara v 2.0?

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Re: Outcast [v1.02] - united Monsters of the Doom Engine

#4

Post by SwordGrunt » Mon Apr 11, 2016 10:31 pm

I've only played Samsara a couple of times and it's been a while since I did, so I could be wrong, but from what I remember you play as protagonists from different games, shooting guns, and not as monsters...? Nor does it focus on retaining vanilla aspects of said monsters at all. I do remember reading something about playing as a few bosses from different games, and not only was it limited to bosses, it was far from retaining their vanilla characteristics.

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Re: Outcast [v1.02] - united Monsters of the Doom Engine

#5

Post by Lord_of_D: » Tue Apr 12, 2016 12:58 am

sounds good, but an small question: its it compatible with single player mode? some times i like to play megawads with gameplay altering mods, and im not sure if this one wouldnt break the late game of a single player run.

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Re: Outcast [v1.02] - united Monsters of the Doom Engine

#6

Post by SwordGrunt » Tue Apr 12, 2016 2:08 am

Of course, it is fully compatible, but what exactly do you mean it'd break the late game of a single player run? If you mean it'd be too easy, that depends on your settings.

For example, you could lower the point multiplier enough that it'd take a large portion of the megawad to reach your final rank, at which point the levels will likely be difficult enough to make up for it. You could also simply not keep your stats between levels, but increase your starting rank when you feel levels are getting too difficult for the lowest tier monsters to play on.

Of course, if you play as Doom and reach Spider Mastermind, you're pretty much invincible when it comes to levels where monsters can't overwhelm you and take advantage of your pitiful movement speed. If you feel your damage potential is too unfair for the levels you're playing on, you can either lower it or do the above and reset your stats while adjusting the starting rank.

Balancing is far from perfect on this mod as that was never the priority, but on the other hand it is extremely easy to adjust with the flexible damage and point scaling CVars as well as starting rank. Also, Zandronum's sv_coop_damagefactor is another fantastic CVar for difficulty adjustment.

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Re: Outcast [v1.02] - united Monsters of the Doom Engine

#7

Post by Combinebobnt » Tue Apr 12, 2016 4:18 am

Monsterovich wrote:Samsara v 2.0?
This looks to be more "monstermod v not mspaint mexican-style" hopefully.

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Re: Outcast [v1.1] - united Monsters of the Doom Engine

#8

Post by SwordGrunt » Fri Apr 15, 2016 2:18 am

Version 1.1 is out, and with it comes support for competitive play! Real hitboxes and projectile fastspeed consistency were the only things preventing them from being played to their full extent. A couple of CVars were introduced as well as a bunch of other small adjustments and bugfixes.
Spoiler: Changelog (Open)
*** General ***

- Added full support for the outcast_hitbox CVar. Competitive gamemodes are now
fully playable.

- Added outcast_morphrandom CVar: when enabled, ranks are discarded entirely and
players instead receive a random monster of their class when spawning.
(If there is not enough room for that monster, another will be randomly chosen.)

- Added outcast_startmana CVar: this is the minimum amount of mana you will have
every time you (re)spawn or rank up.

- some Doom and Heretic fastspeeds were adjusted, and many were added to Hexen
projectiles. Strife's only projectiles that needed it were Crusader missiles.
sv_fastmonsters 1 is essential for competitive gamemodes

- Proper gibhealth values added to all monsters that can be gibbed - Doom's
are equal to their negative health and other games', half their negative health

- Regeneration sound is now the item pickup sound for each class (instead of the
game default's item pickup sound)


*** Doom ***

- Cyberdemon's powered-up rocket no longer inflicts self damage

- Green mana is now properly highlighted as the Cacodemon's ammo type on the HUD


*** Heretic ***

- Fixed Ophidian weapon sprites appearing for the Iron Lich when out of mana

- Fixed D'Sparil's weapon staying powered-up after the Tome of Power expired


*** Hexen ***

- Reiver now has the floatbob flag to further emulate the creature's movement


*** Strife ***

- Strife gib sprites fixed. They will all be transferred to resources eventually

- Fixed Strife points being lost if changing class before a sub-rank was chosen

- Fixed a number of Strife issues with startrank

- Strife bullets no longer spawn a puff when hitting shootable actors

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Re: Outcast [v1.11] - united Monsters of the Doom Engine

#9

Post by Empyre » Fri Apr 15, 2016 5:38 am

I played my maps with outcast v1.02 and had a lot of fun, except for one problem, and I don't know what you could do about it. When I level-up, the new monster is automatically selected in your inventory, so I only have to hit enter (the key I have bound to use inventory) to change to the new monster. The problem is, if I have a tome, that is selected instead, so If I hit enter to change to the new monster when I level-up, I waste my tome instead.
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Re: Outcast [v1.11] - united Monsters of the Doom Engine

#10

Post by SwordGrunt » Fri Apr 15, 2016 2:03 pm

Empyre wrote:I played my maps with outcast v1.02 and had a lot of fun, except for one problem, and I don't know what you could do about it. When I level-up, the new monster is automatically selected in your inventory, so I only have to hit enter (the key I have bound to use inventory) to change to the new monster. The problem is, if I have a tome, that is selected instead, so If I hit enter to change to the new monster when I level-up, I waste my tome instead.
Yeah, I noticed that, I'll work around it, thanks for the comment.

I can only work around specific inventory items though, but I'll do that for all vanilla Heretic/Hexen artifacts as well as the Tome of Power to maintain full vanilla support; custom inventory items, on the other hand, I can do nothing about.


Edit: okay, it's fully functional now; not only will artifacts be sorted properly after all your monster morph items, but these are also rearranged every time you receive a set. This means your new monster will always be highlighted when you rank up. The Tome of Power is the first artifact in line to be selected after you morph into a monster.

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Re: Outcast [v1.2] - now with new Terminator mode!

#11

Post by SwordGrunt » Tue Apr 19, 2016 12:27 am

I am now releasing version 1.2 with some cool new stuff, such as the new customized Terminator gamemode! It's actually pretty damn fun despite that gamemode normally not getting much attention in vanilla play. A lot of bugs were fixed and adjustments were made, always looking to improve the player's experience.
Spoiler: Changelog (Open)
*** General ***

- New gamemode: Terminator! As in the original gamemode, the Terminator sphere
spawns at a random player start, but whoever picks it up gains one of the top
monsters of their class, while the other players remain at their starting rank.
It is effectively one vs. all, as all other players are technically counted as
enemies but are unable to damage each other. The game ends if the Terminator is
killed, in which case all the other players are declared victorious, or if the
fraglimit is reached, granting the Terminator victory. The startrank variable
should be kept at low numbers, and there is no rank progression.

- Fixed bots never receiving a species change (they'd shoot through each other)

- Morph items are now always in the proper order and the new monster will always
be highlighted when ranking up. Additionally, vanilla artifacts are sorted in a
predetermined order when this rearrangement occurs (i.e. spawning or ranking up)
and the Tome of Power, if available, is the first to be selected after morphing.
Thanks to Empyre for commenting on this!

- Added outcast_tomefrag CVar, off by default: controls whether or not players
receive a Tome of Power upon fragging another player.

- Tome of Powers should now respawn like normal items with proper DMFlags set

- Skulltag help screens (when provided) no longer replace Outcast's default.
Futurely, gamemode-specific help screens will be added


*** Doom ***

- Arch-Vile now moves at 20% speed while attacking

- Arachnotron and Spider Mastermind no longer alert monsters when using altfire
(readying their weapons)


*** Heretic ***

- Gargoyle's powered-up attack wasn't working as intended and was dealing absurd
damage. It now shoots 2 fireballs instead of 4 upon hitting the melee attack.

- Ophidian's powered-up attack range reduced from 1200 to 800, and damage also
reduced slightly (12-20 instead of 4-32, average 16 instead of 18). It will now
seek targets more consistently, though

- Fixed GLDefs for D'Sparil's powered-up Hellstaff rain

- D'Sparil can now create teleport destinations by using an inventory item.
There is no limit to how many you can create, but the actual teleportation still
costs 10 mana of each type, and will use these destinations in the order they
were created. The spots are only visible to D'Sparil and can only be destroyed
by him. Note that multiple D'Sparil players will share these spots and can see
and destroy each others' teleport destinations as well.


*** Hexen ***

- Stalker consumes mana faster while submerged (every 34 tics instead of 40)
and heals only 1 health point per 1 mana (instead of 2)

- Fixed infinite morphing on Zedek, Traductus and Menelkir with hitboxes on

- Korax's regular projectiles didn't have fastspeeds. Whoops!


*** Strife ***

- Hopefully fixed all issues regarding sub-Entity swapping and health control

- Fixed Strife puffs spawning on actors for real this time

- Fixed the last instance of the "where's my rank bar?" bug, again on Strife.
You can now safely switch between classes and have your progress properly stored

- Fixed the Inquisitor's flight sound looping endlessly if killed while flying

- The Entity moves slightly slower now (27.5% instead of 30% speed)

- Fixed missing sub-Entity pain sound

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Re: Outcast [v1.3] - now with new Terminator mode!

#12

Post by SwordGrunt » Wed Apr 20, 2016 5:45 pm

As there were a lot of issues with the Terminator gamemode as well as some major gameplay things (sub-Entity going 100% invisible...) I felt I should address them quickly, especially because I plan to start working on a huge new gamemode for the next version so that's gonna take a while. Version 1.3 is now uploaded and the link is on the original post.
Spoiler: Changelog (Open)
*** General ***

- Heavy work on the Terminator gamemode:

-> Added outcast_fraglimit CVar: this is the amount of frags the Terminator needs
to win, default 10. These frags are now displayed on the top right of the screen
and announcer sounds are played to replicate the original fraglimit behavior.

-> Terminator round winner(s) (either the Terminator, or everyone else) earn one
point, displayed on the HUD (not scoreboard). The level resets on round end, as
in LMS, and a pointlimit should be set for the map to end (defaults to 3 points)

-> If the terminator dies before morphing into his monster, they will receive it
again on respawning, and can morph into a smaller monster if there is no room as
they will keep receiving their Terminator morph until used.

- Tome of Power now takes 80 seconds to respawn instead of the default 30,
and its use sound should be working again


*** Doom ***

- Arch-Vile is now limited to attacking within 896 units. The original had this
maxtargetrange but could retaliate beyond it if hurt with pain (JUSTHIT)


*** Heretic ***

- Fixed Weredragon's powered-up fire sound looping endlessly if killed


*** Hexen ***

- Fixed Heresiarch sometimes not receiving his tracking item due to packet loss.
Hopefully this is the last time his internal coding will be touched

- Heresiarch's powered-up flame attack now bounces and seeks target as the lava
heads. It should actually be useful now for its high mana cost


*** Strife ***

- Fixed an issue where Strife's HUD would sometimes not show up at all

- Fixed sub-Entity sometimes becoming fully invisible

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Re: Outcast [v1.32] - now with new Terminator mode!

#13

Post by Empyre » Fri Apr 29, 2016 11:12 pm

I'm hosting this on my server for two weeks, and I will probably host it again in the future. I like this mod and I have some ideas that I hope will help you polish it to perfection.
Does ammo respawn when the server has Respawn Items set? I think you should do that and/or let the Infinite Ammo flag work.
I wish everything didn't reset when the map changes. We lose all progress through the monster classes, and also any Tomes and the ammo backpack.
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Re: Outcast [v1.32] - now with new Terminator mode!

#14

Post by SwordGrunt » Sat Apr 30, 2016 1:22 am

That's a good point, ammo used to be direct replacements but now they're randomized blue/green mana for small pickups (large pickups are still direct replacements, via combined mana). So small ammo pickups probably aren't respawning right now. I never would've noticed it since I never play Survival with item respawn on. Infinite ammo does work, your mana should be refilled automatically when it drops below a certain amount if the flag is set.

If you set outcast_hubrank or outcast_globalrank to true, you can keep your progress across levels within a hub or in the entire game. Backpacks should also be kept since your inventory won't be cleared. You cannot hoard more than one Tome or any other artifact across levels that are not within a hub, that is vanilla behavior, though I've considered changing that for Tomes specifically since they're introduced by the mod in Doom.

There are probably still some minor bugs that I've forgotten about, I've been prioritizing other things lately and haven't touched the mod. My plans for next version are to include a LMS + Terminator merged gamemode (controlled via a CVar and with the actual gamemode set to LMS) which would be far better than the current Terminator implementation for a larger amount of players. And suggestions are always appreciated!

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Re: Outcast [v1.32] - now with new Terminator mode!

#15

Post by Empyre » Sat Apr 30, 2016 4:04 am

I bet you're right about the mana refilling and I simply didn't notice it. Thanks for pointing out the outcast_globalrank flag.
There are some monsters that are unable to strafe, or can only strafe with alt-fire, and that's not fun. The final Hexen monster with the 6 arms moves mind-numbingly slow. These two things make me want to avoid playing as Hexen. Fun should be the top priority, even above being faithful to the original monster behavior.

EDIT: I tried adding +outcast_globalrank true on the last tab of Doomseeker's Create Game window, but it had no effect.
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Re: Outcast [v1.32] - now with new Terminator mode!

#16

Post by SwordGrunt » Sat Apr 30, 2016 2:08 pm

Odd. Maybe it doesn't recognize CVARINFO-defined CVars, only default ones. Try setting it manually on the console (or rcon).

Zedek, Traductus and Menelkir have their altfire strafing as a means to balance them out as well as attempt to recreate their original behavior (a quick sidestep rather than continuous strafing). They have far more health than any previous monster, do a lot of damage (with only Zedek needing to actually aim his shots) and more importantly, it is effectively three monsters in one rank, as you can switch between the three within the same life. Even with the low speed and unusual strafing, they're a very large power spike for Hexen.

As for Korax, well, believe it or not he had half that speed when I first made him. I honestly find it fucking hilarious and most people do too, with the drawback that you practically can't play him on maps where you need to actually move. Of course, he also has the most firepower of any monster in the game by far to compensate. Though he could use some buffs, so I might (POSSIBLY!) raise his speed. Generally you're going to have issues with his speed playing Coop (Wyvern is better) or Survival (Heresiarch is king).

Thanks for the feedback though. I've noticed some people are initially upset with the strafing thing but shrug it off when they realize how much power the ultimate Hexen weapons have. Especially if you use the Wraithverge with a Tome of Power. Don't do it, it's evil.

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Re: Outcast [v1.32] - now with new Terminator mode!

#17

Post by Empyre » Sat Apr 30, 2016 3:43 pm

Maybe if they sidestep further and never into a wall, I wouldn't take so many cyberdemon rockets to the face. Maybe normal strafing but a lot less health would be an improvement.

Is Wyvern the one who can't stop moving? I can understand not moving backwards, but he needs to be able to hover to be playable. Maybe alt-fire to hover?

Design decisions that make sense for AI-controlled monsters make less sense for players. Game-play is King.

I have successfully used cvars for complex doom and/or lca in Doomseeker before.

I still have not yet detected the ammo bars refilling with Infinite Ammo on.

I am using v1.32. Is that outdated?
"For the world is hollow, and I have touched the sky."

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SwordGrunt
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Re: Outcast [v1.32] - now with new Terminator mode!

#18

Post by SwordGrunt » Sat Apr 30, 2016 4:59 pm

Health won't be changed, no way. That is what everything else is balanced around: speed, firepower, etc. As for not strafing into a wall, that just wouldn't work properly given how buggy and prone to desync weapon states are in Zandronum (because of client checks vs server checks, especially when it comes to jump functions). But having them strafe a bit further is fine.

Death Wyvern has his unique flight pattern of constantly moving forward, and admittedly he feels awful to play with flight off, but I can't force flight on since that can break a lot of maps. What I could do is put four speed levels rather than two to make controlling his movement easier, though that'd feel less smooth since it'd imply using ThrustThing every two tics instead of one. Death Wyvern is pretty bad in Survival regardless since his health is pitiful for that stage of the game; on the other hand, in slaughter coop or invasion you don't care about dying so his absurd damage is handy. On top of that, Survival is generally where you keep flight off (and jump as well) so it makes things even more polarized for this monster.

I've never had a problem with infinite ammo. I've just tested it and it refills my mana whenever it drops below 100. I already have lots of constant inventory refilling behind the scenes and I don't see the point in keeping it maxed out constantly since the most expensive attacks cost no more than 25 of each mana type. I also haven't had issues with the global/hubrank CVars in a while and often play with global on and it works fine. What gamemode are you playing and what other wads are you using? Did you change any other CVars?

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Re: Outcast [v1.32] - now with new Terminator mode!

#19

Post by Empyre » Sat Apr 30, 2016 9:03 pm

The Wyvern feels awful to play with flight on, too. It makes me feel like I am not in control. He would be a blast to play if he could hover.

That explains why I haven't seen the mana refill. I never let it get that low.

I am hosting Outcast in coop mode with my maps and NewTextColours_260.pk3. Here are the custom parameters:

Code: Select all

+sv_maxclientsperip 3
+sv_coop_damagefactor 1.00
+sv_nodrop true
+sv_unblockplayers 1
+sv_fast_weapons 0
+outcast_globalrank true
"For the world is hollow, and I have touched the sky."

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SwordGrunt
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Re: Outcast [v1.32] - now with new Terminator mode!

#20

Post by SwordGrunt » Sat Apr 30, 2016 10:12 pm

I think it's just a matter of getting used to it. Hexen monsters are unique, that's their thing; the Afrit has uncommon movement as well, and the Bishop can literally get painlocked to death despite being a player and not a monster. The Death Wyvern is hard to control, but he's a killing machine, and if made a regular flying monster I fear he wouldn't feel nearly as powerful since damage and speed would have to be sacrificed a little. I might just make his movement controllable by a CVar and reduce his insane damage a little bit to compensate.

I still have no idea why globalrank wouldn't be working on those maps. I know Invasion always clears your inventory no matter what (in which case globalrank is ignored and your stats are reset to avoid a desync in tracking) but coop and survival have always worked perfectly fine.

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