ACE Engine v2 - DOS Doom II [vanilla++?]

[user76828904]

Is that a menu to choose when use items?

[kgsws]

It's inventory like in ZDoom. And it's working now!

 

Keep in mind that i have not replaced original doom items. These are all new DECORATE definitions in my demo WAD - compatible with ZDoom!

[Redneckerz]

It keeps on gettting better!

[forgettable pyromaniac]

2 hours ago, kgsws said:

It's inventory like in ZDoom. And it's working now!

 

Keep in mind that i have not replaced original doom items. These are all new DECORATE definitions in my demo WAD - compatible with ZDoom!

I'm 'boutta bust, dude. fr, this is getting crazy.

[RastaManGames]

Will you make your own source-port that is gonna be based on the "ACE Engine"? 🤔

[Gez]

The ACE Engine is a source port, technically!

 

Just one that is launched in a very unorthodox manner.

[user76828904]

@kgsws How many hours per week do you work on this? Do you sleep? :)
 

Spoiler

Is that a Golden Soul in the inventory?

 

[kgsws]

3 hours ago, RastaManGames said:

Will you make your own source-port that is gonna be based on the "ACE Engine"? 🤔

Actually, i would rather integrate those changes into existing source-port, like Crispy Doom.

 

1 hour ago, Gez said:

The ACE Engine is a source port, technically!

Well, not quite. If it was a source port, you could compile it separately as a stand-alone game for any platform.

It is a series of (complex) patches to the original code. Most of the engine is still original assembly.

I know, it blurs a line quite a bit.

 

47 minutes ago, user76828904 said:

@kgsws How many hours per week do you work on this? Do you sleep? :)
 

  Reveal hidden contents

Is that a Golden Soul in the inventory?

 

Yeah, actually too many :)

My sleep was always a mess. But i just got 11 hours of sleep today (and yesterday almost too) .. because i had only a 7 hours basicaly every day in week. Well .. as i said .. a mess.

That item is golden invulnerability. Currently it's a placeholder for custom inventory (that spawns a wave of flames on activation) but it will be invulnerability with (projectile) reflection in future.

 

 

Today has been a busy day, and this is one of the new features.

If you look closely, you might find a reference to another (already working) feature!

[chungy]

On 8/26/2022 at 8:03 PM, kgsws said:

Remember: You have to run the game using doom2 -config ademo.wad or it won't work!

Oh. And by the way, this will work in ZDoom since .. well, all the features are based on ZDoom (documentation, not code).

ademo.zip

Should it be expected to work only on DOSbox? I tried running it on 86box and well... no luck.

 

[kgsws]

53 minutes ago, chungy said:

Should it be expected to work only on DOSbox? I tried running it on 86box and well... no luck.

 

Seems like this emulator is not 100% accurate! It's a 86box bug.

This exploit runs a self-modifying code in video memory. It's that "v1.9" part.

This is how booting should look like:

[user76828904]

@kgsws Your work is nice. I'm in awe. Just remember not to burn yourself. :)

[chungy]

2 hours ago, kgsws said:

Seems like this emulator is not 100% accurate! It's a 86box bug.

Very few emulators can claim perfect accuracy and DOSBox certainly isn't among them either :)

 

I'm curious if you've tested this on real hardware or not?

[kgsws]

22 hours ago, user76828904 said:

@kgsws Your work is nice. I'm in awe. Just remember not to burn yourself. :)

Yeah, i am gonna take a break when V2 is out.

 

19 hours ago, chungy said:

Very few emulators can claim perfect accuracy and DOSBox certainly isn't among them either :)

 

I'm curious if you've tested this on real hardware or not?

Indeed! Quite often actually.

 

 

[forgettable pyromaniac]

1 hour ago, kgsws said:

Indeed! Quite often actually.

Woah, that screen is MANGLY. Interesting that it works on real hardware, though!

 

I'ma mess with this shit asap, because it looks like a lot of fun :)

[user76828904]

On 9/19/2022 at 8:13 PM, kgsws said:

That's a battle station.

[kgsws]

Well, i bought it cheaper because it had broken screen. I will do with it something .. maybe even quite soon. I have LCD that could work well as a replacement.

 

Anyways. Here's an update. Mouse look + mouse aim. Now it actually feels like playing source port.

 

[user76828904]

3 hours ago, kgsws said:

Well, i bought it cheaper because it had broken screen. I will do with it something .. maybe even quite soon. I have LCD that could work well as a replacement.

 

I think it looks pretty nice. I can imagine a cyberpunk dungeon crawler with a GUI in that style.

 

3 hours ago, kgsws said:

Anyways. Here's an update. Mouse look + mouse aim. Now it actually feels like playing source port.

It could be possible to replace the camera movement with a moving reticle to aim? I don't ask for this feature, I just ask about the technical feasibility.

[FistMarine]

Looks pretty cool! I can imagine the possibilities that can be done with the ACE Engine. However, I noticed that the last video with the mouse aiming, has the weapon automatically centering when firing. I wonder if it will be possible to disable that option and revert to the vanilla behavior? I dislike that feature in ZDoom based source ports because there is no way to disable it, so I'm hoping it's an option instead of a forced feature. Just my two cents about this, it's fine if it stays that way.

 

Also will it be possible to run ZDoom wads in next version, at least older ones from late 90s/early 2000s? Last night I dreamed I was playing Void wad in DOS version of Doom 2, so I would like to see that happening one day. If not, then maybe older ZDoom 1.22 wads (such as Assault on Tei Tenga, Hell Factory, Herian 2, etc).

 

Another thing I'm wondering is if it will be possible to combine stuff between the Doom Engine games, like making DoomGuy playable in Heretic, Corvus playable in Hexen, Hexen characters playable into Strife, putting the Strife conversation system and their NPCs into Doom, etc. I know in ZDoom based source ports it is very possible to do all of this but I was wondering about the possibilities of this ACE engine, if it allows such crossovers to exist. Other than that, excellent work as usual!

[user76828904]

@kgsws Sorry for the off topic, but this picture is from a friend's battle station. Almost all of us have used equipment like this at some point. ;)

 

[Blzut3]

8 hours ago, FistMarine said:

I wonder if it will be possible to disable that option and revert to the vanilla behavior? I dislike that feature in ZDoom based source ports because there is no way to disable it, so I'm hoping it's an option instead of a forced feature. Just my two cents about this, it's fine if it stays that way.

I'm genuinely curious why this change bothers a handful of people?  It doesn't have any affect on game play, it just aligns the sprite to where it's actually firing from.

[maxmanium]

1 minute ago, Blzut3 said:

I'm genuinely curious why this change bothers a handful of people?  It doesn't have any affect on game play, it just aligns the sprite to where it's actually firing from.

 

It's purely aesthetic but it looks more natural to me to start shooting wherever the sprite is currently drawn rather than having it suddenly jump to the middle of the screen.

[forgettable pyromaniac]

I never liked it either way - I like it bouncing while you run around, and using a cross hair to know where your bullets epicenter is - so not only can I shoot and know my nukage rhythm simultaneously, it doesn't sit still while shooting, which really irked me :)

 

I also enjoy having a smooth bounce for the chainsaw, that always jerked around because of the animation.

[kgsws]

21 hours ago, user76828904 said:

It could be possible to replace the camera movement with a moving reticle to aim? I don't ask for this feature, I just ask about the technical feasibility.

Actually that was something i considered doing year ago. But then i implemented mouse look anyway.

Well, never mind. It's added as a menu option now! It's really strange to play like that. Kinda reminds me old arcade games where movement was predefined.

 

10 hours ago, FistMarine said:

I noticed that the last video with the mouse aiming, has the weapon automatically centering when firing. I wonder if it will be possible to disable that option and revert to the vanilla behavior?

Sure, i have added this option.

 

10 hours ago, FistMarine said:

Also will it be possible to run ZDoom wads in next version, at least older ones from late 90s/early 2000s? Last night I dreamed I was playing Void wad in DOS version of Doom 2, so I would like to see that happening one day. If not, then maybe older ZDoom 1.22 wads (such as Assault on Tei Tenga, Hell Factory, Herian 2, etc).

I do not aim to support existing ZDoom WADs. There are just too many complications that. ACE Engine is intended for new (advanced) mods that will be compatible with ZDoom.

Also, i do not support Heretic / Hexen. Though you can add these player classes and weapons using DECORATE if you wish.

 

2 hours ago, Blzut3 said:

I'm genuinely curious why this change bothers a handful of people?  It doesn't have any affect on game play, it just aligns the sprite to where it's actually firing from.

I really don't like the original behavior. Centering the weapon seems much better to me. Even if i use crosshair.

 

1 hour ago, forgettable pyromaniac said:

I also enjoy having a smooth bounce for the chainsaw, that always jerked around because of the animation.

Good news, i have implemented this feature a few weeks ago!

 

1 hour ago, forgettable pyromaniac said:

I never liked it either way - I like it bouncing while you run around, and using a cross hair to know where your bullets epicenter is - so not only can I shoot and know my nukage rhythm simultaneously, it doesn't sit still while shooting, which really irked me :)

Hmm, i might actually add this as another weapon option, it's pretty easy.

So that would make weapon behavior modes: "original" "centered" and "bouncy". Or something like that.

 

Here are two screenshots - you can see both mouse aim modes. Crosshair color and shape is customisable.

[user76828904]

@kgsws Thanks. :)

[Redneckerz]

On 9/23/2022 at 6:53 PM, user76828904 said:

@kgsws Sorry for the off topic, but this picture is from a friend's battle station. Almost all of us have used equipment like this at some point. ;)

 

Unrelated question, but that looks loke a small machine. Which model is that and what are the specs?

[user76828904]

@Redneckerz Sorry. I don't know. That picture has nearly ten years. It was taken by a friend. I think it was a laptop with a failed screen.

[kgsws]

Version 2 getting closer. Here's some progress.

I have replaced path intercept code so no more blockmap issues. Also, now you can slide on things - but that's an extra code.

 

Here's what happens if you don't set skytexture in Doom2 ..

 

So, what remains for V2: (unless i decide to do more stuff)

• MAPINFO (currently in-progress, going well)
• configurable vanilla limits (visplanes, vissprites, drawsegs)
• custom states in DECORATE
• custom damage types
• blood color

[forgettable pyromaniac]

34 minutes ago, kgsws said:

custom damage types

I know the rest is super fuckin' cool and all, but I wanted to ask - what does this mean?

My first thought for this was damage numbers, but we have dehacked for that - do you mean like how hitscans and projectiles are different? Or like... Explosive and then you could add fire damage or something that only some monsters are resistant to, like how cybers are immune to splash damage?

[kgsws]

18 hours ago, forgettable pyromaniac said:

My first thought for this was damage numbers, but we have dehacked for that - do you mean like how hitscans and projectiles are different? Or like... Explosive and then you could add fire damage or something that only some monsters are resistant to, like how cybers are immune to splash damage?

Like in Strife enemies have different fire and disintegrate deaths. Or Hexen has freeze death. I will also add DamageFactor support so you can make enemies resistant, weaker or immune to certain attacks. Well, it's all in ZDoom, so it will be compatible.

https://zdoom.org/wiki/Custom_damage_types

[forgettable pyromaniac]

28 minutes ago, kgsws said:

Like in Strife enemies have different fire and disintegrate deaths. Or Hexen has freeze death. I will also add DamageFactor support so you can make enemies resistant, weaker or immune to certain attacks. Well, it's all in ZDoom, so it will be compatible.

https://zdoom.org/wiki/Custom_damage_types

ahhh alright

 

I don't mod for zdoom much so idk lmao

thats quite interesting though!