Modding Alpha Protocol

[WILL THE ALMIGHTY]

WHAT?! THERE WAS A VODKA PLANT LEVEL?

 

I weep for you Obsidian.

[Starwars]

I'd figured I'd ask here since some you people seem good at these types of things. There is a slight graphical glitch in my game where character models look... awkward when the camera is a long way off from them. The most prominent example of this is meeting SIE in the trainyard level where there are some wide shots of both Mike and SIE. When the camera is a long way off, it's like the textures on the character models get messed up. I can't quite explain it and unfortunately I didn't screenshot it.

It also happens in a few other places in the game (meeting Brayko for example).

 

Could there be a setting or something that could fix this?

[WorstUsernameEver]

I'd figured I'd ask here since some you people seem good at these types of things. There is a slight graphical glitch in my game where character models look... awkward when the camera is a long way off from them. The most prominent example of this is meeting SIE in the trainyard level where there are some wide shots of both Mike and SIE. When the camera is a long way off, it's like the textures on the character models get messed up. I can't quite explain it and unfortunately I didn't screenshot it.

It also happens in a few other places in the game (meeting Brayko for example).

 

Could there be a setting or something that could fix this?

 

We were discussing this with Oner on the IRC chat yesteday.

If anyone has any idea how to fix this, it would be appreciated.

[MarteenDee]

I'd figured I'd ask here since some you people seem good at these types of things. There is a slight graphical glitch in my game where character models look... awkward when the camera is a long way off from them. The most prominent example of this is meeting SIE in the trainyard level where there are some wide shots of both Mike and SIE. When the camera is a long way off, it's like the textures on the character models get messed up. I can't quite explain it and unfortunately I didn't screenshot it.

It also happens in a few other places in the game (meeting Brayko for example).

 

Could there be a setting or something that could fix this?

 

Screenshot would be the best here to depict your problem. I can't even imagine what might mean "messed up". My only thought is that if you're talking about long shots it might be poor mipmap quality or shimmering caused by too high texture resolution... Or - if you tried mine or some other fixes - you could set up lowest mipmap level too high and engine isn't rendering textures properly.

 

In other words - screenshot please (if F9 isn't working during cutscenes use printscreen key on your keyboard) - and we can help you more precisely.

 

LOL - change DefaultGravityZ=-750.0 to -100 for example and start throwing nades :D

Edited June 13, 2010 by MarteenDee

[WorstUsernameEver]

I'd figured I'd ask here since some you people seem good at these types of things. There is a slight graphical glitch in my game where character models look... awkward when the camera is a long way off from them. The most prominent example of this is meeting SIE in the trainyard level where there are some wide shots of both Mike and SIE. When the camera is a long way off, it's like the textures on the character models get messed up. I can't quite explain it and unfortunately I didn't screenshot it.

It also happens in a few other places in the game (meeting Brayko for example).

 

Could there be a setting or something that could fix this?

 

Screenshot would be the best here to depict your problem. I can't even imagine what might mean "messed up". My only thought is that if you're talking about long shots it might be poor mipmap quality or shimmering caused by too high texture resolution... Or - if you tried mine or some other fixes - you could set up lowest mipmap level too high and engine isn't rendering textures properly.

 

In other words - screenshot please (if F9 isn't working during cutscenes use printscreen key on your keyboard) - and we can help you more precisely.

 

Clipping/see-through problems (e.g. you can see Sie's hair under her hat ). I'm not sure if that's the exact problem Starwars had, but that's what I have.

And yeah, I'm using the tweaks, and I had the idea it could be that but.. didn't quite know what to change.

[Starwars]

What WorstUserName said. This is using non-tweaked files.

 

If I get around to a scene soon where this is a problem, I'll screencap it

[Tigranes]

I'm using some of the engine tweaks now - I don't see a huge amount of difference but I'm pretty bad at detecting small changes in graphics, so we'll see. Also experimenting with making it a bit harder...has anyone noticed

 

GlobalAIDamageReduction=25; # reduces damage by 80%

 

In APAI.ini?

 

I'm trying putting it on 15, but hard to tell if it's doing anything.

[blackwolfe]

20k is meh. Need 150k for most expensive armor. Some of the Halbech data will get sent to Scarlett for rep. 1mil is not a possibility.

 

Anyways none of that was the point. I'm not here to debate the game, but to mod it. $100 for a enemy drop is PATHETIC. I'll change that too once I find it.

 

If you chose to send it to scarlet, then sure. You can also take into account selling various gold plated weapons that you might get from killing people.

[Zoraptor]

WHAT?! THERE WAS A VODKA PLANT LEVEL?

Moscow level 2 and level 14 are both labeled as vodka plant in some places- there are unused static meshes for some things like stills. I'd imagine the levels themselves were retasked.

 

I've been looking for the price and clearinghouse files for a long time now and I can say that they are not in the inis. Maybe I'll have more luck with the game files.

I would presume the information is in ..\cookedPC\packages\inventory with the clearinghouse stuff defined by a combination of arch_vendors and the others. They're all upks and compiled/ hex rather than being text files though so... I would presume some sort of base monetary values are on the item files*, and the vendors define what you have available.

 

For the AILoot, presumably [..]LootArchetypes\AILoot, if it's not controlled directly by either the level files or on the AI, with predetermined static drops for each level defined in the appropriate subfolders

 

For whoever it was wanted to know where the perks were hiding they're in the RPGdata arch_rpgstats.upk. Same deal though, compiled/ hex (albeit with plain text description taking up a lot of space).

 

*If the 'base' value of flechettes is 4000, and that of phosphorus rounds is 5000 and for standard shotgun shells is 50 then I've found the money value in, well, two minutes and it may be editable relatively easily, assuming that the original files can be repacked or overridden successfully.

[Hassat Hunter]

Moscow level 2 and level 14 are both labeled as vodka plant in some places- there are unused static meshes for some things like stills. I'd imagine the levels themselves were retasked.

If it uses the same numbering as the mission textures, M02 is the trainyard. No 14 though.

[anubite]

Modding AP would be interesting, especially since Sis is mute ... modders could easily enlarge her role in the story, I think, with a little work. But beyond that? I don't think much else can be done with this game, the stealth mechanics don't seem salvageable to me. At least when I compare this game to Thief or Hitman Bloodmoney. I mean, shadow operative, really? And the levels are just too linear, not enough routes to complete missions (ala Deus Ex). I doubt there will be a community patch - I mean, Mass Effect was much more popular at release than AP was, has numerous aspects that could be improved, uses the same engine... and I'm pretty sure there aren't any mods/community patches for ME.

Edited June 13, 2010 by anubite

[zkylon]

Modding AP would be interesting, especially since Sis is mute ... modders could easily enlarge her role in the story, I think, with a little work. But beyond that? I don't think much else can be done with this game, the stealth mechanics don't seem salvageable to me. At least when I compare this game to Thief or Hitman Bloodmoney. I mean, shadow operative, really? And the levels are just too linear, not enough routes to complete missions (ala Deus Ex). I doubt there will be a community patch - I mean, Mass Effect was much more popular at release than AP was, has numerous aspects that could be improved, uses the same engine... and I'm pretty sure there aren't any mods/community patches for ME.

But ME's audience's a lot more mainstream. Mainstream gamers never bother to tangle with modding. I'm hoping MCA will launch an Alpha Protocol bible or something like that for mods to fill the cut content :D It's impossible, i know, but one's allowed to dream.

[SNIPER231JRC]

You say that no one mods me?

 

I personally have done many projects for me2... Here is a video displaying my work since its release

 

My Mods Page

My ME2 Mods

 

Groups I belong to

ME2 Ini Modders

ME2 Texture Modders

 

now on that note, I'm sure AP could be modded with texmod just like ME2.

Edited June 13, 2010 by SNIPER231JRC

[MarteenDee]

Modding AP would be interesting, especially since Sis is mute ... modders could easily enlarge her role in the story, I think, with a little work. But beyond that? I don't think much else can be done with this game, the stealth mechanics don't seem salvageable to me. At least when I compare this game to Thief or Hitman Bloodmoney. I mean, shadow operative, really? And the levels are just too linear, not enough routes to complete missions (ala Deus Ex). I doubt there will be a community patch - I mean, Mass Effect was much more popular at release than AP was, has numerous aspects that could be improved, uses the same engine... and I'm pretty sure there aren't any mods/community patches for ME.

 

 

Clearly, you don't know anything about modding, mate... Look what we did for STALKER here.

 

 

@Zoraptor If you found exact values in packages with hex editor you can try to change them. If game don't crash it means that the game doesn't check hash value when loading packages. If the values in game change - we're there. You don't need to unpack/repack stuff for hex editing...

 

Tigranes Yeah, there's not maybe a *huge* difference, but clearly there is. Especially in shadows and texture sharpness.

It's hard to say if some values are working without trying any exaggerated values.

HardModePawnDamageIncrease=0.50 is working for sure for Hard Difficulty.

 

@Starwars and WorstUsernameEver I know but imho without opening models we can't do much about it. It's texture clipping issue on low lod models... Only thing you can try is to force game to use high lod models/textures in the distance = more processing power needed. I'm also not sure if it's possible for cinematic. When I'll get to that part in game again I will fiddle with it and see is there's anything we can do.

 

@Obsidian Help us to help you. We need some hints from devs for modding.

Edited June 13, 2010 by MarteenDee

[Zoraptor]

Ah, so there is no need to pack/ unpack, useful to know.

 

I'm pretty sure they are the correct values*, but altering the hex has not done anything immediate. I'll leave the altered values in place as I guess availability, prices and such may be partly determined in save games in which case getting new vendors or new safehouses may trigger them. I made the shotgun and stealth armours ludicrously expensive (since I'm not using either in my current game) so it should be obvious if it has worked. Alternatively they are just some sort of left over design file and altering them is useless.

 

* eg Low stealth armour cost 9056 hex cost 10500 (04 29 00)

Mid stealth armour cost 42262 hex cost 49000 (68 bf 00)

High stealth armour cost 129375 hex cost 150000 (f0 09 02)

which aren't exactly the same, but have the same ratio of 1:1.594 actual price to hex price so they would probably match before/ after any discounts applied.

 

I'm not sure Obsidian can do anything to directly support modding- licencing agreements (and in the case of a proper editor, licencing costs) probably preclude it.

[MarteenDee]

Ah, so there is no need to pack/ unpack, useful to know.

 

I'm pretty sure they are the correct values*, but altering the hex has not done anything immediate. I'll leave the altered values in place as I guess availability, prices and such may be partly determined in save games in which case getting new vendors or new safehouses may trigger them. I made the shotgun and stealth armours ludicrously expensive (since I'm not using either in my current game) so it should be obvious if it has worked. Alternatively they are just some sort of left over design file and altering them is useless.

 

* eg Low stealth armour cost 9056 hex cost 10500 (04 29 00)

Mid stealth armour cost 42262 hex cost 49000 (68 bf 00)

High stealth armour cost 129375 hex cost 150000 (f0 09 02)

which aren't exactly the same, but have the same ratio of 1:1.594 actual price to hex price so they would probably match before/ after any discounts applied.

 

I'm not sure Obsidian can do anything to directly support modding- licencing agreements (and in the case of a proper editor, licencing costs) probably preclude it.

 

Well... If you're changing values in hex editor and there's no crash whatsoever it should be fine. Unpacking/repacking would gave as direct access to any files through either UDK or any text editor (depends what kind of files we would like to alter). With that we could exactly know what we're altering and how it's used.

 

True, there's many factors for final equipment price - perks, missions, difficulty settings, level of friendship with certain characters, intel. Either way - if you set any number (is it basic weapon price or modifier) you should sooner or later see the difference. What at least unpacking would gave as - knowledge which values are which so we could alter them (even in hex editor) without all the guesswork.

 

Good luck man, I really hope that we can build some great mod community here - as Obsidian's games are worth it.

[Zoraptor]

Don't think those files are actually used by the game, unfortunately- the arch prefix may mean archive. Since I was getting no obvious results I tried the nuke from orbit option and deleted the armour upk and even that didn't make a difference (nor did it even cause a crash which was what I expected). I now rather suspect the whole thing got read/ compiled into something else. Shame, really, as those pretty much definitely were the values.

[MarteenDee]

Don't think those files are actually used by the game, unfortunately- the arch prefix may mean archive. Since I was getting no obvious results I tried the nuke from orbit option and deleted the armour upk and even that didn't make a difference (nor did it even cause a crash which was what I expected). I now rather suspect the whole thing got read/ compiled into something else. Shame, really, as those pretty much definitely were the values.

 

I was checking upk files too.

What I think, there's a lot of unused files - probably leftovers or backup stuff from development process. Files which are used for 100% are the ones stated in APEngine.ini. There's a list of caching priority (called cooking in Unreal Engine for some reason). Now - if something is in ini file (like equipment stats for example), there have to be an unique name for it, and cross reference in packed files.

 

That's the key I'm using for searching stuff - but it takes a tad longer than two minutes, though.

 

The best thing would be if some gifted programmers from the community would take their time to "crack" the way all packages are protected. I'm neither gifted nor programmer - sorry.

[Tigranes]

For people who want to make AP fresh without waiting for the more substantial fixes, upping the noise factor changes the game quite dramatically.

 

I was fiddling with NoiseStats, and discovered that if you increase them by ~25% or so, it makes it a lot, lot harder to sneak by levels. It feels like AP levels were designed so that, with default noise stats, a dedicated stealth player could easily ghost most levels if they knew the patrol routes and used their items/abilities well. After 4 playthroughs, that starts to get old.

 

I think they're not very well balanced, to be honest: if you look at the numbers, the noise generated by a stealth takedown is way too low, as is jogging/running and bouncing grenades. That's why even on Hard you can lob a grenade from behind and they won't notice, you can take down people and guards nearby won't notice, etc. If you up these values, from the start, stealthing past the courtyard or doing Parker's espionage mission becomes a lot more challenging.

[MarteenDee]

For people who want to make AP fresh without waiting for the more substantial fixes, upping the noise factor changes the game quite dramatically.

 

I was fiddling with NoiseStats, and discovered that if you increase them by ~25% or so, it makes it a lot, lot harder to sneak by levels. It feels like AP levels were designed so that, with default noise stats, a dedicated stealth player could easily ghost most levels if they knew the patrol routes and used their items/abilities well. After 4 playthroughs, that starts to get old.

 

I think they're not very well balanced, to be honest: if you look at the numbers, the noise generated by a stealth takedown is way too low, as is jogging/running and bouncing grenades. That's why even on Hard you can lob a grenade from behind and they won't notice, you can take down people and guards nearby won't notice, etc. If you up these values, from the start, stealthing past the courtyard or doing Parker's espionage mission becomes a lot more challenging.

 

Nice find Tigranes! It's good you confirmed it working.

BTW: do you think we could get some sub-forum for mod related subjects only? As I think it might be worth it in long run. Just an idea, anyway.

 

@Zoraptor after thinking about gear prices... There's a lot of "DefaultValue" and "BlackmarketValue" along with some modifiers all over the place. I'm considering changing those (or taking your "nuke from the orbit" method) and starting new game to see is there any direct link or they're obsolete/archive files. Maybe there's a chance that they're somehow compiled into binary packs (saves or whatever) after you choose difficulty? Since there are no different "profiles" for each gameplay that might be it... Worth try.

[Orogun01]

Modding AP would be interesting, especially since Sis is mute ... modders could easily enlarge her role in the story, I think, with a little work. But beyond that? I don't think much else can be done with this game, the stealth mechanics don't seem salvageable to me. At least when I compare this game to Thief or Hitman Bloodmoney. I mean, shadow operative, really? And the levels are just too linear, not enough routes to complete missions (ala Deus Ex). I doubt there will be a community patch - I mean, Mass Effect was much more popular at release than AP was, has numerous aspects that could be improved, uses the same engine... and I'm pretty sure there aren't any mods/community patches for ME.

 

 

Clearly, you don't know anything about modding, mate... Look what we did for STALKER here.

 

 

You are on the Lurk team?! You are automatically my favorite person On that note when will V1.1 ready? >-<

[Tigranes]

Followup on noisestats -

 

It *does* work and it does make a big difference. I found that spiking up noise values for sneaking (RECON) and open door too much meant you could not do Parker's espionage training (both 'normal' and 'secret') without being detected! Putting up recon too much would mean that even if you snuck up to an enemy from ehind they would become alerted just before you did the takedown.

 

Lots of tweaking still needed, what I ideally want is for it to be really really hard to be able to take out people inside a building or a courtyard without other enemies in that same area noticing. i.e. a lot more yellow arrows (suspicious enemies).

 

BTW: do you think we could get some sub-forum for mod related subjects only? As I think it might be worth it in long run. Just an idea, anyway.

 

No idea, maybe later on I can suggest it if we get more modding stuff going on, but it's not my call.

[Zoraptor]

@Zoraptor after thinking about gear prices... There's a lot of "DefaultValue" and "BlackmarketValue" along with some modifiers all over the place. I'm considering changing those (or taking your "nuke from the orbit" method) and starting new game to see is there any direct link or they're obsolete/archive files. Maybe there's a chance that they're somehow compiled into binary packs (saves or whatever) after you choose difficulty? Since there are no different "profiles" for each gameplay that might be it... Worth try.

I wouldn't have thought they could be compiled into the saves as they are so small and seem to be totally dedicated to stat/ perk/ skill/ rep and mission tracking.

 

I did try changing all the values that might have made a difference in the relevant bits of armor.upk and ammo.upk (even the default number of bullets sold) to no effect.

 

There is a "suppress=inventory" line in APEngine.ini I may try removing and see if that makes a difference.

Edited June 15, 2010 by Zoraptor

[Luckmann]

MarteenDee, I decided to register for the sole purpose of thanking you for your config tweaks. Not only does my Alpha Protocol run much better now, but it even looks better!

 

Top notch!

[Starwars]

Hey, took a while but here are two screenshots of the problem with character models at a distance I have:

 

 

 

Any clues?