[v1.0.0] ARGENT - The Streamlined Doom 4 Mod

[Xaser]

Yeah. My bad. It was actually my fault. I was using a mutator for disabling hitscan attacks, and Spidermastermind's actor was replaced . I should have seen it coming.

Yep, that would do it. Good to know there aren't any unintentional ghosts in the machine.

On a different note, I've finished up translating and refactoring most of the ACS/DECORATE stuff to ZScript -- all the ACS bits except the plasma stun bomb and the hudmessages for the mod menu are done in ZScript now, and the code's waaaay cleaner. Mostly a behind-the-scenes development, but I was able to fix a few known issues in the process and development ought to be way smoother from here on out now that everything's under a sturdier roof. Merge is still pending until I oust a couple of minor bugs, but it's pretty darn close.

[Finder153]

You should add multiplayer weapons in the future!

[Xaser]

Though I love the idea, That's gonna be a post-release thing, as it's not an easy undertaking. Making sprites for all the planned mod-fires is the biggest obstacle, naturally.

Since we're on the topic, the second big problem I'd need to solve gameplay-wise for a multiplayer weapon "expansion pack" is where exactly to add the new guns to the game (i.e. drops, etc). One of the key project goals is to avoid all "randomizer mod" tropes, so this gets exceedingly tricky when there's more weapons than Doom's arsenal (I'm already having to make bosses drop Gauss/Chaingun -- where do we add all the other drops? ). Anyone got some initial suggestions? Curious to know what folks think ought to be done here.

[DrPyspy]

I have a suggestion based on a system I've adopted. As an example, if the player already has the Heavy Machine Gun, the Chaingun could be spawned in its place. For weapons that do not share ammo pools, ammo for the replaced weapon could be placed there as well.

[TechnoDoomed1]

Why don't you replace powerups? Most of them are not even that useful: blursphere & night vision goggles come to mind, maybe even berserker (though that one is trickier, it would have to be changed in a way that does not upset the balance of maps that depend on it and don't give away other weapons and/or ammo).

Most powerups could be safely changed to spawn the new weapons instead, with little negative impact in gameplay. The goggles are just useful in pitch-black situations, and the blursphere effect is universally reviled by the community.

[Princess Viscra Maelstrom]

the powerups ARE replaced, though. Blursphere is Quad Damage, another one is Haste, you can set Soulsphere to be replaced by Regen if you want.

[TechnoDoomed1]

I don't know which ones are replaced by what, I only play this mod from time to time.

Maybe there are still one or two powerups that haven't been replaced yet, otherwise it's going to be more problematic than I thought. Hmm... another approach could be to create sequential spawners: instead of randomly spawning a weapon from a roster, it would spawn the first one if you don't have it yet, then the second, etc. DrPyspy already suggested that approach, and it seems like it would work quite nicely.

Yet another approach would be to make other monsters spawn these weapons on-death, like it has been done in Argent so far with the Chaingun and the Gauss Cannon. Arachnotrons could drop the Plasma Rifle on death, so that the Plasma Rifle normal weapon spawn could be changed for another weapon.

[Xaser]

I'm liking this "sequential spawn" idea. I'll noodle it for a bit.

I don't want to overload things with too many monster drops, but I suppose an obvious thing to do is make Sergeants and Chaingun guys drop different weapons than whatever spawns in-map for chaingun/shotgun, so that's two free-ish slots.

[Carbine Dioxide]

I would suggest having shotgun guys drop the combat shotgun and the in map spawn of the shotgun would be a super shotgun. If you really wanted to, that way you could have an open slot for the super shotgun spawner for something like the heavy assault rifle or the chain gun spawner be a plasma gun of sorts, and then have the plasma gun spawner be a gauss cannon.

[TechnoDoomed1]

The Cyberdemon already drops the Gauss Cannon on death, and in my opinion it's quite fitting. If only the Cyberdemon had a laser attack like in Doom 2016, that would be even better, but monsters in this mod are largely untouched (to provide better compatibility with monster mods, I guess). Still, if full compability with those is ever an issue, the suggestion of having the Gauss Cannon replace the supershotgun spawner is not a bad one.

[Atendega]

I don't want to beat the metaphorical dead horse, but would you consider at least the option to use the updated SSG sprites? I honestly think the old ones are kind of gross, and they certainly don't look like the actual SSG from Doom 2016.

[Xaser]

I don't wish to give a hard "no", because who knows if my mind may change in the future (or if there's an overwhelming community voice for the change), but it's not in the plan and it'd be a low-priority change even if it was. Apologies for the inertia, but I quite like the old sprites. :<

BTW, I hadn't announced it, but this mod is fully ZScript now in git-land. :O

[Atendega]

Ah well. I just think it's kind of odd that a mod whose purpose is to replace the classic Doom weapons with their 2016 versions instead replaces one of them with something completely different It's my only real quibble with this mod, which is otherwise far more polished than other available options, imo.

In any case, geez, that Zscript-ening happened impressively fast!

[Xaser]

It took a bit longer than I'd like -- real-life and other projects stole a bit of time -- but it's seriously improved the quality of the code (and, partially, my sanity). Already managed to knock out a few bugs in the conversion process, and now there's a much better base to build features on. Proper Haste powerup, anyone?

On the SSG, I added a poll to the OP. May as well actually ask folks what they think.

[SyntherAugustus]

Very much in favor. The updated ones have much more character.