Voodoo Blood2 Mod 1.4 addon

= ========================= Voodoo Blood2 Mod 1.4 =========================


Sorry this file is so long, but I don't have a website to describe this mod, and there were a lot of changes to document.



========== Files ==========
voodoo.txt
voodoo14.rez (object.lto and cshell.dll)



========== Changes Since 1.3 ==========
** Fixed (I think, maybe) a problem in the random weapon code that would cause the prophet to get only a pistol, and the cultists to not get the better weapons that they should.

** Added console print at startup to display revision number of the rez file being played. Hit ~ to see revision number.



========== About ==========
I wanted a tougher challenge than 'suicide' level. Here it is. With the new voodoo spells, 'Homicide' level may not be much harder than before, but suicide setting is definitely harder. If you're not good at strafe-firing, you may die pretty quick. Gideon is feeling pretty smug about his troops this time around!

The player must now be a little more strategic. The 'kick down the door and stand in the middle of the room with both guns blazing until everyone is dead' approach isn't going to work well. But if you like more strategic, duck in and out, strafe-fire, bounce-fire around corners type of play, then you may find this a worthy challenge.

The other main reason I did this mod was to randomize the enemy weapons, and attributes. (see Enemies section below). This can make a level play differently each time you enter it. No, I admit it's not as good as all new maps, but it's better than nothing, and it should also work to randomize any new maps that others make.



========== Weap />* Knife - re-added the code to make it stronger each time you kill with it (civilian kills not included =). It now requires a little bit of focus ammo to use. When it reaches full strength (double damage after about 35 kills) it will start to steal a little health from the victim and add to your hit points.

** Pistol - Set spread pattern more square (instead of the wide rectangle it used to be)

** Assault Rifle - Set spread pattern more square. The grenade launcher now uses only 3 die-bug-die ammo. (I wanted a few more grenades to lob. Bouncing grenades around corners is jolly good fun.) I also made it so that the grenade actually goes where you're aiming. And attempted to tweak the physics so that it bounces a little more like it should in the right direction. Although it still seems to bounce weird half the time.

** Shotgun - Set spread pattern more square

** Combat Shotgun - Gave it better spread pattern, and better damage. It still doesn't do any more damage per pellet hit than the sawed-off shotgun, but the improved pattern translates into more hits at longer ranges. That and the faster rate of fire make this a devastating weapon. (Watch out though, the Prophets prefer combat shotguns too!)

** Howitzer - Increased damage to something more fitting for true artillery. Why were we lugging this clunker around if it did less damage than the dang shotgun? Now it's an effective way to tell someone 'I hope you're having a really bad day.'

** Flayer - Increased alt fire target search range by 25% (My favorite weapon of any game made. The flayer trap kicks ass.)

** Voodoo Doll - see below

** Bombs - You don't get too many of these, and they can be difficult to use effectively in most situations, so I think the payoff should be good. Now they hurt. A lot. How much damage should a brick of MilSpec C4 really do? Hint: stand back.



========== Voodoo Doll ==========
I wanted some spells, but I didn't want to simply bind the spells to function keys because this would make the game too easy. (Running low on health in a heavy fire fight? No prob! Hit F5. Good as new!). In order to keep the play challenging while providing new powers, I included deliberate limitations. You can't simply instantly heal yourself. You have to switch weapons, the heal reload time is slow, etc.

** Heal Spell - The primary fire on the doll is now heal. (Rationale - When you stick it, it absorbs some of your wounds!) It uses 25 focus ammo. It heals a random percentage of your max hit points per spell. The reload time is 3 seconds. A blue heal effect is displayed around your character when this is cast.

** Shield Spell - The voodoo alt fire is now shield. It absorbs incoming damage and consumes focus ammo on a point for point basis. It lasts for 30 seconds or until destroyed. The shield is destroyed if focus ammo drops to zero from damage absorbed. The alt-fire reload time is 35 seconds. (This limitation is to prevent the player from casting another shield right before the last one expires. That makes things too easy.) A yellow shield effect is displayed around the character every time damage is absorbed by the shield.

Note that the reload time is for the doll itself, not the spell. So if you cast a shield it will be 35 seconds before you can cast a heal. Even if the shield is destroyed early.



========== Enemies ==========
In general they are more aggressive. (Less standing around scratching while you stand in plain sight.) The better spread patterns and increased weapon damage mentioned above in the weapons section also helps the Cabal troops. A fanatic or prophet with the more accurate M16 is really quite deadly.

I also gave the Cabal troops random weapons. This is cool because it can make playing a level different each time. You never know what weapon might be aimed at you from around the next corner, no matter how many times you've played the level.

On 'Homicide', the cultists and fanatics are limited in their weapon selection. On 'Suicide' they can randomly get any weapons. So you could find yourself up against a roomful of fanatics armed with howitzers and tesla cannons!

The enemies generally now have a much greater range of possible hit points. For example, some fanatics may be weak, while others take a great deal of damage before dying. I didn't like the fact that I generally always knew exactly how many shots it would take to kill each enemy in the original version.


** Civilian - Decreased hit points (it seemed silly that the average joe blow on the street could take eight 9mm rounds to drop)

** Cultist - Increased speed, increased hit points, increased sensing range, removed always_recoil property so they can shoot back while you're shooting them, gave them better weapons

** Fanatic - Increased speed, increased hit points, increased sensing range, gave them better weapons

** Prophet - Increased speed, increased hit points, increased sensing range

** Zealot - increased hit points, increased sensing range, increased energy blast damage radius

** Soul Drudge - Increased aggressiveness, increased hit points, greatly increased speed, increased attack range of their melee weapon, (Soul drudges can sometimes be a bit of a threat now, rather than just target practice)

** Shikari - Increased speed, increased hit points, increased sensing range, increased speed of their acid spit

** Drudge Lord - Increased fireball speed and damage radius, made him immune to his own fireballs, so he no longer frags himself by shooting at nearby walls

** Drudge Priest - Increased fireball speed and damage radius

** Bosses - Didn't touch 'em. In fact, they will be easier to kill now because your weapons are better.



========== Other Tweaks ==========
You now start the game with the flayer, the voodoo doll, the combat shotgun, and twenty 10-gauge pattern-controlled shotshells, loaded with teflon coated tungsten-polymer 00 buckshot. Merry Christmas.

Changed Caleb's attributes to Strength 5, Magic 3, Speed 2, Resist 2. So now he has enough magic to use the new spells. (He'll need them)

Changed Ishmael's stats to Strength 3, Magic 5, Speed 2, Resist 2. So now he can carry more ammo and health.

Doubled the value of armor pickups, since there was never enough armor around.

Enabled severed limbs on cabal corpses.

Maybe some other stuff that I don't remember changing.



========== Known Problems ==========
Cultists with the better weapons they get on 'Suicide' setting will not be playing the correct animation when they fire. (Fanatics are okay.) They will appear to be standing idle while firing. I'll get around to doing something about this.

If you pick up an Invulnerability (Will Power) powerup while a shield spell is in effect, the shield visual effect no longer displays around the character when he takes some damage. Minor, but I thought I'd mention it. In general there's not too much reason to pick up a Will Power item if you have already cast a shield (or the other way around).

The server side loses track of the reload time of the voodoo doll when you switch weapons. It basically wasn't designed to handle long reload times I guess. My code remembers the proper reload time however. So the net effect is that if you cast shield (reload time 35 seconds), switch to another weapon, then switch back to voodoo doll before 35 seconds have passed, then the fire animation will play although no spell effect takes place. This is harmless except that you may think you have cast the shield spell when you actually have not. If the yellow shield visual effect does not appear around you when you fire, then you have not cast the spell, even if the fire animation did play. You must wait for the 35 second reload time to pass. There is not much I think I can do about this one. Evidently, this happens because the server side has only one overall count for reload time, instead of a separate count for each weapon (which would make more sense). Sorry, but it ain't my fault. :-)



========== Future Versi />This is still a work in progress. I am going to try to make the enemies much smarter, so that they don't get 'stuck' on walls, running in place like a moron. This AI effort may translate into a full Blood2 bot if I feel that I can do a good enough job. But if I can't fix the fanatics, then I'll know not to attempt a bot.

Maybe I will add some more spells.

Have enemies occasionally randomly teleported into the map.

I have play tested 'suicide' setting, but enemy damage values or hit points may still need to be adjusted. Game balance can be hard to achieve.

I will listen to suggestions or feedback at vvega@worldnet.att.net. If you think it's too hard, too easy, or have ideas for new features, let me know. Put 'Blood2' or 'Voodoo' in the subject line of the email or Outlook will automatically discard your email. I use lots of mail filters to keep the crap out.

My sincere thanks to the creators of Blood2 for making the best shooter game out there. And releasing the source code to it as well. May others learn from your wisdom.
VVega - 5/16/99