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I want to play through JA2 with mods. Recommendations?
- Thread starter Julio
- Start date
Greenskin13
Erudite
I miss days when Russia was at war with everybody.
1.13 is my recommendation.
It's not quite a TC, because the map is entirely the same, but everything gets kicked up a notch. The game itself is much harder, because enemies will call reinforcements mid-battle, so you may enter into a combat zone against 16 baddies, and suddenly 30 of their buddies will show up. Of course you have this option as well. A lot of other, subtle changes. There's a percentage indicator for the likeliness of a hit, instead of just the closing circle. More guns, more items, more attachments. And my personal favorite, there's an option you can turn on so that enemies drop all their items when they die.
1.13 is my recommendation.
It's not quite a TC, because the map is entirely the same, but everything gets kicked up a notch. The game itself is much harder, because enemies will call reinforcements mid-battle, so you may enter into a combat zone against 16 baddies, and suddenly 30 of their buddies will show up. Of course you have this option as well. A lot of other, subtle changes. There's a percentage indicator for the likeliness of a hit, instead of just the closing circle. More guns, more items, more attachments. And my personal favorite, there's an option you can turn on so that enemies drop all their items when they die.
Jason
chasing a bee
Human Shield
Augur
The point of 1.13 is that it is completely customizable. You can turn off and adjust most options. I like keeping enemy positions the same size as beginner mode but having more attacks from patrols, because I don't like long battles that much.
Shotguns have been tweaked to be useful.
Burst mode is now only for weapons that have a burst function, auto-fire is more common for SMGs, you adjust the number of shots you want and there is a chance to hold the trigger too long and fire more.
There is also an option for a new armor system that works off percentages, so helmets only cover 50 or so percent of the head, so you can nail elites in the face with hollowpoints and either do no damage from the helmet or rip their face off.
Bobby rays is organized nice.
And one of my favorite features: Max animation speed.
Urban combat is a great TC that changes tons of things. I think it is being converted to 1.13 eventually.
Shotguns have been tweaked to be useful.
Burst mode is now only for weapons that have a burst function, auto-fire is more common for SMGs, you adjust the number of shots you want and there is a chance to hold the trigger too long and fire more.
There is also an option for a new armor system that works off percentages, so helmets only cover 50 or so percent of the head, so you can nail elites in the face with hollowpoints and either do no damage from the helmet or rip their face off.
Bobby rays is organized nice.
And one of my favorite features: Max animation speed.
Urban combat is a great TC that changes tons of things. I think it is being converted to 1.13 eventually.
Human Shield
Augur
Julio said:
It is a new country. New story line, new objectives, new NPCs, new voice acting (mostly crappy computer sounding voices thou), new items, all sectors changed etc... There is some more close combat and there is a subway that connects the cities on the map.
I played it through with a martial arts character for once.
Blahblah Talks
Arbiter
Don't play with Summer. I hear she can be a bitch.
Urban <s>Combat</s> Chaos is a very good total conversion, but it can be a bit frustrating to find the last well hidden enemy in the city maps. And there are many city maps. 1.13 ist basically the good old JA2 with many little and not so little improvements. Especially the new AI is impressive and forced me to try new tactics. Hopefully 1.13 will be the base for some new mods. Recommended.
LCJr.
Erudite
- Joined
- Jan 16, 2003
- Messages
- 2,469
I wouldn't reccomend 1.13. It has serious balance issues and currently it suffers a late game bug that is a gamekiller. Most of it's fans don't complain because they're starting a new game with each release so don't get that far. There's only two mods in works for it Renegade Republic and a conversion of UC. I wouldn't expect to see anymore anytime soon until more tools become available. The mod is constantly in a state of change and the externalization seems like a good idea on the surface but in practice creates a massive workload for potential modders.
Jim Kata
Arbiter
LCJr. said:
Yeah, that was my sad conclusion. I don;'t remember what all now but some of the things they emphasized seemed like horrid ideas. the percent thing seems like it, and so does the reinforcements if they are not done well.
I hate that mods in general have this idiotic midset that if a +1 sword is cool then a +10 sword is even cooler, leading to uber items available fromt he start and uber enemies. that was my impression reading througha ll the dev stuff. It's a crying shame because a lot of the features look very good.
Let's face it, though, very very few games are as streamlined and well done as JA2 was from the getgo so you can't expect much. I would be happy to just be able to remove the fucking rocket rifle nonsense.
- JA2v1.13
- Urban Chaos
- Deidranna lives
- Vengeance
downloads :
http://ja2v113.schtuff.com
and
http://khelle.de/infusions/pro_download ... hp?catid=2
- Urban Chaos
- Deidranna lives
- Vengeance
downloads :
http://ja2v113.schtuff.com
and
http://khelle.de/infusions/pro_download ... hp?catid=2
LCJr.
Erudite
- Joined
- Jan 16, 2003
- Messages
- 2,469
Jim Kata said:
You want the hex offsets to redo the AI weapons tables and remove the RR fingerprint ID? Only takes a few minutes with a hex editor.
Thing is 113 isn't really a mod. It doesn't seem there is a leader or set purpose. It's more a collection of coders adding what they want or whatever someone on the forum suggests that seems "cool" at the moment. There's definately no thought given to balance and progression which is a big part of what earned JA it's fanbase.
edit>Might as well just post the hex offsets.
First starting offset is for Normal and second is for Tons of Guns. There are 11 levels of "progress". Each level can have five weapons. First byte is the number of weapons for that level. Followed by the weapons item number in hexadecimal i.e. the RR is weapon #55 so 37 in hex. Fill in any leftover weapon slots with FF. If all you want to do is get rid of RR just replace any 37's in the table with the weapon of your choice. This will keep the AI from using them but to completely remove you'll have to edit the maps for Alma(the Sergeant) and Orta.
This removes the RR fingerprint ID. Just find the two offsets for your version and changet them to D2. Keep in mind the RR has a hardcoded lasersight so if you replace it with another weapon it will automatically have one. A good modern replacement is the SAR-21 http://world.guns.ru/assault/as31-e.htm
Yeah - 1.13 is designed to be a modding base, as a tool for modders.
But many fans are enjoying the cheat possibilities - so the few active modders are a minority.
Balancing is a problem - too much money, too much loot etc.
If you find a good adjustment of the ini parameters, you can play 1.13 as a JA2 with enhanced AI and more equipment possibilities, but the default settings are unbalanced and there are too much active cheat features enabled.
But many fans are enjoying the cheat possibilities - so the few active modders are a minority.
Balancing is a problem - too much money, too much loot etc.
If you find a good adjustment of the ini parameters, you can play 1.13 as a JA2 with enhanced AI and more equipment possibilities, but the default settings are unbalanced and there are too much active cheat features enabled.
LCJr.
Erudite
- Joined
- Jan 16, 2003
- Messages
- 2,469
taxacaria said:
I've looked at it and it's not really a good modding base. I know that was it's original stated goal but the amount bloat it's taken on have made it a not very attractive platform. Like I said before the externalizations are theorectically nice but actually require a massive amount of work if you want to make major changes.
nikpalj
Novice
- Joined
- Apr 15, 2006
- Messages
- 68
That's all nice and fine gentlemen, but... what about that Vietnam mod for Unfinished Bussiness?
Did anyone try it and what are the opinions? Sounds very interesting but I'm simply too lazy to make myself go through the pains of installing JA:UB, downloading and installing the mod... only to eventually find out that it's crap after I waste another few hours of my life for ever and ever.
Oh, and... could somebody please post some screenshots from the Urban Chaos mod, or links to them. I'd really like to see how some of the towns in Danubia look like, in other words how things look and (generally) *feel* like in that mod. Sure does sound very, very interesting!
Did anyone try it and what are the opinions? Sounds very interesting but I'm simply too lazy to make myself go through the pains of installing JA:UB, downloading and installing the mod... only to eventually find out that it's crap after I waste another few hours of my life for ever and ever.
Oh, and... could somebody please post some screenshots from the Urban Chaos mod, or links to them. I'd really like to see how some of the towns in Danubia look like, in other words how things look and (generally) *feel* like in that mod. Sure does sound very, very interesting!
Jim Kata
Arbiter
LCJr. said:
Thanks, lcr. I appreciate it.
Jim Kata
Arbiter
LCJr. said:
Well, I have always thought xml is a retarded way to do things, too. It makes it virtually impossible to do things by hand. There are specific xml editors but then you don't have direct control. I won't say there is no use for xml, but there is virtually no use for it in a noncommercial product. They've taken it to mean they can balance things in any crazy way but also just the sheer number of things you'd have to change would be hell in any system.
LCJr.
Erudite
- Joined
- Jan 16, 2003
- Messages
- 2,469
nikpalj said:
SOG 69' is a lot of fun. You can find the mod and official patches on JA Legion http://www.legion.zone.zg.pl/download.php?lng=en Just keep in mind it was done in "the old days" so you'll still start at the snowy helicopter crashsite. Weapons and armor were done for gameplay/balance so don't freak if gun X isn't better than gun Y. It's an impressive piece of work especially considering BecomingX did almost the whole thing by himself with just the map editor, Wedit and Batman's NPCEdit.
The_scorpion
Liturgist
- Joined
- Dec 10, 2006
- Messages
- 1,056
Jim Kata said:
sorry for digging up this thread, just stumbled across this.
it's good to see some people doing the long overdue critical thinking about the problems of 1.13. the sad things is that things like that can't be discussed in the development forum. not without an angry crowd going all ballistic.
however concerning the xml's, i think it requires some differenciation: Most of what was possible with the old hacking methode has been done in the past. sure it's a bitch to alter 4-7 xml's while you used to have it ll in one package formerly, but then there's some things that you couldn't do before and that's what the advanatge is about. i mean the gun modding crap is over, that was interesting some years ago, today we're probably much more looking to just get some new stuff done.
unfortunately, the very democratic way of doing this in 1.13 caused a lot of a hassle. But i think if a big number of useless stuff would be cut away again, it could be usable again as modding base, given some people try hard enough.
taxacaria, lcjr:
has this become a refuge for critical thinking people here? don't be scared, i don't bother you guys, and i won't tell
bryce77
Scholar
Let me rephrase the question: are there any existing mods for JA2 that remove or rebalance the game for the better?
For example: Neverwinter Nights 2 is terribly broken if you don't use a "no resting" mod or enhanced A.I. packages; Silent Storm can become unsatisfying if you don't use a mod to remove the Panzerkleins or the mod to fix the skills progression.
That's the kind of stuff I'm looking for now, since I see that there are quite a few quality Total Conversion's already available.
For example: Neverwinter Nights 2 is terribly broken if you don't use a "no resting" mod or enhanced A.I. packages; Silent Storm can become unsatisfying if you don't use a mod to remove the Panzerkleins or the mod to fix the skills progression.
That's the kind of stuff I'm looking for now, since I see that there are quite a few quality Total Conversion's already available.
The_scorpion
Liturgist
- Joined
- Dec 10, 2006
- Messages
- 1,056
rebalancing the game for the better depends on what you think is bad about the "normal" gameplay. There is in fact only one mod that i'd call a total conversion sort of that's UC.
almost all other mods do some combat rebalancing too, amongst other things. The AI itself was only changed in 1.13, but the AI itself isn't the only element of the tactical combat.
almost all other mods do some combat rebalancing too, amongst other things. The AI itself was only changed in 1.13, but the AI itself isn't the only element of the tactical combat.
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