I lied about no new updates for a while. Please forgive me.
I did some very brief work with the Misery team before deciding to leave and continue work on this as well as other things that have come up. Very cool people all around and Misery 2 is looking to be a cool mod :)
I mentioned in my last post that I was still interested in finding a new game engine but I won't be doing that.
However from the details I know about the Lost Alpha engine I WILL be moving to that whenever it gets released (they have to let GSC review their stuff and it's not due for another review until sometime this Summer from what I've gleaned, hence the delays). I imagine that won't be in time for Swartz 2.0 though ;)
Here's the latest:
1) Migrating to a magazine-based system. Same idea as Redux, in-fact it's the same script, just an earlier version that does not drop mags at your feet. I'm going to try and figure out how to do that as I view it as essential. If you're a scripter that wants to help with that send me a PM.
2) I was going to do a Shoker-style attachment system (done via keypress though, no bags...) but have decided against it. Instead I'm going to do something similar to what r_populik is doing for Nimble and give him unique variants of weapons. I may also have different variants of weapons carried by NPC's and for sale as well.
3) A rank and a perk system. Shoker mod for CS has a limited version of this, and I like the Fallout-like idea and would like to do the same (unless people hate the idea). I won't gimp the character from the start to make up for ranks and perks, it will simply enhance the game as you go along.
4) I managed to isolate the new AI Tweaks used in Misery 2 into it's own separate package, which I'm merging with my mod and I will release stand-alone since Alundaio wanted that done (but NOT before Misery 2 is released, people have to wait).
5) A few heavy weapons added which you will need an Exo in order to use.
6) I'm also interested in using someone's idea (I think it was DDraig), where instead of the Exo being a separate suit it's something you can have your suit upgraded to (since an Exo is supposed to be for weight purposes and not armor, so technically it should be compatible with existing armors for the most part).
7) I'm going to make usage of some of the scripts included in GWR mod. One I definitely want to use is backup iron-sights mounted on Acogs (not technically in their scripts but possible to do with them, and someone even did the same and posted a vid of this on Youtube). I'm not sure if there are any Soviet scopes that can do the same, if so let me know (though I like my 1P29 and don't want to replace it, I will if needed :( )
8) Pistol draw times will be fast. Certain people reading this know where this idea comes from.
It will require animation editing but something like this I imagine can't be too difficult.
9) Tweaked the crap out of shaders. I really want to get the Float32 Cook Torrance light shader working in CoP but the best I managed to do was get it working long enough to show a screwed-up shader.
If you can do some shader authoring and feel you know how to port this to CoP's lmodel.h (should be similar) send me a PM.
On that note I'm going to be recommending DX9 as the default renderer when this gets released. Most shader edits are for DX9 and DX10&11 are a huge hassle to modify and really not worth it IMO.
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That's all for now. Next time I will post some actual content instead of a news update ;)
I can't understate how awesome this mod is shaping up to be. I'm a tad disappointed that you won't be doing Shoker-type attachments - I'm a huge sucker for gun customization in games - but I also realize that it'd probably be a ton of effort that might be better spent elsewhere. I like the idea of a magazine system. Now, I haven't played Redux - how similar is it to, say, Zone of Alienation's magazine system? ZoA's system, while realistic and usable enough, has always been a tad clunky. Excellent work as always, and I can't wait to see how the update turns out.
Sounds great and thanks for helping out in MISERY.
All the best, Matt!
Sounds good! I had what I thought as an interesting idea a while back when I was reading my way through the 150+books set in the STALKER world. It's for a anomaly detection system that interfaces with the PDA. (Obviously this is something that only makes sense if dynamic anomalies are present) Basically some sort of a system where you could approach the anomaly with the detector out, at which point it would determine the exact type of anomaly and mark it on the map until the next emission. There are some problems with this when the setting is CoP, there are no dynamic anomalies first of all, but it seems that a lot of mods add some. Then the fact that in-game the emissions happen A LOT more frequently then they do in the books, we're talking once per two weeks or so, and they know in advance the approximate time from the scientists. And of course some serious scripting would have to be done to implement such a system.
I think it would add a bit of a stalker feel to the game, the feeling that it's not just another shooter, but you're surrounded by anomalies and any wrong step could be, and often is, deadly. So assuming these conditions are met I think this system would benefit the game greatly, it would give us(players) reason to step off the path a little. Just in case you have to sprint your way back and you want to make sure that there are no un-expected anomalies hiding in the tall grass.
Huh, didn't know there are so many cool anims I haven't seen yet. In fact, think Ive seen some of them in the canceled Gunslinger mod. Youtube.com
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I just realized you mentioned Unity in your last post....of which governs the indie game Receiver. Imagine playing stalker with a gun system like that!