Poltergeist

[pearl moss]

Fun little mod that makes dead players enter a freecam on death, and lets them mess with certain objects like the ship lights, boomboxes, and doors. Meant to make being dead a bit better for people who get bored just watching everyone else do stuff.
Thunderstore link: https://thunderstore.io/c/lethal-company/p/coderCleric/Poltergeist/
GitHub link: https://github.com/coderCleric/Poltergeist

[rare tartan]

Looks cool! Any future plans for this?

[blazing fiber]

Yah look likes some good fun

[pearl moss]

A couple. Ideally, I want to figure out how to better manage weather effects so they go based on the camera, not the spectated player. Also maybe a button to switch back to the standard spectating mode.

[valid helm]

This looks sick

[pearl moss]

I'm glad you think so!

[valid helm]

ill try it out

[crystal mica]

Is there a clientside version of this that just basically lets you spectate in freecam without interfering?

[pearl moss]

Not that I've seen, but all of the interference requires you to deliberately interact with stuff, so if you avoid pressing "E" it's basically just a death freecam

[pearl moss]

To clarify, the only thing that isn't strictly client-side is the horn and boombox interactions, you can totally use the freecam without anyone else having the mod installed

[scarlet egret]

sounds fun, definitely need to test it

can i suggest adding that you can emit scary vanilla ambient sounds?

like when you are alone in the dungeon

there's random scary sounds happening

it can be used for poltergeists as well

[pearl moss]

I've considered doing stuff like that, but I probably want to wait until I have a bit more experience working with LC. For now I'm trying to steer clear of anything that involves sending custom network messages

[scarlet egret]

okay

[patent pecan]

THIS IS

THE BEST FUCKING MOD EVER MADE

😋

[pearl moss]

Lol, I'm glad you're enjoying it

[tepid hemlock]

I'd love a thing like this where you can speak for a few seconds as a ghost

but it has a cooldown

[scenic stone]

So I could surprise download this as the host and mess around with my friends without them knowing?

[pearl moss]

Yep, pretty sure you could also do it if you're not the host. As long as you avoid messing with horns or boom boxes, nothing should bug out

[pearl moss]

Forgot to actually reply, oops

[crystal mica]

I can infact interact with doors whilst being dead.

Thats wild.

[arctic ember]

Do you need others to download it for it to actually work?

[pearl moss]

Horns and boomboxes might bug out if others don't have it, but any bugs related to that should be pretty minor

[robust night]

should bne able to toggle betwen nnormal spectate and this imo

[elfin oasis]

agreed

also would this mod break mods like spectate enemies

[pearl moss]

I haven't tested it, but it almost certainly conflicts with that one, yeah

[pearl moss]

This is something I plan on figuring out, just don't have the time rn

[robust night]

[urban sedge]

Maybe u can go on the terminal and send codes a bit like ghostcodes

[pearl moss]

I've thought of doing stuff like that, but I don't know if I want to include things that allow that level of interaction. I like it being the case that ghosts have to interact in kinda cryptic and creepy ways.

[tepid hemlock]

I'm still recommending what i said before cause i think it'd be a good idea

[pearl moss]

In my head that falls under the same sort of umbrella of being a bit too overt of communication

[tepid hemlock]

Or instead of that, you can play random clips (similar to skinwalkers) of other people

But that's also kinda bad actually

[wary dome]

can you go back to normal spectating with a button or will it always be like that

[rare tartan]

They mentioned this being planned

[urban sedge]

maybe theres a huge cooldown

or u cant choose which code u send it just a random one

[elfin oasis]

I like your ideas

mabye combine both

[pearl moss]

Idk, maybe cooldowns would let me add more stuff. I've kinda wanted to add support for some other objects (like the pumpkin) but they would be really annoying if someone decided to spam them. Maybe I could add a slowly recharging power bar, with each interaction consuming some amount of power

[rare python]

FreeCammer

use at your own risk

[pearl moss]

Added two config options:

• RunBarebones: Disables most of the mod functionality, so people who want the standard spectate can have it while still having the mod prevent bugs caused by others having the mod (this is a temporary measure that will probably be removed once I figure out how to let you swap between spectate modes).
• GhostLightIntensity: Modifies the intensity of the global light that ghosts see.

[pearl moss]

Updated to v0.2.0

• Added the ability to switch between the modded and vanilla spectate modes using the "Item Secondary Use" key (default Q).
  • Also added a "DefaultToVanilla" config option to determine what spectate mode you start in on death.
• Allow teleporting to player corpses and masked players.
• Removed the "RunBarebones" option.

[rough gyro]

does that mean it's compatible with spectate enemies now?

[pearl moss]

It might be, but I didn't directly test it. It's definitely more likely to be now

[pearl moss]

Thinking of implementing a power system to help control spamming of items, and wanted to get a vibe on it here. The idea is to do it kinda like this:

• Ghosts have a certain amount of maximum power, and recharge a certain amount of power per second.
• Interacting with objects requires the consumption of a certain amount of power, depending on the action (honking a horn might be 5, messing with a door might be 10, etc.)
• Maximum power is inversely proportional to the percentage of players still alive (so more players dying will give the ghosts more power to play with)

With this, I could even add certain interactions that have a high power cost, rendering them unusable until enough players are dead

[pearl moss]

V0.3.0

• Started using InputUtils, allowing the remapping of the ghost light, accelerate, decelerate, and spectate mode switching actions.
• Added a power system that aims to prevent spam and provide an interesting scaling as the game goes on.
  • Interacting with objects now costs a certain amount of power, a resource which will regenerate over time.
  • The maximum power available to ghosts scales with the percentage of players that are dead, making them more powerful as the day goes on.
• Added support for additional interactables.
  • Generic support for noise maker props (thanks TheBlackEntity!).
  • Purchasable ship decorations.
  • Storage lockers in the facility.
  • Pneumatic doors.

[pine wind]

i would like to possess my friends

pls add function

[pearl moss]

That is a cool idea, but I think it's too OP for this mod

[slender crystal]

maybe possess them for 3 seconds once?

[pearl moss]

Idk, I really think that's too high of a power level, on top of probably being really difficult to implement

[ruby ivy]

How about possessing objects and throwing them around

[pearl moss]

That could be fun, I've thought of having some way to mess with general objects, but I will need to figure out a good way to implement it

One I've also thought of is to allow ghosts to "pester", hitting enemies for 0 damage

[ruby ivy]

That could be handy with dogs outside, have a ghost player fiddle with things outside to draw the dogs attention away.

[pearl moss]

Yeah. Plus, when Spiders camp a spot it can jolt them loose

[valid helm]

or possess a mob for 3 seconds instead of player

would balance things out

[ruby ivy]

An idea would be to make the mod not be free roam or give an option to swap, kinda like the ghost mode from control company as I get lost trying to track down players once I die

[robust night]

You can switch and also press 1234 to quick tp

[pearl moss]

I did originally plan to have the ghost collide with walls instead of moving through them, but decided that it was cool to be able to go out of bounds. Like Smxrez said, this I why I implemented the teleport mechanic, to make sure that you can find other players easily.

[regal flax]

You can't emote while youre dead, right?

[pearl moss]

Nope, no body

[pearl moss]

v0.3.1

• Added controls for vertical movement.
• Added a button to stop regular camera movement from changing altitude.
• Updated development environment, resulted in config name changing from "Poltergeist" to "coderCleric.Poltergeist". Sorry about that 😦
• Tested for v50 compatability, everything seems to work properly!

Also, I've got some stuff that I want to implement that means I need to put more thought into where I need to take the mod. Specifically, I'm thinking of making it require all players to have it installed.

The obvious downside of this is no longer being able to use it in games as a funny surprise, but this would have the benefit of massively broadening what I can actually allow ghosts to do.

I'm putting this message here because I'm hoping to get a general sentiment on how people feel about this change. I'm currently leaning towards it, because I think it'll lead to a more fun mod overall.

Thanks for any feedback that you give! 🙂

[cinder marsh]

Although it might be a bit more difficult, would it be possible to have this idea split into 2 versions of the mod? One would require all other players to have it installed, while the other could work client-side alone.

There's two worries I have on this idea, though. One would be "what if people get the two versions mixed up?" but in all likelihood people that enjoy it would probably just download both so that they can join those that require it, and still be able to goof around in ones that don't.

The other ties into what you mentioned about "massively broadening what ghosts can do." There may end up being a disconnect or conflicts between the "all players install" version and the client side version, which either would lead to bugs, broken features, or missing future features in one or the other. I'm not sure at all how that would be fixed/straightened out.

this is an unrelated note, and it'll probably be fixed once the full version of v50 releases and things update, but it appears that the switches used to close the hangar-type doors on artifice don't appear to work with the mod as of right now, not having any interaction prompt or effects

[pearl moss]

That is a possibility, but I think I probably won't do it due to the concerns you brought up. Trying to write the two mods in a way where they are compatible would probably be very difficult. Plus, I've only got limited time each week that I can actually mod, and splitting that between two versions of the same concept would probably just make both kinda mid.

As for the hangar door thing, I haven't had time to check the hangar doors, but I think poltergeist specifically looks for light switches right now. Might end up being a functionality I add to the mod though.

[pearl moss]

v1.0.0

• Started using CSync to allow creation of many more options, such as:
  • Max power.
  • Power regen.
  • Alive for max power.
  • Pester aggro timespan.
  • Aggro hit requirement.
  • A bunch of cost settings.
• Add a bunch more interactions, such as:
  • Stopping steam valves.
  • Opening/closing ship doors.
  • Ringing the company bell.
  • Opening/closing Artifice hangar doors.
  • Pestering enemies.
• Made the ghost girl visible to dead players.
• Made the interact key rebindable.

[pearl moss]

V1.1.0 Changes

• Significant Additions
  • Gave dead players a "ghost head" as an avatar. This is visible to other dead players.
  • Added the ability to manifest when dead, allowing ghosts to be temporarily visible to living players.
  • Added the ability to interact with a few more things:
    • Loudhorn
    • Remotes
    • Radar Boosters
    • Whoopie Cushions (activated when ghosts fly through them)
• Fixes/Improvements
  • Ghosts can now see nametags over living players.
  • Made the ghost light come in from more angles and no longer affect fog (This allows the light to be made more intense).
  • Fixed a formatting error on interact prompts.
  • Added an element to the death HUD to tell the player the controls.

[cinder marsh]

for the radar boosters, does it activate a flash/ping, or does it just open/close it?

[pearl moss]

Just open and close

Ping could be a fun one though

[cinder marsh]

imagine you're dead, and you just pop one open right in front of a guy, he goes over, and you just flash him with zero warning

[pearl moss]

Poltergeist v1.1.1:

• Made it so that the mod actually loads on v61.
• Fixed some issues that were making it so that the whoopie cushion interaction wasn't working.
• I haven't had the time to do full testing in v61, but this should at least make the mod work. Please let me know on Github if you notice any issues!

[jagged kayak]

I’ve had one issue, when I was doing solo gameplay, the game would softlock when I die, or when everyone in the lobby dies, the round just never ends

I had to uninstall it

[pearl moss]

Hm, okay, I'll look into that. Do you have a mod code?

[trim meteor]

How would this interact with spectate enemies mod?

or just spectating

[jagged kayak]

Not at the moment, I got rid of it, I’ll do some testing this weekend if I get the time

[pearl moss]

@jagged kayak Just had a chance to do a basic test. Went to experimentation in solo, died, and waited for round to end. Everything went exactly as normal, so it's likely a mod conflict that I can't address without a better idea of what mod is causing it.

[jagged kayak]

got it

I’ll send it when I can

just tested it, and the game crashed before it opened... dont know whats happening

ill still send the code if thats helpful

0191e413-6587-1d48-0745-345d4287694d

[jagged kayak]

@pearl moss forgot to ping my b

[pearl moss]

Okay. I'll have to check it later, having internet problems rn