GMDXv9.0 Release

[Bogie]

There's alot of metal doors that have that problem.
Something I was thinking about was alternate attacks from some weapons. For instance, a stronger slice attack for the combat knife that takes a second to charge up, but does more damage and slices faster. Alternate attacks would definitely shake up the gameplay a bit, especially with enemies like UNATCO troops when attacking the player. Maybe a weapon mod would add an alternate firing mode to certain weapons (Like a grenade launcher for the assault shotgun, or an under-barrel flamethrower for the assault gun that's weaker then the normal flamethrower).

[WildcatPhoenix]

It may have already been said, but the new mantling works like a charm now!

Starting the main game playthrough this afternoon.

[SkrillaX]

How about these decorations for GMDX ?

[SkrillaX]

Listen, I'm getting an error while starting GMDX for the first time. With kentie's launcher. Please can anyone post some solutions ? Please

[Made in China]

So I had a little bit of time to compose my thoughts, and general feelings about Hardcore without the fatigue and frustration - although they are both valid feelings.

To be short, it's extremely homogenized. From the moment you land in Liberty Island to Area 51, the difficulty is high and consistent, and that's if you made the correct decisions - which is the right thing to expect from the player, as Hardcore is only open after you finished the normal campaign. That nullifies the sense of character progression, and makes you just fight for your life and relevance every time you do commit to an upgrade.

A full analysis of Hardcore mode:
Since everything is always at the limit, it misses the uniqueness of some enemies. The NSF at Liberty Island are as dangerous as UNATCO troopers at the 'Ton raid, which are dangerous as the MJ12 both in the MJ12 lab and in late-game. Literally everyone can kill you in one hit if you don't have any armor, and if you do it rarely matters as they usually attack in groups. You try and cheese and break the game by utilizing bottlenecks, such as doors, to your advantage and the enemy never seems to learn.*
Still, every hit can prove to be fatal - I've had a greasel one-shot me with a bite to the head, and yet the most I could do is 2-shot him with a fully buffed DTS (88 damage) when it's aware. It just makes JC seem like the most brittle super soldier in the world. It's also creates this incredibly weird dynamic - most times you go through an area, you die. But when you survive, you do so with minimal (1 or 2) hits to your legs and/or arms, and are otherwise unscathed. This creates an imbalance of health items when you do survive that doesn't reflect the hardship you just went through.**
Checkpoints are a tricky area, as you don't know you have one until you've already reached it. This creates some tense moments, but in general just seems cheap when you die just before one and don't know it. As they aren't enabled in any other mode, it just completely blindsides you, to the point I thought that the Matrix cube was a bug at first.***
At its core, there seems to be only one way to play Hardcore and not go insane - stealth as much as you can, when found dispatch the enemy the fastest way if it's viable, and otherwise just run. When you have to fight, build barricades and utilize bottlenecks (as I've done with Anna on the 747), and prefer the tranq's damage-over-time when you're in a safe spot against transgenics. Never hold back, even if it means dropping 6 LAMs on a group of 5 enemies - do it. Every fight feels like a life-or-death event, although this is a result of the extreme damage inflicted by enemies.****
Regarding detection, it seems like enemies have an easier way of detecting the player, and it makes them seem cheap. If you have Cloak + Thermoptic Camo they should at least be less accurate, but they just home in on you once someone in their squad seems you or gets hit because getting one-hit-kills is harder.
All in all, I feel like Hardcore is a skill test rather than an enjoyable way to experience Deus Ex, but it does show promise. While GMDX is the definitive way to play Deus Ex, I don't feel like Hardcore is the definitive way to replay it.

*It might benefit you to see if a certain number of enemies (let's say, 2 or 3) die in a certain point or area, make the other NPCs in that group fall back and try and ambush the player.
**Damage rebalance is a must. The ability to be damaged but not killed is part of the core design of Deus Ex.
***Maybe integrate some of the checkpoints into other difficulties with a toggle? They have to be mentioned in the tutorial, though.
****I feel like this feeling should be preserved, so if ** is implemented damage shouldn't be nerfed very hard.

[SkrillaX]

200th comment special
we've reached the 200th comment milestone

[Servalan]

Hello, all. Long time since I've been here; good to know OTP still exists.

I'm nearing the end of my first play-through of this mod (v 8; must grab the newer version). Enjoying it so far, but I've just come across an odd glitch. I’ve retrieved the UC schematics and have met Savage on the roof. I saved Tiffany, but Savage is in "she's dead" mode. Has anyone else had this happen? Any flags I can change to reflect the fact I succeeded in saving Tiffany?


Edit: Never mind - I found the relevant flag, so that part's fixed. Why she was listed as dead when I saved her is another matter, though.

[Bogie]

How about these decorations for GMDX ?

That looks pretty sick! I think it would work in places like VersaLife and especially the DuClare estate. The only place it would feel a little out of place would be the Underworld Tavern, considering how run down this is.

[SkrillaX]

That looks pretty sick! I think it would work in places like VersaLife and especially the DuClare estate. The only place it would feel a little out of place would be the Underworld Tavern, considering how run down this is.

Thanks. Does CyberP want it

Also can someone help me with the error above ?

[SlySpy]

Listen, I'm getting an error while starting GMDX for the first time. With kentie's launcher. Please can anyone post some solutions ? Please

First of all, if you're using kentie's launcher, make sure you have all of the proper files in the data directories. This is what mine looks like:



If you're still having this problem, go to your document folder for Deus Ex (for me it's C:\Users\[computer owner's name]\My Documents\Deus Ex\System) then click on DeusEx.ini. In the text file, go down to where you see [Engine.Engine], and check if you see "GameEngine=DeusEx.DeusExGameEngine". If you don't see that anywhere, then type that under [Engine.Engine]. If you do see it there, then back out of the main system folder, then go into GMDX's system folder, click on gmdx.ini, and do all of the same things.



Hopefully that helps.

[Cybernetic pig]

Edit: Never mind - I found the relevant flag, so that part's fixed. Why she was listed as dead when I saved her is another matter, though.

Oh, I was just looking it up for you, but saw the edit.

Don't know. Never had this bug reported before and never seen it be reported for the vanilla game either. Sometimes certain flags just break, vanilla too, and I don't know why.

[Cybernetic pig]

**Damage rebalance is a must. The ability to be damaged but not killed is part of the core design of Deus Ex.

Damage values on hardcore are exactly the same as realistic, which in many cases is less than it was vanilla, as AI are far more competent so we can cut down on the one shot kill RNG bullshit and have them actually be smart and fun to engage.

[Made in China]

Then maybe it's their attack frequency, accuracy or targeting. Targeting the torso can result in quick kills, and the head more so due to a multiplier (I suspect). I know for sure that I didn't last much at all in firefights in Hardcore, while in Realistic it was a hard-but-viable tactic.

EMP grenade issue - it removes your HUD for an indefinite time (as far as I can tell), until your bring up your inventory or similar screen, and at that point it completely resets to normal behavior. Shouldn't it be on a timer that's tied to your demolitions skill instead?

[Cybernetic pig]

They are a bit more accurate, yes. Not by much though. I added some code recently that makes AI less accurate while the player is moving, should help. I've also reduced the range that NPCs audibly emit distress, to make it more lenient for the player when he is attempting to silently take out an enemy with a lethal weapon. It should be to the point where nearby NPCs only aggro if they:

-Visibly see the NPC being shot/killed
-Are VERY close to hear the screams when they are shot (vanilla the screams were too loud).
-Or most commonly, hear the gunfire.

Should be a bit more fair and realistic this way. Just make sure nobody is watching and you don't let the NPC fire his gun. Still need to test it though.

Regarding HUD, I prefer the manual reboot.

[Cybernetic pig]

Regarding hardcore: sorry you didn't enjoy the experience. But know your experience is not the same as everyone's.

-Claims of combat not being viable...well my playstyle preference is combat, and my difficulty preference is hardcore.
-Claims of damage values being too high: like I said they're the same as realistic, which itself is less than vanilla.
-Scraping by every fight with next to no HP, I wish that was my experience. The game can be completed non-lethal to the same extent as vanilla, meaning you can ghost past whole areas or silently take out opposition without taking ANY damage, even on hardcore.
-Frustration, it can very easily lead to that, but good knowledge of the game and good skill should see that it does not.

But yes, hardcore is not intended to be the "definitive Deus Ex experience", except for those that thrive on high level challenge. The mode has its fans and its detractors, it's certainly not for everyone, but neither is easy difficulty. I detest games or modes that are too easy*, they create:

-"Ludonarrative dissonance". for example a game's plot shows a struggle, a fight for the PC's life against nightmarish, all-powerful demons that are meant to be feared, yet in gameplay they're cannon fodder and not scary at all because they are simply not a threat by design.
-unbalance and irrelevance of game systems, player strategy, and choices and consequences: e.g an economy. Money and shops exist, but I never need to buy health packs and ammo because the game already has them lying on the ground in abundance and I never die or run out of health packs in general.
-Easy is simply brainless. Brainless is nothing of value to those that expect to be engaged by a game. Likewise too hard can lead to extreme frustration, but that's down to player mindset and skill levels. For me and some others, hardcore mode is not hardcore enough. For you its clearly pushed you too hard. It's unfortunate, but it's a polarizing concept by its nature, of course.

*but of course I design the mod to cater to all skill levels regardless of my disdain for easy difficulties. When I was a very young child I used to always pick easy modes. Wasn't long before I came to appreciate being engaged on a higher level though...but I have my limits. I want notably challenging but always fair, which is Hardcore's goal.