Freedoom Phase 1 E3M4 Refresh

A few days ago I decided to do a bit of a refresh on my Phase 1 map E3M4, and it's going rather swimmingly. After a little chit-chat with Mechadon, I'm going to post the wip wad here and hopefully get some feedback on it's progress.

 

8-6-17 Update: Added a couple of teleports for the red key room for coop. Tweaked ammo placement. Swapped a baron with a caco. Minor texture fixes. Other stuff I might have forgotten.

 

oh, and the door now stays open... /me rolls eyes...

 

RC5

MediaFire: http://www.mediafire.com/file/j2u9wtr6mfhuff5/sgtcrispy_FD1_e3m4_RF_RC5.wad

MEGA: https://mega.nz/#!aZFkQAIQ!On9OVW5eau75LnSHGEKOiEQXamgkdWVo9GnXaDXrlxc

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8-5-17 Update 3: The Updatening: OK! Tweaked a few last things. Removed the teleports in the blood room. Use the lift. Bumped a pillar around. Should be it. I hope....

Thank you everyone for your feedback. I truly appreciate it. Barring any crazy bugs/balance issues I think I might call this done.

 

Oh, and added new screens to this post.

 

RC4

MediaFire: http://www.mediafire.com/file/7top0mvxxsma00n/sgtcrispy_FD1_e3m4_RF_RC4.wad

MEGA: https://mega.nz/#!aUEmiIwY!hzC0BCQlQBC3467D95Opko6X1UYmtkDuEvn9DW8rTYU

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Changes in RC3:

Tweaked ammo/health/armor.

Tweaked monster placement.

Fixed an room drainage issue. Block Sound can go to hell.

Minor architectural tweaks.

 

 

RC 3.1: Fixed dumb player start misplacement bug. Herp derp...

 

MediaFire: http://www.mediafire.com/file/k1vd7595bjo79kw/sgtcrispy_FD1_e3m4_RF_RC3.wad

MEGA: https://mega.nz/#!zYsR0aQA!pJJcad6zEVA88GuVVXiO0cTCj3qMsWHPwIjScUHP9jo

 

RC3

MediaFire: http://www.mediafire.com/file/u3nlr7vyp30i2ot/sgtcrispy_FD1_e3m4_RF_RC3.wad

MEGA: https://mega.nz/#!qNNhAbiR!aE_Kx9-faRYpWQiYf_BBu8nT7Sod4awJHh_o1jINTzw

 

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8-4-17 Update: Major building actually complete this time! Repopulated with monsters, ammo, weapons, ect. Will need more balancing and testing no doubt. So give it a whirl and leave your feedback. Would you kindly...

 

RC2

MediaFire: http://www.mediafire.com/file/k1mw105za622ivb/sgtcrispy_FD1_e3m4_RF_RC2.wad

MEGA: https://mega.nz/#!aEMSxS7L!9E92qGQH7Wer2xcM5xVrqfdUSvsoFAxm7fcPuR0u5Tg

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RC1

MediaFire: http://www.mediafire.com/file/ggz126oe768ikj1/sgtcrispy_FD1_e3m4_RF_RC1.wad

MEGA: https://mega.nz/#!iIkyjZbB!hZqEhfsLuf4Szi-JujNJVPYTvHl-yBFf3iOWjMl-vr4

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8-2-17 Update: Major rebuilding should be complete. Final area detailing, overall texture wrangling and optimizing ahoy. Then the oh so fun object re-population and balancing.

MediaFire: http://www.mediafire.com/file/a3gbflk6m4gct3l/sgtcrispy_FD1_e3m4_final_I.wad

MEGA: https://mega.nz/#!yBl0kbDS!CWiuoYhWWxnwi3EDnETPInZo1vi7ppGdEj-Ps8mhMXU

==========

 

7-25-17 Update: Decided on the design of the final area and uploaded a wip wad for your looking at. I've left the player start at the newer area just for convenience sake.

Still building so it's still a sparse.

MediaFire: http://www.mediafire.com/file/dun75lpybzmk14v/sgtcrispy_FD1_e3m4_final_G.wad

MEGA: https://mega.nz/#!yQVxiAja!mnhOTQ-I-pUehsHzreXetHhUIx6ukdpSvqXbktpU2SU

==========

 

7-17-17: https://mega.nz/#!LYMDQQBS!m6WsITQs2ad4LwzEjT2RQb__Hu8ENJViePe3zZKwUMs

 

Things to note:

1. It is a wip, so item/monster balance will still be off and weird.

2. No doubt a few things will be borked. (Tags, texture alignment, stretched out geometry, player placement, ect )

3. Still not using Boom effects. (or we anymore? dunno actually.)

 

I was thinking about doing a refresh to my Phase 2 map03 as well. ANyway I will update this post as things come along. Hopefully it shouldn't take too much longer, as I've only have the final section to do other than item and texture stuffs.

 

Pics!

Note: While the screenshots are with ZDoom, I am testing with Chocolate Doom, Crispy Doom(heh) and Retrodoom as well as ZDoom.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 6, 2017 by sgtcrispy : wip update

sweet pick, i'll give more details when i play it since atm i cant download anything.

If only there weren't czars. Everything that happens in E3 is upto AD_79.

Also, can you put up another mirror for the map download, such as Dropbox, MediaFire, Doomworld, etc?

I tested this in chocolate doom and, aside from a slime trail near the start, there's no compatabilty issues. Design wise, however, I think it could use more indication of where to go next.

13 hours ago, Voros said:

If only there weren't czars. Everything that happens in E3 is up to AD_79.

Also, can you put up another mirror for the map download, such as Dropbox, MediaFire, Doomworld, etc?

Honestly not a big fan of this czar thing. In principal an "editor" for touch ups and smoothing sure, but after reading some threads it's a bit worrying.

 

I've gotten an mediafire thingie setup so next wip will have another mirror.

4 hours ago, uhbooh said:

I tested this in chocolate doom and, aside from a slime trail near the start, there's no compatabilty issues. Design wise, however, I think it could use more indication of where to go next.

The map actually has/had a ton of problems in CD. I think I've caught most of them, but I'm currently battling a visplane crash. As far as where to go, if you are referring to the computer end area that is being worked on and should be a bit different.

 

The map has a rather simple layout in general, so if your getting lost that's on you. ;P

There already is an editor. His name is Catoptromancy :P and a damn good one too. Because of the whole czars thing, there hasn't been any official map updates on the repo.

Oh, and I think Soda plans to ditch map03/use older map03 architecture into current map03. When will that happen, IDK.

Anyway, the screenies look nice, looking forward to downloading the next WIP.

Still working on it, but hit a bit of a wall with the ending area. Atm I've ditched the old maze and hallway sections completely and am building from scratch there. Been working in a bit more height variations in so its not all flat.

Exit room I like but still a stumped on the rest. Another maze? More hallways?

Anyway here a few pics of the exit room area and its entrance with more detailing as well as a map shot.

Updated the wip in the main post. Still a bit more to add, outside viewing area at the least.

I suck at update posts...

Hard to believe this an E3 map :D and that's why I love it.

this is getting pretty e2 themed, contains much tech walls, unusual in hell maps. but looks very impressive.

3 hours ago, Xindage said:

this is getting pretty e2 themed, contains much tech walls, unusual in hell maps. but looks very impressive.

Since the original doom map, House of Pain, has a mix of marble and tech, I'm just going with a similar theme. Still a bit of texture work to do, so it wont be all brown metal.

These edits are overdetailing this map beyond pure vanilla limits. In my opinion, you should download and run VisplaneExplorer to detect drawseg and visplane overflows (always tick that option to open every door) and rework the geometry / sectors / detail to remove them.

 

Regarding the theme, whatever original Doom did / did not does not matter at all, according to both maintainers.

 

On 14/12/2013 at 10:42 PM, fraggle said:

We are not recreating Doom.

On 10/4/2017 at 1:39 AM, chungy said:

No need to avoid (nor use) [cage mazes inspired by E2M2 for C2M2] them because of what Doom did.

 

P.S.: The new red rock textures do rock.

14 hours ago, Litrivin said:

These edits are overdetailing this map beyond pure vanilla limits. In my opinion, you should download and run VisplaneExplorer to detect drawseg and visplane overflows (always tick that option to open every door) and rework the geometry / sectors / detail to remove them.

 

Regarding the theme, whatever original Doom did / did not does not matter at all, according to both maintainers.

 

 

P.S.: The new red rock textures do rock.

Any errors are being addressed as this is a wip. No need to worry. :P

Posted links for wip udate in main post. yay pics

30 minutes ago, sgtcrispy said:

 

This map looks sweeeeet. Will definitely make a great addition.

 

One complaint that I have: Please, for the love of pete, no platforming sections. Especially platforming sections with crushers. It just makes me want to cheat and jump to get the key.

 

Also, this is essentially an entirely different map from the first one you posted;  Why not finish rebalancing that one and make that e3m5 (which is currently empty)? It was pretty good besides balance issues imho.

Perfect Screenshots, cant wait to play the real final one.

Redid the platforming area. Yes yes much better methinks. 

DELETE ME

Repopulated and ready for playtesting. Hopefully.

MediaFire

MEGA

gotta go fast play it

yes its a double post but this wont matter.

http://www.geocities.ws/p/r/protox/FreeDoom/Others/e3m4demo.lmp (PrBoom)

I found it low in ammo, i missed it if you see the demo (and i ever used punch in barons to not waste ammo, on my second run (yes i died) i just give up because a misused teleport, anyway try to give more ammo to player.

Edit: i'm not familiar whit prboom mouse aiming so i turn very fast and incorrectly sometimes. for final version i'll record in zandronum.

 

The area of you edited looks much way better now you did a good work there.

Added a bit more ammo, another secret too shhh... and tweaked a few things here and there.

RC2 wip links in top post (read: too lazy to copy)

This map is awesome! It plays really well and it looks great!

 

A few pointers:

• Can you change this switch to be modal (i.e. once it's on, it's always on)? It's annoying to have to keep going back there to open the door.
• I'd change these to be either zombies or shotgun guys, right now these things don't pose much of a threat
• This room is too much of a shootin' gallery. It's too easy for the player to just hang back and pick off the cacos and worms. I'd add something that's threatening the player from the back, like teleporting in some shotgun guys behind the player. It would create more player engagement.
• I'd add something that's a bit more of a 'tell' that this is a secret, especially since it contains the only rocket launcher on the map.

Also, it checks out in visplaneExplorer, and it seems to be vanilla-compatible (though it does crash when i'm idclipping around, but I don't think that's an issue).

Here is a (surprisingly well done) FDA recorded on D-Touch's Chocolate Doom on a new (terrible) phone rather than the (much better) older ZTE Blade III.

http://www.geocities.ws/v/o/voros/stuff/vcrsp34.lmp

HMP difficulty, because UV's overrated.

Now, I didn't look for tiny little details to nitpick over, but rather I just looked to see if it was fun. I confim that it is.

Well balanced, but maybe a bit more health would be nice. Personally, the spectres in front of the yellow skull door should be removed IMO.

Edited August 5, 2017 by Voros

RC 3 posted.

Might call this one done unless any major issues spawn in.

Well i find a major bug in this version, for some reason i spawmed near yellow key... watch the demo i tried but i died i got mostly soft locked in hardest part whitout the chaingun...

 

http://www.geocities.ws/p/r/protox/FreeDoom/Others/e3m4demo.lmp (PrBoom)

5 minutes ago, Xindage said:

Well i find a major bug in this version, for some reason i spawmed near yellow key... watch the demo i tried but i died i got mostly soft locked in hardest part whitout the chaingun...

 

http://www.geocities.ws/p/r/protox/FreeDoom/Others/e3m4demo.lmp (PrBoom)

I literally just realized I moved the player start! DOH! Incoming fix.. god dammit lol

well i did my best anyway :P

 

Edit: can you do something whit that teleports? most of time i get poblems whit teleporting in group of enemys, try to create a safe platform destination near the beggining of corridor.

RC4 is up. Should be the last one.

going to test it soon >:) lets see if i can beat it this time.