MAYhem 2023 - Uploaded!

[plums]

Replayed a few maps here for fun. MAP14 is much more enjoyable when you know how many supplies you have at the end phase, and that you can just hold down the fire button while gobbling up megaspheres and cell packs. I did run into a problem that sometimes the arachnotrons don't warp into the last fight, if there are a lot of enemies blocking the teleporter destination they can get all bunched up and then none of the ones in the front can move. (Of course now that I'm trying to reproduce it I can't :p) Maybe lengthen the closet and then put a backup teleporter that sends them to the back of the closet? Alternately a crusher at the very front of the closet, so anything that makes it that far just gets squished.

 

-

 

BTW I noticed when you look up in any map with a sky, there's a black band at the top of the sky. Adding skyrowoffset=260 to each map entry in EMAPINFO seems to solve this, except in maps that use sky transfer linedefs in which case you want to set the y-offset of the linedef with the skytransfer to 288.

 

As per https://eternity.youfailit.net/wiki/EMAPINFO#Ambience and https://eternity.youfailit.net/wiki/Static_Init_(sky_transfer).

 

edit: This unfortunately affects the horizon starting point so you probably only want to do it on skies that tile if at all. Maybe just nevermind! :P

 

Edited October 3, 2023 by plums

[Fletcher`]

On 9/26/2023 at 9:12 PM, plums said:

OK I replayed MAP12, still on UV, and had a much more enjoyable time with it, to the point where I would rank it at least in the top half of maps of the wad based on how much I liked them. Here's what made the most difference, roughly in order of impact:

 

Using a different music track. Oh my god did this change the feel of the map. The chosen MIDI that's literally riffing on At Doom's Gate is clever, and would be great for a punchy 5-10 minute combat-heavy map, but in this it just goes on and on and on and ughh! I tried out a few tracks from the wad before settling on the music from MAP02 and it was infinitely more pleasant.

 

Not using Eternity. I can't say this experience with Eternity won me over to it at all. It was tolerable but I was never glad to be using it. How much it affected my experience varied by map; for whatever reason I really found myself frustrated with some aspects of it while I played MAP12 the first time. After fixing the Dehacked errors, going back to a port that I like better, like Woof, removed a bunch of frustration. This one's completely not your fault. (Though one thing that Woof does, that Eternity doesn't, is preserve music changes with IDMUS when you save your game...)

 

Knowing about the damaging water. Yeah I really think you need a sign up somewhere.

 

I still think there's a bit too much simplistic forward-facing combat, and the Spiderdemon is mostly an ammo tax, but without the frustrations above detracting from my baseline enjoyment already these things became just minor annoyances that I could more or less ignore, and appreciate all the good things about the map's visual and exploration-focused design.

 

It's probably too late and not worth it for a major overhaul, especially since Obsidian wants to release this soon, but here are a few things I think you should change:

 

* Either lower the water damage to 10%, or put up some warning signs. Also consider putting a window to the radsuit closet in the secret with the armour bonuses.

 

* Revisiting this area, my shots were blocked in that doorway until I walked into it, probably blocked because the sector for the fake bridge above hadn't lowered yet.

 

* This revenant ambush was a nice sudden challenge, but it was frustrating having no health items at all after until you clear out most of the next room full of hitscanners, across a bridge where you can be shot at by arachnotrons. And that was going in there with extra health and armour, and having killed a bunch of the hitscanners already from the previously-mentioned armour bonus secret! Someone unprepared could absolutely get wrecked here, and it's such a spike in difficulty compared to the map up until that point. I'd put at least a medikit or two in this room.

 

* Consider a different MIDI. I don't know how tied you are to this track. I can be picky about music sometimes so other people are welcome to chime in with a second opinion; I can accept that it's just me if no one else seems bothered by it.

Oops. Yeah, sorry about that. I did my map super late and didn't have a lot of time to fine-tune it.

 

On 9/26/2023 at 9:20 PM, Obsidian said:

 

Oh yeah, Fletcher` used a MIDI mash-up of At Doom's Gate and Megalovania, didn't they? I'd have put that map in a secret slot for that MIDI usage alone if I was able, haha.

Blame Xaser for that. But yeah I guess I could change the midi if I had to :U

https://www.dropbox.com/s/xkzl3sgg2le4fgh/rf_mayhem23.wad?dl=1

Uploaded a new version that hopefully fixes some things. Did not replace the midi :P

Edited October 5, 2023 by Fletcher`

[Razza]

On 9/27/2023 at 5:34 AM, plums said:

SECRET02: You can walk through the spaceship "window" at the start which is probably unintentional, it's not game-breaking at least.

edit: One monster closet didn't trigger because after hitting the switch I just went back the way I came instead of dropping down the ledge.

 

Wish you tagged me here, would've been aware of these issues way sooner. In any case, these shoould be fixed now

 

spacehopper.zip

[Obsidian]

ohaidar

 

MAYhem2023_0.3.zip

 

Apologies for the wait, these last few months have been a fuck and a half for numerous reasons. Lemme know if I missed something and don't forget to use an Eternity 4.03.00 dev build!

[TheShep]

15 hours ago, Obsidian said:

ohaidar

 

MAYhem2023_0.3.zip

 

Apologies for the wait, these last few months have been a fuck and a half for numerous reasons. Lemme know if I missed something and don't forget to use an Eternity 4.03.00 dev build!

 

hai

 

i'm trying to use the following command line in a batch file to load this, using the right dev build, and it's giving an error that it can't load the wad file:

 

start "" "D:\All Dooms - Hexen - Heretic\OTHER SOURCE PORTS\Eternity\eternity.exe" -iwad doom2 -file MAYhem2023-03.pke

 

any ideas what's going on? if i drag the PKE to the eternity exe, no problems.

 

data dump below from the "error" screen. (note i renamed the file itself so that's why its "-03 and not "_0.3")

Spoiler

The Eternity Engine
Copyright 2023 James Haley, Stephen McGranahan, et al.
http://www.doomworld.com/eternity

This program is free software distributed under the terms of
the GNU General Public License. See the file "COPYING" for
full details. Commercial sale or distribution of this product
without its license, source code, and copyright notices is an
infringement of US and international copyright laws.

Z_Init: Init zone memory allocation daemon.
Base path set to executable directory.
User path set to executable directory.
M_LoadSysConfig: Loading system.cfg
IWAD found: D:/All Dooms - Hexen - Heretic/OTHER SOURCE PORTS/Eternity/doom2.wad
DOOM II version

Built on Sep 10 2023 at 05:14:41
M_LoadDefaults: Load system defaults.
W_Init: Init WADfiles.
 adding D:/All Dooms - Hexen - Heretic/OTHER SOURCE PORTS/Eternity/base/doom/eternity.pke
 adding D:/All Dooms - Hexen - Heretic/OTHER SOURCE PORTS/Eternity/doom2.wad
Error: couldn't open MAYhem2023-03.pke

Press any key to continue

 

Edited October 30, 2023 by TheShep
added actual error text

[Obsidian]

Huh, that's odd. To be perfectly honest I'm not all that knowledgeable on using command lines, so I might need to pull in someone with a bit more expertise on the matter.

[Shepardus]

5 hours ago, TheShep said:

 

hai

 

i'm trying to use the following command line in a batch file to load this, using the right dev build, and it's giving an error that it can't load the wad file:

 

start "" "D:\All Dooms - Hexen - Heretic\OTHER SOURCE PORTS\Eternity\eternity.exe" -iwad doom2 -file MAYhem2023-03.pke

 

any ideas what's going on? if i drag the PKE to the eternity exe, no problems.

Is MAYhem2023-03.pke in the same directory as the batch file? If not, try specifying the full path to the file instead of just the name.

[TheV1perK1ller]

Goddamnit. Even following the thread, I failed to receive notifications. I'll try to rectify the Arachnotron issue post-haste (tomorrow, as it is now 8:30pm here). I do apologise for the delay in the fix.

[plums]

@TheV1perK1ller sorry, I figured that people who made maps would be following the thread (and that the board would notify them properly) but I guess I should've pinged everyone, you're not the only person to miss my feedback posts.

[TheShep]

11 hours ago, Shepardus said:

Is MAYhem2023-03.pke in the same directory as the batch file? If not, try specifying the full path to the file instead of just the name.

 

I'll try that, except that the -iwad parameter had no issue finding the doom2.wad in the Eternity directory. But who knows.. maybe semantics matter on certain commands.

[cannonball]

Update to my map;

 

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/iuy6gclc0s5gycnhfmx90/Mayhem23cb.2.wad?rlkey=0uykksuj7nr1hpdhc41bakukd&dl=0

 

Changes;

 

- Slowed the scrolling floors down to make the thrust less severe, this should avoid linedef skipping.

- tweaked the yellow skull room, the switches should be easier to fit, there is also one more enemy in this room that will make pacifisting this area more difficult, there are however a few shells/bullets placed to compensate.

- Fake exit switch tweaked to make it less janky to look at (Reduce but not remove unfortunately).

- Adjusted the position of the rocket launcher and yellow skull, again to make their pick up easier.

 

[TheV1perK1ller]

Here is, hopefully, my last update.

+ Altered the Arachnotron closet so they 'should' teleport correctly.
+ Added basement teleporter indicators to show that they indeed take the player back to the main section.

arcplat1.4.zip

[Obsidian]

Cheers for the updates! 👍 I've popped them into the latest compilation, which you can download here.

[Obsidian]

Alrighty, this has been sitting around for long enough. :P I'll be uploading to the archives in a week's time, so lemme know if there's any bugs in the latest version before then.

[Obsidian]

[Xymph]

In the new idgames upload, .txt release date 04/30/2023 should be 2024.
 

 

[Obsidian]

Goddammit.

 

Ah well, I guess it can be a fun bit of trivia for the Wiki page: I'll change it if there's any other significant updates that need to be made, but otherwise it's more hassle than it's worth. Either way, cheers for letting me know. 👍