[Paul B]

Just in time for the American Thanksgiving long weekend and what a better way to spend it than to play a new release from Seb Luca!

Story: Your boat was hit by a rock. Fortunately, there is an island nearby, but this one is invaded by aliens! Find the three buttons to active the letters S.O.S. and send the message using the local radio’s central system.

Download: http://www.dukemaps.net/?p=9482

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[Merlijn]

Pretty cool map, I enjoyed the layout and the look of the Island. Interesting texture choise for the beach, it actually looks better than the regular sand texture.
Gameplay is good, the puzzle was nicely done.

Biggest drawbacks are a lack of wall shading and the cramped nature of some locations, but it's not a deal breaker.
Thanks for sharing!

[darkcaleb]

Played to map and it's great! Like the way it's small but still enjoyable. Interesting how you used the wooden fences with that texture

[BestViking]

For some reason it crashes my game just as I enter the map.

Screens look nice though.

[Sanek]

The map's title scared me, as I was thinking of BIlly Boy's puzzle nightmare.
I'll play this one later.

[Steambull]

I got the same issue as BestViking.

[Polunka]

Well, I guess I've managed to diagnose the circumstance causing the map to crash (the thing that's happened to BestViking and Steambull). Seems it refuses to load properly in case you have the software rendering mode on. Here's my example of a logfile when attempting to run the level with software mode on (the latest revision of EDuke32):

Quote

EDuke32 r6502
Built Nov 21 2017 21:27:04, GCC 7.2.0, 64-bit
Using C:/Program Files (x86)/Steam/steamapps/common/Duke Nukem 3D/gameroot/ for game data
Using C:/Program Files (x86)/Steam/steamapps/common/Duke Nukem 3D/gameroot/addons/dc/ for game data
Using C:/Program Files (x86)/Steam/steamapps/common/Duke Nukem 3D/gameroot/addons/nw/ for game data
Using C:/Program Files (x86)/Steam/steamapps/common/Duke Nukem 3D/gameroot/addons/vacation/ for game data
Using C:/My Games/Duke Nukem 3D/ for game data
Using C:/My Games/Duke Nukem 3D/ for game data
Checking for updates...
Connecting to http://www.eduke32.com
Current version is 20120522... no updates available
Running on Windows 8.1 (build 6.3.9600)
Initializing SDL 2.0.7
Searching for game data...
Using "DUKE3D.GRP" as main game data file.
Compiling: GAME.CON (151190 bytes)
Including: DEFS.CON (36018 bytes)
Including: USER.CON (45482 bytes)
GAME.CON: In actor `ORGANTIC':
GAME.CON:3967: warning: found `else' with no `if'.
GAME.CON: In state `pigshootenemystate':
GAME.CON:5890: warning: found `else' with no `if'.
Found 2 warning(s), 0 error(s).
Script compiled in 30ms, 131368 bytes
Initialized 24.0M cache
Using RTS file "DUKE.RTS".
Initializing OSD...
0 joystick(s) found
Executing "settings.cfg"
Setting video mode 1366x768 (8-bpp fullscreen)
Refresh rate: 60Hz
Trying SDL_Renderer "direct3d"
Initializing music...
Initializing sound... 256 voices, 2 channels, 16-bit 48000 Hz
Found lonely Sector Effector (lotag 0) at (86656,85376)
Cache time: 113ms
E1L8: USER MAP
current actor: 787 (1250)
g_errorLineNum: 1298, g_tw: 4

Wrote eduke32.cfg
Wrote settings.cfg

The map is loaded successfully in OpenGL (Polymost/Polymer). I've not played through it yet though (will do it probably tomorrow since it's already 23:16 at my time zone right now, thus I'm about to go to bed).

[Polunka]

Sanek, on 25 November 2017 - 06:00 AM, said:

The map's title scared me, as I was thinking of BIlly Boy's puzzle nightmare.

Big Light was the first thing that occurred to me as well.
Nonetheless, would be a miracle if Billy Boy made a big comeback with a new cool map of his all of a sudden.

[ToiletDuck64]

Quote

*snip*
Found lonely Sector Effector (lotag 0) at (86656,85376)
*snip*

I looked at that location in Mapster. There's an SE there that's actually two SEs overlapping each other; only one is tagged appropriately, and the other is untagged.
If I'm not mistaken, the map theoretically shouldn't work at all when there's an untagged SE lying around like that.

[Forge]

ToiletDuck64, on 25 November 2017 - 07:16 PM, said:

I looked at that location in Mapster. There's an SE there that's actually two SEs overlapping each other; only one is tagged appropriately, and the other is untagged.
If I'm not mistaken, the map theoretically shouldn't work at all when there's an untagged SE lying around like that.

The map may or may not work - but it could result in weird things happening - like every crack and senine in the map exploding as soon as one is triggered or a reactor gets destroyed.

[Paul B]

Later versions of EDuke provided allowances for the map to be played with an untagged S.E but definitely good practice not to leave any untagged S.E laying around. I know the original game wouldn't allow for any untagged S.E and it would drop you to a command prompt before the map even loaded. I think this was allowed for testing purposes for whatever the reason.

I also experienced some problems with the elevator in the lighthouse where it appears to go up but not down and a tagged secret area that is impossible to reach behind a fire extinguisher crack because the hole is too small to enter.

It would be nice if the author would tidy up a few of these things minor annoyances. He has provided me with an update which i updated on the website earlier this evening but i'm not sure what the update addressed...

[Forge]

Paul B, on 25 November 2017 - 08:51 PM, said:

It would be nice if the author would tidy up a few of these things minor annoyances. He has provided me with an update which i updated on the website earlier this evening but i'm not sure what the update addressed...

contact the author with the list of problems -see which, if any, they'd like to fix.

unless you enjoy re-uploading and making update posts ala parkade style.

[BestViking]

It works now that I use polymost.

So far what I have played it's very nice, except the epilepsy lights part.

The map sort of feels like Highwires tropical maps with a hint of Zaxtors "Big City" from Trequonia.

[Paul B]

Forge, on 25 November 2017 - 10:28 PM, said:

contact the author with the list of problems -see which, if any, they'd like to fix.

unless you enjoy re-uploading and making update posts ala parkade style.

For me, map making is a fantastic form of expressionism and art. I have way more appreciation & satisfaction from looking at a creative Duke Nukem map then I would looking at a painting hanging in a museum. So if any map author wishes to make any changes, enhancements, fixes or updates of any kind to any of their maps as long as I am still breathing I will make updates to the site and it doesn't bother me in the least. I prefer to have a working map than one that is broken and ruins the game play experience.

BestViking, on 25 November 2017 - 10:48 PM, said:

It works now that I use polymost.

I found Polymost works best too. In Classic mode the wall sprites are placed directly on the walls resulting in an excessive amount of sprite flickering. Whereas with Polymer that flickering sprite issue doesn't occur. The map is pretty much unplayable in Polymer as a result of the vast open area with heavy sprite detailing which takes its toll on the frame rate.

[Polunka]

Just finished playing this one. Definitely a decent example of someone's first published attempt at a Duke3D map. I especially liked the non-linear aspect of gameplay (plus some keycard-bound locations nonexplicit for visiting). Found 4 secrets outta 6.

Also, I'd like to report some potential glitches. Seems like the door tied to the "O" letter is opened right from the start, hence its closure upon pressing its respective switch (the one inside the lighthouse). I'm not sure whether it's related to the null-valued sector effector problem discussed earlier on. At least that's what happened to me (both during the first playthrough and the following noclip-plagued test play conducted specifically for investigating the subject).

Another problem is that some elevators can't be activated in case they've already been used (like in case I've used an elevator up to a rooftop and then jumped off the roof instead of taking the said elevator back to the surface). The most notable examples are the blue card elevator (tho not really a showstopper since you can't potentially evade its re-usage other than using no-clipping) and the lighthouse elevator. They're placed too close to their doors so that the player won't be able to use them anymore in case they've sent them up or down their path. I'd like to offer a suggestion to the author to test elevators more thoroughly so as to avoid such an insidious but really nasty problem in the future.

P.S.: Congrats on establishing your own Duke3D mapping website, Paul (I know I'm being *kinda* late on this one but anyway)

[Paul B]

Polunka, on 26 November 2017 - 06:07 AM, said:

P.S.: Congrats on establishing your own Duke3D mapping website, Paul (I know I'm being *kinda* late on this one but anyway)

Thanks Polunka, I have a few people to thank for getting my site up and running so quickly and they would include: Puritan at Scent-88, Mikko Sandt & Forge for allowing me to use his review content and information. These guys have been key to providing me with the information to populate my site. Without them my site would be pretty bare.

Anyway, the author of this map has re-released the map with the mentioned fixes. Hopefully this will address some of the concerns reported.

[Hendricks266]

Does the map still crash Classic? I would like to take a look at any version(s) with which this happens.

[Perro Seco]

The texture used for the beach fits incredibly well. Very realistic.

I enjoyed the map a lot, and I was able to play it with classic renderer (my EDuke32 version is r4525), despite the map was not dessigned for it:

Spoiler

Some feedback for Seb: if you're going to make more cool maps like this one, you can fix some of the visual errors above by pressing '1' in the wall/floor/ceiling aligned sprite; it will make the sprite only visible by one side. Also, to make fullbright areas, you can change the visibility of the sectors by pressing ' + V in 3D mode and setting them to 240; this way will be more easy and will let you use shades.

[blizzart]

Hendricks266, on 27 November 2017 - 10:50 AM, said:

Does the map still crash Classic? I would like to take a look at any version(s) with which this happens.

I hadn´t any problem playing the map in classic mode at all with an older EDuke-Version (r5258).

[Jan Satcitananda]

Very nice work, quite original level with a neat layout and an interesting quest to do. I've noticed some visual glitches which may be related to map bugs though; also the map crashes in software mode probably due to some kind of map corruption. Also I've been stuck a couple of times, first I didn't notice the pit leading to the yellow lock; then I missed the hidden switch that opens the lighthouse (behind the arrow), that was counter-intuitive one. Also I decided to guess the "p" 8-switch combination, since I didn't find the correct combination nearby (found it later inside another building, generally don't like this kind of puzzles).

What I've also noticed is somewhat uneven detailing. Some places are very detailed, and some are less what looks a bit strange, but may be ok considering the fast construction time. Generally maps are better to have a consistent level of graphic detail, imho.

[Seb Luca]

Thank you all (very late) for your advice and comments on my trilogy of maps