Swine flu, you, and Shifter v1.8.2 news

Shifter

Deus Ex mod | Released Jun 2, 2007

Deus Ex is one of the best PC games in history, but even it isn't without its faults and shortcomings. Shifter addresses these and then some. Unused game content, buggy scripted events, several completely useless items, and certain design choices that can only be described as "annoying", all fixed (or at least "improved") by this little mod. I started Shifter in 2002 to fix just one of the latter -- the fact that weapons equipped with a laser sight won't turn it on automatically -- and the project has expanded exponentially since then. A few new weapons, some additional uses for existing items, new augmentations, and several fixes for existing Deus Ex bugs all exist in Shifter, along with a new multiplayer component. The mod is so popular it's been featured in Game Informer's July 2007 edition of Mod World; how many Deus Ex mods can say that? (only 3, to be specific) Shifter: "Removing the suck from Deus Ex" since 2002.

Report article Swine flu, you, and Shifter v1.8.2

I'm releasing something I'm willing to call v1.8.2 because I'm sick of life delaying its release. I think it works. Maybe.

Posted by Y|yukichigai on Sep 13th, 2009 digg this super bookmark

Anybody hear about that Swine Flu outbreak at PAX this year? Well I sure didn't, at least not in time. On the way back from PAX Sunday I started getting a tickle in my throat, which I THOUGHT was irritation from choking on some Gatorade the previous day. Turns out it was what I'm pretty sure is the Swine Flu (I tested positive for Influenza Type A; the test for the H1N1 subtype comes back in a few days. UPDATE: the test was positive. I did actually have H1N1. Thank God I'm over it finally.). As I'm posting this it's almost a full week later and I'm JUST getting over the bulk of it.

So why does this relate to Shifter? Because it's the latest in a long line of things real life has thrown at me to delay the release of v1.8.2. I haven't had time to do a full playthrough of TNM, period, which means I haven't fully tested my code. Hell, I've barely made it out of the first few maps. Unfortunately that means that any of you Shifter fans who've wanted to play TNM have been left in the dark.

Nuts to that, I say! I've got code that at least makes Shifter compatible ENOUGH with TNM to run, which is a dramatic improvement over v1.8.1. I've added more code to address bug reports I've received, even added a few additional features for normal Deus Ex. (Better Scramble Grenade behavior, support for the Demo versions of the game, quicker save/load times for people not using HDTP)

Anyway, normally I would upload my stuff to my Savefile project folder, but unfortunately Savefile is down. Any of the other services I can think of offhand which don't have a download number cap take time to approve their files anyway, so I'm just going to upload v1.8.2 to ModDB and hope they hurry up.

Oh yes: MANY OF THE TNM FIXES ARE NOT FULLY TESTED. Please let me know of any bugs you find using TNM + Shifter.

Comments

dave_5430 Sep 13 2009, 6:32am says:

You should rest instead of work or do anything else if you have H1N1, else it'll just come back and kick you in the head while ya don't expect it.

Happened to a friend 'o mine.

He felt as if he was getting better, so he went back to work (possibly spreading the virus around)

week later, he got so sick with such a high fever he died in the ambulance ride.

Just something to think about before you haul ass back to work.

+1 vote reply to comment

Y|yukichigai Sep 18 2009, 4:01pm replied:

Don't worry, I've been assured by the PA I went and saw that I'm no longer contagious. I wouldn't have returned to work otherwise.

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Renmazuo Sep 14 2009, 5:16am says:

I just started a new game (no old saves at all) to try out 1.8.2 on my GOTY edition from Steam, and ran into a problem I've never seen before. After the first mission when you get on the police boat to go to Castle Clinton, the game ends as if it was a demo! There's a little window that pops up with blurbs and screenshots, "Deus Ex in stores everywhere!" etc.

Anyone else have this problem? It didn't happen to me with the previous version of Shifter.

+1 vote reply to comment

Y|yukichigai Sep 18 2009, 3:45pm replied:

Hey Renmazuo, just wanted you to know I DID get your email. I'll check out the issue, but I think it may have to do with the capitalization of the map files in your map directory (seriously). While I code a quick fix for that, check the file names under your Maps directory (not sure where it is in the steam stuff) and make sure they match capitalization EXACTLY:

02_NYC_BatteryPark.dx
03_NYC_UNATCOIsland.dx
06_HONGKONG_HELIBASE.dx

+1 vote reply to comment

Renmazuo Sep 18 2009, 9:45pm replied:

I just checked and the first two map names are identical. For the Helibase I have 06_HongKong_Helibase.dx. But I'm nowhere near HK in the game, so would this still be causing the game to end at the dock?

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Y|yukichigai Sep 19 2009, 2:12am replied:

It shouldn't. How very odd. And you say you've got the Steam GOTY version? Huh... very strange. I don't have that version so I can't test....

Reading your email I see that you say the intro also doesn't work now. It seems like the game itself can't access your maps directory. Have you made the game playable offline? I recall that clears up a lot of issues with HDTP. It may solve this as well.

If this is going to be standard behavior with Steam I'll have to change how Shifter handles detecting the demo version. It never occurred to me that the game would ever NOT be able to detect the maps in the maps directory.

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Renmazuo Sep 19 2009, 6:38am replied:

I think you have me confused with someone else, I only posted here and didn't say anything about the intro. It's working fine last I checked. :)

EDIT: I just loaded it up to check, and sure enough the intro has mysteriously stopped working... however I seem to recall it was working fine when I started the new game? Bizarre.

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