ZDoom

CaptainToenail wrote:Um, well I would really like to test this but I can't get past the first set of giant Wendigos because my weapons screwed up and I'm left with the Cleric's original mace only and 7% health. If you fix up the weapons we might be able to test this properly

You can skip this part

There are some proyectile sprites that have the cyan visible.

Yeah that's from the fallens, right? Anyway I uploaded a newer version just now. It's not complete but I snuck a few new monsters in.

Weapon slots are as they should be, they switch as they should be, they don't go away upon saving/loading; now I just gotta complete the powered-up modes!

Only thing is I had to use the following sort of code for each type of player class:

ACTOR FighterPlayer : FighterPlayer replaces FighterPlayer VERSUS
ACTOR FighterPlayer2 : FighterPlayer replaces FighterPlayer

That, or else upon loadup it wouldn't inherit the starting weapon or other new properties I've just made - health differences between the classes, and the like. Hope that's okay!

Right, well, I'm half way through map02 as the Cleric so far, here are some things I've noticed that you might want to change:

Make the spiky mace ball explosions additive, it will look nicer, also there does not appear to be an explosion sound

The cultists are too queit, did they take an oath of silence?

There are missing obituary messages for some monsters such as the Satyr bowman.

GLdefs and decals are missing

The tomed serpent staff is screwed up, why does it fire spiky balls back at the player when it hits a wall, that's not very useful, also the tomed mace is totally messed up, the sprites are offset up the screen and they often revert back to the original Hexen mace graphics.

On map01 there are incorrect textures above the teleport gates and a missing texture above the small waterfall after the first teleport.

Hope this helps, i will report back when I get further - those damn Wendigos keep freezing me

Okay I updated again: http://www.zshare.net/download/56404543a9670a10/

I didn't fix up the serpent staff powered-up mode, it's just a placeholder. I actually INCREASED the Giant Wendigo's hitpoints - but when you enter the trap again you'll see why.

I don't know about GLdefs and the like all that much - do those make projectiles leave marks on walls and the like? lol

CodenniumRed wrote:I don't know about GLdefs and the like all that much - do those make projectiles leave marks on walls and the like? lol

[wiki]GLDEFS[/wiki] are for OpenGL-only effects, such as dynamic lights. Scorch marks are addressed in [wiki]DECALDEF[/wiki].

CodenniumRed wrote:I don't know about GLdefs and the like all that much

Dynamic lights are pretty easy to learn, and the monsters on the Realm667 Beastiary and Doom/Heretic/Hexen already have dynamic lights. It shouldn't take that much to add dynamic lights.

As for decals, just the decal decorate actor property to assign a decal. You can rummage through DecalDef.txt in GZDoom.pk3 for their names (read the Generators part).

I played through the first 2 and a half levels and here's my assessment so far.

Pros:

-Good looking maps with a nice ice-world theme.
-Interesting use of existing T667 Beastiary monsters that were originally meant for doom.
-Always Good to have the ever so rare Hexen mod.
-Level Designs and atmosphere is excellent.
-Level progresses very similarly to the original Hexen, good for consistency.
-Nice use of many GZdoom features.

Cons:

-Unrealiable weapons for the most part.
-Gameplay style seems more Doom like than Hexen (will explain later).
-Monsters are way too powerful for the begining of a mod.
-Monsters geared more towards a Doom-style game than Hexen.
-Missing weapons?
-Weapon behaviors aren't all that original even with new sprites (there are exceptions).

My current assessment of the mod is that it looks as good as it's shown in the preview screenies, but doesn't play too well. If this was a Doom mod with doom-like weapons, it would be different. I say this because Hexen gameplay style is supposed to be be very different from Dooms. In your mod, there isn't a single melee-only bash monster such as the ettins or centaur (not slaughtaur). All the enemies uses some ranged attack, and usually with very high-speed projectiles for a Hexen mod. This style of gameplay makes it very hard for a melee class, like the fighter. The monster's projectiles are very hard to avoid given the confined spaces, and untrue to Hexen, which as generally slow missile speeds to let the player beat them down easier.

The new weapons are generally unreliable as far as I can tell. The Cleric's shooting mace may offer range, but at the expense of usefulness because the projectiles are so slow and the weapon fire rate so low that i have to basically walk up to the monster to use it effectively, thus negating much of the ranged benefits. Damage for that thing also seems to be very low per missile. Mage's wand does the same thing as the original? Powered up Mace looks rather unimpressive, the projectiles are far too small. But heaves decently. Powered up Mage-wand doesn't do anything, no attack what so ever? Powered up Fighter gauntlet is pretty decent. Powered-up serpent staff is good, powered up Frost Shards does nothing different, Powered up Fighter axe is the same? Those are all the new weapons I was able to get so far.

I cheated to test out the other weapons, but my assessment of them might not be accurate, given that I only tested them on the first few levels. The skull staff thing for the mage is generally un reliable and is somewhat un-mage like because of its behavior. It fires 3 spreading projectiles that does not home in on mosnter, and thus acts like a big shotgun. It forces the player to get pretty close to a target to attack with all 3 projectiles. The spreading weapon is already covered by the frost shards, and thus seems redundant to have another that does the same. It's powered up mode seems a bit uninteresting, as it just shoots faster but with 1 projectile. The fighter's dragon claw is VERY weak, and basically useless despite having range. The damage is so low that the time it takers to kill a monster is hardly worth not just running up with the axe and beating them down. The powered-up mod for the claw seems better suited for a fighter's range weapon. The range and fire-rate also seems un-fighter like. Cleric seems to be missing a 3rd weapon as far as I can tell.

I'm generally unpleased with how the 4th weapons are now the original 3rd weapons. Seems far too weak especially with the tougher monsters. It also seems to take away the point of going through the maps and getting weapons. I'm not sure if they're multi-part weapons or not, if they aren't then it's even more unhexen.

There are some issues with the monsters as well. The Ghoul's soul attack doesn't aim at the player's height. The giant Wendigos are way too tough for a level 1 mosnter. Cultists, like many other monsters, have projectiles that are too fast for Hexen.

Overall, a good mod so far and has much potential. Although many of the more annoying aspects, if taken out, will make it much better.

I've been getting some pretty good and constructive feedback from you guys and for that I am thankful.

I've made alot of the suggested changes as listed above; I've added secondary attacks to more of the weapons, the Skullstaff's main attack has been modified to work like its secondary did, I've raised the speed and damage of the Cleric Starting weapon, as well as the damage of the Unpowered Dragon claw. The Ruby Wand now has a secondary attack - though this might be temporary - as well as the Frost Shards. The Cleric is missing a third weapon, yes, and the fighter is still missing his 5th weapon.

CodenniumRed wrote:I've been getting some pretty good and constructive feedback from you guys and for that I am thankful.

I've made alot of the suggested changes as listed above; I've added secondary attacks to more of the weapons, the Skullstaff's main attack has been modified to work like its secondary did, I've raised the speed and damage of the Cleric Starting weapon, as well as the damage of the Unpowered Dragon claw. The Ruby Wand now has a secondary attack - though this might be temporary - as well as the Frost Shards. The Cleric is missing a third weapon, yes, and the fighter is still missing his 5th weapon.

There are 5 weapons now? I thought there was just 4 because 5 was being used by the Quartz Flask.

ZShare doesn't like me, could you or someone upload it somewhere else?

Yeah, actually, 6, slots 1, 2A, 2B, 3A, 3B and the superweapon on slot 4 is there but not placed in the levels....

Next version's up: http://www.zshare.net/download/5641846796709b4d/ Has more working secondary firemodes and some balane tweaks....

Still won't start, using the newest GZDoom.

I can fix the last ones, but the stuff with the player I actually kept it at the same name because otherwise the starting weapons were unchanged, so I gotta look into how to fix that up....

But when I have the 'correct' code as shown below the player doesn't have the proper starting weapons or properties I try to change; he only has the original HeXen versions which disappear when you switch from them, and the original health and values with no speed penalties. When I ditch the '2' in front of the classes they work fine except for people who have trouble loading up the WAD, such as Chris. The otehr things in the warnings, like the projectiles, I change without problems.

And I've got cleric's rain almost working but I run into a problem. I have a projectile which, upon death, spawns a rain cloud that should cause rain to drop. That works fine. But the rain cloud is invisible and I can't see it's graphics, while the rain explodes while it is made and doesn't drop from the ceiling to the ground.

RAIN CLOUD
RAINDROPS