Design and Ethical Questions

Hey GUYS WHATS UP!?



Anyways, here are questions that must be answered! Thanks

1) Design - If i make a specifically Deathmatch level, would it be a design flaw to put in monsters in case people want to coop? Now, most likely no one would actually coop on the DM levels, but would it be bad to add in monsters (just in case) to DM specific levels?

2) Where could I find a skyline sky? I've found everything but a nice decent skyline for my rsky2...(disregarding the obvious Doom2 included skyline)

3) I have included a grenade launcher in my wad, here is the specs:
Same speed as missile, but it bounces (acting like a grenade).
Half the damage of a normal missile, and the grenade launcher shoots slower than the rocket launcher. Does that seem like a balanced weapon?



Thank you,

MarchWhelp (BlueOasis)

well, i'll answer 1

No problem with adding monsters to DM maps.

Especially maps like the Winter DM wad (they would've been pretty good in single player form).

In any case, since you're using ZDoom, you could make the monsters appear in co-op but not deathmatch by ticking the single/co-op boxes but not the deathmatch ones. (however this would require the maps to be in Hexen format, which I don't think yours are)

What does any of this have to do with ethics? Maybe some people who don't know how to use -nomonsters will excommunicate you.

To make DM maps with monsters, or not to make DM maps with monsters...

Ah... WinterDM was released January 15... weird, because I didn't see it in /newstuff recently. Guess I must have missed it. Good wad, though (although at the time of downloading I had no one to play with except ZDoom's crappy bots...).

#1: There isn't any problem with putting monsters in. If they don't want monsters, they'll turn them off.

#2: Do what I do: go through all the old wads you've ever downloaded, looking for the ones with skies. Heh...

#3: Skulltag, anyone? ¬_¬ Heh, good idea... except if it's weaker than a rocket, shouldn't it fire slightly faster? Meh, I guess that isn't how it was done in Skulltag, though.

Now my question: besides the little water-spray in map 2, what else makes WinterDM a ZDoom wad?

I think the music is in midi format (or something), as Wintex wouldn't recognise it.

The Ultimate DooMer said:

Especially maps like the Winter DM wad (they would've been pretty good in single player form).

In any case, since you're using ZDoom, you could make the monsters appear in co-op but not deathmatch by ticking the single/co-op boxes but not the deathmatch ones. (however this would require the maps to be in Hexen format, which I don't think yours are)

Boom supports this as well (although the bits are inversed)

Good wad, though (although at the time of downloading I had no one to play with except ZDoom's crappy bots...).

Thanks, I appreciate it. Yeah the bots like to hump corners.

Now my question: besides the little water-spray in map 2, what else makes WinterDM a ZDoom wad?

Midi format and dehacked patch...I didn't realize the benefit of MAPINFO Lumps...too bad I could use those extended skies!

What does any of this have to do with ethics? Maybe some people who don't know how to use -nomonsters will excommunicate you.

Haha...i said that for shock effect...

Especially maps like the Winter DM wad(they would've been pretty good in single player form).

Its weird, i made them specifically for deathmatch, but the linear progression through some of the maps does indeed allow for some interesting single/coop concepts.



Anyways, I'm petitioning Immoral Conduct to allow me the use of their SIN weapons patch which is going to be invaluable to my current project. Anyone know of any interesting weapon mods/patches?

MarchWhelp said:

Thanks, I appreciate it. Yeah the bots like to hump corners.

I've noticed they get trapped in the little pit inside the base in level 8. Heh. The only place where they're actually annoying is level 7 (only hitscan weapons, ugh)... so I tend to skip that level.

MarchWhelp said:

Midi format and dehacked patch...

Is that music only playable in MIDI format (I mean, would it sound weird if converted to MUS or anything)? Also, you listed a few sources/filenames of the MIDIs in the text file, but which is which?

MarchWhelp said:

I didn't realize the benefit of MAPINFO Lumps...too bad I could use those extended skies!

Yeah, plus you can see the level names. CWILV lumps may have some importance in vanilla doom, but not in ZDoom, you need MAPINFO for that. My wad (when finished) will be vanilla compatible but have a MAPINFO anyway, especially for ZDoom users (yes, I'm aware that's a lot of us, if not most of us).

MarchWhelp said:

Anyways, I'm petitioning Immoral Conduct to allow me the use of their SIN weapons patch which is going to be invaluable to my current project. Anyone know of any interesting weapon mods/patches?

Well... I know someone who does weapon mods, but he's still learning it... personally, I've only made one weapon, it was simply a mod for the BFG that tones it down and increases its firing rate slightly. It would be perfect except for the fact that I couldn't edit the special damage (splash damage or whatever it's commonly called).

Is that music only playable in MIDI format (I mean, would it sound weird if converted to MUS or anything)? Also, you listed a few sources/filenames of the MIDIs in the text file, but which is which?

This music took some hunting down, but otherwise here is the specs in case you want to use them:

obsession.mid - unknown === Level 7
serenity.mid - unknown === Intermission
Breathoflife.mid - Chris === Intro
adlbtekk.mid - plsmith@lvcm.com ===Level 5
starcruz.mid - unknown === Level 8
Youreyes.mid - Arthur Lusby === Level 4

Level 1 is SOTN music, LEvel 2 is too much by DMB, Level 3 is the very popular dm song, and level 9 is ecuador. And I tried using it in MUS format but its very tinky (shitty) if you know what i mean.

My wad (when finished) will be vanilla compatible but have a MAPINFO anyway, especially for ZDoom users (yes, I'm aware that's a lot of us, if not most of us).

Any screenshots?

That's weird that, as I was just going to ask which tune belonged to which map!

(I really like the map 05 one and was thinking of using it for my CC2 map, which will be a fast-paced affair)

netnomad312 said:

Yeah, plus you can see the level names. CWILV lumps may have some importance in vanilla doom, but not in ZDoom, you need MAPINFO for that. My wad (when finished) will be vanilla compatible but have a MAPINFO anyway, especially for ZDoom users (yes, I'm aware that's a lot of us, if not most of us).

While including a mapinfo is a good move, you might also want to include a dehacked patch for the map names (and bex patch as well if some of the names don't fit) and cwilv titles.

That way, you've covered vanilla and just about every port for the use of custom map names.

The Ultimate DooMer said:

While including a mapinfo is a good move, you might also want to include a dehacked patch for the map names (and bex patch as well if some of the names don't fit) and cwilv titles.

That way, you've covered vanilla and just about every port for the use of custom map names.

Already did that... so far, the patch did all the demo version's did (green key text, map names, story text) plus tweaks the SS Soldier a bit (I took the advice of one person who said the SS guards look weird in level 2... I replaced the SS sprites with "zombie marine" ones, and now it's basically a machine-gun packing marine with 100 HP and a quicker firing rate)

MarchWhelp said:

Any screenshots?

See sig (for some reason it doesn't display automatically anymore, which is annoying)

MarchWhelp said:

... 2) Where could I find a skyline sky? I've found everything but a nice decent skyline for my rsky2...(disregarding the obvious Doom2 included skyline) ...

It would be easier for us to recommend skys if we knew just what sort of sky you wanted.

Day/night?
Urban?
Mountainous?
Desert?
Glaciated?

netnomad312 said:

Already did that... so far, the patch did all the demo version's did (green key text, map names, story text) plus tweaks the SS Soldier a bit (I took the advice of one person who said the SS guards look weird in level 2... I replaced the SS sprites with "zombie marine" ones, and now it's basically a machine-gun packing marine with 100 HP and a quicker firing rate)

Did you recolour the sprites at all? The Herian wads have the machinegun zombie with a yellow hairdo, and that looks good. (changing the alert and death sounds might be an idea, too. The Herian machinegunner has done that too)

I think monsters in DM maps would be better as obstacles. For example you could have monster respawning on and put Revenants or Arachnotrons in cages in a dark room.
For the grenade launcher it should have the same damage and firing rate as a rocket launcher since they both go places the other one can't.

The Ultimate DooMer said:

Did you recolour the sprites at all? The Herian wads have the machinegun zombie with a yellow hairdo, and that looks good. (changing the alert and death sounds might be an idea, too. The Herian machinegunner has done that too)

Heh, maybe I didn't make it clear enough. By "zombie marines," I mean a player sprite with a zombie-ish armor vest. So basically, you don't see the hair. I didn't make the thing anyway... but the wad didn't include a text file with it, so I don't know who did.

Currently I'm just using some of the regular zombie sounds for this guy, but I'm open to suggestions. I'm not familiar with the "Herian machinegunner" though.

It would be easier for us to recommend skys if we knew just what sort of sky you wanted.

I guess i wasn't specific enough, i need a city skyline. Like fantastic buildings/skyscrapers in the sky. Then I can put in some urban deathmatch maps into the megawad.

If you know of any, let me know thanks