The Wayfarer's Tome: a standalone gameplay mod for Heretic

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Not Jabba
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The Wayfarer's Tome: a standalone gameplay mod for Heretic

Post by Not Jabba »



The Wayfarer's Tome is a standalone gameplay mod that lets you use the gameplay rebalance from The Wayfarer with any standard Heretic map. Although the rebalance was designed primarily as a base for creating new maps, I've found it to be enjoyable with any well-designed Heretic map. Hopefully you will too!

How does it play with Heretic.wad?
Heretic has mixed quality when it comes to level design, and a gameplay mod isn't able to address all those issues. However, playing with the mod does improve the pace of the game and keeps the combat from dragging. I think it's worth playing Heretic with the mod, especially if you didn't like the game much in the past but want to give it another shot. E1 is super quick and breezy with all the fodder enemies, and the tougher maps in E3-E5 are generally more fun as well. E4M1 is still nonsense. If you play continuous, you'll often end up with enormous amounts of ammo and armor, so consider using Wand starts if you're looking for more of a challenge.

What do you recommend playing with the mod?
I've tested the following maps and mapsets with The Wayfarer's Tome, and I would highly recommend all of them (with or without the mod, but especially with).

-Elf Gets Pissed*
-Realm of Parthoris
-Curse of D'Sparil*
-Icebound
-Templum Dormiens Dei
-Dark Deity's Bastion
-Where Serpents Ever Dwell
-UnBeliever*

*Requires a patch, which is included with the release. Load files in the following order: the mapset you're playing, then wtome_sa.wad, then the patch. The patches are as follows:
-wtome_egp.wad: Elf Gets Pissed
-wtome_cod.wad: Curse of D'Sparil
-wtome_ub.wad: UnBeliever

Gameplay changes from Heretic:
The Wayfarer's Tome adds a variety of mostly minor tweaks to Heretic, which are intended to make the gameplay smoother, improve the overall balance, fix a few weird design choices that could be considered features but are probably bugs, and so on. The main goal of these design changes is to make the game a bit more fast-paced and fun to play. The following is a complete list of changes.
Spoiler:
Credits:
Spoiler:
Last edited by Not Jabba on Fri Nov 19, 2021 5:41 pm, edited 11 times in total.
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Hipnotic Rogue
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Re: The Wayfarer's Tome: a standalone gameplay mod for Heret

Post by Hipnotic Rogue »

Cool beans! Can't wait to give it a try. :)
Not Jabba
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Re: The Wayfarer's Tome: a standalone gameplay mod for Heret

Post by Not Jabba »

Here is Beta 2

Changes from B1:
-D'Sparil's first form now has a pain chance of 25, like a Maulotaur. His second form has a pain chance of zero. This is primarily to keep him from being stunlocked by the Tomed Phoenix Rod.
-The mod now includes a KEYCONF lump, which adds a section to the Configure Controls menu in ZDoom/GZDoom that lets you bind keys for every artifact in your inventory.
-Nearly all of the sprite fixes from the Heretic Minor Sprite Fixing Project are bundled into the mod, as is the widescreen-friendly status bar.
-Fixed all the missing dynamic lights I could find; this includes Tomed and un-Tomed weapon projectiles, ammo pickups, enemy projectiles, and the Iron Lich's death sequence. I think everything is accounted for, but let me know if you see anything that's missing lights.

In addition, I played Dark Deity's Bastion and added it to the recommended maps list.

Still to do (these will probably be on the backburner for awhile):
-Patches for specific mapsets.
-Menu option to replace Firemace with Lightbringer.
-Making enemy melee attacks pass through ghosts. This may be messier than it sounds, as it will potentially screw up a lot of enemy infighting, and I may not end up implementing it until I eventually convert to ZScript.
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hybridial
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Re: The Wayfarer's Tome: a standalone gameplay mod for Heret

Post by hybridial »

Hey, I've been playing a bit with this mod and also played the first level of the maps you made and took a quick look at the second. It's all quality work, and Heretic deserves more appreciation than it's had over the years. I actually want to suggest, if it can be done, that the Lightbringer could be added in properly as it would be cool to have an extra weapon, and I actually liked using it way more than I thought it would.

Also, glad its just not me that finds the first level of the Ossuary to be like Hell Beneath only this time it's not messing around. A pox on that level. :x
Not Jabba
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Re: The Wayfarer's Tome: a standalone gameplay mod for Heret

Post by Not Jabba »

Beta 3 is ready!

This release of Waytome includes a patch for Curse of D'Sparil (wtome_cod.wad), which fixes the custom status bar graphics. Without the patch, parts of the status bar are overwritten by the widescreen-friendly status bar graphics. The mapset is totally playable without it, though.

Other changes from Beta 2:
-A menu option has been added that replaces the Firemace with the Lightbringer and all Firemace ammo with equivalent Lightbringer ammo. I make no guarantees that any map will be properly balanced if you do this; it's just for fun.
-The firing and impact sounds for the Phoenix Rod have been replaced with ones that sound more powerful.
-The firing sound for the Lightbringer has been replaced with a better one.
-Fixed the Tomed Phoenix Rod not making sound when it fired.
-The faux-brightmaps for weapon/ammo pickups are no longer offset incorrectly in OpenGL.
Not Jabba
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Re: The Wayfarer's Tome: a standalone gameplay mod for Heret

Post by Not Jabba »

Slight update to Beta 3b, which includes a patch for Ryath's UnBeliever.
Ixcuazl
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Re: The Wayfarer's Tome: a standalone gameplay mod for Heret

Post by Ixcuazl »

Hey, all. Sorry for the necromancy, but I did a thing.

See, it occurred to me lately that I've never actually finished Heretic. It's just kinda lacking, you know? So I went fishing for gameplay mods, and in the end it came down to this or Brutal Heretic/Heretical Doom, (since I'd tried Heretical Doom before and that's pretty good, if a bit over the top at times). In the end I preferred the relative elegance (and balance) of this one (and the fact that it's compatible with RPG-Lite) but there was exactly one thing from the other one I rather missed: altfires.

So I did some surgery, plus some tinkering.

>> Wayfarer's Tome, with altfires.

Changes:
Spoiler:
Anyway. Thanks for the good mod, OP. Hope you don't mind.
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m8f
 
 
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Re: The Wayfarer's Tome: a standalone gameplay mod for Heret

Post by m8f »

Bug report: if Wayfarer's Tome is loaded last, its MAPINFO lump removes any installed event handlers.
Solution: just replace EventHandlers command with AddEventHandlers.
Took me a while to understand why certain addons didn't work with The Wayfarer's Tome.
This is also an issue in The Wayfarer.

Also, more of a nitpick: I don't mind graphics being converted to PNG and therefore palette-locked. There is probably a reason behind that. But if FLTWAWA* remained paletted, all water textures would be compatible with HeresyPal, which is like a new coat of paint for an old game.

Edit: And, of course, thank you for making The Wayfarer and The Wayfarer's Tome! It definitely improves the gameplay for Heretic, perfectly fulfilling its "didn't like the game much in the past but want to give it another shot" role!
Last edited by m8f on Mon Mar 02, 2020 11:06 am, edited 1 time in total.
Not Jabba
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Re: The Wayfarer's Tome: a standalone gameplay mod for Heret

Post by Not Jabba »

m8f wrote:Bug report: if Wayfarer's Tome is loaded last, its MAPINFO lump removes any installed event handlers.
Solution: just replace EventHandlers command with AddEventHandlers.
Took me a while to understand why certain addons didn't work with The Wayfarer's Tome.
This is also an issue in The Wayfarer.

Also, more of a nitpick: I don't mind graphics being converted to PNG and therefore palette-locked. There is probably a reason behind that. But if FLTWAWA* remained paletted, all water textures would be compatible with HeresyPal, which is like a new coat of paint for an old game.
Thanks for the report. I'll do an update soon, since the event handler and the Lightbringer ripper are both significant issues. There shouldn't be any event handler problem with The Wayfarer itself, since it doesn't use event handlers, but if you're having issues with it for some other reason that's easily fixable, let me know. I'll also add in the palette-compatible graphics -- Reaper already gave them to me.
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m8f
 
 
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Re: The Wayfarer's Tome: a standalone gameplay mod for Heret

Post by m8f »

Great!

Took a second look at The Wayfarer - indeed, it doesn't have this issue. Probably a glitch in my head.
Not Jabba
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Re: The Wayfarer's Tome: a standalone gameplay mod for Heret

Post by Not Jabba »

Hi all. Time for Beta 4!

Changes from Beta 3b:
-Fixed the KEYCONF, so all inventory hotkeys will work properly.
-Fixed the non-Tomed Lightbringer's projectile ripper/bounce (thanks to Ixcuazl for the correct flags).
-Fixed Event Handlers, so Waytome can work properly in combination with mapsets and other mods that use ZScript (thanks to m8f).
-All graphics converted to Doom format, to support custom palettes (thanks to ReaperAA).
-The Disciple's Sigil drop doesn't count toward item percentage, in case they get dropped in unreachable locations.

Still to do:
-Menu option to replace D'Sparil with a selection of custom bosses (for use with non-iwad episodes where you value your headcanon and don't feel like fighting the same villain over and over again).
-Patches for Faithless and sequels, the Dr. Chaos series, Quest for the Crystal Skulls (if needed), and Masters of Chaos.
-Lots of new content, including an expanded bestiary and inventory, which will be released as a resource pack along with the mod.
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Xtyfe
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Re: The Wayfarer's Tome: a standalone gameplay mod for Heret

Post by Xtyfe »

I implemented the Lightbringer into a private mod for myself and I noticed some things that you may want to review with it.

I changed the offsets of the sprites LTBR FGHIJKLMNO to -92, -94. I also changed line 1100 of the decorate, which would be the final line of the powered Lightbringer, to "Goto Ready +4".

I believe these make the weapon far smoother.
Not Jabba
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Re: The Wayfarer's Tome: a standalone gameplay mod for Heret

Post by Not Jabba »

Xtyfe wrote:I implemented the Lightbringer into a private mod for myself and I noticed some things that you may want to review with it.

I changed the offsets of the sprites LTBR FGHIJKLMNO to -92, -94. I also changed line 1100 of the decorate, which would be the final line of the powered Lightbringer, to "Goto Ready +4".

I believe these make the weapon far smoother.
Thanks for the suggestions! It's been on my to do list for a while, but I finally got around to testing it tonight, and the changes look good. They'll be in the next update :)
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Re: The Wayfarer's Tome: a standalone gameplay mod for Heret

Post by Captain J »

Very impressive stuff, but i found this weird thing:

I guess there's something wrong with the brightmap?
Not Jabba
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Re: The Wayfarer's Tome: a standalone gameplay mod for Heret

Post by Not Jabba »

Captain J wrote:Very impressive stuff, but i found this weird thing:

I guess there's something wrong with the brightmap?
What version of GZ is that, and is there anything else you're doing in that shot that I should know about? I haven't been having any trouble in either software or GL rendering, but I'm still using GZ 4.3.3.
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