Stardate 20x7 [/idgames]

[Spectre01]

Great stuff. Just in time as I finished my playthrough of the beta version last night. Will be fun to see and compare the changes. Interesting that Do You Believe? still looks to be the final map. I swear to God them fights better not be nerfed on UV m8! ;)

[rhinoduck]

The following scrollers will be extremely slow in ZDaemon:

---MAP04
line:  8835; special:   253; tag:    98; length:    14;
---MAP05
line:  9378; special:   253; tag:   109; length:    16;
line:  9386; special:   253; tag:   110; length:    12;
line:  9392; special:   253; tag:   111; length:    12;
line:  9398; special:   253; tag:   112; length:    12;
line:  9404; special:   253; tag:   113; length:    12;
line:  9720; special:   253; tag:   131; length:     3;
line:  9723; special:   253; tag:   130; length:     3;
line:  9917; special:   253; tag:   132; length:     8;

 

See this post for an explanation why that happens and how to avoid the problem.

 

Now, I don't know if you will even want to put the effort into fixing this; if the answer is no, hopefully someone else will pick this up and make a ZDaemon-compatible version (I am refraining from doing so this time).

 

Very minor nit: In MAP32, it is possible to AVJ through the windows to the keys and get stuck there (the probability is tiny, but it did happen to me, heh).

[Grain of Salt]

Haven't played any of the past versions, so I'm psyched to play  through this finally. Sticking to hmp, I think.

[Ribbiks]

33 minutes ago, rhinoduck said:

I don't know if you will even want to put the effort into fixing this

 

sure, seems easy. thanks for the heads up!

 

I was toying with the idea of having separate conveyors for timed encounters in SP/coop anyway, because I suspect mobs get cleared out a lot faster in multiplayer.

[rhinoduck]

Cool! Then we shall still have an out-of-the-box ZD-compatible Stardate 20x7 :) Thanks!

[dobu gabu maru]

Woahhh, nifty! Congrats on finishing it—I'm real glad you didn't just trash the project like it seemed you were going to. More Ribbiks stuff is always a welcomed, welcomed thing.

[Outrageous Videos]

Will we be able to record demos now?

[rhinoduck]

31 minutes ago, Ribbiks said:

I was toying with the idea of having separate conveyors for timed encounters in SP/coop anyway, because I suspect mobs get cleared out a lot faster in multiplayer.

That kind of depends... what can be reduced to a "simple" circlestrafing case, or a combination of controlled dodging, monster luring, and infight initiating in SP can become a bloody clusterf*ck when different monsters start targeting different players in MP (especially if large mobs are involved, or if a specific strategy is required). Not that faster monster influx is a bad idea; it just probably needs to be judged map by map and encounter by encounter keeping the above in mind.

 

But these are just my two cents coming mostly from the disorganised world of public survival servers, so, perhaps, keep that in mind too.

[Salt-Man Z]

Sweeeet. Looking forward to trying this sometime on, uh, HNTR. :)

 

 

[Ribbiks]

Heh, good to hear tbh. If only that the time spent designing around those settings won't go to waste :)

 

@Outrageous Videos, I'd say hold off on demos until I get it on /idgames (which I expect to do in < a week). Like I said the maps are more or less final as they stand, but I'm doing some very minor edits (e.g. correcting the bugs mentioned here that prevent it from behaving in coop) which would definitely cause desyncs. So, soon!

[Lingyan203]

Nice! I can't wait to tackle this playthrough! Since I've beaten Crumpets, Stardate 20x6, SWTW, Italo, Combat Shock 1 and 2, and Sunlust on UV, let's see if I can try and overcome this crazy-brutal difficulty on UV again! :)

[tourniquet]

Congrats, it was about time :P

[Nirvana]

Can't wait to see the changes, the beta was a fantastic mapset. I have to wonder if any of these extra maps match the difficulty of map 7, because that was quite something. Also hoping that there is a 90s techno midi on map 31 :D (Alice Deejay <3)

Edited May 18, 2017 by Nirvana

[Keyboard_Doomer]

Hello,

 

TNS has decided to take on the challenge and we will be playing Stardate 20x7 today. Yes, playing on UV and yes I'm here to invite you to join the carnage!

 

Session starts in about 2 hours at 19:00 BST/14:00 EDT (click here for time zone independent countdown).

[NinjaLiquidator]

Downloading, I hope that somebody good will UV Max these

[Spectre01]

Found a minor bug in map02. GLBoom+ -cl9 etc. Standing on this carpet trim changes the sky from purple clouds to a night sky.

[Paul977]

This is not aimed for gzdoom but maybe someone else got these aswell. Happen to have very enhanced light effects for example when a monster shot a fireball, arch-vile flame, torch lights very bright. Those light effects don't happen with other wads; Is there an option to have them normal with gzdoom ?

[Ribbiks]

@Spectre01 thanks! Will fix.

 

@Paul977 I'm a novice when it comes to GLDEFS and what expected brightness ranges should be. I can take a stab at lowering it though, if it's unusually high compared to other wads. Thanks!

 

[WH-Wilou84]

Cool, I've been eagerly waiting for this update. :)
I'll try to record FDAs on all maps, on HMP (although I know most of the maps from the previous beta), and then replay them with saves on UV.

Attached below are HMP demos for maps 01 and 02.

Map 01 now feels like a proper introduction, while still being spicy.
On HMP, the big difference is that the 4 AV party on sector 209 is being replaced by a single Hell Knight. I was expecting at least a single Vile here instead, or two Revs, but it's fine the way it is.

The new map 02 is very nice. Its theme is clearly a bridge between the Asian vibes of "Sun / Moon / Stars" and the more cyberpunk-ish "Amethyst III", and I think the wad greatly benefits from that added cohesiveness.
Gameplay is mostly nice, although ammo is quite tight even on HMP (or maybe I just suck at this game).
Loved the cute little details, such as the trap notifications (which obviously break the 4th wall, but oh well, you had some in Stardate 20X6 anyway), and the multi-AV fight with the "light switches"  is excellent - and quite a bitch on UV. Great idea.
Music was fine too.

I think it's possible to get stuck on map 02 if the player :
- Picks the YSK,
- Picks the Purple keycard on sector 368,
- Crosses linedef 9360 after surviving the "light switch fight" and teleports to sector 1077,
- Turns back and activates line 9561 and then teleports back to the map without picking up the Yellow keycard (it's doable since the player has the YSK).
In that scenario, since you can't return to sector 1077, there's no YK available anymore in the map.

Aside from that, the new maplist is intriguing, since I remember "The Other Side" being significantly easier than "Sphinx Rising" in the first beta. It obviously means many of the old maps have been tweaked, which is a good thing.
Can't wait to see the other changes you made ;)
 

Stardate20X7_FDApack1_wh-20-05-2017.zip

Edited May 20, 2017 by WH-Wilou84

[WH-Wilou84]

Here are some more demos, on maps 03 and 04 (still on HMP).

On map 03 I fell into the void near the start and got stuck, you may wanna check that :)
Other than that, the map hasn't changed much, but it was a solid play already.

Map 04 is quite a beast, haha. :)
Good layout and excellent use of verticality, with many dangerous high-perched mid-tier Doom II monsters used as turrets.
The SSG corridor fight stopped me dead on HMP, and the UV version is even more frightening. I'm curious to see if there's a somewhat reliable strategy for this part.

The quadruple AV fight is also a very good one.
Can the two pillars actually serve as cover ? They're thick enough in theory, but somehow it seems the Viles can still execute their attack even when you're behind.

As for the ending...

Spoiler

A purple Afrit, well why not. This new monster isn't the pinnacle of originality by now, but Doom II's bestiary clearly needs more airborne enemies and / or mid-bosses and this one's perfect for the role. I assume he'll shine in later maps :)

ZDoom's console displays a hefty amount of line errors when starting this map, but that's obviously related to the WIP areas in the eastern part of the map.

Stardate20X7_FDApack2_wh-20-05-2017.zip

[Ribbiks]

42 minutes ago, WH-Wilou84 said:

The SSG corridor fight stopped me dead on HMP, and the UV version is even more frightening. I'm curious to see if there's a somewhat reliable strategy for this part.

 

 

42 minutes ago, WH-Wilou84 said:

Can the two pillars actually serve as cover ?

 

 

No, but they can reduce the dmg from ~90 to ~20 if you know your doom meta :).

 

 

Thanks for the bug reports and etc! It's all bein' fixed.

[damo]

In zdaemon, the barons are throwing green shit now, didn't they throw purple shit in the beta?

 

Edited May 21, 2017 by damo2k

[Ribbiks]

you might be thinking about the prequel?

 

 

 

Edited May 21, 2017 by Ribbiks : I somehow accidentally double-posted the image while futzing around

[damo]

Ah yes, that looks cool to be honest.

[Grain of Salt]

That's because stardate 20x6 (presumably!) replaced the green range of the palette with purple, while stardate 20x7 replaces the blue range.

[Spectre01]

I'm curious as to why Ribbiks ditched green to purple and opted for blue to purple. The later seems a lot more of a subtle change and doesn't really affect monster or player projectiles as much as in 20x6, where the palette change was a lot more distinct.

[Grain of Salt]

Can't speak for Ribbiks, but I think the 20x7 method gives you a lot more freedom to use the old/classic colours alongside the new ones, rather than putting the purple front and centre all of the time.

 

Besides that, the green range is used for other built in stuff like the color conversions for multiplayer (green->grey/red/brown), so replacing it can be messy.

[WH-Wilou84]

8 hours ago, Ribbiks said:

 

 

Ah, yeah I did try that but got completely screwed when the Viles entered the area, run out of plasma and all. :)
Guess it's all about practicing.

Minor texturing bug : on map 02, linedef 2496's texture should be B_BRK instead of ROCK27.

[Ribbiks]

Hi.

 

Here's a final release: Download [/idgames]

 

See you next mission.

[NaturalTvventy]

Well I played level 1 a bit, got stuck, tried archvile jumping around, and got stuck here I'm pretty sure.