[oasiz]

You will want to split sectors in order for the game to know better what to render and what not to as all the visibility is calculated in real time, along with the game having no clue what is actually occluding the skybox when viewed from play area. Sprites are always present (cut outs in this case) as long as you see the sector they're in, it's generally more economical to just do actual sectors due to this.

[Shodanbot]

TerminX, on 15 April 2018 - 12:21 AM, said:

Thanks for the lengthy post, Shodanbot. I read all of it, though it's quite a bit more than I have time to comment on at the moment. You have some good suggestions and a few of them are already on our to-do lists.

I didn't anticipate a full response to my lengthy post, but I appreciate that you read it. I cant give you, Micky C, and oasiz a vote up -- must be a new user anti-abuse thing -- but I appreciate your responses and patience.

Now then, time for another suggestion:

• I'm not sure if you will be adding a Duke3D punch/kick/stock equivalent to Ion Maiden in the future, but if you do perhaps a system based on Newton's third law couldn't hurt. A cartoon execution of it, of course.


I.e. If the player throws a right hook at an enemy from a stationary position or less than max acceleration, apply hook damage and give the enemy a random chance of a small flinch. Otherwise, if the player is running toward the enemy at max acceleration and player throws a connecting hook, then apply the same damage as a stationary hook but give it a full chance of a knockdown of humanoid and bump player a little in the opposite direction. Maybe from a jump or fall too.

I suppose distance traveled would be less abusable than max acceleration.

[Forge]

Apparently GoG now has the latest update, did anybody from 3dr get it yet, or is it just me that doesn't have it available on their game page?

[MusicallyInspired]

It's definitely not updated for the Bombshell Digital Deluxe extra yet. It still says build 19934.

[Forge]

MusicallyInspired, on 16 April 2018 - 06:46 PM, said:

It's definitely not updated for the Bombshell Digital Deluxe extra yet. It still says build 19934.

Okay.
The people in the gog forum are confusing me then.
A few hours ago someone posted the change log as if update 2 had been distributed.

[NightFright]

I wrote to TerminX and he got me a copy just like he said he would. A man of his word! If you can't wait, do the same. Even though it's probably soon available from 3DR directly, too.

[Micky C]

It's still not available on 3DR? They really need to streamline their system.

[Zaxx]

Anyone managed to complete Queen of the Hill? I'm literally unable to do so: the last wave is so fucking over the top that the game just shits itself and I start getting fps below 10. There is one thing you can't do with that performance: aim.

Well, at least I could try the minigun, now let's never play this again.

[oasiz]

qoth perf fixes for round15 are on the way.
For the time being, try disabling sound effects to see if that changes your perf. For some reason it's locking the game quite a bit with some users (being worked on).

[Zaxx]

oasiz, on 17 April 2018 - 02:18 AM, said:

qoth perf fixes for round15 are on the way.
For the time being, try disabling sound effects to see if that changes your perf. For some reason it's locking the game quite a bit with some users (being worked on).

Interesting, I thought it was simply the combination of one of the more demanding maps of the game and having 100 spiders on screen.

[Player Lin]

Zaxx, on 17 April 2018 - 01:47 AM, said:

Anyone managed to complete Queen of the Hill?

I do but sadly that run counts as cheated after I save and load my game to get rid the other problem caused me timed out and dead.

Some enemies tends like stuck on their spawn point(s) or some terrains on the map, since there is time limit so it's big problem(early stages just worse than later as enemies just not many on early stages) because I have to run the whole map to find out where are they just stuck.

I just hope that stuck problem also will be fixed too...

[oasiz]

It is demanding, but a lot of the additional FX got removed/redone that existed in the original one in order to make it run smoother.
However it does require a bit of smarter trickling with the spiders than just having all at one go
You should see how over engineered the setup is (nobody except me really dares to touch it)

Spoilers: if you noclip out of bounds (with map cheat), you will find some hints on how the game mode was done.

Player Lin: unstucking enemies is something that's being worked on, I think the current test build works without issues.

[DavoX]

MusicallyInspired, on 16 April 2018 - 06:46 PM, said:

It's definitely not updated for the Bombshell Digital Deluxe extra yet. It still says build 19934.

If I recall correctly, Digital deluxe buyers won't even get the first update even. Just the first version that came out on feb 28.

[Forge]

The most upsetting part of the situation is that 3dr can't be bothered to keep their customers informed.
Five days and not one word.

If they came out and explained that there would be a delay, I would be okay with it. Instead we have to hear it from somebody else at a different forum.
I don't do twitter, facebook, or whatever either. I don't know what they're talking about there. 3dr has a website with a forum. They should use it.


I can't afford to spend money on games very often. I saved up a gift-card I had received for Christmas just for the sole purpose of buying Ion Maiden, and this poor customer relations experience is leaving a bitter taste over my purchase.

I'm going back to DOS solitaire and Duke3d user maps from 1997 after this.

[MusicallyInspired]

DavoX, on 17 April 2018 - 05:40 AM, said:

If I recall correctly, Digital deluxe buyers won't even get the first update even. Just the first version that came out on feb 28.

Incorrect. I definitely have the first update already. As well, the initial release was 80MB and now it's 70MB. A definite change there.

[Player Lin]

MusicallyInspired, on 17 April 2018 - 07:25 AM, said:

Incorrect. I definitely have the first update already. As well, the initial release was 80MB and now it's 70MB. A definite change there.

Check the IM (version of eduke32)'s maiden.log file, seem the first two line:

Ion Maiden Preview Campaign r6825
Built Apr 12 2018 13:07:45, GCC 7.3.0, 64-bit 

This is the PCU2 build, if yours not this then it's old version(PCU1)... I guess.

[MusicallyInspired]

I know it's the first update because the armour shards look different and light up more which I believe was one of the things mentioned by someone when it was first released. I'm at work right now and can't check the log.

[Mr. Tibbs]

PC Gamer: The joy of returning to the early days of the FPS in Ion Maiden

Quote

Duke 3D was pretty much built on the principle that if something exists you should be able to mess with it, and that's the same for Ion Maiden. The result is a far cry from the non-interactive nature of most modern shooter level design, which might have a handful of physics-enabled objects but few crafted details to play around with. You feel a flash of connection with a game's designers when you realize they foresaw that you'd want to hit an office chair with a nightstick to push it across the room, and that they thought to make it visibly damaged before being completely destroyed.

And then there's the size of the levels. Ion Maiden's scale is ridiculous, with everything too wide and too tall, but that's totally fine because of your equally ridiculous run speed and jump height. You don't need special abilities to traverse the world, not even a sprint meter, because you can just run everywhere. Ion Maiden has the old school's vital kineticism, a sense of speed that more earthbound modern shooters has forgotten. I'm not saying that making everything fast is ideal in all cases, but when environments are this enormous zooming through them feels great.

[Jblade]

No mention of Voidpoint though, just Interceptor which is a dumb oversight to make.

[Hendricks266]

Jblade, on 17 April 2018 - 12:20 PM, said:

No mention of Voidpoint though, just Interceptor which is a dumb oversight to make.

Yeah, Gggmanlives made the same mistake in his video. Can people comment on this article to point out the mistake?

[Forge]

So I broke down and asked Tx for the update, and he was nice enough to hook me up.

I'm enjoying queen of the hill, but I don't know if I'll get much farther than stage 6. My poor little 2gb 650ti & fx 8320 start choking in the middle of it when there are too many enemy on the screen.

Still having fun though.

Be cool if this mode had several different arena styled maps to choose from.

[Forge]

-the trick that worked for me to keeping the fps at a reasonable rate is to stay off the top of the hill until most of the enemy are dead.
I got to phase 8 until I died from wounds - I think with enough practice and position control, I can probably finish it.

[Micky C]

Forge, on 17 April 2018 - 07:27 PM, said:

My poor little 2gb 650ti & fx 8320 start choking in the middle of it when there are too many enemy on the screen.

Don't worry, by the time Update 2 comes out at 3DR, Update 3 with improved performance will be ready

[TerminX]

Can someone who bought the game on the 3DR site confirm the update is appearing now?

[Danukem]

TerminX, on 17 April 2018 - 09:50 PM, said:

Can someone who bought the game on the 3DR site confirm the update is appearing now?

Yes, update 2 is live, I'm downloading it now.

[Jimmy]

Why does 3DR have such a hard time giving Voidpoint credit? It's pretty embarrassing.

[NightFright]

Wow, they even fixed the broken download display and put the new version on top!

Even though I still don't understand why they keep version 1.0 there. I severely doubt anybody will want to get that. OK, it's labelled "update 2", but afaik you don't need to download v1.0 first before updating. All the files you need to play are in the new release. Anyway, I hope the guys at 3DR finally woke up and will be able to respond faster in the future. Nobody expects them to be as fast as Steam, but a reasonable timeframe of maybe 2-3 days would be desirable.

One way or the other, I appreciate the service provided by TerminX for those that couldn't wait. It's the kind of support this game deserves and many other companies fail to provide.

[Zaxx]

NightFright, on 17 April 2018 - 11:39 PM, said:

Wow, they even fixed the broken download display and put the new version on top!

If they keep this up they'll become the next Ubisoft!

It's a bit disappointing to see how long it takes for 3DR to get its shit together.

[Sanek]

Jimmy, on 17 April 2018 - 10:40 PM, said:

Why does 3DR have such a hard time giving Voidpoint credit? It's pretty embarrassing.

Maybe because Voidpoint is just a developer-for-hire? They don't own the IP, they don't have any other games under their belt, and most publishers don't give the proper credit to the developers unless the team is already well-known across the industry. Heck, even the well-known studios don't get the credit they deserves. It just happens that Voidpoint owns the port, have extremely talented people on board and 3DR obviously don't have the budget for the likes of Nerve or other "professional" developers. Why pay more for less? As far as Build Engine games go, you can't find a better team than this one.

[Micky C]

I've tried out Queen of the Hill. Couldn't find the last 3 enemies in round 2. It's not as exciting as I thought it'd be. You spend too much time actually searching for the enemies, all the while the anxiety of the counter ticking down, as opposed to in combat. War of Attrition's challenge mode is much better in terms of the appropriateness of the level layouts, and the visibility of the enemies. Plus its powerups make it much more dynamic. Queen of the Hill feels incredibly rigid by comparison.