Knee-Deep in KDiZD: Released! It's KDiZD for doom2.exe - 1.7.1 is now on /idgames

[esselfortium]

 

 

Welcome back to 2008, everyone! Knee-Deep in KDiZD is here, appearing courtesy of The History Channel. That’s right, it’s 2007’s Knee-Deep in ZDoom, now upgraded for vanilla Doom2.exe.

 

If you’re not familiar with the original KDiZD, that’s okay! (After all, it has been… wow, 15 years?) You can think of KDiKDiZD as a Doom E1 remake with larger maps and a combined focus on atmosphere, exploration, and tougher combat. KDiKDiZD is also packed full of weird mapping tricks and some really dumb jokes.

 

KDiKDiZD has been primarily tested in Eternity Engine, DSDA-Doom, Chocolate Doom, and Doom2 1.9, but it will probably work in any Boom-derived or vanilla-like port of your choice.

Eternity is the preferred non-vanilla port to play this in. If you're using a dev build, there was a savegame dehacked bug introduced on Oct 2, 2021, which was fixed on Sept 3rd, 2022. So if you run into savegame weirdness, try updating.

There are some graphical glitches in older builds of DSDA-Doom, causing various sprites and textures to display incorrectly. I recommend using version 0.25.0 or later.

I'm told that it works in Woof, though I haven't tested it there myself.

It works in GZDoom builds from Nov 18, 2022 or newer, in software mode only.

It doesn't work with true-color rendering. Effects will not appear correctly or at all, and in some ports, lighting will be completely broken.

 

 

Backstory:

Your name is Doom Guy, an actor. You've been cast in a cable TV reenactment of 2007's "Knee-Deep In ZDoom". You were never much of a history buff, but it'll put food on the table and help cover Daisy's vet bills. Maybe it'll even revive your acting career. You adjust the prop helmet to breathe a little easier, try out a few cheesy poses with your character's handgun, and ready yourself for the first day of filming.

 

 

Screenshots:

Spoiler

 

 

Features:

• Nine KDiZD maps reinterpreted and enhanced with streamlined layout progression, updated visuals, and all-new fight choreography.
• Soundtrack replacement featuring new MIDI arrangements of the original Doom tracks.
• 22 monsters, split between 10 standard types and 12 added ones, featuring a selection of KDiZD monsters and several new to KDiKDiZD.
• Heavily modified palette with 38 added fullbright colors and some other tricks up its sleeve.
• Countless new textures and flats.
• Camera textures to show distant events as they occur.
• Sliding doors, see-through glass floors, warping liquids, advanced lighting effects, forcefields, scripted events, and slopes.
• Compatible with Eternity Engine, DSDA-Doom (recent devbuilds), GZDoom, Chocolate Doom, and DOOM2.EXE.
• Not compatible with true-color rendering.

 

 

Credits:

Spoiler

KDiKDiZD mappers: Esselfortium, Nuxius, Tun, Tango, Butts, and Brinks

 

Original KDiZD mappers: Tormentor, Vader, Risen, Nmn, NiGHTMARE, Ellmo, Graf Zahl, BioHazard, and Kirby

 

Original Knee-Deep in the Dead mappers: John Romero, Sandy Petersen, and Tom Hall

 

Playtesting leads: dew, rd, GarrettChan

 

Soundtrack: Jimmy and Esselfortium

 

Original KDiZD art: Vader, Nmn, NiGHTMARE, Tormentor667, and Scuba

Additional art: Esselfortium, Cage, Eriance, Xaser, Espi, Nmn, Vader, Fletcher, Mark Quinn, Anthony Cole, Tormentor667, ayoung93, elend, and Scuba

 

New sounds: BouncyTEM and Esselfortium

Story: Esselfortium, dew, and Jimmy

 

Tool development and technical support: RestlessRodent, fraggle, Altazimuth, Mikolah, Linguica, Nine Inch Heels, Zokum, Andrewj

Additional playtesting and feedback: sink, Marcaek, Nine Inch Heels, CSG, Xaser, Kassman, deathz0r, Vader, Tarnsman, and Antares031

 

A full detailed credits list is available in kdikdizd.txt.

 

 

 

Known Bugs:

Spoiler

• Due to voodoo doll shenanigans, you may sometimes become a "zombie" instead of dying.
• It is sometimes possible to "bump" a keycard without actually picking it up.
• Saving your game in vanilla is not supported, due to the savegame buffer limit. If you're using Chocolate Doom, you can disable the savegame size limit in Chocolate-Setup, or if you're using real vanilla, you can optionally use Doom32 or Doom2+ to extend that limit if you want to save.
• Camtextures may sometimes display time in a slightly accelerated form from what you are used to. These are premonitions and should be treated as such. Remain mindful of these possible futures.
• In DSDA-Doom and PrBoom-Plus, you may run into some oddities. The automap background color appears as an eyesearing bright blue instead of the expected black. (You can override this in the settings page if you want.) Also, sprites for players, Nightmare Demons, and Hell Knights will appear with glitched colors.
• In outdated GZDoom builds, all white pixels will erroneously appear to glow in the dark. Updating to a newer build should fix this.

 

 

Q&A:

Spoiler

Is this really KDiZD for vanilla?

• More or less, yeah! A lot of creative license has been taken, both to make the maps work within vanilla limits and just because I wanted to. It would be kind of pointless to literally just make the same thing again. KDiKDiZD plays a lot differently than KDiZD, but if you know those maps you should be able to easily recognize these alternate versions of them.

 

Are you actually allowed to do that?

• KDiZD’s text file says that it allows modification and reuse, so yep! I’ve also spoken with some of the KDiZD’s creators while in the process of developing this.

 

Wasn’t this project dead?

• Yes! After several years of work, I shelved it around 2011 because it had become an unmaintainable nightmare, and because BTSX development was really taking off around that time. I picked it back up in 2020, overhauled a lot of things, and did most of the remaining work myself because I am apparently some sort of Extreme Doom Masochist.

 

Why?!

• I don’t know!

 

No, seriously, what the fuck?

• I really don’t know what to tell you. This project is what happens when I repeatedly ignore the voice of reason that tells me something would be too annoying to attempt.

 

What about BTSX E3?

• Next year. It's being worked on.

 

 

Downloab:

KDiKDiZD 1.7.1 on esselfortium.net / on idgames

(load the A and B wads together)

 

kdikdizd.txt

DEH9000 patch source

 

1.7 fixlist

build 6 fixlist

build 5 fixlist

build 4 fixlist

build 3 fixlist

build 2 fixlist

[Obsidian]

fp! props to all logged in trolls

[Altazimuth]

Surprise! Super excited to play this. Been waiting a hot minute.

[Tarnsman]

Another project that only existed in forgotten legends sees the light of day.

[Obsidian]

No, but seriously, awesome to finally see this out. You did some damn good work Essel and I'm sure the Cacoward writers are scrambling to get to their desks. :P

[thelamp]

Woah ! Really impressive screenshots can't wait to play!

[ETPC]

holy shit 

[dew]

15 years of delays, then fretting over 15 minutes... congrats to getting rid of this albatross around your neck!

[Egg Boy]

oh hey- this.

[Catpho]

Quote

Wasn’t this project dead?

Quote

Why?!

Quote

No, seriously, what the fuck?

 

[Xyzzу]

It's real?!

[Edward850]

3 minutes ago, Xyzzy01 said:

It's real?!

No, you are having an oddly specific and detailed hallucination.

[taufan99]

I feel like going back to early 2010's, when some people would just bring up The Shores of ZDoom at the ZDoom Forums as I was ranting about stuff in broken English there as well.

 

Also, let me summon the Wadazine Lord @Endless for this joyous moment we shall celebrate.

[HorseJockey]

Wow! Super excited to see this. Congrats on the release.

[lupinx-Kassman]

Congratulations! This project is one of the most ambitious and impressive accomplishments in vanilla modding I've ever seen!

[Breezeep]

Been looking forward to this one! Congrats on getting this out!

[NaliSeed]

I don't understand all the excitement. Wasn't this mod released like a thousand years ago? Why is everyone reacting like it just got released for the very first time? 🤨

[esselfortium]

Just now, NaliSeed said:

I don't understand all the excitement. Wasn't this mod released like a thousand years ago? Why is everyone reacting like it just got released for the very first time? 🤨

KDiZD is a ZDoom mapset from 2007.

 

KDiKDiZD is a vanilla doom2.exe mapset from 2022.

[Edward850]

KDiKDiKDiZD is a wolf3d mapset from 2037.

[Scuba Steve]

You magnificent bitch.

[esselfortium]

Just now, Edward850 said:

KDiKDiKDiZD is a wolf3d mapset from 2037.

KDiKDiKDiZD is actually a text adventure about the making of KDiKDiZD.

[dac]

Been playing for a while, there are parts where I'm "yeah, this is definitely possible with vanilla if you got the know how"

 

And then there's other where I'm "Wait, THAT'S possible with vanilla?"

 

Overall I'm having a good time, this is high quality and the humour I've seen is on point.

Spoiler

I thought there was a Tile Thief on the premise, but it turned out those tiles were needed somewhere else, so to speak.

 

[Lizardcommando]

Are these maps more or less the same size as the original KDIZD maps or did these get shrunken down and streamlined?

[esselfortium]

Just now, Lizardcommando said:

Are these maps more or less the same size as the original KDIZD or did these get shrunken down and streamlined?

These are comparable in size to the original KDiZD maps, with most of the changes being due to creative license rather than vanilla limits.

[BeetBeardTheBrave]

Oh my gorn. 

[Bauul]

A spiritual tribute to one of the most famous ZDoom wads of all time specifically not working in ZDoom is pretty deliciously ironic!

 

Congrats on the release! I look forward to discovering what shenanigans you've managed to eek out of the vanilla engine.

[dew]

3 minutes ago, esselfortium said:

These are comparable in size to the original KDiZD maps, with most of the changes being due to creative license rather than vanilla limits.

Comparable in size, but not in backtrackinggrandeur! Many hours of gameplay have been cut out from z1m7.

[Philnemba]

NO FUCKING WAY SHE DID IT AFTER TELLING ME YEARS AGO THAT IT WASN'T GONNA HAPPEN 🤯 ‼️

[Biodegradable]

Congratulations on finally releasing it, Essel!

[esselfortium]

1 minute ago, Philnemba said:

NO FUCKING WAY SHE DID IT AFTER TELLING ME YEARS AGO THAT IT WASN'T GONNA HAPPEN 🤯 ‼️

It was true at the time, haha