Jump to content
Search In
  • More options...
Find results that contain...
Find results in...
Mechadon

Doom 64 for Doom II - v1.4 released, /idgames link is up

Recommended Posts

Awesome, thanks dt_!  I did a really quick run of it and the gameplay changes feel much better on the whole.  There's still a couple of things that I think might cause issues.  And I also spotted a few more misalignments and some visual oddities.  But I'll do another run of the map and share specifics with you soon.  Good work!

 

By the way guys, we've got 5 days until the deadline!  Please try to get your maps finished by then so we can get this thing done and dusted before the new year.  Just as a reminder, this is who I need to hear from:

 

@Archvile Hunter

@Megalyth

@_bruce_

 

I know you guys have all given fairly recent updates to me, so that's good.  I just want to make sure you guys are still on track for the deadline.  Be sure to let us know if you need help!

 

To everyone else who has submitted a map, please take a look at the bugtracker to see if there's anything in your maps that needs addressing.  I will be keeping this list up to date as the testing session progresses.  Note that if you don't or can't address the things in you map, I or someone else may make the edits for you.

 

Also if your map doesn't have a music track, take a look at the OP for a list of claimable tracks and let me know if you want to use one of them.  You can also pick music from the original Iwads as well.

 

After the deadline, I will release another public test build and we'll start the testing and polish phase.  You can tweak your map as much as needed until the final deadline.  I'm also going to need some dedicated testers, so please let me know if your interested!  In particular we need testers who are willing to test for vanilla compatibility, test the various skill levels, and to test for COOP compatibility.

Share this post


Link to post

We did a run through on zdameon and found some bugs and coop issues. I had noted them down but lost it. I will have to try get a run through again and take notes and post it here.

Share this post


Link to post

That would be very helpful damo2k!  If things go well, there should be a new build out sometime after the end of the month.  So if you can wait until then, that might be the best time to do testing runs.

Share this post


Link to post

I could run some tests of the mod running vanilla on actual old hardware once I get back to my country at the beginning of December. I could even try 2-player coop on vanilla as I have an old laptop as well. If I can get another old computer I have there working with DOS, I could potentially try 3-player coop.

 

The most complicated thing is getting computers in which the network card works with DOS. I have a mid-2000s computer there as well but I don't know if that one would work to get 4-player coop.

 

If I get those things working and a couple of folks to kick some demons' ass, I will try coop as well.

Share this post


Link to post

My GPU died last week so I'm stuck using my mobo's onboard Intel 4600 for the foreseeable future.  That also means I can't run GZDoom with all my fancy little tweaks in place.

 

So, yeah anyway, If you're interested, Mechadon, I'd be happy to do some dedicated testing in vanilla (Chocolate) Doom and on the lower difficulties (ITYTD and HNTR).

Share this post


Link to post

I really appreciate all of the testing help guys :).  Just send in some feedback when the time comes and I'll get you marked down in the credits.

 

@CoTeCiO I'll be sure that every map has COOP starts in the next build so you won't get stuck.  Hopefully you'll be able to do some COOP testing in vanilla ;)

Share this post


Link to post

Whew!  So I got The Absolution finished up today, finally.  I'm glad to be done for a while, heh :)

 

QJlSccem.pngEE0GkzIm.png

xZawm9am.png7SDWuSxm.png

 

The Absolution v1

 

So I went with the approach that was discussed earlier.  There are three separate puzzle/trap rooms, each representing a skullkey.  They are available to get at the start of the map, and you can get them in any order.  Or you can get 1 or 2 of them, or even ignore them entirely and go straight to the big fight.

 

I took some liberties for each puzzle instead of copying the original demonic artifact puzzles from the original maps.  After looking at how the originals work, it didn't seem like they would be a good fit for this (not to mention I would be rehashing bits of maps that the player had already played).  Instead I took inspiration from each setting and came up with my own ideas.

 

By the way, ignore the spawn cubes and the IoS sounds.  Those are already taken care of in the current test build.  I removed the spawn cube sprites and silenced the IoS sounds, so it just looks like the monsters are spawning in the closets on their own.

 

Anywho, as usual, let me know what you guys think!  There's probably some balance work that's left to be done since I just got it "good enough" for the deadline.

Edited by Mechadon

Share this post


Link to post

I really like this map, good job mate!

 

Well, all puzzles are very good, the blue key puzzle is the puzzle I really wanted to see (like in D64).

 

But I didn't get the final battle working. Just nothing happens. I also used all keys to "block", but...nothing.

Share this post


Link to post

Thanks DeXiaZ :).  I'm happy to hear you like the blue key puzzle area.  I had fun reimagining that one, heh.

 

The final fight and all three key switches use voodoo dolls to trigger them.  Everything works for me in Chocolate Doom and ZDoom (haven't tested in anything else yet).  You may need to enable strict vanilla compatibility in whichever port your testing in (ZDoom has a setting for this).

 

If you can't get it working, I'll dig into it and see what's going on.

Edited by Mechadon

Share this post


Link to post

Wait are the keys required to begin the fight? I feel they should be optional and the fight should be happening regardless.

Share this post


Link to post

No they are not required.  Walking into the chamber starts the fight via a voodoo doll.  That doll opens up the spawning doors, closes a door behind the player to lock them in, and starts the countdown for the Motherdemon to appear.

Share this post


Link to post

I'm having a bit of trouble at the moment.

 

Alpha Quadrant is very close to finished, but I've been struggling with the 'Room-over-room'-sections of the map. I have tried for hours getting something to work using this guide, but I just can't figure it out. I'm thinking I should just finish up everything else and let someone else work this out?

Edited by Archvile Hunter

Share this post


Link to post

I've asked my friend to play the existing beta version in the OP. He found this:
 

Spoiler


oEkl87IuaxM.jpg

 

NPCs6ERwzQ0.jpg

 

7NO8HWzGk44.jpg

 

cqs4rSSG-us.jpg

 

_sYQZ-6z7iw.jpg

 

 

Share this post


Link to post

That's very helpful, thank your friend for me :).  All of that stuff should be fix however since that map was overhauled by me not too long ago (it'll be in the upcoming build, but there's a download link a few pages back too).

Share this post


Link to post

First version of Alpha Quadrant

 

Some areas are a little bare-bones, but the map is playable from start to finish.
My solution for the starting room might not be very elegant. If anybody has a suggestion on how to improve it, let me know :).

There are coop-starts, but I haven't been able to do any coop testing.

Lifts with dummy sectors outside the map don't make any noise. Does anyone have a fix?

There are three areas in the original map that had one hallway over another. This is not implemented, but it is possible to jump over the gaps. Faux-3D might be more accurate for the single-player experience, but may break in cooperative play.

 

Not map-related, but I can't get the resource wad working with Chocolate Doom.

Edited by Archvile Hunter

Share this post


Link to post
5 minutes ago, Archvile Hunter said:

Not map-related, but I can't get the resource wad working with Chocolate Doom.

Have you tried using the -merge command instead of -file?

Share this post


Link to post

@Mechadon 

 

I've either not been paying attention or it was never mentioned: are non-Doom64 monsters allowed? I don't want to spam revenants, I just want to mix things up a bit from the deluge of hell knights and arachnotrons. 

 

Also, I have a slight issue. My map is basically done, but I have no internet access at the moment (posting from my phone). I can go to my grandma's house tomorrow and upload the map, but an upload today is probably not going to happen. I've been hard at work on it since I got my computer working again, so hopefully you can let the deadline slide for a day.

 

 

Share this post


Link to post

Just took a quick gander at your map @Archvile Hunter.  I went ahead and got the instant floors implemented for you, though I didn't use that really complicated method that you linked too.  It's a neat effect though, and maybe it can be implemented into your map later on (though sadly it doesn't seem to work in OpenGL renderers).  When I do these effects in my maps, I put lift actions on the sectors for COOP so players don't get trapped.  It's not the most elegant looking solution, but it keeps the map playable in COOP (I went ahead and added those to your map too).

 

I thought the 4-way lift jump puzzle worked out just fine.  Maybe the only downside is that it makes it a bit more awkward to move around the starting area after the floors raise up, but otherwise it works great :)

 

You weren't getting sounds for some of those moving sectors because your dummy sectors were moved way off-map.  So I moved them closer to the sectors they are linked with and that should sorta fix the issue (the sound will sometimes seem like its from a different area, but it should at least be audible).

 

By the way, for some reason, all of the 1-sided walls in your map weren't marked as impassible.  So to prevent any future problems, I had to go through and get them all set to impassible.  I think I didn't break any texturing, but please let me know if I did.  I also fixed some clipping midtextures and hid non-map lines for you as well.

 

I'll leave you some more feedback once I get a chance to properly play it.  Good work!

 

Anywho, here's a link to your map with my edits:  ArchvileHunter-AlphaQuadrant-V1-fix.wad

 

13 minutes ago, Megalyth said:

@Mechadon 

 

I've either not been paying attention or it was never mentioned: are non-Doom64 monsters allowed? I don't want to spam revenants, I just want to mix things up a bit from the deluge of hell knights and arachnotrons. 

 

Also, I have a slight issue. My map is basically done, but I have no internet access at the moment (posting from my phone). I can go to my grandma's house tomorrow and upload the map, but an upload today is probably not going to happen. I've been hard at work on it since I got my computer working again, so hopefully you can let the deadline slide for a day.

 

 

Yup, feel free to use any of the "new" monsters!  Just not the Mastermind since that's the Motherdemon :P.  Since the original maps were so reliant on Hell Knights and Barons, I've found some times when using Revenants in place of them made the map way more fun/less grindy.

 

Also no stress about getting your map to me today!  I have to take a few days to get the next build prepared anyways, so I'll let ya have an extension ;)

Share this post


Link to post

https://www.mediafire.com/file/zbehy2wavfax21u/dark_entries.wad

 

Sorry about the file name, my grandmother was about to go out and I didn't want to hold her up with a bunch of lengthy posting and editing.

 

It will certainly need some more work, but it's structurally sound and all the functions work in vanilla. I didn't have time to implement DM stuff, but co-op starts are there. Not all of the difficulty levels are finished either.

 

I'm going to be away all weekend, but I'll be able to fix bugs and do further work on Monday.

 

Thanks for your patience.

 

Edit2: I'll have my phone on me while I'm away, if anyone gets a chance to play it and wants to post some critique, it'll give me a heads start and some time to mull over any changes that need to be made. I've got a ten-hour drive each way to tackle, some food for thought would be greatly appreciated.

Edited by Megalyth

Share this post


Link to post

Awesome work Megalyth!  I'll be giving it a spin soon, probably once this next build is out.

 

And that's all of the maps submitted, woohoo!  Great job everyone, now we can finally get this thing on track for a release.  My goal is to get it out before the end of the year.  That's not really a hard release date though, so we could finish up before then and that would be fine.  I imagine some of you guys will be busy with holiday stuff this month though (myself included), so we'll see how things go.

 

If any is interested on what's left to be done, I have a To-Do list in the first post.  Mostly we just need to finalize the graphic replacements, add a few more bells/whistles, get all of the maps in good standing, and do some extra clean-up work.  I could use some help with the intermission texts since those don't make too much sense right now (I just lifted them from the original game so we'd have placeholders).  And if anyone wants to contribute some original artwork for the various intermission backgrounds, that would be really nice too (what we're using right now is fine as well).

 

Anywho, expect a new build very soon!

Share this post


Link to post

Just a heads-up (hopefully not a belated one): don't add multiplayer improvements into Research Lab just yet. It's undergoing renovations.

Share this post


Link to post

I just tried this out yesterday and did a few maps.

 

I must say that this project really does show how massive of a difference a better graphics engine can make as far as increasing the presentation quality of your game is concerned. It's unreal how crappy the levels look in the Doom engine vs Doom64. Don't get me wrong, this isn't the fault of the level makers who made these levels. They are merely recreating the original with Doom 2 assets after all. But I'm going to be honest, if somebody released these levels as their own and I had never played Doom 64, I would not think very much of them. As far as layout and design is concerned the originals are easily far better designed.

 

In fact, the fact that Doom 64 is able to make these levels look as good as they do in-spite of the mediocre design almost makes me wonder if the importance of high quality level design is actually overrated and if pure graphics are just plain more important for making a game look good.

Share this post


Link to post

Maybe you should just stop wasting you time with Doom and discard it in favor of something more modern. It's not about level design being overrated, it's about you, personally, demanding advanced special effects instead.

Share this post


Link to post
24 minutes ago, Da Werecat said:

It's not about level design being overrated, it's about you, personally, demanding advanced special effects instead.

 

No, the level design in Doom (with Doom 2 it's much more debatable) is definitely better than in Doom 64. I already felt this way since pretty much forever. That's not to say Doom 64's maps are terrible or anything, but I still think they are considerably weaker compared to classic Doom. And while I won't claim pretty graphics can safe an otherwise bad game, it's pretty absurd to think they don't help a game's visual presentation enormously.

 

While playing Doom 64 I always thought to myself "well these levels are just so so compared to the original but it sort of makes up for it with with it's superior atmosphere". But now that I can actually see what the game's levels look like with just plain vanilla Doom graphics it's a lot more blatant how inferior the levels are compared to the original Doom.

Edited by hardcore_gamer

Share this post


Link to post

It has been a while since I checked this thread. I am looking forward the final release!

 

I am also curious to see your take on the Mother Demon.

Share this post


Link to post

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×