Reviews - WCCC

Show me a better mod where you play as a greasel, and I'll consider not giving this a straight 10.

To quote a wildly successful businessman: "It just works."

It's the same base game, with virtually zero core elements changed, and generally just de-bugged and with some key points of QOL.

It doesn't slap uncanny valley graphics mods on it, add random trash paper and barf stains all over the game, change level layouts, retcon lore, or add stupid new weapons or enemies on a whim.

I gave Vanilla Matters 1.X a great review for keeping things incredibly safe and adding minimal deviation... This adds a fraction of even VM 1.X's deviation. Both are quite good, but the intended effect is undeniable.

If you're looking for something to spice up your Deus Ex experience, look elsewhere, but if the 2 whole gameplay breaking bugs have you wandering into wildly different experiences to "escape" the alleged jank of the game, this mod gives you no excuses to play anything shy of the vanilla experience. This isn't vanilla purism; this is what you should get when you ask for "vanilla". It's vanilla+++.

At the time of writing, I've encountered no bugs, and haven't had anything core about the experience altered yet.

Exceptionally recommended for first time players, I cannot stress this enough.

As a brief history: SEF adds more dynamic loadouts and some fun new challenges to replaying SWAT, and does pretty alright and being mod compatible. There's very little one can fault it on on its face, but its design increasingly is falling apart with time, and it fails to consistently accomplish any set of objectives. I'll talk more about this going forward, but while not truly faithful to the base game, SEF excels in giving multiple people in a lobby tons upon tons to **** around with, and in that regard is given a warm welcome to SWAT's mods. SEF 7, however, has unfortunately done much to disappoint.

Movement speed was overhauled in a way to give less maximum speed, so minimalist arsenals are less incentivized. This somehow dropped in parallel to "no weapon" being added, which is really sad, given that it would be the perfect way to accent minimalist builds otherwise.

Nonlethal has been dialed back a lot, which is borderline heresy, while caveman savagery has been dialed up to 11.

Grenade shells no longer have a beanbag effect past 14 feet. FOURTEEN. This heavily limits their use as direct-fire for giving a solid opener to risky rooms. Teargas was nerfed substantially, which is a change I can't imagine anyone asking for, and seems to be added purely to stop nonlethal players for cleaning house everywhere they go... But that's the point of HAVING nonlethal weapons. They have hard counters and sharp tradeoffs, but produce excellent results..

Meanwhile, even heavier armor was added that is complete overkill in vanilla, but good for modded maps with 100+ terries at a time. 6 new guns were added, ALL of which are lethal and ballistic, and 3 of them have new sounds that are atrocious and absolutely inconsistent in every way. See the FAL and Scar-H for semi vs auto and you'll see what I mean. In my opinion, this really showcases the flaws with design direction, merely adding guns "just because we can", and not because they actually add anything to the experience.

While certainly a bug, the "airsoft p90" (from silenced p90 + AP rounds vs soft targets) has been fixed. This was inevitable, but combined with other nonlethal nerfs this unconventional approach to nonlethal has also been stricken from the list of "don't shoot people dead simulator" choices. I mention this purely because it made me on a personal level sad... To state the obvious.

Enemy/civvie scaling on server settings is in, and it's pretty cool, and in fact the only thing that salvages the entire update in any way. The ability to separate interaction only vs yelling is cool, as it reduces "POLICE! DROP YOUR WEAPONS!" when silently collecting evidence near enemies. The ability to toggle punch checking lock condition is in, so you don't check lock status while trying to punch someone with a gun. The distance has also been improved, which is cool as well.

Bugs still not fixed:
-Bad iron sight positions on many guns, including the MP5K, UMP45, M249, and others.
-Sometimes spawning with no ammo on you because of unreliable "scroll" UI for choosing round/magazine counts you want. This creates a weird mismatch on what is input vs what data is actually "entered" for the loadout.
-Crashing from talking in maps without zone info added to parts of the map. This is because it tries to steal the zone's human name and glue it to the text message, but when this is null... Well, someone didn't do a sanity check, and it crashes the game or server in question on the spot.
-NPCs still scream and deploy barks when unconscious. This one is funny, because it usually results in officers in the party killing unconscious parties so they stop getting bad audio feedback during the mission.
-Evidence falling out of maps on both server and client, but almost always client. This causes un-winnable evidence objectives. Yes, this is vanilla, and I know it's not easy to fix, but it's one of the most atrocious issues with SWAT's gameplay pacing. It really accents the already awful evidence system with the potential for being literally unwinnable.
-Engaging "zoom" with handcuffs out will do literally nothing, except you cannot punch, and will absolutely die trying to do so.
-Glowsticks still commit most the time they're used, but it's better-ish.
-Leaning in front of doors lets AI magically detect you through them and wallbang you. Bullet penetration was a mistake with how AI handles it.

New bugs:
-Custom campaigns are in, but are wildly incomplete and have most of their features outright not working, showing that this update was a half-baked, partial update that shipped. Attempts to "restart" these missions also send you to bad map ID's and constantly break the ability to play them consistently. Yikes.
-Clicking to breach doors with a shotgun will always switch to C2 now for some reason, making you have to get to a VERY specific range for both breaching the door and not arming C2. Someone never expected players with C2 AND shotguns to exist on a team, but hey, here we are.

I'm sure many people may disagree with my rating, and that's fine, as my rating is purely an opinion, and I could see other opinions not reaching the same conclusion.

UPDATE: Having installed the DDS versions and cross-comparing, I have to completely scrap my old review and start again. I know, it's been 1 day exactly.

Anyways, this mod uses AI upscaling, along with what seems to be some layering and source images to use as references. Effectively, there are 3 versions, but I'll only be reviewing the standard 2. The DDS version comes with all 3, and you can copy/paste folders to mix and match what styles you want for what things, which is good since I personally enjoy "default" characters and "vanilla" everything else.

If you want to get technical, you can even look up textures in UED, and see which character textures you may like more (thanks, ModDB image gallery). From there, you can swap out individual character textures, giving you fine control over details. I ended up doing riot cop shirts, terrorist pants, HK military and soldier clothes, and JC/Paul vests from the augmented pack, for instance. This is in spite of the fact that I wanted to dodge almost everything in the augmented, for stylistic reasons. Having that at your disposal is an extremely nice feeling.

1. Vanilla:
It's vanilla, to the letter, but with more precision to its textures. These are really to the point, and you could almost forget the differences, except for when you start focusing on parts previously doused in pixels. In this regard, it's a subtle, but direct upgrade, and doesn't touch the original feel of the game at all. Previously, when using only "default", I found the weapons a little too stylized, and was sitting them out. With the vanilla version I can drop in, I now feel extremely comfortable using this mod for decos, items, and characters fully. Not much to say, except that some textures don't have as much detail vs the "Default" versions, given their adherence to the standard structures. This is, however, a purely comparative note, and either is still a straight upgrade from vanilla.

2. Default:
I prefer this for characters, more than anything else. There are absolutely some liberties and stylizations, and some textures look too realistic for many people's tastes, but the bottom line is I like them on the whole. The use of 2d variations even includes some careful texture mapping to create a feeling of different 3d shapes, as a subtle illusion of sorts. This is where the textures really shine, as they enhance the feeling of variety, in addition to definition. This feeling updates both the feeling of character models (in particular, for these notes on shaping) and the textures themselves. In this regard, even the "default" characters deviate from vanilla less than comparable HDTP characters, and without spotty coverage (as HDTP does not cover most NPC's).

Overall, there are exactly 3 things I would note:
1. The DDS version requires D3D10 to be used, which some people report compatibility issues with. I suffer from exactly zero of them. If you're running NV2.0a for world textures (and solely), this melds right in, though, and they compliment each other quite well.
2. The non-DDS version may cause frame stutters, and the DDS version can without precaching turned on. After using precaching, you can expect much smoother performance, but much longer load times (especially if your PC is fairly wimpy, like mine), and precaching often updates during opening the "escape" key menu, as a quirk for D3D10. However, this already happens with NV2.0a to an extent, so for me I just acknowledge it and move on.
3. File size is sorta chunky, but this is totally expected, coming it at about 2 GB for all 3 packs. DDS may also save you hassle since it's used on the fly, instead of in static packages, making it more compatible with various mods, and without a need to get specific packages per each vanilla conversion mod.

There are absolutely points I could see detracting from many people's experience with this mod, but for me I'm quite content, and most of the issues are traced back technical limitations. With the addition of DDS and "vanilla" options, I feel confident giving this a 10/10 for its intended role, in my personal opinion. I see myself using this mod for a long, long time.

Supremely good tidying up of vanilla. It doesn't mess with difficulty in any significant way, it doesn't alter maps, and its changes, including the more questionable ones (if only comparatively) all make sense after seeing cause and effect in action.

It doesn't feel 100% vanilla, but the things that don't feel vanilla are so very slightly off that I'm happy to look the other way and say "close enough"...

I'm not sure how mod compatible VM is, so I'll likely not play it long term, like with any vanilla conversion, but it's a fun trip and a nice homage to see to what vanilla did.

This mod is 99% vanilla by content, and the remaining 1% is still pleasantly surprising. If nothing else, I'd recommend trying it. Whether its for you is a matter of opinion and tastes, like with anything.

As of April 10th, 2021, I have a mod in the same category as GMDX. I'm editing this preemptively on March 30th, 2021. To minimize conflicts of interest, I'm leaving my 2 cents without all the colorful lanaguage that coated it last time.

In summary:
I give GMDX a 6/10 relative to the claims it was sold under, and likely claims the reader is familiar with.
I give GMDX a 7/10 overall, assuming it is relative to no metric other than just dicking around in it.
I give GMDX a 9/10 if the only thing you want from a mod is to just remix the experience with more difficulty, regardless of where the difficulty comes from.

That is all.

Magnificent mod for a good game. I think it taps into a lot of fresh ideas that are well executed and really exercise the full power that stems from the powerful base that is mount and blade.

That being said, it runs awful and horribly unoptimized, and this isn't just some FPS stuff (Which actually isn't in my list of performance issues), this is all about how clean the base program runs when given the burden of its plentiful content:
-Does not run on 32 bit PCs. That alone is kinda scary to me as a programmer. What the heck are they doing that destroys the compatibility so hard?
-Monstrous boot up times. Expect 5 minutes or upwards even with 4GB of ram at your disposal. This is partially due to the large amount of content, but it seems it's all loaded on bootup and leaves no loadtime for later... I'm not sure which would be the greater evil in this case, honestly.
-Crashes pointing to the EXE, rendering device, and sometimes nothing at all. I have friends that crash almost never, but I personally can expect to crash a few times a day, especially when maps get changed a lot. Combined with bulletin 2 this makes this game absolutely frustrating to play on a constant basis. Can get a half hour to a few hours of straight gameplay, worst case scenario, but its aggravating bootup and unpredictable nature make this still a bigger load of crap than any playerbase should have to contend with, even if it isn't evenly unstable for everyone.
-A few tiny bugs or undesirable bits, and that's less about performance and more about just how well some of the content is checked over. Additionally some of the content isn't bugged, but is just intentionally presented in a bad manner. Not all, but a fair dose.

That being said, the community is tight knit and are fun to play with, social norms are very easy to adapt to, and even those with minimal M&B experience can play well and have great fights. This truly is a great mod, but it needs cleaning up in many areas to become proffesi

Unfortunately, I'm updating my review of DXN again to report even more issues with AE. It axed the UMP SMG for the XVA rifle, which is 4x2 instead of 3x1, but still deals 2 damage per shot (vs 3 of assault gun), and is otherwise a completely inferior assault gun except with a scope and it fires 20mm emp. Due to FGR's unfamiliarity with the scope, though, he isn't aware that it negates the laser sight you can install when playing with vanilla, and makes the weapon nearly useless without being zoomed in, ruining its use as an assault rifle... And it recoils super heavily when scoped, making it useless when zoomed in. All this for 2x the size of the base game AR. Why?

New forced icons are crammed into your deus ex directories whether you ask for them or not, changing all sorts of small details without any information as to what and why. Random posters, inventory icons, and hell, even the DX icon in the upper left of the menu are now DXN versions. Due to how DDS is processed this will affect ALL versions of DX you play with D3D10/11, so I highly recommend against it.

Maps still exhibit nauseating nonlinearity, excessively used prefabs, and a wasteland devoid of proper image resources, making you get lost for 30-40 minutes in most maps, which is not fun at all.

Rockets are halved in the quantity given, ammo packets are still insanely rare, and the mod has a boner for throwing assloads of robots (which can now HEAR, contradicting their weakness installed for stealth players, but DXN simply isn't built with stealth as a possibility), which, with the gauss removed, are nearly impossible to handle in any way. God forbid you don't take the XVA, you will suffer for not using the forced grenade mule gun and all 8 of its slots consumed.

The list goes on. This mod is problematic in quality control, very, very poorly balanced, and a pain in the *** to trek through, with lackluster plot and dialogue to top it off. Don't play this unless you're intent on playing every DX mod ever made at least once.

Long time coming to update this. Anyways, I'd summarize things by saying that Revision 1.X fails to adhere to a vanilla feeling, injecting too much dark and dirty vibes into the game, while draining the color and character out of most of it. There's also a couple import errors that create "bubble" meshes, in addition to the fact that the HK signs are gibberish, which has attracted much flak over its years.

By comparison, NV2.0a is the latest version. It's much more mod friendly, requiring no recompiled packages, but required D3D10 for DDS texture swapping on the fly. For me, D3D10 works just fine, so I personally cannot deduct points, because I can't get an accurate measure of who does or doesn't have issues with D3D10, and I'll adhere only to what I know personally.

NV2.0a uses AI upscaling, and doesn't violate the feeling, drain the color, or create missing textures. There are a couple of slight issues with some font and some character textures look a little off, but these are incredibly few and far between. Using it purely for its world textures, it does a good job filling in for vanilla. Its definition and intricacy are not as high as NV1.X, but the fact that it doesn't shift the mood or style of the game is invaluable, in my opinion. Deus Ex doesn't need to be made more edgy for its core game, and the fact that this stylization of 1.X was pulled back is something I have much respect for, as it did come at the cost of absolute precision.

In regard to that, my review rests squarely with 2.0a. Due to the loss in resolution, I would have to mark this down a point. I very much enjoy where 2.0a is headed, but for now many of the textures are easy to forget as being high definition. If you switch back, you'll definitely notice it, but the inverse is not so improved as to be totally satisfying. With a little bit of touching up or restructuring, I firmly believe that this has the potential to be the best (for faithfulness, of course) texture modernization for the game's terrain yet.

Until then, my rating sticks at a 9.