Here is what the Hardcore Revival Mod for Deus Ex Mankind Divided changes when it comes to the gameplay:
I) The Augmentations :
- The numbers of praxis kits necessary to activate Adam Jensen's augmentations have been changed (Basically most augmentations now require more praxis kits to be enabled so at the end of the game, the player will be more specialized).
- The Health Regeneration upgrade is now disabled by default but it can be enabled with Praxis kits after Koller resets Jensen's system (So, after the Dubai intro).
- The radar HUD doesn't display the targets anymore : It only displays the environment and the objectives locations.
- The Stealth Avatar augmentation is now disabled by defaut so if the player is detected and manages to hide himself, there will be no image of his last known position displayed on his field of view... unless of course, he activates this augmentation (Like the 2 others augmentations above, following Jensen's visit to Koller).
- The Rebreather augmentation now doesn't consume energy at all (So it is just like in Deus Ex Human Revolution). Now when this augmentation is enabled, the player can stay indefinitively in an area where there is gas : He isn't limited by his level of energy).
- Augmentations like TESLA, FOCUS and Cloaking which made the game very easy have been nerfed.
- Takedowns are more complicated to do but they use no energy at all now. Also, it isn't possible anymore to remain invisible when doing a takedown (melee attack).
- The chaff upgrade now doesn't delay the grenades and mines too much (so it is an useful upgrade and not a nuisance anymore).
- Jensen's overheating system has now a bigger impact in the main campaign as every upgrades of the experimental augmentations add +50 to the overclocking.
II) The ITEMS :
- The items' size and how many of them can be stacked in the inventory have been changed.
For example, now the weapons use a bit more space in Adam Jensen's inventory (in the normal version of the mod only), so he doesn't carry all weapons in the same time. It forces the player to choose 3 or 4 weapons to play with.
- The items' stacking values have also been changed : In the normal version of the mod, the player can carry little ammos but a lots of spare parts and sellable items. And the limited ammo and weaponry makes the game harder. But in the optional version of the mod, the player can carry a tons of items.
- Same for the items prices (so the player doesn't become rich to rapidely and has to make choices).
- In addition, the effects of some items have been changed too : Biocells, painkillers, hypo stimjector and beverages grant less energy and health points (So the player has to consume more of them, which prevent him to accumulate too much of them). Also, it may be a good idea to drink a beer or 2 before a fight because now only the drinks give additional health points.
- And now a funny side of the mod : The blurred vision effect when the player drinks a beverage now lasts only 2 or 3 seconds maximum (instead of 30 seconds originally). Yeah, you read that right : Now Jensen is finally resistant to alcohol (It made no sense that the player could become resistant to concussion grenades, gas or smoke and have 30 seconds side effects when he was drinking some consumable items. The mod fixes this ;)
- And now, about the weapons : The base stats and the upgraded stats of the weapons have been changed to improve the gameplay and correspond to their written characteristics : For example now, the revolvers upgraded at their maximum can now carry only 7 bullets (and not 14, which was unrealistic). Another example, the Côte d'Azur combat rifle which was mostly an useless weapon is now a powerful weapon (hard to get, has little ammo, but it fun to play with now). The changes include the bonus/malus granted by the weapon mods such as the scopes, laser sights, silencer and customization with spare parts (And when it comes spare parts costs, the best customizations require lots of them now).
NB : I took a lots of time tweaking the weapons and testing values to make it sure it doesn't break the gameplay. So the changes are subtles but noticeable, especially when the weapons are upgraded at maximum. And of course, the DLC weapons have been modded as well :)
III) The artificial intelligence (IA) :
The mod makes the characters, turrets and robots to react faster. Also, some actions made by the player do more noise and so they will hear them if they are nearby.
IV) The XPs rewards :
The Xp rewards for some actions (like exploring, low-level hacking, remote hacking or knocking out enemies rather than killing them, ect...) have been removed as this incitated too much the player to play stealthly, to not use lethal force and to explore everything even after having cleared the area if he wanted to get the maximum number of XP points.
And as contrary, to rewards players : The rewards for completing main and secondary mission and finding notebooks have been increasd.
Plus, now you can tell what you want during conversation battles : The rewards are the same : 1000 eXperience points. The only things which change are how the characters react to your speech, what they tell you and what they give you (But often in that case, there is another way to get the item)... And this means : If you want to be a "jackass" like JC Denton in Deus Ex 1, now you can, without any xp penalties :D).
V) Ressources for modders.
Since some of my mod may not suits everybody (Well, tastes...), here are some tutorials I made so you can create your own mods for Deus Ex Mankind Divided (Note: The tutorials list will be updated little by little).
Tutorial 1: How to mod the XP rewards .
Tutorial 2 : Change how much cells the items use in the player's inventory .
Tutorial 3 : Can the items be stacked or not in the inventory ? And how many copies of the same item can be stacked .
Tutorial 4 : How to change the items price in Deus Ex Mankind Divided .
Tutorial 5 : How to mod the weapon's base magazine in Deus Ex Mankind Divided .
Tutorial 6 : Change the augmentations costs (in Praxis kits) .
Tutorial 7 : How to mod the weapons VISUAL stats .
Tutorial 8 : Set how many bullets the weapons magazine capacity can carry if upgraded .
Tutorial 9 : How to enable or disable augmentations and upgrades by default .
Tutorial 10 : How to mod the special EMP ammos (how they can stack, their price, ect...) .
Tutorial 11 : An easy method to find the items location in the game's files .
Tutorial 12 : Set the amount of machine parts necessary to craft items with the assembler .
Tutorial 13 : Change the characteristics of the consummable items .
Tutorial 14 : How to make the takedowns use no energy (or more energy) .
Tutorial 15 : My text tutorials which explain how to mod Deus Ex Mankind Divided
