The /newstuff Chronicles #369

[Bloodshedder]

• Star Wars: Chibi Rebellion v5.0 - LilWhiteMouse
  ZDoom Compatible - Solo Play - 17223382 bytes - (img) (img) (img) (img) (img) (img) (img) (img) (img) (img) (img) (img) (img) (img) (img)
  Reviewed by: The Ultimate DooMer
  (Note: If you play v5.0, you need to extract and run cr_57.wad from v5.1 alongside the main wad or your game might get stopped at some point. Also, if you build the scoped dawnsorrow and you get captured by imperials, you'll need to type "give dawnsorrow" at the console when you recover your gear. Both these issues can be avoided by playing v5.1 instead.)
  
  Every so often a mod comes along that brings something new, original and creative. Enter LWM's current project, a Star Wars TC that mainly draws inspiration from Lego Star Wars and Yoda Stories. You play the role of Jaiyl, a red-haired mechanic whose repair shop was trashed by the Empire, so she joined the Alliance to enact revenge. It takes place across a series of randomly-chosen missions on her icy homeworld; when each mission is complete, you return to the rebel base where you recover health/ammo/shields and accept another mission. The real beauty in this setup is that each of the missions has a fixed final map, but the maps in between are chosen randomly from various pools and are put together in a hub. This also applies to the starting maps (the one before you go to the rebel base for a mission), but there's only 5 of these so they'll start repeating after a while.
  
  The graphics might take some getting used to - all the lifeforms are cartoony and dwarf-like, but after a while they seem kinda cute. The droids, smaller ships and other mechanicals are sprites too, but still look nice and authentic to boot. The sounds are authentic and really add to the immersion of the whole place. The maps themselves are bite-size and contain enough detail to feel appropriate to the setting, and there's some particularly impressive structures and attention to Star Wars detail too.
  
  The gameplay is designed to be pick-up-and-play (each mission can be played from scratch) but also contains RPG elements such as weapon building (via finding plans) and ammo buying (via credits). Difficulty at the start depends on what maps you get, but after a few missions it gets rather easy due to your increasing weapon, ammo and shield stocks. It's fun to play though, and you get to battle all kinds of things from people and wildlife to imperial walkers and AT-STs...even the droids get in on the act. There are also some neat puzzles to solve, the most notable of which is fixing broken machinery. (More info on gameplay here.)
  
  My only major gripe (apart from the difficulty) is the lack of an ending...you can play all 12 missions in one game if you want, but after 7 you'll run out of intermediate hub maps and they'll start repeating (so the effective ending is after 7 missions at present); try to play beyond the 12 and they'll start repeating too.
  
  Overall it's not for everyone, but it's a must for Star Wars fans, and those who like something a bit different will also want to play. An awesome amount of work has gone into this, and the result is a highly immersive and impressive mod that can become addictive once you've gotten used to the way things work. It's also a long-term project that's still in development, so who knows what improvements will come in the future.
  
  
• Temple Grounds - Henri Lehto
  Doom 64: The Absolution - Solo Play - 473050 bytes - (img)
  Reviewed by: The Ultimate DooMer
  Firstly, if you don't have the Doom 64 TC, here's a working link (the doom2.net link is dead). Secondly, you'll need to make a bat file with -warp 24 and -skill x (whichever you normally play on) in the command line, or open a lump editor and rename the map24 entry to map01. (The TC prevents the warp cheat from being used unless you beat map 38...why the author seemed to forget about this and didn't make it map01 is something else.)
  
  A single map, set in a small network of caves with some temple areas too. Plenty of detail and Doomsday eye-candy on offer, this makes the temple bits more atmospheric and impressive, the caves somewhat less so. It's straight into the action with most weapons given to you at the start, and the first big monster isn't too far off. There's a few traps along the way but nothing that difficult, and if it wasn't for the port used it would seem quite ordinary away from the impressive temple detail. You can also get stuck in the blue key enclosure if you time it wrong. If you like Doom 64 or Doomsday visuals then you'll enjoy, otherwise I don't know.
  
  
• uuuhhhtod - TimeOfDeath (Chris Balch)
  ZDoom Compatible - Solo Play - 65883 bytes - (img)
  Reviewed by: The Ultimate DooMer
  A joke wad comprising of one (albeit highly-detailed) room in a sea of blood. Punch the switch, kill the monster that spawns, collect the stuff that spawns after, jump to a megasphere if you need one (you will need them), rinse and repeat.
  
  
• SLUT - a true story - TimeOfDeath (Chris Balch)
  ZDoom Compatible - Solo Play - 782186 bytes - (img)
  Reviewed by: The Ultimate DooMer
  An X-rated remake of a PS2 Half-Life map (even though the adult content comprises of 1 titlepic and 1 winged female sprite that's in some ZD skin packs). Basically she gives you the run-around, followed by the map itself as the room in the screenshot will have you wondering what to do - the puzzle is there, but it appears to be broken...so I ended up looking in WadAuthor and puking script 8 to continue. After that, it seems OK as you work your way round the large impressively detailed halls and rooms towards the ever-predictable HL-style ending. Difficulty depends on your choice of weapon, which determines what mobs you face, but it'll be challenging whichever one you choose (protip: don't try the BFG unless you like big hordes of cybers with not enough ammo). The main thing this map has going for it is the detail, and the unbroken puzzle in a room full of lethal sludge. Definitely worth it if you like your architecture (and a fair bit of effort has gone into it), but probably not if you don't.
  
  
• Hangar 22 Invasion - Philnemba
  Skulltag - Invasion - 41607 bytes - (img)
  Reviewed by: The Ultimate DooMer
  A small invasion map set in a bright and brown base. If you're not familiar with the game mode, you'll get several waves of non-infighting mobs spawning in while you run around collecting health/ammo as they respawn; each wave appears after the previous one is defeated. The 6 waves here are fairly simple, but the last 2 of those (which contain a lot of Skulltag's new mobs) could cause you problems especially if there's hardly any companions and you get cut off from either of the health rooms (you can respawn of course, but you might have trouble getting out). The detail here is simple enough to not get in the way, while not looking altogether bare either. A bit short perhaps (certainly compared to the invasion wads to be found on ST servers nowadays), but fun while it lasts.
  
  
• SLOTH 2009 - TimeOfDeath (Chris Balch)
  ZDoom Compatible - Solo Play - 748847 bytes - (img) (img)
  Reviewed by: The Ultimate DooMer
  A set of 4 maps, 1 of which is a gigantic pyramid shaped test map, and another is an arena shaped press-the-button-to-start-custom-fights map (both need infinite ammo). Which leaves map 03 and 04, both of which are extreme slaughter maps like those you'd expect to find on Drown in Blood coop servers.
  
  The first of these is a symmetrical island map where you kill a horde of zombies, let some tougher mobs out (opening the island up) and watch most of them die while running round then engage in some rocket jumping and negotiate some semi-tricky archie encounters (depending on what you did at the start). Detail isn't on the agenda here, just no-nonsense BFG action.
  
  The second is the kind of large-scale epic you'd find at the back end of Drown in Blood. It's based in the large grassy areas around some skyscrapers and in an arena or two. Everything about this map is huge; the player and the monsters seem like they're in a giant's playground at times. Architecture is grand, and so are the hordes of enemies and supplies of ammo. The rocket jumping and timed shooting range sections can be annoying, but the rest of it is extreme rocket/BFG/infighting slaughter. Definitely worth playing if you like it that way.
  
  
• RJSLOTH - TimeOfDeath (Chris Balch) and Morrison
  ZDaemon - SP/Co-op - 1183153 bytes - (img) (img)
  Reviewed by: The Ultimate DooMer
  Three rocket jumping maps, unusually spread across map 02, 06, 10. They're all very challenging, but here are checkpoints every so often so you don't go back to the start all the time. The second map is a deep pit; the other two are fields of blocks that look impressive from a distance and could easily have been an awesome cityscape with some retexturing. This one is for the hardcore jumpers.
  
  
• Quadruple Threat - The Green Herring, 40oz, Jodwin, Super Jamie
  Boom Compatible - Solo Play - 79933 bytes - (img) (img) (img) (img) (img)
  Reviewed by: walter confalonieri
  This map is based upon a speedmapping session done by the authors in 100 minutes, and joined in this fast action level. Theme is a medieval - hellish place like map21 of Alien Vendetta (in my opinion, this map reminds me that level) and also some desert canyons here and there... however, this map is hard (when I played this the first few times, I always got blasted from the FIRST chaingunners you meet in the starting courtyard, and that made me so pissed off!!!) and you get lots of fancy battle action here.
  
  In fewer words, a good choice for some real challenge!
  
  
• Drip Feed - IORI
  Boom Compatible - Solo Play - 675805 bytes - (img)
  Reviewed by: The Ultimate DooMer
  One large brick/marble hell map. Plenty of nice architecture, but you'll be too busy killing stuff from the start to notice it for a while. The layout has you ping-ponging around a bit, and you might get confused if you move too fast, but you'll be kept on your toes by the population (which sadly includes a bit too many chaingunners). Ammo is tight to start with but opens up, and you'll have more than enough; health is manageable if you don't rush in too often. It has some flaws, but overall it's a good map.
  
  
• Cloven Hoof - Chris Wright
  doom2.exe - Solo Play - 57532 bytes
  Reviewed by: Super Jamie
  Yet another piece of garbage from the infamous Chris Wright. Some people on the /idgames review page actually seemed to enjoy this, so I got my hopes up and gave it a spin. Boy was I disappointed.
  
  This map has more of the usual massive, flat, open spaces and randomly mixed, aimless encounters which Mr. Wright is famous for. He even manages to teleport in an easily-missed Arch Vile which resurrected most of the map on me, running me out of ammo. Great balance there, CJ.
  
  I'm not even going to bother with screenshots, you all know what these pieces of crap look like.
  
  As with all his other maps, skip it.
  
  
• Groovy Doom Guns - Alando1 (Alan)
  ZDoom Compatible - n/a - 1952922 bytes - (img) (img) (img) (img) (img) (img) (img)
  Reviewed by: Jekyll Grim Payne
  What's the first thing you want to see in a weapon mod in order to call it a good weapon mod? I don't know about you, but for me it's the hands. Same hands for all the weapons. As well as same style for all the weapons, though this point is kinda controversial. So, the first thing I'd like to say to you, Alan, and I'm sorry to say this: people will always complain about sprite rips. No matter how good the gameplay of a mod is, people want to see nice and new sprites. Nice and new sprites constitute a big part Zero Tolerance's success.
  
  It's wrong to start with criticism, though, and there are a lot of nice things to say about this mod. I like the blood, the bullet puffs, the colored fullscreen pickup flashes, and also slight screen jitters that create an unusual recoil effect. The explosions are very nice, though the rocket smoke trail behaves kinda strange, not staying right behind the flying rocket.
  
  What else? Well, the set of guns is rather solid. Yet for some reason you start with the Doom pistol instead of its replacement Dispersion Pistol, which you have to pick up yourself from Zombiemen. Which also makes me wonder, why Zombiemen carry Dispersion Pistols around, yet shoot normal hitscan attacks. And, Alan, seriously, you have to find out how to make empty casings fly sideways, not 45 degrees right or left.
  
  The Doom 3: RoE double-barreled shotgun seems and feels out of place: 3d-sprite rip doesn't look right among other guns, as well as the gun itself is not very useful considering the increased power and automatic fire of the shotgun replacement. This, of course, is me nagging. The mod is fun, it's just not especially hot. Play it, if you're not afraid of sprite rips. And the absence of a TITLEPIC.
  
  
• DOOM NG (New Generation DOOM) - Richard Smith Long
  ZDoom Compatible - n/a - 5131513 bytes - (img) (img) (img) (img)
  Reviewed by: WildWeasel
  New Generation Doom (or Engee, as the filename refers to it, and as I shall continue to refer to it) is Richard Smith Long's latest weapon mod. The author seems to be going for the "basic Doom arsenal but enhanced" type of weapon mod, right down to leaving some of the default Doom graphics in. This rather frustrates me, as the extra stuff that's been added really kind of clashes.
  
  The first thing that bugs me: the status bar is only available in normal status bar mode, drawing nothing in fullscreen mode. The status bar code dictates that it be drawn at the center bottom of the screen using Fullscreen Offsets mode, which in this case means that you cannot scale it up to fit the screen, no matter what. Since I run GZDoom at 1280x1024, this is a liability as I can't read the ammo numbers in the right side of the bar. Note to Mr. Long: just because you don't use a setting doesn't mean you shouldn't test with it to make sure nothing's broken!
  
  Annoyance number two: despite the fact that dual pistols are on offer, they do not offer any benefit over a single pistol outside of the double magazine size. They don't even fire faster! What's the bloody point of carrying two pistols if your goal is not to throw a huge wall of lead down range? The double reloading also effectively doubles the reload time, making the dualies even more of a potential safety hazard.
  
  And the third major annoyance: the Armored Imps, which randomly spawn in place of regular imps and do WAY TOO MUCH DAMAGE. Picture this: I'm circle-strafing one of said imps in a tight room of Scythe Map02. I'm a little too close to a wall, but figure I'm safe because I dodged the missile. Well, I'm not safe, because said missile drains my remaining 68% health with its splash damage. What the hell are these guys shooting? Cyberdemon rockets?
  
  On to the rest of the mod. After opting to merely play Doom episode 1 to make things easier on myself, I begin to notice a quirk with the ammo pickups: when you pick up a weapon you already have, not only do you get more reserve ammo, but your magazine is filled as well. This threw off my mental ammo count - I'd gotten used to my dual pistols reloading after twenty shots, but the fact that they didn't threw me for a loop. I tried reloading but found I couldn't - then I noticed I still had ammo left in reserve _and_ my magazine was filled to the brim already. Granted, I'm probably the only one that cares about that sort of thing, but I suppose if you're obsessive-compulsive enough about your weapon reloads, this will drive you Nucking Futs(tm).
  
  Things that might bug other people but don't necessarily bug me: lots of borrowed special effects. Nashgore blood effects are in full force here, as are the barrels from Zero Tolerance (everything but the radioactive health bonuses that spew out of them, really). There are recoil effects, presumably the same ones Vaecrius wrote for Hideous Destructor (and the ones I borrowed for Diaz...hmm), and they're also very, very powerful. Even I had trouble hitting anything with the minigun, given its really strong upward kick.
  
  Further things. The nitrogen gun's idle sound is too loud, and for whatever God-forsaken reason, RSL added +CHEATNOTWEAPON to everything in the damn mod, meaning those of us who only wanted to check out the guns now have to Dumpclasses Weapon at the ZDoom console and manually give every single item. You should not bother keeping cheaters at bay. They will find a way.
  
  Basically, I'm sure this mod's pretty well put together (outside of the various flaws listed above), but I got too annoyed by the majority of it to really bother playing any further. Engee needs to be taken back to the drawing board for some serious fixing.
  
  
• Van Maerlantlyceum - Mark7
  doom2.exe - Solo Play - 128319 bytes - (img)
  Reviewed by: Super Jamie
  The text file within claims this map was made in 1995. I believe it.
  
  It's someone's school, featuring terribly balanced gameplay and "realistic" architecture like classrooms, blackboards and the ever-present 1995 toilets.
  
  I submit a screenshot which I believe adequately parallels the quality of the level. Skip this.
  
  
• The World May Now ! - Michael "Optimus" Kargas
  Boom Compatible - Solo Play - 53593 bytes - (img)
  Reviewed by: Jekyll Grim Payne
  A single level made in one morning, "The World May Now!" is short and simple. You start in a middle of a HUGE stadium which at first looks empty. Then you see a lot of red stars appearing somewhere very far. Yeah, these are Imps' fireballs. There are several hundred Imps and over 800 monsters overall, including some Shotgun Guys and Chainguys positioned on top of several big pillars in the stadium, and some more demons inside a big square building with a big square staircase.
  
  In general, the level is simple, square and boring, but strangely not crappy: there are no misaligned textures, no map errors, and the map is even rather playable and not too hard; it even has some nice looks and a bit of simple lighting work. It's just that it's not really anything interesting or catchy. But hey, the guy made it in one morning.
  
  
• Edgy - Mr. Chris
  Boom Compatible - Solo Play - 205680 bytes - (img)
  Reviewed by: The Ultimate DooMer
  An action packed map 20 replacement. It's broken into 2 clear areas and mostly comprises of green stone, with some brick and wood thrown in too. It all looks fairly good (particularly with dynamic lights) yet without making it look like a limit-removing map (the Boom requirement comes from line types). The gameplay is the talking point here - it's based around a bunch of mass teleports with innocuous triggers (which will catch you out). This works, although it can lead to bottlenecks, and there are too many hitscanners with only limited health to go round. But it's a challenging map nonetheless, and worth it if you like challenges that aren't just slaughter maps.
  
  
• Phobos Massacre - Stormwalker
  ZDoom Compatible - Solo Play - 837569 bytes - (img) (img) (img) (img) (img) (img) (img) (img) (img) (img)
  Reviewed by: Super Jamie
  Phobos Massacre is an Episode 1 replacement in which the author attempts to emulate Romero's infamous Knee Deep In The Dead style. In this, I felt he missed the mark quite badly. However, in an effort to make a fun, cohesive E1 which looks nice, uses the limited shareware resources to create varied new encounters, and plays harder than the original, he has succeeded pretty well.
  
  There is quite a bit of modern finer sector detailing and atmospheric, gradient lighting in amongst older-style plastered-on STARTAN and SLADWALL. Attention to each area varies from room to room, in some places I felt the "classic styling" was just used as an excuse for poor detailing and conversely some places made me appreciate the author's creativity. It's definitely not ugly but more than once you're reminded this isn't exactly Suspended In Dusk.
  
  The gameplay is difficult in parts. Stormwalker says in the text file that this is easy; I'd love to play one of his hard levels! Expect some borderline-mean monster closets and little health. Some of the teleports in the latter half of the episode are almost slaughterous. A bit more variety in the encounters wouldn't have gone astray; repeated close-range Shotgunner traps get boring by E1M5. Good attention has been given to pistol starts, and the secrets are rewardingly well-balanced.
  
  Some of the layouts used are golden; several times I felt any mapper would be envious of the clever loops and re-use of space. There are some nice classic-style inclusions like building stairs and crushers. I felt the author lost inspiration in later half of the levels; they get large and meandering in places. More than once I got lost and wandered aimlessly until I spotted a switch, passage or door I'd previously missed.
  
  True to E1, there are no Cacodemons throughout the maps, and I thought E1M8 was a very nice take on the old penultimate encounter from 1994. The small passages around the "Bruiser Brothers" and the later Rocket Launcher dance actually make the venerable Baron Of Hell enjoyably challenging.
  
  The author has only tested in ZDoom but I ran it just fine in PrBoom+. Some of the monster numbers (if not the sector detailing) will definitely exceed Vanilla limits so I assume this will run in any limit-removing port.
  
  Overall, Phobos Massacre was pretty enjoyable. Whilst it misses the mark as a Romero emulation, it's a good classic episode that can stand on its own two feet. I've picked the above flaws as a reviewer looking for constructive criticism, but as a player I found this well worth the couple of hours it took to get through. Recommended.
  
  
• Nostril Caverns - TimeOfDeath (Chris Balch)
  Boom Compatible - Solo Play - 1028356 bytes - (img)
  Reviewed by: Super Jamie
  An interesting and unique gameplay experiment by our fellow member TimeOfDeath.
  
  This ultra-hard and very long map features color-coordinated rooms of increasing size radiating around a central hub. Each color features one enemy type in increasing numbers as rooms get larger, culminating in a switch and possibly a new weapon type, depending on passage. Once the passages have been defeated, you have a swarm of Archviles and Masterminds to deal with whilst budgeting Invulnerability Spheres. Some passages like Zombiemen are quite easy, some like Revenants and Cyberdemons (!) will test even the best Doomer.
  
  Some BEX work ensures the weapons don't use any ammo so this is all down to player skill. Literally over 9000 enemies await with a completion time of over 4 hours based on the included demos. Luckily, you have a nice, modern death metal style MIDI by ToD himself to keep you company. Pls to be making more musics like this.
  
  This is a curious playable essay into a very different gameplay style but winds up extremely repetitive. I suspect most of the people who are going to play this seriously have already played it in the forum thread; however, if you're a silent achiever with the skill of the ultra-hard players mentioned in the textfile and a day to kill, then give it a spin.
  
  
• Ants of Hell - John Fitzgibbons
  Limit Removing - Solo Play - 1636699 bytes
  Reviewed by: Philnemba
  This map doesn't exist. If you check all 32 maps within Doom 2, this map doesn't replace any at all. I've even try opening it with both Doom Builder 2 and XWE both with an error message in it saying that wad file was not valid. Whatever the reason, best to avoid this wad since you can't play it.
  
  
• Castle Massacre - GlassMan
  Limit Removing - Solo Play - 2291758 bytes
  Reviewed by: Philnemba
  This map has the same silly problem as Ants of Hell. The map can't be found anywhere in the wad and it won't open with Doombuilder 2 or XWE. Don't download this since it doesn't work and it's not a valid wad file.
  
  
• Entrance - Brandon Gray
  ZDoom Compatible - Solo Play - 27796 bytes - (img)
  Reviewed by: MegaDoomer
  This is a very small introduction level to an upcoming episode. Unfortunately, it's so brief that I can't really make an accurate predication as to the episode's quality, if it is finished. I completed it in about two minutes. I will say that it isn't horrible, the looks aren't much for detail but not ugly either. The gameplay was fine mostly, but the end was low on ammo. Given its shortness, and the lack of anything to stand out, I'm not sure I'd recommend downloading this, but the final episode might be pretty good.
  
  

Does this /newstuff Chronicles suck? Does your wise ass think you can write better reviews than these jerkoffs? Then get over to the /newstuff Review Center and help out. I know you must have a Doomworld Forums account because you like griping about every edition in the comment thread, but if you don't, you need to get one to submit reviews.

[Julian]

fp!

[Belial]

Slut review said:
the puzzle is there, but it appears to be broken...

Works for me.

[Philnemba]

The Skulltag invasion map I made was just a little experiment that I felt like doing and I did have fun making it(maybe one day I might make a mapset of some sorts). Also its possible to beat it in single player without dying ;)

Also whats up with the blank "Groovy Doom Guns" review?

EDIT: lol now its there.

[sirjuddington]

Philnemba said:

Also whats up with the blank "Groovy Doom Guns" review?

...it was so awesome he was speechless? :P

[Searcher]

Stormwalker's map looks like one to "give a go". Grabbing it now.

[GreyGhost]

• Temple Grounds - Henri Lehto
  Doom 64: The Absolution - Solo Play - 473050 bytes -
  Reviewed by: The Ultimate DooMer
  Firstly, if you don't have the Doom 64 TC, here's a working link (the doom2.net link is dead).

Here's a direct link to Doom2.net that works.

• Ants of Hell - John Fitzgibbons
  Limit Removing - Solo Play - 1636699 bytes
  Reviewed by: Philnemba
  This map doesn't exist.
  
  
• Castle Massacre - GlassMan
  Limit Removing - Solo Play - 2291758 bytes
  Reviewed by: Philnemba
  This map has the same silly problem as Ants of Hell.
  

Ants of Hell appears to be a Quake map, not sure about Castle Massacre but I suspect it's also a Quake add-on.

[Craigs]

I tried Chibi Rebellion and gave up just a few minutes in. I got to some Jawa sand crawler (which was pretty ironic given the setting of the wad and the name of the vehicle) and I couldn't figure out how to get past the Jawa shaman. After about 10 minutes of back tracking, shooting at the shaman, shooting at the crap he was throwing, etc. I just flat out gave up.

[Gez]

Craigs said:

I couldn't figure out how to get past the Jawa shaman. After about 10 minutes of back tracking, shooting at the shaman, shooting at the crap he was throwing, etc. I just flat out gave up.

http://forum.zdoom.org/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=16549&start=255#p492436

[DuckReconMajor]

I loaded TimeOfDeath's Nostril Caverns Max demo on my laptop. I then proceeded to eat junk food and play CoD 4 on my Xbox until I eventually fell asleep and woke up to an ENDOOM screen.

I can officially say I beat Nostril Caverns.

[magicsofa]

Thanks to Philnemba for the most useful reviews :D

[GreyGhost]

Well this is Doomworld - not Quakeworld. :P

MegaDoomer did some further research and identified the Quake maps as Antediluvian and Day of the Lords.

[Reisal]

GreyGhost said:

Well this is Doomworld - not Quakeworld. :P

MegaDoomer did some further research and identified the Quake maps as Antediluvian and Day of the Lords.

Then those files should be removed from /idgames and moved to the Quake equalivent.

[DuckReconMajor]

Isn't that what that is?

[Philnemba]

Mr. Chris said:

Then those files should be removed from /idgames and moved to the Quake equalivent.

Agree.

Also that Star Wars: Chibi Rebellion Zdoom mod is pretty fun.

[Bloodshedder]

GreyGhost said:

MegaDoomer did some further research and identified the Quake maps as Antediluvian and Day of the Lords.

So are the uploaded files PAKs, MAPs, BSPs, etc.? Inquiring minds want to know.

[Philnemba]

Bloodshedder said:

So are the uploaded files PAKs, MAPs, BSPs, etc.? Inquiring minds want to know.

No they're wad files.

[Graf Zahl]

Only by extension. There is no WAD structure in them.

[Craigs]

This is a wonderful screenshot. I honestly think that MegaDoomer should just take all the screen shots from now on.

[GreyGhost]

Bloodshedder said:

So are the uploaded files PAKs, MAPs, BSPs, etc.? Inquiring minds want to know.

They're BSPs masquerading as WADs.

[wildweasel]

So...who's sick of my overly long reviews of weapon mods? =P

[40oz]

tl;dr

[Bank]

WildWeasel said:

So...who's sick of my overly long reviews of weapon mods? =P

Not that there's anything wrong with an in-depth review, but I'd say the number of people who play just straight weapon mods is much smaller than the number of people who play mods that happen to have replacement weapons. It may just be a matter of audience.

[rsl]

Okay, time for ranting again about the review of one of my mods. The review by Wildweasel is quite lengthy and particularly stressed on some points, so I thought a reply was obligatory. I will articulate point by point.

The first thing that bugs me: the status bar is only available in normal status bar mode, drawing nothing in fullscreen mode...

I am not a great fan of custom HUDs (and when I play fullscreen, I use GZDOOM's alternate HUD), so I just opted to redesign a bit the classic status bar, by strictly accommodating only the extra ammo counters and weapon indicators involved by the mod.
In order to do this, I copied the "default DOOM status bar" code exposed by the ZDOOM Wiki and modified it to suit my needs. Since such default status bar is automatically stretched to fit the screen no matter what resolution you choose, then it comes down to one of the following cases:

1. I made a mistake when copying such code, or
2. the code reported on the wiki is somewhat incorrect, or
3. (G)ZDOOM may be in need of a simple function - accessible via menu - that allows to force status bar stretching independently from the selected screen size.

despite the fact that dual pistols are on offer, they do not offer any benefit over a single pistol outside of the double magazine size...

That's exactly what I conceived them for. Having them fire much faster than the single one would be way too unrealistic for my tastes, and you can always hope on finding an MP-40 (which does slightly less damage per shot anyway) if you want a faster, 9-gauge-fed weapon.

the Armored Imps...

Again, they are purposefully so. They must force you to fight without using your standard DOOM tactics, and don't say I didn't give you a plethora of overpowered weapons to face them. Heck, didn't you even notice that their mini-missiles travel slower than yours?

I begin to notice a quirk with the ammo pickups...

Agreed. This has been fixed in a second release of the mod, which has already been uploaded in place of the old one. Unfortunately, the IDGames archive web interface shows nothing about upgrades, so you probably must have reviewed the old version...

Things that might bug other people but don't necessarily bug me: lots of borrowed special effects...

My point on this: when you like a resource and the author has not explicitly forbidden its reuse, you can use (and maybe improve) it, provided you credit the original author. Should I have omitted listing the credits, you would be absolutely right, but since this is not the case, I don't think this should even deserve a mention in the review.

Even I had trouble hitting anything with the minigun, given its really strong upward kick...

Done on purpose. It's good to feel a powerful firearm going out of control in your hands; plus, the recoil makes up for its firerate/firepower combination.

The nitrogen gun's idle sound is too loud...

I will check this.

for whatever God-forsaken reason, RSL added +CHEATNOTWEAPON to everything in the damn mod, meaning those of us who only wanted to check out the guns now have to Dumpclasses Weapon at the ZDoom console and manually give every single item...

ARGH! Again, maybe for the third time. :-) Now, it's hard to avoid shouting and swearing at this, but I'll try to reply politely with an acronym:

R.T.F.T.:
READ.
THE.
FREAKING.
TEXTFILE.

...which says - as for *all* my previous mods - that you just need to type 'rsl' into the console to obtain the full arsenal of the mod for playtesting. It's even shorter than 'give all' or 'give weapons'... The reason? Well, it has nothing to do with cheaters. A few times ago, when playing mods by other authors I found out that - even with a custom KEYCONF - the default weapons were always present in some way, so that when you consumed all ammo for a certain custom weapon and thus caused a weapon switch, the default weapons would show up inbetween the new ones. I noticed that this happened always after a 'give all' command, that evidently had the effect of equipping you with more stuff than you expected. That's why I started discouraging the use of standard cheats in my mods. If you have different suggestions to solve the issue, you're welcome!

the extra stuff that's been added really kind of clashes...

Let me say I simply do not agree on this. Frankly, I have seen several modifications - generally deemed as "good" - with much more evident manifestations of poor quality (inconsistent/unclean graphics, badly sampled sounds, different styles mixed together, lack of polish...), yet very few actually receiving the appropriate criticism. Anyway, if that's your point of view/taste, I (obviously) respect it.

I think I made all due clarifications - sorry if I seemed a bit harsh at times, and thanks for the review.

--RSL

[Reisal]

WildWeasel said:

So...who's sick of my overly long reviews of weapon mods? =P

I'm not, I like long review that include positive and negative points.

[wildweasel]

rsl said:

Again, [the armored imps] are purposefully so. They must force you to fight without using your standard DOOM tactics, and don't say I didn't give you a plethora of overpowered weapons to face them.

You don't. Map01 of Scythe.wad is near impossible to play from a pistol start. Considering it is the first map in a wad file, this is inexcusable.

Unfortunately, the IDGames archive web interface shows nothing about upgrades, so you probably must have reviewed the old version...

I downloaded and reviewed it last week.

[TheDarkArchon]

rsl said:

A few times ago, when playing mods by other authors I found out that - even with a custom KEYCONF - the default weapons were always present in some way, so that when you consumed all ammo for a certain custom weapon and thus caused a weapon switch, the default weapons would show up inbetween the new ones. I noticed that this happened always after a 'give all' command, that evidently had the effect of equipping you with more stuff than you expected. That's why I started discouraging the use of standard cheats in my mods. If you have different suggestions to solve the issue, you're welcome!

It's an incredibly minor issue at worst and effectively chucking out the old cheats in favour of this is a ridiculous measure.

[wildweasel]

It's not worth taking such measures because it will piss someone off.

[TimeOfDeath]

Thanks for the reviews TUD and Super Jamie. :D

uuuhhhtod - jumping on the skinny platforms is tricky to do without falling off.

SLUT - it wasn't really supposed to be an x-rated wad, but just a half-life remake with a story, told out of revenge, about the evil whore who's initials doomguy has tattooed on his chest. I didn't realize until later that it would be placed in the x-rated category because of the siren sprite. To activate script 8 you gotta press the cyberdemon statue, shoot the barrels that spawn, then press the eye switch (it's supposed to simulate a piece of wood on the tracks that's blocking the mining cart from moving, like in the original half-life decay level). CHECK THIS PAGE for a funny gameplay + commentary video that two guys made in coop for the original half-life decay level - it's MISSION THREE. There is enough ammo against the cybers and to kill all monsters (you gotta kill some of the cybers with two bfg shots each).

SLOTH 2009 - Yeah, map03 and map04 were the first single player maps I made, after making maps in drown in blood (coop). It was fun to make them because you didn't have to worry if the server would lag (which was always an issue with making coop maps), you only had to worry about how much your computer could handle. The maps are almost identical to the version from 2006.

RJSLOTH - When you compare map02 with map10, you can see just how much higher players could jump after the new super jump techniques were developed. lols

Nostril Caverns - I don't think this map is necessarily that unique. It's basically a similar type of level as something from Toke's coopbuild, but designed for single player instead of coop servers, and it's hella long (mostly because of repetition). You could call it an indirect tribute to coopbuild. The green cacos actually have half the health they normally have in coopbuild (4000 instead of 8000). Ammo management is certainly a skill, but with infinite ammo the player only has to focus on how aggressive they play. The map is really repetitive, but you get infinite ammo BFG so you should still have fun :) It's not the best looking map and it doesn't have rocket jumping, but I think this is my best map. It's an endurance marathon with gameplay that turned me into the player I am today (good or bad is up to you :) - a tribute to all the time I spent playing Toke's coopbuild (and wads that spawned from it) when I started playing doom seriously in 2004.

EDIT: btw, the girl in the SLUT titlepic is Kari Sweets. Check her out.

[rsl]

WildWeasel said:

It's not worth taking such measures because it will piss someone off.

Ok, let's say I agree with you. But did you ever experience something similar? And if so, did you try to solve the issue in any way?

P.S. Disclaimer: I am currently contemplating a new mod with multiple classes and class-specific spawns (implemented via a class-unique inventory item at start), so I guess that "Oops... I'll do it again..." ;-)

If I may ask, what would you suggest in this case to avoid "disabling" the standard cheats? Thanks for your answer...