Shadow Man Remastered AP World v0.1.0 - Initial Beta Release

Shadow Man Remastered AP World v0.1.0 - Initial Beta Release

The first public release of a full Archipelago multiworld implementation of Shadow Man Remastered, sharing its core byte-level patching engine with the standalone single-player randomizer but built as its own separate project - see "How This Differs From the Standalone Randomizer" in the README for where the two diverge.

This is a beta. It's been tested solo so far - no other players or multiworld rooms yet. Versioned as v0.1.0 rather than v1.0.0 on purpose: treat it as early, expect rough edges, and please file anything you hit (see Known Issues and How to Report Bugs below).

What's New

Goal

Defeat Legion. Reach him by collecting enough Dark Souls to open the coffin gates blocking Deadside progress and completing the five Engine Blocks (or, with Piston Combo Randomizer on, also finding and reading Jack's Schematic to learn that seed's randomized piston combination). Your client reports goal complete automatically the moment Legion is confirmed dead.

Progression & Logic

• Coffin gate soul requirements shuffled via configurable presets (story through chaos), with caps/overrides for multiworld reliability
• Deadside portal shuffle (deadside_only - the 9 Deadside hub portals shuffled among themselves)
• Dark Engine piston combo randomization, with Jack's Schematic becoming required progression when enabled
• In-game soul-level thresholds can be randomized (progressive/balanced/fully random), with AP's own logic staying in sync with whatever's actually patched into the exe
• Progression balancing control over how aggressively key items are pushed toward deeper locations

Cadeaux as AP Checks

• Optional: turn on "Cadeaux Key Items" and all 666 cadeaux locations become real AP checks, bundleable into grouped checks of your choosing
• Optional Fogometers Light Soul gate as its own AP check

Cosmetic & Optional Shuffles

Weapons, lore items, the Light Soul, enemy types (with difficulty-weighted/full/contextual modes), true forms, ambient creatures, music, voice lines, weapon SFX, enemy SFX, and sky textures - all independently toggleable.

Gameplay Tweaks (EXE patch, applied at seed-apply time)

Force "I Like Dead Side Guns," starting health, life altar health grant, altar/Fogometers cadeaux costs, death penalty, and Shift-sprint - same patching engine as the standalone randomizer's own Gameplay Tuning options.

Traps & Bonuses (AP-only)

Filler items that apply a random temporary or permanent effect on receipt - cosmetic secrets, a health poison/heal, a voodoo power drain/hold, or an ammo drain/hold. Fully optional (off by default) with each effect category toggleable independently.

Multiplayer

Standard Death Link support, with an optional throttle on how many of your own deaths it takes to send one.

Client Tracking

The Shadow Man AP client has its own built-in status tab - level, locations checked, Dark Souls/Soul Level, Cadeaux, Gad Powers, health, and a per-level completion breakdown - plus a "Proximity to Go Mode" panel showing your remaining goal prerequisites and live Engine Block region reachability at a glance. Full Universal Tracker integration is also supported when its apworld is installed alongside this one.

AP Companion Tool

A standalone Windows exe (shadow_man_ap_companion.exe, no Python required) for both ends of setup: a "Generate YAML" tab with tooltips and a live preview for building your player options file, and an "Apply AP Seed" tab for patching your generated .apshadowman seed onto your local game install.

How This Differs From the Standalone Randomizer

• No single graded "insanity tier" - the same ground (cadeaux, barrels, weapon/lore/bonus) is covered by separate independent options instead
• cross_hub entrance mode isn't ported yet (deadside_only entrance and piston combos are)
• No in-game map tracker hints - the AP client's own tracker (see above) covers this differently instead
• Gad Powers are always shuffled, with no "leave them at the temples" option (use Start Inventory From Pool if you want them guaranteed from the start)

Known Issues

• Beta, solo-tested only. Expect to find things - please report them (see below)
• cross_hub entrance mode and Prism shuffle are not implemented yet
• Cadeaux counting is not fully reliable - some cadeaux may not register in-game depending on how they were placed. Lowering the altar cost and Fogometers door from their defaults is recommended until this is resolved

How to Report Bugs

Bug reports, seed pathology cases, and PRs welcome. Please include your YAML (or the relevant options), the seed, and the spoiler log if one was generated - plus the exact apply_ap_seed.py command (or AP Companion tool steps) if the issue looks like it's on the patching side rather than generation. You can also reach me directly on Discord: bropacman.

How to Use

1. Install Archipelago.
2. Download shadowman.apworld and drop it into your Archipelago install's custom_worlds/ folder.
3. Download shadow_man_ap_companion.exe (no Python required) and use its "Generate YAML" tab to build your player options file.
4. Submit your YAML to the room you're generating, like any other AP game.
5. Once generated, use the Companion tool's "Apply AP Seed" tab to patch your .apshadowman file onto your local game install.
6. Launch thoth_x64_patched.exe (not the vanilla exe) and connect with the Archipelago client as usual.

Full walkthrough in the setup guide.

Requirements

• Shadow Man Remastered (Steam or GOG)
• Windows 10/11
• Archipelago