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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).
*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:
Player Weapons:
-The Staff uses custom animations by OSJC that make it feel more like a weapon and less like a cattle prod.
-The Staff has a longer melee range.
-The Tomed Staff is significantly more powerful, and it now hits ghost enemies.
-The Gauntlets are slightly more powerful and are more likely to stunlock enemies.
-The Elven Wand's shot is now a bit more powerful. Both the un-Tomed and Tomed versions of the Wand fire slightly faster.
-The Ethereal Crossbow has been beefed up to feel more like a true shotgun weapon. It now has four side bolts instead of two, and the side bolts do more damage. To compensate, the weapon is slower to refire. The Tomed version does slightly more damage as well.
-The Hellstaff does slightly more damage with each shot, and its projectiles are now heat-seeking.
-The Hellstaff's animation is less jerky and more in line with the firing speed of the weapon.
-The Tomed Hellstaff's projectile rain lasts longer, and the rain projectiles no longer knock enemies back. This allows enemies to enter the storm, dramatically increasing the weapon's effectiveness. To compensate, the weapon now uses 10 ammo per shot instead of 5.
-The Tomed Phoenix Rod is more powerful to provide better compensation for its short range. It also has less knockback when it hits enemies.
-The range of the Tomed Phoenix Rod has been increased somewhat, though it is still a short-range weapon.
-The Tomed Phoenix Rod has had its attack behavior rewritten to eliminate the unpleasant hardcoding. It no longer transfers the player's momentum to the projectile (meaning that you can now aim and dodge at the same time), and it depletes ammo steadily over time instead of the wonky vanilla behavior where it depleted one ammo for each time you hold down fire and then forced the weapon to shut down periodically.
-Following RottKing's lead from Elf Gets Pissed, the Lightbringer has been added to the game as a slot 7 weapon. The Firemace hasn't been overwritten, so you will likely only see the Lightbringer if you're playing the mod with Elf Gets Pissed, but you can also cheat it in if you want.
-The Firemace spawns 100 percent of the time instead of 75 percent. It can also be placed at multiple locations in the same level, rather than randomly spawning in only one location. (Note: in the standalone mod, it still only appears in one location per map, as in vanilla, to avoid conflicting with the map design too much; however, it still appears 100 percent of the time).
-The Firemace does about 50 percent more damage. The damage of the main sphere projectiles has been increased, while the occasional larger splitting spheres are the same as before.
-The large Dragon Claw ammo orb now gives 30 ammo instead of 25.
-The brightness levels of various weapons have been customized/fixed. Most weapons use the set of custom brightmaps from Elf Gets Pissed. The Tomed Staff and Tomed Gauntlets are bright even when idle to reflect the electrical energy around them. All ammo pickups are now bright.
Artifacts:
-The Chaos Device no longer transfers between levels.
-You can now carry up to 25 Time Bombs of the Ancients, instead of the default maximum of 16.
-Time Bombs of the Ancients no longer count toward item percentage.
-The Ring of Invulnerability and Chaos Device are now bright.
-The Morph Ovum uses custom brightmaps so that the electrical energy around the artifact is always bright.
Enemies:
-The Gargoyle fireball, Undead Warrior green axe, Weredragon fireball, both Ophidian projectiles, and the Maulotaur's small spreading fireballs all do slightly more damage. The Weredragon fireball and both Ophidian projectiles are slightly faster.
-The Maulotaur's melee attack deals splash damage within a tight radius, significantly increasing the overall power of the attack.
-The Weredragon's melee attack does significantly more damage, and its melee range is a bit longer.
-The Weredragon has higher health (300 instead of 220) to help it function as more of a tank enemy.
-The weaker melee Gargoyle variant uses its charge attack slightly more often.
-The Nitrogolem and Undead Warrior have slightly less health (Note: the Nitrogolem Ghost and Undead Warrior Ghost still have the same health as in vanilla Heretic).
-The Ophidian and Maulotaur have less health.
-The Weredragon's fireball and contrail are now bright, and the Weredragon lights up when firing.
-The Disciple lights up during its attack windup and death.
-The Sabreclaw and Iron Lich light up during death.
-D'Sparil has received a number of brightness fixes to light up during frames when energy is crackling around him, including teleportation and death.
-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 Sabreclaw, Weredragon, and Ophidian have slightly higher mass.
-The Iron Lich has significantly higher mass.
-All Golem/Nitrogolem variants have slightly reduced speed.
-Gargoyles and Fire Gargoyles will no longer infight with each other.
-Golems, Golem Ghosts, Nitrogolems, and Nitrogolem Ghosts will no longer infight with each other.
-Enemies no longer infight with the Iron Lich.
-The Weredragon drops five Crossbow bolts instead of ten.
-The Ophidian drops one Phoenix Rod ammo instead of five.
-The Maulotaur drops a large Phoenix Rod ammo instead of a small one that somehow gives 10 ammo.
-The Sabreclaw is less likely to drop Hellstaff runes, and the dropped runes provide 10 ammo instead of 20.
-The Disciple now potentially drops the Sigil of Power instead of the Tome of Power.
-The Maulotaur's Mystic Urn drop is rarer (about 25 percent as likely as before).
-Ghost enemies and players using the Shadowsphere are now immune to the ice shards from the Iron Lich ice ball. Previously, they were immune to the ice ball but not the shards.
Sounds:
-The sound "rolloff" range (the distance at which sounds begin to diminish in volume) has been increased to 200, as in Doom. Previously it was 0, which is why Heretic sounds so weirdly quiet. Sounds for the Iron Lich, Lesser Chaos Serpent, Phoenix Rod explosion, and Time Bomb of the Ancients explosion have a longer rolloff/max distance beyond the new default ranges.
-The Staff previously had a swinging sound built into its hit sound, and played nothing when it missed. Now, it plays a swinging sound whenever it is used, with a separate sound for impact.
-The Tomed Wand fire, Hellstaff fire, Phoenix Rod fire, and Phoenix Rod impact sounds have been edited to sound more powerful.
-The Gargoyle/Fire Gargoyle now has separate sounds for its regular and gib deaths.
-The Nitrogolem now plays sounds when it charges up and when it fires.
-The Fire Gargoyle, Nitrogolem, Disciple, Weredragon, Ophidian, Iron Lich, and Maulotaur projectiles now have impact sounds.
Graphics/Miscellaneous:
-Water flats now tile properly, without a sharp seam around the edges.
-Nearly all sprite fixes from the Heretic Minor Sprite Fixing Project are included.
-The widescreen status bar from the Heretic Minor Sprite Fixing Project is included.
Credits:
Spoiler:
-Balancing changes (weapons, items, monsters) by Not Jabba
-Sigil of Power by Not Jabba
-Lightbringer by Ghastly_dragon, Xaser, Zero Prophet, Neoworm, Eriance, and NeuralStunner; additional sound from Captain Toenail's Apotheosis
-Additional gameplay fixes and tweaks by RottKing
-Weapon sprite brightmaps and smoother Hellstaff animation by Spadger
-Staff animations by OSJC
-Fixes for various stock sprites from the Heretic Minor Sprite Fixing Project by Revenant100
-Widescreen-friendly status bar by Neoworm
-Sound edits by Xaser
-Phoenix Rod replacement sounds from Hexen 2
-Base KEYCONF by Kristus
Feel free to use anything from the mod -- just give proper credit.
Last edited by Not Jabba on Fri Nov 19, 2021 5:41 pm, edited 11 times in total.
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.
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.
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.
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.
All non-powered weapons have altfires. As a rule the altfires are slower, more powerful, have recoil and/or knockback, aren't hitscan, use more ammo and are more accurate. None of those are universal, though.
Wand, Crossbow, Claw and Hellstaff altfires adapted from Heretical Doom, as are the sfx for the Rod and Mace. I assume Brutal Heretic's the same, but I only had one of those on hand, so eh.
Staff:
The poke returns. Slower and slightly weaker, but with much more range than the swing.
The staff and only the staff has an altfire while powered. It's the exact same thing, but stronger.
Gauntlets:
Damages at two thirds the rate, but doesn't drag you around and has a slightly longer range. A bluer, calmer lightning for a more cautious murderwizard.
Wand:
Bomb. Fires an exploding spark. Subject to gravity, doesn't hurt the player. Goes through ghosts, but the explosion still hurts them. 5 ammo.
Crossbow:
SSG-style scatter blast of fast projectiles. Long recovery time. Passes through ghosts. 2 ammo.
The single fire's actually more ammo-efficient, but burst damage has its uses.
Claw:
Fires a fast projectile for about three times the damage of a standard hitscan shot. Much lower fire rate, naturally. 3 ammo.
Rod:
Fires a much faster projectile that does more impact damage, but less explosive damage. Higher minimum damage with similar maximum damage, meaning more consistent damage against single targets, but lacking the splash radius to deal with crowds. Also, half the fire rate. 1 ammo.
Hellstaff:
Fires a cloud that moves in a straight line forwards, raining explosions. Corridor cleaner par excellence. 10 ammo.
2/3 the power of the HD version, but uses 2/3 of the ammo.
Mace:
Fires a fast cannonball that bounces once and splits into five on the second bounce or when it hits an enemy. The secondary balls do less damage but pass through enemies, spawning little cannonballs as they go. Unpredictable and unreliable in open areas but potentially pretty vicious against packs or in enclosed spaces. 10 ammo.
Lightbringer:
Lightbringer's altfire isn't an attack: it darkens the screen, absorbing ambient light to charge the staff.
This is mostly so you can have the mace and the LB without having to mess with ammo spawns, but I think it's a neat effect anyway.
Other tweaks:
- Lightbringer's unpowered attack now correctly rips and bounces. I gather a gzdoom update altered the flags required for this behaviour at some point, so it was only ripping if it killed the target. Base damage reduced massively, though, because ripping is really strong.
- The lightbringer now goes on slot 8, and spawns where the mace would if player1 already has the mace. If player1 has both, the chance is 50:50. Consequently ammo doesn't spawn for the LB, and the menu option to substitute the mace for the LB isn't there. Can still be set manually though ("wt_lightbringerfiremace = 1" in the console).
- Powered LB uses 40 ammo a shot, up from 15.
- Wand is slightly more accurate.
- The inner pair of weaker crossbow projectiles (ie #2 and #4) are slightly faster, so the spread is more like a flying V. This is in homage to satan's deadliest creature, the canada goose.
- Powered mace uses 15 ammo/shot, up from 5. Still not bad for a homing instakill boulder.
- Oh, and it bounces off walls now, as well as being slightly faster.
- Custom damagetypes/colours if you're using DamNums.
- I've set +MTHRUSPECIES on player projectiles and puffs, for reasons.
- I've also put the Hellstaff on slot 6 and the Phoenix Rod on slot 5, because my doom-addled brain really can't cope with the rocket launcher being on 6 and the plasma rifle on 5. I don't care what anyone says, it's just not right.
Anyway. Thanks for the good mod, OP. Hope you don't mind.
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.
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.
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.
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".
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
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.
