[ck3D]

Post attachment for now but will release on ModDB when I find the time, like the other levels it is subject to slight superficial changes (and bug fixes if found), but is ready to play and has been tested quite a bit. But is a pretty expensive map in terms of performance, some of the most wide open areas lag a little for me in classic mode on my ancient machine (can be solutioned to an extent by masking certain angles etc. but would rather not). Shouldn't get any worse than that in the episode so hopefully not too intrusive. Several ways around this one anyway so should be possible to solve even if/by skipping the problematic sections (could be a meta game in itself that would be exclusive to the most old-school, lo-fi, masochistic, and/or bored.)

Should work fine in new EDuke; worth remarking is, using a couple of months old versions of EDuke to test it made it break in really weird ways: irreversible player X/Y movement slowdown upon activating a certain switch lowering slow door (similar to using inittimer but applied only to player X/Y; Steroids worked 'normally' in such conditions in that they augmented movement speed, but did not break state, and roided up Duke in that broken mode remained slower than not broken normal Duke), all textures deactivating to pitch black (including in menu/end of level screen but also in the next levels loaded) but sprites remaining, DNDEBUG revealing walls dragged out so far away from map mapper can not even reach, etc... Made me freak out a little so finally updated to latest EDuke, tested with and without sped up game timer, tried some fixes on the map side at the same time and... now seems fine, minus the aforementioned lag on veteran hardware in one spot or so.

So have fun.

[ck3D]

EDIT - tl;dr current EDuke will corrupt and crash the map if you save, quit, then reload. Reloading without quitting seems fine. Seems internal and not related to the map.

(Attachment below is for possible EDuke troubleshooting, nothing playable)

__

Spoiler

OG post
------------

OK, that version can still break, and I need to figure out what can do it. Was giving it one more test playthrough earlier, issue with the walls wandering way out of grid somehow happened again, and if (big if) that happens, from then on loading the central green room will crash the game.

That sucks because didn't happen during all of the testing (in various conditions with/without elongated map runtime, etc.) I ran prior to posting the map, and I just couldn't replicate it now (even more recently) again going around the level trying to trigger everything and speeding up run time to over 1 hour. Also it is not even your typical SE0 bug seeing as only one wall from one sector (wall 0 that is a boundary between sectors 0 and 1024 funnily enough) stretches and goes nuts and not the whole structure.

One thing I didn't do in the last non-breaking run is save/quit/reload save (since using cheats), which I did do every time the map gave out (to take pauses during serious runs), so I wonder if that may be a trigger/factor or coincidence.

Going to try and pin down the cause on the map side for the next couple of hours (sigh). Level remains up in this thread for now seeing as there are chances it won't break (like the times it didn't on me) but I understand staying away for a bit, would suck if you got involved and suddenly there is no guarantee it is so stable halfway through, seems unlikely but I'm not sure what's up. Again, to me so far looks stable unless one quits/reloads. Posting EDuke log and debug.map of possible broken state in case someone wants to take a look (I have save files too if needed).

Maybe it's also a false alarm and just memory issues on my end.

Attached File(s)

•  edukelog_debugmap.rar (195.17K)
  Number of downloads: 31

[Dr.Panico]

Just finished it. Took me 35 minutes and I just missed one the secret.

This is one of the best levels so far. It kinda reminded me of Incapharnaum, in that it's one of those levels where you can just pick a direction and go, and plan your strategies accordingly. I can't help but enjoy levels like this. Combat and navigation were tough, but fair. It didn't break on my end, so the overall experience was very smooth. And the overall layout was pretty clever.

The only aspect I didn't care much about was that Organic Turret platforming section. It looks cool and all, but the platforms move too slowly; so for the most part you're just playing the waiting game and having little else to do. Either having the platforms move a little faster or have more enemies showing up in the canyon could improve things a little. I also didn't understand why I couldn't climb the rougher rock area. Was that for preventing some other glitch from happening?

[ck3D]

So reassuring the map didn't break on you. Happy you enjoyed it, I agree Organtic section probably could be sped up, on the way back from cliff I actually find timing pretty comfortable right now to shoot all of the distant silhouettes, but on the way to cliff is more of a chore/pee break. They also need to be slow enough not to trip Duke off but for sure that can be optimized in final. The cliffs being blocked (assuming you mean the ones around that region) actually is a good question I was hesitant about too, that was one of the last things I did to the map because I figured the player wouldn't try leaps of faith (the heights should look dangerous/impossible enough) but it is true it is valid space that should contain something, plus there is jetpack in the map. Thinking of turning into secret(s) for the final episode perhaps.

[ck3D]

ModDB link to map here: https://www.moddb.co...taearly-release same file/version as posted earlier.

Will be holding out for either a solution to the crashes on the map side (perhaps just remaking the bad wall sector would fix it), or on the EDuke side before I move on to uploading the v. 0.95 demo.

[stillTodd]

On a DukePlus w/stock r9063-d498eaac9 eduke32 from Jun 2 2020 laden, fanless/fairly gutless Win10 tablet:

DNVL7 is another great one and plays smoothly so far with nary a hiccup. Am about maybe 1/2 through, just getting out of the main beginning area.

I've been save-spamming and have done a number of loads along the way with no issues. I'll keep at it though. It plays well with nothing unexpected happening - have yet to use 'roids but will do so (I don't like DP steroids play - feels weird relative to the original).

@ck3D thank you again for another awesome map.

[ck3D]

Happy to read things went smoothly even with all of the saving (really seems to confirm it's 'quit game' that can mess up a variable) and that you enjoyed it. Suspect the hiccup happened complete west on automap e.g.. after solving the 'Queen' grotto and going up the forest and canopee? Standing pretty far back up the cliffs you can render maybe 70% of the map at once from some angles and that is the worst it can get I think (from what I've found). That is why I only made combat so frontal there. Also possible to get slowdowns during the biggest fights on top of the canopee due to lots of sectors/walls/sprites but nothing extraordinary for a modern D3D map there. There are a couple times testing when at the top of the big hill before going down (so around the first spot I was describing) I would get a couple of seconds of lag and then zoom, sudden game acceleration/object displacement playing zipline to catch up back to normal (perhaps was in a broken map state). Maybe a mistake but I have accepted to expect occasional hiccups from most advanced EDuke maps really, my understanding of the internals really is humble but I do get the idea of how much they really compute under the hood at run time. Constant recalculation/redrawing of stuff at fast speeds through spiderwebs of portals, can stress the machine harder than video editing software.

Completely forgot how DukePlus roids play. Remember in base D3D (at least) they are not just good for traversal speed/terrain control during fights, they also make you grow back if shrunk and grant you Shrinker invulnerability for as long as they last, all the while making your kick stronger. Shrinker gimmick especially useful in this map or the couple of others that have Newbeasts.

[stillTodd]

I think this forum software is more broken, TBH Mods, I'm regularly getting logged out or in a partially logged out state, whereby I am required to log out then back in, in order to (eg) upvote a recent post, edit a post etc. I'm ensuring the "stay logged in" box is checked upon login. Not a big deal here, however these forums might see more activity if this is a problem with other accounts & if it can be fixed

Anyways, I'll continue to play on this low rent system. And @ck3D thank you for those extra pistols upon start!

[ck3D]

lol I guess it's been my turn to read/post whilst in decaf mode (working on fix) and I had misread some of your earlier post. Anyway I hope reloading the map after a game break doesn't kill your game like I suspect it might, would be interesting to hear if safe in your EDuke but I would doubt it. For some reason thought you had finished the level already and so I really hope I didn't spoil much.

[stillTodd]

Not at all i have reached the point where a Thinkpad Helix gen 2 8gb system gives up, which is (natch) where things open up. Gonna say the 3rd chapter, if that's a thing. I 'krozed and flew around to see what was coming up though. The flying organtics are real Half Life-esque and very cool; I get the slow comments/thoughts and yeah, if there's a way to release more enemies but in a controlled fashion, it would be more fun imho.

Loading from a break, eg saving, quitting, then starting up eduke32 later & loading the save, is working 100%.

[ck3D]

Managed to fix quit game/reload cockblock... I think. Guess I'll be hearing about it at some point, if it turns out can still happen to some.

Standalone map file (updated, same as previous one without underlying potential corruption upon reload in continuous play): https://www.moddb.co...taearly-release

0.95 6-level demo: https://www.moddb.co...v-095-earlybeta

[NNC]

I'm still at 3, a map I actually hated (sorry mate), so stopped the series temporarily (also was on a week vacation), but interested in these new maps still. Hopefully the gameplay didn't turn into monster spam like it did at the start of 3.

2 is still an amazing map with it's flaws I mentioned, probably I replay it first in an episodic format before going on for the rest.

[NNC]

Another thing is that I'm totally unsure if we needs separate threads for all maps. Mods should merge them, what do you think?

[stillTodd]

Separate is fine here, dunno <shrug> why anything needs changed. It keeps things well organized.

[ck3D]

NNC, on 17 May 2026 - 03:24 AM, said:

I'm still at 3, a map I actually hated (sorry mate), so stopped the series temporarily (also was on a week vacation), but interested in these new maps still. Hopefully the gameplay didn't turn into monster spam like it did at the start of 3.

2 is still an amazing map with it's flaws I mentioned, probably I replay it first in an episodic format before going on for the rest.

I would have had an issue with you not having an issue with the start of level 3, especially assuming coming into CGS/pistol start (I love it but it only is fun when knowing your way around the rooftop already). General thought: this is a *new* episode. Maybe jumping into it blind on CGS is a little presomptuous (although understandable out of habit, obviously), just like the original D3D episodes probably is better experienced on lower skill or even continuity first until the levels are tamed or otherwise yeah, you will get all of the turrets and drones and extra Battlelords essentially playing on dev skill that is in strict terms of challenge more suited for veteran Dukers, but not the most casual or (mutually) fair of approaches.

Spoiler

No the rest will be fine, some tough fights and stressful moments here and there throughout the episode because dopamine rushes and anxiety are interesting to intertwine but also gives you room to breathe, and that intro may be the most mindless the action gets... I think. It's not so mindless either, it is justified by how you just got shot down from the rooftop of a building that turns out to be a base of alien operations, brutal start but in exceptional circumstances and under control can be actually good (especially in continuity makes more sense). A general theme with this episode is from level 3 onwards each level does something new/different. Gimmick from level 3 as 'imposed' (really just suggested but those guidelines actually motivated and then informed my direction) by the Duke Nukem V plot (D3D source code) is 'blast anything bright!' which makes all of the encounters, respawns etc. around the map make (more or less) complete sense, in most cases (unless it's a babe, or trick) if you see contrasted movement/hear sound anywhere lit up should shoot it. Either I'm an idiot and forgot to specify in the .txt or I did it on purpose, anyway that level is going to feel strange until the pattern clicks because it is mostly designed around it.

The levels are double format really. Simultaneously user maps when played as such, and legitimate episode parts, modern version of the 00's Roch/Red... era of series type releases but landing somewhere definite if you will. All contexts valid and accounted for, none play the same, player chooses angle.

General note to possibly appease the nervous systems of whoever is following the series, will take a little while before I release the next chapters. It is not so much work that is needed but will take energy and I can use a break.

[stillTodd]

When you get back into it and could use the help, I can give some test time if that's useful.