[MetHy]

BTW is there a way to know what the artifacts do?

[KillerBudgie]

Does anyone know where the Medical Converter Kit research is found? I've looked everywhere on the Megabase and I can't find it.

[Jblade]

Quote

I can understand that James's Striker cannot since it lacks a butt and therefore the gun would slip under your shoulder but for instance I would have expected Rusty's over-under to be able to, same for James's Auto-5 :/
I'm not an expert in weaponry (not as much as I am in planes) but I expect the "4/0' to be important ^^

Balance reasons basically - I didn't want to nerf auto-shotguns by making them less powerful or really inaccurate so instead they can't fire alternate shells. Semi-auto guns can still fire the flechette and explosive shells but not magnum shells, so basically there's still a reason to pick a pump action shotgun over a fully automatic drum loaded one.

Quote

BTW is there a way to know what the artifacts do?

Hold the right mouse button over the artifact and a description should appear to tell you what it does.

Quote

Does anyone know where the Medical Converter Kit research is found? I've looked everywhere on the Megabase and I can't find it.

It should be in the medical lab in Megabase, but there was a bug in the release version where I didn't move it after messing around with the map in build. Have you got the patch applied? I believe it was fixed in that.

[TheDragonLiner]

_Methy

The AMC Wiki gives info on some artifacts but for the others you'll have to search in the AMC General thread and/or "inter episode discussion" ^_-

Edit: wow I didn't know we could do that, Thanks JBlade it''ll be most practical in comparison to what I used to do ^^ Also thanks I understand more now

_KillerBudgie

Have you read the AMC wiki ?
They say where it is although not 100% clear :/
It seems to be where the first Precog Unit is.

[KillerBudgie]

I have the patch applied. But I still can't seem to see/find the darn thing.

EDIT: If you play it without the patch, it's there on the wall. But if you play it WITH the patch, it's nowhere to be found.

[Jblade]

My bad, sorry about that - I have fixed that for real but you can keep the megabase from the old version and then grab the project that way.

[KillerBudgie]

It's alright. Bugs and oversights were bound to happen sooner or later.

[MetHy]

I'm at the 2nd part of Mars now, as James; and damn, you really need to conserve your anti-armor ammo in this game and make sure you don't waste a single bullet of those and bring as much extra as you can with you (like a laser slot#1 weapon and special ammo). Edit :turns out I had missed an important anti-armor weapon in an optional room.

Mars has been absolutely amazing since the beginning. I wish the entire game was of that quality. The first part reminded me of the 2nd level of Jedi Knight 2.

Edit : I know this is no RPG but in a way I wish there were even more dialogues at the start of part 1. Like, being able to talk to everyone in bars and shops, and they would either give mundane or humorous talking, some lore or backstory, or hints for secrets places, etc.
The "story progression" dialogue could be shown as a different colour, like red, above people's head so the player who doesn't want to bother can easily identify who to speak to if he (just) wants to make the story progress.

A similar system could even take place in the base, like for instance go talk to a random soldier at the bar and he'll give you a hint about a secret place on some mission. Maybe even have some sidequests like that ? For instance arrange a "rendez-vous" at the bar between a male and female scientist and get something in return.

Anyway just some random idea, maybe I'm going too far, but it could be something that adds extra replay value and interest for the player who cares at a lower production cost (this shouldn't be as time taking to make as a map or a code), and it could make the player care a little more about the story and characters.

[MetHy]

I'm back as James in the Mars Orbital Station but I'm stuck and pretty clueless what to do. I've pressed a few switches, one in the part after the tramway. I need a red and a green keycard, the green being for the part "upstairs" where you use an elevator that switches map to get there.

Until now pretty much all of the Mars mission has been amazing.

edit: nvm, i had missed a room


edit 2: how do you kill the boss, Patos or whatever the name is ? Nothing seems to work, no matter which type of bullet I use and where I shoot on him. Also some containers have rocket launcher ammo except I don't have that weapon, maybe that's the problem? It could help if he at least had a health bar... I even tried to get him crushed by those containers.

I also can't seem to figure out how to avoid his attacks. Even if I am several walls behind him or if i'm at the other side of the room his telekinesis will randomly get to me. also it seems that he can get stuck in between 2 containers (if he's in between 2 containers that went backwards), oh and the player too?

Edit 3 : after about 20 deaths I ended up cheating and shot everything I had on him and the fight finally ended....but it didn't really made sense; nothing hit him, every bullet seemed to bounce back and even James himself kept shouting how he's not hurting the thing.

Spoiler

and all that only to have James die in the cutscene at the end of the fight? Then why forcing a "bullet count", before the thing happens. Honestly the entire fight felt very helpless between the annoying unavoidable telekinesis, him or myself getting caught between 2 containers, nothing hitting the thing, all the deaths... why not have the cutscene trigger if the player gets killed anyway, no matter how bullets hit the target?

[Rhaisher]

MetHy, on 16 July 2015 - 08:19 AM, said:

I'm back as James in the Mars Orbital Station but I'm stuck and pretty clueless what to do. I've pressed a few switches, one in the part after the tramway. I need a red and a green keycard, the green being for the part "upstairs" where you use an elevator that switches map to get there.

Until now pretty much all of the Mars mission has been amazing.

edit: nvm, i had missed a room


edit 2: how do you kill the boss, Patos or whatever the name is ? Nothing seems to work, no matter which type of bullet I use and where I shoot on him. Also some containers have rocket launcher ammo except I don't have that weapon, maybe that's the problem? It could help if he at least had a health bar... I even tried to get him crushed by those containers.

I also can't seem to figure out how to avoid his attacks. Even if I am several walls behind him or if i'm at the other side of the room his telekinesis will randomly get to me. also it seems that he can get stuck in between 2 containers (if he's in between 2 containers that went backwards), oh and the player too?

Hmmm... I'm not sure if PATKOS is resistant to normal bullets or not. I killed it with flechette and magnum shells, HE grenades, etc.

In order to avoid its attacks I used to hide behind the 'pillars', but it wasn't always effective and I ended flying through the air. The ninja roll (gotten from the dojo section in the research computer) helps to minimize the falling damage that PATKOS attacks inflicts upon you.

IIRC, if you get stuck between two containers... you can always kick one to reach the other's roof.

Edit: Damn... we posted at the same time, xD! Glad you killed it.

[MetHy]

Okay then, i'll load a previous save and try to "kill" him without cheating... I used cheats because everything felt like it wasn't working, so i wanted to see if shooting him was even the right strategy.

[TheDragonLiner]

BTW Methy there IS a way to avoid his telekinetic attack but it requires you to listen carefully :

He does 2 different sound, one where the screen shakes with a buzzing sound >> this is the sound of the reactor that generates a telekinetic force field that makes ALL your projectiles bounce of, therefore in order to hit him you must use AP rounds as soon as you hear that sound (the window for it is quite short and if James doesn't say it doesn't work then it means it DID work)

The Second sound is less buzzy and does a sound like it's charging something >> That's the telekinetic pull, in order to avoid it you must be making a roll to the left or the right when the pull is about to come in effect, if you do it right on time you will suffer no damage but if you do it slightly too late you will still escape from it but with something like 10 or 20 damage instead of 40 or 50.


You have hints about it in the document you can find in the room with the Red Keycard.


BTW you can tell it's not working not only because James tells you but also because you can see bright blue spot on PACTOS where you shot him.

[Jblade]

On Expert and above the only way to dodge PATCOS' attack is to roll out of the way right when he's about to attack (on normal you only need to break line of sight) This fight was odd because the testers either found it really hard or complained that it was too easy, so I had no idea what to do about it. He has a telekinetic shield that drops for a short while after he's attacked, and all attacks damage him normally during that period.

Spoiler

Also that's not a death that happens on screen, PATCOS basically rips your arm off in the final scene

[MetHy]

Well I guess that's the thing, either the player was used to use the dodge roll the entire game and found it easy, or he wasn't and found it hard. I haven't used it at all the entire game honestly, which is way I didn't even think about it (I don't really like the effect, and sometimes when I use it it feels like I'm not facing the direction I should be facing at the end of it, though I'm not sure if it's because I kept pressing a key or not during the roll).
I only use the forward slide to make travelling long distances faster.

I did find a document in the room with the red key (near the mic stand) but I don't remember any clue from that...

imo there should be a bigger hint that Pactos is getting hit when he is. In the midst of the action I never noticed different colours of the shots effects. Either sound, or blood. A health bar for the boss would definitely make it better, I wouldn't have felt like nothing works, and since it had no health bar at all (unlike other bosses), at some point I wasn't even sure if I had to shoot it or not...

[MetHy]

Well I loaded my save and gave a couple more goes at PACTOS but quickly gave up. You say I'm supposed to make the difference by sound but the music is super loud and his sound very quiet, and turning down the volume or even turning off music atlogether doesn't seem to work, musics always seem to be there even if it's off. The fight quickly gets frustrating even if you know what you're supposed to do.

So that was the end of the episode. Well it was really good overall although it's kinda of a shame quite a few small things came ruining the experience here and there for me (I won't come back on what I already said).

I'm trying Zaxtor's level now but I'm getting very confused. I got the blue keycard and I'm trying to find a way to get teleported near the blue door but all the teleporting seems very random (it seems that some are misleading on purpose too) and some of the jumps can be a bit annoying as well; and since everything looks the same it's hard to even remember where you've been or not already. I guess I'll just keep wandering and jumping around until I'm lucky enough...

I might give another try to Zeta Base and Ep1 missions too.

I thought I'd go back to Zeta Base with better equipment.... the problem being that the weapons I had upgraded for James went back to their basic versions after I beat the game (everything else is there though). This and the budget glitch are the most serious imo since they're the entire point of the mission system, so if they glitch out constantly you might as well not have this mission and character system. Imo they should really be looked into as a priority and if it means re-doing it from scratch and having every player loose their equipment at the next upgrade, so be it....

I have a small list of minor things that ticked me off throughout the entire episode that I could post if you're interested.

In any case, great job everyone involved, this is tons of fun and I remember the enjoyement and the good aspects more than the small things that got me lost here and there.

[TheDragonLiner]

For Zaxtor's level you can access the "blue door" as you call it by using the teleporting stump that has a white fly above it, however I can't tell you from where you can get to it but you'll know when you'll see it; A stump with a fly fly above it and then a bit of platforming ending with a place with 1 charge of shrinker and an orange wall that sends you right where you need to go.

Also I recently found a secondary path to it but it's more complicated, longer and you encounter something 6 red cultists hidden behind trees and a few stumps that send you backwards, but I have no memories of it since I used that path only once :/

[Jblade]

Yeah let me know your ideas and problems - the default weapon upgrades are just temporary in nature so don't get too attached to them basically.

The PATCOS fight, as I said was a tough egg because the beta testers either said it was easy or too hard so finding a middle ground was hard. I didn't want to nerf the fight anymore since originally it was armoured as well as the telekinetic shield (bullets do produce an impact and drop to the floor if it hits that)

The music sounds like a Eduke bug, it should definitely not play if you set the volume down to 0%

[XThX2]

I think you should put some clues on how to fight it around if there isn't. I couldn't find any in the documents. The roll to dodge thing I really just looked at the code to find, without it I wouldn't ever win.

[MetHy]

"James, do a barrel roll !"

[Jblade]

XThX2, on 17 July 2015 - 02:47 PM, said:

I think you should put some clues on how to fight it around if there isn't. I couldn't find any in the documents. The roll to dodge thing I really just looked at the code to find, without it I wouldn't ever win.

There are clues in the PATCOS room - the roll is explained in the tutorial, I use it quite a lot myself.

[XThX2]

Jblade, on 18 July 2015 - 07:14 AM, said:

There are clues in the PATCOS room - the roll is explained in the tutorial, I use it quite a lot myself.

I must've missed the explanation of the clue then. Where exactly is it?

[MetHy]

I aborted Zaxtor's map after being stuck inside the first base after using the blue keycard and decided to give Zeta Base another try, this time as Sang as suggested.

I was doing super fine, had tons of supplies and had ways to kill the ghosts that I thought invicible when playing as James... so i'm reaching the end of the first map and take the elevator. Except that when I do that, I go upstairs, yes, but it actually loads my much earlier save of when I first played Zeta Base as James! So I'm back as James with his non-sufficient inventory and with what I had done the first time I played the map....
There are two elevators you can take and this happens no matter which I use.
Damnit! I told you I always get the weirdest glitches.
Edit : is there a way to delete the game's memory of my previous time in Zeta Base so I can go on as Sang and my current supplies?

And now, like I promessed, a bunch of random small things that ticked me off throughout the game. They are really not much for the majority of them.

1) Tree on one side, concrete on the other?
http://i101.photobuc...zpsswqyxrga.png

2) When sliding or doing a barrel roll the skyboxes diseappear
http://i101.photobuc...zpsgekoimqs.png

3) Red pot in game, blue in the menu
http://i101.photobuc...zps0fqec70s.png

4) Not sure if you can do anything about this. The "void" space acts as a floor for bullets, corpses, etc making them all float in the air
http://i101.photobuc...zps5lr00del.png

5)This is where the boss got stuck and couldn't do anything
http://i101.photobuc...zpskbgfxmns.png

6)Small SoS glitch (above the crosshair)
http://i101.photobuc...zps67cwitsu.png

7) I was able to pick up the items on the other side of the forcefield without deactivating it (but not the suit)
http://i101.photobuc...zpshssuof18.png

8) you can see fire and smoke through the building itself
http://i101.photobuc...zpsffrw475b.png

9) it's possible to get stuck here, if you try to go through the bridge with the mecha and before grabbing the green keycard, the bridge will be destroyed you won't be able to go get the keycard anymore. it's unlikely to happen but it's possible (unless the mecha only shows up IF you get the keycard? i don't remember if that's the case)
http://i101.photobuc...zpsravzfx0a.png

10) In this level http://i101.photobuc...zpsnmmc24qt.png as well as in this one http://i101.photobuc...zpspr9l3zdn.png ; it was a little hard for me to realize that the elevators were elevators. took me a little while to notice them and to think they could be interacted with.

11) Here I was able to get up here by moving a barrel and jumping on it; and therefore i didn't need to use the 2nd dynamite
http://i101.photobuc...zpsrd35fiff.png

12) I got stuck below the sprite staircase when doing a slide on it. There are invisible walls so I had to use DNCLIP
http://i101.photobuc...zpswiulhbjo.png

13)Also in that same part I found it really weird that bullets could go through those small barriers but not projectiles. The barriers have huge "holes" in them and the projectiles would realisticly go through. Plus it made some enemies seem totally retarded.
http://i101.photobuc...zpswx9ygyyp.png

Then again if you let projectiles go through, they'll be able to go through what looks "solid" of the barrier, so I'm not sure there is a solution. I don't know if it's possible but it would be nice if someone could program a new type of "blocking" sprites I guess, and make it so that projectiles and bullets can go through the "invisible" parts of sprites but not the rest.

14) That's one huge chair
http://i101.photobuc...zpsptaginld.png

15) It wouldn't let me pick up this weapon. I already had it in my slot#1 but only had 1 bullet of it left. After I wasted that bullet and the weapon diseappeared in my inventory I was able to pick it up; but as long as I had, it wouldn't let me for some reasons
http://i101.photobuc...zps39ajiztx.png

16) Where you get close to the screen James' sprites "moves" and faces another direction
http://i101.photobuc...zpsy0fn8kew.png

17) Where I'm pointing the crosshair are invisible walls. You get to the lower part first, and thanks to the way the rocks where the crosshair is; it would have realisticly been possible to jump from there to where I am standing in the screenshot. But it wasn't possible due to the invisible walls. Then you have to go a long way around to finally end up where the screenshot is taken.
I found that a little weird; why not just make the rocks higher or with no space on them so that the player can't realisticly get on it. You're just frustrating him with invisible walls for no reason
http://i101.photobuc...zpsvypaaw5l.png

18) The box has no bottom (this is in the last level in case you don't recognize, near where the 2 green keycard slots are)
http://i101.photobuc...zpslg0eob4z.png

19) The lights are "solid" and you can stand on them
http://i101.photobuc...zpsgyfynvzn.png

20) SoS glitch due to the crate having moved and being able to see inside it at the same time
http://i101.photobuc...zpswpasmsod.png

21) When using the zoom of the weapon, I'd be able to see "through" the wall; But only when looking at the slopes
http://i101.photobuc...zpsjd3uzf2d.png
http://i101.photobuc...zpshyqxgpv6.png

[Jblade]

Ah - that bug you found with the level transitions was a Eduke32 error that was fixed by Helixhorned, but going to the latest snapshot would make the save file not work anymore...it's my fault for forgetting about that error and sitting on a newer patch instead of getting out there. I'm sorry about that, I should of remembered that people are still running the older snapshot with the release copy of the TC. it's a bit hectic trying to fix bugs whilst keeping on top of which are my problems and which are stuff fixed in newer snapshots.

You can set your character back to Sang by typing into the console:

setvar CHAR 4

and by typing in 'spawn' and then either a tile number or a actor name (so spawn MEGASPHERE will give you 200 health and armour, or spawn SUPERARMOR for the Blood super armour pickup) to give yourself the guns and equipment you originally had. I apologise, it's a pain in the ass but this bug has at least been fixed now.

Thanks for the bug fixes, a few of them are unavoidable like:

Quote

2) When sliding or doing a barrel roll the skyboxes diseappear

The glitch I use to get skyboxes doesn't work when the screen is distorted - originally it would just freeze the view until the screen movement had finished, helix managed to change it so at least it was functional. It's unfortunate because it means I can't use the skybox with bike levels, or give the Cycloid fighter screen tilting effects.

A few of the others are engine glitches which I can't fix, but I'll sort the rest of them out - thanks for letting me know about them

Not sure if you're interested much in the story, but if so; what did you think of the direction of the TC in general? It sounded like you enjoyed the final Arsia Mons section the most out of the TC, which I also think is the highlight of the episode (I'm proud of all of the work we've done, but I think that part really wrapped together as a great package)

Quote

I must've missed the explanation of the clue then. Where exactly is it?

It's in the room with the red keycard, on the wooden desk to the left of the big tube.

[MetHy]

Jblade, on 19 July 2015 - 08:46 AM, said:

Ah - that bug you found with the level transitions was a Eduke32 error that was fixed by Helixhorned, but going to the latest snapshot would make the save file not work anymore...it's my fault for forgetting about that error and sitting on a newer patch instead of getting out there. I'm sorry about that, I should of remembered that people are still running the older snapshot with the release copy of the TC. it's a bit hectic trying to fix bugs whilst keeping on top of which are my problems and which are stuff fixed in newer snapshots.

Pretty sure I'm using the EDuke32 that comes with the TC.... EDuke32 r5118

Quote

and by typing in 'spawn' and then either a tile number or a actor name (so spawn MEGASPHERE will give you 200 health and armour, or spawn SUPERARMOR for the Blood super armour pickup) to give yourself the guns and
equipment you originally had. I apologise, it's a pain in the ass but this bug has at least been fixed now.

but if I do it's still using my "old" save, wouldn't the game think I haven't beat the next levels yet or wouldn't it fuck with the research and weapons I found and bought?

Quote

what did you think of the direction of the TC in general?

Looking at it whole, overall I enjoyed it a lot. It's just a shame about a few glitches and about getting stuck a few times for various reasons. I think some player may be thrown off by some of that and could miss on some of the good stuff.

[Jblade]

Quote

Pretty sure I'm using the EDuke32 that comes with the TC.... EDuke32 r5118

I meant to say that newer snapshots fixed the bug, the one with the TC is (naturally) an older one where the bug is still present.

Quote

but if I do it's still using my "old" save, wouldn't the game think I haven't beat the next levels yet or wouldn't it fuck with the research and weapons I found and bought?

Good point...the other people who had this bug never reported as such so I honestly can't say what will happen - I don't think it will do that though because I always read from the array first before writing to it...you can backup your data folder if you want to be safe (Again, sorry about this - I never knew about this glitch until after release because I always skipped straight to the base map via console rather than save games which is why I never encountered this glitch)

Quote

Looking at it whole, overall I enjoyed it a lot. It's just a shame about a few glitches and about getting stuck a few times for various reasons. I think some player may be thrown off by some of that and could miss on some of the good stuff.

Unfortunately I haven't received much feedback on the TC at all apart from a few people here and a general line or two from others. It still has a few downloads every day and so far the moddb has hit about 700 downloads (I'm not sure how many hits the Duke4 mirror received) but only a handful of people have left feedback (and people get stuck in different places, some people struggled with the first Mars map but you didn't report any problems)

I have tried to advertise it in other places without turning into an outright shill but feedback has been incredibly light. I've seen a few people recommend it to Gggmanlives, since he did a video about the DNF2013 mod I'm hoping he'll eventually feature the AMC TC and give it a bit more publicity. 99% of feedback is positive though, so at the very least we're happy that people have enjoyed the mod despite the glitches and stuff (fortunately no game breakers in EP2)

[MetHy]

Jblade, on 19 July 2015 - 08:46 AM, said:

You can set your character back to Sang by typing into the console:

setvar CHAR 4

and by typing in 'spawn' and then either a tile number or a actor name (so spawn MEGASPHERE will give you 200 health and armour, or spawn SUPERARMOR for the Blood super armour pickup) to give yourself the guns and equipment you originally had. I apologise, it's a pain in the ass but this bug has at least been fixed now.

Do you know what I should type for the following equipment ?

- slot#1 Crossbow + 50 silver bolts
- Sang's slot#2 weapon (the ring) + 137 ammo
- Sang's slot#3 weapon (the book) + 47 ammo
- Blood's dynamite with detonator x5
- pitchfork
- mirror orb
- heat seeking eye glass

As for armor the green one (on the left) and the red one (on the right) are pretty much full but the one in the middle is empty

Thanks

[Jblade]

spawn CROSSBOWSPRITE
spawn SILVER_CROSSBOW_BOLTS (do this 5 times)
spawn FIRSTGUNSPRITE
spawn SHOTGUNSPRITE
spawn SHOTGUNAMMO
spawn HBOMBAMMO
spawn JETPACK
spawn HOLODUKE
spawn HEATSENSOR
spawn SPIRIT_ARMOUR
spawn FIRE_ARMOUR

that should get you back on the road.

[MetHy]

Thanksk but, well, hmm, this is more complicated than I thought. When I load the next level (which loads the old save as James) and set it back as Sang, I'm actually back with all of the inventory I had left for Sang just before; however since it's using the old save, stuff has already happened on that floor (pretty much all the enemies are dead and all rooms visited etc), but it's not actually the latest moment I recall having as James in this lvl either. This seems to be the moment when you need to go use use the yellow key upstairs to unlock a door on this floor, except I don't even have the key.
Oh and I'm back with more credits than I had (a lot more) but with upgrades taken out; so if I end the lvl it would probably screw over my episode progression too.

I don't think it's possible to just keep playing this level like it should then unless I start the game over. Or maybe if I cheat to go to the end of the level and start it over... But I'll give up for now. I think I'll save this level for whenever I decide to replay the episode, with a new patch and the fixed EDuke32 too. I'll probably replay both episodes in a row at some point.

[Jblade]

Alright, that's fair enough - can't blame you for holding off on playing it yet again. Playing both episodes in a row is a big old endurance challenge I'll tell you though, I was on holiday and did it over the course of 2 days It was worth it though,

[MetHy]

What are the differences between Expert, Professional and Amargeddon? Is there a difference in every map?