Xenoswarm released!

MCMLXXXIVMCMLXXXIV Join Date: 2010-04-14 Member: 71400Members
edited August 2013 in Modding
We're proud to announce the release of Xenoswarm, the latest mod from the team that brought you NS2 Combat!



Ten years after the events of Natural Selection 2, the Kharaa infestation has spread to the inner reaches of TSF space and many outposts have been lost entirely to the alien swarm. You're part of an elite squad of TSF marines who have been sent to single-handedly capture these outposts and create a 'beachhead' in the infested colonies. Fight through hordes of aliens and destroy the Hive to win!

In development since January, here are the features you can expect from the new game:

- Co-operative gameplay for 1-6 players (or more if you're really good!)
- Difficulty scaling with number of players
- New XP/Upgrade system
- 3 Player classes: Assault, Support and Scout:
- Wield heavy weapons as an Assault
- Build turrets and support your teammates as the Support
- Run like a bullet through hordes of enemies and fight with enhanced melee strikes as the Scout.
- New weapons: SMG, Laser Mines, Knife
- New Magno Boots ability lets you walk on walls!
- Choose your own colour!
- Instead of dying straight away, players become injured and can be revived by teammates.
- Maps available at launch: Descent by Mr.P, Mineshaft by Seraph, Minegate by TwoStroker
- Some maps have Narrative points as you progress
- Alien tunnels that spawn waves of enemies until they are destroyed

To run a server for this mod, see the Server guide here.
To join a server, just look for servers running the 'Xenoswarm' mod and join one. The game plays quite well in single-player but it's more fun with friends!

If you want to play it on your own, subscribe to this Collection and enable 'ExtraEntitiesMod', 'Xenoswarm', 'Xenoswarm Assets' and the map of your choice, then launch a single-player server as you would normally.

Mapping guides to follow soon!

We hope you enjoy the mod and if any mappers or coders would like to help us take it further please let us know!
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Comments

  • MCMLXXXIVMCMLXXXIV Join Date: 2010-04-14 Member: 71400Members
    And here are the things we had planned but haven't managed to finish...

    - WorthyRival has been working on a 'Maze' map with random spawns and multiple avenues. Hopefully this will be available soon post-launch.
    - 'Defense mode' maps, where you defend a specific point (in theory these work, we just need a mapper to try making one).
    - 'Escape' mode maps, where you have a time limit to reach a safe point
    - Laser sight upgrade
    - Different types of Sentry guns
    - Sword for the Scout class
    - Railgun for the Scout class
    - Play a form of Combat 2.0 on regular Combat maps
  • AurOn2AurOn2 COOKIES! FREEDOM, AND BISCUITS! Australia Join Date: 2012-01-13 Member: 140224Members, Forum Moderators, NS2 Playtester, Forum staff
    Looks.Fucking.Excelent
  • JektJekt Join Date: 2012-02-05 Member: 143714Members, Squad Five Blue, Reinforced - Shadow
    Crashes very frequently. Server log text file is 100mb, in attached zip archive.
  • =Mr.P==Mr.P= Join Date: 2012-02-20 Member: 147025Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    edited August 2013
    Mr.P XenoSwarm server is up and running have fun!

    server ip: 62.65.106.53:27040
  • DJPenguinDJPenguin Useless Join Date: 2003-07-29 Member: 18538Members
    edited August 2013
    It's a fun mod overall but entirely too easy.

    - Jetpacks are OP. I'm sure the infinite fuel is a bug but the speed and agility of it is insane for this mod.
    - Onos is a resource pinata. Normally it's the last thing I'd want to see but i get money signs in my eyes when i see them.
    - Too much sustain from the AI commander. Need more reason to build armories.
    - The cost of everything is too cheap or the resource gain is too high. Or both. The gameplay feels cheapened having a jetpack, new weapon and upgrades 2 minutes into the game.
    - Lerks don't fly far from the ground
    - Marines run too fast imo. Let scouts run at this rate but nerfing the speed for the other two classes perhaps?
    - Overall i feel the pace is too fast/games end too quickly

    Server favorited and i look forward to the updates.
  • peregrinusperegrinus Join Date: 2010-07-16 Member: 72445Members
    Yay it's released.

    There's an AI commander now dropping health?

    You should get UW to do a blog post about this on Friday so you get lots of people trying it over the weekend,
  • MCMLXXXIVMCMLXXXIV Join Date: 2010-04-14 Member: 71400Members
    edited August 2013
    Jekt wrote: »
    Crashes very frequently. Server log text file is 100mb, in attached zip archive.

    Sorry you're experiencing crashes. It's possible you've stumbled on something we missed in our playtests. I'll take a look and if we can, I'll try and fix it in the next build.

    @DJPenguin thanks for the feedback! There's a minimum level option we can add to the jetpack/Magno boots, and we also can make them more expensive to help with the imbalance. Generally we have leaned towards fun over difficulty but we'll get some chances to tweak the balance once we have more data. Mappers can also tweak the difficulty of individual spawn points, to make e.g. A double-health phantom Onos :)

    EDIT: Infinite jetpack fuel is a confirmed bug... It's tricky to fix because the Magno boots share the same fuel gauge. We'll try and do it though!
  • 2cough2cough Rocky Mountain High Join Date: 2013-03-14 Member: 183952Members, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Supporter
    Played a few rounds on a couple diff servers. Not sure if it was the server that was buggy, the map (I did fall through map on minegate a couple times), the mod, or all? Anyways, the bits we did get to work were tons of fun, if not pretty easy. Also, each time I upgraded to special 1st weapon, I would lose primary all together, as well as scout's special melee.

    Anyways, cheers for now, lookin forward to the fine-tuning.
  • WorthyRivalWorthyRival Black Armor Division Join Date: 2006-11-07 Member: 58470Members, Constellation, Reinforced - Supporter, Reinforced - Silver, Reinforced - Gold, Reinforced - Diamond, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Shadow
    Maze map updated today.
    Enjoy.
    Seems much more stable
    Many NPC spawners changed to NPC tunnels
    new shipping location added

    @MCMLXXXIV Still getting that NPC tunnel spawn issues that after a number of NPCs are spawned the tunnels stop spawning NPC's even though the tunnels have 99 waves
  • MCMLXXXIVMCMLXXXIV Join Date: 2010-04-14 Member: 71400Members
    @MCMLXXXIV Still getting that NPC tunnel spawn issues that after a number of NPCs are spawned the tunnels stop spawning NPC's even though the tunnels have 99 waves

    @WorthyRival thanks for letting me know. I'll try and investigate and fix this week. It's possible that you're hitting the hard cap for active NPCs? We limit it to 30 active NPCs to stop servers from crashing, with the rest being added to a queue. I'll update the code so you get some console output when this happens. On our testbed map, we found that triggering tunnel spawns based on a large trigger box entity is a good way to trigger based on proximity to the players (maybe we need a new spawn mode that keeps a cooldown for each individual player to allow scaling by number of players).

    @Jekt: thanks for the log file! Looking into it, there are some errors affecting high-level players in there that we missed in our final run of testing and it's likely that they are the cause of the instability you're seeing. I've made some bug and balance fixes which we'll playtest and hopefully release next week.
  • FrozenFrozen New York, NY Join Date: 2010-07-02 Member: 72228Members, Constellation
    Hahaha this was fun as hell last night. But entirely too easy for the longterm! I don't mind crashes for now, I get it
  • DarkSeraphDarkSeraph Join Date: 2004-06-07 Member: 29174Members
    edited August 2013
    @MCMLXXXIV
    Gorge spit is still bugged.
    When you kill a tunnel it says that someone killed 'skulk' - make it 'tunnel' or just not show up like the rest
    Gorge tunnel does not work with lerk spawn.

    In mineshaft, most of my onos spawns are not working either and I have no idea why. I made a couple other minor fixes in mineshaft today.

    @JimWest I'm also having an issue with the logic_event_listener, I'm trying to use a pair to give a dialogue at the end saying 'you won' or 'you lost'. But when marines just won it gave the lose dialogue - I double checked and mineshaft has them set up properly in MS.

    Edit: also - you adding the timer?
  • cooliticcoolitic Right behind you Join Date: 2013-04-02 Member: 184609Members
    Luckily this is a mod that doesnt borrow too much from NS2, so 250/251 cannot hurt it.

    This mod seems so good, that I might start playing NS2 again just for this mod!
  • AurOn2AurOn2 COOKIES! FREEDOM, AND BISCUITS! Australia Join Date: 2012-01-13 Member: 140224Members, Forum Moderators, NS2 Playtester, Forum staff
    Can we change the Dificulty settings so it's stronger aliens instead of more aliens? I know that's the point of the mod, but.. Lags like hell when there's more than 5 players, and the mod sometimes bugs out so that aliens spawn on the other side of the map, and not on the side of the map we just reached. so pathing problems ensue, you have 500 skulks sitting where you can't go because you are warping so badly it's... Eh.
  • JimWestJimWest Join Date: 2010-01-03 Member: 69865Members, Reinforced - Silver
    edited August 2013
    Normally there could not be more than 30 npc,
    if there are more its a bug.

    Will test the entities seems like some are broken.
  • JimWestJimWest Join Date: 2010-01-03 Member: 69865Members, Reinforced - Silver
    fixed logic_event_listener, gorge spit and fades are now badass again (using blink now),
    will upload it later ^^
  • Electr0Electr0 Join Date: 2011-10-31 Member: 130337Members
    Nice work on the mod, hopefully we'll see a few more maps and some interesting game play ideas.

    Will you be focusing a bit more on combat again?

    I know a lot would love to be able to spend some of their points on buildings like we see in xenoswarm, until then combat will feel a bit unfinished i think, buildmenu and xmenu were quite popular in ns1, so it would be a shame if we never see them again! :(
  • TouchitTouchit Join Date: 2013-08-10 Member: 186716Members
    This mod looks like a great!

    I tried to play last night, but was having trouble joining into a server. I picked a server and tried to join, waited and then failed to join. A message appeared saying the version was out of date. Not sure what this means as I can play regular NS2 without any trouble. Is there any way I can help to get you a copy of this error code?

    I did not change anything in my settings or in the mid section. I just clicked on a server and tried to join. Hopefully this might help...

    Sorry, not the best when it comes down to doing tech work with computers.
  • GameOverGameOver Germany Join Date: 2003-10-15 Member: 21700Members, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Shadow
    Nice mod, but in it's current state it's to easy, no challenge.
  • JimWestJimWest Join Date: 2010-01-03 Member: 69865Members, Reinforced - Silver
    Well it's based on the maps,
    if I spawn 30 onos you wouldnt say that (onos do now stun ^^).

    Also skulks will use leap + xeno in the next version.
  • GameOverGameOver Germany Join Date: 2003-10-15 Member: 21700Members, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Shadow
    JimWest wrote: »
    Well it's based on the maps,
    if I spawn 30 onos you wouldnt say that (onos do now stun ^^).

    Also skulks will use leap + xeno in the next version.

    Yes, this will make it more interesting.

  • DarkSeraphDarkSeraph Join Date: 2004-06-07 Member: 29174Members
    @JimWest I'd also love to know what words I can use for upgrades for the wave managers. Is it 'celer' or 'celerity' etc. That will help me turn up difficulty a bit.

    I've done a difficulty pass on Mineshaft, should be just a tad harder now. The only issue I've found is last run the last 2 triggers didn't work, and I have no idea why, map is fine.
  • Warrior_of_katzWarrior_of_katz Join Date: 2013-08-12 Member: 186762Members
    Is awesome, but in mineshaft (i think) the part where the comm says "Another tunnel, ohh and it's full of cute gorges! Wait is that carapace?!" (Or something along those lines) it completely lags out the server and crashes it when all those gorges come out.
  • ScardyBobScardyBob ScardyBob Join Date: 2009-11-25 Member: 69528Forum Admins, Forum Moderators, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Shadow
    Love the mod, but I have a few comments:

    - The gorge balls (e.g. >10 gorges) can be especially devastating with their near accurate spit. I'd suggest an additional limit of specific classes as one time in addition to the overall NPC limit (e.g. no more than say 10 gorges/lerks, 5 fades/onos at one time)
    - I'd also love to see more diversity in the classes that spawn, such that you get a mix each time (e.g. something like first spawn = 100% skulk, 2nd = 75% skulk, 25% gorge, 3rd = 50% skulk, 30% gorge, 20% skulk, etc)
    - The aliens are pretty easy to fight because they largely don't use the aliens movement advantages. Its not difficult to clear out a wave of ground skulks, lerks that fly in a straight line, or walking fades. I'd love to see the difficulty increased by making the alien NPCs more clever in their use of movement rather than just increasing their numbers.
  • MCMLXXXIVMCMLXXXIV Join Date: 2010-04-14 Member: 71400Members
    edited August 2013
    A few minor updates this week. Mostly related to balance and bug fixes.

    - Made the npc base difficulty harder
    - Made the players' resupply rate slower
    - Made the jetpack and magnoboots tied to the player's level (it's not obvious from the GUI yet, but magno boots are now available at level 8, jetpack at level 12).
    - EEM timer countdown gui (for maps that use it) now visible in the GUI.
    - Lots of bug fixes for weird situations that we missed in testing
    - Fixed a bug with sentries when their owner disconnected from the server
    - Finally uploaded the knife model!

    We've tried to fix as many of the stability issues as possible. If your server still crashes please can you send the zipped up logs to xenoswarm2013@gmail.com and we'll go over them with a fine-tooth comb to fix the cause of the bugs :]
  • MCMLXXXIVMCMLXXXIV Join Date: 2010-04-14 Member: 71400Members
    Thanks to WorthyRival's relentless work, we've been able to add ns2_xs_maze to the list of 'stable' maps. I've updated the server operator guide to reflect this.

    Thanks to all the server operators sending logs, we've also been able to plug away at some strange edge cases that were taking down servers (Fades deciding that their 'best target' was a flamethrower flame, for example!). I also made a few performance improvements today.

    Changelog:
    - Fixed some instability issues with Xenoswarm itself.
    - Fixed client-side updating of the upgrades that you've bought.
    - Added more diagnostics to the server log to allow us to debug map-specific problems.
    - Also fixed some obscure errors in the ExtraEntitiesMod npc code that were causing instability (hopefully these will be published by JimWest over the weekend).
    - Improved general performance when lots of NPCs are active.
  • peregrinusperegrinus Join Date: 2010-07-16 Member: 72445Members
    Did the problem of 100 onos/skulks spawning go away?
  • holty007holty007 Join Date: 2013-08-17 Member: 186917Members
    peregrinus wrote: »
    Did the problem of 100 onos/skulks spawning go away?

    We had Fun with waves and waves of lerks lol

  • NordicNordic Long term camping in Kodiak Join Date: 2012-05-13 Member: 151995Members, NS2 Playtester, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Supporter, Reinforced - Silver, Reinforced - Shadow
    edited August 2013
    I am occasionally hosting a xenoswarm server called Gorges are OP. It will be up all day tomorrow unless it crashes. Edit: Having technical problems.
  • ScardyBobScardyBob ScardyBob Join Date: 2009-11-25 Member: 69528Forum Admins, Forum Moderators, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Shadow
    I put up three Xenoswarm servers since there seems to be a lack of them. Team156 | Seattle #5, 6, and 7 are running the mod now.
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