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

[Vita93]

https://doomwiki.org/wiki/List_of_PlayStation_Doom_passwords

 

Is someone able to generate a password list for the new password scheme?  Thanks.

[Dark Pulse]

1 hour ago, Vita93 said:

https://doomwiki.org/wiki/List_of_PlayStation_Doom_passwords

 

Is someone able to generate a password list for the new password scheme?  Thanks.

As of Beta 4, all old passwords should work fine IIRC, so really it's just needing modifications so as to support identifying the new bits of info they have (namely, generating level slots up to 255), Nightmare flag support, etc.). 

Edited December 5, 2022 by Dark Pulse

[Vita93]

3 hours ago, Dark Pulse said:

As of Beta 4, all old passwords should work fine IIRC, so really it's just needing modifications so as to support identifying the new bits of info they have (namely, generating level slots up to 255), Nightmare flag support, etc.). 

OK, thanks.

 

There's now way more than 59 levels.

[Vita93]

In Beta 4, in 'The Titan Anomaly' it's possible to become soft locked after raising the platforms at the end.  If you fall off the platforms, with some of them you're then stuck.

[fenderc01]

On 12/5/2022 at 5:56 AM, Vita93 said:

https://doomwiki.org/wiki/List_of_PlayStation_Doom_passwords

 

Is someone able to generate a password list for the new password scheme?  Thanks.

 

Maybe someone could make this password generator work with maps greater than 59 and add nightmare skill:

 

https://eternity.mancubus.net/psxpw/

[dftf]

Great news on the new release! :)

 

Just thought I'd report that when I first booted it up in DuckStation, I was facing some rendering issues:

Spoiler

 

Apparently, the DOOM games are not compatible with some of the hardware "enhancements", which in my case was increasing the "Internal Resolution Scale" setting beyond the default "1x".

 

DuckStation actually ships with settings that disables these features, when it detects an original DOOM or FINAL DOOM game is played in it:

Spoiler

 

 

So, there are two things I'd suggest:

• If anyone here is in the Discord for DuckStation, maybe ask if they could consider adding your game into their Compatibility files that ship with the emulator ("gamesettings.ini" and "compatibility.xml"), as this would avoid the issue for users who may be less tech-savvy, and not know what is wrong
• Or maybe on both the first page of this forum-topic, and on the DOOM WIKI page for this release, maybe consider adding a note there to advise: "DuckStation users: we recommend using the "Software" renderer to play this game.  Hardware renderers may cause graphical issues.  If you must use a hardware renderer, please set the "Internal Resolution Scale" to "1x" and disable (un-tick) everything in the "PGXP" area.  Thank you"

[Vita93]

1 hour ago, fenderc01 said:

 

Maybe someone could make this password generator work with maps greater than 59 and add nightmare skill:

 

https://eternity.mancubus.net/psxpw/

I've had a quick look at the underlying source: https://eternity.mancubus.net/psxpw/psxpw.js

 

It should just be an issue of replacing the three instances in the source where the number 59 appears and put in the current number of levels in Beta 4.  The maximum skill should be raised from 3 to 4.

Edited December 6, 2022 by Vita93

[Dark Pulse]

4 hours ago, dftf said:

Great news on the new release! :)

 

Just thought I'd report that when I first booted it up in DuckStation, I was facing some rendering issues:

  Hide contents

 

Apparently, the DOOM games are not compatible with some of the hardware "enhancements", which in my case was increasing the "Internal Resolution Scale" setting beyond the default "1x".

 

DuckStation actually ships with settings that disables these features, when it detects an original DOOM or FINAL DOOM game is played in it:

  Hide contents

 

 

So, there are two things I'd suggest:

• If anyone here is in the Discord for DuckStation, maybe ask if they could consider adding your game into their Compatibility files that ship with the emulator ("gamesettings.ini" and "compatibility.xml"), as this would avoid the issue for users who may be less tech-savvy, and not know what is wrong
• Or maybe on both the first page of this forum-topic, and on the DOOM WIKI page for this release, maybe consider adding a note there to advise: "DuckStation users: we recommend using the "Software" renderer to play this game.  Hardware renderers may cause graphical issues.  If you must use a hardware renderer, please set the "Internal Resolution Scale" to "1x" and disable (un-tick) everything in the "PGXP" area.  Thank you"

This is due to how PSX Doom renders, correct.

 

Basically, instead of pixel columns/rows, things are rendered as one pixel wide polygons. That makes it pretty much impossible for the up scaling features to work on them - there's literally no extra data to pull from, so it just pulls garbage.

 

Fixing that would mean rewriting the PSX version's renderer.

 

So in short, this isn't an emulator bug, it's the original game doing rendering in a way that breaks these enhancement features.

Edited December 6, 2022 by Dark Pulse

[dftf]

@Dark Pulse: I wasn't asking for anything within PSX DOOM to be "fixed", nor did I suggest there was a bug in DuckStation (which if I did think were the case, I'd not report it here anyway, but to them directly on Github).

 

My point was simply that DuckStation users could download your game and then encounter render issues and not know why.  Nothing on the Wiki article, or within the main-comment of this topic (the first comment) gives users any heads-ups, and I think it could be useful to mention this, given how popular DuckStation is.

 

Or alternatively, I suggested that someone could ask the DuckStation team to consider adding your game's serial (SLUS-66602) into their compatibility-fix files, similar to the fixes they already have for the commercially-released DOOM and FINAL DOOM.  That would ensure your game would always work "out-of-the-box".

[Vita93]

12 minutes ago, dftf said:

@Dark Pulse: I wasn't asking for anything within PSX DOOM to be "fixed", nor did I suggest there was a bug in DuckStation (which if I did think were the case, I'd not report it here anyway, but to them directly on Github).

 

My point was simply that DuckStation users could download your game and then encounter render issues and not know why.  Nothing on the Wiki article, or within the main-comment of this topic (the first comment) gives users any heads-ups, and I think it could be useful to mention this, given how popular DuckStation is.

 

Or alternatively, I suggested that someone could ask the DuckStation team to consider adding your game's serial (SLUS-66602) into their compatibility-fix files, similar to the fixes they already have for the commercially-released DOOM and FINAL DOOM.  That would ensure your game would always work "out-of-the-box".

Don't want to stir up grief, however, running PS1 game ROMs is a fraught topic.

 

Broadly, there's three ways of doing it:

1. Natively, which included some early PS2s and from recollection the very first PS3 model.

2. FPGA on MiSTer FPGA

3. Emulation, however, for PS1 this needs to be split into official versus open source emulators.

 

Sony have created loads of official PS1 emulators:

https://emulation.gametechwiki.com/index.php/Official_emulators

 

POPS (PSP eboot) comes close to running PS1 games natively.  ps1_netemu on PS3 comes close to 100% compatibility.  There's then an enormous number of open source PS1 emulators with great variation between them on compatibility.  It's going to be difficult for a project like this to track emulators other than POPS.

 

[riderr3]

15 hours ago, Vita93 said:

In Beta 4, in 'The Titan Anomaly' it's possible to become soft locked after raising the platforms at the end.  If you fall off the platforms, with some of them you're then stuck.

Can you explain better? And also with screenshot on automap.

 

Also it is may not be bug - don't forget there yellow lines on automap - there is way to escape.

Edited December 7, 2022 by riderr3

[Dark Pulse]

5 hours ago, dftf said:

@Dark Pulse: I wasn't asking for anything within PSX DOOM to be "fixed", nor did I suggest there was a bug in DuckStation (which if I did think were the case, I'd not report it here anyway, but to them directly on Github).

 

My point was simply that DuckStation users could download your game and then encounter render issues and not know why.  Nothing on the Wiki article, or within the main-comment of this topic (the first comment) gives users any heads-ups, and I think it could be useful to mention this, given how popular DuckStation is.

 

Or alternatively, I suggested that someone could ask the DuckStation team to consider adding your game's serial (SLUS-66602) into their compatibility-fix files, similar to the fixes they already have for the commercially-released DOOM and FINAL DOOM.  That would ensure your game would always work "out-of-the-box".

Yeah, I know you weren't asking for it to be fixed - don't worry about that. Nothing is broken, after all - it's simply that stuff like PGXP and upscaling works for more typical games, but not the way PSX Doom normally renders.

 

What you noted was definitely useful information, but obviously GEC can't account for every single user's play situation. Some will still play this on (ugh) ePSXe. Plenty will use RetroArch's BeetlePSX core (basically Mednafen). Some will use DuckStation. Some will use original hardware, PSP EBOOT, or a PS3 PKG.

 

I don't know DuckStation's stance towards adding settings for ROM hacks, so probably the best thing to do would be to note somewhere that it's not compatible with such features.

[Vita93]

6 hours ago, riderr3 said:

Can you explain better? And also with screenshot on automap.

 

Also it is may not be bug - don't forget there yellow lines on automap - there is way to escape.

Once you raise all the platforms, there is only one area with a teleporter to get you out of there.

[riderr3]

3 hours ago, Vita93 said:

Once you raise all the platforms, there is only one area with a teleporter to get you out of there.

 

I checked map editor, everything seems fine. There are 3 pits with "SR Lift Lower Wait Raise (fast)" action lines, you just need to find them by using open button.

 

Also there are is hidden closet in final room which brings you to previous area in you want to get out. Titan series is a puzzling maps overall.

Edited December 7, 2022 by riderr3

[Vita93]

Cabal 4: Temple of Death, the red key needs to be more obvious.  I know it's even less obvious in the PC version, however, I literally would have had no clue where to look if I hadn't watched a playthrough of the PC version.

 

Cabal 6: Eye of the Storm, I'm sorry that's just unfair difficulty.

Edited December 8, 2022 by Vita93

[riderr3]

16 hours ago, Vita93 said:

Cabal 6: Eye of the Storm, I'm sorry that's just unfair difficulty.

 

Comment from original map author:

Quote

The whole level was built around the idea of the Cacodemon swarm, sorry. ;-) The Doom engine's inability to deal with Z-collision does play havoc with the playability, as you can't duck under the cacos. A bit of herding early on, with a quick dodge to the other side of the level should eventually get you through though.

I guess that's why this map outtaken from Master Levels.

 

Also here is the old video where I completed this map with pistol start on UV:

Spoiler

 

 

 

[Vita93]

45 minutes ago, riderr3 said:

 

Comment from original map author:

 I guess that's why this map outtaken from Master Levels.

 

Also here is the old video where I completed this map with pistol start on UV:

  Hide contents

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

OK.  The map still needs more health and ammo and / or loot cave secrets.

[Dexiaz]

1 hour ago, Vita93 said:

OK.  The map still needs more health and ammo and / or loot cave secrets.

 

I must see your playthrough. How you're playing this exact map. It's pretty much interesting why you have problems here.

[Vita93]

3 hours ago, Dexiaz said:

 

I must see your playthrough. How you're playing this exact map. It's pretty much interesting why you have problems here.

It's an unbalanced map.  That's all I was saying.

[Dexiaz]

2 minutes ago, Vita93 said:

It's an unbalanced map.  That's all I was saying.

 

I didn't say that you're wrong. I've just asked to show how your gameplay is going on this map.

[Vita93]

2 minutes ago, Dexiaz said:

 

I didn't say that you're wrong. I've just asked to show how your gameplay is going on this map.

OK, sorry.

 

Am not set up to capture from a PSTV.  Apologies.  Just to note, the way a PSTV works (compared to a Vita or POPS on a PSP) is there's inevitably a bit of input lag from using Bluetooth to connect a controller.

 

On first playthrough I got stuck in the basement room with the BFG as a result of too many cacos too quickly (this video is from the PC version):

 

 

I didn't have the time or patience for a second playthrough and used a password to level skip.  I'm more than half way through all of the levels and this was the first one where I experienced real progression hassle on Ultra Violence.

 

[Vita93]

I've had a quick go at changing the existing password generator to create new passwords for higher levels and hit the problem where it won't let me generate a password above level 63.  Is the new algorithm documented anywhere?

[Dark Pulse]

20 minutes ago, Vita93 said:

I've had a quick go at changing the existing password generator to create new passwords for higher levels and hit the problem where it won't let me generate a password above level 63.  Is the new algorithm documented anywhere?

Paging @Erick194 and/or @intacowetrust.

Edited December 15, 2022 by Dark Pulse

[fenderc01]

4 hours ago, Vita93 said:

I've had a quick go at changing the existing password generator to create new passwords for higher levels and hit the problem where it won't let me generate a password above level 63.  Is the new algorithm documented anywhere?

https://github.com/BodbDearg/PsyDoom/blob/2816127288e0d3b89207825f8495f09c217c2fc3/game/Doom/Game/p_password.cpp#L89-L103

Edited December 16, 2022 by fenderc01

[Dark Pulse]

31 minutes ago, fenderc01 said:

https://github.com/BodbDearg/PsyDoom/blob/2816127288e0d3b89207825f8495f09c217c2fc3/game/Doom/Game/p_password.cpp#L89-L103

Thank you. I was looking for that but I just couldn't find it.

 

That said, there is a small possibility it got revised since April (when that Gist was posted). I doubt it though.

[Vita93]

10 hours ago, fenderc01 said:

https://github.com/BodbDearg/PsyDoom/blob/2816127288e0d3b89207825f8495f09c217c2fc3/game/Doom/Game/p_password.cpp#L89-L103

Thanks.

 

So, if I've got this right the new password scheme splits the level number between pwdata[0] and pwdata[5], with the leftmost bits of pwdata[5] being used as:

 

Leftmost bit for nightmare

Next two bits for the extra level numbers

 

Encoding and decoding level numbers above 63 requires the bits to be joined manually to recover the real number?

 

Frustratingly, the C code has pwdata as an array sized 8, the JavaScript has a passwordData array sized 10 and am trying to figure out why.

[fenderc01]

55 minutes ago, Vita93 said:

Thanks.

 

So, if I've got this right the new password scheme splits the level number between pwdata[0] and pwdata[5], with the leftmost bits of pwdata[5] being used as:

 

Leftmost bit for nightmare

Next two bits for the extra level numbers

 

Encoding and decoding level numbers above 63 requires the bits to be joined manually to recover the real number?

 

Frustratingly, the C code has pwdata as an array sized 8, the JavaScript has a passwordData array sized 10 and am trying to figure out why.

 

Digging a little deeper, I found when the changes were added.

 

https://github.com/BodbDearg/PsyDoom/commit/78436a90bfb8e2318141c13bce2e9c8f313af814

https://github.com/BodbDearg/PsyDoom/commit/260613acd89a76843693832aab1efb6152ffac67

 

BTW - My knowledge of C++ is very limited, so I'm probably not much help deciphering the password system.

Edited December 16, 2022 by fenderc01

[Vita93]

18 minutes ago, fenderc01 said:

 

Digging a little deeper, I found when the changes were added.

 

https://github.com/BodbDearg/PsyDoom/commit/78436a90bfb8e2318141c13bce2e9c8f313af814

https://github.com/BodbDearg/PsyDoom/commit/260613acd89a76843693832aab1efb6152ffac67

 

BTW - My knowledge of C++ is very limited, so I'm probably not much help deciphering the password system.

Thanks.

 

I've found the bit which matters:

 

#if PSYDOOM_MODS

const int32_t mapNum = (pwdata[0] >> 2) + ((pwdata[5] & 0x20) ? 64 : 0) + ((pwdata[5] & 0x40) ? 128 : 0);

#else

const int32_t mapNum = pwdata[0] >> 2;

#endif

 

Am still trying to understand why the JavaScript has a bigger pwdata.

 

[fenderc01]

1 hour ago, Vita93 said:

Thanks.

 

I've found the bit which matters:

 

#if PSYDOOM_MODS

const int32_t mapNum = (pwdata[0] >> 2) + ((pwdata[5] & 0x20) ? 64 : 0) + ((pwdata[5] & 0x40) ? 128 : 0);

#else

const int32_t mapNum = pwdata[0] >> 2;

#endif

 

Am still trying to understand why the JavaScript has a bigger pwdata.

 

 

Here's the code from PSXDOOM-RE, if that makes things any easier:

 

https://github.com/Erick194/PSXDOOM-RE/blob/master/PSXDOOM/m_password.c

[riderr3]

I accidentally found a bug on the Downtown map and it is not connected with the previous case. This time, on the Nightmare Skill demons simply did not teleport to the room with rocket launcher even when I crossed the action lines many times, you can try it yourself. I did not see this problem at other skills. And this is clearly not mapping bug - perhaps the NM skill monsters are too fast? Or behavior and movement differs from PC Doom and got problems. Presumably other maps is also affected on NM skill, it can potentially lead to stucked monsters or even more strange behavior. @Erick194 can you deal with this.

 

Also, Vram Viewer cheat (see info on wiki) is kinda broken in Beta 4. Previously, it's correctly showed the graphics in order - textures, flats and then sprites, now it is mostly mixed and the skybox texture on the last page.

Edited December 18, 2022 by riderr3