Looking for dedicated alpha testers for Not All That Secret Project

Hi, all, it's your friendly neighborhood Essence here with a Not All That Secret Project from David and the GLGurus. They've asked me to do some stuff like re-create Deadshot and other Fun Stuff, but before I turn my code over to them all willy-nilly, I need a few people who are willing to take the time to really test my new creations.

Testers must be:

• Comfortable renaming and replacing core game files.
• Interested in previewing a few of the nifty things we can expect in 1.14.
• Willing to waste a few hours in debug mode powerleveling through a few skill trees and making sure that everything works according to my design document.
• Willing to deal with minor frustrations in that I'm sure there will be broken stuff. There always is, and I'm frankly not able to playtest my creations. I'm giving up my normal DoD play time in order to write the code in the first place; if I did all the playtesting, this stuff wouldn't be ready in time for 1.14 to come out.
• Willing to play a lot of melee oriented characters during this whole process. Including using a variety of weapons. Not like that's a hint or anything.

Anyone who wants to be an alpha tester, stick around here and once they're done, I'll post the files. Then you can just post all of your complaints to this thread. 'Cause, you know, Not All That Secret and whatnot.

EDIT: swords, axes, maces and staves, unarmed and archery and throwing design documents

EDIT: Thanks to Loren for suggesting I put the latest everything right here:

As per normal, rename your existing skillDB and spellDB and then put these in their place in the /game folder.
Unzip the zip file directly into the Skills folder.

 

I just want to say "good luck" to whomever agrees, for I have no time to spend "a lot" of time playing the game (because I spend most of my DoD-related time fiddling with the code nowadays).

 

Sign me up for the testing, I fit all the bullet points and I have a gift for debugging.

 

Spoiler: Free the hunting diggles

You have my axe. And my werediggles, too.

 

OK, guys. These three files replace the files in your DoD/games folder. Don't forget to rename your old files. The Staff icons go in DoD/skills/warrior. They're only necessary if you use Priming Strike while you have This Thing Has Two Ends active. You'll figure out what that means soon enough.

Deadshot isn't done yet -- it needs oodles of icons -- but the weapon skills are (mostly) functional. Please to test Axes, Swords, Maces, Staves, and Unarmed. Please note that these files also have my other ESCRII changes in them -- in particular, Dual Wield now comes with a HUGE -EDR penalty at the beginning, so don't be surprised if life is a lot tougher as a dual wielder than you're used to.

I'll get that design document I promised out to everyone "soon" so that you can check for reality vs. intent. For now, just let me know what's obviously broken.

THINGS I KNOW ARE WRONG: Long Style is currently borked. Everything else should work. Ish.

 

I'm starting to love it already.

 

Is it just me, or did you upload spellDB a second time instead of skillDB?

 

Yes, he did.

You fail, Essence.

 

DOH!

[edit] Fix'd! [/edit]

 

I turned on the pc knowing there will be the "patch" right away.
And there is the patch. Start testing right now.
Btw, are those compatible with your rebalance, or it is better to try everything vanilla?
Also, good stuff with the -edr on the dual wield. Is there a possibility to 1.5x the bonuses for the same weapon, so a 2 different weapon style could be useful?
:edit: btw, what's the problem with the old staff_secrets.png?

 

Incompatible since they change the same things, but it incorporates the "approved" changes from the rebalance so you don't need to worry about it .

And I feel proud to say that I was the one to ask for this nerf first. Because even insane people like me can sometime be useful when they are bothering people, and stuff.
But no, it is not possible to multiply the damage values of weapons from within the skill trees; only adding "this or that many" points since buffs don't scale.

 

Yes, the core game changes. But I wanted to know about the RotDG changes. It isn't anymore useful now, since I started a character, but maybe I can change something from this if it dies.

Yep, I know, I red that somewhere (maybe in the old rebalance from essence). It's a pity, but it's ok. And I'm running an axe/mace wielder just for the sake of this.

It's just an icon issue, or the skill doesn't work? I picked it up and I don't have that ciclical buff, but it's ok. I thought that it was still the old deadshot, that I could benefit too for this build of mine.
Currently:
Dual Wield
Mace
Axe
Werediggle
Armor Mastery
Deadshot
Big Game Hunt
I love the flavor text of axe and maces, they are cool enough. And I saw that now they have stances, too. Cool. I'm using the dwarven handshake since it's the only point I've put into those, but I'm still empting the first floor and I'm taking skills that I need.
Btw, it could be very useful if the werediggle could have, at least, the diggle plague proc on hit and being hit, as it should. I cannot understand why in the xml there are the procs, and in the game there is a 0 cost without either a attack="1" tag that adds the effect of procs on the enemy.

 

This "patch" now is mostly about weapon proficiency skill trees, all of which are in the basic (meaning expansions are not affected) core game. So no RotDG changes; if there are any in the future, Essence will write about that explicitly because that would require people to install the files in the expansion's folder (and thus he would have to give instructions for that)

Nah, not really a pity. If anything, I'm glad the idea got used.

Since I really don't have time to do what Essence is doing (because I don't have a lot of time for modding and all the time I have for that goes into Heimdallr) and it really feels nice that they want an official/semi-official patch to use that idea.

Still not done - it is not something that is being changed and having some stuff added to make it on par with the new weapon proficiency skill trees (daggers and polearms), it is something that has to be done from scratch instead so Essence most likely decided to leave it till the end so that he would have more stuff done for testers.

I agree with that. At least on being hit it should proc, since you generally always want to use it and now it wastes valuable being-transformed time.

 

I was talking about the 1.5x for the same weapon ^^

I think I found a way to change it.
Right now the procs are IN the spell, so they activate when something hit, or is being it, by the already plague-affected mob. I've tried changing the place of the procs in the skilldb, and now it proc on hits (i've just tried a fast pc, leveling him up to try that... and 3 times mobs hitten by my beak were afflicted.

Code:

<ability name="Diggle Plague" icon="skills/diggle_plague64.png" skill="36" level="1" polymorphedOnly="1" polymorphTag="Diggle">
  <description text="While in your Werediggle form, you may give enemies the dreaded Diggle Plague."/>
  <targetHitEffectBuff percentage="10" name="Diggle Plague" />
  <playerHitEffectBuff percentage="5" name="Diggle Plague" />
  <resistbuff putrefying="2" toxic="1" />
  <damagebuff putrefying="1" toxic="1" />
  <spell name="Diggle Plague"/>
  </ability>

This is the code for the skilldb.

Code:

<spell name="Diggle Plague" type="target" icon="skills/diggle_plague32.png" >
    <buff useTimer="1" time="24"
        allowstacking="0"
    stacksize="1"
        self="0"
        icon="skills/diggle_plague64.png"
        smallicon="skills/diggle_plague32.png"
      bad="1" >
      <primarybuff id="0" amount="-3"/> <!-- Burliness -->
      <primarybuff id="1" amount="-3"/> <!-- Sagacity -->
      <primarybuff id="2" amount="-3"/> <!-- Nimbleness -->
      <secondarybuff id="0" amount="-5"/> <!-- hp -->
        <secondarybuff id="6" amount="-5"/> <!-- dodge -->
        <resistbuff crushing="-1" hyperborean="-1" toxic="-1" />
        <!-- oh yes, it'll get nasty -->
     
<!--        <effect type="dot" spell="Diggle Plague Hit" affectsCorpses="0" affectsCaster="1" amount="44" self="1"/> --> 
  </buff>
    <description text="It's the dreaded Diggle Plague! Run away and blast it with fireballs: it's the only way to be sure." />
    </spell>

And this is the spelldb (btw, I wonder why there isn't a diggle plague hit effect in game).

Still, I can't free the hotkey bar from the 0 spell, but it's a small issue right now that it procs correctly.

 

And you quoted the wrong part. I'm not guilty there (for once), yay.

Actually, there is such an effect. On sickly diggles, but no idea why not on the werediggle.

 

Sickly diggles use a different spell from Diggle Plague, and it's the Diggle Flu.
Maybe I'll try adding the dot effect looking into that other skill.
Also, I think I should readd the procs in the spelldb too... after all, if you touch someone ill, you could get ill too.
Image what could happen if you infect your own pets.
:edit: strange, since I cannot find the dot component into the diggle flu... but I can remember dot effects.
:re-edit: just removing those <!-- --> from diggle plague spell made the diggle plague hit work, and it's better now that is damaging a little. I just fear that past level 3 that bonus cease to exist.
Now I can focus again on other changes.
:re-re-edit: I've just seen the <!-- --> to block every deadshot spell. Why are those there? We can use the "need art" icon placeholder for now. Graphic isn't really an issue.

 

Is more testers a good thing?

 

I think those files are opened for anyone, so yeah, grab a copy and go try those new weapon skills in the wild.
Don't forget to come back with your experiences, though.

 

Awesome! I'm on it.

 

More testers is always a good thing. With every additional person, chances increase that no bug will be missed because someone will notice them.