Elementalism, an ambitious new GZDoom mapset. Phase 1 out now!

[TJG1289]

Played the first 3 Earth levels. Holy crap. These are easily some of the most impressive levels I've ever seen in Doom. I don't think anything else comes close. The visuals are outstanding. It feels like I'm playing a different game at times, and that's not something I feel a lot when playing new WADs. The combat has been really fun so far. Nothing too challenging yet, but there's a lot of really fun incidental combat with some cool set piece fights thrown in occasionally. I loved how E3 has you go back to the beginning for a huge fight; that was really, really fun. The soundtrack has been incredible so far. I'm hoping it appears on Bandcamp soon, cause I'm a buy the crap out of it. I'm really going to need to carve out some time during the week to play more of this, cause it's fantastic. Totally worth the wait, and I can't wait to see the other episodes! 

[Pistoolkip]

 

[Turin Turambar]

I feel there is an important flaw on the Fire last boss, on map 5. When aiming slightly to slightly above (to hit his center mass), its hp bar appears just in the spot where the line of fireballs reach to you. Let me try to show it...

 

 

It should be put on top or at the bottom of the screen.

[Pistoolkip]

Long and epic map!

 

 

[Bauul]

6 hours ago, Turin Turambar said:

I feel there is an important flaw on the Fire last boss, on map 5. When aiming slightly to slightly above (to hit his center mass), its hp bar appears just in the spot where the line of fireballs reach to you. Let me try to show it...

 

It should be put on top or at the bottom of the screen.

 

Yep, noted and already fixed for RC2!

 

It was moved up during testing because it was found to overlap with the Hud on certain resolutions, but we missed that a side effect of this was that it interfered with the Fire boss mechanics.

[ginc]

E5's boss has the same kind of issue in some cases - if you're aiming at the upper heads, it can be difficult to track projectiles from the lower heads, as well as floorhugger projectiles and the final phase.

 

Genius work though, it really feels like you're fighting a Contra boss on hard mode. Would have been even more awesome if the heads showed damage, even if its just a Konami-style flashing red.

Edited March 13, 2022 by ginc

[Bauul]

The RC1 build has been out for just over a week now, and myself and the team are absolutely blown away by the positive feedback and support we've received, so from the bottom of my heart thank you for all the positive encouragement!

 

As expected a fair few improvements have been identified for the RC2 build, thanks to everyone's great feedback.  The changes we will be implementing are:

 

Spoiler

 

General:

• Custom weapons named properly for those who use "display weapons" on the hud
• Disable the use of the automap during the intermission screen
• Rewrite the various shaders to make them future proof (and compatible with GZDoom 4.8.0 when it releases)
• Adjust the opening crawl to display until the player presses "Use" to skip it, rather than purely timed
• Adjustments to the Elementalism Options menu text to make it clearer the GZDoom Alternative Hud should be set to "off"
• Boss health bars to be reduced in size and moved lower on the Hud so they don't interfere with the combat as much any more
• Earth Wand damage increase, but re-fire speed reduce.  Also fix the bug that causes same-species enemies to infight when hit by the Earth Wand smaller boulders
• Update a couple of the music track names
• (Possible): Ambient water effects for larger waterfalls

Map specific:

• Hub:
  • Fix bug with F5 hub-tablet
  • Disable the intro tablet when not needed
  • Reenable jumping after the credits have been exited
  • Fix small visual bug with credits screen
• Earth 2:
  • Texture misalignments adjusted
  • Move switch to main outdoor fight to make it more obvious to the player
• Earth 3:
  • Fix some Z-Fighting with 3D floors in main room
• Earth 4:
  • Add ability to recall lift from first large room
  • Couple of early fights to be toned down slightly for a gentler difficulty curve
  • Add shortcut teleporter back to exit in case player falls down at the end of the map
  • Fix missing Lightmode in ZMapinfo so everyone now gets consistent lighting
• Water 2:
  • Fix rare possible softlock in final fight caused by player parkouring over wall
• Water 3:
  • Fix missing water tag in Red Key area
  • Fix issue with central staircase briefly clipping through geometry
• Water 4:
  • Turn off "actors can't cross ledges" comp-flag, preventing some jumping enemies from making their designated landing spot
• Water 5:
  • Speed up waves in initial fight for a slightly faster gameplay experience
  • Make boss slightly less susceptible to point-blank BFG shots
• Fire 1:
  • Fix couple of BSP node holes
  • Fix potential softlock near main interior door
• Fire 2:
  • Add message when player tries to use the large locked doors
  • Add more health and cell ammo to yellow key fight
• Fire 4:
  • Fix issue with incorrect secret count
  • Fix various visual and audio issues
  • Ultra-secret indicator lights to give better indication of where the other switches are
  • Fix issue with skybox breaking if the player backtracks when they reach the end of the map
  • Add more escape teleporters to lava pits
• Fire 5:
  • Add player block lines to prevent player accidentally falling into the central lava pit
  • Fix some z-fighting with models

 

 

 

I'm not sure exactly when RC2 will be ready, but we're working hard on it and it should be available relatively soon.

[marina2]

Little suggestion. I feel unique enemies of water realm don't really suit with theme. They look more like enemies from the earth realm.

 

I think modifying their protective color from green to light blue and add some icy fog effect like how player's water elemental ward shot will help a bit.

 

BTW,

 

Spoiler

I really love how I can see almost entire water realm from the last area of map1

 

 

[Bauul]

I'm pleased to announce Release Candidate 2 is ready!  Download links and change-log are updated on the OP.

 

This features fixes for every bug we've come across since launch, so hopefully there won't need to be any more updates.  However, there still remains the chance new bugs will be found, so please bare that in mind when playing.

[Shepardus]

In RC2, the opening area of E3 looks like this for me:

Spoiler

Problem with the shaders perhaps? I tried both OpenGL and Vulkan and they both looked like this.

 

By the way, is there a way to migrate a save from the previous version, or alternatively, set the hub state to reflect the levels I had previously completed? I had a save in the hub but it doesn't load in RC2. I guess I could load each map and noclip my way to the exit, but I was wondering if there's an easier way.

[Bauul]

1 hour ago, Shepardus said:

Problem with the shaders perhaps? I tried both OpenGL and Vulkan and they both looked like this.

 

Thanks for the catch!  Actually it was the opposite - I deleted a shader that was using older syntax with the intention of replacing it was a basic texture... and forgot to put the texture in.  Ah well, that's why these are still release candidates!  I've just uploaded a new version (RC2 v1.01) that fixes this - same link above.

 

1 hour ago, Shepardus said:

By the way, is there a way to migrate a save from the previous version, or alternatively, set the hub state to reflect the levels I had previously completed? I had a save in the hub but it doesn't load in RC2. I guess I could load each map and noclip my way to the exit, but I was wondering if there's an easier way.

 

There's no simple way to skip to a specific set of completed levels I'm afraid.  However, if you load a map and type 

pukename "exit"

into the console, it will automatically trigger the exit without you needing to noclip to it.  You can skip through the maps pretty quickly that way if you wanted to.

[Shepardus]

51 minutes ago, Bauul said:

 

Thanks for the catch!  Actually it was the opposite - I deleted a shader that was using older syntax with the intention of replacing it was a basic texture... and forgot to put the texture in.  Ah well, that's why these are still release candidates!  I've just uploaded a new version (RC2 v1.01) that fixes this - same link above.

 

 

There's no simple way to skip to a specific set of completed levels I'm afraid.  However, if you load a map and type 

pukename "exit"

into the console, it will automatically trigger the exit without you needing to noclip to it.  You can skip through the maps pretty quickly that way if you wanted to.

Thanks for the quick fix! And that command gets the job done for me - I just loaded the latest map I played in each episode with "changemap" from the hub, then "pukename exit" to mark them as done.

[Shawn]

Just finished my playthrough of phase 1. I'm really impressed by the quality here. The very Serious-Sam inspired earth levels, the cool giant moving structures in the water level, the nice multi level labyrinth in the fire level. Everything felt fresh, exciting and new. I loved the verticality you added everywhere, it truly makes this mod stand apart from the rest. Awesome work and I can't wait to play phase 2 when it will be ready !

[horselessheadsman]

So, was I the only one that was unable to resist jumping off repeatedly?

 

[unraveler]

11 hours ago, horselessheadsman said:

So, was I the only one that was unable to resist jumping off repeatedly?

 

 

Spoiler

 

Don't know about there, but I actually jumped off in this part

Spoiler

 

[nobleflame]

I have a 3070, i79700KF, 16gb RAM, 1080p, and get drops into the 70s in large, open areas. 
 

Any idea how I can get this running at a consistent 144fps? Setting to test? Thanks! 

 

 

[Graf Zahl]

You can't. The maps are far too complex for that, you'd need a CPU that's twice as fast at the very least. Of course such a CPU does not exist. Even on my i7-12700 it drops below 60 in a few spots.

 

[nobleflame]

5 minutes ago, Graf Zahl said:

You can't. The maps are far too complex for that, you'd need a CPU that's twice as fast at the very least. Of course such a CPU does not exist. Even on my i7-12700 it drops below 60 in a few spots.

 

Ahh fair enough. Let’s hope g-sync picks up some of the slack. 
 

Great map pack though! Worth the performance hit in places.

[Tristan]

Hi everyone, happy to say the full OST is now up on Bandcamp, Spotify, and Youtube!

 

[Bauul]

The download link (and Remmi's mirror) have been updated to RC2 v1.2!  This version has three notable changes, the first two are mostly designed for players without a lot of prior Doom source-port experience:

• If a player isn't running Dynamic Lights and Lights Affect Sprites, a message now appears on the Title Screen advising them to turn it on
• The opening text crawl "Press Use to Skip" message now appears automatically once the text finished displaying, rather than waiting for the player to press "use"
• Fire 1 has had a handful of void holes fixed.

There remains a chance that further undiscovered bugs will emerge, but from my point of view we're getting pretty close to what I'd consider a final build.

[Hypercube]

Finished it. Bosses themselves are the best boss battles I've ever seen on a doom wad. Usually many of them in (g)zdoom wads tend be grindy or overpowered, and if not, just too easy. Luckily this was not the case here. Multiple phases/attacks kind of remind me of Doom Eternal's bosses, which were fun too imo. Sprites themselves looked gorgeus, and the fact that bosses consisted of multiple sprites made them see much more gigantic, lovecraftian monstrosities as single sprite boss could have been. All my respects for the scripters who managed to make them move seamlessly.

 

As for maps themselves. Very fun and unique stuff. Some of my highlights:

-E4 for it's unlinearity. Adventuring on vertical towers and bridges above the swamps. Very atmospheric.

-W4. Holy shit, the starting area. Skybox mixes into area so seamlessly and makes it look most gigantic area I've ever seen on doom wad. Rest of the map doesn't disappoint either.

-F1 and F2. Some of the best combat set pieces of the wad. Very enjoyable.

-F3. Really enjoyed the cube concept. Not mere sight, but actual 3 dimensional map with rooms, that change their places as you progress. Awesome idea.

 

Looking forward for part 2!

[Kristian Nebula]

So much epicness and jaw dropping moments, with chills down the spine... Hard to point out something specific, but definitely Steamclock Labyrinth was one of my favourites. Music was top notch throughout all three episodes, Fire episode map 4 especially, as well as Steamclock... Which must really have been one of the, if not THE most creative stuff I've seen through my entire life with Doom, which started in 1996. Really enjoyable levels and creative use of verticality on all maps.. Earth realm was much like what I wanted to do with Brotherhood of Ruin late 90's/early 2000's but lacked the skill and tools. So awesome, thanks for putting your time to make it and I'm sure part 2 will be as awesome as part 1!

[Kristian Nebula]

On 3/26/2022 at 7:58 PM, Bauul said:

There remains a chance that further undiscovered bugs will emerge, but from my point of view we're getting pretty close to what I'd consider a final build.

 

So, this happened when I returned to the bridge to look for more secrets after visiting the exit area. Seems like a camera activated and the skybox from the exit area was following me in parts of the map where it was not supposed to... This is from the first build so idk if it has been fixed already. :)

[Bauul]

6 hours ago, Kristian Nebula said:

 

So, this happened when I returned to the bridge to look for more secrets after visiting the exit area. Seems like a camera activated and the skybox from the exit area was following me in parts of the map where it was not supposed to... This is from the first build so idk if it has been fixed already. :)

 

Thanks for the report! Yep this has been fixed in the latest version. When the player visits the exit I spawned in some skybox content that wasn't needed during the main level, but forgot to remove it again when the player backtracks. All fixed in the the latest upload though!

[grahf]

So I was working through the 3rd Earth level, really enjoying it.  I reloaded a quicksave and was dumped to the console and told "Savegame is from a different level".  Huh?  So my save seems corrupted and I don't have any others...  Looks like I'll need to restart the whole mod unless there is a way to fix the save?

 

I should mention I'm running RC2 v1.2 on the latest gzDoom, Windows 10.

[Bauul]

1 hour ago, grahf said:

So I was working through the 3rd Earth level, really enjoying it.  I reloaded a quicksave and was dumped to the console and told "Savegame is from a different level".  Huh?  So my save seems corrupted and I don't have any others...  Looks like I'll need to restart the whole mod unless there is a way to fix the save?

 

I should mention I'm running RC2 v1.2 on the latest gzDoom, Windows 10.

 

I've not come across this before I'm afraid! I wouldn't know how to go about fixing the save or what might have caused it unfortunately.

 

If you restart the mapset you can skip to any level you like using the "changemap" console command though, so at least you don't have to replay any completed levels.

 

Start a new game and pick up the wand in the hub to activate the portals, then bring down the console and type "changemap e3" without the quote marks, and the game will jump to the start of the third Earth level. When you complete E3, it will also flag E1 and E2 as complete so the hub will update accordingly. This also works for the other Realms too (the exit of a given map sets the prior maps to also be complete).

 

Just don't use the "map" command (always use "changemap") as the "map" command wipes that progress in the hub.

[grahf]

Thanks

16 minutes ago, Bauul said:

 

I've not come across this before I'm afraid! I wouldn't know how to go about fixing the save or what might have caused it unfortunately.

 

If you restart the mapset you can skip to any level you like using the "changemap" console command though, so at least you don't have to replay any completed levels.

 

Start a new game and pick up the wand in the hub to activate the portals, then bring down the console and type "changemap e3" without the quote marks, and the game will jump to the start of the third Earth level. When you complete E3, it will also flag E1 and E2 as complete so the hub will update accordingly. This also works for the other Realms too (the exit of a given map sets the prior maps to also be complete).

 

Just don't use the "map" command (always use "changemap") as the "map" command wipes that progress in the hub.

Thank you.  Actually I forgot that gzDoom autosaves every level so I just restarted map 3 and godmode to where I was before (still took awhile as its a very large level).

 

Is there a changelog for v1.4 and is it compatible with 1.2 saves?

[Bauul]

1 hour ago, grahf said:

Is there a changelog for v1.4 and is it compatible with 1.2 saves?

 

The changelog on the front post lists the specific changes that are present in 1.4 (they're labelled "RC2 v1.4"). They're mostly related to the Earth boss.

 

Unfortunately save games are not compatible between versions (that's just how GZDoom works). Actually if you tried loading an old save game with a new version that would have caused the above error. If you want to use the newest version you'll need to skip back to where you were like I described above.

[EZSPECIAL]

Void hole in F1

 

Spoiler

 

Two bugs on W3, a weird wall kinda outside the intended area, and a Revenant decided not to spawn in

 

Spoiler

Edited April 21, 2022 by EZSPECIAL : Added more bugs

[Bauul]

As no major bugs have been found in the last few weeks, I'm happy to announce we've progressed the mapset to Full Release v1.0!  Not to say there won't be anything else found that needs fixing (please let me know if there is), but at this point I'm confident enough to call the release of Phase 1 complete.

 

Download link on the first page has been updated!

 

Also, we passed 5,000 downloads, which is seriously awesome!