Off Topic Productions

Mr_Cyberpunk wrote:In terms of the cloaking, well there was only one character in the whole game that uses it anyway... And i found anna to be too piss easy.

Got a semi-inconsequential correction here: Walton Simons can cloak too.

Yeah i just realised that as your post came up.. Well think of it this way. Its more of an incentive to RUN LIKE HELL!!

Iki wrote:I remember trying to get different models for weapons to work myself (different model when scope is on, etc)...

Was really dissapointed they didnt throw it in DX2 .
Ive got no clue if its possible in DX1 but if it was, woah. it would really bring alot of attention from the comunity i think. Although, what the mod plans to do for now, will surely blow peoples mind

very very interesting that idea. Could it work?

Hm, I distinctly recall answering that question before. But I don't mind answering it again, I do like the sound of my own voice:

It is possible to add visible weapon mods to the weapons, but as far as I know, the limits on multiskins for the weapon models is an inhibiting factor. Depending on how many skins each weapon will use (and I expect they'll all use at least two just for the model itself to look as high-detail as we want), it may not be possible to add more than 1 weapon mod to the model, because the only way to make parts of the model visible or invisible in-game is to switch back and forth between the texture on that part of the model and a transparent one.

In TNM, one of our weapons cannot be silenced with an ordinary weapon mod, but must be fitted with a custom-made silencer by one of the NPC's. When this happens, the silencer will appear on the muzzle of the weapon.

I'm afraid if you intend to do this, you may have to choose which mod to visualize on the models. The scope or the silencer seems like the obvious choices.

Most of the weapons never use more than maybe 3 multiskins, so as long as you restricted yourself to one or two per mod, you'd be fine.

If you do it the multiskins way, mind (as opposed to making separate models for each set up), you'd have to be careful where you put things, since a masked off scope (if placed directly on top of a weapon) might expose 'empty polys'..little spots of transparency in your mesh.

Not so much of a problem with silencers, since you never see the front of the gun in the first person view..(though muzzleflash positioning might cause problems)..

Multiskins shouldn't be a problem, the weapon in TNM is a special case so I had to use all the multiskins. With weapons for DX they shouldn't need all of them so I think it possible.

That may explain why I had no luck trying to force a new model depending on what mods were installed. Also, my method would require weapon models for each individual combination of weapons; not exactly efficient by any measuring stick the world uses. Plus I couldn't figure out where to call it, double plus I'm not very good at Unrealscript anyway. The multiskins idea is a very good one, I think, although limited as you've said. Pity. *dreams of far-off lands where this isn't a problem*

YES! You must LOVE the multiskins idea! YOU ALL MUST! For it was mine... mwahahahah.

*Ahem*

So anyway, only problem with it is it needs to be called from the mission script as far as I know. But maybe that's just the way we did it (applying the mod through a conversation). Maybe it can be called from the weapon or the mod class if you just use regular old weapon mods?

yep: tis easy peasy to stick this into the weaponclass, as far as I can see.

DDL wrote:yep: tis easy peasy to stick this into the weaponclass, as far as I can see.

Sweeeet

I guess the weapon mod items wouldnt have to be little cubes ethier. They could be the same/lesser poly model as seen on the gun

That sounds like a really great idea, nice one. Oh, and sorry I haven't posted any support recently (the last couple of months), I can't really express how grateful I am. Deus Ex is my favourite game of all time and I'm so glad you are doing this. Thank you.

good idea dirty harry.

All hail jonas for his great idea. I must say if you guys figure it out.. THIS MOD IS GONNA KICK SOME ARSE. then we can fix those awful sound fxs so the weapons sound like they should and not like a tin can with a marble in it.

G'day everyone, my first post here! First I'll just say Deus Ex has been officially declared my favourite game ever since I the day it came out. Also I can't think of thing I'd want different in the game except technically updated graphics. Normally I'd probably totally disregard a project like HDTP, but the extreme amount of organization, dedication and, most importantly, the preservation of the original artistic intentions has made me pretty excited about this whole deal. I just read through this thread and have to say I?m relieved at how a lot of these ideas were shot down. Now absolutely no offence to any of the idea?s posters, but many of these ideas, while great and interesting, would change Deus Ex considerably.

I haven't been involved in the mod community (seeing and playing all those mods somehow takes away from the believability of the Deus Ex world's existence in my head, which = bad), so I don't know what's all been done/not possible.

Sorry for the long intro, anyways?

One thing I was wanted to bring up was the shadows. Now obviously you can?t do much to the shadows that isn?t a heck of a lot of work. However, blob shadows have to be my gaming pet-peeve and I was thinking there must be some way to create shadows that somehow blend in better. Perhaps a shadow that adjusts opacity based on nearby lights, or perhaps shaping the shadow to slightly conform to an overhead shadow of the subject. I doubt either of those suggestions are easily possible, and if not, then perhaps doing something like what they did in the newer UT games. That is, the blob shadows (thank goodness I can run it with full shadows on and don?t need to see the ugly blobs) are much more transparent and are larger and blurred more.

I would?ve done this myself already, but I have little experience with the Unreal engine, also after a quick look through the textures I didn?t see any sort of texture for the shadow, so I wouldn?t know how to get at it. I know it?s not a very big deal, but lighting can make or break atmosphere, any general improvements to the lighting would help a lot. But I realize there?s probably not much, if anything, that you can do. And this is why every night I pray that some rich developer will one day have the heart to re-create Deus Ex with the Unreal 3 engine.

As for some of the other ideas, showing weapon mods graphically would be pretty sweet, however you?d have to be careful not to ruin the look of any of the weapons. I?m not sure if it would be worth the amount of work it?d take, but that?d be up to you guys.

That animated NYC skyline would certainly rock, as far as making things seem more ?realistic? (very loose term in this context?), I think making things like the explosions or other effects look more like what they would in real life is a great idea. However the game isn?t meant to be in our world, and also it is a game. EMP and laser effects most likely show up for gameplay purposes, but that?s not to say the designers didn?t intend to put them in for artistic quality (they look cool imo, regardless of realism). Real is simply relative to our world, which Deus Ex is only based upon.

Well that?s a lengthy first post, I like the whole involving the community with threads like this. Good stuff! Extremely excited about the HDTP!

Hello to you Nase!

Welcome to HDTP - I hope you'll stick around our forums and help us to develop this mod to how the community wants it!

I'd like to thank you for all your comments and suggestions. The 'more realistic' shadows suggestion is a good one! But I fear that its an engine thing and would be quite impossible for us to change. If anyone knows otherwise then please post here!

For the record - im determined to hunt down a nicer version of the NYC city backdrop. I do believe the original NYC backdrop is 256 in the SDK but it just lacks crispness. I dont think making it animated would be a good idea as it might lag the game considering its a rather substantional texture but we do plan on improving it!

Finally, we are seriously looking into the possibility of 'weapon' mods. We have to be careful and sensitive here because we dont want to change DX but its certainly something to consider.

Once again - many thanks!
M.