Hell-Forged (updated to v1.11 - development paused)

[Amuscaria]

@TheBellTolls: Fixed.

@SamVision: Thanks!

[Turin Turambar]

I'm playing this mod right now, in map 7 right now. I will give you some feedback. Overall it's a phenomenal TC mod, but I have some little complaints:


-In map 5, there was a moment where I got stuck. I missed an elevator, despite going to that place 4 or 5 times. This one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C263VmGRqvo&t=526s I think the fact the elevator is on the side, just at the start of the room, and all textures are similar, can make it hard to notice.
-Lower a bit the volume of draining blood with the wheel of pain. So annoying.
-The weapons are great, but I'm still missing the last two. I understand that I missed them in secrets, but it will be a pity if most players can only use them in the last level when the experience is ending.
-Speaking of weapons, it seems to me the Basilisk is a bit OP?
edit: actually map 5-7 are being easier than the previous maps, I'm starting to think they need to be more difficult to compensate with receiving the Mauler and Basilisk.

[Turin Turambar]

Seriously, where are you supposed to find the Soultaker?

[Amuscaria]

Seriously, where are you supposed to find the Soultaker?

Hi, thank you for playing and testing.

Regarding your feedback:

You can get it in 4 maps. The earliest you can get it is in the secret map "Forgotten Fane" (HF1M9), which can be enter from the 2nd map. Hitting the secret switch will change the exit elevator's destination to the secret map, instead of the 3rd. You can get the secret switch either by getting the Green skull key, or hit finding the hidden switch on the castle walkway the blue door facing the rocky wall.

The second map you can get it is the "Hell Keep" by finding all the green switches, there is one green switch on each of the towers lining the castle's wall. Getting the switches will open a cage near the stairs that go above the lava pool near the exist.

The third map if the "Tower of Command" (HF1M7), again by finding the Green switches (there are 3 in total, one in each of the spokes). This will open a teleporter near the huge entrace that leads you into the big circular room in the begining. Take the teleporter and it will teleport you to a hidden floor above the entrance.

Finally, you can get the weapon in "Hell Forge" (HF1M8) in the black building. It's just near a indented wall near the right staircase near the entrance to that building. You can get the Reaper from this map as well by going into the White building. There will be a section with 4 elevated pillars with 4 soul-spheres on them. Use the Hellbolt to Rocket-jump onto the highest one, you will find a teleporter there. Take it to get to a secret buiilding near the outside of the map. The Reaper is in there.

Again, these weapons are meant for the second episode and were only given to the player as super-secrets to bear the find boss with easier. I have no intention in changing how you get the weapon as it's meant to be a secret. The video secreiest you linked from Pagd666 shows were all the secrets are with exception to maybe 1 of the mushroom collectibles.

The Basilisk is intended to the the BFG-level weapon for the first episode, and is thus powered as such. Without it having the high-DPS as it is, there won't be a weapon to meaningfully fight the tougher enemies in this episode. The Mauler is also not OP. It's only good for lined up-rows of enemies, which was the intent. It's not efficient at killing 1 enemy as the damage is slightly lower than the plasma-gun and is not perfectly accurate. For that the Nailgun is better with its molten-nails. It also doesn't fight bosses effectively, since it cannot rip thru the bosses.

Maps 5-7 is only easier if you've already gotten all the weapons and secret weapons from the previous map. All of the maps in HF is made so that they can be beaten on UV with nothing by the Vorpal Blade start. It's not so easy then, since they were made to be challenging for me on UV.

I will lower the volume for the drain-attack on the Wheel of Pain. I've removed those elevators and make the thing stairs instead.

[TheBellTolls]

Heya Amu, I'm back again with some more feedback.

First up is this strange lighting I found in E1M5. Probably related to the little pillar below it. Not sure if this is something you'd fix, but figured I'd point it out.

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Second, I discovered a moving texture in this wall on E1M6. I thought it might be a teleporter, but I couldn't find any way to access that part of the wall.

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That's about it when it comes to visuals. I'm finding the sound effects around the Soultaker ammo get a bit too loud as you get close to them, and they persist even after picked up. The volume you can handle, but I'm not sure about the persistent sound. Not a mapper myself, so I don't know if that's a limitation.

Lastly, are you considering adding an automap item at some point? While I love how large and detailed the maps are, secret-hunting starts to become tedious after all the monsters are dead, and I feel an automap would be handy for that. I know it doesn't work for the theme, but uh... magic I guess? I'd rather get a pick-up than use IDDT to see where I haven't been an hour+ into the map, heh.

Also I gotta say I really adore the little amu plushies in each level. They're super cute and often in pretty clever spots! The Catacombs one in particular stands out. Sneaky devil.

[Turin Turambar]

Hah, from that list, I actually got into secret map 9, but I didn't see the weapon

[Amuscaria]

@TheBellTolls: most HF maps have a tele that opens when the player reaches near the end of the map. This is meant for coop so a respawning or joining player doesnt have to run all the way across the map to catch up to other players. It doesn't serve any other function.

[TheBellTolls]

@TheBellTolls: most HF maps have a tele that opens when the player reaches near the end of the map. This is meant for coop so a respawning or joining player doesnt have to run all the way across the map to catch up to other players. It doesn't serve any other function.

I did notice that, I was just confused about that particular one because I had gotten to the end of the map and it hadn't opened yet. Good feature!

[Amuscaria]

@TheBellTolls: If it doesn't open than it's probably a bugged script. Will have to check when i get home.

I didn't add a map item because the default automap already shoes the item/monster/secrets stats. Most of the secrets can be seen in the map, so I didnt find a need. I might add one for later, though.

@Tura: The map 9 Soultaker is gotten by a teleporter from activating 3 Green Skull switches.

[Amuscaria]

I'm getting a strange crash that I can't identify only during Deathmatch when going to certain maps (Mostly the later maps), and only randomly with GZDoom 3.7.2, but not 4.1. I'm not sure if it's my maps or the executable, but these crashes did not happen with the 0.9B alpha test, and the maps were not altered in any way that I could think of that would cause the issue. If someone could point to the source of the problem, it would be most appreciated. Want to make sure it's not the wad itself.

Crash report is attached.

[TheBellTolls]

Finally finished my second playthrough, and I've got just a few things to bring up about HF1M8 specifically.

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These two areas, despite being out of the way and requiring hidden walls to access, aren't tagged as secrets.

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This isn't a bug per se but I honestly could not figure out how to access this secret, and I spent a good hour searching for some way to teleport up there (the item is only collected because I just used fly). Is it something super obvious that my monkey brain glossed over?

Also even after tagging that one, I was still missing the final secret, and I have no clue where it could've been. I don't think it was a sector, as I spent a good while checking the map and using the secret sector toggle to see if anything showed up, so I had to assume it was an item. Even then, I scanned the map with items visible and didn't see any powerups it could've been, as the only ones left were in the Hellsmith Arena and a single powerup behind the glass at the green skull key area. Hell Forge was the only map I couldn't manage 100% secrets on, so feels bad.

[PlayerLin]

and only randomly with GZDoom 3.7.2, but not 4.1.

If it didn't crashed in latest GZDooM(official or latest dev. builds) then I don't think it's a big problem I guess, since 3.7.2 is old...

[Ashtiel]

I registered for an account on here just to say that I really love this mod. Seeing MrIcarus' video on it inspired me to actually play a Doom mod for once and I'm glad I chose this one, even if it made me realize how much I suck at Doom but I still really enjoyed myself despite getting my ass kicked.

The sprite work is phenomenal, the maps are tightly designed/interconnected despite their size, and the new enemies are interesting (especially those Sentinels ).

I feel like my only complaint is the missile barrage from the Hellsmith boss might be a bit much? I get he's the big bad and meant to stomp you into the dirt but his other attacks are manageable. When the missile barrage pops off, the missiles seem to home in on the player or have this weird cluster effect and kill me within seconds even with mostly full armor and hugging the arena's cover. I'm guessing it's the splash damage killing me. This is without me hunting all over M8 for the extra power-ups like Juggernaut which would probably make the fight a bit easier, of course.

It's far from a deal breaker though, and I definitely plan on doing another playthrough on a higher difficulty soon enough. Hyped for the full version!

[Amuscaria]

Some notes about HF1M8 before I go into how to get those secrets:

-The secret power-ups you choose to spawn comes in 3 tiers. The Soul, Vision, and Regenerator Spheres are tier 1. The Doom, Chrono , Annihilator Spheres are tier 2. Finally, the Juggernaut, Destroyer and Mega- Spheres are tier 3. Depending on which power-up you picked, there are 1 of 3 spawning locations. Each power-up is tagged with a secret tag. The 1st tier power-ups are spawned near the begining in a relatively easy secret. The second tier are meant to kill the bosses so are usually spawned near a mini boss. Finally the 3rd tier are spawned near the exit of that area after you kill the boss as they restore player ammo and status (except the Juggernaut). Rooms these power-up spawned in aren't tagged as secret with a few exceptions.

These two areas, despite being out of the way and requiring hidden walls to access, aren't tagged as secrets.

The secret is tagged as the items in that those areas. The Soultaker is a secret in the first screen shot. Depending on which power-up you selected for the Red-building, a 2nd-tier power-up will spawn at the destination of that teleporter, which has the secret tag in the second screenshot.

I honestly could not figure out how to access this secret

There is a small switch near the floor to the right side of the upper level. It lowers the other pillar in that room which has a teleporter that teleports you to that upper secret area. Again, the secret tag is on the power-up itself. If you didn't pick a power-up that spawns in that area, there will be no point getting there.

Also even after tagging that one, I was still missing the final secret.

Did you get the secret Orange Mushroom behind the secret Green building cliff?

Either way, thanks again for your continued testing testing.

[Amuscaria]

I registered for an account on here just to say that I really love this mod. Seeing MrIcarus' video on it inspired me to actually play a Doom mod for once and I'm glad I chose this one, even if it made me realize how much I suck at Doom but I still really enjoyed myself despite getting my ass kicked.

The sprite work is phenomenal, the maps are tightly designed/interconnected despite their size, and the new enemies are interesting (especially those Sentinels ).

I feel like my only complaint is the missile barrage from the Hellsmith boss might be a bit much? I get he's the big bad and meant to stomp you into the dirt but his other attacks are manageable. When the missile barrage pops off, the missiles seem to home in on the player or have this weird cluster effect and kill me within seconds even with mostly full armor and hugging the arena's cover. I'm guessing it's the splash damage killing me. This is without me hunting all over M8 for the extra power-ups like Juggernaut which would probably make the fight a bit easier, of course.

It's far from a deal breaker though, and I definitely plan on doing another playthrough on a higher difficulty soon enough. Hyped for the full version!

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Ashtiel: Thanks! I made the Hellsmith Arena bigger for the 1.0 release. Also added a 1-second delay to the Hellsmith before he fires his rockets. Should give the player more time and room to maneuver.