The Wayfarer's Tome: a standalone gameplay mod for Heretic (Update to beta 7a with wand start bugfix, November 2021)

5 hours ago, Zaratul said:

Playing SoldSoul wad with Wayfarer Tome. Automatic wand starts are on. Found a bug: bag of holding does not increase ammo capacity. Its a WF Tome or SoldSoul bug?

It looks like the backpack works correctly in Heretic.wad using the latest beta. Sold Soul adds a weapon, which means it must update the player class (although I can't find any new code for the player). Anything that changes the player class isn't compatible with Wayfarer's Tome -- I'll have to add a patch for it like I did with Elf Gets Pissed and some other mapsets. Or probably nowadays there's an easy way to make the mod class work universally with ZScript, but I don't know how to do it yet.

3 hours ago, Gokuma said:

Looks like Corvus has been hitting the medieval gym!

Heh, I know what you mean. But one of my earliest spriting mistakes was forgetting that Doom stretches everything vertically (I think it's a 5:4 aspect ratio). If you're making sprites with 1:1 pixels, you have to make them a little squatter/broader than you think they should be in order to have them look the way you want in-game. IMO, the chest/ab muscles on my Corvus are actually a little subtler than the original (which wasn't subtle at all :P)

6 hours ago, Zaratul said:

Playing SoldSoul wad with Wayfarer Tome. Automatic wand starts are on. Found a bug: bag of holding does not increase ammo capacity. Its a WF Tome or SoldSoul bug?

This is probably a problem on the sold soul side of things. I'm not the brightest when it comes to anything related to slade and most likely messed up somewhere.
But I'll look into it.

Quote

It looks like the backpack works correctly in Heretic.wad using the latest beta. Sold Soul adds a weapon, which means it must update the player class (although I can't find any new code for the player). Anything that changes the player class isn't compatible with Wayfarer's Tome -- I'll have to add a patch for it like I did with Elf Gets Pissed and some other mapsets. Or probably nowadays there's an easy way to make the mod class work universally with ZScript, but I don't know how to do it yet.

There is a playerclass line in the mapinfo, but I'm not sure if it is actually needed. Getting rid of it may make this work.

Today i tested for this bug more. Its not SoldSoul fault\incompatibility. In unmodded Heretic(WF Tome only) i got this bug when playing continously with wand start.
Bag of holding bug is not present when you:
-play first level of an episode
-play map of choice from ZDL launcher

So its definetly wand start option fault.

On 10/15/2020 at 3:18 PM, ReaperAA said:

 

So we are finally getting Chaingunners Dragon Claw zombies for Heretic. Great.

 

On a side note, I think the zombie elves sprites should have slightly different clothes (or just different color of clothes) than the new Corvus sprites instead just being zombified to make them more easy to differentiate.

agree. Maybe zombie without hood on his head ?

new corvus sprites are great!

5 hours ago, Zaratul said:

Today i tested for this bug more. Its not SoldSoul fault\incompatibility. In unmodded Heretic(WF Tome only) i got this bug when playing continously with wand start.
Bag of holding bug is not present when you:
-play first level of an episode
-play map of choice from ZDL launcher

 

So its definetly wand start option fault.

I'm not sure I understand what you're describing. I've tried three tests with regular/wand start/crossbow start, starting on E3M7, exiting the map to E3M8, and getting the backpack there, and the backpack seems to work correctly in all three cases.

I downloaded newest GZDoom SVN version and deleted my config file. Now this bug is not happening, really wierd. So problem is on my side, sorry for all trouble.

After being inactive on Doomworld for a few years, I'm coming back to the community and am pleasantly surprised to see this greatly needed Heretic  mod/gameplay fix. I'm looking forward to using this as a common resource for most vanilla Heretic from now on. Thank you very much!

@Not Jabba, 2 questions.

1. It, more or less, must work fine with random pwad, right? I.e. not only with 8 well known you have mentioned.

2. Any chances to make it work in combo of Heretical Doom modification? Would be nice. Your gameplay tweaks with it's modified monsters, weapons and new enemies.

https://forum.zdoom.org/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=56762

I'm happy that you are still out there improving this. It's a stable of my Heretic playthroughs.

8 hours ago, UnknDoomer said:

1. It, more or less, must work fine with random pwad, right? I.e. not only with 8 well known you have mentioned.

2. Any chances to make it work in combo of Heretical Doom modification? Would be nice. Your gameplay tweaks with it's modified monsters, weapons and new enemies.

 

https://forum.zdoom.org/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=56762

Wayfarer's Tome should work with any vanilla PWAD, or any PWAD that doesn't change the player/weapons. There are also a few patches included to make it work with specific mapsets that would be incompatible. I'm not sure how to make it compatible with other gameplay mods -- if they are Decorate-based, I could probably figure it out, but it would take a lot of time.

Sorry I don't update the standalone mod more often or include more of those types of features; it is kind of a side project, and I don't get too involved in it because I'm working on other things.

Wayfarer's Tome is updated to beta 6!

This update includes two new patches, one for Quest for the Crystal Skulls (wtome_qcs.wad) and one for Sold Soul (wtome_ss.wad). These patches (and the one I'm working on for Faithless Trilogy) use an ammo reduction system, which is especially important for QftCS because it's a hub and is intended to be played continuously. It also feels necessary for Sold Soul to keep the intended gameplay balance. The reduced ammo pickups are: small Crossbow ammo (3 instead of 5), large Crossbow ammo (16 instead of 20), small Hellstaff ammo (15 instead of 20), and large Hellstaff ammo (80 instead of 100). The full list of changes for each patch are:

Quest for the Crystal Skulls:

-Uses the ammo reduction system described above.

-Fixes the dead player decorations to be compatible with the new Wayfarer's Tome player sprites.
-The red Disciple miniboss becomes bright during attack/death frames like the regular Disciple (as well as its teleportation windup frames); species is fixed to match the species of the Wayfarer's Tome Disciple; has slightly more health to counter the more powerful player weapons.

Sold Soul:

-Uses the ammo reduction system described above.

-Hellstaff does not heat-seek.

-Lightbringer is replaced with the Wayfarer's Tome version; the correct ripper behavior for the non-Tomed Lightbringer is also restored.

-Made slight color changes to the apple health pickup and a few of the pottery decorations to palette better in software renderer (however, software mode still has some midtexture bleeding glitches, so hardware is the best way to play it).

Other changes to Wayfarer's Tome in this update:

-Player class display name is corrected to "Corvus" rather than "Corvus2"

-The Undead Warrior and Undead Warrior Ghost drop three Crossbow ammo instead of five.

-Fixed an error in the Gargoyle's charge attack that caused it to behave differently from the vanilla charging behavior.

-The Fire Gargoyle and Weredragon's projectiles, and the Iron Lich's flame tower attack, now have the fire damage type. The Iron Lich's attack causes burn death; the Fire Gargoyle and Weredragon projectiles do not.

-The Shadowsphere has been recoded. For the standalone mod, it is currently almost the same as normal. However, it now also makes the player immune to melee attacks from the Golem, Nitrogolem, and Sabreclaw (I still need to do this for the UW/UW Ghost, because their attack is hardcoded).

-The Maulotaur's ground crawler attack delivers damage a bit differently. In vanilla Heretic, a direct frontal hit does low damage, and the residual fire trail does massive damage. With the mod, a direct frontal hit does full damage, and the residual fire trail's damage is reduced a bit; it's still very powerful, but easier to tank a hit if you have armor.

-Added some fixes to the Elf Gets Pissed patch for the Lightbringer, and fixed the player's death animations for compatibility with the new player sprites.

I love that you're doing these patches, awesome work :D

@Not Jabba I think you accidentally provided the Wayfarer mapset instead of providing the standalone Wayfarer's Tome (as it contains the wayfarer episode and doesn't come with patches for QftCS, Sold Soul or any other wad)

Ah, you're right -- I must have been scanning the files in Dropbox and grabbed "beta 6" for the wrong thing. Fixed now.

Happy Halloween! The Wayfarer's Tome is now updated to beta 7! (aka the "why do DECALDEF and GLDEFS exist solely to make my life miserable?" edition :P)

I had intended to release a patch for Faithless Trilogy with this beta, but unfortunately I've hit some snags with ZScripts in E3. Jimmy and I think the problem will most likely be resolved when the Decorate in Wayfarer's Tome is converted to ZScript, which will be...er, Soon (TM). Yeah, that's it. Soon! Sorry about the delay -- I was really hoping to get it done, because E1 and E2 played great. In the meantime, beta 7 fixes a few bugs and completes all planned balance tweaks for the mod.

Changes in this beta:

-Fixed GLDEFs for the renamed Lightbringer projectiles.

-Fixed GLDEFs and DECALDEF as needed for all included patches. The patches for UnBeliever, Quest for the Crystal Skulls, and Sold Soul have been updated.

-The Undead Warrior's attack has been de-hardcoded. The purpose of this is to add a custom damage type to the melee attack, which means that players with the Shadowsphere are now immune to it.

-The Torch lasts for 45 seconds instead of 120 seconds. The patch for UnBeliever reverts this change, because it has a map where the full 120 seconds is necessary.

-All the random red and orange pixels in the Ophidian's tail have been cleaned up across all frames of animation that had them (replaced with appropriate shades of brown). Where relevant, Minor Spritefix Project sprites were used.

-Player sprites changed to Doom graphics format instead of .png for compatibility with custom palettes.

Hey all, here's a quick update to beta 7a. This update just has one change, which is to sort out some issues with the Wand Start options. It fixes the Bag of Holding bug, which I was finally able to replicate (sorry @Zaratul, you were right), and properly ensures that you can't carry over any inventory items when using Wand Start or Crossbow Start.

Heya, tried loading this up with sold soul.

This is the error I got in GZDoom 4.7.1:

Execution could not continue.

Script error, "wtome_ss.wad:DECORATE" line 106:
'@property@inventory.amount' is an unknown actor property
 

Made to load everything in correct order (wad => tome => patch).

On 12/11/2021 at 12:21 AM, Firedust said:

Heya, tried loading this up with sold soul.

 

This is the error I got in GZDoom 4.7.1:

 

Execution could not continue.

Script error, "wtome_ss.wad:DECORATE" line 106:
'@property@inventory.amount' is an unknown actor property
 

Made to load everything in correct order (wad => tome => patch).

Hey, sorry for taking so long to respond. I was afk for a lot of this past winter.

Are you still having this problem? I can't replicate it, either with my build or with beta 7a from the download link above. I'm still using 4.7.1 as well. It sounds like the kind of error you would get if there were characters missing or added in the Decorate file -- did you maybe open it in Slade and accidentally edit something? Otherwise, I'm not sure what could be causing it.

48 minutes ago, Not Jabba said:

 

Hey, sorry for taking so long to respond. I was afk for a lot of this past winter.

 

Are you still having this problem? I can't replicate it, either with my build or with beta 7a from the download link above. I'm still using 4.7.1 as well. It sounds like the kind of error you would get if there were characters missing or added in the Decorate file -- did you maybe open it in Slade and accidentally edit something? Otherwise, I'm not sure what could be causing it.

Hi! I think this was with an older build, so if you can't replicate it, then the issue's probably been fixed! I am still intent on playing SS with your mod, just haven't gotten around to it with all the releases dropping seemingly out of nowhere... If only I had more time.

Another quick bugfix build: beta 7b.

-Fixes another bug with the Wand Start options where flight/invuln effects would persist into the next map.

-Wayfarer's Tome Options now appears in the simple options menu.

@Not Jabba

So DSDA Heretic support is getting better and better. Wayfarer tome MBF21 version is possible in the future?
Its not that hard to convert this mod to MBF right? Its just balance changes for weapons mostly...?

On 9/28/2022 at 1:02 PM, Zaratul said:

@Not Jabba

So DSDA Heretic support is getting better and better. Wayfarer tome MBF21 version is possible in the future?
Its not that hard to convert this mod to MBF right? Its just balance changes for weapons mostly...?

That's an interesting thought, but I don't know anything about MBF21 or DeHacked myself. It's probably not something I will worry about, since all my maps are GZ-based, but anyone has my blessing to do an MBF spinoff/conversion if they want.

hi @Not Jabba 

I (re)downloaded version b7b yesterday and noticed the presence of the compatibility wad for Faithess Trilogy.

The file is dated 2021-10-24 but then a few days later, when announcing beta7 in this post, you mentioned that the patch would not have been available until the main mod's conversion to zscript

did the wad slipped into the zip by accident, or is it ready for primetime since the b7b release?

thank you!

1 hour ago, Delfino Furioso said:

I (re)downloaded version b7b yesterday and noticed the presence of the compatibility wad for Faithess Trilogy.

The file is dated 2021-10-24 but then a few days later, when announcing beta7 in this post, you mentioned that the patch would not have been available until the main mod's conversion to zscript

 

did the wad slipped into the zip by accident, or is it ready for primetime since the b7b release?

I must have forgotten to remove it in the last update; I was keeping it in my dev zip for convenience.

The patch won't work properly with E3, but for what it's worth, it is fully compatible with the first two episodes.

Would this work with the original three episode Heretic? I got a copy of the 1.2 wad recently and it might be fun to get some use out of the older IWAD with this

1 minute ago, Devalaous said:

Would this work with the original three episode Heretic? I got a copy of the 1.2 wad recently and it might be fun to get some use out of the older IWAD with this

It should be fine. As far as I know, there's no difference between the two versions except for added maps.

This is one of the best gameplay mod ever out for Heretic.

Every time I'm playing a mod and I do not have Wayfarer's Tome installed, I feel suddenly that I must come back to this topic to get it.

My only gripe is that I'm not sure it's compatible with every mod out there - for example, I'm trying "the master's dome" mod now, and I truly hope they work together.

By the way, can I detect incompatibilities by checking if console goes crazy when using a mod with your gameplay mod, or the "issues" may be more subtle?

Thanks, I'm glad you like it!

I haven't done a lot to ensure compatibility with other mods (and I don't know very much about how to do that). But the next version of the mod will be ZScript, so that should help.

Only weapon I'm not totally sure it's the bow. I would prefer if it was slightly faster in normal mode, and slower in the tome mode. Also, have you tried experimenting with less projectiles? It would be cool to have only one projectile.

is there any way to remove homing capabilities of hellstaff? this is the only thing which is annoying actually