Deus Ex map patch!!

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G-Flex
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Deus Ex map patch!!

Post by G-Flex »

There's been discussion in two or three threads lately about producing a map patch for Deus Ex, so I've decided it would be nice to have an organized place in which to discuss it.

I have sort of a vested interest in getting one done, because I'm planning on shifting Human Renovation's fixes over to maps instead of mission scripts, especially since some changes will require me to edit maps anyway. I'm in a pretty good position to do the bulk of the work myself, since Human Renovation's mission scripts already have plenty of map problems fixed, providing a reference for easy and relatively painless map editing.

The plan is, after a basic patch is done, to use it as a basis for fixed-up Human Renovation maps, incorporating more of my changes.

So... I've taken it upon myself to do it! It shouldn't even take particularly wrong, really. I just need to install a known good, clean copy of Deus Ex and its maps, and work on it from there, using my own scripts as a reference. Of course, I'm sure I don't know about everything that needs fixing, so input is appreciated!

What I'll do:
  • Fixes to nanokey/door mismatches on some maps.
  • Fixing the giant-ass BSP hole in the Hong Kong canal map.
  • Whatever fixes might be necessary to make the 'Ton raid make more sense (e.g. leaving the window not resulting in Paul's death no matter what).
  • Making doubly sure the music is set properly for the graveyard and Mission 08 NYC Streets maps.
  • Making sure certain NPCs are invincible when they should be, like Gordon Quick and Bob Page.
  • Removing some NPCs that aren't actually used, like a phantom triad member outside the Wan Chai market walls who shows up if you turn on the vision augmentation.
  • Fixing teleporters on that one NYC Streets map so that going there via the subway doesn't put you on the roof or whatever crazy place.
  • Making sure all those damn invisible explosive barrels/crates are properly non-colliding and undetectable, like the one in the 'Ton hotel during the raid.
  • Various minor fixes to other flags, triggers, and map elements. In essence, anything that's in the Human Renovation mission scripts that wouldn't significantly alter gameplay and that doesn't rely on non-standard classes.
What I'm unsure of:
  • Moving the dead mechanic at Everett's helipad to a less-obvious location.
  • Fixing texture alignment issues that show up in New Vision, since I've never played with New Vision so I don't know what needs fixing. If someone can provide me with information, though, I suppose I can do it.

Let me know about any particular things I've missed. I'll upload the current working copy of my mod to its Google Code repository today, so that people can use my mission scripts as a reference to see if I have or haven't fixed something.
Last edited by G-Flex on Mon Jan 13, 2014 7:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Cybernetic pig
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Re: Deus Ex map patch!!

Post by Cybernetic pig »

G-Flex wrote: So... I've taken it upon myself to do it! It shouldn't even take particularly wrong, really. I just need to install a known good, clean copy of Deus Ex and its maps, and work on it from there, using my own scripts as a reference. Of course, I'm sure I don't know about everything that needs fixing, so input is appreciated!
You mentioned talks in other threads but I have not had a look so sorry if it's already been said, but there are a few map patches out there already.
Also, didn't DaveW have one planned too?
What I'll do:
[*]Making doubly sure the music is set properly for the graveyard
What exactly was the intended music for the graveyard map?

Take a look at DX 2.0 thread too- many, many map bugs discussed there.
I had to deal with a ton of vanilla bugs too, but I am unsure what was exclusive to the GOTY version or not, so I am not sure what fixes I could reliably suggest, not to mention the tedious shit is mostly just a blur in my memory already, I really should have made note of my map changes, but if some issue comes up I know I could fix it. Fuck making a note of everything, that would have slowed progress down to a crawl with the amount of changes.

Got the hang of UED now then? :smile: I'm still struggling with coding. VPLs are just so much easier!
Last edited by Cybernetic pig on Thu Mar 07, 2013 11:42 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Deus Ex map patch!!

Post by G-Flex »

The only "map patch" I know of is the one that fixes the problems introduced by the GOTY edition using old versions of maps instead of the most recent ones. If anyone can link to any others, that would be great too.

The naval base music seems to have been intended for the graveyard, since its title is "naval base/graveyard" or something similar. If there's controversy over it, I could always leave the map without music.
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Re: Deus Ex map patch!!

Post by Cybernetic pig »

G-Flex wrote:The only "map patch" I know of is the one that fixes the problems introduced by the GOTY edition using old versions of maps instead of the most recent ones. If anyone can link to any others, that would be great too.
Well since you mentioned New Vision, the mod itself contains a few maps with bug fixes. Should save you some work.

I know there is a big ass BSP hole that the player can jump through at Vandenburg in the perimeter wall that is not exclusive to GOTY edition.
Also the door at Vandenburg on return from the tunnels can be opened early by getting a NPC to open it somehow, not sure what you can do about that though besides removing path nodes, which wouldn't be good.
Not sure if you succeeded with fixing this in scripted pawn, but the AI running through doors and destroying them appears in many places but can be fixed by simply making the door indestructible if it makes sense to do so. (or not locked at all, but screw that).
The medbot in the OceanLab_Lab map as we discussed before.
NSF headquarters a mover (blast door) is offset by a couple of units. This one could be GOTY, darn.
This one is not a bug per se, but # of provocations for some friendlies are ridiculously high, such as when infiltrating the HK MJ12 labs with security clearance the MJ12 in the security room take multiple shots to the head before turning hostile.
Doesn't the UNATCO armory window have a BSP hole of death?
Throwing a gas grenade by UNATCO doors causes the trooper inside to panic and open the door, bypassing all of liberty island mission.

The naval base music seems to have been intended for the graveyard, since its title is "naval base/graveyard" or something similar. If there's controversy over it, I could always leave the map without music.
Even though my mod adds additional music I kinda liked the silence at the graveyard so left it as it was for that map. Not really a fan of the Naval Base music much anyway. Fixed NYC return though of course.
Last edited by Cybernetic pig on Thu Mar 07, 2013 11:37 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Deus Ex map patch!!

Post by bjorn98009_91 »

Would be great if you list all the fixes in a changelog or something so that I and other mappers can implement these fixes in our own mods if needed. :smile:
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Cybernetic pig
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Re: Deus Ex map patch!!

Post by Cybernetic pig »

bjorn98009_91 wrote:Would be great if you list all the fixes in a changelog or something so that I and other mappers can implement these fixes in our own mods if needed. :smile:
Yeah, works great for something like this. But imagine a changelog for revision :P "Moved Brush 352 to co-ordinates of ___. Created Brush 512. 32x64. Co-ordinates of ___, Texture: ____ .

Bahhaha, fuck that. Works fine with coding, not for mapping (except in a special case like this, a map patch).

What a pointless post I just made =D> goodnight.
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Re: Deus Ex map patch!!

Post by G-Flex »

bjorn98009_91 wrote:Would be great if you list all the fixes in a changelog or something so that I and other mappers can implement these fixes in our own mods if needed. :smile:
Well, modders can probably use whatever I release as the basis for their own stuff, since what I'll release at first will be nothing but relatively straightforward bug-related stuff. Then I'll work on the Human Renovation changes.

I will be listing everything in a change log as I go along, though.
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Re: Deus Ex map patch!!

Post by bjorn98009_91 »

Cybernetic pig wrote:Yeah, works great for something like this. But imagine a changelog for revision :P "Moved Brush 352 to co-ordinates of ___. Created Brush 512. 32x64. Co-ordinates of ___, Texture: ____ .
Haha, a changelog actually works in Revision. Since the current beta is a bug-fix you can just list stuff that you've fixed. Otherwise it's just going to be "Added details to Liberty Island. More grass and light poles" or something. ^^
G-Flex wrote:Well, modders can probably use whatever I release as the basis for their own stuff, since what I'll release at first will be nothing but relatively straightforward bug-related stuff. Then I'll work on the Human Renovation changes.

I will be listing everything in a change log as I go along, though.
Thanks!

Since both GMDX and Revision has started and used the GOTY maps it's far simpler to just implement the fixes than starting from scratch with your maps and then implement our own material. For future map mods I'm sure it will be great and seamless! :)
Last edited by bjorn98009_91 on Sat Mar 09, 2013 1:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Deus Ex map patch!!

Post by Cybernetic pig »

bjorn98009_91 wrote:
Haha, a changelog actually works in Revision. Since the current beta is a bug-fix you can just list stuff that you've fixed. Otherwise it's just going to be "Added details to Liberty Island. More grass and light poles" or something. ^^
Well yeah, taking note of bug fixes is important....but I didn't really take note of them all. No harm done, as I said I know I could fix any problems....even BSP holes usually can be sorted by deleting brushes in the order you placed them and then rebuilding...not that I can remember the order anymore [-X Worst comes to worst just delete all newly placed brushes or some nearby then start again or scrap the geometry ideas you had. Not that that would work for Revision though, which must be packed full of new brushes.

Also no changelog means I cannot merge GMDX with Revision with ease, but there is just far too many tedious and minor changes to make note of everything. Everything which is important to GMDX.
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Re: Deus Ex map patch!!

Post by G-Flex »

so I've started editing the maps, although I have no idea what changes
Cybernetic pig wrote:Well since you mentioned New Vision, the mod itself contains a few maps with bug fixes. Should save you some work.
I've PM'd DaveW to ask him, but until he gets back to me, I'm just going to use the base maps (going off that other unofficial patch that fixes the GOTY problems).
Also the door at Vandenburg on return from the tunnels can be opened early by getting a NPC to open it somehow, not sure what you can do about that though besides removing path nodes, which wouldn't be good.
Not sure if you succeeded with fixing this in scripted pawn, but the AI running through doors and destroying them appears in many places but can be fixed by simply making the door indestructible if it makes sense to do so. (or not locked at all, but screw that).
Throwing a gas grenade by UNATCO doors causes the trooper inside to panic and open the door, bypassing all of liberty island mission.
There honestly isn't much that can be done about this. NPC pathfinding sucks. They never, ever consider movers or decorations to actually be "in the way". If they encounter a mover with bIsDoor set, they'll open it. If it doesn't have that set, and it's destructible, they'll destroy it. Otherwise, they'll just keep trying to go through it and act like idiots in general. They don't care one bit whether or not it's locked.

The UNATCO gas grenade exploit is fixed in the upcoming version of my mod, since gas grenades will no longer spawn clouds through walls.
This one is not a bug per se, but # of provocations for some friendlies are ridiculously high, such as when infiltrating the HK MJ12 labs with security clearance the MJ12 in the security room take multiple shots to the head before turning hostile.
This is true, although I think I'll leave this alone, at least for this patch.
Doesn't the UNATCO armory window have a BSP hole of death?
In which mission, and what does it look like?



At any rate, the only BSP hole I've fixed so far is the giant, obvious one in the HK Canals map. I know I've noticed others, but from what I've heard, BSP holes are kind of hard to totally track down and eliminate on a complex map. To be honest, I have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to rebuilding BSP. All I really do is load the map in UnrealEd1, go to Rebuild -> BSP, leave all the checkboxes as-is, and click "Rebuild BSP". If anyone has advice there, I'd like to hear it.

This is what I've gotten done so far:

MISSION_01:
  • no changes necessary?
  • (HR) give paul nonlethal weaponry
MISSION_02:
  • osgood's door bIsDoor set to True so terrorist inside won't hulk-smash through it
  • ford schick rescue flag expiration fixed
  • warehouse TNT crates made undetectable
  • (HR) hotel trigger changes, new hidepoint, new paul properties
MISSION_03:
  • no changes necessary?
MISSION_04:
  • battery park subway brings you to terminal instead of roof of 'Ton
  • Subway doors have proper SFX now instead of none at all (same SFX as in M02)
  • (hotel raid/Paul's death situation is still a bit tricky, needs missionscript alteration to solve, so leave it alone)
MISSION_05:
  • datacube in MJ12 lab central office no longer falls through desk
MISSION_06:
  • market tea-house customer/woman/redarrow now have tags consistent with mission script (map trigger events changed to match)
  • removed extraneous red arrow dude behind a wall in market
  • UC invisible TNT is undetectable now
  • use LogicTrigger to make JC's date only follow him after the raid if she was actually his date beforehand
  • make Gordon Quick invincible in the Lucky Money
  • fix giant BSP hole in Canals map
  • Maggie Chow and Bob Page are invincible in the HK MJ12 Lab now, so players can't kill them through the window
  • (MJ12 dudes in Maggie Chow's apartment are godawful at hiding there, and will rush out to greet the player, but I don't know how to solve this without scripting)
(things prefixed with "(HR)" are just my personal notes for things I'll change in the maps for Human Renovation but not this project itself)

Also, some mods fix the scripts for leather chairs and sofas so that they'll actually use their assigned textures properly, but in some missions, these textures aren't assigned properly in the first place. For instance, in the NYC Clinic or the 'Ton (or both), the second or third time you go there the chairs and couches are all plain black leather instead of the colors they are in the previous missions. I plan on fixing this for consistency's sake, when I'm done with the other map changes.

Should I add alarms to the gunfire sensors on the HK Canals map? The sensors don't actually do anything without them.
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Re: Deus Ex map patch!!

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Yes, alarms would be nice.

Don't forget the BSP in Vandenberg and the BSP in 06 Helibase.

You should use UnrealED2 for rebuilding, since it produces a better BSP-tree. Please note that UED2 has the habit of changing stuff with PHYS_None to PHYS_Falling, so make sure stuff with PHYS_None have not changed. Usually it's fire extinguishers or invisible TNT crates that have this physics setting. I'm using my own UED2.1 for rebuilding, since it creates an even better BSP-tree than UED2, but that editor is highly experimental.

Some "theory" on BSP: http://www.oldunreal.com/wiki/index.php ... P_building and http://wiki.beyondunreal.com/Legacy:BSP_Hole

Might be of some use. I usually rebuild geometry and BSP, then untick geometry and rebuild BSP two times. The node count drop and usually BSPs go away.
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Re: Deus Ex map patch!!

Post by Morpheus »

ford schick rescue flag expiration fixed
While your fixing that, you can put him back in the maps he is supposed to be in later in the game if you rescue him (Smugglers on each time you visit, but forget off the top of my head which maps they are)
(MJ12 dudes in Maggie Chow's apartment are godawful at hiding there, and will rush out to greet the player, but I don't know how to solve this without scripting)
(things prefixed with "(HR)" are just my personal notes for things I'll change in the maps for Human Renovation but not this project itself)
If this can be done without scripting, there is a buddha in her apartment that is supposed to open the other entrance to the MJ12 Troops but it doesn't do anything, so could you fix that? Not sure if its the buddha at the top of the stairs or bottom, in the case.
Fixing texture alignment issues that show up in New Vision, since I've never played with New Vision so I don't know what needs fixing. If someone can provide mem with information, though, I suppose I can do it
Mentioned a few here: http://www.offtopicproductions.com/foru ... 6&start=60 but I can make a list of all that need fixing if you like.
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Re: Deus Ex map patch!!

Post by G-Flex »

bjorn98009_91 wrote:Yes, alarms would be nice.

Don't forget the BSP in Vandenberg and the BSP in 06 Helibase.
Where exactly are these BSP holes, anyway? It would help out a lot if I knew their locations, because trudging through levels looking for BSP holes is a real pain in the ass.
Morpheus wrote:
ford schick rescue flag expiration fixed
While your fixing that, you can put him back in the maps he is supposed to be in later in the game if you rescue him (Smugglers on each time you visit, but forget off the top of my head which maps they are)
He's on the Mission 4 and Mission 8 Smuggler maps, but only the Mission 8 missionscript has code making him appear if he was previously rescued, so he never shows up in Mission 4. I'm not sure if he's supposed to or not; I'll check it out. Either way, that's a missionscript problem, not a map problem, and it's that rescue flag that's supposed to control whether or not he shows up.
If this can be done without scripting, there is a buddha in her apartment that is supposed to open the other entrance to the MJ12 Troops but it doesn't do anything, so could you fix that? Not sure if its the buddha at the top of the stairs or bottom, in the case.
The problem is largely that the MJ12 troops 1) will play idle conversation sounds, giving away their position, and 2) they'll respond to noises made by the player, so simply walking too fast near the buddha will cause them to run after you. The buddha is indeed a bit weird in how it operates (I think moreso in some versions of the map than others), but yeah, there are other issues.
Mentioned a few here: http://www.offtopicproductions.com/foru ... 6&start=60 but I can make a list of all that need fixing if you like.
The more information I have, the better! Thanks. Would these realignments be compatible with the game's original textures, though, or just New Vision?
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Re: Deus Ex map patch!!

Post by Morpheus »

He's on the Mission 4 and Mission 8 Smuggler maps, but only the Mission 8 missionscript has code making him appear if he was previously rescued, so he never shows up in Mission 4. I'm not sure if he's supposed to or not; I'll check it out. Either way, that's a missionscript problem, not a map problem, and it's that rescue flag that's supposed to control whether or not he shows up.
Hmm, if mission 8 has the code, he still doesn't appear if rescued though, but I have not checked the code to see why this is. In the mission 4 he has a conversation mentioning getting back on his research on prosthetics since he was rescued and mission 8, he says they had him working on cultures named JC and how JC has the grey death because it makes up his augmentations so he is immune to it. Anyway, to show up at all if the flag is set, does he have to be placed in the map first? (sorry, no good with coding so don't know this well)
The problem is largely that the MJ12 troops 1) will play idle conversation sounds, giving away their position, and 2) they'll respond to noises made by the player, so simply walking too fast near the buddha will cause them to run after you. The buddha is indeed a bit weird in how it operates (I think moreso in some versions of the map than others), but yeah, there are other issues.
What about changing the MJ12 troops hearing threshold so they don't hear you moving so well?
The more information I have, the better! Thanks. Would these realignments be compatible with the game's original textures, though, or just New Vision?
Well if the textures unaligned due to NV and were fine before, I doubt it. I'll make a list as I go along and post texture fixes on each map (if map needs any) I have time.
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Re: Deus Ex map patch!!

Post by G-Flex »

Morpheus wrote:Hmm, if mission 8 has the code, he still doesn't appear if rescued though, but I have not checked the code to see why this is. In the mission 4 he has a conversation mentioning getting back on his research on prosthetics since he was rescued and mission 8, he says they had him working on cultures named JC and how JC has the grey death because it makes up his augmentations so he is immune to it. Anyway, to show up at all if the flag is set, does he have to be placed in the map first? (sorry, no good with coding so don't know this well)
The reason he doesn't properly show up in Mission 8 is because the "FordSchickRescued" flag (or whatever it's called) is set to expire on mission 3, so it's never set by missions 4 and 8.

He shows up based on that flag in the same way as a lot of NPCs are in the game: By being pre-placed on the map, but with "bInWorld" set to "false", which causes them to be spawned in an idle state far out of the playable area and totally hidden. Then, the mission script checks for that flag (or whatever other condition) and uses it to place them back in the world if they should show up.
What about changing the MJ12 troops hearing threshold so they don't hear you moving so well?
The problem with this is that they would still suck at hearing you no matter what, even after you invade their location, and that's not particularly good.
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