Supercharge [gameplay mod | v3.0b 07/16/23 multiplayer fix]

updated the OP with v1.2! changelog is pretty brief:

• fixed the Pain Elementals - thanks @DarkQuill for reporting that!
• slightly altered the big HUD font colors to be more uniform - thanks @Thorogrimm for the suggestion!

Is there a guns only version for this? 

5 hours ago, eviltechno said:

Is there a guns only version for this? 

not currently, no - but I don't think it would be too much effort to make a one-off guns-only version if you're interested. I doubt that I would be able to do that for every version but I'd happy to do that for the next version (which ought to be in the next few days)

15 hours ago, Tango said:

 

not currently, no - but I don't think it would be too much effort to make a one-off guns-only version if you're interested. I doubt that I would be able to do that for every version but I'd happy to do that for the next version (which ought to be in the next few days)

Yes very interested. Looking forward to it then. TY

version 1.3 is here! download link in the OP has been updated. here's a rough changelog:

• tweaked the direct vs splash damage ratio of player rockets slightly. the splash now does 16 more damage, while the rocket itself does 16 less. this change is a net buff in all cases (except for splash-immune monsters like the non-green cyb), since splash damage has increased a bit. the weapon still very much retains its character from before though - direct hits are still much more essential and impactful than vanilla
• greatly increased the spread of the AR on the 2nd and 3rd bullets of the 3-round burst
• very slightly decreased the damage of AR bullets. one burst is still enough to kill a chaingunner, though.
  • I made these two AR changes because the weapon felt, and honestly maybe still feels, a little too powerful. the increased spread should give the player a bit more reason to use either the pistol to pick things off at long range
• spruced up the player plasma weapon/projectile sprites - player plasma shots are green now, and the weapon firing sprites are a little less flat. projectiles also have a slight, randomized weave effect to them
• toned down the screenshake when firing the plasma rifle. the screenshake effect now has a chance to be skipped on each shot
• added some minor effects to the player rocket explosion
• fixed the hell knight ball so it now adheres to the Supercharge palette at all times

in a not-too-distant-future version, I intend to re-implement the scrap gun (if I can make it work properly in zandro), and add a new non-terrible HUD replacement that shows all the ammo types (including scrap ammo). the big HUD from Paradise v2 is, in hindsight, pretty ugly, and I'd like to do better for Supercharge. if I can successfully re-implement the scrap gun + a new big HUD, I might also consider making another update to Paradise to make it coop compatible, using whatever the latest Supercharge version is. but we shall see!

@eviltechno, I didn't add a link to the OP, but here is the link to the monsterless version of Supercharge v1.3. I didn't test this extensively, but it seemed to work as expected from what testing I did do. I removed all of the monsters but kept basically everything else, as I wasn't sure to what extent you were looking for truly guns-only. if you're interested in any other minor tweaks like the removal of the new HUDs, lemme know and I ought to be able to make minor tweaks and reupload.

Yea, that's close, but not exactly what I meant with "guns only". There are still modded blood effects. I'd like to use it with my own custom bloodpatch. 

Also, talking about HUD's, I use alternative HUD from gzdoom. I noticed with your mod the ammo isn't working properly. It doesn't show the actual clipsize eg. with the shotgun and not even counting down the ammo at all unless you reload. 

If you could remove the custom blood and fix the weaponscripts for the althud users (there are quite a lot) it would be much appreaciated :)

roger that @eviltechno - give me another day or two and I'll see what I can do. regarding the althud, do you mean that it displays the total ammo counts (eg shells out of 100), but not the ammo counts of the current clip for the reloadable weapons (eg reloadable shells out of 8)?

Exactly.

But from my last test it didn't even count down single shots. The number seems stuck unless you stop shooting and start reloading.

Take your time. TY 

ok @eviltechno, give this one a shot: v1.3 (no monsters b). I added all of the ammo to the alternate hud, so it will now display not only the larger ammo counts (eg shells out of 100), but also the ammo counts for reloading weapons (eg loaded shells out of 8). due to the way reloading weapons work, you won't see the larger ammo count go down unless you reload, but instead will only deplete if you reload, as you note. I would really prefer a different order to the ammo icons in the alt hud, but that seems to be based on weapon slots and is out of my control :(

I also fixed the blue armor ammo icon in the alt hud as well, and removed all the new blood and blood decals. in a future main version of Supercharge, I will include the alt hud ammo fixes, but I'm not sure I'm able to fix the blue armor icon in the alt hud without messing up the current compact hud, so that fix in the main version will have to wait till I redo that compact hud.

10 hours ago, Tango said:

ok @eviltechno, give this one a shot: v1.3 (no monsters b). I added all of the ammo to the alternate hud, so it will now display not only the larger ammo counts (eg shells out of 100), but also the ammo counts for reloading weapons (eg loaded shells out of 8). due to the way reloading weapons work, you won't see the larger ammo count go down unless you reload, but instead will only deplete if you reload, as you note. I would really prefer a different order to the ammo icons in the alt hud, but that seems to be based on weapon slots and is out of my control :(

 

I also fixed the blue armor ammo icon in the alt hud as well, and removed all the new blood and blood decals. in a future main version of Supercharge, I will include the alt hud ammo fixes, but I'm not sure I'm able to fix the blue armor icon in the alt hud without messing up the current compact hud, so that fix in the main version will have to wait till I redo that compact hud.

Ah great.

I ran it for a few minutes and I think it works. Will report back in if there are any problems.   Thanks a lot!

Cool mod. I did run into an issue where the Cyber Baron replacement does not trigger the usual 666 action to lower the walls in e1m8.

1 hour ago, Spectre01 said:

Cool mod. I did run into an issue where the Cyber Baron replacement does not trigger the usual 666 action to lower the walls in e1m8.

thanks for pointing that out! that's definitely not intentional. I'll look into a fix for this

Another possible bug I've noticed is that picking up a Plasma Rifle when you already have one only gives ammo if you're missing some in the clip. So if you have a reloaded PR with 40 ammo and 100 cells in reserve, you cannot pick it up. With 39 ammo or less, you can pick it up and it will fill up your current magazine. All the other weapon pickups provide ammo as normal, from what I can tell.

Edit: I'll just add another point about the fist seemingly not alerting enemies. I've seen a lot of mods go in that direction, and while it makes sense and provides a sort of stealth advantage, it also breaks teleport triggers in maps requiring a shoot switch at the start.

@Spectre01 that plasma behavior is definitely unintentional, whoops. thanks for bringing that to my attention, I'll look into fixing that too :D

and you make a good point about the fists. I think I'll probably make them not silent in a future version, open to feedback here though

Just wanted to pop in and say how much I'm loving this mod, been tinkering with it since the initial release. A great use of some of ZDoom's features and incredibly fun. There is a lot to explore between the weapons and monsters, and the added decorations are an unexpected cherry on top. Thank you for all the hard work, Tango! 

you are much too kind @RonnieJamesDiner, thanks so much :D

just updated the OP with v1.4! here's a rough changelog:

• fixed the plasma rifle pickup values (thanks @Spectre01)
• fixed cyber barons not triggering special map tag 666/7 actions (thanks Spectre01)
• made the fist alert enemies to prevent players from stealthily breaking maps that require shootable switches to progress. hopefully nobody's making a stealth tyson map with an earlier version lol
• added png-ified versions of the cell/pack ammo pickup sprites
• re-added the scrap gun (thanks @NoReason and friends)

I intend to do a bit of tweaking on the scrap gun in the future (as well as make a new big hud that shows its total ammo count appropriately); here's roughly what I'm thinking I'll do in a future version:

Noticed a small bug with the new version: The 10 bullet pistol clip now looks like a cell charge pack, as seen at the start of Entryway.

Also, are there any plans to add dynamic lights to player/monster projectiles and pickups? None of the new resources seem to have them.

14 hours ago, Spectre01 said:

Noticed a small bug with the new version: The 10 bullet pistol clip now looks like a cell charge pack, as seen at the start of Entryway.

whoops, thanks for catching that! I just updated the OP with v1.4b; here's the changelog:

• fixed plasma cell sprites overriding bullet clip sprites; they are now distinct

and thank you for reminding me about the dynamic lights - I play without dynamic lights on so I had forgotten about those actually. I'm not sure if it'll be next update or one after that, but yeah, I would absolutely like to add proper dynamic lights in for everything!

This had very swiftly become amongst my favourite Doom mods. Maybe even THE most favoured of mine. I love the sprites, the gore, the weapon handling and the aesthetic that ties in to just about any map out there. It's so fun and it's something I've been wanting to find for such a long time; something that's vanilla in practice, but adds much more spice to the gameplay. The fast weapon switching is a welcome addition, as it urges you to use more of your arsenal, but with a balance that is the reloading. With the addition of the rifle in place of the chaingun, it's an interesting alternative due to the burstfire as opposed to the blitzing chained bullets. I'm very impressed.

I'd love to see more in future from this mod, even though I'm very content playing with it through more maps in its current state. Thanks for bringing it to the mod community! Love your work!

16 hours ago, Thorogrimm said:

Thanks for bringing it to the mod community! Love your work! 

you are much too kind mate, thanks so much :D I am very glad you're so thoroughly enjoying it! I do very much intend to keep building on and with this mod, though to what extent still remains to be seen

A few things I've noticed while playing Scythe:

• It looks like the Arachnotron's projectile source is lower than the vanilla one. This makes it impossible for him to shoot over obstacles he normally can, such as this window ledge here.
• The Cyber-Baron is great, but perhaps not as the default Baron replacement. His rocket attack is simply too deadly compared to the vanilla Baron, making his threat level go through the roof, especially in fights with multiple Barons or tight quarters. He also infights with Hell Knights, making the ever popular Baron/HK mix prone to self-destructing.
• The new Zombieman feels a bit too beefy. He has almost as much HP as an Imp, and combined with his fast double plasma attack, he basically acts like an Imp+ rather than fodder. Perhaps giving him Sergeant HP would be more appropriate?

cheers @Spectre01, all your feedback is really, really helpful :D

On 11/26/2019 at 2:30 AM, Spectre01 said:

It looks like the Arachnotron's projectile source is lower than the vanilla one. This makes it impossible for him to shoot over obstacles he normally can, such as this window ledge here.

ah I hadn't considered cases like this. to address this, I think what I'll do is introduce compatibility settings in the supercharge options menu, so that you can, on a per-monster basis, choose to revert their projectile source to vanilla if you desire.

On 11/26/2019 at 2:30 AM, Spectre01 said:

The Cyber-Baron is great, but perhaps not as the default Baron replacement.

absolutely, I very much agree here. it's on my list to add a normal baron in an upcoming version too, I've just been putting it off because I need to do a bunch of color conversions for all the hk-specific gibs to get there D:

On 11/26/2019 at 2:30 AM, Spectre01 said:

The new Zombieman feels a bit too beefy. He has almost as much HP as an Imp, and combined with his fast double plasma attack, he basically acts like an Imp+ rather than fodder. Perhaps giving him Sergeant HP would be more appropriate?

I'll definitely consider this one. if not an HP change, I might slightly reduce the damage or speed of his projectiles, as they can get really nasty in groups

edit: also, completely unrelated, but I had forgotten it was you who made Quantum Strike. that wad is fantastic

Checked this out after playing the absolutely amazing Paradise wad, was really really impressed with the levels in that pack and how well the gameplay mod played within it. Thank you for making this it's own standalone thing, playing certain wads with this is absolute bliss and is that perfect level of "Vanilla+" that I love.

Most gameplay mods come away feeling like novelties, or include a bunch of added bloat / overpowered stuff that ruins them when playing seriously, but this finds that sweet spot for me. You're a tad more powerful, but the enemies also take you to task in return, there's a really satisfying push and pull going on.

As for issues, I had a few problems with Revenants and Arachnotrons getting stuck in geometry and otherwise being unable to attack me (Specifically Ancient Aliens MAP03 and a Scythe 2 level I don't remember).

The difficulty might be a bit too high, I might just be inexperienced with the wads in question but things didn't feel like Ultra Violence, they felt like something harder. HMP felt a lot closer to Vanilla UV difficulty, not sure if that's intended.

Also not a huge fan of not being able to get the Scrap Gun, but I assume that's on the block somewhere or I had just missed the pickup.

It'd be cool to be able to toggle certain things on/off. I for one really enjoyed the inclusion of the Cyber Baron for many of the level packs I played, it didn't feel exactly like the vanilla Baron but it was a cool new challenge.

Edit: Also had some pretty harsh ammo issues on a lot of levels, it seems to be tied in with the lesser splash damage of the Rocket Launcher. Any map that uses that a bunch has some issues.

cheers @Fairweather, I really appreciate your kind words and feedback :D nice to see you on the DW forums now too! your evaluation of the mod as "Vanilla+" is great to hear, as that's really what my vision was.

On 12/11/2019 at 2:19 AM, Fairweather said:

As for issues, I had a few problems with Revenants and Arachnotrons getting stuck in geometry and otherwise being unable to attack me (Specifically Ancient Aliens MAP03 and a Scythe 2 level I don't remember). 

definitely hear you here. hopefully within the next version or 2, I'll add some options to revert the projectile origins for the Arachnotron/Revenant/Cyberdemon/Mancubus for compatibility reasons like this one, though off by default.

On 12/11/2019 at 2:19 AM, Fairweather said:

Also not a huge fan of not being able to get the Scrap Gun, but I assume that's on the block somewhere or I had just missed the pickup.

nay you're right, it's nowhere to be seen when it's not specifically placed by a mapper. I'm thinking what I might do is replace the Nightmare difficulty with a new UV variant that has a bit of randomization, and throw the scrap gun into the mix there. so in this difficulty, hell knights could be replaced by pyro demons, regular barons (which aren't included yet but will hopefully be soon) by cyber barons, archviles by diabolists I guess, cacodemons by tortured souls, etc. not sure if I'd work in the scrap gun by just making it randomly replace the SSG or something, or making a shotgunner variant that carries it, but it's definitely on my mind.

ideally there'd be toggles like you said, but I think the randomized UV would be my first step. I'm still trying to sort out how exactly to do toggles in a way that's zandronum-compatible and will break zdoom mapsets as little as possible, but that is my longterm goal, along with including a few other random monster variants for extra spice.

On 12/11/2019 at 2:19 AM, Fairweather said:

The difficulty might be a bit too high, I might just be inexperienced with the wads in question but things didn't feel like Ultra Violence, they felt like something harder. HMP felt a lot closer to Vanilla UV difficulty, not sure if that's intended.

I don't know that I could say it's necessarily intended, but rather just a side-effect of all these changes that I kind of tailor-made for Paradise. the next version will have some nerfs to the plasma zombies which ought to help a bit on some maps, and whenever I include a regular baron instead of 100% cyber baron, that ought to help some too.

On 12/11/2019 at 2:19 AM, Fairweather said:

Edit: Also had some pretty harsh ammo issues on a lot of levels, it seems to be tied in with the lesser splash damage of the Rocket Launcher. Any map that uses that a bunch has some issues.

I'll try to do some testing on rocket heavy maps and think on what I might be able to do to fix this. maybe rocket boxes by default have a chance to be replaced by even bigger rocket boxes?

===========================

as an aside, if anyone has ideas on how to make the scrap gun feel better, I would love to hear your thoughts. I generally still like the concept of the weapon but think that more could be done to make it feel satisfying. here are a few changes I'm thinking about:

• slightly de-randomizing the spread pattern so that it's more conical on every shot, with some randomization on the inner projectiles still
• speeding up the projectiles
• potentially speeding up the blowback of the firing animation (while adding endlag frames to compensate, so that current firing rate is maintained)
• maybe upping the screenshake effect a bit when firing
• maybe commissioning someone to spruce up the sprites a bit so it looks less like a quad-barrel shotgun? even if it was still quad-barreled but had some more detail on the barrels (kind of like the new SSG sprites from stomper), that would help give it character I think
• changing the ammo sprites somehow? something other than green shells would be great, though adjusting that would mean also adjusting the reloading sprites

On the subject of toggles, may I suggest a gore option to disable extra gibs for maps with large numbers of enemies.

Edit: Unless that's already covered by the Max VFX setting, in which case you may disregard that suggestion. :P

7 minutes ago, Spectre01 said:

Edit: Unless that's already covered by the Max VFX setting, in which case you may disregard that suggestion. :P

haha indeed it is! or rather, that setting won't prevent gibs from spawning, but it will despawn dormant gibs whenever that limit is reached

Any thoughts on buffing the Chainsaw? It always felt underpowered in vanilla, and with Pinkies biting faster, it's not even safe to use on the one enemy it was sort of good against. And the risk of trying to disarm a Cyber-Baron greatly outweighs the reward. Not to mention how the other weapons tend to be more consistent and ammo efficient with their damage.

I'm also still unsure about the Rocket Launcher having significantly less splash. I feel like it leaves the BFG as the only good option for dealing with groups of enemies, whereas in vanilla, the RL had the niche of blowing up groups of low-tiers where the BFG would be overkill. Right now, it kind of occupies the same purpose as the Plasma Rifle for single-target damage against beefier foes.

@Spectre01 buffing the chainsaw is a great idea. I'm hoping to release a new version with a handful of changes either tonight or tomorrow, so I'll include a chainsaw buff in there too, along with a slight buff to the unberserked fist (berserk damage will be roughly the same tho).

you make a good point about the rocket splash... I think my original plan was to do something special to the plasma rifle that made it better at dealing with crowds (so that the RL and PR have their roles sorta swapped), but thus far I've not been able to come up with anything in particular.

one thought that's crossed my mind is making it so that any enemies killed by the plasma rifle have a plasma explosion upon death (that doesn't hurt the player). this explosion could be "contagious" and infect any other monster in the blast radius with plasma to explode upon their death, etc. the main holdup with that idea is that I'm not sure how best to visually represent the plasma infection. if anyone's got suggestions along these lines, or thoughts on that idea, I'm all ears :D

in the meantime, I might buff the splash a wee bit, either in this upcoming update, or another one soon.

The Plasma idea sounds interesting. Visually, it could look something like an electrocution effect, as seen when using the Plasma Rifle's stun grenade in D4T.

I'm not sure about swapping the roles of the weapons though, mostly for the sake of the mod being compatible with existing vanilla mapsets. i.e. You're given an RL to hold back a horde but it's ineffective for the job.