Gameplay Mod [03 APR 2024] GZChaos 1.3 - A chaos mod with >200 effects!

[kevansevans]

GZChaos - A random mutation mod

 

 

Download here on itch.io (Requires GZDoom 4.11)

 

Every 30 seconds, the mod will roll a mutator. This is visualized by the green bar on top of the screen: https://imgur.com/a/jrwrGyZ

 

And whatever it rolls, you must deal with: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_FarIhm3LaaHUOmkqm36kB92V1AFhplkZiHTHMG_oPE/edit?usp=sharing

 

Is this mod fair?

Lol, no. This mod is meant to mess with you. You are here to play for the punishment.

 

Okay, but seriously, this is down right cruel. Can you do something about it?

You're free to air your grievances here, and I may consider them.

 

Is this mod stable?

I can't promise that. Due to the nature of this mod, I can not promise that any and every combination it rolls will still allow progress, and some effects are purposefully made to screw you over. However, I will put in effort to make sure the mod never crashes.

 

 

 

Edited April 4 by kevansevans
Updated version - 1.3

[Major Arlene]

I've played an updated version of this and have to say, it's a ton of fun despite being Very Unfair! Definitely recommend it.

[kevansevans]

Update for 28JUL2023:

 

The mod now supports >200 unique effects.

Several settings have been added to adjust things.

Supports seeds.

 

Download: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/tbc0bfsceq3anvxpl5h19/GZChaos_18JUL2023.pk3?rlkey=gyro8zuil39br8yogtpjlp1rt&dl=0

[BeachThunder]

This is great.

 

What are some good wads to use this on? I suppose the best types of level would be both easy and long, but also have a lot of enemies / enemy variety. Not really a typical combination.

 

Edit: Okay, after playing this a bit more, I'm really loving the absurd shit this throws your way. The dopamine hit of finding a hundred 'secrets' in a level that normally only has one :'D

 

Edited July 19, 2023 by BeachThunder

[Daytime Waitress]

I think this might be the first time in a very long while that I haven't groaned when I've gotten to the Underhalls. A lot of absurd bullshit, and it all comes across as good fun, plus it's a nice challenge to see how far you can push your luck.

 

Dumb n00b question, but where will it poop out a crash log so I can actually give you detailed information on where/when it shit the bed?

[kevansevans]

If GZDoom’s VM crashes, the type where gzdoom will still be running, you can share a screenshot here and I’ll know what to look for.

 

if it’s the type of crash that takes GZDoom down, I’m afraid that I can’t help with those.

[BeachThunder]

This pairs pretty nicely with Obsidian levels. I've been playing some generated levels with monster quantity and level size turned all the way up. It's delightfully chaotic.

I've gotten a couple of crashes though. I didn't get a screenshot of the first time (it crashed after "myfirstmap.wad" expired), and I just got a crash now after "exit and restart level" restarted the level:

 

Also, some of the effects definitely should not last as long as they do. Like "you need glasses", "earthquake!", and "Johnny test"...

[ni1chigo2115]

There used to be a similar mod for GTAV.(but japan only)
I remember how much fun it was to watch the mod developer die instantly from the sudden effects.

It would be fun if the effects were linked to the comments in the stream, and the specific chat text was used as a key to force the activation of the effects, but I guess that's technically difficult with GZDoom.

Edited July 22, 2023 by ni1chigo2115

[kevansevans]

Bug fix update, no new effects: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/iyl6gqwxf70bj3qso0ehq/GZChaos_25JUL2023.pk3?rlkey=5x2xnun2316xx62rgzi1fxvms&dl=0
 

- Fixed memory buffer oversight. This system is in place to prevent effects from re-rolling too close together. By default, GZChaos will remember the last 20 effects you've rolled to help make sure you get different effects. This can be increased or decreased in the settings.

- Prevent "Player commits suicide" on seeded runs. This is a statistical inevitability that this will get rolled, and it sort of defeats the point of playing a seeded run if there's a guaranteed dead end. The fake one will still roll.

- Fixed the crash @BeachThunder experienced and the one Icarus ran into on his stream.

- Added a "Max effect duration" slider in options. This will cap certain effects by the minute. The average effect duration is 3 minutes, but some do exceed that amount. This setting is present for cowards those who "get it" for certain effects. Leave off to use the default duration I set.

[Doomenator]

So annoying stripes on the screen. Add the ability to disable visual timers. 

[kevansevans]

Version 1.0 release! Check out the trailer! Download here on itch.io

 

 

[Flytrap]

Hey, i think i found a bug.

I was playing with final doomer (+its class menu) and i rolled inventory sickness, and then i rolled walk through actors.

When inventory sickness timed out, nothing happened, and soon after walk through actors timed out aswell, and when that happened i was given every single weapon.

Correct me if im wrong, but the weapons should be given back after inventory sickness times out, not when some other condition runs out.
Also, why did it give me weapons i never had?

Also also, why does inventory sickness takes away my hands aswell? I dont really think fists are equippable weapons....

[kevansevans]

I can't really account for every weapon class ever made in GZDoom modding unfortunately, as how am I supposed to know if a melee weapon is the characters "hands"?

 

Inventory sickness on purpose does not give you your items back. You need to pick them back up once it times out. Unfortunately, with the combination of "walk through actors", you were unable to pick them back up.

 

As for weapons you never had, my guess is you rolled the effect under the name "IDKFA" which will perform the same thing as typing "give all" in your console, so naturally it would give things you would have yet to pick up.

 

Paying attention to every effect roll is imperative to tackling this mod head on, which is why by default there's an info display. You can turn it off if you're crazy, but I don't recommend that.

[Flytrap]

27 minutes ago, kevansevans said:

I can't really account for every weapon class ever made in GZDoom modding unfortunately, as how am I supposed to know if a melee weapon is the characters "hands"?

 

Inventory sickness on purpose does not give you your items back. You need to pick them back up once it times out. Unfortunately, with the combination of "walk through actors", you were unable to pick them back up.

 

As for weapons you never had, my guess is you rolled the effect under the name "IDKFA" which will perform the same thing as typing "give all" in your console, so naturally it would give things you would have yet to pick up.

 

Paying attention to every effect roll is imperative to tackling this mod head on, which is why by default there's an info display. You can turn it off if you're crazy, but I don't recommend that.

Oh, right, i forgot i got IDKFA

Also, my question was about why are you taking fists away? The mod adds a fist replacement, sure, but thats a replacement, gzchaos would have taken away the default fists aswell, no?

 

Also, i just rolled rear view mirror and gameboy doom and the mirror doesnt have the gameboy filter. Surely thats a bug

[kevansevans]

The short explanation: Like I said, I can't tell if a weapon is a "fist" or not. I can't fix this.

The long explanation:

Spoiler

 

Doom does not have a "Fist" tag for the fist or anything of similar. All weapons are under the class of "INVENTORY", even if they're a fist. Within ZScript, I can check if an actor is a specific class through a really simple operation: if (actor is "Inventory"), and by extension, I can check if that item is the fist specifically with if (actor is "Fist") because "Fist" inherits from "Weapon", which in turn inherits from "Inventory". GZChaos already does this, since it doesn't make much sense for the player to puke up their fists, even if the implications there are pretty funny. None of Final Doomer's fists actually inherit from fist, they all inherit from a general class "FDWeapon" and merely occupy slot 1. This puts things into a situation where I can't heuristically determine if an inventory item the player is holding is a "Fist", leaving me with these approaches:

• I add in code that checks the name of the weapon, if it contains the word "fist" skip over it. This would not work perfectly, because other modders can name their weapons whatever the heck they want and I still wouldn't be able to know.
• I hard code in those weapons specifically, which would work until A) They add more fist weapons, or B) everyone starts begging for dedicated support on their favorite mod, and I really don't want to put in that effort to learn the ins and outs of everyone's work if I have to specifically hard code for it.
• I politely ask the Final Doomer devs to work on a solution for me, but why would they? It'd be another Brutal Doom situation where we got people begging for everyone else's mods to work with it.

This is just the nature of the beast with Doom mods. Mashing a bunch of them together will always run the risk of things not working correctly. It's not a useful bug report to be told "Hey I tried your mod with this mod and it broke", there's only so much I can do.

 

 

Edited October 28, 2023 by kevansevans

[Doomenator]

In GZChaos Options need to add default settings.

[kevansevans]

GZChaos 1.1 update, download on itch.io: https://kevansevans.itch.io/gzchaos/devlog/671293/gzchaos-11-update

Changelog:

Spoiler

GZChaos 1.1

General changes:
    - GZDoom 4.11 now required!
    - Massively overhauled underlying system. Technically GZChaos 2.0, but that's for later, maybe.
    - Seed system is no longer weird janky self implemented p_random nonsense.
    - Every effect has had their code refactored and cleaned up, should perform much smoother.
    - Timer code has been refactored to be more flexible and stable.
    - Effects that are timer based can now stack on each other. 2x can combine with 4x to make 8x.
    - Effects that could not carry across a level change now carry across a level change. No I will not elaborate.
    - Texture swap effects have been reduced from 5 minutes to 2 minutes.
    - Shader effects have had their duration reduced to 1 minute.
    - Effects that downgrade health pickups will no longer target soulpshere or megaspheres.
    - Fixed crashes pertaining to effects classified as "Room clearing".
    - Fixed several freezes pertaining to while loops.
    - Added "Pink" as a timer bar color.
    - Added "Water" as a timer bar texture.
    - Removed main menu addition, GZChaos options can still be found in the options menu.
    - Added a menu to enable/disable effects in settings.
    - Effect frequency can now be set to 3 minutes.
    - Removed effect time flux settings.
    
Specific effect changes:
    - "On A Roll" now affects all actors, except player.
    - "Doom for the SNES" now affects all actors. For the rare cases a decorative actor has rotation frames.
    - "Hidden Timer and Effects" have been split in twain.
    - "Recording/Rewinding" will now factor in player pitch.
    - "Clear Auto Map" has changed to "Faulty automap". Automap will only show lines in player's view.
    - "Give a random item" will give ANY inventory item loaded in, regardless if it's useful or not.
    - "Give a random weapon" will give ANY weapon loaded in, regardless if it's useful or not.
    - "Mitosis" properly separates enemies.
    - "Arachnotron growth spurt" will now check if there are arachnotrons on the map to force into puberty.
    - "Bouncy! Bouncy! Bouncy!" will reset all projectiles back to their default state when finished.

 

New Effects:
    - 1/3rd timer
    - 1/10th timer
    - 3x timer
    - Vibin on the cybin
    - Friendly Archviles
    - It's an abstract kind of hell
    - Pause timer
    - Get the lead out!
    - 2x effect speed
    - 0.5x effect speed
    - You are the horror
    - Diabolist Curse
    
Notes:
    Part of the underlying changes include a "purity" detection system. A ton of
    effects I wanted implemented could not happen due my desires to keep the game
    as "uber compatible" as possible. So a bit of underlying code is set up to
    check for these things, let me know if there's any weird behavior when mixing
    GZChaos with various weapon mods. Not that I recommend it for the usual reasons.
    This version does not feature any effect that relies on this system, this is just
    to test that the refactor didn't make things shit the bed.

 

Edited January 25 by kevansevans

[SharkyChip]

Hey! I've been playtesting this mod, as I really love this concept as a whole. I know you said the mod is not stable, but I thought I'd point out some things I've come across that have ended some playthroughs. As for context, I'm playing on GZDoom v4.11.3 with compatibility settings set to default. Recorded several attempts of me trying to UV Speed Knee-Deep in the Dead (which I eventually succeeded at) and currently trying to see how far I can get in Doom II (so far it's map05)

 

First thing I want to talk about is crashes/freezes. There have been several times in which the game has straight up crashed or frozen for no apparent reason. Sometimes it crashes or freezes when a new effect gets added but other times it happens randomly without any "gamebreaking" effects active. One thing to note is that the game has always ended for me when I enter a new level while "Containment Breach" is active, displaying the following error:

Spoiler

 

As for other bugs, I have noticed some invisible walls or enemies spawning from time to time, the former making some levels unbeatable and the latter just being annoying. I do not know why this happens, as I've never been able to determine what effect is causing said things, but it does happen sometimes (the invisible enemy is noticeably more common than the invisible wall).

 

I wanted to add that the menu that allows you to enable and disable effects hasn't seemed to work neither on Ultimate Doom nor Doom II. With that, I mean that disabled effects are still rolled. I have disabled:

• "Containment Breach", due to the aforementioned guaranteed crash
• "Player commits suicide", as it felt way too unfair
• "Fake crash", because I thought rolling this effect caused the game to freeze (I got it for the first time ever in my last attempt and it works fine so I will be enabling it again)

Other than these things I've had a lot of fun with the mod and will surely keep playing the heck out of it. I can compile the footage I have into one or two videos if you want to review how some things played out from a stranger's perspective. That's all, thanks you for reading, for your time and for the mod

Edited February 10 by SharkyChip
Forgot to say something

[kevansevans]

Hey, this is great feedback and definitely stuff I can investigate, because admitting it's unstable is not an excuse to not fix it. Screenshots like that are perfect as I can go to exactly where things broke, and footage is extra helpful because I know what to pay attention to.

 

Many thanks, I'll definitely make the next update a fix for the enable/disable menu.

 

EDIT:

- Toggle menu fixed
- Containment breach crash, and by extension Ghoul's Forest crash, has been fixed.

- Will have update ready soon

Edited February 10 by kevansevans

[SharkyChip]

Hello again! I have compiled the footage from KDITD. It's a total of 15 attempts throughout 1 hour and 16 minutes of footage. I added in some commentary in subtitles so it's more fun to watch, and the timestamps for each attempt and the reason of death is in the video description. Here it is!

 

Edited February 10 by SharkyChip
accidentally set the video not to start from the beginning

[kevansevans]

1.2 update! https://kevansevans.itch.io/gzchaos/devlog/681581/gzchaos-12-update

General Changes
    - Fixed two effects from crashing game
    - Fixed toggle effect menu not actually toggling effects
    - Fixed "Disco Skybox" from crashing the game on roll
    - Fixed "Chase Cam" crashing game on loading new level
    - Fixed "Cyberfuck" incorrectly being displayed as a timed effect
    
New Effects:
    - Set random player velocity
    - Increase player velocity
    - Set random projectile velocity
    - Kills teleport player
    - Spawn companion
    - Giant Enemies

[kevansevans]

1.2.1 update. Nothing huge, just a stability fix that should make it play a lot nicer with other mods you may run this with.

 

But, the usual, this wasn't tested with other wads, blah blah blah, not built for the raven iwads, blah blah blah. Maybe I'll get to those eventually and add in some dedicated Heretic/Hexen effects or brainstorm on how to mess with players in Strife.

[kevansevans]

1.3 update! https://kevansevans.itch.io/gzchaos/devlog/709241/13-update
 

General changes
    - Added InputProcess event function
    - Reworked "disable forward/backwards movement"
    - Reworked "disable strafing movement"
    
New Effects
    - Disable left strafing
    - Disable right strafing
    - Disable forward
    - Disable backward
    - Disable jumping
    - Disable crouching
    - Disable weapon scrolling
    - Swapped firing input
    - Inverted Mouselook