[SUBMISSION] Hell Smith

Name: Hell Smith
Difficulty: Very Hard
Connection: None
Summon: Hellsmith
Melee: Yes
Distance: Projectile, Charge
Type: Demon
Brightmaps: No
GLDefs: Yes
ACS: No
Submitted: Ganbare-Lucifer
Decorate: Amuscaria
Sounds: Raven Software
Sprites: Amuscaria
Idea Base: Diablo 2 Hellforge Smith Demon, Heretic Maulotaur

(Updated Hell Smith with new unique sprites, replace if possible)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_PZ_1UMq8-LOSuU7wZ6hjcIJJJ3ATAzi/view?usp=drive_link

I downloaded all your recent monster submissions, gonna try them out over the evening and give some feedback in the respective threads

For starters, the Hell Smith throws the following errors on startup:
Also, the Hellsmith and the Director seem to share some class names, loading both pk3s together results in this error: The same error happens when switching the load order.
I'd suggest renaming these classes inside one of the two pk3s so they can be used more easily by non-modders (unless there's an underlying mechanic that requires both monsters to rely on the same classes, but that should be handled by mixins or something like that)

DeVloek wrote:

I downloaded all your recent monster submissions, gonna try them out over the evening and give some feedback in the respective threads

For starters, the Hell Smith throws the following errors on startup:

Code:

Script error, "HellSmith.pk3:decorate.txt" line 294: Parent type 'RedPuff' not found in HSMissilePuff Script warning, "HellSmith.pk3:decorate.txt" line 595: Unknown class name 'IrePuff' of type 'Actor' Script warning, "HellSmith.pk3:decorate.txt" line 599: Unknown class name 'RedPuff2' of type 'Actor' Script warning, "HellSmith.pk3:decorate.txt" line 600: Unknown class name 'RedPuff2' of type 'Actor' Script warning, "HellSmith.pk3:decorate.txt" line 652: Unknown class name 'RedPuff2' of type 'Actor'

Also, the Hellsmith and the Director seem to share some class names, loading both pk3s together results in this error:

Code:

HellSmith.pk3:zscript.txt, line 1: Class name piercer already exists HellSmith.pk3:zscript.txt, line 36: Class name slowpiercer already exists HellSmith.pk3:zscript.txt, line 4: Unable to add property maxpierce to class piercer HellSmith.pk3:zscript.txt, line 5: Unable to add property maxdamage to class piercer HellSmith.pk3:zscript.txt, line 39: Unable to add property maxpierce to class slowpiercer HellSmith.pk3:zscript.txt, line 40: Unable to add property maxdamage to class slowpiercer HellSmith.pk3:zscript.txt, line 1: piercer already has defaults HellSmith.pk3:zscript.txt, line 36: slowpiercer already has defaults

The same error happens when switching the load order.
I'd suggest renaming these classes inside one of the two pk3s so they can be used more easily by non-modders (unless there's an underlying mechanic that requires both monsters to rely on the same classes, but that should be handled by mixins or something like that)
 

Updated

I don't think it is necessary to put different zscripts for basically the same thing.

still doesnt work out of the box. Do i need any other files to make this work?

I don't think it is necessary to put different zscripts for basically the same thing.

I disagree. Since they are two different monsters that should work on their own, it is absolutely necessary to give their internal classes different names, otherwise you can't use them together without merging the code, and that is not a task for the average doomer who just wants to drop a few cool monsters in their maps.

DeVloek wrote:

still doesnt work out of the box. Do i need any other files to make this work?

Code:

Script error, "HellSmith.pk3:decorate.txt" line 294: Parent type 'RedPuff' not found in HSMissilePuff

I don't think it is necessary to put different zscripts for basically the same thing.

I disagree. Since they are two different monsters that should work on their own, it is absolutely necessary to give their internal classes different names, otherwise you can't use them together without merging the code, and that is not a task for the average doomer who just wants to drop a few cool monsters in their maps.
 

why GZDoom refuses to launch if the thing is not BEFORE the inherited actor GZDoom you're dumb
Updated

Now the Hellsmith works, but still throws some errors on startup:
Some feedback for the monster itself:

I like the variety of attacks it has. Projectile damage seems very high, but it's somewhat managable.
The charge attack is totally OP tho. IF it even works, it has the same problem as the Sentinel's charge attack. I think it fails if there is any object in the way, even if it isn't solid. In my testmap I spawned him in an area full of ammo pickups, and he never was able to charge at me. In an empty area the charge worked as it should. Anyway, the damage is too high imho, it just instakills you even if you have 200 health and 200 blue armor.

If I may suggest, I'd tone down the projectile damage a little bit, and the charge attack damage by a lot. I have a feeling that some of monsters that were ripped from Hellforged, the Hellsmith and the Director in particular, aren't balanced towards vanilla content at all.

DeVloek wrote:

Now the Hellsmith works, but still throws some errors on startup:

Code:

Undefined drop item class Ammodrop referenced from actor HSSoulSpirit Undefined drop item class Ammodrop referenced from actor HSBloodSpirit Undefined drop item class Ammodrop referenced from actor HSIronSpirit Undefined drop item class Ammodrop referenced from actor HSFireSpirit Script error, "HellSmith.pk3:gldefs.txt" line 104: Warning: dynamic lights attached to non-existent actor BehemothBasiliskFire Script error, "HellSmith.pk3:gldefs.txt" line 115: Warning: dynamic lights attached to non-existent actor BehemothBasiliskPuff

Some feedback for the monster itself:

I like the variety of attacks it has. Projectile damage seems very high, but it's somewhat managable.
The charge attack is totally OP tho. IF it even works, it has the same problem as the Sentinel's charge attack. I think it fails if there is any object in the way, even if it isn't solid. In my testmap I spawned him in an area full of ammo pickups, and he never was able to charge at me. In an empty area the charge worked as it should. Anyway, the damage is too high imho, it just instakills you even if you have 200 health and 200 blue armor.

If I may suggest, I'd tone down the projectile damage a little bit, and the charge attack damage by a lot. I have a feeling that some of monsters that were ripped from Hellforged, the Hellsmith and the Director in particular, aren't balanced towards vanilla content at all.
 

Honestly, I have no idea how to nerf this guy and the Director without sacrificing the nailgun thingie, I would like some help with it.

I would start by toning down the damage values for projectiles a little bit. For example the HellSmithMissile damage value is 6 (dealing up to 48 damage), reducing it to 5 should suffice. It's still gonna be a very dangerous projectile since it's spammed all over the place. Same for the other projectiles.

For the charge attack, which uses the damage value of the Hellsmith actor itself, reduce it from 50 (which is multiplied to up to 400 damage, that's just crazy) to 25 which can still deal some big damage but it won't result in megasphere-obliterating damage values anymore.

Btw the charge damage itself is only half of the actual damage dealt when he hits you, the rest comes from the Fire AOE he instantly uses after getting into close range. The Fire AOE deals a ton of explosion damage in a short time, those two damage sources combined are just too high imho. I'd reduce the A_Explode damage from 8 to 4, that seems a bit more survivable (still, good luck, 3 hits and you're dead even at full health and armor).

Another thing I noticed is the NOTARGET flag, which makes this monster even more unfair because you can't even make it infight. Maybe there was a reason for it in Hellforged, but I don't see one for a standalone monster.

As for the Director, simply reducing the nail projectile damage from 5 to 4 should suffice. Remember the actual damage is multiplied by up to 8, so it's still gonna be a tremendous threat, but not as unfair as before.

(Updated Hell Smith with new unique sprites, replace if possible)

I just compared to Hellsmith from the repo with this one. While there are some similarities (charge attack, melee hammer strike, fire projectiles), this one is just on a whole 'nother level. Also the sprite suggest it's a somewhat cybernetic monster, which isn't the case for the Heretic/Hexen Hellsmith. I would suggest to rename this one to something unique so both monsters can co-exist here. 
Some suggestions: Hell Forger, Hell Blacksmith, Hell Machinist

Some more feedback on the big guy....

• when using him in Heretic/Hexen, he's missing the hoof step sound (not sure if he's supposed to be a Doom monster or not since you said he should replace the Hellsmith for Heretic/Hexen)
• some of the projectile explosion sprites have odd white pixels all over them, for example HBA2H0.png
• the spirits that he sometimes spawns when under 1000 hp are able to damage and kill him. HSIronSpirit in particular is completely broken, its nailgun is dealing extremely high damage that will kill the Hellsmith almost instantly if he gets caught up in the crossfire