[Now on idgames] Astroverse Doom II vanilla megawad

[Summer Deep]

I've just finished maps 1-20 and have mixed feelings about the megawad.

 

On the one hand, the epic scale is impressive and it's certainly challenging enough, but on the other hand, the longer it goes on, the more it seems like an almost unending succession of locked-in ambush set pieces. Not sure whether all players would appreciate another ten levels on the same pattern, if you're planning to extend it to 30 regular maps. I have to add though that you do provide plenty of ammo and health, which makes it all doable, and there's some ingenious setups, like the switch and invuln sphere puzzle at the start of MAP15.

 

I've also played the additional maps 34-37, and found them very different from the regular maps, much shorter and more varied, and in many ways more enjoyable. I've tried to idclev to maps 38-41, but this doesn't seem possible. Thought initially that downloading the latest version of the wad would solve this, but still no luck!

[Astro X]

Hey, @Summer Deep tysm for playing!

 

I removed some of the extra maps, so it goes only until MAP37.

 

These were my first maps ever. I didn't mean to build super large maps, it was just my creativity that went over the board, I guess lol.

 

I was just messing around with Doom Builder to come up with interesting fight setups, difficult but still reasonable. I was very happy to beat my own creations and I plan on doing more stuff.

 

In fact, I have a "pocket edition" of this wad - I called it Triangulum and it has 32+ levels. They are much shorter, but still challenging.

 

Thanks again for your feedback, it means a lot to me!

[Summer Deep]

If these were your first maps, then they're very impressive indeed!

 

On the first version I downloaded, maps 34-37 were (34) Mortvia Cove - (35) Ichthlarin - (36) Purgatorial Reception - (37) Doombound

 

These were absolutely fine! Fairly short, straightforward and enjoyable!

 

For some reason, you removed three of these and replaced them with others in the later version which I downloaded. At least you retained the excellent 'Mortvia Cove', but the other three seem to me to have issues.

 

In MAP35 ('Village of Barons) there's an incomprehensible teleporting event in the second room, then the player arrives in a large star-shaped area. The gate out of here sometimes opens early on, sometimes not, but once it closes again, it's impossible to reopen it, and it seems to be 'game over'.

 

 

 

 

The second 'red key' room with the Revenants and Barons seems to me to be just about impossible to survive without a BFG. There is virtually no room for manoeuvre, and the player is inevitably overwhelmed as the enemies close in. If the Megasphere were easily to pick up, it might give one a better chance, but even this seems to be some kind of puzzle. 

 

 

 

 

In MAP36 ('Baron Director's Cut') I seem to have killed all the Barons and Hell Knights in the second room, but only one of the side rooms can now be opened (the one which had the Berserk Pack in it). There seem to be skull switches inside two of the other rooms, which allow further progress, but I can't legitimately get to them.

 

 

 

It seems that you can also be locked inside this room if you take more than a few seconds to leave it!

 

 

On MAP37 ('Baron Assault') I managed to dispose of all 84 monsters reasonably quickly, then spent at least half an hour unsuccessfully trying to get the exit bars to come down. Very frustrating and alienating. Don't know whether this is due to a bug, or a very obscure puzzle, or just my own lack of perception.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 28, 2022 by Summer Deep

[Summer Deep]

I'm sorry about the two oversized pictures here. I've tried everything to try to delete them, but they just keep coming back. Why doesn't this site make it easier to edit out stuff like this, or even delete the whole post and start again?

[Astro X]

Thank you again @Summer Deep for providing feedback on the extra maps!

 

Well, sorry about that. The levels with "baron" in the title have a specific gimmick that you must use barons/hell knights to open certain doors for you. Once you get passed the doors, a switch gets revealed so you can backtrack and not get locked in. About that red key room, it is indeed very tough but if you find the right strat you should be able to beat it pretty consistently. I like to make optional this kind of difficult arenas, so the player doesn't get too frustrated if they're not going for UV-max.

[Summer Deep]

Thanks for that! Yes, I was beginning to realize that the Barons and HKs were being used in that kind of way, but I'm not convinced that it always works too well. The Baron in MAP35 sometimes emerges from the gateway almost straightaway, then the gate closes very quickly behind him, leaving the player stranded. On another occasion, I waited several minutes for the Baron to open the gate, but he simply refused to do so, and I gave up. In MAP36, you can take a risk by rushing into the Baron/HK rooms to activate the switches at the start, but it's often just a way of committing suicide!

 

As for that red key room in MAP36, I think the player really needs the plasma rifle in order to survive it - the mistake I made was going in there without it, as I hadn't yet visited the blue key rooms.

 

I also played MAP31, and was dreading it being full of those awful blue-uniformed dumbkopfs when I saw the Wolfenstein environment at the start, but it turned out to be nothing of the sort, and a really good level. The only thing that annoyed me was that I finished with 204/204 kills, 200/200 health/armour and all the keys, but still couldn't access two of the blue key and two of the yellow key areas, and also never got past that room with the red arrow on the floor.

[Astro X]

@Summer Deep, the secret you're referring to is very subtle, but not too crazy. In the yellow key arena, one teleporter is revealed when you approach the cell pick-ups (a door quickly opens and shuts). That teleporter brings you back to the beginning, where the wall the red arrow is pointing to lowers, so you can get the invul to deal with the cyberdemon in the blue key room. The rest of the items is just for display (tells what you get from acquiring each key).

[Astro X]

We're on idgames for the first time :)

[NuMetalManiak]

MAP33, there are several closets with sector tag 63 that don't have a linedef tag to them, meaning that up to 24 monsters won't teleport in. These sectors are 400, 402, 404, 406, 458, 459, 460, and 461.

Edited September 3, 2022 by NuMetalManiak
MAP33 not MAP63

[Astro X]

2 hours ago, NuMetalManiak said:

MAP63, there are several closets with sector tag 63 that don't have a linedef tag to them, meaning that up to 24 monsters won't teleport in. These sectors are 400, 402, 404, 406, 458, 459, 460, and 461.

I'm really not sure about what you mean by MAP63. I tried to examine MAP36 for any bugs but found none. Thanks for playing anyway :)

 

Edit: Ohhhh I just happened to read "nevermind" lol sorry

Edited September 3, 2022 by Astro X

[NuMetalManiak]

Oops, I meant MAP33 and was typing the sector tag as the map number by accident. The nevermind part was because I was looking at the weirdness of MAP35-37's baron opening door concept and then I started playing the Baron Door wads.

[Astro X]

1 hour ago, NuMetalManiak said:

Oops, I meant MAP33 and was typing the sector tag as the map number by accident. The nevermind part was because I was looking at the weirdness of MAP35-37's baron opening door concept and then I started playing the Baron Door wads.

Oh, I see. Well, those maps you played here are some of my contributions to the Baron Door megawads.

[Floowand]

Astroverse is one of my favorite megawads, but since it was made originally intended for GZDoom, in the transition to make it playable in other ports some things don't show/work properly.

So i made an UMAPINFO to resolve that with some extra stuff.
 

Spoiler

 

The folder contains 3 files.

Astroverse Original - The original TITLEPIC and INTERPIC, as well as the things related to the STBAR corrected, to show properly in all source ports.

For those sourceports that do not have support for widescreen assets (For example, Eternity Engine)

Astroverse Widescreen - Same as above, but everything is in 16:9 aspect.

Astroverse UMAP - Includes the UMAPINFO that makes the jump between levels in the order the author wanted, proper map labels, sky textures, music and intertext, plus access to the extra levels without using parameters/cheats.

Also includes menu chapters, and CWILV graphics for the chapters names and levels.

Credits:

Terraformer9x - For the Borders of the TITLEPIC and INTERPIC of the widescreen versions (Taken from the widescreen assets made by he/she for Alien Vendetta).
Me (Floowand) - For the UMAPINFO, CWILV graphics and widescreen versions of the TITLEPIC, INTERPIC and STBAR.

Thanks:

Astro X - For having patience with me when asking questions :p
Arsinik - For helping me on how to made propers CWILV graphics.

 

 

Astroverse UMAP.zip