[RC4] Chex Quest 3: Vanilla Edition

[Melodic Spaceship]

Original trailer:

Spoiler

 

New trailer:

Listen to the additional music made for this:

Spoiler

 

Screenshot:

This is a backport of the official Chex Quest 3 over to vanilla. This is not actually a mod of the original Chex Quest, but rather of Ultimate Doom using a trick involving secret exits to shorten episode lengths and with a special DeHackEd patch applied which is mostly a recreation of Chex 3's DECORATE stuff. It can also run as standalone in some ports.

It serves the following purposes:

1. It will be better for speedrunning, since it will be able to run in ports that keep vanilla demos synced, unlike ZDoom-based ports which don't even keep demos synced between different ZDoom versions.
2. It will be a more complete modding base than Chex Quest 1 and more universal than the original ZDoom Chex Quest 3.
3. If someone's preferred source port is not ZDoom-based, then they can play it in their preferred source port.
4. You will be able to play Chex Quest 3 on a DOS computer (provided it's a 386 or 486). I also released a package to make it easier to set it up in DOS.

 

Downloads (for DOS):

 

RC4 (latest): chex3v_dos_rc4.zip

RC3: chex3v_dos_rc3.zip

Downloads (for source ports):

 

RC4 (latest): chex3v_rc4.zip

RC3: chex3v_rc3.zip

RC2.1: chex3v_rc2_1.zip

RC2: chex3v_rc2.zip
RC1.1: chex3v_rc1_1.zip

 

Downloads (modding version):

 

RC4 (latest): chex3d2_rc4.zip

Edited yesterday at 01:23 AM by Melodic Spaceship : update thread title to rc4

[Walter confetti]

Really interesting! I see there's a Chex Quest revival recently...

[Shepardus]

I've been looking forward to this since you mentioned it in another thread! Hope this gets some speedrunning love!

[Paragon_of_Laziness]

I always enjoy more Chex Quest content

[Andrea Rovenski]

Excellent

[Gibbitudinous]

Just tried this out in Nugget Doom and unfortunately it crashes everytime I exit a level.

 

Went and preemptively collected the command line output in case that helps anything.

C:\Games\Nugget-Doom-2.3.1-win64>nugget-doom -iwad "C:/wads/Chex Quest 3 Vanilla/chex3v.wad"
Nugget Doom 2.3.1 (built on Dec 16 2023)

M_LoadDefaults: Load system defaults.
 default file: C:\Games\Nugget-Doom-2.3.1-win64\nugget-doom.cfg

IWAD found: C:/wads/Chex Quest 3 Vanilla/chex3v.wad
Ultimate DOOM version

V_Init: allocate screens.
W_Init: Init WADfiles.
 adding C:\wads\Chex Quest 3 Vanilla\chex3v.wad
 adding C:\Games\Nugget-Doom-2.3.1-win64\autoload\doom-all\brghtmps.lmp
 adding C:\Games\Nugget-Doom-2.3.1-win64\autoload\doom-all\nughud_modern-20230520.wad
 adding C:\Games\Nugget-Doom-2.3.1-win64\autoload\doom-all\personal palette.wad
Loading DEH lump from file chex3v.wad

M_Init: Init miscellaneous info.
R_Init: Init DOOM refresh daemon -
R_FlatNumForName: CONS1_1 not found
R_FlatNumForName: CONS1_5 not found
R_FlatNumForName: CONS1_7 not found
[ ...................... ]
P_Init: Init Playloop state.
I_Init: Setting up machine state.
I_InitJoystick: Initialize game controller.
I_InitSound:
 Using 'OpenAL Soft on Speakers (2- Realtek(R) Audio)' @ 48000 Hz.
 Precaching all sound effects... done.
Windows MIDI Init: Using 'OmniMIDI'.
NET_Init: Init network subsystem.
D_CheckNetGame: Checking network game status.
 startskill 3  deathmatch: 0  startmap: 1  startepisode: 1
 player 1 of 1 (1 nodes)
S_Init: Setting up sound.
HU_Init: Setting up heads up display.
ST_Init: Init status bar.

S_ChangeMusic: D_INTRO (chex3v.wad)
S_ChangeMusic: D_E1M1 (chex3v.wad)
P_SetupLevel: E1M1 (chex3v.wad), Doom nodes, Ultimate Doom complevel
S_ChangeMusic: D_INTER (chex3v.wad)
S_ChangeMusic: D_E1M9 (chex3v.wad)
P_SetupLevel: E1M9 (chex3v.wad), Doom nodes, Ultimate Doom complevel
S_ChangeMusic: D_INTER (chex3v.wad)

 

[Melodic Spaceship]

Thanks for reporting! Unfortunately, I can't get Nugget Doom working on my system right now so I can't really test it for myself. If I had to guess though, it might have something to do with some of the blanked-out intermission graphics. If I am able to get things working to test it myself later, I'll be sure to post about it.

[Shepardus]

4 hours ago, Gibbitudinous said:

Just tried this out in Nugget Doom and unfortunately it crashes everytime I exit a level.

Strangely, I can reproduce this in the 2.3.1 build that I compiled myself, but not in the 2.3.1 AppImage which should be the same version. Not all levels crash either; exiting E1M1, E3M1, and E3M2 works just fine for me, while exiting E1M9 (CQ1M1) crashes. When it does crash, the program segfaults after going through the intermission screen, when it would display the "entering" screen for the next level. In Woof I can reproduce the crash in 12.0.2 (again with my own build but not the AppImage), but not in 14.2.0, and I also can't reproduce the crash in a build of Nugget Doom compiled from the latest source. I haven't the faintest clue what the problem is, but it seems to have been fixed somehow... (Maybe someone on Windows could verify with the Windows builds of Woof 12.0.2 and 14.2.0 whether they get the same results as me?)

 

Edit: I should have just checked the Woof changelogs to begin with. The changelog for 14.0.0 mentions fixing a crash on the Chex Quest intermission screen, which you can read more about here. So it's not a problem with the WAD, it's a bug in Woof/Nugget Doom that has been fixed, though there hasn't been a stable release of Nugget Doom with that fix yet.

Edited March 15 by Shepardus

[Gibbitudinous]

Well that got figured out surprisingly quickly.

Cheers y'all 🍻

[Noiser]

Finally, the full trilogy in full MS-DOS glory! Thanks for this mate!
@OpenRift probably will like this a lot 8D

[OpenRift]

2 minutes ago, Noiser said:

Finally, the full trilogy in full MS-DOS glory! Thanks for this mate!
@OpenRift probably will like this a lot 8D

I like the sound of this very much :D

[Gibbitudinous]

So I went and switched over to Woof instead of waiting for a new version of Nugget Doom.

Noticed that Woof shows the Ultimate Doom episode names instead of Chex Quest 3's.
 

Spoiler

 

LOL should've expected as much but it still caught me off-guard.

[OpenRift]

10 minutes ago, Gibbitudinous said:

So I went and switched over to Woof instead of waiting for a new version of Nugget Doom.

Noticed that Woof shows the Ultimate Doom episode names instead of Chex Quest 3's.
  

  Reveal hidden contents

 

LOL should've expected as much but it still caught me off-guard.

 

Spoiler

That imagery combined with that music is like those Nintendo anti-piracy screen videos you'd see on YouTube: just peak childhood terror.

 

[Shepardus]

47 minutes ago, Gibbitudinous said:

Noticed that Woof shows the Ultimate Doom episode names instead of Chex Quest 3's.

It didn't do that in 14.2.0, but does that in the just-released 14.3.0. Probably a bug related to the added support of the DBIGFONT lump, I recommend reporting that in the Woof thread. already reported it myself.

 

Edit: Looking into it, it seems that if you load the WAD as an Ultimate Doom PWAD, it's fine. Seems that the UMAPINFO is ignored when loading it as an IWAD (this is true in 14.2.0 as well, which you can tell since you can select episode 4 even though it's blank in the menu).

Edited March 15 by Shepardus

[Plerb]

26 minutes ago, Gibbitudinous said:

So I went and switched over to Woof instead of waiting for a new version of Nugget Doom.

Noticed that Woof shows the Ultimate Doom episode names instead of Chex Quest 3's.
 

  Hide contents

 

LOL should've expected as much but it still caught me off-guard.

Haha, you can blame me for getting @Melodic Spaceship to make E4M1 a creepypasta looking thing (I also composed the music for it), the idea was way too funny.

[Melodic Spaceship]

Well, I managed to get Nugget Doom working on my own system but it looks like you all got it figured out before I could say anything. I will say though that I was able to remove the crash by removing the offsets on some blank intermission graphics.

 

Also, as I hinted to in my OP I'm planning to release a DOS package for this (which I have already put together), featuring a program I made which changes the par times and quit messages to match those defined in the BEX file, because DeHackEd itself can't do that for some stupid reason.

 

I would like to know whether or not it's fine to include (the unmodified) DOOM.EXE in the package, as well as a hex-edited IPXSETUP.EXE and SERSETUP.EXE, the DeHackEd program, novert and a hex-edited Chex Quest setup program.

[OpenRift]

2 hours ago, Plerb said:

Haha, you can blame me for getting @Melodic Spaceship to make E4M1 a creepypasta looking thing (I also composed the music for it), the idea was way too funny.

Honestly that music is such a fantastic touch, I would love to hear more stuff like that in like horror-themed WADs, it's great.

[OpenRift]

1 hour ago, Melodic Spaceship said:

Well, I managed to get Nugget Doom working on my own system but it looks like you all got it figured out before I could say anything. I will say though that I was able to remove the crash by removing the offsets on some blank intermission graphics.

 

Also, as I hinted to in my OP I'm planning to release a DOS package for this (which I have already put together), featuring a program I made which changes the par times and quit messages to match those defined in the BEX file, because DeHackEd itself can't do that for some stupid reason.

  

I would like to know whether or not it's fine to include (the unmodified) DOOM.EXE in the package, as well as a hex-edited IPXSETUP.EXE and SERSETUP.EXE, the DeHackEd program, novert and a hex-edited Chex Quest setup program.

There's actually a somewhat obscure DeHackEd variation made by @Ridley that has support for custom par times, you can try that if you'd like. Up to you, though.

[Beed28]

Giving it a quick test run; it's amazing that this was ported to vanilla, though so far I've found that enemy "corpses" become these test beakers (the gib pool replacement if I'm not mistaken) if crushed beneath a door.

[Melodic Spaceship]

2 hours ago, Beed28 said:

Giving it a quick test run; it's amazing that this was ported to vanilla, though so far I've found that enemy "corpses" become these test beakers (the gib pool replacement if I'm not mistaken) if crushed beneath a door.

I think the original ZDoom Chex Quest 3 also had that quirk, although it might still be worth fixing since I was fixing other issues that were present in the original ZDoom version. So it will probably be fixed in the next version.

[Beed28]

Another thing I found! The Nightmare!/Super Slimy skill confirmation isn't changed; I'm pretty sure Chex Quest changed it to something like "Careful, this will be tough". I'm pretty sure DeHackEd can edit this string anyway.

 

The quit messages are also unchanged, but I don't think DeHackEd can edit those (other than taking out the randomized string I think)

[Melodic Spaceship]

4 hours ago, Beed28 said:

Another thing I found! The Nightmare!/Super Slimy skill confirmation isn't changed; I'm pretty sure Chex Quest changed it to something like "Careful, this will be tough". I'm pretty sure DeHackEd can edit this string anyway.

 

The quit messages are also unchanged, but I don't think DeHackEd can edit those (other than taking out the randomized string I think)

Thank you for reporting these! I've already made the needed changes in the DeHackEd files. The fixes will be present in the next release candidate.

 

About the quit messages, this was something I was well aware of but couldn't do anything about by normal means (at least, not in the vanilla DeHackEd file). I have no idea why DeHackEd has that arbitrary limitation in spite of me being easily able to edit those via a hex editor. The solution I came up with was to include a seperate program that edits the quit messages (and par times) in the executable after DeHackEd does its thing, which I will be including in the upcoming DOS package for this.

[No-Man Baugh]

Just got off of the Odamex co-op event to test this wad, it was pretty fun

we had a crash in e1m3 pretty regularly, something to do with polyobjects? I'm sure Acts 19 and the Odamex gang will reach out to you and give out more details than I could ever keep track

[Melodic Spaceship]

45 minutes ago, No-Man Baugh said:

Just got off of the Odamex co-op event to test this wad, it was pretty fun

we had a crash in e1m3 pretty regularly, something to do with polyobjects? I'm sure Acts 19 and the Odamex gang will reach out to you and give out more details than I could ever keep track

There was a Chex 3 Vanilla event? That's pretty cool!

 

Also, I don't think this is supposed to have polyobjects anywhere so I'm guessing it's a bug in Odamex or some thing number conflict.

[Redneckerz]

Lovely that part 3 is backported to Vanilla. Does it require an source hack such as Doom Plus or Doom32 in order to function?

[Plerb]

6 hours ago, Redneckerz said:

Lovely that part 3 is backported to Vanilla. Does it require an source hack such as Doom Plus or Doom32 in order to function?

It works with the original (Ultimate Doom) DOOM.EXE!

[Melodic Spaceship]

RC2 has been released! Download here: chex3v_rc2.zip

 

Here is a list of changes in this version:

Spoiler

• Removed the offsets in the WIURH0, WIURH1 and WISPLAT lumps to fix a crash in Nugget Doom.
• Added replacement Super Slimey confirmation string in the external DEH and internal BEX.
• Crushed enemies/players are now invisible instead of turning into beakers.
• Added the "Chex Quest 3: Vanilla Edition" startup string to the BEX file.
• Added replacement sprites for the MBF helper dog (a yellow recolor of the larva).
• Added an EDFROOT file to make sure the title music plays in full in Eternity, and also to change the Eternity credits background.
• Added a changelog.
• Added a mention of the Doomworld thread and some other ports supporting widescreen to the readme.
• Removed the ZMAPINFO and PFUB1 lumps from the widescreen pack and renamed PFUB1B to PFUB1, as the GZDoom-compatible PFUB1 works with other ports too.
• Added unmarked exits to E4M1 and all the dummy levels, in order to allow full level completion in DSDA-Doom.
• Shifted player starts in CQ1M3 to prevent illegal reads in DOS when novert is used.
• Removed Boom-specific thing flags from all levels.
• Added a DM-only teleporter in CQ1M5 to make the Flembrane area exitable in DM.
• Made it so that leaving the DM-only room in CQ3M5 opens the door back to the key door hub area.
• Added extra checks to the ZDoom-only ACS script to make absolutely sure E3M1 is Central Command and not a custom level before applying any effects.
• Added a self-referencing sector near the balcony in the boss room in CQ3M5 to emulate the everything-blocking line in the original ZDoom version.
• Removed a possible drawseg overflow in CQ3M2 by simplifying the windows in the subway.

 

[No-Man Baugh]

As a lifetime Woofer I am grateful that you gave special attention to the helper dogs

But also as a lifetime Woofer I feel obliged to inform you that Helper dogs in Woof and Nugget-Doom (i.e. the only active ports that have helper dogs) are disabled on complevels lower than 11, and the internal complevel lump overrides any way for players to change complevels either via the command-line or in-game, making the yellow helper flems practically unusable without modifying the wad

 

Edited March 18 by No-Man Baugh : Irrelevent, out-of-date version of Woof I was playing on

[Shepardus]

30 minutes ago, No-Man Baugh said:

But also as a lifetime Woofer I feel obliged to inform you that Helper dogs in Woof and Nugget-Doom (i.e. the only active ports that have helper dogs) are disabled on complevels lower than 11, and the internal complevel lump overrides any way for players to change complevels either via the command-line or in-game, making the yellow helper flems practically unusable without modifying the wad

As of Woof 14.3.0 the -complevel parameter takes precedence over the lump (consistent with dsda-doom, though dsda-doom no longer has the dogs option).

[No-Man Baugh]

7 minutes ago, Shepardus said:

As of Woof 14.3.0 the -complevel parameter takes precedence over the lump (consistent with dsda-doom, though dsda-doom no longer has the dogs option).

Just double-checked and yeah, I forgot that my mac build of Woof was built before that change happened, rebuilding from source just now fixed it

It's odd tho that testing Nugget-Doom did the same thing as my out-of-date version of Woof. I git clone'd from source the moment the 3.0.0 binaries released