Offline Map Pack

I've released a little patch to make playing offline mode a bit more enjoyable. The Offline Map Pack will give offline Forest and Cave full spawns of monsters just like online mode. At long last we can be rid of the boredom of having only 1-2 enemies per spawn when there should be 4-10. You can grab the patch here.

Note that while this is currently only available for PC since it can be easily patched, I will include it for the Dreamcast when I finish the Enhancement Pack and release a new disc.

So then, is all of this stuff (Map Packs, Ludicrous Mode, increased drop rates) coming to the DC as well?

Good work, I can't wait for the whole pack.

Yes. I figured I would release the maps now since it's not part of the enhancement pack (since I have to make new discs for each change to the Dreamcast though, it will just get lumped in with the others).

Yay, online- but offline! Thank god! I NEED the experience.

Does ths upgrade Dark Falz/other bosses to what his/their difficulty would be online?

It has nothing to do with enemy stats. It only changes the maps so that the offline Forest/Cave spawns match those that you would get online in those configurations.

Does it affect locked doors? Becuase i sure would hate it if i got to the caves and it required 2 people to open the door...

If thats ok, then great improvement

I'm also thinking, with different stat differences between online and offline, will Ludicrous mode just make them the same for both online and offline? Or will the offline enemies be slightly weaker still?

Buttons stay down always when you're offline. It is actually not even possible to make them pop up. PSO forces them to stay down. ;D

Ludicrous mode is easier offline than online, but Ludicrous offline is still much harder than Ultimate online.

Hey, will you update it later to include full spawns for Mines and Ruins?

According to PSO world, the same creature counts are offline as for online. Either Sega got lazy and didn't make any online maps or they got sensical.

References
http://www.pso-world.com/sections.php?op=viewarticle&artid=758 Mines 1
http://www.pso-world.com/sections.php?op=viewarticle&artid=759 Mines 2
http://www.pso-world.com/sections.php?op=viewarticle&artid=760 Ruins 1
http://www.pso-world.com/sections.php?op=viewarticle&artid=760 Ruins 2
http://www.pso-world.com/sections.php?op=viewarticle&artid=762 Ruins 3

I have a question. Were the online-only maps serverside or were they just "unlocked" by playing online?

There was no need to enable the full Mine and Ruins maps offline because they are already used in offline mode. Sega was too lazy to make offline varients of those areas.

All the map files are contained within the client; PSO has files which controls which maps get loaded in which mode. If you edit the offline one, you can change which maps load offline.

So, you wouldn't be able to, say, add new regular maps that just get filtered in with the other maps for online mode?

You probably shouldn't, but would you be able to modify the previously online only ones and change things like enemy count? That begs the question of what would happen when someone with the regular map joined. Probably massive desync, as PSO is a largely client based game, I think.

Using this mod, I can level up a lot faster (as if I was online) and better rather than have to play the offline mode maps over and over and over again to get the same results, just slower?

furrypaws wrote:So, you wouldn't be able to, say, add new regular maps that just get filtered in with the other maps for online mode?

You probably shouldn't, but would you be able to modify the previously online only ones and change things like enemy count? That begs the question of what would happen when someone with the regular map joined. Probably massive desync, as PSO is a largely client based game, I think.

If you wanted, you could create new maps that would only load in offline mode, and it would work fine. If you tried to do that in online mode, you would FSOD your teammates upon hitting any switches and they would FSOD you if they hit any because you wouldn't have the same maps. Modifying the online maps can only be done when you have the power to force everyone to use the modified maps, i.e. on BB or on a private server specifically designed for such mods where all players use them.

I think you missed my question, Aleron.

You already have the answer to that question. The offline maps will have more monsters, so obviously you will level faster.

Would you also technically be able to make it so all the maps were coded as online only? The game would either crash or FSOD if you tried to go somewhere in Forest or Caves then, right? Would you be able to code Mines and Ruins maps as online only too? Man, that'd make for a sucky patch. XD

Maybe you should add some new offline only maps so we can have moar variety when looking out for some new shiny rarz.

Just kidding. But hey, why not throw it out there, right? =3

Maps can't be added, only replaced. To change the maps that load offline, the current ones must no longer load.