TABS Cinematic Overhaul

by SeriousMango21

Turns Totally Accurate Battle Simulator into a war film. Hits throw bodies around like Euphoria and Max Payne. Units at zero health aren't dead yet: they stagger, clutch their wounds, grab walls and slide down them. They collapse, crawl for cover and die slowly while their friends kneel beside them begging them to hold on. There's dark, directional blood, wounds that stay on the body, broken bones, dismemberment and synthesized gore sounds. The AI fights smarter, uses cover and talks, soldiers trip, fumble, cower and get shell-shocked, and an automatic cinematic camera finds the best moments.

Everything is procedural, with no asset bundles. Nearly every feature can be tuned or switched off in the config.

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Hotkeys

Key	What it does
F9	Director camera on/off: an automatic cinematic camera that follows the action. Also lets friends run to the wounded (see below).
F10	Director camera: cut to a new shot
F8	Film look on/off (vignette, contrast, grain, chromatic aberration)
F7	Letterbox bars on/off
F6	Clear all blood
F5	Tactical AI on/off (to compare with vanilla)

All keys can be changed in the config, under 5. Hotkeys.

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Features

Ragdolls and hit reactions

• Euphoria-style reactions: the struck limb jolts, the body twists away from the blow, and the head whips. The arms fly out and wheel against the hit before the hands go to the wound.
• Real stagger steps: a hit takes the strength out of a unit for a moment. Its own legs step it along the blow: back from a hit in front, forward from one behind, sideways from one on the side.
• Knockdowns: heavy hits and explosions put units on the ground. Cannonballs and blasts throw bodies, scaled by how heavy the unit is.
• Heavy, grounded bodies: corpses are loose and heavy (LimpCorpses, BodyWeight), with no floating mannequins.
• Fall bracing: falling units throw their hands out to catch themselves.

Drama Overdrive (new in 3.0.0)

• Death throws: the killing blow throws the body like an action film. Units get blown backwards off their feet with their legs swept up, spun round by a shoulder hit with arms flung out, or dropped on the spot like a puppet with its strings cut (head hits). Shot from behind, they go stiff and fall flat on their face like a felled tree. A blade twists them half round and onto one knee before they fold. Cannonballs and blasts cartwheel them through the air.
• Blown off their feet: sometimes the hit that starts a dying act knocks the unit clean onto its back. Then it plays out its downed act on the ground: writhing, crawling and reaching.
• Air flailing: bodies flying through the air windmill their arms and kick their legs.
• Ground slams: bodies that hit the ground or a wall hard land with a heavy thud. They bounce and tumble with limbs splaying, spatter blood and can break bones.
• Camera shake: explosions, cannonball hits and bodies slamming down shake the camera nearby. The shake only touches what you see, never the game's own camera.
• Final kill cam: the kill that wipes out the last of a team plays in deep slow motion. If the Director camera is on, it cuts to the kill and orbits it.
• Dramatic slow-mo: spectacular on-screen deaths can trigger slow motion.
• Turn all of it up or down with 8. Drama Overdrive → Intensity (0.5 = war film, 1 = action movie, 2 = completely unhinged).

Eyes (new in 3.5.0)

• Units look where they walk. Several times a second, each moving unit checks a fan of 11 directions around where it wants to go, at hip height and at knee height. It sees how far each way is clear of walls, rocks, fences, buildings and invisible map blockers.
• It takes the clearest way that still heads towards its goal, picks a side to go round obstacles and sticks with it, so it doesn't dither. It tells a stair or kerb from a wall, so stairs are fine.
• If the way ahead stays blocked for about a second, it plans a proper route around.
• This covers everything: chasing, taking cover, moving to fire positions, rescues, panic and charges. Staggers, dying acts and grabbing walls are still allowed to hit things on purpose.
• Route planning and cover checks now see every solid static thing on the map, including walls whose collision is separate from what you see.

Thinking soldiers (new in 3.4.0)

• Fire positions: every few seconds a ranged unit weighs up spots around it and asks what's the best place to fight from right now. It looks for:

  • range to the target and a clear shot, standing or kneeling;
  • cover between it and the enemy;
  • height over the enemy;
  • not being exposed to other enemy shooters;
  • no melee enemies closing in;
  • not standing on a friend's spot;
  • not walking too far.

  If somewhere is clearly better, it says why ("Taking the high ground!", "Too exposed here, moving!", "Moving to cover!"), walks there on a real route and calls "In position!".

• How they fight from the spot: standing in the open, kneeling, or popping up over low cover to fire and ducking again. Gunners (muskets, rifles, pistols and the like) lie flat behind ledges and low walls with the weapon pointed over them, then rise to a knee to fire.

• High ground: ranged units look down from above for roofs, wall tops, hilltops and upper floors, and climb stairs and ramps to reach them. Spots they can't reach are remembered and skipped.

• Smart navigation: whenever the straight way is blocked, units plan a real route around walls, buildings and cliffs. Stairs and slopes are fine, sheer drops and walls aren't. They replan when they get stuck. The map is learned as units move about and shared by everyone, so routes get cheaper as the battle goes on.

• Staying alive: a melee enemy charging in always wins over holding a spot.

Faces in the crowd (new in 3.3.0)

• Personalities: every unit is one of eight types, and it changes how it fights and what it says:
  • Steady: an ordinary soldier.
  • Veteran: calm, flinches less, kneels to fire and talks others down ("Tango down.").
  • Rookie: jumpy. Flinches hard, hits the dirt, panics and fumbles ("I'm too young for this!").
  • Hothead: never ducks, taunts the enemy, and charges whoever killed a friend, roaring.
  • Joker: wisecracks and taunts ("Should've ducked!").
  • Caretaker: helps everyone up from further away and checks on the wounded.
  • Stoic: barely says a word.
• Contact!: when a team first sees the enemy, someone (usually a veteran) points and calls it.
• Victory: when the last enemy falls, the winners cheer, punch the air or drop to a knee in relief ("I'm alive... I'm alive!").

First person (new in 3.3.0)

• When you take control of a unit, the view kicks when you're hit or fire, leans into strafes, widens a little at a sprint, and sways more as you weaken.
• Hits flash red at the edges. Low health brings a heartbeat and a pulsing red vignette. A close blast leaves your ears ringing and drains the colour.
• Your kills land with a split-second freeze-frame. Your death plays out in slow motion as the colour fades.
• The Director camera switches itself off when you take control.

Look and feel (new in 3.3.0)

• Dust and grit: shots kick up the dirt, and bodies land in a puff of dust. Explosions throw a rolling dust ring, flying grit and smoke that hangs in the air.
• Hit-stop: brutal impacts close to the camera get a split-second freeze-frame.
• Bloom: a soft glow on highlights that flares on impacts.
• Bullet whiz: rounds landing next to the camera snap past.
• Ragdolls: units killed mid-stride tumble face-first into a roll. Blown-back bodies spray out the back. Settled corpses sometimes heave one last breath and twitch.

Soldiers under fire (new in 3.2.0)

• Stances: units stand, crouch or go prone. Ranged units in range drop to one knee to fire, weapon up and facing the target. They get up when the target's gone or an enemy closes in.
• Hitting the dirt: when a blast goes off nearby, units dive flat with their hands over their heads. One shouts "Get down!" and friends around follow a beat apart, then get back up at slightly different times ("Up! Get up!"). Units pinned by heavy fire hug the ground for a moment too.
• Firing from cover: ranged units in cover duck down behind it, pop up to fire, and duck again ("Covering fire!", "Reloading!"). They stay down longer when pinned, and badly wounded units stay down.
• Leapfrogging: if most of the shooters around a unit are already kneeling and firing, it keeps moving up ("Moving!"). If few are, it drops to cover them ("Covering!"). Groups of shooters end up advancing in bounds.
• Suppression and flinches: shots landing nearby, being shot at, blasts and friends getting hit right next to them all make units flinch. The head ducks and turns away, a forearm comes up and the knees dip. Enough of it pins them down and winds up their nerves ("Taking fire!").
• One body, one boss: dying, staggering, heroics, moods and stance take turns, highest first. Each hands the body back cleanly, so the systems don't fight each other.

Nerves and mishaps (new in 3.1.0)

• Stress: every unit has its own nerve, from steady veterans to jumpy recruits. Explosions, friends dying next to them (worse if it's gory), getting hit and being outnumbered wind them up. Quiet moments, kills and friends nearby calm them down.
• Trips: from 20 seconds into a battle, running units sometimes catch a foot and go sprawling, unhurt. Some lose their weapon as it flies out of their hands. Some scramble along on hands and knees before they push themselves back up.
• Fumbles: in the thick of a fight, a rattled unit can lose its grip. The weapon slips, it juggles for it, and it hits the ground. Brave units shout "Fine! Fists it is!" and fight on bare-handed. Nervous ones get even more rattled. No damage either way.
• Shell shock: units who survive an explosion close by stumble around dazed, hands over their ears ("I can't hear!"). Some drop to their knees or drop their weapon. They don't fight until it wears off.
• Cowering: a unit pushed past its breaking point drops to its knees, curls up with its hands over its head and shakes ("Make it stop!").
• Panic: the most nervous units, completely overwhelmed, sometimes run for a few seconds with their arms up. Then they pull themselves together and come back.
• Rallying: when someone breaks, a steady friend nearby shouts "Hold the line!", and everyone around calms down a little.
• Helping each other up: a calm friend right next to a unit that tripped, is cowering or is shell-shocked comes over. It grabs the unit's hand and hauls it up, or shakes it by the shoulders until it snaps out of it ("Thanks, mate."). This only happens when no enemy is close.
• Cheering: after a kill, units sometimes thrust their weapon or fist into the air ("Who's next?!").
• There are limits per team, so a battle never turns into everyone cowering or unarmed. Every piece can be tuned or switched off under 9. Nerves & Mishaps.

Out of health isn't dead yet

• Dying on their feet: a killing hit leaves the unit standing for a few seconds. It reels away from its killer, lurches, spins or drops to its knees, and doubles over its wound. Its knees buckle and it grabs at walls and nearby allies. Cannonballs, close blasts, very heavy hits and head hits still kill instantly.
• Downed: then its legs give out, but it lives on for a while on the ground. It writhes and rolls clutching its wound, tries to push itself up on shaking arms and collapses, or drags itself hand over hand towards cover. At the end it makes one last trembling reach.
• Out of the fight: enemies leave dying units alone, but a violent hit or a third blow finishes them.

Catching themselves on walls

• Grabbing hold: a unit reeling into a wall, rock, crate, fence or tree throws its hands out, grabs it and steadies itself. It leans in, head bowed, chest heaving.
• The living push off and fight on.
• The dying hold on for a moment, then their knees go. They slide down the wall on their hands, fingers dragging bloody streaks, and end up slumped at the foot of it.

Grabbing injuries

• What they grab: hurt units press bleeding wounds, grip broken bones above and below the break, cradle a broken arm against the chest, and squeeze the stump of a lost limb.
• Hands that stay put: the hands lock onto the spot and stay there as the body moves.
• By chance: it isn't every time. Each new injury has a chance to be grabbed, and every few seconds the unit may switch injuries or let go.

Friends in the field

• "It's gonna be okay": a friend right beside a downed unit drops to a knee at its side, presses the wound and talks it through: "Stay with me! Look at me!", "It's gonna be okay...". The dying unit reaches a shaking hand up to the friend's face. If it dies there, the friend cries out and often goes after the enemy.
• Shouting from where they stand: other friends nearby call out to the downed unit ("Hang in there!", "MEDIC!").
• With the Director camera on (F9):
  • Friends also run over to the downed. Under fire, they drag them by the collar behind real cover; in a lull, they kneel by them.
  • Others stand guard over the fallen.
  • Without the camera on, nobody leaves the fight for this, so normal battles play out as usual.

War-film AI

• Cover: archers, gunners and other ranged units find firing positions behind walls, rocks and fences and fight from there ("In cover!"). Badly wounded units of any kind get out of the line of fire.
• Heroics:
  • Last stand: a badly hurt or hopelessly outnumbered unit charges ("I'm not done yet!").
  • Revenge: a unit that sees a friend killed next to it goes for the killer.
  • Help: free units help an ally fighting two enemies.
• Smarter movement:
  • Melee units flank on arcs, sprint into contact, and step around while trading blows.
  • Ranged units strafe.
  • Units spread out instead of clumping, look where they're going (see Eyes below), and limp when badly hurt.
• Battle chatter: the wounded cry out ("My leg!"), the dying beg ("Medic...", "Don't leave me here..."), and units shout "Man down!" and call out kills. It's rate-limited so the screen never fills with text.

Blood

• Dark and directional: dark, realistic blood. Hits throw a cone of elongated drops and spray streaks behind the victim, onto the ground and walls.
• Spurts and pulses: wounds spurt and mist, and bad wounds pulse with the heartbeat.
• Pools: blood pools spread under the dying and the dead.
• Trails and smears: badly wounded units leave drip trails. Bodies smear blood as they crawl and slide, and leave bloody handprints where they brace. Blood runs down walls.

Wounds on the body

• Shaped by the weapon:
  • Blades leave long, open slashes along the line of the swing.
  • Spears, daggers and stabs leave deep slits that pour blood.
  • Bullets and arrows leave punctures, often with a torn exit wound.
  • Blunt blows leave bruises that darken from red to purple over half a minute.
• They stay: wounds follow the curve of the body and bleed down it with gravity. They stay before and after death.

Broken bones and dismemberment

• Broken bones: heavy blows break bones with a crack. A broken limb goes floppy and bends the wrong way.
  • The worst breaks are open fractures, with splintered bone poking out of a bleeding wound.
  • A broken leg sends the unit down, then it limps. With both legs broken it drags itself along.
• Dismemberment only from truly violent hits:
  • Cannonballs, boulders, close explosions, big blades and heavy weapons on brutal blows.
  • Gunshots only bleed (unless you turn BulletDismember on).
• What it looks like: limbs tear off with meat chunks, bone shards, dangling flesh and splintered bone in the stump. Point-blank blasts can blow a body apart.
• Surviving it: units can survive losing a limb. The stump pumps blood and they bleed out over time unless it clots. A unit that loses a leg drags itself along with its arms.

Sounds

• The library: 114 synthesized gore sounds across 13 kinds, built when the game starts:
  • drips, splats and spatter;
  • flesh ripping;
  • four kinds of bone crack;
  • meat landing;
  • blade slices, stabs, blunt thuds and bullet impacts;
  • arterial spurts;
  • gurgling from the dying.
• Volume: they play through the game's sound channel at a moderate default volume, with separate sliders for blood, gore and bone.

Cinematics

• Director camera (F9): cuts between orbit, over-the-shoulder tracking, low hero angle, fly-by and wide shots, with depth of field and letterbox bars. It's drawn to rescues, last stands, explosions and fresh kills.
• Kill slow-mo: occasional slow motion on kills near the camera, big multi-kills, explosions and spectacular deaths. It's off in online play.
• Final kill cam and camera shake: see Drama Overdrive above.
• Film look and impact pulses: a vignette and chromatic-aberration kick on nearby kills.

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Config

The settings are in r2modman → Config editor → com.seriousmango21.tabscinematicoverhaul.cfg (or BepInEx/config/ in the profile). The ones people change most:

Setting	Default	What it does
1. Reactive Physics → RagdollDrama	2	Overall violence of hit reactions (1 = subtle, 2 = action movie)
8. Drama Overdrive → Intensity	1	How over the top death throws, launches, slams and shake are (0 = off, 2 = unhinged)
8. Drama Overdrive → DeathThrowChance	0.85	How often a killing blow throws the body
8. Drama Overdrive → ShakeStrength, FinalKillCam	1 / on	Camera shake strength, slow-motion final kill
10. Tactics & Reactions → FirePositions, SeekHighGround, GunnersProne	on / on / on	Ranged units choose where to fight from
10. Tactics & Reactions → HighGroundWeight	1	How much ranged units want height
3. Tactical AI → SmartNavigation	on	Route planning around walls and up stairs
3. Tactical AI → NavRaysPerFrame, NavStepsPerFrame	220 / 700	Performance limits for route planning (lower if big battles stutter)
10. Tactics & Reactions → CrouchChance, ProneChance	1 / 1	How readily units kneel to fire and hit the dirt
10. Tactics & Reactions → FlinchAmount, SuppressionGain	1 / 1	Strength of flinches, how fast fire pins units down
3. Tactical AI → CalloutRange	30	Chatter only shows for units within this many meters of the camera
9. Nerves & Mishaps → Personalities	on	Personality types for every unit
11. First Person → Sway, SprintFOV, HeartbeatAndRinging	1 / 1 / on	First person camera feel
4. Cinematics → HitStop, Bloom	on / on	Freeze-frames on brutal impacts, highlight glow
2. Blood → ImpactEffects, ImpactAmount, DustColor	on / 1 / sandy	Dust, grit and smoke
9. Nerves & Mishaps → StressGain	1.25	How easily units get rattled (0.5 = veterans, 2 = terrified)
9. Nerves & Mishaps → MishapDelay	20	Seconds into a battle before trips and fumbles start
9. Nerves & Mishaps → TripChance, FumbleChance	1 / 1	How often units trip and drop their weapons
9. Nerves & Mishaps → MaxDisarmedFraction	0.25	Most of a team that can lose its weapons
1. Reactive Physics → DyingTimeMin / DyingTimeMax	2.2 / 4.4	Seconds a dying unit staggers on its feet
1. Reactive Physics → DownedTimeMin / DownedTimeMax	5 / 12	Seconds a downed unit lives on the ground
1. Reactive Physics → WallCatchChance	0.8	How often units grab walls and objects
1. Reactive Physics → ClutchChance	0.55	How often units grab their injuries
2. Blood → Amount, SpatterAmount, PoolSize	1.2 / 1 / 1.2	How much blood
3. Tactical AI → ComfortChance	0.25	How often a friend kneels by the dying
3. Tactical AI → HelpDownedOnlyWithDirector	on	Friends only run to the downed while the Director camera is on
3. Tactical AI → UseCover, BattleChatter, Heroics	on	War-film AI pieces
6. Gore → DismemberChance, BoneBreakChance, Brutality	0.6 / 1 / 1.5	How gory
7. Sound → Volume	0.5	Master volume of the mod's sounds

Every system has an on/off switch, and there are about 190 settings in total.

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Compatibility

• Requirements: BepInExPack TABS 5.4.16 (installed automatically by r2modman).
• Other mods: works alongside unit and map mods. Other ragdoll or blood mods that change the same things may fight with it, so use one at a time.
• Online: slow-mo turns itself off in online play. The mod changes physics and AI on your side only, so it isn't meant for multiplayer matches.

Credits

Made by SeriousMango21. See the changelog for the version history.