Expanded Game (EXG) v1.2

Started by Outsider, December 31, 2022, 09:58PM

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December 31, 2022, 09:58PM Last Edit: March 03, 2024, 08:25PM by Outsider




So, what was that huge project I was working on? Here it is... The Expanded Game (EXG)! A solo project I wanted for my personal game that turned into something so big that I couldn't just keep it for myself. There's so much that I've added to Marvel Ultimate Alliance in this game expansion, that it's nearly a brand new game. More stages, new missions, more bosses, more enemy types, more objectives... more fun! Check this out.


SPECIAL NOTE: Please note that the EXG is only compatible with the original 2006 port of MUA. It will not work on the "remastered" 2016 Steam version. Unsure which version you got? Check the game folder -- if you see .bin files and the exe file date is 2016, then you've got the "remastered" version that is useless here. You can get a legal, free copy of the 2006 version at our Library of Links.


PREREQUISITES:
Before using it, you MUST first have the latest OCP installed in your game. Go here: https://marvelmods.com/forum/index.php/topic,11037.0.html. The order you install it is: OCP ---> Roster Hack (if using one) ---> EXG. If you use MO2, please note that OCP is priority 0, a Roster Hack (if using one) is priority 1, and the EXG is priority 2. Be warned however, that the 50 Roster Hack + the EXG can create some glitches. (See "BUGS" below for details.) There are no glitches with just the OCP or with the 36 Roster Hack.
This project has been thoroughly tested by myself and select trusted community members from across the world to ensure that it works properly.






FEATURES:
-Adds "Crew Quarters" stage to the Helicarrier mission.
-Adds "Logistics Facility" and "Level 3" stages to the Omega Base mission. Those doors at Omega Exterior should lead somewhere...
-Adds a way to return to the "Top Deck" at Omega Exterior.
-Adds a New York City mission to Act 2! (This is a secret mission. Can you figure out what to do at the Sanctum Santorum?)
-Adds "Murder Midway" stage to the Murderworld mission. (This is a secret stage. Can you figure out what to do at the Big Top?)
-Adds a way to return to the fake "Castle Doom" at Big Top.
-Changed the idle of one of the bosses due to issues stemming from original stance.
-Adds "Frigga's Valley" stage to the Bifrost Bridge mission.
-Adds an Astral Plane mission to Act 4! (This is a secret mission. Can you figure out what to do during the Shi'ar Starship mission?)
-Adds "Andromeda Research Labs" stage to the Skrull Homeworld mission. (This is a secret stage. Can you figure out what to investigate at the Sky Towers?)
-Adds a way to return to the Iron Man Lab at "Doomstark Tower."
-Adds a boss battle to the Iron Man Lab at "Doomstark Tower."
-Adds a Time Warp mission to Act 5! (This is a secret mission. Can you figure out what to do at "Doomstark Tower?")
-Adds a Latveria mission to Act 5! Just have Nick Fury take you to Castle Doom as normal.
-Adds a boss battle in Castle Doom.
-Adds the X-Mansion as an extra hub! You can explore the mansion and even battle in the Danger Room! (You can access it in Stark Tower.)
-Moved Daredevil's sim mission to the normal Heli sim stage, freeing up a stage space. It's still dark in some areas.
-All of "Outsider's Special Scripts" included. These files allow some shape-shifting mods to work correctly and allow some characters to swim faster in Atlantis.
-Added my "Stygian Abyss Fix" that fixes the crash at Mephisto's Realm.
-BLaw's Realism mod included in the "xtras" folder, updated to follow OCP & EXG.
-5 alternate combat music tracks for the Danger Room included in the "xtras" folder, based on famous X-Men tracks.


BUGS:
- The camera is sometimes faulty in the Manhattan Skyline stage, as well as inside the ground floor of the X-Mansion.
- The new missions sadly do not have mini-maps, as they don't transfer well to MUA.
- The EXG used in combination with the 50 Roster Hack can cause some glitches such as some doors not opening or repeated conversations. Not every player experiences these issues, however, so it's believed that it heavily depends on your chosen roster. No issues were found when in combination with only the OCP or with the 36 Roster Hack.






PROJECT CREDITS:
Outsider - Stage creation and coding, sound files, script files, conversation files, some effects, improved animation files, special scripts, etc.


ASSISTANCE PROPS TO:
Teancum for stages from his XML1 PC Project and his excellent PY script tutorial.
Julio Cabral for his NYC sim mission data.
Both ak2yny & BaconWizard17 for providing important info on raven-formats and ZSND.
Maegawa for his "Evil Wolverine" data.
UltraMegaMagnus for enlarging the invisible forcefields I made.
jayglass for MUA2 Lucia von Bardas skin.
MrKablamm0fish for removing the dx8 from the Prison Compound stage.
Enigma for acquiring the Master Mold power sounds, and for his XML1 Magneto sound pack.
Waggens7up, UltraMegaMagnus & myself for the Victorious skin, cape, & staff respectively.


TESTING PROPS TO:
The EXG Testing Team (UltraMegaMagnus, ak2yny, Ceamonks890, & Andersonbrazil) for testing out beta packages, reporting glitches / bugs and offering suggestions, ensuring that it functions on various personal games.
Those who have provided post-release information, such as Cyborg Sun, SuperiorSpyder, and tubular spacedude.


ROYALTY-FREE MUSIC CREDIT:
"Three Away From Zero," "Combustible Coffee Pot"
Written & Performed by:
Derek R. Audette
© MMX Derek R. Audette (SOCAN)


MUSIC NOTE:
The alternate sound files contain tracks from various X-Men cartoons and video games at one minute or less. I take no credit for these tracks.


OTHER NOTE:
The following OCP optional conversations are NOT compatible with the EXG due to its changing the "npcstat.engb" file or map files: Cerebro-Strange1, HulkNPC-Strange2, IronMan4x-MsMarvel, & Mephisto-DrStrange. Most game-changing mods are also not compatible.











December 31, 2022, 10:03PM #2 Last Edit: February 14, 2023, 12:52AM by Outsider
This is where the EXG secrets are revealed. Just press the spoiler tag to view each of them.





Helicarrier
Spoiler
Crew Quarters: This is the new stage that you get to after defeating :bullseye: Bullseye and destroying the missile in the Command Deck. If you're already familiar with the Helicarrier simulator mission, then you know that in this stage, you have to break the broken wall in the room to the right of the forcefield to get across.


Omega Base
Spoiler
Omega Exterior: You know the first door behind you when you start leads back to the stage you came from, Wrenchworks. But, the other doors lead somewhere as well! The 2nd door leads to the new stage, Logistics Facility. The 3rd door leads to another new stage, Level 3, but you have to play through the Project Labs to unlock it. And the 4th door is locked at first.

Level 3: There is a special conversation if :fantastic: Mr. Fantastic is on your team; Throw objects or enemies into the walls to break your way through the area; The :hulk_icon: Hulk is very dangerous, so a constant collective effort is needed or he'll kill you. Keep attacking him from far. If the character runs short in health, switch to another; There is a special conversation if the :thing: Thing beats the Hulk.

Top Deck: Once you start there, move to the left. You'll notice that you can return to the Omega Exterior via the Executive Elevator. That's what the 4th door was and is now unlocked.


Atlantis
Spoiler
No secrets added there.


Valley of Spirits
Spoiler
Golden Court: Defeating the Grey Gargoyle will unlock the "Stone Cold" objective.


New York City
Spoiler
Greenwich Village: There is a special conversation if :pman: Luke Cage is on your team; Anyone with Might can lift and throw the cars; There is a Mysterious Cache to the street west of the starting point. You'll find it next to a police officer and a vending machine -- you'll notice these chests have my symbol on them; There's a special conversation if :daredevil: Daredevil talks to Bullseye; After you defeat :bullseye: Bullseye, go to the subway entrance nearest to you to reach the next stage.

23rd Street: Anyone with Might can lift and throw the cars; Talking to the police officer there will unlock the "Police Briefing" objective. There is a special conversation if :spiderman: Spider-Man talks to the police officer; There is a Mysterious Cache in one of the north 'hood areas just after the extraction point.

Park Avenue: Anyone with Might can lift and throw the cars; There is a Mysterious Cache all the way north from the starting point, at the farthest northeast corner; You have to examine a rather large limousine to the west of the stage near the hotel to shut down the forcefield stopping you from advancing. Move up the debris to the left of the hotel and follow that path to find a Skill Point / secret area.

Manhattan Skyline: At the far north end of the stage where the stairs are, go left to find one enemy there. Jump over the rooftop air machines to find a Skill Point / secret area; There are four Mysterious Caches to the east of the wooden plank to that area; After your initial talk with Senator Leiber (Stan Lee), don't go back to the Sanctum Santorum yet -- there are special conversations if :capamer: Captain America, :spiderman: Spider-Man, :thor: Thor, :wolverine: Wolverine, :stark: Iron Man, :hulk_icon: Hulk, or :deadpool: Deadpool talks to him a second time.


Murderworld
Spoiler
Big Top: The arcade machine to the right of the starting point can take you back to the fake "Castle Doom" if you missed something there; The arcade machine to the left is locked initially. Break the dunk tank and you'll hear a chime, unlocking the left arcade machine, which takes you to the secret stage, Murder Midway.

Murder Midway: There is a special conversation if :hawkeye: Hawkeye meets Swordsman.


Mephisto's Realm
Spoiler
Hall of Zarathos: This is the new stage you get to after defeating :bheart: Blackheart and make the choice of who to save. There are two treasure chests there. Once you enter the Gate of No Return, you cannot return back to the previous areas of Mephisto's Realm, so do all of your exploring before then.


Bifrost Bridge
Spoiler
Bifrost Bridge: Enter the Viking ship to go to the new stage, Frigga's Valley, which has a lot of upgrades.

Frigga's Valley: When you break the first door and go through the doorway, there will be four body upgrades to the right, and four striking upgrades to the left; Go along the left path and you'll see three large stones to the left -- break them to find a Skill Point / secret area; After you break the second door and go through the doorway, there are four treasure chests around the section; Go to the far right outside of this section to find four focus upgrades; Interact with the Odin statue in the north center to unlock the "Eye of The Storm" objective.


Asgard
Spoiler
No secrets added there.


Niffleheim
Spoiler
No secrets added there.


Shi'ar Starship
Spoiler
Science Section: Rescuing Princess Lilandra by breaking that torture device will unlock the secret new mission, Astral Plane! When you return to Attilan, enter the portal near :blackwidow: Black Widow.


Astral Plane
Spoiler
Shadow Gallery: There is a special conversation there if :strange: Doctor Strange is on your team; There is a striking upgrade to the west of the area after the second staircase.

Forsaken Place: There is a special conversation there if :storm: Storm is on your team; There is a body upgrade in one of the areas with multiple enemies.

The Endless Stairs: There are two special conversations if :xavier: Professor X is on your team; At some point during the stage, you'll run into a focus upgrade; Each of the four Orbs of Darkness around the area where you fight the Shadow King will greatly enhance the hero that grabs each of them. You can grab each of them during the Shadow King fight to help you if you wish, though that's somewhat cheap.


Skrull Homeworld
Spoiler
Sky Towers: After destroying the three towering generators, examine the large gaping hole in the center of the last area. This will unlock the secret stage, Andromeda Reseach Labs.

Andromeda Reseach Labs: There are five consoles around this stage. When you go outside the starting room, the console to the right has a conversation if the :thing: Thing activates it. The console to the left has a special conversation if :iwoman: Invisible Woman activates it. The console near the missile-looking objects in the next area has a special conversation if :humant: Human Torch activates it. Then, the large console in the next room has a special conversation if :fantastic: Mr. Fantastic activates it. Activate all five consoles to unlock the "Lab or Prison?" objective; When the jet to the southwest of the bridge area to trigger short dialogue, which then unlocks the way back up to the Sky Towers when you're done there.


Time Warp
Spoiler
Egypt: There is a special conversation if :moonk: Moon Knight is on your team; There is also a special conversation if :magneto: Magneto meets :apocalypse: Apocalypse; There are large golden chests around this stage. While they don't open, they act as caches triggering health, energy and items; Defeat Apocalypse to unlock one of the gates leading to the next portal.

Asteroid M: There is a special conversation if :magneto: Magneto is on your team; Break the wall north of the glowing bridge to progress on through the space station; There is a special conversation if :scarletw: Scarlet Witch meets Magneto; The Master of Magnetism is one of the toughest opponents in the game -- roll when he fires any beam attacks. If he uses his forcefield too much, at some point it doesn't work anymore -- that's when he becomes easier. Do not attack him while the forcefield is active, as some powers are reversed back at you.


Latveria
Spoiler
Latverian Warship: There is a special conversation if :stark: Iron Man is on your team; Destroy the crates near the Doom Iron Men generators to shut them down, but you can use them to gain more XP, as each pod launches up to 15 of them, so that's 30 for each generator; There is a focus upgrade up the stairs near where the forcefield is at the end of the boat.

Prison Compound: There is a special conversation if :iceman: Iceman investigates the Blackbird to the right of the starting area; There is also a special conversation if :magneto: Magneto or :psylocke: Psylocke confronts Lucia von Bardas & Dark Wolverine; The latter is extremely dangerous, so take out Lucia von Bardas first so you can't get stunned and become easy prey for him to kill you; There are hidden body & striking pickups if you go inside the large crates; The last Doom Iron Man with a powerup has the keycard needed to enter the large door -- this will lead you to Castle Doom.


Castle Doom
Spoiler
Castle Doom: There is a special conversation with Victorious if :humant: Human Torch is on your team; Defeat her to complete the new objective and unlock the extraction point & Doom's Portal.







Stark Tower
Spoiler
The elevator-looking platform near Wyatt Wingfoot has a glowing :xmen_logo: there. This will lead you to the X-Mansion!


X-Mansion
Spoiler
Xavier Institute: There are three elevators leading to the X-Men HQ in the sub-basement: One is the wooden block just below the main staircase, one is the wooden block next to the TV in the Rec Room, and one is the wooden block in the back of the Classroom; The pictures on the walls are "firsts" -- the X-Men's first comic book, first video game, and first movie; If you move close to the TV in the Rec Room, it will show a screen of "X-Men: Children of The Atom," one of my favorite games; Go to the front door near the staircase to return back to Stark Tower.

X-Men HQ: There is an Energy Replenishing Machine in :beast: Beast's lab, and a Health Replenishing Machine in the medical facility; There is a Skill Point located in the Brig. Just shut off the forcefield control to access it; The Danger Room stage's enemies will respawn each time you go there, so you can gain XP, but you can't gain reputation points after the first time.


Sanctum Santorum
Spoiler
Get the "Gem of Oshtur" to the left of the starting point, then speak to the Ancient One at the mirror of the next room to the right. It will unlock the new secret mission, New York City! Now just go back to the starting room area and access the front door.


Valhalla
Spoiler
Speak to Hermod and Sif to unlock objectives. However, if you unlock one of them, you can't unlock the other until you complete either the Bifrost Bridge or Asgard mission first.


Attilan
Spoiler
No secrets added there, except for the one mentioned in the Shi'ar Starship mission.


Doomstark Tower
Spoiler
You can access the Iron Man Lab at any time now by going to the waterfall; Speak to :vision: Vision and ask him if there are any Super Heroes left on Earth. At some point, you'll see a time rift -- a tear in the space/time continuum. Enter that portal to play the new secret mission, Time Warp!; Have :nfury: Nick Fury take you to Castle Doom as normal -- you'll land in the new mission, Latveria instead!

Iron Man Lab: After facing the multiple Doom Iron Men, there is a new boss fight -- Dark Iron Man! There is a special conversation if :warbird: Ms. Marvel is on your team and confronts him.



This is so epic! I can't even put into words how cool this is!


Very cool! Curious how it will play :)
My Release topic : http://marvelmods.com/forum/index.php/topic,8934.0.html

Newest Release : Raven

Awesome! I saw all sim missions are part of main mission, but does this require to have the sim mission character during the main?

The EXG has been updated, as I've been listening to reported problems (thankfully not many) and fixing whatever bugs appear.

- Changed a text error in Weasel's conversation at Iron Man Lab.
- Fixed Weasel's conversation at Sanctum Santorum where the option appears beforehand, just as all the other conversations do.
- Fixed the menu functionality glitch at Sanctum Santorum even further.
- Made some HUB stages more stable by removing unnecessary "scripts/common/conv/(character)" entries from their package files, as those scripts still work without those entries.
- Fixed "omega4" as it was previously missing some looping helicopter sounds that the OCP have or so will have.
- Fixed an error with Attilan 1's map file. Please go to your game's "maps/act4/attilan" folder and delete the "attilan1_new.engb" after downloading the update.


In a couple of weeks, I will reveal the EXG's secret stuff. But right now I'd like to give you guys some time to figure them out yourselves.


Quote from: TheMK on January 01, 2023, 01:08AM
This is so epic! I can't even put into words how cool this is!

Shocked you, didn't I? It was seven months in the making, but worth it.

Quote from: martialstorm on January 02, 2023, 01:58AM
Thank you so much @Outsider!


You're welcome. Enjoy!


Quote from: Polygone on January 02, 2023, 12:58PM
Very cool! Curious how it will play :)

Hope you enjoy it, man!


Quote from: dwoga on January 02, 2023, 09:37PM
Awesome! I saw all sim missions are part of main mission, but does this require to have the sim mission character during the main?

Not at all. What this means is that all stages that were used exclusively for sim missions are now in the main game, as extensions of the main game's missions. (Sim missions can still play just fine.)


Everyone, the EXG has been updated to version 1.1, mainly due to an unforeseen major glitch. Here are the changes that was done:

- Updated version to 1.1
- Fixed the Iceman HUD problem at Sanctum Santorum.
- Ultra Lizard in Asgard is now named "Ultra Lizard."
- Review stats has been fixed to avoid missing collectibles elsewhere. (As a result, some collectibles have been removed from the new stages, as there is a limit of 32 total.)
- Removed the timer from the Danger Room that caused a random black screen glitch for some when it reached zero.
- You can now exit the Danger Room at any time if you get overwhelmed. No more "win or die." Changed Professor X's conversation to mention this.


Thanks to the Marvel Mods community for reporting these issues. The sooner I know, the sooner I can make attempts to fix them.


Everyone, the EXG has been updated to version 1.15. Here are the changes that were made:

- Updated version to 1.15
- OCP optional conversation with Mephisto & Dr. Strange now included. (This is so it will no longer clash with the "Outsider's Special Scripts" version of the "mephisto4.py" script file, and you won't lose its data.)
- Some boss characters got a health boost.
- Dark versions of heroes now all have the same health and damage output, making it harder (except the weak versions of the Dark F4).
- Enemies no longer fall through the floor in the Hall of Zarathos. Slightly more enemies there now.
- Added a new boss to Doomstark's Iron Man Lab.


Please note that the following OCP optional conversations are NOT compatible with the EXG due to its changing the "npcstat.engb" file or map files: Cerebro-Strange1, HulkNPC-Strange2, IronMan4x-MsMarvel, & Mephisto-DrStrange (included already).

I apologize to those of you who may get annoyed by the updating I've been doing. Nobody ever gets it right the first time, and the community's been great at reporting small issues that could ruin the experience. So, don't be surprised if I have to update again, but hopefully not. :laugh:


Will you integrate the rest of the OCP optional conversations to EXG in a future update?

Quote from: red41804 on January 09, 2023, 09:24AM
Will you integrate the rest of the OCP optional conversations to EXG in a future update?

Not at this time. Unsure for the future.


So it took a while, but I'm pretty sure I managed to play through most of the new content (although these reserved posts do make me think otherwise :P )
Having said that, absolutely amazing work! I'm pretty sure I triggered a special conversation at the second part of the time stage, which got a chuckle out of me.
Walking through the X-mansion felt pretty weird to do in MUA, but put a huge grin on my face as well, defnitely the most fun I've had with this game for a while now.
Amazing job!
My Release topic : http://marvelmods.com/forum/index.php/topic,8934.0.html

Newest Release : Raven

Quote from: Polygone on January 11, 2023, 03:42PM
So it took a while, but I'm pretty sure I managed to play through most of the new content (although these reserved posts do make me think otherwise :P )
Having said that, absolutely amazing work! I'm pretty sure I triggered a special conversation at the second part of the time stage, which got a chuckle out of me.
Walking through the X-mansion felt pretty weird to do in MUA, but put a huge grin on my face as well, defnitely the most fun I've had with this game for a while now.
Amazing job!

Thanks, I appreciate the compliments. Glad to hear you enjoyed it.


Everyone, the EXG has been updated, mainly due to an unforeseen major glitch caused by the previous update. Here are the changes:

- Fixed Doom's initial conversation at Castle Doom from constantly repeating.
- Fixed some parts of the Castle Doom cutscene when you acquire all of the items from repeating.
- Fixed the camera from getting stuck when going upside-down in Doom's Dimension.
- Fixed Hank Pym's conversation at Doomstark from slight malfunction.
- Fixed the Stygian Abyss issue from the last update that unfortunately had Mephisto running at you with no conversation. Turns out the EXG doesn't allow any special conversations with Mephisto. That stage is too sensitive.
- Edited the "farclip_out" script in Omega Exterior in the hopes of stopping a random glitch where Level 3 doesn't unlock after the alarm goes off. Nothing was removed.
- Added a special conversation between Hawkeye and Swordsman at Murder Midway.
- Added a special conversation for Luke Cage at Greenwich Village in New York City.
- Added a special conversation between Psylocke and Lucia von Bardas & Dark Wolverine at the Prison Compound in Latveria.
- Lucia von Bardas' stun grenades no longer stun you if you're blocking.
- The Lizard boss fight is easier.


Also, the 3rd post features the EXG's secrets for those who already played it or just wish to know the secrets beforehand. Don't read it if you don't want spoilers.