Official 'The Ultimate Chex Quest' Megathread [MAPPERS WANTED!]

[Death Egg]

(Crosspost from ZDoom and Zandronum Forums.)




THE ULTIMATE CHEX QUEST for GZDoom
DOWNLOAD CURRENT REVISION (R6)
Official Website
Official CQFF Sub-forum

With permission from the creator of this mod, I've decided to create a topic for one of my favorite Doom engine mods in existence, The Ultimate Chex Quest by Boingo the Clown! This mod is an enhanced version of the original 2 Chex Quests, updated for modern source ports. It's long term goal is to eventually expand the original two games and add two whole new episodes, rounding out to 4 episodes of 8 maps each, 32 maps total. As of now, it's still just the original games though.

Some of you may have seen this mod in the past. It wouldn't be surprising, as currently the development has been going on since June 28, 2003. It's had active phases, inactive phases, a cancellation, hiatuses... but it keeps trucking on throughout it all. I have hope though that some day it'll finally see the completion it deserves.


So... what IWAD do I run this with?

None! The most recent version of TUCQ runs as an IWAD, so there's no need to use it as a PWAD. In fact, this may cause some errors depending on what you load it with.


Hey! Where's the Cinema map on E2M2?

Gone. That map blew chunks and the game is better without it. There's actually a brand new Cinema map in progress by Boingo, but you'll have to wait for a future version to come out before you're able to play it. The current plan I've heard is for the next version to include it.


Wait, what about Chex Quest 3's maps and flemoids? Aren't they going to appear too?

No, TUCQ was started before CQ3 was created. (In fact, it's the mod that inspired it!) The story was mapped out long before CQ3's and varies considerably. Boingo wants to ensure all the work done is fresh and new, not just a rehash of another persons work. This includes the redone Cinema level from that game as well.


So, uh... what about the maps after E1M5 and E2M5? Or the entire last two episodes for that matter? Those'll take time to make for sure!

Indeed they will, and Boingo knows that. That's why he's very open to accepting maps from others, under certain guidelines. If you're interested in submitting maps, Boingo posted guidelines that are still fairly relevant here.


Why call this a 'Megathread'? Isn't it just about TUCQ?

It's about TUCQ, yes... but I've also included some of the add-ons developed or being developed too. This was actually the biggest reason for me posting this topic. I wanted to gather interest in the project itself, but also for the couple of community projects that are being created for this game that need mappers as well. That's what this next section is devoted to...




Strife's Level Packs
DOWNLOAD FOR R6
Official CQFF Thread

Back in 2006, a member of the Chex Quest Fan Forums named Strife (Notable for going on to make the fan game Freedom Planet) created two level packs for TUCQ, back when it was still on Doom Legacy. Since there have been plenty of changes to TUCQ since the Legacy days, the original mods didn't work with the current versions. I've since gone through and fixed both mods, combined them into one package, and rereleased them with permission from Strife himself. The maps still hold up as some of the best Chex Quest maps released.




Vilecore for TUCQ
DOWNLOAD INTERM RELEASE 2
Official CQFF Thread

This community project aims to convert the classic Doom II megawad Vilecore to TUCQ. The current release has 11 maps in it. The goal is to eventually convert all 32 maps to TUCQ, but to do that we'll definitely need plenty more people to help with converting textures and items to what they are in TUCQ. The current map completion rate is as follows:

MAP01: Finished - Converted by Boingo the Clown
MAP02: Finished - Converted by Boingo the Clown
MAP03: Finished - Converted by Boingo the Clown
MAP04: ~99% completed - Converted by Boingo the Clown (Just needs some textures created)
MAP05: Finished - Converted by Boingo the Clown
MAP06: Untouched
MAP07: ~50% completed - Converted by Boingo the Clown
MAP08: ~15% completed - Converted by Boingo the Clown
MAP09: Finished - Converted by Death Egg
MAP10: Barely Started - Converted by Boingo the Clown
MAP11: Finished - Converted by Death Egg
MAP12: Finished - Converted by Death Egg
MAP13: Finished - Converted by Death Egg
MAP14: Finished - Converted by Death Egg
MAP15: Finished - Converted by Death Egg
MAP16: ~99% completed - Converted by Death Egg
MAP17: ~99% completed - Converted by Death Egg
MAP18: ~90% completed - Converted by Death Egg
MAP19: ~99% completed - Converted by Death Egg
MAP20: ~90% completed - Converted by Death Egg
MAP21: ~90% completed - Converted by Death Egg
MAP22: Finished - Converted by Death Egg
MAP23: Untouched
MAP24: Untouched
MAP25: Untouched
MAP26: Untouched
MAP27: Untouched
MAP28: Untouched
MAP29: Untouched
MAP30: ~10% completed - Converted by Boingo the Clown
MAP31: ~99% completed - Converted by Death Egg
MAP32: Untouched


TUCQ Much Oblige'd
Official CQFF Thread

This community project aims to complete an episode for TUCQ consisting of beautified Oblige maps, or however many maps that get submitted will be compiled anyway. Boingo created special files for use with Oblige to make it possible to generate more TUCQ-friendly maps to modify, which is avilable here.


My hope is by posting about this project on these forums that I'll be able to garner more interest for it, since time has seemed to forget about it for the most part. I hope to see mappers get interested and join in the sub-projects, and maybe even see some maps make it into the main project as well!

[KBlaney]

I'm going to be rather disappointed if "Thy Chex Consumed" isn't the name of the 4th episode.

[Death Egg]

KBlaney said:

I'm going to be rather disappointed if "Thy Chex Consumed" isn't the name of the 4th episode.

Then you won't be disappointed, because it actually is.

[GoneAway]

Death Egg said:

As of now, it's still just the original games though.
...
No, TUCQ was started before CQ3 was created.

So, it has nothing, and it's even less than what already exists. Sounds really exciting :^)

[Death Egg]

I wouldn't say it has nothing. The way Boingo has detailed things is going in a different direction than Charles did with CQ3. (The diner in particular is worth pointing out.) Plus, the add-ons I mentioned later in the post only work with this game, not CQ3.

[TheNerdTurtle2]

So what's this mods purpose? Because I always thought that Chex Quest was WAYYYY too easy. Does this make it any harder?

[Death Egg]

The long term purpose is to add entire new episodes as well as beautify the original maps. The difficulty on the current maps isn't heavily modified. The original maps actually never had differences per difficulty, and currently enemy placement is the same. However, playing on the higher difficulties gives the weakest enemies projectiles rather than having them only attack up close.

I can't speak for Boingo, but I'm assuming the new episodes, should they be created at some point-will have a higher difficulty.

[GoneAway]

Death Egg said:

The long term purpose is to add entire new episodes as well as beautify the original maps. The difficulty on the current maps isn't heavily modified. The original maps actually never had differences per difficulty, and currently enemy placement is the same. However, playing on the higher difficulties gives the weakest enemies projectiles rather than having them only attack up close.

This is already what the cq3 release did, so that's not particularly enticing. Episode 3 is really good. If you're going to incorporate doom 2 monsters and chexify them, I think it could be pretty interesting. But without that it's just a doom 1 mapset in the end, and I've never played a custom chex map/set that was any good, so that's why I'm skeptical from the get-go :P

[Death Egg]

kraflab said:

This is already what the cq3 release did, so that's not particularly enticing. Episode 3 is really good. If you're going to incorporate doom 2 monsters and chexify them, I think it could be pretty interesting. But without that it's just a doom 1 mapset in the end, and I've never played a custom chex map/set that was any good, so that's why I'm skeptical from the get-go :P

I'll admit that most Chex maps quality can be shaky. The Strife Level Packs still holds up though, and are definitely worth a play. They include two custom flemoids as well.

There are plans to add the Doom II enemies as well.

[TheNerdTurtle2]

The only way I could even play the first episode was on Super Slimey and I still never even got close to death

[Breezeep]

Weren't you going to finish that ultimatum project of yours?

[Death Egg]

Breezeep said:

Weren't you going to finish that ultimatum project of yours?

I've sent it to /idgames and am waiting for it to be uploaded now.

[Death Egg]

Last night I was able to finish MAP11 and MAP12 of the Vilecore conversion. I'm not at home right now so I can't post screenshots, so I'll either do that tonight or have Boingo do it for me.

[Death Egg]

Sorry for the wait, kind of forgot to post the screenshots. I've since finished MAP09 and begun work on MAP19 of the conversion, and have shots of all four maps in the spoiler:

Spoiler

MAP09:


MAP11:


MAP12:


MAP19:

[snapshot]

2nd and last shots don't look too cartoony to me (The Textures at least), They're still nice dough .

[Boingo]

A sighting!

It is only a quick mention, but Charles Jacobi brings up T.U.C.Q. in an interview here:

http://www.zam.com/article/790/chex-quest-a-1996-doom-mod-created-to-advertise-cereal-is-getting-an-hd-remake

[Death Egg]

Figure I would give this a bump since I'm not sure I made it clear enough in the original post, but all three of the currently in-development segments of the project (The Ultimate Chex Quest, Vilecore Conversion, and Much Oblige'd) are in desperate need of mappers! At the moment it's just been Boingo and I working on them, and while we have gotten quite a bit of the Vilecore conversion done and I've almost finished my contribution to the Much Oblige'd project, there is still plenty more that needs to be done for all three of the projects.

[Death Egg]

Download Vilecore Interim Release 2!

We've gotten quite a few maps done since the last update, too many to list in the time I have to make this post. We're definitely reaching the near halfway point of converting these maps, then comes the polishing stage. To those who play this, enjoy! And to those interested in helping convert the rest of the maps... we're very interested in hearing from you.

[JohnnyTheWolf]

The Very Large Zorcher appears to be silent.

[Death Egg]

Strange... you're using TUCQ as the IWAD, right?

[Boingo]

Oops!

I'm afraid that's my fault.

I forgot to copy the sound files over to the new wad.

I'll fix it.

...

There. Fixed it. I added the missing sound files.

It's reuploaded. Same limk.

http://www.doomlegends.com/chexquest/VC4TUCQinterm2.zip

[st0agie]

Hello? Is this dead?  Because I would very much like to do my take on a wad for Chex Quest, might call it 'Thy Chex Consumed' if that's alright, since nobody made it.

[Boingo]

No.  It's not dead. I just have a bad habbit of switching from one project to another, which kind of puts some projects to sleep for a while.

 

T.U.C.Q. is probably receive a kick in the butt some time in the next month or two, after some issues with The People's DooM are taken care of.

[st0agie]

10 hours ago, Boingo said:

No.  It's not dead. I just have a bad habbit of switching from one project to another, which kind of puts some projects to sleep for a while.

 

T.U.C.Q. is probably receive a kick in the butt some time in the next month or two, after some issues with The People's DooM are taken care of.

 

That's cool, take your time dude.