'95 Never Dies CP [Full!]

[magicsofa]

@Amiga Angel Honestly I think the combat is a strong point of the map, the main thing I found odd was that the BFG didn't offer up any resistance. I would consider opening up some closets elsewhere because I actually wasted a shot on the single zombie behind the wall, which is Doom comedy gold. Anyway closets and teleports are not a requirement for good combat, in fact they can become overused and repetitive. I liked the roaming cacos and the fight on the central stairs.

 

I got really, really lost trying to find the other three lifts for the 4-sided teleporter. That corner just completely blew by me and it took a while of staring at the automap to realize where I had missed it. I think part of the problem is that enough of that area was revealed on the map, I didn't realize I hadn't actually walked in there yet. Also the wall textures blend together, and the alcove on the right side coming in kept drawing me to the right, making the turn less visible. This might just be a me problem but you might want to put some decorations in that area or something to indicate there's another path.

 

There are also switches marked with locked door textures, even though they are not locked switches. Can't remember if that was in the original map, but in any case it is confusing to put these textures here, again I ran right past the "yellow" switch because I didn't have the key. If you want to indicate the purpose of the switch it would be better to have something else like an unreachable key embedded in the wall, or a post with the key texture that visibly opens when you press the switch.

 

I didn't hit any errors when playing. I actually modified the previous version of the map to get it to run, and I didn't make as drastic of changes in some spots so you might want to incorporate my edits if you like them better. Not sure if you saw the attachment in my other post? rock-castle2.zip

 

 

[Amiga Angel]

16 hours ago, magicsofa said:

@Amiga Angel Honestly I think the combat is a strong point of the map, the main thing I found odd was that the BFG didn't offer up any resistance. I would consider opening up some closets elsewhere because I actually wasted a shot on the single zombie behind the wall, which is Doom comedy gold. Anyway closets and teleports are not a requirement for good combat, in fact they can become overused and repetitive. I liked the roaming cacos and the fight on the central stairs.

 

I got really, really lost trying to find the other three lifts for the 4-sided teleporter. That corner just completely blew by me and it took a while of staring at the automap to realize where I had missed it. I think part of the problem is that enough of that area was revealed on the map, I didn't realize I hadn't actually walked in there yet. Also the wall textures blend together, and the alcove on the right side coming in kept drawing me to the right, making the turn less visible. This might just be a me problem but you might want to put some decorations in that area or something to indicate there's another path.

 

There are also switches marked with locked door textures, even though they are not locked switches. Can't remember if that was in the original map, but in any case it is confusing to put these textures here, again I ran right past the "yellow" switch because I didn't have the key. If you want to indicate the purpose of the switch it would be better to have something else like an unreachable key embedded in the wall, or a post with the key texture that visibly opens when you press the switch.

 

I didn't hit any errors when playing. I actually modified the previous version of the map to get it to run, and I didn't make as drastic of changes in some spots so you might want to incorporate my edits if you like them better. Not sure if you saw the attachment in my other post? rock-castle2.zip

 

 

The latest version (rc3.wad) incorporated your changes...

 

I downloaded the attachment (rock-castle2) and continued working on the map from there (I assume that rc3 is the version you tested above).

 

I added more geometry to accomodate vanilla render limts and continued the simplification of the architecture in the places that made it possible

 

The 4 way teleport is a homage to the original e4m6.. I am not sure if i can or should do anything about that teleporter?

 

I'm glad the combat is mostly working... I tried to base it on the combat in the original e4m6

 

but I will...

 

- try to add a monster threat to the BFG pickup

- try to add helpfull decorations

- try to add posts for the colored skull pillars that move alongside the real pillars when switches are pressed

 

EDIT

 

made the above changes + fixed some texturing + moved stuff in to the little octagon lava room + misc small changes

 

LINK:

https://doomshack.org/uploads/rock-castle3.wad

Edited March 17, 2023 by Amiga Angel
new map version

[Raspoza]

Hello, I'm here to say that I am dropping my slot in this project.
I have lost the wad file for my (almost finished) map and it left me extremely frustrated.
I'm really unmotivated to rebuild the whole map from the ground up or work on a new one.

[Aku]

On 3/18/2023 at 9:01 AM, Raspoza said:

Hello, I'm here to say that I am dropping my slot in this project.
I have lost the wad file for my (almost finished) map and it left me extremely frustrated.
I'm really unmotivated to rebuild the whole map from the ground up or work on a new one.

oh i know that feeling all too well when i was working on my own megawad, sorry to hear this happened to you, thou its hard to replicate whats been lost never let your passion for building maps die, thou it can be very disheartening thats certainty true.

[magicsofa]

On 3/17/2023 at 6:01 PM, Raspoza said:

Hello, I'm here to say that I am dropping my slot in this project.
I have lost the wad file for my (almost finished) map and it left me extremely frustrated.
I'm really unmotivated to rebuild the whole map from the ground up or work on a new one.

 

We've all been there... but are you sure it's totally gone? Is it deleted, corrupted? No auto-saved backups?

[Raspoza]

16 minutes ago, magicsofa said:

 

We've all been there... but are you sure it's totally gone? Is it deleted, corrupted? No auto-saved backups?

I saved it in a folder I don't usually save my wads on, since I didn't want it to be in the middle of the 300+ useless test wads I have, I totally forgot it was there and I ended up deleting the folder (I also have the habit of emptying my recycle bin often, so yeah). I didn't make any backups (that I know of)

[Captain Keen]

I’d just say, as someone who works in a job where I could get in real trouble if I lost work, it’s a good idea to make backups at the end of any “work” day and save them in a special folder. Also sometimes a good idea to email work to yourself or put it on a server just in case your computer goes down. Some wads are pretty small and could easily be emailed to yourself as a backup. Or Dropbox, etc. Just a good habit to get into. Do it automatically so it’s an actual habit.

 

I lost several days of work when I first started my career after a file corruption, so I learned this the hard way. No judgment.

Edited March 25, 2023 by Captain Keen

[Aku]

On 3/26/2023 at 4:48 AM, Captain Keen said:

I’d just say, as someone who works in a job where I could get in real trouble if I lost work, it’s a good idea to make backups at the end of any “work” day and save them in a special folder. Also sometimes a good idea to email work to yourself or put it on a server just in case your computer goes down. Some wads are pretty small and could easily be emailed to yourself as a backup. Or Dropbox, etc. Just a good habit to get into. Do it automatically so it’s an actual habit.

 

I lost several days of work when I first started my career after a file corruption, so I learned this the hard way. No judgment.

with that said im going to start updating my mediafire files, as i found out you can do that without creating multiple versions.

[magicsofa]

On 3/22/2023 at 5:00 PM, Raspoza said:

I saved it in a folder I don't usually save my wads on, since I didn't want it to be in the middle of the 300+ useless test wads I have, I totally forgot it was there and I ended up deleting the folder (I also have the habit of emptying my recycle bin often, so yeah). I didn't make any backups (that I know of)

 

Ouch. Very well, opened the slot

[Raspoza]

On 3/25/2023 at 2:48 PM, Captain Keen said:

It’s a good idea to make backups at the end of any “work” day and save them in a special folder. Also sometimes a good idea to email work to yourself or put it on a server just in case your computer goes down. Some wads are pretty small and could easily be emailed to yourself as a backup. Or Dropbox, etc. Just a good habit to get into.

Those are great suggestions, I will start doing those things from now on, thank you.

[Amiga Angel]

@magicsofa

can the latest version of my map be considered done or does it still have things that need to be dealt with?

 

LINK:

https://doomshack.org/uploads/rock-castle3.wad

Edited March 30, 2023 by Amiga Angel

[Captain Keen]

Wonder if @Wilster_Wonkels or @Snaxalotl might want to do E4M7 since they made such fantastic Doom 1 wads last year??

[Wilster_Wonkels]

20 minutes ago, Captain Keen said:

Wonder if @Wilster_Wonkels or @Snaxalotl might want to do E4M7 since they made such fantastic Doom 1 wads last year??

sure I'll take it

Edited March 30, 2023 by Wilster_Wonkels

[magicsofa]

Sorry about the late reply all, I got bronchitis

 

On 3/30/2023 at 5:03 AM, Amiga Angel said:

@magicsofa

can the latest version of my map be considered done or does it still have things that need to be dealt with?

 

LINK:

https://doomshack.org/uploads/rock-castle3.wad

 

It is very close. The geometry you added to reduce visplane usage was not necessary however, and it hinders both the visuals and the flow of the map. My edit should have been sufficient to not crash. Although the visplane count can fluctuate significantly during gameplay, it isn't random. And the game will always crash at 129 visplanes, meaning you can create areas that hit 128 and still not crash. I usually aim for a max of 120 just to be safe, but it's really not necessary to keep it as low as 100 or lower, unless you have a bunch of moving sectors and you're afraid they will all line up perfectly one day for an unlucky player.

 

Other than that, I think it's best to wait a bit so that more people can test the map, I'll want at least one other opinion on things before really calling it final

 

On 3/30/2023 at 5:28 PM, Wilster_Wonkels said:

sure I'll take it

 

Added!

[Wilster_Wonkels]

I have a question, is this project using the original Ultimate Doom soundtrack or are you planning to incorporate custom music?

[magicsofa]

1 hour ago, Wilster_Wonkels said:

I have a question, is this project using the original Ultimate Doom soundtrack or are you planning to incorporate custom music?

 

I wasn't planning on using custom music but a few people have already submitted tracks... it will probably end up being up to the mapper, since some maps will be built with the original track in mind. So if you have something you want for you map, feel free to include it. The maps are supposed to be lightly inspired by the original UDoom levels, so with that in mind I'd prefer music that feels like it could remotely fit in with the original soundtrack.

[Wilster_Wonkels]

https://www.mediafire.com/file/9crim47d9xsj6yi/e4m7.zip/file
Here's a link to my e4m7, as well as the midi I'd like to use on it. I call it "And Hell Followed." If @Uni has a different track in mind though that's cool, since e2m6 and e4m7 share music.

Edited April 16, 2023 by Wilster_Wonkels

[Captain Keen]

@magicsofa Just curious, when are you hoping to get all the maps in for a RC1 phase?

[Azuris]

Just an Alive Note :)

I've made my Entry Hall to E1M8 a while ago and put my Ideas on Paper afterwards, hope to throw in my Alpha sooner than later :)

 

[magicsofa]

On 4/16/2023 at 1:22 PM, Wilster_Wonkels said:

https://www.mediafire.com/file/9crim47d9xsj6yi/e4m7.zip/file
Here's a link to my e4m7, as well as the midi I'd like to use on it. I call it "And Hell Followed." If @Uni has a different track in mind though that's cool, since e2m6 and e4m7 share music.

 

I'm not sure what I just played but I loved it :P  ...didn't notice any errors, did get punked several times and felt serious ammo pressure until I found the BFG after eliminating all but the cybie, lel. Pathways managed to be bizarre yet discoverable. Potentially just hard enough for a penultimate map, although I imagine it would have been easier had I picked up the 9000 at the "intended" time. I'll have to try it out to be sure, but I think there could be room for slightly more pressure on hard skill. Then again it isn't necessarily bad to have a normal-hard map right before an M8 beatdown. Anyway great work!

 

As for the music, I think we will include a separate .wad with unique tracks for E4. Only hardcore vanilla goons will have to actually deal with using it, since nearly every other port will properly use D_E4Mx music lumps (while vanilla/choco will just ignore them).

 

On 4/16/2023 at 1:47 PM, Captain Keen said:

@magicsofa Just curious, when are you hoping to get all the maps in for a RC1 phase?

 

In general I encourage people to get at least a draft of their map out within 2 months. Some folks just joined in so that sort of resets the timer in my head. June is the halfway mark for the year, it would be awesome to have all first submissions in at that time. The goal for final release is Dec 10

[Captain Keen]

Just want to second that I also really loved Wilsters map for this, just that right mix of vanilla and nuts!

[lokbustam257]

95NeverDies_E3M9.zip

E3M9 remake is finally done, let me know what you think. And of course, report any bugs/glitches/oversights/tutti-frutties on STEP3 you found!

The map currently didn't have any difficulty settings enabled (so most* monsters appeared regardless of difficulty). The map still called Warrens, and the default MIDI fit the map I think.

 

*there are 2 monsters flag for multiplayer only

 

Screenshots (640x480, taken in LZDoom):

Spoiler

 

Edited April 20, 2023 by lokbustam257

[Wilster_Wonkels]

1 hour ago, lokbustam257 said:

95NeverDies_E3M9.zip

E3M9 remake is finally done, let me know what you think. And of course, report any bugs/glitches/oversights/tutti-frutties on STEP3 you found!

The map currently didn't have any difficulty settings enabled (so most* monsters appeared regardless of difficulty). The map still called Warrens, and the default MIDI fit the map I think.

 

*there are 2 monsters flag for multiplayer only

 

Screenshots (640x480, taken in LZDoom):

  Reveal hidden contents

 

I gave this a runthrough in chocolate doom. I UV-maxed it and didn't notice any technical glitches such as HOMs or tutty-frutties. The only other notes I would have is that the second half of the level doesn't play as excitingly as the first. I understand that you're walking through the corpses of everything you've just killed, but maybe there could be more new opposition along the way. The whole northern half of that part of the level doesn't seem to have anything of note in it aside from the corpses. Also, the marble face signs that make up sector 169 could be increased in size to not have the texture cut off the way it does. It's just a minor visual tweak really.

 

Of course, it's your map and I'm not the guy running this but I thought I'd give my two cents.

[lokbustam257]

3 hours ago, Wilster_Wonkels said:

I gave this a runthrough in chocolate doom. I UV-maxed it and didn't notice any technical glitches such as HOMs or tutty-frutties. The only other notes I would have is that the second half of the level doesn't play as excitingly as the first. I understand that you're walking through the corpses of everything you've just killed, but maybe there could be more new opposition along the way. The whole northern half of that part of the level doesn't seem to have anything of note in it aside from the corpses. Also, the marble face signs that make up sector 169 could be increased in size to not have the texture cut off the way it does. It's just a minor visual tweak really.

 

Of course, it's your map and I'm not the guy running this but I thought I'd give my two cents.

Sector 169 MARBFACX textures being cut-off is intentional, I just like how Baron and Arch-Vile stares at you like that. About the second half of the map, I don't think I really wanted to add more monsters in the that part of the map, but I might do some teleporting shenenigans with the monsters if the player managed to get all of the secrets in the techbase, just recently thought about that. But anyway, thanks for playing

[lokbustam257]

E2M8_current.zip

This is the latest version of E2M8. Changes are mostly minor.

 

Changes:

-SP_ROCK1 has been replaced with METAL, so now the title "Tower of Babel" makes more sense.

-MFLR8_3 on the edges of the tower has been replaced CEIL5_2

-FLOOR6_2 has been replaced with MFLR8_4

-Make the ROCKRED rocks looks more complicated

-Auto-aligned MIDGRATE textures

-Joined several sectors

 

Let me know if I messed up somewhere.

Edited April 20, 2023 by lokbustam257

[JustAthel]

Hey, sorry I haven't touched base with this project. I've been heavily demotivated lately to really do much, but I HAVE been sitting on this version of the wad for a bit. I don't know if there's much else I can do with it, so please let me know.

 

95nde4m4v2.wad

Spoilers for changelog

Spoiler

+ Added a couple of traps

+ Added a couple of secrets

+ Added a new area where rocket launcher is more obtainable

+ Reworked a few enemy encounters, specifically at the beginning and through the "second act" of the level

+ Fixed some texture bugs

+ Reworked the exit slightly. The speedrunning route has been removed

 

[Aku]

heres a link to the latest drafts for e2m4 & e3m6
will update the link when i make more tweaks, add more enemies, pickups ext


https://www.mediafire.com/file/3qj7nrp95oxxf7b/community+project+e2m4++&+e3m6+drafts.wad/file

[magicsofa]

@Aku @JustAthel @lokbustam257 thanks for the updates all, planning to do a round of playtesting tonight and maybe even work on E1M1, lol. I also really need to update the master archive and tag the map list with things like "done" and "in review" for sanity purposes

[magicsofa]

On 4/21/2023 at 4:15 PM, JustAthel said:

I don't know if there's much else I can do with it, so please let me know.

95nde4m4v2.wad

 

I like that the heat was turned up a notch and that you have to fight for your rocket launcher, although the cacodemon room is a much easier route than the others. It does become a bit of a baron-fest. Thankfully the ample rockets reduce the time it takes to down them all, but it wouldn't necessarily hurt to exchange some of them for more supporting monsters. Lost souls can be a nice baron supporter since they are fast, too weak for infighting to matter much, and extra mean to players shooting continued rocket volleys.

 

There is an issue with the door thresholds, monsters are unable to climb through them because the floor changes height twice within their hitbox. In other words, the platform needs to be wide enough for the monster to fit completely on it, or they will get stuck. There were a few other small problems: On HMP, there are imp + shotgunner stuck together in the dark tunnel. Also, the chaingun wasn't there on HMP, is that intentional?

 

On 4/19/2023 at 9:44 PM, lokbustam257 said:

95NeverDies_E3M9.zip

E3M9 remake is finally done, let me know what you think. And of course, report any bugs/glitches/oversights/tutti-frutties on STEP3 you found!

The map currently didn't have any difficulty settings enabled (so most* monsters appeared regardless of difficulty). The map still called Warrens, and the default MIDI fit the map I think.

 

 

I do enjoy an ol' fashioned power trip... great linear map that will make you chuckle as an M9 should. I couldn't really find anything "wrong" about it. However it really is an easy level, the only real threatening moment I remember was teleporting between two cacos (with zach galifianakis, yes). I felt like there wasn't enough opposition to justify 3 (or more?) soulspheres, in addition to the plentiful medikits. It might be good to downgrade some of those especially on hard, if you aren't planning to make the combat any harder.

 

On 4/20/2023 at 11:32 AM, lokbustam257 said:

E2M8_current.zip

This is the latest version of E2M8. Changes are mostly minor.

 

No errors that I found, but I'm not really sold on this one in terms of the combat and theme. It just feels like an E2M8 remake, and the original E2M8 is a pretty lame map to begin with, putting all of its weight on the single crutch that is the coolness of the Cyberdemon itself. The goal was to take an idea (or handful of ideas) from the original map and run with it in a new level, but for this slot (and E3M8) it should be more like "just make a totally new boss map." This is a great opportunity to make people say, "wow, this is way better than the original!"

[JustAthel]

Hm, enemies being stuck together DEFINITELY isn't intended. I'll see if I can get those issues fixed up and see about those monsters passing door thresholds - I thought I just disabled those with monster blocking linedefs. I'll also sprinkle a couple of lost souls in and chop out a couple barons.

Also, are custom names / midis actually allowed? I couldnt seem to find a consensus on this but I may have missed it.

Edited May 1, 2023 by JustAthel