Shades of Doom v4.1 (07-09-23)

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eharper256
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Re: Shades of Doom v1.2 - More, more, more!!! (05/20/18)

Post by eharper256 »

Neophyte_Ronin wrote:With Chaos Mode, the plethora of similar-but-different-in-feel enemies lends unpredictability to a game, especially when picking a level pack you're unfamiliar with. You know there's a creature there, but you're unsure of what caste it is and how hard it will attack, especially when you're starting out. This changes your tactics. Chaos Mode is great for keeping you on your toes. And since it approximates vanilla play, there's no actual balancing issue except for the lack of insight into what you're beholding.
I agree. Chaos Mode is the way to play at the moment. The themes are fun; but the chaos really keeps you on your toes; and it also makes hellspawn in general feel like a chaotic mess of creatures, something I always imagine them to be. Especially with Champions added in with about an 8-10% spawn rate (I was scared shitless by a Black Fusion Arachnotron and a Yellow Eyeless Demon as part of an ambush trap last night, and that was great fun). And that damn Imp that looks exactly like an Archvile scares me everytime and I always overkill it needlessly (lol).

The only thing that really gets on my nerves is seeing Xenomorphs from Alien, Greys and 'alien' zombies (like 'Alpha Centauri Soldier' and 'Catharsi'). Somehow those don't feel like they fit in with the others as they're clear aliens rather than demonspawn. (which, I know, technically some canon basically states aliens==demons in doom, but I don't know, it just gets to me). If there's one feature I'd like, it would a 'Demonspawn only plz' setting.

Also, just to encourage you: I always appreciate weapon patches. (Remember I was the idiot needing the Argent patch, lol). In fact, I'd also love some insane compatibility with Legendoom monsters as well as I'm sure you know. XD

One other thing whilst I'm here: do you need to use the SoD_Gore with Universal Gibs? What exactly does the Gore patch do? I always run it but I'm actually not sure. XD
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Re: Shades of Doom v1.2 - More, more, more!!! (05/20/18)

Post by Cyanide »

eharper256 wrote:The only thing that really gets on my nerves is seeing Xenomorphs from Alien, Greys and 'alien' zombies (like 'Alpha Centauri Soldier' and 'Catharsi'). Somehow those don't feel like they fit in with the others as they're clear aliens rather than demonspawn. (which, I know, technically some canon basically states aliens==demons in doom, but I don't know, it just gets to me). If there's one feature I'd like, it would a 'Demonspawn only plz' setting.
The option to switch off certain monsters has been suggested before. To satisfy all needs, I'd have to make it possible to toggle every single one of the 238 monster on or off. It's too much work for a feature I don't want myself, so unfortunatly I won't be doing it.
eharper256 wrote:Also, just to encourage you: I always appreciate weapon patches. (Remember I was the idiot needing the Argent patch, lol). In fact, I'd also love some insane compatibility with Legendoom monsters as well as I'm sure you know. XD
I've tried a whole bunch of stuff on my end, but I can't get Shades of Doom to work with Legendoom. :( I would also really like to have them be compatible, and I haven't stopped trying to make that happen. :)
eharper256 wrote:One other thing whilst I'm here: do you need to use the SoD_Gore with Universal Gibs? What exactly does the Gore patch do? I always run it but I'm actually not sure. XD
The SoD_Gore thing is just a decoration randomizer. It reskins the corpses, hanging bodies, trees, etc. It is not needed at all, but the theres a small non-important HUD Message that won't occur without it. ;)
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Re: Shades of Doom v1.2 - More, more, more!!! (05/20/18)

Post by Whoah »

Just curious, what exactly does the stealth file do again?
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Re: Shades of Doom v1.2 - More, more, more!!! (05/20/18)

Post by Cyanide »

Whoah wrote:Just curious, what exactly does the stealth file do again?
It adds the stealth versions of all applicable monsters. They are invisible until damaged or when they attack. They are hardly ever used though...
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Re: Shades of Doom v1.2 - More, more, more!!! (05/20/18)

Post by Dr_Cosmobyte »

I don't like Chaos Mode because it is tooooo much for me. I like playing it stage by stage with different enemies because it looks like a different enemy pack everytime and doesn't get tiresome so easily.

And i must confess. I just find that white android shotgunner to be awful, not to disrespect the creator :p
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Re: Shades of Doom v1.2 - More, more, more!!! (05/20/18)

Post by Cyanide »

GAA1992 wrote:I don't like Chaos Mode because it is tooooo much for me. I like playing it stage by stage with different enemies because it looks like a different enemy pack everytime and doesn't get tiresome so easily.
I only ever play with Chaos Mode when playing 1 Monster Wad. :lol:
GAA1992 wrote:And i must confess. I just find that white android shotgunner to be awful, not to disrespect the creator :p
Yeah, that one does look a bit strange. I'll see if I can find another shotgunner to replace him.
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eharper256
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Re: Shades of Doom v1.2 - More, more, more!!! (05/20/18)

Post by eharper256 »

Just a quick note that Shades messes up the new version of Guncaster (3.0): all enemies are supposed to drop gems and gold as loot for our dragon protagonist, but unfortunately this doesn't happen; might well be its tied to specific monsters dying or suchlike. Any chance of this being looked at and a patch being issued?
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Re: Shades of Doom v1.2 - More, more, more!!! (05/20/18)

Post by Cyanide »

eharper256 wrote:Just a quick note that Shades messes up the new version of Guncaster (3.0): all enemies are supposed to drop gems and gold as loot for our dragon protagonist, but unfortunately this doesn't happen; might well be its tied to specific monsters dying or suchlike. Any chance of this being looked at and a patch being issued?
I don't think Guncaster ever worked with Shades. :?

But...

As I've promised, I'll start working on a patch for Guncaster 3.0. Actually, I've already started. There's a problem with changing the bloodcolor of Guncasters gore, which I don't really know if I'm able to fix. I'll give it one hell of a shot, tho. I'm hoping for a release before August.
On top of that, I've found a bunch of monsters I'll add. 12 to be specific. This will bring the monster count to a 250 (including Spectres). Is that enough monsters?
Spoiler:
As for the expanded bestiary, I don't know if I'll make a seperate version for those, as they take an ungodly amount of time for me to add. :lol:
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Re: Shades of Doom v1.2 - More, more, more!!! (05/20/18)

Post by eharper256 »

Cyanide wrote:
eharper256 wrote:Just a quick note that Shades messes up the new version of Guncaster (3.0): all enemies are supposed to drop gems and gold as loot for our dragon protagonist, but unfortunately this doesn't happen; might well be its tied to specific monsters dying or suchlike. Any chance of this being looked at and a patch being issued?
I don't think Guncaster ever worked with Shades. :?

But...

As I've promised, I'll start working on a patch for Guncaster 3.0. Actually, I've already started. There's a problem with changing the bloodcolor of Guncasters gore, which I don't really know if I'm able to fix. I'll give it one hell of a shot, tho. I'm hoping for a release before August.
On top of that, I've found a bunch of monsters I'll add. 12 to be specific. This will bring the monster count to a 250 (including Spectres). Is that enough monsters?
Spoiler:
As for the expanded bestiary, I don't know if I'll make a seperate version for those, as they take an ungodly amount of time for me to add. :lol:
Wow, I wasn't actually expecting anything, as I assumed it would be quite an undertaking, so that's amazing, thanks.

In general it doesn't play nice with monster mods (ColourfulHell has the same issue as Shades, and Champions flat out crashes GZDoom if combined with GC), and considering how OP Cyg is, he wants an upgraded bestiary more than anything, although that's partially now addressed as the mod has internal damage multipliers.

I guess 1.3's subtitle needs to be 'MOAR, MOAR, MOAR!!!!!' :lol:
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Re: Shades of Doom v1.2 - More, more, more!!! (05/20/18)

Post by eharper256 »

One other I've noticed when testing and reviewing people's map's over at Doomworld: I have a suspicion that Shades of Doom (on Chaos Mode at least for sure) does not respect any triggers attached to a monster on a Map when it replaces one creature with another variant.

Some custom maps have door openings and sector risings, especially, that seem to be tied to certain creature deaths, and Shades seems to break them, possibly because their triggers are expecting a certain creature type? I don't encounter this all the time, so I could be wrong, but thought I'd point it out.
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Re: Shades of Doom v1.2 - More, more, more!!! (05/20/18)

Post by Cyanide »

eharper256 wrote:One other I've noticed when testing and reviewing people's map's over at Doomworld: I have a suspicion that Shades of Doom (on Chaos Mode at least for sure) does not respect any triggers attached to a monster on a Map when it replaces one creature with another variant.

Some custom maps have door openings and sector risings, especially, that seem to be tied to certain creature deaths, and Shades seems to break them, possibly because their triggers are expecting a certain creature type? I don't encounter this all the time, so I could be wrong, but thought I'd point it out.
You're right. Shades of Doom breaks most WADs with scripts tied to monsters. I think it's possible to fix the issue by recreating the entire mod in ZScript. But that is waaay beyond my capabilities. :(
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Re: Shades of Doom v1.2 - More, more, more!!! (05/20/18)

Post by delroku »

say, i loaded everything like the main post says on ZDL but when i try to play is just vanilla doom, like... no new menus, no new enemies, no nothing. just your good ol DOOM 2
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Re: Shades of Doom v1.2 - More, more, more!!! (05/20/18)

Post by eharper256 »

delroku wrote:say, i loaded everything like the main post says on ZDL but when i try to play is just vanilla doom, like... no new menus, no new enemies, no nothing. just your good ol DOOM 2
Then you either did something wrong or your download failed. It definately works. Try the usual types of troubleshooting, dragging and dropping SoD.pk3 onto the GZDoom.exe and seeing if its fine. If it is, then the ZDL is set up wrong. And you have unzipped the download, right?
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Re: Shades of Doom v1.2 - More, more, more!!! (05/20/18)

Post by Cyanide »

It's been a while since I've updated you guys. I've been way too busy with work and personal stuff to finish the Guncaster patch. (Gotta learn to NOT post deadlines for stuff...)
On top of that, QC:DE has been updated a bunch of times, which has resulted in my patch not working correctly anymore. Gotta do that one again. I'm gonna check the other patches and see if they also need updates.

Now for a bigger thing. The way Shades is coded makes it really time consuming to add more monsters. At least as long as the themes are a thing. And that's the "bigger thing" I'm talking about. The themes don't really do anything other than force specific monsters to appear. I'm thinking of gutting that entire thing, in order to make it easier for me to add new enemies. How does that sound to you guys?
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Re: Shades of Doom v1.2 - More, more, more!!! (05/20/18)

Post by Someone64 »

I personally would like the change in the spawning system to prioritize map compatibility. The themes never even triggered that often for me and when they did, it wasn't too interesting so I'd be indifferent to their removal.
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