[Vanilla Hexen][10 maps hub]Lost Luxury (Now on /idgames!)

[Alper002]

Screenshots:

Spoiler

 

 

Lost Luxury is a 10-map hub designed for Vanilla Hexen. 5 maps are interconnected, 2 are for the finale, and 3 are secret!
While I originally started this for NaNoWADMo 2020, I didn't exactly finish on time, and ended up taking a whole lot longer.

 

Difficulty settings do matter here! If playing on the two hardest settings, you may only obtain your final weapon by getting the pieces from the 3 (obtuse) secret maps! On lower difficulties you can also find them in vaguely hidden areas. Monster amounts are also adjusted. Skill 5 is untested, but combat isn't too extreme most of the time so it's probably possible to beat.

 

The story goes something like this:
There's been recent worried talks of a large, flying wheel being seen in the skies. Some have reported it raining down death from above, and that it seems to always leave towards one particular abandoned locale. Said locale used to be a luxurious resort, but most who have checked in on what happened since haven't returned. Some believe it now belongs to a group known as the Hextuple Heresiarchs, a powerful group of dark magicians. Against your own better judgement, you too decide to see what's happening there.

Traveling there by boat, as you hit the foggy shore you only hear the winds and waves. But that might not be for long...

 

Click here to grab it on /idgames!

 

For those playing with a zdoom or something:

I recommend playing with the software renderer if you play on a sourceport which supports multiple renderers. The reason is that there is a foggy library which relies on the quirkiness of Hexen's method of rendering fog to allow you to see what's going on.

On top of that, none of the secrets are marked. I'm also not aware of any vanilla-compatible ways of marking secrets that work in the zdooms anyway :P

Edited April 7, 2021 by Alper002

[Omniplex]

Downloaded it just now, going to try it now with all difficulty setting to see if everything is just fine. I will give you an update once I finish this :)

 

I have just experienced a glitch in MAP02 (former resort) where I fall through in certain walls and see something like this, since I have never made a custom WAD for hexen before, is there a way you can fix it? Even the monsters are "leaking through the walls":

 

Edited March 17, 2021 by Omniplex
Update regarding graphical glitches

[Mangudai]

I'm also having an issue in the first level, with cleric, cardinal difficulty. 

After using the first lever (the one that makes the ladder of the great middle building appear), I use the lever placed on one of the columns. Trying to enter the door that opens, makes the game CTD.

Edited March 17, 2021 by Mangudai

[Alper002]

Okay, those are some major bugs! I'll have to figure out what's causing them!

By the way, what sourceports are you two playing this with? I'll be presuming GZDoom and will check if I can even reproduce them.

[Mangudai]

Gzdoom 4.5.0.

 

I was so hexen-lusted that I wrote about the bug without thanking you for having released a new wad for hexen. Thank you!

 

Edited March 17, 2021 by Mangudai

[Omniplex]

Playing this with Zandronum 3.0, and I have also found another map leak bug where I can go on running forever, this is without no-clipping:

 

[Alper002]

I wonder if Zandronum doesn't like zokumBSP's blockmap generation, that's the only way I'd imagine collision detection going weird like that...

I couldn't recreate the bug you had Mangudai, but I found a worse one:The progress in maps aren't getting remembered on the zdoom-compatibles!! I will make sure to fix that ASAP!!

Edited March 17, 2021 by Alper002

[yakfak]

grabbed this, I have DOS Hexen on an old CD and it works in dosbox <3 good work on releasing something big! tell you what I think when I've played through

[Alper002]

The download has been replaced with a version that SHOULD work on gzdoom. I sadly haven't been able to reproduce that crash...

Managed to reproduce the odd walls you could walk through when playing in zandronum though... But I dunno how to fix.. :/

[Omniplex]

I have played some of the original hexen maps to make sure the solid wall collisions are correct, and it appears that all was well. What game configuration are you using? Like "Hexen in hexen format", "GZDoom in hexen format" etc... just to check if the solid walls are completely impassable, thanks!

[Alper002]

4 minutes ago, Omniplex said:

I have played some of the original hexen maps to make sure the solid wall collisions are correct, and it appears that all was well. What game configuration are you using? Like "Hexen in hexen format", "GZDoom in hexen format" etc... just to check if the solid walls are completely impassable, thanks!

It has nothing to do with configuration, I'm sure.

The thing that's wrong is probably the node builder that I decided to use, namely ZokumBSP. A node builder can also build the blockmap which is part of what handles collision.

One of that nodebuilder's blockmap optimizations has weird compatibility concerns with specific sourceports that I thought I could get away with. The only possible reason I'd imagine for those pass-through walls is that zandronum is one of those ports where it doesn't work right!

[Omniplex]

Is everyone having a similar problem with the source ports you are using, just to make sure if the problem only exists in Zandronum, and maybe the problem does originate from the "ZokumBSP" node builder?

[yakfak]

love the hugeness of the maps already :3 making slow progress but I loved crossing the stepping stones over the ravine and the fight in that little fortress you reach really spirals out of control!

[Mangudai]

Well, I'm still getting the ctd even with a fresh install. Is there any file I could publish after the ctd, so you can take a look ?

[eharper256]

I also tried to play with GZDoom and Walpurgis, but on the first HUB level inside the castle, I get an access violation that crashes GZDoom to desktop as soon as I pull the first bull switch inside the main concourse to open the doors, same as Mangudai.

Edited March 18, 2021 by eharper256

[Alper002]

Good news is I managed to find out how to reproduce the crash. It has to do with using the hardware-accelerated renderer. Funny how my renderer recommendation was accidentally made mandatory lol

With how g/zdoom shows it's crash window you can press "save report to disk" to save the details you can see on the crash window. However, the details shown in the crash window don't really look like they help me any, it's all very technical and incomprehensible to me who isn't a gzdoom developer :(

I'll play around with the map and see if I can fix it. In the meantime, use the software renderer to play the hub!

 

As for Zandronum's blockmap problems, I am entirely sure I'll be at least able to try addressing them!

 

(Edit:Well, my guess as to zandronum's issue was so correct that solving it was quick.

Still can't figure out for the life of me why that gzdoom hardware renderer crash happens though.)

Edited March 18, 2021 by Alper002

[Marcaek]

A while back I made a sunny day recolor of TNT's E3 sky which I think came out ok, here it is in case you'd like to replace the one you're using now.

 

[Caleb13]

Ah, this is a real treat, finally some Hexen mod with no custom monsters, weapons or other stuff. The puzzles are really clever too, considering they solely use vanilla resources. The only map I didn't like was MAP09, because it was basically just running back and forth between the two library areas.

 

I found a game-breaking problem in MAP06: I fought for the red gem in the long ice area and then dropped it in cauldron (sector 339). The door (sector 343) opened and I saw another cauldron inside. So I took the gem from the outside cauldron and quickly backed up before the door could close. But then I couldn't reopen it from the inside. The same problem can happen with the 3-cauldron door and generally everywhere where they are close enough. I played with Figher who can run pretty fast. I guess some of these lockouts could be solved with a chaos device... if the player has them.

 

Later in MAP06, I couldn't get past linedef 1736, which is right behind the 3-cauldron door. I presume I'm supposed to see some Korax animation there? Well, it didn't work (I played in GZdoom 4.5.0).

[ReaperAA]

8 hours ago, Caleb13 said:

Ah, this is a real treat, finally some Hexen mod with no custom monsters, weapons or other stuff.

 

There is also the Cyrgoth series (Cyrgoth's Manor, Cyrgoth's Revenge and Afterlands) by @Seidolon that have no custom stuff. Recommended if you haven't played them.

[Alper002]

17 hours ago, Caleb13 said:

Later in MAP06, I couldn't get past linedef 1736, which is right behind the 3-cauldron door. I presume I'm supposed to see some Korax animation there? Well, it didn't work (I played in GZdoom 4.5.0).

Okay, thanks for spotting this one. The problem is unrelated to source port.

The quartz flask next to it triggers an event that lets you get through. Problem is, if you're maxed out on them, nothing happens. I'll fix this for the next update along with the other issues on that map (thank you for reporting those!).

In the meantime, damage yourself with a flechette so you may use one of your 25 quartz flasks :P

 

As for the sky...

I appreciate the offer, @Marcaek, but I think I'll decline. That's not to say I won't try using the sky somewhere else though... maybe some project where the target executable doesn't require 200-pixel tall skies :P

[Caleb13]

I almost forgot, GZdoom reports these errors during startup:

 

Brightmap 'brightmaps/hexen/fsrdd0.png' not found in texture 'FSRDD0'
Brightmap 'brightmaps/hexen/chlya0.png' not found in texture 'CHLYA0'
Brightmap 'brightmaps/hexen/WRTHG2E8.png' not found in texture '(null)'
Brightmap 'brightmaps/hexen/WRTHG3E7.png' not found in texture '(null)'
Brightmap 'brightmaps/hexen/WRTHG4E6.png' not found in texture '(null)'
Brightmap 'brightmaps/hexen/WRTHG2F8.png' not found in texture '(null)'
Brightmap 'brightmaps/hexen/WRTHG3F7.png' not found in texture '(null)'
Brightmap 'brightmaps/hexen/WRTHG4F6.png' not found in texture '(null)'

 

And when every map starts, this appears in the log:

 

VerifyBlockMap: first entry is not 0.

[Alper002]

Just now, Caleb13 said:

I almost forgot, GZdoom reports these errors during startup

The brightmap errors have nothing to do with my mapset, that much I'm pretty sure of.

The "VerifyBlockMap: first entry is not 0." message is caused by the same thing that makes collision become fucked up in zandronum so I have that issue under control too.

[Caleb13]

Huh, you're right about the brightmaps, the errors appear even when I load no mod. It seems to be caused by Virtue's brightmap pack I use, I have to check it out.

Edited March 19, 2021 by Caleb13

[Omniplex]

Haven't been here for a bit. How is this WAD going, still having bugs here and there?

Sorry for stressing you out back there regarding Zandronum @Alper002, if you have tried ever possible way to fix the glitch but still not solved, don't worry. If you are going to write a text document that describes this WAD or want to upload it to IDgames someday, you can list Zandronum in the "BUGS" section.

[Alper002]

7 hours ago, Omniplex said:

Haven't been here for a bit. How is this WAD going, still having bugs here and there?

Sorry for stressing you out back there regarding Zandronum @Alper002, if you have tried ever possible way to fix the glitch but still not solved, don't worry. If you are going to write a text document that describes this WAD or want to upload it to IDgames someday, you can list Zandronum in the "BUGS" section.

Don't worry, the zandronum fix wasn't that inconvenient, I'm gonna update the wad soon-ish to fix the issue, on top of the others that have been reported.

I do plan on releasing this to idgames as well, so having as many bugs as possible reported before then is a good thing tbh. If you don't report a bug you'll never know if it gets fixed or not!

 

The only bug that's still a big problem is the gzdoom crash, but it seems kinda outside of my control. It seems more like a GZDoom bug than a bug with my mapset, so I won't try to mitigate it. I have reported it to the gzdoom devs though so later down the line it might not be an issue regardless.

[Alper002]

I have released an update for the wad! The download can be found at the top of the thread!

Here's the changelog:

*Fixed Zandronum collision issues (by adding a zero-header to each blockmap)
?Adjusted the glitter bridge jump in Former Resort so that it may be a bit more obvious(or at least it points your attention to it, up to the player to figure out the rest)
?Moved a switch related to a secret ever-so-slightly so you can't hit it from the outside
*Made the steel-key locked door in Overcooled Factory have a repeatable action, solving a potential softlock
*The fireballs in ??? are no longer triggered by picking up an item you can potentially have too many of
*Removed potential for softlocks via gem removal in ???
*Fixed the name of MAP10 in the ZMAPINFO, and corrected an in-map text message accordingly
!Removed lightmode enforcement in ZMAPINFO (this will allow you to play with the hardware renderer without crashing on the current gzdoom)

(To avoid the GZDoom crash, play with the software renderer, or play with light modes that are not "build", "software", or "vanilla". The issue isn't my fault.)

 

[Omniplex]

You are right about the collision fix regarding Zandronum, the impassable walls I used to pass through is no more! Now I am going to play through every level to see if there are any more bugs :) Cheers!

[Omniplex]

This is a very impressive WAD! The event I really liked are: when the "Machine" was cutting down the heart of D'Sparil jewel into a small red plant gem, the earthquake moment with lots of rocks shooting out from the collapsing wall, the puzzles (especially in MAP08: torture resort), the flaming trap where you have to act fast before the fire reaches you, and finally the way how the boss battle in MAP10 is planned :)

Enjoyed this WAD a lot, every minute of it. In almost every area I was like "This is interesting". It is nice to see a custom Hexen WAD for once haha!

 

I have just finished the entire WAD, looked for every nook and cranny and every script works as they should :)

I am curious if you didn't add the zero header for the blockmap of MAP07 (Recent Penitentiary) because I have found a collision glitch in that level, it's not that big though since I only noticed that right at the start of that MAP only. The rest of the WAD is just fine now.

[Alper002]

6 minutes ago, Omniplex said:

I am curious if you didn't add the zero header for the blockmap of MAP07 (Recent Penitentiary) because I have found a collision glitch in that level, it's not that big though since I only noticed that right at the start of that MAP only. The rest of the WAD is just fine now.

Hmm... This collision issue is curious. The blockmap is corrected, but the wall is passable in both Zandronum and GZDoom. I managed to fix it now, that wall was linedef number 0, and the way the zero-headers work probably interfered with that particular linedef lol

Might be a good thing for me to check for any other 0th linedefs and dealing with those too!

 

Either way, happy to hear you enjoyed it so much! :D

[Mangudai]

?Adjusted the glitter bridge jump in Former Resort so that it may be a bit more obvious?

 

1) I lost a lot of time figuring out you wanted the player to go there. In fact, I roamed the map for a very long time, until I decided that I couldn’t take it anymore and used no clip. Noclip didn’t help either, given that I wasted a lot of time checking the glitter bridges around and to see if I was supposed to use E on the walls.

 

 

2) Given that I’m playing in higher difficulties, turns out the piece of the ultimate weapons are well hidden. But being well hidden in maps as big as the one I’ve played, means that you are making me forced to check every wall to see if I’m missing something. I do not even have the number of the secrets available.

 

3) When I entered the second map, I noticed that there was another huge map awaiting for me. When I met the

 

 the collapsing floor on the third lever,

 I quit. Thinking that I should probably check every wall there too, made me quit the wad.

After I played this wad, I can definitely say that I like maps where everything is packed and there are at least a few more clues on where you're supposed to go.

 

Thanks for the wad.

Edited March 20, 2021 by Mangudai