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KMOD 4.0 Beta 1

Mon, 07 Mar 2011 17:43:41

RambOrc

You can get KMOD4 Beta 1 here. This version is finally Vavoom-based, so bugs can actually be fixed if reported. For bug reports, use this thread. What's in this version? 1) Basic RPG system [list:37mzthdq] [*:37mzthdq]Journal[/*:m:37mzthdq] [*:37mzthdq]D&D Attribute system with 6 basic attributes[/*:m:37mzthdq] [*:37mzthdq]You get experience from killing monsters[/*:m:37mzthdq] [*:37mzthdq]Experience allows you to level up[/*:m:37mzthdq] [*:37mzthdq]Reaching a new level allows you to increase your attributes[/*:m:37mzthdq][/list:u:37mzthdq] 2) New monsters [list:37mzthdq] [*:37mzthdq]3 new types of Ettins, starting from Shadow Wood, Heresiarch's Seminary and Necropolis.[/*:m:37mzthdq] [*:37mzthdq]2 new types of Afrits, starting from Shadow Wood and Castle of Grief.[/*:m:37mzthdq] [*:37mzthdq]2 new types of Centaurs, starting from Castle of Grief and Necropolis. Also, all Centaurs have been upgraded to Slaughtaurs in Heresiarch's Seminary.[/*:m:37mzthdq] [*:37mzthdq]2 new types of Dark Bishop, starting from Castle of Grief and Necropolis.[/*:m:37mzthdq][/list:u:37mzthdq] 3) New weapon/spell UI This one is still a work in progress, but feel free to test it and give feedback.
Sun, 13 Mar 2011 22:08:47

ZedSlayer

Well this is cool, tried some levels and its going okay. I have always been a little skeptical using Vavoom since I always seem to get a random crash due to some problem with the render or something. One thing I found was this [img:1bfghe2n]http://img860.imageshack.us/img860/5416/shot0000.th.png[/img:1bfghe2n] apparently bodies are replacing stalagmite\tite whatevers
Thu, 17 Mar 2011 22:51:19

borsuk

Okay, some quick feedback. - Invert Mouse on by default is brutal ! Are you guys fans of flight simulators ? - there deffinitely is an FPS issue, although disabling advanced renderer helps a lot for me. I turned it back on for a while, because models look much uglier with plain renderer. - The models (still in Winnowing Hall) seem to be a bit of hit and miss thing. Some are good: columns (stalactite + stalagmite = column; it's cave math). Some are okay (trees), some I don't like (the lamps outside the Winnowing Hall, they're very bright, the contrast is too big and I feel I can count pixels). - the first afrit (I started as a mage) seems to run out of ammo. Then it will only fire once in a while. Is this intended ? Also, it seems to shoot a lot more while it has ammo.
Thu, 17 Mar 2011 23:54:00

borsuk

- with advanced renderer on, demon statues (seven portals) and coniferous trees (Winnowing Hall) flicker. Their brightness changes between very dark and very bright depending on my location and view angle. - The 3d torch models, like ones placed next to fireball traps in Winnowing Hall, look buggy. With advanced renderer the fire part casts moving shadow. - I haven't finished Seven Portals, but my Frost Shards still use around 20 mana and don't seem to kill an ettin in 2 shots. I think I won't use it ever, especially that Sapphire Wand can kill a serpent with 2 shots. And I don't think I'll ever use flechettes as mage. - damage skins are nice, but I've seen those before. - The bull/minotaur statue has silver color and I don't think it fits into Guardian of Steel very well. The demon statues however would look okay if it wasn't for their flickering mentioned above. - the totem/standard models would look better if the iron part wasn't so bright and shiny. - icicle models have bluish color, they don't fit the rest of ice especially well. They look kind of like they were glued to the rest. - about models in general: they seem to always face the same side. For models where it hardly matters (Icicles), randomize facing direction on spawn, or use a hash function to get constant result but variety among icicles. For more sophisticated models like statues, their facing direction can be immersion breaking. While the first demon statues at the start of Seven Portals look kind of nice (they turn their backs to you, as if curled up in corners, a bit creepy), the others no so much. I have an idea how it can be fixed - on spawn, fire a tracer (like LineAttack or a projectile) on spawn, in various directions, to determine the direction with the most free space. Face that direction. (Or at least do not face walls; reductionism). - weapon switching is weird, I spent a couple of minutes trying to figure out where did my Frost Shards go. No results in controls. Finally I found it in journal, but it still looks complicated and I don't know what these slots mean. Also, I already have Steel Key and Fire Key. Am I not supposed to get some extra wands ? - I didn't remember how to allocate stats. Players may not even know there are stats to assign. Idea: when player reaches level2 (and only level 2) print a message "Press j to increase stats". - I got used to my ettins and especially firedemons, these in this mod don't scare me :-).
Fri, 18 Mar 2011 06:27:51

Crimson Wizard

[quote="b0rsuk":moi2agx0]- Invert Mouse on by default is brutal ! Are you guys fans of flight simulators ? Sorry, I think it has my config setting there. And I am just more used to inverted mouse (although it does not have anything to do with flight simulators, just person-specific choice). [quote="b0rsuk":moi2agx0] - The models (still in Winnowing Hall) seem to be a bit of hit and miss thing. Some are good: columns (stalactite + stalagmite = column; it's cave math). Some are okay (trees), some I don't like (the lamps outside the Winnowing Hall, they're very bright, the contrast is too big and I feel I can count pixels). I must agree that the models are ugly at most. Perhaps it is better to disable them for now; we should either find better ones or not use them at all. [quote="b0rsuk":moi2agx0] - the first afrit (I started as a mage) seems to run out of ammo. Then it will only fire once in a while. Is this intended ? Also, it seems to shoot a lot more while it has ammo. You speak by riddles... do you mean afrits shoot too rarely? I'm gonna check this too. [quote="b0rsuk":moi2agx0] I got used to my ettins and especially firedemons, these in this mod don't scare me :-). I am certainly going to change this. I guess when I was writing AI, I was mostly focused on more general things, like navigation and other "advanced" stuff that was supposed to be used in SE project; silly thing is that currently our KMOD maps do not include node paths, so about half of my work is not in use yet ...
Fri, 18 Mar 2011 08:10:33

borsuk

[quote="Crimson Wizard":8egbpds8] [quote="b0rsuk":8egbpds8] - the first afrit (I started as a mage) seems to run out of ammo. Then it will only fire once in a while. Is this intended ? Also, it seems to shoot a lot more while it has ammo. You speak by riddles... do you mean afrits shoot too rarely? I'm gonna check this too. Initially they shoot very fast, but after a while when you're dodging their missiles they start to shoot very rarely. Start the game as a mage and you'll see one immediately. It may have something to do with the AI, I skipped over one AI file earlier and noticed unusually named methods (not to mention many files have different filenames). So perhaps it's because you're too close to them and they start to "avoid" you, or something. But it's very noticable. I was expecting to see new firedemons and ettins in hub2, but haven't noticed anything new. There were no slaughtaurs in Darkmere. Models and fog don't combine. In Darkmere, fog seems to affect translucent parts of models (small tree branches, leaves, standards). The result is that they look good from up close, but from far away you can clearly see white rectangles. I really like the 3D swamp tree models, they look very good except for the "white rectangle from afar" part. Stalkers are odd. When I step back, they seem to become instantly invisible and follow me in "shark mode". They can be hit in this mode despite being invisible. A bug ? Animation cut prematurely, or forgot to disable "shootable" flag ? I see you haven't fixed the bug causing Stalker Leaders to attempt shooting through walls (when player is not in sight). In vanilla, the bug is in progs/linespec/Actor.Hexen.vc method A_SerpentHumpDecide . When the code realizes the stalker has a missile state, it orders stalker to shoot. Put a CanSee(Target) check in there. I've found Timon's Axe in Wastelands, In the room with Horn Key. I'm playing as a mage. Exiting the program and reloading didn't help, I thought it was related to the "skill carries over from game to game" bug I described in the other thread.
Fri, 18 Mar 2011 08:17:51

borsuk

It seems that you haven't fixed the "dark bishop tries to shoot through walls" bug either. I described the cause and fix here: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://vavoom-engine.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=3388">http://vavoom-engine.com/forums/viewtop ... f=9&t=3388</a><!-- m --> Another issue - coniferous trees disappear when hit with any weapon (I tried Spiked Gauntlets and Sapphire Wand). No death animation.
Fri, 18 Mar 2011 08:40:42

Crimson Wizard

Well, I have what to do on the weekends <!-- s;-) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/orc9.gif" alt=";-)" title="Wink" /><!-- s;-) -->
Fri, 18 Mar 2011 09:42:32

RambOrc

Borsuk make sure you load "kmod4maps.wad" as well at startup, it contains all original Hexen maps but with the new monsters placed in hubs 2-5.
Fri, 18 Mar 2011 14:35:09

borsuk

Comments: - dart throwing ettins are marginal. If the dart was poisoned, and it did something like Target.ReactionTime = 0.5 (paralysis for half a second) maybe that would be something. - Bigger Afrits don't fit in this game... literally ! Afrits are often placed in tight spaces, and making them bigger doesn't help in the slightest. Do their projectiles travel slower ? They can curl up, but by that point I usually killed them with 1 shot. - ettins with flechette are not that bad, but it happens rarely. I know it makes little sense, but I think *afrits* with flechettes would be interesting, they would be like bombers and would rarely hit themselves. - I never needed to use the Repulsion spell, much less Discs of Repulsion or Flechettes. And my health was so big (no manual increases !), that I was never afraid. Skill 3 (second highest). - upgraded bishops are not that bad - I like new behavior rather than just damage increase. I wish there was a way to tell if they are going to respawn or not. I wish I could destroy their bodies with flechettes to prevent respawning.
Sat, 19 Mar 2011 11:53:31

Crimson Wizard

The monsters are indeed at their "alpha" development stage; some of them were made mainly as a test. Afrit Leader is simply an attempt to make some variation (perhaps unsuccessfully); ettin slingers aren't designed well enough. I think we may remove these or rework their behavior.
Sat, 19 Mar 2011 13:21:49

RambOrc

What's wrong with ettin slingers? From afar, they shoot you, from up close they engage in melee.
Sat, 19 Mar 2011 16:07:12

borsuk

[quote="RambOrc":3c1535ed]What's wrong with ettin slingers? From afar, they shoot you, from up close they engage in melee. They don't hit me unless I'm playing one-handed. And when they hit, even 25HP mage will survive it.
Sat, 26 Mar 2011 18:41:22

Crimson Wizard

I'll upload new fixed version tomorrow. Most important is that monster stucking upon reloading is fixed. I'll also fix as many other bugs as possible and implement some ai changes for a test.
Sun, 27 Mar 2011 16:20:11

Crimson Wizard

By the way, RambOrc, Dark Advisor isn't supposed to be a common monster, but rather a demi-boss like Heresiarch <!-- s:P --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/orc4.gif" alt=":P" title="Razz" /><!-- s:P --> Substituting all Bishops in Necropolis with Dark Advisor wasn't a very good idea.
Mon, 04 Apr 2011 10:09:02

Crimson Wizard

Sorry for delay, I've run on certain problems on my job and had no free time left to work on kmod. Hopefully I'll have on this week. For now I want to finish fixing monsters AI (Bishops, and maybe someone else), and also add an ability to use basic prediction for shooters.
Mon, 04 Apr 2011 10:12:51

RambOrc

Basic prediction for shooters?
Mon, 04 Apr 2011 15:58:27

Firebrand

There are some bugs with monsters physics here, I've been trying to determine the cause of them, but I've been unable to find it. When you punch monsters with the fighter, the monsters thrust back a bit, but if they find a step (no matter how high) they will "step up" to it, I think it has to do with the bCanJump flag, maybe, but I'm unsure of this, I'll be working on a small test map for this in the next couple of days and report back if I fix something.
Mon, 04 Apr 2011 16:11:52

Crimson Wizard

[quote="RambOrc":2vbb5dgn]Basic prediction for shooters? I mean, ability to predict where target goes and shoot there. [quote="Firebrand":2vbb5dgn]When you punch monsters with the fighter, the monsters thrust back a bit, but if they find a step (no matter how high) they will "step up" to it, I think it has to do with the bCanJump flag, maybe, but I'm unsure of this Definitely not, bCanJump is not yet implemented, it has no effect on game at all.
Sat, 09 Apr 2011 12:33:38

Crimson Wizard

Firebrand, can you please make an internal build for testing latest changes? At the moment I cannot compile latest vavoom version for certain reasons. EDIT: [quote="Crimson Wizard":1b2y6xqb] [quote="Firebrand":1b2y6xqb]When you punch monsters with the fighter, the monsters thrust back a bit, but if they find a step (no matter how high) they will "step up" to it, I think it has to do with the bCanJump flag, maybe, but I'm unsure of this Definitely not, bCanJump is not yet implemented, it has no effect on game at all. Woops, I found that there's already a bCanJump flag in Entity class... how did it allow me to add similar flag to IntelligentActor then? :/ Weird.
Sun, 10 Apr 2011 15:57:08

Firebrand

The internal release is available on KDev, here: [url:3earu2m2]http://orcishweb.com/downloads/koraxdev/KMod4/KoraxRPG_20110410.zip I'm still working on the new exp values for enemies, once they are ready for testing, I'll upload a new internal release.
Sat, 23 Apr 2011 21:07:02

Crimson Wizard

Firebrand keeps leaving the forums for couple of weeks every time after update <!-- s:P --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/orc4.gif" alt=":P" title="Razz" /><!-- s:P --> If he won't appear tomorrow I'll make a new public beta build myself. Meanwhile, any new bugs found in the internal build? PS. I am still confused by stalactite bug, I thought I fixed it, but it reappears again...
Sun, 24 Apr 2011 12:15:42

RambOrc

Yeah, feel free to make any updated beta any time you have something to show, I'll check it. As for the stalactites, I thought it's related to them being models and the model not showing up, or?
Fri, 29 Apr 2011 09:58:32

RambOrc

Continued in Beta 2 thread: <!-- l --><a class="postlink-local" href="http://www.korax-heritage.com/board/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=2256">viewtopic.php?f=19&t=2256</a><!-- l -->

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