TemplarGFX ACM Overhaul V5 - Complete Changelog feature

TemplarGFX's ACM Overhaul version 5 is now available! The download includes an installer which will work for players upgrading from existing previous mod installs, along with players who have never used the mod before. Version 5 fixes a number of core game features as well as gameplay tweaks and AI upgrades. View the changelog for version 5 below, or visit the website for the entire overhaul changelog.

Engine / System

• Compatibility File modified so that all graphics cards, regardless of model get by default the maximum quality settings available for engine internals.
• Shadow Management modified to allow higher resolution shadows, and more low resolution distant shadows to ensure no pop-in of lighting mechanics.
• Texture input switched to use maximum LOD values, Anistropic Filtering and higher quality Sharpening filter for distant textures
• Particle System Spawn Rates, Life Times and LOD settings increased to remove resource limit restrictions Many Particle Effects redesigned using different effects to increase visibility / quality of the over-all in-game effects
• Lighting Models for Objects and Statics and many world objects improved through changes to Specular, Diffuse, Rim Lighting and Normal Mapping adjustments
• Dead Bodies, Body Parts, Acid Splashes, Blood Splashes, Bullet and Explosion decals remain in the game world indefinitely (to the limit of the engine then items will be removed)
• Spawning Volumes for dynamic and wave-attack sequences in the campaign have had a significant increase to the number of Xeno's and Mercs that can be spawned
• Xeno's can easily overwhelm an area if not dealt with immediately, and Mercenary Loadouts are much more varied, with more smart-gun/flamer/battle-file merc's spawning.
• Tracer fire on all weapons switched to use the Sentry Gun tracer. This is what it looked like in the E3 demo
• Dropped weapons stay around for a really long time

Post Processing

• Master Effects applied via Reshade injector
• Global Illumination
• HDR Rendering
• SMAA anti Aliasing
• Tone Mapping rebalance
• Gamma Rebalance
• Dynamic Depth of Field

Campaign

• One-Off and special objects, effects and sequences have been beefed up and made to look as good as they can
• Fog, Smoke, Rain and other scene effects increased in density for particular areas to enhance the atmosphere
• Timings of cinematics tweaked where possible

Bug Hunt

• All waves are Xenomorphs. Gradual mix of different xeno types and horde sizes to slowly ramp up difficulty
• Xenos use the below updates

Multiplayer

• Xeno mechanics altered to try and balance them to the Colonial Marine weapon changes below. I was not able to test this
• Increased Xeno attack damage
• Increased Xeno speed
• Increased Xeno limb damage absorbtion

Xenomorph Shared

• Animations for Melee Combat (Win / Tie / Lose), Stance Changes, Jumping, Surface Transition, Stalking and Idling re-timed for better in-game behavior and movement
• Damage Zones and Critical Hit amounts reworked so that Head Shots are needed to take a Xeno down quickly, with glancing shots doing little damage
• Weapon Fire impacts and Deaths cause visual acid spurts/splashes that will burn and damage anything it touches
• Target Prioritization adjusted to give much higher focus on targets shooting at and damaging a Xeno
  Surface Changing decisions altered for faster switches between ground and walls

Xenomorph Soldier / Crusher (most actions for the Crusher are heavily scripted, but any dynamic actions use Soldier AI mechanics)

• Movement Speed, Acceleration, Weight, Jump Power and Flight Speed rebalanced so they are extremely agile and move swiftly around the cluttered levels.
• Melee Encounter Mechanics modified so that they are almost exclusively used when it will kill the target. Xenos will wear down your armor with claws and kill you with an encounter
• Pouncing reworked to improve movement around the map by reducing the maximum distance to consider jumping to. This leads to better object hurdling and wall/roof usage
• Limitations of switching between wall/roof/floor "opened" to allow more dynamic approaches
• Combat Damage significantly increased so only a few claw attacks are required to down a human (armor really helps here)

Xenomorph Lurker

• AI decision timing increased to improve their ability to outmaneuver you, without being impossibly difficult. Lurkers are truly terrifying!
• Movement Speed, Acceleration, Weight, Jump Power and Flight Speed rebalanced so they are extremely agile and move swiftly around the cluttered levels.
• Cover Mechanics reworked so they are exposed even less and move more often to stay hidden
• Combat Mechanics reworked so that they will wear you down through several spaced attacks before finishing you with a Melee Encounter
• Pouncing significantly nerfed to force them to run around instead of jumping across the maps.
• Increases their vulnerability crossing open spaces
• Melee encounter difficulty increased so fighting it off is a challenge

Xenomorph Ranger

• AI decision timing increased so that they are much more reactive in their position choices. Rangers will quickly reposition to continue their barrage
• Movement Speed, Acceleration, Weight, Jump Power and Flight Speed rebalanced so they are extremely agile and move swiftly around the cluttered levels.
• Melee combat reconfigured to match Soldier melee combat. This makes Rangers more deadly than Soldiers!
• Acid does alot more damage but flies slower through the air to compensate

Xenomorph Boiler

• No changes have been directly made to the Boiler. It is too heavily scripted to alter.
• Their explosion however uses the generic acid damage mechanics and so are much more dangerous to groups
• Crouch bug is unfixable (Be a man and stay standing!)

Xenomorph Facehugger

• AI decision timing increased to improve their ability quickly find a good pouncing position and hide from gunfire
• Movement Speed and Acceleration rebalanced so they are extremely quick and hard to hit
• Health increased so a single hit won't stop them
• Melee encounter difficulty greatly increased so fighting them off is super hard

Human Shared

• Animations for Stance Changes, Awareness and Idling reworked to look smoother
• Situational Voice Acting reworked to make AI more chatty and informative. Calling out enemies, movements and kills more often, as well as making scenic comments
• Awareness reconfigured to be much more realistic opening up more tactical game-play options
• Vision reworked to allow sneaking and hiding to be used allowing stealth play in some sequences. AI reposition more often to get a better line of sight on their target
• Gore Mechanics enabled for human corpses, allowing incidental damage and reactions to explosions after death
• Weapons Carried by AI use the same Recoil and Ballistics of the player weapons, and as such effect how deadly they are with each weapon (see below)
• Armor used by the AI use the same mechanics as the Player armor (see below)

Weyland Yutani Mercaneries

• Teamwork tactics and information sharing reconfigured to remove their hive-mind like abilities. They share only what you hear them say
• Weapon Damage rebalanced to reduce their threat level against humans and xenos. Greatly reduces the frustration of fighting them, and makes them much weaker vs Xenos
• Health GREATLY reduced (they had 4x the health of the player originally) so they are easy to kill
• Targetting priority adjusted so they go for whats attacking them more than just going for you
• Gunfire uses Sentry Gun tracer from E3 demo so you can see where they are shooting

Colonial Marines

• Hive-Mind like ability reconfigured to improve the teamwork used by the AI in conjunction with player actions. Better use of cover, suppression and flanking
• Weapon Damage rebalanced to increase their effectiveness in combat dramatically without making them overpowered.
• O'Neil's smart-gun mechanics modified so he is more useful with it

Human Armor

• Base damage absorption greatly increased so that taking fire without armor is extremely painful. Armor is now MUCH more important to stay alive
• When fighting Mercs firing at non-armored locations is important to take them down quick (neck, arms, legs) with weaker weapons

Shoulder Lamp

• Shoulder lamp illumination area greatly increased for the players and AI
• Fall-off distance increased but with a more gradual loss of light
• Light moves with the left arm, and thefore the Motion Tracker

Combat Pistol / Gorman's

• Weight, Recoil and Ballistics (WRB from now on) rebalanced to more accurately match a PPK Pistol
• Holding position moved forward a lot so the gun is not so big on screen. (can look a little funny when bringing up the Motion Tracker)

Service Pistol / Vasquez's

• WRB rebalanced to more accurately match a Colt .45 ACP
• Holding position moved forward a lot so the gun is not so big on screen.

Sub Machine-gun

• WRB rebalanced to more accurately match an MP7A1 SMG

Pump Shotgun

• Fires 00 Buckshot
• Weight, Recoil and Ballistics rebalanced to more accurately match a Mossburg 500 Cruiser

Auto Shotgun

• Fires #4 Buckshot
• WRB rebalanced to more accurately match an Saiga 12 Shotgun
  Incindiary Ammo does ALOT more damage
• Grenade Underbarrel holds 4 grenades, but does more damage

Double Barrel Shotgun

• Fires 2 x Birdshot
• WRB rebalanced to more accurately match a 411 Bear Claw Double Barrel Short Shotgun

Combat Shotgun

• Fires 00 Buckshot
• WRB rebalanced to more accurately match an Ithaca 37 Shotgun
• Explosive Rounds do the same damage as an underbarrel grenades
• Flatchett rounds do more damage

Hick's Shotgun

• Fires special "future" ammo with 12 pellets of pain!
• Functions the same as the Combat Shotgun, just with much more oomph
• Less Ammo to compensate

M4A1 MK2 Pulse Rifle

• WRB rebalanced to more accurately match an automatic assault rifle.
• Its stable and accurate, but not as powerful as Hudson's
• Shotgun Underbarrel weapon fires same ammo as Hick's shotgun, but carries only 4 shells.
• Grenade Underbarrel holds 4 grenades, but does more damage

Hudson's 'Classic' M4A1 Pulse Rifle

• WRB rebalanced to more accurately match a Light Machine Gun with movie 'canon' statistics
• 95 ammo per clip, 900 RPM
• Does alot of damage, but has limited ammunition and kicks like a mule
• Grenade Underbarrel holds 4 grenades, but does more damage

W.Y. Assault Rifle

• WRB rebalanced to more accurately match an M16a4 Assault Rifle
• Default to single fire mode, with upgrade giving 3 fire burst mode
• Flamer Fuel capacity doubled and damage increased (to replace the flamer which is now super rare)
• Shotgun Underbarrel weapon fires same ammo as Hick's shotgun, but carries only 4 shells.

Battle Rifle

• Weight, Recoil and Ballistics rebalanced to more accurately match a USA Fielding M110 Sniper Rifle
• Mine Damage Increased

M240 Incinerator Unit

• I had a choice. Flamers, or Smart-guns. I chose Smart-Guns. As a result only Apone's Flamer is available in the campaign
• Flame generation rate increased
• Fuel Capacity increased
• Fire Damage significantly increased

M56 Smart Gun

• Assisted Targeting mechanics improved so that you need to guide it but it keeps a lock over more area.
• WRB rebalanced to more accurately match its characteristics in the movie

XM-99A Plasma Pulse Rifle

• Shot count reduced to 2 per canister, but instant firing. With 6 canisters in reserve.
• WRB made up from scratch ( :P )

Ripley's Pulse Rifle/Flamer

• Pulse rifle is a fully fledged Pulse Rifle (same as above)
• Flamer is a fully fledged Flamer (same as above)
• Slight additional recoil kick due to how unwieldy it is

Explosives

• Damage greatly increased
• Effects reworked to accurately match the damage
• Physics shock-wave increased
• Firebombs / Fire / Incendiary
• Burn time increased
• Damage per second increased
• Special effect increased

Sonic Electronic Ball Breakers

• Stun Time increased
• Lightning Sphere effect 'suped up

This is a community-driven mod and we always appreciate your feedback and comments. Let us know what you'd like to see fixed in the future!