Alien: Colonial Marines Overhaul Mod tries to fix the game

Alien: Colonial Marines was a big fat mistake, a game that should have never been released and earned SEGA (and developer Gearbox) lots of ill will from gamers due to the disaster that it was. From false promises in advertising to the game being rushed to store shelves to make a quick buck out of the license, Alien fans felt betrayed.

Well, if you still have the game on your Steam list, you might want to give TemplarGFX’s new Alien: Colonial Marines Overhaul mod a shot! The team went into the game to heavily re-balance it and make it fun to play. Want to see all the stuff they changed? Hit the jump or check out the moddb page to download.

• Engine / System
  Compatibility File modified so that all graphics card, regardless of model get by default the maximum quality settings available.Maximum Shadow resolution increasedShadow removal minimums lowered (more dynamics shadows)
  Texture input switched to use maximum LOD values, Anistropic Filtering and higher quality Sharpening filter for distant textures
  Particle System Spawn Rates, Life Times and LOD settings increased to remove resource limit restrictions

  Many Particle Effects redesigned using different effects to increase visibility / quality of the over-all in-game effects

  Lighting Models for Objects and Statics and many world objects improved through changes to Specular, Diffuse, Rim Lighting and Normal Mapping adjustments

  Dead Bodies, Body Parts, Acid Splashes and Blood Splashes remain in the game world indefinitely

  Spawning Volumes for dynamic and wave-attack sequences in the campaign have had a significant increase to the number of Xeno’s and Mercs that can be spawned. Xeno’s can
  easily overwhelm an area if not dealt with immediately, and Mercenary Loadouts are much more varied, with more smart-gun/flamer/battle-file merc’s spawning.

  Tracer fire on all weapons switched to use the Sentry Gun tracer. This is an orange visible “bolt” and looks fantastic, really helping with gun on gun combat

• Xenomorph Shared 
  Animations for Melee Combat (Win / Tie / Lose), Stance Changes, Jumping, Surface Transition, Stalking and Idling re-timed for better in-game behavior and movementDamage Zones and Critical Hit amounts reworked so that Head Shots are needed to take a Xeno down quickly, with glancing shots doing little damageWeapon Fire impacts and Deaths cause visual acid spurts/splashes that will burn and damage anything it touches
• Xenomorph Soldier / Crusher
  (most actions for the Crusher are heavily scripted, but any dynamic actions use Soldier AI mechanics)AI decision timing increased 1000% to greatly increase their ability to adapt to changing situations and react to new threat.Movement Speed, Acceleration, Weight, Jump Power and Flight Speed rebalanced so they are extremely agile and move swiftly around the cluttered levels.

  Melee Encounter Mechanics modified so that they are almost exclusively used when it will kill the target. Xenos will wear down your armor with claws and kill you with an encounter

  Pouncing reworked to improve movement around the map by reducing the maximum distance to consider jumping to. This leads to better object hurdling and wall/roof usage

  Combat Damage significantly increased so only a few claw attacks are required to down a human

• Xenomorph LurkerAI decision timing increased 500% to increase their ability to outmaneuver you, without being impossibly difficult. Lurkers are truly terrifying!Movement Speed, Acceleration, Weight, Jump Power and Flight Speed rebalanced so they are extremely agile and move swiftly around the cluttered levels.

  Cover Mechanics reworked so they are exposed even less and move more often to stay hidden

  Combat Mechanics reworked so that they will wear you down through several spaced attacks before finishing you with a Melee Encounter

  Pouncing significantly nerfed to force them to run around instead of jumping across the maps. Increases their vulnerability crossing open spaces

• Xenomorph RangerAI decision timing increased 500% so that they are much more reactive in their position choices. Rangers will quickly reposition to continue their barrageMovement Speed, Acceleration, Weight, Jump Power and Flight Speed rebalanced so they are extremely agile and move swiftly around the cluttered levels.

  Melee combat reconfigured to match Soldier melee combat. This makes Rangers more deadly than Soldiers!

• Xenomorph BoilerNo changes have been directly made to the Boiler. Its AI is based on the Xeno Soldier, however its specialized mechanics already set a great pace in their short sewersequence in the campaign so I did not change them.

  Their explosion however uses the generic acid damage mechanics and so are much more dangerous to groups

• Human SharedAnimations for Stance Changes, Awareness and Idling reworked to look smootherSituational Voice Acting reworked to make AI more chatty and informative. Calling out enemies, movements and kills more often, as well as making scenic comments

  Awareness reconfigured to be much more realistic opening up more tactical game-play options

  Vision reworked to allow sneaking and hiding to be used allowing stealth play in some sequences. AI reposition more often to get a better line of sight on their target

  Gore Mechanics enabled for human corpses, allowing incidental damage and reactions to explosions after death

  Weapons Carried by AI use the same Recoil and Ballistics of the player weapons, and as such effect how deadly they are with each weapon (see below)

  Armor used by the AI use the same mechanics as the Player armor (see below)

• Weyland Yutani MercaneriesTeamwork tactics and information sharing reconfigured to remove their hive-mind like abilities. They share only what you hear them sayWeapon Damage rebalanced to reduce their threat level against humans and xenos. Greatly reduces the frustration of fighting them, and makes them much weaker vs Xenos

  Health GREATLY reduced (they had 4x the health of the player originally)

• Colonial MarinesHive-Mind like ability reconfigured to improve the teamwork used by the AI in conjunction with player actions. Better use of cover, suppression and flankingWeapon Damage rebalanced to increase their effectiveness in combat dramatically without making them overpowered.
• Human ArmorBase damage absorption greatly increased so that taking fire without armor is extremely painful. Armor is now MUCH more important to stay aliveWhen fighting Mercs firing at non-armored locations is important to take them down quick (neck, arms, legs) with weaker weapons
• Shoulder LampCan be turned on for 4 minutes before it will flicker and turn offWhen off, the lamp will not begin recharging for 5 seconds

  Lamp recharges at about 1 Minute per second after that

• Combat Pistol / Gorman’sWeight, Recoil and Ballistics (WRB from now on) rebalanced to more accurately match a PPK PistolHolding position moved forward a lot so the gun is not so big on screen. (can look a little funny when bringing up the Motion Tracker)
• Service Pistol / Vasquez’sWRB rebalanced to more accurately match a Colt .45 ACPHolding position moved forward a lot so the gun is not so big on screen.
• Sub Machine-gunWRB rebalanced to more accurately match an MP7A1 SMG
• Pump Shotgun, Hick’s ShotgunFires 00 BuckshotWeight, Recoil and Ballistics rebalanced to more accurately match a Mossburg 500 Cruiser

  Auto Shotgun

  Fires #4 Buckshot

  WRB rebalanced to more accurately match an Saiga 12 Shotgun

• Double Barrel ShotgunFires 2 x BirdshotWRB rebalanced to more accurately match a 411 Bear Claw Double Barrel Short Shotgun
• M4A1 Pulse RifleMk2 replaced with original movie rifle95 ammo per clip, with ammo upgrade filling it to the maximum 99 (against Colonial Marines Field manual guidelines!)

  WRB rebalanced to more accurately match a Light Machine Gun with movie ‘canon’ statistics

• Hudsons Pulse RifleMatches Above, but uses 5 round burst fire instead of full auto
• Assault RifleWRB rebalanced to more accurately match an M16a4 Assault RifleDefault to single fire mode, with upgrade giving 3 fire burst mode

  lamer Fuel capacity doubled

• Battle RifleWeight, Recoil and Ballistics rebalanced to more accurately match a USA Fielding M110 Sniper Rifle
• M240 Incinerator UnitI had a choice. Flamers, or Smart-guns. I chose Smart-Guns. As a result only Apone’s Flamer is available in the campaignFlame generation rate increased

  Fuel Capacity increased

  Fire Damage significantly increased

• M56 Smart GunAssisted Targeting mechanics improvedWRB rebalanced to more accurately match its characteristics in the movie
• XM-99A Plasma Pulse Rifleshot count reduced to 2 per canister, but instant firing. With 6 canisters in reserve.WRB made up from scratch ( 😛 )
• Ripley’s Pulse Rifle/FlamerPulse rifle is a fully fledged Pulse Rifle (same as above)Flamer is a fully fledged Flamer (same as above)
• ExplosivesDamage greatly increasedEffects reworked to accurately match the damage

  Physics shock-waveincreased

• Firebombs / Fire / IncindiaryBurn time increasedDamage per second increased

  Special effect increased

• Sonic Electronic Ball BreakersStun Time increasedLightning Sphere effect suped up

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