Universal Possession - v1.3 (30/09/2021)

[TheNightATK300]

Just one problem, in Hideous Destructor specifically, monsters that use armor or shield are immune to possessions unless you remove their armor or destroy their shield, other than that, it worked fine!

[Starman the Blaziken]

As Cutman Mike was here... I noticed something that does conflict with something that increases speed like in Corruption Cards, where it makes the possessed enemy move on it's own and usually still does when shooting as well. Do not think anyone else noticed it too hm.

[TDRR]

Updated! Time to address more of your comments.

This mod puts a smile on my face. Not because of what it offers for gameplay, just the way it was done. When I read this post I was certain it would involve some zscript shenanigans, but it's actually a very clever use of DECORATE, ACS and knowhow of (Z)Doom's mechanics. Zandronum modding is full of stuff like this, love to see it (even if I curse working in that engine sometimes). Good job

Thank you! Really means a lot coming from a veteran like you!

Very neat mod! It seems to work with my old Lizard Squad mod. It would be nice to be able to tell how many kills you need in order to start possessing enemies (unless there was already a way to see that amount, which I have not figured out).

Added in 1.2! On the top right corner it'll display your kill count, in yellow if it's not enough to have your weapon charged, and in red when it is.

Also since I came on to play some more of the mod from Doom Barracks Zone X along with a couple mods. I seen that I actually can spam a possess charge at a distance and it can hit multiple enemies to let me control them all in sync with one having the camera behind them. It is pretty funny to watch multiple knights and a cyber possessed, but I am sure that should be patched since I can only view one of them.

Fixed in 1.2. Now you can only have one possession projectile out per player at any given time.

I also also came by a thing while in one of the mods being Corruption Cards with enemies spawning with little itty bippy sized pets that I can actually res as a possessed Archvile and sometimes corpses on a different elevation or something. I dunno if it is a bit rusty or some balancing thing that keeps it from doing it normally, but I would sure love to do it more.

To be honest I could never get that to happen myself, so I thought Arch-Viles couldn't resurrect monsters while possessed. But glad to hear it's possible, albeit unlikely, might try to find a way to make it happen more often or something.

Nice mod, very fun to play with. However, the possessed enemies will only trigger their attacks when they are looking at other enemies. Is there any way to fix this?

There probably is, a bit tricky though. However, it's not really that great of an idea, many monsters (like the Arch-Vile to name a vanilla example), need to have a target in order to deal damage correctly, and this would render those attacks useless (since it'd be targeting a dummy actor placed wherever the monster's aiming, at least in the workaround I can think of).

Just one problem, in Hideous Destructor specifically, monsters that use armor or shield are immune to possessions unless you remove their armor or destroy their shield, other than that, it worked fine!

While technically unintended, I don't see that as a problem. I mean, it makes sense shielding could save them from getting possessed, it adds a bit of a dynamic to it.
...plus I don't know if that could even be fixed from my end

As Cutman Mike was here... I noticed something that does conflict with something that increases speed like in Corruption Cards, where it makes the possessed enemy move on it's own and usually still does when shooting as well. Do not think anyone else noticed it too hm.

Sort of fixed in 1.2. I just added a custom deck for the mod that removes that specific card.
If any other problems arise then it's probably better to make that a compatibility patch, and replace the problematic cards with tweaked versions, but this should hold for now.

EDIT: Forgot to mention the Chex Quest incompatibility brought up by Starman the Blaziken, oops. I'm not sure what's causing it, but I'll investigate further for a later update. Tried adding "DOHARMSPECIES" to the possessed monsters but unfortunately it didn't work, so there's probably something else at play here.

[Starman the Blaziken]

Buhhh suppose you counted possession projectiles to disappear when going to a skybox, right? Because I see it can pretty much break pretty easily upon aiming where a skybox is at for the rest of the level.

Edit: Now for some reason in this version after being cautious of the bug I encountered after more testing, I also get stuck in place where I stand if I where to kill the possessed monster or it dies.

[NamelessGuy]

Nice mod, very fun to play with. However, the possessed enemies will only trigger their attacks when they are looking at other enemies. Is there any way to fix this?

There probably is, a bit tricky though. However, it's not really that great of an idea, many monsters (like the Arch-Vile to name a vanilla example), need to have a target in order to deal damage correctly, and this would render those attacks useless (since it'd be targeting a dummy actor placed wherever the monster's aiming, at least in the workaround I can think of).

If it's possible, then maybe just separate these attacks, like normal "command to attack target" as it is now will be normal fire button and "command to attack" will be alt fire?

[lizardcommando]

I noticed a bug in the latest version. It seems that the player is stuck when the possession ends (either by the possessed monster dying or by triggering the end possession yourself).

[Caleb377]

I noticed that when you edit the CVAR to lower the kill count value (I tried with 5 and -1)
It fails to register when using "Doom" and "Doom 2" (all other iwads work fine)

[Doge]

hey,i have a problem

when the possesed monster dies or you leave of posses it you stuck in place and you can´t move

[TDRR]

Fixed both not being able to move after the possession ends, and also the bug where firing a possession projectile at the sky would lock you away from using the ability again.

Sorry for the delay.

I noticed that when you edit the CVAR to lower the kill count value (I tried with 5 and -1)
It fails to register when using "Doom" and "Doom 2" (all other iwads work fine)

I can't recreate this. What sourceport are you using? Other mods loaded?

[Caleb377]

A Little more information:

Sourceport:
GZDoom v4.7.0 64bit

Iwads:
DOOM 2 Hell on Earth
Ultimate DOOM

No other mods loaded.

I checked some more and it works, but it seems to ignore the CVARINFO lump completely.
(That means: if you kill the 20 monsters default count, the projectile is charged and you can possess any monster)
With any other Iwads (Strife, Heretic, Hexen, etc) the projectile works after 1 kill (even if you set it as -1)

Hope that helps.

[YasuoProjectX]

this reminds me of F.E.A.R game series

[Netheritor]

Oh... Great mod. I've been looking for mod like this since 'possess me'. So... I have a few problem;

1. If the possess projectile got reflected, I can't fire the projectile again. I must kill myself then resurrect to be able fire the possess projectile.
2. It seems when possessing is successful then the possessed died shortly after, I can't exit from the cam. The cam stay on the dead possessed but the control is in the player. Quite hard to reproduce, I think; the time gap between successful possessing and the possessed died is 1-2 ticks approx.
3. With flying monsters, when I fly the monster and touch the ceiling and move, the camera stay on the ceiling but the monster still move. Kinda like those classic resident evil game. Flying down fixed that. Maybe camera placement too high?
4. It's a shame we can't possess friendly unit.

Now, these... are not exactly your problem. But I still want to write it;

1. If possessed died and if they have something like second life, That life become your friend. Tested it with D'Sparil from heretic.
2. Possessed monster can't kill enemies. Maybe because they have tags to not harm species? Do you know any mod that can forced every enemies become hostiles to each other?
3. It's maybe... not compatible with one of my favorite mod (really hope I can become immortal that can possess anyone). The mod is called blood stalkers (I called it ryuvain). When possessing someone (at least with low health) the failsafe to transform is activated, but I don't stop growing.

Alright, that's all for now. I just realized I lacks enemies mod.

[Spaceman333]

Had great fun with this today, the mod works flawlessly and it adds a whole massive dimension to the gameplay while being balanced and fun too. Very good mod!

[Jankman]

Been playing with this for a while and have had a blast.

No idea how hard these would be to implement but I have just a few thoughts:
1. Is there a way to make it more balanced when it comes to enemy strength so a cyberdemon doesn't cost the same to possess as an imp?
Maybe instead of the counter immediately resetting to zero when you possess someone it's a meter that slowly depletes during possession, with highter HP monsters depleting it faster.
Would make picking which enemy to possess more strategic than always just going with the biggest guy in the room. Perhaps you can recharge the meter by getting kills as a possessed demon too.
2. Can all enemies in the room turn on you once you start attacking as a possessed demon? As of now they ignore you unless you hit them so they just stand around while you pick off their mates one by one.
3. Can cancelling a possession leave the demon alive? The fact that it instagibs them makes me tempted to just possess and quickly de-possess a tough enemy for a cheap kill.
4. The possession ball is quite large and gets caught on walls very easily which makes it a nightmare in narrow corridors/doorways. Could we shrink it down a tad?
Bonus thought: Is is possible to have a secondary projectile that turns an enemy friendly instead of controlling them? I thought a taming mod would be fun and would fit with the theme of possession.

Anyway just a few ideas. Thanks for the mod.

[TDRR]

No idea how hard these would be to implement but I have just a few thoughts:
1. Is there a way to make it more balanced when it comes to enemy strength so a cyberdemon doesn't cost the same to possess as an imp?
Maybe instead of the counter immediately resetting to zero when you possess someone it's a meter that slowly depletes during possession, with highter HP monsters depleting it faster.
Would make picking which enemy to possess more strategic than always just going with the biggest guy in the room. Perhaps you can recharge the meter by getting kills as a possessed demon too.

Yeah that sounds like a pretty interesting way to balance it, most likely possible.

2. Can all enemies in the room turn on you once you start attacking as a possessed demon? As of now they ignore you unless you hit them so they just stand around while you pick off their mates one by one.

Sure. I think I just forgot to do that lol, it should be pretty simple I believe.

3. Can cancelling a possession leave the demon alive? The fact that it instagibs them makes me tempted to just possess and quickly de-possess a tough enemy for a cheap kill.

I don't remember exactly what it was, but I think one or more of the things the script does to possess a monster isn't reversable easily. We'll see.

4. The possession ball is quite large and gets caught on walls very easily which makes it a nightmare in narrow corridors/doorways. Could we shrink it down a tad?
Bonus thought: Is is possible to have a secondary projectile that turns an enemy friendly instead of controlling them? I thought a taming mod would be fun and would fit with the theme of possession.

Sure, to both.

Now on to the other I forgot to reply to...

1. If the possess projectile got reflected, I can't fire the projectile again. I must kill myself then resurrect to be able fire the possess projectile.

Easy fix. I don't have any mods with monsters that have reflective attacks so I missed this one.

2. It seems when possessing is successful then the possessed died shortly after, I can't exit from the cam. The cam stay on the dead possessed but the control is in the player. Quite hard to reproduce, I think; the time gap between successful possessing and the possessed died is 1-2 ticks approx.

Not sure if there's a simple fix, but I'll try to add some safeguards for that.

3. With flying monsters, when I fly the monster and touch the ceiling and move, the camera stay on the ceiling but the monster still move. Kinda like those classic resident evil game. Flying down fixed that. Maybe camera placement too high?

The camera system is just a bit clunky, is all, maybe it could be replaced with a better one I have.

2. Possessed monster can't kill enemies. Maybe because they have tags to not harm species? Do you know any mod that can forced every enemies become hostiles to each other?

Depends on the mod, but maybe just changing the species may work.