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  • Since my mod deals with multiple dimensions and crossing old things with new, the more textures the merrier

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    • Shadows of Chaos - Modding suite file - Mod DB

      I have uploaded the tools I used to create this mod. The source code was also included in the demo release.

      It includes QME, the blender plugin, texture wads converted to hexen 2's palette, the sprite editor, and a few map sources from the mod and the FGD for trenchbroom as well.

      I'd like this to be a sort of hexen 2 mapper's resource too so feature suggestions are welcome (if they are in my ability to create)

      EDIT:

      Here's an example of some of the swampy stuff, eventually I'd like to make enemies to go along with it, I even found a trick to make the muck swirl without having to be fullbright water

      Last edited by Bloodshot; 05-05-2017, 11:50 AM.

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      • I thought the only way to avoid the fullbright water is to make the texture lowlight(transparent).

        Also, what do you mean by making enemies to go along with it. Are they being stuck? As that is the basic Hexen 2 AI problem.

        I thought about making the slime/swamp something different. Like you have water, which you can swim through, then you have lava, which hurts you. Slime could have some other effect. Like in Heretic 2, it could make you slower or something like that.

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        • I mean making, as in creating/coding new enemies, not their AI. Like the stalkers from hexen 1 I want to recreate

          The slime is invisible from the top and the water warp makes the ground texture warp around like a liquid, i'll make a video of it when i get a chance

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          • Just finished the demo. Great stuff, I hope to see a full version some time. The settings are really nice and I like the just-a-subtle bit use of the colored lighting, as well as the little flavor texts in the books scattered around; that's how I like exposition in a game like this to be done. Read 'em if you want, otherwise they're mostly ignorable.

            I started out with the crusader, but switched over to the necromancer who I felt was a bit more successful (even though crusader and demoness are my main jams for class choice in this game usually). I also dropped the skill level down to 1 given how brutal the start is, and it seemed pretty hard even at that level although I see that some skill level changes do take place.

            Regarding the new monsters:
            Axeman - Love it, I always thought a swordsman to go with the archers was the obvious addition to the bestiary, this fits the role just as well and the model and skin look good.
            Wendigo - Also great. Nice model. Ice balls do look a little naff though.
            Disciple - Good for filling a unique role, though the model's only so-so I think.
            Bishop - Looks too much like the Disciple, you can hardly tell them apart when they're not attacking. Also the green attack halo looks awful. It also seems a bit buggy as per below. Those issues aside, a reasonable addition too. I'd recommend making the skin look more like the original with the blue/green robes, or at least making it look more different from the Disciple so you can tell them apart at a glance.
            Afrit - Meh. Like the bishop, the halo effect looks awful; I'm convinced that the original's fire halo can only work when it's a sprite. Also seems to have less reason for existing than any of the other new monsters, as there's too much overlap with the fire imp; difference is only that it fires three times in a row and doesn't do the charge attack?
            - While not a new monster per se, I think Shadow Wizards were evil enough without letting them summon force cubes too.

            Bugs(?):
            - Sometimes monsters are transluscent for no apparent reason. I assume it's a bug since it's different monsters that get this on different playthroughs.
            - Bishops seem to be able to phase into/through solid walls.
            - The predictable shenanigans with blood splatter and moving geometry (for instance a gore pool on the bridge in the second level becoming a floating gore pool after the bridge collapses).
            - Crusader's hammer altfire costs mana, but Necromancer's sickle altfire doesn't. Not sure if a bug or just unfair.

            Other issues:
            - A bunch of texture misalignment in the library in the first level.
            - In the same library, trying to jump from the ladders to the goodies on top of the shelves is also immensely frustrating. I managed it a couple of times but mostly either fall off the ladder without jumping or hit the edge of the upper floor and fall down.
            - Difficulty's kind of uneven. In the first level starts off kind of brutal with having to make every nugget of mana count and saving it up for the nastier enemies, then by the beginning of the third level things become kind of easy, then the end of the third level turns very hard again.
            - Monsters seem to drop special items at random (pretty sure in the original campaign it was set by the map author, and the drops were mana only in the expansion pack. I could be mistaken though). For a more leisurely difficulty this wouldn't be as much of a problem, but where resources are tight getting a good random drop seems like it can make or break a situation.
            - Demoness is not selectable. Not sure if this is on purpose or not.

            If you'd like, I could help with texture contributions and edits, too. I have a texture pack around for the original Hexen that has some variations of the bookshelves and stuff for instance.

            Keep at it!

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            • The afrit was actually a solution to a problem i had with the imps, too many in horde combat would cause them to divebomb in your path and stop you from moving. I agree he's a bit redundant but when i was using too many imps it just completely ruined the flow.

              Invisible enemies are from GoT, i think they are supposed to be special "ethereal" types but I could axe them.

              Crusader was actually the least tested, i noticed on my final testing runs that he has the most trouble of all the classes, (I was thinking of making his glyphs more powerful to compensate but I kinda got too busy, i'll be revisiting him in subsequent releases)

              You really didn't like the halos? I showed quite a few people and they all seemed to think they were cool so i kept them.

              As for the bishop, that's hexen 2/hammer of thyrion. I wanted a "companion" to the disciple like the skull wizard or knight archer has, but Hexen 2's palette has little to no vibrant greens.

              His robes are green and blue, but it is extremely muted so unless he's in clear light it's very subtle. Once HoT gets true color texture support I'd like to make more vibrant skins.

              Demoness is expansion pack, this is a vanilla mod so I'm not sure how to get her in

              Thanks for the feedback, I'll certainly note this stuff for the full version, I kinda want to expand the levels too later on. I also made some last minute revisions to the library so I'll have to take a look at it again

              My intent is for an open platform for hexen 2 creation, so any contributions are welcome
              Last edited by Bloodshot; 05-06-2017, 07:22 PM.

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              • [ame]http://youtube.com/watch?v=5TgjjsFDL6M[/ame]

                Testing invisible water + waterwarp for a swampy sludge effect

                Also tweaked the crusader, his hammer throw no longer uses mana, the ice wall does more damage and his glyphs are like the cleric, they produce an ice cloud that does damage over time and freezes enemies. Will upload a video when i can, probably patch the demo with the crusader changes

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                • Looks great man!

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                  • I've been quite sick the past few days but I recorded the new crusader glyphs

                    [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHZwcu2rKbI[/ame]

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                    • textures from all raven soft earlier games, spend a lot of time to optimize and fix it
                      Hexen:Edge of Chaos: News - my most awaiting game
                      Qtracker - for easy searching of Quake and HeXen II servers
                      HeXen II: All Source Ports List - i am collecting everything for HeXen II
                      HeXen II Files - under development
                      Me at Facebook - want play hexen2 multiplayer write me
                      hexen2 ftp
                      hexen2 maps, mods, addons, etc, torrent

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                      • -> http://heretics-hexens.ucoz.com/hexen2/RavenSoftware.7z
                        Hexen:Edge of Chaos: News - my most awaiting game
                        Qtracker - for easy searching of Quake and HeXen II servers
                        HeXen II: All Source Ports List - i am collecting everything for HeXen II
                        HeXen II Files - under development
                        Me at Facebook - want play hexen2 multiplayer write me
                        hexen2 ftp
                        hexen2 maps, mods, addons, etc, torrent

                        Comment


                        • Well bloodshot you could use the code from expansion pack
                          Dude,lets party!
                          Bring some food and drink.I got Arcane Dimensions 2.666!?!

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                          • Ok Bloodshot, I just finished it. I felt a desire for some challenge so I played on highest difficulty with crusader, who was especially useless as many of the enemies were immune to his second weapon, plus I think you modified it so it randomly shoots to sides, which I think was not the best idea as the weapon became really useless at times. However, the third weapon compensated it all.

                            Pros:
                            -Provided adrenaline action fun I missed in Hexen 2. Especially the ending was brilliant.
                            -Alternative fire mode added for missing firearms, however, I was confused. Together with Tome of Power, are there 4 weapon effects now?
                            -Plus for all the old enemies you brought back. My favourite was wendigo

                            Cons:
                            -There were bugs. Flying monsters could walk through the walls which became really frustrating, especially in the caves. Some invisible obstacles here and there (for example in the cave in front of the bridge, in the first level)
                            -I still think the axemen were just too quick. The archers shooting in trajectory of your movement were enough to counter your quick movement, though I still managed to circle through large battles.

                            Suggestions:
                            -When you base your mod on Hexen 1 fast-action gameplay, try to eliminate things that can unintentionally block the player movement. Quake/Hexen 2 engine can be really annoying when it comes to movement physics. The main problem are leaned surfaces. So no leaned stairs as the player cannot climb those, no thight, leanned spaces where player can get stuck. I also prefer when the players doesnīt slide on leaned surface, but that is the engine thing like in FTE.
                            -I would not make ice enemies completely immune to Ice staff, just more resistant.
                            -Maybe work a bit on atmosphere. There were nearly no ambience sound effects. The caves could use some wind, maybe vapours, etc...
                            -The mist in the sewers could have a bit slower animation.
                            -As you use a lot of pitfalls, which I like, maybe you could work on a proportional falling damage, with adding the falling scream effect once you fall some distance, like in Hexen 1.
                            -About the afrits. What really made them challenging in Hexen 1 was their movement. They did not shoot from one place, but made kind of a side blitz, which made it harder to avoid the missiles and also harder to hit them. Raven really outdid themselves as no other games at those times imitated flying like this.

                            Pity the crusaders glyphs didnīt make it to the release

                            So the verdict is: I want more of that With some polishing it could be really great experience.

                            I hoped I could show some of my work, but lighting my current map correctly is painfully slow process
                            Last edited by Mathuzzz; 05-15-2017, 01:42 PM.

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                            • I was actually gonna say I'm releasing a crusader patch in a bit to improve him. His ice weapon automatically gets nerfed if you make any enemy the THINGTYPE_ICE but i removed the mana drain for his hammer throw and gave him ice glyphs. The paladin and the assassin I tested the most.

                              Thanks for reminding me about the ice staff spread, I forgot to revert that change from GoT.

                              I don't know why flying monsters phase through walls, it seems to happen even with some regular hexen 2 enemies too like the angels, i might have to redesign them to stop that from happening.

                              Were the archer's arrows that bad? I kept adding more of them because i felt like they were never hitting me or the other players i played with in testing. I could see about changing the berserker speeds again, I've switched between slow and fast a lot but I could do some testing with slightly slower, i just didn't want them to slow since Hexen 2 is even easier to do movement speed glitches than quake 1.

                              Also what areas were you having movement troubles in? I tried to keep them mostly flat for large battles or in the case of the final arena, I littered the entire thing with clip brushes so the player wouldn't get stuck. I suppose if you mean the caves in level 2 i could see why, though maybe i could play around with player friction to prevent so much sliding because steps would kind of ruin the visuals of those areas.

                              As for atmosphere, well, it's something I have to wait on. HoT even with upgraded limits is still very....limiting. If you noticed the horde combat areas look very barren. That's because I was skirting the lines of the amounts of entities i could stuff in each room.

                              There's no hard limit, but there seems to be max limits in small areas, so either i have a lot of breakables, a lot of sounds and effects, or a lot of enemies. You can see this in the final arena, sometimes projectiles get stuck frozen in the air because there's too much.

                              The second level in particular was painful. The waterfall puzzle would flat out stop playing the waterfall sound right after it activated because there was too much in the level - it really stops you from being able to add everything you want.

                              Same with the thunder sound in the first level, it would cause sounds to cut out midway because it was playing so much, but i wrote new code for it so i could probably play with that at least.

                              But yeah basically until bsp2 gets merged into HoT and the developers expand the engine for it I am still stuck working around a lot of limits and i already had to delete a lot of extra entities and interactables from the levels because of it.

                              This project has kind of shown me what I have to worry about, so hopefully future maps will have a better balance of things and not as many problems

                              I'm hoping either HoT gets updated or FTE gets full Hexen 2 support one day, because I'd love to see it just as unhinged as quake and let me go all out and put everything in large maps without having to worry about it breaking things

                              Also I'd recommend giving it a try with the paladin, or the assassin. I feel like the paladin is a lot more fleshed out and interesting to play with the mod, and his sword pretty much can take down groups of berserkers surrounding him if it has mana. He is atm the most effective class at crowd control and the most playtested.

                              EDIT:

                              Also if you want to use my mod for your level I could probably make a tweaked build for you, I also added some convenience features for mappers to make certain things possible/easier (like hiding enemies until they are triggered to drop in).

                              Just shoot me a PM and i could also walk you through setting up TB with the FGD with all the models or other things too, or you could add me on steam too
                              Last edited by Bloodshot; 05-15-2017, 02:02 PM.

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                              • -Archers were actually ok, thatīs what older FPSs missed, enemies that could hit you while running/sliding. I think the berserkers speed could be tweaked at least a bit, at least on lower difficulty settings. The challenge was OK, for the highest difficulty it could have been even a bit harder, though it depends on if you want to make changes to difficulty settings + I did not tested other classes.

                                -Few times I got stuck around houses in the town areas, in the sewer hole in the first level, but mainly the caves. I know what you mean, in this case it is hard to make good looking caves/environment areas and maintain the fluid movement. I usually just make the top part of the stair narrow.

                                -The entities limit is the reason I never finished my maps before Breakables/doors disappearing... And I will have the same problem again.

                                Sure, I will contact you once I go for another mapping season
                                Though I have a break for this week as I have some other matters, so probably on the next week.

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