NOVA: The Birth - v1.1 release now on idGames!

[kildeth]

If sgt dopey doesn't come back, this should be the ultimate final version of Nova: The Birth and the one to be uploaded to /idgames.

https://www.mediafire.com/?sn24ohjsstjdc4w

[cannonball]

one last thing
Some demos files for the wad. That should be it.
http://www.mediafire.com/download/0itnmie67mijaxt/demo1.lmp
http://www.mediafire.com/download/l2wtd8d4129caf2/demo2.lmp
http://www.mediafire.com/download/nbucr1rt630mcba/demo3.lmp

Thanks mediafire for separating them because that is so much more useful than having them in one folder :P

[NuMetalManiak]

Well I'm quite glad that some of the blank stuff got filled in the map info part of the textfile--nice work.

And nice job changing the intro, guess I probably could've done more for that, but all the better.

[Arjak]

I await the release with great excitement. It feels good to be finally done. :D

By the way, thanks for changing my credit like I asked. I was just too proud of this to be credited with just my username!

[kildeth]

Just downloaded PrBoom+. The demos work but unfortunately the story screens are just showing up as the default Doom II ones. :(

Anyone know what might be the problem?

[Phobus]

Same with the map names, too. If you have a DeHackEd patch in the .WAD file, I don't think many ports will load it. Include it in the zip as another file (.deh) and it should be fine.

[kildeth]

Dehacked patch appears to be working for map names on automap only and not for the story screens. :/ I don't know what I'm doing wrong here. Everything worked fine in GzDoom and Zandorum.

[plums]

Try this one? I deleted a blank line and added some header info and it seems to work... only tried map06->map07 text and ending. Not sure what made the difference.
https://www.mediafire.com/?rpewtoen9l4n3j0

Interestingly just exporting the old dehacked patch and loading it as a separate file made it work also, so I really don't know.

[Phobus]

kildeth said:

Everything worked fine in GzDoom and Zandorum.

Not the best way to assure things work in any other port if you don't have prior experience. As I said (and plums has agreed), you want the DeHackEd patch as a separate file outside of the WAD to have it work in less flexible ports and vanilla.

[plums]

To be clear, the fixed version I posted above works for me when embedded in a wad, in PrBoom+. It can't hurt to also include the .deh file separately too, though.

[kildeth]

Thanks! The new version worked. I'll probably include the DeHackEd file in both the .wad itself and as a separate file, just to be on the safe side.

I know GzDoom isn't the best way to test but it was all I had until I downloaded PrBoom+ to test the demos. Everything else seems to work though and others were testing in PrBoom+ beforehand so I was really just making sure everything worked across a variety of ports.

Might upload the .wad to the archives tomorrow (a day early), since there really isn't much else to wait on except map/author info from two people who never replied back and probably won't before the 22nd.

[kildeth]

It's on the archive guys. The journey is over.

ftp://ftp.fu-berlin.de/pc/msdos/games/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/megawads/nova.zip

[Jaws In Space]

Awesome!

You should update the thread title so people know that it's released.

[Suitepee]

At last NOVA: The Birth is finally released! Expect a livestream of it soon from my good self, as I've been looking forward to this one for a while.

[plums]

Well done, congrats guys. I'll probably give this a second run-through later, there's a lot of really good maps in here.

[mouldy]

Nice one. Glad people stuck it out for the full 32 maps.

[NuMetalManiak]

:D

*Now waits for D2INO patiently...*

[Veinen]

Congrats on getting this officially out! I definitely enjoyed this wad in my beta version playthrough and some of the later maps in particular are really impressive. I'll take a look at fully maxing that map30 now and maybe I'll do some other speedier maxes too for the maps I really liked.

[Suitepee]

http://www.twitch.tv/johnsuitepee

Screw it, time for some launch day streaming of NOVA: The Birth to celebrate its release! I'm expecting good things from this project. Or at least for me to have raged once over some Archvile/Revenant trap that one of you Doomworld rookie mappers put in there.

[cannonball]

Suitepee said:

http://www.twitch.tv/johnsuitepee

Screw it, time for some launch day streaming of NOVA: The Birth to celebrate its release! I'm expecting good things from this project. Or at least for me to have raged once over some Archvile/Revenant trap that one of you Doomworld rookie mappers put in there.

make sure to leave some maps for a second stream as im out today and would like to give a commentary about the wad

[Suitepee]

http://www.twitch.tv/johnsuitepee/c/3768403 = part 1 of my playthrough. (maps 01-09 covered, so don't worry cannonball you'll get your chance to commentate!)

Very good stuff so far, and I especially enjoyed fuzzyfireball's map at the end of this part! (where is that person? He needs to make more stuff...) I also particularly liked Evilned's enemy placement on Service Station Sick, especially with the switch part near the end.

But overall I'm impressed with the good gameplay feel in each level from the various Doom maps I've played so far. Good choice of music also throughout each level. Can't wait to play more.

Also thanks to EvilNed, Joe_Ilya and Mrthejoshmon for hopping on the chat to provide their newbie mapping insights into this.

[Arjak]

I watched the first part of your stream, Suitepee, and I loved it. I really appreciated your positive comments on my map, Sewage Processing. It's almost always a good feeling to be appreciated for your work, so to hear you praising things like my monster placement and the sewage secret made me a happy man. Hearing you call that part "diabolically cunning" made my day!

The sewage secret was one of the first ideas I had when making this map, actually. I thought it would be a neat idea as I had never seen a secret like that in Doom before. I never intended it to be done the way you did it, though, as you probably realized when you found the radiation suit secret, but it was quite badass to see you charge through, taking the damage like a champ.

I'm glad you enjoyed Sewage Processing. I hope you'll like my next map (Map 20) even better.

Let me know when you do the next stream, so I can watch!

[dg93]

Congrats guys, I'll play the official release later on.

[Demon of the Well]

Echoing the congratulations on finishing this up. In many places you can tell that it was the work of newbie mappers, but the way it was polished up on the surface without too many of the unusual, sometimes starry-eyed foundational design decisions being changed lends the final product a unique, quirky 'melting-pot' feel not often encountered in serious fullscale WADs these days--it's almost like a Realm of Chaos or a World of Deth or the like with much higher production values, something like that. Not always the most elegant thing in the world, granted, but an interesting playthrough any way you slice it, particularly where some of its more conceptual maps are concerned.

I'll be interested to see what NOVA 2 looks like, as well as the forthcoming individual works from the participants of this current edition.

[dobu gabu maru]

Ahaha I think this is the only deadline we've ever made. Anyway, thanks a bunch kildeth & others for seeing it through and getting this bastard out the door.

[Suitepee]

Arjak said:

Let me know when you do the next stream, so I can watch!

I'll be posting my future streams of NOVA: The Birth on this thread, as well as on my Twitter/Youtube.

I guess the radiation suit would have made that part of your map easier, but I kind of think you could have considered leaving it out and making the player brute force their way through it like I did!

Oh yeah, have you considered asking the DWMegawad Club thread to make this their next wad they cover? I'll certainly be mentioning it!

[plums]

Oh, so you guys thought you were done, huh? Bring on the post-release bug reports! :P

MAP27: a whole lot of sectors use Boom special 768. I don't actually remember this from the beta, but maybe I missed it. On top of that, the Spiderdemon seems to be able to open the blue key door, making for a quick exit if you know where to go. Nevermind, this looks intentional...

[mouldy]

plums said:

Oh, so you guys thought you were done, huh? Bring on the post-release bug reports! :P

MAP27: a whole lot of sectors use Boom special 768. I don't actually remember this from the beta, but maybe I missed it. On top of that, the Spiderdemon seems to be able to open the blue key door, making for a quick exit if you know where to go.

What does special 768 even do? I'd say if it doesn't break the map then may as well leave it.

Funny I also just discovered a secret route which thanks to the mastermind door thing allows you to finish the map in under 30 seconds without firing a shot.
http://www.mediafire.com/download/23ezhy81m0kvcap/nova27-mouldy.lmp
At first I thought it was an easter egg for speed-runners, but it seems that mastermind really does open the door for you anyway. Dunno how he thinks he will get through it..

[EvilNed]

mouldy said:

What does special 768 even do? I'd say if it doesn't break the map then may as well leave it.

Funny I also just discovered a secret route which thanks to the mastermind door thing allows you to finish the map in under 30 seconds without firing a shot.
http://www.mediafire.com/download/23ezhy81m0kvcap/nova27-mouldy.lmp
At first I thought it was an easter egg for speed-runners, but it seems that mastermind really does open the door for you anyway. Dunno how he thinks he will get through it..

It makes the map vanilla incompatible, for one.

[plums]

768 is a Boom generic sector that enables friction and wind - not sure it does anything without accompanying things - but it looks like a mistake of some sort. It does make the map unplayable in Crispy Doom - though not all maps in Nova work with that port, many do, and I think MAP27 would otherwise.

It's not something that needs urgent attention, PrB+ just ignores it on complevel 2, but it might be worth correcting in the future, especially since it seems that Spiderdemon problem might need a fix.