[S3 Mod] SIlent Storm Sentinels: Redesigned

[WerHeruvim]

A rebalancing modification for S3. Makes the game more challenging and rewarding. Improves all random encounters and missions. Also:

 

Better enemies. Now less dumb, less surprised and more prepared.

Races. Mercenaries (including women) from other countries have joined the Hammer.

Better cutscenes. NPC look a bit more alive.

Enemies may surrender. Dominate enemies and see them dropping their weapons.

Daylight. Now it is harder to hide.

And much more.

 

Full description: Link

 

Character generation

• Updated/improved women's hair
  
• Updated/improved heads for the main character
  
• Updated/improved/fixed old uniforms and outfits
  
• Fixed skins for female characters
  
• Added new uniforms and outfits
  
• Added new uniforms to start the game with
  

Better looking scenes

• New main menu
  
• Almost every dialog/scene/in-game movie was updated with animations/camera positions
  
• Now characters don't look silly and actually do something. They feel more alive now.
  
• Restored some unused lines, animations, added new staff.
  
• Added new scenes where it was necessary
  

Improved animation

• Improved/repaired/changed some animations
  
• Added new animations
  
• Improved unarmed combat animations
  
• Laser gun crouch attack animation finally fixed
  
• Improved pistol animations for all classes
  

Music and sound

• Restored music from Silent Storm.
  
• Fixed some sounds
  
• Added new sounds
  
• Some enemies will use Acks from Silent Storm
  

Enemies

• Added new types of enemies
  
• Strong enemies are better prepared now, not just placed in the field to be murdered and destroyed by your squad
  
• Hammer is yet again a dangerous and powerful organization. Make no mistakes. These guys are no match for rookies and will punish your every wrong move
  
• Now every Hammer has a ranking, class, perks. High Tier enemies have better experience and unlikely to surrender even if they are outmatched. Some will never surrender
  
• Every Hammer wears a uniforms which means something. Vanilla Elite Soldier (green camouflage mantle with a gasmask) was nowhere different from a generic masked soldier from the first missions. No he will kick your ass if you meet him early
  
• Some zones/missions now have bosses/mini bosses. They may grant you nice weapons, items for sale or some experience. Fighting them is usually optional
  
• Higher difficulties will force all enemies to hide, stay hidden and ambush you
  
• More variety for enemies: races, gender, uniforms
  
• Enemies use grenades more often
  
• In some cases enemies may be well prepared for PK's in your squad.
  
• Some enemies may be unique to specific zones/regions
  

Zones, events and game logic

• No more silly situations when enemies hide behind explosives during cutscenes
  
• Added police and regular armies where it was necessary. Fighting them is punishable and not recommended. It is up to the player though.
  
• Penalties for assaulting civilians/regular army in RE
  

Random Encounters

• Vanilla RE improved/changed/modified, new RE added ( almost all using restored maps from Silent Storm RE, plus some unused Vanilla RE and some of mine)
  
• Every RE is ruled and modified by His Highness the Script. Enemies may have perks and classes as well as special abilities, goals, missions
  
• Almost every RE is random not just about enemies and their weapons, but about combat situations, types of enemies, rewards, allies etc. E.g. German Small Electro Station Encounter has more than 3 variants
  
• Almost every RE has enemies with random levels, abilities and skills. There is no auto-leveling, so some RE may be too tough for a beginner
  
• Added neutral encounters (no enemies, still may have loot or some items)
  
• German Bank encounter moved to Poland. Replaced with The Mausoleum encounter
   
  Total random encounters:
  
• Egypt: 2 Random Encounters, 2 Special Encounters
  
• England: 4 Random Encounters, 1 Special Encounter
  
• Germany: 9 Random Encounters, 1 Special Encounter
  
• Poland: 4 Random Encounters, 1 Special Encounter
  
• Switzerland: 3 Random Encounters, 1 Special Encounter
  
• USSR: 7 Random Encounters, 1 Special Encounter
  

Missions and Story

• All missions and encounters were either reworked or rebalanced. Playing is challenging. Beating the game feels different and rewarding
  
• Third mission (Saving a sentinel) was rebuilt from scratch
  
• Added a new mission for Block 4 ("The Factory"). Now 4 missions like in previous blocks
  
• To complete Block 4 you will have to complete 3 of 4 missions like in previous blocks
  
• Fixed some mission bugs and inconsistencies
  
• New endings (vanilla endings made no sense or were unfinished)
  
• Added final boss battle for solo main character. Like it was in Silent Storm
  

Difficulty

• Mod is not recommended for casual gamers. If you do not like hardcore tactics/strategies, please ignore this mod.
  
• There will be many deaths. Enemies may die. Your mercenaries may die. Your character may die. A lot. It is normal
  
• All levels of difficulty made harder and renamed to their Silent Storm counterparts.
  
• High (Vanilla Impossible) is designed to resemble an Iron Man mode and therefore recommended for better experience. This difficulty does not include "on mission" save option, so if you do wish to have an ability to save on mission I would recommend to choose this High difficulty and tweak the mode via custom difficulty menu (just turn on save option there, press Next and you will be good).
  

General Mechanics and fixes

• Added an ability to surrender (AI). If enemies feel outmatched some of them may surrender to you. Keeping these captives alive will grant you money. Not enabled for every zone/encounter.
  
• Daylight will greatly reduce enemy hide skill and will improve spot. This will make you and your enemy less likely to stay hidden during daylight.
  
• Max squad size is now 6 for all recruitable characters. Excluding story characters.
  
• Rebalanced all mercenaries: weapons, items, hire cost.
  
• Increased/changed some AP costs.
  
• Perks "Better evasion" and "Find cover" were removed. Replaced with other effective (and not bugged) perks.
  
• Non-automatic pistols buffed (~20% more damage).
  
• Base VP for every character was reduced by 40 points. No more tanking snipers. Early game is more interesting.
  
• Dropping an oiler no longer crashes the game.
  
• Rebalanced all repair items. Now high tier items are better and efficient.
  
• Weapons: rebalanced some clip sizes and available shoot modes and made them more like real prototypes.
  
• PK repair items require PK repair perk again (like in Silent Storm)
  
• Some tweaks and improvements for Sentinels base.
  
• ABMS and Shade are now treated like hirable NPCs and can be fired/rehired on base after you found them. To fire these characters, move them to specific places (you will know who and where) when on base and confirm your decision to fire. Talk to hire them again.
  
• Fixed some tooltips.
  
• Other minor fixes.
  

Economy

• Increased hire cost for all mercs. Do not worry, you will have the money to pay for their services.
  
• PK repair on base costs money.
  
• Selling items gives more money (~ +10%).
  
• Repairing weapons on base costs more money (~ +100%)
  
• Added nice items and weapons to different zones and locations.
  
• High risk - high reward. It works in most situations.
  

Shop

Several items were added to the shop:

• Car98K (no scope)
  
• Wrench - 4th weapon repair item
  
• Shashka (Cossack blade)
  
• Katana
   
  Some items will appear earlier in shop due to low effectiveness in late game (e.g. Johnson Light Machine Gun)
  

Some screenshots from website: Link

 

Download: Link

[WerHeruvim]

Maybe I was not right when posted this just like that since it was my first post here. I wanna fix this...

and say

 

Hi, folks!

I am a long term Silent Storm fan, playing since 2004 and modding since 2005. Yup, that was love from the first sight.

I know pretty much everything about Silent Storm games and Map Editor so several months ago I decided to give it a try and go back to modding again.

 

So the mod I provided an above link is full feature complete but if some of you have any ideas/thoughts/questions/anything I would be glad to hear from you. Sure it is no way 2006 but... someone could still be here... right?

[orc01]

Hello, good guy! I love SS3 so much. Sorry for my bad english - I'm russian. But i download you mod and try give you feedback. Also, thanks for you mod!

[orc01]

Hi, werHeruvim! I play you awwwwesome mod all week. My mind - this is amazing! Great new animation, good stage director work in cutscene, tons new random encounter. Even enemy must surrender, wuhuuu!

Now i give first mission block and going Russia. I love long leveling my team.

If you want know, i think you mod need... aaa... new weapon? new type bullets? New uniforms? It would be cool!

Also, i guess, CREL(Clever random encounters loot) - give elite enemy real elity difficulty(level +10) and elite loot. Someone pistols - rewarding weapon, medals(we may sell in blackMarket), medic stuff, good enginering stuff.

Also we all, i think, all Silent Storm gamers dreaming a new colorite and charismatic mercs. I don't know, possible this is? It's simple dream.

About new mercs - what you think about surrenders enemy and officers Mjollnir, who may say us new missions? And this is missions - good chance give money(How in bank encounter) or new mercs with unical class...

May RE with black market - where we may buy good weapon and stuff without limits, but more high cost(300%)

Weapon damage - i love someone real weapon damage, where all guns good. 2-3 shoot - and you duing. I put my and enemy damage 200%. But, if you not so difficult, you may do optional mod with high damage all weapon?

Repairing - Mechanic boy in Sentinels base real good, and doing dumb and broken guns nearly new gun! May everly repair in base spoil weapon not 1 hit - 15-20 hit?

 

Heruvim - you greatest human. You could do this game real better and cooler. I share you mod all, who i know, and who gaming SS3

[WerHeruvim]

Hi, orc01! Thanks for your feedback!

 

If you want know, i think you mod need... aaa... new weapon? new type bullets? New uniforms? It would be cool!

I have created a Car 98K (no scope version) so I understand that it is not what you mean. To create a brand new weapon I will need help from someone who can make/import a new geometry/ai geometry (aka model). Alas I can't do it. As far as I know you have to work with Maya 4.0 - 6.0 and those are very old versions which do not like Win7 x64. Not to say that I can't work with Maya at all.

Implementing new ammo types will require implementing new armors as well to balance new changes. I am not sure this will be worth it.

As for uniforms - this mod is not about uniforms though I implemented a few (both for player and enemy) and improved the vanilla uniforms (e.g. Sentinel Female Uniforms now don't look the same, many S2 uniforms were updated). I may add some of my unreleased uniforms in the future though.

Also, i guess, CREL(Clever random encounters loot) - give elite enemy real elity difficulty(level +10) and elite loot. Someone pistols - rewarding weapon, medals(we may sell in blackMarket), medic stuff, good enginering stuff.

Many elite enemies have buffed stats (AP, SHOOTING, THROWING etc.) which are way higher for their curent levels. +10 level is too much because it will make leveling for player squad too easy (especially for certain classes like sniper). You will start encountering very strong enemies after SM4 mission ("Treachery"), and it is explained by the story itself (Hammer is throwing the best they have against you). Those guys are extremely dangerous.

As for special loot - I have some ideas.

 

Also we all, i think, all Silent Storm gamers dreaming a new colorite and charismatic mercs. I don't know, possible this is? It's simple dream.

I tried to create content which would match the game lore/story and design. Creating a new merc is possible but I will need new voice for this unit. Sure the game has some unused acks/lines (e.g. Prisoner unit, Hammer Officer unit, Hammer soldier unit, Elite Soldier unit, Civilian unit etc. which were meant to be used by the game but due to a silly mistake were blocked), and I could restore these Acks. Downside - their personalities are too generic and wouldn't do good as mercs. So I will need to import some new voices from other games or have someone to record them. In any case that would require some work on their story. If anyone agrees to lend a hand, we can make it possible.

 

About new mercs - what you think about surrenders enemy and officers Mjollnir, who may say us new missions? And this is missions - good chance give money(How in bank encounter) or new mercs with unical class...

Something like "Terrorist act" mission after you captured a Hammer soldier? Yeah, it is possible. I will need to think about it.

 

May RE with black market - where we may buy good weapon and stuff without limits, but more high cost(300%)

This would do well in rpg like Hammer and Sickle. By design S2 and S3 have everything you need right on base. I'd prefer to stick with it.

Weapon damage - i love someone real weapon damage, where all guns good. 2-3 shoot - and you duing. I put my and enemy damage 200%. But, if you not so difficult, you may do optional mod with high damage all weapon?

Like you said you can tweak game options and increase any damage in custom difficulty menu. This will make all weapons deadly.

 

Repairing - Mechanic boy in Sentinels base real good, and doing dumb and broken guns nearly new gun! May everly repair in base spoil weapon not 1 hit - 15-20 hit?

I am afraid it is hard coded, not sure for now. I will look into it and will give you an update later.

 

 

Btw, have you encountered Mausoleum RE in Germany?

[WerHeruvim]

Repairing - Mechanic boy in Sentinels base real good, and doing dumb and broken guns nearly new gun! May everly repair in base spoil weapon not 1 hit - 15-20 hit?

So I have checked again and didn't found an option for that. The only thing you can do to "repairing when on base" is modding its price value. And I have done that already.

 

P.S. edited my first post. Added description.

P.S.S.: More feedback would be welcome.

[laclongquan]

@WerHeruvim Thank you for this new, extensive mod. It's my most regrettable explaination is that I cant play it for at least one more year. I have just completed, some months earlier, a longest stretch of time playing S2, S3, and HS. My estimated is 200+ hours in total. So I am burnt out on Silent Storm engine.

 

I expect that I will play this 1 year from now at the earliest. Still, an early thank.

[WerHeruvim]

So it's been a month already. Still reading "tons" of reviews.

 

In a few days/weeks a new version coming. Some fixes and improvements introduced by players from another forum.

 

Pretty sure the update will be final.

[ArShin]

By date i can see that this is an active topic.

I have sent you mail but i would like to continue here.

 

Hi bro,

I am from Serbia and i like older games (as i am old )

- Baldur's gate

- Icewind Dale

- Fallout 1 and 2

- etc....

 

!! Excellent work on this mod !!

Zombie encounter was brutal

 

I have a little problem about old Berger's factory - "The factory" mission.

- https://i.imgur.com/C5HU66M.jpg

I just walk in there and start shooting on Hammer soldiers and at the end i have to destroy weapon making machines.

I did that but nothing updates.

Plus i have a feeling that this mission could be done without making guards hostile.

 

Also it would be nice that you update description and what is changed (especially about those two perks that were replaced)

 

 

Best wishes from Serbia

[WerHeruvim]

Hi!

You will receive a new goal when someone from your squad spots the conveyor ("Destroy the conveyor...").

To complete the main objective in this mission you have to destroy that conveyor (maybe a small press too, that depends on the destruction you caused to these objects). Just use the PK nearby and shoot the conveyor line till it gets destroyed or throw in some grenades. You don't have to destroy any other machines. When it gets destroyed enough, the objective shall update itself, and mission will be completed (safe to leave mode).

I hope this helped!

 

As for non-hostile walkthrough: you are right!

There is a solution to avoid unnecessary casualties (just like in big movies, when a good guy tries to get civilians evacuated from a guarded enemy base first). Hint: check the ground floor. Of course you will have to remain unseen (Shade or Toki will be helpful). I'd say exploring unalerted factory is fun too.

 

Bad perks were removed because they could make their owner invincible or give him/her an unfair advantage. I replaced them with these ones:

 

Run For Your Life, Faster Pose Change - for a grenadier.

Resist Critical - for a soldier.

 

As for the rest part of the description: I tried to provide as much information as possible. What else shall I add in addition to perks?

[ArShin]

Hi!

You will receive a new goal when someone from your squad spots the conveyor ("Destroy the conveyor...").

To complete the main objective in this mission you have to destroy that conveyor (maybe a small press too, that depends on the destruction you caused to these objects). Just use the PK nearby and shoot the conveyor line till it gets destroyed or throw in some grenades. You don't have to destroy any other machines. When it gets destroyed enough, the objective shall update itself, and mission will be completed (safe to leave mode).

I hope this helped!

 

Well i did that first time and quest didn't update.

After your reply i did it 4 more times.

I even destroyed whole building and still nothing.

"Kill the director" updates but "Destroy conveyor" doesn't.

 

I have noticed 1 bug (not sure if it is mod related)

 

When i try to bust strength of my grenadier from 11 to 12 it goes all the way up and starts again at 11 instead going up to 12.

I corrected this by waiting for him to level up and then it worked.

[WerHeruvim]

Well i did that first time and quest didn't update.

After your reply i did it 4 more times.

I even destroyed whole building and still nothing.

"Kill the director" updates but "Destroy conveyor" doesn't.

Sorry to hear that. Seems to be a bug.

Never had this happened to me though. I found a possible mistake in the script (I am not sure why it happened to you, maybe this has something to do with CPU).

Here is a link where you can download the fix. Link

Just replace the original file with the new one. I would recommend to start from the save right before entering this zone (e.g. AutoSave Begin Mission will do) otherwise this fix won't work.

 

If you don't wish to replay it all over again (and this I understand and agree with), try this:

1) activate console: open file CFG/s3autoexec.cfg and add wirbelwind so your file would end like this:

//mission_camera_scroll_acceleration 100
wirbelwind

2) open console (press `)

3) when you finished your business on this zone (e.g. killed the director, killed everyone and explored the factory and ready to leave),

type this:

ExitToChapter()

 

This wil help 100%.

I have noticed 1 bug (not sure if it is mod related)

 

When i try to bust strength of my grenadier from 11 to 12 it goes all the way up and starts again at 11 instead going up to 12.

I corrected this by waiting for him to level up and then it worked.

This has something to do with the game mechanic itself. Like 11 str was a max. for your level. So the game limited your attribute progress.

[mammoth]

Hi,

 

Will surely try this MOD tonight. Give you feedback after few weeks.

 

Cheers!

[mammoth]

Hi,

My first game, custom difficulty to max all.

result: 1. Its hell hard. 10 time i retry the first mission. enemy shot me in head, im dead. ; my partner shot dead ; the enemy shot me twice im dead; after many turn enemy reinforcement arrive with 2 msg and 1 rifle , im dead. conclusion: the game is more realistic. so will not play this to max.

My second game custom difficulty, enemy level +1, ap+10% enemy damage +10%.

Result: 1. 5 times i retry the first mission, its still hard but bearable. 10% remaining VP left. very real!!!

2. Second Mission, - 2 retry, got killed when the boss leader shot 2 times head shot. im dead. after that i just run arround and leave.

3. 3 mission: is the best: 15 retry, pistol shot is good medium range. Smg for short range. Enemy is very smart, i need to use Sun Tsu Strategy to win. hehe.

 

Overall its good, no major bug. Some minor bugs i know.

1.on the screen on the Mercenaries, the list of portraits is not showing up. but thier price is showing. i can still hire them.

 

Minor concern.

1. can you change the allied turn for them to be move faster. most of the civilian is just looking around before they can use all thier turn. its just taking long.

 

Thanks for the great Mod.

[WerHeruvim]

Hi!

custom difficulty to max all.

S3 Redesigned was balanced with HARD difficulty in mind. Personally had no troubles playing it on HARD (3rd difficulty).

1.on the screen on the Mercenaries, the list of portraits is not showing up. but thier price is showing. i can still hire them.

Minor concern.

Very strange.

Could you post some details?

If there is a big black space instead of a hiring screen, then try to change in-game resolution. What resolution are you using?

If there is a broken black-n-white texture, then probably Textures.res is missing and you didn't install the mod in correct way. Your SSSR folder should contain the following files: sentinels.db, animations.res, geometries.res, textures.res etc.

can you change the allied turn for them to be move faster. most of the civilian is just looking around before they can use all thier turn. its just taking long.

I was thinking about optimizing 2nd mission too. It will run smoother in the next version.

[mammoth]

Hi!

 

S3 Redesined was balanced with HARD difficulty in mind. Personally hadn't huge troubles playing it on HARD (3rd difficulty).

 

Very strange.

Could you post some details?

If there is a big black space instead of a hiring screen, then try to change in-game resolution. What resolution are you using?

If there is a broken black-n-white texture, then probably Textures.res is missing and you didn't install the mod in correct way. Your SSSR folder should contain the following files: sentinels.db, animations.res, geometries.res, textures.res etc.

 

 

HI, yep its a big black screen with amount of merk but no pictures. in game resolotion is 1366x768x32, i tried to change it still the same. Anyway the hire/fire screen is good. so no big deal. . thanks for quick reply.

[grammarsalad]

Holy crow! I'm glad I checked back. This looks awesome!

 

It looks like a new update is coming soon. I'll probably wait for that (I probably won't be able to wait for it)

[mammoth]

Hi,

 

I Notice some minor bugs in the mission.

1. in the random mission, some of the locker box is blocked i cant locked pick it.

2. in the mission where they gonna blow up the UN building. If you will go to the way that is full of mines. The on way to diffused it by trowing a grenade. the mine did not explode. after that the enemy stepped in to the mine. on 2 mines exploded the other 2 did not. i tried to walk over the mine but i cant cause the way is blocked?

 

Thanks.

[WerHeruvim]

Hi!

Hi,

 

I Notice some minor bugs in the mission.

1. in the random mission, some of the locker box is blocked i cant locked pick it.

I believe it is a Random Encounter (England). I think I remember this bug: I didn't change placement of any locker so it has to be originated from vanilla game. I can fix this though.

2. in the mission where they gonna blow up the UN building. If you will go to the way that is full of mines. The on way to diffused it by trowing a grenade. the mine did not explode. after that the enemy stepped in to the mine. on 2 mines exploded the other 2 did not. i tried to walk over the mine but i cant cause the way is blocked?

It was made like this on purpose (by devs, not me). Seems like developers wanted "the left way" less safe and more dangerous to a player. It was a shortcut, hence Hammers tried to make that area as much protected as possible (even by cost of their own people ) AFAIR a well thrown grenade or two can detonate those mines so you will be able to pass. Or a character with low spot skill to detonate the first mine by himself/herself if it was not detected yet (sounds crazy but it should work).

[mammoth]

Hi,

 

Random german mousoleom is epic. it takes me many retry to figure out how to get the sword. Zombie is zombie undying. Great!!

[silencer_pl]

That is a nice piece of mod. Might try it after my vanilla playthrough.

 

I would like to ask you something different. Since being you from Russia, do you know if the creators of Hammer and Sickle hold the rights to that title, being sort of a mod for Sentinels that turned a separate game that sort of picks on the story of S2 and S3.

The main reason is, I'm wondering whether H&S will be someday released in GoG or Steam getting rid of that Starforce protection (I think it was Starforce for H&S).

[WerHeruvim]

I'm wondering whether H&S will be someday released in GoG or Steam getting rid of that Starforce protection (I think it was Starforce for H&S).

I am wondering myself.

Pretty sure "1C" (russian publisher - C pronounced as "ass" - suits them well) owns the title. Asking them seems to be the only option. The problem is: they don't care. We were asking "1C" for years to remove SF-protection and/or release all games on Steam until someone else did this - except for H&S.

[silencer_pl]

I don't think so. While S2 and S3 wiki says it's Jowood/1C, currently Steam says that Nordic Games is publisher, which I know Nordic Games bought many titles from Jowood.

 

As for H&S, wiki says CDV(?) which no longer exist. I would still think that Nival or Novik&Co hold rights for H&S. That also got me wonder where the other 2 games using Silent Storm engine went. I mean Day Watch and Night Watch.

[WerHeruvim]

I am 100% sure that 1C would never give away rights of the title to any developer (especially a small team). There have always been sharks known for holding titles for themselves.

Anyway, in 2007-2008 we asked Novik if he could release an AntiStarForce patch for H&S — he claimed it was super easy to do so but he had no permission from the publisher and therefore banned from doing this.

And the last but not least.

Years ago someone asked Novik if there will be H&S 2 or another game from his team and the answer was like: "we would be glad but the publisher has no plans for that".

 

I will be happy to be wrong here. If you are still unsure if Novik&Co has rhe rights for the game, try to contact Novik directly. He can speak English and probably will be able to tell where those rights belong right now. He is active on Steam: his profile.

[silencer_pl]

CDV was defunct in 2010 so probably the answers for questions asked in 2008 might changed. Also I'm not sure 1C had supreme rule on Silent Storm. I know that Jowood was major publisher. And when I went to 1C site there is no mention of Silent Storm or H&S.

Anyway, thanks for the information.