"Quartz" by Jimmyjay86 (Single Player)

[OnTheBounce]

In the interest of getting JJ86 some feedback on his Quartz mission -- something he definitely deserves after the long, agonizing months that he spent on it -- I'm starting up this topic. So don't be shy, post your thoughts and impressions of JJ86's work here.

OTB

[Viktor]

1st bit of feedback...

I couldn't use a direct unzip as per the readme as my install of FO:T is C:\Program Files\14 Degrees East\Fallout Tactics\core. I had to "cut and paste" the folders manually...

SPOILER ALERT!!!!!

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Having spent just a couple of minutes moving my sqaud of NCR Rangers around, I have to say it was well worth the effort of downloading and unzipping this little beauty! It looks great and I'm really looking forward to see what info I can elict from the various gropus as to where the missing Rangers have got to!! The local gang boss's HQ would be my first choice if the squad had more firepower, but I guess I'll have to employ a little more subtlety.....

More to follow!

[Jimmyjay86]

Thanks Viktor and OTB! Sorry about the path difference. Hopefully you got everything where it needs to go. I'll have to make my next zip to work from within core.

There are two different ways to get into Ugly's HQ. And a direct assault will never get you inside. Doing the quests is the only way to complete the game but there will be some battle along the way.

[Red]

I know you didn't ask, but I'd like to make comments on it anyway... Since the only way we'll ever acheive a standard is if I force it down your throats

For MOFO certification, you need to:
a) extract from core as you mentioned
b) Put all the stuff into sprites/jj86/quartz, entities/jj86/quartz etc etc.. I know it's longer to find the sprites, but in the long run it'll be all worth it. (change jj86 to whatever you feel like, actually I still need to mark down the reserved ). As a note, when using the MOFO standard,you can use your sprites in other mods so you shouldn't even put them in the quartz directory... (sprites/jj86 would suffice).
c) You ADDED new chracter images, but what if other mods decided to use the same names as you? It will eventually cause a problem. Now since using the -path option would slightly hamper the game speed, you should prefix the name with your "reserved name" (previously refered to as jj86...), so you'd get gui/char/jj86_Angela.zar and the like
d) You should put the readme into MOFO/jj86 directory, and name it the same name as the mod instead of "read me.txt".

[edit]Modified paths to respect the new standard[/edit]

(not related to MOFO really), why is the map for the mission there? Isn't the map store IN the mis file? Maybe you just provided it so other people could toy with it?

[Jimmyjay86]

Definitely for my next map I will arrange things a little better and go for bad-ass MOFO certification! But that has to be done from the start, otherwise I would need to delete all of the custom sprites and entities and place them in from the correct directory. Not that there are that many, but I don't think I want to waste the time on that!

But on the subject, maybe there should be a standard directory for everyone like this:

sprites/MOFO
tiles/MOFO
entities/MOFO

That way everyone can use the same directory for different maps with the same items.

[Viktor]

Definitely for my next map I will arrange things a little better and go for bad-ass MOFO certification! But that has to be done from the start, otherwise I would need to delete all of the custom sprites and entities and place them in from the correct directory. Not that there are that many, but I don't think I want to waste the time on that!

But on the subject, maybe there should be a standard directory for everyone like this:

sprites/MOFO
tiles/MOFO
entities/MOFO

That way everyone can use the same directory for different maps with the same items.

Now that's a damn good idea which will save the less Zip-positive gamers a lot of hassle! I got it sorted fairly fast because I have to deal with installing new applications packages on a regular basis and you would not believe what a bitch some of them are to get running!

[Red]

Yeah, the original idea was to use the MOFO directory as the "hub" for the hub of other directories.

However if you think about it, why even use the MOFO directory? Since we already create acustom directory (ie: the one with your reserved name), if the MOFO standard simply stats that you can't use the ones arleardy use in the game (and possiibly demo), then we can assume that all directories created are fine. as long as the names are reserved.

This will still work fine for people who use other people' s sprite, since say I use JJ86's sprites, they'd be in core/sprites/jj86/ while mine would be in core/sprites/Red!. (Which is 1 less directory to browse in the editor then if we add MOFO under sprites).

[Viktor]

JJ86,

A bit more feedback on "Quartz"...

Fallout 1 feel/subquests + Wasteland setting + FO:T squad stlye CTB combat = bloody amazing map!

Well done that man!

I've only got as far as attacking Ugly's boy's who've kidnapped the mayor, but it's been damn good old style Fallouty fun with a Tactics twist! I'm guessing you dropped the damage done by the AK and the .45 pistols to encourage the player to get better weapons fast!

While I'm all for this, I found the odd Raider and Reaver dotted around the map very hard to kill as they take at least 2 AK bursts and 4-5 "Triples" from the .45 before dying in an orderly manner. The cockroaches seemed much tougher than the core game too...

Strangely enough, I had little trouble dealing with the occupants of the area in the SE corner of the map even though at least one NPC warned me that they were very dangerous....

The Uzi with AP ammo proved to be most effective against Ugly's boys in the Town Hall, which was quite surprising as I'm used to the core Uzi which gets ditched the moment I have a better weapon such as a large wet fish to slap enemies with!

More feedback to follow on Monday (hopefully!)...

[Jimmyjay86]

JJ86,

A bit more feedback on "Quartz"...

Fallout 1 feel/subquests + Wasteland setting + FO:T squad stlye CTB combat = bloody amazing map!

Well done that man!

Thanks I wanted to try something a little bit different along the lines of an RPG. I liked the way Endocore's maps played and wanted to expand upon that style.

I've only got as far as attacking Ugly's boy's who've kidnapped the mayor, but it's been damn good old style Fallouty fun with a Tactics twist! I'm guessing you dropped the damage done by the AK and the .45 pistols to encourage the player to get better weapons fast!

I didn't change the damage of any of the weapons and instead played with the AC and levels of the enemies. I did some testing to figure out challenging values for all the entities on the map. Even the dogs are sometimes tough to kill. MV thought it was kind of strange to make them tough but these are fast and mean wasteland dogs! So it's hard to get a good bead on them.

More feedback to follow on Monday (hopefully!)...

Good to get some good feedback Viktor!

For my next map I want to delve more into speech trees per my tutorial and make it into a full-fledged RPG. It will still be about the same size map but will have tons more replay value. But that is months down the road before I start that!

[Stainless]

After screwwing up the file management side of things, I finally got it all in place.

It took me two tries to finish it, with the first try ending in me getting bored with not knowing what to do next and gunning down the town (I'm a sadist )

Also, had a problem with having the speech icon appearing over Ellen (the reason I shot the town up), but I finally got it.

buuuuuut, I have a question: How do you get up stairs in the police station....short of killing the deputy and the sheriff?

Other then that, the map went off. Had a great FO feel, which I felt as soon as I started playing it (nothing like some bombed out city). I also loved alot of the speech floats.

Weapons didn't worry me that much. I was using the AK till the end, with another using the combat shotty, M1 Garand, Plasma Pistol and some other gun, which I can't remember.

Top job, look forward to your other maps.
-Stainless

[Jimmyjay86]

Hey, Stainless yeah there are a couple ways to get upstairs in the police station. You can try taking on the sheriff but you will probably get your ass kicked. There are circumstances where you can get the deputy to leave his post but I don't want to give it away! The same goes for the innkeeper blocking access to the storeroom. Well here's a spoiler:
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If you have an enemy chase you through the sheriff's office he will leave the post for a short time. Be careful not to get caught upstairs when he gets back to the post!

[Stainless]

Hey, Stainless yeah there are a couple ways to get upstairs in the police station. You can try taking on the sheriff but you will probably get your ass kicked. There are circumstances where you can get the deputy to leave his post but I don't want to give it away! The same goes for the innkeeper blocking access to the storeroom

I nailed both the Sheriff and Deputy on my rampage, cleaned them both up without them getting a shot off (for some reason the Deputy ran away from my line of site, so all I had to do was kill them one at a time.)

Yep, I figured out how to move the inn keeper.

If you have an enemy chase you through the sheriff's office he will leave the post for a short time. Be careful not to get caught upstairs when he gets back to the post!

Hmm...might have to try that.

[Max-Violence]

*sob* None of MY maps has ever gotten this much attention...

Erm, not to hijack the topic or anything :mrgreen:

Hey JJ86, did you... erm... "fix" the issue of being able to drive the Hummer into the pool in the motel/hotel/inn/whatever? Still haven't gotten the chance to play this new, sparkly version...

[Jimmyjay86]

*sob* None of MY maps has ever gotten this much attention...

Erm, not to hijack the topic or anything :mrgreen:

Hey JJ86, did you... erm... "fix" the issue of being able to drive the Hummer into the pool in the motel/hotel/inn/whatever? Still haven't gotten the chance to play this new, sparkly version...

Oh come on, MV. Your work has been downloaded about 50 times more than mine! Yeah I put stuff in the way so that the Hummer can't get back there. I've been getting lots of good feedback about little things that aren't working. Apparently the Snake inventory bug still causes crashes at least until you save the game and reopen it. There may be a problem with the sprite in his inventory. I think it bears repeating that maps should be play-tested thoroughly by other people to make sure that everything is working as it should.

[Max-Violence]

Oh come on, MV. Your work has been downloaded about 50 times more than mine!

Yes, but my stuff have been available much longer than yours has, and you've already gotten more feedback than I have! That really PISSES me off! (Although I am happy for ya, dude! )

Apparently the Snake inventory bug still causes crashes at least until you save the game and reopen it

So it wasn't just me? Good

[Stainless]

Oh come on, MV. Your work has been downloaded about 50 times more than mine!

Yes, but my stuff have been available much longer than yours has, and you've already gotten more feedback than I have! That really PISSES me off! (Although I am happy for ya, dude! )

What? My feedback not good enough for you, although I do admit I haven't played Rebellion or the other one (you know, the first campagn one), on the sole reason, I can't get the freaking things to work....
....
my god, you've sucessfully highjacked JJ86's thread

[Jimmyjay86]

MV's maps are definitely worth playing. I don't think they are any more tricky to install than mine or OTB's. Odin asked if I could write a tutorial with screenshots on how to install maps with all of the other added stuff. I haven't started but may try to do something at some point. It's number 5 on the list!

[Max-Violence]

Stainless: Yes, your feedback is as groovy as can be, but like you said, I haven't gotten any from you in a while. PM/email me and I'll help you get 'em to "freaking work." If the problems is/are that you can't get the speech files to work (i.e. you don't get briefings and no characters say anything), you can find the answers in the FOT mapping/modding forum. I've posted "how-to's" on getting the speech file(s) working so many times, you might accidentally find out how to fix it!

BTW, I'm not going to do any campaigns/mini-c's for a while - I've noticed that a lot of people have had trouble getting Jailbreak and Rebellion working, but few have had problems with DD or Slaughter Springs.

That said, this hijiack has officially ended :mrgreen:

MV's maps are definitely worth playing.

Thanks, man! *thumbs up*

*raises right hand* I hereby promise to play the latest incarnation of JJ86's map ASAP.

[Flamescreen]

I hope this doesn't mean we don't get to see Revenge, eh? I wouldn't like to see my Ghoul Faces in FoO first since it will be some time untill I complete it.

I will try my hand on Quartz one of these days JJ86. From what I hear it's been worth the wait!

[Max-Violence]

I hope this doesn't mean we don't get to see Revenge, eh?

Oh, hell no! I'm still doin' stuff because I'm havin' fun - but I would be havin' much MORE fun if I got some *&#$ing feedback!

I, too, am going to try and play Quartz soon... like right after I finish Revenge1 (I'm at the "big push" at the end - playtesting, tweaking, playtest some more, tweak some more, etc.).

Oh, wait, the thread hijack ended already. Darn :mrgreen: