[jimbob]

well this is a blast really nicelevel design, a ton of action.

[ck3D]

Happy to hear it! Not sure how far into said action you are but it will keep blasting harder and harder anyway.

Just updated the ModDB download with a few surface level cosmetic changes no one else may ever notice, but the current version also fixes the possibility of two newly spotted (although rather improbable) softlocks in levels 1 and 10, and shows slightly better emphasis on that one switch in level 12 that used to be just a hair too easy to miss. If anyone feels like this warrants an update from the former version but is concerned about their save files, the following maps in Blast Radius have weaponless starts: 6, 12 and 13 and so those are possible to just warp back to by using cheats without altering progress.

Someone's posted a video of themselves DNKROZ and DNSTUFF ing through a bit of level 4:



And this Twitch user is three hours into a full playthrough it seems like, his confusion in 3 was pretty funny especially since it all stemmed from the correct door not opening on his first try (he's a fast player and so just about missed the usual manual trigger on the right frame) and then he kept flying close to the exit but always missing it (in fact he could have flown there the whole time): https://www.twitch.t...deos/1737673707

[ck3D]

For those who don't mind light end game spoilers and incorrect level names, the same YouTube user just put up this clip of level 12 that exemplifies what Dr. Panico was talking about regarding that one (and of course they die at the end):

[Aleks]

Just dropping this here for all the nerds who are into Blast Radius, but yesterday evening there's been quite a charming discussion between mainly ck3D, Watchtower and me at the #duke-nukem channel on duke4 Discord, starting about somewhere here: https://discord.com/...864913341321376 in case anyone's interested. There's also a lot of talk about this mod on that channel in general, so definitely worth checking out!

[NNC]

Nah, today we have been discussing about the Paris catacombs with my roommates in the office, one of them have been there and had a really frightening experience.

[ck3D]

Well now you can't just drop that and not explain, I have so many questions; did he go alone, or with someone unexperienced or unprepared? Did he get lost in the dark or stuck in an alcove, did he witness something collapse, almost drown or, while desperately looking for an exit, run into a room with an Overlord and lots of flashing lights?

Also the first per map playthroughs are starting to come out, so cool:

[Aleks]

 ck3D, on 17 February 2023 - 04:58 AM, said:

Also the first per map playthroughs are starting to come out, so cool:

I low key expect Radar to just drop the full playthrough over weekend or something.

[Ninety-Six]

 ck3D, on 14 February 2023 - 06:17 PM, said:

Love hearing about player progress, I hope that keeps coming!

Made it to level 4 and "just" started. I made it there a few times during the beta testing rounds but never actually got started before having to update the revision I was on for one reason or another.

And now with the full released package I got to it again, and I must admit I was dreading it just a little bit. With how massive it was said to be, and one look at the level stats, it seemed like I had my work cut out for me.

To my delight, it seems that the level is "sectioned" off a bit? The starting area (which is big enough to fit an entire DOS-compatible level in, I believe) seems to be its own island with a glimpse of the areas in the distance seeming to be having other various forms of demarcations. Which, as a completionist, is fantastic news, because it makes searching around so much more manageable having cleanly-marked areas to narrow down the search fields. It's such a small thing but it really has a big payoff.

Had to take a break after about an hour though; in that time I was pretty thorough with said first area (though obviously I won't know if I found everything until I get to the nuke button), and left off at the big bridge for my next go.

[ck3D]

Oh yeah I mean it's a lot of space but it's still a level, orchestrated into zones and with the semblance of a structure. Actually I never really tried using automap to look for secrets in that one, but the way all the sector work is still divided into coordinates probably helps a ton with keeping track of where you've been and where you haven't, too, come to think of it. It's a sandbox but one also specifically designed for completionists, just like one can finish that map in two minutes if so they wish, when I was saying this was going to be optimized for all possible types of gameplay I wasn't trying to lie I swear!

That map probably is best experienced with breaks around each key if one is trying to go everywhere and do everything, yeah. I invariably take one around the blue key lock myself. All the maps are pretty big but this one in particular is basically its own adventure within the adventure, I hope you enjoy it.

And re: Radar, I'm not expecting anyone to do anything at all, I don't even know if they will like the episode but if they do showcase it then I'd predict they might take the time to learn for a bit and try to go for 100% secrets, which would be mindblowing, not going to lie.

[Quacken]

Haven't been able to do any more progress on Blast Radius, I stopped at MAP04 during the playtesting phase and I felt comfortable just leaving it at that as I took a break from this game for a little while. But obviously, major congratulations are in order for the release! This was a huge undertaking and it was so fun to follow along, comment and eventually get to playtest this mapset.

I can't imagine what a 100% kills and secrets run of Incapernaum would look like. My playthrough took me an hour and forty minutes, and I only really found 20 of the secrets or so (probably less). There's so many mini bosses and Organtics in random dumb spots that make me think an estimated time for a 100% speedrun would be 45 minutes at least, probably over an hour. That's not a task I'd like to do myself, that's for sure!

[ck3D]

Thanks a lot, 100% kills speedrun overall I tried making especially spicy by providing with a late make-or-break point in the episode. Being mostly an autoscroller, the first 'horizontal' half of level 11 makes it possible to miss a lot of kills unless you have the exact pattern sometimes down to the input (and even then there's some leeway with RNG in the monster behavior, but the exotic reactions either are always salvageable in some way if one is reactive enough, or the monster spontaneously kills itself by acting too off the rails anyway). The one last ship-mounted expander turret probably is the meanest one to get and supposed to be the real boss of any 100% kills run. But it's possible, I keep getting 100% kills in that map more and more frequently with practice, that's always been my favorite way of playing that level in particular. Used to be a lot harder too with only about half the space and movement the player is allocated now in the released version.

Incapernaum has changed quite a bit since the version you tried, now is a bit smoother and start is cooler but of course the map still is what it is. Your version probably still had work-in-progress Organtics as well. Aleks has done 100% kills and secrets before I'm pretty sure, took him about three or four hours but he was taking his time and not on gotta go fast mode.

[NNC]

I'm waiting for Mikko's review really. I think he is still around Map4, so more time is needed.

Map4 is a meme already. Duke Nukem's mapping history would worth less without this level.

[ck3D]

Just updated the file again with once more very minor changes, all mostly cosmetic except one lone Assault General in level 2 was made stayput (always should have been, they're all supposed to be), and I added even more progression helpers around level 12 and so now whoever gets seriously stuck in that one no longer has an excuse for good in my books. Level 13 used to have a forgotten texture 0 spot, oopsie (and yes that is what really prompted the update).

Also been getting the first few confirmations that the maps do play well in multiplayer using NetDuke, really stoked about that.

[Reaper_Man]

 ck3D, on 18 February 2023 - 01:26 PM, said:

except one lone Assault General in level 2 was made stayput (always should have been, they're all supposed to be)

If you wanted to enforce this via CON, since you say they're always supposed to be stayput, you could do so very easily. Put this somewhere in the General variant's block of init code:

geta .htflags SOMETEMPVAR
and SOMETEMPVAR 32768 //SFLAG_BADGUYSTAYPUT
seta .htflags SOMETEMPVAR

[Danukem]

With the old eduke32 ck3d is using, I don't think that will compile, he would have to use the full unabbreviated syntax.

[ck3D]

Thanks for that, I'm pretty sure I got them all by now and won't need to add a safety code check but I do appreciate the help. For reference, the Assault General here is just a pal 16 Assault Trooper with more durability (extra PIGCOPSTRENGTH) I only experimented with for a couple of days (if that) before realizing it was too annoying as a free roaming enemy but still served a purpose, so from that point onwards I decided it should be a sniper type and started solely using the stayput pose for it around the maps. Only a few free roaming ones ever existed and they were all easy to keep track of (or caught during testing), except this particular one I think due to being a flying one that was completely isolated in a random level corner it only makes sense no one had seen it earlier. Grateful for the script regardless.

If anyone is curious about trying out the new monsters in their own (or different) user maps, their general implementation and intended logic is as follows:

_________

- Assault General: 1682 LIZTROOPSTAYPUT + pal 16
- Assault Taxi Driver: 1682 LIZTROOPSTAYPUT near taxi + pal 23
- Mistaken Assault Taxi Driver: 1682 LIZTROOPSTAYPUT near props that is transportation-related but not a taxi + pal 23
- Assault Assaulter (currently Attacker in the manual because of course I messed that up): LIZTROOP (any functional type, so 1680+) + pal 12

- Bomb Dpt. Pig Cops: PIGCOP (any) + pal 11 for RPG type, pal 21 for mortar/pipebomb type, must be near explosion sites to make sense, team always is 2 RPG + 1 mortar
- East Coast Pig Cop: PIGCOP (any) + pal 16
- Istrian Pig Cop: PIGCOP (any) + pal 12
- Porkisu: PIGCOP (any) + pal 19

- Scorpion Tank: 1870 SCORPIONTANK (currently undefined in names.h but no longer for long now that I've caught that)

- Davy: LIZMAN (any) + pal 17 always encountered with Linda in the immediate vicinity
- Linda: LIZMAN (any) + pal 19 always encountered with Davy in the immediate vicinity

- Weak Sauce Octabrain: OCTABRAIN (any) + pal 17
- Mad Dog 357 Plutonium No. 9 Octabrain: OCTABRAIN (any) + pal 19

- Organtic: 2420 ORGANTIC pal 0 for spit, pal 8 for shrink ray, pal 17 for freeze ray, pal 19 for expander ray, pal 24 for psychic blasts, type should depend on surroundings to make sense, always behaves as stayput

- Copium Commander/Battlelord: COMMANDER/BOSS1 (any) + pal 8
- Battlelord/Overlord/Cycloid (big, non game-ending): BOSS1/BOSS3/BOSS2 (any) + pal 15
- Ice Cold Commander/Battlelord/Overlord/Cycloid (sentries): COMMANDER/BOSS1/BOSS3/BOSS2 (any) + pal 17
- Sunburnt Commander/Battlelord/Overlord/Cycloid (sentries): COMMANDER/BOSS1/BOSS3/BOSS2 (any) + pal 19
- Permafrost Battlelord/Overlord/Cycloid (big ones): COMMANDER/BOSS1/BOSS3/BOSS2 (any) + pal 20
- Permafried Battlelord/Overlord/Cycloid (big ones): COMMANDER/BOSS1/BOSS3/BOSS2 (any) + pal 25
- Cycoid Emperor (sentry): BOSS2 (any) + pal 24
- Madlad Commander/Battlelord (sentry): COMMANDER/BOSS1 (any) + pal 24
- Madlad Overlord (big): BOSS3 (any) + pal 24
- Alien Princess (sentry, lays slimers): BOSS4 (any) + pal 15

- Rocket U.T.E.R.U.S. (big): 2360 ROTATEGUN + pal 17
- Expander U.T.E.R.U.S. (big): 2360 ROTATEGUN + pal 19

- N.U.K.U.M. (offensive mode): 1435 DUMMYDUKE, 1465 DUMMYDUKEJETPACK, 1491 DUMMYDUKEDUCKING
- N.U.K.U.M. (evasive mode): 1435 DUMMYDUKE, 1465 DUMMYDUKEJETPACK, 1491 DUMMYDUKEDUCKING + pal 21

- Octadeity: ??????????

- Cycloid Archangel: ??????????

_________

[NNC]

I never noticed the yellow guy was a taxi driver, but now it makes sense. Still don't like them in the start of Map3. In the rest of the game, they are very cool and placed well.

In the end of the day, did you fix these Davy and Linda (or Bonnie and Clyde, as I named them) enforcers in the final release?

[ck3D]

There still are some discrepancies in the Davy/Linda placement depending on gameplay opportunities or skill settings, but I guess eventually I might iron them out. It's hard to remember exactly which ones have changed since which version, things have been budging a little but not much, my current approach is to leave them alone until on one random playthrough one encounter starts popping up as particularly logic breaking, that's when I go back and fix it. Mechanically (so not necessarily conceptually) I'm rather satisfied with the gameplay that is in place for now, but might adjust little things here and there when I have more perspective. Wouldn't want to shuffle too much around at this point now though as to not risk upsetting players.

Level 3 first appearance of the Assault Taxi Drivers (including the first one nagging you from behind a fence) introduces them as annoying on purpose, I wanted them to be the 'pest' of the episode that's actually really weak under every aspect, but has crazy reach and can blast you from afar all the while remaining under cover behind its little safe spot. The in-game unfairness of the mortar behavior already is pretty asshole-ish, and so I thought it would be fitting for the character itself to typically be an asshole, and so it had to be instantly presented as such. It's slightly counterbalanced by the yellow vest making them easy to target once you've seen them (or it should become a reflex upon hearing mortars to instantly try and spot a taxi, vehicle or related prop). Canonically they are into Martin Scorsese films which is where their interest in Earth comes from and why they enlisted.

[NNC]

 ck3D, on 19 February 2023 - 12:00 AM, said:

There still are some discrepancies in the Davy/Linda placement depending on gameplay opportunities or skill settings, but I guess eventually I might iron them out. It's hard to remember exactly which ones have changed since which version, things have been budging a little but not much, my current approach is to leave them alone until on one random playthrough one encounter starts popping up as particularly logic breaking, that's when I go back and fix it. Mechanically (so not necessarily conceptually) I'm rather satisfied with the gameplay that is in place for now, but might adjust little things here and there when I have more perspective. Wouldn't want to shuffle too much around at this point now though as to not risk upsetting players.

Level 3 first appearance of the Assault Taxi Drivers (including the first one nagging you from behind a fence) introduces them as annoying on purpose, I wanted them to be the 'pest' of the episode that's actually really weak, but has crazy reach and can blast you from afar all the while remaining under cover behind his little safe spot. The in-game unfairness of the mortar behavior already is pretty asshole-ish, and so I thought it would be fitting for the character itself to typically be an asshole, and so it had to be instantly presented as such. It's slightly counterbalanced by the yellow vest making them easy to target once you've seen them (or it should become a reflex upon hearing mortars to instantly try and spot a taxi, vehicle or related prop). Canonically they are into Martin Scorsese films which is where their interest in Earth comes from and why they enlisted.

Martin Scorsese? Hah, so much depth in this episode.

[Sanek]

Don't play much of Duke3D these days, due to being busy with other things. But decided to come back, just to play ck3D's epic episode!

Can't believe it's been almost 4 years in the making, wow (2020-21 was very short years imo).
Also can't believe that The Watchtower ended up testing the episode.

Congrats on the release dude!

[Aleks]

 The Watchtower, on 18 February 2023 - 11:40 PM, said:

In the end of the day, did you fix these Davy and Linda (or Bonnie and Clyde, as I named them) enforcers in the final release?

I did have a lot of little nitpicks on these two guys and their placement as well, in map 5 in particular.

[jimbob]

 ck3D, on 15 February 2023 - 08:44 PM, said:

Happy to hear it! Not sure how far into said action you are but it will keep blasting harder and harder anyway.

im in level 2 at the moment, trying to find my way around, the levels are huge and wide open, i love that kind of design.

[Sanek]

@The Watchtower don't have anything against you man, I actually like your detailed analysis of the base game and it's features.

What I find funny is that you're so critical of everything that's not the canon it must be quite the expierence taking notes from you. I'm looking forward to find out if any of this ended up in the episode.

[NNC]

I was talking to Mikko, and he said he made through Map4 in 85 minutes, and didn't take any shortcuts. That's really something for a blind playthrough.

[Sanek]

So I finished the first 3 levels, and while still having 11 more to go, I can tell already that it's probably the biggest vanilla episode we had in years!

I attached the stats of every map, so I can keep track of how much time I spent playing this. I'm not the completionist type, so I'm not going to find every secret on every map. I'm playing on Let's Rock.

Sunset Suicide is a great start to the episode. This map (like all maps here I suppose) can easily be a regular 'hot map' on msdn and whatever, but in a grand scheme of things (compared to levels 2 and 3 at least) it looks very simple, small and unpretentious. Tbh I forgot the long development history of BR, but I'm under impression that it started as a standalone user map, later expanded match the episode's ideas.
I like that you only have to fight liztroopers until the very end; it gives you a nice "first level" feeling that's actually feels kinda refreshing. It's so simple, yet I don't remember any good episodes/tcs that have smtn like this - usually they give you all enemies right from the start.

Embarco's Most Blasted is the first "epic" map of the episode; I was literally in awe of it's sheer size and coolness. Find the jetpack really fast, thining I can probably skip a lot, but it turned out to be only partial relief, since this map involves lots of running back-and-forth.
I can clearly see the pattern ck3D is going for, with enemies matching the specific cars, i.e. pigs with mortars and so on. The map's is not too hard, but not a walk in the park either. Battelords with expanders kinda threw me off guard though - one new type of enemie that you learn to fear (like the new tanks).
I spent a good 70 mins (probably 90) on this map, mostly due to the fact that I coudn't find the yellow card slot for some reason, even though I crossed it multiple times...you players know how it is.

Big Apple Smoke Toke is very small in comprasion to previous maps but I like the design of it anyway, music is a good fit too. Love the sewers, and this little part with 2-3 overlords. And of course, the setpiece with a skyscrapers and a big ship. Reminds me of similar setpieces in Oostrum's maps.
Find the exit unexpectedly fast; I was thinking I find a secret level, but a small cheating revealed that it's a next level really. I suppose that I'll find the secret level if I'll follow the keycard doors.

I like the first 3 levels, enjoyed it a lot, but also exhausted after playing maps 2 and 3, already. So, until next time!

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• 
• 

[Jim]

So is there an version of Eduke now to use so it does not crash in Polymost?

[ck3D]

 Jim, on 19 February 2023 - 09:29 PM, said:

So is there an version of Eduke now to use so it does not crash in Polymost?

I don't think so but couldn't tell you for sure since I can't even run Polymost and so this was always reportedly designed primarily for classic mode. Polymost compatibility is pure happenstance and in fact whilst unsupported it can run it pretty well, just maps 8 and 14 will look broken in parts/potentially crash, and part of map 10 might look off too. I've observed a few weird cosmetic instances in player streams where the renderer doesn't seem to like some of the spritework (mostly wall-aligned sprites) and seems to offset certain individual pieces to weird places but that probably shouldn't affect gameplay (it also misaligns a few textures and text sprites), and whilst I have to do it blind and hope for the best results I actually try and fix this type of stuff as I go when I spot it in videos for updates since there I at least have some control, whenever that doesn't mean contradicting aesthetics in software/classic, but there's only so much I can do. More serious issues in levels 8, 10 and 14 on the other hand are bound to anchor this mod into classic mode until I ever upgrade hardware to be able to look at the maps and study what's going on directly, and there's no guarantee as to when or if I'll even do that (or want to do that). But I guess even those should be tolerable to traverse if you don't mind broken visuals and potential crashes.

Sanek: it's so great you're playing and I'm happy to hear from you, I was hoping you'd give this a try, thanks for playing and providing feedback. The whole time I was making map 8 I was low-key curious about what you would think of it, you'll see. I'm a bit short on time to give a longer reply and also will remain rather quiet for a bit as to not influence you (or anyone else) in the progressive reactions, but I appreciate all the comments.

Also The Watchtower has been great, the episode as a whole would have been a lot more frustrating to play without his help, and he influenced gameplay quite a bit with a number of very good ideas or points (not mentioning the other testers). People who only swear by 'official canon' for the sake of 'official canon' are the worst but here is the case of someone who respects level design and takes the art seriously. Sensivity is only a weakness to those too weak to face their own to begin with but to the rest of the world it's actually the mark of quality. Now, what is indeed funny is I've seen Olivier Boucher like and comment on every Blast Radius Facebook post I've seen pages make. With testers sometimes feeling like they were taking the project even more seriously than I myself did (that is for sure), since January feels like I've been singlehandedly managing an unofficial studio to the point where I legitimately felt bad not being in the position to financially compensate for all the dedication and help. But now I think the biggest possible payoff for The Watchtower would be if Olivier got back into mapping in 2023 and released a Traffic Jam 2 (Traffic Jam Harder?). Everybody would love it and the universe would at least look like it's in order again.

The whole eventual purpose of (art) projects like this is to bring people together for discussion and exchange in ways that can transcend the supposed topic, it's a human experience first and foremost and so I am glad to see this is working. Cheers for all the words, have fun.

[quakis]

Haven't played this yet, just wanted to at the very least throw a congrats on releasing this behemoth. 14 maps isn't something to scoff at, one map can be hard enough. Glad to see it's released, I've been intentionally ignoring the development to go into it with fresh eyes, but still need to find a good time to play it though.

I was considering doing a recording of my first time runs, but Eduke seems to hate all the recording software I use anywhere outside of a windowed mode, so that's unlikely to happen now... and sadly don't expect a review until 2080 if you happen to survive till then. Still got to catch up on your recent solo releases too, seems to be a pattern for me lately, but I'm not complaining about having more Duke stuff to play. I'll try aiming for the upcoming weekend to play something you've released lately, this post serving as a reminder for myself.

[Sanek]

Finished levels 4 and 5!

"Incapernaum"...could be the single biggest user map ever created, that also have the gameplay implemented. Which I guess gives this Graphics guy a run for his money.

The map is awe-inspiring in terms of it's grandness. This is the kind of maps I envision when I'm thinking of a nature-themed map!
It reminds me of the old Predator TC for some reason. "New" enemy is interesting, but just for it's novelty (somebody finally make use of this thing) than anything else. Liztroopers was very annoying, like a swarm of flies or mosquitoes flying around you.
I didn't find myself challenged while playing this map, but upon completion I felt like I achieved something, which is a good feeling while playing the game, which means that this map is great in my book!

I finished the map in 55 minutes.some jetpack leftovers sure helped me there.


"High High High" is pretty average in terms of layout, but when it comes to design/texture choices it's probably the best map yet I think.
Battlelord with expanded on the wing of the plane is kinda unfair but in general this map is a breather, compared to previous maps.

Unfortunately I forgot to make a screenshot of the level stats and overwrote the save file later. but I clearly remember finishing this map in about 25 mins, missed only 1 secret out of 4.

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[NNC]

 ck3D, on 20 February 2023 - 01:36 AM, said:

I don't think so but couldn't tell you for sure since I can't even run Polymost and so this was always reportedly designed primarily for classic mode. Polymost compatibility is pure happenstance and in fact whilst unsupported it can run it pretty well, just maps 8 and 14 will look broken in parts/potentially crash, and part of map 10 might look off too. I've observed a few weird cosmetic instances in player streams where the renderer doesn't seem to like some of the spritework (mostly wall-aligned sprites) and seems to offset certain individual pieces to weird places but that probably shouldn't affect gameplay (it also misaligns a few textures and text sprites), and whilst I have to do it blind and hope for the best results I actually try and fix this type of stuff as I go when I spot it in videos for updates since there I at least have some control, whenever that doesn't mean contradicting aesthetics in software/classic, but there's only so much I can do. More serious issues in levels 8, 10 and 14 on the other hand are bound to anchor this mod into classic mode until I ever upgrade hardware to be able to look at the maps and study what's going on directly, and there's no guarantee as to when or if I'll even do that (or want to do that). But I guess even those should be tolerable to traverse if you don't mind broken visuals and potential crashes.

Sanek: it's so great you're playing and I'm happy to hear from you, I was hoping you'd give this a try, thanks for playing and providing feedback. The whole time I was making map 8 I was low-key curious about what you would think of it, you'll see. I'm a bit short on time to give a longer reply and also will remain rather quiet for a bit as to not influence you (or anyone else) in the progressive reactions, but I appreciate all the comments.

Also The Watchtower has been great, the episode as a whole would have been a lot more frustrating to play without his help, and he influenced gameplay quite a bit with a number of very good ideas or points (not mentioning the other testers). People who only swear by 'official canon' for the sake of 'official canon' are the worst but here is the case of someone who respects level design and takes the art seriously. Sensivity is only a weakness to those too weak to face their own to begin with but to the rest of the world it's actually the mark of quality. Now, what is indeed funny is I've seen Olivier Boucher like and comment on every Blast Radius Facebook post I've seen pages make. With testers sometimes feeling like they were taking the project even more seriously than I myself did (that is for sure), since January feels like I've been singlehandedly managing an unofficial studio to the point where I legitimately felt bad not being in the position to financially compensate for all the dedication and help. But now I think the biggest possible payoff for The Watchtower would be if Olivier got back into mapping in 2023 and released a Traffic Jam 2 (Traffic Jam Harder?). Everybody would love it and the universe would at least look like it's in order again.

The whole eventual purpose of (art) projects like this is to bring people together for discussion and exchange in ways that can transcend the supposed topic, it's a human experience first and foremost and so I am glad to see this is working. Cheers for all the words, have fun.

There shouldn't be a big fuss around this really. I actually loved your screens and concept well before the release and always wanted to touch it and help a little at polishing it. The biggest payoff for me is actually playing the game (and I will continue with Map12 soon, just have a little break for various, off-topic reasons), and enjoyed it, it got me back in Duke. Also I learned about Pula, learned about the Paris catacombs, learned about Norilsk, tell me another educational FPS games/mods that are good.

As for Olivier, I'm really interested in his mapping return too. Traffic Jam is legendary stuff, he clearly had some sense for great layout (and I'm not talking about the copypaste segment, but the tower and the final part), always saw a classic sense of 3D and interconnection in his areas. Actually they are visible in BR as well. Map6, while I haven't been very kind to that one in particular, is very well constructed layout wise, it has the same layered style we saw in maps like Derelict/Sewer/Fusion Station, also Map7 too. And somehow you managed to create those extra layers in SOS, which is an unsung feat of this mod.