Pagan (...The Altered DOOMCaster)

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===========================================================================
Archive Maintainer      : Ty Halderman
Update to               : rslpagan.zip in /combos subdirectory, this is RELEASE #5!
Advanced engine needed  : GZDOOM 1.6.0 (software renderer)
Primary purpose         : Single/cooperative play
===========================================================================
Title                   : Pagan (...The Altered DOOMCaster)
Filename                : rslpagan.wad
Release date            : June 11, 2013
Author                  : Richard Smith Long
Email Address           : [email protected]
Other Files By Author   : rslproto.zip, rslvenge.zip, rslrebel.zip, rslengee.zip, rsliczdp.zip,
                          rslforce.zip, rslredux.zip, rsldiazp.zip, rslshino.zip, rslquest.zip,
                          rslzerox.zip, rslpolar.zip, rslexeem.zip, rslfuria.zip
Misc. Author Info       : AKA "Dick S. Long"





Description / Abstract  : Loreena K. is a professional killer, well-known to international intelligence bureaus
                          and worldwide chronicles for her criminal acts. Once she decides to join UAC
                          to make amend for her guilts in exchange to freedom, she is discouraged and derided
                          by her new soldier colleagues - she might look dangerous to society, but hellspawn
                          are a different kind of thing, they say.
                          That's just because nobody knows about her little secret... Yet.





Changelog:

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°   °   °   °   °   °   °   °   °   °   °   °   °   °   °   °   °   °   °   °   °   °   °   °   °

December 31, 2012: initial release.

January 25, 2013: release #2.

- rebalanced the default weapons roster (thanks Xaser):
  - hatchet now has tap-only, super-fast poking attack;
    old charged attacks slightly quickened and beefed up.
  - revolvers can be fired more rapidly, but toned down.
    Unwanted fire-after-reload now fixed (shouldn't happen anymore).
    Improved distinctive feats of left and right (thanks JimmyJ).
  - leviathan shards do more damage.
  - reznator has doubled mag capacity, greater fire rate;
    its pins are more powerful and can sometimes rip through.
  - aries on-body hud behaviour fixed.
- integrated main class fullscreen HUD with spare ammo counter
  and armor gauge (thanks JimmyJ).
- added _ability to prematurely unmorph_ before powerup time expires:
  press reload key when idle in any of the morphed forms (thanks Xaser).
- slightly reduced the duration of all morph powerups.
- a couple morph powerups per type are now taken away from inventory
  when starting a new level.
- all deity skins are now in effect (thanks Ed the Bat).
- divine transformations:
  - Lord: hammer attack now has reduced charge time and greater reach,
          and is much more usable IMHO.
  - Master: levitation spell now deals low damage; combined with its steady rate,
            serves as good stunning ranged attack (the mage had none). Lesser foes
            explode in a multitude of gibs when dying from this.
            This form now has any non-projectile, still-influent damage type
            (hitscan, explosion, etc.) half nullified; this should make
            the mage a bit more appealing than before.
- bosses: much more resistant to (overkill) goddess crucifix attacks.
- added dedicated configurable transformation keys for all three godly shapes.
- made minor boss monsters randomly drop orbs (Barons and Viles).
- revolvers ammunition size has now a label that makes sense: "11 mm."
  instead of "11-gauge" (thanks Ed the Bat).

February 07, 2013: release #3.

- new ZDOOM 2.6.x/GZDOOM 1.6.x line universal reload keybinding integrated into the mod,
  courtesy of Ed the Bat.
- fixed revolvers behaviour after premature unmorphing (would have fired once
  without any user input).
- fixed captivation spikes behaviour (that moved on the floor after a fully-charged
  hatchet slash).
- slightly toned down the spawning rate of revolvers ammo and
  heavy weapons dude / baron dropitems.
- revolvers bugs:
  - added priority mechanism when invoking manual reload with
    only one bullet pack left (Ed the Bat),
  - made player no more appearing to be firing with any Anna
    A_GunFlash invocation (Ed the Bat),
  - added time shifting when invoking simultaneous reload-on-dryfire
    with only one bullet pack, for it not to suffice for two revolvers
    anymore.

February 14, 2013: release #3+.

- fixed left revolver reload bug after pressing the reload key within
  autoreload sequence (thanks Chronoteeth).
- added to captivation spikes the ability of thrusting up and damaging
  over-standing foes (thanks CorSair).
- toned down leviathan ammo storage capacity (thanks CorSair).
- made captivation area more lethal via pulsating damage (thanks CorSair).
- Master can now dismiss captivation spikes quickly through levitation spell
  (thanks CorSair).
- Lord can now quickly open up an area overcrowded with monsters through
  his hammer attack (thanks CorSair).
- ArchVile can now be cursed with retaliation, too!
  (masked the +NOTARGET flag, thanks CorSair)

June 11, 2013: release #5.

- made magazines ammunition independent from skill level (thanks Ed the Bat).
- fixed Lord gauntlets autofire mechanism.
- fixed behaviour of particle actors on moving flats (MOVEWITHSECTOR).
- improved appearance of still actors whenever applicable (FORCEXYBILLBOARD).
- fixed a few formal inconsistencies and spelling mistakes in this very text file.








Concept:

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°   °   °   °   °   °   °   °   °   °   °   °   °   °   °   °   °   °   °   °   °   °   °   °   °

This modification exploits 'PowerMorph' (the DECORATE 'Morph' powerup actor) to the extreme, creating
a gameplay system that revolves around this very kind of artifact.
You start with a default player class whose arsenal is deprived of the most powerful weapons; in place
of these, you'll find carriable magical orbs that shall allow you to shapeshift into one of three supernatural
deities - each one with exclusive strengths and weaknesses - for a limited amount of time.
The base arsenal (that of the default player class) is made up of five weapons only, but is also versatile
enough to get you out of most sticky situations; however, certain weapon tiers are not represented at all.
You'll have to get acquainted with the peculiarities of each morphed form to make the most of it in the
appropriate situations and scenarios, to overcome your opponents with style (and ease!).





Introduction:

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Lauretana 'Tana' Poe is a veteran gunwoman that goes with the pseudonym of 'Miss Loreena K.'.
Her family origin and cultural roots are unknown, but her speed and warfare skills - just as her flashy
personal traits - are well-known to police departments all over the world, which chased her unsuccessfully for years
until she publicly declared her 'change-of-stance': she would have stopped murdering on commission and would
have served humankind by enrolling into the UAC army, in exchange for having all charges dropped against her.
UAC and allied governments accepted with apparent reluctance, actually being confident in the fact that her
warfare techniques would not have stood any chance against the netherworld, thus having her self-eliminate.
What they did know nothing about, was the ancestral pact that her bloodline had sealed centuries before...

Just like her ancestors, since her birth Lauretana was led to promise eternal faith to three mysterious pagan deities -
now forgotten by official theology - that always helped their worshippers by means of supernatural manifestations.
As they always have done during her past career of misfits, they shall keep rewarding her faith during any quest
by dropping magical artifacts on her path - normally shaped as 'orbs' - to

 *** GRANT HER THE SHAPE AND POWER OF THEM GODS FOR A LIMITED AMOUNT OF TIME... ***

Loreena must use each artifact wisely, transforming into the deity that is most suitable for the battle
she is going to face. Her standard weapons will do against most of the foes, but shall not suffice against all enemies...



Loreena's arsenal:

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Loreena's signature arsenal is made up of five weapons, each one sporting an alternate attack or
firing mode.


°o0ooooooooo0o°
    HATCHET
°o0ooooooooo0o°

 In perfect 'slayer style', Loreena is a master of this weapon.
 Primary fire can be held to charge the swing; when released, it will deliver the blow. Check the
 power indicator in the top right corner of the screen to get acquainted with the capabilities of
 each power level - consider that maximum-charged blows are capable of chopping lesser foes in two
 halves with a single hit. If you're in a hurry, however, you can just tap primary fire for a quick
 (and weak) chip at the enemy.
 Alternate fire triggers a slash-dash move - this is useful to follow a quick 'death-and-retreat'
 pattern, and due to the slight leaping-upwards movement, it can be exploited to perform minimal jumps,
 too.
 °°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°


°o0ooooooooooooo0o°
    ANNA & NINA
°o0ooooooooooooo0o°

 Loreena's favourite firearms, these are highly-versatile, moderately powerful revolvers that -
 in spite of their reciprocal resemblance - expose a slightly different behaviour each.
 Anna (left) is less powerful but more accurate; Nina (right) is more imprecise but fires heavier.
 Primary fire triggers Nina, alternate fire triggers Anna; the two revolvers can be controlled independently
 and allow for manual-triggered high fire rates.
 Each revolver must be reloaded after six rounds.
 °°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°


°o0ooooooooooo0o°
    LEVIATHAN
°o0ooooooooooo0o°

 A peculiar design from Marty Kirra (TM), this three-barreled flakgun hurls metal shards than can bounce
 effectively around corners. Primary fire discharges one barrel at a time, alternate fire empties
 all still-charged barrels in rapid sequence. Once all three barrels are empty, the gun must be reloaded.
 °°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°


°o0oooooooooo0o°
    REZNATOR
°o0oooooooooo0o°

 This distinguished rotor-based flailgun can project sharpened, overheated pins at high speed. And while
 the rotor needs a fraction of second to wind up and start firing, it can stop almost immediately when
 the trigger is released. A secondary firing mode exploits the peculiar nature of its ammunition pins, launching
 a series of them as a flail-connected flying structure that pierces through everything until the leading
 pin stops.
 Primary fire initiates the spinning fire sequence. Secondary fire has the rotor charge for a while before
 unleashing fifteen flail-connected pins. Up to 240 pins can be loaded at once on the weapon.
 °°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°


°o0ooooooo0o°
    ARIES
°o0ooooooo0o°

 This double-barreled RPG is a sleek explosive weapon with a powerful secondary launch type that explains
 its name. Alternate fire toggles the working mode of the weapon, and determines the function assigned
 to the main trigger. As a consequence, primary fire can either detonate explosive 'hornet' missiles
 in a straight line one by one (even in rapid sequence), or launch two missiles whose trajectories equally
 diverge after a short time, only to have them become heatseekers once they have completed their airborne
 horns-shaped pattern.
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The Gods:

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 Loreena is doomed by the ancient subjugation that her ancestors accepted towards the visceral deities
 of their mysterious homeland, promising eternal faith to such gods in exchange for protection through the
 ages, for all of their descendants. Throughout each quest, Loreena shall encounter magical orbs that shall
 allow her to shapeshift into themselves for a while...

 NOTE: you can always revert the transformation before each powerup spontaneously expires
       by pressing the RELOAD key (see 'Footnotes' section below).



 o°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°o
 0 The Lord Of Brute Strength 0
 °°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

   The god of physical strength looks exactly as the name implies: a humongous, muscle-loaded barbarian
   warrior with greenish-toned flesh. Gifted with great stamina and high resilience to any damage, he is
   armed with powerful weaponry (albeit melee-only): spiked gauntlets and iron hammer.
   Gauntlet attacks can be quickly comboed/stringed together to mash away entire hordes of enemies; a single
   hammer blow is lethal to lesser foes and can thrust away many of the stronger opponents. This metamorphosis
   has average duration.



 o°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°o
 0 The Goddess Of Fatal Retribution 0
 °°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

   As beautiful and terrible as she is, this goddess symbolizes the inevitable nature of destiny; and inevitable
   is the fate of those hit by her cross-shaped staff. Once any foe is caught by the obscure matter of such projectiles,
   it starts to weirdly grow in size until the skin cannot resist anymore - then it explodes into a rain of flesh
   and meat that might start an unstoppable chain-reaction on anything passing nearby.
   The goddess is normally invulnerable to anything, as shown by the shielding aura on her weapon. However, when
   invoking the power of the crucifix to start an attack her protection is slightly absorbed for a few instants,
   and she gets very, very vulnerable then...
   This form is the quickest to be reverted back.



 o°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°o
 0 The Master Of Arcane Deception 0
 °°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

   The wielder of supreme and cruel wisdom is a small, cloaked sage whose ethereal persona allows him to
   slowly fluctuate down any void space and let projectiles pass through his body, leaving him unaffected -
   unfortunately, this does not work quite as well with explosions or hitscan attacks, or the new weapon
   sported by Spider Masterminds.
   He makes great use of three among the fiercest, subtlest arts of deception:
   *levitation* allows him to jam foes by spinning them up in the air and slowly absorbing their life;
   *retaliation* makes one cursed enemy the sudden target of all surrounding creatures; and
   *captivation* jails the victim within a fence of demonic earth spikes that can resist many blows
   before retracting; the area is tormented with explosions ensuing afterwards. Spikes can be
   removed all of a sudden with the levitation spell.
   This transformation is the longest-lasting of the three.



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Footnotes:

(1) The suggested commandline for launching the modification is the following one
    (assumes that the modification has been decompressed in subdirectory 'RSL' of your (G)ZDOOM directory):

    (g)zdoom.exe -iwad <IWAD_PATH>\<IWAD_FILE> -file <CUSTOM_LEVEL_PATHNAME> RSL\rslpagan.wad

    (if under GZDOOM, add option '+gl_nogl 1' to disable hardware rendering)

(2) Do not forget to bind the standard (G)ZDOOM key for weapon reload under 'Options > Customize Controls'.
    Remember that when in morphed form, the very same key allows you to cancel the powerup prematurely
    in case of need.

(3) Similarly, do not forget to bind keys for quick morphing into each of the three deity forms
    (provided that you have the corresponding orb), still under 'Options > Customize Controls'
    in (G)ZDOOM.

(4) To obtain the complete set of weapons and/or carriable items for quicktesting
    without breaking the weapon set at your disposal, type 'rsl' in the console.

(5) The modification is compatible with the following IWADs: The Ultimate DOOM, DOOM 2, Final DOOM.





WARNING * WARNING * WARNING * WARNING * WARNING * WARNING * WARNING * WARNING * WARNING * WARNING
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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By reading the following credits you may spoil certain "surprise monsters" in the modification...
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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WARNING * WARNING * WARNING * WARNING * WARNING * WARNING * WARNING * WARNING * WARNING * WARNING

Additional Credits to   : Various sources for resources and/or inspiration (see below):

                          Lloyd Irving for the custom blood system

                          SilentZora for the QuakeStyle gore effects

                          Major Cooke's special 'inflation' gore effects

                          Xaser for the custom bullet puff

                          MagSigmaX for the Project MSX explosive barrel
                          Sergeant_Mark_IV for the Brutal DOOM explosive barrel
                          Magban724 for the Russian Overkill explosive barrel
                          DBThanatos for the DOOMStorm explosive barrel
                          BlueFireZ88 for the DOOM Expanded explosive barrel

                          Cacodemon for the Replacements custom teleportation effect

                          Ryan Cordell for the custom boss blood system
                          Xaser for the hatchet slice custom blood system
                          Alwaysdoomed for the custom additional blood system
                          Hellser for the custom additional gore system
                          Creeping_Infected for the custom levitation death gibs

                          Sergeant_Mark_IV for the custom lost soul, pain elemental and boss death effects

                          eliw00d and Chronoteeth for the casings

                          Xaser for the main player class skin and mugshot

                          3D Realms, Chronoteeth, Mike12, Blox for the hatchet
                          PillowBlaster, Xaser, Namco, Ed the Bat for 'Anna & Nina'
                          Eriance, NMN, Marty Kirra for 'Leviathan'
                          Eriance, Xaser, Rogue Software for 'Reznator'
                          (with a special mention to FishyClockwork and FDARI on the ZDOOM forums,
                           that gave me great help to code its secondary fire projectile)
                          Eriance for 'Aries'

                          DBThanatos for the deity morphing effect resources
                          Raven Software, PillowBlaster, Namco for the 'Lord Of Brute Strength'
                          Wraithchilde, Raven Software, Apogee, Namco for the 'Goddess Of Fatal Retribution'
                          Raven Software, Ichor, Namco for the 'Master Of Arcane Deception'

                          Hellser for the custom decals

                          Xaser, Vaecrius, DoomRater for ACS scripts

                          The Memento Mori team for the custom big fonts and base default statusbar
                          Thomas Van Der Velden for the small fonts
                          Wraithchilde, Raven Software, Monolith Software for the deity statusbar.

                          Sources of inspiration: Wildweasel's 'The Stranger', Xaser's 'Psychic'

                          Fellow players and mod designers from the ZDOOM Community,
                          for their direct interest in the mod and useful feedback on the forum thread:
                          Xaser, Ed the Bat, doomer1, amv2k9, JimmyJ, Enjay, OliveD, Chronoteeth, CorSair

                          _- Special thanks to Ed the Bat for providing several interesting, extra fixes -_


                          °o0 Thanks to Chronoteeth for sincerely expressing his opinions on my beta modifications;
                              he convinced me to rethink this base arsenal from scratch, and now I am happier with the results
                              than how I was before! 0o°


All other authors I forgot to mention: please forgive me! I tried to be accurate as much as I could.
If you here notice some of your resources un-mentioned, please notify me and I will try to remedy.

===========================================================================

* What is included *

New levels              : None
Sounds                  : Yes
Music                   : No
Graphics                : Yes
Dehacked/BEX Patch      : Yes
Demos                   : No
Other                   : (G)ZDOOM-specific lumps
Other files required    : None



* Play Information *

Game                    : DOOM
Map #                   : None
Single Player           : Designed for
Cooperative 2-4 Player  : Maybe (untested)
Deathmatch 2-4 Player   : Maybe (untested)
Other game styles       : None
Difficulty Settings     : N/A



* Construction *

Base                    : New from scratch
                          (for the nitpicky ones, resources from the community or commercial releases
                           altered to suit the present modification)
Build Time              : 6 months (of intermittent work, and unstable ideas, too)
Editor(s) used          : Adobe Photoshop Elements, GoldWave Audio Editor, Notepad++, XWE, Slade
Known Bugs              : 1. Widescreen modes are perhaps unsupported. Sorry.
                          2. [no more a bug - thanks Ed the Bat] When morphing into one of the deities,
                             the corresponding player skin is not changed; instead, the base player class skin
                             is still displayed.
                          3. [bypassed with reload / unmorph key] When continuing to fire around the time of un-morphing,
                             sometimes the engine refuses to complete the transformation and leaves you in a 'limbo' state.
                             Be sure to always keep an eye on your hourglass! ;-)
May Not Run With...     : Ports not supporting DECORATE; level WADs with heavy amounts of DEHACKED / DECORATE modifications



* Copyright / Permissions *

Authors MAY use the contents of this file as a base for modification or
reuse.  Permissions have been obtained from original authors for any of
their resources modified or included in this file.

You MAY distribute this file, provided you include this text file, with no
modifications.  You may distribute this file in any electronic format (BBS,
Diskette, CD, etc) as long as you include this file intact.  I have
received permission from the original authors of any modified or included
content in this file to allow further distribution.



* Where to get the file that this text file describes *

The Usual: ftp://archives.3dgamers.com/pub/idgames/ and mirrors
Web sites: None others than the IDGames archive
FTP sites: None others than the IDGames archive