[UT] Χέοψ DORADO -Final Ver-

[editor Dave]

I needed four hours to complete the map on Medium .

I hope I didnt come off as too negative! This maps concept is very well executed. I just wanted to say that not everyone might be of the same opinion as Semfry. I forgot to write that the new additions are a fresh take on the regular old weapons and enemies, it felt really original! An Egyptian themed SP is so rare and I like how you fleshed out the setting through the starter post.

Though, Id like to point out a few more things in regards to your reply: In Xenome, I never felt I was overwhelmed by the sheer number of the enemies. Im not entirely sure, but does the number of enemies at once even exceed 5? In your map, there are often 10 or even 20+ enemies at once and considering your splash damage options are sparse, I often felt powerless. Especially when the HP is so high. You know from Unforchers that I am a huge fan of risky fights, but there the enemies always have reduced HP, thus die faster, thus hold a certain level of adrenaline. Your fight scenes are more about carefulness and attention and less about pure adrenaline - which is totally a matter of taste.

However, Im not quite sure if exploiting the AI is really a sign of might or skill. I for one didnt feel a sense of real achievement when I was at the area in front of the pyramid: I rushed through it, down the stairs, and so, only a handful enemies kept up with me, because they didnt really know how to use the stairs, and I proceeded to kill them in small groups. I felt that I cheated the system, with no sense of pride, but otherwise I couldnt have made it. Or every instance with the blue Titans: I abused the fact that their hit radius is bigger than it seems to be, so I looked slightly around walls to kill them without them seeing or hitting me. This was not fair to the enemy so to speak and it would not be possible in a newer engine. Still, otherwise I couldnt have made it. It didnt feel right, which in turn reduced the fun factor for me. Is this kind of behavior really encouraged?

[UBerserker]

Xenome on Unreal difficulty has few instances when you fight like 10/20 Skaarj in the span of two close outdoor areas. You fight groups of enemies rather constantly, to be precise. Combined Skaarj kill count on Unreal difficulty in the whole Xenome almost made it to 1000. It's easily more action-filled than Xeops will ever be.

As for the "Titans", as long as you know where they spawn you're slightly set; I may not be able to do anything about collision exploits because that's a Titan thing already (everyone exploits AI with Titans because they are fuck-boring creatures to fight, especially when you fight them multiple times and with the Eightball that's the epitome of clunky/slow weapons) but at least here they can actually hit you! Also they keep firing even when the target isn't visible, which means if you show yourself up at the wrong time chances that you'll be hit by an already thrown blast.

On Unreal difficulty everyone is pretty aggressive and will go after you rapidly and the staircase exploit is balanced by the fact that when the minibosses spawn and if you stay one more second down there, you'll be blown up to bits. I can put another forcefield near the staircase for the Krall part of the pre-pyramid battle, since it's simple to kill everyone there with the Ripper or Rifle.
If anything, the tracking efforts here make AI harder to exploit here than almost any Unreal map, since elsewhere in the level the enemies follow you EVERYWHERE with almost no failure - I had a group of Skaarj from one of the side courtyards following me all the way inside the catacombs.

Damage from enemies suck on Medium; on harder difficulties it's a survival romp, especially when you get to deal with more Skaarj that require priority. That's were the adrenaline rush comes from - fighting decisions must be done faster. Sure some stuff can be changed like making the Quadshot packing more damage per shot (balanced by a reduction of ammo capacity of course). There's a lot more improvements that can be done but as I say constantly, the level is in a good-enough spot and I don't feel like changing stuff right now.

You don't even need to exploit! There's a crapload of ammo everywhere, a lot of health everywhere (there's a lot of fruits in the plant zones) and the armor items are buffed too. Easy difficulty is borderline boring, though I should rectify the homing fireballs doing zero damage there (because of Unreal's extremely dumb difficulty damage reduction that turns 2 into 0).

What I really wish to fix are the broadcast messages being readable by have absolutely no idea how that shit works, and for sure I don't want to resort to the translator for that since it's terrible design.

[editor Dave]

This only sounds like I wouldnt want to try out the higher difficulties. This is not meant for you to "fix" things, because as I said, there are just varying opinions on how a fight is grabbing you. For example, I would define an adrenline rush with constant rewards like killing enemies quickly which would keep up the momentum, which is not possible if you need quite a lot of shots to kill one guy. But you instead like quick decision making, precision and high stakes in general. Just differing visions.

You are right, maybe if I had changed my mind set, I wouldnt have needed to resort to the stair exploit, because the item placement is fair.

I would also rather advise you to keep making sequels when you feel like it. Because there are people wanting that kind of stuff! G59 is a great campaign, but I think the problem is that there is no definite version yet so people rather wait for the final "final" thing.

As for the messages, I will send you a script that I got by mr hapflinger (originally for Unforchers)!

[UBerserker]

As for the messages, I will send you a script that I got by mr hapflinger (originally for Unforchers)!

Thanks! Hopefully I'll find a way to implement this alongside the rest of the changes when I'll get back to the editor

[Sat42]

Gonna get around to this myself, when I'm alone in a few days...

[UBerserker]

Good news: I've been working on a pretty expansion patch I like to codename "glass cannon". Generally, enemies got stronger but weapons got massive QOL buffs, and the Flak Cannon got replaced with a new badass tool. I'll try to add whatever else I can into this patch beyond gameplay stuff.

[Diego96]

As for the "Titans", as long as you know where they spawn you're slightly set; I may not be able to do anything about collision exploits because that's a Titan thing already (everyone exploits AI with Titans because they are fuck-boring creatures to fight, especially when you fight them multiple times and with the Eightball that's the epitome of clunky/slow weapons) but at least here they can actually hit you! Also they keep firing even when the target isn't visible, which means if you show yourself up at the wrong time chances that you'll be hit by an already thrown blast.

I forgot to mention that these titans are better than their original counterparts. They're also similarly well crafted in EXU2, in that mod they threw fireballs at you and released homing skulls on impact. The only difference is that they moved slowly among the map instead of being turrets.

[UBerserker]

As for the "Titans", as long as you know where they spawn you're slightly set; I may not be able to do anything about collision exploits because that's a Titan thing already (everyone exploits AI with Titans because they are fuck-boring creatures to fight, especially when you fight them multiple times and with the Eightball that's the epitome of clunky/slow weapons) but at least here they can actually hit you! Also they keep firing even when the target isn't visible, which means if you show yourself up at the wrong time chances that you'll be hit by an already thrown blast.

I forgot to mention that these titans are better than their original counterparts. They're also similarly well crafted in EXU2, in that mod they threw fireballs at you and released homing skulls on impact. The only difference is that they moved slowly among the map instead of being turrets.

I had to rely on the Archdemon code to make sure those Titans kept attacking the player with their homing blasts, regardless of vision and player distance; otherwise they'd be stuck taunting and walking around until the player comes into a certain radius, which sucks.
I think anyone who has played Serious Sam may definitely compare the Xeops Titans to the Alduran Reptiloids, I really liked those creatures and I wanted to have something similar in Unreal.


Implemented a gametype specific to Xeops. This will make RMusicPlayerSDK redundant, and the translator is now bigger (it's the DV2 one, still not big enough for some messages but screw it at this point, editor crashed whenever I imported a bigger translator image).
I'm also really trying to implement better letterbox message but the HUD code is absurdly nighawful. I'm basically trying to find a way to alter message broadcasting visuals throughout HUD only.

[UBerserker]

As for the messages, I will send you a script that I got by mr hapflinger (originally for Unforchers)!

Ultimately, HUD coding is the stuff of nightmares and was probably too much effort to spend on for a single map. Besides, I had to implement everything into the HUD because otherwise I had to replace every single SpecialEvent message.
But good news! Turns out the drawmessage function for the HUD is quite simple to edit: messages are now NOT translucent anymore (which by itself is a huge improvement) and made them fire-red colored which is very "on the eye". While I was at it I also made pickup messages non-translucent and cyan-colored too! This hopefully should very well fix the message visibility issue. Translator messages on the other hand are still too long for the translator icon but those messages are rare and in places that are not very bright.

I'm actually done with the patch changes so it's time for testing. Added three more secrets and a cool bunch of small geometry additions.

Lastly, Semfry on Discord suggested a fix for the detailtextures issue of them blinking on and off (which I had it happen in this level) - simply turn off useBGRATextures in EXUOpenGL. Shouldn't happen anymore. There's probably no point having that setting on.

[UBerserker]

Lastly, Semfry on Discord suggested a fix for the detailtextures issue of them blinking on and off (which I had it happen in this level) - simply turn off useBGRATextures in EXUOpenGL. Shouldn't happen anymore. There's probably no point having that setting on.

Ok, it doesn't fix it after all. I'll re-import the floor textures that have this issue without detail on. Much better for performance as well I guess.
Was also forced to turn off lighting from the Krall bolts (and increasing their scaleglow as the best possible visibility boost) because the main desert floor texture would start to flash by rendering so many lights.

EDIT: FIXED TRANSLATOR TOO. Didn't need to use a bigger texture, just the default one with doubled drawscale and changed all the offsets and text wrapping values! All messages now fit inside the translator screen.

Last legacy issue that needs to be fixed is the Krall carcass collision height value. Oldskool fixes this (it's a bug related to the Krall's legless mode) but EXU uses its carcass system which is different from oldskool's one and EXUKrall's legless mode is completely different (it's also turned off in Xeops because Krall will still use melee anims while legless - this is going to be fixed in a future EXU2 patch).

Beyond that, I hope the map will run well. The flashing issue is tilting me to the maximum and I don't know why it's happening now.

[UBerserker]

In light of EXU2's v7.2 patch releasing now, current Xeops (as well as G59) will work perfectly on it - the only weird thing is one of the second phase enemies having a wrong muzzleflash effect upon shooting that will be removed or replaced in the big update.
The new EXU2 patch will also automatically remove the Krall carcass bug and with that out of the way all the technical gameplay-related issues are gone. I've also fixed the flashing terrain issue and improved the sand lighting, too. Some of the projectiles will still not be much visible but that's the nature of the level's lighting and you have to accept it as a gameplay aspect of the level in one way or another.

I haven't tested it yet; I got a bunch of textures from a certain game to improve the map's visuals and it's looking amazingly great.

[radios]

please post when this is updated to work without errors, it won't start because it can't bind to native class rmusic player, and that's just to start. and yeah, I put all the files where they were said to go..

[UBerserker]

please post when this is updated to work without errors, it won't start because it can't bind to native class rmusic player, and that's just to start. and yeah, I put all the files where they were said to go..

This is strictly an error on your part so I don't have to update anything regarding this.

Did you download the missing files? Post the crash log, also.

[radios]

please post when this is updated to work without errors, it won't start because it can't bind to native class rmusic player, and that's just to start. and yeah, I put all the files where they were said to go..

This is strictly an error on your part so I don't have to update anything regarding this.

Did you download the missing files? Post the crash log, also.

all files used.. Log: Log file open, 03/11/18 10:06:23
Init: Name subsystem initialized
Init: Detected: Microsoft Windows NT 6.1 (Build: 7601)
Init: Version: 436
Init: Compiled: Oct 24 2000 23:40:18
Init: Command line:
Init: Base directory: H:\UnrealTournament\System\
Init: Character set: Unicode
Log: Bound to Engine.dll
Log: Bound to Core.dll
Log: Bound to Window.dll
Init: Object subsystem initialized
Init: Computer: COMP1
Init: User: comp
Init: Memory total: Phys=4194303K Pagef=4194303K Virt=2097024K
Init: Working set: 32000 / 159000
Init: CPU Speed=4000.420324 MHz
Init: CPU Page size=4096, Processors=8
Init: CPU Detected: PentiumPro-class processor (GenuineIntel)
Init: CPU Features: CMov FPU RDTSC PAE MMX KNI
Localization: No localization: Startup.IDDIALOG_WizardDialog.IDC_WizardDialog (int)
Init: Unreal engine initialized
Log: Bound to WinDrv.dll
Init: Mouse info: 6 10 1
Init: Initializing DirectDraw
Log: DirectDraw drivers:
Log: display (Primary Display Driver)
Init: DirectDraw initialized successfully
Init: Client initialized
Log: Bound to Render.dll
Init: Lighting subsystem initialized
Init: Rendering initialized
Log: LoadMap: Entry
Log: Bound to Fire.dll
Log: Bound to IpDrv.dll
Log: Game class is 'UTIntro'
Log: Level is Level Entry.MyLevel
Log: Bringing Level Entry.MyLevel up for play (0)...
ScriptLog: InitGame:
ScriptLog: Base Mutator is Entry.Mutator0
Log: Browse: CityIntro.unr?Name=Player?Class=UPak.UPakMaleTwo?team=0?skin=SoldierSkins.blkt?Face=SoldierSkins.Malcom?Voice=BotPack.VoiceMaleTwo
Log: LoadMap: CityIntro.unr?Name=Player?Class=UPak.UPakMaleTwo?team=0?skin=SoldierSkins.blkt?Face=SoldierSkins.Malcom?Voice=BotPack.VoiceMaleTwo
Log: Collecting garbage
Log: Purging garbage
Log: -0.0ms Unloading: Package Render
Log: Garbage: objects: 16408->16407; refs: 224634
Log: Game class is 'UTIntro'
Log: Level is Level CityIntro.MyLevel
Log: Bringing Level CityIntro.MyLevel up for play (0)...
ScriptLog: InitGame: ?Name=Player?Class=UPak.UPakMaleTwo?team=0?skin=SoldierSkins.blkt?Face=SoldierSkins.Malcom?Voice=BotPack.VoiceMaleTwo
ScriptLog: Base Mutator is CityIntro.Mutator1
Init: Initialized moving brush tracker for Level CityIntro.MyLevel
Log: Bound to UWeb.dll
ScriptLog: Team 0
ScriptLog: Login: Player
Log: Possessed PlayerPawn: UPakMaleTwo CityIntro.UPakMaleTwo0
Init: Input system initialized for WindowsViewport0
Log: Opened viewport
Log: Bound to D3D9Drv.dll
Log: Initializing D3D9Drv...
Log: Enter SetRes()
Init: Depth bits: 24
Log: 8 Texture Mapping Units found
Log: Trying to use S3TC extension.
Log: MinLogTextureSize = 2
Log: MaxLogTextureSize = 14
Log: Bound to Galaxy.dll
Init: Galaxy is using DirectSound
Init: Galaxy initialized
DevAudio: Galaxy SetViewport: WindowsViewport0
Init: Game engine initialized
Log: Startup time: 2.561132 seconds
DevMusic: Load music: Music Uttitle.Uttitle
Log: URL: Adding default option Name=Player
Log: URL: Adding default option Class=UPak.UPakMaleTwo
Log: URL: Adding default option team=0
Log: URL: Adding default option skin=SoldierSkins.blkt
Log: URL: Adding default option Face=SoldierSkins.Malcom
Log: URL: Adding default option Voice=BotPack.VoiceMaleTwo
Log: Browse: Index.unr?entry?Name=Player?Class=UPak.UPakMaleTwo?team=0?skin=SoldierSkins.blkt?Face=SoldierSkins.Malcom?Voice=BotPack.VoiceMaleTwo
Log: Failed; returning to Entry
Init: Shut down moving brush tracker for Level CityIntro.MyLevel
Log: Spawning new actor for Viewport WindowsViewport0
ScriptLog: Team 0
ScriptLog: Login: Player
Log: Possessed PlayerPawn: UPakMaleTwo Entry.UPakMaleTwo1
DevAudio: Galaxy SetViewport: WindowsViewport0
ScriptLog: Creating root window: olroot.oldskoolrootwindow
Log: Bound to Editor.dll
Warning: Failed to load 'RaceGame': Can't find file for package 'RaceGame'
Warning: Failed to load 'Class RaceGame.RaceMenuItem': Can't find file for package 'RaceGame'
ScriptWarning: oldskoolmenubar Transient.oldskoolmenubar0 (Function UMenu.UMenuMenuBar.LoadMods:0149) Empty class for object None
ScriptWarning: oldskoolmenubar Transient.oldskoolmenubar0 (Function UMenu.UMenuMenuBar.LoadMods:014F) Accessed None
ScriptWarning: oldskoolmenubar Transient.oldskoolmenubar0 (Function UMenu.UMenuMenuBar.LoadMods:016D) Accessed None
ScriptWarning: oldskoolmenubar Transient.oldskoolmenubar0 (Function UMenu.UMenuMenuBar.LoadMods:018A) Accessed None
DevMusic: Unregister music: Music Uttitle.Uttitle
DevMusic: Load music: Music utmenu23.utmenu23
ScriptLog: Map Client Opened
Log: URL: Adding default option Name=Player
Log: URL: Adding default option Class=UPak.UPakMaleTwo
Log: URL: Adding default option team=0
Log: URL: Adding default option skin=SoldierSkins.blkt
Log: URL: Adding default option Face=SoldierSkins.Malcom
Log: URL: Adding default option Voice=BotPack.VoiceMaleTwo
Log: Browse: UB01-Xeops?Game=RMusicPlayer_SDK.RMusic_SingleGameInfo2?Difficulty=1?Mutator=?Name=Player?Class=UPak.UPakMaleTwo?team=0?skin=SoldierSkins.blkt?Face=SoldierSkins.Malcom?Voice=BotPack.VoiceMaleTwo
Log: LoadMap: UB01-Xeops?Game=RMusicPlayer_SDK.RMusic_SingleGameInfo2?Difficulty=1?Mutator=?Name=Player?Class=UPak.UPakMaleTwo?team=0?skin=SoldierSkins.blkt?Face=SoldierSkins.Malcom?Voice=BotPack.VoiceMaleTwo
DevAudio: Galaxy SetViewport: WindowsViewport0
Warning: Property Description of Class Core.NameProperty not found
Warning: Skipping 88 bytes of type 13
Warning: Property Description of Class Core.BoolProperty not found
Warning: Skipping 111 bytes of type 13
Critical: appError called:
Critical: Can't bind to native class RMusicPlayer.RMusic_Component
Critical: Windows GetLastError: The operation completed successfully. (0)
Exit: Executing UObject::StaticShutdownAfterError
Exit: Executing UWindowsClient::ShutdownAfterError
Exit: UGalaxyAudioSubsystem::ShutdownAfterError
Log: DirectDraw End Mode
Exit: UD3D9RenderDevice::ShutdownAfterError
Critical: UClass::Bind
Critical: (Class RMusicPlayer.RMusic_Component)
Critical: ULinkerLoad::CreateExport
Critical: (RMusic_Component 51500)
Critical: IndexToObject
Critical: ULinkerLoad::CreateExport
Critical: (RMusic_Controller 51500)
Critical: ULinkerLoad::CreateImport
Critical: IndexToObject
Critical: ULinkerLoad::CreateExport
Critical: (RMusic_Controller0 17750181)
Critical: IndexToObject
Critical: ULinkerLoad<<UObject
Critical: (LinkerLoad Transient.LinkerLoad101 17750181))
Critical: ULevelBase::Serialize
Critical: ULevel::Serialize
Critical: LoadObject
Critical: (Level UB01-Xeops.MyLevel 17750181==17750181/18335756 17738153 326538)
Critical: ULinkerLoad::Preload
Critical: PreLoadObjects
Critical: UObject::EndLoad
Critical: UObject::StaticLoadObject
Critical: (Engine.Level None.MyLevel UB01-Xeops)
Critical: LoadLevel
Critical: UGameEngine::LoadMap
Critical: LocalMapURL
Critical: UGameEngine::Browse
Critical: ClientTravel
Critical: UGameEngine::Tick
Critical: UpdateWorld
Critical: MainLoop
Exit: Exiting.
Uninitialized: Name subsystem shut down
Uninitialized: Log file closed, 03/11/18 10:06:55

[UBerserker]

-What is RaceGame? Might not matter but it's bizzarre how it interferes with the game when it shouldn't.
-Are you loading Xeops throughout the oldskool menu?
-Why are you using a UPak character? Switch immediately to a regular Unreal or UT one.
-What's your OS?

If you are really super unlucky to be the only person who can't run RMusic for one reason or another (this could be either OS-related or your UT installation being screwed) then I may make a no-music version of the level.