Re: Combined_Arms v2.3: Reloaded edition! (last post here 4-18-23)

[Combine_Kegan]

Alright, I've done another fairly sizable bugfix update, ironing out some bugs and oddities when playing online with Zandronum. Hopefully that's the last of the bugs for now!

[Tesculpture]

Oh, Blastmaster Mk. II, I've missed you.

I do have some bugs to mention though.
With Combined Arms:
-Past Linked's boomerang is unable to paralyze monsters flagged with +NOBLOOD...unless you throw it past them and it hits them on the return journey. Direct hits will not work.

With Malefactors:
-Jian Chaingunners don't actually use their chaingun properly. They generally only fire two shots, or at most four, then 99% of the time opt instead to throw grenades. Even if they don't throw grenades, they still only fire two/four shots before giving up and going back to walking around.

-All the new projectiles used by various demons don't seem to use the same Alpha/Renderstyle as the stock Doom projectiles, in GZDoom at least.

On a separate note, do you plan at all on doing something with Malefactors similar to the Knightmare Skill in GMOTA, with a "very hard" skill replacing the monsters with palette-swapped/more deadly versions?

[Combine_Kegan]

Oh, Blastmaster Mk. II, I've missed you.

I do have some bugs to mention though.
With Combined Arms:
-Past Linked's boomerang is unable to paralyze monsters flagged with +NOBLOOD...unless you throw it past them and it hits them on the return journey. Direct hits will not work.

With Malefactors:
-Jian Chaingunners don't actually use their chaingun properly. They generally only fire two shots, or at most four, then 99% of the time opt instead to throw grenades. Even if they don't throw grenades, they still only fire two/four shots before giving up and going back to walking around.

-All the new projectiles used by various demons don't seem to use the same Alpha/Renderstyle as the stock Doom projectiles, in GZDoom at least.

On a separate note, do you plan at all on doing something with Malefactors similar to the Knightmare Skill in GMOTA, with a "very hard" skill replacing the monsters with palette-swapped/more deadly versions?

I should be able to fix the boomerang easily enough, same thing with the Jian gunners. And yeah the projectiles use different renderstyles, I did it that way out of personal preference. As for a special nightmare mode? Probably not, though I could at least just make nightmare UV+FAST and removing the respawning enemies.

[Vphurple Izumi]

Wait Hold up what happened to Combined Harms? I looked for it on the itch.io page found this;

https://combine-kegan.itch.io/combined- ... -harms-v11

but no actual way to download it? Am I just blind?
I know its kind of old, so you may not be able to support it and thats totally fine, but please do not remove it entirely.
q_q

Edit;- Neverminded I am just stupid, its now apparently called Malefactors for some reason,
though Combined Harms was a way better name but well thats subjective so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Glad to see the "Gore" has made in to the new version I was kind of worried about that since you last said,

I'm actually going to be removing the current blood system in the monster pack as it's incredibly laggy and messy. I've seen complete freezes with some people when they get close to enemies and blast them with big sprays of projectiles, or god forbid a ripper attack.

But still I am taken by surprise that there is no way to get legacy versions of the mod.

Edit2;- So now I played it some and its amazing new weapons skins, shows how much effort was put into this,
I am just sad about the default pistol that used to go full auto on right-click being gone I don't get why it wasn't really unbalanced or anything, it sounded cool too and was fun to use, well its replacement on the other hand cant cut daemons in half, now that might sound good but it renders the gun unusable for sometime, I get that you also had to reload the full auto pistol but still
this replacement don't feel nearly as good.

The other thing that has change is no more infinite plasma ammo, by just spamming the grappling hook on you friend in coop, because its just gone, it was kind of broke so fare enough and plus the replacement is WAY better.

I don't know why I just feel disappointed, I shouldn't there so much good stuff in this now and its all fun, I guess I just got attached to the the old pistole.

Edit3;- Bruh, why nerf the crate weapons so hard? one of the absolute funniest one, the baseball bat got completely removed, the particle smasher having edicts based on on hitting the roof or the floor, making it rain fire and making a wall of plasma go forward like a wave respectfully are also gone. this the one change I just don not get like at all.

Like at least I understand why the pistole was changed as also pointed out by,

utility usage lasts well into your full arsenal.

The only thing I would say about the pistol is making its cooldown 3/4 of what is is right now, since its feel like forever when ya only have the pistol.

But this big nerf to crate weapons I don't know how to feel about that.

Well at least it can still throw hand at the daemons still, literally by ripping it and then tossing it at them, close enough.

Also a way to get the legacy versions would be appreciated.

Don't take this the wrong way I am not mad or anything, I am thankful for all the work you have put in here, and I cant undersell that.

[Tesculpture]

Sorry, but I've noticed another bug with Malefactors: Zombie Gunners have a breathing Active Sound, but Shotgunners/Chaingunners do not.

[Ryuhi]

Edit2;- So now I played it some and its amazing new weapons skins, shows how much effort was put into this,
I am just sad about the default pistol that used to go full auto on right-click being gone I don't get why it wasn't really unbalanced or anything, it sounded cool too and was fun to use, well its replacement on the other hand cant cut daemons in half, now that might sound good but it renders the gun unusable for sometime, I get that you also had to reload the full auto pistol but still
this replacement don't feel nearly as good.

The new pistol altfire is actually amazing IF you use it properly. Enemies cut in half cannot be revived, so it can be used to weaken archvile presence a good bit. In terms of using it otherwise, its a quick swap attack: you switch to the pistol when enemies are lined up, chunk/kill a bunch of em in one shot, then switch back to a different weapon while it recharges. Honestly one of my favorite pistol replacers in mods because that utility usage lasts well into your full arsenal.

[Combine_Kegan]

though Combined Harms was a way better name but well thats subjective so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Combined_Harms was kinda fun but it was a fucking nightmare to discuss it. Vocally it sounds too similar to Combined_Arms, in text people might assume you just made a weird typo, shorthand the name? Woops there's already another high profile monster mod that uses the acronym "CH".

I am just sad about the default pistol that used to go full auto on right-click being gone I don't get why it wasn't really unbalanced or anything, it sounded cool too and was fun to use, well its replacement on the other hand cant cut daemons in half, now that might sound good but it renders the gun unusable for sometime, I get that you also had to reload the full auto pistol but still
this replacement don't feel nearly as good.

The only thing I would say about the pistol is making its cooldown 3/4 of what is is right now, since its feel like forever when ya only have the pistol.

The blade beam does infinitely more damage than the burst fire of the old pistol and you're penalized for using it carelessly, older versions of Combined_Arms had atrocious balance and I've taken it upon myself to fix my own mistakes. I also refuse to shorten the cooldown, that beam is incredibly powerful and the tradeoff is giving the pistol up for a short time, if you're pistol starting and using it carelessly, that's on you as the player. You can just use the primary fire until you get a few other weapons, or learn to use the baton, cus that can carry you in a lot of fights.

Bruh, why nerf the crate weapons so hard?
But this big nerf to crate weapons I don't know how to feel about that.

This is where I'm questioning how much of the new update you've played. All of the crate weapons have been MASSIVELY buffed. I've stripped out the godawful infinite reloading and slowdown mechanics, and they all deal far, FAR more damage. They're proper BFG tier weapons now.

[Vphurple Izumi]

This is where I'm questioning how much of the new update you've played. All of the crate weapons have been MASSIVELY buffed. I've stripped out the godawful infinite reloading and slowdown mechanics, and they all deal far, FAR more damage. They're proper BFG tier weapons now.

Well yes most of them have been indeed buffed but my favorite one, the particle smasher is now just a generic plasma weapon, instead of being a cool multi tool, and the Daibatana bat bad is like completely gone.

All I am saying is Particle Smasher's right-click ablates went from, hits a daemon makes a vacuum to pulls the other daemons in and goes boom, hits the roof makes it rain fire, hits the floor makes a wave of plasma rush forward to "Right click go BOOM", the left click instead of making a wave of orbs fire then shoot out a second wave if they don't hit, to one orb going in a straight line, you have removed self-damage and thats good but it feels like a completely different weapon now. [Looks wise*]

When I was taking about a nerf to crate weapons I was talking about the crate as a whole, not just individual weapons, because if some of the weapons are really good sand some are not playing it set on random bight be unreliable, and the baseball bat is still missing :/, one of the most room cleaner weapons there was.

I don't really know this version feels dumbed down [for the artificer that is] and a lot of right click alt fire functionality have just been removed for another example the rocker launcher instead of throwing a volley of mini rockets, scopes in? I mean I don't mind it much but eh, same for the particle smasher, i meant what would be the harm in keeping its different reactions on right click based on different surfaces?

Oh well, I ​get ya on the name change, It must have been a pain.

But the point still stands there is no way to get legacy versions.

If you are browsing Itch.io from the web, your only option is if the developer has made an older version available.

Don't really see any harm is allowing that.

Anyway thanks for clearing it up.

[Tesculpture]

Aaand another (tiny and arguably superfluous) Malefactors bug: When firing a single shot, Zombie Gunners do not eject a bullet casing.

On a different note, is there any particular reason the Blastmaster helmet looks so different to the others? The other Loadout helmets are all clearly Arti's fishbowl with extra kibble. Is it referencing a game I've never heard of?

[Combine_Kegan]

Aaand another (tiny and arguably superfluous) Malefactors bug: When firing a single shot, Zombie Gunners do not eject a bullet casing.

On a different note, is there any particular reason the Blastmaster helmet looks so different to the others? The other Loadout helmets are all clearly Arti's fishbowl with extra kibble. Is it referencing a game I've never heard of?

It's actually another helmet slotted over his normal helmet. Though it IS in reference to the Bomber King box art. You can see Arti's normal helmet underneath the visor at low HP. My buddy Ultra64 actually made a good example of how this works:

[Spaceman333]

Edit2;- So now I played it some and its amazing new weapons skins, shows how much effort was put into this,
I am just sad about the default pistol that used to go full auto on right-click being gone I don't get why it wasn't really unbalanced or anything, it sounded cool too and was fun to use, well its replacement on the other hand cant cut daemons in half, now that might sound good but it renders the gun unusable for sometime, I get that you also had to reload the full auto pistol but still
this replacement don't feel nearly as good.

The new pistol altfire is actually amazing IF you use it properly. Enemies cut in half cannot be revived, so it can be used to weaken archvile presence a good bit. In terms of using it otherwise, its a quick swap attack: you switch to the pistol when enemies are lined up, chunk/kill a bunch of em in one shot, then switch back to a different weapon while it recharges. Honestly one of my favorite pistol replacers in mods because that utility usage lasts well into your full arsenal.

Oh so that's what it does.
Since I was playing with 'Meat Grinder - Enemies Only' monster replacer, enemies only recieved a slightly more damaging shot than a usual pistol shot.

Is there a weapon info text somewhere that explains each weapon?

--

Finished with Blastermaster mk2, enjoyed them thoroughly. Only nitpick is shotguns feel overall somewhat slow rate-of-fire wise and heat generation seems too slow at the start and too fast at the end. Other than that, I kicked ass for an entire 32 mapset as this character.

--

Been playing some more, trying both Tech Monk and Past Linked this time.

Tech Monk's combo attacks and odd arsenal threw me off. Having to deal with timing keypresses while doing all the other Doom survival stuff like movement, ammo/health management, weapon switching, positioning and target acquisition made my brain slightly melt. I eventually got better at juggling the combos and the unusual projectiles/attacks, but the extra time to cast combos before they fire, had me take more damage than I usually would. Especially to chaingunners/hitscanners. That said, the attacks are quite powerful if done correctly, thought it highly depends on the map how well they accomodate this character. One consistent issue was narrow gaps where enemies could shoot at me, but my projectiles were to fat to fit through.

Past Linked's passive shield block is really cool, very unusual character overall. The weapons/subweapons melted my brain even more trying to figure out how to juggle all these tools effectively, since unlike the regular doom arsenal which has a very clear 1234567 number keys to switch between via single keypress, here instead I need to potentially do 3 keypresses via 3 different buttons to get the weapon/ability I want to use. For this character in particular I'd love a text manual that explains their tools/weapons/abilities/powerups, since sometimes I use them and feel unsure what their effect/power exactly is - like the flame candle or magic staff, are they weak or strong etc.

The other silly nitpick is how the ammo pickups mostly make sense for Artificer and Blastermaster, but not for Tech Monk or Past Linked.

Other than that, I'm having a kickin' good time with this mod. Very well done!

[Vphurple Izumi]

Ok so have played a bit more now, getting used to the new pistole its not half bad,

A few things though;

• A get legacy versions.

  If you are browsing Itch.io from the web, your only option is if the developer has made an older version available.

  Still wish the Pistols alt fire cooldown was reduced by 25%, or and option in customization tab to adjust it manually as pre user preferences?
  The rocker launcher instead of throwing a volley of mini rockets on alt fire/right-click now does that on using the Reload key
  The Daibatana bat would be cool to have back
  The Particle Smasher's right-click quirks back

Minor nitpick about the BLASTMASTER Mk.2 kit, shouldn't blue flames be the hotter ones.

The BIG problem I noticed though is vertical auto-aiming, is like allover the place, some guns are decent, some just hit the wall below the daemons. It makes it really hard to play when sometimes we are playing without freelook set to on.

Edit 1:- I ma make a list of guns I have seen problems with vertical auto-aiming

ARTIFICER

• Lilk's Axe, alt fire [Chainsaw]
  Blackjack baton, Item activation hand rocket [Fists]
  Berserk mace, Item activation hand rocket [Berserk]
  Second Wind pistol, alt fire [Pistole]
  Whiplash shotgun, alt fire [Shotgun]
  Sharpshooter caltrops, primary fire [Super shotgun]
  Vulture SMG, alt fire [Chain-gun]
  Buster Carbine, primary fire, and alt fire [Plasma rife]
  Cyclops cannon, primary fire [Rocket launcher]

BLASTMASTER Mk.2

• Alt fire/Cool-off when blue, yellow, red, or overheated.
  Ice beam, the been doesn't auto-aim vertically, but still stuns daemons, dose no damage and dose not freeze them.
  Super shotgun
  Rocket launcher
  Plasma rife, but only on Blue and Yellow heat levels, its auto-aims vertically on red

I will be honest I haven't played enough of TECH MONK or PAST LINKED to say much.
Checked with Smart auto-aim on and off, in player setup auto-aim is set to 35
I have no idea what changed in the background but in v1.4 vertical auto-aiming used to work like a charm.

Also, Berserk mace does not get auto-switched to when picked up, could be intentional was like that in v1.4 as well, but its hard to tell, if it is intentional an option in customizations tab do make it auto-switch would be nice to have.

Malefactors v1.2

• Maybe a bug, you can walk straight though Spectres, found it on a map that uses them to block the exit, tested it some more and yep it works ever time. Unfortunitly i do not have a copy of previous version of Malefactors or Combined Harms v1.1 to check it it was the same back then.

I might have come off as a bit rude in my previous post, it wasn't my intention and I apologize for that. I didn't mean to say the new version as bad, all I meant was it just different.

Keep up the good work

[Vphurple Izumi]

Ok my last post was a wall of text i ma solve that,

Combined Arms v2.3
Bugs:~
Guns not auto-aiming vertically [Intended]
ARTIFICER

• 1. Lilk's Axe, alt fire [Chainsaw]
  2. Blackjack baton, Item activation hand rocket [Fists]
  3. Berserk mace, Item activation hand rocket [Berserk]
  4. Second Wind pistol, alt fire [Pistole]
  5. Whiplash shotgun, alt fire [Shotgun]
  6. Sharpshooter caltrops, primary fire [Super shotgun]
  7. Vulture SMG, alt fire [Chain-gun]
  8. Buster Carbine, primary fire, and alt fire [Plasma rife]
  9. Cyclops cannon, primary fire [Rocket launcher]

BLASTMASTER Mk.2

• 1. Alt fire/Cool-off when blue, yellow, red, or overheated.
  2. Ice beam, doesn't auto-aim vertically, but stuns daemons, dose no damage and dose not freeze them either.
  3. Super shotgun
  4. Rocket launcher
  5. Plasma rife, only on blue and yellow heat levels, its auto-aims vertically on red heat level.

Berserk Bugs
ARTIFICER

• 1. The Berserk mace does not get auto-switched to when picked up. [Intended]

BLASTMASTER Mk.2

• 1.Super venter when picked up removes tracers, when venting in yellow heat level. [Intended]

Again haven't played enough of TECH MONK or PAST LINKED to know much

Weapon Pickup bug

• 1. When playing multiplayer coop, weapons do not stay after pick up. [Coding quirks]

Weapon self damage bug
ARTIFICER

• 1.Cyclops cannon alt fire dose no damage to the player.

Malefactors v1.2
Bugs:~

• 1. Spectres have no collision with the player. [Intended]

Suggestions:~

• 1. A get legacy versions.

  If you are browsing Itch.io from the web, your only option is if the developer has made an older version available.

  2. Pistols alt fire cooldown was reduced by 25%, or customizable as pre user preferences. [Denied]
  3. Cyclops cannon throwing a volley of mini rockets, by the use of the Reload key. [Denied]
  4. Vulture SMG, rate of fire scaling rate be buffed.
  5. Daibatana bat, be added back. [Denied]
  6. Particle Smasher's right-click quirks be added back. [Denied]
  7. If no vertical auto-aiming, if intentional make it optional.
  8. Berserk Bug ARTIFICER, if intentional, make it optional.
  9. Malefactors v1.2, Spectres collision bug, if intentional, make it optional.

Tested in GZDOOM v4.6.0

[Combine_Kegan]

Regarding your auto-aiming complaints, I've made it a point to disable auto-aim on weapons in Combined_Arms, I guess I missed removing it on all of them, when I return to Combined_Arms I'll make it a point to disable auto-aim on all weapons. This is a personal preference. I hate auto aim.

Not auto selecting the mace when getting the pickup with the Artificer set is intentional, auto switch sucks.

Removing tracers on the yellow vent attack when you upgrade to the super venter is intentional, you're upgrading to hitscan.

Weapons not staying is a side-effect with how I've rigged the weapon pickups.

Spectres have no collision with monsters and players, this is intentional.

I will not add an option to speed up the cooldown for the pistol's altfire, that would make it overpowered and awful. I am not adding weird extra modes for the Cyclops cannon, I am not bringing the Daibatana back, and I am not bringing back the shitty gimmicks of the particle smasher.

[Vphurple Izumi]

Regarding your auto-aiming complaints, I've made it a point to disable auto-aim on weapons in Combined_Arms, I guess I missed removing it on all of them, when I return to Combined_Arms I'll make it a point to disable auto-aim on all weapons. This is a personal preference. I hate auto aim.

Come on don't do that there is no point in removing auto-aim on weapons themselves when you can just turn it off in settings, I am luck enough not to need it but some of my friends do need it. And its never a bad thing to have it for the people who need it, as I sayed you can just turn it off if you don't like it, in playersetup or even using dmflags, plus vertical auto-aiming is a thing you need badly when playing without freelook.

Not auto selecting the mace when getting the pickup with the Artificer set is intentional, auto switch sucks.

I think that personal preference, and a option to do so wont hurt anyone who doesn't like it, because ya know it will be optimal.

Removing tracers on the yellow vent attack when you upgrade to the super venter is intentional, you're upgrading to hitscan.

Well thats cool.

Weapons not staying is a side-effect with how I've rigged the weapon pickups.

Ah RIP, from what I have heard its a pain to change that, oh well we just spawn a copy of the weapon for now in coop though it kind of kills the pacing.

Spectres have no collision with monsters and players, this is intentional.

This can break a few maps, so would be good to have this optimal as well.

I will not add an option to speed up the cooldown for the pistol's altfire, that would make it overpowered and awful. I am not adding weird extra modes for the Cyclops cannon, I am not bringing the Daibatana back, and I am not bringing back the shitty gimmicks of the particle smasher.

Well it is your mod after all if thats the direction you taking it and what you want, its on you. Oh well

Thanks for clearing stuff up,
but still you haven't said about a way get legacy versions.

If you are browsing Itch.io from the web, your only option is if the developer has made an older version available.