Hexen: Cult of Despair - A WoC campaign (1.3A Version)

[Exeor]

Hi all!

I have been working in an Hexen campaign since I discovered the mod Wrath of Cronos, I really love Heretic & Hexen and this mod gave me enough strength and motivation to start my own campaign using this mod. I'm still new in level design terms but I think that I have been improving and learning over time.

What is Wrath of Cronos?: It is an Hexen mod made by Tethis (full compatible with Doom, Heretic and even Strife) which brings rpg elements, new weapons, 6 playable classes and new monsters.

What brings this campaign?: Cult of Despair is a campaign exclusive for WoC although I have plans to make a full vanilla version in the distant future. The game configuration is made in Hexen UDMF to take advantage of the Doom 64 light system and the alignment of floor textures. It uses a lot of scripts for the spawn system of enemies and items, so for example, you will never see the most dangerous Ettin variant called Bormereth in the first hours of the game or a Merchant in a weird place (because it sometimes replaces the Boots of Speed and the Chaos Device). I have added new props for ambience purposes such as more tree variants, corpses or custom textures.

But what would be a "semi-openworld" without npcs? Yes, you will see and meet characters (and friendly animals!) during your adventure, it adds some immersion to feel that you aren't the only sane human in this dark world, they will sometimes say useful information, tips or even where you must go in your quest (don't worry, I don't want there to be "Where do I go?" moments, all puzzles are very intuitive and your next objetives are clear.

The lore of Cult of Despair is about a large group of cultists (corrupted people by arcane forces) who are using the temples to summon a legion of Void monsters to Spaurus; the land where my mod takes place, but over time you will discover something much worse in their plans... Something related with a trio of old enemies that once they ruled three worlds and were defeated by different heroes... You are aware of the bad news about this so you start your adventure to stop those rituals, along the way, some cultists attack you and you are rescued by some villagers waking up in a house.

Some basic info:

Game: Hexen
Format: Latest Gzdoom version supported, but I have checked that it works with some previous versions too.
What mods you need to run it: woc_v3a.pk3 ----> viewtopic.php?t=35846
Designed with jump and crouch moments, also freelook
Approximate play length: 5-6 hours
I highly recommend playing it with experience multiplier set to 50 and skill 3 or 4 for the best experience, or maybe you could find the game a bit easy

Everyone loves images: (updated)

https://imgur.com/a/SMFl8tJ

Download:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Kl8uRQ ... sp=sharing

Version 1.3A:

-Golden Chakras can't be resurrected or morphed anymore
-Fixed a strange bug where some villagers and soldiers could disappear after a few minutes
-Lowered the Lime Slimes damage
-Added a new battle music for minor enemy fights (you can hear it during some subquests)
-Some enemies like Crimson Disciples can be resurrected correctly
-Fixed some minor grammar mistakes
-Removed duplicated Zombie Fodder sprites
-Added a new subquest in the Wasteland
-New textures added in the Swamp Temple for more variation
-Removed the teleport ability of the Pyrodemon boss but increased the health from 8000 to 8500 HP
-Liquid surfaces can't spawn Reagents now


Thanks for reading and I really hope you enjoy it! Any feedback is appreciated.
I also recommend playing it with Nash Gore mod

[ELPoder36]

I must congratulate you on the saga. Very good and well achieved. The roads, paths and posters are wonderful. The music during the bosses gives you that great epic sensation. I haven't finished it yet, but I loved it. Keep going!

[Exeor]

I must congratulate you on the saga. Very good and well achieved. The roads, paths and posters are wonderful. The music during the bosses gives you that great epic sensation. I haven't finished it yet, but I loved it. Keep going!

Thank you very much!
I'm updating the maps and expanding the areas little by little almost every day, expect more details in the levels and dungeons, more monsters (yes, even underwater enemies) more vegetation/bushes, harmless wildlife like crabs or crows and an optional mini-dungeon in the Swamp for the next update. Also the Dark Patriarch battle will be nerfed, some people told me that it is a spike difficulty.
I will try to use SNES music most of the time for the charm of my campaign (Castlevania IV, Final Fantasy VI, Secret of Evermore and Mana specially), but probably the music of the bosses will stay the same for now.

New acuatic fellas:

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The optional mini-dungeon in the Swamp:

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Also, the next version will work with the latest gzdoom builds

[ELPoder36]

Nooo, the patriarch is not difficult, in fact I was going to mention that the level of difficulty is simple (or at least for those of us who have been playing this game for a long time) you could make an optional patch with difficult and fast enemies for example). I fought against the patriarch and I found it very funny and with a lot of action. When I reached the end, it was level 14 (exp factor set at 0.75 on my part). We will wait for more advances!

[Exeor]

Nooo, the patriarch is not difficult, in fact I was going to mention that the level of difficulty is simple (or at least for those of us who have been playing this game for a long time) you could make an optional patch with difficult and fast enemies for example). I fought against the patriarch and I found it very funny and with a lot of action. When I reached the end, it was level 14 (exp factor set at 0.75 on my part). We will wait for more advances!

Of Course, I can make a patch where the difficulty has increased notably with more monsters in screen and more mid/high tier variations of the creatures.
About the Dark Patriarch, I have changed it for Two Vampires bishops, the battle is just as long as the patriarch fight, except they don't hit like a truck now. Also don't worry, you gonna have a good fight against him later

I have been doing small revamps in some areas as I said (specially in the mid-boss arenas) so why not some screenshots?

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You can see crows, jumping fishes and crabs near of rivers or buildings now.

Again, thanks for your interest in my mod ELPoder36, it helps me to continue improving everything.

[ELPoder36]

You have nothing to thank. It is a pleasure. I like creative people and want to express their art in games as epic as this. I will be aware of progress and updates looking at this topic. A hug and good luck with the work!

[Exeor]

It's been a while but I have been working this month a lot, the next update will bring two optional dungeons to explore, a new village, a lot of new details added into the old levels and some rooms in the dungeons have been slightly changed.

I also added the Strife dialogue, it is really useful for the vision about what I want with my mod.

I don't know when the next update will be available, but I hope to have it ready in two weeks more or less.

And of course, new images:

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[Derddy]

This is amazing and creative as heck! Once I found WoC I kind of never wanted to go back to not using WoC and its hard to find mapsets that work well with it.

Have you considered supporting multiplayer? Whats more fun than playing a Hexen RPG + WoC, where you can have a whole party of various classes?

I have been play testing Cult of Despair a lot on a co-op server using Zandronum. There are just a few changes you would have to make to make this co-op friendly. If you are interested, here are a couple recommendations:

* Once player gets locked in the castle boss room but dies; he re-spawns at the beginning of the map and cant re-enter the boss room. Now, this was quite fun playing the map over and over as I learned the map and grew strong enough to get to the end of the castle on "hurt me plenty". However, allowing the player to open the boss room door again from the outside or having a switch just outside the entrance of the boss room would allow any player to re-enter as often as needed.

*At one point there were so many enemies spawning outside a map i.e., castle or swamp that when teleporting I got bumped right back into the previous map at which point there were so many enemies there I got bumped forward into the other map until it glitched and it un-synced my game with the server as far as accounting for where I was on the map. (This is also an annoyance for single player as well.) One thing I noticed in Tower of Chaos, which works quite well with WoC v2.2, was between all the major maps there are doors with corridors and another "Door"/portal to teleport player to the other map. This minimized the spawning of excessive amounts of enemies by the portal bumping you back into the previous map.

*Other than those few major things, sorting out weapons for co-op and a few other random things that come up may be all you need.

I could give you a hand with very in depth playtesting if you ever decide to add support for Zandronum/Co-op. Otherwise, Thanks so much for this campaign! I cant wait to see how far you take this.

[Exeor]

Hi again, I know the thread has been silent almost 2 months, but I keep working very hard on the campaign, the next public build will have more areas to explore than I expected, and as I said before, a lot of revisions in old places have been done to increase the quality and the details, it is a project I'm putting all my heart into it and I'm having so much fun mapping and making subquests like finding a puzzle item for a npc or killing a concrete strong monster hidden in a level.
There will be a few new items carefully balanced, a red mark above of diaries and books (so you know what things you can read when approaching them), a yellow mark to know where you must continue in the main quest, new kinds of chests with different rewards and more monsters/mini bosses/bosses adapted to Wrath of Cronos. All of them will appear in places that fit with the environment.

This is amazing and creative as heck! Once I found WoC I kind of never wanted to go back to not using WoC and its hard to find mapsets that work well with it.

It happened to me since I found WoC too! There are other good Heretic/Hexen mods I sometimes play, but I always felt like Tethis gives a lot of quality and dedication into his project, I know it still has a few minor bugs and some classes are a bit unbalanced but the mod keeps really strong even if it is only updated once every year.

Have you considered supporting multiplayer? Whats more fun than playing a Hexen RPG + WoC, where you can have a whole party of various classes?

Good question, for now I'm focus in the singleplayer part, but I have plans to make a vanilla version without depending on WoC when I finish everything that I have planned for my campaign, coop for zandronum is very possible in the distant future, I will take note of those recommendations. Again, thanks a lot for your comment, I really appreciate this kind of feedback.

A few more screenshots while the wait continues:

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By the way, the next update will work with Wrath of Cronos 3.A and the latest gzdoom build!

[lwks]

Wanted to try this one but it doesn't seem to be compatible with WOC3.0 Will the mapset be compatible with the new version of WOC next patch?

[Exeor]

Wanted to try this one but it doesn't seem to be compatible with WOC3.0 Will the mapset be compatible with the new version of WOC next patch?

This old buid works only for WoC 2.2 + gzdoom 3.3.0 or 3.4.0, but the next update I'm working since a lot of months is for WoC 3.A and the latest gzdoom build, I'm always trying to make my campaign the most friendly-mod possible for Wrath of Cronos, so it is pretty easy for me to update it without things getting broken
I recorded two videos, in the first one I show how subquests work and in the second one there is a new open area I did some weeks ago (still a bit unfinished)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jvjWmP ... uO1kS/view

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1N5Ozvq ... n5Wx6/view

[Pachira]

This looks really cool, I like the idea of RPG type stuff in Doom engine with dialogs and NPCs and stuff. Really like Strife and Ashes 2063 for that.

Are you still working on this by chance?

[Exeor]

This looks really cool, I like the idea of RPG type stuff in Doom engine with dialogs and NPCs and stuff. Really like Strife and Ashes 2063 for that.

Are you still working on this by chance?

Of course, it is just taking my time with the next update because I'm working on this campaign alone and the level design consumes me a lot of time sadly, plus I'm also coding new enemies adapted to the Wrath of Cronos rpg system, revamping some old areas and adding new textures from Heretic 2, Hexen 2 and Blood. Trust me, I really want that the next update has a lot of quality and quantity
Meanwhile, a few more images:

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[Caleb13]

BTW, I tried the version from the OP in GZdoom 4.3.3, but it crashed with these errors:

LoadActors: Load actor definitions.
Script error, "CultofDespair.pk3:hexnmash.txt" line 1:
Parent type 'NewEttin' not found in _Ettin
Attempt to get invalid state Idle from actor _Ettin.
Attempt to get invalid state See from actor _Ettin.
Script error, "CultofDespair.pk3:hexnmash.txt" line 20:
Parent type 'Bormereth' not found in _Bormereth
Attempt to get invalid state Idle from actor _Bormereth.
Script error, "CultofDespair.pk3:hexnmash.txt" line 35:
Parent type 'NewCentaur' not found in _Centaur
Attempt to get invalid state Idle from actor _Centaur.
Attempt to get invalid state See from actor _Centaur.
Script error, "CultofDespair.pk3:hexnmash.txt" line 57:
Parent type 'NewCentaurLeader' not found in _CentaurLeader
Attempt to get invalid state Idle from actor _CentaurLeader.
Attempt to get invalid state See from actor _CentaurLeader.
Script error, "CultofDespair.pk3:hexnmash.txt" line 106:
Parent type 'NewFireDemon' not found in _FireDemon
Attempt to get invalid state Chase from actor _FireDemon.
Script error, "CultofDespair.pk3:hexnmash.txt" line 136:
Parent type 'FireDemonQueen' not found in _FireDemonQueen
Attempt to get invalid state Chase from actor _FireDemonQueen.
Attempt to get invalid state Chase from actor _FireDemonQueen.
Script error, "CultofDespair.pk3:hexnmash.txt" line 196:
Parent type 'FireDemonQueenClone' not found in _FireDemonQueenClone
Attempt to get invalid state Chase from actor _FireDemonQueenClone.
Attempt to get invalid state Chase from actor _FireDemonQueenClone.
Script error, "CultofDespair.pk3:hexnmash.txt" line 223:
Parent type 'NewDemon1' not found in _Demon1
Attempt to get invalid state Idle from actor _Demon1.
Attempt to get invalid state See from actor _Demon1.
Attempt to get invalid state See from actor _Demon1.
Attempt to get invalid state See from actor _Demon1.
Script error, "CultofDespair.pk3:hexnmash.txt" line 275:
Parent type 'NewDemon2' not found in _Demon2
Attempt to get invalid state Idle from actor _Demon2.
Attempt to get invalid state See from actor _Demon2.
Attempt to get invalid state See from actor _Demon2.
Attempt to get invalid state See from actor _Demon2.
Script error, "CultofDespair.pk3:hexnmash.txt" line 327:
Parent type 'Demon5' not found in _Demon5
Attempt to get invalid state Idle from actor _Demon5.
Attempt to get invalid state See from actor _Demon5.
Attempt to get invalid state See from actor _Demon5.
Script error, "CultofDespair.pk3:hexnmash.txt" line 393:
Parent type 'NewHeresiarch' not found in _Heresiarch

[Exeor]

BTW, I tried the version from the OP in GZdoom 4.3.3, but it crashed with these errors:

LoadActors: Load actor definitions.
Script error, "CultofDespair.pk3:hexnmash.txt" line 1:
Parent type 'NewEttin' not found in _Ettin
Attempt to get invalid state Idle from actor _Ettin.
Attempt to get invalid state See from actor _Ettin.
Script error, "CultofDespair.pk3:hexnmash.txt" line 20:
Parent type 'Bormereth' not found in _Bormereth
Attempt to get invalid state Idle from actor _Bormereth.
Script error, "CultofDespair.pk3:hexnmash.txt" line 35:
Parent type 'NewCentaur' not found in _Centaur
Attempt to get invalid state Idle from actor _Centaur.
Attempt to get invalid state See from actor _Centaur.
Script error, "CultofDespair.pk3:hexnmash.txt" line 57:
Parent type 'NewCentaurLeader' not found in _CentaurLeader
Attempt to get invalid state Idle from actor _CentaurLeader.
Attempt to get invalid state See from actor _CentaurLeader.
Script error, "CultofDespair.pk3:hexnmash.txt" line 106:
Parent type 'NewFireDemon' not found in _FireDemon
Attempt to get invalid state Chase from actor _FireDemon.
Script error, "CultofDespair.pk3:hexnmash.txt" line 136:
Parent type 'FireDemonQueen' not found in _FireDemonQueen
Attempt to get invalid state Chase from actor _FireDemonQueen.
Attempt to get invalid state Chase from actor _FireDemonQueen.
Script error, "CultofDespair.pk3:hexnmash.txt" line 196:
Parent type 'FireDemonQueenClone' not found in _FireDemonQueenClone
Attempt to get invalid state Chase from actor _FireDemonQueenClone.
Attempt to get invalid state Chase from actor _FireDemonQueenClone.
Script error, "CultofDespair.pk3:hexnmash.txt" line 223:
Parent type 'NewDemon1' not found in _Demon1
Attempt to get invalid state Idle from actor _Demon1.
Attempt to get invalid state See from actor _Demon1.
Attempt to get invalid state See from actor _Demon1.
Attempt to get invalid state See from actor _Demon1.
Script error, "CultofDespair.pk3:hexnmash.txt" line 275:
Parent type 'NewDemon2' not found in _Demon2
Attempt to get invalid state Idle from actor _Demon2.
Attempt to get invalid state See from actor _Demon2.
Attempt to get invalid state See from actor _Demon2.
Attempt to get invalid state See from actor _Demon2.
Script error, "CultofDespair.pk3:hexnmash.txt" line 327:
Parent type 'Demon5' not found in _Demon5
Attempt to get invalid state Idle from actor _Demon5.
Attempt to get invalid state See from actor _Demon5.
Attempt to get invalid state See from actor _Demon5.
Script error, "CultofDespair.pk3:hexnmash.txt" line 393:
Parent type 'NewHeresiarch' not found in _Heresiarch

Read the Some basic info part in the first post.
The next update will work with the current gzdoom build and with Wrath of Cronos 3.A, I still can't say a specific date about when I will release it.