Temple of the Lizard Men 4 - GOLD EDITION RELEASED!

[Toyoch]

Finished it in both "A" and "B" paths on each branches, and all secret levels I could find.

- All the maps are well-designed and balanced(health/ammo/enemy balance) on 4th difficulty(UV equivalent?).
- As for the branches, I prefer B paths for earlier access to the Serpent Staff, and less underwater combat. Bosses are much easier in A paths IMO.
- Weapons are good too, but Sniper Rifle could've received better upgrade than a nightvision scope(like piercing ammo or faster shooting?).
- Rocket Launcher effects are excessive, causing the slowdown(maybe because of my setting) with quad shot.
- What are the actual effects of the stats for characters, other than the moving speed?
- It seems that there are no inventory limits for powerups, and that makes all the boss fights trivial if you save them up. IMO limiting Invulnerable Amulet and Serpent Amulet to 2-3 would be good.

EDIT :

- Looking at the player character stats, some are demonstrably much worse picks than others, at least on paper. Compare Charlie and Fiona's stats and it's no contest.

Tried Fiona, and she's got an "interesting" melee weapon to cover up her weakness for the early game.
All other characters have different melee attacks, and different endings dialogs.

[Janus3003]

Might as well post these now that the game's out. Did some 3D images of the playable characters, with some liberties. Text comes from the manual.

---

I need to make some higher resolution ones, plus some action shots.

Congrats on getting the mod out, Alando!

[Sinael]

TYPO:

I think Ass-rifle upgrade should be called "Laser Sight", not "Laser Site"

[Mere_Duke]

Reloading bug (?)
When I choose last difficulty level (the hardest one), then pick 2nd enforcer, it gives me 80 bullets; and full reload (40 bullets for double-enforcer) can be performed at the cost of only 20 inventory bullets.
The other difficulties are OK; picking 2nd enforcer gives 40 bullets, and reloading works also fine (1 clip bullet per 1 inventory bullet).

Edit: I've understood, it comes from NIGHTMARE doom difficulty which has doubled ammo capacity of items/weapons.

But what are the differences between skill levels here?

[Tormentor667]

Running into the first problem: If I use the PDA showing the message, how can I deactivate it again? Re-using doesnt work.

[Janus3003]

Running into the first problem: If I use the PDA showing the message, how can I deactivate it again? Re-using doesnt work.

Not at my home PC right now, but I think if you just click/press the fire button/key or switch weapons, you'll put the PDA down. It was either that or the Interact button/key.

[Alando1]

Hey guys, I see there's been a fair amount of activity here. I'm going to go through all of those who have posted something regarding constructive criticism and bug reports. Before I proceed, I do want to emphasize that the latest version of GZDoom has had the highest chances of having problems. I highly recommend that you all use GZDoom 1.8.2 or Zandronum 3.0 - Yes, TOTLM4 can run on Zandronum. When I had done tests with the later versions of GZDoom, the performance was not as good compared to earlier versions. If you are using GZDoom 3.0.0, please stop using it and use GZDoom 1.8.2 or Zandronum 3.0.

@Blue Shadow - Even if I made the Key Pillars invulnerable, it would not make a difference. Once someone enters MDK or Kill Monsters in the console, the result will be the same.

@Jimmy - Good to hear you like the map sets. 1: For the PDA text, it is all done through DECORATE. I did find that the text wraps around better on early versions of GZDoom. I found this problem to happen on the newest GZDoom. There is a way to scale the text on the screen to make it fit the way it should. When using earlier versions of GZDoom and Zandronum 3.0, this problem has not occurred. 2: You do bring up a good point regarding the torches - I should have been more consistent. 3: I did incorporate the volume modifier in the SNDINFO lump, however, it was a bit tricky to balance the volume of the music, especially the music from Unreal.
I definitely like your observations, Jimmy. Whatever project I work on next, I'd like to have you aboard the beta testing team. You have a great eye for detail

@Sinael - 1: The enemies you've indicated are set to Deaf. I had trouble with some block-sound linedefs on MAP07. For some reason the enemies would react at the wrong time. The best solution for the time was setting them to Deaf. 2: The dynamic light issue you've indicated is related to a setting of your dynamic lights. The setting is new to the newer GZDoom's - There is a Software Render of dynamic lighting (doesn't affect sprites) and there is the OpenGL Render which should be enabled. The newer GZDoom is the reason for this. 3: Sorry about the flares; I removed them because I was able to incorporate the flashlight to be used while wielding a weapon. 4: The typo I can fix

@Toyoch - I loved your analysis and I'm glad you enjoyed the play through. 1: I like your idea about the Sniper Rifle. I may consider that... 2: I had a feeling there would be some concerns about the Rocket Launcher. If used on later versions of GZDoom, it can be a major issue. If used on an earlier version or Zandronum, the dynamic lights can be adjusted to have a lower intensity. 3: You bring up a good point regarding the hold limit for the power-up pickups. I will consider changing the max limit the player can hold for both invulnerability and the Serpent Amulet.

@Janus3003 - Love the pics. Can't wait to see the action shots

@Mere_Duke - Easy, Normal, and Hard are just like the classic DOOM difficulties (Hey, not too rough, Hurt Me Plenty, Ultra-Violence) - Very Hard is like Ultra-Violence but you will be more susceptible to damage - Nightmare is like DOOM Nightmare but you will take double the damage from all attacks and you are not allowed to use cheats. In addition, the enemies are more aggressive.

@Tormentor667 - There is another way to toggle off the PDA - select any of your weapons and hopefully, it should work


Thank you all for the feed back. I will be creating a patch by the beginning of June that should fix some of the issues indicated. Hopefully, this doesn't ruin your TOTLM4 experience.

In the meantime, please use GZDoom 1.8.2 or Zandronum 3.0 for the best results.

Thank you.

-Alando1

[Blue Shadow]

@Blue Shadow - Even if I made the Key Pillars invulnerable, it would not make a difference. Once someone enters MDK or Kill Monsters in the console, the result will be the same.

Those are cheats, which you won't use while playing normally.

[Mere_Duke]

I stuck in The Sorcerer's Lair
Can't obtain the first key
What should I do there?

[Alando1]

@Mere_Duke - At the start of the level, there are two main doors outside the player can proceed through. Take the one that is in a cave alcove (door #2) surrounded by brown bricks (there should be a crescent moon switch adjacent to the door). Follow the cave path until you come to a wooden door. Behind that door, you will find a pool of water. Locate the protruding block in the water to lower the blue skull key. Press your "use" key (just like if you were using a door or switch) on the block that is protruding. From there, back track to where you started and walk through the cave to reach a door with two blue torches on its sides. The blue door is located there. Use your area map to help you navigate. Hopefully, this helps.

-Alando1

[Mere_Duke]

@Mere_Duke - At the start of the level, there are two main doors outside the player can proceed through. Take the one that is in a cave alcove (door #2) surrounded by brown bricks (there should be a crescent moon switch adjacent to the door). Follow the cave path until you come to a wooden door. Behind that door, you will find a pool of water. Locate the protruding block in the water to lower the blue skull key. Press your "use" key (just like if you were using a door or switch) on the block that is protruding. From there, back track to where you started and walk through the cave to reach a door with two blue torches on its sides. The blue door is located there. Use your area map to help you navigate. Hopefully, this helps.

-Alando1

Oh! Thank you, Alando, I saw and tried to press that protruding block or stand upon it yesterday, but nothing have helped. Now I realized that the block can't be pressed while I stay on top of it; I walk a few steps away and - voila! - pressed it and got the blue key.
I take my opportunity to thank you for this great mod I have waited for a year; it was definitely worth the wait!
And also thanks for the Unreal/Unreal Tournament music that reminded me my 1999

[Graf Zahl]

If you are using GZDoom 3.0.0, please stop using it and use GZDoom 1.8.2 or Zandronum 3.0.

So you are asking people to use a totally outdated version of GZDoom...
Of course it should be noted that there will no support whatsoever for this mod if it is causing problems of any kind, regardless whether it gets played in 1.8.2 or 3.0.0.

This is something I'd expect from projects that share Doom Rampage Edition's quality but not something to be taken serious.
Sorry, but no (deletes the file again...)

[Mere_Duke]

If you are using GZDoom 3.0.0, please stop using it and use GZDoom 1.8.2 or Zandronum 3.0.

So you are asking people to use a totally outdated version of GZDoom...
Of course it should be noted that there will no support whatsoever for this mod if it is causing problems of any kind, regardless whether it gets played in 1.8.2 or 3.0.0.

This is something I'd expect from projects that share Doom Rampage Edition's quality but not something to be taken serious.
Sorry, but no (deletes the file again...)

The project was started when there was no GZDoom 3.0.0 so it was tested under outdated versions of gzd; I personally played through all the mod under GZDoom 3.0.0 w/o any problems/bugs/crashes.
The only (minor) flaws are:
1) framerate dropping after rocket explosions;
2) flashlight is lighting non-flat surfaces "strangely";
3) texts from PDAs displaying incorrectly if the messages scale more than 100% (it goes out of the borders of the drawn PDA)
Also the mod is very balanced in terms of ammo and monster's placement.

[Alando1]

Oh! Thank you, Alando, I saw and tried to press that protruding block or stand upon it yesterday, but nothing have helped. Now I realized that the block can't be pressed while I stay on top of it; I walk a few steps away and - voila! - pressed it and got the blue key.
I take my opportunity to thank you for this great mod I have waited for a year; it was definitely worth the wait!
And also thanks for the Unreal/Unreal Tournament music that reminded me my 1999

You're welcome I'm glad you've enjoyed TOTLM4.

So you are asking people to use a totally outdated version of GZDoom...
Of course it should be noted that there will no support whatsoever for this mod if it is causing problems of any kind, regardless whether it gets played in 1.8.2 or 3.0.0.

This is something I'd expect from projects that share Doom Rampage Edition's quality but not something to be taken serious.
Sorry, but no (deletes the file again...)

Please know that it was not my intention to attack or slander GZDoom 3.0.0 in any way. The reason I'm asking people to use the earlier version is because I've been receiving many notices regarding issues that occur while people play TOTLM4 on GZDoom 3.0.0. I'm in the process of creating a patch that will allow people to use later versions of GZDoom without these problems occurring. Please understand that I have no intention to make your newest iteration of GZDoom look bad. I'm doing the best I can to resolve the issues reported. That is why I'm recommending people to use the earlier version as a "detour" until the issues can be resolved.

I apologize for any misunderstanding.

Thank you.

-Alando1

[Sinael]

Mod is great! So far only played trhough the B route, but will play through the A as well. I also would like to know the source of D_LILITH.ogg.