Classic Deathmatch Redux

[KevvyLava]

EDIT: Final version of the wad (Version F), which includes a lot of significant updates: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ubnixn812lxujc6/KevinDM-F.zip?dl=0

 

Map #           :  MAP01 - MAP30
Single Player   :  Yes (test only)
Cooperative     :  No
Deathmatch      :  Yes (8-10 DM starts on each map, best with 4-6)
New Music       :  Yes

Port: Zandronum, GZDoom, LZDoom

 

01. E1M1   [Hangar] - Mega Man 9 - "Hornet Dance"
02. E6M3H  [American's Legacy] - Mega Man 2 - "Air Man"
03. MAP18  [The Courtyard] - Chrono Cross - "Dead Sea ~ Tower of Destruction"
04. E4M4   [Unruly Evil] - Battletoads - "Surf City"
05. MAP11  [Circle of Death] - Final Fantasy VI - "Slam Shuffle"
06. MAP24  [The Chasm] - Metroid Prime 2: Echoes - "Hydrodynamo Station"
07. E4M9   [Fear] - Life Force - "Temple Stage"
08. MAP04  [The Focus] - Streets of Rage - "Stage 1"
09. MAP01  [Entryway] - Mega Man 3 - "Hard Man"
10. MAP09  [The Pit] - Mega Man 5 - "Dark Man"
11. E1M5   [Phobos Lab] - Tetris [NES] - "Music C"
12. E4M1   [Hell Beneath] - Chrono Trigger - "Arris Dome"
13. MAP14P [Genesis] - Streets of Rage 2 - "Dreamer"
14. E1M4   [Command Control] - Duke Nukem 3D - "Aliens, Say Your Prayers!"
15. MAP02  [Underhalls] - Chrono Trigger - "Underground Sewer"
16. E3M3   [Pandemonium] - Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse - "Anxiety"
17. MAP07  [Dead Simple] - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles [Arcade] - "Scene 1: Fire! We Gotta Get April Out!!"
18. MAP03  [The Gauntlet] - Streets of Rage 2 - "Wave 131"
19. E2M2   [Containment Area / Unto the Cruel] - Final Fantasy VI - "Phantom Train"
20. E1M2   [Nuclear Plant / Hangar / Central Processing] - Sonic The Hedgehog 2 - "Chemical Plant Zone"
21. E4M5   [They Will Repent] - Zelda: Ocarina of Time - "Forest Temple"
22. E3M6   [Mt. Erebus] - Super Smash Bros. Mêlée - "Brinstar"
23. E1M4H  [The Guard Tower] - Heretic - "The Guard Tower"
24. MAP16  [The Suburbs] - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - "Shredder's Base Inside the South Bronx"
25. E1M3   [Toxin Refinery] - Sonic The Hedgehog - "Scrap Brain Zone"
26. E1M6   [Central Processing] - Super C - "Area 8"
27. E3M2   [Slough of Despair] - Zelda: Twilight Princess - "Faron Woods"
28. E2M3   [Refinery] - Double Dragon II: The Revenge - "Mission 7: Trap Room"
29. MAP06  [The Crusher] - Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse - "Aquarius"
30. E1M7   [Computer Station] - Streets of Rage 2 - "Main Theme / Stage 8"

 

Title Music: Sonic & Knuckles - "Death Egg Zone Act 1"
Intermission Music: Mega Man 4 - "Stage Select"
Story Music: Streets of Rage 2 - "Spin on the Bridge"
End Music: Streets of Rage 2 - "Go Straight"

 

 

Edited January 19, 2021 by KevvyLava
Final Version "F"

[Doomkid]

Wonderful screenshots, looking forward to seeing how these play!

[KevvyLava]

48 minutes ago, Doomkid said:

Wonderful screenshots, looking forward to seeing how these play!

 

Welp, take a gander at the 'ol download link and have a look.  Zandronum or (L/G)ZDoom-only, that I know of.

[Hellbent]

Very nice KevvyLava! Linedef 724 was facing the wrong way on MAP07 so zdoom crashed when I went to that level. Also, you can grab the soul sphere from the stairs on level 2, but you can't get out of the soul sphere bars once you do. might want to make the bars SR-lower lift wait rise. 

 

I think you did an excellent job of tastefully changing the levels while making the changes feel authentic to the originals. I haven't yet played them with live people, but planning on doing so tomorrow. I wasn't too keen on the level with damaging floors (the one loosely based on map24). I really liked the look and feel of the map13 revamp but I found it a little frustrating trying to figure out how to get places. The folks I DM with over the years agree that making it easy to get around the level is one of the keystones to fun DMing, but I'll play it and then give more feedback.

[KevvyLava]

Thanks for the feedback, Hellbent. I'm not sure why it would have crashed because of the backwards linedef, but either way, it's fixed.  Couple of other minor tweaks, including the Soulsphere bars in MAP02.

 

I tried to minimize damaging floors (older versions of this wad had way too much of that, I learned).  Maybe in a final revision I can switch that map to water or something, I dunno.  Some of these maps took FOREVER to get the textures lined up properly (including non-standard floor heights so they looked didn't look cut-off).  MAP25 (based on E1M5) was a real challenge because of the diagonal parts on the map...getting those textures looking right took some time but I'm proud of how it ended up.  Any levels that you enjoyed the most so far?

[Zillah]

Hi there!

Is this only for Zandronum, or can it run on Zdaemon/a less extensive port?

[Zillah]

Playtested in Zandronum. I absolutely love most of these levels, and they feel sup-smooth.
However, found a HOM on Map24. Don't know if it was intentional, but it will mess with DM players.

[Gokuma]

@KevvyLava

So familiar and yet not.   Pretty cool!

 

Here I whipped up a zmapinfo entry for you.   Just copy it from this wad into yours.   And then you can specifically set the skies or do whatever you want.   I made map25 exit to map01 to start them over.

kevinfo.zip

 

@Zillah It uses 3D sector transfers so it won't work in ZDaemon or Odamex.  Has to be Zandronum or newer ZDooms.

Edited September 23, 2020 by Gokuma

[KevvyLava]

10 hours ago, Gokuma said:

@KevvyLava

So familiar and yet not.   Pretty cool!

 

Here I whipped up a zmapinfo entry for you.   Just copy it from this wad into yours.   And then you can specifically set the skies or do whatever you want.   I made map25 exit to map01 to start them over.

kevinfo.zip

 

@Zillah It uses 3D sector transfers so it won't work in ZDaemon or Odamex.  Has to be Zandronum or newer ZDooms.

 

Thanks for this, I raelly gotta learn some of these basic things, don't I? haha. Only question is ... how do I extract it and copy it? And @Zillah I don't know why the HOM is happening there.  Here's how it looks on Zandronum v3.0 170901-1140:

 

 

[Doomkid]

As a rule of thumb, always test in software mode! It's a tip that is rarely shared these days, since I guess we're in the era where the majority are using OGL, but OGL will replace a large chunk of HOMs with the skybox, which in turn makes HOMs harder to find and iron out.

 

The actual "window sill" sector has a floor height higher than the ceiling height of the sky sector that butts directly up against it. When this is the case, it results in a HOM.

 

 

The best way to avoid this is to separate the "sky sector" into two sectors, and make sure the nearest sector has a ceiling height higher than that of the window sill's ceiling height, and a floor height lower than that of the window sill's floor height. The farthest sector would then be shrunk to have a height of 1 (not 0, as 0 as results in HOMs in most ports). This will give you a functional outdoor sky area beyond the windows.

 

One of the things that's always made me grumble about OGL mode is how it encourages bad practices when it comes to making sky sectors.. Not the fault of mappers really - how are mappers supposed to know that one rendering mode fixes bugs while the other doesn't, after all?

Edited September 23, 2020 by Doomkid

[Zillah]

2 hours ago, Doomkid said:

The best way to avoid this is to separate the "sky sector" into two sectors, and make sure the nearest sector has a ceiling height higher than that of the window sill's ceiling height, and a floor height lower than that of the window sill's floor height. The farthest sector would then be shrunk to have a height of 1 (not 0, as 0 as results in HOMs in most ports). This will give you a functional outdoor sky area beyond the windows.

^^^
Funny, in fact a friend was having the same problem only yesterday with GZDoom, and when I played tested his maps in Zandro I told him this very thing.
If you need more of a visual here's some screenies of his map and how it fixed it. Always make sure the way it shows in the editor is the way it will show in game. So if it has a orange texture (as in no texture), that's exactly how it will show it most ports. It's better to map for almost every possible port or person rather than just one. And it isn't as hard as it sounds ;)


The screenies:

Spoiler

Here in the highlighted sectors, is where the skybox is lowered, the sector inbetween is not, creating the illusion of looking out into the sky.

[Gokuma]

In Slade, open your wad and kevinfo.wad.   Select the zmapinfo entry in that, copy, and paste into yours.   And just selecting it, you can see all the text on the right to edit.   Or you can export raw and input a zmapinfo.txt into a new zmapinfo entry.

 

I already tested running both wads together without modifying yours, but of course it's more convenient to merge them together.

Edited September 24, 2020 by Gokuma

[KevvyLava]

I don't have any experience using Slade. If I'm using XWE, is the lump called ZMAPINFO? I can just copy it? Or can I use a program that just combines wads and do it that way?

[Gokuma]

YES

 

 

[Zillah]

Hello there once again,
When will the next version be released? I'd be excited to play this with my boys, but as it stand the HOMs cause them lag issues and look unprofessional. I don't wish to rush you of course, but I'm curious to know if this pack is still being worked on.

Edited October 7, 2020 by Zillah

[KevvyLava]

On 10/6/2020 at 9:15 PM, Zillah said:

Hello there once again,
When will the next version be released? I'd be excited to play this with my boys, but as it stand the HOMs cause them lag issues and look unprofessional. I don't wish to rush you of course, but I'm curious to know if this pack is still being worked on.

 

I can release an update as soon as .....today! :)

 

I appreciate your interest and I will upload a new link when I wake up tomorrow (today) and it's got extra levels and I can fix the 'ol HOM. :)

 

Look forward to hearing your feedback.  THanks for your interest.

[KevvyLava]

As promised, @Zillah (and everyone), here is a near-final version.  There are two maps which need a little love before the final release....that is MAP22 (Mt. Erebus) and MAP29 (The Crusher).  Mt. Erebus is almost done, but needs playtesting.  The Crusher just....might not be a great deathmatch map, I dunno.  Feel free to evaluate.

 

HOM is fixed on The Suburbs.  And courtesy of our friend @Gokuma, I was able to put a ZMAPINFO lump in there to get the level names correct.

 

Also, When I was running Mt. Erebus on software rendering while checking for HOM, there were huge framerate drops, which appears to be a result of the excessive amount of 3D floors.  With hardware rendering on, it seems to run fine, but if you're experiencing issues there, there isn't really a quick fix unless I overhaul the level in a way that defeats the purpose of the lava flooding effect.

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/q2yhw39angc915f/KevinDM-e.zip?dl=0

 

Hope you all enjoy!  I will take any feedback into account for a final release.  I'd love it if anyone wanted to host/run a server.  Which website do people use these days to host wads on Zandronum?

[Zillah]

51 minutes ago, KevvyLava said:

Hope you all enjoy!  I will take any feedback into account for a final release.  I'd love it if anyone wanted to host/run a server.  Which website do people use these days to host wads on Zandronum?

Fucking badass, plenty of much needed improvements, plus the HOM fix... excellent! (b^_^)b
If you want to host a server, there is two ways.
1. Port-forwarding your PC/Internet and hosting the server on your computer
2. Using a Doom-host website to host the server (like TPSG):
https://allfearthesentinel.net/

TPSG is a free DOOM Server hosting site, it runs on their servers instead.
Be warned tho, they don't have a friendly community. But I still use it for hosting servers.

[KevvyLava]

Awesome man!  Usually when I run a server, I just do it on the computer I'm playing on with port forwarding, like you mentioned (with pretty decent results).  But if there's a place to have somewhere else host it, that's cool too.  What about the best place to upload the wads so the server downloads them automatically, so anyone can join.  I used to use wad-archive.  Is that still the best?

 

Any levels that stand out as your favorite re-workings?  What did you think of the final 5 that I just added?

 

-Kevin

[Zillah]

whoops accidental post

Edited October 11, 2020 by Zillah

[KevvyLava]

Ah, so it appears that the website you linked will host wads too.  Cool.  Admittedly, I hadn't gotten to the point of clicking it; only read your post. haha. I'll look into it!

[Zillah]

I just wrote an essay and accidentally refreshed the page and now it's all gone

[KevvyLava]

Record yourself repeating what you said, and then upload the audio.  Save yourself the time. haha

[Zillah]

Ok I'm just gonna give you a short list because FUCK ME, I wrote indepth about every map I liked and what you could improve on etc........
Like a straight paragraph on each point, I've been sitting here for an hour.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA


Anyway here, it's a short list but it'll do. There's a few specific things I have to go over but whatever:

 - Map 22 Erebus lags because of FIREBLU, not because of 3D Floors. Fuck Fireblu. See: https://forum.zdoom.org/viewtopic.php?t=56943
 - I loved the midi choice
 - I liked the remixed maps
 - Map12 is cramped, badly cramped. The vast majority of these maps are HUGE which is amazing for BIG DM Sessions, but comparatively Map12 is small.
 - If you want to iron out all the bugs, get a bunch of playtesters. You want to make your DM maps as fair as possible. It won't be perfect, but a start is to make sure all players start on equal ground.
 - You want to take notes (when playtesting with other people) on which spawns to move, which weapons to switch, etc... That can only be done in playtesting to make it as fair and balanced as possible.
 - TPSG hosts the WADS for you.
 - I liked that I could recognize which maps were what and use that to my advantage in navigation.
 - MAP29 is alright, but remember to have consistency in damaging floors. Most maps the liquid floors didn't hurt me, but on map 29 EVERYTHING HURTS ME. A player is gonna assume if he's safe to walk on toxic goo in an earlier map, he can do the same in a later one. This isn't as important but it does make a difference, and you'll probably get an earfull from salty players. To be fair, I've played a lot of DM maps, and even the goods one when they have too many insta-kill/damaging floors, become unfun and a slog. DM maps last longer on those type of maps because of how many suicides you commit.

That's all I can remember, hope this helps :)

P.S. I would be interested in hosting this wad on USDQC (U.S. Doom & Quake Community) which would bring in a lot of players and probably get you some firsthand experience on how it plays with a lot of people.

[Zillah]

Here are the screenies I took. My fav map was the Heretic one (MAP23).

https://imgur.com/NJiZzzx

Too much FIREBLU:
https://imgur.com/KNGWyFD

Never have the player cornered. Here in MAP17 (Dead Simple) there's only one exit/entrance. At least assuming if jump is disabled.
https://imgur.com/CtVZBCe
 

Besides that, I absolutely loved these maps. You can tell they're very well made with a lot of heart and effort put into them. Anyway time to go for a walk and dump my PC in the toilet BECUAS EOF S FUCKIN REFRSH

(I sadly could not emphasize how much of your wad I liked Kevin, it already feels like a classic 90s with a little more UMPH in the making. Trust me when I say if I didn't critique it, then don't fix it. Its good to go, at least until a player playtest is in order)

Edited October 11, 2020 by Zillah

[KevvyLava]

@Zillah Fireblu may indeed be part of the culprit, but it doesn't lack on hardware mode, just software mode.  Don't most people run on hardware mode?  Of course I can change it, too.

 

Before I ask them to host the wad, I want to see if I can make something decent out of MAP29.  I hope you recovered your PC out of the toilet. haha.

 

And I appreciate the detailed feedback.  If you decide to give it a go with family/friends, through some feedback my way.  I tested the hell out of it with bots, but .....they're bots. ha

 

The situation with liquid floors is that water, blood, and mud never damage, but slime and lava does.  It's very life-like and realistic in this way lol.  There are only a few maps with slime or lava.

 

But I'm open to suggestion.

 

I'm glad you liked the music choices.  I put a lot of effort into finding songs that would suit each level.  The volume is a little high/low on some, but I don't really know how to easily edit that stuff.

 

You keyed in on the main point of this project: to take the levels that we all know and love and organize them in more deathmatch-friendly layouts.

 

-Kevin

[Zillah]

Cool man, once you've cleaned up MAP29 and done all you need to do, lmk. Or just update the thread. I can't wait to dig my teeth in for some Deathmatch.

Edited October 12, 2020 by Zillah

[KevvyLava]

I HAVE CLEANED UP THE ENTIRE WAD!  Please see the most updated download link, @Zillah. Gee that didn't take forever, did it? haha

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ubnixn812lxujc6/KevinDM-F.zip?dl=0