Vanilla Essence 4.3: 320x200p support! More bugfixes.

[Rachael]

Usually I disable that because the Palette Tonemap setting does it also and they don't overlap so good. But I've been finding that for games that have nicer colourmaps (like Heretic/Hexen) the Banded Lightmode is preferable to using the palette setting

Err - you do realize that banded SW lightmode was made for the palette tonemap? They were meant to be used together to emulate the original colormap fading implementation. It doesn't work the way you think it does without it.

[Pixel Eater]

Oh really?

And here I've been thinking the palette tonemap had made it a redundant feature. Thanks for the correction, I'll have to make a change in the next version

Btw, has anyone else been having crashes when trying to end a game (with the F7 key)? I think it's the SpriteScaler inventory item calling .GetInt() after the player has been destroyed. Except there's a check for the player within in it's DoEffect() which should be preventing that. Any ideas why it would fail?

[Grizzly]

This is quite great!
One thing I have been missing is that in vanilla doom there's no autosaves: You die, and it's a pistol start for you. Could Vanilla Essence get an autosave toggle in the future?

[Pixel Eater]

That's something I'll have to mull over but it's a great suggestion. I just worry it's a bit too "operational" compared to the usual settings that get toggled. At the very least I can add it to a quick menu of persistent options

[Zenon]

Vanilla Essence is missing out on something iconic
The blue floppy disk on the bottom right corner that appears every so often

[Pixel Eater]

Vanilla Essence is missing out on something iconic
The blue floppy disk on the bottom right corner that appears every so often

Heh, when I get the time I'll see what I can do

[Tormentor667]

What exactly does it do?

[Pixel Eater]

Not that I remember it specifically but it sounds like it indicated when data's being read. Whether it was only during floppy access (was that even possible due to size?) I don't know or if it also appeared during low frame rates. There's only a vague reference to it here.

I figure it can be faked using WorldLoaded or PlayerEntered events and just drawing it for a short time. Do you know if it's supposed to flash too Zenon?

[Zenon]

Do you know if it's supposed to flash too Zenon?

I remember it would flicker as it read the data, though I remember it being regardless of whether you had the disk in or not.

Though I've not seen it at all through my years of playing doom, according to a friend of mine, apparently if you were running it off the cd, it would have a cd icon flicker the same way when data was being read.

[Caligari87]

Looks like Chocolate Doom discussed and re-implemented this a few years ago, might be of interest.

[Pixel Eater]

Thanks for the info!

Here's a hasty little test run:

LowDing.pk3

Type "ve_showcd 1" to use the stcdrom graphic instead.
I couldn't test Strife's hourglass though cause I only have the shareware copy.

[Zenon]

Excellent
Really completes the aesthetic <3

[Pixel Eater]

Oh good

Would you change the blink rate/duration at all? Or should it be more random?

[Zenon]

I think the flicker/blink rate should be slightly randomized, though it should be noted that the flicker rate slows down when Vanilla Essence is enabled
Another idea I thought would fit, would be if it appeared/flickered during fps drops, much like it did originally

[Pixel Eater]

Okay I'll make sure to randomize it when the time comes. Not sure how to determine slowdowns now that I think about it and it might be unfair to add to the processing load anyway. Or maybe there's a way to count the number of monsters in proximity to simulate a struggling 386...