Ar Luminae: a vibrant UDMF behemoth - big update, most likely the Final version!

[Aurelius]

 

Hello folks! I'm proud to present Ar Luminae, a massive and vibrant UDMF map for Doom 2 made by myself and Kaito. 

 

Originally part of the Mapwich 2 project, the map grew beyond its scope and was separated into a solo release with the blessing of the project leader. The majority of the mapping was done in the course of 3 months early this year, while additional mapping has taken place piecemeal during the last few months, mainly focusing on adding new areas, reworking existing ones and enhancing the overall experience.

 

The map uses a slightly modified version of the Supercharge gameplay mod by Tango, with some extra goodies provided by yours truly. Be sure to check the link and read about the mod if you aren't familiar with it. Debuting in this map is a previously unseen Supercharge weapon, new sprites and modifications for a few of the existing weapons and also two other juicy weapons that are (functionally) of my own design. There are a few new additions to the bestiary as well: a pink Cyberdemon with a twist and a more agile Cacodemon variant to ruin your day. Other mods NOT recommended.

 

>>> DOWNLOAD LINK TO THE FINAL VERSION <<<

 

Flavor text:

From the ancient ruins of an alien civilization to a research outpost infested with a demonic presence, Ar Luminae is the last place in the galaxy you want to stay for a picnic. Too bad your job culling the hordes of hell provides you with no alternative, and ultimately there's no place quite like this lush and vibrant planet to do just that. Explore the foregone structures, expand your arsenal, exterminate the opposition and engage in a hunt to uncover the secrets of this lost world. Whatever malevolent and ethereal force is controlling these demonic beings, it must be stopped!

Technical stuff and requirements:

Spoiler

IWAD: 
Doom 2

Supported source ports:
GZDoom (version 4.5.0 or higher highly recommended if possible for best performance, otherwise the latest 4.x.x version you can run).

 

Hardware rendering is a must (otherwise your computer will explode.) And while the map was originally designed with Zandronum compatibility in mind, the current version does not fully play ball with it. Some of the crucial functionalities in the map aren't supported by Zandronum, which leads me to put this map out as a GZDoom set only for the time being. If Zandronum developers plan on adding functionalities at some point it might change, but currently the workarounds for these issues are too much of a hassle to implement.

Recommended visual settings:

• Bloom enabled (works nicely with the vibrant colors)
• Ambient occlusion: Low to High
• Sector light mode: Dark
• Get rid of the awful GZD 4.5.0 menu scaling by going to Options -> Full options menu -> Miscellaneous Options -> Disable Menu Clean Scaling -> ON. This could be enforced in MENUDEF, but would break compat with every older GZDoom port (of course). In general, don't use the Scaling Options in the "Simple" options menu, for reasons explained below.

 

HUD and scaling options:
In GZD 4.5.0 the horrible new "Scaling options" menu will completely mess up the hudmessages on screen if you make changes there, so avoid doing that. Instead, if you want to adjust HUD size, turn on the "Full options menu" and go to HUD Options -> Scaling options, and adjust the "Fullscreen HUD" slider. This won't fuck up the on screen texts.
 

Performance options:

The map can be very performance intensive at times, so here are a few suggestions to help it run better:

• Set the Max VFX to 1 from SC Options (this will make a major difference).
• Drop your resolution (for example from 1080p to 720p). If you do so, you can scale the HUD to appropriate size from the HUD Options (if you're using GZD 4.5.0, use the instructions above).
• Turn on the "Monsters spawn significantly less gibs" option from SC Options. This will basically remove all of the Supercharge gore actors and simplify monster death animations. This can be toggled on/off per encounter and makes a big difference in high monster count fights. Highly recommended for the final fight.
• During the final fight, you can use the "Corpses fade during final boss fight" performance option (SC Options), but the effect is pretty minimal. If anything, it can make the arena easier to read further in the fight.
• Turn off dynamic lights.
• Turn off some of aforementioned visual settings.

Difficulty and gameplay:

Spoiler

The map is very challenging; gameplay is tight and enemy count is high. Encounters range from tight space skirmishes to large scale carnage, with nearly every encounter aiming to give the player something unique and different. IMPORTANT: If you don't want to spend time figuring out a working strategy in different fights, avoid playing on HMP or higher. The final fight especially requires preparation and practice to pull off (less so on HNTR and lower), so be warned. 

 

• UV is recommended only if you enjoy the challenge and are deeply familiar with the enemies, weapons and weapon combos in Supercharge. You also have to be comfortable dealing with limited space coupled with tough opposition. While this map is not on par with the hardest the community has to offer, it still provides enough challenge to frustrate a player coming in unprepared. 
• HMP irons out some of the UV edge and makes the experience more forgiving, while still providing a sizeable challenge even to players accustomed to playing less challenge oriented maps on UV. Slightly larger resource to monster ratio.
• HNTR is closer to a casual experience, providing plenty of resources to tackle the challenges and forgives player mistakes at a much larger margin, while still providing ample challenge for players that regularly play less challenge oriented maps on HMP or lower. Monster composition is significantly different to HMP and UV on occasion, sometimes changing the entire dynamic of the fight to better suit the difficulty.
• ITYTD makes for a casual journey, with hardly any encounter providing much problems with the added protection from damage and doubled ammo pickup size. If you like to look at the sights and focus on exploration and secret hunting, while occasionally mowing down demons, this is the difficulty for you.

The map is massive. The length of the playthrough highly depends on difficulty, and can take from anything between 3 to 8 hours to complete. It all depends on the chosen difficulty and the players effectiveness on that difficulty. It is recommended to be played in two or more segments, as to not exhaust yourself trying to play it in one sitting. Lower difficulties might offer a significantly shorter playthrough, but be prepared for a multi-hour journey nonetheless!

 

 

Additional screenshots:

Spoiler

 

Credits (full list in the CREDITS lump):

• Supercharge by Tango
• OTEX texture pack by ukiro
• Additional textures by skillsaw (Ancient Aliens) and Makkon (Makkon texture pack for Quake)
• Music by Jimmy, AD_79 and Koji Kondo (Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time).
• Special audio contribution by Simpletonium.
• Playtesting by Bdubzzz, RonnieJamesDiner, Bridgeburner, Terminus, Tango, Nevanos and the Mapwich 2 coop gang.

 

Any and all kind of feedback is welcome! The map itself is basically finished and no major changes will be made, only bugfixes and possibly Zandronum compatibility should I find a viable way to do that.

Edited May 25, 2021 by Aurelius : Updated download link and title.

[Kristian Nebula]

Looks really impressive!

[ENEMY!!!]

Drooling over this, but I'm getting no HUD, is that intentional?

[Aurelius]

 

7 minutes ago, ENEMY!!! said:

Drooling over this, but I'm getting no HUD, is that intentional?

The map starts with no gun and no hud. The hud will appear once you find the gun, which shouldn't take too long :)

[ENEMY!!!]

The HUD isn't appearing for me after I find guns either.

[Aurelius]

3 minutes ago, ENEMY!!! said:

The HUD isn't appearing for me after I find guns either.

If you're using GZDoom 4.5.0, make sure you have screen size set to 11 in Scaling Options. I think in older versions it's in Display Options?

[Doomkid]

Very pretty screenshots, gonna give this a play through tonight!

[ENEMY!!!]

37 minutes ago, Aurelius said:

If you're using GZDoom 4.5.0, make sure you have screen size set to 11 in Scaling Options. I think in older versions it's in Display Options?

Yeah thanks, it works now - for some reason it had defaulted to 10!

[maxmanium]

I can tell this has a TON of effort put into it -- unfortunately I can't play it because my laptop is too shitty.

[Denim Destroyer]

Looks nice but unfortunately I can't play it due to performance reasons, switching to the Vulkan render helped a little but the first combat encounter destroyed my frames.

[VanaheimRanger]

Would this be compatible with the latest LZDoom for performance purposes?

[Terminus]

Oh boy.

When I playtested this map it took me around the two hour mark, now you're telling me it tripled itself in size? Yeesh.

 

Congrats on the release! Map's been looking fantastic and I don't expect the quality to drop. Will give this updated version a go sometime soon, hopefully!

[Egg Boy]

Heya, so I'm an hour and a half into this thing and I have no idea how to lower the purple skull pillar, I can't for the life of me figure out how to lower the thing, I assume the teleporter is there, like with the green skull pillar, to lead me to a switch that gives me access to that area, but I can't find a switch after the teleporter.

[RonnieJamesDiner]

The screenshots are stunning, but they don't even begin to scratch the surface. This map is a pure odyssey. Every inch is filled with detail, and every moment is overflowing with passion and creativity. It's a long journey (especially if you pick UV and you're not ready for the heat...), but, the use of Supercharge is basically perfect, the custom weapons are addictively fun to use, and Aurelius and Kaito have outdone themselves in ways that hurt my brain to think about. Don't miss this one.

 

Updating to gzdoom 4.5.0 made a massive difference for my framerate, so if your computer can handle it, definitely use it. 

 

Congratulations on the release, you two. 

[Aurelius]

Thank you everyone for the kind words! The performance can take a hit with lower end computers, which is a bummer. So like RJD said, make sure you are using GZDoom 4.5.0 which makes a huge difference! I will take another look at improving performance, but unfortunately the map is so open at times that it becomes very challenging.

 

2 hours ago, guitardz said:

Would this be compatible with the latest LZDoom for performance purposes?

I tested it once with LZDoom some weeks ago, and it lagged quite badly. So that's unfortunately not a viable option :( You could give it a try, but I think the result will be the same.

 

43 minutes ago, Egg Boy said:

Heya, so I'm an hour and a half into this thing and I have no idea how to lower the purple skull pillar, I can't for the life of me figure out how to lower the thing, I assume the teleporter is there, like with the green skull pillar, to lead me to a switch that gives me access to that area, but I can't find a switch after the teleporter.

If I understand you correctly: 

Spoiler

The armory has two switches for both the green and pink cards, and each release a high tier weapon. When this weapon is picked up, a "switch" activates in front of you that raises some very noticeable platforms near the areas your originally used to teleport to the ship, and those lead you two switches that open progression. So make sure you've picked up the new weapon from the armory!

If it's not that then you could post a screenshot of exactly what pillar you mean. And also the difficulty you're playing on so I can check any possible flag problems. It's pretty rad that you're that far into the map after just an hour and a half!

[Firedust]

Looks beautiful and utterly t h i c c. Cannot wait to give it a whirl!

[Egg Boy]

@Aurelius

Spoiler

Starting to think I may have missed a pick up or something, I can't access the armory yet because I don't have the pink keycard, if that's the case, mind pointing me towards it? Sorry for being a bother, really enjoying the map so far. 

[Aurelius]

1 minute ago, Egg Boy said:

Starting to think I may have missed a pick up or something, I can't access the armory yet because I don't have the pink keycard, if that's the case, mind pointing me towards it? Sorry for being a bother, really enjoying the map so far. 

 

There's a route in that are that takes you to the teleporter on the other side in the dark cave, which leads back to the ship. If you go past the skull pillar there are steps that take you up and you can use some trivial platforming there to find your way to the other side. Glad you're enjoying it so far, I hope you'll like it to the end!

[Austinado]

Jesus Christ what have you done...!

[Aurelius]

The mandatory RC1 blunder has now been recorded. The pink card key that @Egg Boy is referring to is actually flagged only for skill levels 3 and upwards. I've provided a fixed version (same download link). So for players playing it in HNTR already, once you get to this particular spot

Spoiler

 

please type

give aureliuspinkcard

in the console to give yourself the item. My apologies for this, I was afraid something like this might occur due to the sheer size and amount of content in the map.

[MFG38]

Played an hour or so of this, brief first impressions below.

 

I was initially worried that I wouldn't be able to run this, but I was pleased to find out that the framerate is quite playable throughout. I have nothing but good things to say about the visuals - even though there's a fairly wide selection of different themes at display, they all blend together perfectly. Gameplay is a firm challenge even on HNTR but still quite fair, with fun combat scenarios. There's also a sense of adventure to the map that almost feels like something out of a mid-to-late 90s collectathon platformer, especially with the few brief platforming sections, which I absolutely love.

 

Looking forward to playing more of this! c:

 

Spoiler

PS. Also, that sequence as you obtain the red skull key was gorgeous as fuck. I legit almost blew a load seeing it.

 

[Austinado]

@Aurelius just tooked a peek to it...and boy oh boy do we have something here! Congratulations for the release and surely ill give it a try in the future! Promising! 

[Doomkid]

I just can't get responsive controls for this, and for that I primarily blame GZDoom. I'm getting about 20fps, which for me would be perfectly playable, I'm no framerate snob, but GZDoom has always had this crappy, floaty, never-quite-where-I-want-to-aim mouse control for me and the choppy framerate is just exacerbating the issue. I always use Zandronum for newschool stuff, but sadly it's just too old to run this (as outlined..)

 

Since it might be a helpful report, grabbing the pistol didn't bring the HUD up on my end. Not sure why, maybe it has to do with using the classic HUD or something?

 

Despite not really being playable, I still had a look around and these maps are very gorgeous. I'll admit - I think the hub area is a bit of an assault of colors.. but I explored several of the actual playable map areas and they're stunningly immaculate!

 

My graphics card is by far the weak link of my PC, an old "spare tire" nvidia quatro from 2007, in a 2016 PC with otherwise newish parts. Usually it's no problem, but I think I'll finally have to replace it before I can enjoy this as intended.

[Turin Turambar]

10 hours ago, Aurelius said:

Thank you everyone for the kind words! The performance can take a hit with lower end computers, which is a bummer. So like RJD said, make sure you are using GZDoom 4.5.0 which makes a huge difference!

 

Can you clarify what's your  framerate and your pc specs? I always have the impression different people have different standards.

[Aurelius]

2 minutes ago, Doomkid said:

I just can't get responsive controls for this, and for that I primarily blame GZDoom. I'm getting about 20fps, which for me would be perfectly playable, I'm no framerate snob, but GZDoom has always had this crappy, floaty, never-quite-where-I-want-to-aim mouse control for me and the choppy framerate is just exacerbating the issue. I always use Zandronum for newschool stuff, but sadly it's just too old to run this as outlined..

If possible, use GZDoom 4.5.0. Older versions can definitely have issues with framerates, especially with lower end hardware. You can try setting the VFX to 1 in Supercharge options and disabling dynamic lights (or tweak some other settings like FXAA or ambient occlusion) but if all that is done with no improvement, then there's unfortunately nothing much that can be done :/ I might try to get Zandronum support back, but I think that it didn't run too much better.

 

6 minutes ago, Doomkid said:

Since it might be a helpful report, grabbing the pistol didn't bring the HUD up on my end. Not sure why, maybe it has to do with using the classic HUD or something?

You can toggle between screen sizes, it should show up at 11.

 

[Aurelius]

1 minute ago, Turin Turambar said:

Can you clarify what's your  framerate and your pc specs? I always have the impression different people have different standards.

I should've clarified to use it if at all possible, but I understand not everyone is equipped with a very powerful PC. I've tested with GZDoom versions up from 4.1.3 and all the ones I did worked around 30 to 40 fps, while 4.5.0 had 15 or so frames more on average. I do have an above average GPU.

 

But like I said, it's an intensive map. I can try to fix some of the more glaring issues in the most intensive areas, but if the overall framerate is really bad even after tweaking settings, and the latest GZDoom does not run, then there's not much I can do :/

[Turin Turambar]

So around 50 fps? I'm around 50 fps but it falls to 33 fps sometimes. Which I consider pretty bad.  I'm accustomed to play at 90fps in other wads...

 

What's your cpu? It seems more important in GZDoom than the GPU, which usually is almost idle running the game.

Edited November 10, 2020 by Turin Turambar

[Nevander]

18 hours ago, Aurelius said:

Get rid of the godawful menu scaling by going to Options -> Full options menu -> Miscellaneous Options -> Disable Menu Clean Scaling -> ON. This could be enforced in MENUDEF, but would break compat with every older GZDoom port (of course).

This garbage has affected my work too. I have no idea why it's not disabled by default, because despite what Graf thinks, it does ruin the intended look of custom menus. Sad to hear that it breaks older versions. Now I get to watch and hear about tons of people playing my work with a screwed up menu, as I'm sure you will as well because people don't read instructions.

 

But on topic, the map looks incredible. I doubt my PC could run it smoothly though.

[Aurelius]

3 minutes ago, Turin Turambar said:

So around 50 fps? I'm around 55 fps but it falls to 35 fps sometimes. Which I consider pretty bad.  I'm accustomed to play at 90fps in other wads...

 

What's your cpu? It seems more important in GZDoom than the GPU, which usually is almost idle running the game.

I'm not that knowledgeable to what exactly contributes most to GZDoom performance when it comes to hardware. I'm running a 5 year old CPU, i7-4790K, which is somewhat good even today as I understand it. 90fps is definitely not something to expect from this map, or from large and complex UDMF maps in general. As I understand it, detailed geometry in Doom is not the most efficient thing to render, and using models instead would be much more beneficial. But converting geometry to models in a map of this size would take way much more time than I want to spend, unfortunately.

I am sorry if the framerate is below your standard, but at this point I can't really help you with that. I would prefer not to turn this into a hardware discussion, and rather focus on questions and feedback on the map itself.

[Turin Turambar]

My impressions so far are good , but the difficulty has some harsh spikes (playing on HMP), in the constrained arenas that you use sometimes, like this one:

 

 

Between the Mancobus, skellies, the columns, the mines of the Diabolist, the CD firing rockets...very little space to move. Other fights felt purely RNG-depedent, like one in a even smaller area where you have a group of skellies in front of you, and a group of knights and a CD in a column behind, as while you fire at one side the other may hit you from behind.

I think Remnant had a better adjusted difficulty.

 

The flow is ok-ish, in one place that I had to activate four switches to activate a teleporter I got stuck with one of them but after 3 minutes of wandering around I found it. I'm again stuck, this time in the big door that needs the yellow skull, I'm not sure where it is.edit : oh look, I found a door that I could open with the blue skull! I guess I have to go through this area...