Hocusdoom RELEASED (/idgames pending)

[Gez]

Nice to hear. When they work, the simplest solutions are the most elegant IMO.

[Hisymak]

Great work Ravage!
I just have one question and one notice.
- I'm really curious, why are you still offering the ogg soundtrack? With inclusion of Hocus Pocus GENMIDI lump, the players can just simply choose "OPL Synth Emulation" as MIDI device, and they get music which sounds almost identical to the original Adlib/Sound Blaster soundtrack. And as a bonus, it has full stereo panning, which the original did not have. Moreover, I tried out the ogg soundtrack, and it actually sounds even differently from the real original soundtrack. It is not right. How you recorded the ogg soundtrack or where did you get it? It would make more sense if you recorded soundtrack from real hardware, for more authenticity. I observed that Hocus Pocus is giving some "surround" effect to the music, which makes it sound "deeper" and more pleasant.
- I often use "kill monsters" command when I want to get rid of the monsters and just walk through the level and explore it (too lazy to use sv_nomonsters). However, in Hocus Doom, this is really not friendly to my ears. When I use "kill monsters", the explosion sound plays at about 10000% volume, which really kills my ears, and I need to take my headphones off, or turn off sound, when I'm going to use it. Would it be possible to somehow limit volume or number of simultaneous explosion sound, please?

[ravage]

I kept the OGG version as it sounds exactly how it sounded for me when I played it on a 486. Granted, this was recorded using dosbox, but I'm so used to the Adlib version (not SB), that that's what I wanted to keep.

As for the loud sound, I'll see what I can do.

[Kinsie]

If you want to remove loud sounds, framerate-hitting visual effects etc. when using "kill monsters", create custom death/xdeath states for the "Massacre" damage type.

[webcider]

I really would love to play this doom mod.
but it seems my system is giving a issue i reported the issue in this thread.

https://www.doomworld.com/forum/topic/1 ... zdoom-315/

But i want to let you know the game crashes every time i try to pick up a gem.
if need more information i gladly provide it. Thanks for creating this mod i can't wait till i be able to enjoy it as well.

[wildweasel]

Does GZDoom offer to save a crash report to disk? If so, could you upload that somewhere?

[webcider]

In the thread i linked to there is crash report, however i return back with some fresh reports. And lay them on google drive.

[indyana8965]

Good thing I came back to check up on things.
Keep it up buddo! <3

[ravage]

Just poking in to see if anyone's got any feedback for me lately. I haven't heard much from anyone in the last month so I figured I'd check.

[IDKrisis]

Just poking in to see if anyone's got any feedback for me lately. I haven't heard much from anyone in the last month so I figured I'd check.

I haven't got very far trying out the new levels yet, I've been trying out a wide variety of mods lately. I have tried the first three episodes and found no bugs.

I completed level 31 100% (hard difficulty) and found 1 bug. In a room under a large fan with a teleporter, opals and chalices, a few abyssal demons and abyssal hydras spawn. Two of the abyssal demons spawn on top of pikes at the back of the room, where they get stuck.

[ravage]

I'm not sure how that happened as they aren't even near the pikes, but I tried moving them further away. Hopefully that'll fix it.

[IDKrisis]

Okay, I've done some further testing. I've decided to ignore time bonuses and focus on eliminating all enemies and finding all treasure before completing each level. I have been playing on Hard difficulty and have managed to complete 4 more levels so far.

Level 32: No issues.
Level 33: Slight frame rate issues, but no other problems.
Level 34: No issues.
Level 40: I encounter a teleporter which takes me to an area with an invulnerability powerup and lots of enemies. After some exploring I return to the invulnerability area and the wall around it has disappeared, leaving a trench where it is possible to fall down and get stuck, surrounded by invisible walls. Also, it took me an embarrassingly long time to realise that the laser barriers could be destroyed. A hint for players may be needed here, as most laser-like barriers in games are indestructible, including most encountered in this mod. The boss battle on this level is impossible without cheating. There is no cover and it is impossible to dodge the boss and the traps at the same time from a first-person perspective (chase cam mode isn't much better). Also, the boss has an excessive amount of health, so even if you do somehow win, it takes a too long and becomes boring long before the end. Finally, when you complete the level, you are sent to level 30, the secret level from the previous episode.

The issues with level 40 are a shame, as the overall quality of the mod so far is otherwise incredibly high. Please see what you can do to fix it.

[ravage]

I fixed the secret level pointing to the wrong next level. As far as the barriers go, not sure what to do about that. The boss level: there is an invulnerability in the corner to help you, but it is beatable on hard. The easiest method is to use the launcher which will autoaim at enemies when they bounce, and just jump over the projectile shooters.

[IDKrisis]

I fixed the secret level pointing to the wrong next level. As far as the barriers go, not sure what to do about that. The boss level: there is an invulnerability in the corner to help you, but it is beatable on hard. The easiest method is to use the launcher which will autoaim at enemies when they bounce, and just jump over the projectile shooters.

Ah. Somehow, I completely missed the invulnerability pickup, plus I hadn't noticed how the grenades track targets. As for the barrier problem, I can think of two solutions. One is to add a warning sign next to the first barrier saying "Do not shoot at the laser gate!" Another is to have Terexin appear nearby to offer a hint, saying something like "Harumph! You call these laser gates? I've never seen such shoddy workmanship. I bet you could just shoot them open!"

EDIT: I've done some more testing and tried out the other levels. Here are the results.

Level 35: No issues.
Level 36: No issues.
Level 37: No issues.
Level 38: Visual glitch. I saw a couple of out-of-place lever textures under the same arch as a purple waterfall in the mid-western part of the map. My attempts to upload the screenshot have been unsuccessful, so I'll have to describe the area. It features an L-shaped pathway leading north, with a staircase leading south off the pathway and climbing to a raised walkway to the east. The northern pathway passes between a tower with stained glass windows to the west and an arch over a the waterfall to the east. The glitch occurs under the waterfall's arch.
Level 39: Trolodon has far too much health. Although the fight is winnable, it takes so long to beat that its simply not worth it. The powerups in the previous room help to speed things up, but only for the first stage of the battle.

I have a few suggestions for how to stop the Final boss battle dragging on too long. The first is to simply reduce Trolodon's health, but you would have to reduce it by at least half. Secondly, you could add respawning powerups to the room before the final battle, but this runs the risk of making the final battle too easy. Finally, you could change the powerups in the room to something more powerful. A couple of possibilities include adding the wand, or simply adding more potions, but one other idea might be to add a unique potion which grants permanent rapid fire. I would recommend using only one of the above methods, otherwise the battle would become too easy. Of course, how you actually deal with this is up to you.

[ravage]

You actually get the wand just outside of the castle. I might make that a requirement for opening the door so you don't miss it. It makes the fight more balanced as that's what its aimed for.