Duck and Cover

I know it was just posted, but I'm too giddy to just sit here, so I made this thread.

Comments? (About the map, not my giddiness).

Plug, plug, plug! That's all you do! :mrgreen:

(I'll dl it as soon as it's posted, but -- like so many others -- it's going to have to wait until Phase II of my demo is released.)

OTB

Erm, it's already been posted... *cough*

That wasn't a plug because it wasn't in someone else's thread about another map. This thread's entire purpose is to talk about MY map, so there!

OK, MOFO notes galore:

- Should have zipped from FOT, not it's predecessor (so that core should have been the first directory when opening the zip)
- GUI/char: Should be prefixed with "Max-V_"
- entities: Should be in Max-V directory
- locale: revenge1_speech.txt should be in locale\missions\Max-V
- missions: should be in a Max-V subdirectory
- revenge1new.mis shouls probably be called "revenge1.mis"?

- There's also a small deviation - but it seems perfectly reasonable, where the original standard specified the readme's were just the name of the file with the extention changed (ie revenge1.txt). But it makes a lot of sense with the _readme.txt appended to it and will update that part in the post.

The new tiles/sprites are placed perfectly

Other comments:
- Some of the new sprites look weird through my viewer. I'm guessing it doesn't affect the look within the game?
- The revenge1new.zar is just a big black nothing in my viewer... Is there a bug I don't know about or is this normal? I thought the .mis file included it's own map within the file...
- Oh sure I'm "just" 'very smart'

I don't really care about the whole MOFO thing - at least not right now. I was knee-deep in the map's development when the MOFO first came up, and I wasn't about to spend an entire day or more renaming and reassigning things.

Besides, I think MOFO is too damn confusing anyway.

The revenge1new.zar shows up perfectly in your viewer for me

Nope, the minimap render is not part of the .mis file.

Now, are you gonna actually play the map, or just bitch at me over technical things that don't affect the map itself or the fun people will (hopefully) have while playing it?

Max-Violence wrote:Nope, the minimap render is not part of the .mis file.

AFAIK it is part of the MIS file. I usually move the ZAR that I use after I assign it and it still shows up. Can you see a minimap in The Refinery? I didn't include the ZAR w/the ZIP, so it should be a good test.

OTB

Egg... my face... all over... *sob*

I don't play maps, sorry, and I'm not bitching either. I'm making you aware of what you'd need to change for it to be "certified". What's weird is you mentione it's confusing yet you followed the standard for the sprites and tiles...

It's a pretty simple rule actually:
"Everything that can have a directory with your nick has, everything that can't is prefixed with your nick followed by an underscore".
There's a third part to it too, "Anything that overwrites the original game's working should be in your own custom -path directory".

This allows two things: 1) Mutliple mods don't interfere one another (including your own). 2) Other people can recycle anything you made in your mod (and "credits" remain the same since you placed your nick somewhere between core and the file you decided to name).

It's all just part of my MOFO Awereness Program - MAP? Ugh... Anyway, it's not critizism, and I fully understand the implications of you trying to get into the standard when everything's almost done making it an almost impossible task. Thus I mention the rules so that your next map can use the standard.

OnTheBounce wrote:I didn't include the ZAR w/the ZIP, so it should be a good test.

So I thought. None of the game's mission files include a ZAR, why would custom missions need one? Removing it'll save you some space.

I played through the first part and I wish I could have Shadow through the whole mission. He plays a hell of a lot better than the part 2 squad who end being killed by the simplest reavers. I had to revert to the last save with him so he could clean out more of the map. Very challenging although he still manages to be seen ocassionally when walking in the moat. The perspective threw me at the start, I thought the moat wall went up instead of down. It took awhile to figure out why I couldn't walk next to the wall!

The ghoul squad is almost too weak/unskilled. I don't mind them getting chopped up too easy, but they should have the necessary skills to do some damage. As it is they can barely handle any remaining perimeter reavers.

I can't check it for the moment, but will be dloaded soon. Does it have any of my ghoul faces by the way?

Update: Never mind that. I checked it locally and it does. I noticed you didn't greyscaled it though(As I recall I have a file that says you don't need to, but haven't used it myself). Does it look different on game if you don't?

OnTheBounce wrote:

Max-Violence wrote:Nope, the minimap render is not part of the .mis file.

AFAIK it is part of the MIS file. I usually move the ZAR that I use after I assign it and it still shows up. Can you see a minimap in The Refinery? I didn't include the ZAR w/the ZIP, so it should be a good test.

OTB

I can, but you should know, since I used it in my initial comments.

Jimmyjay86 wrote:I played through the first part and I wish I could have Shadow through the whole mission. He plays a hell of a lot better than the part 2 squad who end being killed by the simplest reavers. I had to revert to the last save with him so he could clean out more of the map.

Yep - the Ghouls hired Shadow because he's "top of the line," so to speak. The Ghouls' aren't quite "up-to-nuff" as far as combat skills are concerned (after all, they all used to be slaves), but they're learning!

You'll be happy to know that Shadow returns in Revenge2

I'm curious - what level was Shadow on when Phase 1 ended? Mine was on level 10.

Shadow has a "secondary objective" during Phase 1, in case you didn't notice. It's to wipe out as many baddies as he can

[quote="JJ86]The ghoul squad is almost too weak/unskilled. I don't mind them getting chopped up too easy, but they should have the necessary skills to do some damage. As it is they can barely handle any remaining perimeter reavers.[/quote]

Again, they are a fledgling (sp?) military organization, so that's why they aren't all l33t s0ld13rz... yet

Right now Shadow is still on level 10 but I'm trying to kill more bad-guys with him. Although it is maddening to kill reavers that can be seen by others - it's maddening I tell you, MADDENING!!! The thing I really hate is when he's in the moat and is detected so that his sneak disappears but he is not seen. WTF up wit that? And then when he drops something like plastic explosive he will go out of sneak mode. I'm about ready to give the squad another chance at the "death" assault. It's so named beacuse few if any survive long enough to get to the moat! Bastards.....

Strange... during testing, I rarely had Shadow get detected in the moat... he has the wetsuit equipped, right?

Also note that the map starts at sundown, so you could/should wait until nighttime to do the most of the "work" with Shadow. Just be aware that night doesn't last forever :idea:

With the two exceptions noted on the minimap, every Reaver in the outer area of the map/base can be killed using Shadow without the mission failing. Also, every single reaver inside of a building can be killed - just make sure you aren't seen while doing it (i.e. out of LoS of another Reaver). Same goes for the Reavers that patrol - some of them go inside of a building during their patrol route. That'd be a good time to take 'em out

Oh, and don't forget about door traps, mines, and remote bombs :twisted:

Whenever Shadow lays plastique, he gets detected? That doesn't sound right - I used up all the plastique with Shadow, and I didn't have any problems. You might want to try and place the plastique/remote bomb whilst crouching - that seems to greatly reduce the chances of gettin' busted.

Shadow also has his special throwing knives. Handy against a single Reaver that's too far away to stab. Just be careful about which Reaver you try and use 'em against - if ANY Reaver inside the base sees you, yer screwed - even the ones that are safe to take out - just like Shadow's Briefing says However, the throwin knives can be a pain in the ass to pick back up. Usually, the sprite of the knife on the ground gets covered up by the sprite of the dead bad guy. Usually, you can just keep moving the mouse around the general area and you can find 'em I only "lost" two knives the whole mission.

/goes to work on Revenge2

One thing I noticed and I can't recall exactly where it was (maybe it was on 46&2's map) was a door that was trapped. When I attempted to disarm, it blew up but didn't do any damage to Shadow. It was almost as if it blew up on the other side of the door!? This was a good thing but I'm not sure why it did that?

Jimmyjay86 wrote:One thing I noticed and I can't recall exactly where it was (maybe it was on 46&2's map) was a door that was trapped. When I attempted to disarm, it blew up but didn't do any damage to Shadow. It was almost as if it blew up on the other side of the door!? This was a good thing but I'm not sure why it did that?

Not on my map

JJ86: That happens sometimes. Not to worry

MV, I must say I've given up on your map It is way too difficult. After spending several hours on it and not getting anywhere, I couldn't take it any more...

Damn! I didn't think it was anywhere NEAR that hard! You sure you installed everything right?

All you really need to do is to get the Phase2 soldiers inside the base. After that, the battles kinda set themselves up. Just remember to be in Sneak mode all the time (unless yer in a fight, of course) and try to stay inside of the buildings. Also remember that explosives do LOTS of damage in all of my maps...

Yeah, I'm in the base and have everything installed correctly. It's just that every 5 seconds at least 2-3 guys die so I have to reload. Just setting it up so I can kill one reaver is a major challenge! It is extremely unbalanced. At least with Shadow he had the advantage of sneaking and good throwing knives, but the others can barely sneak and have few useful weapons. You should have given their skills some overlap so that if 1 or 2 dies you can still get open doors or set traps. Mines and good ammo are very hard to come by. You should have made it more readily available after each firefight. Another good thing to do is to set it so the first time you level up you can get to choose perks.