Wednesday, January 27, 2016

The Deadly Tower of Monsters


Last Updated:  November 6, 2016

What this mod does:
- Fixes shadows & lights (using Helix's LUA script)
- Fixes various UI elements with too much depth & places them at screen depth
- Fixes an issue causing the green shadow blob underneath the main character & some lighting effects to be misaligned.
- Fixes bloom & lens spotting effect
- Adds 2 convergence presets on the 'Caps Lock' key. (Before saving any convergence settings, set the depth-- see the Important Note below)
- Adds a low convergence preset on the 'X' key (use this for some cutscenes & for viewing the triangle video screens)
- Adds an auto-convergence feature when viewing the Teleport screen

Installation:
1)  Download this ZIP file and extract the contents into the directory "..\the_deadly_tower_of_monsters\Binaries\Win32\"
2)  In the directory"..\the_deadly_tower_of_monsters\Engine\Config\", open the file "BaseEngine.ini"
3)  Where it says "AllowNvidiaStereo3d=", change it to from False to True

**If using 3DTV Play**
4)  Move the 3 files inside the "3DTV Play- Helixmod" folder to the "shaderoverride/vertexshaders/" folder.  
5)  When prompted, overwrite the 3 files .

Important note: 
- When in-game, don't manually adjust the depth (separation). Doing so will cause the green shadow blob under the main character & other effects to become misaligned.  Instead:
  1. Decide what depth you want to play the game at-- 25%, 50%, 75% or 100% (default is 100%). If you want, you can cycle through the four separation presets in-game by pressing the backslash key. 
  2. To change the default depth setting, exit the game & open the Dx9Settings.ini file. 
  3. If, for example, you prefer 50% depth, scroll down to [PRES3]. Cut the line "UseByDef = true" and paste it under [PRES1].


Used DarkStarSword's "Viscera: Cleanup Detail" fix as a guide to fix the alignment issues in this game.

Also thanks to DHR for the assistance!

16 comments:

  1. Nice Work, BIG thanks 4everAwake !

    Ace Team's games are weird, I love Them !

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  2. very good game, i bought it thanks to this fix, i didn't know about this game :)

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  3. Hello
    Clone of the hero appears for a sec every time I make a shot or smash box. Can I remove it?
    I didn't change convergence manually.

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    1. Convergence can be adjusted manually. But depth (separation) can't be adjusted manually. But if you are seeing clones of the hero, just adjust the depth until the clone lines up with the hero. Also, I tested this fix with all graphics settings maxed out. Let me know if you still need help.

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  4. Hey 4everAwake, I'm getting the same clone issue described above, but it seems to only be happening using 3dtv play at 720p. 720p on my monitor seems ok. This is with settings maxed, at 100% depth (but I've also tried all the presets). Any ideas?

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    1. I apologize.. I have no clue how to troubleshoot 3dtv play issues. This game was fixed in almost the same way as Viscera Cleanup Detail. I wonder if the issue is present in that game as well?

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  5. No worries, it looks great other than that, and it's a short little diversion anyway. I'm just happy to have it mostly working. =)

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  6. Don't know how I missed this one - just picked it up and really enjoying it.

    That being said; I am having a problem with double images around certain light sources. I am assuming this is a Bloom issue, but haven't been able to find how to disable Bloom in the dx9.ini (and it is not an option that can be toggled on/off in the game's video options.)

    Any help/suggestions would be much appreciated.

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    1. To be clear, it happens anytime there is a burst of light - breaking barrels, shooting enemies, etc.

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    2. Does it still happen if you use the presets assigned to backslash? 4everawake suggests that other effects break if you manually tweak the separation, this might be related.

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  7. Yes. I never attempted to adjust depth manually. Maybe driver related?

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    1. Unlikely to be driver. More likely to be a game update that changed subtly. Since it's some sort of fixed separation problem, maybe try manually changing the separation and convergence to get some alignment.

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  8. Thanks so much for the amazing fix, game is one of a kind, can't stop playing, so much fun. Game's cheesy atmosphere reminded me Stubbs The Zombie a little bit, very different games but both are great.

    I had the doubling issue when firing with the fix, I removed and reinstalled the fix and the issue gone. Maybe it's related to Nvidia's shader cache.

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  9. @4everAwake: I had to stop mid play to send this message. I am loving this game and it would NEVER have caught my attention were it not for your OP [On the gamelist...what the heck is The Deadly Tower of Monsters?]. This is a great break from the intensity of some other games I've been at. So far it's been pretty easy, but that's perfect for my mood today. It's a really enjoyable parody, and the humor is at just the right level for what it is; it's humorous without taking itself too seriously, if you will.
    And the claymation effect and theme is just great ('those trees look like plastic because they ARE plastic!) It brings back memories of a less-digital time... As a kid I was totally into the work of Ray Harryhausen- I'd talked my father into taking me to another town to see Clash of the Titans (the 1981 film). "The Kraken is Crackin'!" Wow, I was 10. Galaga had usurped Invaders and Galaxian as the most popular shooter. A certain as-of-then unnamed plumber was jumping over barrels in pursuit of a giant ape curiously named after a beast of burden. Now THAT was ground-breaking.
    I ramble... All in all, thanks for the fix!

    P.S. A general question that would apply for me to some other games: I should probably know this by now, but anyway... So here I had to crank up convergence a LOT for it to be to my liking, but this results in too high convergence for some short cutscenes. Similar to the way lower convergence is used for aiming in other games, how could I map a lower convergence to a given key or, even better, an unused controller button, for these quick scenes?

    Thanks again! Great times for $2! Blast you, Steam Winter Sale!

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    Replies
    1. **notices hotkey X for low convergence** Doh! However, part of the question stands: how to map this function to, in this case, say, left stick click?

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    2. I use Xpadder whenever I want to map keyboard keys to a gamepad. Glad you're enjoying the fix. Let me know if you have any other issues.

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