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

What is this.. a map screen for ants?

So I did that thing I do (and already did, back with URE 1), where I align my maps to see if all my planned transitions work the way I.. well.. planned (so that they work in congruence with the map start locations on the vanilla intermission map screen)..

..and I ran into a problem:

^{I can't make out a thing! :0}

The big blob at the top is the thing I did with how E2M2, 3, 4 and 5 overlap or run into one another. E2M5 is on the very left of it.. with that arrow and question mark pointing towards the lower left.

Because here's the Vanilla map start locations:

^{Don't tilt your head too hard! ><}

See how E2M3 and E2M5 (the two circles in the middle row) are right next to each other?

Now look back up at the automap thing..

E2M3 is the one that protrudes down from that blob at the top. Meaning it's not right next to the start of E2M5.

No one would know, no one would care, artistic freedom, shmartistic shmeedom. 

But I care! :D

So I'll see if I can make some adjustments to E2M5 so that the map at least juts "down" a bit, to about where E2M3 is.

Had I checked this earlier, I might've just moved the whole "rooftop" area down to that spot.

I suppose I could still do that.

But not today! 

I'm going to try and get to bed a little earlier today :D

Goodnight!

Update

It's my last week at my current job and it was my birthday a few days ago.. wait this is better suited for a status message, no?

What I meant to say is, it's been a long and busy week with some celebration stuff and many preparations going on so I wasn't around much!

But I'm still here ^^

Ish.

Weekend doesn't look much better either..

..but I'll map and/or update this place as much as I can. Because I want to :3

Bye for now!

Update Echo

It's my first week at my new job, which isn't any less turbulent than the previous one.

But I'm still alive :D

Hi Doomworld, it's me!

The line at the ice cream vendor was crazy!

What really happened: I fell into the Diablo 4 hole, combined with my new job being an attention- and energy-sink.. and also recently having started to try out a local install of Stable Diffusion.. it's just too many holes.

Figuratively, mostly.

I'll be back some time.. soonish. Once everything balances out somehow.

Your first obligation is to take care of yourself and/or your loved ones.

Your obligation to regale us with blog posts about Doom level development comes immediately after those.

On 8/21/2023 at 3:15 AM, jerrysheppy said:

Your first obligation is to take care of yourself and/or your loved ones.

Your obligation to regale us with blog posts about Doom level development comes immediately after those.

Thank you. You are too kind :3

I am gathering ideas as I go on with my my everyday life and following some other hobbies that took over the reigns from DOOM / UDB.. so I know I will finish URE:E2.. also, because I already have enough ideas to finish it as it stands xD

___

Also, I just realized that I never sent this response.

Great job, ZK!

I am now back to watching the odd DOOM Yotube Video here and there on the side (usually Decino) and it's giving me ideas!

Good ideas?

Who knows!

I'm currently Knee-Deep in the Starfield, though, so Doom is still a little ways away.

But I still exist! And URE:E2 is still very much in my sight. For.. later :D

I hope everyone here is doing well :>

My mouse was hovering over the "UDB" Icon on my desktop twice in the last 24 hours.

I'm not dead yet and neither is URE:E2. I'm at the point where I'm curious to see where I left off :D

Also, Baldur's Gate III is way too expensive for me to buy it just yet, no matter how good it is.

Also also, I am kind of getting slightly bored (probably only temporarily) with Stable Diffusion.. but don't tell that to our machine overlords!

So there's a window!

Wait. What?

ENOUGH HOVERING!

ZK.. what are you doing!

^{Do you think he knows what he's getting himself into?}

No. No I don't.

That's the beauty of it.

See you on the other side!

Weird.

Muscle Memory still works for all the shortcuts in visual mode (which I use maybe more than I should).. but for some reason the "copy texture and offsets" and "paste texture and offsets" doesn't work anymore for me.. I think it's called "Paste Properties Special" but it.. doesn't work anymore? My muscle memory (and the documentation) tells me it's "Ctrl+Shift+V".. but nothing happens.

Am I missing something? Have I gone crazy?

Don't answer the last part.

ZK mapping again is the third best thing about tonight.  Second best is this bottle of vodka.

10 hours ago, jerrysheppy said:

vodka

share! :0

Now all that I have to figure out is why the "copy / paste all textures, offsets and attributes" (in visual mode) doesn't work the way I remember.

Because it stumps me every time I use the shortcut and it doesn't do what I expect ^^;

 ..which in turn makes me less willing to continue my mapping session, each time >_<

I'll experiment on an empty map today to see what's wrong!

26 minutes ago, Zylinderkatze said:

share! :0

Sorry, I finished it off.  You'll have to get your own :(

2 hours ago, Zylinderkatze said:

I'll experiment on an empty map today to see what's wrong!

Okay something must've changed with a recent(ish) update to UDB between when I last worked with it in June and now.. I don't think I've seen this message before.. it's what UDB "says" when I use the shortcut that my hand tells me is the one for pasting texture & texture alignment..

Did somebody hurt my baby? O_O

On 6/26/2023 at 10:09 PM, Zylinderkatze said:

So I'll see if I can make some adjustments to E2M5 so that the map at least juts "down" a bit, to about where E2M3 is.

 

Had I checked this earlier, I might've just moved the whole "rooftop" area down to that spot.

 

I suppose I could still do that.

..and I supopose I just did!

^{Ha! indeed!}

It's actually moved there (in the map, not just in the picture) and it has almost exactly the proportions it needs to have. Even the way that it had two dead-end roads in the upper right now lines up with where I had already put a dead-end passage in what would now be the part it connects to. 

Almost eerily convenient.

However- now the Floor and Ceiling heights don't match up and you arrive there from the wrong direction.. there's still a bunch of fixing necessary until it'll be good.

But it's level geometry I need, where I need it- and it's already designed and paced and all monster'd up.. so patching up a few passages will not be much of a problem. I might even actually throw away some (previously necessary) passages!

All in all I think this might end up better than it was.

For whatever it may be worth, ctrl-shift-c and ctrl-shift-v continue to work as they always have for me. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

My UDB is fully updated.

This keeps on being too good to be true.

^{Where's the catch?}

So yesterday I relocated that whole "rooftop area" to where it makes more sense in the greater scale pf the intermission map, right?

And I wasn't sure how to connect the two because you used to come into the area from the south and now you come in from the north, effectively making a whole wrap-around pathway obsolete?

Well- it's still obsolete.

But!

...

Okay I have no "picking up from a but" segue.. uhm.. but.. uhh. Look. This is the outside area, right? Moved, height-adjusted to line up with where I put it, some trigger & sound-carrying sectors already joined again:

^{Okay we've seen this before ZK.}

I know! But see that passage in the middle? The one where the crosshair is, basically?

That's where you used to enter the open area from and it's in the north of the rooftop area.. which is perfect. Also, I already knew I'd use that to connect to the rest of the map.

What I didn't know was.. how well it lines up with a "secret room I don't know what I'll do with yet" from another area!

^{That's too perfect. I'm a little scared.}

The room in the foreground with the yellow "arrow" down is the end of the passage from the last image.. the room around the crosshair, further in the back, is the previously unused secret room.

This is the other side of that door:

^{I'll likely use "ICKDOOR1" instead*. Oh and sorry for full brightness ^^;}

So now I know what to do with that secret room AND how to connect the two.

I still have to work out how to "show" the user which weapon pickup will be the reward for getting in there, though.. because in the old setup you used to be able to see it from the (now obsolete) passages leading up to this area.

I might just rethink the whole presentation. I'll figure something out though!

This makes me optimistic.

___

^{* I usually use the "DOOR3" texture (in its unaltered state) to imply a door that will absolutely not open.}

I've had that serendipitous sort of thing happen, where you decide to do something while mapping and then realize shortly afterwards how it also solves some other, apparently unrelated, problem you were having.  Or, doesn't even need to be a "problem", just something that works out neatly.

It's a good feel.

20 hours ago, jerrysheppy said:

continue to work

Basically.. there used to be a keyboard shortcut in visual mode that copies textures AND their offset from one line to another.. and that shortcut used to be Ctrl-Shift-C (or V, respectively).

I am as certain of that as my self-doubt allows.

But now I need to do it individually, Ctrl-C (V) for the texture and Shift-C (V) for the offset.

I mean.. it's cool that it can be done individually.. but I usually want to copy / paste the whole appearance of a wall.. not just the texture OR the offset.

Ctrl-Shift-C (V) now only gives me the "Nothing selected. No copied properties to apply" upon the "V" part of that interaction.

I realize now how much I used to use it.. now it doesn't do what I expect anymore.. and it's irking me something fierce.

59 minutes ago, Zylinderkatze said:

I might just rethink the whole presentation. I'll figure something out though!

Look! It's.. it's..

^{Ohh. it's a gun. A big one! So that's what ZK was talking about.}

That BRNSMAL1-clad window in the gray building uset to be a wall.. because your first look at that tantalizing bonus room up there was not from this angle.

Now it is.. and I think it works pretty well!

Had to push some stuff around.. I will have to continue to do so.. but for now it looks good. The Visplanes Heatmap, too (well.. 240+ max.. but still under 256 ^^)

49 minutes ago, Zylinderkatze said:

 

Basically.. there used to be a keyboard shortcut in visual mode that copies textures AND their offset from one line to another.. and that shortcut used to be Ctrl-Shift-C (or V, respectively).

Yes, I understand what you are speaking of, I'm pretty sure.  I'm saying that this continues to work, unabated, for me.

13 hours ago, jerrysheppy said:

 

Yes, I understand what you are speaking of, I'm pretty sure.  I'm saying that this continues to work, unabated, for me.

I figured. I just can't get over why it doesn't for me xD

Teach me your ways!

(mine is updated to the newest version as well, btw)

But I think I am slowly getting used to it / working around it.

Maybe my newfound eagerness to continue this project (paired with the revelation of how well this is working, with the relocation of that whole section of map) is actually "stronger" than my frustation about the missing UI functionality.

I'm flying xD

But not much longer. Because I should be sleeping.

So.. goodnight!

Three days in a row?

I know it's only been three days now but every day I keep coming / going back to UDB with the same type of "mapping eagerness" from before. 

I like it!

More pictures in a bit probably, nothing much to show at this time. Just connecting things :)

A little peek

This is probably not the final "exit" but I like it so I am sharing!

^{That doesn't look ominous at all!}

I don't even think this map will have a "teleporter" exit.

I mean- it already has one exit and that one's not a teleporter exit (hint hint). But this one is the "main" exit area and.. well it's not done yet :D

But you'll be the first to know when it is!

"Is this anything?"

I wanted a bit of scenery here.. like a TV on a desk or such.. and then I realized I also wanted it to cast a shadow and then I realized that for a standard, "no tricks" sector shadow casting.. in order for it to make sense tht the shadow would cover the whole wall up to the ceiling.. the light would have to come from below. So I put a lamp.

^{The "table" will probably change texture, still.}

Yes. I realize thast's not a TV. It's a monitor.

I might still make it something more "TV-esque".

Or maybe I'll just remove it again later on :D

You never knowe with this ZK person.

Enough fidgeting and tinkering

I keep thinking that this area isn't detailed enough.. and it isn't, compared to my original scribbles.. but this is Vanilla Doom and I can't push it any further. So here's a final(?) look at the rooftop area in it's final(?) form.. concluding polishing excluded:

^{This is not where you come in from (anymore).}

I used to have the red key in this area (based on a previous decision to make this area mandatory in it's original form).. but since I am hiding it behind a secret passage now, I think that's a pretty bad idea xD

So.. I will either keep this whole area optional (as it is now, ever since I moved it).. or I will have to make it much more "main path obvious".

The traversal through this area is pretty neat so I kind of don't want you to miss it.. and it's a little too intricate to only serve as a "survive this to get the BFG" bonus.

Hmm. 

I have a few ideas already!

Writing about stuff really does help.

Thanks, Dr. Doomworld!

16 hours ago, Zylinderkatze said:

I don't even think this map will have a "teleporter" exit.

..actually I think it might, since I am kind of leaning into the whole "interconnectedness" thing on the map screen.. and if you look at the second image in this post from June 26, E2M5 is all the way on the left and E2M6 is all the way in the top right (in the "north-corrected" alignment that my maps have for some historic reason).

Even E2M6 and E2M7 might not even have a visible, "walkable" connection.. unless I hint at it with a long tunnel or a train ride or such. Like I did with the E2M2 to E2M3 "boat ride" thing. Maybe it's another boat ride, only this time it's not on water :0

I'll work that out when I get to it. The maps will get more demonic, starting in the next map, too.. which will make sense (well.. "sense" in a DOOM kind of way) with how they are at a distance from the maps you've been in up to this point.

There might actually be some form of story line developing!

In a Vanilla DOOM Wad?

And another update!

My writing-to-mapping ratio is skewing in the wrong(?) direction >_<

2 Things I noticed while taking stock of the maps in the current "E2" Episode:

1) I need to enforce the "wear your helmet" laws more rigorously:

^{Also: who broke that switch? Was it you, Shotgun Guy? Hmm?}

2) And: E2M3 is too small.

^{That's cute.}

(..or E2M4 is too big)

^Oof.

Anyways.. my parents are celebrating their wedding anniversary today (it isn't today but they are celebrating it today ^^) so I'll be gone for the day, starting.. soon.

Later!

OMG Doomworld. You won't believe this.

I just had a "what if I do this" moment (again) with the way in which you exit the map (E2M5).

Remember how I moved the rooftop area from the north to the south of E2M5?

And how I was then wondering about how you exit the map?

Today I checked out the map(s) again, with the new layout (with the rooftop area at the "bottom" of the map now) and then I coped over part of E2M3 and this happened:

^{That's too many arrows.}

See that little "EXIT" at the bottom of the E2M5 road piece jutting out? That's one of the two possible "maybe I'll make this the exit" that I marked for myself. Before I knew what I really wanted to do with that bit. The other one would be far off to the left / west of the map.

Soo.. I think I'll make it so that you go back into (a copy of) the E2M3 starting area and get back onto that boat :D

I'm really milking that boat theme but it's too good to pass off.

I'm quite pleased with how the pieces are fitting together (literally).

Even if maybe no one will really notice :D

There's a certain connection..

^{..and it's getting hot.}

Too hot :(

^{Okay.. yes.. neat.. but~}

So.. if I do connect it like this, it'll be too "hot" on both sides.

There's a door leading from the rooftop area on the left over to the right (compare the one road that wasn't yet connected in this previous view).. and now that it can be opened, it makes the area too.. visplane-y^(tm).

Same with the passage that connects over to the E2M3 callback / "feedback" on the right.

So instead I'll find a path that "snakes around" a bit more and leaves less openable doors to cause headaches.

Again, I already have ideas but who knows where it'll go. It'll go somewhere. 

See you when I get there!