Things from TNM we need in DX, but how?

[Dark Reality]

It seems like TNM opened a few doors for expansion on the original DX. The main thing I'm thinking is the digital media store in Paris. Pretty boring place, not worth going into (there's what, just a multitool in there? maybe a candy bar?) but worth approaching for Tong's quip about buying pirated stuff in Hong Kong.

Now what if, upon entry, you found on the shelves every music CD, every DVD, and every game littered about in TNM? How awesome would that be? You could even put the stacks of blank CDs on one shelf.

All in all DX itself wouldn't be appropriate to have music CDs or the others laying around (especially DX!) but then again, it could add character to a couple areas. Smuggler's area could use something, maybe Paul's apartment. Maybe the home of that family you can break into in Paris (not the arms dealer, the other one). And of course the DuClare mansion.

Eh? Eh?

[Jonas]

Ever noticed how empty the Versalife MJ12 labs are?

I'm thinking some petri dishes would spruce the place up a bit.

Even if they are up-side down (sorry DDL).

[DDL]

they'll all dry out, mark my words.

And then where will your freshly cloned bugs be, eh? What use is ze fabled power of nanoaugmentation if all your bacteria are dead?

[Jonas]

This is why we need to hire you for science consultant on the next game

[Kee715]

the next game

[Dark Reality]

Ever noticed how empty the Versalife MJ12 labs are?

I'm thinking some petri dishes would spruce the place up a bit.

Right, exactly. I forgot I made this topic (kept telling myself I needed to start it - looks like I already did).

Someone made a mod for DX, "New Vision" sounds familiar but that's y'all's thing. It wasn't that, it was like a reimagining of DX. Liberty Island had a couple gangs, UHQ was completely redone inside and out, and Hells Kitchen was a heck of a lot bigger, and the 'Ton was massive. Made Phas' apartment building in TNM look tiny. But it only went till about Hong Kong and a lot of areas were untouched.

Anyway...

First step, we need all the stuff we can litter about. A few Letter/A4 sheets we can print out with all the "stuff" on them, by category.

Second, we assign each person interested an area with a personality. Someone gets Paul's apartment (or maybe the whole 'Ton). Someone gets UHQ - maybe we divide by floors. Office level and reception is one and the jail, medlab, and armoury is another. The DuClare mansion ought to be a treat. And maybe the Cathedral (one would have to be careful).

Each member would be given a couple weeks to turn in a drawn map with simple and easy directions as to what would go where.

Third, somebody or a few somebodys would take those maps and actually code the new items in. Somehow.

Fourth, somebody would take all the used TNM stuff (maybe a few CDs wouldn't be used - we can omit them) and all the updated maps and call it Deus Ex Patch 1.2 (so we can stop saying 1.112fm). It would require 1.112fm (or if we could do so legally - include it) and would spruce up DX throughout.

Fifth, a select few of us test it. Or we release it as a public beta. Get feedback. Listen to people who say someone has too much stuff for their character or this or that is out of character for them. Ask a few people, make a decision, update the patch if we want to, put out a second beta.

The final product would be a patch for DX, as we know it, but with more decorations.

If we wanted to be a little more ambitious, we could take a few of the best ideas in Shifter and Smoke's mod and integrate them. Nothing too liberal, definitely not skills for kills or the weird jump thing TNM got from Smoke's (I assume), but like the lockpick/multitool exploit, things like that. And reintegrating Ford Schick into the Smuggler storyline.

Beyond that, the possibility then exists to put stuff in DX that actually matter. Like Trestkon's dual .45s. But then we must tread carefully, because while I'm sure a lot of us would like to see DX enhanced, we don't want to spoil it. Add weapons, you gotta add enemies or toughen up the enemies there are. Making it a little harder would be OK but too much harder - or any easier - would be bad.

I would be willing and wanting to help, too, any way I can. I made a fork of Shifter called ShifterPlus for my own use (basically raised the ammo caps, did a couple other things, like let more weapons take more mods) but people (on GameFAQs) got interested, so I released it. I've been pseudo-promising an update for a while, but TNM makes it irrelevant in a few ways. At the very least I'm waiting for the TNM-friendly Shifter to fork, but I'd like to help a broader audience, not just provide an alternative to the best thing to happen to DX until TNM. This is one idea, and the idea of having DX, TNM, Shifter, Smoke's mod, Zodiac, Redsun, Burden, Carone, and all the other mods in one parent folder with a launcher to hot-swap mod files and allow portability for use on a (big) flash drive or external hard drive is another.

Until TNM I thought the DX community was in a real danger of dying, but OTP has opened a lot of new doors for us.

[Jonas]

Adding new items to maps is actually a piece of cake, you just gotta learn how to navigate a 3D scene in UnrealEd and place items. It's a lot of work to do for every map in Deus Ex though, and somebody would need to take charge of it and coordinate everything. Since it's your idea, it's only fair that you take leadership responsibility.

[AgentSmithereens]

Sounds like you want to do exactly what DX Revision's doing (which I must say, after some early scepticism, I'm really impressed with at the moment).

[Jonas]

Maybe you should just ask DX Revision to include some of our decoration objects and call it a day

[Dark Reality]

DX: Revision. That must be what I was thinking of. Can't pull up the site from here, I'll have to wait till I get home to see what can be done at the other end of that hyperlink. But if it is what I'm thinking of, it's worth a look. There are a few versions. Their first UNATCO HQ was very confusing with no real direction. The latest one I saw was a lot clearer, but still had a lot of hallways and doors to nothing.

Speaking of nothing, it just occurred to me that in the closet on the left, as you face out from Manderley's office, has that vent in it which is always locked and has nothing in it. What's the most annoying CD in TNM? Something like Britney Spears, or, I don't know, Yanni or something. Annoying isn't the right word, more like something a lot of people would be embarrassed to have. Put it in that vent with a datacube, a note from Manderley's secretary saying he'll never find it there. Or since people clown on Daikatana put the game disc in there with a datacube note from someone (Alex Jacobson?) saying it should never see the light of day with a PS to JC telling him to close the vent, back away slowly, and never come back to that place.

If actually placing the items in UnrealEd is so easy, I suppose I could do that part of it myself if I were to go that way. If Revision is what I think it is, and I can learn what needs to be done in UnrealEd, maybe I can help them to some extent. I've played with UnrealEd, and I figured out how to fly around. (Over on GameFAQs last year, someone discovered a rogue sound on the dock on Liberty Island, where you meet whatsisname, right when you get onto the dock. I pulled up UnrealEd and sure enough, there was a sound object, but I couldn't tell much about it. Put the sound up and wander between the crates and the ramp silently, you'll hear it.)

Do you guys know of any good UnrealEd tutorials?

But wait, Shifter doesn't include maps and it adds stuff. Explosive 10mm ammo and Rate of fire mods for example. So there's got to be something in DeusEx.u that adds stuff to the maps, too. Or does editing the map somehow edit that as well, or am I completely off?

[Trasher]

Someone made a mod for DX

Actually we're still making it.

Anyway, to be honest, this same idea came into my mind some weeks ago. An unofficial patch for Deus Ex that fixes the known errors in the game and maybe contains some new extra goodies. All this would give a nice boost to the game. But hell, modiying every map that Deus Ex has is a lot of work and trust me - I know exactly what it's like. Placing decorations/items/npc's in UED is very simple as Jonas just said.

For tutorials, I suggest this page:

http://www.planetdeusex.com/constructor/tutorials.htm

If Revision is what I think it is

Our goal of the project is to give a new feel for the players when they play Deus Ex again. That means, new areas,datavault images,crosshair,NPC's,texts and weapons.

maybe I can help them to some extent

Send me a PM and we shall discuss this further

Maybe you should just ask DX Revision to include some of our decoration objects and call it a day

That would be an honour.

Sounds like you want to do exactly what DX Revision's doing (which I must say, after some early scepticism, I'm really impressed with at the moment).