This mod is awesome! I saw that you had some additional changes as requested by users in development but I didn't see any new version posted, so I made some changes to the mod myself to address some of those requests and add changes I wanted. Anyone is welcome to download it and try it out if they want.
Changes I've made: *"Timed block" is referenced here and in my changes as "deflect"
Successful deflects provide visual and audio feedback (VFX)
Changed VFX for guard counter (now more noticeable, considering the above may overlap with this)
Successful deflect negates all damage received and deals 50% of weapon damage to the first enemy between you and the locked-on target even if they are far away (i.e. archers) - tested various things and going with the "Thymesia" style damaging deflects seemed best because in DS3 most normal enemies I've seen can't be poise-broken then riposted and even some bosses that can be poise broken take a lot to get to that stage and may not allow a riposte - Elden Ring is a completely different story with consistent poise-breaking then riposting potential - also not all attacks/enemies can be parried
Deflect window begins as soon as the guard button is pressed and lasts for 0.3 seconds initially (see below)
Deflect has diminishing returns within a cooldown period (first deflect window is 0.3 seconds, second is 0.15 seconds, third is 0.8 seconds, each having a 1 second cooldown - spamming guard after the third will refresh the 1 second cooldown so guard must be left depressed for 1 second to deflect again, however as soon as a deflect is successful all cooldowns and deflect state are reset)
Gain a bonus 0.1 second deflect window (does not refresh itself) after a successful deflect for cases where you get hit by a flurry of attacks (i.e. multiple enemies attacking at once)
Guard counter can only be done once within 1 second after a successful deflect and does not require the guard button to be held when using it; this means normal guards do not enable guard counters to be done anymore
When deflecting, prevent guard break if stamina damage causes stamina to drop below 0; we can still enter situations where we don't have the stamina needed to raise the guard or keep it held though - in these cases you have to wait for the stamina to regen to the minimum amount needed first before attempting to deflect
Removed the extra weapon bounce when defending with deflect for balance reasons and to ensure the attacker can continue their chain of attacks so we can have fun deflecting multiple times
Hi, this seems to be the only mod to have timed blocks. Is there any chance to see some visual feedback (maybe sound effects too) added in the future, like in the feedback by MrLexip back in December?
I saw you mentioned deciding against negating damage on perfect block so the guard stats of the weapon still matter. Could this be an option? Or how about keeping stamina use but negating health damage? If you're really against it some instructions on how to edit that would be appreciated.
It'd also be cool if perfect blocks had the same effect as parries when applicable, so enemies could be executed after it. Or maybe after a few parries, like a "poise damage", but that may be too much work.
The current development version has improved visuals and sound effects for timed blocks. Here's a link to a demonstration I posted to Twitter.
I don't believe I'll provide that kind of option, however the development version (featured in the demonstration) prevents death and guard break on timed block, which I believe should be a fitting compromise.
I'm currently considering if timed blocks would be capable of parrying enemies, most likely after a few successful timed blocks. However, to do so would take some potentially complicated and messy set up, so I'm not so sure.
Ah that looks/sounds great! Good to know there's somewhere you post progress to. I saw that one was in March, any plans for release? This is literally the only mod that does this, as far as I'm concerned it fixes the whole combat system.
About the damage reduction, I checked out the video and it seems like the attack at :12 still did a lot of damage even if perfect blocked. That seems like it would not make timed blocks a valid alternative to dodging, no? Or maybe that's just because that weapon has weak absorption.
Parrying after a few successful timed blocks would be sick! But understandable if it would be too hard to implement. Great work, thank you for working on this!
No current date planned, as development goes on and off depending on life circumstances (like the release of other games lol).
That attack in particular is a high damage one, so the amount of damage actually took from a perfect block feels fine to me. A straight sword like that also doesn't have the best guard absorption or deflection, while a greatsword or shield would do much better (in fact, deflecting an attack, which is what I'm calling the weapon bouncing, further reduces the damage taken).
Thank you for playing and for the feedback! It really helps, especially when I'm making such big changes.
I'm confused in how to installing this mod into DS3. So do I just throw the files in the game folder or do I put them into the Mod Engine "Mod" folder?
The mod is set up such that you can drop all the contents from the zip file into your DS3 game folder, it does not assume a previous ModEngine installation.
Ok thanks to that vid I was able to run the game, but how do I know the time block feature works? Does it vary for different weapons? What's the window of the time block?
The feedback on the timed block is fairly minimal right now, but generally you'll notice the enemy bounce off if you're using a weapon with low deflection and you land the timed block. The timing of the timed block should be the same for all weapons. It starts 6 frames after starting the block and lasts for 6 frames. A shield icon will appear under your stamina bar with your other effect icons when you're in the window, assuming you don't have a different effect with a shield icon.
The mod is great but I would prefer that the perfect block window should start the moment the block starts than a 6 frame start-up so it has a total frame window of 10 frames then a total of 12 frames of the actual perfect block window. So either shorten the startup or remove it and make the actual window longer. That way time blocks can work like a reactionary block to attack patterns than having to calculate for the startup window. There are times were I think I am perfect blocking but just end up regular blocking even when I timed my block to the attack windups.
Thank you for the feedback. The original design of the timed block is that it's specifically meant to be -timed-; I did not want it to be reactionary because I felt it would be too easy to spam block (it's fairly free to bring up and drop block after all). I have been intending to revisit the timed block system so I might fiddle with the windows.
It's a bit of a complex process but it took adding new "attack slots"/CMSGs in the behbnd. I also used an built in mirror function. From what I've heard, however, this mirror function doesn't work the same in ER, so you'd have to actually make mirrored versions of the animations with outside tools.
Installed everything as stated in the description with the downpatcher, still can't tell if the mod is working or not in game. There's no timed deflect for me if anyone knows how to resolve that
Thank you very much, mod is amazing. I would like to see it implemented in the Elden ring! I also want to ask if I myself can change The timing of the timed block should using Yapped? Reduce frame time from 6 to 3? And increase its duration to 8, for example? Thanks
The Timed Block timing is set in the c0000.anibnd, so you'd have to edit that with DSAnimStudio. Keep in mind that if you do so, you'll need to edit every guard start anim, of which there are standing and moving versions.
103 comments
Download Link (download the root folder as zip, unzip contents, copy contents into the existing Reforged folder and overwrite):
Google Drive Download for my customized version of DS3 Reforged
Video showcasing the visual/audio changes:
Changes I've made:
*"Timed block" is referenced here and in my changes as "deflect"
I saw you mentioned deciding against negating damage on perfect block so the guard stats of the weapon still matter. Could this be an option? Or how about keeping stamina use but negating health damage? If you're really against it some instructions on how to edit that would be appreciated.
It'd also be cool if perfect blocks had the same effect as parries when applicable, so enemies could be executed after it. Or maybe after a few parries, like a "poise damage", but that may be too much work.
I don't believe I'll provide that kind of option, however the development version (featured in the demonstration) prevents death and guard break on timed block, which I believe should be a fitting compromise.
I'm currently considering if timed blocks would be capable of parrying enemies, most likely after a few successful timed blocks. However, to do so would take some potentially complicated and messy set up, so I'm not so sure.
About the damage reduction, I checked out the video and it seems like the attack at :12 still did a lot of damage even if perfect blocked. That seems like it would not make timed blocks a valid alternative to dodging, no? Or maybe that's just because that weapon has weak absorption.
Parrying after a few successful timed blocks would be sick! But understandable if it would be too hard to implement. Great work, thank you for working on this!
That attack in particular is a high damage one, so the amount of damage actually took from a perfect block feels fine to me. A straight sword like that also doesn't have the best guard absorption or deflection, while a greatsword or shield would do much better (in fact, deflecting an attack, which is what I'm calling the weapon bouncing, further reduces the damage taken).
Thank you for playing and for the feedback! It really helps, especially when I'm making such big changes.
The timing of the timed block should be the same for all weapons. It starts 6 frames after starting the block and lasts for 6 frames. A shield icon will appear under your stamina bar with your other effect icons when you're in the window, assuming you don't have a different effect with a shield icon.