OSTERITY (RC2) - a vanilla mega-episode set in the heart of Texas

[Big Ol Billy]

 

"Burdensome regulations have long stymied the United Aerospace Corporation's ability to innovate in the energy sector. However, recent pro-business rulings represent a welcome change of pace, clearing the way for us to open an exciting new facility in the Lone Star State. Come on down 'n' see us sometime, y'all!"

 

OSTERITY is a 7+1 map vanilla "mega episode" for the Doom 2 IWAD, powered by OTEX. Basically, I've tried to squeeze what I think of as a 3-episode, Doom 1-inspired megawad into just 7 maps. The basic formula is to alternate sprawling megamaps with short boss/challenge maps, though I bend the rules a little towards the end. Continuing my personal "year of Doom 1", this release follows a "D1 enhanced" philosophy: Doom 1 assets are all 100% unchanged; Doom 2 monsters are all reworked, usually with a D1-inspired twist. Also features an original soundtrack by yours truly.

 

>>DOWNLOAD RC2<<

Previous: RC1.2 RC1.1 RC1

 

 

PLAY INFO

Compatibility: vanilla Doom 2 (-cl 2)
Mouselook: Ok, not needed
Jump/crouch: May break stuff
Difficulty settings: Yes
Co-op: Yes, with extra monsters and items
Deathmatch: DM starts included, though these maps are unlikely to be good for DM
Tested in: Chocolate Doom, ChocoRenderLimits, DSDA-Doom 0.27.5, GZDoom 4.12.2

Known Bugs: Some sprite limit glitches, especially on UV, and drawseg overflows in vanilla, which can result in sprites disappearing and the occasional HOM from certain angles. Save game buffer overflow in vanilla due to the extremely large maps. Some in-level text may be harder to read in 320x200 resolution. Noclipping can trigger visplane overflow crashes in vanilla in a few spots. In later levels, I use pure black to achieve a "second" sky texture, so bullet puffs and projectiles can appear to hit the sky. If you're especially quick on MAP05/MAP06 (possibly MAP07), you might have to wait on monster crushers to get 100% kills.

 

Mod at your own discretion, there are a lot of DeHackEd changes here. Watch out for mods that replace existing monsters and things with new ones: MAP02/04/06 depend on certain monsters executing KeenDie for progression; changing these monsters may break the maps. MAP08's secret depends on a custom thing activating a line special via a monster walkover line. Weapons are unchanged, however.

 

Special thanks to all the playtesters who have tested various versions of the set over the years: @Biodegradable @Catpho @Optimus @gaspe @Phobus @Memfis @glenzinho

 

MORE SCREENSHOTS

Spoiler

 

 

Background info:

Spoiler

This is an unusually long-gestating project for me. The bulk of mapping was actually done in a concentrated burst in February 2021, when I was bedridden with Covid-19 and living with some acquaintances who themselves had just been displaced by the Great Texas Freeze that occurred that month. I found myself returning to the project in various moments of negative emotion, and it's taken a fair amount of iterating to hone into what I seemed to be trying to express in that initial, feverish period of initial conception. Now, as millions are once again struggling without power in Texas, it seems as clear as it's gonna get, so I'm sending the project out into the world. 

 

Edited July 23 by Big Ol Billy

[esselfortium]

Congrats on the release, looks awesome! I remember seeing screenshots of this quite some time ago, it's great that you've gotten it out the door at last!

[FEDEX]

Is something wrong with the download link? I can't access (connection time out)

[Edward850]

22 minutes ago, FEDEX said:

Is something wrong with the download link? I can't access (connection time out)

Seems to be working for me.

[Endless]

Awesome. I must say that is a sweet looking status bar too.

[Walter confetti]

Congrats for the release! I remember to have seen this thing in WIP status long ago! Looks truly awesome!

[taviow]

Your depiction of Texas sure looks pretty scary! Looking forward to play it though :D

[NenapoMinayuChtchiyasya]

I'm stuck in map02

2 hours ago, Big Ol Billy said:

GZDoom not tested yet, hilarious bugs may be present. Let me know what you find. 

For some reason trigger 666 is not activating 😔 (gzdoom)

"Doom 2 Map07- Dead Simple:
(Tag 666:) lowers tagged sector(s) when mancubus's are defeated;"  🤔 lowers? but this tag marks a door on this map and no single mancubus in here.

[Big Ol Billy]

18 minutes ago, NenapoMinayuChtchiyasya said:

I'm stuck in map02

For some reason trigger 666 is not activating 😔 

 
Interesting—will investigate. This map uses KeenDie to open the 666 door when all the Pyrobarons are dead. Maybe some compatibility needs to be set with MAPINFO? I’ll be on it! Thanks.

["JL" was too short]

It makes a lot of sense for the UAC to locate its research facilities in places where the veil between Earth and Hell is at its thinnest.

Having said that, I'm not sure why they didn't skip Texas and go straight to Mississippi.  Maybe they didn't want to bite off more than they could chew.

[Lizardcommando]

This looks quite interesting. I'll have to take a look at this.

[Scuba Steve]

Is the BFG9000 in the basement of the Alamo?

[Nikku4211]

Hope this demo is FDA-approved:

ostercz.7z

[CacoKnight]

Added straight here without even testing it, vanilla + those screenshots?

 

[Daytime Waitress]

UAC: repaving Texas' lethal asphalt with safer, kinder damaging floors like lava and nuclear waste.

[mancubian_candidate]

Hey @Big Ol Billy,

 

Played Maps 1 & 2 so far and having a blast!

I found one potential softlock in Map 1:

Spoiler

If you are a big dummy like me, take the long way around and take the Teleporter in Sector 1530 (without lowering the bars in Sector 1273), you get soft-locked in Sector 1528. 

 

I found this on my first playthrough but was able to replicate in the video below: 

 

 

[S3M_XM]

I found a visual bug when playing in GZDoom 4.12.2 (Doom (Strict)) in map01. (Thing 1137)

 

And for map02;

 

What you supposed to do in the room with the fire barrels that are surrounded you? I have no clue where to go but I do see a switch (Linedef 471) but when I press it, it does nothing. Even when I've tried it in DSDA-Doom, but it does nothing either. So, are you stuck in the room forever..?

[Big Ol Billy]

56 minutes ago, mancubian_candidate said:

I found one potential softlock in Map 1:

 

Good find, that's a must fix! All these different pathways through the big levels makes oversights like this all too easy. Simple fix, though.

[Big Ol Billy]

22 minutes ago, S3M_XM said:

What you supposed to do in the room with the fire barrels that are surrounded you? I have no clue where to go but I do see a switch (Linedef 471) but when I press it, it does nothing. Even when I've tried it in DSDA-Doom, but it does nothing either. So, are you stuck in the room forever..?

 

Hmm, it looks like the Dehacked patch isn't loaded here, which is odd, since it's included in the wad file itself. This is what the same area looks like in DSDA for me--note the trees rather than green pillars. I'm actually surprised you were able to get that far if the Dehacked was borked, though. (FWIW, the Dehacked changes work right out of the box for me on GZ 4.12.2/strict as well.)

 

 

Also to circle back around to @NenapoMinayuChtchiyasya, I'm also unable to reproduce the 666 door problem on MAP02. On GZDoom 4.12.2 with strict compatibility, doors open after the fire barons die and progression seems to work as intended. It looks like there are indeed, as I vaguely remembered, settings for special actions that can be set via the MAPINFO map definition property (SpecialAction_OpenDoor seems to be the relevant one here). But for me the KeenDie action already works as intended. I should probably study some other recent vanilla releases for best practices re: GZ compatibility, but I'm a little puzzled at the moment why I can't replicate these issues so far.

Edited July 13 by Big Ol Billy

[SleepyVelvet]

Well that was a large Map01.  I've played so many short levels lately that I was expecting something easier to breeze through, per usual for an 8 map episode (I didn't read the OP very closely).  I had fun for now.  Some good fights and suspense elements.  I wish I figured out the Blue Key. 

 

Would've gone back for secrets, but the death exit made me explode, and nearly shit my pants.

 

FDA: noisy_OSTERITY-RC1_m1.zip (hntr, 24mins)

[Biodegradable]

It's finally here! Stoked to see it released at last, Bill. :^)

[Big Ol Billy]

Gonna go ahead and drop a quick RC1.1 to address the egregious MAP01 softlock that @mancubian_candidate found. (Linked in OP as well.) Also did just a little HNTR balance tweaking based on @SleepyVelvet and @Nikku4211 's very helpful (and definitely fda-approved) demos. Keep 'em coming, folks!

[Fireseth]

Love it so far!

[KneeDeepintheSludgemetal]

This is fantastic, I am on map 3 and i want this to be a whole megawad. Lots of fun little secrets and great combat. 

[elborbahquarama]

a member and level designer of the collective wad project i'm part of and playtesting for lives in texas and has gone offline several days ago and even though i'm sure he's safe we're naturally worried for him, so i thank you for bringing awareness on the matter through your personal vision, there is a lot of interesting ideas in this wad as always with your work

[Zesiir]

This looks great. I'll dive right in!

[Bobby :D]

Cool WAD
Fuck the Texas Government

[Daytime Waitress]

I typically don't get on well with big sprawling levels like this, but the constant pressure, the way progress is gated but it feels like you're given permission to explore, and the manner in which all the disparate visual elements have been combined to create a completely cohesive and unique world has me wrapt up in it.

 

But I just...

 

Why you gotta make the spiders so moist, Billy?

[mancubian_candidate]

Hey @Big Ol Billy,

 

sorry for harshin' the vibe again but found 2 other potential issues

 

Spoiler

In Map 5, it looks like the Flame Boi's can resurrect Crushed enemies and cause them to go out of bounds. If you go to 8:10 of this video, you should be able to see it. Didn't happen in my first playthrough so it may be rare:

 

 

Spoiler

In Map 6, when all the Monsters that are perched (and can get resurrected) get teleported away, they go to a Monster closet where nothing happens to them. 

Not sure if they are meant to get crushed or something like that but I couldn't figure it out! This may be me missing something so apologies if this is a mis-report

 

 

 

[Big Ol Billy]

27 minutes ago, mancubian_candidate said:

2 other potential issues

 

No worries, I was actually just working on the MAP06 enemies--they should indeed be getting crushed, but it looks like the trigger to actually do it got removed. Update coming soon!

 

Seems like I should go ahead and do some extra foolproofing on MAP05 as well to prevent accidental ghost monsters. These have been a big issue on MAP06, which I've nearly ironed out with some extra handling, but I hadn't seen them on MAP05 before. Whether one gets them or not can be kind of random, so this is definitely something I'm happy to get wider playtesting on now.