Subtle Sparkle [It's like a chunky smooth doom for weapons n' stuff]

[Lippeth]

There are GZDoom mods that add lots of cool visuals and sounds, new weapons, and all sorts of fancy effects. This is not really that, and is just a collection of random bits and bobs I've made on the fly because I wanted to play Doom that way. I wanted to share them in case you find one useful, or want to include it in your wad or mod. Some of these are barely even worth mentioning and are usually the type of things included in much bigger projects, but they make my subdued GZDoom experience quite enjoyable in tandem with other mods or on their own. It goes without saying but loading more than one of these together will require making a batch file, or using a launcher like ZDL. I recommend Doom Runner because it's modular and you can turn mods off while keeping them in the list.

 

subtle_sparkle.pk3

-An all-in-one package that includes everything except the Nashgore sound patch. Includes an options menu to turn off what you don't want. Requires GZDoom 4.8 or higher. The rest can be used with older versions. If you use this then you won't need the other files.

 

Spoiler

CREDITS:

 

Graphics:
Keycard and Skull key sprites based on work by NMN from Knee Deep in ZDoom
Bullet casing sprites by zer0 from Beautiful Doom
Weapon sprites by, based on or modified versions of sprites by perkristian
Splash Sprites from Hexen by Raven Software

 

Code:
Bullet casing code modified from ZScript Weapons Library by dodopod
Weapon replacement code by Nash from Perk Enhanced
Terrain and splash code modified from New Splashes by Enjay
Terrain check and removing bulletpuffs from liquid flats by Nash, Matt, and Pompous Seed

 

Sound Libraries:
Gun Shell Collection by Effect Sense Sound Libraries for bullet casings
Krotos Starter Library for fist, terrain
Pro Sound Effects Online Library for terrain and liquid
The Original General Series 6000 by Sound Ideas for shotgun tail

 

subtle_dynamic_lights.pk3

-Decreases radius of everything in lights.pk3 by half.

 

rotating_keys.pk3

-Keys that rotate 360°, based on NMN's version from KDIZD, but reworked to retain the original design from the IWADS. Includes menu option to change palettes for Ancient Aliens, BTSX, Pagodia, and true color png. I tested quite a few wads with custom palettes and most work well if set to "Doom", but if you find one that looks bad, let me know or just use the truecolor option.

 

rotating_keys-lights.pk3

-Dynamic lights that correspond to rotating keys and different palettes

 

secret_message.pk3

-Uses chat sound and changes text for secret message. Works with Doom, Heretic and Hexen (for wads that may have secrets)

Doom: "You found a secret!"

Heretic: "A secret hast been revealed"

Hexen: "Secret area"

 

glowing_bullet_decals.pk3

-A very trivial glow to bulletchip decals

 

plasma_death_sound.pk3

-Removes the plasma death sound limit so the death sound interrupts the plasma fire sound

 

nashgore_soundpatch_11025Hz.pk3

nashgore_soundpatch_22050Hz.pk3

-Downsamples the sound effects of Nashgore to fit with stock Doom sounds. Requires Nashgore

 

bolognese_soundpatch_11025Hz.pk3

-Downsamples the sound effects of Bolognese to fit with stock Doom sounds. Requires Bolognese Gore Mod v3.0

 

 

I am way too scattered of a person to make a competent showcase video, but I did my best anyway. Also, apologies for leaving on pitch shifting for sounds.

 

Some mods from other authors that I consider essential that may have flown under the radar:

 

Troo Cullers by Pixel Eater

-Retains Dooms palette color in hardware mode without all the banding and 8-bit degradation. Version 2.0 has palettes from other games, but 2.5 is Doom only. Wads with custom palettes don't work.

 

Thematically Improved Mouse Cursors by Nash

-Just mouse cursors but they're really cool!

 

Please let me know if any of these links ever break or If you know of something better than Mediafire for file sharing :/

Edited August 27, 2023 by Lippeth

[BerserkerNoir]

Ill be testing them!
The Changes are minor but Neat.
A good Replacement for Troo Cullers is Softshade, its similar and its compatible with custom Palettes.
 

[Lippeth]

Thanks for the recommendation! Tried out Softshade and though it's grimier looking than Troo Cullers's 24 bit blend and I'm not wild about dithering, the universal compatibility makes it worth using for sure.

[deleted-account]

Really awesome edits!  I like the downsampled 'gib' SFX in particular.

What software do you use to downsample those sounds if I may ask?  Very clean

[Lippeth]

10 minutes ago, Robo_Cola said:

Really awesome edits!  I like the downsampled 'gib' SFX in particular.

What software do you use to downsample those sounds if I may ask?  Very clean

Thank you!

 

In this case I used Audacity to downsample, with FabFilter Pro-Q 3 and Pro-L 2 for processing. I used a high-shelf eq to retain some of the high end when going as low as 11025 Hz, and filtered off some of the more extreme low end and did some limiting so it doesn't distort. I did have to do it a few times while tweaking the settings until I was happy with it. I'm sure Audacity has built-in eqs and limiters that work just as well, I'm just comfortable using the Fabfilter stuff and already own them.

[Lippeth]

Here's a quick video showcase of some of the features I've been messing with lately. Think of it like a chunky smooth Doom I guess.

 

There's also terrain splashes and effects which I'll possibly cover in another video.

 

subtle_sparkle.pk3

subtle_brightmaps.pk3

BTSX patch

Edited April 29, 2023 by Lippeth

[Lippeth]

I've finally figured out how to quickly make frame-accurate gifs with transparent backgrounds to better showcase certain features like animations!

Frames are not exactly 1:1 with the length of each tic in Doom, but close enough to get the idea.

Anyway, the animations are my take on the sMoOtHeNiNg of Doom using Per Kristian's extra frames as a base.