DTS-T - A ZDoom megawad [available now]

[Phobus]

Deathmatcher said:

This is called a "homage". Please watch The Fellowship Of The Ring. :-)

I've seen that films twice and the "homage" was still not something I'd have guessed at. It just seems like unnecessary hamming on your/Reiley's part.


As for Vivarium - "Monster Zoo" is always a bad idea. Your implementation is actually worse than most (The Rebirth MAP32 is on a par for being as bad, IIRC) because not only are all of the monsters separated completely (aside from the Arch-Vile bit at the end, which was more of a tiresome case of backtracking) but the environments they're in are largely similar and all have to be approached roughly the same way. The fact that there is a corner that you have to nudge your way around in all of them and a tight area for things to bunch up when the AVs do their thing just makes it worse.

The best I've ever seen a "Monster Zoo" done was in an escape.wad (which actually included a The Great Escape level) because it looked like a real zoo, had varied enclosures and rather than you going in and fighting the monsters, they either could attack you from their cages or were behind forcefields, so you had to deactivate the power to the whole zoo, thus lowering them and having the monsters overrun the park. Even this map wasn't great - just the best of a bad sort.


Personally I found the BFG welcome, as it sped up clearing out some of the hordes (like in the Vivarium) and the lack of pistol start compatibility is fine in a story-oriented game like DTS-T.

[Blue Shadow]

killer2 said:

A small request...can I have the source for MAP15's music? I keep finding it in wads and I love it!

From its lump name, I'd say it's from Duke Nukem 3D.

[Deathmatcher]

killer2 said:

Every map has the basic weapons shotgun/chaingun/ssg/plasma even though you already have them. [...] Again, if you are against pistol start, make it clear through weapon placement (or lack thereof).

You are partly right, in that I maybe placed some of the weapons too frequently. However, I would have never suspected to lure people into attempting pistol starts by this. One of the reasons I placed weapons again, is to give people that missed a weapon a chance to pick it up later on. For example, I got several reports of people, who missed out on the rocket launcher in map07 and were able to pick it up in map10 then. While I will probably reduce redundant weapon placement in future works, I will not abandon it altogether (especially not on the alleged risk of luring people into an unsupported playstyle).

killer2 said:

Also, some players like "feeling" the weapon progression. Giving all the weapons right from the start leaves little to expect. There's no more "man, I can't wait to find that BFG!" going on. Another problem is that you get way too many cells.

Feeling of weapon progression is exactly what I had in mind for DTS-T! I fail to see how getting the BFG after 22 levels does not invoke that feeling. In a lot of megawads out there you get it in, like, map07. If you warped into the final chapter, then, yes, you get it after two levels. DTS-T was not designed for warping.

Also, play the rest of the chapter. :) Just yesterday a friend emailed me, complaining that he ran out of cells near the end of the game.

killer2 said:

I never meant it as an insult, of course. And I was aware this here might have been the case, but I was not sure.

I didn't take it as one, don't worry. :) It was just that I was like "WTF?" when reading it for the first time.

On Vivarium: If people don't like zoos, that's fine. It's a personal taste. I like the level and I got feedback from others liking it. If some don't, then that's fine as well. :) I won't do it again, simply because I have done "my zoo level" now.

On the homage: I see how people could find it distracting. I love it, I can't help it. It's not like Riley's kidding every other level or so.

On the music: It is Duke Nukem 3D "aliens say your prayers".

[Keeper of Jericho]

Map 28 really took me by surprise with its recreation of Minas Morgûl and the stairs of Cirith Ungol from Lord of the Rings. You even had the fallen lembas cookies laying on the ground and Shelob's Lair! =D The last bit at the gates of Mordor was epic, if a bit plain-looking.

[diosoth]

New post to an old thread, but relevant. DTS-T is not compatible with the HXRTC weapon/monster mod.

 

It plays fine up to the level where you blow up the core on the space station. Killing the hidden Romero head should trigger the switch to the next level, but does not. The only bypass was the NEXTMAP console command. I suspect a change to the monster itself could be the cause, it's possibly not detecting you killed the proper monster.

 

In "Blood & Steel" the door triggers when a key is required will not work. NOCLIP is required. This maybe due to changes to keys, which stay in your inventory from level to level.

 

Minor one in "Vivarium", the extra monsters spawned by the new monsters- as more than just the Pain Elemental spit extra entities- count towards the monster kill tally. This could lead to beating the level early.

 

Jade Cube is mostly playable but the room requiring an arch vile to jump on a platform is useless due to changes to the arch viles. NOCLIP is required.

 

The hidden map, I believe it's called "Scholomage", seems unbeatable. I could not find the 13th boss anywhere- but at least the replacement monsters still count as bosses so I killed 12 of them, but it's possible not all were still flagged. A set of bars near the start never lower requiring NOCLIP to bypass, and another set of bars on a staircase that should lower also do not requiring the FLY command to go over and trigger the room transition. Unfortunately NEXTMAP sends you to the start of the Apostruct with no levels beaten so it's best to bypass this level.

 

Later levels can also experience bad slowdown, due to the number of monsters and their replacements spitting lots of projectiles. The ending of the LOTR level and Geonosis both can be almost a slideshow.

 

Problems like this tend to exist with any replacement mod, they are just not always compatible with some level sets for various reasons.

[Obsidian]

Hold on, hold on, lemme get this straight. You bumped a thread that's 5 years old...because your mod didn't work...in a stupidly ambitious script-heavy ZDoom wad? A wad that was made 2 years before the mod you're using was. A wad who's creator hasn't been online since February this year and hasn't commented for 2 years.

 

Like, there's a warning that pops up before you comment on a thread that's been defunct for 2 or more years. Just...

 

Ohh deary dear.

 

For future reference, if you see a message in red above the reply box it's usually better off to start a new thread with your query and possibly just mention the guy you're trying to talk to. Fuck me...

[Memfis]

This is useful and nicely detailed information for people who are going to attempt to play the wad with that mod. It's nice to have it.

[Touchdown]

The bug with blowing up the reactor has nothing to do with the mod. It's been broken since one of the later (g)zdoom versions. You have to use a console command to warp to the next level.