Arclite

I would be excited about exploring the source code if I wasn't a newcomer to the C/C++ programming realm. Visual Studios throwing unspecified compiling errors when attempting to build anything doesn't incite arousal either. Oh well, I will explore some of the DM mods out there as I've heard some of those have weapon customization of some sort. And if anyone knows some fundamentals to Quake modding (best compiler to use, what libraries/frameworks must be on my computer for it to build, etc.) I'd be happy to hear it. In the meantime thanks for the inquiries/replies! I'll check back later.

Title serves my main question. I'm a newbie to the Quake 2 console, so forgive me if something like this is going over my head. I've been able to mess around with player movement speed, RFX effects and some server settings in console/config but through all my research haven't found anything that specifically explains how to alter attributes on weapons (like damage, etc). I'm trying to "buff" the Blaster and Shotgun in Quake 2 for me and my bros' competitive Quake 2 deathmatch sessions, so any instructions or advice that don't involve going into the main .cpp file and rebuilding source code would be appreciated! Thanks in advance!

So I'm sorry to say, but at this point I don't think I'll get around to working on my Wad again... With my current living situation I have very limited time, and I need to scrounge up all of it that I can for my Unreal Engine projects to make any significant progress with future level design endeavors. I feel it would've been a good Wad, and even though some of the labor on it went to waste, I'm still retaining a lot of the ideas I put toward it, and plan to re-establish them in another future Doom project (perhaps Snapmap, or a whole Doom 4 mod if they ever expand that kind of support for the game), so it will live on in a certain sense :) And my apologies for bumping, I just felt my previous post warranted a future explanation, and here seemed most appropriate.

Hey Firedust :) I'm happy to hear you liked them, thanks for playing 'em. As for another one, I WAS working on a sequel and finale to the trilogy, a rather ambitious 20-level Megawad compatible with GZDoom and Zandronum, and I actually completed 5 1/2 levels. Unfortunately... About halfway through the 6th level's production my inspiration just faded off, and around that time the new Doom came out (which made me doubt the relevance of producing more Wads here on Doomworld) and I discovered the new Unreal Tournament, and began working on Multiplayer levels for that because I was really excited to learn the Unreal Engine 4 and further upgrade my knowledge of video game design. I still want to finish the Wad and it's not that unlikely, as I still see it as unfinished business with a lot of potential. I just can't bring myself to spearhead a project where there's not adequate inspiration to present a high quality product. However, since you asked, I'm planning to head back and give the Wad a visit, 'see if I can recover some sparks to light that fire in me again :)

Heya, if you're still having trouble -- or anyone else who comes across this thread -- I think I found a solution to the problem. Oddly enough Zandronum seems to be very uncooperative with this Wad (probably due to the unorganized nature of the data within the Wad itself), as I've had trouble with it myself after the more recent releases of Zandronum versions. Anyway, if you want to bother with it, just uninstall Zandronum (make sure to delete all the associated files in it as well) and re-install it real quick. Then, extract all the files from deso.zip into the skins folder as usual. HOWEVER, before you continue, load up Desolation.wad in Slade 3. Select the 5 text files (the three ANIMDEFS files, and SNDINFO and MAPINFO files) copy them and delete them, then paste them back in again, and save the Wad. Afterwards, select everything in the Wad file EXCEPT the 5 text files you previously deleted, copy them, delete them, and paste it all back again just as with the text files, and save the Wad again. Then go ahead and boot up Zandronum, and everything should show up correctly. I've been investigating this and there is no real explanation as to why Zandronum doesn't want to load the sound files normally, but regardless it doesn't seem to recognize the MAPINFO and SNDINFO text files in the Wad (within Slade 3). So the reason you have to do the weird copy > delete > paste in this subsequent order is so Zandronum can recognize the text files first, and then when you copy/delete/paste everything else back, it combines it with the data identified within the MAPINFO and SNDINFO files, and is able to understand everything again. Theoretically, anyway. I hope this works for you, good luck!

I've moved on to other things, at least temporarily. My computer isn't exactly up to par, as I had to play it on lowest settings the first time, but when I get some upgrades I'll probably come back for another go and do a completionist playthrough on Nightmare, get all the secrets/achievements and 'stuff. But that's about it. A good game that was worth the money, but oh it could've been so much more. I think Id Software vastly underestimates the power of community modding, which is odd considering they work under Bethesda. All you have to do is look at the lifespans of Half-Life/Half-Life 2, Fallout/Skyrim, and of course, the original Doom games, to get a glimpse of the power of community modding, and how it can extend a game's lifespan. The groundwork for Doom 2016 is there, and if they just develop some modding programs/editors and allow the community to dig in, I am certain it will pay off for them as well. Now I'm no programming expert, and I don't know how accessible the new Id Tech engine is, but I'm sure they could take some pages from Epic Games and how they have introduced the Unreal Engine 4 to the users. Unreal Tournament 4 is free, the Unreal Engine 4 is free, and Epic Games is still profiting while working alongside their community to help develop their projects. Despite my love for Doom, and how much I crave designing some SP levels as well as playing some new genuine campaign maps (not the SnapMap fodder), I'll just be spending my time on UE4 and the new UT until something hopefully comes along for Doom 2016.

Signed. With my given reason being "Because SnapMap is what the Doom community deserves... But not what it needs right now" :D

Honestly didn't care for it at all. All of the tracks sounded very similar and didn't stand out to me, but that could've been because I wasn't paying a whole lot of attention to it (considering it always came on when I was in the middle of a firefight with relentless demons). For the most part the soundtrack sounds similar to that of Quake 2's, except more distorted and repetitive. I also wish there was more variation in the overall music, maybe some horror ambience and melodic themes here and there and not all metal. I'm still hoping someone follows the route of the Emperor: Battle For Dune Harkonnen soundtrack, as I feel like it captures Doom's bad-assery except with even more emotion.

1. Ultimate Doom 2. Doom II: Hell On Earth 3. Doom 3 (RoE+Lost Missions) (Followed very closely by) 4. Doom 2016 5. Final Doom: TNT Evilution 6. Final Doom: Plutiona EDIT: Never played Doom 64, so I can't list it here. If they really up the antique on Doom 2016 with extensive modding support and good DLC, it will move up past Doom 3 on my watch.

The fight mechanics itself were really good (despite having an unwelcome touch of a WoW-esque bossfight in it). However, the look of the Cyberdemon himself is terrible, and I really hope that's the last we see of him.

Well to elaborate on the "Too many Arenas" problem, it's not just that the encounters eventually wound up feeling repetitive and copy-pasted, but by using this concept they closed the door on so many potential combat elements, the ones that made the originals so good. In the originals, there were many times that the biggest fights took place in a crowded corridor, or a super dark claustrophobic room full of traps. And most of all, your ability to backtrack/flee through the level could create more interesting encounters. Pinkies/Barons spawn in an arena? You could flee to a tight corridor and line them up for a massacre. (And referencing Barrels O' Fun) Run into a bunch of Pain Elementals in a barrel-covered hallway? You could flee down off the platform and fight them in the open, or camp in the doorway (which could be very risky). See what I mean? Despite the predictable AI, the way in which combat would differ based on your positioning and approach to encounters would make playthroughs always feel slightly different each time. Id Software likely suffered from a misguided design choice that many developers do: Restricting players out of fear they will break convention. NO! Don't do that. If the players want to ruin it for themselves and speed-run or retreat to the beginning and camp, let them, while the rest of us fight like real men! As long as the monsters are smart enough to pursue you and flank you, there should be nothing wrong with granting the player mobile freedom through most levels, because it worked in the originals, did it not? Obviously though, as the game is right now, many monsters would just get stuck/get bugged if they tried to follow you through a lot of the areas. But that's why the levels should have been designed in such a way that these issues wouldn't occur. All I'm saying is they could have made it work, and I'm disappointed that they didn't.

Well I just finished it today, put about 14 hours into the campaign and a few hours into the PvP multiplayer/SnapMap. My computer is rather behind the curve so I was playing it all on low settings (very frustrating for me), but I chose to not let the lesser graphics bother me, and so I won't really comment on the visuals/looks. There's a TL:DR at the bottom. Below I have vague statements on the elements of the game, followed by an additional segment of jibber-jabber with my personal thoughts on it. I also have some brief commentary on Multiplayer/SnapMap at the bottom. Anyway, here's my review for the campaign. -Combat/Encounters = Great The constant movement, action-packed arenas with a touch of platforming made for some chaotic and exciting fights, it felt great NEEDING to move around so much in a shooter. There were numerous ways to fight the enemies, although most of the time I preferred circling the arena firing rockets at distant enemies, and shotgunning my pursuers. The AI was good enough that if you get lazy and hang around trying to pick them off, you'll get whacked from behind by a Pinkie or Hellknight, and end up running around like a headless chicken to stay alive. However the portals/jump pads felt out of place, item placement and powerups were just lazily thrown in there, (and the Berserk one in particular is ridiculously overpowered). - Monster Design = Great. I can't really complain about any of the monsters (except the Cyberdemon, 'looks like something out of Warcraft). The Hellknights and BoHs were fierce and very fun to fight against, the Cacodemons' steady but relentless assaults were captured from the original quite well, the Revenants and Mancubus were great (they were more like their Doom 3 counterparts), and the Pinkies and Imps were solid recreations. - Weapon Design = Good. Most of the weapons didn't "feel" like the original ones, but they don't really miss the cut for this game though. The loadout felt more like Quake 2/Quake 4, which I'm okay with. The weapon-modding felt somewhat out of place in a Doom game, but it didn't intrude on the gameplay too much and gave you a nice little upgrade system to toy around with in the meantime. The Assault Rifle kinda' fell off near the end of the game as I just used the Chaingun instead, and a fully-modded Combat Shotgun felt more reliable than the Super Shotgun by the end. And the damn Chainsaw... Very badly designed. 'Utilized it less than the Pistol, and usually just to one-shot a Baron or Mancubus that were giving me trouble. - Levels/Maps = Solid. Obviously we weren't going to see dazzling combinations of blue/green/red textures, so with that being said, the tech bases we got were adequately crafted with some decent exploration options. The outdoor zones on Mars were good though most of them looked the same, and in the end a lot of it was the same style as Doom 3 except brighter, and more exploratory. It was still too linear though. The nav points were a disappointing design choice, and were not necessary at all. Most levels didn't really interweave (except Foundry), and a lot of the exploration routes just take you to some supply secrets, before you head back to your directed routine. And the arenas... Well, almost every fight takes place in a generic arena, and you usually always see it coming. Very few puzzles, almost no traps or ambushes, no corridor shootouts, and no dark/scary areas. They could have been much more innovative here. - Atmosphere = Average. Atmosphere is something I find very important in a Doom game, and here it was a mixed bag. The martian landscape was a welcome sight, the industrial feel to several levels was nice, but there was little transition from episode to episode. If there was one thing Doom 3 got right, it was certainly the atmosphere, and unfortunately very little of that was carried over to this game. Ambient sound effects were rather absent, there was almost no change in tone, and the way you gained ammunition/health from monsters felt un-immersive (glowing thingies that pop out, cool...). The soundtrack was all Quake 2-style industrial metal and distorted guitar rifts. It was fine for a while, but I grew tired of it rather quickly when it played on almost every damn fight, and it made me realize just how stale the overall music was (something other people here disagree with). Doom's atmosphere should have transitions between horror and action, not just the ladder. Where are the creepy horror segments with suspenseful and ambient music, or the more steadily paced levels with the catchy themes (The Imps Song, Dark Halls, The Demons From Adrian's Pen, They're Going To Get You, Sinister, anybody?). - Story/Lore = Below Average. To be fair, I don't think anyone expected much in this field, which is why I won't call it "Bad". But it won't get a free pass from me. As with atmosphere, Doom 3 captured this element better, and put much more work into the subplots. The setup and the Doomguy's origin was solid, the descriptions on some of the facilities/weapons were interesting enough, the background on the TWO characters (three if you count VEGA) was as elaborate as you could hope, but that's about it for the pros. A lot of the monster descriptions didn't really make sense, the UAC's nazi-style management of their employees that you learn from the Tier Advocate logs was just silly and stupid. The Argent this, Argent that, really got on my nerves and just felt like a half-assed plot device to explain EVERYTHING, from all the weapons/UAC's technology, to the demonic energy and monsters themselves. And they should've stayed the hell away (pun intended) from all the demonic lore. I mean come on, Baalgar? The Dark Lord? Doom Slayer? Night Sentinels? DOOM Marine?! Get the **** out of here with that! Leave it up to ambiguous fan theories and speculation and don't try to explain it directly, especially if you're going to throw out random cheap fantasy-esque names to do so. It probably would've worked out better having no plot at all (kinda like the original?), and just letting the player make up their own story/lore. As for Multiplayer/SnapMap: 'Haven't put enough time into them for my opinion to mean much. However, from my brief experience in the multiplayer modes, the gameplay is nothing special and in the majority of matches it's just a mess. Most people just spend their time wandering around searching for other players/the objective, then just bounding up-and-down firing at the enemy until someone dies, then coming back and repeating the process, regardless of the game mode. There is no coordination, almost no strategy, and it just feels like a clunkier uglier version of Unreal Tournament 4's multiplayer. Most shooter games don't even have built-in level editors, so I can't really use SnapMap's lackluster optimization as a negative against the game, since it's just an icing on the cake. So anyway, if we compare it to Doom Builder: It sucks. As of right now you cannot texture/rewire the walls, make landscapes, create your own geometry, or set up any dynamic scripts, and therefore cannot make interesting levels (at least none that I've seen). Basically, you just have a small collection of pre-designed rooms you can connect together, an assortment of props/special effects, and that's it really. If you have a wild imagination of level designing, it's going to hit a wall real fast here. TL:DR I don't really like rating games, so I'll just say overall that it was a fun experience, and worth a playthrough (I'm a HUUUUGE Doom fan though). With all the negatives I'm throwing in there it may sound like I hated it, but they're mostly just little nitpicks and personal gripes, because overall I thought the game was GOOD, just not great. The gameplay was very well done and the core concept is on the right track, but it could still use some tuning, specifically the story/lore, atmosphere, and multiplayer. Hopefully with some community intervention Id Software will grant us the modding tools we need and let us go crazy with it, and eventually, we should be able to perfect it.

I really liked this one, 'felt like I got more out of it than the other videos/trailers they made and now I feel even better about this game. With that being said, even if it ends up not "feeling" exactly like the original Doom (atmosphere and environment), I still don't see why it can't be an awesome shooter on its own. The pacing, graphic design and of course the combat all look great, so unless it's plagued by bugs or is just ultra-repetitive/easy, then it can't really disappoint that much. The plot/lore is the only thing we haven't had a good look at, and personally I think if they follow the same style of storytelling as Doom 3 did (audio/video logs, exposition on the facilities and levels you're exploring), then it can merge the isolated, moody horror elements from Doom 3 with the heavy metal, explosive action of the original, which is just what I'm hoping for.

I do, 'been hard at work on two maps which are nearly done, but I'm struggling trying to package them so I can freakin' test them online. Thus, I'm quite a newbie at it myself and not your best bet as a tutor, although I could probably teach you some of the basics and help get you over some technical obstacles that come up if you need it.

Not sure if it has been posted on here yet (if so, then forgive me), but Smosh Games finally did an honest game trailer for Doom, obviously since the new Doom's release is 3 days away.