Hideous Destructor 4.10.0b

[Matt]

LG: Noted on all counts. The alt reloading thing was a holdover from an old implementation where it would be available as an inventory option that disappears when used so I wouldn't need to get people to bind a new key. Will be changed globally for all weapons next update.

Eric: That's the water warping thing - I don't know how to get that to work right and adding "optional" after the flat definitions just gives me a syntax error at the warp2 lines. No idea how to fix that, so unless someone tells me how I'm afraid all the water warping code is gone for the next update.

[Matt]

I'll take the silence as assent to post this NEW UPDATE! in time for the last day of the long weekend.

Changes:

• Bugfix: Expanded the zombie distance/aim thing to NPC marines.
• Bugfix: Liquid warping crashed on Doom 1 due to missing textures.
• Bugfix: Forgot to add SMG to HUD arms displays.
• Bugfix: SMG had a reference to a non-existent frame in its "nothing to do, move along" reload abort animation.
• Bugfix: The actor used to control alternate reloads would be taken away every so often, making it impossible to combine mags for the SMG.
• Added proper TEXTURES definitions so the hole on the SMG mag isn't twice as wide as the one on the pistol mag.
• Tweaked SMG mag-merge sequence. Hopefully the audio cue is a little better at indicating what is going on.
• Slowed down the rifle-jackboot's attack rate somewhat.
• Increased Thunder Buster ammo usage slightly.
• Pistol sights may now be used while you have the lite-amps on.
• Changed BFG, chainsaw and chaingun bobbing to Doom-style.
• Some cosmetic mapinfo stuff.

[Abba Zabba]

I was checking some of the actors and noticed chaingunners and lost souls don't heal; every other natural (non cybernetically enhanced) monster heals, why don't these guys?

Also there's one more SMG animation missing a frame: it's the "no more mags" one, where if you hit reload when there's no mags but still some rounds left in the weapon, he removes the magazine and adds it to the loose round bag.

[Matt]

Chaingunners: omission. (The other zombies only heal in their chase-wander-out-of-sight states and no such state was ever added for the chaingunner.) I'll add something in for next Monday.

Skulls: never thought to do it, they seem so awfully unsustainable and doomed anyway.

[Arek_PL]

i tried this mod again after long time and this smg is realy powerfull zombieman with it is big threat like pistol its nice backup weapon but it can be realy good main weapon too

[Slax]

Had a little thinkypoo regarding the pump-action shotgun action.

Idea: Complex pump
Holding alt-fire will pull back the pump and keep it like that. Small wobble as you pull back.
Releasing alt-fire completes the pump action and the gun's ready to fire. Here's where the magic happens.

Complementary video. Note how he's on target as he completes the pump. Would be nice if the game had something like this. Some sort of (limited) snappy auto-aim as you pump, maybe? HDguy's probably toting full on buckshot so the kick's gonna be more severe than what's in the video, but still. You'd be able to do some serious damage if firing with planted feet, fully aiming.

Oh, and why not add a semi-auto variant of the shotgun? Got different rifles so why not the same for shotguns.

[Abba Zabba]

It would like a semi-auto shotgun, but I don't know what cons it would have. Having all weapons the player picks up (besides derps and and berserks or other more abstract weapons) stay in the game world like the rifles instead of being deleted from existence simply because it has no more ammo would be a better aesthetic change.

I was thinking about the ninja pirate and ways to make it not as cheap as it still is. The main thing about it that gets me is that they can enter their cloak state without being damaged (i.e. when they're wandering) is a big no no. The feeling of terror you get when the gnarly pink giant pink pops up and makes that loud WRAWL sound when you haven't even saw it uncloaked yet is just the worst.

After that, the way they cloak needs some work. I thought of the cloak and dagger and dead ringer, and liked the idea of having the specter run on two types of cloak: good cloak (completely invisible) and bad cloak (how it flickers atm when it's far away but twice as much). When you hit a specter hard enough for it to cloak, it has say 7 seconds of good cloak. Once it runs out of good cloak, it will switch to bad cloak indefinitely, until it's either eventually killed or uncloaks. Uncloaking resets the 7 seconds. This way, patient players that can kill a NP without a double barrel if they can keep it on a wild-goose chase long enough. If this nerfed the NP too much, I thought of giving it another behavior like that of the CnD, waiting in a spot. The code you set up for the NP to flee could have an extra bit on the end where it stays perfectly still in one spot, and only becomes mobile again when it's health and cloak are full. When it stops it uses good cloak again, and begins to recharge equal to the amount of time it sits. Bumping into it while it's doing this and it will uncloak and maul the shit out of you like normal. Shooting it will make it run away all over again. So in essence, it would make the monster more self-conservative and a threat that's a hassle (like now) unless you specially handle it.

[Slax]

Semi-auto shotguns are more "floaty". More muzzle rise, from my experience. Muzzle goes up, everything else sorta drops. Side-by-side and (this is just a guess) pump-action is more stable. Just a big kick, very little rise.

Another thing I'd like to see in HD is a harder hitting rifle. Basically a marksman rifle. Heavy round, semi-auto. The semi-auto assault rifle doesn't seem powerful enough at times. Plus, DAT ARMOR PIERCING.

[Big C]

Another thing I'd like to see in HD is a harder hitting rifle. Basically a marksman rifle. Heavy round, semi-auto. The semi-auto assault rifle doesn't seem powerful enough at times. Plus, DAT ARMOR PIERCING.

The Liberator rifle in semi-auto fits the bill pretty well.

[Slax]

...oh.

Only ever gotten that with cheating. I am a fool.

[Big C]

As for semi-auto shotguns, just my personal opinion but between the Hunter and the Slayer, you've got:

-2 shells in the Slayer, that you can fire off as fast as you'd like.
-8 shells in the Hunter that you can BAM-chicka-BAM in short order.
-12 shells on backup in both of them for a quick reload.

I think that if 10 rounds of double-aught buck don't take down your target, your problem isn't that you're using enough shotgun, your problem is that you should probably be using a bigger gun period.

That much said, if Vaecrius were to add an autoshotgun, I think it would be high-capacity and low-mobility, due to how heavy such a beast would need to be. (Think the AA12 shotgun.)

[Slax]

The "problem" with full-auto shotguns is the recoil in a realism vs. gameplay argument. A strong man can easily empty an AA-12 full auto... one-handed! The recoil handling on that gun is absolutely ludicrous. I'm sure there's some video on the youtubes. Same with the USAS-12. It's made for what it does and it does it well. Being slow doesn't matter so much considering the firepower it and you can dole out. Dunno what such shotguns are used for in real life but emptying a 20-round drum into something is pretty crazy. Too much gun for it to be allowed existence! Especially in a game. How to balance? What do?

[Arek_PL]

i do not fell need for auto/semi-auto shotguns because normal shotgun is realy fast alslo pumping make your aim go down so its easier to control recoil only reload is not too fast

maybe its nice idea to add something like HSG-1 shotgun from killing floor, alt reload will combine 5 shells in 5 round magazine with max of 3 will spawn rarely in place of ssg and will be in place of normal shotgun in inventory and no 12 sheels of backup because you got 15 (3 shells more!) reload must be fast like rifle if its too op maybe give it bigger spread

[Toberone]

A semi-auto would be a poor idea Imo, it removes the element of risk the shotguns are suppose to possess.

Only way that I can see it working is 1. Shit load of recoil (and I mean a shit load, which would be kinda lame.) 2. poor fire rate (which would be lame) 3. bad damage (as msx has shown, this is also lame.)

[Morcillete]

I think that the arsenal right now seems quite complete for the kind of way-of-the-gunish gameplay this mods pretends to offer.
Adding a semi-auto shotgun feels unnecessary. With the hunter and some skill (that I don't have) that role is covered. Also the weapon change from the slayer to the hunter is so fast that you can make three fast shots with almost no effort. However if the semiauto shotgun idea goes on, I suggest making it a hunter variation (with the same mechanics as the rifle variations I mean). Having three shotguns at the same time feels ridiculous.
About the auto-shotgun thing, I just feel it could be gameplay breaking.

And just some ideas based on the last time I played this (well the last time I played anything xD) a few weeks ago:

About the actual differences between the different rifle versions, I think the full auto rifle is a bit too nerfed. IMHO the difference between civilian semi-auto and military full-auto should just be that the full-auto version is just better. No reason for a bigger jamming probability. If you first find a semi-auto you will spend some time trying to find the better full-auto version for CQB. That's it, no need to give you a reason to keep the semi auto version. Although I find this mod pretty well balance, I think there is no need to make all the weapons useful. I don't get the idea of making civilian versions useful over military ones. Other thing would be to make a sharpshooter dedicated version of the rifle with longer barrel, semi-auto fire and blahblahblah but I don't think that is useful either due to the typical engagement distances in doom maps being too short.

And the last idea is about the heating. I don't know if it's a problem of the version of HD I used, but whenever I started to shoot some long bursts with the rifle in full-auto mode, I ended up with the gun shooting the rest of the clip on its own. If it is supposed to be that way I think it feels a bit excessive. I think you should be able to, at least, fire a full magazine in with reliable controlled fire. May be not more in order to leave the chaingun an important role to play in sustained fire battles.