Master Sword Level2 (Six new maps for 60k, sorta)

[Thothie]

Just to clarify:
These are for MS v1.35 - NOT for MS:C!

This is a batch file and a set of ent files that will allow you to install and uninstall, in toggle like fashion, the increased difficulty maps used at the Thothie server.



The maps modified are:

Calruin

Challs

Helena

Mscave

Sfor

Thornlands



Basically, the monsters are all replaced with higher level variants, and their numbers increased where possible. This is intended for the higher level players, who no longer find the basic MS maps a challenge.



Some maps also have additional treasure, but you will have to work for it. Some maps also make use of previously neglected secret areas.



To use this, simply decompress the files into:

Steam\SteamApps\username\half-life\ms\maps

(note: the maps folder of ms, not the ms folder itself)



Then run the batch file in that folder called "level2.bat"



The first time you run it, it will make backups of the ent tables of all the affected maps, and update the your current maps to increased difficulty levels.



The second time you run it, it will restore your maps to their original state.



Repeat as desired.



Download (60k): http://www.thothie.com/ms/ms_level2.rar

Ye rar unzipper (should you need one): http://www.rarsoft.com/download.htm

_________________

"Nothing is intrinsically good or evil, but its manner of usage may make it so." - St. Thomas Aquinas (See also, Shakespeare)

Saint Thoth

 

[stevenlafl]

Good job. I was waiting for that.

 

[Red Dragon]

Nice job, Thothie

 

[Gurluas]

Is the Undamael chamber back?

 

[Crow]

Yup

 

[J-M v2.5.5]

Gurluas!

 

[Gurluas]

i played it... shame theres no undamael.

 

[Thothie]

Problem with sticking undemel in is that, well, he's invulnerable in MS1.35.

I had some ideas for sticking the model in there, and having him hurt you with lighting beams or some such, and to make it so you had to defeat some other creatures, or destroy some things to banish him. But it's tricky, since the Trigger Hurt doesn't work... I guess I'd have to make some sort of invisible lava that rose and fell periodically to simulate the lightning damage. All a real pain to do with just Ripent.

I suppose... I dunno... Maybe I could at least have the model there, invulnerable, and gloating over you until you killed all his minions, then have him escape in a flash of light, or some such. At least he'd make a cameo then.
_________________
"Christmas is a time when everybody wants his past forgotten and his present remembered. What I don't like about office Christmas parties is looking for a job the next day." - Phyllis Diller
Saint Thoth

 

[Gurluas]

i got another idea... add him only on the level2 levels... give the reward and spawn undamael so eh hunts you out of the portal... then once out lock the portal... makes it more realistic doestn it?

maybe a writing... to be continiued in 1.4

and whos Atholo?

 

[Thothie]

Hmmmm... I'm not sure if I could make the current incarnation of Undamael follow you through a portal. I could make it so that after you destroyed something, or someone, or pressed some mystical symbols, he would vanish. I'm at a loss of how to do that in that small room, and have players figure it out. (No doubt they will simply throw themselves at invulnerable Undamael until the end of time.)

...maybe... Just toss him in there and make him vanish when all the waves of mons are destroyed? That'd be pretty easy... Hardpart is just updating all the links and packages. Since he moves around though, I can't really make it look as though he's summoning the hordes of mons, it kinda has to be 'implied'.

I've no idea who Atholo is. Did he have a spat with Yago?
_________________
"I do not agree with a word you say but will defend to the death your right to say it." - Voltaire
Saint Thoth

 

[Gurluas]

no idea abut Atholo but the idea of making hid disappear once all others r dead sounds great.

 

[Thothie]

I shall endeavor to look into it.
_________________
"If you die first, I am definitely going to eat you." -F. W. Calhoun, Ravenous
Saint Thoth

 

[Thothie]

Done. Undamael is back in all his glory:

Get update at same ol link:
http://www.thothie.com/ms/ms_level2.rar

It actually works out pretty good. Ya almost get the feeling that's him talking to you... Even if it's actually lil ol' Nihllly.

Twas trickier than I thought, but I learned a few things... First off, there was the issue I expected: Polar Bears don't like Undamael. They attack him, he slaughters them. So, I had to get rid of the polar bears... No big deal, as they were there as kind of a joke anyways.

However, something about the Undamael AI is buggy. If there are more than about eight monsters + corpses around him, his brain goes to mush. He stands still, and won't attack. I've observed this behavior in other monsters too... and this time, I found a solution.

Simply reducing the monsters per spawn wasn't enough, because eventually the corpses would pile up, and ya still have a brain dead Undamael. However, if you make a trigger_relay and make it "killtarget" monsters with a tag, it will remove not only the monsters with that targetname - but also, their corpses. So, what happens in this case, is everytime you kill all the monsters in a wave, the same trigger that spawns the next wave, also removes all the corpses. Thus Undamael doesn't have a sudden aneurism.

To illustrate by code example:

{
"classname" "msarea_monsterspawn"
"targetname" "unda_wave3"
"fireallperish" "unda_wave4"
"origin" "1776 864 0"
"spawnstart" "1"
}
{
"classname" "trigger_relay"
"targetname" "unda_wave4"
"killtarget" "wave3_corpses"
"delay" "1"
}
{
"classname" "msmonster_skeleton"
"targetname" "wave3_corpses"
"spawnarea" "unda_wave3"
"origin" "1280 -640 -128"
"lives" "1"
"spawnchance" "100"
"angles" "0 225 0"
"delayhigh" "2"
"delaylow" "1"
"scriptfile" "monsters/skeleton2"
"defscriptfile" "monsters/skeleton2"
}

This might also be useful for maps that crash due to too many corpses on the ground. Simply have all the corpses remove themselves when the monsterspawn is drained.

The second thing I learned is how to fix the damn trigger_hurt pits on existing maps (so you don't fall down a pit, and sit there looking stupid for 15 seconds). I've tried to do this many times before, but for some reason it just wouldn't work. This time it worked.

Convert this:

{
"model" "*20"
"damagetype" "32"
"dmg" "9999"
"classname" "trigger_hurt"
}

To this:

{
"model" "*20"
"WaveHeight" "3.2"
"dmg" "9999"
"skin" "-5"
"wait" "4"
"speed" "100"
"angles" "0 0 0"
"renderamt" "0"
"rendermode" "4"
"rendercolor" "0 0 0"
"classname" "func_water"
}

I'd be guessing you don't need the WaveHeight, wait, speed, angles, or rendercolor properties, but I've tried and failed doing this so many times before, the same way, I wouldn't want to risk having it not work again.

So yes, not only do you have Undamael, but if you run off into that first pit, hacked or not, you will die.

And the map is EFFING HARD. Maybe too much so. My legit char died like six times. Only way to survive seems to be to keep as many lesser skeletons as possible between you and Undamael - even that only helps so much, as he's very good at navigating around his minions, and as the skeletons get meaner, it helps less and less.

I'll update the Enhancer 2.0 later... I also want to integrate the Enhancer 2.0 with the general self installer.
_________________
"I might repeat to myself slowly and soothingly, a list of quotations beautiful from minds profound - if I can remember any of the damn things." - Dorothy Parker
Saint Thoth

 

[Gurluas]

looks good.

 

[Crow]

Wow, awsome XD. Two big problems solved. In riverwind2 the corpse problem pops up all the time, and I'm very happy there is a way to get rid of corpses and stop the brain-dead disease, and hopefully, the sudden invisableness of the monsters.

The trigger-hurt thing will be very useful in future maps.