Best mods for Alien:Isolation?

Started by Still Collating..., Apr 09, 2018, 11:35:25 AM

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Best mods for Alien:Isolation? (Read 20,135 times)

Still Collating...

Nice, thanks for the heads up! I've been playing with the aggro alien mod, and even though it's not realistic how Stompy's always on us, it was definitely a thrill playing the game like that.

It came down in places it never did before, half of my long practiced tactics didn't work anymore. Such a thrill, I was constantly on the move and dreaded being near the loud bugger. I might play with it a bit longer, but now I'm eager to try the Insane mod.

The Old One

The Old One

#16
I prefer the Unpredictable Alien modification myself.

Vertigo

Vertigo

#17
It's pretty easy to fiddle with the AI values (such as the alien's 'leash' radius and lurking duration) and weapon/health properties yourself, FYI. Just need Notepad and the .bml converter.

The Old One

The Old One

#18
If you're interested, I'm lazy myself.

Still Collating...

Quote from: Vertigo on Jul 12, 2019, 08:06:47 AM
It's pretty easy to fiddle with the AI values (such as the alien's 'leash' radius and lurking duration) and weapon/health properties yourself, FYI. Just need Notepad and the .bml converter.

That easy? I always found it a bit daunting...
I'm interested in trying, but I've never modded before. I'm mostly interested in changing the values of the senses though. Expanding the vision and hearing cones, especially widening their angle, heightening Stompy's vision, hearing, motion sensitivity, even maybe his smelling to an extreme degree. It's kind of a bummer that most difficulty mods play around with the leash, drop frequency and gun values but rarely change anything for the senses and when they do, it's not noticeable enough.

I do have some free time on my hands, so I just might try and fiddle around with modding the thing to my masochistic liking.

The Old One

The Old One

#20
I hope you do.

Vertigo

Vertigo

#21
Quote from: Still Collating... on Jul 12, 2019, 10:51:50 AM
Quote from: Vertigo on Jul 12, 2019, 08:06:47 AM
It's pretty easy to fiddle with the AI values (such as the alien's 'leash' radius and lurking duration) and weapon/health properties yourself, FYI. Just need Notepad and the .bml converter.

That easy? I always found it a bit daunting...
I'm interested in trying, but I've never modded before. I'm mostly interested in changing the values of the senses though. Expanding the vision and hearing cones, especially widening their angle, heightening Stompy's vision, hearing, motion sensitivity, even maybe his smelling to an extreme degree. It's kind of a bummer that most difficulty mods play around with the leash, drop frequency and gun values but rarely change anything for the senses and when they do, it's not noticeable enough.

I do have some free time on my hands, so I just might try and fiddle around with modding the thing to my masochistic liking.

Yeah, I'd modified most of those values before my hard disk died a few weeks ago. I think you'll be able to figure it out without too much trouble, it's just time consuming.

Most of the values for enemy senses are in the difficulty levels' .bml files. You can find them in Steam/steamapps/common/Alien Isolation/data/difficultysettings/. Convert the .bml files to an editable format (using the tool I linked to above), change the settings in a non-rich text editor such as Notepad, convert them back again. (Best to make a backup of the original file first.)

Each difficulty level has its own set of sense values for each enemy type. So if you want to change the senses of every enemy at every difficulty level, that's a lot of numbers to change!

The closest things the alien has to a sense of smell are its leash, and the duration you can be in a vent before it comes to find you. The difficulty level .bml files do have modifiers for that, but the core values are in the alien AI .bmls located in /data/alienconfigs. That folder has a different .bml for each state of alien aggression (eg. 'mild' is when the alien is present but rarely appears, 'intense' should be San Cristobal or the server farm, 'backstage' is when it's hanging out in the ceiling for long periods). So again, if you want to change its 'smell' for each state of aggression, that's a lot of numbers to change.

There's a pretty comprehensive guide here, everything you want should be covered in section 1. I'm actually in the process of installing the game right now, so don't think I can offer any better help than that at the moment.

The Old One

The Old One

#22
I suggest watching A.I & Video Games video about it before you go tinkering.

Still Collating...

Thanks for the suggestions guys. It'll really help. I'm gonna be finishing some levels with the Aggressive Alien mod out of curiosity, then try the updated Insane mod, but by the end of next week I'm most certainly gonna try and fiddle with the values.

If the smell is the leash, then I'm not gonna play with that. So my work will be in the difficulty files. I literally just want to change those senses for the alien. So he can hear me and see me better, faster, farther, react to my motion and so forth. One way or another, I'm gonna make it impossible for me to peak around or over an object when the alien is looking in my direction. That's usually hilarious how long it takes for Stompy to notice, I'd like to get that to an instant reaction (as an apex predator would do), and enhance its peripheral senses so that I can't hide in corners anymore for instance when Stompy enters a room and I just lean against the door it came in, if it's not looking directly towards me, Stompy will never notice me, never, on any difficulty. Its peripheral senses really do suck.

If I can do half of the things I'd like, I'll be thrilled. If I do all of these things by some miracle, the game will be perfect for me.   

The Old One

The Old One

#24
Let us know your results.

Still Collating...

Of course.
Just finished the final story missions with the Aggressive Alien mod and it was fun. A lot less annoying than I thought it was going to be cause of the more frequent drops, but after adapting my play style by always being on the move, it was quite a breath of fresh air for me knowing how long I've been using the wonderful Unpredictable Alien mod.

Next up is the Insane mod before I start my own tinkering.

The1PerfectOrganism

The1PerfectOrganism

#26
Good luck.

Vertigo

Vertigo

#27
Just a heads up - MattFiler has made a proper mod tool suite with a GUI, so should be easier and faster to use than the old extractor + text editor method.

https://www.moddb.com/mods/alien-isolation-mod-tools

Still Collating...

Thanks! I've seen it before but the way things are explained seemed a bit confusing for me, but I'll probably try his tool first.

P.S. Playing the Insane Mod, survivor missions, and it's a blast! The alien still roams far enough so he's not too annoying and on me every second but he's super sensitive to sight, and sound especially. Walking when he's just one room away is a death sentence. I've tested the peaking thing and works almost perfectly the way I'd like it to. Fast reaction, almost instant when he's facing me and super sensitive to motion. I'm really liking it, the mod is making me stay away from him at all times, now I fear if I can see him that he'll sooner or later see me. I was hiding under a desk and as he walked in front of me and away, I was prepared for action. He turned like I feared and before he might not have seen me from that angle cause I was so low and he was severely blind before to be honest, but now he spotted me right away and I had no choice but to use the last of my flame fuel.

Very fun and challenging. Feels a lot more realistic like this. I'm gonna replay all the survivor missions with this mod. Anybody who likes the sound of this and are looking for more of a challenge and an Alien with realistic senses, I recommend trying this mod out.

Kradan


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