When mirror biters die their death sprite looks different and they suddenly swap appearance.

Yes, the mutated aliens (both ceramics and mirror) have dyed colours in "alive" form, but returned to the same vanilla original "corpse" form when killed.
Because the corpses are purely cosmetic, so I don't feel much need in making proper dyed corpses.

BTW, the category V to X aliens of this mod are supposed to have scaled sizes of corpses too. But such extra and large corpses sprites would consume VRAM and bring burden to UPS, when they are mass-murdered by players.
When I did such thing intentionally when trying to make some screenshots (maybe a few hundred corpses on the same screen), I can feel my laptop is struggling... So finally I just used the vanilla behemoth corpses for better game performance.

Because the corpses are purely cosmetic, so I don't feel much need in making proper dyed corpses.

It is really weird when they change their color when they die. Can't you change the color in code? I know their is such feature for player colors and trains.

I have 2 GB VRAM free. Cant you make that an option? This is kinda important to me.

I know, it is called "tinting" and I used that in a lot of places. The biter icons and "alive" form in this mod are already using this feature, but these need to be done on data stage.
Player character and train locomotive are the ONLY exceptions that the devs allow their tint changeable during game.
Anyway, I will consider that (data stage additions) when I have time. But it won't be my priority.

Thanks. Would be a nice addition to make the mod consistent.

Just released Schall Alien Mutation 0.17.4, which have the correct tinted corpses for mirror and ceramics aliens.
(Though not yet about corpses of category V to X aliens.)

Thanks

Hello!

I realise I am resurrecting an old thread but it seems like the right place to say:

I would appreciate an option to use larger corpses for larger dead aliens. Obviously with a warning about RAM use. It looks strange when the big ones just "disappear" when they are killed.

I would also love an option to adjust the size scaling. Something like 1/10th of the current increase would be more realistic and more practical to me, both from a visual perspective and game balance / performance, especially with the higher categories.

Great mod, anyway. Thanks :)

It is on the very similar topic, so the resurrection is appropriate to my standard.

Back to topic, yes, "corpses to scale" can be done as an option.
But to be honest I have a long task list to do... So pure aesthetics have a low priority.
It would be done, but I cannot give any promise when it will be done.

Regarding size scaling, no. I feel the current scheme is appropriate and very logical in terms of physics or whatever means.
To my definition (as mentioned in FAQ), each tier up is exactly TWICE as strong as previous. And I define the mass (m) to be linearly proportional to strength (P). I take the alien bodies as a 3D-object like ours, so the mass is proportional to cube of linear size or length (L).
In formula, it would be P \prop m \prop L^3.
Hence, length is proportional to cubic root of mass. L \prop m^(1/3).
So, for example, category X being four times in length of behemoth (category IV), are 64 times stronger/heavier of that, in my settings.
The selection box of behemoth biter is 1.8 m long, the real length is roughly twice of that. So I take it as 3.6 m.
So the category X biter is 14.4 m long for being 64 times in weight.

You say you think only 1/10th of my increase is more realistic. So category X biter would have only 4.68 m long, which is 1.3 times that of behemoth biter's length.
What would be its density then? 64/(1.3^3) = 29.13
It is approx. 30 times denser than behemoths! You call it realistic? No, I don't think so.

Remember when you fighting a higher category alien, like a category XIII biter. It is 512 (!) times stronger than the behemoth biter. You are fighting a Godzilla-like creature. Expecting creature of 100 ton range to be only 6.12 m long? What are you thinking of? I set that to be 28.8 m by the law of physics. I based on the fact that we are living in a three-dimensional world, and assuming similar body density (or else body physics and chemistry would be drastically different). My length scales are NOT randomly set.

Hey! I appreciated the detailed response.

It is your mod and I won't try to persuade you to do what I want with it, but I'll elaborate on what I mean in case the feedback is interesting or helpful to you. I should also say, as it turns out, I know just enough about programming to be able to edit the files of your mod to change things I don't like anyway, so I'm definitely not asking you to change things just for me. I just like giving feedback and discussing these things :)

I did read the FAQ (and all the tables of numbers too). Perhaps I should not have used the word "realistic". I didn't mean to start a debate about what is realistic! After all, this is a science fiction video game. When I play the game I am already engaged in "suspension of disbelief" to a certain degree, and everyone has their own personal preference on what "feels right" to them in games like this (regardless of the math, which I understand in principle, but it's very abstract in this context to me).

For example, I decided not to play with the mod Rampant because once I saw a single biter get stuck on a tree and spin around in circles until I destroyed the tree. Because I have some (very small) knowledge of pathfinding algorithms, seeing a biter spinning in circles was too "obviously wrong" to my mind that it was a computer program going wrong and not an actual alien creature behaving strangely. As another example from your mod, it bothers me slightly that regular aliens have only two types of resistance but Category V and onward suddenly have a whole range of resistances, including 100% acid resistance. Why don't regular Behemoths have acid resistance? Why does it go from 0% to 100%?! It becomes very obvious that they are something new and different to the usual aliens in the game (ie. added by a mod), whereas if it was up to me I would have added the extra resistances in small amounts one resistance at a time so that the player would not notice an obvious transition from regular aliens to "edited" aliens. But it's only a very minor point, and your mod is exactly what I want in all other ways (besides the size scaling, which I'm getting to!), so I use it anyway. So that's some background to my feedback. I am very picky =p

I guess I have two main issues with the size scaling:

(a) Aliens being larger than the actual buildings that spawn them. How did they get out of the spawner without breaking it?! To my mind you can't have an alien that is larger than would fit out of a spawner. I guess you could make bigger spawners? But then the graphics would look pixelated! You can see what I mean when I say I'm picky...

(b) Size of the hitbox and range of melee attack affecting pathfinding. I'm not an expert programmer, but I imagine alien pathfinding was written with the size of the aliens in mind, so when making them bigger there is no guarantee the pathfinding will keep working the same at all sizes. I'll admit I haven't tested this extensively, but I probably spent half an hour trying different maximum alien sizes to see what was the biggest that "felt right" to me, and I noticed the larger they got the less "normal" the pathfinding. They seem to start running around like crazy instead of just biting things, which looks silly because of how fast and big they are, and also makes them easier to fight because they spend more time running and less time biting.

Having said all of that, I definitely don't think I know any better than you or anyone else about what kind of features aliens would evolve in becoming progressively stronger or at what rate they would grow in size in order to accommodate greater strength and so on. Those are just two things which stood out in my mind as being "obviously wrong" to me, but that doesn't mean they're "technically" or "objectively" wrong by any means. So you are most welcome to entirely disagree. If nothing else, let's just appreciate the fact that I like your mod (it's the only mod I'm using) enough to give such lengthy feedback about it ;)

Thanks again!

Appreciate a detailed analysis from player's perspective.
However, I disagree with some of yours. So maybe let's go point-by-point.

It is your mod and I won't try to persuade you to do what I want with it, but I'll elaborate on what I mean in case the feedback is interesting or helpful to you. I should also say, as it turns out, I know just enough about programming to be able to edit the files of your mod to change things I don't like anyway, so I'm definitely not asking you to change things just for me. I just like giving feedback and discussing these things :)

Yes, feel free to fine tune settings in your own copy. I have my own beliefs (based on logic, science, balance, or other means), so I will refuse to put any changes not fitting my designs.
One of these examples including a player commenting about my tank series in other mod. He loved my super-heavy tanks most, but also saying they are too slow. So he wanted me to buff the speed and also the vehicle grid sizes. On the other hand, he said my light tanks are not useful in the late game, while wanted me to nerf their vehicle grid sizes... So I have refused this kind of proposals. (BTW, his suggestion is quite opposite to the basic game balancing principle, which is: if players feel it is too OP, I actually have to nerf it to stop exploiting it. If it is weak, I have to buff it to encourage using it.)

I did read the FAQ (and all the tables of numbers too). Perhaps I should not have used the word "realistic". I didn't mean to start a debate about what is realistic! After all, this is a science fiction video game. When I play the game I am already engaged in "suspension of disbelief" to a certain degree, and everyone has their own personal preference on what "feels right" to them in games like this (regardless of the math, which I understand in principle, but it's very abstract in this context to me).

I really care about science and maths behind. (I am a science guy anyway.) Therefore, I would not violate science unless I have very good reasons.
So even for "sci-fi", everything has to base on something. IMO, Sci-fi physics is real physics + imagination/creation. If the imagination part has to violate some rules in real physics (like time travel, entropy reversal, etc...), then they also have to include their new principles why the violation occurs.
A category IV biter and behemoth biter are of the same origins, and should be having similar biological and chemical structures. That means both should have very similar body density, comes with the mass \prop size^3 rule. This is not the place where the violation should occurs. I do not think a 100-ton creature having only double/triple size of the human character is reasonable at all.

For example, I decided not to play with the mod Rampant because once I saw a single biter get stuck on a tree and spin around in circles until I destroyed the tree. Because I have some (very small) knowledge of pathfinding algorithms, seeing a biter spinning in circles was too "obviously wrong" to my mind that it was a computer program going wrong and not an actual alien creature behaving strangely. As another example from your mod, it bothers me slightly that regular aliens have only two types of resistance but Category V and onward suddenly have a whole range of resistances, including 100% acid resistance. Why don't regular Behemoths have acid resistance? Why does it go from 0% to 100%?! It becomes very obvious that they are something new and different to the usual aliens in the game (ie. added by a mod), whereas if it was up to me I would have added the extra resistances in small amounts one resistance at a time so that the player would not notice an obvious transition from regular aliens to "edited" aliens. But it's only a very minor point, and your mod is exactly what I want in all other ways (besides the size scaling, which I'm getting to!), so I use it anyway. So that's some background to my feedback. I am very picky =p

The 100% acid resistance was introduced in maybe version 0.17.0, so biters and spitters do not hurt each other by their own acid splashes. The devs have hidden them now (I am not sure when they did it), but perhaps they did that by other means to be immune from their own acid splashes. Maybe that's why they hid that.
I will adjust this, to keep display in line with vanilla. And I will use some mild increase to be safe.

I guess I have two main issues with the size scaling:

(a) Aliens being larger than the actual buildings that spawn them. How did they get out of the spawner without breaking it?! To my mind you can't have an alien that is larger than would fit out of a spawner. I guess you could make bigger spawners? But then the graphics would look pixelated! You can see what I mean when I say I'm picky...

The base game do not have proper scaling between units and buildings. Assembling machine is obviously too small when compared to player character; while the inserter is a bit too large.
(Rarely any games can balance it properly, to be honest. But a "better"-scaled 30x30 tiles assembling machine is not suitable for game play purpose.)

If I have to make the spawners larger according to your comment, then what should I do if another player(s) saying the assembling machine are smaller than the spawners? Creating another mod for make assembling machines (and all other buildings) larger? It is hopeless to go for that.

The best I can do is to balance the scaling between same type of entities. If you are really dissatisfied with the spawner size, then it is behemoths are not reasonable neither. Even behemoths are too large for the spawners.

(b) Size of the hitbox and range of melee attack affecting pathfinding. I'm not an expert programmer, but I imagine alien pathfinding was written with the size of the aliens in mind, so when making them bigger there is no guarantee the pathfinding will keep working the same at all sizes. I'll admit I haven't tested this extensively, but I probably spent half an hour trying different maximum alien sizes to see what was the biggest that "felt right" to me, and I noticed the larger they got the less "normal" the pathfinding. They seem to start running around like crazy instead of just biting things, which looks silly because of how fast and big they are, and also makes them easier to fight because they spend more time running and less time biting.

Guess it is related to the collision boxes. If units are moving in front of them switching directions, maybe the algorithm thought that the existing path is blocked, thus trying to assign a new path which may actually go perpendicular or even away from the target. I have to admit I have not tested the high category aliens thoroughly. Notice that my default setting is only category VI (just two extra tiers). In earlier versions I only allow up to category X by options. It was later expanded to category X just because of requests.
I will check and adjust melee range to see if things get better. I still refuse to have a super-unit with strength of category XX to be only the quadruple size of behemoth. If the pathfinding problem is serious, maybe my end solution is to reducing back the maximum tier from category XX to X, instead of compromising the sizes.

Having said all of that, I definitely don't think I know any better than you or anyone else about what kind of features aliens would evolve in becoming progressively stronger or at what rate they would grow in size in order to accommodate greater strength and so on. Those are just two things which stood out in my mind as being "obviously wrong" to me, but that doesn't mean they're "technically" or "objectively" wrong by any means. So you are most welcome to entirely disagree. If nothing else, let's just appreciate the fact that I like your mod (it's the only mod I'm using) enough to give such lengthy feedback about it ;)

Thanks again!

My own rules are not going to please everyone, but feel free to make adjustments in your own private version.
Anyway, thanks for your feedback. This keeps me informed so I can recheck for any inconsistencies.

PS: A new option on properly coloured and sized corpses is already implemented to the next release, where I am rewriting some major parts of the code. It will be an update with several other changes. Need some time to finish it though.

Versions 0.17.11 / 0.18.3 provided several new options.
One of them being about the correct sizes and colours of category alien corpses, as what you have requested earlier.

I have confirmed the pathfinding problem you mentioned about the higher category aliens.
It apparently came from the size, but I found that it was more about its own collision box size and attack range. I have adjusted a few things in the same updates to help alleviate this, and dropped the limit from 20 to 15 (category XV). It is because after some tests, I feel the game do not handle well with huge units like category XVIII (18).
After all the changes, the category XV (15) seems very responsive now. So I guess they are working fine.

PS: The vanilla function spitter_shoot_shiftings gives totally wrong offsets when scaled. I have totally no idea how the complicated format works... So I just reduced its scale at the moment, where acid projectiles are spit from the wrong location. If you know how anything about it, please let me know.

Excellent news! I look forward to testing it out. I'm afraid I don't know anything about the spitter issue you mentioned but I can let you know if I notice anything obvious in the new version.

You make a good point about the size scaling being more "representative" of the game environment rather than being "to scale". It's very obvious if you look at a building up close with the player standing next to it, I had noticed that.

I have to admit I never tested anything above level X, and in the game I'm playing regularly I only have category V as the highest spawning. I am using the default settings (aside from hiding the GUI) and only at 97% evolution, but there was a subtle difference in the way category V biters responded when running into my walls compared to regular behemoths (and I did some more testing without the mod to confirm this after my last post). They would do a lot more side-stepping instead of just biting straight away. So I'm glad to hear that feedback was helpful B)

I understand where you're coming from about strength scaling with size according to known laws of physics and such strong biters being truly colossal monsters. Maybe my feedback about the balance aspect could be taken as saying I felt like each higher category increased in strength too fast compared to the previous, since that also meant they increased in size too fast for my liking (and the pathfinding problems plus corpses being the wrong size became more obvious). That was part of why I started on the default settings. I think I might eventually increase the maximum category to as high as VIII if I continue playing the same save for long enough but I don't think I would ever go above that with the current numbers. Spitters above category VIII kill laser turrets in a single hit! But I don't have any fancy weapon mods...

Anyway, thanks again :)