MetalStorm Progress Report (28 June 2016)

[Megaladon]

I'm speechless. I never knew you guys were so far into the code. I've been coming to this site since 2004 and man how things have changed. I mean running scripts. So many people told me it will never happen and here it is. Very good work and I look forward to seeing your imagination at work when this goes public. I don't care if D3 comes out the day you release this mod I'll be playing MetalStorm. Seeing the talent you guys possess I have a couple questions. Since you are rewriting the story from another RPG campaign you designed Nef will we be able to see Heroic fights with enemies based on character classes (basically pvp but 1 is controlled by AI)? If so would it be possible since you are now able to run scripts to have the heroic type enemies wear armor and weapons maybe even weapon switching and then allow the body to be looted like a player corpse in hardcore?

Best wishes for all your work.

[Nefarius]

I'm speechless. I never knew you guys were so far into the code. I've been coming to this site since 2004 and man how things have changed. I mean running scripts. So many people told me it will never happen and here it is. Very good work and I look forward to seeing your imagination at work when this goes public. I don't care if D3 comes out the day you release this mod I'll be playing MetalStorm. Seeing the talent you guys possess I have a couple questions.

Thanks

Since you are rewriting the story from another RPG campaign you designed Nef will we be able to see Heroic fights with enemies based on character classes (basically pvp but 1 is controlled by AI)?

Yes! Even some of the regular higher enemies are considerably complex in their behavior and class-themed. We have plans for epic battles especially in MP games, as well as ambushes by 'enemy parties' and other events like these.

If so would it be possible since you are now able to run scripts to have the heroic type enemies wear armor and weapons maybe even weapon switching and then allow the body to be looted like a player corpse in hardcore?

Most basic enemies that appear to have 'equipment' in their gfx actually have equipment now*, they also come with scrolls, potions and other misc items that they actively use (the potions range from regular healing potions, to buffs, they also properly utilize thawing potions when chilled etc). As for weapon switching, this is indeed a possibility too, for the higher monsters and especially bosses. The enemy-enemy corpse looting is an very interesting idea I might look into further.

* Monequip can drop like a regular TC drop now as well, this includes their misc items, however not everything drops (usually 0-2 items).

[DemonicAngel]

There is a literally huge update coming soon

Can't wait!

[Radamer]

Wow, that's a lot to take in with this latest update. Let's just say that I can't wait until this mod if fully released. For now, I stuck playing the Hell Unleashed mod, which is a great mod, but looks like nothing compared to this one.

And don't get me started on the latest patch Blizzard released...

[Rheikon]

It is amazing you are still working on this and so much progress is still being made. Can't wait to play this

[agIDi]

He is the Coding God

[Spejs]

I know it's hard to do, but can you guess when public release will come? Something like this month/year/century

[Vendanna]

I know it's hard to do, but can you guess when public release will come? Something like this month/year/century

Yeah on 1/april/2011 j/k

Now, being serious and as stated on the thread we can't guess a release date for the project since it isn't good for a quality product and for the "catch bugs" which is the most important thing atm.

At least, you can see the progress on the project in each update, so have patience.

also, Blizzard is awesome, We had found bugs even on the skilldescription texts, who had tought those aren't giving the correct information it displays?

[Spejs]

Be able to see progress in your great work is good, but patience is not one of my virtues

Some other questions:
1)Will be
_a)new slots for equipment, for additional rings/tattoos/superhero underwear or something else?
_b)any way to alter your skills, to change their stats or effects for creating even more unique char?
_c)any in-game tips about cube recipes, runewords, hidden quests etc?
_d)able to create dual-wielding wizard with two orbs?
_e)a pet, which will visibly grows or transform after gaining lvls if it possible?
_f)weapon with chance_on_hit to turn monster into a champion or boss?
2)Can you give any info about
_a)skill system as a whole like number of new skills and new effects added to skills?
_b)new types of items?
_c)new storyline?

Excuse for my english and curiosity

[Nefarius]

new slots for equipment, for additional rings/tattoos/superhero underwear or something else?

It entirely depends what contribution this would have to the actual gameplay, there is alot of code handling equipment slots, which purely cosmetic changes do not warrant, we also take great care that the item graphics used are more or less of the same quality (as well as having the same gamma and the same angle etc), as it stands right now the equipment is already fully concepted and partially implemented so that it seams unlikely we'll be adding anything extra beyond what we've added so far for the time being.

any way to alter your skills, to change their stats or effects for creating even more unique char?

Firstly, the concept of skills doesn't exist in MetalStorm. There will be several spells and abilities that can be altered in how they function.

any in-game tips about cube recipes, runewords, hidden quests etc

Yes there will be, but this will not come in the way people are used to in mods

able to create dual-wielding wizard with two orbs?

No since there are no orbs, for dual wielding however I've posted a detailed answer somewhere else, at present there are no real limits on dual wielding.

a pet, which will visibly grows or transform after gaining lvls if it possible?

At present there are some enemy mages that can sacrifice a monster to summon a stronger version.

weapon with chance_on_hit to turn monster into a champion or boss

While very easy to do, the D1 Doppelgaenger's property will suffice for the time being.

----

_a)skill system as a whole like number of new skills and new effects added to skills?
_b)new types of items?
_c)new storyline?

No, possibly and no

For items that are available, there some older posts here where some of them are discussed IIRC, there are some new item types compared to vanilla, and especially more subdivision in weapons, we've put most focus to add the same amount of each, in order to avoid the type of bias vanilla has.

[Spejs]

Thanks for answering. New items - i only remeber elemental arrows, cursed status and oils, even abaout new skills imo more info posted,wich you don't want to uncover Anyway keep watching for your works and awaiting new random tidbits.

[aerial]

Great work, can't wait to see it released.

[Al-T]

It's nice to see the 80/20 process continuing here. If only major software companies would take this approach Maybe some day

[DemonicAngel]

Why was it a bug for light radius to go below 2?

I think it'd be quite a rush to play in almost total darkness.

[Nefarius]

The gfx core cannot properly draw a 1x1 anchor light radius without flickering when you move (other units aren't the anchor point of the screen so there it causes no problems), when you set the radius to 0 nothing is visible on the screen ( it's not just dark, it literally means nothing is drawn unless you stand near another light source ).

Keep in mind that the vanilla light radius starts at a very high value (its not 5 like people often think, more like double of this ), a real radius of 2 is so small you only see yourself.

[Lashenya]

So, Nefarius, I have a question!

You mention a lot of AI updates/changes. Now I'm not sure if you've elaborated on this or not somewhere else in the topic or on the board, but I'm curious as to what specifically, or generally (if you dont wanna give too much away), has been improved as far as the AI is concerned.

Like for instance, what does it do differently that it did not do before? Or how might some creatures act in your mod in relation to how they would normally act in LoD? Are there any significant (threatening?) changes made to monsters that would be quite noticeable?

Should this question belong in a new topic entirely?

Thanks!

[Nefarius]

You should start from the point that vanilla doesn't have an artifical intelligence, it possess an artificial idiot, the term describes it better then anything else, because the already boneheaded AI gets dumbed down even further, in vanilla usually when the AI fails to perform something it will rest and retry after 10-20 frames in which it just stands there doing nothing, now the new AI doesn't rest, it will actually use whatever works in that situation and only perform doldrums when nothing works (and even then, it may use the time to heal/buff other units if it can do it).

It is more intelligent in that it does evaluation on what spells can be cast on what target, picks spells or targets based on how vulnerable they are to what it desires to cast (or vice/versa, picks something that does more damage to units). A good example to demonstrate this are those succubi in Act V, in vanilla they will cast curses on you no matter whenever you can't be cursed or are already cursed, now the ai doesn't waste time performing futile actions like those ( if you're not curseable they won't waste their time doing this, likewise they won't curse you if you're already cursed [ by any other curse ] ).

If the AI that can attack in melee and at range will opt to use ranged attacks if melee attacks would damage it ( think thorns, iron maiden etc. ), smarter melee attackers that are not resistant to the recoil damage type ( it's not physical damage anymore ) will keep their distance unless forced to fight ( cornered etc ). Teleporting monsters don't just teleport to a single position based on their coordinates ( in vanilla it subtracts the two pair of coords, so in the same position it'll always go to the same spot -_- ), now they intelligently pick a spot that is at a random point away from the unit they try to teleport away from, but also at least x steps away from their current location.

This is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg though. Even simple behaviour like engaging to melee range has been slightly changed and made more intelligent.

Then there is also stuff like this: viewtopic.php?f=157&t=51406&hilit=Monster

( there are numerous more things I posted in here about the behaviour, try a forum specific search )

[kingpin]

Keep in mind that the vanilla light radius starts at a very high value (its not 5 like people often think, more like double of this ), a real radius of 2 is so small you only see yourself.

Start radius in vanilla is 13 and capped at 18. Probably where people mix up with 5 I guess.

[Spejs]

What will happen when unit count hits 0?

[Nefarius]

Then every unit that has been implemented so far has a new set of sounds mixed for it.

(as written in the other thread, this is why there is a delay in posts here, all they would amount for is 'mixed sound for unit <name>')

We're not using pre-existing sounds as-is, because they usually won't work properly with D2, that is, they're designed for different frame rates and animation lengths, so a lot of stuff (such as corpses hitting the floor etc) play at awkward points, this makes it mandatory (sticking with the quality guidelines of the project) to edit all of these sounds or mix new ones from samples for each custom, D1 and IE unit we have imported into the mod.

[weapon-x]

getting closer on the release date

can't wait

[weapon-x]

i know this been asked many times...

but if all the 17 remaining units are finished, what will be your next goal?

[Nefarius]

There are a bunch of things for the next dev. build, the absolute follow up things will be among others a complete overhaul of the experience system (which will allow each level to have its own experience, instead of the experience being accumulated between all levels), the values needed for the 150 levels won't change, but it will let us move the cap around (in case we want to increase the limit for some reason) without breaking existing characters, it also removes the limit of 4 billion total exp (because you could have nLevels*FFFFFFFF exp pretty much), it makes experience calculations and lookups a lot more efficient then now. Some work on environment contexts is also planned (this is destructible and damaging environment for example), theres also a general amount of level, quest and unit stuff in the queue (the usual), the main goals for the first 2011 milestone will be some major work on the plot and lore, as well as finishing armors.txt though. ( Note: The order at which stuff is worked on may change, we may work on the plot earlier etc. )

--- Theres been a lot more things done beside the sounds, there is a thread being prepared elsewhere that summarizes these, it will be drafted once those 17 units are done, this includes the fact 4 new dev tools were created for a variety of purposes, as well as more txts.

[weapon-x]

destructible and damaging environment

now this... i like

[marquise]

Man can u do it faster plz? cant wait for this mod. It looks really great. Ive searched mods like this 1-2 year long. Now i found this. When will come out?