Bullseye 2.4.2 - bug fixes and tweaks!

[TeacupAngel]

Bullseye

Latest release - 2.3.0 (01-05-2022) changelog:

Spoiler

Most importantly among the new changes, the sling has got the Bullseye treatment! It behaves in a very different way from the bows you are used to, and you'll have to deal with its upwards swinging motion to use it. Like other Bullseye weapons, it is also slower but deals greater damage than in vanilla.

Next is movement mechanics and a rebalance for the longbow and recurve bow. It's no longer possible to spring when aiming a bow, and even just walking is much slower. The mod now also recognises when you are mounted on an entity (such as a horse, Vies' airship, a rowboat, and so on) and adjusts your accuracy appropriately. The longbow and recurve bow now also switched places, balance wise - the new longbow is an infantry sniper bow, slow but with a massive +60% damage bonus - strong enough that Hunters with good enough arrows can one-shot surface drifters! The recurve bow is its opposite, dealing less damage but shooting faster and emphasising mobility over damage and range, with much lower movement penalties than any other ranged weapon. It also makes an excellent cavalry bow, much like it did in history - get yourself a horse mod and emulate your favourite horse archers of the past!

Speaking of bows, new smooth first-person animations for bows have been added! These currently work only in first person. In addition, the arrow you are shooting is now physically represented in the bow model too. This may come in handy, because:

You can now press F to pick the ammunition to shoot. This works with all bows and the sling, and displays a small window listing all the kinds of ammunition you currently carry, and even helpfully writes out how much total damage each projectile deals after weapon and class bonuses.

Other smaller changes and bug fixes can be found below. Enjoy!

 

Full changelog:

• New Features
• Basic sling implementation with smoother animation
• Fully animated bows in first person view
• Bows show the arrow you are shooting
• Ability to choose ammo type for bows and slings (press F to select)
• Support for shooting while mounted on an entity (horse, Vies airship, etc.)
   
• Rebalance
• Spears have slightly higher running aim penalty
• Spears have less vertical aim sway, to make judging throw distance easier
• Spears no longer have any random spread
• Slightly reduced aim sway for simple and crude bows
• Increased longbow damage bonus to +60%
• Increased longbow movement accuracy penalty to 130%
• Reduced recurve bow damage bonus to +35%, but made it charge slightly faster (still has the best sustained damage of all bows)
• Reduced recurve bow movement accuracy penalty to 50%
• Reduced aim sway of recurve bow
• Can no longer sprint when aiming a bow
• Walking when aiming is now slower (slowest with longbow, fastest with recurve bow)
   
• Other
• Better compatibility with Lichen
• Now also compatible with Ore Crystals, Useful Stuff, Feverstone Horses, and ViesCraft Machines
• "globalAccuracy" setting renamed to "aimDifficulty" ("globalAccuracy" is still recognised, too)
• Major code refactor
• Fix: less intrusive patching of arrow and spear damage
• Fix: now respects armour ranged penalties properly
• Fix: texture leak related to crosshairs
• Fix: removed old world migration from version 2.1.0 popping up even in worlds that never used the mod
• Fix: no longer try to pointlessly patch items, blocks and entities on the client

 

Hello and welcome to Bullseye! This mod is aiming to overhaul and rebalance ranged weapons in a vanilla-friendly way.

• A new aiming system, relying on player input rather than randomness
• A specific role and handling for each bow
• Obsidian and bamboo arrows, iron and steel spears, spear head clay molds
• Broad rebalance - higher damage for spears and arrows, decreased arrow break chance, spear durability higher in melee and lower when throwing, and more
• Other minor features (throw your spears with a running start to make them go farther!)

Get the mod on its Vintage Story Moddb page here: https://mods.vintagestory.at/bullseye

Source on Github under the MIT No Attribution license here: https://github.com/Rahjital/VSBullseye

 

So what changes does the mod really make? You can read up on that in more detail here:

Spoiler

(Please keep in mind this applies to Bullseye 2.2.4 and older; the balance has changed since version 2.3.0!)

Spears

Spears are now versatile weapons for both melee and ranged fighting, excelling at neither. All spears had their durability increased by 25% to make them last longer in melee fighting. Throws now also deal more damage, though each throw takes 3 durability points, making it a trade off - greater reach and damage, at the cost of a much shorter lifespan. There is also a lenghty cooldown between throws, as grabbing a new spear takes some time.

Spears are now also much easier to reach in the early metal ages, as spear head molds can now be fired from clay and used for copper and bronze casting.

New iron, meteoric iron, and steel spears are now a part of the spear family. They bring only a minimal increase in thrown damage (you can only throw a spear so hard, after all!) and are at range outclassed by advanced bows and arrows, but scale much better in melee and last much longer just like all iron-based tools. For the PvP players out there, spears now also have attack tiers, making them able to deal with armour.

Finally, spears also have a much reduced accuracy penalty and can be thrown farther when running.

 

Bows

Bows in Archery are somewhat slower, more deliberate weapons than in vanilla Vintage Story. They take a second to draw and bit longer still to reach maximum accuracy, but deal more damage in return, and can be held drawn much longer. Their accuracy is completely dependent on the player's aim. Unlike in the base game, they have no random spread at all (with the exception of the crude bow) and with some practice, it is possible to reliably land shots from quite a bit further than in vanilla, particularly on large targets like bighorn sheep. Consider building yourself an archery range with straw dummies to hone your skills!

Each bow now has a role of its own:

• The simple bow is the standard ranged weapons. It has no bonuses or penalties, can be drawn fairly fast and is mosty similar to vanilla bows.

• The longbow is a powerful long-ranged bow shooting arrows with much higher velocity and with 40% damage bonus, but is rather slow to draw and more difficult to handle than the simple bow.

• The recurve bow is optimised for high damage. Its 50% damage bonus might not seem much better than the longbow, but the recurve bow can also be drawn faster for significantly higher sustained damage. It can be difficult to keep a steady aim, however, especially for non-Hunter classes.

• The crude bow is identical to the simple bow, save for a -5% damage penalty and a small amount of random spread that makes it somewhat unreliable. It is a good early option, but upgrading to a better bow as soon as possible is still a good idea.

Arrows received a durability increase, having their cost per damage kept at roughly one and a half times that of spears of the same tier. No more massive cost gap between spears and arrows! Bronze, iron, and steel arrows are especially helped by this. Flint arrows also have their durability doubled on top of this, as sticks and arrows tend to be scarce in the stone age.

Obsidian arrows are newly added to compete with obsidian spears, and bamboo can also be used in arrow crafting instead of sticks, with each bundle making 3 arrows.

 

All feedback is greatly appreciated and helps improve the mod. Let me know here in this thread if you have any comments!

Edited February 11, 2023 by TeacupAngel

[TeacupAngel]

Version 2.1.0 update!

The mod's name has now been changed to Bullseye instead of Archery, which unfortunately turned out to be too generic and easy to confuse with other existing mods. Other changes in this update:

• Added obsidian arrows
• Arrows can be crafted from bamboo in place of sticks, each bamboo bundle crafts 3 arrows
• Minor QoL: aim resets to the center of the screen after 15 seconds of not shooting

Edited September 20, 2021 by Rahjital

[Dante]

Will try it this WE ! I love archery but the vanilla rng is killing it for me

[Snappu]

Love the mod! Its really takes the infuriating rng out of vanilla.

However, the mod bugs out in a multiplayer session.
When another player (Not the host) uses the bow the host can see the aiming reticle and movement of the other player's mouse.
This is particularly annoying when your smithing and suddenly your cursor becomes a cross-hair and starts swaying.

Other than that it works like a charm in singleplayer.

[TeacupAngel]

Version 2.1.1 released!

This one should hopefully fix the bug described by Snappu, as well as a few other animation bugs that occured only in multiplayer.

 

13 hours ago, Snappu said:

Love the mod! Its really takes the infuriating rng out of vanilla.

However, the mod bugs out in a multiplayer session.
When another player (Not the host) uses the bow the host can see the aiming reticle and movement of the other player's mouse.
This is particularly annoying when your smithing and suddenly your cursor becomes a cross-hair and starts swaying.

Other than that it works like a charm in singleplayer.

I'm glad you are enjoying the mod, and thank you very much for the report! As luck would have it that's a bug I can't reproduce because I only have one game account and one computer to play on, but I do have a rough idea of what might be causing it so I tried a quick patch. If it doesn't work, please let me know and I'll do a more in-depth fix

[TeacupAngel]

Version 2.2.0 released!

This version brings a few needed quality-of-life improvements. When starting to aim, the reticle now first turns orange before getting white as before; this means that although you can already shoot, you still need to wait a little longer for maximum accuracy. Once the crosshair turns white, you can be sure the weapon is as accurate as it is going to be. The other big QoL improvement is zeroing, which makes arrows fly a degree or so above where you aim. This is small enough to be pretty much unnoticeable during play as gravity immediately drags the arrow back down, but it gives the feeling of a less pronounced arrow arc over short distances. This helps especially when hunting rabbits and other small animals.

Another new thing is a config setting adjusting how difficult it is to aim. You can change this from inside the game using the `/bullseye set globalAccuracy [number]` command, where [number] (leave out the square brackets) is a fraction of standard difficulty. Typing /bullseye set globalAccuracy 0.8 would decrease aiming difficulty to 80% of normal, and so on.

Full changelog:

• Fixed multiplayer crash bug related to bows running out of durability
• Added server-side setting 'globalAccuracy' to control how difficult it is to aim
  • use command `/bullseye set globalAccuracy 0.8` to reduce reticle sway to 80%, and so on
• QoL: Added zeroing to bows - arrows fly slightly above the crosshair, for more intuitive point blank aiming without affecting long-range shooting
• QoL: Crosshair now changes to orange when it is possible to shoot, but accuracy is still low
• Accuracy stat calculation redone; Hunter class is now guaranteed to be exactly 30% more accurate
• Major code refactor

 

[TeacupAngel]

Version 2.2.1 released

A quick and simple fix for an uncommon multiplayer crash relating to thrown spears, and possibly other mods. Getting it is recommended, but unless you play in multiplayer or with many mods, chances are the bug might not affect you anyway.

[Michael Jones]

I suggest adding a warning that arrows added by mods will need compatibility patches to work correctly with Bullseye. Lichen adds arrowheads made from deer antlers that do -0.5 damage, same as flint arrowheads, but because of your changes they end up doing 0 damage.

[TeacupAngel]

On 11/23/2021 at 7:47 PM, Michael Jones said:

I suggest adding a warning that arrows added by mods will need compatibility patches to work correctly with Bullseye. Lichen adds arrowheads made from deer antlers that do -0.5 damage, same as flint arrowheads, but because of your changes they end up doing 0 damage.

I'm sorry about the issue and about the delay as well, I completely missed your reply! Thank you for letting me know about this, I had no idea Lichen added extra arrowheads. I'll add compatibility in the next major release of Bullseye, though I'm afraid that will only happen after 1.16 releases, likely sometime after New Years'.

Some kind of a mod compatibility table to check has been a long time coming, unfortunately I haven't the time to finish it yet.

[TeacupAngel]

Version 2.2.4 is now out!

This is likely the last patch to bring this mod to 1.16 before work starts on the sling and other more interesting changes, unless a major bug appears. 2.2.4 fixes more pre-release issues, adds support for the hacking spear, and brings compatibility support for the Lichen mod and its antler arrows!

More minorly, Bullseye's license was also changed to MIT No Attribution, an even more permissive license than the previous MIT License. The spirit of modding is open collaboration, and Bullseye is now completely open for both the game's developers and other modders take apart and use as they see fit

Changelog:

• Brought up-to-date with 1.16 changes to spears
• Less intrusive patching (with idea from Craluminum2413 <3)
• Added stats for and fixed hacking spear
• Compatibility with Lichen

[Thalius]

Greetings!

We are looking at adding Bullseye to the Wilderlands server, but had one concern come up.  I've been told that the penalty for wearing heavy armor has been significantly reduced, leaving using a bow or throwing spears in heavy armor not all that different from doing the same using lower armor tier types. 

 

Have others observed the same and, if so, is there a way to tweak the settings a bit to make adjustments?

[TeacupAngel]

1 hour ago, Thalius said:

Greetings!

We are looking at adding Bullseye to the Wilderlands server, but had one concern come up.  I've been told that the penalty for wearing heavy armor has been significantly reduced, leaving using a bow or throwing spears in heavy armor not all that different from doing the same using lower armor tier types. 

 

Have others observed the same and, if so, is there a way to tweak the settings a bit to make adjustments?

Hello Thalius! That's certainly news to me, no one has ever reported that yet and it's not an intended change either. If the armor penalties are reduced, that would be a bug I'll make sure to test that specifically and release a small patch to fix it if the armor penalties are indeed broken! And now that you mention it, config settings to adjust armour penalties and similar things is a good idea too! I'll write it down for the next patch.

I have to note that Bullseye does increase accuracy buffs, because vanilla lies to you - the Hunter's supposed 30% accuracy bonus is really only increases accuracy by 8% from my experimental testing. I changed that to guarantee an actual 30% improvement, though with the way aiming in Bullseye works, it may be a bit harder to notice.

[TeacupAngel]

On 1/10/2022 at 10:47 PM, Thalius said:

-same quote as before-

I've got an update for you! The armor penalties all work, if perhaps not in an ideal way. The ranged attack speed penalty is all good, though there is a bug that means the visual indicators don't get adjusted properly and show the bow is ready to shoot even though the accuracy is still poor. The accuracy penalty also works fine and increases aiming difficulty as intended, but since the simple bow is already not very difficult to aim with, the difficulty increase from armor is fairly small.

I plan to fix the bug and rework the accuracy penalty. I can release a small update to do it if it's important to you, but I'm currently working on the next big update for the mod and would prefer to roll this into the big update if you have nothing against it

[Thalius]

12 minutes ago, Rahjital said:

I've got an update for you! The armor penalties all work, if perhaps not in an ideal way. The ranged attack speed penalty is all good, though there is a bug that means the visual indicators don't get adjusted properly and show the bow is ready to shoot even though the accuracy is still poor. The accuracy penalty also works fine and increases aiming difficulty as intended, but since the simple bow is already not very difficult to aim with, the difficulty increase from armor is fairly small.

I plan to fix the bug and rework the accuracy penalty. I can release a small update to do it if it's important to you, but I'm currently working on the next big update for the mod and would prefer to roll this into the big update if you have nothing against it

All sounds good to me- waiting for the fixes in with the update, that is.

The Wilderlands server will be moving to a better hosting service and do a server reset for the 1.16 release in the process. Currently waiting on a few important mods to update before we make the move. Bullseye will be added to the server at that time, so we are not in a huge rush.

Looking forward to it all though!

[Peter Sanderson]

So testing in 1.16.1 I noticed there is not the regular Bullseye target reticle, nor is the drift or time delay on.

[TeacupAngel]

Hello! Unfortunately I can't reproduce that issue, Bullseye is working just fine for me in 1.16.1 and nobody else has reported a problem either. Can you please share the game's logs? It could be a mod conflict, or potentially a rare bug in the mod.

Edited January 26, 2022 by Rahjital

[Peter Sanderson]

Which logs can I send you?

Also, I just tested again in a creative world.

Spears seems to use the Bullseye reticle/behaviour but bows do not

 

Edited January 27, 2022 by Peter Sanderson

[TeacupAngel]

In the parent directory of where you put mods, there should be a directory called Logs. server-main.txt and client-main.txt are the two important ones that would help me the most, though if you could zip and send the entire Logs folder, that would be ideal!

[Peter Sanderson]

Done. Thanks for checking.

client-main.txt server-main.txt

[TeacupAngel]

Oh wow, a lot of mods are completely borked for you. Viescraft, Th3Essentials, Xrowboat, Expanded Traders With Fish, Lichen, IWPEI, Wolf Taming, More Roads, Primitive Survival, and more... I don't know what happened, but it looks like basically every mod has a series of major errors in those logs. That looks more systemic than just an issue Bullseye, I'm afraid.

To be honest I have no idea what is really happening with your game, but I can try asking on the game's Discord. There are some knowledgeable people there who might have seen this before

Edited January 30, 2022 by Rahjital

[Peter Sanderson]

I appreciate you checking this out. I should have guessed it would be a compatibility issue and sure enough it was, and thanks for helping me work it out.

I tried running it again, but this time only using Bullseye in a brand new creative world.

That seemed to work for all missile weapons

I added in Ranged Weapons...

Bang. That recreated the behaviour

That's the culprit I believe. It seems to be overriding Bullseye's reticle and behaviour on all bows and asserting the vanilla behaviour.

What to do from there, I don't know. I imagine one or both mods would have to add compatibility.

 

[TeacupAngel]

Oh, that would do it! I would love to make Bullseye compatible with Ranged Weapons one day, but sadly it would be a huge amount of work, almost as much as straight up making crossbows and gunpowder weapons from scratch. Maybe one day, but not anytime soon I'm afraid

I do think you may have more mod conflicts in that world too, just from the sheer amount of errors the logs you shown me had. Hopefully not, and best of luck if there are!

[Peter Sanderson]

I asked the maker of Ranged Weapons about the issue and he said he would get into contact with you and look into what it might take. Thanks again

[TeacupAngel]

For anyone playing Bullseye with VS 1.16.4-rc.3 and wondering about the arrow break chance percentage not seeming right, especially for obsidian arrows - those are not accurate when playing with Bullseye! The mod calculates the chance differently based on the bow, and the vanilla chance is left unused.

This is already fixed in the next release of Bullseye, which should hopefully come soon! It's already feature complete and is going through testing right now

[Ashery]

Two things, one small observation and a pretty substantive bug that at least has a simple work around:

First, a point on balance:

Both copper spears and copper arrows with a recurve bow reach the two hit kill breakpoint for wolves, though both require a double hit to kill males when not playing as a hunter as they barely reach it. Whether this is the right balance point, I'm unsure, but it's substantially lower than vanilla, which requires tin bronze spears; vanilla bows never reach it. That said, ranged combat with Bullseye is also a lot slower than vanilla, particularly when it comes to rearming spears, but I feel like the two hit threshold for wolves is an important balance consideration to keep in mind as the danger of wolf encounters really defines the early and even mid-game experience. Copper spears can also be acquired through panning. As can copper arrowheads, but those at least require the investment of feathers and a recurve bow.

Now, the bug:

The intensity of the aiming reticle's drift seems to become more intense as you close worlds and reload new ones without closing the game completely. It is not a matter of how long the game's been open, as I just finished testing this over the course of fifteen minutes or so.

I first noticed this several nights ago when I decided to mess around in one of my testing games to practice a bit with bows, as I finally acquired a recurve bow in my actual game. With the first animal I encountered, I noticed the reticle behavior was a lot more erratic than I expected it to be. I decided to just practice against a tree, and despite being a hunter with no armor penalties, I was still missing a good third of my shots, often with the reticle wildly swinging off target in the fraction of a second it'd take to release the mouse button. And for those that I did land, I was spending a significant amount of time trying to get the reticle on target. Even with a basic bow, it was difficult. So, I disabled Bullseye to try out vanilla mechanics and those troubles vanished: Perfect accuracy without spending several seconds trying to aim each arrow. I was a bit frustrated considering the investment of a recurve bow early on, but it was late at night, so I went to bed with plans to get some hard data to provide feedback.

...Except the next morning, aiming at the tree was trivial.

Last night, I had another incident where the intense drift was glaringly obvious, and this time it was in my real game during a wolf encounter. There was no way in hell I was going to land a hit, let alone two, but I was lucky in that I was able to get enough distance and close the world. I then quit the game entirely and reload. Sure enough, aiming was back to normal once that was done.

Decided to test out my hypothesis explicitly this morning, and it's definitely a result of saving and loading new worlds without closing the game entirely.

Edited April 5, 2022 by Ashery