[MBF21] What Lies Beneath - 11 maps episode from some of the Hellevator/Skulltiverse/Solar Struggle contributors (Official Idgame release)

[ViolentBeetle]

Everybody loves a spooky mansion with a dark secret. But who will dare to venture there and find out what is really going on. Will you dare to find out WHAT LIES BENEATH?

>>>OFFICIAL IDGAMES PAGE<<<

 

What Lies Beneath is an 11-maps episode replacement for Doom 2 in MBF21 format. It was privately made by some of the contributors to my past projects:

@muumi, @LordEntr0py, @Pegleg, @DFF, @Weird Sandwich, @dac, @myolden and @Shawny

 

Important note:

The wad is mostly tested with DSDA-Doom 0.24.3 - any similar port with full support of MBF21 and UMAPINFO should suffice.

RC2 contains a DECORATE lump to accomodate gzDoom players by setting various obstacles to normal size. Safety not guaranteed, I never done this before, but it doesn't seem to crash at least.

Make sure that your compatibility settings do not disable MBF21 features.

 

Some screenshots to entice your interest
This is screenshots from the first 5 maps. I'd like the later six to be a surprise.

Spoiler

 

 

Excerpts from credit file for quick reference on who did what:

Spoiler

MAP01: Mansion Halls of Madness
Author: Muumi
Music: Lair of the Raven King by Muddy

 

MAP02: Deluge
Author: LordEntr0py
Music: "Wretched Harangue" by Dragonfly (Joshua o' Sullivan) and Lippeth

 

MAP03: Abandoned Before the Blast
Authors: Pegleg (Layout and most encounters) & ViolentBeetle (Texturing and some balancing)
Music: The Berggren-Malde Complex by Ivan Stanton & DCG Retrowave

 

MAP04: Blacksite
Author: DFF
MIDI: Stomping Grounds by Lee Jackson

 

MAP05: Underwood
Author: ViolentBeetle
Music: After the Storm by Stewboy

 

MAP06: Destined Decline
Author: WeirdSandwich
Music: Relic by Psyrus

 

MAP07: Glory Days
Author: ViolentBeetle
Music: Prelude to Msiri in B Minor by Jimmy

 

MAP08: Magma Flow
Author: Muumi
Music: Crawler by AD_79

 

MAP09: Where Fools Always Trespass
Author: Dac
Music: "Descent of Madness" by Tristan Clark

 

MAP10: The Bleeding
Author: myolden
Music: Aorta by Tristan Clark

 

MAP11: Astral Sanctuary
Author: Shawny
Music: Realm by Psychedelic eyeball

 

Early versions

Release candidate 1

Release candidate 2

Release candidate 3

Release candidate 4

Release candidate 5

Edited July 3, 2023 by ViolentBeetle

[Andrea Rovenski]

This looks realy nice! Enjoy the mushrooms, they look amazing omnomnom

[Zeroandneko]

Super excited to try this out. Who doesnt want to explore a spooky manor filled with demons and boomsticks?

[Origamyde]

Can't wait to put my hands on this and get a blast at it :)

 

Congrats on the release !

[alopecia_assassin]

Oh god yeah

 

[ProfBloom]

Played the first level and had a hearty chuckle at a nice little Easter egg outside a window.  This looks great, I'll definitely be giving this a play.

[continuum.mid]

These look absolutely brilliant, and I've been waiting for a "blockbuster" WAD that uses MBF21. I'm not sure when I'll play it but I will absolutely follow this WAD's development.

[Dynamo]

Congrats on another quality community project! For the GZDoom question you're having, I believe it's as simple as adding the string compat_nopassover = 1 to the ZMAPINFO lumps for the maps you need this in, so for example...

 

Quote

map MAP01 "Mansion Halls of Madness"
{
    titlepatch = "INT_01"
    sky1 = "SKY1"
    music = "D_RUNNIN"
    compat_nopassover = 1
}

Or you could apply it globally with something like:

 

Quote

adddefaultmap
{
    compat_nopassover = 1
    nojump
    nocrouch
}

Also disabling jumping and crouching as I imagine that's what you'd want.

 

Hope this helps!

[Firedust]

Solar Struggle was superb so I'm really excited to give this a whirl

[ViolentBeetle]

5 minutes ago, Dynamo said:

Congrats on another quality community project! For the GZDoom question you're having, I believe it's as simple as adding the string compat_nopassover = 1 to the ZMAPINFO lumps for the maps you need this in, so for example...

I think what I need is to make decorate versions of the decorations. Unfortunately, I never worked with decorate before, so I'm not sure how to do it correctly yet.

[Dynamo]

6 minutes ago, ViolentBeetle said:

I think what I need is to make decorate versions of the decorations. Unfortunately, I never worked with decorate before, so I'm not sure how to do it correctly yet.

I could probably do that quite easily if you tell me which decorations it is that need to have that.

[TJG1289]

That's an all-star lineup for sure! I'll have to check this out as soon as I can. I've got like 3 other WADs to finish first, but this is only 11 maps, so it's shorter...

[baja blast rd.]

:eyes:

[Captain Keen]

Looks really nice! Hopefully Harrison Ford is the final boss.

[HiMyNameIsChair]

Played the first couple of maps and already love this~! fantastic stuff!

[Peccatum Mihzamiz]

Congrats on the release everybody! Another guarenteed hit from ViolentBeetle et al! Thank you for putting out this amazing stuff! <)

[Hasamnas]

Just reached map 07, this wad is really good! I did find a softlock in map 06, you can use the debris to jump to the megaarmor secret, but if you do you're stuck there.

[ViolentBeetle]

2 hours ago, Hasamnas said:

Just reached map 07, this wad is really good! I did find a softlock in map 06, you can use the debris to jump to the megaarmor secret, but if you do you're stuck there.

I still can't make this jump, but we actually spotted the issue too and it will be adressed in the next update.

[Helm]

I loved the first 4 maps so far! Congrats to all involved! 

 

Spoiler

 

Edited April 20, 2023 by Helm

[John Rain]

Well this is dope. I actually replayed Hellevator couple of weeks ago and played through Solar Sruggle, both were great, but this is probably my favorite of your projects. It started really good, but the second half of the wad is the most fun I had playing Doom this year, combat setpieces are smart, creative, challenging just enough to be spicy but at the same time not overwhelming, some fights gave me the feel that I get from Mouldy maps(I'm not saying that mappers in this project don't have their own style, they most certanly do, it's just the highest praise I can give as a huge Going Down/Overboard fan). Oh, did I mention that every map in this project also looks awesome? Every level has it's own distinct theme, and many of the themes seem to be totally unique, like I haven't seen some of them in Doom ever before. Levels also have great texturing and lots of cool details.

 

If this wad was a woman I would ask it out, recommend this to all your friends, 10/10.

Edited April 21, 2023 by John Rain

[TheShep]

I think I played the first 3-4 maps here. enjoy https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1799633021

 

[Caleb13]

Hot damn, the level of detail in this mod is amazing! Do you plan to give it some better backstory? Looks like UAC invaded the Mushroom Planet to get the energy orbs (sprites are from Descent?), but it becomes fuddled after that. I played in GZdoom 4.10.0 and I noticed some problems:

MAP01: sectors 167 etc. have wrong brightness. Isn't the backpack in the library supposed to be secret?

 

MAP11: it's non-intuitive that you have to both press and shoot Korax switches that open door (sector 3579) towards the blue key. I had to use an editor to look what they do. One of imps in sector 6317 didn't teleport out, maybe the destination was blocked for too long? Also, I think you overdid the arena with the lowering square platforms, it's the single hardest fight in the entire mod. If the player gets caught on a lowering platform, he will lose lots of health from the acid.

[Shawny]

6 minutes ago, Caleb13 said:

MAP11: it's non-intuitive that you have to both press and shoot Korax switches that open door (sector 3579) towards the blue key. I had to use an editor to look what they do. One of imps in sector 6317 didn't teleport out, maybe the destination was blocked for too long? Also, I think you overdid the arena with the lowering square platforms, it's the single hardest fight in the entire mod. If the player gets caught on a lowering platform, he will lose lots of health from the acid.

I don´t think anybody figured out the Korax switches, that will be fixed in RC2. I have already version with the fix ready.

There is a good chance that monsters may get stuck if destination is blocked for too long. I am currently thinking how to fix that.

The red square platform room... well, I had hard time with that fight myself, on the other hand I have seen people doing that first try.
And yes, health penalty is working as intended, in fact on Skill1/2 the map is scripted in a way you can get out of the blood.

There will also be better signposting for when player is able to leave the SMM room.

[ViolentBeetle]

2 hours ago, Caleb13 said:

MAP01: sectors 167 etc. have wrong brightness. Isn't the backpack in the library supposed to be secret?

Those sectors provide darkening for the midtextures, although it might be a good idea to conceal the lines on the ground. Backpack isn't supposed to be a secret.

[Caleb13]

OK, then. I forgot to mention one thing, Gzdoom displays these warnings upon start:

 

Texture MODWALL3 is left without any patches
Texture MODWALL4 is left without any patches
Switch SW1_DNDB in SWITCHES has the same 'on' state
Switch SW1_DNDR in SWITCHES has the same 'on' state
Switch SW1_DNDY in SWITCHES has the same 'on' state

[ViolentBeetle]

20 minutes ago, Caleb13 said:

OK, then. I forgot to mention one thing, Gzdoom displays these warnings upon start:

 

Texture MODWALL3 is left without any patches
Texture MODWALL4 is left without any patches
Switch SW1_DNDB in SWITCHES has the same 'on' state
Switch SW1_DNDR in SWITCHES has the same 'on' state
Switch SW1_DNDY in SWITCHES has the same 'on' state

Fortunately, none of this matters, but it's worth fixing anyway.

[Fly In The Lotion]

On MAP04, this room has two pits beyond a fence/forcefield where there is no way back up. (Softlock). It's either intended and figuring it coming back from then is beyond my mental capacity, or...? :D

 

 

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

Spoiler

 

DSDA/MBF21

 

Otherwise, really cool mapset, dig it a lot :)

Edited April 23, 2023 by Fly In The Lotion

[DFF]

2 hours ago, Fly In The Lotion said:

On MAP04, this room has two pits beyond a fence/forcefield where there is no way back up. (Softlock). It's either intended and figuring it coming back from then is beyond my mental capacity, or...? :D

 

 

 

  Hide contents

 

 

 

  Hide contents

 

DSDA/MBF21

 

Otherwise, really cool mapset, dig it a lot :)

Not sure how you accessed either of those pits since both are completely blocked by MBF21 "Block Players" flagged lines. Testing in FDWL (DSDA fork) and GZDoom these areas are properly blocked off, you sure you were playing on the right complevel? Were you able to just walk right into either pit?

Edited April 23, 2023 by DFF

[Fly In The Lotion]

1 hour ago, DFF said:

Not sure how you accessed either of those pits since both are completely blocked by MBF21 "Block Players" flagged lines. Testing in FDWL (DSDA fork) and GZDoom these areas are properly blocked off, you sure you were playing on the right complevel? Were you able to just walk right into either pit?

 

Yes, it's set to MBF21 (DSDA). Not sure why, but it's no big deal, so far it seems this only happened to me, so the problem might be on my end, since I haven't seen anyone complain about it in the thread. 

[Fly In The Lotion]

1 minute ago, Fly In The Lotion said:

Yep, was able to walk right through each energy barrier (the knee-level ones, not the full ones). Also, i was able to cross every fence).

Yes, it's set to MBF21 (DSDA). Not sure why, but it's no big deal, so far it seems this only happened to me, so the problem might be on my end, since I haven't seen anyone complain about it in the thread.