Aliens: Colonial Marines TC - FINISHED

[X-DOOM]

Pretty good mod with well designed levels. I have one small problem though ... Everytime i get outside the game lags really badly. It lags a bit inside buildings but it's nearly unplayable when i get outside.

I tried everything in the OpenGL settings and display settings without any result. The only thing that works was to remove all the mod's textures lol. Not to mention the graphics became really ugly without the textures as you can guess lol.

Since removing the textures is clearly not an option, do you have an idea of what could solve this?

I am pretty sure this come from the skyboxe's cloud constently spawning.

[Endless123]

My guess too but how to solve that? Maybe a less elaborate skybox could reduce the lags. It's a shame because the skybox is really well done I hope this could be solve because i really enjoy this mod.

Thanks for the quick reply

[X-DOOM]

My guess too but how to solve that? Maybe a less elaborate skybox could reduce the lags. It's a shame because the skybox is really well done I hope this could be solve because i really enjoy this mod.

Thanks for the quick reply

Well i do not lag at all with my current computer config, i guess more ram and a higher video memory may help.
The skybox is kinda small, it is just spawning too fast and too much cloud maybe.

[torridgristle]

This dang mod scared the shit out of me several times.

[Endless123]

My guess too but how to solve that? Maybe a less elaborate skybox could reduce the lags. It's a shame because the skybox is really well done I hope this could be solve because i really enjoy this mod.

Thanks for the quick reply

Well i do not lag at all with my current computer config, i guess more ram and a higher video memory may help.
The skybox is kinda small, it is just spawning too fast and too much cloud maybe.

Well it's just Doom - Doom 2 mod my friend not Call Of Duty lol I don't think i need something like 16Go ram and a 2G Video card lol.

here is my specs just in case

Pentium 4 2.4Gz
2Go Ram
300Go (main) +500 Go HD (External)
Windows XP SP3 (Genuine)
nVidia GeForce 6200 512Mo gpu

I know it's an old config but since i can play games like Fable 1, KOTOR, Sacred, Doom 3(original not the BFG Edition), Mu Online and Dragon Oath at nearly full specs i seriously don't think it's my config since Doom is way more primitive graphicly speaking than those games so no mod should lags even with my old config. Besides, no other mod i tried so far lagged so my guess is it's something else, something in the mod like the skybox.

It's a shame as i said before because the skybox is one of the best i've seen in a mod. Maybe removing a few clouds or just making it spawn less often as you said could solve the problem.

There is also another possibility though, maybe my video card can't handle OpenGL very well. I don't have any problem with the other mods but this is still a possibility.

[NeoSpearBlade]

Having played the original Aliens mod for DOOM (made in 1994, mind you), I definitely wanna give this a try but I have one question.

Is this for ZDoom or GZDoom? The video in the first post is (according to the title) played using GZDoom, but that isn't definitively the answer, as I played KDiZD using ZDoom, despite that mod having various GZDoom lighting codes and it worked fine for me.

[Ed the Bat]

ZDoom supports all of the gameplay features GZDoom does, but lacks dynamic lighting and skyboxes. It may not look as pretty, and the flashlight will be useless (even with the fixed code I tried to donate), but there should be no reason you can't play it in ZDoom.

[NeoSpearBlade]

Thanks for the reply and nice talking to you again.

Looking back at the previous posts, I may have 2 solutions, one for GZDoom and the other for ZDoom.

For the former, the flashlight apparently doesn't work because people are using the latest version of GZDoom. This being the case, the solution is using either 1.5.0 or 1.6.0 but finding them will be hard as the GZDoom download site only has the latest version and I don't know where else to look.

For the latter, I would suggest using the r_visibility CCMD console command into the flashlight's code, somehow. Admittedly, this won't be the same effect as this command doesn't simulate a flashlight* and it only works in ZDoom, unless GZDoom has something similar.


Open to reveal additional information for the asterisk.

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*This modifies area lighting by taking the light amount set to the sector area(?) and amplifying it by the number this command is set to, which will drop off the further the player is from the area. From my experience using GZDoom, this seems to be hardcoded to 0.

[Ed the Bat]

It's understood that the way dynamic lighting is handled in GZDoom changed a little, a while back. However, considering the number of added features and fixed bugs, I would not advise rolling back to an old version of the engine, especially when the flashlight can simply be rewritten, as I demonstrated, to work properly in newer versions. As the creators of this project suggested that there are more fixes and enhancements to come, I had assumed they would want to include this flashlight update, among other things.

As for the ZDoom fix you propose, I don't believe DECORATE or ACS is capable of adjusting console commands, as that allows too much control to be taken over player settings.

[NeoSpearBlade]

*sigh* Well, I've donwloaded this and some things have happened while I was playing.

Firstly, I tried playing this on ZDoom 2.7.1:

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And as you can see, those icons appeared almost everywhere and I'm not gonna play this mod with those icons everywhere. Long story short, this mod is for GZDoom.

Secondly, I have a few console cheats mapped to keys on my keyboard so if I want to screw around, I can do so quickly. While doing that, I discovered that THE FLASHLIGHT DOES INDEED WORK. Keep in mind that the version of GZDoom I have is 1.7.1 (r1526) when I took these screenshots.

First is this shot:

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Please ignore that abnormally high battery energy count.

I have it on and it does look like it doesn't work. However, noticed the message on the top? That's the key to this puzzle and when I have it turned on:

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IT DOES WORK!

Without looking at the code and from using the flashlight while in freeze mode, it looks like the duration of the light is too short as when I turn off freeze mode, it disappears instantly.

I hope this helps.

[Ed the Bat]

Firstly, I tried playing this on ZDoom 2.7.1:
And as you can see, those icons appeared almost everywhere and I'm not gonna play this mod with those icons everywhere. Long story short, this mod is for GZDoom.

Those icons represent actors that don't exist. In this case, dynamic lights, which do not exist in ZDoom. As I mentioned, dynamic lights are GZDoom-only.

Without looking at the code and from using the flashlight while in freeze mode, it looks like the duration of the light is too short as when I turn off freeze mode, it disappears instantly.

Again, as I have now mentioned multiple times, I posted a fix for the flashlight. It fixes it by extending the duration of the actor so that it isn't destroyed before its dynamic lighting can be seen.

[NeoSpearBlade]

Those icons represent actors that don't exist. In this case, dynamic lights, which do not exist in ZDoom. As I mentioned, dynamic lights are GZDoom-only.

I know that but my point is that because those icons are there, I won't play it in ZDoom as encountering these icons numerous times breaks the immersion of the mod. If there's a way to have them work in GZDoom while at the same time making them hidden in ZDoom, that would be much appreciated, as I experienced numerous laggy instances while playing in GZDoom, no doubt because of my not-designed-for-3D-gaming laptop. Hell, I experienced a lag-induced input delay at the end of level 3.

Again, as I have now mentioned multiple times, I posted a fix for the flashlight.

Oh. Uhh, never mind then. ^_^'

EDIT: I tried that fix of yours but I'm getting an error. What I'm doing is replacing the existing code in the PK3 file with yours but when I do that, I get this:

Code: Select all

Script error, "AliensCM.pk3:alienstuff.wad:DECORATE" line 640:
Invalid state parameter nodelay

What am I doing wrong?

What do I have to do now?
That's why I ask, the players have the final word!

Well, let's see what you said.

-A complete (not so long, maybe 4 levels) episode?

A new episode would be nice. I would suggest that episode essentially being an original scenario using the same resources. In other words, a new set of maps.

Just random levels for online game? (mostly deathmatch and short levels for coop)

Do what you will for this one. I never play online.

Now as for my suggestions, I would like being able to reload manually or at least showing a clip ammo counter, as it's annoying having the weapon stop to automatically reload during a heavy fight.

I would also like getting some use of the starting pistol for anything as when you find the pulse rifle, the pistol's useless. Then again, that's just me.

One more thing. While I've never seen the movies (scary/horror movies aren't my thing, although I have seen Prometheus on Blu-Ray just to see what the hype's all about), I've looked at the previous posts and I now know that the alien's blood is toxic to humans so for the alien corpses, I would suggest doing something STRAIN did.

Using DeHackEd, The Spider Mastermind is replaced with Polydrones, a monster that resembles the spawn cubes. When it's destroyed, they fall from the sky and leave a fiery wreckage which hurts you when you get closer.

I know that you stated repeatedly that you're a mapper, not a modder but if you or anyone else wants this effect, take a look and inspect the .DEH for STRAIN. However, before you do, here's an important note from kmxexii.

The STRAIN download on idgames is in its original package, which may be difficult to unpack for casual players. The DoomMed Speed Demo Archives has an unpacked version which, when ran with the .deh file, should function adequately.

[Ed the Bat]

What am I doing wrong?

You're running a severely outdated version of GZDoom. Try a newer one, preferrably a recent development build.

[TheUnbeholden]

You're running a severely outdated version of GZDoom. Try a newer one, preferrably a recent development build.

tried the fix, is the flashlight supposed to be causing bullet sparks on walls? it doesn't project any light.

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[Ed the Bat]

No, it's not supposed to do that. That looks like it's using Bulletpuff instead of the LightPuff actor.