[3DGE]Astral Pathfinder (OVERHAUL WIP)

[RUNSABER]

Astral Pathfinder is a 7-map pack for the 3DGE engine, showing off what the port is capable of in minor instances, while offering a suited gameplay experience from the author's perspective. While difficulties are not implemented just yet, cautionary play is advised, for this modification will not hesitate in testing the player's skill against waves of menacing opposition.

Enter Episode I. Trapped on a technology processing facility in Delano 6, a mysterious signal has rendered most of the station useless. Explore the confines of your rusty prison and get to the bottom of what seems to be foul play at the hands of a control freak. Stop the ghost ship from crashing into its nearby course, and descend into the marrow of the icy locales of Kapalades II. What was once a drill site to study bio-organic life on this beautiful cold giant is now the first stage in a series of horrifying rituals, terraforming and chaotic takeover by the hands of demonic flesh.



Enter Episode II. What manifestations are these testaments of ancient power and sacrifice? The hills run red with blood and gray of the ashes of the tortured and deceased. Towering monoliths which pledge to war-commanders of a time long past leave evidence to the reign of these monsters. In this realm, you are far from the influence of human life. Your weapons are puny and spit in the face of the aggression. You may have to seize their unknown power to topple their legions, even if the cost is losing your own humanity.


Features:

Dynamic Lighting / 3D Floors / 3D Skyboxes / OGG Music / High Resolution Textures / New Enemies(Improved Originals) / New Weapons / Quest-Driven Side Objectives

Screenshots (OLD BETA):

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New Screenshots:

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What is currently complete/Known Issues:

• Episode I is now complete. MAP01 is now MAP02 in the new arrangement! There are now masters to defeat after each level.
  Variations of the original monsters including new additions are now available!
  New weapons have been tweaked for better proficiency.
  You can now craft weapons! Certain enemies have a rare (3%) chance of dropping an ingredient that can be combined into a new powerful weapon.
  Maps have been overhauled COMPLETELY. Most areas have been changed entirely or removed.
  **There is a quest in MAP03 where you encounter a sunken ship. Figure out this mystery for a brilliant prize.**
  For a smooth experience, turn Interpolation OFF if you are having framerate issues.

Requirements:
Laptop or Desktop computer which can run at least GZDoom 1.8+
3DGE 1.36F+ (Untested in previous releases, report bugs if noticed!)
Doom II/FreeDoom IWAD

This modification has been in development for a year now(WOW). There are only three more maps in development until a proper release is scheduled! As of now, most of the monster roster is complete, and the craft-able Wonder Weapons are now in development to match the harder difficult levels later in the game. Plans for this mod include playability for the Dreamcast Engine (Thank you Chu) and for an overall enjoyable experience on the PC. What started as a Weapons mod by ChronoTeeth has turned into a separate additional expansion upon the aesthetic nature of the guns. Original Doom monsters have been given additional attacks and more health to compensate for the powerful nature of these weapons. You can expect to spend at least a good 15+ minutes in each level if you are completing side quests for a perfect score at the end of each level. Be warned, you will find that balance is made to work around the players' individual accuracy and skill. There is forgiveness... however punishment is absolute. Thank you for checking out Astral Pathfinder! If you would like to learn more about 3DGE, it's development and have questions about any features, please visit http://www.tdgmods.net for staff support. I also write tutorials on the features of 3DGE and how to use them!

Download v1.1: http://mbx.cm/t/7HCXa (OLD BETA)

Credits: Quake 3/Rocket Arena Hi-Res Textures, Unreal sounds, Aubrey Hodges for Quake 3 Arena Soundtrack, QuakeOne for Skyboxes, Complex Doom sounds, ToxicDM Legacy Textures, ChronoTeeth for QUACK Weapons and DDF Code, Ceejay for many DDF codes used as a base, Raven Software, id Software, Chu/Andrew/Ceejay for developing 3DGE, Sandstormer, 3rdeye, CAPCOM for Spawn: Into The Demon's Hand Soundtrack.

[chronoteeth]

this is very nice to see especially as an edge modder myself <3

[RUNSABER]

3DGE modding is quite a different field to dabble in. I think it's DDF that's got me hooked. Mapping wise, it has the same features as GZDoom excluding a few, but on the definition front, you can create your own dynamic lights, give ordinary doom monsters extended attacks, even change the game from an FPS to a RPG game!! The truth is that I would be mapping for ZDoom if my computer could handle it. I just REALLY like this port. Hopefully with further updates I can use it as my go-to alongside Eternity. By the way, I dig your RSL mod - it's perfect for maps and playthroughs that don't alter the DDF or come with one prepackaged! Have you figured out how to create a railgun-like weapon yet? I'm trying to do it, though the only way I can think of doing it is making a spiral sprite with full 16 rotations that travels like a rocket but faster.

[chronoteeth]

tbh atm there's no real way to do railguns. if I do anything like a railgun it's basically a projectile with a loooong fading trail that moves at the 88 cap. higher than that and the bullet will start heading up inadvertently

[RUNSABER]

That's the only thing that's missing from any arsenal modification for edge: railgun functionality. I hope to see some kind of implementation for it in the future but I'd rather fog be working first before that! It would go great with the next episode. Even your steampunk scrap junk weapons are top notch! Unfortunately the only weapon I've created from scratch other than a Blunderbuss was a hunter's weapon from Metroid Prime - I had plans to create a Prime-inspired mod for 3DGE but then I started playing around with Doom 64 weapons. Thus this was conceived

[Johnyledger1]

Great level design. Love the added backgrounds music. I tried this with Doom4ever.wad. I just wanted to see if they would work together. They did not. I am guessing there are a ton of different sprites and changes to the gl of the textures etc for these levels. Also any help from any one using 3dge how do I get it to be less shaky when using mouselook. I know I had seen how to do this on the Doom4ever post but I can not find that info . If it is possible to run these together I'd love to know how. If not, that is understandable. Also if any one knows how to get it less shaky on the 3dge that be cool to know in general. Great mapping talent, cheers.

[RUNSABER]

Hey Johny! Dude, I'm glad you took a chance to play this wad, once the difficulties are placed and better item balance is in effect then it will make for a far more rewarding experience. As far as it working for Doom4ever, I need to try it out because the only things that have been changed were existing light sources and decorations that would have no use logically in this wad i.e. torches, candelabras, columns, etc. There are a few new graphics that wouldnt pose any clashes with D4E's DDF. Either way I'll take a look and try to make this compatible with other weapon modifications.

What version of 3DGE are you using?

To reduce shakiness (I still get it after tweaking the config and in-game video settings), Here are some parameters that may help you:

Smoothing: OFF
Detail: Low/Medium
Mipmapping: OFF
Bit Depth: 16bit Fullscreen 640x480 or lower (use config for fine tuning)
HQScale: OFF

And here are some areas in the config that might also be useful:

Code: Select all

/r_maxfps	"40" (change to 30 or lower if you want)
/r_vsync	"0" (this is used for higher-end rigs: turn off to slightly reduce lag)

Changing these settings wont compromise the look of the engine entirely, because some parts of the map run smoothly compared to others. Give it a shot!

[Gez]

As my first official release aside from 3DGE64, A Doom64-esque mod for 3DGE, I know that this is a Zdoom-oriented community and I apologize if I have stepped over any bounds by releasing material not pertaining to that source port.

No, it's okay, we don't mind having people talk about their non-ZDoom projects here.

That said, did you get Essel's okay for the BTSX textures? The plan was to make a texture pack after the release of episode 3 that would be a free resources, but until then they didn't want the textures to be reused. If not, you can look here for replacements in a similar style.

[RUNSABER]

As a matter of fact, I havent talked to him at all >_< Sorry! I'll have them removed in RC2 though that texture set you linked me is SICK, Gez!! I'm definitely using those for the next map and they are pretty consistent!Thank you!!

[Ozymandias81]

HOLASHITTA! Nice work RUNSABER, I really hope you'll get a supa-dupa PC in order to mapping and modding with GZDoom! And I said this only viewing those screenies, now I'll give it a try with 3DGE just to have a properly idea on how it's done.

[grouchbag]

Very pretty.Good luck1

[RUNSABER]

Thanks for the feedback Ozy! Haha, that's the only thing holding me back, mate! I have some good luck coming my way with a new job and a possible second one on the horizon - and that means a new rig I could finally start working on that Metroid Prime TC if that happens XD To my playing knowledge, Episode 1 features enclosed areas and somewhat linear decision making in terms of you can explore the computer wing before grabbing the blue key, or vice versa; it's all how you play. Thanks to you as well groucho I follow all of you guys' projects and the material developed is amazing as always

The 3DGE engine is quite powerful in it's own right - an underrated port with improved capabilities over its EDGE predecessor. Although fog has been removed at the moment, sloped floors can be created, impressive room over room effects are also achieved and what I really like are the glowing flats. Using modular lighting, you can give liquids dynamic lighting via thing placement. For best results, make sure your liquid sectors are joined and share the same ID - this way, all flats are effected versus littering the map with a bunch of things. We can't script earthquakes like Hexen format can, but we can cause a ton of environmental changes with one script trigger, things that GZDoom can do but to very dramatic ends. If you like Decorate and ACS, you'll find DDF and RTS to be almost addicting because of it's highly customizable format and ease of understanding. You can make a Baron of Hell into a true boss enemy from simple definitions. This mod was inspired by the works of Legacy of Suffering, Quake II N64, and Demons of Problematique Gameplay video coming up soon, showing the intro and outro (buggy).

[Coraline]

Mod Users: If you are experiencing any issues with 3DGE while playing this, please use v2.0.1 as the engine has updated and fixed a gigantic amount of bugs, especially with interpolation. If you are finding a lot of tearing, lagging, etc., fiddle with the interpolation CVARS, notably r_vsync, and r_maxfps (as RunSaber has suggested).

[chronoteeth]

Big bump, apologies, but as this project was in developement for awhile, it seems as if the last month and a half the creator vanished

as such im gonna release this here as a wip, if they pop by ill finish it, but since the mod was quake inspired i ended up workin' w/ him doin' a quake style weapon set for the mod

this is what was done so far

[zZaRDoZz]

@Chronoteeth, does this require astral pathfinder or is it stand alone?