AL|ENS Total Conversion (Disk 1) - Doomworld /idgames database frontend

Title:	AL\|ENS Total Conversion (Disk 1)
Filename:	themes/aliens/alntc19a.zip
Size:	948.02 KB
Date:	04/27/95
Author:	Justin Fisher
Description:	LB4-26. The terra forming colony has stopped transmitting or responding. There is a possibility that this is the result of an unknown parasitic alien species. Against this possibility, a military force has been mobilised to investigate. ALIENS-TC differs from DOOM in a few ways; For starters, some standard DOOM tactics either don't work, or result in quick and messy death, don't approach this as another DOOM conversion, treat it like something new, pay attention, don't slip into Auto-kill-&-Collect mode and finish the game while thinking of other things, get immersed, look at the architecture, predict the layout and how it affects your plans etc.
Credits:	Me - For doing all the hard work! (Nobody reads this bit anyway, so why not :-) Richard Love - For creating level 9, (the secret level) and the textures peculiar to it. Olivier Montanuy - For writing the ALIENS-TC install program, and writing DeuSF. Cale McCallum - For fixing ALIENS-TC so it works with DOOM v1.9, and a couple of other misc. things (demos, sound, etc.). Glenn Fisher - For writing the custom editors, and the ALIENTC.EXE file. Darryn Pat - For the use of the Video Blaster (to scan the queen model). Darryn Yee - For supplying all sorts of things necessary for scanning a model, including his home :-) Jordan Yee - For supplying the model alien queen to be scanned. My 486 - For being so reliable, fast and having 24 bit graphics Vesa is an absolute _must_. Morpheus - For sending me node builders, and giving me extra D/L time on his BBS. IKON Attendants - For giving the beta a thorough play testing. (It's much better now) :-) Id Software - Take a guess... a wild stab in the dark, you shouldn't miss at point blank. Terry Pratchett - For giving DOOM exemption from the idea that VR should complement rather than replace reality. The authors of all the editors, viewers, node builders, hacks, FAQ's, out there. The many people who have aided by telling me where I could find various utilities, giving me new editors etc. To anyone even remotely connected with this, who would like a mention. (That was it. Oh, you blinked?) Me, Again...
Base:
Build time:
Editor(s) used:
Bugs:	There are none. My work is flawless :-) No, the effects of selecting weapon 7 under the ammo cheat is not a bug, it's me being nasty to people who cheat. Alright, there are a few inconsistencies, most notably Apone and others giving advice when, in the movie analog, they wouldn't be present (or alive). In E2M4, at the start where the aliens fall through the roof, some of them don't... When that happens, if you walk to close to them, you will run against them like an obstacle, and start taking damage as they merrily rake you. I can't figure out why they don't fall like the rest, so you're stuck with it. I suspect there are a few other minor bugs, but none spring to mind right now. It's not really a bug, but the queen alien graphics are a bit of a mess. I have a good excuse. The queen graphics were made from video shots of a model, the problem was, I don't own any of the equipment necessary, which resulted in time and other constraints, the most destructive being the lack of light control (it wasn't in a studio), resulting in different light effects through different frames. I was able to compensate to a degree on the resulting images by converting them to 24 bit and using light filters, but the resulting queen is still very patchy and irregular.
Rating:

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View alntc19a.txt

A L | E N S 
                                 ===========                    
                            The Total Conversion.
                               by Justin Fisher    
                      
                      With Secret Level by Richard Love
                      Installation by Olivier Montanuy
                      DOOM 1.9 compatibility by Cale McCallum

My Internet address is: MISC335@cantva.canterbury.ac.nz, so send
heaps of feedback everyone.

In this file:
First, a brief guide to getting ALIENS-TC to work,
Second, a guide on how to play it. (ALIENS-TC doesn't play like
     DOOM, and there are a few fundamental differences, I
     strongly recommend you read this before playing Aliens
     the first time.)
Third, everything else.

PART ONE - Setting up Aliens TC.
================================
You need Doom version 1.666, or 1.9, it must be a registered.

This part was written by Cale McCallum (he fixed ALIENS-TC so it would
 work properly with DOOM v1.9).  It's pretty much the same as what was in
 the ALIENS-TC for DOOM v1.666 text file.  The installation program is just
 a modified version of the one Olivier Montanuy wrote.  If you have any   
 problems with the installation, annoy Cale McCallum at: 
 bi174@freenet.carleton.ca or maybe Olivier Montanuy at: montanuy@dmi.ens.fr
 Do not bother Justin Fisher.

NOTE: This install does not change the DeHackED/string patches.  To make the 
 installation of Alien-TC completely safe, the modified DOOM.EXE appears as 
 ALIENTC.EXE. It can only run (properly) ALIENS-TC files.  Your DOOM.WAD will 
 be only read, and not modified at all.

All the files that make up ALIENS-TC should be put in the same
 directory that DOOM 1.666 or 1.9 is in.
 All of the following files must be present:

ALIEN.BAT           -Batch to play ALIENS-TC
     ALITCP16.DEH        -DOOM 1.666 .EXE patch
     ALITCP19.DEH        -DOOM 1.9 .EXE patch
     ALITCSF.WAD         -PWAD for sprites and flats.
     ALITCSND.WAD        -PWAD for sounds.
     ALIENTC.TXT         -You're reading it.
     ALITCWAD.WAD        -PWAD for levels, demos and wall textures.
     DEHACKED.EXE        -.Exe editor for DOOM.
     DEUSF.EXE           -A sprite & flat appending utility. 
     DEUSF.TXT           -Manual for DeuSF  
     INSTALL.BAT         -The ALIENS-TC Installation program.
     TC-LEVEL.TXT        -Teachs you how to make ALIENS-TC levels
  
 NOTE: When distributing ALIENS-TC, you need only include the 
 above files, the files listed below will be created during 
 the installation, but you must give ALL of the above files to 
 get the desired result. However, If Alien-TC has been installed,
 you will need to restore ALITCSF.WAD by typing:  DeuSF -restore ALITCSF.WAD
 before you distribute it again, else it will contains copyrighted data.

To install on DOOM 1.9, type: INSTALL 1
 To install on DOOM 1.666, type: INSTALL 2
 
 To play, simply type ALIEN, and hit enter.

You should not have any problems. I successfully tested this 
 install more than once, and heaven knows my PC is bug prone.
 Even if installation fails, bear in mind that your precious
 DOOM files are *not* affected :-)

WARNING: If you lack space on your disk, the modification of ALITCSF.WAD 
 will fail. ALITCSF.WAD will still be usable, but some junk data might
 have been appended at the end, making it unsuitable for distribution.
 Replace by the original one.

************************Shameless*Plug******************************
  *                                                                  *
  * This install makes use of a new tool called DeuSF                *
  * If this tool suits your need, check also Olivier's PWAD composer *
  * named DeuTex, which he used to rip off and rebuild ALIENS-TC.    *
  * (ftp.cdrom.com:/pub/doom/deu/deutex##.zip)                       *
  *                                                                  *
  *************************So*Flame*Me********************************

NOTE FOR DOOM ][ USERS: ALIENS-TC cannot work under DOOM2.  Get ALIENS-TC for 
 DOOM2 off: ftp.cdrom.com:/themes/aliens/atc2.zip

Supporting Justin Fisher:

For those interested, here is his snail mail address.

Justin Fisher
   7 Nepal pl
   Christchurch 5
   New Zealand

(hey, id, it might be still time to ask him for a C.V...)

PART TWO - Playing the game!
============================

The Story so far...    (skip this if you want to)

LB4-26. The terra forming colony has stopped transmitting
 or responding. There is a possibility that this is the result
 of an unknown parasitic alien species. Against this possibility, 
 a military force has been mobilised to investigate.

This information comes from Flight Officer Ripley, she claims
 the Nostramos set down on LB4-26 in order to investigate a
 transmission, an unidentified alien ship was discovered. While
 exploring the ship, a crew member was disabled by an alien
 parasite, which deposited an egg inside him before dying.
 He became host to an embryo and was killed as it exited his
 body. The alien quickly grew and began to attack crew, usually
 capturing them, we assume for food. Flight Officer Ripley was
 the only survivor, she destroyed the xenomorph by opening an
 airlock when the alien was inside. 
     
     According to Officer Ripley, the original parasite came
 from a large "egg", and that there were thousands of such eggs
 in the hold of the alien vessel. If this is correct, and
 members of the colony found the alien ship, there may be
 hostile alien activity in or around the colony. Your job is to
 find out why the colony has stopped responding, and if a
 xenomorph is involved, destroy it.

[CLASSIFIED] Ensure that live samples are secured for laboratory study.

Firstly, this game is built around suspense and atmosphere,
 you can completely destroy this by using cheats to find out in
 advance what everything is (ooh, I wanna see an alien, Light
 Amp cheat, degreelessness, happy ammo, etc). RESIST THE
 TEMPTATION! The first time you play this will be the best. Not
 knowing what is around the next corner is what DOOM is all
 about, in other words, when you use cheats, there is only one
 possible outcome - you complete the level, there is absolutely
 no challenge, which means there is no FUN.
 As I said, the first time you play a level is the best, I've
 put a lot of work into this conversion and I require that you
 enjoy it :-), these are a few basic requirements
 1) Pull the curtains and turn out the lights
 2) Turn down the monitor brightness so that what is meant to
    be dark is actually dark.
 3) Set aside at least an hour when there will be little
    distracting background noise.
 4) Set the music to about half the volume of the sound FX (so
    it's there, but not consciously there).
 5) Read the rest of this file :-)
 6) Play until your nervous system is overriding your motor
    control and you can't stop shaking long enough to calm your
    heart...
 Now, back to the subject.

ALIENS-TC differs from DOOM in a few ways;

For starters, some standard DOOM tactics either don't work, or
 result in quick and messy death, don't approach this as
 another DOOM conversion, treat it like something new, pay
 attention, don't slip into Auto-kill-&-Collect mode and finish
 the game while thinking of other things, get immersed, look at
 the architecture, predict the layout and how it affects your
 plans etc. 
 
     Switches - they don't automatically do something good,
     think before switching them, you should be able to work out
     what they do. A switch next to a door operates that door,
     there are three obvious types: 
     
     -Green switch; opens the door for either 6 seconds or
       until it is closed with another switch.
     -Green and Red switch; same as above, but usually only
       opens for 6 seconds.
     -Red switch; these operate security doors, once hit, the
       door closes permanently. These can be used to seal
       off areas of the colony, forcing the aliens to find
       an alternative route, and allowing much better
       defense planning, even adding and element of
       strategy to the game (also, in some cases these
       will show up on your automap at the start of the
       game, make use of the automap).
 Switches usually operate something in the immediate
 vicinity (ie; a lift, door, landing platform), if you can't see
 anything for it to operate, take a risk. :-)

Weapons - you can have up to six weapons at any one time, they
 are: -Fists: Not a good idea.
      -Pistol: Still not a good idea.
      -Shotgun: For close encounters... Good all purpose weapon.
      -Pulse Rifle: Combination weapon - 10mm Assault rifle with
       underslung grenade launcher.  Press 4 to use the
       rifle, or 5 to use its grenade launcher (generally
       not a good idea... (BTW I used some artistic
       license on this one, you can tell which setting
       you're using by the colour of the LCD display,    
       green = rifle, red = grenades)).
      -Smart Gun: The 2 metre electric monsters on the
       suspension-arms, carried by Drake and Vasquez. These
       are pretty specialised and there isn't much ammo for
       them, so save it for those special moments.
      -Cargo bay loader: Not designed for combat but pretty
       intimidating, a last ditch attack when you've run
       out of ammo (replaces the Fists when you get it).

I have left a few of these weapon changes pretty superficial,
 as they are nicely balanced, but there are still a few subtle
 changes. Note: I have disabled weapon 7 in such a way as to be
 a liability to those who cheat :)  (ie, it will slow you down when
 you can least afford it)

The Missions - Each level roughly corresponds to a part of the
 film (ALIENS.  If you haven't seen it, it doesn't matter but it
 is a great film), and you will find each level a lot more
 coherent if you know what you're meant to be doing.
     Level 1 - Secure the area before moving on further into
            the complex.
     Level 2 - Atmospheric Processor; find the colonists,
            their PDTs indicate they are all deep in the 
            lower levels of the plant.
     Level 3 - Medlabs & Operations; seal off medlabs and
            operations closing the security doors and
            blowing away whatever gets through. Caution -
            there are too many aliens to take out yourself
            so _use_ the security doors and don't be afraid
            to retreat (stealth is a good idea).  When
            Medlabs is secure, crawl down the main         
            pipeline to the landing pad. (to patch         
            in the colony transmitter.)                    
     Level 4 - Escape from Medlabs; like a normal DOOM level,
            retreat from medlabs and try to get to the
            landing pads. 
     Level 5 - In the film, the marines made their escape from
            the Atmospheric Processor on the APC. You
            don't have one, slog it out on foot. (This
            level is designed for Deathmatch, and is big, 
            to aid in "The Hunt", there are proximity
            indicators scattered throughout. This was meant
            to be E2M3, but I had to shift it to allow the
            secret level to work properly.
     Level 6 - Atmospheric Processor; the search for Newt,
            find the sector indicated on your automap (red
            square). This is another good deathmatch
            scenario - very non-linear.
     Level 7 - Atmospheric Processor; escape from the hive
            and try to make it back to the Processor
            landing pad.             
     Level 8 - The Sulacco; Destroy the Queen and complete the
            episode!
     Secret Level - The derelict alien host ship. This level was
            made by Richard Love, hence is the only level 
            I have played in which I didn't know what is 
            coming next - ie playing my creation the way 
            others will. It was terrifying. It was great.
     Extra Levels - (E3M1), originally part of E2M5 D-match wad,
            the wad was so huge it didn't run at a playable
            speed, let alone networked. I split it, and
            made this half a level on it's own.
            Play this on Ultra Violence to see what yer
            made of! It's probably the hardest level, even
            I find this one a challenge.

(E3M2), Level one with a slightly larger
            populace...
            Just a bit o' fun.

There is no unstable nukage in Aliens, the nearest thing is 
 filthy water. Hence barrels do NOT explode (I know you'll all
 hate that one, but I had no choice - Doom just doesn't have
 enough damage frames.), and lakes of water will not harm you 
 either. Sorry :)

That's all you _need_ to know.

The Aliens - There are five main types; Warriors, Drones,
 Queens, Face Huggers, and Eggs. Be warned, the aliens have
 extremely corrosive internal fluids, if you fill them with too
 much lead or grenades, the result will be a shower of lethal
 bio-acid. Eggs hatch, so shoot them quick. Drones can spit
 bio-acid at you (I put that in for more variety, it can get
 monotonous if all the foes are too similar), you've proved
 yourselves to dangerous to the hive to be captured, the
 warriors will just concentrate on ripping you to shreds, but
 that doesn't mean a frontal assault...
       
 Proximity indicators - These are blue panels inset in the
 walls of some levels. When you walk past one, two red lights
 flash back and forth for 30 seconds. These are for Deathmatch.
 I like _big_ D-match levels, the concept of The Hunt, the
 problem is, players leave so little evidence of passage - the
 occasional sound, or corpse (which could have been there since
 who knows when.) The proximity indicators just make the
 hunting a little easier (and introduce new tactics with
 players who use them).

Speaking of Deathmatch....
 All levels in TC are designed with deathmatch in mind, ie E2M2
 is a fairly linear level, but in d-match, you start with all
 keys which changes the level into the non-linear style so
 vital to d-match. Most levels (with the possible exception of
 E2M7) work well for D-match without needing the remove-
 monsters option, as you do not _have_ to encounter them to 
 meet your opponent, but the option is there...

Now play the game! 
 Type INSTALL to install, and ALIENS to play ALIENS-TC!

PART THREE - Everything else.
=============================

More background information:

The Xenomorph - There appear to be several stages to the
 xenomorph's life cycle, and two, possibly three distinct types.
 Comparison to an ant colony is a suitable analogy, using that
 analogy, the types are Warriors, Queens, and Drones. It is not
 known whether drones exist differently to warriors, it is
 possible that the warriors perform the tasks of drones, but in
 most other similar observed social structures, both warriors
 and drones exist and are of a different makeup. In xenomorph
 hives, we suspect that when a warrior (or drone) is removed
 from it's queen for a long period of time, it develops into a
 queen, able to lay eggs and hence create a new hive. This
 suggests that a queen somehow limits the growth of aliens
 around it, probably a secreted chemical. 
     
     The life cycle is equally fascinating. The queen "lays"
 large eggs, these eggs are capable of staying dormant for
 extremely long periods of time (how long is unknown), and yet
 still hatch quickly after being disturbed. a fully developed
 "face-hugger" hatches from them. These are the parasitic
 element of the life cycle, they are like large fleshy spiders.
 When a host is found, the parasite attaches itself over the
 face (hence the name) by means of its long legs and tail
 (which is wrapped around the neck), where upon it inserts a
 tube down the trachea, and deposits an egg or embryo under the
 rib cage. The egg will grow for about a week before leaving
 the host body by breaking through the ribcage (resulting in
 the death of the host).  The small "chest-burster" then rapidly
 grows into either a queen or warrior.

The Warriors capture hosts and immobilize them in the hive for
 the face-huggers (from eggs lain by the queen, and presumably
 nurtured by the drones).
     
     At all stages in the life cycle, the alien has extremely
 corrosive body fluids, pressurised under the exoskeleton or
 skin. The fluids are a sort of biological acid, and is much
 stronger than concentrated HCl.

I'm tempted to give more detailed account of the hardware in
 the film, but I won't.

Bugs in ALIENS-TC.

There are none. My work is flawless :-) 
 No, the effects of selecting weapon 7 under the ammo cheat is 
 not a bug, it's me being nasty to people who cheat.
 
 Alright, there are a few inconsistencies, most notably Apone and others
 giving advice when, in the movie analog, they wouldn't be present 
 (or alive).

In E2M4, at the start where the aliens fall through the roof, 
 some of them don't...  When that happens, if you walk to close
 to them, you will run against them like an obstacle, and start
 taking damage as they merrily rake you. I can't figure out why 
 they don't fall like the rest, so you're stuck with it.
 I suspect there are a few other minor bugs, but none spring to
 mind right now.

It's not really a bug, but the queen alien graphics are a bit of 
 a mess.  I have a good excuse.  The queen graphics were made from
 video shots of a model, the problem was, I don't own any of the
 equipment necessary, which resulted in time and other constraints,
 the most destructive being the lack of light control (it wasn't in
 a studio), resulting in different light effects through different
 frames. I was able to compensate to a degree on the resulting 
 images by converting them to 24 bit and using light filters, but 
 the resulting queen is still very patchy and irregular.

Things-I-didn't-have-time-to-put-in-but-will-in-the-supplement:
 LOTS of things. The episode map at the end of each level, a
 better smartgun explosion, lots more destroyable scenery, an
 egg-laying queen hanging from the nest roof, a proper sky   
 texture, better sounds, lots of things...

Making your own ALIENS-TC levels:
 If anyone wants to make an ALIENS-TC level, read the file TC-LEVEL.TXT. 
 It tells you which monsters are which aliens, which wall textures are
 which in ALIENS-TC, etc.

Weird and inconsistent things:
 I ran out of graphics and Things when making this conversion, 
 the result is massive and chaotic frame table patches (so I 
 could steal every sprite not otherwise in use), if you want
 to see how DOOM runs without the graphics patches, but _with_
 the .EXE patches, just run DOOM instead of ALIEN.  The 
 results are...  strange

Thanks to: (in no particular order)

Me - For doing all the hard work! (Nobody reads this bit
       anyway, so why not :-)
 Richard Love - For creating level 9, (the secret level) and
       the textures peculiar to it.
 Olivier Montanuy - For writing the ALIENS-TC install program, 
       and writing DeuSF.
 Cale McCallum - For fixing ALIENS-TC so it works with DOOM v1.9,
       and a couple of other misc. things (demos, sound, etc.).
 Glenn Fisher - For writing the custom editors, and the 
       ALIENTC.EXE file.
 Darryn Pat - For the use of the Video Blaster (to scan the 
       queen model).
 Darryn Yee - For supplying all sorts of things necessary for
       scanning a model, including his home :-)   
 Jordan Yee - For supplying the model alien queen to be 
       scanned.
 My 486 - For being so reliable, fast and having 24 bit graphics
       Vesa is an absolute _must_.         
 Morpheus - For sending me node builders, and giving me extra D/L
       time on his BBS.
 IKON Attendants - For giving the beta a thorough play testing. 
       (It's much better now) :-)
 Id Software - Take a guess... a wild stab in the dark, you
       shouldn't miss at point blank.
 Terry Pratchett - For giving DOOM exemption from the idea that
       VR should complement rather than replace reality.
 The authors of all the editors, viewers, node builders, hacks, 
       FAQ's, out there. 
 The many people who have aided by telling me where I could
       find various utilities, giving me new editors etc.
 To anyone even remotely connected with this, who would like a
       mention. (That was it.  Oh, you blinked?)
 Me, Again...

That's it for now, and in case you missed my name and net
 address (which I've blatantly plastered everywhere I could), 
 send feedback, comments, problems, criticism etc to:

MISC335@cantva.canterbury.ac.nz

And above all, DISTRIBUTE ALIENS-TC! (I want to see how far 
 it will get) :-)
 
 BTW, if anyone is interested in what I'm doing next (The hope 
 is that everyone says "WOW, this guy is a GENIUS!, I can't 
 _wait_ to see what he does next... :-)" ), but if anyone _is_
 interested, with the advent of Doom v1.666, which allows 64
 instead of just 16 two-sided linedefs, it's time to make some
 M C Escher style rooms, probably as a part of a larger
 wad loosely based on the film "Labyrinth" (no, I have no idea how 
 you spell it) where they can form rooms of Jareths castle.
 Another thing I would like to do is actually make a wad which
 uses the _original_ DOOM textures, they are incredible graphics
 and it seems such a shame to continually over-write them, and
 I'm sure I can use them in ways people never thought of before.
 (no offence all you level builders, but in my (not excessively vast) 
 experience of PWAD levels, the true DOOM levels, especially episode
 one, still reign supreme in pure imagination). Especially when 
 you compare them to the ever growing number of PWADs that are
 just based on a simplistic concept, ie when viewed in automap, the
 rooms form words, or the whole wad is so repetitive that you only
 need to see a tiny bit to be able to draw the whole thing - a circle
 divided into pie slices, four rooms that connect through the middle
 (popular idea in many D-match wads, the reason invariably being
 "equal starting points" (I prefer more varied hunting grounds). etc
 As you can see from reading this, I really like interesting locations
 and architecture, (rather than levels made up of rooms connected by
 doors and corridors, of which I am often guilty) Even with it's 
 limits, DOOM can make fantastic worlds, places that have never 
 existed, or ever will. The power to experience a world of your own 
 creation is what I like about making DOOM locations, (and I'm getting 
 better too :-), I know a few will disagree - there are many PWAD 
 levels in which the effort has been put into game play, rather than 
 environment, leaving default textures, not worrying about unpegging 
 doorways etc. I hope ALIENS-TC has a high level of both elements, 
 let me know what you thought.

'Till the next virtual creation then...
 (If I can find some free time...) :-(

mong