Redo. AKA Recreation.
-Do note that due to the obscurity of the project, the information displayed here may be incorrect or inaccurate.-
In July 2th of 2002, a MetaMod plugin named "Monster" was created. botman was the one behind the project. The plugin allowed server operators to mix normal gameplay with monsters on various mods, such as Team Fortress Classic, Counter-Strike, among others.
Unfortunately, this plugin earned only 3 updates, it's last version being released on July 30th of the same year.
Another person, Rick90 on ModDB ( RollerPig? ), continued development of the plugin on an unknown date, and give it a new name: "Monster Mod". This modification of the original project gave it extended features. New monsters being it's key additions.
Few were lucky to adquire a compiled binary of the plugin, this rare binary has met it's final public update on September 29th of 2007. The development of the project continued behind closed doors, becoming a private property for a specific server.
The source code of the rare binary was never known, and the private development met it's death on July 2th of 2014. The final announcement published on the old ModDB page was made on that very same day, and the binary or source code distribution of such update never saw the light of the day.
February 25th, 2020. A small light is seen at the distance...
MonsterMod is a MetaMod plugin. Its purpose was to allow multiplayer games to add monsters, where it wasn't possible to do so by normal means. The updates of the project became incredibly obscure: Getting the "up-to-date" versions containing the new additions (opposing force monsters, for example) were very difficult. And the only one who managed to bring the plugin even futher kept the progress of the plugin private.
After 20 years (and a half) since botman's original plugin was released, the future of the project became nothing but a forgotten, ancient relic of the past.
Not anymore...
The first goal of this project aims towards the recreation of the new features of the "obscured and updated" Monster Mod plugin. Taking botman's original 2002 plugin and working from the ground up, the mission is to rebuild it with the new features and monsters that only few were able to see.
The source code is completely free for everyone to use: In the event that the development of this project falls and becomes stagnant again, the plugin will live on, as the project's second goal is its preservation. The original botman's page where you can download the 2002 plugin will not stay up forever.
Under no circumstances shall we allow this project to fade away and become lost amidst the gears of time.
The plugin -should- be able to be used out-of-the-box by simply downloading the binary and adding the appropiate entry in metamod's plugin list.
Windows:
win32 addons\monstermod\monster_mm.dll
Linux:
linux addons/monstermod/monster_mm_i386.so
Additional configuration files are included in the release files, each explaining it's usage and installation instructions.
TODO: Add build instructions.
Usage of ReHLDS is highly recommended, as you can use the command rescount which will reveal the current number of precached models and sounds. You can also use reslist model and reslist sound to see the entire list of precached content.
Keeping track of the number of precached content will allow you to maximize the number of monsters you can use without risking going over the limits.
Counter-Strike precaches the sounds of all weapons. This means that sounds such as "clip-ins", "clip-outs" are added to the list, taking quite a bit of space in the precache count. Let it be a reminder that our good old Half-Life can only store a maximum of 512 precached resources. Most of these sounds are handled client-side by the models themselves, there is no need for all of them to be kept precached on the server. Only the weapons fire sounds are needed.
MonsterMod does not have an integrated "Unprecacher" to remove those sounds, but you can remove them manually with AMX Mod X, using Fakemeta. Register forward FM_PrecacheSound and return FMRES_SUPERCEDE on the following sounds:
"weapons/ak47_boltpull.wav"
"weapons/ak47_clipin.wav"
"weapons/ak47_clipout.wav"
"weapons/aug_boltpull.wav"
"weapons/aug_boltslap.wav"
"weapons/aug_clipin.wav"
"weapons/aug_clipout.wav"
"weapons/aug_forearm.wav"
"weapons/awp_clipin.wav"
"weapons/awp_clipout.wav"
"weapons/awp_deploy.wav"
"weapons/boltdown.wav"
"weapons/boltpull1.wav"
"weapons/boltup.wav"
"weapons/clipin1.wav"
"weapons/clipout1.wav"
"weapons/de_clipin.wav"
"weapons/de_clipout.wav"
"weapons/de_deploy.wav"
"weapons/elite_clipout.wav"
"weapons/elite_deploy.wav"
"weapons/elite_leftclipin.wav"
"weapons/elite_reloadstart.wav"
"weapons/elite_rightclipin.wav"
"weapons/elite_sliderelease.wav"
"weapons/elite_twirl.wav"
"weapons/famas_boltpull.wav"
"weapons/famas_boltslap.wav"
"weapons/famas_clipin.wav"
"weapons/famas_clipout.wav"
"weapons/famas_forearm.wav"
"weapons/fiveseven_clipin.wav"
"weapons/fiveseven_clipout.wav"
"weapons/fiveseven_slidepull.wav"
"weapons/fiveseven_sliderelease.wav"
"weapons/g3sg1_clipin.wav"
"weapons/g3sg1_clipout.wav"
"weapons/g3sg1_slide.wav"
"weapons/galil_boltpull.wav"
"weapons/galil_clipin.wav"
"weapons/galil_clipout.wav"
"weapons/m4a1_boltpull.wav"
"weapons/m4a1_clipin.wav"
"weapons/m4a1_clipout.wav"
"weapons/m4a1_deploy.wav"
"weapons/m4a1_silencer_off.wav"
"weapons/m4a1_silencer_on.wav"
"weapons/m249_boxin.wav"
"weapons/m249_boxout.wav"
"weapons/m249_chain.wav"
"weapons/m249_coverdown.wav"
"weapons/m249_coverup.wav"
"weapons/mac10_boltpull.wav"
"weapons/mac10_clipin.wav"
"weapons/mac10_clipout.wav"
"weapons/mp5_clipin.wav"
"weapons/mp5_clipout.wav"
"weapons/mp5_slideback.wav"
"weapons/p90_boltpull.wav"
"weapons/p90_clipin.wav"
"weapons/p90_clipout.wav"
"weapons/p90_cliprelease.wav"
"weapons/p228_clipin.wav"
"weapons/p228_clipout.wav"
"weapons/p228_slidepull.wav"
"weapons/p228_sliderelease.wav"
"weapons/scout_bolt.wav"
"weapons/scout_clipin.wav"
"weapons/scout_clipout.wav"
"weapons/sg550_boltpull.wav"
"weapons/sg550_clipin.wav"
"weapons/sg550_clipout.wav"
"weapons/sg552_boltpull.wav"
"weapons/sg552_clipin.wav"
"weapons/sg552_clipout.wav"
"weapons/slideback1.wav"
"weapons/sliderelease1.wav"
"weapons/ump45_boltslap.wav"
"weapons/ump45_clipin.wav"
"weapons/ump45_clipout.wav"
"weapons/usp_clipin.wav"
"weapons/usp_clipout.wav"
"weapons/usp_silencer_off.wav"
"weapons/usp_silencer_on.wav"
"weapons/usp_slideback.wav"
"weapons/usp_sliderelease.wav"
Doing this will free 85 sounds from the precache list that you can now use for additional monsters.
I'm aware that the plugin is far from perfect, and there are a few things that need polishing -especially the AI-. I'll try to fix/will be fixing as the project evolves:
-
Human Grunts are unable to reload their weapons. As a workaround, infinite ammo has been given to them.
-
Male Assassins share the same AI as HGrunts, so their ammo problem is still a thing, and the same workaround is used.
-
Shock Troopers seems to be broken despite sharing HGrunts AI code. Despite having infinite ammo, they eventually stop firing. Worse, taking cover is absolutely broken, and they remain completely frozen in place when it happens.
-
If a Heavy Weapons Grunt is to lose their target while his minigun is still spinning, the next time it targets an enemy it will instantly fire instead of spinning up the minigun again.
Attempting to recreate everything in one go is a daunting task. Let it be known that the original 2002 source code will NOT compile on today's compilers, and does NOT contain all the necessary files for compilation. The preliminary was to rewrite and provide as many files or lines of code to ensure it can compile again, and be usable on an actual HLDS installation.
The original Visual C++ 6.0 DSP file exists in the repository but neither the file nor the code has been updated to newer formats. Don't expect it to compile on modern Visual Studio versions.
Current milestones are separated by "Tiers", which are as follows:
- Update source code so it can compile AND run ON LINUX. [DONE]
- Rework config processing to use a "key --> value" format. [DONE]
- Add info_node and info_node_air support for AI navigation. [DONE]
- Add node_viewer to debug node graph generation. [DONE]
- Implement Gargantua and all Turrets from Half-Life. [DONE]
- Add -at least minimal- death messages. -Example: "<player> was killed by a <monster>".- [DONE]
- Implement HUD info about the monsters, along with the "displayname" keyvalue. [DONE]
- Implement custom monster classification, the "classify" keyvalue. [DONE]
- Update source code so it can compile AND run ON WINDOWS. [DONE]
- Implement -almost- all Opposing Force monsters. [DONE]
- Implement -almost- all default Sven Co-op monsters. [DONE]
- Make MonsterMod aware of normal game entities. -For those wanting to use this in vanilla HL.- [DONE]
- Custom model support. [DONE]
- Implement reading entities within the BSP itself.
- Model scaling. -If possible.-
- Custom sound support, along with sentences.
- Fix all pending bugs.
- Add configurations to change AI behaviour.
- Optimize code and enhance the AI.
- Create "tool" entities for easier map customization.
What will the future hold after all Tiers has been completed?