Hexen: Veil of Darkness (UDMF Mapset, GZDoom)

On 10/31/2023 at 6:12 PM, eharper256 said:

I was considering adding it as a Stalker elite spawn option for the upcoming 0.99 patch before I even saw it in this wad, but also giving it the Acid Spray from the Druid's Hebiko Sceptre Upgrade as a bonus attack). :D

Sure go ahead.

1.3 UPDATE

• Added clue to first map regarding smashing boxes
• Mana now sometimes spawns into the forest hub map over time
• Minecart script now no longer broken when playing with Walpurgis

This will be the final version uploaded to idgames within the next couple of days, unless any further issues are discovered.

Walpurgis 0.98 Patch Update 1.1

• Starting inventory now contains Walpurgis items
• New enemies now sometimes drop small mana upon death
• Added item tags and fixed sounds of some inventory items

Load Order:

Have fun :-)

Reading about the spawns being "insane" is making me think to play this on easy. What's the difference between difficulty setting? Did you add some peculiarities or is it like hexen? 

I'm going to go with knight difficulty.

1 hour ago, hereticfan said:

Reading about the spawns being "insane" is making me think to play this on easy. What's the difference between difficulty setting? Did you add some peculiarities or is it like hexen? 

I'm going to go with knight difficulty.

Basically, whenever you return to the main hub in this, it's basically fully re-populated, alongside the normal Hexen respawn mechanics. It's not like it's a Doom Slaughterwad, but it's generally quite dense for a Hexen wad and can chow through your mana moreso than usual.

Also, good job with the changes, looks good. Feel free to include my video in your OP if you'd like.

4 hours ago, hereticfan said:

Reading about the spawns being "insane" is making me think to play this on easy. What's the difference between difficulty setting? Did you add some peculiarities or is it like hexen? 

I'm going to go with knight difficulty.

The spawns should not be 'insane'. They were heavier in the first release, where the majority of feedback is from. They have since been toned-down as feedback was received.

3 hours ago, eharper256 said:

Basically, whenever you return to the main hub in this, it's basically fully re-populated, alongside the normal Hexen respawn mechanics.

This isn't quite correct, let me clarify below how it works below (spoilers):

Using Medium as the default setting, the differences are:

Very Easy & Easy

• Start game with extra items in inventory
• Less monsters throughout
• Extra items in maps
• Decorate Monster respawners disabled

Hard

• more monsters
• no starting items
• puzzle clues removed in maps

There are also slightly different weapon/item/monsters depending on class selected.

Hexen VoD has now been uploaded to idGames Database.

What's new with 1.4

Thank you everyone in this thread for playtesting and providing valuable feedback. Could not have done it without you!

Get it here:

https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/hexen/g-i/hexenvod

or

https://www.moddb.com/mods/hexen-veil-of-darkness/downloads/hexen-veil-of-darkness-14

Enjoy :-)

awesome! So lovely to see a Hexen Project arriving here

Post i made in the fb group  of heretic & hexen:
 

"I continued to play Hexen - Veil of Darkness, its a huge gem, amazing but pretty hard, im at difficulty 4/5 and im lacking items to survive, not sure if i could finish the game, for hp i have only a jar left and the enemies spawn very often!

It's the first version but i will try to have it done even if i have to save often ^^'

Death Wish is considered as Blood 3 like this wad should be considered as Hexen 3 seriously, not to act like a fanboy but im so impressed by it!

There is a ton of custom stuff (monsters, items, chest, other breakable stuff) who fit well Hexen.

Some puzzles are complicate (like the one with the spheres) but not too much ^^

Now, i just hope i can finish it or rip xD"

Also: very impressive level design and details, big gem like i said, it feels so like a complete mappack with custom stuff! His own thing without adding too much or not enough! Good job :)

EDIT: finished it, the ice map helped to to get back some purple flask

What a great and exciting adventure this wad is!

Superb and very diverse areas (I love the forest and the castle) filled with formidable enemies.

One of the aspect of Hexen being its hubs, I had to use the paper/pencil combo so as not to get too lost and set my objectives without boredom, which is a feat!

Once again, congratulations for all this work.

Great work, always good to see Hexen get some love. Hard as shit though:)

OK dumb question:

@Captain Toenail great work on this. I've noticed quite a few authors has been posting their works with actual license in the end of readme file. Just out of curiosity, does that kind of license means that if somebody would adapt this mod (read remake) for Hexen II, you'd be okay with that?

1 hour ago, Nate42 said:

 

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Edit: nevermind literally as soon as I asked I found the last flower and I guess that just unlocks a healing pool. Which is handy but doesn't help me progress. So next question I guess: what levels have blood diamonds?

6 minutes ago, Not Jabba said:

 

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I think it's two in the castle and two in the dungeon below the castle. The one you might be missing (or at least, it's the part I got hung up on for a while) is the box puzzle in the dungeon -- it's easy not to realize it's an interactive puzzle at all.

 

Thanks for the help!

So I did finally finish this yesterday, really enjoyed it. Particularly liked the boss encounters, and the 

I played with fighter on medium difficulty and found the combat to be quite challenging, but nothing I couldn't handle with some occasional save scumming. :D Highly recommended, and looking forward to part 2!

4 hours ago, Nate42 said:

I played with fighter on medium difficulty and found the combat to be quite challenging, but nothing I couldn't handle with some occasional save scumming. :D Highly recommended, and looking forward to part 2!

Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it :-)

22 hours ago, linkov said:

@Captain Toenail great work on this. I've noticed quite a few authors has been posting their works with actual license in the end of readme file. Just out of curiosity, does that kind of license means that if somebody would adapt this mod (read remake) for Hexen II, you'd be okay with that?

That's something that is to be appended to the file when uploading to idgames. Sure that would be fine, I would be interested in seeing how that turns out.

On 10/21/2023 at 3:55 PM, NeoWorm said:

I got about halfway through, finished, swamps, mines, most of castle and dipped into the ice caves. But hell, those respawns in the main HUB map are getting overwhelming. I am out of mana most of the time and getting around the map is getting really annoying. Some of the monsters seems like designed to counter both Cleric weapons.

On 10/24/2023 at 5:57 PM, Matthias said:

First, I totally agree with others that the endless spawn is soo annoying. I understand that even vanilla Hexen had some sort of script to spawn some ettins so the maps won't feel so empty once you kill everyone.

On 10/22/2023 at 12:55 PM, Muleke_Trairao said:

I agree with NeoWorm that the respawns were overwhelming. The Hub map would get swarmed by enemies if you didn't routinely kill them. Since you have to backtrack a lot, reducing their respawn rate might help alleviate the frustration.

On 10/28/2023 at 1:29 PM, Mathuzzz said:

the respawning is just too much. And this is probably my biggest issue with the mod. As the mod is definitely worth more than just one playthrough, I did my first on the lowest skill, mostly to enjoy the design and it was a wise decision. Even on that skill, the respawning was unbearable, especially at the central map.

HexenDD had the same annoyance an there was a mod created that disables the respawning as per discussion in this thread.
 

On 10/29/2023 at 11:27 PM, Captain Toenail said:

1.2 update

Monster respawners removed on very easy and easy throughout entire hub

I have been playing on very easy (still quite hard lol) with v1.4 and Mawthorns (Forest of Gloom and Bloodwind Castle), Spore Pods (Stinksump Swamp), and Harpy (Abandoned Mine) were still constantly respawning.

Other issues include:

- An invisible Claw Orb for Mage in Varnak's room even though I was playing with Fighter.

- An out-of-bounds Shock Orb in Hidden Machinations.

- A few Afrits out-of-bounds at two spots in Lair of the Ice Queen (entrance is called Catacombs of Ice for some reason).

- The switch in The Old Mill spawns two platforms with no apparent usage; as if there was meant to be a third one in between.

- Door that leads to corridor to Hidden Machinations can be accessed while still blocked off by pressing Interact directly above.
- I couldn't find 4th secret in Forest of Gloom and the 5th Troll (but I had 3 extra Lockpicks hehe).

Took forever to figure out:

- that the rotatable wall is rotatable

- how to open Temple of Divine Shadow

Nevertheless, I enjoyed this map pack as much as I enjoyed Faithless Trilogy. Really great stuff!

1 hour ago, eqagunn said:

HexenDD had the same annoyance an there was a mod created that disables the respawning as per discussion in this thread.

Oh, interesting! Thanks for sharing that!

And congratulations on winning a Cacoward, @Captain Toenail!

This is a great mapset. I think I'm stuck though.

@Captain Toenail, have a several questions, before installing last gem and proceeding to the end (I suppose):

On 12/14/2023 at 7:48 PM, eqagunn said:

I have been playing on very easy (still quite hard lol) with v1.4 and Mawthorns (Forest of Gloom and Bloodwind Castle), Spore Pods (Stinksump Swamp), and Harpy (Abandoned Mine) were still constantly respawning.

Yes the Mawthorns and Sporepods have a different mechanism for respawning - every time you kill them they have a chance of not reappearing (I think it's 33%?).

Harpy in the mine is scripted to respawn. Same with a Bishop in the castle.

On 12/14/2023 at 7:48 PM, eqagunn said:

 

Other issues include:

- An invisible Claw Orb for Mage in Varnak's room even though I was playing with Fighter.

The Orb was probably dropped by the boss - it inherits from Heretic's Disciple.

On 12/14/2023 at 7:48 PM, eqagunn said:

- An out-of-bounds Shock Orb in Hidden Machinations.

Not entirely sure what happened here.

On 12/14/2023 at 7:48 PM, eqagunn said:

- A few Afrits out-of-bounds at two spots in Lair of the Ice Queen (entrance is called Catacombs of Ice for some reason).

Are they the ones that awaken then get stuck in the ceiling? I noticed that happen a few times but completely forgot. 

On 12/14/2023 at 7:48 PM, eqagunn said:

- The switch in The Old Mill spawns two platforms with no apparent usage; as if there was meant to be a third one in between.

Yes I actually fixed this in an earlier version - there are two additional bridges that are supposed to spawn in the middle by using SpawnSpotForced. I must have reverted the fix at some point by mistake.

On 12/14/2023 at 7:48 PM, eqagunn said:

- Door that leads to corridor to Hidden Machinations can be accessed while still blocked off by pressing Interact directly above

Which door was this?

13 hours ago, Da Spadger said:

This is a great mapset. I think I'm stuck though.

The mill requires three gears. 

You can find them at:

8 hours ago, UnknDoomer said:

@Captain Toenail, have a several questions, before installing last gem and proceeding to the end (I suppose):

1.

2.

3.

4. 

5.

2.

@UnknDoomer

@UnknDoomer

3 hours ago, Captain Toenail said:

On 12/14/2023 at 7:48 PM, eqagunn said:

- A few Afrits out-of-bounds at two spots in Lair of the Ice Queen (entrance is called Catacombs of Ice for some reason).

Are they the ones that awaken then get stuck in the ceiling? I noticed that happen a few times but completely forgot. 

Yes, I believe so. It happened in two different alcoves. Although an explosion was able to kill them all.

3 hours ago, Captain Toenail said:

Yes the Mawthorns and Sporepods have a different mechanism for respawning - every time you kill them they have a chance of not reappearing (I think it's 33%?). Harpy in the mine is scripted to respawn. Same with a Bishop in the castle.

I see. I was hoping you have disabled them completely. Respawning is only an annoyance for me and it seems for others as well. Coming back to an area I made sure I cleaned and wondering where did that guy come from and how did I miss him.

4 hours ago, Captain Toenail said:

On 12/14/2023 at 7:48 PM, eqagunn said:

- Door that leads to corridor to Hidden Machinations can be accessed while still blocked off by pressing Interact directly above.

Which door was this?

The one at the bottom of The Old Mill. While the spiral staircase is still blocked, you can stand above where the door is, and while looking horizontally at the centre pressing interact will make you enter that corridor as if you have interacted with the door directly. Which is likely what happens due to how verticality in the engine is.

4 hours ago, Captain Toenail said:

The lamps are a bit of a red herring. You can place them to light up dark areas of the forest/mine but they don't actually do anything. It was an experiment to recreate similar lamps from Morrowind. Leaving them in was probably a mistake if they are causing confusion.

Funny thing is, when I encountered them I thought how they look like they are from Morrowind haha, but I though they were only a decoration. This was because you need to interact with them to collect them while the rest of the items pop into your inventory upon being close by. Only when I used "give all" I noticed the lamps are collectable.

4 hours ago, Captain Toenail said:

On 12/14/2023 at 7:48 PM, eqagunn said:

- An out-of-bounds Shock Orb in Hidden Machinations.

Not entirely sure what happened here.

I noticed that sleeping Afrits can be pushed by attacking and they would get pushed horizontally through the air and remain to float in spot. That is gravity doesn't affect them. Perhaps something similar happened with that Shock Orb as well.

On 12/14/2023 at 7:48 PM, eqagunn said:

- I couldn't find 4th secret in Forest of Gloom and the 5th Troll (but I had 3 extra Lockpicks hehe).

@pagb I'm lost without your guidance haha.

@eqagunn I have attached a quick optional patch that should remove all the respawning monsters discussed earlier, in all difficulty settings. Load it after the main pk3, as it overwrites existing content to work.

Also thanks everyone for reporting these new bugs. I may have to rustle up a small patch to fix these issues (the door skip is quite concerning!)

On 12/14/2023 at 7:48 PM, eqagunn said:

- I couldn't find 4th secret in Forest of Gloom and the 5th Troll (but I had 3 extra Lockpicks hehe).

VoD_RemoveSpawners.zip

There shouldn't be any reason why you can't pick up Mystic Urns in Walp, unless VoD replaces ArtiSuperHealth.

A special spawner replaces that in Walp, since it has a different use in the Doomed Souls challenge mode.

Here's the three Walp actors in question in case Captain Toenail wants to double check:

But unless something whack is going on, loading VoD > Walp > WalpPatch should work fine as usual.

18 minutes ago, Captain Toenail said:

@eqagunn I have attached a quick optional patch that should remove all the respawning monsters discussed earlier, in all difficulty settings. Load it after the main pk3, as it overwrites existing content to work. VoD_RemoveSpawners.zip

Perhaps it would be the best if you add it to the first post for future players as I have completed this mapset and it is of no use to me any longer. :)

23 minutes ago, Captain Toenail said:

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Looks like the corpse at the bottom of the well is tagged as a secret for some reason. Another thing to add to the list!

 

OMG! So there isn't meant to be a forth one? And I've spent about an hour looking for it haha.

24 minutes ago, Captain Toenail said:

Also thanks everyone for reporting these new bugs. I may have to rustle up a small patch to fix these issues (the door skip is quite concerning!)

The reason I report them is because it hurts me to see something being done so well with a lot of effort invested yet often left unpolished. Usually so little is required to make it golden!