joepallai

Happy 400th anniversary to the company where I've worked since Jan. 23rd, 1994!!!

https://zildjian.com/pages/400th-anniversary-concert

I should be able to get back into mapping once things settle down at work.

So this is one of the things that I've been working on in lieu of my Doom levels.   Quite pleased with these.

feels weird driving again after 6 months of being without a working car.   I won't miss the 4 mile walk to work (did lose 14 lbs. from this experience, so not all bad)   

On vacation and I've finally had time to myself so there's been a bit of progress.   It's mostly in the southernmost areas, been experimenting with the shadow lighting stuff Syzmanski came up with (think he came up with it...).   Wish I could say my efforts after 20 years of trying out the idea were more successful but that would be exaggerating.  I'll either figure it out or come up with a workaround.

Also nice seeing the variations of this map in TNT2

Been working on the texture resource file for a couple of hours today, mostly making alternate flat textures; but still, it feels good to finally get back to work on this map.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/g5l8i3fj9ha5xj9/helpplease.zip?dl=0

Can anyone tell me what's wrong with the resource file or map.   I go to run it and about 3 seconds into playing it crashes with no error message for me.   Did I fuck up the resource file (most likely I'm guessing) or did I corrupt my copy of Doom (very possible as I'm an idiot when it comes to textures).   Any help is welcome, thanks.

Welcome @Berubaretto

Current state of this large tech level I'm reworking that was previously submitted to Plutonia2 but ended up in TNT:???

https://ibb.co/gdtCw1j

Where I left off on AshDream E4M5 

https://ibb.co/XYD2XGc

Unfortunately my job is taking up all of my time, so no real progress has been made for the past year.   I imagine once the 400th anniversary at work is over and done with, then life will become normal again.  (ha!)

28 years at my job.   Wow...

Things are getting interesting for me now at work.   Some major projects are underway and need to be completed for the 400th anniversary.   Maybe once that's behind me I can revisit Doom mapping.   

Also think this is the 25th anniversary for Kerry and me being together.   Another wow...

So that means I've been playing Doom for at least 27 years and mapping for 26.

Anyways, priorities are in place.  I will be back soon enough and will quietly chip away at the projects I have for this game.   Hope everyone is well.

Joe

It's nice having electricity (and heat!) again.  just saying

Progress on my vacation mapping.   Decided to see if I can't mash together two old map sections together into something coherant.   Using Retres.wad for Textures (something different and I loved the look and feel of Eternal Doom).

So I have to say, this year has been very good so far to me.   The promotion has finally started paying off. 

The first video is me talking about a product I designed nearly 13 years ago that my former boss did everything in his power to kill; well, it's finally here:

The Fat Hats are honestly the thing I'm most proud of design-wise (if only I could make a level as good).

The next video is the last thing I made before the quarantine;

It's just one of those spur of the moment solutions to a problem (cymbal blanks that were too large and heavy to be used in any normal situation).   Stupidly proud of this as well; it's just a fun cymbal to play.

Anyways...enough about that.   

Doom-wise I was entertaining the idea of trying to make some 2 hour maps during my vacation just to break my dry spell.   Couple things holding me from that 1) every speed map I ever made sucks   2) every speed map I ever made really, really sucks.   

We'll see; maybe I could cheat and use one of my scrap sections as a base for a speed map - that way I could salvage something at least.  (starting to like this idea)

Thanks for listening

Joe

Just discovered that Slade has a print map feature.   This is awesome, now I can get back to my old mapping technique of printing the map then working on the map during my lunch break or away from the computer.  

Looks like this in Slade, which is the closest thing I've seen to WadAuthor's print function.   Exciting to me at any rate.   Now I just need to fix my texture resources, which I'm holding off until the end of October when I have a week off to see if I can figure that out.   

Been real busy with work, then in my spare time I've been finishing my wife's office (need two more coats of paint, re-install the trim, repaint the trim, move her crap back into the room).   So not much Dooming other than playing an old level now and then.

Current status/ideas of what I'm working on:

Probably another year to get this done, which is disappointing but necessary.

Anyways, thanks for listening to me ramble,

Joe

Looks like I won't be randomly complaining about sheetrock for a couple of months.   I finally finished gutting and fixing all the damage to this room from when a massive storm ripped off about 10 feet of roofing shingles.   The house is so old that the previous owners didn't bother to put down a layer of tar paper underneath the shingles; so while I was getting the financing arranged water just poured in and took out the ceiling and a huge section of the angled wall.   (that was a fun winter..)  

Anyways, looks good now.   She needs to pick a color and then we'll get her stuff moved back in.

To tie this into something Doom related this is one of those home construction projects that @40oz use to reference where you're editing on the 1 unit scale.   Old houses are a pain if you're a perfectionist...

some more progress along with my current thoughts on what to do next.    Added a bunch of textures and flats to the level but hit a snag with getting see-through textures to load correctly.   I've done it correctly in the past so I know I can do it, just can't remember what I'm doing wrong.   (not a terribly important issue right now and if I have to I'll just ask for help--this is me talking out loud)

Anyways.   Enjoying the slower pace of redesigning this level.  

getting there

Been working on connecting rooms shown on the overhead view and then started playing with texturing ideas.   A little bit too much grey right now and am wanting to add some electrical conduits under this UAC sign.   Thinking of some desks, etc. Overhead lighting needed.

Need a couple of dedicated days to get textures added in properly, which happens at the end of July when I have a mini-vacation.        

Welcome Chainie!

So mapping to the morning's coffee is proving to be successful.   Haven't quite gotten all that I planned out done just yet, but it's a really good start.   (Still haven't added new textures though, still deciding on what to add---just want to add them all but that is impractical).

So for the past three days I've managed to work on the sectors between the yellow crayon.   Mostly happy with the shapes.   Tried adding textures late at night like an idiot and almost corrupted my work again.   (I should never do texture editing late at night; it always ends badly.)

Anyways, started a list of textures to add to this level and will re-attempt it once I've read the damn instructions again.   

Combat in this area will be relatively easy after the hard outdoor fight.   The map as a whole is easy with lots of chaingunning and rocketing weak enemies mixed in with mid-tiers and plentiful barrels in some areas.   Also the long corridors allow for greater risky shots as the demons move towards you.   

Side note:   This was the first map where I truly realized the value of wandering monsters in my mapping.   

Trying to get used to mapping with my morning coffee; work is taking up all of my time so this is pretty much my only free time right now.   It's good that my maps have no deadlines attached to them...

Progress is incremental at best but there's less reworking happening now.   Thinking about adding in new textures but that's always a gamble (do I corrupt my working copy of Doom2 this time or do I get it right?).  Slade looks like a better tool for texture insertion that SlumpEd so we'll see.

So I've managed to make 1 sector during the past month.   One freaking sector; and it's not even connected to anything yet.    Just been busy with work, I guess; at least I've played more than I've edited for a change.      

I've finally figured out my next move on the techbase I've been reworking.   For the blue key switch that lowers the platform to allow access; I'll add a teleporter that lowers with the switch in the same room (I know--it's revolutionary)(well to be honest, in the old days I'd have the player walk back to the blue key dealing with monster closets that lowered with the blue key).   

need to revisit Slayer

I really hate when I get too clever for my own good; it just leads to endless headaches during playtesting.  You'd think I would have learned by now....

re-numbering 20 year old tags is a pain in the ass to say the least; there's always one sector or dummy sector that get's forgotten in the mix.   

very minor progress in this map, but it's for the better.

What a Monday!   

I was asked to come into work during the morning for an important meeting that I'd appreciate and was informed that my former nightmare of a boss of 15 years was let go (I had spent 15 years working under him before finally saying fuck it and went back into Production), two other people who worked against me constantly were demoted (not because of me but because of their own failures) and I've finally been given the promotion that for the past 11 years I've asked for.  My new title is Innovation Specialist.

My head is still spinning and I'm exhausted from talking for almost 8 hours with all of today's meetings.  Just wow....

In Doom news I added a piston to my Doom machinery:

sexy...no?  (haven't settled on the travel distance for the piston, visually I liked it with an 8 unit stroke but the noise was a bit too much, currently its set to a 32 unit draw but I wasn't feeling it--trying not to overthink this)