Demigod v1.3 is in testing

I do hope to see more uberfix changes made in the upcoming patches (assuming this will be a timely series). If there aren't absolutely sure plans to release more patches, I would rather wait on this patch to take longer and have it include more bug fixes from Uberfix, especially the Occulus talents.

New patches are always so exciting. I can't wait to see the changes to the lua. I'm really curious how some of these were implemented, either in the lua or in the engine. I also add my vote to be happy about the patches.

However, given my interest in the lua, I'm going to make some comments and observations about them. Again, I'm really excited about this patch so please don't use me as an excuse to start flaming. I'm also hoping I can increase modding interest in Demigod since it is so straightforward to work with.

Abilities while moving fix: Demigod movement has been re-architected to resume attacking previous targets after using abilities. This fixes multiple problems with triggering Demigod abilities while moving.The following exceptions and modifications are by design:
- Ooh, this one is interesting. This is one of the changes I'm curious about taking place in the engine or in the lua. If it is in the lua it is mainly focused on resetting the navigator in each of the abilities. That's a lot of abilities to change, I don't envy Sorian in making and keeping track of them.

Direct targeted abilities, where it makes sense, will cause the Demigod to switch targets (like Warp Strike and Pounce). This will also set the old target variable so if they use a further ability they will go back to attacking their new target.
- Again, a very straightforward application of setting the navigator in the lua, I'm not sure what they would do if the engine was modified.

Escape abilities (like Warp Scroll and Bat Swarm) will not re-engage the old target and will actually clear the old target so using another ability will not cause you to re-engage.
- I hope they caught Oculus's Blast Off

Giving a move order will clear your old target. So, giving a move order and then casting Warp Area will cause DA to attack whatever he ends up closest to.
- Hmm, not sure what is going on here. As far as I recall move orders already cleared targets. I wonder what behaviors will change with this.

Fix for ranged units stopping short when ordered to attack structures.
- Hmm. I thought the shamblers were the only ones that had this issue and that they were already fixed. I wonder if this adds a default attack range in RangedWeapon.lua. Something like "If NOT ClosingRadius then ClosingRadius = MaxRadius - 4" should work.

Fix for summoned minions not starting at max health when the player has +minion health items.
- An UberFix fixed issue. I hope the UberFix code was helpful in making the solution.
- I wonder if it was fixed in the engine, or in each of the respective summon files as I did with the UberFix.

Fix for Oculus' Ball Lightning spawning in invalid locations.
- An UberFix fixed issue. I hope the UberFix code was helpful in making the solution.

Unclean Beast's Plague ability will no longer overwrite Post Mortem.
- An UberFix fixed issue. I hope the UberFix code was helpful in making the solution.
- I wonder if the knock back code was fixed to give xp and gold correctly.

Wings of the Seraphim will no longer be removed when healed.
Heart of Life effects will no longer be removed when healed.
- An UberFix fixed issue. I hope the UberFix code was helpful in making the solution.
- I wonder if it was fixed in the engine, or in each of the respective summon files as I did with the UberFix.
Fix for obscure Russian-translated map domination crash. Thank you, Ptarth, for helping to point the way on that.
- I hear that Ptarth guy is really handsome, witty, funny, and popular with the ladies. I wish I could be like him.
- I hope that you guys were able to use a lot of the code I've provided to speed things up. I really want to help Demigod become a better game.
Achievement and Single Player tournament screen Demigod lists now have scrollbars.
- I never looked into modding the menus, given that mods can't effect pre-game start events.
- A good thing to have, now we will have less threads about how the Rook has been removed from single player
Oculus’ Ball Lightning will now benefit from standard minion HitPoint Buffs.
- I've frequently be conflicted between saying Oculus' and Oculus's

All in all a very interesting start for the new patches. I'm looking forward to removing all of the new fixes from the UberFix with the next release. Also, if the UberFixers can be of any service to GPG and SD in making these patches happen, please contact us.

Is there ETA for 1.3? I hope it will come today or tomorrow.

This isn't a critique, but more of a general question for the community re: 1 enhancement: "Oculus’ Ball Lightning will now benefit from standard minion HitPoint Buffs."

Do any of you think this change will have any real game play impact? I know the majority of us that use Oc don't bother with ball lightning until late game (and even then, just for the level 15 skill). Any of you think the extra hp might make a minion build that includes ball lightning viable? Should be fun to toy with, anyway.

I'm curious too about the "Abilities while moving fix" froggy mentioned. Wondering how that will be implemented as well.

Probably better to bring this question up in the uberfix thread, but as I can't view that from work, I'll ask here - ptarth, what are you thinking regarding fixes that were in uberfix that are being incorporated into the game? Will you release a new version of uberfix that removes items that are now directly coded in the game?

I'm looking forward to this patch as well.

If more is going to be added it would be nice to see something going off in a single player direction, beyond scroll bars. I know the game is intended for multiplayer, but since most people who bought it are only doing the single-players parts, sometimes it is good to be flexible and capture the audience you have rather than the one you want.

It would be nice if there is a tournament difficulty setting between normal and hard. You can call it "nard" or "harmal." It is a crazy long step between the two as they are now, that I would bet it skips over a lot of casual players.

fearzone - I get what you are saying and welcome SP enhancements as well. If you haven't stumbled across it yet though, you might enjoy trying out the skirmish ai mod which does a pretty good job of enhancing the in game AI, improving their logic and build decisions. I don't believe it does anything for tournament mode, but makes enough of a difference to make SP skirmish mode more interesting.

Quoting OMG_pacov,

reply 81

fearzone - I get what you are saying and welcome SP enhancements as well. If you haven't stumbled across it yet though, you might enjoy trying out the skirmish ai mod which does a pretty good job of enhancing the in game AI, improving their logic and build decisions. I don't believe it does anything for tournament mode, but makes enough of a difference to make SP skirmish mode more interesting.

^What he said. The mod is available in the Modding section of these forums, and it's by a guy named Peppe. Really helps the SP skirmish mode, though it doesn't improve the AI in tournaments.

I'm glad to see more bug fixes for Demigod. Would love to see more content--like a couple of Cataract-size maps--but I suppose this is better than nothing.

Quoting ZehDon,

reply 74

Quoting 5Nana, reply 71great. just minor fixes
I'd rather a series of small patches be released in short bursts than one big patch to fix everything that takes far longer to arrive.

I just heard from someone about this post and all i said was "BOUT TIME!". You say small patches in short bursts but its alrdy been ages since any form of patching has taken place. However, its still good to know that a game I paid for is recieving some love.

Every now and then i keep finding myself wanting to play this game again, but its a shame the online experience has become obsolete. every time ive gone online, theres like 1 room open (and its never australian). Just another reason why id love to see this game transition itself over to a server rather than its current p2p connection.

Also, another thing id like to see thats to be official rather than having mods for it are, Balancing changes. Tweak some figures of the character abilities, items, citadel upgrades etc.

Will the monks still get stuck in the citadel and will DA still do that funky forward moon walk though?

At least it's going to be a series of patches! More to come, yay.

Will there be groupies on the Elemental tour?

Awesome, cant wait for this patch.

Quoting gkrit,

reply 83

...I just heard from someone about this post and all i said was "BOUT TIME!". You say small patches in short bursts but its alrdy been ages since any form of patching has taken place.

I understand, however if it was to be one big patch just imagine how long it would've been before we saw anything? Hence my comment.

@Ptarth: Going to try to reply without quoting your entire post.

First off, bear in mind that anything I say here could change without notice based on how testing goes or what Stardock wants.

The attacking previous targets thing is both engine and lua side (with some new lua accessors for you modders to make any changes to this behavior). Basically, every ability where you want to go back to attacking your previous target has a new boolean variable indicating that (again, so modders can change it easily where they see fit). If that boolean does not appear, it will actually clear your old target, so you don't get the behavior where you use a warp scroll, heal, and then all the sudden start running. There also a boolean that can be set to not attack your old target, but not clear it either.

There are also a couple cases where this all had to be handled as part of the ability script (see DA for an example).

Yes, the Demigods clear their targets when given a move order, so that hasn't changed. I added it to the patch notes to reiterate that in case anyone forgot.

This new method allow the re-targeting thing to be set up on a per ability basis and is very easily moddable if the community decides they want a certain ability to act a different way.

Closing radius did not have a good enough effect imo. I made an engine side change that should fix this issue with any ranged unit.

The rest of the changes are pretty straight forward.

Hope this helps.

wb Sorian! Thanks for chiming in!

re:Sorian

Nifty. Thanks for the extra information. I can't wait to see the new patch. Thanks!

Quoting Frogboy,

reply 69

Demigod v1.30 (1.30.154 on Impulse)
--------------------------------
- Abilities while moving fix: Demigod movement has been re-architected to resume attacking previous targets after using abilities. This fixes multiple problems with triggering Demigod abilities while moving.The following exceptions and modifications are by design:
- Direct targeted abilities, where it makes sense, will cause the Demigod to switch targets (like Warp Strike and Pounce). This will also set the old target variable so if they use a further ability they will go back to attacking their new target.
- Escape abilities (like Warp Scroll and Bat Swarm) will not re-engage the old target and will actually clear the old target so using another ability will not cause you to re-engage.
- Giving a move order will clear your old target. So, giving a move order and then casting Warp Area will cause DA to attack whatever he ends up closest to.
- Fix for ranged units stopping short when ordered to attack structures.
- Fix for summoned minions not starting at max health when the player has +minion health items.
- Fix for Oculus' Ball Lightning spawning in invalid locations.
- Unclean Beast's Plague ability will no longer overwrite Post Mortem.
- Wings of the Seraphim will no longer be removed when healed.
- Heart of Life effects will no longer be removed when healed.
- Fix for obscure Russian-translated map domination crash. Thank you, Ptarth, for helping to point the way on that.

Improvements

- Achievement and Single Player tournament screen Demigod lists now have scrollbars.
- Oculus’ Ball Lightning will now benefit from standard minion HitPoint Buffs.

Release will be as soon as it passes QA.

I am happy to see that when I tp my DG wont start running back to the creep he was AAing