DOOM: Final Desolation

[Cacodoomonic]

DOOM: Final Desolation is now available for download. This is a 100% vanilla 8 level DOOM wad, dedicated to my beloved late doggie Layla and my beloved late mother, both of which loved DOOM, and often used to watch me playing it. They both passed away, my dog on August 3rd 2023 and my mother September 27th 2023. This game is dedicated to them both and may their memory live on forever in this mod.

 

The wad is an 8 level chapter starring Joan Dark as she fights against the forces of Hell as it invades the UAC bases and gradually takes over. A powerful demon, code-named only DESOLATION, has risen from the depths of Hell and brought with it an army of darkness that is utterly relentless. DoomGuy isn't around. Nobody is around except the demonically possessed corpses of former fellow UAC military... so it's up to Joan Dark to deal with this on her own. 

 

This game is the emotional symbolic representation of how it feels to lose all you love. Gradually, reality crumbles. Hell seeps through. Until all that is left is your Final Desolation.

 

LEVELS

1. Electric Funeral

2. Screamin' 'n' Bleedin'.

3. Mourner's Lament

4. The Price You Pay

5. Somewhere In Nowhere

6. Well Of Souls

7. When Heaven Comes Down

8. Eulogy Of Melinda & Layla

9. Final Desolation

 

MONSTERS

1. Zombieman

2. Shotgun Guy

3. Chaingunner

3. Imp

4. Demon

5. Spectre

5. Cacodemon

6. Pain Elemental

7. Lost Soul

8. Revenant

9. Hellknight

10. Baron Of Hell

11. Arachnotron

12. Mancubus

13. Archvile

14. Rotten Zombie

15. Cyberdemon

16. Spider Mastermind

17. DESOLATION

 

Weapons

All weapons are the same as those found in DOOM II but with altered sprites to a certain extent.

 

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DOWNLOAD

NEWEST RELEASE: DOOM - Final Desolation ULTIMATE! 

The Ultimate Edition of Final Desolation is exactly what it sounds like. The definitive version of the game. The package includes all previous limit-removing vanilla builds, all previous limit-removing classic builds, and most importantly - the ultimate build, which is a PK3 version that utilises all the features of GZDOOM, including coloured lighting, a high CD quality dark ambient soundtrack, brightmaps and new secret levels designed to really test your skill! This is the ultimate (and final) version of DOOM: Final Desolation and is truly the only version you will ever need. Comes bundled with a modified version of GZDOOM (which is required for Ultimate to work) and CrispyDoom for the previous builds. Ultimate has a heavily altered final boss fight on MAP08 making it unique from the vanilla builds.

 

ULTIMATE has two secret levels: 

MAP09 - Into The Fire

MAP10 - The Ritual

 

There is also a secret 11th level which cannot be reached by normal means. 

 

MAP11 - Shrine

 

ULTIMATE has new monsters:

Nightmare Spectre

Nightmare Imp

Nightmare Caco

Tech-Pinky

Cherub 

 

But, for the vanilla version fans…

If you liked the vanilla version but were not happy with the monster infighting changes, nerfed Revenants and Lost Souls etc, then SuperVanilla 1.4 included in this package is for you! The Revenants and Lost Souls are as dangerous and as annoying as they were originally and species can no longer in-fight with their own kind. Just how classic Doom always liked it.

 

You can download DOOM: Final Desolation Ultimate from the following links:

MY WEBSITE: https://cacodoomonic.website3.me/downloads

MODDB: https://www.moddb.com/mods/final-desolation/downloads/doom-final-desolation-ultimate

DROPBOX: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/1n3pk544f3sb0d5jwqubt/DOOM-Final-Desolation-Ultimate.zip

MEDIAFIRE: https://www.mediafire.com/file/f081k3f8mz0c3im/DOOM+-+Final+Desolation+Ultimate.zip

 

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Previous Release: VERSION 1.3 

Link 1: MODDB: Final Desolation 1.3 file

Link 2: Cacodoomonic's Website: Final Desolation 1.3 file

Download this version for the best experience. All levels completely beatable without any cheats. Comes bundled with CRISPYDOOM, the source-port I recommend for the best limit-removing vanilla experience.

 

1.3 CLASSIC version

Link 1: MODDB: Final Desolation 1.3 (classic) file

This is exactly the same as 1.3 except all extra assets are created only by myself or ID Software. Nothing in this version was created by the DOOM modding community except for myself and ID Software.

 

Ultimate Desolation: ???? - IT IS HERE NOW. LINK ABOVE.

 

OLDER VERSIONS

You can download older (and far more broken versions) of the game from the links below. 

MODDB: https://www.moddb.com/mods/final-desolation (version 1) map05 unbeatable without cheats. Multiple graphical glitches and bugs.

MODDB: https://www.moddb.com/mods/final-desolation/downloads/final-desolation-12 (version 1.2) fixes several problems from version 1. Map05 still unbeatable.

 

NEW THINGS

Monsters can infight with each other, including their own species.

 

SCREENSHOTS

    

 

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

 

If you notice anything wrong that needs fixing, please let me know and I'll repair it. I playtested it a few times but it is easy to miss things. Let me know if I missed anything. This download comes bundled with Freedoom1 and Freedoom2, GZDOOM 10 and DOSBOX for easy access. 

 

Thanks to everyone that helped in my help threads for getting around a few VANILLA limitations.

 

Enjoy!

 

Edited May 10 by Cacodoomonic
MASSIVE MAJOR UPDATE

[Uni]

This looks really interesting, I'll check it out. Once I beat a couple of levels, I'll contribute feedback and report bugs when/if I encounter any.

 

Sorry for your loss.

[Cacodoomonic]

2 hours ago, Uni said:

This looks really interesting, I'll check it out. Once I beat a couple of levels, I'll contribute feedback and report bugs when/if I encounter any.

 

Sorry for your loss.

Thank you very much. I hope you enjoy the game.

[s4f3s3x]

Is this to be played with DOOM or DOOM 2?

[Cacodoomonic]

34 minutes ago, s4f3s3x said:

Is this to be played with DOOM or DOOM 2?

It is designed for DOOM II. I did plan to make it work with DOOM 1 also but its only for DOOM II currently. I included both freedooms in there for easy access.

[S3M_XM]

I'm sorry for you loss on your mother and your dog, condolences on both of them.

I've finished this recently and unfortunately I had some issues with some source ports when I was trying to play this, so I had to use GZDoom 4.11.3 for rest of the playthrough.

When I was playing on Nugget Doom 2.3.1, the game crashed on MAP02, it did the same with MAP05 when I was warping through the levels, I've noticed the fist sprites are jumbled, using them just crashes, even sometimes when I switch them does that as well.

Spoiler

DSDA-Doom 0.27.5 crashes on startup due to texture errors.

R_InitTextures: Missing patch 510 in texture BLOKBLAK
R_InitTextures: Missing patch 511 in texture AQF016Texture errors: 2!

 

Chocolate Doom crashes on loading on the wad which gives me an error message: R_InitSprites: Sprites SHT2 frame A has multip rot=0 lump
    Which it the sprite has more than one lump for its single-view zero-rotation frame.

GZDoom also has some unknown chunk messages when it was loading.

When I was looking at SLADE, I've found out that the sprite lumps for the fists, the player gibbing, and the hell knight sprites are in PNG format, which non-(G)ZDoom source ports don't support that.

And things I've noticed during my playthrough.

Spoiler

MAP04
---

The red key switch (Linedef 2190) doesn't require a red key switch despite having indicators that you need a red key.
 

Spoiler

MAP05
---

It could work on the area where the platforming pillars that have teleporting lines that insta-kill you outside of the pillars, which I've find it a bit frustrating to have that, perhaps move the teleporting lines away from the pillars slightly or rework on just having a very high damaging sectors on the bottomless pit?

One of the pinky demons (Thing 155) is stuck due to a thing overlap with Thing 175 (with indefinitely tall actors setting on).

Spoiler

MAP06
---

There's a sector with the megaarmor can be lowered from this position.

Spoiler

 

MAP07

---

Pistol starting this map requires secrets in order to complete the map especially at the end.

MAP08

---

The switch (Linedef 231) can be activated without the sector even being lowered.

Spoiler

I recommend some more ammo for maps 05 to 07 for pistol starting.

 

Edited February 6 by S3M_XM
Forgot to add Unknown chunk issue for GZDoom

[NightFright]

For me, the whole thing at least loads after the PNGs have been converted via SLADE. About the rest I dunno.

 

In general, it's unusual a project has such a personal background regarding its development. Very sorry for your loss.

Edited February 6 by NightFright

[Cacodoomonic]

Holy Hell that's a lotta errors. I'll work through these and try to repair them. Cannot believe I missed the PNG thing... I thought I concerted all those. I'll work through each one one at a time and try to repair it. Thanks for letting me know.

 

The red key switch was meant to indicate that the switch lowers the bars to the red key. I guess it does look like it requires a key. Maybe I can alter that.

 

EDIT: OK I went down the list and fixed everything I think. However the end text looks completely broken in dsda-doom 0.27.5 and I have no idea why. It works fine in GZDOOM but in dsda and nugget it looks like total jumbled garbage. I have tried fixing it by using two seperate textures in two halves but it makes it look even worse. See the attached screenshot. It looks horrendous and break the entire wad. If anyone knows how I can fix this for vanilla ports, please let me know. It is ruining the entire game.

 

EDIT 2: Apart from the end game text, everything is fixed. You can download the fixed version (VERSION 1.2) from my official website link above. The MODDB link has not been updated yet due to MODDB going through maintenance. Will be updated soon. In the meantime, please download from my official website (which leads to a mediafire link).

 

Edited February 6 by Cacodoomonic

[LadyMistDragon]

I'm profoundly sorry to hear of your loss.

 

So tried it out for a bit and this was actually really good! It's the sort of standard techbase to hell progression but you can tell something's wrong from the start and the increased chance of monsters of the same kind infighting is kind of nice too!

 

The split up UAC letters on the ground in one level that seem to have fallen off the wall were a nice touch1

 

Although I did spot this glaringly obvious HOM in Map 02, though at least the lift in question works!

 

 

Edited February 7 by LadyMistDragon

[Cacodoomonic]

On 2/5/2024 at 7:25 PM, Uni said:

This looks really interesting, I'll check it out. Once I beat a couple of levels, I'll contribute feedback and report bugs when/if I encounter any.

 

Sorry for your loss.

Thank you very much. I hope you enjoy the game.

7 hours ago, LadyMistDragon said:

I'm profoundly sorry to hear of your loss.

 

So tried it out for a bit and this was actually really good! It's the sort of standard techbase to hell progression but you can tell something's wrong from the start and the increased chance of monsters of the same kind infighting is kind of nice too!

 

The split up UAC letters on the ground in one level that seem to have fallen off the wall were a nice touch1

 

Although I did spot this glaringly obvious HOM in Map 02, though at least the lift in question works!

 

 

Hi, thanks very much for your kind words and for playing the game! I'm glad you're enjoying it! I have just taken a look at this HOM effect you encountered and it doesn't seem to exist on my end. However, I did notice something strange in your screenshot. The walls behind the demon are plain silver, and that area is supposed to have a a platform and a higher floor both textured with different textures. I examined the walls and platform for a missing texture or a mistake that may have made those platforms not show up, but found no errors. I'm honestly not sure why or how you encountered this bug. Everything seems fine on my end. Which sourceport are you playing that in?

[UnknDoomer]

 

[Aeddes666]

Very good maps!

 

At end of map 05, the exit door don't have a special set.

 

[AnyPlayer]

This is really good, it has a lot of action and secret places. I'll save this to my favorites.

Edited February 7 by AnyPlayer

[LadyMistDragon]

14 hours ago, Cacodoomonic said:

Thank you very much. I hope you enjoy the game.

Hi, thanks very much for your kind words and for playing the game! I'm glad you're enjoying it! I have just taken a look at this HOM effect you encountered and it doesn't seem to exist on my end. However, I did notice something strange in your screenshot. The walls behind the demon are plain silver, and that area is supposed to have a a platform and a higher floor both textured with different textures. I examined the walls and platform for a missing texture or a mistake that may have made those platforms not show up, but found no errors. I'm honestly not sure why or how you encountered this bug. Everything seems fine on my end. Which sourceport are you playing that in?

In Crispy Doom. 

[plums]

Ah, so this is the result of you asking all those vanilla modding questions :)

 

For non-GL, non ZDoom-based ports, textures that aren't a power-of-two wide won't display properly; the texture will go to the nearest power-of-two below the texture size, and repeat from there. So your text-screen textures are wrapping at 64px wide. This might be a problem with some of your smaller door textures too, not sure.

 

As for the mystery lift on MAP02, you have the lift linedef with no tag, which doesn't work for non-door actions except in ZDoom. What happens in Crispy is it tries to lower *every sector* with tag 0, which is the cause of the HOMs.

Edited February 7 by plums

[mancubian_candidate]

Hi Cacodoomonic, 

 

this WAD sounds really cool so I gave it a whirl!

Unfortunately, I found a Bug on Map 1 - It sounds related to plums comment above (not 100% though, I'm a complete mapping noob)

 

When you press the wall to reveal the Soulsphere secret, loads of parts of the map lower and turn to HOM's

I've recorded a video to show you, you'll see it happen at 1:10

 

For context, this occured when I played using dsda-doom v0.27.5 (Complevel 2)

Did not have the same issue when retrying on GZDoom v4.11.3

 

 

[DreadWanderer]

1 hour ago, mancubian_candidate said:

Hi Cacodoomonic, 

 

this WAD sounds really cool so I gave it a whirl!

Unfortunately, I found a Bug on Map 1 - It sounds related to plums comment above (not 100% though, I'm a complete mapping noob)

 

When you press the wall to reveal the Soulsphere secret, loads of parts of the map lower and turn to HOM's

I've recorded a video to show you, you'll see it happen at 1:10

 

For context, this occured when I played using dsda-doom v0.27.5 (Complevel 2)

Did not have the same issue when retrying on GZDoom v4.11.3

 

 

 

If you're playing in software mode in DSDA, try switching to OpenGL and see if it's still there. A lot of HOMs come from software rendering but magically disappear in OpenGL. Also check in GZ. Still should be fixed IMO as many people prefer software rendering, myself included.

[plums]

@mancubian_candidate yep, it's another switch linedef without a tag. Interestingly there are some switch-action linedefs that affect the sector they're attached to that are properly tagged. I'm guessing there will be more errors like this throughout the wad though.

 

If you play in PrBoom+ or older versions of dsda-doom (probably anything before 0.27), there's an option called "linedefs w/o tags operate locally" which when set to on will let you use those kind of switches without errors. Unfortunately it doesn't exist in newer versions of dsda-doom. Woof and Nugget Doom have an option in their cfg files "Linedef effects work with sector tag = 0" but I don't see it in the menus and haven't tested it to see if it actually works or not, but it might. (edit: it looks like it when it's off it just prevents linedefs with no tag from doing anything.)

Edited February 8 by plums

[Cacodoomonic]

Thank you everyone for all these responses and all the reported bugs. Every one of these will be fixed for the upcoming 1.3. I've been waiting especially to see if anything more like this comes to light before releasing 1.3 for this very reason. 1.3 is meant to be the final vanilla release so I didn't want to release it still broken. 

 

MAP05 exit has been fixed. I'll work on the linedef issue today. The end text screen I will try to repair today also.

 

EDIT: Please if you enconuter any more HOM effects I've missed let me know so I can repair them all for the final vanilla release of 1.3! The ones on MAP01 and MAP02 are now fixed.

 

EDIT 2: Ending game text is now fixed for Vanilla compatibility. 

 

V 1.3 is going to fix all of these issues. Any more issues reported will be fixed before release. 

 

EDIT 3: I've been playtesting the game through using Crispy Doom since most anomalies were noticed in that engine, and I have discovered a weird issue I cannot find the source of in MAP04. In the room with the UAC letters on the floor, looking at them from certain angles (and also the doorway with the elevator behind it in the same area) show textures eternally ripping through the maps floor and ceiling. I cannot find a fault in the map but for some reason it displays like crap in Crispy Doom. See attached picture for reference. If anyone knows what is causing this please let me know and it will be fixed because it looks horrible. 

Edited February 8 by Cacodoomonic

[plums]

For a vanilla wad you should really be testing in Chocolate Doom (or vanilla of course) since there are problems that will pop up in vanilla that won't in other ports. For instance, the sky on floor and ceiling you've done causes HOM in Chocolate but not Crispy. I forget the proper way to do this, maybe I can figure it out if you can't.

(edit: oh cool thanks past me)

 

Also for chocolate you need the -dehlump parameter to load the dehacked patch. For vanilla you need to provide it as a separate .deh file for people to use with dehacked. (It's generally safe to assume that anyone still playing in vanilla knows how to do this properly.)

 

For the UAC letters in MAP04, that many small angled linedefs can cause problems with nodebuilders, with slime trails and even miscalculated nodes. I'm guessing you used bsp-w32 to build the nodes, zdbsp is usually better (use the "zero reject" configuration for vanilla) and zokumbsp is often better still for a vanilla wad (rename it to ZenNode.exe to easily use with map editors). I've managed to reduce the slime trails to a minimum by using zokumbsp, subdividing some of the letters into multiple sectors, and moving some vertexes around. It's not perfect but it's very close. If you make further changes you'll probably need to use zokumbsp or at least zdbsp to build nodes to avoid the slimetrails etc. popping back up.

https://user.fm/files/v2-9831fb26eef26f3ef18029e6dbb35b60/fd04.zip

 

 

Edited February 8 by plums

[Cacodoomonic]

25 minutes ago, plums said:

For a vanilla wad you should really be testing in Chocolate Doom (or vanilla of course) since there are problems that will pop up in vanilla that won't in other ports. For instance, the sky on floor and ceiling you've done causes HOM in Chocolate but not Crispy. I forget the proper way to do this, maybe I can figure it out if you can't.

(edit: oh cool thanks past me)

 

Also for chocolate you need the -dehlump parameter to load the dehacked patch. For vanilla you need to provide it as a separate .deh file for people to use with dehacked. (It's generally safe to assume that anyone still playing in vanilla knows how to do this properly.)

 

For the UAC letters in MAP04, that many small angled linedefs can cause problems with nodebuilders, with slime trails and even miscalculated nodes. I'm guessing you used bsp-w32 to build the nodes, zdbsp is usually better (use the "zero reject" configuration for vanilla) and zokumbsp is often better still for a vanilla wad (rename it to ZenNode.exe to easily use with map editors). I've managed to reduce the slime trails to a minimum by using zokumbsp, subdividing some of the letters into multiple sectors, and moving some vertexes around. It's not perfect but it's very close. If you make further changes you'll probably need to use zokumbsp or at least zdbsp to build nodes to avoid the slimetrails etc. popping back up.

https://user.fm/files/v2-9831fb26eef26f3ef18029e6dbb35b60/fd04.zip

This sounds like a nightmare. Okay. I've playtested it right though in Crispy, only issue I found was the UAC node thing. I tested in GZ. No problems there. Tested in DSDA it seemed okay, but will retest since I have changed things since. Have not yet tested in Chocolate or DOSBOX. If there is a HOM effect from the skies and floors that is going to be a nightmare to fix. I'm not entirely sure why it's an issue, the original DOOM and DOOM 2 games used sky box floors and ceilings several times. 

 

I downloaded ZOKUMBSP but I have no idea how to use it. Took a look at the guide but not entirely sure I get it. Not entirely sure how I made this many errors either to be honest.

 

It's pretty important I make this completely vanilla friendly, that's kind of the entire point and I want it completely accessible to all sourceports and DOOM fans regardless of preference. 

 

 

 

Edited February 8 by Cacodoomonic

[Zesiir]

This looks really interesting. Fun to see Joan Dark again. The last Doom movie was campy as hell, but still entertaining for what it was.

 

Will play through it and post some feedback afterwards.

[plums]

25 minutes ago, Cacodoomonic said:

I'm not entirely sure why it's an issue, the original DOOM and DOOM 2 games used sky box floors and ceilings several times. 

It's when you have a sector that has both a floor and ceiling that are skies that problems are caused.

 

I'll see if I can fix it for you. Are there similar setups elsewhere in the wad?

 

25 minutes ago, Cacodoomonic said:

I downloaded ZOKUMBSP but I have no idea how to use it. Took a look at the guide but not entirely sure I get it. Not entirely sure how I made this many errors either to be honest.

You don't need to learn how to use zokumbsp, just call it ZenNode.exe and put it wherever UDB has all its nodebuilders. Then press F6 and change your nodebuilder in the right game config to "ZenNode (normal)". (I'm assuming you're using UDB here, for other Doom Builder versions it should be similar.)

 

As for making this many errors: vanilla is really picky about, well, everything. If you're not testing in vanilla, and making a wad that's meant to be vanilla-compatible, you're bound to run into problems.

Edited February 8 by plums

[Cacodoomonic]

25 minutes ago, Zesiir said:

This looks really interesting. Fun to see Joan Dark again. The last Doom movie was campy as hell, but still entertaining for what it was.

 

Will play through it and post some feedback afterwards.

Thanks! Hope you enjoy it. MAP05 require IDCLIP to enter the exit door. This will be fixed in the next release.

[Cacodoomonic]

2 minutes ago, plums said:

It's when you have a sector that has both a floor and ceiling that are skies that problems are caused.

 

I'll see if I can fix it for you. Are there similar setups elsewhere in the wad?

 

You don't need to learn how to use zokumbsp, just call it ZenNode.exe and put it wherever UDB has all its nodebuilders. Then press F6 and change your nodebuilder in the right game config to "ZenNode (normal)". (I'm assuming you're using UDB here, for other Doom Builder versions it should be similar.)

 

As for making this many errors: vanilla is really picky about, well, everything. If you're not testing in vanilla, and making a wad that's meant to be vanilla-compatible, you're bound to run into problems.

If you can help me fix that HOM thing that would be excellent. I have a 1.3 version I' mworking on will your fix work okay with that as it's not released yet. I'm trying to fix everything before I release it.

 

Vanilla really is difficult to make happy. Weirdly, I started out with Vanilla modding I've just lost my way over the years being spoilt with all the easy flexibilty of UDMF.

 

Edited February 8 by Cacodoomonic

[plums]

12 minutes ago, Cacodoomonic said:

If you can help me fix that HOM thing that would be excellent. I have a 1.3 version I' mworking on will your fix work okay with that as it's not released yet. I'm trying to fix everything before I release it.

OK, let me know if there's anything else you're going to change in MAP04. It might take me a day or two to finish, I think it's going to be easiest if I just rebuild that area.

[plums]

OK that didn't take as long as I thought it might. There is a very minor change to the side of one line, hope that's fine, looks better this way anyhow IMO.

Here you go: https://user.fm/files/v2-0ed176674a0a6779937573a3a9931407/fd04_fix.zip

 

I also fixed a few tutti-frutti on step textures (if you use a y-offset larger than the texture it causes tutti-frutti, use "upper unpegged" to align textures instead if you can).

 

BRIEFLY looked around in Chocolate Doom and didn't find any other problems but test it for yourself to make sure I didn't break anything. The exception is there's a small door texture that doesn't display properly in Chocolate, but I assume you fixed those in the texture editor for 1.3.

 

I'll give this a play soon, in the meantime @mention me if you need help with anything else.

Edited February 8 by plums

[Cacodoomonic]

Im not sure exactly what you did but the letter node problem in Crispy has gone away too. ? Did you do that intentionally? Whatever way thank you you've worked a bit of a miracle here.

[Zesiir]

Alright, I've blasted through all of the maps on UV. I liked the gameplay flow throughout, combat was tough but fair and only the last few maps made me really think about health. I also liked the little homages that you made to your loved ones. Felt like they watched over me as I pressed on. I didn't find all secrets, but I found enough to tip the scales in my favour. I do like all the little environmental details like detached floor tiles, the "UAC" letters scattered beneath that door and so forth. Similar to what I try to do with my maps as well.

 

I did find occasional bugs, most were pegged/unpegged textures in doorways and alcoves, though a few were in doors as well. Since you requested it I'll post the HOM/missing texture bugs I found below.

 

All in all, a solid 8 maps worthy of the title.

 

Ending text felt like a bit of a punch in the gut, but that's life sometimes.

 

Spoiler

 

HOM-effect at the bottom of the door:

 

 

Another found on both sides of a stairwell:

 

 

 

Edited February 8 by Zesiir

[plums]

27 minutes ago, Cacodoomonic said:

Im not sure exactly what you did but the letter node problem in Crispy has gone away too. ? Did you do that intentionally? Whatever way thank you you've worked a bit of a miracle here.

Yeah, I posted the letter node problem in my post above where I was talking about zokumbsp. Maybe you missed the link to the file there? Anyhow, happy to help.