29. April 2020, 19:58:59

#20

voodoo47Quote

ah right, you need Dark compatible texture transparency. no free lunches, as always.

but should work with png as well as long as you add alpha/transparency properly. lemme check.

//ok, it's an easy fix - load the bmp into gimp, go Image->Mode, select RGB, go Layer->Transparency->Add Alpha Channel, use the Fuzzy Selection Tool to select the pinky part of the texture, hit delete and export as PNG. voila, 0.2KB of space saved.

Acknowledged by: RoSoDude

29. April 2020, 20:56:59

#21

ZylonBaneQuote

Quote by RoSoDude:

I tried exporting the edited icons I made in GIMP as .png instead of .bmp but the purple background didn't turn transparent, so I didn't bother. Is .pcx any better? I could try that.

Just so you know, in paletted images (GIF/PCX) the Dark Engine makes all pixels that use palette index #0 transparent. It can be literally any color, but it's usually set to pure magenta or green so it's easy to spot which areas will be transparent.

24. July 2020, 16:10:34

#22

sarge945Quote

These are some pretty good changes.

25. July 2020, 01:25:34

#23

RoSoDudeQuote

Thanks! Your timing is good, because I just so happen to have a 1.03 update ready for today. The main changes are a total revert of ADaOB's grenade balance and reduced costs for the highest ranks of stats/skills to better incentivize specialization -- see comparison of upgrade curves here:

https://i.imgur.com/sZNh0wB.png

#### 1.03 ####
-Fixed Midwife Organ research time being increased to 4400 instead of 1500
-Fixed Rumbler Organ research time not being increased from 2200 to 4400 as intended, so the Mo chemical requirement never initiated
-Fixed Wrench description still implying that it benefits from Standard skill
-Reverted Viral Proliferator Research skill requirement from 5 to 3 as intended
-Removed Molecular Transmutation value on spent prisms/batteries
-Reverted ADaOB Small/Large Worm Beaker stack count from 6/12 to 4/8, recycle value from 2 to 3 nanites
-Decreased Anti-Entropy duration from 30s + 20s per PSI to 20s + 20s per PSI (vanilla 10s + 20s per PSI)
-Decreased base Stasis Field Generator effect duration from 8 seconds to 6 seconds
-Added duration scaling with Heavy skill to Stasis Field Generator's AREA mode
-Decreased AREA mode stasis trap duration from 20 seconds to 6 seconds, removed lasting 8 second stun after trap expires [SS2 Stasis Trap mod only]
-Decreased Grenade Launcher modification level 1/2 damage multiplier from 2.00/2.28x to 1.10/1.25x
-Reverted ADaOB grenade rebalance
   -Frag grenade damage 26 -> 20, damage scaling (already unintentionally in effect)
   -Proximity grenade direct damage 25 -> 20, no scaling
   -Proximity grenade mine damage 25 -> 10, no scaling
   -EMP grenade damage 20 -> 10, damage scaling (re-enabled)
   -Incendiary grenade damage 45 -> 15, damage scaling (re-enabled)
   -Disruption grenade damage 68, no scaling (vanilla 35 damage)
-Decreased Disruption grenade radius from 8.00 to 6.50, removed linear dispersion
-Increased Fusion Cannon energy damage on NORM/DEATH mode from 20/30 to 30/45
-Decreased Fusion Cannon DEATH mode radius from 12 to 10
-Increased Fusion Cannon Repair skill requirement from 5 to 6
-Changed spent prism repair difficulty from 10% base success, 7 base ICE to 5% base success, 8 base ICE
-Decreased tech skill 1/2/3/4/5/6 unlock cost from 10/5/8/12/25/50 to 10/5/8/12/20/35 cyber modules
-Decreased weapon skill 1/2/3/4/5/6 unlock cost from 12/6/8/15/36/50 to 12/6/8/15/30/45 cyber modules
-Decreased stat 2/3/4/5/6 unlock cost from 3/8/15/30/50 to 3/8/15/25/40 cyber modules
-Broke the EMP rifle in the Recreation A surgical bay, decreased condition from 8 to 3
-Broke the EMP rifle in the Recreation C theater, decreased condition from 8 to 5
-Increased the broken EMP rifle ammo at the top of the Command bridge elevator from 0 to 50
-Fixed pickup brightness on prisms and batteries in maps (did not inherit from object hierarchy)
-Converted new object icons from .bmp to .png for reduced file size
-Included manual fix for in-game text descriptions conflicting with SS2 Alarming Cameras. See [install]\SS2\DMM\SS2-RSD_x.xx\ALARMING_CAMERAS_FIX\ for details

25. July 2020, 03:43:54

#24

sarge945Quote

Good to see these. I think so far the only change I fundamentally disagree with in this mod is the Tank revert, as Tank was always kind of bad, except on the highest difficulty where it was good. Anything below that and it was just a bad upgrade.

I guess difficulty scaling is the best approach, but not sure how possible that is in Dark.

Any chance you're going to do things with PSI powers? I know you've already touched them a little, but there are skills that I think need a complete rework from scratch because of how completely useless they are (remote electron tampering? although I guess that's fixed by the alarming cameras mod, but still) and some which are just.....completely weird, like Remote Circuitry Manipulation which seems far too niche to be even remotely useful unless you've somehow gone a 100% psi build (and even then, it's probably cheaper CM wise to get some points in hacking, I haven't checked).

Don't even get me started on the WormSkin armor....

I am one of those people who have tried multiple Psi-only playthroughs and failed, as I usually find it's just not worth it. I know they can be done (I have seen lets plays of them), but they all tend to rely on a handful of disciplines to the exclusion of all else, and are mostly "challenge" playthroughs rather than a legitimate build option. Psi doesn't seem powerful enough to justify not using anything else and many disciplines are completely useless unless you are a pure psi character, and even then, many of them are overshadowed by others, which puts psi in this weird no-mans-land where it's not useful unless you're a purely psi character, and being a purely psi character is generally not worth it overall. I'm not exactly an expert on game balance, but that seems like it has enough problems to significantly reduce the depth and viability of psi or semi-psi playthroughs, to the point where most of them are fundamentally the same, with the same basic handful of abilities, always by really good players who can leverage the extreme weaknesses of psi to make the game work for them, but even then it's more difficult than using other methods and for no real benefit other than "it's fun". I guess someone could do fun alternate builds, but they are kind of hurting themselves by doing them. It sucks because you can tell the developers put thought and effort into the powers and it sucks seeing a good 80% of them being nothing but a trap to waste CMs. Maybe I am being too harsh...

Overall though, yet another update full of good changes