[Danukem]

The Imperium is an episode for Duke 3D that started construction back in 2005 (or possibly earlier; I'm not really sure). It includes maps by Merlijn Oostrum, Maarten Oostrum, William Gee, Numan, and Kaiser. I became involved some time in 2007 because the episode started using DukePlus features. There have been long halts in development along the way, which is why it has taken so long, but now it is nearly finished. The episode is playable from beginning to end and we don't anticipate any more major changes. We need some music (which the Oostrum brothers are working on) and a few other touches, but it's pretty much finished.

At this point we could use a few beta testers. The ideal beta tester is willing to play through the entire episode at least twice and give detailed feedback. If you are interested, reply below or send me a PM. Note that we don't need a large number of testers.

As mentioned above, The Imperium episode does use DukePlus. It also has a few additional models. Originally, it was designed for the HRP, although it works without. Unfortunately, due to the size and complexity of the levels, it does not run well using Polymer -- most of the mapping was done before Polymer even existed. So, the best option for playing Imperium is to use the Polymost HRP.

[Kyanos]

I would love too!

[E.C.S]

Cool. Can I join to the party of beta testing?

[Danukem]

OK, we have enough beta testers now. I'm going to play through the episode one more time tonight and fix whatever needs fixing. Then I will put together a package and send links to the testers.

[zykov eddy]

Good luck with beta test. Can't wait until release.

[Micky C]

Nice to see this is finally going to see the light of day, it should be awesome

[Danukem]

Micky C, on 11 July 2011 - 05:21 PM, said:

Nice to see this is finally going to see the light of day, it should be awesome

People always have high expectations for projects that have been in development a long time...

But yes, it's an awesome episode.

[Gambini]

Funnily enough this very day I was thinking about this mod while working. I thought what a shame such an awesome mod that unlikely will see the light because Oostrum brothers are fully dedicated to their band and the other mappers didn´t appear in ages (Willy Gee included). Good to know I was wrong. I´d say being willing to betatest it just for the sake of playing it prior the release. But I won´t have the time to play it twice and report bugs, so i´ll have to wait.

However two things bug me: All the media I saw post 2005/2006 were shown using the original 8bits art. Is this really meant to be used with the HRP or your line is a recomendation because most people here uses it? And the other thing: Are you going to ship a special DP version with this? Most of its latest additions (like the dukebike and all the polymer stuff) do not affect this mod and will only increase the filesize and -maybe- the performance. If not, I´d think about that; So the mod can be downloaded as one package with everything needed to play included.

[Danukem]

Gambini, on 11 July 2011 - 07:25 PM, said:

However two things bug me: All the media I saw post 2005/2006 were shown using the original 8bits art. Is this really meant to be used with the HRP or your line is a recomendation because most people here uses it? And the other thing: Are you going to ship a special DP version with this? Most of its latest additions (like the dukebike and all the polymer stuff) do not affect this mod and will only increase the filesize and -maybe- the performance. If not, I´d think about that; So the mod can be downloaded as one package with everything needed to play included.

There was a period in the development when it was intended for the HRP, and I still believe that it has a more consistent look when using the HRP. But the episode does work fine without the HRP, even though it uses some models. It will not work in the software renderer though, due to skyboxes, models, and hi-res tiles. By the way, I don't know what percentage of people use some version of the HRP and I would never make a recommendation based on that.

I did try, for a long time, to keep a separate version of DukePlus for the Imperium. But the problem was, every time I thought that Imperium would be released, there was another big delay. And then I would have to go back and make another update for the separate DukePlus when development resumed. If my mod were better organized, this would not have been an issue, but it turned out to be a major pain in the ass so I finally decided it would have to use the regular full version of DukePlus. It doesn't hurt performance at all, but yes the overall file size is much greater because of the unused models. What I could do is delete the unused models while leaving all the code and defs for them (it was updating the code and defs that made it such a pain in the ass). This will generate a shitload of warnings when starting, but they should be harmless.

[Gambini]

I understand how hard it would be to erase those models and such from the code, but I don´t know if your last idea will work (it may work in your hands, you´re the expert) I once tried removing all the things I didn´t use from DP but it didn´t work because Eduke32 quited because "too many warnings" or something like that.

As for the HRP, I doubt there´s anything in this wolrd that looks more consistent with it. I know the mod uses skyboxes and models, so polymost is a must (plus the BF cannon and all the DP weapons). Remember to include a fix for the shadescale, as it is surely still screwed up since the last time i updated eduke32.

[Danukem]

Gambini, on 11 July 2011 - 08:59 PM, said:

As for the HRP, I doubt there´s anything in this wolrd that looks more consistent with it. I know the mod uses skyboxes and models, so polymost is a must (plus the BF cannon and all the DP weapons). Remember to include a fix for the shadescale, as it is surely still screwed up since the last time i updated eduke32.

It's not just about consistency. Some areas are obviously designed for the HRP. For example, they use models that stick out in certain directions and look good at a large size, but rendered as sprites they are too large for the amount of detail in the art and the 3 dimensional effect is lost. I could prove this with screenshots but it would be too much work. There are also some HRP models that have animation even though the sprites do not. As you know, that can cause problems with compatibility in both directions, but it can also be used to good effect if mapping for the HRP. For example, those seaweed models have a swaying animation and look good at a large size, while the sprites just sit there and don't look good large.

On the other hand, there are other areas where it is obvious that the HRP was not being used during the mapping (e.g. keycards facing the wrong direction). The keycard type problem is easy to fix, at least, and I have been doing that.

[Danukem]

It's taking longer to get this ready for the beta testers than I thought it would, but it should be ready later today.

One problem I'm having is that some of the HRP models have the wrong scale or shade, which results in black switches, giant rockets, etc. So I'm making corrections to the defs in the updated polymost HRP as I go.

[Danukem]

A PM has been sent to all the testers. Have fun!

[Merlijn]

Quote

The Imperium is an episode for Duke 3D that started construction back in 2005 (or possibly earlier; I'm not really sure).

It was started in 2006, as another episode to celebrate Dukes 10th birthday (we started working on it after the 'Duke is 10' episode was released). Which means the construction time is a staggering 5 years.
We're currently finishing the episode, it looks like it's actually going to be released this summer! Finally! All the beta-reports have been very helpful so far.

Quote

But yes, it's an awesome episode.

And this is absolutely true! :-)

[Mike Norvak]

Merlijn, on 19 July 2011 - 08:14 AM, said:

And this is absolutely true! :-)

Thumbs up!!

[RazorZ]

Can´t wait to see more Duke stuff coming out.

[Kyanos]

I was lucky enough to be included in the beta tests (Thanks again DT)
Y'all are in for a treat when this comes out Awesome episode!!!

[Maarten]

Yeah, all the beta's have been really helpfull!
And I'm glad to see we actually almost finished this - we're doing the very last bits right now (some stuff the beta testers haven't seen). The episode will also include OGG files for music made by us.

[Merlijn]

Well guys... the music is done (every level has it's own track, written and performed by us), the levels are finished, I've even added a special prologue movie to explain the backstory.. in other words the day of release is really really close now!

[Gambini]

You have been saying that for months! Should we trust you this time?

[Merlijn]

..well, I suppose we can wait 8 more years.

[zykov eddy]

Merlijn, on 18 August 2011 - 10:54 AM, said:

I've even added a special prologue movie to explain the backstory..

It's a cutscene? I love cutscenes!

[Merlijn]

Yes, it´s a cutscene. A pretty long one as well, clocking over 2 minutes! There are also several smaller cutscenes throughout the episode (very short ones though).

Remind me to play ´The wall´ once we´ve released the Imperium, I still have to see those wonderful cutscenes of yours.