Knee-Deep in KDiZD: Z1M3 screenshot-whoring brigade (12/14)

[esselfortium]

@Spleen: Heh. It's not really worth the tradeoff, IMO. Usually the difference made is rather small, IIRC, anyway.

We stress-test the maps in high-quality mode, full 320x200 (i.e. no statusbar), with all the doors wide-open, using GhostlyDeath's Chocorenderlimits.exe to display the onscreen visplane and drawseg counts, so we can safely say that we're doing the best that we can possibly do to ensure that no visplane overflows or noticeable drawseg overflows will occur. (Though, of course, this is impossible to 100% guarantee.) There are a bunch of areas in every map that have visplane counts well into the "danger zone" (110+ visplanes), usually due to lots of areas visible at once rather than abnormally high amounts of detail, but these areas are tested pretty thoroughly to hopefully avert any problems.

[Gendo]

what's the big fuss about vanilla doom experience there? looks like this is surely gonna be prboom-(and the likes)-only-wad, otherwise no savegames will work but anyway, impressive

[esselfortium]

Usually I just post progress in the "WHAT THE HELL are you working on" thread in Off-Topic, but I figure that's honestly kind of silly when I have a perfectly good project thread here that's sitting idly by itself in the corner, so I think I'm going to start posting development screenshots in here instead. The downside to this is that the entire wad will have been spoiled before it's released, but I'd be posting them either here or there anyway, or just linking them on IRC, so oh well. I like instant gratification; I make some progress that I'm happy with, so I want to show it

Most recently I've been building the areas past the blue key door in z1m3. I mostly just used the KDiZD version of these areas as a rough base for the basic theme, as some combination of sloppy mapping in the original and vanilla limitations left me with the need to do things differently. I think I captured the feel of the original well enough, with the notable change that all the textures are even aligned properly

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And for good measure, a bunch of other z1m3 shots that I've (mostly) already posted somewhere or another:

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[Tormentor667]

Some of those shots are brilliant!

[Phobus]

Most impressive.

[Vader]

Excellent screenshots!
Good idea to put those nukage filled tunnels beyond the blue door on the surface of the nukage... I was wondering what you were going to do with them

[esselfortium]

Thanks guys! And crossposted from Doomworld:

How close to being finished?

Z1M1: Old: 100% but crappy and scrapped, New: 10%
Z1M2: 95%
Z1M3: 40%
Z1M4: 95%
Z1M5: 5%
Z1M6: 25%
Z1M7: 60%
Z1M8: 10%
Z1M9: 15%

Numbers are rough estimates.

So, not very close at all; the project is still desperately in need of regular contributors. With one or two notable exceptions (hi Nuxius, hi Tun) the mapper turnover for KDiKDiZD has been incredibly high, with most team members building a few rooms and then seeming to drop off the face of the earth. The complete lack of activity had lead me to consider the project to be on an indefinite hiatus for the better part of 2009, and it was only through a spontaneous urge to work on it again that I picked it back up to continue work on Z1M3 a week or two ago.

A new regular contributor or two, or some of the existing mapping team coming back to life, is pretty much the only way this project has any real chance of being released while people are even still playing Doom. I humbly request anyone interested who's comfortable with Doom mapping and careful about texture alignment and overall neatness to join up if you'd like to see this project completed. Skills such as creating nice-looking composite textures are preferable but *not* a requirement.

Send a PM my way to inquire about joining up. The life you save could be your own.

[Janitor]

As always, I'm happy to offer contributions, but I don't really have any maps to show off my skill at DooM mapping, plus I rely on ZDoom's features as a crutch for never mastering vanilla doom.

Gotta admit, this is starting to look really cool

[esselfortium]

Hmmmmmm....in that case, what sort of contributions would you be interested in making?

[180°]

Is it okay if I bump this thread to ask about the status?

This is definitely something to look forward to.

There are a bunch of areas in every map that have visplane counts well into the "danger zone" (110+ visplanes), usually due to lots of areas visible at once rather than abnormally high amounts of detail, but these areas are tested pretty thoroughly to hopefully avert any problems.

In need of testers for this?

[ZDG]

Whoohoo, two superbumps today! Well, if you want to know the status WHITOUT super-bumping, PM ESSEL!

[printz]

Yeah. I hoped the bump being from the thread starter, together with a big IT'S DONE. Dang it.

[Nuxius]

Yeah. I hoped the bump being from the thread starter, together with a big IT'S DONE. Dang it.

Aaaah-hah-hahahahahahahahaaaa.... keep dreaming.

Unless we get some real help* with mapping here, don't expect this project to be done anytime soon.

*real help does not equal making one room and dropping off the face of the planet.

[Major Cooke]

This is as likely as TSoZD coming out... never (in my opinion). Everyone's moved on.

[esselfortium]

This is as likely as TSoZD coming out... never (in my opinion). Everyone's moved on.

Moved on from what? You're not a member of either project's development team. :-\