[Hexen] Serpent: Resurrection [New version 09/2017]

[CasimirsBlake]

This is the same The Ultimate Doomer that gave us Super Sonic Doom, right? I spent a very, very happy Christmas of 2006 playing that and enjoying every second. One of the best collection of Doom levels ever made. Looking forward to this very much!

[The Ultimate DooMer]

Update as of 15 Mar:
------------------------
Everything complete, preliminary testing & balancing underway...a public beta is on the horizon.

[A.guy]

while reading the OP, i saw that you must have the latest GZDoom to run this, will it also work with ST 98b?

[Shadelight]

I'm going to guess that this uses more recent features, so probably not.

[ShadesMaster]

Almost!!!!

[The Ultimate DooMer]

Update as of 22 Apr:
------------------------
Testing & balancing continues...I'm getting closer to being happy with it. One more playtest for me and a public beta should be ready.

[Tormentor667]

YES

[chopkinsca]

Update as of 22 Apr:
------------------------
Testing & balancing continues...I'm getting closer to being happy with it. One more playtest for me and a public beta should be ready.

Awesome. I can't wait.

[The Ultimate DooMer]

Update as of 30 Apr:
------------------------

Beta 1 download - p1 updated also.

[Nash]

Very immersive! I'm not done playing yet, just went through it briefly, but here are some issues so far:

- Text and HUD messes up when text scaling is turned on. I play at 1920 x 1200 so I turn on text scaling. Turning it off (or even double) makes things harder to read for me. You should define an absolute HUD size using SetHUDSize() to display your text and the HUD icons.

- On a related note, how about defining your new HUDs in SBARINFO? Then you can define HUDs for the status bar as well as the fullscreen HUD. The whole "please get rid of your status bar" deal shouldn't appear now that there are proper ways to do HUDs.

- Please make the very first cutscene (the one after your stats are rolled and you meet the king) skippable.

- There should be no need to define extra keys for the attribute menu. GetPlayerInput() should be used.

- For dialogues in cutscenes, it would be great if you can append the talker's name before the actual dialogue. I know there's text colours but it's still confusing sometimes.

So far these issues break the immersion for me.

Will report more later...

[Chris]

Very nice looking, so far (even though I haven't gotten far in it, yet). I do echo the same concerns as Nash, though:

- The HUD/text breaks when using text scaling. Given the size of the screen I play in, the font is difficult to read when left unscaled.

- All the overridden, custom keys really break the fun. Not only is it difficult to find good keys to use, trying to remember what's what and use them in the middle of play is nearly impossible. Can't the normal navigation keys, weapon slots, and inventory selection be used?

I also found these problems:

- At the start when you take control, if you open the "secret" passage and try to head back down, you get stopped by an impassible line. If you're up against that line when the stairs raise back up, you get stuck and have to noclip back out.

- The front of the ships seem to repeatedly play a slaming sound, like a lift stop (more noticeable in lower frame rates when there's more time in between two game tics).

- The ships really kill performance. Not sure this is a problem with the mod itself, though, as I've run into the same problem elsewhere; my system performance just dies for inexplicable reasons under certain conditions when using OpenGL (it's an nVidia card under Linux, using the 195.36.15 binary drivers).

[neoworm]

Except really weirdly recolored thug in the city no bugs found. I am currently stuck up in the four elemental villages. I found way to fire and water elementals but wasnt able to kill them.

One little thing made me little angry - its nice that there is a way to use non magical hammer but its hard to tell which one you have actually selected. I made sprites of burning hammer for my Fighter plus mod, maybe you can consider using them.

And some monsters get stucked up on the slopes on first hub, its kinda like cheating to catch them up there and than kill them by few thrown hammers without real fight.

And I forgot - its absolutelly stunning mod so far.

[The Ultimate DooMer]

Text and HUD messes up when text scaling is turned on. I play at 1920 x 1200 so I turn on text scaling. Turning it off (or even double) makes things harder to read for me. You should define an absolute HUD size using SetHUDSize() to display your text and the HUD icons.

Heh, I forgot about SetHudSize completely...I haven't used it since Sonic

On a related note, how about defining your new HUDs in SBARINFO? Then you can define HUDs for the status bar as well as the fullscreen HUD. The whole "please get rid of your status bar" deal shouldn't appear now that there are proper ways to do HUDs.

Hmm...if it's possible to make a blank status bar with SBARINFO it'd be a useful addition.

Please make the very first cutscene (the one after your stats are rolled and you meet the king) skippable.

It already is (and so is the entire 2nd map), but the commands aren't mentioned until the end of the game. (the idea being that you watch them for the first play and then skip them in the future if you wish. Plus the map 01 intro has some important info).

I had to think of that one, given the length of the map 02 cinematic and the mixed opinion that cutscenes in general have

For dialogues in cutscenes, it would be great if you can append the talker's name before the actual dialogue. I know there's text colours but it's still confusing sometimes.

Noted.

All the overridden, custom keys really break the fun. Not only is it difficult to find good keys to use, trying to remember what's what and use them in the middle of play is nearly impossible. Can't the normal navigation keys, weapon slots, and inventory selection be used?

I didn't know about GetPlayerInput (and I'm not sure how to implement it without defining new menu keys or without disabling player movement while the menu is active), the weapon keys just need to be redefined by the player (as Hexen's hardcoded item hotkeys were overriding slots 5+ when I tried to add my own defaults) and all the inventory hotkeys are optional like Hexen 2.

At the start when you take control, if you open the "secret" passage and try to head back down, you get stopped by an impassible line. If you're up against that line when the stairs raise back up, you get stuck and have to noclip back out.

Easily fixed once I get home, I didn't think of that one as I know you're not meant to go back there

The front of the ships seem to repeatedly play a slaming sound, like a lift stop (more noticeable in lower frame rates when there's more time in between two game tics).

I think I know what's causing that, it's the horizon sector adjusting it's height when you stick your head under/over water (to make the horizon work properly)...looks like I forgot to silence it.

The ships really kill performance. Not sure this is a problem with the mod itself, though, as I've run into the same problem elsewhere; my system performance just dies for inexplicable reasons under certain conditions when using OpenGL (it's an nVidia card under Linux, using the 195.36.15 binary drivers).

They're a bit more resource-intensive than most areas, there aren't many areas as hungry though.

One little thing made me little angry - its nice that there is a way to use non magical hammer but its hard to tell which one you have actually selected. I made sprites of burning hammer for my Fighter plus mod, maybe you can consider using them.

The coloured mana symbols on the HUD light up when a mana-using weapon is selected (which I added specially for the fighter's non-magical variant of each weapon)...a note should have popped up explaining that when you got the hammer.

(and the elementals are ghosts - only magical weapons can kill them, this does include the magical axe and powered mage staff though)

[Gez]

It already is (and so is the entire 2nd map), but the commands aren't mentioned until the end of the game. (the idea being that you watch them for the first play and then skip them in the future if you wish. Plus the map 01 intro has some important info).

This, however, relies on the assumption that people will complete the game with their first character... It'd make more sense to have the mean to skip it revealed at the end of the cutscene.

I started with a mage, quickly grew very bored of that character (the puniest weapon ever, no hit points to speak of, guzzles magic rings like there's no tomorrow otherwise he's completely useless, etc.) so I decided to try a cleric instead. A lot better. This time my character could face the onslaught of monsters on Caldera's shore without dying or cheating.

A few criticisms:
- Many little grammar/spelling mistakes.
- The cannon things on the ship are weird. Is there any way to control where they aim? When the wyvern attacked my cleric's ship, it remained stubbornly all the way to the fore, sending the cannonballs in a trajectory which the monster never crossed at any point... It just got bored after a while and left. (My mage did hit the wyvern a few times, though.) Also the translucent wood is weird. It's all very odd looking.
- That labyrinth of vertical tunnels in Uranus is just horrible.

Now, to mitigate all that negativeness, I've liked the rest so far.

[The Ultimate DooMer]

The cannons are like the ones in Sonic, step up to it and bump the wooden sides to aim it.

(and the mage is fine once you get the weapons in map 03...before that it's tricks, spells and evasion)