[Release] Shadows of The Nightmare Realm - Updated 16 November 2023

[Remilia Scarlet]

1 hour ago, Steve D said:

I didn't start at the start, so maybe I'll do that tomorrow and use the console for "map corax-start." Or maybe not. I've already died a couple times in corax01, but I've made headway, and I guess I wonder if it's absolutely necessary for me to begin in the difficulty selecting room? I'm showing 104 monsters in corax01, so is that correct for UV?

Yeah, I just double-checked and that's correct for UV.  And "map start" in the console will put you in the start map.  Or just hit escape and start a new game - it should start from the start map.

 

Actually, naming the maps corax## and corax-start was something that I did without much thinking.  Part of it was that "Corax" was the codename I came up with during production.  The project started as a Heretic map and was therefore a tongue-in-cheek reference to the developers of Heretic.  I also just really like ravens.  Anyway, I'm not sure I'd do a map again that isn't in one of the standard MAPxx or ExMy slots since it's sort of annoying.

 

...*quietly and discreetly changes her current map from raven01 to map01*...

 

>_>

<_<

[Gez]

3 hours ago, Steve D said:

but using ZDL, I simply wasn't actually going into the SONTR maps.

Why not use the in-game menu to start a new game?

[Vorpal]

Continue to have the doomguy just "umph" on most doors the first try, maybe it's just a gzdoom thing? It's a port I almost never use so perhaps I misconfigured it.

 

Another criticism is that the lion's share of pickups are shoved up against the wall instead of inside the combat playing area, and the various 2 or 4 unit wide wall details get the player stuck during combat. It has the effect of items feeling less part of the gameplay and instead just ornamentation for the scene. Anyway my whining is not meant to discourage, if I didn't like the work I would simply not say anything and move to another wad.

 

 

[Gez]

11 minutes ago, Vorpal said:

Another criticism is that the lion's share of pickups are shoved up against the wall instead of inside the combat playing area

That's a good thing, that means that you only pick them up when you want to, instead of wasting them by accidentally stepping on a shell box when you already have 49/50 shells.

[Steve D]

12 hours ago, Gez said:

Why not use the in-game menu to start a new game?

You're right, it works like a charm! It didn't occur to me because I never have to start a new game, and nothing like this ever happened before. Just didn't think outside the box, I guess, so thanks for the tip. There is one other issue with ZDL, which is that it always skips the intro and sends you directly to Map01, even if you select the "empty" map slot in the launcher. The only exception to this is when I launch Risen3D from ZDL. I could always write a batch file to get around this, I just wonder if there's a way to configure ZDL so you can start in the title screen with every port you use.  

[Remilia Scarlet]

5 hours ago, Vorpal said:

Another criticism is that the lion's share of pickups are shoved up against the wall instead of inside the combat playing area, and the various 2 or 4 unit wide wall details get the player stuck during combat. It has the effect of items feeling less part of the gameplay and instead just ornamentation for the scene. Anyway my whining is not meant to discourage, if I didn't like the work I would simply not say anything and move to another wad.

You're not the only one to raise this issue.  It's something that not everyone seems to agree on.  Personally I prefer them on the side because, as Gez mentioned, you're less likely to pick up something by accident.  For me, by extension, it also means I can concentrate on keeping the fighting in the center while knowing items are almost guaranteed to be up against a wall.  It also lets me to better keep the monsters in a group and eat away at the edges of them rather than rushing in just to pick up an item.  But in the end, I think it boils down to preference.

 

And no worries, I still like to hear feedback!  I may not agree, but I'm sure it has an impact on my thinking somewhere deeper.

[dew]

With some DM preconceptions floating in the back of my mind, I generally prefer the "line it along the walls" approach as well. However the same mindset must be married with "smooth" walls that don't get you stuck on detail accidentally, so that'd be a potential point to salvage from Brad's feedback. I don't recall that being a particularly egregious issue though.

 

I'd say the one fight vorpal will hate the most will be the ambush at one of the Icon walls in the boss map (I played on hard). I thought it was the hardest bit in the entire mapset by a fair degree, because you get closely surrounded in a tight but rather vertical space and you, like, gotta die a couple of times to probe out where to even start carving out a safe zone. Basically it's the difficulty spike that gets me, but the verticality will hit him hard, heh.

 

Btw, I had to give up and cheat before even meeting the first monster

Spoiler

 

because I jumped down here. :)

 

 

[Remilia Scarlet]

Haha yeah, that part at the beginning where you can get stuck somehow got through testing.

 

I agree on getting hung up in walls, and that's something I'm paying a lot more attention to with Umbra of Fate. 

[Vorpal]

Well I "finished" the other maps but I cheated liberally. The gameplay was so bad that I couldn't enjoy the atmosphere after a certain point, I think I stopped caring after the health-famine-and-vile-with-no-cover on map03. My gameplay complaints are so numerous that I just have to chalk it up to having a completely opposite viewpoint on "fun" and leave it at that.

 

I still think the cacoward is hella deserved though, there is something special here and a serious amount of work and very well executed special effects. 

 

Never figured out what the door issue was, some of them I had to hump 5-6 times to open.

 

[Mere_Duke]

1 hour ago, Vorpal said:

Well I "finished" the other maps but I cheated liberally. The gameplay was so bad that I couldn't enjoy the atmosphere after a certain point, I think I stopped caring after the health-famine-and-vile-with-no-cover on map03. My gameplay complaints are so numerous that I just have to chalk it up to having a completely opposite viewpoint on "fun" and leave it at that.

 

I still think the cacoward is hella deserved though, there is something special here and a serious amount of work and very well executed special effects. 

 

Never figured out what the door issue was, some of them I had to hump 5-6 times to open.

@VorpalHmm, I used GZDoom to play as well and never had those problems with doors. Even have been playing with Smooth Doom mod.

If you want, check my playthrough https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHhxxrkV9TQ&list=PLLReBcIVwTUAQ3tiJzm5uFntQY3ECwe7s

I played at hard and didn't found this to be that hard as you did. I just like hard maps.

Have you played the secret map? I think you would like it and can chill there.

 

But as Dew mentioned, the icon ambush is the hardest part of the game.

Also at final boss fight I thought I should kill a huge wave of monsters to destroy the barrier, and just accidentally walk to the teleporter to get to the icon; without that, I would've been killing monsters for a long time there at the arena :D

 

On 11.01.2018 at 11:04 AM, YukiRaven said:

Actually, naming the maps corax## and corax-start was something that I did without much thinking.  Part of it was that "Corax" was the codename I came up with during production.  The project started as a Heretic map and was therefore a tongue-in-cheek reference to the developers of Heretic.  I also just really like ravens.  Anyway, I'm not sure I'd do a map again that isn't in one of the standard MAPxx or ExMy slots since it's sort of annoying.

 

...*quietly and discreetly changes her current map from raven01 to map01*...

Hehe :)

Everytime I see Corax it reminds me of Hexen's Korax, the one of serpent riders and the final boss.

 

[Gez]

2 hours ago, Vorpal said:

Never figured out what the door issue was, some of them I had to hump 5-6 times to open.

Do you have any compatibility options set?

[Mere_Duke]

@YukiRaven

Almost forgot: What's with the first corridor? When I walk out of my room and go straight forward, the doors in front don't open; instead, I should turn back and open the door where I've just come. Bug? Or intent? (video below shows that moment)

 

 

 

Another good thing is the intermission screens. It's a kind of stories I like, so please add smth similar to your new map!

[Bauul]

18 minutes ago, Mere_Duke said:

Almost forgot: What's with the first corridor? When I walk out of my room and go straight forward, the doors in front don't open; instead, I should turn back and open the door where I've just come. Bug? Or intent?

Intent. The whole wad is about the player's reality falling apart, this is the first demonstration of that.

 

I thought it was an awesome way to start the map.

 

(If it was a bug, implementing portals and everything necessary to achieve the effect is a hell of a bunch of accidental steps!)

[Remilia Scarlet]

31 minutes ago, Mere_Duke said:

Almost forgot: What's with the first corridor? When I walk out of my room and go straight forward, the doors in front don't open; instead, I should turn back and open the door where I've just come. Bug? Or intent? (video below shows that moment)

 

11 minutes ago, Bauul said:

Intent. The whole wad is about the player's reality falling apart, this is the first demonstration of that.

Exactly what Bauul said.  Each level technically takes place in a dream that's being manipulated by the Elder Gods, so things don't always happen like they should.  The effect is implemented with a silent teleport and some very carefully aligned textures.

[Mere_Duke]

5 minutes ago, YukiRaven said:

The effect is implemented with a silent teleport and some very carefully aligned textures.

In the video it is clear I strafe-walked trying to catch the moment of teleportation, but failed to. I've seen some silent teleports, but this one have perfectly aligned in and out points.

This reminds me of the Unloved mod, there were a lot of such "crazy" things.

[DarKHunTeR]

Loved this WAD! My only gripes were some of the instant death traps on level 3, how dark level 3 was (I see what you were going for with the flashing lightning luminating areas sometimes, but it wasn't frequent enough in my opinion), and level 4 is a little unintuitive as to how to get the teleporters to raise. Other than that, an excellent WAD! I loved the new tracks. The atmosphere and lighting. The Quake stylings. The new enemies also fit in very well and don't feel so overused that you can't get a grip on them. The Lovecraftian story. And lastly the Algol-like voice that taunts you as you play. I wholeheartedly recommend it :D

[Archanhell]

Well, it's time to give once again on a mod made by you Yuki. This time it took me longer to finish this due to the more than 4 Mods I'm playing right now at same time :^)

 

So I really don't know how to start... The first map was pretty beautiful and gave me the chills, it was pretty amazing and a quality level.

I really liked how this introduces even more monsters than Umbra of Fate, the Viscout of Hell and those weird Caco-like things were pretty challenging, more when the area was closed!

 

Then in the second image, in second or third map, there was this big room that looked like a boss Arena but in reality it was more like a "Fight until all is safe" field, where I had to circle around and rocket the guys (Or make 'em don't feel good with BFG's energy), once again very good put done, I liked this part!

 

And lastly, (Because I took like 5 screenshots), in the last map... Holy damn Yuki you really did one of the best, if not the best, Boss Map I have seen on a DooM Mod!

That final boss was taunting me the more I progressed, while wave after wave I was killing those minions and dying over and over again, attempting to progress through every Dream and kill those sub-bosses, this felt like a Shin Megami Tensei boss fight because well, the difficulty increased each time and it felt good.

 

Now, when the Boss's barrier lowered I knew it wasn't nothing else and nothing more than a Hades Variant, a much stronger one. I really loved this fight and don't know what to say, all I can say is once again you made a Amazing Artwork. I could even say you are one of my favorite modders so far and wish you the best for future projects.

 

P.S: If you wish, I can be a volunteer for your works, or more like a tester. Just message me when you have demos or anything of future works and I'll gladly test em out bud. Keep up like that and once again, good luck with DooM modding!

P.S 2: Uhhh just ignore the taskbar and that lmao :^)

[Remilia Scarlet]

2 minutes ago, Archanhell said:

P.S: If you wish, I can be a volunteer for your works, or more like a tester. Just message me when you have demos or anything of future works and I'll gladly test em out bud. Keep up like that and once again, good luck with DooM modding!

Sure!  I just started a new one last night after I got Freaky Panties out the door (out of the drawer?), so I'll let you know when it's needing testing.

[Archanhell]

1 hour ago, YukiRaven said:

Sure!  I just started a new one last night after I got Freaky Panties out the door (out of the drawer?), so I'll let you know when it's needing testing.

Aite! I'll be sure to check the forums then.

I am more active on Discord though.

[AndVal]

What the hell!!

I just downloaded it today and I haven't seen such a beautiful doom map before!!

The music is awesome too!

I play it with brutal doom.

 

[Remilia Scarlet]

1 hour ago, AndVal said:

I play it with brutal doom

You should read the readme again.

[AndVal]

I did, but it is a bit slow.

 

I am downloading your albums now.

I hope the neighbors won't call the cops...

[Scorpio]

Brilliant work! Just finished the walkthrough.I suffered on the final map with the boss :) Excellent design, lighting and music.

[Blackmore1014]

Very atmospheric wad. Just already play first level. I play with Brutal Doom: Black Edition and all works correctly. Besides one thing: some weapons from mod you can get it without console.

Really want full megawad with that style.

[Remilia Scarlet]

Welp, time for me to necrobump this one.  v1.1 is now released.  This is a small update I've been planning for years, but never got around to working on.  The biggest change is that SoTNR now works in more source ports.  Updated info and downloads in the original post.