Doom EU (alpha TC) [NOT FOR ZDOOM]

Alright, I sent the map to ya.

Am I the only one to think that the Alphas had a more atmospheric look than the final product, judging from those screenshots? Unless those levels are remade with more detail than there actually was.

They're not, the alphas looked pretty much the same.

Yeah, they're literally dripping with atmosphere. It's running down my LCD and into my laptop keyboard. Or was that some other substance?... ;) Argh, need some tissues!

How are you planning to do the music tracks? I think alpha versions had none, and maybe regular Doomish tunes wouldn't quite fit. Personally I've been playing Doom without music lately, and I've found that to actually enhance the eeriness factor, esp. when I was going through Classic Episode (class_ep.wad). Since you're doing a custom port anyway, it might not be too far fetched to consider ambient/environmental sound FX in lieu of music.

I was thinking the same thing.

Maes said:

Am I the only one to think that the Alphas had a more atmospheric look than the final product, judging from those screenshots? Unless those levels are remade with more detail than there actually was.

Nope, haven't been doing much but polishing. In this reboot, I've decided to have a very conservative philosophy (not politically) in keeping the maps very close to the originals in both gameplay and appearance, just tidying them up a bit and making them more finished.

The problem with the original version of the project is that I felt that I was taking way too many creative liberties with the levels and other aspects of the game.

And no, you're not the only one that thinks that they're more atmospheric. ;)

hex11 said:

How are you planning to do the music tracks? I think alpha versions had none, and maybe regular Doomish tunes wouldn't quite fit. Since you're doing a custom port anyway, it might not be too far fetched to consider ambient/environmental sound FX in lieu of music.

Although I think the PSX music would work wonderfully in the alpha maps (probably even better than actual music), I don't plan on doing that for two reasons: it's not what id was going to do, and I want to maintain a vanilla feel (it's being based on chocolate Doom, after all).

The reason the alphas didn't have any music is because they were incomplete, obviously. I mean, it didn't even have any sound effects. They were certainly intending to do music eventually. In fact, if you look at the files dates for the unused Doom music, you'll see that many of the songs were made around the time of the 0.5 version of the game.


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EDIT: Right now, I'm using At Doom's Gate for E1M1 (E2M7 in the final). Should I use a different song, seeing as though the level is much longer that the final E1M1?

In my humble opinion, only the semi-ambient doom tracks fit the alpha. I think that E1M2's music would be a great match for E1M1.

Actually, I decided to go with DTWiD's E1M6 music for E1M1. Seems to fit really well.


By the way, I want to contact Tom Hall about this, just to see what he thinks about it. I'm having trouble finding his contact info, besides Twitter. I don't want to bother signing up for Twitter just to show him this thread, but if there's no other way to contact him, I suppose I could.

Anyone know of a reliable way to contact him via email or something else perhaps?

I don't think he's ever said his email address. What do you think of that map I sent you?

I could possibly try contacting him by my Twitter and link him to this topic.

EDIT: Odd... It's like his Twitter page has been completely wiped...

Marnetmar said:

I don't think he's ever said his email address. What do you think of that map I sent you?

If I hadn't known that somebody else made it, I honestly would've thought Tom himself made it! You did a really great job imitating Tom's style. :)


Also, stupid question: can you post as a guest on Twitter? (bear in mind, I've never used it before)

EDIT: Just saw TrueDude's post. Weird, now how am I supposed to contact him?

Sodaholic said:

Also, stupid question: can you post as a guest on Twitter? (bear in mind, I've never used it before)

No, you cannot. You have to have an account.

Could sending it to Romero and telling him to forward it to Tom work?

Sodaholic said:

Could sending it to Romero and telling him to forward it to Tom work?

Possibly, I think they still keep in contact.

Don't they still work together, or am I mistaken? Anyway, do you think you could post this thread on Romero's Twitter, and mention that Tom should see it?

http://twitter.com/#!/theromero

Yeah, I'll tweet him about it.

Well, look what I found: http://twitter.com/#!/ThatTomHall

I wonder what the point in creating a new account was?

Sodaholic said:

Well, look what I found: http://twitter.com/#!/ThatTomHall

I wonder what the point in creating a new account was?

Huh... I'll try tweeting him there then.

I'm interested to see what he has to say.

Edit: Looks like he already responded. Interesting.

Edit 2: I'm glad you liked the level, Soda!

Marnetmar said:

Looks like he already responded. Interesting.

I have no idea how to use the Twitter interface, where can I find his response? (and who responded, Romero or Tom?)

Tom. Just click the link and look at the third entry from the top.

Cool, nice to see that he likes the mod. :D


I still need a coder, does no coder like this project? Even if I can't get a coder (which is beginning to seriously irritate me that I cannot), I really do need to have engine modifications done, so is there anyone technically knowledgeable that could at least walk me through the process of modifying the engine if they can't help directly?

The most important thing right now is reprogramming the status bar. These are very simple things to edit (for experienced people, I'm not experienced), so I would really appreciate if someone could tell me exactly what I'm supposed to do to inside the source to move where the numbers render. This isn't hard or inconvenient for anyone that knows what they're doing (again, I emphasize that I am not one of those people), so if you can help, just please do.

I know I sound like I'm demanding help (which I pretty much am :P), but I'm getting rather desperate to get this stuff done already, I'm getting really tired of using ZDoom as a temporary engine as a backup to get certain vital features running that my barely modified engine cannot do yet. (all screenshots above were taken in ZDoom, the status bar is all fucked up in chocolate Doom)

Just tell me exactly where in the sourcecode I can modify the coordinates of where the numbers render on the status bar, and I'll be happy. :P

Try going here. If you ask nicely they'll definitely help you out.

There's a whole bunch of X and Y constants defined in st_stuff.c. There's also a few things in st_stuff.h, which define the statur bar itself, and it looks like it's always 320x32, since SCREEN_MUL is 1.

hex11 said:

There's a whole bunch of X and Y constants defined in st_stuff.c. There's also a few things in st_stuff.h, which define the statur bar itself, and it looks like it's always 320x32, since SCREEN_MUL is 1.

Thanks for pointing out where it is that I need to edit, I'll look into it. :)

I've got the coordinates set how I'd like them. How can I have the game draw a bar for health and armor?

Maybe something similar to the exiting code that prints digits right-justified, for current ammo, etc. Except you probably want it left-justified, and to use a custom graphic lump where each character represent say 5% of health or a fraction thereof. For the cases where health/armor goes over 100, you could either change the color of the little pieces of bar graphic, or just leave some space on the right so the meter can extend to 200%. You first have to decide exactly how you're going to handle those cases.

Well, player health will be capped at their spawn health (soulsphere will no longer give you over 100), but spawn health may vary (different player classes with different health).

EDIT: Nah, disregard this. I'll just email Romero and ask him to forward it to Tom.

TrueDude, do you think you could ask him if he's willing to allow me to contact him via some means (email or skype, or whatever he specifies if he accepts) so that I can talk to him about what I should to with the project? (I want this mod be as authentic as possible, and what's more authentic than input from Tom Hall himself?) Also, tell him I promise to try not to bug him too much. :P

If that manages to work, please post the conversation!