The Ascension Of Vigil

[DCmad]

Updated the The Ascession of Vigil Entity List (for mappers)

[Tyne]

Just showing some progress:

New monster:

Electric Squid

[DCmad]

Nice one, is it like a Terror wich casts thunder?

[Tyne]

It rotates around as it moves towards you, it charges up lightning in itself and then aims it at you (requiring you to block it). The lightning is also pretty powerful so it does moderate damage but also knocks you backwards! Multiple of these squids around you will cause you to have to block a lot and then time your attacks - which requires skill.

I think this is the 11th enemy out of atleast 30 I want in the mod.

Expect more graphical effects in the next version

[DCmad]

Do you plan to increase the Vigil's magic arsenal?

[Tyne]

1 more spell, a Twister - good for air enemies.
*Works on it now*

[DCmad]

1 more spell, a Twister - good for air enemies.
*Works on it now*

LoL
*Die terrors DIE!*

[Tyne]

New version
--------------

Patch is no longer needed as the included progs.dat is the latest version! I decided to release this version a head of time by a tad since the last version is broken on Dreamcast (sorry again folks); this release fixes it.

- Camera can be selected from Dynamic to Static in the option menu, static camera does not have camera angle changes and is a bit more classical in feel for 2D side scrollers.

*Attention* !!Use static camera on Dreamcast!!, Dynamic Camera is somehow broken on it as if it's doing a constant "timerrefresh".

- Monsters wake each other within a short distance, this encourages group combat against Vigil and makes monsters seem way less dumb since they're more aware

- New and tweaked particle effects

- Modified the radius sizes for some of Vigil's attacks

- Fixed Fireball spell

- New graphical sprite effects, more are on their way also

- New monster, Electric Squid! It's entity name is "monster_esquid"

- Changed block button from Y to Right Trigger as it's easier to use and your finger is always on it

- Twister spell is in but is currently not functioning properly, I'm simply not finished programming it in yet

- Updated map01, now contains some ambient sounds giving the level a bit more life to it

- Baron's smash attack has been fixed

[Tyne]

Here ye are, a rar file containing me playing all through TAoV on Skill 2 (HARD) in all 3 levels defeating them without dying once.

http://circa1984.com/renegade/renonly/rendem.rar

[Hawke]

Here ye are, a rar file containing me playing all through TAoV on Skill 2 (HARD) in all 3 levels defeating them without dying once.

http://circa1984.com/renegade/renonly/rendem.rar

How do you view them? Is there a console command to view the demo?

I'm a big fan of watching amazing gameplay videos. And seeing as how I sometimes even die on level one- this should be quite the challenge.

Also - at the end of level one, the second map doesn't load. It tells me "Map02.map (or whatever the second map is called) could not load"

Any ideas?

[Tyne]

Here ye are, a rar file containing me playing all through TAoV on Skill 2 (HARD) in all 3 levels defeating them without dying once. :)

http://circa1984.com/renegade/renonly/rendem.rar

How do you view them? Is there a console command to view the demo?

I'm a big fan of watching amazing gameplay videos. And seeing as how I sometimes even die on level one- this should be quite the challenge.

Also - at the end of level one, the second map doesn't load. It tells me "Map02.map (or whatever the second map is called) could not load"

Any ideas?

The .dem files need to be in the ID1/ directory. Type "playdemo map0#" in console (replace # with 1 to 3) and watch.
Map02.BSP is not yet finished, I don't think it's started yet - mappers are the highest priority for the mod so far as usual.

[mankrip]

*Attention* !!Use static camera on Dreamcast!!, Dynamic Camera is somehow broken on it as if it's doing a constant "timerrefresh".

It is caused by the "precise aiming". Remove it from the engine and the TAoV's Dynamic Camera will work properly.

By the way, the "precise aiming" feature isn't needed when the angles are converted to 16-bit.

[Hawke]

Thanks Tyne

Icredible btw. This is an amazing mod/game, and your video is nothing short of impressive.

Keep up the good work!

[Tyne]

Thanks Hawk!

New version ...
-----------

- Twister spell is now completed!

- Backflip physics have been rewritten, it feels floatier but it's now more useful and no longer gets caught in monster bounding boxes

- Fireballs have been tweaked once again, their homing in is more realistic and not as deadly/cheap as before

- Flying AI has been improved for NO CLIP monsters such as the Wraith! He'll no longer abruptly stop in mid air but instead slow down more realistically

- Vigil now throws 2 fireballs per spell cast

- Ice field is larger, expands faster, and stays around a tiny bit longer

- New lighting effect when Vigil blocks an attack, similar to a muzzle flash

- Smacking dead bodies in mid air now raises the combo counter

- Vigil's wall jump kick now has a recovery slide after it lands if the user does not backflip out of it, a tad more realistic

- Additional sprite effects have been adding to spell charging, try out ice field and fire beam now

- Animation glitch fixes concerning doing an air combo, then wall jumping and having Vigil not play his normal wall jump frames among other animation fixes also

- New special effect, Vigil's sword swipes now leave shadow trails and looks pretty damn sweet! It's not transparent in Winquake engines but doesn't look half bad either - so it stays

- Modified Vigil's flaming head smash a bit, now when he spins his sword around it does very minor damage to opponents

- Additional mid air physics added to enemies who are hit by Vigil's air uppercut sword thrust

- Death screams from monsters are no longer spammed

- Can no longer keep air bashing a hell knight for more armor drops after he's dead (you cheaters )

- Lightning spell has been rebalanced once again, this spell is hard to tweak to perfection due to the way it has to work ingame

Okay I can keep going down the list but it'd take too long since I'm tired, plus you guys I'm sure will only want to hear about the major updates.
TAoV is pretty much close to going gold gameplay/code-wise.

I also need everyones opinion on balancing issues, I've done some tweaking to the spells obviously but I need public opinion on wether or not TAoV's difficulty is fine with all the changes I've made in this version - thanks!

[Tyne]

Ok two bugs I'm aware of now:

A) You can move Vigil a bit after he's casted Twister, will fix for next version

B) Screen tilting once again, this bug is hard to track and fix

Screen tilting happens when the camera entity's health is 0 or below, I've tried numerous ways of fixing it but I'll keep at it. Vigil's health is sent to the camera every frame, the reason for this is to show his health on the status bar below.

[RPG]

Not sure if this is a big issue, but in the first level, around the boss, I keep falling through the floor if I walk up towards the cliff wall ^_^

/problem can easily be fixed. "Just dont walk into the cliff wall!"

Thanks for the input.

First of all, I've noticed this problem too, but I've only ever seen it in Darkplaces. It's somewhat sporadic, too--I've also seen it happen at the tree stump at the beginning. Every other engine I've used hasn't had this problem in TAoV, and I almost always use other engines for testing it so I've had plenty of chances to see it if it exists. So until recently there hasn't been a whole lot to be done for this problem except for telling LordHavoc to write better code, or just use a different engine.

However, Tyrann (he's Quake mapper and coder of bsp compilers) has recently made a major breakthrough in Quake .bsp compilers. These new compilers have greatly improved the hull calculations in .bsps. (Basically the hulls are the invisible walls that prevent you from walking through solid objects in the map.) Hopefully after I compile map01 under this new compiler there will be a marked reduction in clipping problems in Darkplaces so you won't fall out of the map as often--or perhaps not at all. But if it doesn't help, then the only thing I can say is to go back to complaining to LordHavoc.

[Tyne]

I'm already starting work on the next version with the included bug fixes, also some new features:

- Vigil will have 1 new attack done by holding down ATTACK, I'll make it cool ofcourse.

More stuff is planned!

Ok mini-release
--------

- New idle animations, leave Vigil alone standing still for awhile and he'll go into 2 new idle animations...

- Fixed twister bug

- Added fix for screen tilting, not sure if it works since it's hard to test ..

I had to replace TAoV.rar as it contains new data in PAK0.PAK
I recommend grabbing the new TAoV.rar ONLY if you want these bugs fixed in your version or feel like seeing the new idle frames...

[DCmad]

Tyne, your tricky fox
Your mod is supreme, something never did before in quake. Nice new stances. Nice new spell.
Some opinions:
-I used twister in the dogs at Wilderness. They died, but i've saw no flash or hit indications while they were being hit by the tornadoes. Maybe you want to add some sprites to it.
-The iddle stances are nice. But they change very abruptelly. See the transition between that of the pic above and that when Vigil turns his back to camera. Simply PUFF! Vigil has turned his back
-Can you put a little randomidity in it? The sequence is boring, 1-2-3-1-2-3... (The 3 iddle anims)
-Lastly, getting a bit radical. Look the damn cool screenshot above! And what about that being the normal position for Vigil? I think it's a lot more agressive. You should think about it.

Hehehe can't wait for the new move

[Tyne]

Tyne, your tricky fox :)
Your mod is supreme, something never did before in quake. Nice new stances. Nice new spell.
Some opinions:
-I used twister in the dogs at Wilderness. They died, but i've saw no flash or hit indications while they were being hit by the tornadoes. Maybe you want to add some sprites to it.
-The iddle stances are nice. But they change very abruptelly. See the transition between that of the pic above and that when Vigil turns his back to camera. Simply PUFF! Vigil has turned his back :D
-Can you put a little randomidity in it? The sequence is boring, 1-2-3-1-2-3... (The 3 iddle anims)
-Lastly, getting a bit radical. Look the damn cool screenshot above! And what about that being the normal position for Vigil? I think it's a lot more agressive. You should think about it.

Hehehe can't wait for the new move ;)

Really I'm not sure what sound or graphic should appear on monsters that are being hit by a wind spell, but the combo counter does increase so you can see that it is doing damage.

Yes I'm aware of the abrupt change in the 3rd sequence of idle frames, I'll fix it up.

Random stand scenes? I figured Vigil will be prepared for combat in the first one, strike a pose in the second, and then stand still waiting in the third - seemed logical to me..

I'm not sure about changing the default stand animation, sure the 2nd idle animation looks cool; however, most of Vigil's animation were based around the original stand sequence of animation .. although I'm sure changing it wouldn't hurt it at all. I'll find out what Bl1tz, RPG, and others think also.

Thanks for the input!

[Tyne]

Diving Swallow is now a great move to use in an air combo, provided you're near a wall and know how to utilize it.


Vigil has a brand new attack, he's getting prepared to unleash it!


Vigil's standing animation has now been replaced