[TheDragonLiner]

NightFright, on 03 January 2022 - 02:24 AM, said:

Regarding the malfunctioning switches in Oblivion's OBLVN407:
I can only find 8 monoliths (sprites: 2158, 2295, 3241, 3250, 3259, 3275, 3311, 3356) instead of 9. Is there any outside of the labyrinth or in a place I cannot see right now?

Otherwise, so far I have rotated, resized and moved down the sprites in question, but I couldn't figure out how to change cstat in Mapster32 yet.

I would like to help you find the location of the 9th Stele/Monolith but since I can't understand which ones you found ... Did you use my Hint List ?

I can tell you that there is at least 1 which is located in a White Temple somewhere at the end of one of the Labyrinth's paths, which is the only one matching your definition of "Outside". Also there is one at the end of a path which requires you to go through a climbing platforming section.


If you wish, I can try and use TabMap to show you their location ?
Just to be sure ?



EDIT : Take it for what it's worth >>>

You should be able to zoom-in. I haven't placed the Xs right on top of the Steles just so you can still "clearly" see them.

[Aleks]

NightFright, on 03 January 2022 - 02:24 AM, said:

Otherwise, so far I have rotated, resized and moved down the sprites in question, but I couldn't figure out how to change cstat in Mapster32 yet.

To make a sprite invisible in Mapster32, press '+i on it in 3D mode. It will "disappear", you can toggle showing or hiding invisible sprites with i.

[Doom64hunter]

NightFright, on 03 January 2022 - 02:24 AM, said:

Regarding the malfunctioning switches in Oblivion's OBLVN407:
I can only find 8 monoliths (sprites: 2158, 2295, 3241, 3250, 3259, 3275, 3311, 3356) instead of 9. Is there any outside of the labyrinth or in a place I cannot see right now?

Otherwise, so far I have rotated, resized and moved down the sprites in question, but I couldn't figure out how to change cstat in Mapster32 yet.

There is one inside a building, rather hard to get inside even with mapster32. That's probably the one you missed.

I went ahead and fixed all four issues I posted about myself, including the purple path problem:
https://www.mediafir..._fixed.zip/file

This should finally resolve all the Oblivion TC issues.

[NightFright]

OK, so I guess it's 8 monoliths in total after all. Anyway, since Doom64hunter already took care of all the fixes, I guess it's needless to pursue this any further. Thanks a lot!

[NightFright]

First big update pack of 2022 released. The blast radius changes for Chimera and LRWB won't necessarily stay, they are just for you to try if playability improves. IMO it should still be challenging enough with the radius reduced to 4096 (drone) and 8192 (boss).
I have also included the translated LRWB document provided by Doom64hunter (thx for that), converted to PDF format.

Chimera:
- chimera.con: Blast radius for new drone (pal17) and drone boss reduced by 50%

Fusion TC:
- Fix for HUD never being fully displayed --> Not sure if this really works as intended now (e.g. ammo display is shown on the top of the screen)
- Removed white Nuke weapon flash which lasted over 10s

LRWB:
- Blast radius for new drone (pal17) and drone boss reduced by 50%
- Make new sky (#3820-3825) use more than one tile for a full 360° rotation (via multipsky)

Oblivion:
- OBLVN309: Purple path shows again while looking through transparent texture
- OBLVN407: Make 9 Monolith switches (2158, 2295, 3241, 3250, 3259, 3275, 3311, 3356 +1) usable again (rotated, size increased, cstat 32768 set)
- Ep.4 boss can be killed again
- Fix for "Chaingun Infinite Ammo Chip" being referred to as "Petrify Gun Upgrade"

To update:
- Use the downloader script (unzip into your EDuke32 root dir and execute eac_install.bat) OR
- Get the updated EAC Base Pack (13.3 MB) and download chimera.grp, fusion.grp, lastreaction.grp and oblivion.grp from the repository

[Ninety-Six]

NightFright, on 03 January 2022 - 06:58 AM, said:

I have also included the translated LRWB document provided by Doom64hunter (thx for that), converted to PDF format.

what?

[Doom64hunter]

Ninety-Six, on 03 January 2022 - 06:03 PM, said:

what?

Indeed, I did not provide that document.

[NightFright]

Well, Doom64hunter was the one that uploaded it here, which was what I meant. Anyway, in the readme, I credited the other guy who actually wrote it, so everything is fine.

[Ninety-Six]

NightFright, on 03 January 2022 - 10:38 PM, said:

Well, Doom64hunter was the one that uploaded it here, which was what I meant. Anyway, in the readme, I credited the other guy who actually wrote it, so everything is fine.

okay, good.

[NightFright]

Side note:
Small update for the EAC Downloader script has been released to include latest Wget version (v1.21.2).

[ETPC]

ran through all the BobSP maps with r9949, zero issues!

[ETPC]

ran through Wet Dream as well with the same version and again, zero issues!

[TheDragonLiner]

Okay so, Me and FistMarine have yet another mystery about Oblivion which requires investigation ....

It's about the level called "Bizzare Zone". It is Oblivion306.map if I'm not mistaken.


You see, at the very very beginning, once you went through the Green Opening Corridor and entered the Blue Teleporter with a Black Shark Shadow, you come into a room with 2 Doors and 2 Pedestals next to them. One of them is locked by a Yellow KayCard Slot, the other by a Blue one. Thing is, we ALWAYS had the Yellow KeyCard already there and ready to use. We NEVER saw the Blue one. The Blue Door gives access to a whole different path through the level, and it would be nice to uncover how to reach it.

Also, later, in the area with the Blue Column and the Invisible Switches on the Stones, there is a teleporter leading you to a BattleLord. In his room is a wall blocking yet another big section of the level which is inaccessible. Personally, I am sure that this place is linked to the previously mentioned thing.


So in short, Can somebody (like Doom64Hunter for instance) find out what is the condition that makes the Blue KeyCard spawn at the beginning ?


So far, I made an attempt, which was to finish "Temple of Illusion 1" by using the super secret Switch Combination FistMarine had uncovered a while ago. I was expecting some special script to trigger like what Doom64Hunter had dug up regarding Ep5 and E1L6 IIRC. But unfortunately it didn't work T_T


EDIT : Okay so, I've just found out that stepping on the Blue Pedestal actually opens the door. However the path is still blocked behind another door just behind. We still need that Blue Key.

[Doom64hunter]

TheDragonLiner, on 01 February 2022 - 04:59 AM, said:

You see, at the very very beginning, once you went through the Green Opening Corridor and entered the Blue Teleporter with a Black Shark Shadow, you come into a room with 2 Doors and 2 Pedestals next to them. One of them is locked by a Yellow KayCard Slot, the other by a Blue one. Thing is, we ALWAYS had the Yellow KeyCard already there and ready to use. We NEVER saw the Blue one. The Blue Door gives access to a whole different path through the level, and it would be nice to uncover how to reach it.

Jump on the blue button and kill the battlelord, he drops the keycard. First use the blue keycard, then the yellow.

TheDragonLiner, on 01 February 2022 - 04:59 AM, said:

Also, later, in the area with the Blue Column and the Invisible Switches on the Stones, there is a teleporter leading you to a BattleLord. In his room is a wall blocking yet another big section of the level which is inaccessible. Personally, I am sure that this place is linked to the previously mentioned thing.

That's the area you end up in once you complete the blue key path.

[TheDragonLiner]

Doom64hunter, on 01 February 2022 - 12:50 PM, said:

Jump on the blue button and kill the battlelord, he drops the keycard. First use the blue keycard, then the yellow.


That's the area you end up in once you complete the blue key path.

What BattleLord ?

When I step onto the Blue Button, the door next to it opens but nothing happens beyond that :/



Is it supposed to spawn upon pressing the button ?

[FistMarine]

The mini battlelord (and various ammo/weapons in the room) only appear on skill 3 or higher. As I see in Mapster, they are tagged to appear on skill 3 and since I always play on skill 3, they appeared for me.

Anyway, I've been playing through all versions of Oblivion since back in October 2020 and I managed to finish first two versions (in JFDuke3D, October 2005 release) 100% everything, last year and I'm playing through the third version currently, which I started back in July 2021 (it is played in EDuke32 1.4.0 beta 2) and it's my first time playing through the third episode and that's why I had to ask a while ago in a PM, both TheDragonLiner and Doom64hunter regarding some maps in E3 and their inaccessible secrets. With their help, I have discovered there are some unreachable secrets and it appears that in some E3 maps, there are alternate paths where you can't get everything in a single playthrough, so I may have to replay those particular maps later (from a pistol start) to get to the alternate paths and get the FULL experience of the mod!

Note that for first version, I had to use JFDuke3D because when I tried in Atomic 1.5 in DOSBox, it said that the CON files are too large. For Oblivion V2 and V3, I had to replace the included executable in both cases, because in former it used an outdated version of jfduke3d (which I didn't like) and in latter, it used an older EDuke32 (version 1.3.1 or so), so I thought about upgrading it to latest version of EDuke32 from 2006 (before EDuke32 switched to SVN builds). Don't worry, I know what I'm doing and other than a couple of random crashes while playing V3 (mostly in some E3 maps), the mod works fine. The only downgrade I noticed in V3 is the shitty pistol accuracy, I can no longer accurately hit targets, so I must use shotgun most of the time (at least ammo is plentiful). I haven't gotten into V4/latest (2009) version of Oblivion yet but I have been told that there are also updated maps from prior episodes, which is why I wanted to play through all versions. The only version I no longer have is an apparently less known updated 2014/2015 version from Zaxtor's website (which I used to test a few years ago when reporting the Muddlelizer bug) and since he passed away (RIP) back in 2019, that version is no longer possible to recover, even with Wayback Machine. I wish I still had that version saved somewhere in my PC!

Now for the last map I played and finished (E3L6: Bizarre Zone) two days ago, I found 10/11 secrets (with help of Mapster), so I talked with TheDragonLiner through PM and he told me that the missing secret could be linked to the alternate path and he also told me about the alternate paths in E3L11 (second secret map, which I suffered through) and that when you finish first map of the episode, you can only choose between normal or secret exit and can't do both in same playthrough. Now I know at least that I can't get full 100% in the third episode and it requires playing through those particular maps multiple times to get the alternate paths. Not to mention at least two unreachable secrets in two different maps. Maybe Zaxtor didn't care for getting all kills/secrets in the same playthrough or these maps weren't playtested enough. The maps are already painful as they are right now, at least most of them. That's why I'm glad I've been saving often and using multiple save slots, with 1-2 backup saves from end of previous maps.

And finally, in regards to that glitchy Mini Battlelord (from beginning of E3L6), I HAD that feeling that he is supposed to drop the card. But the problem is that while I'm fighting him or when I'm about to kill him with shotgun/RPG, the game crashes! There is nothing I can do about that. I tried at least 3 times and I was unsuccessful. I was able to kill him with Petrifier (Freezer replacement) but then he didn't drop the card and this created a side effect where after shattering him, his corpse could still be seen and interacted with, at least for a while. Then I also experienced some troopers' lasers remaining in air for a while and that pipebomb box on ground still remaining after I picked it up, then later the problem cleared itself and after I teleported to next area (after using the yellow card), I haven't experienced anymore weird stuff. Other than that void area with red cubes randomly crashing the game at times (and holding the crouch button while falling on the platforms, would result in me clipping through the cubes and falling into the void). I don't understand all the weird stuff going on at times but other than that, I seem to progress quite well. I will continue with the remaining two maps of E3 and once I finish it, I will see with replaying those maps with alternate paths and then post here if I have more questions/discoveries or other weird stuff I have seen. Once I start playing the latest/V4 (from 2009), I am planning to write a complete walkthrough for the mod to help everyone else here. I will try my best to give hints and help others complete the mod, secret locations, etc. Basically expanding upon the hints provided by TheDragonLiner. The hints were very useful for me throughout E3 and I'm sure they will continue to be useful throughout E4 and E5 as well!

If anyone is interested in experiencing older/original versions of the mod, you can find them here: https://dukeworld.co...nt/tc/oblivion/
JFDuke3D (October 2005 release): https://web.archive....3d_20051009.zip
EDuke32 (1.4.0 Beta 2): https://dukeworld.co....4.0_beta_2.exe

[TheDragonLiner]

I've just made a quick test, and indeed the BattleLord only spawns on Hard mode.

I'm using the previous official build of the compilation (2016) and the enemy does drop the card for me. I could access the alternate path correctly, though I haven't tried going through it yet.


The clipping thorugh the Red Blocks when falling does happen on the comilation version of the game too. At least on my version. I think it's because all these blocks are made out of sprites instead of walls, they are "empty" inside.


Yeah, as I told you in PM, accessing the first secret level skips the normal one. It's the same with the second secret level (?????) which has you skip 75% of the normal level.
Speaking of which, as I told FistMarine, in the ????? level, there is that "Whacky Teleporting FunBox" which sends you on 3 different paths. Can somebody help us understand how it works ? Personally, I always get either the "Cube Path" or the "Platform Path" but almost never the "Mountain One".
I tried entering it in different ways, and with different timing, and saw no real clue as to how it may work >_>


Anyway, I hope FistMarine will manage to make it through the ordeal that Episode 5's later levels are, especially "Kinthron" with its more than 700 enemies

[Player Lin]

FistMarine, on 02 February 2022 - 01:52 AM, said:

...The only version I no longer have is an apparently less known updated 2014/2015 version from Zaxtor's website (which I used to test a few years ago when reporting the Muddlelizer bug) and since he passed away (RIP) back in 2019, that version is no longer possible to recover, even with Wayback Machine. I wish I still had that version saved somewhere in my PC!

I think most of pages on the latest Zaxtor site(Zaxtor.net) never got properly archived by Wayback Machine for some reasons(from the logs on the Wayback Machine)...many its pages went missing/never archived, or archived after the site's domain expired...yeah, that's too bad we just lost everything about the whole TC info on his own site.

I tried to search the mirror sites(damn he has lot of them but only one has Duke related thing, which still can be access without Wayback Machine) but sadly that mirror site never up-to-date(the TC was hosted on other site that expired long ago but also not up-to-date too)...
And I don't think Dukeworld have that version too(I only see the ones uploads on 2011)...

Damn, that's too bad.

[Doom64hunter]

FistMarine, on 02 February 2022 - 01:52 AM, said:

And finally, in regards to that glitchy Mini Battlelord (from beginning of E3L6), I HAD that feeling that he is supposed to drop the card. But the problem is that while I'm fighting him or when I'm about to kill him with shotgun/RPG, the game crashes! There is nothing I can do about that. I tried at least 3 times and I was unsuccessful. I was able to kill him with Petrifier (Freezer replacement) but then he didn't drop the card and this created a side effect where after shattering him, his corpse could still be seen and interacted with, at least for a while.

In current eduke32 and the Addons Compilation version, he drops the keycard even when shattered with the petrifier, and no glitches like this occur.

[FistMarine]

Quote

Yeah, as I told you in PM, accessing the first secret level skips the normal one. It's the same with the second secret level (?????) which has you skip 75% of the normal level.
Speaking of which, as I told FistMarine, in the ????? level, there is that "Whacky Teleporting FunBox" which sends you on 3 different paths. Can somebody help us understand how it works ? Personally, I always get either the "Cube Path" or the "Platform Path" but almost never the "Mountain One".
I tried entering it in different ways, and with different timing, and saw no real clue as to how it may work >_>

Anyway, I hope FistMarine will manage to make it through the ordeal that Episode 5's later levels are, especially "Kinthron" with its more than 700 enemies

I just finished Episode 3 earlier today for first time. The last level (E3L8) wasn't bad at all, the boss was easier than I expected (still took a few tries but wasn't as frustrating as some earlier parts in some earlier maps). I think the sphere enemy (before the actual boss) gave me a bit more trouble than the boss.
Oh and just finished Portal Base (E3L9) from a pistol start. I had to use DNSCOTTY309 because if I tried to select E3L9 from User Map menu, then it acted as if I played an user map (this happens in JFDuke3D and older versions of EDuke32) and I wanted to make sure everything was working properly. The map was still painful, especially at beginning and even had one part near end of map, that crashed the game (and screwed me on last few saves, good thing I had backup saves) because it seemed like a trooper (probably one of new variants) wanted to become visible again but as soon as that happened, it crashed the game. After replaying that part a few times, it stopped crashing and that glitched invisible trooper disappeared (might have been eaten by a slimer, not sure exactly). I tell you that I'm finding a lot of weird stuff in this version of Oblivion as of lately, I certainly don't recommend V3 at all! I still have to do the alternate paths in E3L11 and E3L6, so most likely tomorrow I will finish the whole thing and take another long break from Oblivion. That is before I start playing the latest from 2009 and hopefully finish Oblivion for good.

Quote

I think most of pages on the latest Zaxtor site(Zaxtor.net) never got properly archived by Wayback Machine for some reasons(from the logs on the Wayback Machine)...many its pages went missing/never archived, or archived after the site's domain expired...yeah, that's too bad we just lost everything about the whole TC info on his own site.

I tried to search the mirror sites(damn he has lot of them but only one has Duke related thing, which still can be access without Wayback Machine) but sadly that mirror site never up-to-date(the TC was hosted on other site that expired long ago but also not up-to-date too)...
And I don't think Dukeworld have that version too(I only see the ones uploads on 2011)...

Damn, that's too bad.

Yeah, I agree! It's really sad that these pages weren't properly archived and no one uploaded the updated version of the mod somewhere else. I guess no one knew about that updated version (I remember being surprised years ago of that as well), though in the end, I hope that the compilation version is based off that lost updated version from 2014-2015.

Quote

In current eduke32 and the Addons Compilation version, he drops the keycard even when shattered with the petrifier, and no glitches like this occur.

Thanks. I will keep that in mind from now on.

BTW, I just reminded in V3 (which seems to be the buggiest version of Oblivion so far), I also had to use DNCLIP to progress in one of maps in E1 (I think E1L4) because I couldn't get out of the area I was in, something related to a one-way wall. I remember checking in mapster and the map was broken ONLY in V3, previously it worked fine in first two versions and the regression was fixed in V4/final, I think. Just a warning for those who want to check/play older versions, especially V3. I wouldn't recommend doing so, so either check out the first version to see how it all started or just play the latest (oblivion final from 2009 or the compilation version).

And finally, NightFright, I know I have asked you before but is there any chance to include Plunder & Pillage? I remember suggesting it in past and it's a short 3-level standalone TC. It really doesn't hurt at all to include it, considering that Quest for Al-Qaeda and Quest for Hussein are both already included in the compilation.

[NightFright]

As I pointed out before, we are not in the phase where new addons can still be added. There are many issues with existing stuff to take care of. I don't even know where we are at regarding the testing process, need to go through the posts of the last few months to update my checklist.

After the final 4.0 release, MAYBE some smaller content might still be added. Will probably make a poll then, but we are far, faaaar away from that right now. I want to avoid opening up new potential "construction sites" with entries that might need potential adjustments. Also, I am not in the mindset for it currently. SO yeah, it WOULD hurt to add more. Me, to be precise. Butthurt. Loads of it.

On the bright side, that online updater I came up with turned out to work really well. Too bad it's only good for Windows users... As long as I need to provide that Mega mirror for the others, effort isn't really reduced.

PS: Still need to add the rest of the Oblivion walkthrough to the addon readme, too. Good Lord...

[FistMarine]

OK, I understand that you don't want any more addons to be added for a while. The response could have been a bit less rude (in regards to that butthurt part, unless I misunderstood that paragraph), since I'm not asking much, plus I haven't checked the topic in a long time and I find strange that Plunder & Pillage wasn't considered to be added at that time when more entries were added in. Not to mention that existing addons received content updates, so I see no harm in including that short TC. Plunder & Pillage can be downloaded HERE.

I just remembered the recently released Conundrum episode by Aleks, that one could be included as well in a future update (after the testing phase is finished), although note the episode comes pre-packaged with a certain EDuke32 build, so it might not work in the latest EDuke32 snapshot. That should be mentioned in the addons readme text file, whenever the addon is going to be included in the compilation.

With all that said, I would like to help you test other addons to see if they work in latest EDuke32 build, just update the list with already tested entries so far and I will gladly return to testing addons, sometime soon when I have more free time and I'm done with the current playthroughs I have in progress.

Also, I was considering to write a complete walkthrough for Oblivion, which will happen when I start playing through latest version. Which reminds me, earlier today I just finished with the alternate paths in E3L11 and E3L6, meaning I had to pistol start them as well. I did both the alternate paths in E3L11 from same save file (saving me trouble from redoing the beginning parts of the map and then finished the rest of map twice), both paths were easier than what I experienced on my first playthrough, although still VERY painful due to lack of health at times, forcing me to save-scum with low health until I made it through.
The mini battlelord at beginning of E3L6 also dropped the blue card (and atomic health) this time around, which means I had bad luck with crashes at that time, so the mini battlelord isn't bugged and will drop the card (if killed normally), something was wrong my save file at that time. I still had random crashes happening at certain times throughout E3L11, mostly at the mountain path.

Anyway, regarding the alternate blue card path in E3L6, yeah that one held the secret I was missing and it appears to be a much shorter path, since you skip most of the map (you will finish the map with half monsters killed and only 4/11 secrets found). The puzzle with the yellow cubes (that eventually unlock that transparent Mini Battlelord and the teleporter to four temples area) was a confusing mess, until I randomly found the solution. I think the solution was walking through all the cubes twice, by running through them in a circle, then that path just opened. At least now I know this episode features multiple paths that you can't get in same playthrough. Those being at end of E3L1 with two exits, deciding between E3L9 and E3L10 (first secret level), the 3 possible paths in E3L11 (second secret level) and the two paths at beginning of E3L6 (blue card or yellow card).

I can safely say that Oblivion V3 has been fully finished and I will take another long break from Oblivion, until the V4/final playthrough begins in the following months. Then once I'm done with that version as well, I am ready to test the compilation version.

[Forge]

NightFright, on 03 February 2022 - 08:58 AM, said:

As I pointed out before, we are not in the phase where new addons can still be added.

how rude

now here's my list of things that should be added

[NightFright]

Lol. Well, I guess I had that coming. How could I!

Special service for @FistMarine:
- Definition of "butthurt": "Feeling offended/upset in a silly or unreasonable way".
- So it was rather meant as a joke at my expense.
- Zaxtor didn't like us when he made Oblivion. It was crafted to make people suffer.
- End of transmission.

[FistMarine]

Whatever. I guess I should have stopped when I had the chance. I know exactly what "butthurt" means, it's the way it was paraphrased in NF's previous post, confused me a bit, I didn't know it was just a joke. I got the message that there won't be anything added for a while.

Because of that, I am going to torture myself with Oblivion v4/final in the following days. I'll be back in a couple of months or so...

[ETPC]

i've come to the conclusion that oblivion is performance art and i kind of love it for that even if playing it is a complete nightmare from hell. it's so fucking strange and weird. it's like from software style esoteric design but on experimental research chemicals.

[Aleks]

Oblivion is pretty much the Voynich Manuscript of Duke 3D maps

[TheDragonLiner]

Aleks, on 05 February 2022 - 02:55 PM, said:

Oblivion is pretty much the Voynich Manuscript of Duke 3D maps

And Trequonia ?

What would it be the equivalent of ^^ ?

[ETPC]

oblivion is the merzbow of duke nukem 3d

anyway, i ran through Outpost X with r9949 and had zero issues!

[Phredreeke]

I made this for the ERP but it may also be of interest on its own for people using the addon compilation

https://www.sendspace.com/file/h8o0gv

You will need to include skyboxes.def in your duke3d.def for it to work with eduke32.

Edit: to clarify what it is, it has palette swapped versions of Fox's skyboxes. This should cover most of the maps in the addon compilation