Heretic: Quest for the Crystal Skulls - RELEASED

[Captain Toenail]

 

Quest for the Crystal Skulls has now been released!

Get it here:

https://www.moddb.com/mods/heretic-quest-for-the-crystal-skulls/downloads/heretic-quest-for-the-crystal-skulls1
https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/heretic/Ports/her_qfcs

 

Quest for the Crystal Skulls is a new action-packed episode for Heretic.
                          
In this adventure, Corvus is confronted by a Heresiarch, a powerful minion of the Serpent Riders. This dark wizard has stolen three crystal skulls,
using their power to open a portal to the underworld in the hopes of bringing about his master's return.
                          
Corvus must collect the remaining six crystal skulls in order to unlock the celestial path and confront the Heresiarch before it's too late.

 

Port Required: latest GZDoom
                          
Featuring:

•      new monsters
•      8 action-packed levels, a level hub and a challenging boss fight level
•      new graphics, music, textures and more

 

Screenshots (old):

 

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

Edited April 13, 2020 by Captain Toenail
formatting

[FrancisT218]

Will this run with Wayfarer's Tome?

[Captain Toenail]

I have no idea Francis, but I imagine it will if you load it last, as I have not made any drastic changes to the stock game.

[Captain Toenail]

Beta 2 is here!

 

Main Changes;

• The Firemace is now a grenade launcher (hope this isn't too cheeseable!)
• Bossfight has been nerfed slightly and now has a health bar
• Pod platforming sections are now more obvious with visual clues
• New props and decal magic added to all maps to increase atmosphere (pretty flowers, furniture etc.)
• Tweaked the DarkMaster (the red wizard). Less health but now more of them
• Added new enemy - the HexPrism
• New consistent texture for lifts
• Added decals and gldefs for new projectiles and props. Load the lights wad after the default GZDoom one.
• Fixed various texturing mistakes
• Fixed enemy stuck in wall
• Converted all graphics to PNG format to save some space and organised them better
• Added deathmatch starts (don't really recommend this)
• Removed jumping and crouching restrictions from MAPINFO (jumping and crouching is still cheating however! ;-) )
• Updated credits in readme

 

Screenshots:

 

Spoiler

 

Edited April 19, 2020 by Captain Toenail

[Captain Toenail]

Beta 3 is here:

 

Changes

• Long lift texture for tower on Azure Canals
• Fixed some texture alignment issues
• Stopped Dark Master and Wizard infighting
• Pushable furniture is now wider and less HP
• Wood debris sprites smaller to fit visual style of existing sprites
• Added deathmatch check to skip level 1 cutscene
• Fixed a missing scrolling sector in Undercrypt
• Added a teleport line in the level hub to prevent rocket jumping past the first area
• Added special effects to the Firemace's new grenade
• Fireplaces now have a proper flame
• Added wave sound effects to Dark Coast
• Added background textures to upper stain glass window texture
• Difficulty settings implemented (however ideally you should play on Smeitmeister for the full experience)
• Added some more random painting decals, and pruned a lot of them from the levels walls
• Added some extra ammo before final fight
• Completing secret level now spawns some extra items in the level hub as a reward
• Added new Chaos Serpent minibosses throughout episode

 

To do before final release:

• Fix serpent gibs not clipping in water and void sectors correctly
• Add toggle for weather effects
• Fix new macebomb not clipping through ghost enemies

Unless there are any major issues, I will be considering this the final release in a week or two. Your feedback is appreciated.

Edited April 19, 2020 by Captain Toenail

[Caleb13]

The secret map doesn't have enough ammo now, mainly thanks to the newly added chaos serpents. The area behind the yellow key is the most problematic. I ran out of all items too, so the fight became an annoying chore there. It needs at least one more tome. I didn't even try fighting all the maulotaurs in the final arena this time, I just pressed the buttons and exited the level. It'd need at least 2 more tomes to kill them all. I played on UV.

 

Also, you didn't fix the ISLAND05 bug I mentioned at Zdoom forum.

 

Edit: the chaos serpents have improper height, their heads (and even torso) are clipping through ceilings.

Edited March 28, 2020 by Caleb13

[Not Jabba]

1 hour ago, Caleb13 said:

The secret map doesn't have enough ammo now

This was always a bit of an issue, imo, though it wasn't a major problem in previous betas. When I played B1, I entered M9 fully loaded but used up most of the ammo and armor in the map and left it poorly stocked for the final boss fight; I even went back through some other maps in the hub to try and scrounge up a bit.

(Edit: never mind, didn't read the change list carefully enough -- it looks like this has been addressed, aside from the ammo problem that Caleb13 described within M9?)

Edited March 28, 2020 by Not Jabba

[Captain Toenail]

Quote

Also, you didn't fix the ISLAND05 bug I mentioned at Zdoom forum.

 

Missed this one. It's been fixed now thanks.

 

Looks like the secret map is causing a lot of ammo problems for everyone. I'll need to take a look at this. Sounds like I definitely need to spawn some more ammo pickups after that level is complete too.

 

Thanks for the feedback so far this is very useful.

Edited March 28, 2020 by Captain Toenail

[Captain Toenail]

Here's a quick fix.

 

• Chaos Serpent now taller
• Added more ammo and items to secret level
• Several ammo backpacks now spawn in level hub after completing secret level

 

This replaces the main wad from the previous beta

 

Edited April 19, 2020 by Captain Toenail

[JDR]

Very good set, very pretty though minimalist. I liked the new stuff, however new enemies didn't bring all that much, except flying serpents that could've been used more. Breakable stuff although pretty pointless is satisfying to crush. Visually set is superb though.

Secret map aside, there were many instances of running in a quiver with 99 arrows, or picking up a greater rune with almost full ammo. It feels like the maps across the set had been balanced solely around getting in that secret portal with full ammunition, which is unfortunate because it takes away the fun of searching for ammo most of the time on regular maps.

Not a fan of heretic, but great stuff.

[Captain Toenail]

Thank you for the feedback JDR, You were right, there was an abundance of ethereal arrow ammo. I have pruned some arrow ammo pickups near the middle of the episode.

 

In other news...

 

Firstly, Happy Easter Weekend everyone!

 

Secondly, Heretic: Quest for the Crystal Skulls has now been released!

 

Also a special thank you to everyone who playtested the betas and provided valuable feedback. I couldn't have done this without you!

 

Get it here:

https://www.moddb.com/mods/heretic-quest-for-the-crystal-skulls/downloads/heretic-quest-for-the-crystal-skulls1
https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/heretic/Ports/her_qfcs

 

Have fun!

 

 

Edited April 13, 2020 by Captain Toenail
Updating urls

[UnknDoomer]

Just finished first level on "thou art a smite-meinster" difficult.

 

Question.

 

1. Silver head. It's weaker then it was in the original game?

 

Suggestions.

 

1. Hub area. Good screensaver might be done from this. With this music especially.

[UnknDoomer]

Found two bugs on level "Azure canals".

 

1. Bug_1.png. Not possible to get into the area here, i.e. jump. I've tried few times.

2. Book of power in coffin. Can't grab it.

 

Edited July 13, 2020 by UnknDoomer

[Lingyan203]

Tried to run the wad with zDoom and GZDoom but it crashed with a fatal error

 

Execution could not continue.

Script error, "HER_QFCS.wad:DECORATE" line 369:
Invalid state parameter a_spawnprojectile

 

What's up with that?

[UnknDoomer]

2. Can be obtained, but only in specific angle.

3. I've used switch in location near by. But nothing changed here. Teleport on the left not going down - bug, as result can't use switch from the picture.

 

Edited July 13, 2020 by UnknDoomer

[UnknDoomer]

Tried to run the wad with zDoom and GZDoom but it crashed with a fatal error

I'm using GZDoom 4.4.2. Windows 10 x64. Heretic.wad version 1.3.

 

[Global.Autoload]
path=E:\Games\Old\gzdoom-4-4-2-Windows-64bit\HER_QFCS.wad
path=E:\Games\Old\gzdoom-4-4-2-Windows-64bit\HER_QFCS_Lights.wad
path=E:\Games\Old\gzdoom-4-4-2-Windows-64bit\heretic_gz.pk3

 

Load order. heretic_gz.pk3 - texture pack.

[Not Jabba]

48 minutes ago, UnknDoomer said:

1. Bug_1.png. Not possible to get into the area here, i.e. jump. I've tried few times.

 

I know I made this jump without much trouble, but it may require straferunning.

 

34 minutes ago, UnknDoomer said:

3. I've used switch in location near by. But nothing changed here. Teleport on the left not going down - bug, as result can't use switch from the picture.

To get to that ledge, you have to maneuver pods into position to walk across them. There are respawning pods nearby, but you have to work out how to get them where you want them.

[UnknDoomer]

Quote

There are respawning pods nearby, but you have to work out how to get them where you want them

I.e. "rocket jump", sort of? Which also require some hp when I have had very low one at the moment. Or it works somehow with texture on the wall? I.e. this "green balls" stick to walls and then you can go on them?

 

Such thing was never used in the original game. So I have no idea that it could be possible.

Edited July 14, 2020 by UnknDoomer

[Not Jabba]

1 minute ago, UnknDoomer said:

 

 

I.e. "rocket jump", sort of. Which also require some hp when I have had very low one at the moment.

No. You can walk across the top of the pods. If you line them up, they will make a walkway.

[UnknDoomer]

Quote

You can walk across the top of the pods. If you line them up, they will make a walkway.

Not best choice, actually. Especially on one of the next maps where is kinda hard +/- put them in the right place.

 

4. Stuck for a moment on map "The Undercrypt". Skull #6 in my case. I can only jump to teleport, no other exit from this room. Also this teleport just return to start of the location. No keys to open anything. Seems like a trap, if not using jump option.

 

I.e. first you need to turn on another switch and go to another location with another silver head. Only after go here.

 

Edited July 14, 2020 by UnknDoomer

[Captain Toenail]

On 7/13/2020 at 5:54 PM, Lingyan203 said:

Tried to run the wad with zDoom and GZDoom but it crashed with a fatal error

 

Execution could not continue.

Script error, "HER_QFCS.wad:DECORATE" line 369:
Invalid state parameter a_spawnprojectile

 

What's up with that?

 

Hi Lingyan203. This wad requires GZDoom v4.3.3 or later to run.

 

1 hour ago, UnknDoomer said:

4. Stuck for a moment on map "The Undercrypt". Skull #6 in my case. I can only jump to teleport, no other exit from this room. Also this teleport just return to start of the location. No keys to open anything. Seems like a trap, if not using jump option.

 

UnknDoomer, There is a

Spoiler

hidden switch outside the cage that you can shoot ;-)

 

Also jumping may break the map flow of some of the levels so I wouldn't recommend that. Have fun :)

Edited July 14, 2020 by Captain Toenail
typo

[UnknDoomer]

 

Quote

hidden switch outside the cage that you can shoot ;-)

Tried to find it. But didn't see it at first.

 

Edited July 15, 2020 by UnknDoomer

[UnknDoomer]

Completed the wad on "thou art a smite-meister" difficult (#4 of 5; "Ultra-Violence" in case of Doom) using classic controls - arrows + shift for run, left ctrl to shoot. Was really tough sometimes, but possible to beat in case also of a lot of save/load.

 

Some statistics I've got at the end:

 

1. Island 1 - Quayside. Monsters 120/122. Secrets 5/7. Items 20/23.

2. Island 2 - Umber Keep. Monsters 196/206. Secrets 2/3. Items 24/26.

3. Island 3 - Asure Canals. Monsters 129/129. Secrets 4/6. Items 28/38.

4. Island 4 - Dark Coast. Monsters 170/176. Secrets 4/4. Items 25/30.

5. Island 5 - Dismal Convent. Monsters 193/196. Secrets 2/4. Items 20/34.

6. Island 6 - The Dreadhold. Monsters 206/212. Secrets 5/9. 42/48.

7. Island 7 - The Undercrypt. Monsters 215/219. Secrets 3/5. 29/34.

8. Island 9 (secret level) - Realm of Chaos. Monsters 518/518. No secrets here. Items 60/60.

 

Hub area. Monsters 13/13. Secrets 3/3. Items 18/20.

 

In total: didn't find 31 monsters, 10 secrets. Killed all "sub-bosses" - minotaurs, pangolins.

 

Pros:

 

+ Great architecture.

+ Hardcore and challenging. Enough to be hard, enough to not be unbeatable.

+ Music.

+ No bugs found.

+ Might be mentioned in "Cacowards 2020".

+ Fun secret level with 500+ enemies.

 

Contras:

 

- Pods. Two levels require to walk around them. In first place +/- fine. But in second - too annoying.

- Problem with a jump on ""Azure Canals", island 3, book of power on the same map in the coffin might be hard to obtain, perhabs glitched (?) switch in the area (check screenshot/text above).

 

Questions:

 

1. Where are secrets in the hub can be?

2. How to get on secret island #8? It's not possible to use wings, in case when you are enter to the hub you lost one. So you need two of them to use it in the hub area.

 

 

Future plans? (if you have one)

 

My recommendation for future possible WAD - make something that will be tightly aligned / combined with "HeXeReTiC Fantasy". Easier / perhabs more ordinier levels, but more of them, ~ 16-20 for example + accent on hero progression / random enemies thing from the modification.

 

https://www.doomworld.com/forum/topic/97490-hexeretic-fantasy-v12-hud-updated-2-dec-2017-obsolete/

Edited July 20, 2020 by UnknDoomer

[Captain Toenail]

On 7/15/2020 at 3:04 AM, UnknDoomer said:

In total: didn't find 31 monsters, 13 secrets, if not count secret island #8. Killed all "sub-bosses" - minotaurs, pangolins.

Pangolins? If you have a save file before the final boss you can revisit the previous levels in any order to find the remaining secrets, items and enemies.

 

Quote

1. Where are secrets in the hub can be?

2. How to get on secret island #8? It's not possible to use wings, in case when you are enter to the hub you lost one. So you need two of them to use it in the hub area.

There is a

Spoiler

Wings of Wrath powerup hidden somewhere in the hub. You can find it once you have all the crystal skulls.

 

Quote

Future plans? (if you have one)

I have some ideas for a Hexen hub but I am busy with other things right now. Nothing concrete planned at the moment. Thank you for playing!

Edited July 18, 2020 by Captain Toenail

[UnknDoomer]

Quote

Pangolins?

 

Dinosaur like creatures.

 

I have some ideas for a Hexen hub

Then, perhabs, "Wrath of Cronos" combo will be better.

 

 

I see one powerup on the small island. There is no "road" near by. Still, it seems to it's not "Wings of Wrath". Will try to look additionally.

Edited July 18, 2020 by UnknDoomer

[UnknDoomer]

 

Found it:

Small island behind the portal where you drop. It's first secret on the hub. Second one - item on another island. Third one - teleporter to Island 8 (marked as #9, in case final boss in on island 8). This map has biggest amount of enemies.

 

Edited July 20, 2020 by UnknDoomer