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Before the Storm - Map for StarShip Troopers TC

User is offline   Paul B 

#1

Is anyone familiar with this map Before the Storm? A map designed for the Starship Troopers Mod

I can't seem to finish it because there is a blocked wall between me and the exit. Is this intended or is this someone playing a mean trick?

This post has been edited by Paul B: 21 October 2017 - 05:07 PM

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User is online   NightFright 

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#2

If I am not mistaken, I have included this map in the addon compilation. Since I naturally played all maps to test if they could be completed, I didn't have any problems with this one, either. Maybe try the version I included with the edited SSTC groupfile (starshiptrp.grp from the development folder) and see if that solves your issue. I only edited a music sprite there to fix some issue with ingame music, though. Right now, I don't remember any more how this level ended, but if it's the one I currently have in my mind (when you have to enter the ship, set the destruction sequence and get out), then you have to wait until the bugs open holes in the entrance area and escape through those.

This post has been edited by NightFright: 23 October 2017 - 01:18 AM

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User is offline   Paul B 

#3

View PostNightFright, on 23 October 2017 - 01:09 AM, said:

If I am not mistaken, I have included this map in the addon compilation. Since I naturally played all maps to test if they could be completed, I didn't have any problems with this one, either. Maybe try the version I included with the edited SSTC groupfile (starshiptrp.grp from the development folder) and see if that solves your issue. I only edited a music sprite there to fix some issue with ingame music, though. Right now, I don't remember any more how this level ended, but if it's the one I currently have in my mind (when you have to enter the ship, set the destruction sequence and get out), then you have to wait until the bugs open holes in the entrance area and escape through those.



Man what a wonderful collection you are putting together. I only wish I knew about this sooner it would have saved me a lot of time. Anyway, I extract that map from the Starship Troopers group file and noticed that your version has the same blockable wall in the map as mine version does. It is possible that there might be a .CON hack that can toggle the blockable wall bit after performing a certain task? The blockable wall doesn't have any tag associated to it though so the whole thing is strange and a bit foreign to me. The map file in question is BTS.map.

Thanks,

This post has been edited by Paul B: 24 October 2017 - 09:31 AM

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User is online   NightFright 

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#4

It would probably help if you actually provided a screenshot of the section that's causing you trouble. For all I know, all SSTTC maps are completable - unless something changed in more recent EDuke32 code that makes something break, wouldn't be the first time.

This post has been edited by NightFright: 27 October 2017 - 03:19 AM

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User is offline   Paul B 

#5

View PostNightFright, on 27 October 2017 - 03:19 AM, said:

It would probably help if you actually provided a screenshot of the section that's causing you trouble. For all I know, all SSTTC maps are completable - unless something changed in more recent EDuke32 code that makes something break, wouldn't be the first time.


Hi Nightfright, I haven't forgotten to post screenshots, I just haven't had the time. I will try and get to it this weekend I should be able to make time for this. Thanks,

This post has been edited by Paul B: 03 November 2017 - 11:46 AM

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User is offline   Paul B 

#6

So I managed to jump through the blockable wall by fluke on one play through after many attempts. However many previous attempts failed. If you check the map out in Mapster you will see the wall is a blockable which is why the player can't finish the level. Seems like an oversight to me.

Attached thumbnail(s)

  • Attached Image: Bug with Blockable Wall at this spot.jpg
  • Attached Image: Stuck-BTS.jpg
  • Attached Image: TopView.jpg
  • Attached Image: BTS Mapster Blockable wall.jpg
  • Attached Image: Main Picture.jpg


This post has been edited by Paul B: 05 November 2017 - 06:56 PM

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User is online   NightFright 

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#7

Oh, that's not the level I had in mind. Need to play that one again. It was pretty hard, btw... xD
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User is offline   Paul B 

#8

View PostNightFright, on 06 November 2017 - 09:02 AM, said:

Oh, that's not the level I had in mind. Need to play that one again. It was pretty hard, btw... xD


Yea its tough when you play it for the first time and don't know where to go or what switches to flip.

How I do it is:
1) I run directly to the back of the map and up the lift where the end of the level is suppose to be, flip the switch to activate the elevator (near the Alien Pod / crane).

2) Back track by staying on the second floor to cover ground ( in the direction of the alien pod). Jump down on crates to eliminate fall damage. Take the elevator you unlocked in step 1 to flip the switch on the top of that crane looking structure which opens up the three launch switches around the alien pod.

3) Head back to the maps start position & grab the BFG which spawns by this point and nuke all the aliens trapped in the bottom of the pit.

4) Flip all 3 switches around that alien pod and make a dash for the lift at the back of the map to complete it. (Only to reach an exit that is permanently blocked by an invisible blockable wall).

There are some places these aliens just can't reach. It's best to use those areas as your saving grace. =) There's an entire section off to the right of the starting position you never need to go to. There doesn't appear to be any purpose for it, other than for eye candy and taking excessive amounts of damage with an extremely slow lift.

Level reminds me a lot of Left 4 Dead style game play. It's knowing when to run like hell and when to stand your ground.

This post has been edited by Paul B: 06 November 2017 - 11:15 AM

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User is online   NightFright 

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#9

I finally found the time to play this map again. I believe the blockable wall is there intentionally. Somehow, this screen is supposed to work as info screen regarding what to do. After you have activated the beacons and return to the control station, the screen changes and tells you to press the use key (space) on it. However, this does not work reliably. In my walkthrough, I recommended crouching while pressing the screen, eventually it works.
My guess is this trick would already work on the first version of the screen, but it is assumed you don't know this and just don't try because of that. I wouldn't say it is cleverly solved, but for some reason, it works. Kinda. Still, I guess it would have been better if a proper nuke button would have been raised after activating all beacons or something similar.
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User is offline   Mere_Duke 

#10

View PostNightFright, on 15 January 2018 - 07:40 AM, said:

I finally found the time to play this map again. I believe the blockable wall is there intentionally. Somehow, this screen is supposed to work as info screen regarding what to do. After you have activated the beacons and return to the control station, the screen changes and tells you to press the use key (space) on it. However, this does not work reliably. In my walkthrough, I recommended crouching while pressing the screen, eventually it works.
My guess is this trick would already work on the first version of the screen, but it is assumed you don't know this and just don't try because of that. I wouldn't say it is cleverly solved, but for some reason, it works. Kinda. Still, I guess it would have been better if a proper nuke button would have been raised after activating all beacons or something similar.

Oh, hello NightFright! Like a year ago I downloaded your recompiled version of Starship Troopers TC and found bugs in there. The most gamebreaking was the one that breaks death sequence preventing enemies from dying in certain situations (for some bugs it happens when their hp>0 and they are higher than player) - they just run around like mad with cstat 1.
I re-obfuscated its cons and fixed all those bugs and also made ingame kill counters kinda work.
I want someone to test it to be sure it is working properly, and want to replace those cons in addon compilation then if everything is OK.
So the one who plays/played SSTTC would be welcome!

PS I also made my own addon compilation years ago consisting of 62 addons and 950 maps, the best of all times. I fixed most con errors too, even some of those you've missed (probably default con errors in some cases), but my addon compilation was built around windows bat files, so it's not suitable for linux unlike your one. I think now it's not necessary to release it since we have your work... So if you want help, I can help with something probably. The first thing I want is to get rid of SSTTC bugs.
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User is online   NightFright 

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#11

That bug with some monsters not dying in SSTC is certainly annoying. If you got that fixed before end of January (or told me how to do it by myself), it'd be great. I can test it by myself actually. The only thing I would ask you is to make your edits based on the con files that are included in the compilation release, to avoid losing anything I edited on my own.

The new version will fix a few problems some addons were suffering from for a while, if not since day 1. I can post a list with known pending issues in the compilation thread. IIRC there were e.g. cases in Last Reaction and Water Bases where the new Octabrain was invulnerable. Gotta check that again to see if it still happens. If you want to help with that as well, I wouldn't complain, either. ^^

This post has been edited by NightFright: 20 January 2018 - 12:06 AM

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User is offline   Mere_Duke 

#12

So, here are the SSTTC cons. Basically they are just as your ones with integrated usermaps, custom sound additions, grammar corrections and so on. Nothing were lost, I tried my best :dukecigar: Code section was reorganized, some bugs were wiped out. Just replace the old with these. Test, and if something wrong, please, tell me. Plus, I must say that CTF.CON in your grp is redundant - I checked both original SST.CON and CTF.CON byte by byte and they are identical. The original CTF con was there only to provide additional "Episode" with CTF maps.
http://www.mediafire...nightfright.zip

And, about LR&WB mod. What exactly was that Octabrain problem? That kind of bugs like in SSTTC with invulnerable enemies?
I have fixed that mod too for myself, want to check if it happens to me as well.
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User is online   NightFright 

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#13

I think I fixed the LRWB problem by myself now. Only a few sprites were affected, and always the same ones. That indicated map issues, and it turned out to be true. Flawed enemies had a cstat of 0.

This post has been edited by NightFright: 23 January 2018 - 02:09 PM

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User is offline   Mere_Duke 

#14

View PostNightFright, on 23 January 2018 - 02:06 PM, said:

I think I fixed the LRWB problem by myself now. Only a few sprites were affected, and always the same ones. That indicated map issues, and it turned out to be true. Flawed enemies had a cstat of 0.

If you plan to release it with deathmatch levels available as an episode, uncomment last definevolumename and devinelevelname's in game con. Sorry, I forgot to uncomment it for you.
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User is online   NightFright 

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#15

First testing seems good, didn't see any invincible monsters (I find it hard to reproduce situations when it can occur, though), and the enemy counter now also works reliably. Especially useful in maps where bugs keep spawning (which is the case almost everywhere)! ^^
And no worries, I noticed the DM episode being commented out.

This post has been edited by NightFright: 24 January 2018 - 06:23 AM

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User is offline   Mere_Duke 

#16

Nice :dukecigar:
Yes I fixed ACTORS_KILLED counter but MAX_ACTORS_KILLED variable is broken since the game uses some actors that are tagged "enemy" for different purposes.

Anyway, if you have some bugs in some mods, I can look through my repository to see if I know how to fix it. Feel free to ask, it's a really hard work to do everything alone.

This post has been edited by Mere_Duke: 26 January 2018 - 05:32 PM

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User is online   NightFright 

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#17

Well... there is the final map of "The Gate" which has been annoying players since the mod exists.

IIRC the boss is invulnerable until you kill a couple of brains. However, the destroyed brains would not always be recognized, getting you stuck. If there is a way to fix that in the code, it'd be amazing.

It could also happen that the boss follows you through one of the huge portals in the arena which would also break the game. I am not sure if it's possible to do this via code without making the boss stationary or something.

This post has been edited by NightFright: 27 January 2018 - 06:03 AM

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User is offline   Mere_Duke 

#18

View PostNightFright, on 27 January 2018 - 05:59 AM, said:

Well... there is the final map of "The Gate" which has been annoying players since the mod exists.

IIRC the boss is invulnerable until you kill a couple of brains. However, the destroyed brains would not always be recognized, getting you stuck. If there is a way to fix that in the code, it'd be amazing.

It could also happen that the boss follows you through one of the huge portals in the arena which would also break the game. I am not sure if it's possible to do this via code without making the boss stationary or something.

I have found the problem. It comes from some brain-related checks which are performed in BOSS actor code section. But this actor becomes idle when boss is inactive when player is too far away, and the loop stops. So if player destroyed one brain and didn't see the BOSS before destroying another, the logic breaks hard. I can try to fix it but you please tell me if it is allowed to use special eduke features like global variables or I should stick to the vanilla code? They have used an old trick to have inventory items as variables but for example if player uses DNSTUFF, it can break the logic as well.
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User is online   NightFright 

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#19

If you can do it with standard code it's fine, but if EDuke32 offers you better options, there's nothing wrong with using them. It's a compilation for EDuke32 only anyway, and I have already used port-specific code in other addons before. So from my side, it'd be OK. Main thing is it works!

Just like always, use the con from the compilation addon, but I guess you know by now. Thanks in advance for your willingness to assist! It will not happen without honorable mentions in the readme and elsewhere.

This post has been edited by NightFright: 27 January 2018 - 10:25 AM

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User is offline   Mere_Duke 

#20

View PostNightFright, on 27 January 2018 - 10:22 AM, said:

If you can do it with standard code it's fine, but if EDuke32 offers you better options, there's nothing wrong with using them. It's a compilation for EDuke32 only anyway, and I have already used port-specific code in other addons before. So from my side, it'd be OK. Main thing is it works!

Just like always, use the con from the compilation addon, but I guess you know by now. Thanks in advance for your willingness to assist! It will not happen without honorable mentions in the readme and elsewhere.

So, I have done the work with the scripts. Results based on your The Gate cons from the latest (relatively old) addon compilation v313.

Fixes:
1) The sequence of kills was implemented with the use of inventory BOOTS value as a variable. That's why when you step on a slime of a protoziod slimer, it broke the logic. Fixed.
2) If player killed one brain and then killed another one without "activating" boss actor in between, it also broke the sequence. Fixed as well. Moreover, now you hear boss screaming and see "%count% brains killed" message right after each brain is dead.

I also have applied some generic vanilla con fixes by Darkus long time ago like fixes for kill counters, frozen pigcop dropping shotgun solution, green egg's bloodpool color fix etc., etc. to the parts of code untouched by BGP team. Nothing changed from the vanilla gameplay, of course, but most of nasty vanilla bugs got removed as well.

Test it, play GATE406.MAP (the boss map, approx. 10 mins of gameplay). You need to kill all 5 brains in different areas of the map to make the boss vulnerable.

As for the boss teleporting after player, I don't know what to do with it, but it's not that big problem since you can return back to every area of the map at will. Probably there is a mapster solution, but I'm not a mapper at all :dukecigar: And it seems ENEMYSTAYPUT doesn't restrict his ability to teleport.

Download fixed cons: http://www.mediafire...ght_thegate.zip
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User is online   NightFright 

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#21

Outstanding! I will test this tomorrow when I have some time. It's also interesting to know what actually broke the map/boss. Finally we can have a version that works as intended for the first time ever! Thanks a lot for that!
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User is online   NightFright 

  • The Truth is in here

#22

And it works! Now you even receive messages that tell you how many brains are destroyed. This helps A LOT.

I remember how bugged this fight used to be. Brains not getting removed once you destroy them, no way knowing how many are gone, brain kills not counting at all... it's just gone with this code. The boss fight is finally doable without having to be afraid to save after the logic got broken. This is how it should have been when the mod was released. Excellent work! Well done indeed!
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User is offline   Mere_Duke 

#23

Thanks for the kind words :dukecigar:
If you need any more help, I'm ready to wipe more bugs!

When I was tinkering with you compilation I found some flaws in some cons but can't remember which ones... I'll have to try to remember.
Oh, in Haunted Nukem there is a bug when you shoot at Liztrooper's leg (preferably the left one) and then you expect to see a legless body but it spawns just a lone leg. Still exists in the sequel, I don't know how to ask author about it since he ignores my messages on moddb :)

Also why don't you have included Crackdown TC in compilation? (https://www.youtube....h?v=DHzFaoue1jU)
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