H&D Deluxe; the ultimate mod; Mission overhauls

[p.jakub88]

@Jakub: are you planning to pack your new updated game, so that i can download it to my laptop? I want to play it in the evenings with my beer in my hand :D

Yes, i plan to make a new H&D Deluxe Ultimate Mod update and upload it to my ModDB account. Hopefully it will be ready before March 2021. We will see. I finished updating the campaign in Yugoslavia, next will be the Italian campaign. Prepare a bottle of red wine instead, lol.

[Myron]

@Jakub: are you planning to pack your new updated game, so that i can download it to my laptop? I want to play it in the evenings with my beer in my hand :D

@Myron: you are right. Somehow the game was very popular from 2003 until 2009, from 2009 until 2014 it was dead, after 2014 its in renaissance :D

Yep. We must spread the word again. :)

[Myron]

Latest changes implemented into my Danube 2 mission:

-> slightly decreased the reaction skill of some patrolling enemies, to reflect the fact, that they are just gendarmes (military police) behind the actual front line, so they might be less vigilant to enemy presence;

-> slightly decreased the shooting skill of some enemies, to reflect the fact, that they are just gendarmes (military police) not trained snipers;

-> restored the enemy patrol that moves around the apartment houses (like shown on the mission video briefing), but i brought back one soldier instead of two. However, he his now armed with MP-40;

-> removed the patrolling enemy soldier from the 1st square counting from the mission start point (still there is the same amount of enemy soldiers or even more than in the original Danube 2 mission);

-> removed the friendly "Resistance fighter member", that was crouching on one of the town squares, because his behavior was bugged (at least in my HDD editor during testing).

Not to mention that the gendarmes would be submissive to the Germans we are disguised as.

Understandable.

It seems to a little hard to have just 1 man "checking up on everyone because there is a curfew in the town."
Ever watch that Jean Reno resistance movie?

For me, that Resistance Fighter has NEVER done ANYTHING other than just kneel there with his pistol. No bugs at all. Shame that you removed him. Now who's going to give us the stolen uniforms?

[p.jakub88]

I updated once again the Danube 2 mission - even though I didn't plan to. I listened to your recent feedback Myron.

Latest changes implemented into my modified Danube 2 mission:

-> restored the "friendly resistance fighter";

-> edited the mission video briefing text to reflect the fact, that we actually need to obtain German NOT civilian uniforms;

-> i removed the "instructor voice" from the video briefing, so his voice will not interfere with the updated video briefing text. I know, that this is not the ideal solution, but it is the best available one at this point. My own voice while speaking English words would sound rather silly and disturbing - killing the game atmosphere. Also making simple audio cuts in original voice of the Danube 2 mission video briefing lector is not a good idea in my opinion.

Unpack content of data.rar and sounds_english.rar archives into your H&D Deluxe / data directory and replace files when asked.

Unpack content of the danube2.rar archive into your H&D Deluxe / missions directory and replace files when asked. This is rather obvious, but anyway.

By the way there are numerous patrols in the Velke Gradiste city, you cannot expect a checkpoint like in Medal of Honor Allied Assault with German soldier saying: "Ausweis bitte!", lol.

Enjoy!

P.S. I newer saw a movie with Jean Reno called "Resistance" - it is worth watching according to you Myron?

[Myron]

Actually, the movie is called, "Waiting for Anya", it's a French Resistance movie. Far from the best, but not terrible either.
https://putlockers.fm/watch/QvMpPqmd-wa ... -anya.html

By the way, I forgot to tell you yesterday, that road barrier thing works! It's awesome.
It's like vertically aiming a canon with no ammo, lol.

[p.jakub88]

Actually, the movie is called, "Waiting for Anya", it's a French Resistance movie. Far from the best, but not terrible either.
https://putlockers.fm/watch/QvMpPqmd-wa ... -anya.html

By the way, I forgot to tell you yesterday, that road barrier thing works! It's awesome.
It's like vertically aiming a canon with no ammo, lol.

Thanks for the link to the actual movie.

I am glad Myron that you like my usable road barrier model - i tried to make it as much intuitive to use for the player as possible.

[p.jakub88]

Meanwhile i looked again into my modified missions from the Italian campaign and i made further changes:

Italy 1

-> slightly decreased the accuracy of enemies equipped with non-scoped bolt-action rifles;

-> AI will no longer see and shot beyond the map visual range;

Italy 2

-> slightly decreased the accuracy of enemies equipped with non-scoped bolt-action rifles;

-> AI will no longer see and shot beyond the map visual range;

-> MG gunners on towers are now equipped with sidearms and could abandon their positions in case of direct player attack;

-> some enemies will use different weapons than before;

Italy 3

-> slightly decreased the accuracy of enemies equipped with non-scoped bolt-action rifles;

-> AI will no longer see and shot beyond the map visual range;

-> most MG gunners are now equipped with sidearms and could abandon their positions in case of direct player attack;

Italy 4

-> slightly decreased the accuracy of enemies equipped with non-scoped bolt-action rifles;

-> AI will no longer see and shot beyond the map visual range;

-> fixed some problems with collisions related to custom Panzer IV tank model in this particular mission.

[p.jakub88]

Meanwhile i looked again into my modified missions from the German campaign and i made further changes:

Germany 1

-> slightly decreased the accuracy of enemies equipped with pistols;

-> disabled the AI feature "invest. dead friends" applied previously to few enemy soldiers in this mission, because according to NilsZ this new option could cause some random game crashes;

-> optimized the whole "executing the Allied prisoner scene" that takes place in one of Chateau rooms.


To be continued (work in progress).

[Myron]

""invest. dead friends" "

What's that?

[p.jakub88]

""invest. dead friends" "

What's that?

This is one of the newest AI features / behaviors added by NilsZ, who modified the game .exe some time ago.

In practice, the AI controlled bots (like enemy soldiers) will react upon seeing corpes of their fallen comrades - if you enable this option in HDD editor (in example on a particular enemy soldier).

Their "reaction style" depends on few factors and works best for stationary guards as far as i could tell after my own performed tests.

[Myron]

Yeah, I think H&D1 is too old for that.

[p.jakub88]

Meanwhile i looked again into my modified missions from the German campaign and i made further changes:

Germany 2

-> slightly decreased the accuracy of some enemies;

-> removed some unwanted trees outside the villa fence;

-> slightly repositioned the searchlight operator;

-> fixed the bug with key being an item that could be brought from one mission to another;

Germany 3

-> slightly decreased the accuracy of some enemies;

-> repositioned some trucks, because they blocked enemy movements routes;

-> optimized checkpoint grid used by AI to move within the mission area;

-> added missing static collisions to some rocks from the rubble created by V-2 rocket explosion.


To be continued (work in progress).

[Myron]

Ah man, I liked carrying with me a master-key.

Also, instead of parked randomly, maybe there should be a parking area for most, (not all), the trucks.

[p.jakub88]

Meanwhile i looked again into my modified missions from the German campaign and i made further changes:

Germany 4

-> MG gunners on towers are now equipped with sidearms and could abandon their positions in case of direct player attack;

-> slightly decreased accuracy of some enemies;

-> repositioned the guard, that was located near the mission start point (the guard near the entrance to the mine);

-> updated the video briefing - now it shows the new location of that particular repositioned guard.


To be continued (work in progress).

[p.jakub88]

Meanwhile i looked again into my modified missions from the German campaign and i made further changes:

Germany 5

-> slightly decreased the accuracy of enemies using non-scoped bolt-action rifles, submachine-guns and panzerfausts;

-> added missing static collisions to some trees;

-> various enemy AI scripts optimization;

-> minor bug fixes - including static collisions of various models, etc


To be continued (work in progress).