[EXPANSION] Mega Man Powered Up [Release v1f]

[Yuri Sakazaki]

Remastered / remixed music.[/b] Similar to MMP8BOSS, I was thinking each stage could have an 8-bit version of the MMPU stage theme. There are a few noticeable differences, such as how Ice Man's theme feels more "arctic", and how Guts Man's theme is slower and doesn't repeat so often.

This is something I have been wanting for a long time, myself.  

Such a shame there exists so few PU Famitracker songs.

(click to show/hide)

[Joseph Collins]

Sorry to bump this after three months, but there's a number of bugs and weirdness I'd like to address that have gone unchecked presumably since before v1a.

When playing the maps in this expansion, I notice that the weapons don't go away when picked up.  Why is this of note?  Because my game settings have "weapons stay" disabled!  I really don't like priority overrides like this...  I like playing my game with some degree of -altdeath rules, such as weapons not staying when picked up (thus being able to be grabbed if you're low on ammo).
Edit: I take back what I said above, to an extent.  It's not just this expansion's maps.  AMP09 also makes weapons stay behind, ignoring the server's personal settings.  What I can't figure out, however, is why this happens.  I don't see anything in the maps themselves nor ACS scripting that would override the server's personal settings like that...
Edit 2: Nevermind.  I found out what the problem is.  The levels were being registered as Deathmatch levels, but unfortunately, that meant that SV_DefaultDMFlags could do its job, thus ruining my local settings.  SV_DefaultDMFlags has thusly been disabled on my end and the weapons are disappearing normally.  Sorry about that.

Also, are all the definitions files within the PK3 file really necessary?  KEYCONF doesn't seem to do anything, nor does LOADACS, SBARINFO, or CMPGNINFO (which might be too many letters for a definitions file anyway).  If any of this redundant stuff is doing anything, it's not doing it very well...

Lastly, I notice that a lot of things you've implemented override existing things.  Specifically, the Proto Upgrade 2, Bass Upgrade 2, Adaptor Upgrade 2, M-Tank PU, Yashichi Dropper (?), and Roll Dropper (?!).  Doing this causes some of these things to not exist as intended.  The Proto and Bass upgrades are still accessible both through the "give all" console command and on rare occasion Eddie, but Roll now wears a random costume every time the Light Lab map loads and the Yashichi functions as an item.

Anyway, just wanted to ask about this.  The expansion pack is pretty awesome otherwise.  Time Slow is my new favorite weapon, though Oil Slider is pretty high up there as well.  X3

[Messatsu]

Also, are all the definitions files within the PK3 file really necessary?  KEYCONF doesn't seem to do anything, nor does LOADACS, SBARINFO, or CMPGNINFO (which might be too many letters for a definitions file anyway).  If any of this redundant stuff is doing anything, it's not doing it very well...

Lastly, I notice that a lot of things you've implemented override existing things.  Specifically, the Proto Upgrade 2, Bass Upgrade 2, Adaptor Upgrade 2, M-Tank PU, Yashichi Dropper (?), and Roll Dropper (?!).  Doing this causes some of these things to not exist as intended.  The Proto and Bass upgrades are still accessible both through the "give all" console command and on rare occasion Eddie, but Roll now wears a random costume every time the Light Lab map loads and the Yashichi functions as an item.

Anyway, just wanted to ask about this.  The expansion pack is pretty awesome otherwise.  Time Slow is my new favorite weapon, though Oil Slider is pretty high up there as well.  X3

Short version, yes, all those things are necessary.
KEYCONF - Resets loaded player class so that custom pain states can be used (needed for Time Slow)
LOADACS - Loads some scripts specific to PU
SBARINFO - Needed for drawing ammo bars and other HUD visual items on the screen
CMPGNINFO - Adds bots to the maps when played single player.  The single player in v1d will have bosses

All the other items (Bass Upgrade 2 etc) are there because of a change in PU that requires a core item to be overwritten.  And yes, Yashichi is an item in v1c and the random roll costume is intended.

[Myroc]

Although concerning the yaschishi and RollDropper, those are being removed/likely to be removed anyway since they were pretty much random things we added in "because we could", and in hindsight there were a lot of such decisions that I/we shouldn't have made in the first place.

Though we're contemplating including a separate placable and collectable yaschishi item for people who decides to make maps utilizing Powered Up items, but seeing as that currently involves a grand total of zero people, we will most likely drop it completely.

[Gumballtoid]

Expansion boss. With the new tile sets and 8-bit music, the only thing this expansion needs to make it a real "home run" would be the end-chapter boss. Heck, if you made a boss to go with this, I really don't see why CutmanMike can't go ahead and make this project "official". MMPU was an official series game, after all, and he doesn't even have to do any work! (lol pushing off the MM8 expansion) With a boss I feel like this could easily become MM8BDM v3.

While I don't think it could become v3, I think it COULD be a revision to the MM1 chapter. Not full-course revision, but simply adding in Time Man and Oil Man, plus their respective maps and weapons. It's bugging me, and possibly some others, that MM1 only had 6 Robot Masters. Obviously, Time Man and Oil Man would fix that.

[Galaxy Sisbro]

I don't think so. First, considering the case, CMM isn't going to make any layout change as the current state of MM8BDM, so it includes noticeably adding new maps to the chapters already placed. that, without including therefore the CTF maps (That aren't classified as part of the original storyline, mind you), the MM7 expansion and the incoming ones.

Second, as CMM keeps repeating, he ISN'T changing the Classic chapters. What I'm trying to say here, is that CMM needs the enclosure of the original games' feelings preserved. PU was a better revision, we know that, though you can't compare it with the original NES game counterpart, where bad graphics and silly robot masters had a sense of nostalgia and memories of childhood for most of us.

Third, this custom expansion serves the purpose of what you just said.

And, finally, if it bugs you that Chapter 1 only has 6 robot masters, you have almost 50 other maps to play it, plus the customs maps (CSCM has almost 40, IX pack has 25, AMP map pack has 10), and, without including that Chapter 1 has the fuction of helping you to incorporate to the game's main gameplay. It's only normal that this chapter has the smallest maps in both terms of numbers and size.

[NemZ]

Last of the tile sheets was put up on my emporium thread today.  I'll be very interested in seeing how it all ends up looking in-game!

Oh, and don't hesitate to ask me if something needs tweaking.  I'm perfectly willing to help make my tiles as functional and good looking as possible.

[Myroc]

Powered Up v1d has been released. The most prominent things included in this update is the single player campaign complete with boss and the editing of several weapons, including some vanilla ones.

Download from Mediafire or Wadhost.

Changelog:

(click to show/hide)

*Single-player campaign with boss and secret boss added.
*Roll Swing changed to be less obtuse and unintuitive. Both swings now do exactly the same thing.
*Time Slow has been tweaked a bit. It has more ammo, arrows use less ammo and have a reduced spread, but are slower.
*Energy Balancer has been slightly tweaked, and uses the correct refill values for each weapon.
*A few vanilla weapons have been edited to streamline gameplay and make them more useful. They include Flash Stopper, which now blinds you completely, and Wind Storm, which doesn't toss you as far vertically, allowing you to more easily get additional hits in.
*Boss music will not reset once another player reaches fraglimit-5.
*Possession has received several tweaks:
   *The hellstone/circuit board will no respawn if it is dropped and not picked up for an amount of time.
   *Skull Barrier has been re-removed.
   *Weapon colors have been fixed.
*LMS weapon randomization has been improved, you should no longer have players with different sets.
*Various map changes. Bunny wrote up a pointlessly concise document detailing every significant little change listed below if you're into details.
*Fire Pillars can be frozen at varying heights.
*Exploding oil canisters will now detonate other, nearby canisters.
*Sv_Maxlives fix - You can now play LMS with multiple lives.

[Hallan Parva]

The changes sound beautiful. The solo campaign is enough to warrant a huge announcement, but the vanilla changes like better LMS spread and fixing the infamous Flash Stopper exploit seem heavenly.

Now go pester Mike to make this a new 8BDM build.

[NemZ]

So far what stands out as the most positive change is making the firetraps staggered in some hallways so it isn't a complete roadblock half the time.

Most amusing exploit of the single player campaign so far has been just camping on the hyper bombs in elec for a 20-0 win.  I don't think the bots even took a single shot at me, and there are several places within striking distance from that perch where they get caught "admiring the view".

[Tesseractal]

The changes sound beautiful. The solo campaign is enough to warrant a huge announcement, but the vanilla changes like better LMS spread and fixing the infamous Flash Stopper exploit seem heavenly.

Now go pester Mike to make this a new 8BDM build.

This mod contains numerous elements that are inconsistent with MM8BDM: particularly, a set of standards that the main build is consisten to ("the core"). PU is not a canon mega man game; the main focus of PU was a graphical update / revision of Mega Man 1. This expansion does not capture that - mainly, the graphic update, instead just adding the other features of PU on at a whim. In order to actually capture the purpose of PU (the game) a new graphical style would be necessary. 3D models would be an example of a new graphical style. I am not referring to simply textures - the expansion is more "Mega Man 1 Deluxe" than Powered Up for this reason.

Elements of the expansion that conflict with the core:

-Behavior of custom weapons. Super Bass Buster and Proto Strike are both simply edits of existing weapons; Proto Strike contains the same icon as Proto Buster and is incapable of being incorporated into DM weapon placement naturally. Both weapons are designed with the intent of being OP; or exist merely to distort Eddie's inventory. This leads to scenarios in which ONLY one person will have these weapons at a time - and usually be unstoppable.

-Multifunctional custom weapons. Stock weapons are usually one single attack, occasionally two different - such as Gyro Attack having a single gyro and a gyro split attack. Time Slow has 3, Oil Slider has 3. Oil Slider contains a double bar and consumes a generally superficial amount of ammo per use. (You could potentially argue that Burst Wrap has 3 attacks, but the two weapons above are more clear-cut in the attacks being different.) Time Slow, similar to the buster upgrades, gives an immediate advantage upon use (your opponent becomes a sloth) and the charge attack leaves enough ammo to be used again.

-Excessive skins. Mike has stated for alternate skins (in the core) that "one or two is fine".

-Presence of the Energy Balancer.

-Low quality custom textures. (Note that the MM7 textures are limited, but otherwise useable.) Certain areas of Time Man's stage, in particular the "wood" sections are not visually pleasing.

-Presence of runes in multiple maps. Using runes (particularly ragerune) overly centralizes maps around it in a way that cannot be made up for.

There are probably other things that I haven't mentioned. I'm certain that the PU team is aware of all these changes and made them knowing it would be separate from the core. Galaxy brings up a good point in describing the expansion as well. Were it added to the core, PU would only add "bells and whistles" which are either designed outside of core standards or capable of going into the core by themselves.

[Messatsu]

I'm going to break down what you've said Ice since I feel this needs a point-by-point reply.  

Elements of the expansion that conflict with the core:

-Behavior of custom weapons. Super Bass Buster and Proto Strike are both simply edits of existing weapons; Proto Strike contains the same icon as Proto Buster and is incapable of being incorporated into DM weapon placement naturally. Both weapons are designed with the intent of being OP; or exist merely to distort Eddie's inventory. This leads to scenarios in which ONLY one person will have these weapons at a time - and usually be unstoppable.

Super bass buster is a joke and is intended to be stupidly OP.  It's nothing more than a gag and cannot be obtained in any way in normal play.  Proto strike is an eddie only item that now has a unique icon and was toned down in v1d to not be so powerful. From your above quote I'm guessing that you didn't even look at it.  

-Multifunctional custom weapons. Stock weapons are usually one single attack, occasionally two different - such as Gyro Attack having a single gyro and a gyro split attack. Time Slow has 3, Oil Slider has 3. Oil Slider contains a double bar and consumes a generally superficial amount of ammo per use. (You could potentially argue that Burst Wrap has 3 attacks, but the two weapons above are more clear-cut in the attacks being different.) Time Slow, similar to the buster upgrades, gives an immediate advantage upon use (your opponent becomes a sloth) and the charge attack leaves enough ammo to be used again.

The weapons were designed to mimic their PSP counterparts as closely as possible.  While it's true Oil Slider has multiple functions, they are in line with the game this expansion is based off of.  Time Slow is a different beast.  We opted to use Time Man's version of the weapon rather than Mega Man's because of the nature of being slowed.  If we were to use MM's version it would basically be an immediate slow which you describe as an instant advantage.  The Time man version was decided upon because the charge up acts as both a visual and audible warning that something powerful is nearby so that players would notice it quickly and generally target the user.

-Excessive skins. Mike has stated for alternate skins (in the core) that "one or two is fine".

All the skins, including the multiple Rolls were from PU.  Besides, I don't think I've ever heard anyone complain about having too many choices for skins.  

-Presence of the Energy Balancer.

From MM6,7,8,9,10 ...native in PU.  Not sure what you're point is here?

-Low quality custom textures. (Note that the MM7 textures are limited, but otherwise useable.) Certain areas of Time Man's stage, in particular the "wood" sections are not visually pleasing.

This is fairly subjective, but if you want to yell at someone about it, go complain to the FC guys, it's their stuff.

-Presence of runes in multiple maps. Using runes (particularly ragerune) overly centralizes maps around it in a way that cannot be made up for.

Yes yes, you've made it quite clear your feelings on runes before.  However, this sounds more like your opinion than anything else.  Also once again, that centralizes maps comment makes me believe you haven't even looked at v1d yet.  Please correct me if I'm wrong.

There are probably other things that I haven't mentioned. I'm certain that the PU team is aware of all these changes and made them knowing it would be separate from the core. Galaxy brings up a good point in describing the expansion as well. Were it added to the core, PU would only add "bells and whistles" which are either designed outside of core standards or capable of going into the core by themselves.

If you're trying to say that elements of PU don't belong in the core, then I'd 100% agree.  Powered Up was a PSP game that does not adhere to the limitations of the NES, thus certain parts do not jive with the core.

The one thing I'd like to point out is that everyone has their OPINIONS on what works and what doesn't.  This is what we felt would be enjoyable to a large number of players.  You don't have to agree with the choices and we'd rather hear everyone's opinions to work out issues.  However, if 10 people report something works great and 1 person says it doesn't, we may not change it.

[NemZ]

Time Slow has 3, Oil Slider has 3. Oil Slider contains a double bar and consumes a generally superficial amount of ammo per use. (You could potentially argue that Burst Wrap has 3 attacks, but the two weapons above are more clear-cut in the attacks being different.)

...3?  what on earth are you talking about?

[Ivory]

Basically what Roc was saying:

Time Slow:
1) Arrow Projectile
2) Time Slow's Effect
3) Rapid Fire Arrows

Oil Slider: (is actually 4, maybe 5 depending on if you group 5 with 2.)
1) Arcing Oil Glob projectiles
2) Oil Sliding (like Star Crash on wheels)
3) Oil Slide over water
4) Oil Globs can be burned by fire weapons to be somewhat like a longer lasting flame blast.
5) Technically you can also jump off Oil Slider for an extra bit of height.

[Mr. X]

If you're trying to say that elements of PU don't belong in the core, then I'd 100% agree.  Powered Up was a PSP game that does not adhere to the limitations of the NES, thus certain parts do not jive with the core.

Actually, that was what his entire post was trying to say.  He was pointing out things that wouldn't work in the core because SmashBroPlusB said it should be in the core.