Deus Ex Advancement Mod v7 Release

[rdaneel]

The problem with adding more explosives to the game is that they are an extremely useful multi-purpose tool. Blow open locked doors, blow up cameras, turrets, alarm units, robots & NPCs, they have the capability to blow up multiple targets also. Too many explosives will throw the RPG systems/general game balance off.

Yes, I can see this issue. My thought to preserve balance was to only make this additional ammunition available to a Demolitions Master, and to increase the skill costs accordingly in alignment with the significantly increased utility. Also, it would be possible to make the ammunition sufficiently weak and/or scarce so as to preserve balance while still adding choice and interest to the game.

I would imagine that exploiting all the various uses of explosives that you mention would be precisely what a demolition expert would do to get through Deus Ex. However, I would also imagine that the strategy of blasting one's way through the game would likely have some significant natural drawbacks as well - for example a total lack of stealth.

Side note... I have always found it odd that setting off explosions in Deus Ex seems to so frequently go unnoticed by NPCs and this has, for me at least, a tendency to break immersion. It seems like there should be much more of a stealth penalty for, say, blowing open a door with a LAM or the GEP gun. For example, an automatic alarm and/or AI investigating the source of the noise.

[Cybernetic pig]

Good points, except for this:

"for example a total lack of stealth."

Gas grenades insta-K.O low-middle tier NPCs reasonably quietly at master skill, EMP & scrambler obviously help bypassing cameras and turrets. Only LAMs are reasonably anti-stealth.

Anyway, Dynamite (with not too much destructive power compared to LAMs) found in TNT boxes at higher demolition levels sounds reasonable. Only problem is the flare models do not have a fuse as well as animations (equip, light, throw, idle etc)

[Cybernetic pig]

That looks damn cool, especially the knockback force makes the weapon seem substantially more powerful. What more work does it need?

Rather a lot in regards to decapitation. Knockback force is done aside from the testing phase.
I'm probably going to scrap the head decapitation. It is a lot of work, a lot of character models, and the hacky method I was using was not ideal...but nor is re-doing all the character models, animations and skins just for this functionality.

Hmm, mind you Deus Ex doesn't use too many unique character models for the humanoids so it would be pretty easy to do...if I had an artist/modeller.

[Jaedar]

Some way of getting extra explosives at master demolitions would be cool.

I was considering suggesting simply doubling all pickups(but I'm not sure this works from a coding standpoint. How do you prevent the player from just dropping and picking the item back up to double it?).

This same problem also applies to environmental actually. Even with the new stacking(which is great and the only reason I ever increased it) there's still not enough stuff around to rely on it. To use a ballistic vest properly, you still need a high weapon skill. And to make sure you find enough vests, you need good lockiping/electronics. So the skill always comes in third place.

The same sorta applies to demolition but not as much, especially since its one of the few ways to deal with bots.

Also having to come here to post about your mod again makes me very sad

[Cybernetic pig]

Some way of getting extra explosives at master demolitions would be cool.

I was considering suggesting simply doubling all pickups(but I'm not sure this works from a coding standpoint. How do you prevent the player from just dropping and picking the item back up to double it?).

It is certainly possible and very easy, but I'm not sure it should be done as there would be a hell of a lot of 'nades as a result. I don't really have a problem with demolitions being a "secondary" skill of sorts, and the costs are reasonable. As it stands, if you invest in the skill it certainly pays off without being overpowered and that is what matters most.

This same problem also applies to environmental actually. Even with the new stacking(which is great and the only reason I ever increased it) there's still not enough stuff around to rely on it. To use a ballistic vest properly, you still need a high weapon skill. And to make sure you find enough vests, you need good lockiping/electronics. So the skill always comes in third place.

I'm sure you are aware but it also improves tech goggles now as well as the effectiveness of Med/Rep bots. Using hazmats rewards you with a fair amount of extra goodies too. This too is a secondary skill though, but like all the skills of this type they are cheap.

Also having to come here to post about your mod again makes me very sad

Well, anywhere is better than the degenerate shithole that is the 'dex. It is a shame that appears to be the only place with a substantial audience for old game mods aside from moddb.

[daedulas]

You do get pretty grouchy man.
Just wait it out a bit.

[rdaneel]

Gas grenades insta-K.O low-middle tier NPCs reasonably quietly at master skill, EMP & scrambler obviously help bypassing cameras and turrets. Only LAMs are reasonably anti-stealth.

Yeah, when I said "blasting one's way through the game" I meant in the context of your earlier statement that TNT sticks would be too useful and break the balance of the game. I wasn't thinking of the non-lethal grenade types. One would have to think that throwing TNT at everything in sight would have some kind of a stealth penalty.

Anyway, Dynamite (with not too much destructive power compared to LAMs) found in TNT boxes at higher demolition levels sounds reasonable. Only problem is the flare models do not have a fuse as well as animations (equip, light, throw, idle etc)

Yeah, I have to reluctantly agree. My original thought was literally just to skin the flare and reuse everything, model animation etc. but just change the behavior. But I think you're right, this idea would be too hacky to fit in with the spirit of GMDX. To do it in the context of this mod would require proper assets which are unlikely, it seems, to be forthcoming.

Ah well.

[Cybernetic pig]

http://www.moddb.com/mods/gmdx/videos

Update on the head decapitation as well as some new features such as a significantly improved sawed-off shotgun.

[Jaedar]

When are you releasing V7.1?

Also about this decapitation. I must admit I find it of dubious value. People's heads flying off after being hit by shotgun just seems wrong to me. I could totally see it as an immersion feature when you hit people with bladed weapons, but as it looks in your latest video it just seems wrong to me.

Admittedly, I felt the same way about plasma goring people until I tried it, so I might be wrong.

[Cybernetic pig]

"Head decapitation" was probably the wrong choice of words. Their heads are outright destroyed. It is also a feature you can disable from the in-game options menu.
I have no scheduled release for GMDX v8. Knowing me though it wont be too long.

[Jaedar]

"Head decapitation" was probably the wrong choice of words. Their heads are outright destroyed. It is also a feature you can disable from the in-game options menu.
I have no scheduled release for GMDX v8. Knowing me though it wont be too long.

So 7.1 is being boosted into v8? Good to know.

It being optional is very nice.

[Cybernetic pig]

v8 changelog in progress:

Bold= significant features. For people that just want the juicy info without having to read the whole changelog.
It is all significant in my eyes, but I don't want to bore the reader with "Fixed x in relation to obscure bug y" type listings. Plus Deus Ex fans seem to be hard to reach out to these days. What more greatness could I provide? There is little left. I guess only the sacrifice of a baby goat will appease the masses. This mod needs an award for "least popular mod to ever win a moddb award".
...again, not that I exactly desire popularity itself. It is support that I desire which would come as a result of popularity.

AI:

-When killing the enemy with high-powered weaponry they are knocked back by the force.
-AI sometimes drop thier weapon when killed by a knockback shot.
-If chasing the player, dogs (Doberman only) bark a ton and alert enemies. Doberman also have a new variation of attack sound and run & attack faster.
-Gave Simons a number of performance-related buffs.
-AI burn faster/dont run around on fire for too long.
-Scrapped MiB's holding two-handed weapons with one hand as the one-handed running animation looks goofy.
-Slowed down the augmented mibs by 11%
-Improved various Karkian stats.
-All AI that use projectile weapons (rockets, Greasel spit, grenades etc) have an element of randomization to whether or not they will use target leading to predict your future position when moving. In short, when you are moving sometimes they will fire straight at your position, other times they will attempt to predict where you will be when firing their projectiles. This change makes thier attacks a little less predictable & abusable (before you could strafe left/right repeatedly to abuse the AI calculations).
-When using ranged attacks, Grays alternate between focused attacks and wide spread attacks. Gray also always fire directly at your postion, no target leading.
-Turrets rotate faster.
-Increased the range at which AI can use the flamethrower.
-Gave some types of MiB 2052's answer to the Typhoon aug.
-Whilst AI death animation is playing there is no longer invisible collision that blocks bullets and enemy decision-making algorithms.

AI camping system improvements:

-Some campers no longer camp & instead advance on the player under certain conditions.
-All campers do not immediately forget about the player.

Effects & audio:

-Crossbow Dart effect can be seen when fired by enemies too, making them easier to dodge.
-Made plasma gibs glow and gave them a new texture.
-More explosion refinements.
-New sounds when in and floating on the surface of water.
-gave the assault shotgun a new dry fire sfx
-Added another metal landing sfx variant.
-Gave the assault gun a new firing sound
-Refined melee attack camera effects
-Added new camera effect for when landing into water from height.
-Made some minor tweaks to flamethrower effects.
-Thermoptic camo also provides visual cloaking effect.
Altered drug/poison effects: FOV isn't lowered and held weapons do not disappear.
-New electro-shock effect when zapped by spiderbots. Only happens if shocked in the head.
-Improved EMP grenade explosion effects.
-Improved enemy cloak activation effect.
-Improved simulated camera recoil effects.
-Added a new death sound exclusive to headshots by bullets.
-Improved the blood spurt effect when player and enemies are shot.
-Added gore splat sounds for when the gore falls off the wall/ceiling and hits the ground.
-Gave the sword a more suitable drop sound.
-Gave the Sawedoff shotgun new dry fire & normal fire sounds.
-Added new blood splat effect if a load of blood goes in your face.
-Added glass crack decal when attacking glass with melee weapons or guns.
-New Grenade launcher fire sound added & increased g.launcher rate of fire.
-Added head decapitation to high-damaging weapons.
-Augmentation canisters emit light.
-Improved the muzzle flash effects of both shotguns.
-Improved effects when attacking & destroying carcasses.
-Plenty Bubbles are spawned when landing in water from height.

Weapons:

-New weapon mods: damage.
-Added new ammo type: gamma-ionized plasma ammo for the plasma rifle. Reduced default plasma ammo pickup counts to compensate.
-Added weapon sway when running.
-Recoil system further improved: recoil is no longer bound by firing animation and the view interpolation is much faster.
-Weapons that fire multiple projectiles no longer display the damage value of all projectiles multiplied, but rather the value of a single projectile.
-Hipfiring with the sniper is now unreliable unless you mod it and/or are skilled in rifles.
-Lowered Assault gun range and restored its compatibility with range mods now that they are worthwhile.
-Adjusted the viewoffset & firing offset for various weapons (their positioning when held by JC and the exact point the projectile is spawned from).
-Rotated the held assault gun, sawed-off & the flamethrower models so they aim at a more realistic angle.
-GEP can have rate of fire mods and rifle can have range mods.
-The UMP no longer has a sight rail & red dot sight.
-Reduced the radius of AI-alerting sound produced by the darts & throwing knifes.
-Sped up LAW rocket.

Miscellaneous:

-Decoration & pickups have spoofed physics when taking damage as well as bumping into each other.
-Also improved pool ball physics.
-Improved mantling system to be 100% reliable as long as you can reach the ledge.
-Walking & running speed is faster, and less noise is produced when walking.
-Hardcore expansion: in Hardcore mode you are forced to walking and must use the sprint key (default shift) to run. Stamina also drains faster when running in hardcore mode.
-Changed some font styles to be less ugly.
-Improvements to the fragility of fragile objects such as being broken when stepped on or having another object dropped on top.
-Cigarette & vending machines display how many credits are required.
-Lowered biocell recharge amount to 20 and lowered max carry amount to 20.
-Added more new interactive decorations.
-Lowered the sound radius of alarms a little.
-Pickups break when thrown against walls.

New Stamina system:

-Aqualung reduces stamina drain & increases stamina regeneration.
-Swimming skill now named "Athletics" & increases total stamina in addition to the vanilla perks.
-Low-Tech reduces stamina drain from swinging melee weapons.
-Stealth skill enables stamina regeneration when crouch-walking.
-The oxygen meter text is now blue and always visible (as it doubles as stamina/breath & stamina bar are one and the same).

The stamina system has great impact on a number of systems and results in more tactical and in-depth gameplay.

Augmentations:

-Radar Transparency now has a visual effect unique to the visual effect cloak provides.
-Reduced speed gained by speed enhancement since base running speed is now faster. Jumping remains untouched.
-Lvl 4 of the Microfibral muscle aug makes you immune to dropping held decorative objects when shot.
-Updated various aug descriptions for clarity.

Spy drone:

-The Spy Drone now has cloaking.
-Use mouse right click to emit noise from the drone and distract enemies from their patrols.

Skills:

-Hacking into ATMs now requires advanced hacking skill. Re-balanced the skill costs.
-Increased the sound radius of the demolition skill advanced proximity mine beeping.
-Updated various skill descriptions for clarity.

Bugs:

-Flares no longer ignite when thrown at NPCs. (GMDX bugfix)
-Fixed Heavy weapon inventory size reduction quirk where the weapon's size was not reduced until they were in your inventory first. (GMDX bugfix)
-Fixed the spy drone malfunctioning if used in combination with synthetic heart. (GMDX)
-Fixed a bug where you could mantle onto thrown weapons. (GMDX)
-AI no longer get angered if they witness you kill a rat (GMDX).
-In v7 death sounds were prevented from playing when an NPC is blown up. Instead pain sounds decided to play in place of them, and this is now fixed.
-Fixed a bug where radar Transparency only let you pass through laser beams at lvl 1. (GMDX).
-Fixed stealth pistol rate of fire issues. (GMDX)
Made some additional performance optimizations.

Maps:

-UNATCO (All visits).
-Hotel (All visits).
-Smugglers (All visits).
-Airfield Helibase
-747
-Hangar
-Tongs base
-Paris Metro
-Oceanlab_lab

-Improved the scripting of the MJ12 ambush and UNATCO Troop events on NYC Streets 08
-Fixed an error with the prison cell door code during the UNATCO escape and various other tweaks to other maps.
-Restored friendly status of troops in the Hong Kong Versalife lvl 1 labs, but made them far more reactive to bad behavior they observe in the player.

[Made in China]

This is some seriously impressive stuff. Even some of the modern games lack some functionality that you've added (such as decapitations and dog alerts), and adding that to Deus Ex really takes it up a notch.

I'm planning on making my next Deus Ex playthrough using GMDX and DXR - but I've noticed they are, currently, incompatible. Are there any plans of making a GMDX version for DXR after its release?

[Cybernetic pig]

Probably not. They are incompatible because GMDX "Revises" Deus Ex's level design itself, although with a primary focus on gameplay.
At this point in time there is a lot of visual work done too, but only where I feel it was "needed". Hong Kong maps for example have the least amount of visual work because they were visually superior to NYC and Paris, which have a lot of outright bad sections (visually speaking only, of course).

[Made in China]

I'm aware that some of the changes included in GMDX affect the level design, but I'm a bit burned out on the original Deus Ex design and want some more drastic change - that's why I'm interested in Revision. I mean, you can only play the original Liberty Island that many times.
The question is about integrating the gameplay modifications (+-custom items such as the USP10 and damage mod, as they would require level editing) and making a GMDX-lite for something like a Shifter replacement.

Thanks for you prompt reply.