Sanity - A Full Conversion Mod

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  • SomnambulistSomnambulist Join Date: 2010-07-26 Member: 73051Members
    edited September 2012
    Alpha Testing Event: Tentatively set for Thursday 13th at 6:00pm est. Please make it if you can.

    We'll be testing out the horror lifeform, the ranged unit for the darkness. Lots of fun to be had here. Artifacts are in, grab two and you can transform into this unit with heavy ranged dmg, lower survivability, and the ability to teleport to cysts on the fly (with a long cooldown). We'll also be testing rifle unlock time, and general balancing.

    We were having a great debate about what temporary model we'd be using for our ranged unit, then Hex decided to obliterate the whole argument by editing the marine and crafting us a nasty looking "converted" marine to serve as our temp model. Here is a sneak peak at what you'll be fighting against if you're unlucky enough.

    <img src="http://i1263.photobucket.com/albums/ii627/birdsilla/horrorteeth.png" border="0" class="linked-image" />

    <img src="http://i1263.photobucket.com/albums/ii627/birdsilla/horrorfromadistance.png" border="0" class="linked-image" />

    Comment here for any reason, and watch our front page for an update to the alpha code sometime tomorrow or Thursday for the new version.
  • Soul_RiderSoul_Rider Mod Bean Join Date: 2004-06-19 Member: 29388Members, Constellation, Squad Five Blue
    Looking Good guys!!

    Hex, when you are next online can you drop me a line about how you edited the model? We still can't get our custom models working in PG, so I'd love to pick your brains about the changes you made here...
  • SomnambulistSomnambulist Join Date: 2010-07-26 Member: 73051Members
    Here's a look at our first playtest session, still in alpha, only a few features implemented, but I still had a lot of fun playing. We had very positive feedback from some of the other playtesters. I want to thank Onaka and Sephwalker for helping us out, as well as Bendery. Lots of good info for balancing and tweaking.

    One of the issues you'll see in the video is that hex feels forced to stay in base to defend it from me, we're working on fixes for this backdooring issue at the moment, along with some other balancing quirks. Thanks for watching!

    <center><object width="450" height="356"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/H1nr2mHWe8E"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/H1nr2mHWe8E" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="450" height="356"></embed></object></center>
  • SomnambulistSomnambulist Join Date: 2010-07-26 Member: 73051Members
    edited September 2012
    Having another session with balancing fixes pertaining to our last session. Sunday 1pm EST, please make it if you can. The more we get the better, check the steam group for any further info.
    <a href="http://steamcommunity.com/groups/SanityMod#" target="_blank">http://steamcommunity.com/groups/SanityMod#</a>
  • Soul_RiderSoul_Rider Mod Bean Join Date: 2004-06-19 Member: 29388Members, Constellation, Squad Five Blue
    edited September 2012
    What time is that for us Europeans interested? Your playtests are normally too late for me :P
  • SomnambulistSomnambulist Join Date: 2010-07-26 Member: 73051Members
    6 mins. I'll include GMT from now on as well.
  • SomnambulistSomnambulist Join Date: 2010-07-26 Member: 73051Members
    So we had another successful test, and I want to thank everyone who spent the time to test with us, more useful information and feedback. We're taking some time to clean up and thoroughly optimize before we roll out another swath of features including new weaponry and darkness units. Here's a cut together vid showing off the action from our last playtest.

    <center><object width="450" height="356"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/x9jCKZsIO4U"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/x9jCKZsIO4U" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="450" height="356"></embed></object></center>

    As always, comment here, leave testing comments in our mod group on steam, and thanks for reading.
  • countbasiecountbasie Join Date: 2008-12-27 Member: 65884Members
  • DoublehexDoublehex Join Date: 2012-06-23 Member: 153607Members
    We are now on the Workshop and fully functional! (Download is a bit big though)

    View our workshop page here: <a href="http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=99838801" target="_blank">http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/file...ls/?id=99838801</a>

    Or just search the workshop for "Sanity Mod!"

    Subscribe to our mod for latest updates and to participate in play tests!
  • SomnambulistSomnambulist Join Date: 2010-07-26 Member: 73051Members
    edited October 2012
    We'll be having another playtest this sunday, 2pm Eastern time, join the steamgroup for more info, please join us. We want all the input we can get so that we continue moving forward in an enjoyable direction. You can subscribe to our mod through the workshop.

    Group
    <a href="http://steamcommunity.com/groups/SanityMod" target="_blank">http://steamcommunity.com/groups/SanityMod</a>
    Workshop
    <a href="http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=99838801&searchtext=" target="_blank">http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/file...amp;searchtext=</a>

    Alternatively, you can find our workshop by opening the [Community] tab in steam, selecting [Workshop] then click to see all games, [NS2]. You'll find our mod there, click to subscribe.
  • GarfuGarfu Join Date: 2012-02-12 Member: 145170Members
    edited October 2012
    Just an FYI, I went in your test server a few minutes ago and then tried to join a regular game, and all of the cysts seem to have the dark moving texture you have for your stuff, I think you call it desecration, all over it. So the desecration moving texture is on top of all the normal cysts textures. I just verified game cash and it's still doing it. How do I fix it???


    edit: I also just deleted my entire workshop folder and it still does it

    I made a video of it here: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVtrvdCQelY" target="_blank">www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVtrvdCQelY</a>
  • DoublehexDoublehex Join Date: 2012-06-23 Member: 153607Members
    Very weird. Make sure you have Sanity Mod inactive under your mods menu. I will look into this ASAP
  • SomnambulistSomnambulist Join Date: 2010-07-26 Member: 73051Members
    edited October 2012
    Thanks for the heads up, we haven't seen or heard of this error at all until now, it appears to be something brand new, quite possibly workshop related as we've had an error with an entire unit being demolished when the workshop code was uploaded. We will get into it to see if we can find the root problem. It sounds like conflicting files, because we've never had such a wide feature based error in the history of the mod.
  • DoublehexDoublehex Join Date: 2012-06-23 Member: 153607Members
    edited October 2012
    Alright. We have located the root of the problem. Unfortunately, apparently some parts of the workshop are still not functional. This has been apparent during our first play test with workshop enabled. To fix the problem with infestation, please locate the Natural Selection 2 folder in your appdata folder. From there, for convenience, simply delete the folder named "cache." When the files are erased, simply relaunch your NS2 and join a regular game. The loading will be slightly longer than normal due to re caching but it will fix the problem. Sanity will have an update on workshop to fix this ASAP. This problem among others issues with workshop will be submitted to UWE once our lists are compiled. I have tested and confirmed this to the problem and the fix does work. We are very sorry for the issues and we will ensure that UWE is aware of these problems.
  • SomnambulistSomnambulist Join Date: 2010-07-26 Member: 73051Members
    Showing off some more of the work from our mapper joescruff. You can see the continued features that separate this from most ns2 maps, low clearance through most of the map(as we have no lerks), tight rooms and corners, lots of places to hide.

    <img src="http://i1263.photobucket.com/albums/ii627/birdsilla/2012-10-05_00002.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
    <img src="http://i1263.photobucket.com/albums/ii627/birdsilla/2012-10-05_00001.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
  • peregrinusperegrinus Join Date: 2010-07-16 Member: 72445Members
    Installed this mod.

    How can I play it?
  • DoublehexDoublehex Join Date: 2012-06-23 Member: 153607Members
    Current version on workshop is not working with 223. Just a few bugs left to iron out then I will upload. Due to the mod still being in heavy development, we do not host servers but have a play test typically every week. If you join our Sanity Mod group on steam: <a href="http://steamcommunity.com/groups/SanityMod#" target="_blank">http://steamcommunity.com/groups/SanityMod#</a> You can get the latest news and events for play tests there. If you are interested in trying it out, contact us and we will try to schedule a play test for interested players to see how our mod has progressed.
  • peregrinusperegrinus Join Date: 2010-07-16 Member: 72445Members
    edited October 2012
    Thanks for the info.

    I'm watching some of your youtube vids now

    <a href="http://youtu.be/7-Yuv_bklTY" target="_blank">http://youtu.be/7-Yuv_bklTY</a>
    <a href="http://youtu.be/g4ZBLSCZmxo" target="_blank">http://youtu.be/g4ZBLSCZmxo</a>
    <a href="http://youtu.be/RyO0e2PHXxQ" target="_blank">http://youtu.be/RyO0e2PHXxQ</a>

    I really really like the way area control is so important and having light/dark makes a huge difference. I hoped NS2 would be like that.

    The game will need some seriously scary sound effects because so much of it takes place in darkness. The videos I saw are quiet and there could be much more atmosphere with more sound effects. If the 'fade' made a creepy breathing noise that might make the game fairer to marines. Maybe footprints? If thats not too hard on the server? Those flashlights have a really narrow beam...maybe too narrow?

    And until you have your own models made up, how about just putting a marine head on the fade body. THAT would scare people ######less.

    Have I got this right?

    'Marines' (or whatever they will be) win by restoring power and finally killing the 'hive'. There are no structures for marines. They get resources and weapons automatically by holding areas, which means not letting the enemy cut power.

    If you could sum up the game in one or two sentences that would be good. The first page of the thread has a lot of words. Something like Natural Selection meets Amnesia, so people very quickly understand. And be clear this is multiplayer not single player.

    I don't understand why sometimes the 'fade' became frozen under the flashlights, then suddenly he became unfrozen and could escape. And why did the fade not take damage when he was in lit areas? It makes more sense to me that everything alien will take damage in the light including alien players. Sorry I need time to absorb the right names and terms for the mod :P

    Is there too much focus on building powernodes? It seemed really easy for the 'fade' to hide and kill the marines when they came in. Maybe there could be some more mechanics to light up a room, as well as building the powernode. E.g. marines could carry lighting equipment (like the battery + observatory model with the dish as a rotating lamp). That way it may be more varied and less repetitive than always going to the exact same spot in every room.

    They could have more tactics like setting up lamps to partially light an area, then go for the powernode. Otherwise it could end up being a case of running in, getting killed, running in to the same spot, killed in the same spot, until someone gets bored and quits. If the teams are unbalanced the fights will be the same because there's only one way to win a room.

    It was hard to see the black infestation. In fact I barely noticed it at all. If it only appears in the dark then its basically invisible the whole time isnt it? Even when torches shone on the black infestation I had trouble noticing it, especially on dirt or earth surfaces in mineshaft. There could also be a few more light sources in dark areas so some geometry can be made out.

    Yea so to sum up I think its a great idea just make sure the gameplay is varied and not linear, and that the sounds and 'alien' models are really frightening and creepy.

    There are always so many people who wanna play 'zombie' versions of popular games. Hopefully your mod can be that for NS2!
  • DoublehexDoublehex Join Date: 2012-06-23 Member: 153607Members
    <!--quoteo(post=1990987:date=Oct 13 2012, 06:36 PM:name=peregrinus)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (peregrinus @ Oct 13 2012, 06:36 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1990987"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Thanks for the info.

    I'm watching some of your youtube vids now

    <a href="http://youtu.be/7-Yuv_bklTY" target="_blank">http://youtu.be/7-Yuv_bklTY</a>
    <a href="http://youtu.be/g4ZBLSCZmxo" target="_blank">http://youtu.be/g4ZBLSCZmxo</a>
    <a href="http://youtu.be/RyO0e2PHXxQ" target="_blank">http://youtu.be/RyO0e2PHXxQ</a>

    I really really like the way area control is so important and having light/dark makes a huge difference. I hoped NS2 would be like that.

    The game will need some seriously scary sound effects because so much of it takes place in darkness. The videos I saw are quiet and there could be much more atmosphere with more sound effects. If the 'fade' made a creepy breathing noise that might make the game fairer to marines. Maybe footprints? If thats not too hard on the server? Those flashlights have a really narrow beam...maybe too narrow?

    And until you have your own models made up, how about just putting a marine head on the fade body. THAT would scare people ######less.

    Have I got this right?

    'Marines' (or whatever they will be) win by restoring power and finally killing the 'hive'. There are no structures for marines. They get resources and weapons automatically by holding areas, which means not letting the enemy cut power.

    I don't understand why sometimes the 'fade' became frozen under the flashlights, then suddenly he became unfrozen and could escape. And why did the fade not take damage when he was in lit areas? It makes more sense to me that everything alien will take damage in the light including alien players. Sorry I need time to absorb the right names and terms for the mod :P

    Is there too much focus on building powernodes? It seemed really easy for the 'fade' to hide and kill the marines when they came in. Maybe there could be some more mechanics to light up a room, as well as building the powernode. E.g. marines could carry lighting equipment (like the battery + observatory model with the dish as a rotating lamp). That way it may be more varied and less repetitive than always going to the exact same spot in every room.

    They could have more tactics like setting up lamps to partially light an area, then go for the powernode. Otherwise it could end up being a case of running in, getting killed, running in to the same spot, killed in the same spot, until someone gets bored and quits. If the teams are unbalanced the fights will be the same because there's only one way to win a room.

    It was hard to see the black infestation. In fact I barely noticed it at all. If it only appears in the dark then its basically invisible the whole time isnt it? Even when torches shone on the black infestation I had trouble noticing it, especially on dirt or earth surfaces in mineshaft. There could also be a few more light sources in dark areas so some geometry can be made out.

    Yea so to sum up I think its a great idea just make sure the gameplay is varied and not linear, and that the sounds and 'alien' models are really frightening and creepy.

    There are always so many people who wanna play 'zombie' versions of popular games. Hopefully your mod can be that for NS2!<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    Yes the game is focused around area control. Both sides current goal is to destroy the enemy "spawner." I say that because even though it is the primary goal, it is not as easy as it sounds. There are other factors to account for that affect how you carry out that goal. Right now, we only have the basic gameplay down. Please don't think we are even close to done adding everything we have in mind. :)

    As for the Void (Fade) freezing under light, he enters a state where he is invincible vs bullets. He cannot move or attack while in this form as it is a defensive state. The downfall of this state is that if he is caught under a concentrated light beam (ex. Flashlight or as we call it Lamp Light) he cannot enter or exit this defensive state. While he is stuck in this state under the light, he does take damage but the damage is less than a gun. If you are able to lock him down for long enough, he does die from it. The Lamp Light does have a built in flicker where if the Void is quick enough, he can escape from the defensive state. The more lights on the Void, the less likely he will be able to escape as the other Lamp Lights will be lighting the Void while another is flickering off and on as well as the more damage he takes from the compounding of the Lamp Lights. We think teamwork should be big!

    We are currently working on sound effects, but do not expect them very soon due to the amount of work we plan to put into them. :) We aim to make this great, not some half-assed job! I do not want to go further into this because I am not the one currently working on it but just keep in mind that we have every intent to do a lot of sound effects and we consider them a very important part of the mod.

    Making the gameplay as varied and random as we can. Although this is not very apparent right now, we are doing our best to ensure that the game will be varied greatly. NS2 maps are not what we consider the best fit for Sanity. These are simply adaptations until we can get our own map to play on.

    The infestation has been very problematic for me, I am always fighting with it but bear with me while I keep working with it until I can figure out a way to make it look beautifully creepy. If that is such a thing! Unfortunately, we are a small team so far so creating new visual content is tough to do but we are doing the best we can! Any help anyone would like to provide is greatly welcomed!

    Unfortunately, some of those videos are very dated compared to the current version. So please do not judge it completely based on those videos, we have reviewed them greatly and have made improvements on the obvious problematic areas! The videos are more of a progress report of how we are doing rather than a preview of how the game is played.

    Based on some of your other suggestions, we already have ideas that account for what you have suggested. We plan on working new content into the mod that really changes the tactics behind the game! We are adding new content but the process is slow because we like to ensure everything is working.

    Lastly, I want to thank you for your interest and comments on what you have seen so far! I hope we can get a play test very soon to show you exactly what we have so far! If you want some more in depth on what we plan to do or would like to submit suggestions, talk to Somnambulist. I am more of the technical guy. He is always happy to answer questions you might have about the mod. :)
  • peregrinusperegrinus Join Date: 2010-07-16 Member: 72445Members
    Thanks so much for all your answers. I'll keep an eye on the steam user group for playtest information. If you could post any playtest times here in this thread that would be great.
  • peregrinusperegrinus Join Date: 2010-07-16 Member: 72445Members
    edited October 2012
    Thanks so much for all your answers. I'll keep an eye on the steam user group for playtest information. If you could post any playtest times here in this thread that would be great.

    edit: I was caught in a time warp! There are now two of me :o
  • DoublehexDoublehex Join Date: 2012-06-23 Member: 153607Members
    We will be sure to post updates and new play test times/dates as soon as we have determined them! :)
  • peregrinusperegrinus Join Date: 2010-07-16 Member: 72445Members
    Halloween play test? :)
  • SomnambulistSomnambulist Join Date: 2010-07-26 Member: 73051Members
    We've scheduled a playtest for the 28th, so as to avoid any conflicts with the release of NS2 on Halloween. Come enjoy what should be a frightening experience, and help us make it even scarier. We'll start at 12:00pm EST and stay up for as long as we can.
  • peregrinusperegrinus Join Date: 2010-07-16 Member: 72445Members
    edited October 2012
    Great. Just to be sure, that is 12 noon EST?

    Made a quick button for my signature hope you don't mind.
  • SomnambulistSomnambulist Join Date: 2010-07-26 Member: 73051Members
    we're always for people that are excited about the mod, so no, we don't mind. Yeah EST, we're going to be testing for as long as we can, we're prepping for an update to go with 224 so hopefully our new features will be available.
  • ChalarieChalarie Join Date: 2012-05-03 Member: 151459Members
    Wow, what a concept. Absolutely in love. Really interested. Hopefully I will be able to join you guys this Sunday in testing. I think this mod has HUGE potential. One thing though, is I think the system for spreading desecration needs to be mixed up a bit. I understand the limitaions of a small team, but basing it off NS2's infestation would limit you a lot, I would imagine. Perhaps the new Dynamic Infestation system they are working on will spark some ideas.
    When I first read over your concept, I imagined the desecration being more like corruption in Terraria- It spreads off of even the smallest bit of desecration, and in every direction. As opposed to pre-designed 'cyst chains'. I think you really have something going for yourselves with the darkness. Very very few multiplayer games use complete darkness as a feature, yet it can be very compelling. I think you can legitimately scare players if you do it right. Sound design is key in horror. Walking down a dark hallway, armed with nothing but a flashlight, hearing your footsteps echo, imagining creepy laughter that sends a chill down your spine as you move further from the light... Needless to say, I am excited to see where this goes. Let me know about the playtest sunday, and ill do what I can to be there! Keep up the awesome efforts!
  • peregrinusperegrinus Join Date: 2010-07-16 Member: 72445Members
    edited October 2012
    Have you thought about using the shade's ink effect in the game? Maybe that could be an ability for the void.
  • SomnambulistSomnambulist Join Date: 2010-07-26 Member: 73051Members
    We considered this, haven't landed on a yes or no yet, we don't like recycling things from ns2 though, so we're probably leaning more towards no.
  • DoublehexDoublehex Join Date: 2012-06-23 Member: 153607Members
    <!--quoteo(post=1998273:date=Oct 27 2012, 02:04 AM:name=Chalarie)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Chalarie @ Oct 27 2012, 02:04 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1998273"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Wow, what a concept. Absolutely in love. Really interested. Hopefully I will be able to join you guys this Sunday in testing. I think this mod has HUGE potential. One thing though, is I think the system for spreading desecration needs to be mixed up a bit. I understand the limitaions of a small team, but basing it off NS2's infestation would limit you a lot, I would imagine. Perhaps the new Dynamic Infestation system they are working on will spark some ideas.
    When I first read over your concept, I imagined the desecration being more like corruption in Terraria- It spreads off of even the smallest bit of desecration, and in every direction. As opposed to pre-designed 'cyst chains'. I think you really have something going for yourselves with the darkness. Very very few multiplayer games use complete darkness as a feature, yet it can be very compelling. I think you can legitimately scare players if you do it right. Sound design is key in horror. Walking down a dark hallway, armed with nothing but a flashlight, hearing your footsteps echo, imagining creepy laughter that sends a chill down your spine as you move further from the light... Needless to say, I am excited to see where this goes. Let me know about the playtest sunday, and ill do what I can to be there! Keep up the awesome efforts!<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    Thank you for your interest in the mod! :)

    I will mostly be speaking about the desecration. First I would like to say it is a bit more than just pre-designed cyst chains but is still in a sense just a cyst chain. It spreads on its own so it can adapt to any kind of map, I did it just incase anyone wanted to create maps for the game, there would be no problems. Just make your map and sanity does the rest. :) Originally, we had the desecration spread by itself. That meaning, as long as there was at least a little bit of living desecration located somewhere in the map and there was darkness for it to spread, it would take back the area in minutes. Unfortunately, this feature was removed for some performance boost but that problem was also tied to a problem within the engine itself. Thankfully, that was patched. That being said, the system is still in there, just disabled. If I get enough time and want for it, I will work on it again.

    I have toyed with making my own infestation adaptation but the results were varied. Some just didn't look good, some spread wrong, and some.. just didn't work :(. I have been trying to figure out a new way to implement the infestation but performance is something that always comes in mind. I will not sacrifice large amounts of players performance just for the sake of good looking infestation for players with higher end computers. If you have any ideas about what could be done, please post them or contact me on steam so we can talk about them! I will think about the concept you had in your mind and see if I can design a way for that to happen but I can say, it won't be easy!

    Sound.. This is a very important part for me in this mod. That being said, we are working on it but quality sounds take a long time to make and implement at just the right places so the sound is actually scary. This is something that I will be working on for a very long time because I want players to feel like they're inside the game. I know its hard and some shortcuts must be done until game play is finished but in the meanwhile but I will do my best to make it work. :)

    We hope to get a good turnout on Sunday to show off some new updates we have been working on. Your feedback is very important and taken heavily into consideration when we are making this mod so be sure to tell us what you think! :)
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