Valiant.wad - now on /idgames!

I found a possible bug : In Map21, you can skip the entire yellow key part of the map if you jump to that ledge on the left right in that plasma gun secret.

Pedro VC said:

I found a possible bug : In Map21, you can skip the entire yellow key part of the map if you jump to that ledge on the left right in that plasma gun secret.

Some shortcuts in wads are intentional. I have a feeling that this is one of the cases (looks too obvious to be accidental). It doesn't break the map, anyway.

Pedro VC said:

I found a possible bug : In Map21, you can skip the entire yellow key part of the map if you jump to that ledge on the left right in that plasma gun secret.

Thanks for letting me know, but that shortcut is in fact intentional. It allows a speedrunner to skip two encounters that are pretty much straightforward arenas, heh.

Anyways, thanks for all the continued feedback. I will have a second RC up soon for anyone who is still working their way through.

Valiant RC2 is available:

Link: http://www.mediafire.com/download/uhi8uokal5p4d30

CHANGES MADE:
Changed key icons on the status bar by Mechadon's request
Proper Obituaries added to Decorate based ports
Removed gameplay mod incompatibility warning. I hope people will read the textfile/forum thread instead of complaining to me about bugs.
MAP08's music changed to an updated version provided by Jimmy
Fixed critical bug with Arachnotron that caused it to delay 20 tics in it's see state after every pain state in ZDoom/Zand only
Fixed critical bug with Cybruisers that caused them to not play their death sound effect due to missing A_SCREAM call in Zdoom/Zand only
Redundant sound call has been removed from Cybruiser's walk frames in ZDoom
Fixed discrepancies with rotations of the Arachnorb sprites, caused by bad sprite naming
Some updates to .txt file/WADINFO lump
Reviewed usage of suicide bomber monsters and revised their placement to reduce cheapness
Reviewed usage of sniper monsters and tried to reduce their quantity without negatively impacting overall threat level of the gameplay. Note that I don't consider a monster a "sniper" unless it's position is permanently inaccessible to the player (a monster on a ledge that you can eventually each is NOT a sniper in my mind). Anyways, there's only so much I can do here: when I play, I typically kill most snipers with the RL to make it breezy. If you're an ammo hoarder and snipe things down by tapping the chaingun or using the single shotgun, you're still going to have a bad time dealing with the snipers.
Improved E2 sky texture

MAP SPECIFIC CHANGES
MAP01:
Adjusted position of a teleport destination that cq75 pointed out could be problematic
Made lift to high area activated by switch instead of walkover activated from the top, which should prevent player from accidentally triggering it during ambush
Removed a couple of sniper monsters

MAP04:
Fixed HOM in garden area found by Memfis
Fixed stuck Cacodemon/MP Arachnorbs in same location
Fixed bad monster teleport closet
Fixed bad textures that were causing black vertical lines to appear due in Zandronum due to non power of 2 size
Fixed bad sky transfer in SSG chamber
Reduced difficulty of garden area on skill 1-3
Replaced some bad looking switch textures Jimmy mentioned

MAP05:
I can't figure out why this map shows a warning for an incomplete BSP tree in Zandronum. I've rebuilt the nodes multiple times with no change. Any ideas?
Replaced some bad looking switch textures Jimmy mentioned
Moved a crate slightly in the RL room so that it doesn't prevent player movement as much

MAP06:
Replaced some bad looking switch textures Jimmy mentioned
Removed some sniper monsters

MAP08:
Massively, enormously, significantly reduced the difficulty of this map on skill 1-3
It's staying mostly the same on skill 4 because this is one of my favorite maps to play, sorry UV players
You can no longer leave the final fight prematurely
Removed a few UV snipers on unreachable platforms
Added some monster blocking lines to prevent cacos from floating on top of the Plasma Gun (sorry Slashbane)

MAP09:
Made map easier on skill 1-3 by providing a BFG on skill 1-2, some more spheres, and by deleting a few difficult non-AV monsters (Deleting some AVs would be sensible, but I'm not going to do it, entirely because level name heh)
Removed imps from AV cave in west wing of map, increased lighting to make AVs move visible

MAP10:
Allowed permanent access to chamber with Berserk pack/Super Chaingun
Redid the cavern with the chaingunner sniper horde, now it's a smaller number of Arachnorbs: you don't have to snipe them, they'll come after you whether you want to kill them or not
There are now 2 radsuits so you don't have to use the narrow walkways in the main cavern, but if you can't kill the monsters fast enough, eventually you'll be stuck using the narrow walkways

MAP11:
The pyro demon snipers have been replaced by imp snipers on skills 1-3. It's a lot less satisfying to telefrag imps using the secret, though (at least you still get a BFG for your trouble!)

MAP12:
Fixed double secret sector special found by scifista42

MAP13:
Deleted a number of sniper monsters

MAP15:
Removed a handful of possibly unfair suicide bombers
Deleted some snipers, added barrels to some sniper platforms for quicker killing
Added another invis to hitscanner area beyond YK door

MAP16:
Deleted some sniper monsters
Adjusted suicide bomber placement (if you've played the map, you know the one)

MAP17:
Deleted some sniper monsters
Adjusted suicide bomber placement

MAP18:
Deleted some sniper monsters

MAP20:
Replaced some cheap suicide bombers
Removed some sniper monsters
The Imp snipers in the lava pit will join the fight after you grab the key now

MAP21:
Improved conveyance to player that the AV/Barrel trap exists. This is one of my favorite fights in the whole wad. Hopefully it doesn't come across as cheap anymore.
Reduced difficulty of Spider Mastermind on all levels: it was a pretty cheap fight if you don't know it's coming

MAP23:
Removed a few questionable suicide bombers
Removed a few snipers

MAP24:
Deleted some snipers, some have been replaced by flying monsters. This map along with 10 probably has the largest number of problematic snipers (mostly in the opening area).

MAP25:
Replaced a bad looking switch texture
Deleted two annoying snipers

MAP26:
Removed a couple of cheap suicide bombers

MAP27:
Adjusted a couple of cheap suicide bombers
Removed/moved a few snipers

MAP28:
Removed a cheapish suicide bomber on skill 1-3
Signifantly reduced count of sniper monsters throughout map

MAP32:
Removed a couple of snipers

Beaten Ep 3 today, and you already saw me do it Skillsaw but man, was it TOPS. Really great megawad I'd replay over and over just like Vanguard and Lunatic

skillsaw said:

I can't figure out why this map shows a warning for an incomplete BSP tree in Zandronum. I've rebuilt the nodes multiple times with no change. Any ideas?

I think Zandronum rebuilds its own nodes in every map by default - and not always perfectly, as it seems. With this behaviour in mind, all you can do is keep tuning the architecture until Zandronum is satisfied. On the player's side, it should be possible to fix the problem by changing default values of console variables gennodes / genglnodes. I only guess, I actually don't know for sure.

Random misalignment found while flying around: http://i.imgur.com/TuRxqCM.png

ValiantRC2 - the black trails in MAP04 (which I reported here) are still there on multiple places in Zandronum.

goddamnit I was gonna play this rest of this on RC2 but it looks like I can't transfer my save from RC1. gonna have to pistol start MAP16. :(

Getsu Fune said:

goddamnit I was gonna play this rest of this on RC2 but it looks like I can't transfer my save from RC1. gonna have to pistol start MAP16. :(

Heh sorry about that, not much I can do. You *could* play through E3 and then switch versions at the beginning of E4 since you're forced to pistol start anyway, though.


Also, above issues noted for the next version. I feel dumb about those black trails in MAP04 - I was sure I fixed them. Thanks again!

naw the levels are fine.

MAP16

thoroughly enjoyed it. a nice stroll of a map which I took at a leisurely pace and it never felt hard at all. plus I got most of my weapons back. even the one ambush with arch-viles was easy, and I decided to kill them with the single shotgun for some dumb reason :/. hardest part was actually the one in the crate room with the suicide bombers.

MAP17

also thoroughly enjoyed it, it's actually my favorite map so far despite the platforming and thin bits. didn't find either of the invulnerabilities that I found all that necessary though. the red key part was fucking amazing and I loved every bit of it. I managed to not fall off or take damage during the initial ambush. the crusher platforming bit was cool too. my new favorite map!

If you're playing in ZDoom you could just finish whatever level you are on and then use console commands to give yourself the same stats and weapons in the new release.

I'm moving pretty slowly through this still, I'm on Map11. I enjoyed Map10 once I had the layout figured out. That whole yellow key section was really awesome looking, enjoyed the cyber fight.

MAP18

I did not feel this one, it's more or less gimmicks with crushers that could be fun to watch, like shooting the switches at the beginning to crush the revenants. others, not so much. that one part in the northwest was pretty gimmicky, with the platforming quickly done by, what seems to be doors. the arch-vile skirmish after that, plus the BFG ambush were my favorite moments in the map. The blue key assault was kinda boring to be honest (lure monsters under the crusher without wasting ammo), and the yellow key part was quite frustrating for me. the ending part seemed gimmicky too, with manuevering through crushers and a switchhunt, plus already dead demons being resurrected by arch-viles who come in. I killed them too quickly and had problems finding that last switch.

also the secret sector that has a chaingun has a tag (60) but no linedef that has the same tag.

on to Episode 4:

MAP19

another gimmick map, get the cybies to infight with various monsters, but you have to unlock them first. it sucks running into enemies trying to get them to infight. at the end of it all the two cybies still stood so I got the secret plasma gun and got rid of them. okay I guess.

edit: MAP20

eww, annoying map this was, but probably because I forgot where the rocket launcher was at. the archies were devious but the whole eastern section where the exit was fucked me over so many times. before that, I was unsure of where to go, only to find I had to drop to the center room just to get the keys.

MAP21

a little more fun. the one thing I didn't like was the blue key in the lava, I wasn't looking for it to be there of all places. the spiderdemon fight was hilarious as he never targeted me while I was shooting. the arch-viles/barrel fight was actually not difficult for me either. good map.

MAP22

looks great, lags while looking towards the center of the map though. sniper-centric gameplay overall which I don't like. hitscanners + suicide bombers + snipers + lava at the red key area was a really nasty combination of monsters. the flying monsters were the most annoying thing ever here. design > gameplay

Wow, my heart skipped a beat when I saw this, congrats on the release Skillsaw, looks killer!! When I'm done with the Heretic map I'm working on I'll give this a try!

Downloading this now, looks terrific!

Slight texture misalignment here, near the starting area of map25 :



Edit : Another one on map27 :

Third map. Combined MAP01 and MAP02 very well, in my view.

Also, it should be noted that MAP08 was extremely frustrating in RC1, glad to see you fixed it. MAP09 is much more playable though.

BTW, MAP07 was amazing, I really really REALLY love how you changed the idea of killing Mancubi to NOT KILLING them. It's seriously outstanding!

Katamori said:

Third map.

If you ran straight, you would get to the plasmagun secret MUCH easier than with straferunning. The trick is to be both precise and not too fast, or you hit the ceiling and fall. ;)

I just finished playing it, on HMP, including secret maps (albeit I cheated to find the last key on Map31, heh).
I have to say this is an awesome mapset and I greatly enjoyed the level variety and new monsters (even the suicide bombers). The only issues I had was that PrBoom occasionally crashed with the "exit on signal 11" error and that I noticed that the final boss keep alternating between Arch-Vile and Diabolist frames at random moments. I played using the recommended PrBoom version.

Minor bug on map07. At the start there is one spot where the archviles can attack you.

You're on PCG now.

http://www.pcgamer.com/doom-2-megawad-valiant-offers-32-new-maps-and-custom-weapons/

Grats, Now I see comments saying that they've played this with Brutal Doom. ._.
But still, Congrats, Skillsaw.

Oh crap, mainstream recognition for something that isn't the doom equivalent of a lolcat!

And something useful for a change: watching AdamAK's stream, I saw him getting the weirdest idea of trying to reach sector 1317 in map09. It might be a good idea to raise it just so it's not at the same height as the upper position of the perpetually moving platforms. Trying the jump there leads to crashing into an impassible and falling into corrosive junk. Not nice.

Pedro VC said:

I just finished playing it, on HMP, including secret maps (albeit I cheated to find the last key on Map31, heh).
I have to say this is an awesome mapset and I greatly enjoyed the level variety and new monsters (even the suicide bombers). The only issues I had was that PrBoom occasionally crashed with the "exit on signal 11" error and that I noticed that the final boss keep alternating between Arch-Vile and Diabolist frames at random moments. I played using the recommended PrBoom version.

Glad you had fun! I'm aware of the issue with the final boss: unfortunately, it isn't fixable in DeHackEd. I decided to leave it in, heh. The sprite will not change in DECORATE based ports.

ReFracture said:

Minor bug on map07. At the start there is one spot where the archviles can attack you.

What the hell...? No idea what's happening here.

BlackFish said:

You're on PCG now.

Haha, that's awesome. I hope the comments about playing with Brutal Doom are trolling though.

Scifista, thanks. Never thought of that, seemed too easy.

Fourth map.

I'm enjoying the megawad so far but I'm stuck on MAP10 trying to find one of the secrets. In Doom Builder, I can see that it's in sector #601 (a Type 136 secret sector) but I can't work out how to teleport to the area that it's in which contains two archies and two spectres. Am I fail or is there a bug? :)

savagegrant said:

I'm enjoying the megawad so far but I'm stuck on MAP10 trying to find one of the secrets. In Doom Builder, I can see that it's in sector #601 (a Type 136 secret sector) but I can't work out how to teleport to the area that it's in which contains two archies and two spectres. Am I fail or is there a bug? :)

There's a switch behind the altar near the pool of blood in the southernmost cave. Activate it and you'll get teleported to a ledge. From there, there are invisible teleport lines that you have to take in sequence that'll lead you to the next ledge. The last line in the series will bring you to that area.

The first line is to the south of your teleport point, against the rock wall. The second line is between two torches against the south-east wall of the lower ledge. The third is again between two torches on the lower ledge directly to the south.

BlackFish said:

You're on PCG now.

http://www.pcgamer.com/doom-2-megawad-valiant-offers-32-new-maps-and-custom-weapons/

Holy smokes, Dominic White is everywhere games are.

Damn, how did I missed a skillsaw wad? Downloading now!

Looking forward to firing this one up at my next local coop session.