Paranoiac Released [2017-03-31]: Download Page 1

[ZikShadow]

Not the kind of fog you'd want, though.

With how BIG the outdoor maps are, chances are (if the VIS and RAD compilers didn't cry blood from how large the map is) you're going to see something like that.

[Enjay]

Oh dear. That's nasty. Is that the best it can do in such scenarios?

[ZikShadow]

Probably not, that's just an example of the level editing tool being used unwell.
That was a mod called HL: Emergency, quite awful unfortunately.



Half-Life/Goldsource can go for pretty big well lit areas, but not Doom's definition of big.

[demo_the_man]

Actually a good idea would be to cut some of the larger areas from the first 2 levels. The canyon level was from my perspective pretty boring and frustrating due to underwater bullsquids and low light levels.

[ReX]

Actually a good idea would be to cut some of the larger areas from the first 2 levels.

Cutting the larger areas: Are you suggesting this in the context of a Half-Life mod, or for Paranoiac? In the first 2 levels of Paranoiac there is only one large area apiece - on Map10, it's the start area; on Map11 it's the fuel storage area adjacent to the "monorail" bridge.

The canyon level ... low light levels.

I find that odd, as the lighting levels in all outdoor areas were set at 192.

[Rachael]

If you're playing with an old version of GZDoom, the canyon may look dark - you will have to play it with GZDoom 2.4.0 or newer (recommended 3.0.0).

[ReX]

I've noticed a bug. .....After I use my holodisc, it immediately spawns multiple "envelopes" it this location..... Note, that it occurs ONLY if you save/load at least once after level start.
I use GZDoom 2.4.0

This problem also occurs in GZDooM v3.0. But it's not an easy bug to replicate. As Mere_Duke indicates, you have to save the game at least once, then load the saved-game, then play the message (from inventory). If you play the message first, then go to the pools with the bubbles, the bug won't appear. Even if you save and reload the game at that point, the bug won't appear. You have to play the message again after reload.

Another curious thing is that the "envelope" graphic must be something in GZDooM, as that is not present in the game's resources. This tells me that GZDooM is protesting something about the bubbles + the message + the game save/reload.

I am able to partially reproduce this issue. It seems to be some problem with the bubble spawner actors. I can confirm that this issue does not seem to be present in the current development builds of Paranoid Gold.

Ed, what did you do to fix this problem? I'd like to incorporate it in the updated Paranoiac.

[Ed the Bat]

The envelope icon is, indeed, in Paranoid's resources. It's the sprite given to the hint messages. Those are what's spawning in this bug. Try picking them up, even. And I did not have to play the messages to recreate the issue. Just loading and saving the game was enough. Though, in my case, a different item was spawning, based on one of my autoload files.

To fix these issues, I converted the ACS for the bubble spawners, and as many other things as I could, to ZScript. I'm fairly confident that the issue is ultimately due to ACS values becoming unstable somehow when loading saved games. For example, this bug is happening because hint messages (which should never actually exist in a physical form) are being spewed out rapidly instead of the bubbles.

[ReX]

The envelope icon is, indeed, in Paranoid's resources. It's the sprite given to the hint messages.

Yes, I found it (maila0.png). Thanks.

To fix these issues, I converted the ACS for the bubble spawners, and as many other things as I could, to ZScript. I'm fairly confident that the issue is ultimately due to ACS values becoming unstable somehow when loading saved games.

So it sounds as if I won't be able to fix this without converting from ACS to ZScript. In that case, I'll simply step back from this issue for now.

[Rachael]

In my honest opinion, there should not be a need for Paranoiac v2.0 or anything like that - Ed the Bat has been working at, in my opinion, quite a stellar pace with the fixes in the combined project, and has done an amazing job with it with an amazing amount of dedication to it that I have never been able to muster up to any ZDoom project. (I wish I could, though!)

Basically, the long and short of that is - with the amount of stuff that's been fixed in Paranoid Gold already, releasing a 2.0 for this particular project would be several major steps back.

[Ed the Bat]

So many kind and flattering things

Aww!

[ReX]

In my honest opinion, there should not be a need for Paranoiac v2.0 or anything like that... Basically, the long and short of that is - with the amount of stuff that's been fixed in Paranoid Gold already, releasing a 2.0 for this particular project would be several major steps back.

Thanks for the recommendation. [It bolsters my general apathy at the moment, so I'll accept your suggestion.]

Ed the Bat has been working at, in my opinion, quite a stellar pace with the fixes in the combined project, and has done an amazing job with it with an amazing amount of dedication to it ....

Thanks, Ed. Beer and crab cakes are on me when I'm next in Maryland.

Speaking of Paranoid Gold, I have a couple of thoughts and suggestions, which I'll post on the DRDTeam forums.

[Twitchy2019]

Where do I begin? This is gonna be a brief, but mixed review on this project from the intro video I saw. (I have not played any game files, so don't bash me for that)
Your presentation was pretty good to fool me that in some cases, this game was in fact made from the goldsource engine, which is ironically a spinoff of the quake 1 engine. The technicals and visuals were top notch, bar none the best I have seen from a doom mod so far.

Now for the bad. This game is by far so far-reaching in what its trying to do, that it is a terrible waste. Why would anyone want to play a low poly version of Half-Life when the original is available to mod? There is an SDK for the Half-Life game to mod with. Why not use that instead? Your understanding of the doom engine is pretty far enough that you should be able to learn to mod for the REAL Half-Life, no problem. Your skills are being wasted on this primitive engine. Why not use goldsource instead?

[ZikShadow]

"primitive engine".
We are talking about G/ZDoom here, right? With all the additions and such?

Why would you assume that no one would play this? You silly person.
I would play it, in fact, I already finished Paranoid a few days ago, moving on to Paranoiac.

I've been modding Goldsource for as long as I can remember, and I think it's easily said that there are advantages and disadvantages of making a Half-Life-esc mod in this engine (bigger maps, more enemies to shoot, weapons or code-related stuff that can be modified without needing the sources to compile it on, the new fancy Z-Script stuff, etc).
Telling that this mod is bad just because it was made in the Doom engine is like telling Cry of Fear to sod off because it used the Goldsource engine for its magic instead of moving on to Source.

[Enjay]

Where do I begin? This is gonna be a brief, but mixed review on this project from the intro video I saw. (I have not played any game files, so don't bash me for that)

If you are reviewing a game and including some bashing of the game (albeit mild bashing) do you not think you are inviting criticism if you are basing your review on nothing more than the intro video?

Anyway...

Now for the bad. This game is by far so far-reaching in what its trying to do, that it is a terrible waste. Why would anyone want to play a low poly version of Half-Life when the original is available to mod? There is an SDK for the Half-Life game to mod with. Why not use that instead? Your understanding of the doom engine is pretty far enough that you should be able to learn to mod for the REAL Half-Life, no problem. Your skills are being wasted on this primitive engine. Why not use goldsource instead?

Anyone who has modded for Doom after, say, 1996 has been asked the "why don't you mod for [insert newer game here]" question at some point. There are lots of reasons but it basically comes down to: It's what we do. We like it and we know it. Modding Doom is our hobby, not (necessarily) modding something else (though many of us do). Modding for Doom provides certain challenges and we have to accept (or work around) certain limits but that can be part of the fun too. Speaking personally, I know Doom inside out and like working with it. I have modded many other games but always come back to Doom. It's the one that I have the most fun with. I have no interest in learning another engine to the extent that I know Doom.


To touch on something mentioned a few posts up, I think people will be very impressed with the changes that Ed The Bat has made for Paranoid Gold. He really has done some amazing work with it.