[GEC] Master Edition PSX Doom for the PlayStation. Beta 4 Released [11/16/2022]

[intacowetrust]

6 hours ago, OpenRift said:

Uh... so do I need to extract the contents of the BIN/CUE files and run the -datadir parameter?

 

Hi @OpenRift, yeah that's basic idea. You need to extract the map set you want from the GEC: ME disc to a folder. Then specify that folder via the '-datadir' argument. PsyDoom unfortunately doesn't officially support the GEC: ME yet - I'm waiting on beta 4 and the new disc structure to add official support.

 

Here's a post which describes some of the process that you may find helpful:

https://www.doomworld.com/forum/topic/111024-psydoom-081-psx-doom-port-reverse-engineered-for-pc/?page=10&tab=comments#comment-2178063

You could also potentially make your own modified ISO of the original game, and copy the new maps onto it instead. @Shokan Kong made a video demonstrating this technique:
https://www.doomworld.com/forum/topic/101161-gec-master-edition-psx-doom-for-the-playstation-1102019-beta-3-release-now-are-you-ready-for-more-action/?do=findComment&comment=2336459

[Dexiaz]

Any news so far? It's pretty sad to seen this project almost dead. Yeah, it's not dead, it's frozen, but it doesn't make the situation any better, because it's almost the same result.

[Muusi]

Indeed ANY news about this project would be appreciated. 

[OniriA]

On 11/18/2021 at 12:33 PM, Dexiaz said:

Any news so far? It's pretty sad to seen this project almost dead. Yeah, it's not dead, it's frozen, but it doesn't make the situation any better, because it's almost the same result.

 

I still secretly think of this project from time to time and silently hope that it will release someday in full. 

 

I'm still greatful that they've released the most accurate versions of the Playstation Doom games in the form of those specialized hacked Gzdoom launchers. 

 

Let's put our palms together and pray 🙏  @Dexiaz 

[Impboy4]

On 11/21/2021 at 11:33 PM, OniriA said:

I'm still greatful that they've released the most accurate versions of the Playstation Doom games in the form of those specialized hacked Gzdoom launchers. 

Actually the most accurate version of PSX Doom is @intacowetrust's PsyDoom port. The GZDoom version is second best.

[ludicrous_peridot]

I was wondering how Doom CE compares to the released Team GEC's GZDoom versions in terms of accuracy... Any ideas? 

 

I was also curious if NRftL and Sigil were done as part of this project and if that was what Doom CE used. 

 

Anyway, sometimes I think that it wouod be cool if the conversions done for Master Edition are brought back to PC so that one can play them there (kind of re-Mastered Lost Levels). I know that PsyDoom would not load these CD images yet, but probably converting into PC wad format and providing some post-processing could work to make playthroughs possible? Maybe even playing these in as addon to Doom CE via GZDoom...

[molecicco]

6 hours ago, ludicrous_peridot said:

I was wondering how Doom CE compares to the released Team GEC's GZDoom versions in terms of accuracy... Any ideas? 

 

 

This is obviously way more accurate because it is a source code modification. Doom CE, being just a gzdoom mod, relies on ZScript and an array of hacks and workarounds and therefore is limited in what it can achieve, which is surprisingly a lot, but not enough to cover EVERY detail and engine difference there is. I think the most noticeable details are there, though.

 

6 hours ago, ludicrous_peridot said:

I was also curious if NRftL and Sigil were done as part of this project and if that was what Doom CE used. 

 

They're not. Doom CE uses the old gzdoom PSX total conversion as a base, and adds a bunch of stuff on top of it to make it more accurate, add bonus features, etc. The extra levels present there are re-imaginations made by fans for that gzdoom, while this project's extra levels have been made targeting the real console and its limitations, making them quite different.
 

I see Doom CE as just a novelty mod for those who want to play a total conversion in pure, unmodified, latest GZDoom and all the features that brings. This port, instead, is much more ambitious in scope and closer to the real thing.

[VGA]

If I try to use a Dualshock gamepad (in the emulator!) then when I select the Doom episode, the gamepad stops working. I need to go to the emulator settings and change the device to Digital gamepad. Is that normal?

[AmethystViper]

1 hour ago, VGA said:

If I try to use a Dualshock gamepad (in the emulator!) then when I select the Doom episode, the gamepad stops working. I need to go to the emulator settings and change the device to Digital gamepad. Is that normal?

It's normal since the PS1 version of Doom (and many other PS1 games at the time) came out before the advent of the DualShock controller for the PlayStation (Doom PS1 year of release: 1995; the DualShock's year of release: 1997).

[Lollie]

Yep - Some emulators let you set the DualShock's "analog" toggle button for this reason. PS1 games released before the DualShock controller tend to ignore input unless the DualShock's analog mode is toggled off, because these games expect the standard Digital controller instead.

 

Unless support for the DualShock has been specifically added since the release of Beta 3, this will probably continue to be the case.

Edited November 26, 2021 by Lollie

[Dark Pulse]

3 hours ago, VGA said:

If I try to use a Dualshock gamepad (in the emulator!) then when I select the Doom episode, the gamepad stops working. I need to go to the emulator settings and change the device to Digital gamepad. Is that normal?

Yes, that's normal. The Dualshock didn't exist then, so the gamepad must be set purely to digital. It can't read the Dualshock.

 

Not sure if that can be changed. That's something they'd have to clarify.

[riderr3]

It's time to revive this thread. I decided to run Beta 3 this time on HMP on the japanese PS1 console (SCPH-7000), and found even more bugs that were not yet mentioned. Perhaps some of them have already been fixed, but I think it is a reminder. And also have some opinions.

Against Thee Weekedly @marver0PS
This sector mistakenly marked as damaging:

And Hell Followed @Saint_Guy
Sectors near red pillars do not damage the player:

The same on the other side of the tunnel:

The Chasm @DynamiteKaitorn
Lack of texture after raising the platform:

This suspicious pit to the right should be marked with a tag and raise with the rest of the platform, who knows that you can suddenly fall there:

Icon of Sin @Erick194

As mentioned earlier, the final passage is not logical - after the destruction of the IoS, the player does not understand where he goes, and these dark corridors are far behind the player and are not visible, and especially why it marked as "hidden on automap"? Any typical mapper will say that it is absolutely contrary to logic and common sense.

Here I have two options:
1) Put the corridor (or two) on the sides of the IoS, upstairs on the platform, or at the bottom in the liquid:

Then the player won't get lost and will not spend another attempt.
2) Since GEC has source code, why not return the trigger from PC Doom (maybe under a different number) when the level ends after the IoS destruction (especially, this will save memory and increase the framerate)

 

Inferno of Blood @mr-around
In this closet on the sides, these red textures seem to be strange. It looks anti-climatic, probably it will be advisable to choose the same brown mountain texture on the sides:

 

Tomb of Malevolence @DynamiteKaitorn

From the screenshot, due to stairs in the south-west, the north-east and the staircase near the start of the level, the framerate is very reduced. These stairs are absolutely decorative, I can only recommend to reduce the number of steps (I did like this in my conversions). The central retractable staircase leading to the exit from the level should remain unchanged, for understandable reasons.

 

Trapped On Titan @Dexiaz
Place where you can get stuck (you need to narrow passage):

This happens because the PS1 player is moving into those places where the PC player cannot pass (the engine feature).

 

The Image of Evil @mr-around

The switch is on the screenshot, since only its half can be activated (it could not be activated from below), it is difficult to press it at an angle in which it is located - you need a few attempts (see the case with the top switch on the main elevator in TEETH)

 

Hanger @Dark Pulse

From the screenshot - in the PC version there was a switch that managed the window, which was removed in the PS1 version of technical considerations. What is the point of spending 4 linedefs just to put a useless computer panel here? Since players will remember the original level, they will unsuccessfully bump and try to open a non-existent window! Maybe just remove this panel?

 

Where there is a player in the screenshot - on the left corridor and bottom corridor (including a circular staircase), the corridors are too dark. I would say that these are the most dark corridors in the Master Edition (almost pitch black). This is especially unpleasant when shotgunner is at the pit and shoots and I do not see anything and open the fire blindly. Moreover, I do not remember such dark corridors at the official levels of PSX Doom and Final Doom. Also it was dark in the storage room behind the computer panel from the previous screenshot. It is best to configure the brightness here as in Open Season (quite dark but not so dark).

 

And here I just can skip most of level simply by activating exit switch through the wall:

A small alteration is needed.
I have already reminded many times that in the PS1 Doom, the switches can sometimes even activate through the walls at a short distance. Keep in mind this, at least the player is not skip most of the level, to all project participants.

 

Open Season @Dark Pulse
If you first activate this elevator with the "Circle" button, and immediately cross the line that should raise the platform, it will no longer rise:

Perhaps this is because it is W1 action, not WR.

 

Is it a yellow key or red?

During the key animation, it can lead to confusion, because the sector under the key was painted in red, in the sector options.

 

Storage Facility @DynamiteKaitorn

And here in the area of night vision glasses on the contrary - too bright! In the original map there was a fairly dark room. What is the sense from night vision glasses? It makes sense to darken this location as in original.

 

Mill @DynamiteKaitorn
The box of rockets is wrongly falling in the pit, it should be centered (in the corridor around the beginning room):

 

Lack of texture near the end of the level:

Is it possible to add Lost Souls on this map? (They cost inexpensively), I still strains the monotony of the varieties of enemies. Because of this, the level of not so challenging and even sleepy (for example, in my case, I would have better replaced Cacos on Revenants, I know that they are a more expensive but still...). And at the end of the level there is a small excess of ammo, since CyberDemon was removed, but the ammo balance was not adjusted.

 

Shipping/Respawning @Dexiaz

The line is incorrectly marked as "Hidden on Automap"

 

Mount Pain @Dexiaz

When you teleported here and stand close to the wall, then it is impossible to open it. In this case, the edges of this wall open only. Maybe it makes sense to push the teleport a little back.

 

Two closets where the player stands on the screenshot should be opened by shot. But you will not be able to open them on the hardware PS1 and PS2! After the shot, the game just freezes. This bug does not happen on emulators and PSP. There is something serious here. Need someone else with hardware who can confirm this bug. I appeal to GEC, they will be interested to look at the reason for which the usual trigger leads to such a disaster (quite ridiculous, but I remember the inscription "Disaster Area" from the original level, lol).

 

Speed @mr-around

These platforms are unnecessarily pushed up, if you cross another line of the initial platform (yellow lines):

 

In this place in the left side of screen you can see the end of skybox (black):

It is possible to raise the wall behind chaingunners a little.

 

Impossible Mission @DynamiteKaitorn
These sectors with hidden barons are unnecessary lowered, if you go again to teleport that teleports you to this location in the screenshot:

In my memory, this is a teleport with red skull columns on the sides.

 

The Temple of Darkness @mr-around

Is it possible to make this lowered platform as surroundings? So that it was damaging and with the right bloody texture.

 

Bunker @marver0PS

If you come close to this post, open it and step onto teleport, then teleportation will not happen, because the player stands too close. It makes sense to slightly reduce the size of the teleport sector itself.

 

The Sewers @Dexiaz

Again it is possible to skip most of the level by simply by activating the switch through the wall. A small correction is needed.

 

We also know that in this place there is a strong framerate drop, but this time I do not offer to remove the conceptual design of 3D flying blocks and translucency (personally I like it). Instead, you can simply reduce the number of flying blocks from 5 to 4, as well as reduce the number of steps of "circles" (also simplify the edges of "circles"), and it will rise some framerate:

 

Odyssey of Noises @mr-around

The line is incorrectly marked as "Hidden on Automap"

 

Moreover, The C.P.U. and Stronghold levels are not loaded on the PS1/PS2 hardware - it hangs the game on the "Loading" screen. It does not happen in the emulator. Possible lacks/memory leaks or I just incorrectly write to the disk? Here again, you need other players with hardware who can confirm or disprove it.

 

 

I will also remind you that if someone left the project and is not present on the forum, @Impboy4 can take care of level updates, as it was before.

 

I also found that in the episode Plutonia, I found a chainsaw only at the Go2It level (as I understood, levels with chainsaw is included to official PSX Final Doom). Along with the added SSG in Doom1 to few levels of Master Edition, it may be advisable to add chainsaw for 2-3 Plutonia levels (post a notice here if you added it), otherwise it turns out to be a secret weapon, lol.

 

It is also better to check for the outdoor sectors where skybox, the reverb checkbox in the sector options should be disabled, otherwise the echo at outdoors will be heard, which was not in offical PSX Doom/Final.

 

To GEC: I also recommend a week or two before the release of a new beta, so that you send a link to the test version of the project participants in private messages, just in case there are fatal errors there. And later to upload a public link to the forum. Last time it turns to Trapped On Titan was not playable.

 

About the sequence of Master Levels.

Since the ML sequence in official PSX Final Doom has been changed, and "Master Level Outtakes" has been added to the Master Edition, rises the question of the level sequence from simple to complex one. It is not fair to put quite complicated and tangled Titan Manor as MAP01.
In addition, the secret level of the Doom2 MAP14 Homage should be located somewhere, and which level is leading to it.
You can offer your options, I am still thinking yet (maybe you need to arrange a voting?). At least I agree that Image of Evil or Mephisto Maosoleum will good suit as last level in episode.

 

And last - when you have already chosen the episode, there are credits between demo where the developers of the original levels are indicated. This time it is important to add No Rest For The Living authors, as well as Final Doom/Master Levels that were added in the Master Edition (Jim Flynn and others... check at DoomWiki).

[RonLivingston]

so this means we got the master edition updated

[Dark Pulse]

3 hours ago, RonLivingston said:

so this means we got the master edition updated

It means that's up to Erick. We can fix the maps; Erick is the only one who could assemble a complete Master Edition build.

[Dexiaz]

8 hours ago, riderr3 said:

Two closets where the player stands on the screenshot should be opened by shot. But you will not be able to open them on the hardware PS1 and PS2! After the shot, the game just freezes. This bug does not happen on emulators and PSP. There is something serious here. Need someone else with hardware who can confirm this bug. I appeal to GEC, they will be interested to look at the reason for which the usual trigger leads to such a disaster (quite ridiculous, but I remember the inscription "Disaster Area" from the original level, lol).

 

 

Oh, this map is too hard to convert into PS1...And it's not related to the actual "Mountain" area, lol. This area with sewers and revenants with yellow key is kinda cursed. Everytime I'm getting different bugs here :\

 

Thanks for pointing errors!

[Muusi]

Is there any possibility of a standalone xdelta patch to give the old games the Master Edition features? Analog controls would be awesome. Would lessen the pain of waiting for the new version 😁

[Dark Pulse]

8 hours ago, Muusi said:

Is there any possibility of a standalone xdelta patch to give the old games the Master Edition features? Analog controls would be awesome. Would lessen the pain of waiting for the new version 😁

Erick could probably do that, but that'd be up to him. Again, none of the actual mappers are capable of building the entire Master Edition ISO, we just have a cut-down version.

 

And all that stuff like the analog controls would only apply going forward, meaning that we're still mostly stuck with a now roughly two-year-old toolchain.

[DynamiteKaitorn]

I'd fix my maps but I legit forgot where I put the .wad files I need to load the textures in the custom GZDB. :l

[Redneckerz]

On 11/18/2021 at 12:33 PM, Dexiaz said:

Any news so far? It's pretty sad to seen this project almost dead. Yeah, it's not dead, it's frozen, but it doesn't make the situation any better, because it's almost the same result.

 

On 11/20/2021 at 2:21 PM, Muusi said:

Indeed ANY news about this project would be appreciated. 

Like the DZDoom development, activity on Discord is active. The 194 Bros (Its easier to remember! :P) have once mentioned that they rather come out swinging with a huge update than incremental posts, so there is that.

 

Its worked on.

[Muusi]

7 hours ago, Redneckerz said:

 

activity on Discord is active. 

Can anyone join the discord or is it a group only for the devs? If not, I'd like to join! 

[Redneckerz]

1 hour ago, Muusi said:

Can anyone join the discord or is it a group only for the devs? If not, I'd like to join! 

Anyone can join. Im in transit now so i can't get the direct link.

[Dark Pulse]

This should work just fine for joining the Discord.

Edited November 30, 2021 by Dark Pulse

[Alfaifi]

So by this time, it has been more than two years since beta 3 has been released, should we expect any progress on this or should we consider it dead and be happy with beta 3 ?

[Dark Pulse]

As far as I know, they are still working on it, things have just taken a backseat for them on this. But we do know there's engine improvements and such, and have seen videos of things like Archviles back in.

[Alfaifi]

I hate to be the one who asks, but I truely like this project and has been following it from time to time, yet i dont see real progress being made here! Team GEC your doing great but infotming the community of what is planned is something you should do often...

[Alfaifi]

Btw doom CE is doing great on top of what you guys built, I would love to let you know that people are inspired of what you do and would love to see more.

[st0jan]

on the shokan king method for replacing maps from original psx doom img's with gec master ones: anybody tried with the final doom psx disc? the files are different there, you have 3 final directories, are these different episodes with added maps or just development versions of the release (like beta 1, beta 2, beta 3) and how to do it properly to have full experience with sigil maps, xbox maps, NRFTL and so on?

[Dark Pulse]

11 hours ago, st0jan said:

on the shokan king method for replacing maps from original psx doom img's with gec master ones: anybody tried with the final doom psx disc? the files are different there, you have 3 final directories, are these different episodes with added maps or just development versions of the release (like beta 1, beta 2, beta 3) and how to do it properly to have full experience with sigil maps, xbox maps, NRFTL and so on?

If I'm interpreting what you're saying right, this was necessary because at the time the game executable would crash if any one map folder had more than 64 maps.

 

The cause of this has since been found and raised (to 255 I believe?) as the reversing progressed, so whenever Beta 4 comes out, it will no longer be in multiple folders.

[talond66]

Dear @Erick194 and Team GEC,

 

many thanks for your hard and long work to create a Master Edition for the PlayStation console, which we all may have wished for back then -- gladly with a delayed release.

 

Just a week ago and just by accident I discovered your Master Edition, and I'm really excited about it: complete, with additional content, expansions, bug fixes -- and fully executable even on the original console.

 

To reduce the size of your future images, I can recommend compressing them with chdman. I was able to reduce the size of your image by 58.2% without any further settings.

 

Compressed Hunks of Data (CHD) is a lossless compression format originally developed for MAME, for the hard-drive contents of certain arcade machines. It has since been used in several other emulators as a means of storing CD-ROM game data. For CD-based games, it compresses the contents of a disc image (cue and bin files) to a single CHD file. (Source)

 

talond@desktop:~/PSXDOOM_BETA_3$ for file in *.cue; do chdman createcd --force -i "$file" -o "${file%.*}.chd"; done

chdman - MAME Compressed Hunks of Data (CHD) manager 0.220 (unknown)
Output CHD:   PSXDOOM_BETA_3.chd
Input file:   PSXDOOM_BETA_3.cue
Input tracks: 10
Input length: 41:52:00
Compression:  cdlz (CD LZMA), cdzl (CD Deflate), cdfl (CD FLAC)
Logical size: 461,242,368
Compression complete ... final ratio = 58.2%            

talond@desktop:~/PSXDOOM_BETA_3$ chdman verify -i PSXDOOM_BETA_3.chd

chdman - MAME Compressed Hunks of Data (CHD) manager 0.220 (unknown)
Raw SHA1 verification successful!
Overall SHA1 verification successful!

talond@desktop:~/PSXDOOM_BETA_3$ ls -1hSs

total 679M
423M PSXDOOM_BETA_3.bin
257M PSXDOOM_BETA_3.chd
4,0K PSXDOOM_BETA_3.cue

 

Best regards

[Dark Pulse]

6 hours ago, talond66 said:

Dear @Erick194 and Team GEC,

 

many thanks for your hard and long work to create a Master Edition for the PlayStation console, which we all may have wished for back then -- gladly with a delayed release.

 

Just a week ago and just by accident I discovered your Master Edition, and I'm really excited about it: complete, with additional content, expansions, bug fixes -- and fully executable even on the original console.

 

To reduce the size of your future images, I can recommend compressing them with chdman. I was able to reduce the size of your image by 58.2% without any further settings.

 

Compressed Hunks of Data (CHD) is a lossless compression format originally developed for MAME, for the hard-drive contents of certain arcade machines. It has since been used in several other emulators as a means of storing CD-ROM game data. For CD-based games, it compresses the contents of a disc image (cue and bin files) to a single CHD file. (Source)

 

talond@desktop:~/PSXDOOM_BETA_3$ for file in *.cue; do chdman createcd --force -i "$file" -o "${file%.*}.chd"; done

chdman - MAME Compressed Hunks of Data (CHD) manager 0.220 (unknown)
Output CHD:   PSXDOOM_BETA_3.chd
Input file:   PSXDOOM_BETA_3.cue
Input tracks: 10
Input length: 41:52:00
Compression:  cdlz (CD LZMA), cdzl (CD Deflate), cdfl (CD FLAC)
Logical size: 461,242,368
Compression complete ... final ratio = 58.2%            

talond@desktop:~/PSXDOOM_BETA_3$ chdman verify -i PSXDOOM_BETA_3.chd

chdman - MAME Compressed Hunks of Data (CHD) manager 0.220 (unknown)
Raw SHA1 verification successful!
Overall SHA1 verification successful!

talond@desktop:~/PSXDOOM_BETA_3$ ls -1hSs

total 679M
423M PSXDOOM_BETA_3.bin
257M PSXDOOM_BETA_3.chd
4,0K PSXDOOM_BETA_3.cue

 

Best regards

Problem is not every emulator supports CHDs. A lot of people still use ePSXe (for some reason...) for example, and that's expecting your usual BIN/CUE or ISO.

 

CHDs are also not exactly useful if you want to burn it to a disc to play on real hardware, or load onto your flash memory if you're using a PSIO or something. You'd have to turn it back into an ISO anyway for either of those use-cases.

 

I don't speak for GEC on this (I'm just part of the mapping team, nothing more), but I actually suggested something even smaller - a DIFF/XDELTA patch, to be applied against a standard ISO. That'd mean the patch would only be dozens of MB, and that could be compressed down in a zip/7Z to be even smaller, at the cost of the user having to do the actual patching themselves, but that's still the gold standard when it comes to ROM hacks and such so as to not run afoul of legal issues.

 

(PS: Feedback on my maps are certainly welcome! Please die in them.)

Edited April 16, 2022 by Dark Pulse