[v1.1 Beta] Emblem - Vanilla Ultimate Doom Mod/Mapset

[JustAthel]

Thanks, dude! I hope you enjoy!

[JustAthel]

Before I take my little break from working on this, I have decided to update the release to RC2. You can download it from the link in the OP (or from this post as well). The deh remains the same, though.

Changelog:

Spoiler

- There shouldn't be any secrets in E1M1's DM arena anymore
+ Added some enemies + obligatory chainsaw in E1M2
+ Fixed one way teleport with secret exit
+ The secret exit now works proper in E1M2, however E1M9 is not present in this version JUST yet so it'll take you to Military Base

     * E1M9 SHOULD be ready to go for RC3, however!
+ Fixed slight texture misalignments in E1M2 and E1M5
+ Fixed tutti fruttis in start of E1M3.
+ Fixed a trap that should have not lowered all the way to the floor on E1M3
+ Also added enemies in said trap. Again, not sure why this didn't save in the last release
+ For some reason I didn't save E1M5's DM arena in the last release. Added that back in here!

 

Edited March 2, 2022 by Athel

[JustAthel]

Hello, everyone. Guess what: E1M9 is finally at a state where I can say it's done!! I still have to polish it a little bit and give it a few tweaks, which will be done within the week. For now, here's some screenshots -- I tried to use this to tell a little bit of a "story" behind this one, but mostly everyone who plays this may not care much for it. Regardless, do enjoy!

Spoiler

[JustAthel]

Come back to this thread on 04-02-2022, around 3 PM EDT :)

[JustAthel]

Release Candidate 3 is now out! Get it now! (Separate MP3 WAD download)

After a bit of focus and a lot of hyperfixation, I am glad to announce that all 9 levels of Emblem are completely playable, from start to end!! Read the spoiler tag to see the whole changelog!

Spoiler for changelog

Spoiler

+ Added E1M9!
+ Made death exit in E1M2 working properly and more consistently (hopefully)
+ DM arenas in E1M4 and E1M6 completed
+ CWILV polishes
+ ZDoom version released. This version should be run with ZDoom-derivative ports to avoid softlocking and other bugs that weren't intended. This should also be compatible with a vast majority of zdoom mods, though the new enemies will definitely not act like any others the mod works with. This has not been tested on every mod, so mileage may vary.
- E1M9 will cause a savegame buffer overflow in pure vanilla. Unfortunately, I do not know how to avoid this without making the map really empty so it'll have to stay. Check off "savegame overflow" in choco-doom's setup! Sorry!
+ Added exits to DM arenas
+ Fixed some sectors not tagged as secret in E1M4
+ Removed an unused Door Open line special on E1M7, as well as a couple of tagged sectors
+ New INTERPIC!
+ New demos were recorded
+ Enemies in one of E1M3’s traps should now see the player instead of being hidden

+ Added the M_EPIx sprites

+ Modified the MP3 soundtrack to loop a bit better!

 

In addition, I plan on doing a deathmatch test run this upcoming Tuesday, around 6 PM EDT. If you're interested in joining, shoot me a DM on here or on Discord (JustAthel#4256), and I'll remember to get you included. It will be run on ZDaemon, and hopefully I can record / stream it. If everything's good and nothing breaks for anybody playing, then I'll be putting it up on the archives soon after!

I look forward to hearing from you all!

Edited April 2, 2022 by Athel
I forgot to add the MP3 wad link 😅

[ANonThingie!]

ANon: Hello Athel, we spoke on the NaNoWADMo server. Hoping that the message doesn't appear outta left field here.
We, at this time, aren't going to dump the full review, we are saving that 'til the final map and final video is made.
However, the first impressions were indifferent [there's some personal gripes but decent work being showcased to counter it]. Replays though, to verify the levels themselves... Some of our opinions of the pacing are the same. However, we will leave specifics for now. The Assembly have completed 33% of the WAD now and we can release links here to cover some of the notes at current. Please feel free to watch but do understand, we still need to sit down and beat E1M3-E1M8 [twice]

E1M1 - https://youtu.be/Ib_zyK8ls6c - DooMWorld Playtesting: Emblem: E1M1: Dig Site by JustAthel.
E1M2 - https://youtu.be/hevK6lNNzHo - DooMWorld Playtesting: Emblem: E1M2: Tech Handling by JustAthel.
E1M9 - https://youtu.be/Sa6DUJ2Oz14 - DooMWorld Playtesting: Emblem: E1M9: Recursions by JustAthel.

Initial Pass Verdict: [Love/Play/Hate] Play, but mixed feelings on Replay.

[Dusty_Rhodes]

Just want to comment my support, 

 

I really enjoyed playing this wad, the vanilla stylings and unique encounters really made for a good time. The Dehacked work absolutely spices it up as well. You should be proud, this is a great Knee Deep replacement!

[JustAthel]

58 minutes ago, ANonThingie! said:

ANon: Hello Athel, we spoke on the NaNoWADMo server. Hoping that the message doesn't appear outta left field here.
We, at this time, aren't going to dump the full review, we are saving that 'til the final map and final video is made.
However, the first impressions were indifferent [there's some personal gripes but decent work being showcased to counter it]. Replays though, to verify the levels themselves... Some of our opinions of the pacing are the same. However, we will leave specifics for now. The Assembly have completed 33% of the WAD now and we can release links here to cover some of the notes at current. Please feel free to watch but do understand, we still need to sit down and beat E1M3-E1M8 [twice]

E1M1 - https://youtu.be/Ib_zyK8ls6c - DooMWorld Playtesting: Emblem: E1M1: Dig Site by JustAthel.
E1M2 - https://youtu.be/hevK6lNNzHo - DooMWorld Playtesting: Emblem: E1M2: Tech Handling by JustAthel.
E1M9 - https://youtu.be/Sa6DUJ2Oz14 - DooMWorld Playtesting: Emblem: E1M9: Recursions by JustAthel.

Initial Pass Verdict: [Love/Play/Hate] Play, but mixed feelings on Replay.

 

You give a very fair analysis! I'll be sure to get a closer look at these and take some notes. Thanks for playing through it so far, looking forward to seeing the rest!

 

33 minutes ago, Dusty_Rhodes said:

Just want to comment my support, 

 

I really enjoyed playing this wad, the vanilla stylings and unique encounters really made for a good time. The Dehacked work absolutely spices it up as well. You should be proud, this is a great Knee Deep replacement!

 

Thank you so much!!! I'm really glad you enjoy it!

[ANonThingie!]

@Athel: ANon: So remember when we said a week! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! *Slams a table with a box of videos* TRY 24 HRS!

*Smacks the list up here, like the Flex Tape commercial*
https://youtu.be/zNeyYrixb8I - DooMWorld Playtesting: Emblem: E1M3: Research Labs by JustAthel.
https://youtu.be/TVmUgdkfy9s - DooMWorld Playtesting: Emblem: E1M4: Transfer Station by JustAthel.
https://youtu.be/IwMTrTTso4Y - DooMWorld Playtesting: Emblem: E1M5: Neo Arvent by JustAthel.
https://youtu.be/1iD61DXmrNU - DooMWorld Playtesting: Emblem: E1M6: Worlds Between by JustAthel.
https://youtu.be/DSWHTMEnPpw - DooMWorld Playtesting: Emblem: E1M7: Crossing Point by JustAthel.
https://youtu.be/uNhB5iyW8zQ - DooMWorld Playtesting: Emblem: E1M8: Holding Space by JustAthel.

The final video contains the opinion... now we are going to go. We are starting to "recurse" back into editing mode & need to escape & ALT+F4 immediately.
Goodbyeeeeeeeeeee...........
*Pops out of the chat*

[ANonThingie!]

ANon's Addendum: Making this post to do proper housecleaning, as you might have found out in the other place. There was a realisation made, AFTER the final video was done.

ANon: So, after a chance to unwind and re-read [see: being told rather] about the bonus that this set has. It gave somebody a chance to view this with a different set of eyes. Now, it softens the set's final score, as there's now 2 Assembly members with a point to play for the set [NOTE: this only affects the Subjective review, Objective stance doesn't change, since this addition would be a niche bonus, not everyone benefits.]

Monké: Glad the speed run routes existed in the maps, it softened my score. Yes, that got me more interested as there's combat strategy to consider. Instead of plodding through corridors of the old DooM difficulty, I was asking... "How can I move through everything and make them eat dust?". As I didn't notice playing through it the first and second time, I have an idea... If you clean up the additional secret that allows the speed route and even make a texture, like in the SSG room, telling people "Hey, don't cha want to try and beat the times?" To let them know, they found something for speed running and not be super stashed away [some are not admittedly obvious]. Then you might be able to appeal to that audience a bit more.

ANon: There! Think that allows for a better ending to this. Bye for now, again.

[JustAthel]

Thank you for your comments!! I will take all of these into consideration!

[JustAthel]

RC4 is out for Vanilla! Because I'm getting a bit busier with catching up with school, I will be updating the ZDoom version hopefully within the week.

RC4 hotfix's link

Spoiler for changelog

Spoiler

+ Lowered E1M3's trap entirely and made it accessible again. Whoops!

+ Fixed some missing textures in E1M7

+ Untagged a small sector as secret in E1M7

+ Fixed the softlock in E1M9

+ Overall improved the flow of E1M7. It's still a long level, but definitely should be a bit more fun and tolerable (this includes making the exit loop back to the entrance and making the secrets more accessible)

+ Made E1M2's secret exit only accessible after raising the bars for the central bridge

+ Removed duplicate texture entries

+ Changed the SAVE HERE note to "REMEMBER THE COLORS" in E1M9

 

Edited April 13, 2022 by Athel
RC4 hotfix

[JustAthel]

Slight bump to let people know I've released the ZDoom version alongside a hotfix I didn't properly post at first, whoops!!

Go check the OP! If everything is alright with everyone, I'm willing to consider this finally finished and can send it out to other hosting services!

Edit: Forgot to do something stupid with the zdoom version, please hold

Edit2: We should be good now!

Edited April 16, 2022 by Athel

[JustAthel]

Slight bump to inform people that the fifth and last RC has been released! If nothing too gamebreaking has been found, I will be putting this on some archives. I don't think I'll be able to put this on idgames because of the SSG secret, but there will be other places I can put this on. In addition, there is a server on TSPG that runs this wad on DM for those who are interested! (Look for Emblem Public DM Test)

Spoiler for changelog
 

Spoiler

* E1M1DM -> Replaced big cell packs with smaller ones
* E1M1DM -> Removed an accidental enemy 
* E1M1DM -> Removed some overlapping medikits that were on top of stimpacks
* E1M2DM -> Made some lines Impassible that should have been to begin with
* E1M3DM -> Actually made a proper DM arena
* E1M4DM -> Added some armor in a few spots, as well as a medikit 
* E1M5DM -> Flipped the UAC signs and fixed some missing textures
* E1M5DM -> Added some medikits around the map

* E1M7 -> Fixed a tutti-frutti and several texture misalignments 
* E1M7DM -> Fixed being able to teleport out of the DM arena
* E1M7DM -> Added some medikits around the DM area
* E1M8DM ->  Added some medikits around the DM area, as well as adding a blue armor to make it worth waiting for the lift to rise 
* ZDoom Emblem -> Now can be launched under Zandronum 
 

You can download it from the opening post! Thank you guys for following this project, and I hope to see you guys in my upcoming works.

[JustAthel]

Hi everyone, this will be the last post I make on this thread (unless something dire happens), but I just wanted to let people know that Emblem has now made its home over on the archives! The opening post has been updated with the idgames link. Thank you guys again for following the project! So everyone knows, there is a sequel to Emblem currently in the works by the name of "Artifice". Here's a link to that thread!

See you guys soon!

[galileo31dos01]

Oh, and I was just about to bring up a few things... well, in any case if you're still open to updates, lemme point out my observations, all through pistol starts UV on Crispy Doom:

 

- The chainsaw appears to be broken, it doesn't inflict any damage nor reproduces any sound when using it. There was only one in the whole set as far as I could tell, and with no gimmick or special setup around it though so it didn't have any impact on my experience.

- You can skip E1M3 if taking the secret exit in E1M2, since then you'll warp back to E1M4 as that's hard-coded afaik.

- My crispy exe crashed in the cross-shaped bridge in E1M7, I was pumping rockets on the elite gunners from far away, who were also shooting back, and suddenly boom. This isn't listed in the "known bugs" list so it's probably something going on in the dehacked. If you'v got no clue where the issue is or what to do I could report this in crispy's thread and wait for an answer. 

 

Another thing is the SSG, I tried to exhaust as much as possible given the big warning (btw nice touch), and then I was surprised I could switch back to it whenever I wanted! If this is unintentional and shouldn't be the case in choco or prboom, then my guess is that it's a crispy-exclusive hidden feature, which then wouldn't be a big deal I guess. 

 

Those would be the more relevant observations imo, you may confirm if they're all already known and intentional or not. There're other minor things I spotted throughout, like couple missing textures or cases like pinkies and red variants rendering harmless because of monster block lines - a LOT of them, I even questioned myself if my patch broke somewhere and pinkies were supposed to have some new ranged attack ability, heh. I can point those out too if you're interested.

 

That said, I had a good time overall. I quite liked the use of empty areas for brief breaks between killing stuff and for atmosphere in general. The void sections were my favorite visually. The puzzle with torches in E1M9 was fun too, very much a throwback to TNT. I also enjoyed the run-n-gun nature as I could go from section to section without altering the fast pace too much. There was room for a bit more variety in terms of combat, like more setups that'd surprise or pressure the player from multiple angles or even setups dedicated solely to custom enemies (aside from boss afrits) as that was lacking imo. I appreciated the rare teleporting ambush and whatever else related to teleports, and like I said before the periods of no combat helped to enable suspense.

 

The custom enemies, kind of hit and miss unfortunately: afrits shooting homing fireballs was a surprise, because that definitely adds something else to doom 1, but the massive HP turned me off in E1M2 unless I missed a RL somewhere else; the elite gunners appeared very rarely and frankly a missed opportunity to have more of them in exchange of sergeant abundance; the red demons could have easily replaced pinkies without the augmented HP imo, as quick melee attackers there's always potential; on the other hand, I didn't care about neither the scientists nor the white cacodemons, because neither was used in interesting ways - not every fight has to be super dangerous to be fun or memorable, but I never came remotely close to feeling threatened by those two. Some ideas that come to mind would be entering an area, no population, then suddenly several groups of scientists pour from the walls and ambush from multiple angles, or maybe a small closet opening with a scientist right next to you, those can be good if done well imo. With the white cacos not sure, a second fireball doesn't really add much unless you're confined with a bunch of them in a cramped area or something, so they could simply replace normal cacos I guess.

 

Anyways, that would be all for now. Thanks for sharing your maps and I'll be sure to check the next ep someday!

[JustAthel]

2 hours ago, galileo31dos01 said:

Oh, and I was just about to bring up a few things... well, in any case if you're still open to updates, lemme point out my observations, all through pistol starts UV on Crispy Doom:

 

- The chainsaw appears to be broken, it doesn't inflict any damage nor reproduces any sound when using it. There was only one in the whole set as far as I could tell, and with no gimmick or special setup around it though so it didn't have any impact on my experience.

 

...The chainsaw is broken? Odd, I don't remember ever tampering with the chainsaw once during development, but I will take a look at that.

 

2 hours ago, galileo31dos01 said:

- You can skip E1M3 if taking the secret exit in E1M2, since then you'll warp back to E1M4 as that's hard-coded afaik.

 

This is intentional, yes.

 

2 hours ago, galileo31dos01 said:

- My crispy exe crashed in the cross-shaped bridge in E1M7, I was pumping rockets on the elite gunners from far away, who were also shooting back, and suddenly boom. This isn't listed in the "known bugs" list so it's probably something going on in the dehacked. If you'v got no clue where the issue is or what to do I could report this in crispy's thread and wait for an answer. 

 

I've gotten that error exactly once during development but had no idea what was causing it. I tried it in chocolate-doom multiple times, and only got it once, so I couldn't tell you where this error came from. I just assumed it was a development issue that either went away when I tweaked the dehacked, or there's such a niche setup to activate that I haven't found.

 

2 hours ago, galileo31dos01 said:

 

Another thing is the SSG, I tried to exhaust as much as possible given the big warning (btw nice touch), and then I was surprised I could switch back to it whenever I wanted! If this is unintentional and shouldn't be the case in choco or prboom, then my guess is that it's a crispy-exclusive hidden feature, which then wouldn't be a big deal I guess. 

 

This slipped by me! Ah well, not much I can do for dehacked vs crispy's handling of the SSG, so I'll leave it in. There's a similar situation that I am aware can happen in ZDoom based ports, but I'll let y'all have your fun with quirks like that.

 

2 hours ago, galileo31dos01 said:

Those would be the more relevant observations imo, you may confirm if they're all already known and intentional or not. There're other minor things I spotted throughout, like couple missing textures or cases like pinkies and red variants rendering harmless because of monster block lines - a LOT of them, I even questioned myself if my patch broke somewhere and pinkies were supposed to have some new ranged attack ability, heh. I can point those out too if you're interested.

 

Please do point out the missing textures -- I could have sworn I had gotten everything, even after running through multiple tests. I'm willing to bet that it's something glaringly obvious, so all pointing out would be greatly appreciated!

 

2 hours ago, galileo31dos01 said:

 

That said, I had a good time overall. I quite liked the use of empty areas for brief breaks between killing stuff and for atmosphere in general. The void sections were my favorite visually. The puzzle with torches in E1M9 was fun too, very much a throwback to TNT. I also enjoyed the run-n-gun nature as I could go from section to section without altering the fast pace too much. There was room for a bit more variety in terms of combat, like more setups that'd surprise or pressure the player from multiple angles or even setups dedicated solely to custom enemies (aside from boss afrits) as that was lacking imo. I appreciated the rare teleporting ambush and whatever else related to teleports, and like I said before the periods of no combat helped to enable suspense.

 

The custom enemies, kind of hit and miss unfortunately: afrits shooting homing fireballs was a surprise, because that definitely adds something else to doom 1, but the massive HP turned me off in E1M2 unless I missed a RL somewhere else; the elite gunners appeared very rarely and frankly a missed opportunity to have more of them in exchange of sergeant abundance; the red demons could have easily replaced pinkies without the augmented HP imo, as quick melee attackers there's always potential; on the other hand, I didn't care about neither the scientists nor the white cacodemons, because neither was used in interesting ways - not every fight has to be super dangerous to be fun or memorable, but I never came remotely close to feeling threatened by those two. Some ideas that come to mind would be entering an area, no population, then suddenly several groups of scientists pour from the walls and ambush from multiple angles, or maybe a small closet opening with a scientist right next to you, those can be good if done well imo. With the white cacos not sure, a second fireball doesn't really add much unless you're confined with a bunch of them in a cramped area or something, so they could simply replace normal cacos I guess.

 

Combat variety is something I struggled with a lot in this project, and it is something I am trying to take note of in my next project. E1M2 is meant more as a foreshadowing of the enemies you'll face later on, storywise I treat this as more of a "temporal error" type thing where you're NOT supposed to be there at that point in time, and proceeding further would end up putting you somewhere you may not be ready for. You can see I tried going for that scientist through the walls ambush you have described in E1M4, but I figured their general use as more of a "bait" for the bigger enemies would be much fitting for them. The red pinkies do double damage and move faster, which I figured would catch a slower player off guard, but I can see how the way I used them here doesn't lend to too much of a threat.

 

2 hours ago, galileo31dos01 said:

 

Anyways, that would be all for now. Thanks for sharing your maps and I'll be sure to check the next ep someday!

 

I really do wish this message had gotten to me earlier, but I do appreciate you looking through the maps and giving your feedback! I will be sure to take what I've learned throughout this project and apply it to my future works. Thank you for your playthrough!

[NuMetalManiak]

On E1M7 I saw some HOMs on secret sector 900, on linedef 1213 and 1238 (they have no back sidedef). Also possible softlock if you take the teleporter near that secret and you are in the big lift to the west, where if the NE door isn't open I can't go anywhere (I got to the secret from a bridge east of there, over nukage).

Edited June 29, 2022 by NuMetalManiak

[galileo31dos01]

On 6/28/2022 at 11:53 PM, Athel said:

Please do point out the missing textures

 

Apologies for the delay! Yes what NuMetal mentioned is one case. In E1M3, sector 257 has untextured sides, unlike the other pillar switches, although I first thought it was intentional - the pillar appears hanging on the ceiling, which doesn't look bad at all. Not sure if there's more, those two are all I noticed.

[Firedust]

Playing on zdoom and it appears that E1M9 exit takes you to E1M4, so you essentially skip E1M3. Is that intentional?

[Andromeda]

27 minutes ago, Firedust said:

Playing on zdoom and it appears that E1M9 exit takes you to E1M4, so you essentially skip E1M3. Is that intentional?

 

Yeah, it's intentional:

 

On 6/29/2022 at 3:53 AM, Athel said:

Quote

- You can skip E1M3 if taking the secret exit in E1M2, since then you'll warp back to E1M4 as that's hard-coded afaik.

 

This is intentional, yes.

[Firedust]

Thanks, I somehow missed that. That's a shame, I didn't want to skip a level like that...

[JustAthel]

It made more sense for me to put the secret exit on E1M2 instead of E1M3. I know this may seem confusing for a lot of people, but I didn't want to swap the two levels because M2 was more fitting of an "M2" map and vice versa. E1M2 also felt like a natural "secret map" point. Also I have acknowledged the reports from earlier and will get to fixing those up, it'll take some time due to me being busy with unexpected life stuff but they will be addressed.

[Firedust]

Perhaps make it so that the e1m9 takes you to e1m3 in the zdoom version of the wad?

[BanjoDave]

Hey, I was really enjoying playing this wad on UV, which was not difficult at all until coming across a small room in E1M2 with two Afrit, with 2500 health each and ohko homing missiles, which I seemingly had to fight with just a chaingun and shotgun? You need well more than a full backpack of bullets even with 100% accuracy to take them out. There's a chance you could even need more than 800 bullets. You mentioned that this is supposed to feel out of place, which is fine, but you should probably provide more adequate equipment for the fight here imo, for people doing UV-max or who may not realise this is a secret exit.

[JustAthel]

Hello everyone,

I understand it has been a while, but I have returned a bit later than I anticipated with an update to Emblem. This version has not been converted to ZDoom yet, nor has it been put up on iDGames. I'm waiting to see if there's any other smaller bugs/visual affects that I haven't noticed before I push it up on there.

Download v1.1 here (Google Drive link to WAD)

Spoilers for v1.1 changelog
 

Spoiler

Overall:

- Demos re-recorded

- Heavy carbine guys utilized a bit more

- The chainsaw works again

 

E1M2:

- Added some more details in the nukage secret

- Added a secret rocket launcher and a few rockets sprinkled around the level

- The path to the secret exit has been made slightly easier. You are now given blue armor and a soulsphere, but it is still STRONGLY recommended to come to this part of the level AFTER everything else has been killed

- Changed some texture offsets

- Made a secret in the first sector a bit more obvious

 

E1M3:

- A secret was made more obvious towards the exit

- Some more details were added

- Heavy Carbine Guys are now introduced here instead of E1M5. They are used sparingly

E1M4:

- Heavy Carbine Guys are now in the final battle before the exit

- Some enemies have also been sprinkled around the level here and there where there were no enemies present

- Wider nukage vista has been added

- Made a sector a secret and made it more obvious, also makes finding the speedrun route a bit easier

- Various other QOL changes

 

E1M5:

- Blood fiends are introduced here instead of E1M6

- Added a few more enemies around the level

- A teleport trap that was halfway implemented is now fully functional

- A half-implemented secret has been fully implemented

- Added some slight detail in the exit section

 

E1M6:

- Added a few more enemies around the level

 

E1M7:

- Fixed missing textures

- Fixed a potential soft lock involving a nukage pit and the yellow key section

 

E1M9:

- Attempted to fix a potential softlock AND hardlock in the second act / snowy part of the level

- Added some difficulty settings, now encounters actually change depending on skill level

 

Hopefully that squishes all of the biggest noticeable bugs! Thank you to all who have played this and made me aware of a few embarrassing errors I left in. Hopefully I can keep you guys updated on my other project soon!

[Nikku4211]

I get this error whenever I punch the blue-wearing zombie with a berserk fist in E1M4 in Chocolate-Doom:

 

Yes, I've -merged the file, yes, I've ran it with -dehlump, yes, I ran it with Doom.wad instead of Doom2.wad.

[JustAthel]

Hm, seems like it has something to do with gibbing those guys... I know this popped up once or twice during development, but I'll see what actually makes that error happen. Could be me just not setting a lump properly

[JustAthel]

On 12/3/2022 at 2:37 PM, Nikku4211 said:

I get this error whenever I punch the blue-wearing zombie with a berserk fist in E1M4 in Chocolate-Doom:

 

Yes, I've -merged the file, yes, I've ran it with -dehlump, yes, I ran it with Doom.wad instead of Doom2.wad.

Alright, figured it out, and a fix has been uploaded! Turns out I forgot to make the XDeath states stop at frame 18. Never realized this was the issue and wrote it off as a one time thing because I hardly ever managed to gib the HCGs. Thanks for bringing this to my attention the way you did!