Antaresian Reliquary - A Compilation of Community Project Levels (now on /idgames)

[Omniarch]

Congratulations on the well-earned cacoward! In addition to having my second-favourite set of weapon replacements in all Doomdom (#1 being Struggle), each map in antareq is a veritable work of art in its own right. Actually, this whole wad is a work of art, with insane production values and a pervasive feeling of professionalism. I find it inspirational!

[antares031]

11 hours ago, Omniarch said:

In addition to having my second-favourite set of weapon replacements in all Doomdom (#1 being Struggle)

 

It's always nice to hear that people liked the weapon replacements I designed. I'm planning to use AR's weapons and mechanics, such as quicker weapon switching, to the next project, with some slight adjustments. Thanks for the kind words! :)

[Omniarch]

2 hours ago, antares031 said:

 

It's always nice to hear that people liked the weapon replacements I designed. I'm planning to use AR's weapons and mechanics, such as quicker weapon switching, to the next project, with some slight adjustments. Thanks for the kind words! :)

Next project you say? I'm looking forward to it already!

[eLeR Creative]

 

 

Edited December 16, 2020 by eLeR Creative

[⇛Marnetmar⇛]

Just got around to playing this, on HNTR because I am not Good at Doom™

 

So far these are some of the best maps I've played in a very, very long time and the cacoward for this was more than well-deserved.

[baja blast rd.]

HNTR is a solid default all around imo. It feels like playing a not-particularly-hard modern release on UV. The reduction in monster count emphasizes run 'n' gun action and a more brisk pace. Imagine the moderate parts of BTSX or Valiant on UV. That's the intensity you get. 

 

Antaresian Reliquary's UV isn't a huge leap over that; it's still easier than something like Sunlust on UV. But assuming you don't already know the maps, it puts comparatively more of the emphasis on guerilla clearing, and extravagant, intense setpieces high on spectacle value that favor sheer adrenaline over strategy (you are generally circling a lot)... and has some mean archviles. Some might prefer that and find it more exhilarating; some might find it a bit grating. 

 

A lot of people have enjoyed UV, but a lot more than a usual mapset, I think HNTR-HMP are still really good options even if you can get through UV. It's kind of like, "What flavor of gameplay do I want?" 

Edited December 18, 2020 by rd.

[Creaphis]

I just wandered back to take a look at the 2020 Cacowards and I played this first. Awesome work Antares! I played on UV and really enjoyed the fight choreography and gorgeous abstract visuals. The weapon and enemy changes are satisfying. The "Do you like revenants?" meta moments made me laugh and the bonus ending map is incredible.

 

I did have to give up on MAP31 when my poor laptop slowed to 1 FPS (and I don't think I would have been able to hack it anyway). My only critique of that map is I would have liked it if the restocking points for the final fight were easier to navigate to. The central pillars in the middle of each group of four lowering platforms with megaspheres and cell packs could be more visually distinct somehow, so the player can still home in on them when they're blinded by the horde of enemies in their face. Usually my spatial awareness is pretty good in this game but that fight totally overwhelmed me - though I guess that's kinda the point.

[antares031]

8 hours ago, Creaphis said:

...My only critique of that map is I would have liked it if the restocking points for the final fight were easier to navigate to. The central pillars in the middle of each group of four lowering platforms with megaspheres and cell packs could be more visually distinct somehow, so the player can still home in on them when they're blinded by the horde of enemies in their face.

 

Resupply towers are the only structural group, which use blue banner texture in the entire level. It's still difficult to recognize them, especially during the battle with tens of thousand monsters, but once you familiarize yourself with their glowing pillar with blue banners and evil-eye + tall green torch decorations, it will definitely help you out to navigate the field. Each tower is also entirely marked as "impassable", so you can quickly glance at the automap to get more hint of each tower's location.

 

And yeah, although I tried to optimize the level further than the previous version, frame rate drop is still inevitable for this map, thanks to the amount of actors on the screen. Even myself suffered with one-digit frame rate, during the UV-Max recording with GLBoom+. Still, I expect that we will have much better solutions, such as better PC specs or more optimized source ports, to deal with this in the future, like how nuts.wad became playable with no stuttering at all. I also expect that limiting the amount of visible actors on the screen or adjusting the maximum distance of visible actors could be easy solutions for GLBoom+.

 

Anyway, thanks for playing Antaresian Reliquary. :)

[eLeR Creative]

 

 

Very wonderful architecture of these levels. The difficulty level reflects their beauty :)
Congratulations.

[eLeR Creative]

 

 

[eLeR Creative]

 

Edited January 10, 2021 by eLeR Creative

[Ankha]

I've just finished the 6 first levels and, even though I felt inconfortable in the first maps because of the gameplay changes, I got used to it and really enjoyed the wad, especially from maps 4 to 6. The maps are immense, with incredible details, and very well built (I didn't know one could use up to 6 keys in a map).

Map 7 is gorgeous in its own way (wonderful visual effects and music), though I'm a bit puzzled about what to do after collecting the 6 items and releasing the "kraken".
Is there a special exit somewhere to get to levels 31 and 32?

Fantastic job anyway, this wad is the reason why I created an account here :)
 

[antares031]

10 hours ago, Ankha said:

Is there a special exit somewhere to get to levels 31 and 32?

 

MAP31 was placed as an optional secret level, since the gameplay of that level is drastically different, compare to the other levels in the wad. There's no special exit, which leads the player to MAP31, and the only way to play that level is using idclev31 cheat. Finishing MAP31 will lead you to MAP32, which is a hidden epilogue level, similar to MAP07. Thanks for playing Antaresian Reliquary. :)

[Haraban]

Hello,

 

First of all : many congrats for your Cacoward !

 

I don't know if this is the good thread to discuss about technical issues with the wad, but when I try to play it with Brutal doom V21, every level ends itself after 5/6 seconds inside it. 

 

I will try to describe the events :

1 - The level start

2 - I fight for six seconds

3 - The level ends like if I had activate the switch of the map exit

4 - The time counter go crazy and tell me I last 15 minutes or so in the level.

 

Any help will be welcome.

 

Otherwise, just a great congratulation for your job and (again) your cacoward.

[BoxY]

1 hour ago, Haraban said:

I don't know if this is the good thread to discuss about technical issues with the wad, but when I try to play it with Brutal doom V21, every level ends itself after 5/6 seconds inside it. 

 

That might be intentional since the wad has its own set of weapon and balance changes included and isn't compatible with gameplay mods.

[antares031]

2 hours ago, Haraban said:

I don't know if this is the good thread to discuss about technical issues with the wad, but when I try to play it with Brutal doom V21, every level ends itself after 5/6 seconds inside it. 

 

It looks like the wad's code conflicts with the gameplay mod's code. Antaresian Reliquary replaces Dead Lost Soul as a death exit switch, written with both dehacked/decorate codes. Please try the wad without any other gameplay mod, and see if the issue still exists. Keep in mind that Antaresian Reliquary was designed with its own gameplay mod, so using the other mods might give you a different, unintended gameplay experience.

 

 

1 hour ago, BoxY said:

That might be intentional since the wad has its own set of weapon and balance changes included and isn't compatible with gameplay mods.

 

I've seen some wads that implemented their own "Gameplay Mod Protection". But this case is definitely not intentional.

[Haraban]

Many thanks for your quick reply.

 

I already done a great part of Antaresian without Brutal Doom, and I just wanted to try it with it. But it's not important, I already had a great pleasure with the Anterasian "vanilla style".

 

Thanks you antares and keep up the excellent work ^^.

[Bytefyre]

Hello!  Quick question:  I didn't see anything in the README or in this thread about which compatibility settings to use.  In regard to GLBoom+, would complevel 9 (Boom v2.02) be appropriate?

[Dimon12321]

1 hour ago, Bytefyre said:

In regard to GLBoom+, would complevel 9 (Boom v2.02) be appropriate?

 

Yes.

[Bytefyre]

54 minutes ago, Dimon12321 said:

 

Yes.

Thank you!

[Unreason]

@antares031 Hello Antares!  Thank you for the maps and the mod, and I'm sorry for resurrecting an account I haven't used in a year or three just to ask you to do something...but do you think you could release a version of the mod that's just the changes to the weapons, ammunition and items, with the alterations to the bestiary taken out?  Or if not, are there a few lines I could snipe out of the file to remove those changes?

[antares031]

10 hours ago, Unreason said:

...do you think you could release a version of the mod that's just the changes to the weapons, ammunition and items, with the alterations to the bestiary taken out?

 

 

Let me see what I can do with the current ANTA_MOD_RC2.wad in the first post. Once it's done, I'll post it in here.

[Unreason]

2 hours ago, antares031 said:

 

 

Let me see what I can do with the current ANTA_MOD_RC2.wad in the first post. Once it's done, I'll post it in here.

Thank you!  Um, if you're not already done messing with it, you could leave the flatter dead cacodemons in.  That's just a really good change, makes it so much easier to see what's going on after killing a cacocloud.  If you already took it out that's fine, my fault for not saying something in the first post.  I'm playing Speed of Doom with Antaresian Modiquary right now and it feels great, by the by.  Gonna try it with the Congestion/Claustrophobia 1024 series and see how that goes.  The assault rifle, demonslayer shotgun and disruptor are absolutely excellent!

[antares031]

@Unreason Here's a quick update on the mod, which only has changes on weapons. Keep in mind that the weapons still use frames from Wolfenstein SS, which means that it may have trouble with any other wads that replaces Wolfenstien SS to something else with their dehacked. Not to mention that they're replaced to chaingunners in this mod: ANTA_WEP.zip

[Unreason]

@antares031 Thank you for pulling this together!  I'm curious about the SS thing though.  Did you use the "slots" that the SS frames occupy for new weapon frames?  My knowledge about Doom modding is pretty limited...

[Omniarch]

Wait, you released ANTA_REQ's changes as a separate mod? How did it take me this long to find this! Dude, you are a star!

 

I really ought to use ANTA_MOD to make a tribute wad for you one of these days...

[antares031]

8 hours ago, Unreason said:

I'm curious about the SS thing though.  Did you use the "slots" that the SS frames occupy for new weapon frames?  My knowledge about Doom modding is pretty limited...

 

To make rotating state of chaingun replacement, I had to "borrow" some frames from the other thing. In dehacked, you only have limited amounts of frames, unlike DECORATE with unlimited frames. So you have to get extra frames, by borrowing some frames from existing elements. The new dehacked system, called DEHEXTRA, has lots of new extra frames that don't interfere with the vanilla frames. But this mod was designed to be compatible with any source ports that don't support DEHEXTRA yet.

[Biodegradable]

Finally cracking into this one, Ant. Here's a vid of the first two maps.

 

 

 

Edited June 5, 2021 by Biodegradable

[Bytefyre]

@antares031Hi!  Thank you so much for putting together this compilation of some of your maps...it's a really great level pack.  I was wondering if you might be willing to create a widescreen version of your custom status bar for this map set so I don't have to see those ugly green bricks on each side of it.

[antares031]

11 hours ago, Bytefyre said:

I was wondering if you might be willing to create a widescreen version of your custom status bar for this map set

 

While the idea of widescreen status bar sounds interesting, I currently have no plan on making more stuffs for already published projects. But I'm welcome to any third-party add-ons that don't interrupt with the wad's gameplay or art design.