[Release 1.6b] Lost Frontier - a Strife mod

[LordKane1701]

Starting a new game does not work.
presents the following error after skill selection:


running with LZDoom v3.86a
seems to be an issue with LZDoom...

[Jarewill]

Starting a new game does not work.
presents the following error after skill selection:

I have not had it happened to me while testing with LZDoom.
Though thank you for the screenshot of the error!
I added a null check to the line and hopefully that fixed it.

[LordKane1701]

Starting a new game does not work.
presents the following error after skill selection:

I have not had it happened to me while testing with LZDoom.
Though thank you for the screenshot of the error!
I added a null check to the line and hopefully that fixed it.

seemed to fix the issue thank you for the fast fix!

[Lagi]

I play it a little, its confusing.

i still cannot grasp the healing. I use the healing kit nothing happens really, as I read now i need to use fire and alt. The medical kit appear to worse my condition upon use.
there isslot 9 that create this wound symbol, what that mean?

in general the "entry curve" is too steep, i need to consult help and forum, to have some basic gameplay mechanic. Not sure if you target for some hardcore players, anyway noobs would be happy to play as well, just there is need for some tutorial, text messages?

i would clarified that player need to bind weapon state 1-4 , instead writting user1-4

in help this two message could be replace with some more substantial information: "Take things slow..." "fight for front and have fun"
there is limited space, and fluff sentace are not helping. I would add also second and third help page.

when im overloaded I need to check the status - would be convenient if some graphical indicator appear on main screen.

Dagger is graphically nice with left punch. I would add continues left right attack combo, if player hold primary fire. OR
I would make punch to drop down acolyte shields, so its open for dagger - then make it alt fire.

Acolyte is too passive in melee. On the other hand, his shoot is insta kill most of the time.

Crossbow is very weak compare to gun, two gun bullet kill acoylte even through shield, while I have to bother with crossbow reloading, about 3x times.

Acolyte would benefit from some agonizing frames.

user states 1-4 are confusing, i guess i need to write it down on paper for each case of use.

--------------
besides all above. Its very good mod. Its clear that you have some reasonable idea behind it, that fit the Strife world and gameplay. its just hard for other (ok, just me) to understand, how to play this.
======

edit:

I think peasants instead telling this gibberish about not hurting them, could give player tips about using medical kit. Weight managment and all that. Work like a tutorial.

also barkeep adivce for 5 gold are absolute trash. I would punch anyone in the face for claiming money for that "informations". He could reveal some secret locations, or give tips how to progress with the game.
ulain advice (peasant wandering around prison entrance) are little better - is there still poison bolts?

when you speak with acoultes, they could reveal their weak points, like they suck in melee, or that 2x of their bullets will kill me on spot. Or that they are do tactical retreat. It just have to be smartly convoluted in words to make immersion sens.

when im out of stamina, the screen could blink in yellow or orange color few times, to indicate im out of breath.

right now the most demand facilitie in this game is gym, because player lifting capabilities and cardio - absolutely suck!! I ducking sure i can sprint for longer time that this PC character.

it would be great if you replace some of the med pack with steroids and painkillers drugs to allow lift more and run longer.

how do I unlock the upgrades in main base? i can only buy the medpacks that I have already surplus.

--------
i get to the prison, the combat have more depth than vanilla, still its not fun. But from different reason i die too fast, I cannot sneak in doom, and this dont give me any edge to overcome hordes of enemies all alone. Maybe enemies could has shorter fire range? and this would simulate that they dont see player?

Strife is cool because you could speak with actors, there are some shops, some plot and not because of the combat (monster attack type, behaviors, tactics to kill them, weapons different usability).

the crossbow is inferior weapon to gun. I think each weapon should has its niche. Especially if weapons are so heavy.

I spend most time, playing this mod on removing armor and stopping bleeding. :/

Also if its about realism. I need to stop and check whats wrong with me.
If im low on stamina, thats why I cannot run.
If im bleeding?
If Im carry too much?
in RL, i know all that immediatly, all the time. I dont need to open my phone to tell me that i carry too much. My nerve system is telling me this all the time. I hurt my self few times and I know that i were bleeding (ok looking down is nice "cinematic"). for the fatigue, maybe the sound of breathing? However Im playing nowdays all games mute - Dont know why, i guess i like silence.

[ZikShadow]

Managed to reach Fortress: The Bailey. Really love the mod. Spent 6 hours and +30 minutes so far.

Took me a while to adapt. I think I finally managed to grasp most of the basics by the time I reach the Prison, but it's pretty much what I hoped for when it comes to heavily tactical mods for Strife. From needing to take off armor before you could healstim yourself, managing your inventory for weight, all the way to that familiar feeling of dread when seeing enemies that used to be easy in the original. Not everyday do I find a mod where the first instinct I got when meeting Stalkers is to pull out the missile launcher instead of something low tier.

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/ ... -49-64.mp4

Indeed, Assault Gun ammo seems to be in abundance, I noticed, but I kinda handwave it away as it being the bread and butter of the Order's arsenal. The Assault Gun itself being a jammy space age junkheap atleast balances the bit, no good having all that ammo but nothing to shoot it with.

However, I do have some nitpicks that did slightly irritate me:

- Can only carry one type of weapon/armor. Due to the whole durability business, I've been making a habit of nicking guns off racks and then dropping them off in the Town, tossing them whenever they start jamming in uncomfortable rate. With how fast the Assault Gun seems to break unupgraded, it'd be nice if I could carry more than one so I could swap the moment the thing jams instead of needing to take the time to unjam the gun. I wouldn't even mind if I couldn't swap without dropping the gun that I have, it's more just so I wouldn't have to go back and forth just to run all the 100% guns off to my safe haven.
- Even though the Acolytes are probably using the same hand held weapons, they don't seem to ever drop their Assault Guns. Not exactly a problem if one were to carry the same AG for the entire game, but for someone like me whose swapping weapon sets back and forth to keep weight low, it can be a problem when I'm fighting both armor and infantry at the same time and only have room to prepare for one.
- I'm not quite sure how to do the underbarrel AG bit, yet. Acquired a grenade launcher and flamethrower, saw the conversion upgrade and bought it, but nothing happened. Is there a key combo I'm missing or is there a step that I walked over? Pardons if its written in the Help section and I just missed it.
- I suppose the ammo satchel thing is pretty much a one time upgrade, but it'd still be nice to find ammo inside if you find more of the stuff. Feels weird seeing all these extra satchels and not being able to do anything about it.
- Some characters that might be important to the plot (Quincy in the Bailey) have the new menu instead of their conversation stuff. While probably not a softlocking kind of deal, it does mean that there's dialogue skipped. Wondered if it's possible to have the normal convo first, then converts to the usual medic menu.
- Would be nice to have a short description of what the upgrades precisely do. Was wondering if the short/long barrel in the AG upgrade menu is for the underbarrel bit or to increase damage/accuracy.


I think that's all for now, I might add more as things pass through my mind, but so far, still one heck of a mod.

[Jarewill]

---

i still cannot grasp the healing. I use the healing kit nothing happens really, as I read now i need to use fire and alt. The medical kit appear to worse my condition upon use.
there isslot 9 that create this wound symbol, what that mean?

The medical kit when used should automatically select the "medical gun weapon".
The symbol means that the weapon is selected and ready to use.

when im overloaded I need to check the status - would be convenient if some graphical indicator appear on main screen.

Dagger is graphically nice with left punch. I would add continues left right attack combo, if player hold primary fire. OR
I would make punch to drop down acolyte shields, so its open for dagger - then make it alt fire.

I'll see if I can find a good graphic for being "over encumbered".
And I'll make the punch put down the Acolyte shields for a split second.

user states 1-4 are confusing, i guess i need to write it down on paper for each case of use.

User1 usually means "switch firemode/ammotype", while user3 usually means "unload/strip armor".
I was sure I used user2 somewhere, but I'm not sure where.

I think peasants instead telling this gibberish about not hurting them, could give player tips about using medical kit. Weight managment and all that. Work like a tutorial.

also barkeep adivce for 5 gold are absolute trash. I would punch anyone in the face for claiming money for that "informations". He could reveal some secret locations, or give tips how to progress with the game.
ulain advice (peasant wandering around prison entrance) are little better - is there still poison bolts?

when you speak with acoultes, they could reveal their weak points, like they suck in melee, or that 2x of their bullets will kill me on spot. Or that they are do tactical retreat. It just have to be smartly convoluted in words to make immersion sens.

I'll work on changing the dialogues to make them more useful.
Don't know if I'll be able to change dialogue of unique characters though.
And poison bolts were removed. Now there are only steel and electric.

when im out of stamina, the screen could blink in yellow or orange color few times, to indicate im out of breath.

how do I unlock the upgrades in main base? i can only buy the medpacks that I have already surplus.

I don't think I'll be able to make the screen flash, because that would go in contact with other flashes, unless there is a better alternative to A_SetBlend.
The upgrades unlock only after seizing the castle. (MAP10)
I thought that was a good idea, because up until then the Front was only a small batch of rebels, but after seizing the castle they got access to a lot of Order's technology to augment soldiers.

the crossbow is inferior weapon to gun. I think each weapon should has its niche. Especially if weapons are so heavy.

The crossbow can take electric bolts, which I found to even be viable against Inquisitors. That is, as long as they don't blow the player to bits.

Managed to reach Fortress: The Bailey. Really love the mod. Spent 6 hours and +30 minutes so far.

The Fortress.
That's great to hear! I was only able to reach the Castle before making my save incompatible with the mod.
Also amazing that you have liberated Tarnhill from the Order! How long did that even take? And this amount of items too!

- Can only carry one type of weapon/armor. Due to the whole durability business, I've been making a habit of nicking guns off racks and then dropping them off in the Town, tossing them whenever they start jamming in uncomfortable rate. With how fast the Assault Gun seems to break unupgraded, it'd be nice if I could carry more than one so I could swap the moment the thing jams instead of needing to take the time to unjam the gun. I wouldn't even mind if I couldn't swap without dropping the gun that I have, it's more just so I wouldn't have to go back and forth just to run all the 100% guns off to my safe haven.
- Even though the Acolytes are probably using the same hand held weapons, they don't seem to ever drop their Assault Guns. Not exactly a problem if one were to carry the same AG for the entire game, but for someone like me whose swapping weapon sets back and forth to keep weight low, it can be a problem when I'm fighting both armor and infantry at the same time and only have room to prepare for one.
- I'm not quite sure how to do the underbarrel AG bit, yet. Acquired a grenade launcher and flamethrower, saw the conversion upgrade and bought it, but nothing happened. Is there a key combo I'm missing or is there a step that I walked over? Pardons if its written in the Help section and I just missed it.
- I suppose the ammo satchel thing is pretty much a one time upgrade, but it'd still be nice to find ammo inside if you find more of the stuff. Feels weird seeing all these extra satchels and not being able to do anything about it.
- Some characters that might be important to the plot (Quincy in the Bailey) have the new menu instead of their conversation stuff. While probably not a softlocking kind of deal, it does mean that there's dialogue skipped. Wondered if it's possible to have the normal convo first, then converts to the usual medic menu.
- Would be nice to have a short description of what the upgrades precisely do. Was wondering if the short/long barrel in the AG upgrade menu is for the underbarrel bit or to increase damage/accuracy.

- Yes, I fully understand that pain of having to go back all the way to base to pick up an item, because your current one broke.
I am however not a programmer at all, so I don't know if I'll even be able to make such a thing.
I'll try to do it though! I guess I need arrays for this?
- I originally made Acolytes not drop their guns because then the player would get a rifle as soon as the beginning.
That would make the crossbow with steel bolts have no use at all.
I could make them drop them rarely in poor condition. Or I could make them maybe drop pistols?
- That is completely my fault, I forgot to write about it. Nor add any sort of indication the UB is selected.
It works like in HD: You press secondary fire to change to UB and then fire to use it.
- I'll try to make it lootable like Acolytes. Though don't expect a full-on HD backpack, because I don't think I'll ever make anything close to resembling that.
- I completely forgot about that.
I have an idea on how I could fix it though.
- That's what I was afraid of when releasing this mod.
The problem here is that the shop is made in ACS, and modifying ACS will make all previous saves incompatible.
Might not be a problem for Doom mods, but Strife has a whole campaign that can't be skipped easily by just using "map map10".
Originally each item for the AG was named, but after running out of space to display them, (text was going over text) I changed them simply to sprites.
I'll add a description to the currently selected option for the AG, but that will also break all previous saves.

Thank you both for the feedback!

[EddieMann]

What's User1/User2/User3?

[Jarewill]

What's User1/User2/User3?

I'm sorry for that. I should get out of the habit of calling it that.
User1-4 stands for Weapon State 1-4.

[ZikShadow]

Didn't took me that long, thankfully. Like I said, AG ammo are a plenty, so it was a matter of keeping my gun unjammed during the whole attack.

---

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/524684262621052938/732378019729244231/gzdoom_2020-07-14_06-15-20-03.mp4
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/ ... -57-42.mp4
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/ ... -59-16.mp4
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/ ... -42-94.mp4

Oh, yeah. Noticed another thing regarding traders. The armory trader in the Order Commons that would normally give you access to the black market trader that sells the stealth suits, same thing as Quincy where the convo would've let to something but now is replaced by the usual menu.

[Jarewill]

Didn't took me that long, thankfully. Like I said, AG ammo are a plenty, so it was a matter of keeping my gun unjammed during the whole attack.

Those were a great watch.

Oh, yeah. Noticed another thing regarding traders. The armory trader in the Order Commons that would normally give you access to the black market trader that sells the stealth suits, same thing as Quincy where the convo would've let to something but now is replaced by the usual menu.

This issue I actually was aware of.
However, since the black trader only sold the shadow armor cheaply and I made it function like an armor instead of a blursphere, I kept it like that.
I thought it was gonna be more useful then, because it would offer protection, instead of just making you harder to hit, so I also wanted it to have a price on it.
I'll made the armorer sell it though, because that's a thing I forgot about.

[slyrboi]

A STRIFE MOD?? YEAGHH

[ZikShadow]

Been noticing some crusaders that are stuck and can't move. There's a number of them, first thing that came to mind are the two immediately at the start of Fortress: Bishop's Tower and the one in front of the conversion machine in Factory: Conversion Chapel.

[Jarewill]

Been noticing some crusaders that are stuck and can't move. There's a number of them, first thing that came to mind are the two immediately at the start of Fortress: Bishop's Tower and the one in front of the conversion machine in Factory: Conversion Chapel.

Thank you for letting me know!
I have made crusaders slower without even thinking about the consequences.

For now, version 1.2 is out!
Most notable feature is the ability to carry multiple weapons of the same type at once!
[Weapon State 4] will switch between guns! You can just drop them too!
Armors also can be carried in bulk. Using them while holding:
[Use] will check current armor's durability. [Run] will switch between armors to equip.

[ZikShadow]

I noticed that enemies are able to shoot through each other, I wonder if that could be changed? Could be a bit unfair if say, I start a custom map with the mod and have to knife multiple enemies, and can't do that 'cause the acolytes can just phaseshift their bullets through to hit me instead.

I'm trying out Return of the Order with the mod and struggling to get past those 3 guys at the start, hence the question.

[undeadmonk354]

Are there any new enemies in Lost Frontier?