Alternate take on Partial Invisibility

[TehRealSalt]

I don't think it's an uncommon opinion to not like the Partial Invisibility power, I've never really liked how it throws off your reflexes so hard when trying to dodge projectiles. So I've always wanted to make this simple edit to its functionality. Instead of inaccurate aim, you create a "decoy" target in the last place that you made a sound*. This means you can make a sound to redirect the demons' attention to a spot, then take advantage of that and shoot them in the back! Or you can use that to sneak past them unscathed! Overall, I think that makes it feel more like a definitive "power-up".



Works with almost every mod imaginable. The monsters just need +ISMONSTER when they spawn, and the power-up just needs to apply +SHADOW.

(*Currently, it checks for "sound" by checking if you're in attacking or pain state. Please let me know if there's a more proper way of detecting monster-alarming sounds (and ideally one that keeps the universal compatibility), I lost a little bit of sleep skimming through all of the documentation I could for that, but I still might've missed something.)

[MFG38]

Well, the idea sounds like something that'd be fun to play around with.

[TehRealSalt]

Added a video to the opening post.

[Enjay]

This is a really neat idea. I'm definitely in the "invisibility is a bit crap" camp. Once you know the game, invisibility is actually a hindrance rather than a benefit because it completely messes up your ability to dodge (although it can still have advantages when facing a bunch of hitscanners). This idea makes the powerup much more interesting and even allows you to use it to gain a real advantage over the bad guys or to simply herd them around the map however you please. Very nice.

[morb]

Now only if Spectres did the same thing

[murdermike22]

i really like this idea, reminds me a little of the invisibility powerup you get in Descent

[Spaceman333]

This is incredible. Its basically an actual Active Cloak that allows real stealth in doom. Would be awesome to see this as a reusable ability activated from the inventory too.

[Rachael]

Well done. This makes invisibility more like what it should have been.

[Captain J]

Yes. All of my yes. Definitely what the Partial Invisibility should've been: a Sneak 100 stat boost.

[Enjay]

I've been playing with this for a little bit now and I really like it. IT makes the blur sphere so much more effective.

I've had a look through the code and I can follow the logic of what it is doing, but it is far beyond what I could have come up with in the details. I can't even figure out how it tells the game to use this instead of the usual blur sphere / normal invisibility powerup because it replaces those but I don't see any direct reference to them.

[Rachael]

Basically when you go invisible it spawns a target for the monsters to attack and forces the monster to chase that target, instead of you. If you attack, it will move that target to your current position, and continue to do so until you are no longer invisible. A lot of event handler handling is done to accomplish this, but that's what it boils down to.

[Enjay]

Thanks, but that was actually the part of the logic that I could follow.

I just can't see where in the code it tells the game to apply the effects from this mod instead of the standard blur sphere effects. It's not that big a deal, because it works, but I'd just like to be able to understand how this is managing to replace a built-in powerup without an obvious reference to it in the code. I'm sure it's there, I'm just not recognising it.

[Rachael]

It's the event handlers, themselves. They're iterating over the player and detecting the +SHADOW flag. It checks each player in the WorldTick() function.

[Enjay]

Ah, I see it now. Thanks. So basically any powerup that gives the player the +SHADOW flag will trigger this effect.

That explains how this powerup was managing to replace a custom invisibility item in a mod. I couldn't figure out how it was doing it. It's not a problem (quite the reverse) I just wanted to understand what was going on.

[Xtyfe]

Now, this is something. I've always hated how ineffective invisibility was. I've done my own changes but this just takes it to a new level.

I was thinking how awesome it might be to create infighting situations with this active. It seems though that monsters are less likely to attack the sound spot then they would otherwise, this is especially noticeable with chaingunners and arachnotrons who use rapid attacks.