[Jblade]

I forgot to mention that this mod was the first time I've fought the Super-troopers, and I was only vaguely aware of half of what they could do.

Spoiler

When the first when I met jumped up and started climbing the walls with his claws I said "Holy shit!" out loud. These guys are awesome, although I felt they were a bit too tough. Considering how advanced they are compared to the other enemies though they have to be strong though. Ideally all of Duke's enemies would get makeovers like the supetrooper, say more advanced pigcops with more moves and stuff but I know that's alot of work.

[t800]

Please help me. I am stuck in 3rd level in "lava temle" room. I reached checkpoint there, killed octobrians and then I got stuck. I cant leave this room because entrance got locked and the other door is locked and requires blue keycard and I have only yellow keycard. BTW I already have Imperium gun (I gained yellow keycard from those big caves with abyss filled with water and big blue crystals.)

[Danukem]

t800, on 21 August 2011 - 09:12 AM, said:

Please help me. I am stuck in 3rd level in "lava temle" room. I reached checkpoint there, killed octobrians and then I got stuck. I cant leave this room because entrance got locked and the other door is locked and requires blue keycard and I have only yellow keycard. BTW I already have Imperium gun (I gained yellow keycard from those big caves with abyss filled with water and big blue crystals.)

One of those Octabrains (the one that started nearest the blue keycard door) dropped a blue keycard when it died. If you get near the dropped keycard, there should be message that says "AN ACCESS CARD HAS BEEN DROPPED!". I suppose it is possible that the keycard dropped in a place where it can't be seen (although that never happened in playtesting). If you really can't find it, you can give yourself the keycard by opening the console and typing "spawn accesscard"

[Hank]

I played a little bit, wow, excellent stuff

[t800]

DeeperThought, on 21 August 2011 - 09:21 AM, said:

One of those Octabrains (the one that started nearest the blue keycard door) dropped a blue keycard when it died. If you get near the dropped keycard, there should be message that says "AN ACCESS CARD HAS BEEN DROPPED!". I suppose it is possible that the keycard dropped in a place where it can't be seen (although that never happened in playtesting). If you really can't find it, you can give yourself the keycard by opening the console and typing "spawn accesscard"

I stumbled upon game bug, my octobrains wont drop keycard, I carefully examined thier corpses and I found nothing. No message, no keycard. (And I intentionally killed them not above lava because I wanted to prevent possible disappearing of keycard.) But thank you for your help.

[Merlijn]

That's weird, in my 100 or so playthroughs they always dropped the keycard (although sometimes it was harder to find because it dropped next to one of the statues).

Oh and I agree with James on the super troopers: they're awesome, but they can be really, really tough! In some cases I had more trouble defeating them then the minibosses. (they're also the reason I actually got scared in one of the maps.. hearing them roam around not knowing were they are was pretty creepy).

[Danukem]

Merlijn, on 21 August 2011 - 09:45 AM, said:

That's weird, in my 100 or so playthroughs they always dropped the keycard (although sometimes it was harder to find because it dropped next to one of the statues).

Not to mention all of the playthroughs of all the beta testers. The code for dropping stuff has been around for a long time and I don't think there are any loopholes that would cause it to fail at this point. A more likely scenario is that the keycard dropped but due to a rare glitch it went through a sector boundary and ended up somewhere it cannot be reached. To be absolutely safe, when a monster is supposed to drop a keycard then it should be made a stayput monster and the sector it is in should have open space around it, so that there is no way the keycard can get anywhere inaccessible.

The supertroopers can be hard, but they have weaknesses. There are points in their animation when they will not deflect shots. Also, they are very vulnerable to splash damage. If you have a rocket, do not fire directly at them, fire at their feet so they cannot deflect it (it helps if you don't use autoaim).

[Mike Norvak]

DeeperThought, on 21 August 2011 - 10:32 AM, said:

Not to mention all of the playthroughs of all the beta testers. The code for dropping stuff has been around for a long time and I don't think there are any loopholes that would cause it to fail at this point. A more likely scenario is that the keycard dropped but due to a rare glitch it went through a sector boundary and ended up somewhere it cannot be reached. To be absolutely safe, when a monster is supposed to drop a keycard then it should be made a stayput monster and the sector it is in should have open space around it, so that there is no way the keycard can get anywhere inaccessible.

The supertroopers can be hard, but they have weaknesses. There are points in their animation when they will not deflect shots. Also, they are very vulnerable to splash damage. If you have a rocket, do not fire directly at them, fire at their feet so they cannot deflect it (it helps if you don't use autoaim).

I always thought the best way to get rid of the supertroop is actually with the quick kick, he dies with 3 or 5 kicks...

[Forge]

zykov eddy, on 21 August 2011 - 06:01 AM, said:

Just "played" through this, and I'm gonna be honest - I didn't liked it. Here's a couple of reasons of that:

1.I don't like big maps with lots of action. I hate sensless killing. The levels are huge and awesome, I would never make such a buty in my life, but the gameplay was just boring to me. I liked the beginning, but eventually I just started cheating to get through the big levels.

??? I thought this was Duke and it was all about killing aliens. I guess not everyone will be happy with the gameplay aspect unless there's nothing but puzzles and tricks with an occasional enemy to remind you of why Duke picks up weapons. There's no pleasing everybody; I personally enjoy running around blasting creatures.

zykov eddy, on 21 August 2011 - 06:01 AM, said:

2.I'm tired of DukePlus features. It was cool when DukePlus was released first time, I liked the awesome step sounds, jumping system, effects, new projectiles, but now it's just annoying to me. Hearing the same sounds & seeing the same stuff is painful.

Sounds to me like you're tired of Duke3D as a whole.

[Gambini]

Quote

Sounds to me like you're tired of Duke3D as a whole.

No. I understand him. It´s not Duke3d as a whole, it´s some aspects of Dukeplus that are getting old. I have not played the released episode yet but from what i could see, some maps (at least the first map) are done with heavy use of some dukeplus effects that were innovative in its time, but don´t make much sense these days. Like those invisible bridges that can be seen only using the nightvision.

Even when this would generate a paradox in time regarding old maps that use some effects and new maps that use other effects. Some old stuff should be giving room for new stuff, instead of having so many things. Right now Dukeplus seems like a F1 car, but with monster truck tires and wings with missile launchers. Sometimes less is better.

I´m downloading the mod right now and will post my impressions as soon as I´m done playing it.

[rasmus thorup]

Okay i just finished it. I have to say that everytime you play duke nukem 3d, you shouldn't play more than one or maybe two maps at a time without a break. It gets boring, and that is not just this episode. The episode had amazing maps, especially in the space maps. Outside in the nature the mapping seemed to be a little bit too boring and texture on walls and floors just seemed like weird choices, but mapping a nature level and a space ship level are two very different things. The gameplay was fine for me. I'm not sure why this uses dukeplus. This is the first time i try the he new alien trooper. The new alien trooper seemed very cool at first. Then it started running into walls and hitting the walls. The sounds from the supertrooper were a bit annoying. You could hear the supertrooper miles away as if were global sounds. Music for the first few levels were very good. It started getting a bit too repetitive, but never bad. Overall a pretty good episode. And i'm not a big fan of the BFG either. I love the devastator And sometimes you come across some mistaken textures on walls. Maps were a bit repetitive too, but still good maps.

[Danukem]

Gambini, on 21 August 2011 - 02:49 PM, said:

No. I understand him. It´s not Duke3d as a whole, it´s some aspects of Dukeplus that are getting old. I have not played the released episode yet but from what i could see, some maps (at least the first map) are done with heavy use of some dukeplus effects that were innovative in its time, but don´t make much sense these days. Like those invisible bridges that can be seen only using the nightvision.

Even when this would generate a paradox in time regarding old maps that use some effects and new maps that use other effects. Some old stuff should be giving room for new stuff, instead of having so many things. Right now Dukeplus seems like a F1 car, but with monster truck tires and wings with missile launchers. Sometimes less is better.

I´m downloading the mod right now and will post my impressions as soon as I´m done playing it.

Funny that you should pick that example, because the use of the invisible bridge feature in Imperium is the one place where it does make perfect sense, since it is explicitly explained in the episode by a view screen, and there is even an accompanying model for it. It's all of the other maps that have used that feature where it "doesn't make sense", or at least wasn't explained (actually it was always fine in terms of gameplay).

That section of the first map that you are complaining about was made by WG as a tutorial for various features that were new at that time. Several years passed before the episode was released, and so now we get complaints about it for not being fresh and new. As far as I can tell, this is purely based on the expectations of a handful of people like yourself who are very familiar with DukePlus, and has nothing to do with the quality of the maps. And your analogy is wrong. It's like an F1 car with a kit for putting on monster truck tires if you want them, and a kit for putting on missile launchers if you want them, and kits for various other options if you want them. No one is forced to put any of those features in their maps. When you have actually played the episode, then you can tell us whether the maps have a bunch of pointless effects thrown into them, which is you seem to expect based solely upon playing a tutorial section.

[Gambini]

I´m playing it, so far the final product feels a lot more polished than the beta i got access some weeks ago. I´m enjoying it a lot. the only annoying thing I could mention is the mantlin feature. But everything else is very cool. The music is wow, very inmersive. You did a fucking awesome job there! The first map, while a lot beter than in the beta is still a little bit bland in some parts, but everything picks up after that. There´s a big problem though: Ammo and health are very tight, ammo specially. very very very tight.

A few bugs i have found:

-At the very beginning of the second level, there´s a cutscene, after that the underwater section doesn´t look underwater anymore.
-Just after finishing the 1st level i was reloading my pistol, which had 4 bullets + 2, in the next level i had only 4 bullets.
-One of the sharks in the ocean view, at this 2nd level, is upside down.
-Flying liztroops are flat sprites (or only the ones in the end of level 2).
-In the end of level 2 I just had thrown my last pipebomb (i was completely out of ammo, at all, because ammo is very very tight). in the beginning of level 3 I had one pipebomb left.
- The last fight in the 2nd level is nearby impossible, mostly considering I only had 8 bullets and 9 chaingun bullets. Which went away quickly trying to fight that blue lizman whileas pushing to not get dragged by the current. This would be just another fight if it weren´t because the ammo is very tight.

Will keep reporting as long as I get deeper into this strange world

[Gambini]

DeeperThought, on 21 August 2011 - 04:42 PM, said:

Funny that you should pick that example, because the use of the invisible bridge feature in Imperium is the one place where it does make perfect sense, since it is explicitly explained in the episode by a view screen, and there is even an accompanying model for it. It's all of the other maps that have used that feature where it "doesn't make sense", or at least wasn't explained (actually it was always fine in terms of gameplay).

That section of the first map that you are complaining about was made by WG as a tutorial for various features that were new at that time. Several years passed before the episode was released, and so now we get complaints about it for not being fresh and new. As far as I can tell, this is purely based on the expectations of a handful of people like yourself who are very familiar with DukePlus, and has nothing to do with the quality of the maps. And your analogy is wrong. It's like an F1 car with a kit for putting on monster truck tires if you want them, and a kit for putting on missile launchers if you want them, and kits for various other options if you want them. No one is forced to put any of those features in their maps. When you have actually played the episode, then you can tell us whether the maps have a bunch of pointless effects thrown into them, which is you seem to expect based solely upon playing a tutorial section.

First of all, I did not complain, I gave my opinion regarding why I understand some people getting tired of Dukeplus. In the past,I have told you in private conversations everything I ever thought was off in DP. However, i give you my right hand about prejudging the overuse of DP effects in the episode. At least at this stage of my playthrough. I don´t know if it´s that you (the team) removed some stuff or I picking a different skill level (or I being in a better mood than when trying the beta) but this final product feels a lot more balanced. Still there are a few cliches I´m also getting tired, like the skycar, which didn´t seem necessary or the powerfull pistol which I don´t have chances to change.

[Danukem]

Gambini, on 21 August 2011 - 04:55 PM, said:

Still there are a few cliches I´m also getting tired, like the skycar, which didn´t seem necessary

If you don't like the skycar then why did you use it? The view screen next to it explains that it's an optional way to skip part of the level and explains you will miss some equipment (like pipebombs which you ran out of) if you do. That's the only skycar in the episode, by the way.

[Micky C]

My two cents on the ammo/health balance. I found that there was always enough ammo when I needed it, Health on the other hand was too scarce (or maybe its because I'm a bad player. )
I ended up using God mode for the last two levels or so because I got sick of dying. I still thought it was really fun even though I knew I couldn't die.

It was also really easy to get stuck in some places because it's not always clear where to go. In those situations it took a lot of backtracking until I finally figured out what to do.

[Gambini]

DeeperThought, on 21 August 2011 - 05:09 PM, said:

If you don't like the skycar then why did you use it? The view screen next to it explains that it's an optional way to skip part of the level and explains you will miss some equipment (like pipebombs which you ran out of) if you do. That's the only skycar in the episode, by the way.

I attemped to make my way on foot but went back to the skycar after seeing a high cliff that would demand a lot of time to climb. It´s not that "i don´t like the skycar" it is that there´s some stuff that´s bound to be recyclable and some other stuff that isn´t. The skycar have been used in at least 5 different projects, that´s the reason of why it is getting old. In contrary, I have used the Mossberg shotgun in about a hundred maps and that doesn´t bother me at all -it is an obvious analogy but helps-.

[Merlijn]

About the ammo - I know these levels by heart so of course I can't speak for everyone, but I always end up with plenty of ammo at the end of level 2. Especially for the shotgun.

If there's going to be a revision, maybe we'll add some more ammo just before that last part.
The skycar was an idea of DeeperThought, because he thought the climbing was too tedious. I think it works well (and like DT said, it's the only time in the episode it's used.. most of the levels are actually a lot more subtle and modest when it comes to using DP effects - you'll see)

At least you seem to enjoying it! Guess at least some people still like shooting aliens in a game about shooting aliens.

BTW, I came across those flat liztroops sprites today haha. It's just a stupid little visual bug, I wonder how they ended up as flat sprites though.

[Forge]

Gambini, on 21 August 2011 - 04:55 PM, said:

I´m also getting tired, like the skycar, which didn´t seem necessary

i mentioned the same during testing, but as pointed out, it's optional and it's there for replay value.

The cliff climb might be initially daunting, but it really wasn't too bad. Taking the long way allows you to get more ammo, kill a few aliens, dodge some missile turrets, solve a couple puzzles; all of which more than make up for having to climb a cliff.

[Gambini]

@Forge: then what´s the point of the skycar if you´re missing part of the map?

I´m stuck. Wasted half hour looking for a bloody red keycard in the third level. I´m gonna keep trying tomorrow, or will put dnclip + steroids and get to the final boss in a few minutes

So far I have a grandious conclusion (no offence to anybody): The second level kicks everyone else´s maps right in the ass (haha that´s what you take marteensucks and willianmsucks by not commenting on my it lives thread )

EDIT: I don´t know why but i was 100% confident that map 2 was done by Merljin. Now seeing the credits, I realize i was wrong. Kudos to Numan, his map was very good too (i didn´t know he had other skills more than being a biased and grumpy moderator). Just starting level 4 right now.

[Danukem]

Gambini, on 21 August 2011 - 06:21 PM, said:

I´m stuck. Wasted half hour looking for a bloody red keycard in the third level.

Spoiler

There are two red keycards in level 3. I'm confident that it's the first of these cards you aren't finding. There is a cave entrance not very far from the beginning of the map which leads to some tunnels. In one of these indoor rooms there is some lava on the ground and an opening you cannot reach above. There is also one of those alien eye models in the room which indicates it is a place to use goggles. Use the googles and a platform appears, allowing you to climb into the opening above. From there you will eventually get to the red keycard.

[Merlijn]

Quote

So far I have a grandious conclusion (no offence to anybody): The second level kicks everyone else´s maps right in the ass

That's my personal favourite of the levels, together with level 4 (the alien mothership). Maarten outdid himself on it, it's by far his best map.

[Micky C]

Can somebody make a frontpage news item out of this? There would be lots of people who don't check the forums very often and wouldn't know about this episode. Given its history, and that this is the first large episode to be released after DNF, I definitely think it's news worthy.

I'd do it myself but somebody who knows the actual development history should write a short article and include some pics.

[Forge]

Gambini, on 21 August 2011 - 06:21 PM, said:

@Forge: then what´s the point of the skycar if you´re missing part of the map?

Forge, on 21 August 2011 - 06:03 PM, said:

it's optional and it's there for replay value.

didn't know i was typing in fine print

[MetHy]

Gonna play it now for a couple of hours maximum right now, with commentary. For those who won't catch it live it will be in the recorded videos library afterwards.

http://www.livestrea.../survivalhorror

[Merlijn]

Micky C, on 22 August 2011 - 01:28 AM, said:

Can somebody make a frontpage news item out of this? There would be lots of people who don't check the forums very often and wouldn't know about this episode. Given its history, and that this is the first large episode to be released after DNF, I definitely think it's news worthy.

I'd do it myself but somebody who knows the actual development history should write a short article and include some pics.

That would be great! I can write an article and post it here, just tell me how long you want it to be, and what kind of content it should have (something about the history of the episode, or just a description of it?).

@ Methy: that's very cool! I'm surely going to watch it. (although this episode is NOT a survival horror.. there are some horror elements in it, mostly in some of the later maps, but for the most part it's an action packed shooter).

Also, the music is going to be posted on youtube, stay tuned!


EDIT: great watch Methy, I'm really enjoying watching someone else playing through the Imperium!

[Mikko]

I made it to space. Liking it so far, some small annoyances but nothing major to complain about. Level 2 took me 17 minutes, level 3 took 18.

[Merlijn]

Cool, you're quite fast! I think you're going to like the EDF space levels the most.
Loved Methy's video btw.

[Mikko]

Done. Liked it very much, but I had some horrible fps drops every now and then, especially in the last level (maybe because of the super troopers) and I didn't even use the HRP. Gonna write a review tomorrow.

[Danukem]

Mikko_Sandt, on 23 August 2011 - 04:17 PM, said:

especially in the last level (maybe because of the super troopers)

and very likely because of the green rain in that level. It's too late now, but if you want to turn off rain you can do so by entering "setvar raining 0" in the console.