eharper256 Posted August 11 New video: playing 30MC2 by Deathbear et. al. It's my favourite type of map-pack, short and snappy levels! Great use of the Ancient Aliens texture set, and generally pretty cool. Keep in mind it had DeHacked, so load Walpurgis after it in the load order. Go get it here: 2 Share this post Link to post
eharper256 Posted August 19 Greetings all! I'm back with small weekly updates to prove I'm not dead and Walp is still chugging along slowly. Done a fair bit of theorycrafting over programming level-up effects for the upcoming RPG mode; and I've done several Bardiche and Heavensever fixes. I'm highly considering adding in a new replacer for the Crux Calicus since the Crusader is the only character still with their original early beta 0.8 Walpurgis Ultimate. It did have a couple of changes over time graphically, but whilst the Primary Fire is cool, the shields are quite niche, and the vortex looks badass (if having unpredictable results), it has been kind of powercreeped by the others and feels a little bit behind. What do you all think of this? Finally, after a gazillion delays, Jimmy's MIDI pack for Deathkings is out: https://www.doomworld.com/forum/post/2836301 4 Share this post Link to post
CoolStory Posted August 22 (edited) I can't say I'm a Crusader pro but I will say this: I have killed myself with the vortex more times than with all the other weapons in the mod combined. It probably wouldn't be a stretch to say that I died to that vortex more than I died to monsters on some slaughtermaps, and if there was an option to replace the vortex RMB nuke with the default Hexen Wraithverge, I'd take it. That being said, the tertiary fire barrier is extremely useful and might be the best utility power of any weapon in the mod—especially when upgraded—even if it might look unimpressive compared to other slot 4 weapons at first glance, as it allows you to directly mitigate potential damage and makes a crusader into a tank (as opposed to indirectly mitigating it by just nuking the monsters quicker than they can damage you). I do find primary fire too mana-inefficient for the damage it deals, and I usually switch to slots 2 or 3 while applying the upgraded barrier to myself with the cross from cover. Also, I'd love to know what you have planned for the bardiche because it's definitely my weapon waifu. 1 Share this post Link to post
Protagonist Corvus Posted August 22 I would like to have faster weapon switching. 1 Share this post Link to post
eharper256 Posted August 23 (edited) 11 hours ago, CoolStory said: I can't say I'm a Crusader pro but I will say this: I have killed myself with the vortex more times than with all the other weapons in the mod combined. It probably wouldn't be a stretch to say that I died to that vortex more than I died to monsters on some slaughtermaps, and if there was an option to replace the vortex RMB nuke with the default Hexen Wraithverge, I'd take it. That being said, the tertiary fire barrier is extremely useful and might be the best utility power of any weapon in the mod—especially when upgraded—even if it might look unimpressive compared to other slot 4 weapons at first glance, as it allows you to directly mitigate potential damage and makes a crusader into a tank (as opposed to indirectly mitigating it by just nuking the monsters quicker than they can damage you). I do find primary fire too mana-inefficient for the damage it deals, and I usually switch to slots 2 or 3 while applying the upgraded barrier to myself with the cross from cover. Also, I'd love to know what you have planned for the bardiche because it's definitely my weapon waifu. Yep, back when it was first created, we didn't have the updated bestiary, elites, monster behaviours etc. so Crux was insanely good, but all these things have made it drop behind a bit. The Vortex was me going "heehee negative repulsion values work and cause gibbing in Hexen" back when I first started so it was a programming curiosity turned into an attack. I'm interested to see lots of people like the starlight barrier (not just here), so I will keep it in most likely. Bardiche got one super nice QoL change; the Blood Spikes (Secondary) inherited an alternate version of the Druid's Geyser code, allowing them to find a nearby target to impale rather than always just appearing point-blank in front. The range is still limited as they're much stronger than the Geyser, its about 7 player lengths. The upgrade, however, now removes the range restriction as well as being stronger, so you can make spikes appear across the room. The Mutation gets a buff of damage and bouncing a bit further to still ensure it remains competitive. Basically, I found myself needing to pick the mutation all the time for the spiky ball in a fair few maps due to the lack of any ranged support on the bardiche (or cussing and having to switch to Gladius/Hammer) since like you I do enjoy using it lol. 9 hours ago, Broadsword Jim said: I would like to have faster weapon switching. I would like it to remain a tactical choice you have to make, having that 1 second of downtime to do a switch (yep, it's already only 20-30 tics or so for most weapons!). It's a little longer on Druid transforms and Aestus I suppose due to cool animations but eh. I guess it is a bit of a pain if fishing for the lower priority 2/3 weapon, remembering to double-tap the number key like you would for Shotgun in Doom 2 (I often forget myself lol). This reminds me, I wonder if the SelectionOrder variable can be linked to a CVAR, will have to see if that's a player QoL I can implement. That said, one of the Myrmidon's RPG skills is due to be instant switch, so I guess you'll enjoy taking that one if you play that mode lol. :D Edited August 23 by eharper256 1 Share this post Link to post
eharper256 Posted August 25 Weekly update Time! As the reaction to revising Crux has been positive here and elsewhere, we look to be going ahead with some revision for that. Interestingly, the star-wall/shield was touted as the most useful part, so I will be keeping that as the tertiary in some form or another. I did some prototype spriting and brainstorming for it. Conceptually, it must stay cosmic/starlight/solar related as it was always supposed to be a relic of the Crusader's god, so I've been considering numerous options for that, like you drop a point of light that, after delay, blasts out a huge single laser, or a tri-coloured prism blast, or just firing slow moving but devastating blazing sun projectiles. Obviously, we want to have a distinct feeling and use from the Lightbringer (and to an extent, from the Ichival bow) rather just being a more expensive version, so I was considering stuff like a large brass warhammer, a shaft that blazes into a lightspear, a greatshield you pull out the original Mace for and it gets giga-powered (lol), or a sceptre with an orrery/giant crystal. I would probably like to use it with the shield if possible. 2 Share this post Link to post
CoolStory Posted August 25 I actually like the cross shape itself because it follows the theme of giving the three OG Hexen characters an ultimate weapon that looks like what they had in the vanilla game (but cooler). I also think Crusader already has enough weapons to be overburdened—what's with carrying a sword, a mace, and a spear at the same time, so an idea of a long-lost holy relic of some sort is more appealing to me personally. Though I don't see why you can't use the cross with a shield, maybe the shield glows and creates the tertiary fire barrier when you use it. After reading your post, I sat down to think about what I'd do if I had to design Crusader's ultimate (assuming that the weapon is still a hand-held relic of some sort). Besides the ultimate, Crusader has most of the bases covered in his loadout already: rocket launcher and a minelayer, piercing laser attack for clearing tight rooms, flamethrower and AoE fireballs, a weird hitscan/AoE sniper rifle and rocket launcher turret/laser fence hybrid (Heavensever is seriously amazing), and what he doesn't have he can compensate for by upgrades/mutators, like giving the wand rapid fire or making spears pierce. Two of Crusader's weapons burn enemies to a crisp already (Lightbringer and Firestorm) so maybe having an ultimate do the same would be an overkill as we already have righteous fire aspect of his faith covered by Firestorm and the sunlight aspect (and color yellow) covered by Lightbringer. As of now, the cross gibs enemies. Maybe starlight AKA gibbing energy of cosmic goodness is also light blue like the vortex? Taking all this into account, here's some ideas I had, perhaps they're going to be at least somewhat helpful for your brainstorm. Possible options for the theme/gimmicks: 1. Shoots cosmic energy of Good and Law that doesn't gib or draw blood, instead all attacks make the wicked drop dead without any apparent wounds as their souls escape their bodies upwards as they are being judged and purified (might not look as impressive unless the attacks themselves are impressive, and souls feel like stepping into the necromancer's territory somewhat) 2. Shoots a bolt of electrocuting holy lightning of some sort. 3. Shoots yellow sunlight that burns. 4. Shoots blue starlight that gibs. 5. Shoots star-shaped projectiles. 6. Shoots cross-shaped projectiles. 7. AoE attacks are safe for the user because it only smites the wicked (?). 8. Has some kind of heavenly choir sound effect when it shoots a big projectile or summons something (?). 8.5. Perhaps has some kind of charge mechanic so the more you hold the button, the louder the choir and the more powerful the attack is. Primary: 1. A big slow-firing railgun-like long-range bolt of energy that shoots in a wide straight line after a small charge up delay and pierces through enemies. Upgrade would remove the charge up and allow you to shoot instantly and maybe widen the line. 2. Shoots small projectiles like the current primary on button press so you could rapid fire if you click repeatedly but charges into a big ray or a large projectile when you hold the button. Upgrade would make the rapid fire attacks spawn on top of enemies, smiting them from the sky, making it a pseudo hit scan. 3. Hold a button to open a giant portal to heavenly realm, creating an orbital laser attack that shoots vertically at a point where you're aiming and continues as you hold the button. Secondary: 1. Designates a point and makes piercing/exploding projectiles fall from the sky in a wide area (starfall?). 2. Designates a point and makes a giant rotating star/cross-shaped nuke on that point after a short delay. 3. Fires a wide piercing wall of crossses or stars in a wave in front of you (sorta like the barrier but offensive). 4. Summons a group of glowing yellow ghostly paladins who attack enemies for a time (like Wraithverge but holy-themed). 5. Summons a flying angel who blasts enemies. 1 Share this post Link to post
eharper256 Posted August 26 (edited) 17 hours ago, CoolStory said: Possible options for the theme/gimmicks: 1. Shoots cosmic energy of Good and Law that doesn't gib or draw blood, instead all attacks make the wicked drop dead without any apparent wounds as their souls escape their bodies upwards as they are being judged and purified (might not look as impressive unless the attacks themselves are impressive, and souls feel like stepping into the necromancer's territory somewhat) 2. Shoots a bolt of electrocuting holy lightning of some sort. 3. Shoots yellow sunlight that burns. 4. Shoots blue starlight that gibs. 5. Shoots star-shaped projectiles. 6. Shoots cross-shaped projectiles. 7. AoE attacks are safe for the user because it only smites the wicked (?). 8. Has some kind of heavenly choir sound effect when it shoots a big projectile or summons something (?). 8.5. Perhaps has some kind of charge mechanic so the more you hold the button, the louder the choir and the more powerful the attack is. Primary: 1. A big slow-firing railgun-like long-range bolt of energy that shoots in a wide straight line after a small charge up delay and pierces through enemies. Upgrade would remove the charge up and allow you to shoot instantly and maybe widen the line. 2. Shoots small projectiles like the current primary on button press so you could rapid fire if you click repeatedly but charges into a big ray or a large projectile when you hold the button. Upgrade would make the rapid fire attacks spawn on top of enemies, smiting them from the sky, making it a pseudo hit scan. 3. Hold a button to open a giant portal to heavenly realm, creating an orbital laser attack that shoots vertically at a point where you're aiming and continues as you hold the button. Secondary: 1. Designates a point and makes piercing/exploding projectiles fall from the sky in a wide area (starfall?). 2. Designates a point and makes a giant rotating star/cross-shaped nuke on that point after a short delay. 3. Fires a wide piercing wall of crossses or stars in a wave in front of you (sorta like the barrier but offensive). 4. Summons a group of glowing yellow ghostly paladins who attack enemies for a time (like Wraithverge but holy-themed). 5. Summons a flying angel who blasts enemies. Thanks for the brainstorm; interestingly I do a similar thing to this myself (just on my phone usually haha). The only difference being, I'll often type something and go "nope, that's a sheer bitch to program/requires a billion new sprites" and delete it lol. This would defo be the case with the no. 1 gimmick here lol. With no. 2, keep in mind the spear already has the holy lightning covered. No. 6 is on the Heavensever Secondary Mutation/Upgrade. All of the others could be usable though. For primary, 1 is already one of the options I mentioned though I didn't describe it as well as you did. It's a pretty viable one though. We have to be careful with railgun related shenanigans though as for whatever reason they're very horrific performance-wise on people playing on potato systems (people already tell me Fulgur's lightning can occasionally lag for them, for example, even though I did a chunk of optimisations for 0.97). 2/3 is actually a fun idea; semi-targeted sky smiting is plausible using an offshoot of the Magisters' Meteor Drop or Storm-Cloud coding; though both of those have funny quirks when you're in super low ceiling areas. For secondary, 1 again we have to watch those low ceiling areas. 2 is already basically what the vortex does, just with exploding rather than imploding. 3 is viable though sort of overlaps partly with Magisters Vis Secondary (forcing enemies away in a wave). 4 is all about finding or creating the sprites though there's a greatsword armour chap if I recall over on R667 who could be modified for the duty. 5 is the same, unless I politely steal from Angelic Aviary (lol). The only thing with summons is that I prefer them as Tertiary in the rare case they get included; we don't want only 1 "proper" fire mode. 0 Share this post Link to post
eharper256 Posted September 1 (edited) It's ye weekly update: Bit of a slow one this week since I was training new recruits at work, which is always extra work for me, and then playing too much XPiratez for XCOM when I get back rather than working on Walp. However, I've been trialing various sprite concepts as I often do when I create new things (drawing random shit in photoshop, looking at various online sources, etc) to see what inspires me for the Crux replacer. This is how I also came onto the Bardiche, Heavensever, the coral head of Dagons Cane, etc. and its pretty successful most of the time. Nothing I'd want to show off yet, but some ideas to persue are there so that's good. I've also been looking over the list of skills for the RPG mode a bit and screening them with comments as to whether I like or hate the original concepts after pondering them for a while. Some have been making me wonder. EDIT: Also, New Hexen Wad by Matthias: Edited September 1 by eharper256 4 Share this post Link to post
RETRONALD Posted September 7 (edited) I get an error message when trying to load the mod with DoomRunner. Has anybody else encountered this? Quote Script error, "+Walpurgis-JT-0.99.pk3:actors/myrmvorpalaxe.txt" line 230: Expected ')', got ','. 0 Share this post Link to post
june gloom Posted September 7 Have you updated GZDoom lately? And try it in a different launcher. It works fine in Doom Launcher. 1 Share this post Link to post
RETRONALD Posted September 7 3 hours ago, june gloom said: Have you updated GZDoom lately? And try it in a different launcher. It works fine in Doom Launcher. Updating GZDoom fixed the issue. Thanks for your help. 1 Share this post Link to post
eharper256 Posted September 8 21 hours ago, RETRONALD said: Updating GZDoom fixed the issue. Thanks for your help. Yup, a ) when it's a comma means it's not expecting more arguments, which means old version of GZDoom. Glad you got it fixed though. 0 Share this post Link to post
eharper256 Posted September 8 Le Weekly Thingy Something, something, first not-cringy Warhammer design. Although its also very simple, I guess. That said, a Triskele fits it quite nicely and I'm sort of fond of the blueish-brass metal. (Also, no, a Warhammer is not definitely certain right now, that is in the air still). Obviously, this is a prototype as well, perspectives are always fixed closer to the time if we go ahead with a design. Besides image work, it's been a bit slow, as I'm still training young'uns at work and I'm continuing to do that for the next 4 weeks or so. However, I did make a few more fixes and balance tweaks that are still being tested. 3 Share this post Link to post
eharper256 Posted September 15 Ze weekly update: This week I have been laying the coding foundation for the optional levelling up system, and proofing various ACS scripts for that purpose, whilst brainstorming the various ideas about how to handle the XP drop and what generic levels actually give you besides the already sort of decided passive skill bonuses you choose from. Notably, I realised GZDoom has a generic score system I can hook into to serve as an innate XP counter and which I can track and control easily with ACS. I can also gradually alter Max HP, Mana Capacity, Speed, and Armour (to an extent) with some of this code, so basically your levelups will always give a tiny buff in that regard. This was the summary I wrote: General Levelling up bonus: Myrm: +1 Base Armour (15=>25), +0.01 Speed (1.1 => 1.2), +5 MAX HP (150 => 200) Crus: +1 Base Armour (20=>30), +2 MAX MANA (200 => 220), +5 MAX HP (110 => 160) Magi: +0.005 Speed (1.0 => 1.05), +10 MAX MANA (300 => 400), +2 MAX HP (75 => 95) Drui: +0.01 Speed (1.2 => 1.3), +5 MAX MANA (200 => 250), +2 MAX HP (90 => 110) 2 Share this post Link to post