It's finally here, after nearly four years. v15.0 is here, and with it a fully-revamped Hotel and Embassy. I didn't mean to leave it for this long to finish it, but again, I had other projects to work on, like getting Would You Kindly finished first. But I'm glad I got it finished before resuming work on v15.0 in hindsight, as the last minute changes getting Would You Kindly out the door first taught me some new things about AI in the Death to Spies series, and I have applied those experiences to the MoTmod Addon - you will now find more NPCs won't just suddenly freeze when you're a certain distance or facing away from them in some missions.
This is the first release since Windows 7 first lost support, and now with ESU for that OS ending this January, I felt that the time had finally come to migrate my work to my new Windows 10 computer, and with that comes buying the Steam versions of DtS and MoT. As a result, this is the first release to support the Steam version, as well as higher screen resolutions.
With a new computer, comes old methods of capturing MoT footage, in more glorious framerate and quality than before, and as a result, this is the first version since v13.0 to come with a release video:
The property "AI_CanLookPlayer" has been implemented for all NPCs in Jagdpanther, Winter Cold, Stronghold, Paycheck and Eight Snipers.
Dietrich Meltzer's logic has been changed from 5 ("GoalMan") to 8 ("PassiveEnemy") so his "AI_CanLookPlayer" property works properly (Jagdpanther).
Civilians whose jobs were changed in MoTmod Addon v14.0 should now face their default direction if they moved for whatever reason (Winter Cold).
All peasants in Paycheck now have the "AI_CanGoAside" property.
All wardens in Removal now have a duplicate of the property "AI_DontRelaxAfterAlert" removed.
The mission tips in Removal and Embassy now appear only on Easy difficulty.
Some workers in the barracks area have been reverted back to soldiers (Lightning).
The subtitles for the informer's message to Strogov in White Head have been split into two parts, so the full text can be viewed properly on all players' monitors.
Fixed a bug where the fireplaces in some of the guest rooms in Hotel fail to load their texture if you set your language for non-Unicode programs to Russian.
Fixed a typo in the tip about identifying different uniforms in Training.
A table in one of the tents no longer clips through to the point where a small portion of it is seen from outside (Training).
Katyusha now plays on a radio in the bunker, in the room where you have to take out the radio operator (Training).
All lockers in the seventh tower now have Wehrmacht uniforms inside them instead of SS ones (Eight Snipers).
Some NPCs no longer freeze at inopportune moments or when you're a certain distance away from them in Winter Cold, Stronghold, Paycheck, Project Y, Eight Snipers, White Head and Renegades.
Did a cleanup of Renegades' SWD - got rid of all traces of the now-deprecated AI Form "Soldier" and fixed a bug with one of the tankmen still having this from registered as his AI Body Form.
Fixed a bug which causes an FBI agent having a drink in the main hall of Tsavalov's house to drop dead as if you poisoned him if you poison Ivan Melnik's wine in White Head and then at any time afterwards play Shefferd in the same game session - the bug is a result of unused poisoning triggers present in Shefferd's SWD file.
The sniper in White Head will no longer "discover" any bodies inside his shed, causing him to raise the alarm even though he's supposed to be sleeping for the entire mission.
Actor "WHeadSpy" will now engage in conversation with British civilian Actors.
The soldiers who guard the top entrances to the final towers will now periodically step away from their posts on Saboteur difficulty to make crossing the bridge and entering the towers in front of them easier (Eight Snipers).
The guards inside the sixth tower will now have different jobs on Saboteur difficulty, to make it easier to non-lethally take out the sniper on top of that tower (Eight Snipers).
The guard and officer standing outside the final tower have their "AI_GuardOnStrangeSound" properties disabled so they don't cause problems on Saboteur difficulty when you punch the sniper on top of that tower (Eight Snipers).
Hotel and Embassy have been fully revamped.
There are now new paintings in Hotel and Embassy, most of which are real ones made by British artists, except for one painting, which is Peter Breughel the Elder's "The Hunters in the Snow".
muz_ger_6 has again been replaced, this time with the US version of muz1_ger_loop, while the UK version of muz1_ger_loop (Alte Kameraden) is now part of the MoTmod Addon.
Fixed a bug where attempting to change into an RKKA infantry soldier's uniform causes the game to crash - the model of Strogov wearing said uniform was never put in the addon folder for some reason.
Fixed several spacing issues in various mission objective texts in MoT missions, the difficulty description texts, and at least one tip in Training for those who play on higher screen resolutions.
The steam engine in Eight Snipers now has its original DtS textures rather than the edited MoT textures made specifically for the steam engine in Renegades. Additionally, the uncensored tar wagon texture from the same train has now been properly implemented to the model.
The worker who has his back turned to the three dynamite points on Easy difficulty no longer floats while doing so (Eight Snipers).
Actor "Madam_1" has been renamed to "Madam01" as is her original actor name in DtS' Actors.shadvs file.
The startup.shad file has been modified to remove an extra video from being played on startup, to prevent any potential problems trying to run the addon on the Steam version of MoT. I may make a custom video to replace the third video in the future.
This is the last release to include two revamped DtS missions at once. The next three releases are going to be one at a time. Here's the roadmap:
v16.0 - Project Y
v17.0 - Die Spies!
v18.0 - Removal
Here's hoping I can get v16.0 finished before Windows 10 loses support on October 14th, 2025.
I may as well make periodic progress update videos over the course of the Project Y revamp. In this first video, I go over how most restricted areas can now be entered while dressed as a scientist, provided you have an ID card.
