AngelSteel

Map for Severance: Blade Of Darkness

 

Idea and Programming:

IronLord

Winter 2002/03

 

eMail: iron.lord@t-online.de

 

All native speakers of English, please excuse, I did not want to waste so much time writing very correct English.

 

Content

 

1. Installation

2. Modi of Playing

3. The Configuration file  asCONFIG.py

4. Important Functions of Gameplay

 

 

Explanation:

* \ BladeOfDarkness \ is the very normal Blade root directory

* please read all directories carefully, because sounding similar and easily to be mixed up

 

 

1. Installation

 

* the installation is the same procedure that should be known to everybody since there are BODLoader and Gladiator:

* in \ BODLoader \ Maps \ create a folder "AngelSteel" (exactly the same letters)

* copy all files and the empty folder "Pak" into it

* select MODS -> LOAD CUSTOM MAP -> AngelSteel -> INSTALL

* doing this, BODLoader creates a folder "AngelSteel" in \ BladeOfDarkness \ Maps

 

 

2. Modi of Playing

 

* AngelSteel can be played in two different modi:

1.) in the very normal Gladiator mode

2.) in a Single Player Mode ("Load custom map"), that is similar to Gladiator and it does not contain a storyline (hey, the programming is enough work anyway ;-)

3.) for single player there are two modi: : "Real" and "Unreal"

            * in "Real" all enemies appear in their original skin

* in "Unreal" all enemies appear in the original OR a random skin. Only human-like enemies can have a fake skin. (e.g. Firedemons ALWAYS have their original skin)

 

 

3. The Configuration file  asCONFIG.py

 

* it's the short form of AngelSteelConfiguration ;-)

* Gladiator and single player can be configured in many ways:

* therefore you must (should) create a desktoplink, that opens the file \ BladeOfDarkness \ Maps \ AngelSteel \ asCONFIG.py with the texteditor NotePad

* There are 17 items that can be adjusted in the asCONFIG.py. They are all self explaining and have an English short description, that explains their function and possible values.

 

VERY IMPORTANT:

* you must not change anything but the values right after the = (only spaces, empty lines and the short descriptions CAN be removed

            * all values behind the =, that stand in " ", MUST be in " " !

* all values WITHOUT " " MUST NOT HAVE " " !

* use the " " by looking how my default values are given

 

* all items belong to a headline:

1.) settings for "Load a custom map"

2.) settings for Gladiator

3.) graphic settings for Gladiator AND "Load a custom map"

 

* the settings are only valid for the modus you are playing. All items under  settings for "Load a custom map" are valid only for the single player modus and not for Gladiator. The same thing the other way round.

* always read the short descriptions in the asCONFIG:

* for example: EnemyLife = "1" means that the enemies have their normal life and not that they have one life point. ONE life point for the enemy means: EnemyLife = "0"

            * always read the descriptions and THEN change the values you want to use

 

settings for "Load a custom map"

Here you can adjust the following:

            * player's character

            * life of player (normal or 1 life point for realism = 1 hit = dead)

            * life of enemies (1 life point [= 1 hit = dead] or normal or increasing every "round")

            * respawn time of enemies (in seconds)

            * number of enemies being active the same time (1 - 4)

* if there shall be enemies at all (if not, you can view the great landscape and listen to own! music meanwhile or test all levers without being disturbed)

* which kind of enemies you do not want to have (golems, vampires, fire demons, meskalamdug can be switched on/off, all other are always enabled). The dangerous ones, where it is hard, to survive a longer time with one life point only can be switched on/off, as you like

* automatical cleansing of the arena. BE CAREFUL with CleanArena, RemoveBodies und CleanBlood. When there are too much weapons and corpses lying around after some time, it slowdowns the processor.

 

settings for Gladiator

Here you can adjust the following:

            * where you want to start: on the floating island or in the cave

            * if Gladiator-enemies respawn at random positions or not

           

graphic settings for Gladiator AND "Load a custom map"

Here you can adjust the following:

            * if a flock of squaking ravens flies abouve the island

            * number of stars over, under, around the isle

            * if the stars are static or flickering

            * colour of the stars (all white or all random colours)

 

ATTENTION:

* many flickering stars (even if they arewhite only) force down EVRY computer (the processor is decisive, not the graphic card)

* static stars by far do not slow down as much as flickering

* flickering stars with RANDOM COLOURS need 25% more computing power

* Static stars slow down the framerate only when they are visible. Flickering stars reduce the framerate even when you are in the cave and the stars are not to be seen.

* the value StarsFlicker (in asCONFIG.py) being "1" or "2" dominates the value of StarsColor

 

 

4. Important Functions of Gameplay

 

4.1. Music

 

* You can copy own . wav and .mp3 files into  \ BladeOfDarkness \ Maps \ AngelSteel  and cycle through them with the key V. When the playback starts, the name of the file is shown quickly. If you do not hear anything although the name is shown, it COULD be because of the sound format. Then have a look what values audible files have (frequency, mono, stereo, PCM format, MPEG-layer etc.)

* With the key B you can cycle through several Blade soundtracks. Therefore you do not need to copy anything.

* With the key N you can switch off any music

* The keys V, B and N work in Gladiator, too. Beside this you still have your Gladiator-music-key (default M)

* you must remove V, B, N from the keyboard setup if they are assigned otherwise.

 

 

4.2. The levers

 

* There are 5 levers: four on the island, one in the cave

* The four levers on the isle make: dawn, bright day, night, direct transport of the player and all enemies into the cave

* Lever in the cave: transport of the player and all enemies onto the island

* the INSTANT transport of the enemies only works in single player mode

* in Gladiator you should wait with the transport until the current round is over (to make the new enemies respawn at the new place). The new enemies in Gladiator only respawn at the new place, when in asCONFIG the RandomPositions = "1".

* with GladiatorMode (in asCONFIG) you can chose where you want to start in Gladiator.

 

 

4.3. Optimizing the Framerate

 

Remind these means to increase the framerate:

Blade at all:   

* change resolution

* shadows on/off (especially in the cave!)

* the Miles-Soundsystem from the gamestarter configuration saves another 10%

* adjust the sound quality

AngelSteel:

            * how many rounds (killed enemies), until corpses, blood, weapons disappear

            * how many enemies are active the same time

            * number of the stars: static, flickering, flickering white or random colour

 

Under http://www.faps.com/ there is a little tool that shows the framerate in one corner of the screen

 

 

4.4. Other

 

* After the player's death he will respawn after a few seconds.

* Bug: every enemy in the single player mode that dies by falling down, is replaced by TWO new enemies

* the kind of the items on the small coloumns behind the lever-obelisks depends on the kind of character you are playing

* look into your inventory: it is full of stuff