Deus Ex GMDX: Deus Ex Advancement Mod v9 Released!

[ZagorTeNej]

Not the control panel. Follow the blue line on the floor.
...Perhaps it is glitched?

Nah, just found it, can't believe I missed it in the first place (in my defense I drank heavily last night).

As for pistols/rifles/heavies: all should be viable, though heavy and rifles overall better than pistols primarily due to their inventory size. Pistols can certainly hold their own though. Glad to hear weapon talk as I have put a fair bit of effort into making them good; camera effects, audio design, fixing quirks(and there was many), balancing, attempting to make each very unique.

You definitely improved handling of pistols compared to the vanilla DX and fixed the headshot bug (original DX didn't register headshot from a certain angle which was very annoying) which made them more enjoyable to use. Taser darts are a great addition as well, they're like a ranged riot prod.

BTW. Regarding our earlier talk about melee weapons destroying turrets, cameras etc. I tested it at area 51 and I can destroy them with level 4 Combat Strength aug + advanced in Low Tech (same as in vanilla DX), personally I'd make it require master level in Low Tech in addition to maxed out Combat Strength.

Also, machine pistol? I never found that . I noticed there was a new pistol, and found a modded sniper rifle but I didn't have room. And the new assault rifle, which I have no idea how one could miss.

Well, it kinda looks like an assault rifle (so you may mean it by saying new assault rifle) but it uses the pistol skill and was (I think) inspired by Machine Pistol from DX:HR.

 

[CyberP]

I am accepting team members (programmers & artists) to assist in making this a fully fleshed-out reality.

 

[ZagorTeNej]

CyberP

Finished all 3 endings, one of the best mods I've played (for one of the best games ever made), wish more Codexers would give it a go, it's really worth it if you're a fan of the original and wish to see its faults adrressed and its formula perfected. The mark of a good mod (or sequel for that matter) is that it makes it hard to go back to the original because you got used to the improvements it provides, that's definitely the case for me here. There's a sound logic behind every design decision whether it concerns level design, aug and weapon changes, skills rebalance, immersive first person experience etc. great job man.

That said, while hardcore was an interesting experience but I'm probably gonna go with Realistic for next playthrough, checkpoint save system just doesn't mesh well (for me atleast) with a game like Deus Ex which prides on having so many ways to tackle obstacles and encourages experimentation. For me it's not just about failure to complete a task but wanting to try a different approach right after even if I succeeded in it without having to slog through same content again (for example, I want to kill WS in as many ways possible). I would have preferred something like few saves per level even.

 

[CyberP]

CyberP

Finished all 3 endings, one of the best mods I've played (for one of the best games ever made), wish more Codexers would give it a go, it's really worth it if you're a fan of the original and wish to see its faults adrressed and its formula perfected. The mark of a good mod (or sequel for that matter) is that it makes it hard to go back to the original because you got used to the improvements it provides, that's definitely the case for me here. There's a sound logic behind every design decision whether it concerns level design, aug and weapon changes, skills rebalance, immersive first person experience etc. great job man.

That said, while hardcore was an interesting experience but I'm probably gonna go with Realistic for next playthrough, checkpoint save system just doesn't mesh well (for me atleast) with a game like Deus Ex which prides on having so many ways to tackle obstacles and encourages experimentation. For me it's not just about failure to complete a task but wanting to try a different approach right after even if I succeeded in it without having to slog through same content again (for example, I want to kill WS in as many ways possible). I would have preferred something like few saves per level even.

"There's a sound logic behind every design decision"

Indeed there is, as there is for the hardcore mode too. Experimentation simply comes with a risk now, is all. Choice & consequence. As for multiple path approach, I think hardcore mode plays to the games strengths in that regard: failing with one approach? Try another. Because of how difficult it is and that you cannot set checkpoints as you please (quicksave) you end up trying multiple paths.

 

[CyberP]

I mean, if you want fatigue to matter. Currently it only seems to make you drown faster while fighting in melee. Maybe I'm missing some stuff?

Hmm? You cannot sprint for ~4 seconds when out of stamina & jump height is reduced, and indeed you drown faster when fighting in melee.

 

[Jaedar]

I mean, if you want fatigue to matter. Currently it only seems to make you drown faster while fighting in melee. Maybe I'm missing some stuff?

Hmm? You cannot sprint for ~4 seconds when out of stamina & jump height is reduced, and indeed you drown faster when fighting in melee.

You can sprint now?

 

[CyberP]

OK, run, not sprint.

With the introduction of the stamina system on hardcore mode you are forced walking and have to hold shift to sprint/run (akin to STALKER etc) as I mentioned via PM.
On the other difficulties however "always run" is allowed and on by default, but when stamina runs out you are forced walking for ~4 seconds (dependent on stamina regeneration rate) and an "out of breath" SFX plays. It is strange that you never encountered this.

 

[CyberP]

The aftermath of decapitation. Still currently WIP. The tedium is present in this one, this time exporting all the appropriate character skins, modifying them with image editing software, importing them back again and then writing a ton of tedious code, including horrible vector-based math.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

Fucking cool dude.

 

[ZagorTeNej]

CyberP been playing around with stealth pistol and it feels really overpowered compared to Glock so far, fully automatic, insane rate of fire, less recoil, bigger clip etc. sure it does less damage but it's in-game effectiveness in that regard is still the same so far(one headshot for NSF, two for MJ12 troopers in the sewers, same as Glock). One thing that is annoying though is that after you apply a certain number of ROF mods on it you can't fire one shot anymore, even if you just tap the button once it fires off two shots in quick succesion.

Also I think Targeting aug could use some work because as it stands, it really loses to Vision especially given the addition of MJ12 elite who use cloak and overall faster enemy reaction (helps you to get a drop on them if you see them through the walls). Accuracy just isn't all that with all those laser mods around and the damage bonus is kinda negligent, in the vanilla DX the damage bonus synergized well with 10mm pistol because at level 3 you needed one less headshot to kill commandos and MiBs but that isn't the case here. Maybe beef the damage bonus it provides or make it increase weapon accuracy range and provide bigger zoom or something.

 

[CyberP]

ZagorTeNej: The silenced pistol starts off arguably superior to the other pistols but late in the game its effectiveness drops off as ammo gets rare and enemies get strong. Base damage of the pistols is the superior stat as opposed to damage per second. The USP and Glock hold up in the last 1/3 of the game, as does the stealth pistol for that matter, but you constantly find yourself out of ammo due to low damage and high rate of fire.
I'll sort that double bullet bug out.

May as well post the v7.1 changelog in progress:

v7.1 changelog:

Flares no longer ignite when thrown. (GMDX bugfix)
Reduced the radius of AI-alerting sound produced by the darts & throwing knifes.
Improved mantling system to be 100% reliable as long as you can reach the ledge.
Crossbow Dart effect can be seen when fired by enemies too, making them easier to dodge.
Made plasma gibs glow and gave them a new texture.
More explosion refinements.
Slowed greasel spit projectile speed & made greasels immune to radiation.
Fixed Heavy weapon inventory size reduction quirk where the weapon's size was not reduced until they were in your inventory first. (GMDX bugfix)
Added new ammo type: gamma-ionized plasma ammo for the plasma rifle. Reduced default plasma ammo pickup counts a little to compensate.
gave the shotgun a new dry fire sfx
New sounds when in and floating on the surface of water.
Added another metal landing sfx.
Gave the assault gun a new firing sound
Refined melee attack camera effects
Added new camera effect for when landing into water from height.
Hardcore expansion: you are forced to walking and must use the sprint key (default shift) to run. Stamina also drains faster when running in hardcore mode.
Made some minor tweaks to flamethrower effects.
Altered drug/poison effects: FOV isn't lowered and held weapons do not disappear.
New electro-shock effect when zapped by spiderbots. Only happens if shocked in the head.
Increased the sound radius of the demolition skill advanced proximity mine beeping.
Improved EMP grenade explosion effects.
Improved enemy cloak activation effect.
Updated various skill & aug descriptions for clarity.
If chasing the player, dogs (Doberman only) bark a ton and alert enemies. Doberman also have a new variation of attack sound.
Changed some font styles to be less ugly.
Sped up LAW rocket.
Decoration & pickups have physics when taking damage as well as bumping into each other.
Also improved pool ball physics.
Improvements to the fragility of fragile objects such as being broken when stepped on or having another object dropped on top.
Scrapped MiB's holding two-handed weapons with one hand as the one-handed running animation looks goofy.
Cigarette & vending machines display how many credits are required.
Hacking into ATMs now requires advanced hacking skill. Rebalanced the skill costs.
Improved simulated camera recoil effects.
Added weapon sway when running.
Hipfiring accuracy with the sniper is now unreliable unless you mod it and/or are skilled in rifles.
Lowered Assault gun range and restored its compatibility with range mods now that they are worthwhile.
Lowered biocell recharge amount to 20 and lowered max carry amount to 20.
Made some additional performance optimizations.
Fixed the spy drone malfunctioning if used in combination with synthetic heart. (GMDX)
Fixed a bug where you could mantle onto thrown weapons. (GMDX)
Recoil system further improved: recoil is no longer bound by firing animation and the view interpolation is much faster.
Adjusted the viewoffset & firing offset for various weapons (their positioning when held by JC and the exact point the projectile is spawned from respectively).
Rotated the held assault gun, sawed-off & the flamethrower models so they aim at a more realistic angle.
Gave Simons a number of performance-related buffs.
Thermoptic camo also provides visual cloaking effect.
Radar Transparency now has a visual effect.
Added a new death sound exclusive to headshots by bullets.
Improved the blood spurt effect when player and enemies are shot.
Added gore splat sounds for when the gore falls off the wall/ceiling and hits the ground.
Gave the sword a more suitable drop sound.
AI burn faster/dont run around on fire for too long.
When killing the enemy with high-powered weaponry they are knocked back by the force.
GEP can have rate of fire mods and rifle can have range mods.
Added more new interactive decorations.
In v7 death sounds were prevented from playing when an NPC is blown up. Instead pain sounds decided to play in place of them, and this is now fixed.
Lvl 4 of the Microfibral muscle aug makes you immune to dropping held objects when shot.
Fixed a bug where Radar Transparency only let you pass through laser beams at lvl 1. (GMDX).
Gave the Sawed off shotgun a new dry fire sound
Slowed down the augmented mibs by 11%

AI camping system improvements:

Some campers no longer camp & instead advance on the player under certain conditions.
All campers do not immediately forget about the player.

Spy drone:

The Spy Drone now has cloaking.
Use mouse right click to emit noise from the drone and distract enemies from thier patrols.

New Stamina system:

Aqualung reduces stamina drain & increases stamina regeneration.
Swimming skill Increases total stamina.
Low-Tech reduces stamina drain from swinging melee weapons.
Stealth skill enables stamina regen when crouch-walking.
The oxygen meter text is now blue.
Walking & running speed is faster, and less noise is produced when walking.
Reduced additional speed gained by speed enhancement since base running speed is now faster. SE jump height remains the same (of course).

Notable Map work:

UNATCO (All visits).
Hotel (All visits).
Airfield Helibase
747
Hangar
Tongs base
Paris Metro
Oceanlab_lab
Improved the scripting of the MJ12 ambush and UNATCO Troop events on NYC Streets 08
Fixed an error with the prison cell door code during the UNATCO escape and various other tweaks to other maps.

 

[CyberP]

Request: somebody create a pinball mini-game when interacting with the pinball machine. Certainly not easy and I highly doubt anyone will bother, but it cannot hurt to ask.

 

[CyberP]

You can use the HDTP pinball machine model as a base for how the aesthetics should be, and use the poolball physics as a base for the pinball physics.

 

[ZagorTeNej]

The silenced pistol starts off arguably superior to the other pistols but late in the game its effectiveness drops off as ammo gets rare and enemies get strong. Base damage of the pistols is the superior stat as opposed to damage per second. The USP and Glock hold up in the last 1/3 of the game, as does the stealth pistol for that matter, but you constantly find yourself out of ammo due to low damage and high rate of fire.
I'll sort that double bullet bug out.

Yes, but what I'm talking about is damage per shot (not per second), if for example I need two headshots to take out an MJ12 elite in either case (glock and stealth pistol) does it matter what my damage stat in inventory is (same goes for NSF and UNATCO troopers which die from one headshot from stealth pistol)? So far on Realistic and with Master in pistols the only difference in damage per shot output between glock and stealth pistol is needing 3 vs 4 headshots for MJ2 commando which for me isn't enough to offset numerous advantages stealth pistol has. There are also MiBs MKII but I usually use Taser Darts or Riot Prod against them, rarely I'll take them head on with a pistol.

The double bullet bug for stealth pistol appears when I apply ROF mod on it after it reaches 4.3 RDS/SEC.

May as well post the v7.1 changelog in progress:

Some nice changes there, any idea when the new version will be available?



BTW. Using unconscious MiBs as rocket missiles to blow up enemies and locked containers with a Microfibral Muscle aug is hilariously entertaining.

 

[CyberP]

Yes, but what I'm talking about is damage per shot (not per second), if for example I need two headshots to take out an MJ12 elite in either case (glock and stealth pistol) does it matter what my damage stat in inventory is (same goes for NSF and UNATCO troopers which die from one headshot from stealth pistol)? So far on Realistic and with Master in pistols the only difference in damage per shot output between glock and stealth pistol is needing 3 vs 4 headshots for MJ2 commando which for me isn't enough to offset numerous advantages stealth pistol has. There are also MiBs MKII but I usually use Taser Darts or Riot Prod against them, rarely I'll take them head on with a pistol.

I'm pretty happy with the balance between the pistols. on't forget there are greasels, karkians, grays, explosive barrels, cameras, turrets and bots (with AP ammo), and all of these do not have headshot multipliers so base damage/damage per shot is even more important there.

The double bullet bug for stealth pistol appears when I apply ROF mod on it after it reaches 4.3 RDS/SEC.

Fixed.

Some nice changes there, any idea when the new version will be available?

Not sure. If you want what I have just PM me, though you would of course be applying for testing by doing so.

BTW. Using unconscious MiBs as rocket missiles to blow up enemies and locked containers with a Microfibral Muscle aug is hilariously entertaining.

Microfibral Muscle VS Combat speed is such a hard choice. They are both so damn good.

 

[CyberP]

The Nameless Mod: 102,000
Shifter: 60,000
Nihilum: 50,000
GMDX: 3,000

That is less than 3% of The Nameless Mod's downloads (and not including downloads on TNM's website either). GMDX has been featured by the gaming press, has won a Moddb MOTY award and has generally received critical acclaim.
I've taken Deus Ex's core design to the next level, yet it is still not good enough for the masses, apparently. What can I do to change this? The lack of support is really holding me/my work back.

 

[Lilura]

Well, the Nameless Mod is six years old isn't it? Currently playing GMDX on Hardcore.

 

[CyberP]

Well, the Nameless Mod is six years old isn't it? Currently playing GMDX on Hardcore.

GMDX was initially released before Nihilum. Granted it wasn't as fulfilled back then as it is now, but that shouldn't excuse the discrepancy.

 

[ZagorTeNej]

I'm pretty happy with the balance between the pistols. on't forget there are greasels, karkians, grays, explosive barrels, cameras, turrets and bots (with AP ammo), and all of these do not have headshot multipliers so base damage/damage per shot is even more important there.

Fair point, I also didn't consider Glock arguably being better at Advanced skill (Stealth pistol really needs that damage and reload speed boost from Master in order to fully shine) which means you can use those 4500 points somewhere else.

Not sure. If you want what I have just PM me, though you would of course be applying for testing by doing so.

Okay.

Microfibral Muscle VS Combat speed is such a hard choice. They are both so damn good.

They're both powerful/useful but Microfibral Muscle wins on the fun factor for me.

 

[Jaedar]

Well, the Nameless Mod is six years old isn't it? Currently playing GMDX on Hardcore.

GMDX was initially released before Nihilum. Granted it wasn't as fulfilled back then as it is now, but that shouldn't excuse the discrepancy.

You should not measure yourself to TNM. It has an entirely new campaign and that is not on the same level as a mechanical overhaul and beautification project.

I am very surprised GMDX doesn't even come close to shifter or nihilum though. Most distressing.

 

[ZagorTeNej]

Yeah, total conversion are a different beast (which I think Nihilum is as well?). I just think GMDX appeals to a niche with its scarcity of resources, more challenging level design and AI, ain't a lot CyberP can do about wide appeal without sacrificing his vision (and what makes the mod so great in the first place). It's more disappointing that there aren't more people on the supposedly hardcore Dex giving it a fair shake.

 

[CyberP]

You should not measure yourself to TNM.
.

In terms of what, mass appeal? Work put in? TNM is indeed a different beast, but I do not think GMDX is comprised of niche design.
It is "the next level of Deus Ex", the "formula perfected" and so on. That should hold great appeal.

 

[CyberP]

I do not think GMDX is comprised of niche design.

Not entirely anyway. The increased challenge is only one aim of many of the mod, not that I think difficulty is exactly niche design anyway. Deus Ex needed this. It needed AI that wasn't infamous for being dumb as bricks in engagements, it needed RPG systems that weren't laughably balanced, and so on.
What more could I possibly do to get people to give a shit, compromise by adding third person fatalities?

 

[CyberP]

Fuck that though, I do not compromise design if I believe it to be good design...which is probably why my hopes & dreams will end here.

 

[Jaedar]

What more could I possibly do to get people to give a shit, compromise by adding third person fatalities?

Fuck that though, I do not compromise design if I believe it to be good design...which is probably why my hopes & dreams will end here.

Indeed, your hopes and dreams will end here, at the RPGCodex.

I think that dumb as bricks ai actually helped deus ex quite a lot in terms of appeal. Can very easily "stealth" past a level while triggering all the alarms and getting spotted 15 times on the way. That is no longer possible in your mod, which does wonders for the challenge, but I think it also limits the appeal.

I think you might be served by making one trailer that only has the flashy stuff(MAP IMPROVEMENTS, NEW AMMO AND AUGS, MORE ENEMY TYPES, etc). Stuff that will scare no one away