[WIP] Vela Pax (on hiatus)

[Grain of Salt]

If you don't mind me asking, what complevel should I be playing this on in prboom+? I gave map01 a spin a couple of days ago and I found so many switches that couldn't be activated, and I wasn't sure if that was the intended behaviour so I ended up giving up for the time being. I really like the design though.

You seem to like STONE2. I also like STONE2.

[Mechadon]

Death Egg said:

I can wait for Map04 to be completed first.I'm excited but I also would love a whole ton of more content.

I'm thinking that's probably what I'll end up doing. Honestly I wasn't planning on doing another public release until MAP04 was done, but that MAP01 bug was kind of nasty so I wasn't sure if I should do another minor release or not. But it is a test release after all...so I guess it can wait.

Grain of Salt said:

If you don't mind me asking, what complevel should I be playing this on in prboom+? I gave map01 a spin a couple of days ago and I found so many switches that couldn't be activated, and I wasn't sure if that was the intended behaviour so I ended up giving up for the time being. I really like the design though.

Hmm, that might have something to do with the node format the maps are using (ZDoom's uncompressed extended format). I generally just use PrBoom+'s default complevel when playtesting because of that and I haven't tried any other complevels.

Also yea, STONE2 is a great texture :D

[WH-Wilou84]

Looking good, Mechadon !

The only thing that bugs me about these sprites is that the "BFG" text seems tacked on. It doesn't go along the angles of the weapon.
Edit : Then again, the original BFG9000 sprite had the same problem.

[scifista42]

Grain of Salt said:

If you don't mind me asking, what complevel should I be playing this on in prboom+? I gave map01 a spin a couple of days ago and I found so many switches that couldn't be activated, and I wasn't sure if that was the intended behaviour so I ended up giving up for the time being.

Maybe your PrBoom-plus defaults to -complevel 2. Try -complevel 9, or if that still doesn't work, 11 or 14.

Mechadon said:

Hmm, that might have something to do with the node format the maps are using (ZDoom's uncompressed extended format).

Would PrBoom-plus really fail or refuse to properly handle maps with non-vanilla nodes on lower complevels? I find it hard to believe.

[Grain of Salt]

Running the wad in cl9 fixes the problem. Strangely though, changing my default complevel to 9 did not work when I tried it before, which is why I thought I should ask what the intended level was. I guess when I tried that it must've loaded in cl2 anyway, for whatever reason.

Also: apparently loading a saved game in prboom+ also restores the complevel you were using, which is interesting.

[Mechadon]

WH-Wilou84 said:

Looking good, Mechadon !

The only thing that bugs me about these sprites is that the "BFG" text seems tacked on. It doesn't go along the angles of the weapon.
Edit : Then again, the original BFG9000 sprite had the same problem.

Yea it looks slightly off, I'll admit :P. I kept it that way because it looks the same on the original sprite, like you said. It would be pretty trivial to erase but I'll probably keep it like, at least for now, just to preserve the original look.

scifista42 said:

Maybe your PrBoom-plus defaults to -complevel 2. Try -complevel 9, or if that still doesn't work, 11 or 14.

Would PrBoom-plus really fail or refuse to properly handle maps with non-vanilla nodes on lower complevels? I find it hard to believe.

Yea, thinking about it now, complevel 9 is probably the one you want. The maps are just plain ole Boom maps apart from the node format they are using (meaning they would never ever run in the original Boom port). I always ran the maps in the default just in case the extended node format required it (as an assumption).

Anyways, I honestly don't know if PrBoom+ would choke on these maps at lower complevels. It does seem unlikely, but I haven't tested it. The reason why I thought the nodes might have something to do with Grain of Salt's problem is because I've had a couple of issues with PrBoom+ and the maps shortly after it got support for the uncompressed extended node format. Thankfully these problems haven't resurfaced in a long time now, so I think they've been fixed.

By the way Grain of Salt, if your able to reproduce that weird switch behavior, let me know if you don't mind.

[jdagenet]

I found a tiny little artifact that was overlooked in Apollyon. This sector here actually damages you when it's (I assume) not supposed to.

But I've been playing this for a few days now and it's super fun. I'm really looking forward to the final release.

[Mechadon]

Thanks for that bug report jdagenet! I'm pretty sure I just missed that one. I'll get it fixed though, no worries :)

[Demtor]

This is absolutely phenomenal. Mechadon, I just got back in to playing WADs after an almost 20 year hiatus and discovered your maps from recently joining the "DWmegawad Club" whose thread is currently doing THT: Threnody. I raved about loving Formalhaut and some kind folks pointed me to your 50 Shades of Graytall map, Big Dwayne’s Orbital Concrete and Propane Emporium, and then ultimately here. AMAZING stuff! I would gush more but suffice to say your maps are my favorite and this project, from what little of it I've played, has the potential to be my perfect Doom experience. Kudos and keep up the great work!

[Mechadon]

That's awesome man, thank you so much! I hope you enjoy the rest of the beta, and let me know if you run into any bugs or issues :)

[mArt1And00m3r11339]

What is the name of the soundtracks you used in your levels?

[Mechadon]

I downloaded them years and years ago, and I haven't gone back to get proper names and credit for them yet. I do know that I downloaded them under the name Fusion Faktor though.

[Demtor]

So far, I love your music selections. They work especially well for such long maps. Perhaps this is them?

[mArt1And00m3r11339]

Mechadon said:

I downloaded them years and years ago, and I haven't gone back to get proper names and credit for them yet. I do know that I downloaded them under the name Fusion Faktor though.

I couldn't find the soundtrack for level 5. I also notice that the switch near sector 1,181 is not activatable.

[Mechadon]

Demtor said:

So far, I love your music selections. They work especially well for such long maps. Perhaps this is them?

It's very possible that is the same artist. I did a bit of digging and found the original page I downloaded them from. They come from this page.

mArt1And00m3r11339 said:

I couldn't find the soundtrack for level 5. I also notice that the switch near sector 1,181 is not activatable.

From that page I linked, look for either gas1.it or gas2.it (I forget which). That's the track I used for MAP05.

As for the problem you pointed out, I just double-checked that and it worked fine for me. You lower that sector via a secret switch, and then the switch you mentioned raises the floor back up. Could you go into more detail with your problem?

[Demtor]

Finally stumbled across map 1's track. It is called "Degeneration."

Also, just found map 2. "Outpost 56."

[mArt1And00m3r11339]

The reason why I asked for music credits is because I want to know if the music is free to use in your video if you post it to YouTube. If it is ad-supported, then the copyright holder places advertisements on your videos (you would see them in the "Copyright Notices" tab).

[Killer5]

Hey. I played Map 01 at the end of November and forgot to post it in case more footage may be helpful.

vod: https://www.twitch.tv/mrzzul/v/104333341

At 36:56 in the video I did find a small bug (I think?) regarding two elevators which are across from each other. Each elevator appears to be meant to have its own switch in order to lower the elevator but both switches lower the same elevator.

Fun map though!

[Mechadon]

Very cool, thanks for linking me to your vod! I'll definitely give it a watch as soon as I can :)

That lift switch bug has [I think] been fixed in my working wad already. If it hasn't, I'll be fixing it very soon. Thanks for reporting it!

If you happen to stream the other two maps (and if you find any other bugs), lemme know and I'll watch them as well.

[omegamer]

For some reason I didnt get a chance to get my hands on your WAD, even if its WIP for such a long long time until now.
Just played trought the first map, I think I'll save up the others for another session these days.
The flow of the gameplay was really really nice for such a big MAP01.

And seeing how much of an effort was put into this is pretty darn impressing,
thanks for this awesome contribution to the community :)

[bioshockfan90]

Really hate to bump this thread, but anything new?

[Mechadon]

Sorry to report that I have no news :(.  One day I'll return to this though.

[mArt1And00m3r11339]

I can't wait to do these maps.

[mArt1And00m3r11339]

I know it is late for this but I beat level 5.

 

0VelaPax05.zip

[mArt1And00m3r11339]

I did a new run of level 5. This time, I scored 100% for the secrets. I did the arch-vile jump to access 3 of them and I opened the one that contained the soul sphere. Instead of 15 enemies left alive, there was 1 left. 

0VelaPax05.zip

[mArt1And00m3r11339]

I beat level 1. Kills (1,490/1,486), items (691/692), and secrets (22/23). Record for low health = 18.

 

0VelaPax01.zip

[Pure Hellspawn]

Honestly, this would be a good mapset for the Ironman Demo contest. 

[mArt1And00m3r11339]

Here is level 2. Kills (1,340/1,326) and 100% on items and secrets.

 

0VelaPax02.zip

[Pixel Fiend]

Oh no! Abandoned? 

[Mechadon]

Hey sorry!  I'm really terrible at posting updates on my projects these days.  I know this looks abandoned, but its not...well technically its not anyways.

 

I made a detailed blog post about what my plans are for the future of Vela Pax; you guys can read it HERE.

 

The tl;dr version is I'm not happy with working on the project alongside the currently finished maps.  Too much time has passed since I last worked on it, and my bar for quality is a lot higher now.  I'm just not a fan of the general moment-to-moment gameplay in those finished maps.  So the plan is to basically restart the project, taking bits and pieces from the old maps and merging them with brand-new layouts.  The new project will follow the same themes and settings of the older maps, more or less (ie. MAP01 will be an Earth-like base, MAP05 will be a lava-drenched hell, etc).

 

I'm also considering moving the project to the Eternity Engine, though I still need to think about that.

 

I know a lot of people like the old maps, so the plan is to keep them around as a legacy release of sorts.  Basically just consider the current release the final version of this legacy variant.  If there are any major bugs in those maps, I'll probably take some time to fix them up and bundle them in a neater package.

 

All of that said though, I won't be able to restart the project for quite a while.  I'm working full-time on Supplice and I just don't have the room to do anything else.  Maybe if things slow down enough with Supplice at some point in the future, I might be able to come back to this.