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Z86

Hellbound - Updated

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Yay I love UV max!

I'll watch them when I'll get home.

BTW my pipeline so far:
- Doom64 to Doom2 maps
- I want to do a little "expansion" to Hellbound, with an EPI3 and an EPI4 style medley maps
- And a super secret GZDoom project...

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Here is a stream with live commentary of the first six or seven maps of Hellbound. I like it so far!

Here's the majority of it:
http://www.twitch.tv/krispavera/b/431100231

And here's the last several minutes, plus some closing thoughts:
http://www.twitch.tv/krispavera/b/431143528

Disclaimer: Some of the language used may be foul at times, and I apologize for some of my.. edgier comments in places. Sometimes I can be a big mouth.

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Finally had some time to watch it. Thanks for the time and effort to play it. Feedback is definitely appreciated.

I always found doom movement to be quite bouncy, so for me floor deviations don't feel that extra bouncy, but it is noted anyway, with the next projects I'll be a bit more careful with floor evenness.

As for MAP03 and MAP08, they were some truly horrible maps. I almost threw them out, but I decided to keep them because I was too lazy to remake them.
MAP12 is also a big offender with corridor stuff. Maybe I'm just too attached to my work to throw it out and remake it.

Also I am less troubled by lift/stair fights, maybe because I oftentimes use freelook.
I'll do some vanilla/limit remover maps in the future and try to keep this in mind.

My next big project will be GZDoom only, so freelook is a given there (especially since I made decorate weapons for it with +pitch recoils), but the floor/trimming thingy is good to keep in mind even there.

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Come on, man! MAP03 was kinda atmospheric! The lot of hallways was its only mistake, but it's not even really a mistake, cause you improved them very well!

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For what it's worth, I *loved* map12. Except the music, which I changed. But still. It was a really cool concept, and I didn't think the layout was much of an issue.

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Well, it is personal preference for everybody, I guess. I think visually MAP03 was updated to a decent quality, but it still has some marks of very early gameplay design. After all, I think it was the very first map I did in DoomBuilder.

MAP12 was kind of hard to update from it's skeleton, I mostly just added stuff everywhere to make corridors less boring. The infested part is kind of good, it did not neet that much tampering.

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The main reason why I can't hate MAP03 is that this is the level where you enter the building that takes place on the gateway lab, which is actually your destination in the first episode.

About the freelook thing. On the subway level (don't remember the map number, probably the fifth one) you put a kinda high and long pair of stairs that brings the player up to the surface. Well, I ran up before I killed every monster in the subway, and they blocked the way down. Killing them was an autoaimic nightmare on PrBoom+! :D

But it's not a big mistake, almost not even mentionable. The level itself worked pretty well.

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This wad is awesome. I love the lighting and the level designs which feel pretty fresh to me and look nice. The subway level is a standout level with a lot of atmosphere.

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I definitely like what I have played so far, which was part of levels 1 and 11. I like the style very much, and the gameplay has been challenging but not very challening, so fun practice I guess. Reminds me almost a little of kama sutra (definitely different though, hellbound is a little more detailed from what I see, but I think the style is similar), which is one of my favorite sets of levels that I have played overall.

Good job to the creator.

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This is probably one of the best megawads I've played. I love the style, the progression in levels that make them feel like more then just maps, the finely balanced gameplay. The hellbases and cities in particular are *fantastic*.

I can't wait to see what you do next :>

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An update to the wad will be soon coming up. Changes include:

General
- Lots of little texture alignment fixes
MAP04
- added some stairs next to the first elevator. No need to fight on elevator anymore if you don't manage to get off from it.
- Made some doors D1.
MAP05
- removed secret flag from the Rocket Launcher room, added 2 extra rocket boxes here
- added secret flag to Light Amp room
- made some doors D1.
MAP06
- moved trigger that opens the hellknight, imps and the cacodemons in the blue corridor to the stairs from the plasma pedestal
MAP08
- made some doors D1
MAP12
- changed teleporter area around the exit, so that it is only accessable from one way
MAP14
- fixed a clipping issue with the elevator to the rooftop
- added slightly more health
MAP21
- moved trigger line that raises hellknight a bit further back. Also extended said trigger line to the lava
MAP24
- fixed some monster pathing issues

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Just wanted to say that MAP02 is genius, I love the texture puzzle! Difficulty suits me - I survive the fights and then play back through the levels scavenging for stimpacks, my favourite style. :3

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Dunno if anything can be done about it, but there seems to be a slime trail in Map 07:

Map 07 screenshot #1 (ingame view)
Map 07 screenshot #2 (map view)

The elevator at the beginning of Map 14 seems to have HOMs (at least in ZDoom 2.8pre-237), and you can fall through the elevator if you keep moving around while the lift goes up:

Map 14 screenshot

Additionally, maybe Map 08 shouldn't be named "Military Depo", but "Military Depot".

Some more small typo issues in the cluster texts have been eliminated. If you want to check it, get the edited DEHACKED file here (9 KB).


* EDIT NOV 9, 2013 *
I am finished with all the levels, and all I can say is that the second half of this megawad did not disappoint at all.

Finally I was able to access the secret levels, and both of them are simply awesome. While "Diabolus Ex Machina" places you in the middle of a nightmare with flesh and tech textures, "Spear of Destiny" gives you a Wolfenstein level with very modern and amazing design (you enter the tower from the SoD intro screen and really have to retrieve the spear).

Then, the impressive city levels continue with "City Bounds" and "Starport". Now THIS is what a starport is supposed to look like, folks! It's huge, with landing pads, large hangar bays and everything - maybe my 2nd favorite map of this pack right after "Doom District".

After that, we get a few levels which I consider as a tribute to the classic levels of the first Doom. Many sections of that architecture reminds you of the old id levels, but they were recreated in such a different way that it's far from being a rip or anything. It remains original and feels like a nostalgia trip with a modern twist.

While I am not such a huge fan of hell levels in general, the hell episode of this pack is definitely worth checking out in any case. My personal highlights of the last third were probably "Forbidden Archives" (it really looks like a library, and a freaking huge one), of course "Ascension" (a murderous slaughter level with insane monster count and such sophisticated architecture that my weak netbook only produced a slide show here most of the time) and the creative finale, "Worlds Collide" (you have to do quite a lot before you can finish the "Demon Spitter").

Many of these maps are impressively HUGE, but they never get confusing or boring. Level design is superb, the general challenge is just about perfect (also on lower difficulties) and there is always something new to see. If that were the last megawad Z86 ever did, it would be a more-than-worthy legacy. But then again, it'd be also a pity considering the skills demonstrated here which simply cry for more.
"Hellbound" is a must-play for everyone this year, and if there was a Platinum Cacoward, this one would certainly have to get one.

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I have a bug in MAP10 (Cistern) playing with Risen3D 2.2.0-21:

The bridge in the east (sector #45) appears to be raised, using the top texture of the adjacent posts, and has a HOM in the watery floor, but I fall through.

Is that port specific?

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I have given Graham Jackson additional info on this. I'm sure it will be fixed for v22. A quick fix for now is to delete the unnecessary texture - PLAT1 - on the lowers of lines 3633, 227, 3643 and 3645 and rebuild the nodes.

EDIT - Will be fixed in Risen3D v2.2.22

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Is it me or there's a refrence of plutonia in MAP01 with that rocket launcher in the closet?
As it says in the victory text.
"And don't forget to tell your grandkids to hide a rocket launcher in their closet for some final cleaning"

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The inspiration by DOOM 3 is indisputable. The dark conveyor tunnel and the broken curve with the hellish area in MAP15 are rather obvious. And well done in a DOOM 2 engine.

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I'm almost done with this one. . . all I have to say is that this has been GODLY. Outstanding level design pretty much all throughout with only one or two missteps, tough but fair challenge with few frustrating moments, and generally great flow. I tip my hat to you, good sir, this is Cacoward-worthy.

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Updated the Mediafire download link with the latest (bugfixed and slightly improved) version. It's the same zip name, but replaced with the new wad.

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Yes, it was made way before it was brought up here - I just forgot to post it here (yes, I'm a lazy bastard)


Anyway if that issue remains (that is it is not fixed within the engine) I'm willing to make a quick fix for that, just to make it a bit more playable in more ports - it is, after all supposed to be port independent.

Also, those misaligned Supports are embarassing enough :) - idk how I overlooked that...

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Okay, great WAD in total, but Map 30. . . I think that was a terrible decision you made bringing up the Icon of Sin AND having to go through all those ridiculous hoops and keyhunts with respawning enemies. I HATE Icon fights, especially long, drawn out ones like that, so I just went with God mode and Noclip to see if I was right. Bad way to end an otherwise enjoyable mapset.

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I wasnt a fan of the fight either, but the map itself, goddamn, it was beautiful. Had to IDDQD and be bored holding down the fire button while surrounded by about 300 monsters..that would not dissipate. I'll never do that map legitimately, its impossible as far as I'm concerned.

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I will do another replay of this with GZDoom around Xmas and check for any issues specifically, but I don't remember running into any obvious problems in the first place.

One way or the other, in my opinion this is THE megawad of 2013, only maybe with Unholy Realms remotely matching it (but even then, only as a close second).

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At this point, the MIDI used in Map29 is a telltale you're going to play a super grindy map. Which I am totally cool with. Great stuff!

Had a slight issue on that map, I bumped into an invisible wall to the left of thing #343. There's nothing there, no linedefs or anything, so it's probably one of those nodebuilders oddities on super large open maps. Something as simple as moving one vertex back and forth (or splitting a sector) and rebuilding the nodes could fix it, if you care to; although I suppose random invisible wall in the middle of lava isn't a terribly big deal.

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Z86 said:

Yes, it was made way before it was brought up here - I just forgot to post it here (yes, I'm a lazy bastard)

Anyway if that issue remains (that is it is not fixed within the engine) I'm willing to make a quick fix for that,


No need. It has been fixed for Risen3Dv2.2.22, which will hopefully be released soon. I just thought I'd mention it to save R3D users downloading the fixed version hoping that the issue might have been fixed for the current version of R3D.

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Ragnor said:

I wasnt a fan of the fight either, but the map itself, goddamn, it was beautiful. Had to IDDQD and be bored holding down the fire button while surrounded by about 300 monsters..that would not dissipate. I'll never do that map legitimately, its impossible as far as I'm concerned.


You've obviously never watched my UV-Max of it, with the epic ending and all.

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