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Introduction
Installation
Summoning The Chosen
Using The Chosen Communicator
Alternate-Hand Firing Toggle
Multi-Player Options
BloodFeud
The Bugs
Credits
Introduction
I played Blood2 and
was disappointed with certain aspects of the gameplay, so I decided to
code this MOD to make Blood2 more "fun" to play again. I have
enhanced existing features, coded all-new features, put back into the
game several features that were unfinished and added some unused graphics
and sounds that you already have installed within Blood2 but weren't used
in the released game. Whatever the reasons for Blood2's premature and
un-finished release, I still look upon it as containing the best weapons,
weapon effects, animations, sound effects, music, movement and actual
"action" of any 3D First-Person Shooter available.
Please make sure you downloaded
the correct version of DarkAct for your Blood2 installation, Standard
Blood2 or Blood2: The Nightmare Levels. Also make sure you have Blood2
patched up to version 2.1. You can get the upgrade patches from: http://www.the-chosen.com/
NB. the very latest patches above version 2.1 will not make any difference
as DarkAct is based on the 2.1 source code. Source code for the latest
version is not available.
THIS IS NOT A COMMERCIALLY PRODUCED ADD-ON.
Installation
Simply unzip the REZ
file into the "custom" folder within Blood2, then select the REZ file
from the customize dialog when launching the game. Due to the new inventory
items, Saved Games from previous versions are no longer compatable - you
should start a new game. You may get crashes if you don't.
Summoning The Chosen
You can Summon randomly selected Chosen characters to fight alongside
you as was expected from the original game (although they will still also
appear in the cut-scenes when playing the original levels as Caleb). I
have built upon the existing routines and coded several new states so
that they can be commanded by the player using the Chosen Communicator.
They DO NOT follow you across level changes (yet). They communicate with
you via the Comm-Link to respond to orders or tell you something
like they've run out of ammo. They drop their weapons when they die, but
are not damaged by your weapon fire and vice versa so you can't kill them
for their weapons (or accidently). They will fire on any enemies who come
within sight and turn to look around when idling or guarding.
To
Summon
First you must find a Summoner inventory item... these will randomly
replace other items in the game. Make sure there is some space infront
of you, then activate it. The Summoner creates a Rift to pull a being
from "Beyond". You can repeatedly Summon a previously killed Chosen character
again and again. You can summon all the other three chosen members individually
- using a fourth summoner in a level will pull through an enemy from Beyond
the Rift. You will get other Chosen characters depending on which character
you are playing so it will never bring out another 'you'. You can only
carry three Summoner's.
Using The Chosen Communicator
With the Chosen Communicator
you can send orders to the Chosen from anywhere in the world you are in.
Press C
to activate the Communicator and Character Select page. Press the
Number Key of the Character required
and the Orders page is displayed. Press the Number
Key of the Order you want to send. They will respond with a
message that describes the order carried out, and a suitable vocal comment.
The Communicator can be cancelled at any time by pressing 0.
There are Nine orders you
can send to the Chosen:
Follow Far.
They follow you around, but keep at a slight distance.
Follow Close.
They follow you more closely and turn the same direction you are facing
when idling.
Guard.
They stay and Guard their current location.
Scout.
They run to a position directly off in the direction you are currently
looking searching for enemies, then return to you and switch to Follow
Close. If they spot any enemies they will fire, then return if they
kill them. Really useful for ordering them out from behind a wall or into
a room full of enemies.
Advance.
The same as Scout, but instead of returning to you they will switch to
Guarding when they reach their objective or have a fire-fight.
It's important to remember that when issuing the Scout
or Advance orders, look in the direction you wish them
to go to as you press the order key.
Advance Far.
The same as Advance, but they will run further.
Change Weapon.
Makes them switch between their two guns. Means you can get their more
powerful weapons out anytime, and conserve ammo when you come across easier
kills.
Pickup Ammo.
Normally, the Chosen will only search for ammo when they run out for both
of their weapons. Use this order to tell them to pickup any extra ammo
lying around that you don't need. They will only pickup Ammo PowerUps,
not guns or new weapons. They only look for the type of ammo they can
use. IE. Caleb will only look for BulletAmmo and FuelTanks.
Teleport.
If they've got stuck, can't follow you into or through the scenery, or
you just want to summon them back to you (perhaps after guarding an area
on the other side of the level) you can now instantly teleport them to
your position.
However, if you are sending
Ishmael orders, as he doesn't
use any ammo and can't change weapons, you get two different options:
Cast Shockwave.
Ishmael casts his Zealot Shockwave attack. Handy for taking out
enemies around corners or behind walls.
Cast Healing.
Ishmael casts his Healing Spell on himself. Useful as he always
tends to take more damage than the others due to the slower firing rate
of his Orb attack.
Quick-Command
Keys
Instead of using the Chosen Communicator you can use these commands as
a quick way of sending Orders.
Toggle
Follow/Guard. Go near to your Chosen teammate and press your
Use/Open
key. This toggles their Orders between Follow Close and Guard.
Re-Do
Last Order. Press R
to repeat the last order sent with the Chosen communicator.
What
happens when they get stuck?
Navigating Blood2's complex 3D worlds is hard work - so I have made it
so they instantly Teleport to your position when they get stuck!
- this also means they can follow you anywhere in the level, up ladders,
over jumps or through holes, as they will always appear next to you again.
I'm still working on this, and they still get stuck sometimes, or just
dont realise they are going the wrong way or have got stuck in the scenery
- moving around a bit or backtracking to find them usually gets them going
again. Try to bring them out in the more open levels and where it would
be easier to get around or not get killed. If you see only their gun
in mid-air, they are "In Limbo" awaiting a clear space around you in which
to Teleport into, to appear.
Alternate-Hand
Firing Toggle (Woo Mode)
Press W
to switch between Alternate-Hand Firing and Normal Firing.
Multi-Player Options
All the DarkAct options are on a seperate Multi-Player Wizard page.
Drop
Weapons. You can drop
your weapons as you would do in the single player game. This also means
that you drop your current weapon when you get killed, losing that weapon
for the duration of the game (unless you pick it, or another of any type,
up again). As you can now pickup weapons in BloodBath, you can pickup
a dead players weapon for Akimbo guns (or even switch weapons), which
also deprives them of the chance to reacquire their lost weapon... unless
they kill you to get it back! You can only pickup another weapon if it's
for Akimbo, and you always drop both guns if Akimbo when killed. Your
weapons are restored back to your starting selection when the next level
starts. In standard BloodBath, you
cannot pick up weapons for ammo, in BloodFeud you can.
Allow Akimbo
is mainly for Drop Weapons rules. In standard BloodBath, you could not
pick up weapons even if they were in the level. With Drop Weapons I also
enabled picking up of weapons so you can reclaim/change weapons, but this
also means that if weapons are in a standard BloodBath game you can also
pick them up. This option controls if you can pick up two weapons for
Akimbo Guns.
Start Akimbo lets you start the game
with all your Dual-Handed weapons Akimbo (IE. Beretta, Flare Pistol, Uzi,
Sawn-Off Shotgun and Assault Rifle). Allow Akimbo must
be checked for this option to function.
Random
Levels means that instead of playing through your selected
levels in order, your level list is randomized. You
won't get the same level twice in a row, or levels repeated before all
your levels have been played.
BloodFeud
If you've played the Skirmish
or Co-Op games in Aliens VS
Predator, you'll have an idea of what BloodFeud is all about.
It's like a mad BloodBath (or Bot) game with AI Enemies from the Single
Player game constantly attacking you (and sometimes each other). But it's
not just BloodBath with Enemies... I've added Extra Scoring
to keep track of your kills of each enemy type, an Enemy Count Bar
and several options so you can tune the gameplay to your preferences.
Enemies repeatedly spawn in pre-defined positions, but they spawn randomly,
or from pre-defined types, with different weapons and in different sequences,
all dependant on the level design... no two games will ever play the same.
Of course, this means BloodFeud will only run on specially designed maps,
such as defending a bunker, in a zombie-infested cinema or a western shoot-out...
just spawn in, get to the action and mow down the next wave of attacking
Cabalist's!! You can always play Single Player as well
by just Hosting the game locally and getting on with it.
BloodFeud Options
Enemy AI's Drop Weapons. Controls
if the enemies drop their weapons when killed, like in Single Player.
This makes the game harder if it's Off, as there's less ammo around, but
may give less network lag. After 10 minutes you'll have
guns lying around everywhere - if they don't drop them, the server doesn't
have to keep track of all the extra objects.
Allow friendly fire. Checking this
allows you to kill other players. Usually Off as it's a sort of
team-based game... Players VS AI's. You don't usually want to accidentaly
kill your mates.
Score Negative frags for friendly fire.
If friendly fire is allowed, this is the same as the Team game option,
which denotes if your score should go down for hitting a friendly player.
Use Player Setup Weapons. Normally,
you start a BloodFeud game with only your Knife and a single Beretta.
You pick up weapons in the level which you retain when you respawn, so
you gradually acquire a set of weapons. If this is checked, you will start
with your previously defined set of weapons for BloodBath, from your config
file, instead.
Do Extra Scoring. I've put this option
in, so you can turn off scoring on the Server, which may give less network
lag. This also automatically controls the display of
the Enemy Count Bar. When each AI is killed they send a message
to all Clients to do the scoring, with this off, the message count is
thus reduced.
Show Extra Scoring Kill Messages.
This controls the display of the Kill Messages, that show the enemies
each player is killing. Only relevant if Extra Scoring is ON,
it may give less Client-side slowdown with these turned
Off.
Enemy AI Level. Set's the strength
of the Enemies to their Single Player equivalent - Genocide, Homicide
or Suicide level.
Max Enemies in Level. You can set
the amount of enemies (including players as they are treated as Cabal
members) that will ever appear - helps for slowdown and can be used to
simulate a BOT game.
Tuning
BloodFeud for Better GamePlay
If you want to improve the speed of the game reduce the Max
Enemies in Level. Try turning Extra
Scoring, Kill Messages,
and Enemy AI's Drop Weapons Off
for a possible benefit. Play over the Internet is NOT recommended,
and I can't say what the framerate would be like - I have developed BloodFeud
mainly for LAN or Host-Yourself games.
The Bugs
Please read the information about this MOD on the website Updates
pages and understand the bugs that exist. I've tried to minimise the bugs
associated with the changes I've made, but I haven't yet fixed everything.
I'll be constantly fixing bugs and including new features during the time
I'm working on this MOD and posting new versions on the site as and when
I complete them.
- Sometimes, if you are on
zero health the enemies will not see you
- Bombs and Gibs can be thrown through doors
- Scientists on the "Research and Development" level don't die properly
- their corpses fall through the floor. (Early level bug?)
- There is an indestructable Thief on the "Meat Packing Plant" level (Early
level bug?) Sometimes this causes WonkyVision on each re-load but I think
I've got around this now.
- Bullet Holes and Spark/Splash effects don't work properly on the "Power
Station" level. (Early level bug?)
- A Chosen Buddy may remain on the Chosen Communicator list when they
are not in the level. This is very rare and usually connected to either
cutscenes concerning Chosen AI's or using the Custom Level select cheat
(the player characters are not set up correctly when using this cheat).
- AI's still run into walls... really the whole AI routine needs re-coding
to be less recursive - it causes itself problems by continually looping
around and around without any "get-out" clause, but this is really too-big
a job - my time on the MOD is better spent in the new features I've been
incorporating.
- Thief's, BoneLeech's or Hand's killing other AI's may cause crashes.
- Client-side Smoke Trails get attached to the wrong objects (even Players!).
- In BloodFeud, sometimes a kill may not be registered.
- In BloodFeud, sometimes the enemies stop appearing. (Go back to the
start of the map to trigger them again)
Credits
DarkAct MOD Design, Code and Graphics by guzz.
Modified M16, Left-Handed M16 and Modified Beretta Models by Tren.
DeathSkins by The Dead.
Please see the DarkAct MOD
Project page at: http://planetblood.com/darkact
for more information and the latest updates.
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Features
*New
for v1.8
Limbloss
Summon The Chosen
Zombie SoulDrudge
Akimbo-Alt Fire
Alternate-Hand Firing (*Now
with Toggle Key)
Improved Hit Location
Enhanced AI
*DeathSkins
Shikari ChestBurster
*Send
Orders and receive messages via the CommLink
New BloodBath Options
*New
Multiplayer Game: BloodFeud
Disarm Cabal Members
No Bullet-Gibs
More Directional Damage
More Gibs & Bloodsplats
*Blood,
Gibs, Debris, Corpses and Bullet Cases Fade-Out
Fixed Player Speech
No Item or Ammo Glowing
New Orb-Cam Colour
New Eyeball-Cam Colour
Akimbo Assault Rifles
Drop your Knife
New Death-Cam position
Weapon Damage Changes
Weapon Model Changes
Enemy Behaviour Changes
Stronger Suicide level enemies
Secret MAIM effects
More NightGoggles Time
New NightGoggles Colour
Improved Flashlight
Blood 2: The Chosen
by Monolith Productions
DarkAct MOD by
Email guzz
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