Strange Aeons v5.7

[ImpieTwo]

More issues came up, but you saw that coming already.

While playtesting Nerves of Steel I learned how to better hide secret areas, so I went through all of the SA maps and hopefully made them harder to spot.

I also made a newer, better M_DOOM logo for the title.

I'll be uploading version 4.3 within the hour, so check back in a bit.

[ImpieTwo]

A couple of fixes in version 4.4 (upload pending):

- Devils appear to walk on air in e1m9, outside the windows. Fixed.
- Possible for ghoul buddies to prevent Dhole boss from spawning into the arena. Hopefully fixed, now that they all die before the bosses spawn.

[ImpieTwo]

BIG UPDATE! Version 5.0 is out!

- A fifth 9-level episode rounds out the story and concludes the Traveler's dream quest. Each of these maps is a hybrid of my previous one-shot maps, unfinished and unreleased maps, and all new content. The episode takes the player to the ghoul and ghast-infested Underworld, and to Cthulhu's own city of R'lyeh.
- New arsenal layout. The Scepter of Souls is now your default weapon, replacing the useless pistol. It also has the drawback of starting you with no bullets.
- Replaced several player sounds and the player's HUD face.
- Tweaked the other four episodes, fixing a number of errors and whatnot.
- New monsters, in particular the dimensional shambler and the Episode 5 boss.

There's no unique splash page for the end of Episode 5, since I couldn't find anything suitable.

Anyway, hope this newest release is satisfactory to everyone. Check the OP for the download link.

[VGAce]

Looks cool i will definately give this a playtrough
love the chasm textures sounds and music

[ImpieTwo]

Uploaded version 5.1, with fewer Nightmares in E1M2, and easier to gib Death Incarnates. One rocket should do it every time now.

Also includes dmgfxd2.wad so the mod can be run in Doom II without graphical issues. You'll have to use the console to skip levels though, apparently.

[ImpieTwo]

New update to 5.2!

- Nightmares and Star Vampires can't be seen unless flinching or attacking, BUT now you can shoot them regardless of what state they're in.
- Purple Tentacles don't come back when you kill them.
- Fixed the E3 ending screen. Still not great, but at least it's not laughable.

[Dr. Crowley]

Great work! Played through 3 episodes and actually enjoyed these maps. But I have some things to say about:
- Sceptre of Souls makes chainsaw almost obsolete;
- E3M1 has one unreachable secret at least on HMP (the one with googles) - there is a shootable switch but you have no weapon except Sceptre of Souls (it's range is not enough to hit the switch). I guess it's a leftover from the times when there was a pistol, right?
- I found it strange that prehistoric Earth (i.e. Earth BEFORE humans arrived) in Episode 3 has egyptian images on walls and human corpses. Wat;
- Nightmares and Death Incarnates are a bit overused in Zdoom mods. I don't mean they are bad here though;
- Star Vampire is great creature to see in Lovecraft-themed mod but

---

red flying flayworm

, what the heck?

[ImpieTwo]

Great work! Played through 3 episodes and actually enjoyed these maps. But I have some things to say about:
- Sceptre of Souls makes chainsaw almost obsolete;
- E3M1 has one unreachable secret at least on HMP (the one with googles) - there is a shootable switch but you have no weapon except Sceptre of Souls (it's range is not enough to hit the switch). I guess it's a leftover from the times when there was a pistol, right?
- I found it strange that prehistoric Earth (i.e. Earth BEFORE humans arrived) in Episode 3 has egyptian images on walls and human corpses. Wat;
- Nightmares and Death Incarnates are a bit overused in Zdoom mods. I don't mean they are bad here though;
- Star Vampire is great creature to see in Lovecraft-themed mod but

---

red flying flayworm

, what the heck?

Thanks for playing Strange Aeons, Doc!
- I was planning to re-introduce the gauss pistol as another secret weapon, but haven't gotten around to it, and I don't know if I'm gonna go through with it yet. It would be similar to the sapphire wand from Hexen. The chainsaw is mostly there for flavor.
- That secret is still accessible. You just have to find the first secret on the map before you can reap its rewards. Remember the oddly-out-of-place shotgun shells in front of the temple?
- Lovecraft frequently wrote about weird, intelligent beings that inhabited earth before humanity, like the Elder Things and Flying Polyps. Basically the buildings in prehistoric earth aren't human settlements.
- I started to notice the trend of nightmares and death incarnates too, unfortunately. I'd like to think I use them effectively rather than arbitrarily -- the DI's in particular stand in for the ghasts of the dream cycle.
- There weren't any suitable tentacle-ey sprites to use for the Star Vampire, so I had to resort to the worm again. I think my only other options were ugly-ass 3d rendered sprites from the 90s.

Version 5.3 will hopefully be released in another week. I'm trying to fix the final encounter and ending screen of episode 5.

[ImpieTwo]

Version 5.3 is out!

-New Episode 5 boss battle and ending screen.
-New (mostly hidden) weapon, the Impaler.
-Assault Rifle can be used for single-shot firing as well as rapid fire, for more accurate shooting.
-Several map tweaks.

[Dr. Crowley]

- I was planning to re-introduce the gauss pistol as another secret weapon, but haven't gotten around to it, and I don't know if I'm gonna go through with it yet. It would be similar to the sapphire wand from Hexen. The chainsaw is mostly there for flavor.

Well, I guess Yithian Tesla Cannon is enough for secret weapon. But after all...

- That secret is still accessible. You just have to find the first secret on the map before you can reap its rewards. Remember the oddly-out-of-place shotgun shells in front of the temple?

Geez, I knew it!

Lovecraft frequently wrote about weird, intelligent beings that inhabited earth before humanity, like the Elder Things and Flying Polyps. Basically the buildings in prehistoric earth aren't human settlements.

Yeah, I know about this theme in lovecraftian mythology (being kinda Lovecraft fan really helps sometimes). And that's why it's bothering me - why pre-human intelligent species have human images in their building? oO But it's mostly a question of style and texture choices - not that big flaw after all.

- I started to notice the trend of nightmares and death incarnates too, unfortunately. I'd like to think I use them effectively rather than arbitrarily -- the DI's in particular stand in for the ghasts of the dream cycle.

Revenants as ghouls, DIs as ghasts... hmmm. Need more Doom-style sprites for lovecraftian monsters Well, there are Lava Demons of Realm667 - you can just recolor them as I did for Nukage Monster in my now abandoned project (yet another stupid Mancubus replacement, right ) and try to find a fitting role for them. Green Wendigo-lookalike as Gug, anyone?

- There weren't any suitable tentacle-ey sprites to use for the Star Vampire, so I had to resort to the worm again. I think my only other options were ugly-ass 3d rendered sprites from the 90s

By the way, initially I thought that invisible Freedoom worm would be better in Flying Pollyp's role - but then I remembered that they were some sort of "bigger evil" and even the Great Race of Yith (yeah, those time-jumping mind-swapping guys with incredible technologies) was afraid of them. That's why I won't complain about this
Oh wait, how about Octabrains from DN3D or Arachnorb? They have tentacles too

Version 5.3 is out!

Woohoo! Time to play it again.

And now some funny screenshot that I made when I finally found out how to use Sceptre of Soul a little wiser:

---

"Yay, good fishing here!"

[ImpieTwo]

Well, on the plus side, you'll never go hungry again....

[SuaveSteve]

I'm loving it. Then again, I'm a stickler for Lovecraft

How are you suppose to open this?
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/412 ... 164713.png

[ImpieTwo]

5.3.1 fixes a missing key on E2M3's easy setting, and some missing art credits on the credits screen. Download will be available momentarily.

[Dr. Crowley]

Oh well. Seems like it's time for another re-play.

[_mental_]

Sad that even in the latest version the problem with missing polygons in GZDoom (using OpenGL renderer) wasn't fixed.

---

Code: Select all

----E1M1----
   BSP: 100.0%
   0.016 seconds.
----E1M2----
   BSP: 100.0%
Unclosed subsector 352, from (1328,-176) to (1397,-246)
Unclosed subsector 353, from (1397,-246) to (1328,-176)
   0.027 seconds.
----E1M3----
   BSP: 100.0%
   0.033 seconds.
----E1M4----
   BSP: 100.0%
   0.037 seconds.
----E1M5----
   BSP: 100.0%
   0.039 seconds.
----E1M6----
   BSP: 100.0%
Unclosed subsector 287, from (-1392,-1872) to (-1323,-1942)
Unclosed subsector 288, from (-1323,-1942) to (-1392,-1872)
Unclosed subsector 604, from (5528,2776) to (5458,2845)
Unclosed subsector 605, from (5458,2845) to (5528,2776)
   0.036 seconds.
----E1M7----
   BSP: 100.0%
   0.037 seconds.
----E1M8----
   BSP: 100.0%
   0.029 seconds.
----E1M9----
   BSP: 100.0%
   0.062 seconds.
----E2M1----
   BSP: 100.0%
   0.028 seconds.
----E2M2----
   BSP: 100.0%
   0.039 seconds.
----E2M3----
   BSP: 100.0%
   0.028 seconds.
----E2M4----
   BSP: 100.0%
   0.042 seconds.
----E2M5----
   BSP: 100.0%
   0.037 seconds.
----E2M6----
   BSP: 100.0%
   0.052 seconds.
----E2M7----
   BSP: 100.0%
   0.046 seconds.
----E2M8----
   BSP: 100.0%
   0.024 seconds.
----E2M9----
   BSP: 100.0%
Unclosed subsector 833, from (4384,1376) to (4371,1208)
Unclosed subsector 834, from (4384,1384) to (4384,1376)
Unclosed subsector 835, from (4371,1208) to (4384,1384)
   0.053 seconds.
----E3M1----
   BSP: 100.0%
   0.028 seconds.
----E3M2----
   BSP: 100.0%
Unclosed subsector 853, from (-8192,1440) to (-8000,1492)
Unclosed subsector 854, from (-8427,1376) to (-8192,1440)
Unclosed subsector 855, from (-8000,1492) to (-8427,1376)
   0.043 seconds.
----E3M3----
   BSP: 100.0%
   0.050 seconds.
----E3M4----
   BSP: 100.0%
   0.070 seconds.
----E3M5----
   BSP: 100.0%
   0.044 seconds.
----E3M6----
   BSP: 100.0%
   0.038 seconds.
----E3M7----
   BSP: 100.0%
   0.027 seconds.
----E3M8----
   BSP: 100.0%
   0.013 seconds.
----E3M9----
   BSP: 100.0%
   0.011 seconds.
----E4M1----
   BSP: 100.0%
Unclosed subsector 229, from (1472,2885) to (1600,2795)
Unclosed subsector 233, from (1600,2795) to (1920,2784)
Unclosed subsector 234, from (1920,2784) to (2240,2711)
Unclosed subsector 237, from (2240,2711) to (2208,3190)
Unclosed subsector 240, from (2208,3190) to (1472,2885)
Unclosed subsector 498, from (873,-1920) to (939,-1766)
Unclosed subsector 504, from (939,-1766) to (928,-1792)
Unclosed subsector 507, from (928,-1792) to (901,-1854)
Unclosed subsector 507, from (928,-1792) to (873,-1920)
   0.039 seconds.
----E4M2----
   BSP: 100.0%
   0.040 seconds.
----E4M3----
   BSP: 100.0%
   0.029 seconds.
----E4M4----
   BSP: 100.0%
   0.042 seconds.
----E4M5----
   BSP: 100.0%
   0.046 seconds.
----E4M6----
   BSP: 100.0%
Unclosed subsector 159, from (-4736,7008) to (-4736,6784)
Unclosed subsector 160, from (-4736,6784) to (-4782,6720)
Unclosed subsector 161, from (-4608,7136) to (-4736,7008)
Unclosed subsector 162, from (-4500,7114) to (-4608,7136)
Unclosed subsector 165, from (-4782,6720) to (-4480,6624)
Unclosed subsector 166, from (-4480,6624) to (-4500,7114)
   0.029 seconds.
----E4M7----
   BSP: 100.0%
Unclosed subsector 308, from (1760,-1698) to (1472,-1721)
Unclosed subsector 313, from (1472,-1721) to (1760,-1698)
Unclosed subsector 332, from (1787,-96) to (1842,0)
Unclosed subsector 336, from (1842,0) to (1824,-32)
Unclosed subsector 337, from (1824,-32) to (1787,-96)
Unclosed subsector 502, from (384,-1622) to (160,-1618)
Unclosed subsector 503, from (160,-1618) to (384,-1622)
Unclosed subsector 834, from (-1888,3264) to (-2651,3224)
Unclosed subsector 837, from (-1808,3180) to (-1840,3213)
Unclosed subsector 840, from (-1840,3213) to (-1888,3264)
Unclosed subsector 846, from (-2560,3040) to (-2496,3066)
Unclosed subsector 847, from (-2651,3224) to (-2560,3040)
Unclosed subsector 851, from (-2176,3200) to (-1808,3180)
Unclosed subsector 852, from (-2496,3066) to (-2176,3200)
   0.046 seconds.
----E4M8----
   BSP: 100.0%
   0.013 seconds.
----E4M9----
   BSP: 100.0%
   0.037 seconds.
----E5M1----
   BSP: 100.0%
   0.018 seconds.
----E5M2----
   BSP: 100.0%
   0.027 seconds.
----E5M3----
   BSP: 100.0%
   0.051 seconds.
----E5M4----
   BSP: 100.0%
   0.031 seconds.
----E5M5----
   BSP: 100.0%
   0.054 seconds.
----E5M6----
   BSP: 100.0%
   0.074 seconds.
----E5M7----
   BSP: 100.0%
   0.063 seconds.
----E5M8----
   BSP: 100.0%
   0.023 seconds.
----E5M9----
   BSP: 100.0%
   0.042 seconds.

Total time: 1.762 seconds.

Every Unclosed subsector ... warning is a potential problem for hardware renderer. Some of them are probably invisible to player, some are noticeable for sure, like on E4M1.
ImpieTwo, do you need help with fixing this? Sorry for bothering if the issue is ignored intentionally.