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

[TDRR]

Been sitting on this for while, thought it'd be a good idea to release it after polishing it a bit.

Download!

So what's Universal Possession? Well, as the name implies, it's like one of those possession mods where you can play as a monster... the fun thing about this one, though, is that it works with any mod, any IWAD, and any monster (except maybe some advanced ZScript ones?)! Yes, that includes even Brutal Doom, which is enough sign that it should work with practically anything you throw at it
You have a new key that can throw the possession projectile at an enemy, you take control of whatever monster it hits!

To make it not horribly overpowered, you can set a specific amount of kills required to use the projectile with the up_requiredkills CVAR. Setting this to 0 disables the mod, setting it to a negative number instead gives you infinite times to use the projectile, but setting it to any positive numbers sets the kill requirement to charge the projectile. So if this is set to 20 (the default), you'll need 20 kills to be able to use the projectile again.

If the third person camera isn't your fancy either, you can change it with the up_thirdperson CVAR. If set to 0, you go into first person mode when possessing. Obviously you can't see your monster's hands, though. The default is 1, which instead uses a chasecam.

Obligatory features list:
-Works on Zandronum! (duh)
-Possess any monster you want!
-Works online (mostly)
-Even DEHACKED mods work
-Full controller support, too

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Version 1.3 (30/09/2021)
-Fixed the bug where you would be frozen after the possession ends (big dumb oversight)

-Fixed the possession projectile vanishing when hitting a skybox, and locking you away from using the ability.

Version 1.2 (14/09/2021)
-Added a kill count display near the top right of the screen. Turns red when charged, and can be toggled with up_showkills.

-Players can't fire a possession projectile again before the current one is gone.

-Compatibility with Corruption Cards "fixed" (just a custom deck that removes the speed increase card, as that made possessed monsters move on their own)

Version 1.1 (11/09/2021)
-Added jumping while possessing a grounded monster. They jump as high as your player class can.

-Possessed monsters now alert other monsters when attacking.

-Fixed compatibility with Reelism and Supreme Invasion.

-Destroying decorations no longer grants you charge points.

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It's hard to show on screenshots, but I guess you get the idea.

[m8f]

That's impressive! Good job.

[Starman the Blaziken]

I always been looking for a mod like this to be honest... At least where you can use the monster's abilities any way possible is good enough for me. And this fits it for what their is right now!
I took it for a spun on some random WADs besides Doom like Strife, and even wanted to see what possibly breaks to modern Doom stuff like Reelism (I seen they all got controlled at the same time, and left some apparitions after pressing use heh).

The results are neat trying it so far for fun, although a couple things that would be useful is maybe being able to maybe jump for some monsters since they can get stuck in some areas, at least being unable to open doors (since pressing use kills them, I kill them by accident doing so the first few times. Oof) and some areas that a player can only go through since the NPC being controlled is somehow just a liiiitle too tall or fat or of the two through them, like in the Prison when I tried on an Acolyte near the ID door. I may not expect jumping to work, but something to get them out to not accidentally put them in a point of no return by a bad mistake.

Oh and one little thing, I notice you can get charge points by destroying/killing things like barrels, tables, potted plants, and other things I tried with mods and intentionally breakable stuffs. The controlled do not target them themselves, I wanted to see if you know that little detail though.

[Spaceman333]

This is incredible, I... I can possess.. Benellus. : O

Oh my god.

[Carrotear]

It seems that whenever I possess a monster they'll have an aneurysm and will attack when they feel like it.

[TDRR]

Updated! Now to address some of your comments...

That's impressive! Good job.

Thank you! Means a lot to me.

I always been looking for a mod like this to be honest... At least where you can use the monster's abilities any way possible is good enough for me. And this fits it for what their is right now!
I took it for a spun on some random WADs besides Doom like Strife, and even wanted to see what possibly breaks to modern Doom stuff like Reelism (I seen they all got controlled at the same time, and left some apparitions after pressing use heh).

That probably was because all monsters had the same TID. This conflict has been fixed in 1.1, and also fixes Supreme Invasion. About the apparitions... not sure what you mean.

The results are neat trying it so far for fun, although a couple things that would be useful is maybe being able to maybe jump for some monsters since they can get stuck in some areas, at least being unable to open doors (since pressing use kills them, I kill them by accident doing so the first few times. Oof) and some areas that a player can only go through since the NPC being controlled is somehow just a liiiitle too tall or fat or of the two through them, like in the Prison when I tried on an Acolyte near the ID door. I may not expect jumping to work, but something to get them out to not accidentally put them in a point of no return by a bad mistake.

Jumping has been added in 1.1. However, opening doors is something I can't add, unfortunately (there's one possible method, but it's very unreliable and performance draining). And yeah, some places you just can't go through with a monster, that's a bit of a limitation that can't really be helped much with Zandronum compatibility.

Oh and one little thing, I notice you can get charge points by destroying/killing things like barrels, tables, potted plants, and other things I tried with mods and intentionally breakable stuffs. The controlled do not target them themselves, I wanted to see if you know that little detail though.

Corrected in 1.1. Unless some mods give the ISMONSTER flag to those objects, then it may still happen
Glad you've mostly enjoyed it so far, and I hope the additions help for now.

It seems that whenever I possess a monster they'll have an aneurysm and will attack when they feel like it.

Does it happen very often? That happens to me too, but it's rare, like once when you first possess them. I'm not sure what could be done there, the target is cleared every 2 frames.

[Starman the Blaziken]

Yeah when I tried it with Zandronum, I immediately figured their would be a drawback to be unable to open doors, and possibly other little things I have noticed with mods that might not be able to be done much with.
I am actually quite a curious cat to try this with many mods, ones that are more complicated or not and see what the mods do because I have some fun using it ether way.

One thing thing I remembered, well... Think you might want to put Chex Quest on your list of stuff that might not work since in that Flemoids are unable to deal damage to each other, friendly or not (Something to say like Complex Doom addons with the Legendries unable to hurt each other, although it is round down to types and not all of them). Unless their can be a plausible compromise where any damage from a possessed can hurt an enemy.

[Carrotear]

Does it happen very often? That happens to me too, but it's rare, like once when you first possess them. I'm not sure what could be done there, the target is cleared every 2 frames.

For me it happens alot. The possessed enemy will spaz out and I when I attack they either spaz out more or actually attack. I'm launching the mod itself with nothing else.

[lizardcommando]

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).

[Artman2004]

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?

[Starman the Blaziken]

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).

Yeah same here.

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.

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.

[Caleb377]

Awesome! It worked with every mod I tried.

[TheNightATK300]

I cannot seem to throw the possession projectile? It's odd that I tried to press the key that throws the projectile, but it did not do anything.

[Carrotear]

I cannot seem to throw the possession projectile? It's odd that I tried to press the key that throws the projectile, but it did not do anything.

By the default you need to kill 20 monsters first.

[Cutmanmike]

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