AG Rebirth Mod

[Liz Shaw]

I've finished adding the extra AIs on the streets in Snake Born, with some slight differences compared to AG Rebirth. First, some civilian anchors use different animations and some have been placed in different positions. Second, two GermanPrivate Actors are used instead of Swiss policemen - in the future, we need to replace all SS personnel in the mission with Wehrmacht, as they were the ones who handled the nuclear research program (Uranverein). Third, the wandering officer is a GermanGestapo Actor as I wanted to use the new fireman head skin I made for v0.03 of the Addon, and some of the animations are different. I find having the officer having to shout Heil Hitler to one person at a time to be unrealistic, and seemingly due to limitations, I've decided instead to have the officer observe the two pairs of chatting soldiers for a while. Also, instead of shouting Heil Hitler to the soldier who alternates between smoking and fixing his motorbike, he watches him for a bit before scolding him (Custom_Fuck). And after he shoos the civilian in the alley away, he goes to take a piss, allowing you to ambush him and take his uniform. Fourth, I have not added the bus stop, and instead of adding a bus, I've added two Volkswagens (there are two unused skins). This experience has taught me about how to change AmbientCube colors, and it is my first successful venture into modifying VectorMaps (the two extra Volkswagens are shown on the in-game map).

And I've implemented most of your tweaks with the Weapons, as well as Strogov's movement speed (his running speed while crouched is much slower). I'm surprised you added an extra dart to the Tranquilizer Gun's Extra Ammo upgrade, why did you do that? I'll change the description of the upgrade to match the new amount.

[ComradeReptiloid]

(03-21-2017 03:32 PM)Liz Shaw Wrote:  I've finished adding the extra AIs on the streets in Snake Born, with some slight differences compared to AG Rebirth. First, some civilian anchors use different animations and some have been placed in different positions.
...
And after he shoos the civilian in the alley away, he goes to take a piss, allowing you to ambush him and take his uniform.

Interesting. By adding extra NPC's you made level even more difficult, which is a welcome change. If I had to take a guess, I'd say that you deleted extra soldier, who is patrolling exit from the alleyway. I suppose that you changed timings -- for 4th anchor in queue in particular -- or completely deleted first civilian to make obtaining soldier uniform easier. Also, I think that "scooter" NPC got a new job, because the repetitive taking strange item (battery model) from the glove box and dropping it in the garbage can looks strange, but I could care less at the time of testing.

I hope you are not deleted talking German Private soldiers, because their vision covers important spots. First group prevents you from tranquilizing both civilian and officer, so you must figure out very advanced tactic to lure the officer in a special spot and separate him from civilian. You can't use typical whistles + device tactic. Hard to explain, but getting officer uniform involves abusing of hardcore tricks, sound attention ranges and reaction priorities, and you must time soldier who is going to piss. Second group added to prevent cheap luring around the second corner -- if you whistle, then two German Private going to investigate strange sound too. In addition to stated above, they control cheap hiding spots from patrolling officer, 3-soldier patrol and two single soldier patrols. If you will be slow with timings, then you get caught, not like in original level layout, which impose no challenge on the player.

(03-21-2017 03:32 PM)Liz Shaw Wrote:  Second, two GermanPrivate Actors are used instead of Swiss policemen - in the future, we need to replace all SS personnel in the mission with Wehrmacht, as they were the ones who handled the nuclear research program (Uranverein). Third, the wandering officer is a GermanGestapo Actor as I wanted to use the new fireman head skin I made for v0.03 of the Addon, and some of the animations are different.
...
Fourth, I have not added the bus stop, and instead of adding a bus...

That makes sense. I wanted to enrich level design by adding unused models. I know that policemen's don't belong to this level as well as bus from 50's. Bus stop out of place because of its color. I know that you will do head replacement, but in basic upgrade phase I am focusing on gameplay only. I guess you changed hammer animation for fireman -- I'm aware that it looks stupid.

(03-21-2017 03:32 PM)Liz Shaw Wrote:  I find having the officer having to shout Heil Hitler to one person at a time to be unrealistic, and seemingly due to limitations, I've decided instead to have the officer observe the two pairs of chatting soldiers for a while. Also, instead of shouting Heil Hitler to the soldier who alternates between smoking and fixing his motorbike, he watches him for a bit before scolding him (Custom_Fuck).

There are no limitations of that sort. You can change "Heil Hitler" animation to any of "idle" ones and set use time to 0.0001 second. Place second anchor_idle_rotation with proper animation in the same place. This way you can synchro two soldier responses to the officer. You can do a lot more creative stuff like Omerta waiter writing orders for one of the tables by chaining different anchors for npc's. Again, I don't have time to do this yet.

"Motorbike" soldier have a problem with smoke animation. If you distract officer, then he will arrive too late, which meaning that soldier need to drop cigarette before responding -- waste of time leading to synchronization fail.

(03-21-2017 03:32 PM)Liz Shaw Wrote:  ...I've added two Volkswagens (there are two unused skins). This experience has taught me about how to change AmbientCube colors, and it is my first successful venture into modifying VectorMaps (the two extra Volkswagens are shown on the in-game map).

Wow, great news. I looked into this stuff, when I modified Ghost of the Past level. I decided to leave for some time, because it was new to me. I hope you will record tutorial or share some info if I can't come up with solutions in the next stages.

I wanted to add Volkswagens first, but they were too small to properly block cheap hiding spots from the NPC's vision zones.

(03-21-2017 03:32 PM)Liz Shaw Wrote:  And I've implemented most of your tweaks with the Weapons, as well as Strogov's movement speed (his running speed while crouched is much slower). I'm surprised you added an extra dart to the Tranquilizer Gun's Extra Ammo upgrade, why did you do that? I'll change the description of the upgrade to match the new amount.

I hate crouch running in stealth games with 3d support. I even hated increase in speed of silent movement from Hitman C47/2 to Hitman Contacts and from DtS to DtS Moment of Truth. The point is -- you shouldn't be able to sneak up on patrolling soldiers, but keep adequate speed at the same time.

I added extra dart, so mission 11 can be possible on Sabouter, and to compensate new difficulty for some levels. I added extra cartridge upgrade for Mosin sniper rifle, which is not working for obvious reasons. Feel free to remove it.

Good news everyone! Game getting a lot of exposure lately:

Spoiler: Show

If you MST3k/Rifftrax fan, then here is new full episode:

[Liz Shaw]

(03-21-2017 10:20 PM)ComradeReptiloid Wrote:  Interesting. By adding extra NPC's you made level even more difficult, which is a welcome change. If I had to take a guess, I'd say that you deleted extra soldier, who is patrolling exit from the alleyway. I suppose that you changed timings -- for 4th anchor in queue in particular -- or completely deleted first civilian to make obtaining soldier uniform easier. Also, I think that "scooter" NPC got a new job, because the repetitive taking strange item (battery model) from the glove box and dropping it in the garbage can looks strange, but I could care less at the time of testing.

I hope you are not deleted talking German Private soldiers, because their vision covers important spots. First group prevents you from tranquilizing both civilian and officer, so you must figure out very advanced tactic to lure the officer in a special spot and separate him from civilian. You can't use typical whistles + device tactic. Hard to explain, but getting officer uniform involves abusing of hardcore tricks, sound attention ranges and reaction priorities, and you must time soldier who is going to piss. Second group added to prevent cheap luring around the second corner -- if you whistle, then two German Private going to investigate strange sound too. In addition to stated above, they control cheap hiding spots from patrolling officer, 3-soldier patrol and two single soldier patrols. If you will be slow with timings, then you get caught, not like in original level layout, which impose no challenge on the player.

No, I didn't delete any NPCs, but I certainly have changed the anchors for the civilian who checks on his scooter. Instead of putting a battery in the trash, he goes to hug a wall.

(03-21-2017 10:20 PM)ComradeReptiloid Wrote:  I guess you changed hammer animation for fireman -- I'm aware that it looks stupid.

Changed smoking and hammer anchors.

(03-21-2017 10:20 PM)ComradeReptiloid Wrote:  "Motorbike" soldier have a problem with smoke animation. If you distract officer, then he will arrive too late, which meaning that soldier need to drop cigarette before responding -- waste of time leading to synchronization fail.

That's why I changed it.

(03-21-2017 10:20 PM)ComradeReptiloid Wrote:  I added extra dart, so mission 11 can be possible on Sabouter, and to compensate new difficulty for some levels. I added extra cartridge upgrade for Mosin sniper rifle, which is not working for obvious reasons. Feel free to remove it.

I didn't add the new upgrade for Mosin, and I haven't changed the max ammo capacity or RP points. I have, however, changed the AI settings for the TT, as I modified the Equipment stream in A Mole Among Us so the traitor uses one instead of a Colt (I gave a Colt instead to the American agent in Room 34).

One thing I decided not to do in Snake Born is adding extra scientists. Instead, the scientists who are already in the room with the spare scientist's clothes use the new anchors to make lockpicking the cubicle door and changing clothes more challenging. And also, on Saboteur, the officer now always has his back turned, while the soldier alternates between guarding the entrance and checking on the soldier guarding the cyclotron. And after eliminating Krause, the chatting officer and scientist go their own ways - this is so players can now obtain the note in Krause's office on Saboteur.

And I added a nude soldier having a shower and spare SS uniform, but instead of GuardNude, I created a nude GermanSoldier actor like what I did with Gusanos - who wouldn't want to see a semi-naked bald man with a scarred eye having a shower?

[ComradeReptiloid]

(03-22-2017 05:43 AM)Liz Shaw Wrote:  One thing I decided not to do in Snake Born is adding extra scientists. Instead, the scientists who are already in the room with the spare scientist's clothes use the new anchors to make lockpicking the cubicle door and changing clothes more challenging. And also, on Saboteur, the officer now always has his back turned, while the soldier alternates between guarding the entrance and checking on the soldier guarding the cyclotron. And after eliminating Krause, the chatting officer and scientist go their own ways - this is so players can now obtain the note in Krause's office on Saboteur.

I wanted to add extra scientist, but couldn't find the proper place, where they could fit in and perform some meaningful functions. I made the process of acquiring scientist uniform challenging too.

First way -- lockpicking Krause room. This is mildly challenging for officer uniform and very challenging for Soldier SS uniform. I changed anchors for scientists and officer. There is a way to lure and separate officer in cabinet to obtain uniform and high level access card from his corpse.

Second way -- killing Stolz and finding a smart way to smuggle his uniform out of the cabinet. Cabinet guards will be "alerted" if they see unauthorized scientist walking out of guarded zone. You must use some sort of distraction or time sneaking past them very well.

Picking uniform from Krause corpse was too cheap, so I changed AI body form to civilian. Scientist uniform allowed into sewers, have an easier time to access and wonder in cyclotron area, bomb lab and through tunnel much easier in general. For all other areas officer and officer2 is your ultimate "pass" uniform (that's why it is so hard to achieve), but there is still a bunch of enemies, who can decamouflage you both in secret lab, fire department and streets.

(03-22-2017 05:43 AM)Liz Shaw Wrote:  And I added a nude soldier having a shower and spare SS uniform, but instead of GuardNude, I created a nude GermanSoldier actor like what I did with Gusanos - who wouldn't want to see a semi-naked bald man with a scarred eye having a shower?

Cool, I don't bother with aesthetics much, but this certainly would help (most players wouldn't even notice changes like this one). Too bad that level06_duche_01_water don't have textures. That model looks fine in the editor (with water textures applied), but in the game it is represented with black cone. Level02_fontan_water is ok for some reason.

Soldier SS uniform was placed here, because you can't exit the secret lab in officer2 uniform (everyone in fire_department_closed will suspect you, but this is possible anyway) and everyone outside of secret lab will suspect scientist uniform. You can do this in Officer and Soldier SS (both obtainable in secret lab).

Quick edit:
I want to add hidden "easter egg" note in Stolz bathroom (very childish, but funny):

Spoiler: Show

Recently I started to like covering myself in stale feces and masturbating. Almost every morning I walk around my neighborhood with a large black garbage bag and collect all the crap I see. It takes a whole day to get two bags full of shit. But it all pays off when I come home after a hard day, go to the bathroom, turn on the hot water and…mmm, pour all the crap into the bathtub. And then I masturbate, imagining that I’m being devoured by all the feces. All in all, I think, that poo has its own mind, each pile of shit has its own family, place, feelings, we shouldn’t just flush them down the toilet, we should take care of them, talk to them, pet them… And you know what, I had a wonderful dream while lying in the bathtub yesterday, I dived into the sea and it turned into shit, fish, seaweed, jellyfish, everything turned into poo, even the sky, Allah himself.

[Liz Shaw]

ComradeReptiloid, I think something's wrong with NPC's StopMoveDynamic logic after I implemented some of your tweaks. The danger meter rises, sure, but NPCs just stand where they are and stare at you, they don't run towards you and gesture at you to leave anymore.

PS. Never mind, figured out the problem. For some reason, you set the setting "StopMove = false" to the StopMoveDynamic setting in AI.shadvs, which causes the glitches.

[ComradeReptiloid]

I don't have any free time right now, so there is the quick answer. I thought about introducing this change to StopMoveDynamic behavior since the beginning, because AI was too forgiving. The animation bug occur only if you approached NPC from afar or ran away from following guards, so they can raise an alert immediately instead of running to player (2 seconds reaction time).

[ComradeReptiloid]

Two new vids:

[ComradeReptiloid]

Never seen this mission done this way.

Check new updated zones for missions 5, 7, 9, 11!

[ComradeReptiloid]

Huge update is coming!!!

Finally I have enough time to solve one of the biggest problems of the game (at least for me) -- inability to effectively transform information between zones.

That issue resulted in so called "Desperados civilian" syndrome, when Desperados developers unintentionally dropped Courage and IQ values for civilians so low that they never worked as supposed to. Instead of running to the closest guard and reporting suspicious activity like dead body lying on the street or trespassing activity they just backed up in their original place or hided away in the buildings. Only kids in the demo worked properly (actually calling guards for help).

I don't have time to record and upload video now, but believe me -- this new change finally simulate full blown alarm of pervious DtS titles. Civilians don't sit like a dummies as before. They run to free rooms in one zone and telepathically transform messages to adjustment zones. In Red Dragon I managed to alert whole level by scaring one civilian in starting area.

New reactions to bullet hits. I readjusted fear values, so NPC's became more confident now and don't hide or give up after one bullet (only at close range). If enemy see bullet hitting nearby object, then he runs into cover (closest fire point)and sit here for 2 seconds before starting to investigate and only passes info if enters adjustment zone or in direct sight of another unsuspecting enemy. Before that NPC just entered cover animation in same place. Also AI become even more aggressive in flanking and suppressing fire from a long distance.

I changed Ignore reaction priority, so you can finally do any changes to zone files. For example I wanted to include "StopMoveDynamic" reaction for Soldier -> Sailor -> global and "Ignore" or "Decamouflage" for Soldier -> Sailor -> boat. I can't do that before because global reactions overrides special zones and "StopMoveDynamic" have priority 6, while Ignore was 0. This leading to Soldier using "StopMoveDynamic" even for boat zone. I changed Ignore to 7 and Alert to 8, so "Ignore" in any zone now overrides any global reaction except for "Alert".

I been thinking for a long time about certain improvement. I was against it, because it will ruin speedrun tactics and allow new exploits, but it's ok with new fov. And the change is making running sound attract attention like whistling like in previous DtS games. You can't exploit it like before -- luring one guards by running behind closed door, which is superior to whistling and attracting bunch of them -- because doors muffle low priority sounds greatly in AG. Also this change will deny common tactic of whistle behind someone back and then running without any repercussions. Developers used this to prevent whistle-run exploit before, but only if target goes to investigate.

Conclusion: I will add new reactions to zone files and upload it after short period of testing.

[ComradeReptiloid]

Hey, check this video including new AG Rebirth kills for mission 6:



Anyone feel free to post it on steam.