"New year, new URE" - URE:E2 - E2M2 up!

SO!!!

Maybe you've caught me calling E2M4 "the "city level".. but then I realized (today.. now that I am almost done >_<) that E2M4 has basically no amount of living quarters. I mean.. unless you consider "none" to be an amount.

Zylinderkatze to the rescue!

^{Small hallway (Smallway™)}

^{"Studio apartment"}

^{Same studio apartment, different angle.}

Where do you go to the bathroom? I'm glad you asked! I haven't thought of that yet. Probably shared. Maybe somewhere in the hallway. Likely not accessible, because I've already made enough "doomcute" toilets in my day xD

It's happening.

ZK is adding more monsters..

^{But what does it mean :o}

It means he's about to test the map with all those added monsters :0

Wait.. why is he talking about himself in the third person?

I think I need sleep ^^;

Tested my map last night..

Failed.

Good thing: I didn't put too much ammo and other pickups in the map so far!

Good(er) thing: It's been so long since I added some traps that I forgot about a bunch of them and found out that "running back" is often not an option xD

It's time to test some more, balance some more.. and in the process likely die (a lot) more.

Into the fray! Whee!

10 hours ago, Zylinderkatze said:

I think I need sleep ^^;

Alternative title was "He thinks I need more sleep" but that felt too "meta" to him. I mean I. I mean me.

3 hours ago, Zylinderkatze said:

Into the fray!

More good news, more less good news!

Good:

^{You can finish the map!}

Less good:

^{When all secrets are open, the outside area is too detailed :(}

Also, I need to make add a non-secret rocket launcher to the map. Just look at my ammo in the first screenshot >_>

"Environmental storytelling"

Maybe don't run in blindly?

^{Could be dangerous!}

36 minutes ago, Zylinderkatze said:

"Environmental storytelling"

 

Maybe don't run in blindly?

 

^{Could be dangerous!}

Clearly, the third rocket on each side is the one that's booby-trapped.

55 minutes ago, jerrysheppy said:

rocket

Volatile explosives. Idea for a DeHacked! Once you pick up any rocket, your movement speed is halved so they don't explode from hasty movements..

..I didn't say it was a good idea ^^;

Some impressions from random places in the map!

^{I shared this before, I know.. but I really like how this turned out.}

^{This is just a small bonus compartment..}

..I got a little carried away with detailing the "roof" (seen, kind of, on the floor). Basically, this is a ventilation shaft of sorts, I suppose? Hold on to your hat!

Update:

I added some ammo and health and such. A bunch of rockets, too :D

I also simplifed (I hope) some level geometry and am now diving back in to check for HOM / DrawSegs hiccoughs.

This map is a bit rough, encounter-wise.

There's 20 Barons of Hell and 20+ Cacodemons.

That's a lot, for a map from me ^^;

On 5/18/2023 at 12:01 AM, Zylinderkatze said:

I think I found out, when this happens (original post here).. or in which context.

The Visplane Explorer seems to not catch this problem, while this one secret passage is still closed.

As soon as I manuall open up the door in editor, the explorer jumps to "132/128".

I usually do check for such things by manually opening doors before looking at the explorer(s).. but the DrawSegs one seems to.. somehow.. already take open doors (and lowered lifts?) into consideration.. sometimes. Or maybe I'm imagining things ^^;

The problem is, this is a door that stays open.. so no hoping for it to close before the player looks at the room from that angle.

Either way.. I know now how to manually recreate the "(render) error state" of that area and will try to combat it.. err.. thusly.

46 minutes ago, Zylinderkatze said:

will try to combat it

Actually I think I solved it.. you could "see" a bunch of light gradient sectors from where that heat was amassing. I removed some / changed a few light levels.. it's a lot less.. uhm.. well.. gradient, now. But also less Visplane-Limit-Break-y.

And now here's a DrawSegs overview!

^Circles.

The very small circle at the bottom is where I think I finally removed the last bit of "too hot" spot. Yay!

But then there's that big "?" area art the top.

The hottest bit in that area is around 220. Nowhere near 256. Even with all sectors that face that area "openend", it shouldn't exceed 256.

It shouldn't come to this.

Weird. Maybe it's the distance?

*sudden realization*

I compared the "hot zone" from the Chocolate Doom screenshot (the one on the left in the second screenshot of this post) to the Nodes Viewer Mode.. and saw this:

^{The brown & cyan are a fake roof, the rose & green are for the skybox.}

First, see how it splits the sectors "strangely"? the division into brown and cyan should not be necessary. It's one sector. Same with the rose & green.

I think this might be.. hmm. a floating point problem? Because if you zoom in (a lot) there's a very thin "non-area" between the brown/cyan and the rose/green sectors.

I'll try and push some vertexes / vertices around and see if I can get it to plop into place.

A different angle.

So while I am trying to work out why I am getting a far away "HOM" even though the DrawSegs seem to be okay, here's a little.. I dunno.. treat?

^{It the back of a building I haven't really shared yet!}

The protuding grey block coming "out of" the SLAD wall on the left is actually a hint at a structure behind that wall.. but not an important one. It's more for my own sense of continuity ^^;

Now that the eye candy (or whatever you want to call it) is out of the way, here's a view at the actual "can't handle this, lol" thing I am trying to track down:

^{Somehow it seems to be the whole wall..?}

The SLAD-wall from the in-editor screenshot, actually.

That wall (or the way it's laid out, at least, with a MIDBRN1 iron bar "fence") is a new addition.. or a recent change, I guess. I am wondering if I messed up some texture, floor- or ceiling height or such.. I am going to have to inverstigate that. 

But not today, I think. It's getting late!

I'll still be around but probably not mapping.

Bye for now!

On 5/20/2023 at 5:57 AM, Zylinderkatze said:

Still not sure if I'll keep it. It's not really serving any purpose, not even for the mood, if I am really honest.

So coming back to this, I had the idea that this could be a switch that opens a secret nearby. The flavor being something like hotwiring a door by prying off an access panel (or, in this case, taking advantage of a pre-pried one) and fiddling around in the guts of the mechanism.

If you had a few intact hex-wall panels in similar situations nearby, it would be a reasonably obvious secret trigger (in the sense of "viable for an observant player to try").

8 hours ago, jerrysheppy said:

prying off an access panel

That's a great thought xD To be fair, I thought something like it too (that's how I know it's a great thought! hehe).. it's even at a good "shooting height". 

So far it's still in the map, but it doesn't do anything yet. Still. 

Right now it's just a derelict part of the map, kind of. And a dead end (of which I have a bunch.. which is kind of a problem because it means you have to turn back a lot).

There isn't really a reward in that area yet, either.. other than an Invulnerability Sphere that comes when you've already defeated the majority of enemies in that area ^^;

Right now it's the least "nice pacing" part of the map. 

But for now I'll focus on the Vanilla / technical flaws of the map.

which have me a bit "frazzled" ^^;

Wait a minute..

..that's just the same screenshot you posed before!

Sadly, it's not.

I removed a bunch of the stuff I had previously added, back behind the "brown/tech/beige" and the grey building.. thinking that I accidentially added "the wrong kind of detail".. but the result is still this:

^{That's not green at all! :(}

So now I am going to start looking around that area. Maybe it's something else?

Because the DrawSegs Explorer says "nah, all good mate." *confident thumbs up*

^{The hottest bit seems to be around 250/256.}

Halp.

I think..

..E2M4 is done.

Just you sit and wait until further testing proves me wrong xD

I believe I managed to eliminate the excess DrawSegs, but one of the curves in the road of the main area fell prey to that process.

I hope that was enough. DrawSegs Explorer says it was / is but I'm not 100% sure of it.

More soon!

Oh! Also: Since E2M3, M4 and M5 are kind of a "unit", I'll likely not post the map until all three are done. But I (or you) might still change my mind.

Two things I've learned:

^{(not, like.. in life. but during playtesting this map)}

1. git gud (or put more health items in the map)
2.  don't trust the VisPlane Explorer blindly

^{I know I've said it before.. sure, that's hot.. but not too hot, right?}

Also, this map is fun. But that's subjective. So I'll stick with "two".

I'll see if I can remove some more "different floors (& ceiling) textures (& heights), light levels, et cetera". Wish me luck!

Today on "how are you doing on level size consistency?"

^{Alternative title: "Why is E2M4 taking so long?"}

This is E2M3:

^Nice.

And this is E2M4 at the same zoom level:

^Oh.

And for once(?) I don't really have the "dread" of starting a new map.. because I am still motivated from E2M4 being done and trying out all the things with E2M5 that I want to do (also in connection to E2M4 callbacks).^*

So.. onward and upward!

___

^{*) Which that doesn't mean that it won't set in once I am actually getting into it xD}

And here's a look (in editor) at the exit!

^{All dolled up and looking like an actual exit!}

Haven't checked the Visplane Explorer yet though >_>

[[END OF E2M4]]

8<--------------------------------------- cut here

[[BEGINNING OF E2M5]]

Let's just pretend E2M4 is done.

Okay so I just posted that screenshot of the exit of E2M4.. and here's the starting area of E2M5 already!

^{Oh hi, Doom Guy!}

I've come to a point where- at least in most of E2, the "silver" door ("DOOR3") means "can't be opened by the player", where every other door basically means "go for it".

I am not sure if I am 100% consistent with it but I think I have been.

And in that I am pretty much keeping in line with how they were used in the original Doom.. right?

Either way- that's what I am doing.

I'll also go back and check if it's true. And if it isn't, I'll make it true.

^{SO HELP ME GOD!}

Not much to show besides that first screenshot. I did go back to E2M3 after I got done cleaning up some geometry in E2M4 that exists in both maps.. and copied it over. 

There's still some spots in E2M3 where the heat in the crossroads section is too high. 

..I'll likely revisit those again, if not soon then definitely when I playtest everything as a whole.

Until then, expect some more screenshots of E2M5 rolling in from now on!

Like this one!

^{I realized I hadn't submlitted yet so here's the first progress shot :D}

For now, I think I might take a short break, though.

More later- take care!

I dunno.. is this something?

I am testing out a way to transition from one wall height and BROWNGRN texture y-offset to another.. and this is the result:

^{Welcome to my TED Talk: "4 Steps To Success"}

Basically, the wall on the left is 160 units high and thereby has a full repeat of the "SLAD"-like border / edge. Which I actually kind of like.

But then the wall inside of the tunnel is 128, while the "roof" is another 32 high.

Which left me (selfishly) wanting the texture inside the tunnel starting off with the border edge on top.. even though it would have to be at the bottom if I had just continued the alignment from outside.

Here's an alternative approach, continuing the edge along the bottom a little.

^{I like this too. So easy to please.}

I am also considering using a 0-height sector as a wall (inside the tunnel) to try whether I can leverage the "unpegged" flags to my advantage and have the edge along the top and bottom as well, even at only 128 height.

Wait.. I'll just show you.

^{Also good. Ahhhrgh.}

What I like specifically (about the edge along the bottom) is that- in my head- it is kind of an impact zone for the (implied) vehicles using the roads. Like a guard railing, you know? *shrugs*

One might say I am very much still feeling out the starting area. But I might also just leave it at this for now.. and instead come back when I've soaked up more of the mood of the actual map (once it exists).

Exciting times!

Dr. Katze will see you now.

Not actually a doctors office but a waiting room of sorts.

^{This is somewhere inside the starting building.}

It will get less grey later on, I swear.

I might still add more color to this part as well. 

Also, it's another optional secret area.

Hm. I need to stop making those xD

I think those cushioned seats are losing their nobvelty but they actually make sense in this area so I figured they're a good way to dab some paint in the gray building.

And I'm still going!

Only now: To bed.

Before now, though, I was working on this:

^{That looks perfectly safe.}

And on this:

^{Uhm.. ZK? I don't think that gate is high enough.}

The second one is basically the bit through which you come into this optional area (behind that gate).

You better not try to get to the side from which this was taken.

Be a good Zombie-fearing citizen!

I mean.. Goodnight!

To whom it may concern..

The URE:E2 WAD file just surpassed 5 MB in size. And I barely just started map 5.

That's a whole lot of WAD for a Vanilla project.

URE2020 ended up being roughly 10.5 MB at the end, but that's with all the image files baked in.

Bets are open whether URE:E2 will exceed 10.5 MB ^^;

Did a bunch of things!

• Starting area of M5 is pretty much done now.
• I also fixed a heat problem in M8 when I took a brief look (remember the heat?)
• Dabbled a bit in E2M8 in general to jot down a few ideas.

Now I am off to bed because I've had enough xD

Weird. I have a few days off and I actually end up going to be earlier instead of later.

Maybe I've been replaced with a clone.

Out of the tunnels

This kind of happened accidentially.. and I am not sure if it'll stay in.. but I wanted to share it while it's here!

^{Another crane thing? sheesh.}

If I do keep it, there will also be winches, of course, so it makes more sense.. and a loading door in the building to the left. At least a hinted one. Though, knowing me, I'll also model the inside with some conveyor belts and lots of goodies to pick up on that conveyor belt ^^;

We'll see where this goes. This whole area is based on one of my scribbles.. but it's one that never had a loading crane.. thing. Go figure.

59 minutes ago, Zylinderkatze said:

If I do keep it, there will also be winches

I tried..

^{Ohh.. look at all the detail!}

..and failed.

^Shucks.

I might still keep the crane3 thing and just move it to the inside of the building, behind a closed gate..

..but yeah. This kind of sucks. And it was going so well.

But at least I tried!

Hello Youtu~ ..no, wait.

Hi Doomworld :D

So I moved the "accidential crane" inside the building, behind a "wouldn't it be cool if this actually opened?"-door (that could totally be made into a lift for a non-vanilla version so it actually does open up).. and I mapped out all the "enter / leave this area"-stubs..

^{That silver thing in the middle.. just imagine it can be "rolled down", yea?}

..AND! I managed to stay in Vanilla limits.

^{Hot hot hot.}

No more details for this area now, though.

Which kind of sucks because I had planned to add some more stuff to the "outside" of the empty space in the upper left which will become a building with an inside.

Which is funny because when I started out I thought "oh cool, I already mapped out the main sectors according to the scribble and this area is basically cold".

Afterthought.

I do still have some wiggle room in case I need more detail elsewhere in this area.. because I definitely added detail in places where it isn't really needed.

^{Case in point: Double roof all the way!}

I almost think it looks a little silly but I also didn't like the alternatives (the roof being thinner or being the same "thickness" but without the step, thereby making it "the sladded edge + an undetailed bit above or below", if I made it only brown or only green).

If I have to, I will definitely work something out.

Also, I am now thinking all the fall-offs and layers look a little too "playful" for what this is (factory / indistrial stuff).

Seeing how you show your own mapping AND thought progress in this thread is so awesome, followed your account :D
 

5 minutes ago, Zylinderkatze said:

Also, I am now thinking all the fall-offs and layers look a little too "playful" for what this is (factory / indistrial stuff).

I think you should keep the detail layers, they look great!

52 minutes ago, Al-Faris M said:

followed your account

Aw- thank you!

Welcome to this thread.. and to Doomworld, it looks like? But not Doom in general, going by your posts..? I'm confused ^^;

Either way, have fun! And don't be shy to comment, even if it's something less positive- I appreciate (constructive) criticism :D