[Compatible] Techno Cavern [scr_technocavern(encore)_v1.1.pk3]

[Evertone]

Explore a destroyed wasteland. Navigate a factory and its strange chemicals. Try not to get sick as you jump from train to train. Part factory, part wasteland, part cave, all Techno Cavern Zone.

This Mania-styled remake of Techno Hill Zone reimagines both acts of the classic, with updated visuals, slopes, new badniks, and layout changes. Find your favourite route changed or discover a new one!

This mod also has an Encore Mode variant for a harder experience including different power-ups, a changed layout, some more puzzles, harder enemies, and even more Pop-up Turrets to mess you up halfway through your jumps!

If attempting to use the Encore Mode version of this mod, read the compatibility guide.

Developer comments:

Spoiler

Hoo boy. This mod took six months... two weeks were spent on making a 100% finished Act 1. The entire rest of the time was spent on the other parts of the mod. Weird but true.

There were more things planned to be in this mod, such as a button that matches with the rest at the part at the end of Act 2 with tons of pipes, smooth transitions between vehicles/elevators, and a longer elevator fight, but these were all dropped due to engine limitations, bugs, or streamlining the level.

This level actually almost bugged itself to death and killed the project on the very last day... because the aforementioned button doesn't like being made of two sectors. Thankfully that got fixed at the cost of a bit of an OCD-triggering fix.

With all that said, enjoy the mod :)

Compatibility guide:

Spoiler

A few things to get out of the way first:

• This mod is compatible with the base game, Blossom Valley, and Encore Mode.
• If loading these two mods in the incorrect order, some maps may not load correctly.
• If loading Techno Cavern Encore or Blossom Valley Encore without loading Encore Mode, the Encore Versions of the map will not function properly.
• The base Blossom Valley/Techno Cavern mods and the three Encore mods do not interact with each other and can be safely simultaneously loaded.
• Missing the latest version of these mods? Get them here!
  • Blossom Valley: https://mb.srb2.org/showthread.php?t=43637
  • Encore: https://mb.srb2.org/showthread.php?t=43652
  • Techno Cavern: You are here.
  
  With that out of the way, there are specific loading orders for different compatibility types. Only follow one guide depending on which mods you want to combine.
  
  You only actually need to read the first line in bold, and everything else is "the why" behind the order. If you only want to know the loading order, just read the first bolded line.
  
  Here are the correct loading orders for these mods:
  
  If simply using this with the base game:
  This mod will save to a different save file than the base game. The level order of Greenflower to Egg Rock will still be correct with Techno Cavern placed correctly after Greenflower, and all unlockables functional, but be aware that your unlockables will not transfer between the base game save file and the Techno Cavern save file.
  
  If using Blossom Valley but not Encore:
  Blossom Valley and Techno Cavern use two different save files. They can be loaded in whatever order you wish, but be aware that whichever one you load last will be the one which has its save file used.
  
  If Blossom Valley is loaded after Techno Cavern, any emblems obtained in Techno Cavern will be saved and will be already obtained in Techno Hill if Blossom Valley is later loaded without Techno Cavern, and vice versa.
  
  I am currently testing to see if there is a way to make them both save to the same file, but until then, keep this in mind.
  
  If using Encore but not Blossom Valley:
  Load Encore Mode first, then Techno Cavern Encore.
  
  If Encore is not loaded first, some object types will be invalid and the Encore play method will not work correctly, which will cause errors. Loading Encore after loading Techno Cavern Encore will override the maps you have loaded before which completely negates the point of Techno Cavern Encore.
  
  If using Encore and Blossom Valley:
  Load Encore Mode first, then Techno Cavern Encore, then Blossom Valley Encore.
  
  If Encore is not loaded first, some object types will be invalid and the Encore play method will not work correctly, which will cause errors. Loading Encore after loading either Blossom Valley Encore or Techno Cavern Encore will override the maps you have loaded before which completely negates the point of adding Blossom Valley/Techno Cavern Encore.
  
  Techno Cavern Encore loads more maps, so it must be loaded after Encore to override some maps loaded by Encore, then Blossom Valley Encore must be loaded last to override some maps loaded by Techno Cavern (some aren't needed when used with Blossom Valley).

Here are things I'd especially like feedback on (I recommend only touching this after having completed the mod):

Spoiler

• Any ways to make teleportation transitions smoother.
• The part where you jump from train to train.
• Pop-up Turret usage.
• The elevator fight.
• The bouncy goo mechanic.
• Emblem locations.
• The Noxious Factory part in Act 1, and especially the button hunt there.

Do report any bugs or texture/decoration inconsistencies you find, there's probably going to be a few.

I recommend going through with all three characters and exploring what's off the beaten path, there's plenty of things hidden there. With all this said, enjoy the mod! Credits found below.

Credits:

• Matter for the sick beats used in Act 2.
• White and the 22textures contributors for the 2.2 textures used in this mod.
• Prisima and .Jazz. for Act 1's skybox.
• DirkTheHusky for the Encore Mode mod.
• You reading this for (hopefully) downloading and playing the mod!

UPDATES:

• v1.1 (OBLIGATORY DAY ONE PATCH):
  • Fixed some layout errors which made things look awkward.
  • Fixed the Encore turret room.

 

[D00D64]

Welcome to releases!

 

[GreenKnight9000]

The download link is missing, might wanna fix that

 

[Evertone]

That was for the update, sorry about that.

Updated mod to v1.1.

Fixed a few awkward errors, fixed the turret room in Encore (oh no) and prevented players from skipping the left path after Checkpoint 1 with Tails/Knuckles in Encore.

 

[GreenKnight9000]

I just played throught this, WOW
This is phenominal, and I thoroughly enjoyed this, from the music, to the Toxic Factory reference (if this becomes a series, I hope you continue putting a bit of Match/CTF maps in the stages, like Jade Valley in Blossom Valley)

I will say that I noticed an oversight in which one of the emblems (the one in the Emerald Token room full of enemies in Act 2) uses the Nights emblem instead of the collectable emblem. I also was a little disappointed that you didn't use the Blue Goop throughout the stage, using it only at the start and end, I felt like it was a missed potential.



Other than the issues I listed above, this stage is perfect! I love the references to older Techno Hill layouts and whatnot, I can't wait to see what you'll do with Deep Sea Zone!

 

[Twins'R'Okay]

nice

Jumping the gun here, but I'm just gonna say this level was great and I had fun going through it and looking for every secret imaginable.

You have a great style here, and I love how there's a secret seemingly around every corner, and how it rewards curiosity with items and goodies and whatnot, kept me pushing to explore every nook and cranny of this level

Not without its issues tho, so uh, let's go over the points of contention first as well as the other problems I have with this stage.


Starting with the contentions:

Spoiler

Any ways to make teleportation transitions smoother

Polyobjects probably :V (the one with the boxes just before the train jumping sequence is the most jank, so you might want to play around with that one first to see if you can make it smoother)

The part where you jump from train to train.

I didn't find too many problems with this one, except for one jump that I feel is a little big for "Level 2" (the part where you round the second corner to the train car with the blue bouncy goop)

And, just to nitpick, the area doesn't feel like a convoy of trains, and more like a convoy of trains with weird perspective issues (if that's the correct way to explain it)

Pop-up Turret usage.

tbh I didn't really pay much attention to it, and they didn't really give me trouble, but other users would probably be better in giving you feedback for this topic specifically

The elevator fight.

This felt like it was padded for time, the enemies aren't even tough enough to warrant such a fight

The bouncy goo mechanic.

I quite like what you did with this mechanic, it manages to make the "old" level design "new" again by using it in twisted and unique ways

But, I feel like this mechanic isn't fleshed out enough, its fleshed out alright, but not as much as say: Flipgoop Station's reverse gravity uh "goop"

Emblem locations.

I haven't done this and I may or may not do this in the future (unless I can hack the Emerald Radar to unlock early :^) )
So uh, I can't give feedback on this. oof.

The Noxious Factory part in Act 1, and especially the button hunt there.

ngl, this part would be MUCH better if you just cut the button out in general.
The button just pads the stage quite a bit just for the sake of padding

Now with my problems:

Spoiler

So, when it came to Blossom Valley, it felt like Greenflower Zone, but a lot bigger in terms of size and scope, whereas with Techno Cavern, it felt like Techno Hill, but a lot smaller in terms of size and scope.

While there is a ton of stuff to explore, and while there is loads of secrets, it feels a lot more confined and, in some cases, cramped as heck to maneuver and move around.

Like, take some comparison screenshots and you'll see what I mean, I think it would be best to expand the level a bit to make it feel a bit more mobile and fun.

Another thing is that, some things, especially in Act 2, felt like it was padded for time. As a result, TCZ2's length feels way too long.



One final thing, if you ever decide to mania-fy Deep Sea Zone and maybe the rest of the srb2 campaign , PLEASE keep everything (Including TCZ and BVZ) in one or two wads, so we don't have to worry about "connecting" wads and pk3s in such a counter-intuitive and weird way (seriously that compatibility guide is confusing to read, comprehend, and understand)!

This all doesn't change the fact that I very much enjoyed this stage and look forward to seeing what you come up with next!

 

[Evertone]

Addressing concerns:

NiGHTS emblem: Oops, that was leftover from emblem placement. Will fix.

PolyObjects: If twelve square PolyObjects can give me one day's worth of rendering errors, there's no way a train transition will work.

Perspectively-challenged trains: The turns were a reference to Kart's Red Barrage Area, but it seems people would prefer a regular straight tunnel from multiple people's consensus. I'll change that.

Elevator fight: Welp, looks like that's gotta go (again, according to many).

Bouncy goo: What exactly do you mean by "fleshed out"?

Noxious Factory: Wasn't completely sure on this being a good idea, but I went with it anyway.

Man, I should really try to get an open beta of these before actual release...

Cramped level: I don't exactly get what you mean by smaller in terms of size and scope. From a developer perspective, these maps have much more content than their originals and the space you have to move feels fine to me for a cave factory (some parts in Act 1 I'll give you that feel compacted but those are easily changed) and a modified BVZ.

Compatibility: The top sentence is all you actually need to read, everything under is nerdism, but I had to include it.

I'll add that to the guide.

1.2 will drop with more decoration to the cave parts in Act 2 along with fixes to these things.

 

[Dying Dark]

Enjoyed it.

Played these maps once with sonic in OpenGL.

"Hoo boy. This mod took six months..." I appreciate your effort but put some more on giving complete description. Mention in description that the new maps added (the one in this mod) will start from Map 03 and take place of Techno Hill Zone. Many of us just use the Launcher to start with wads/pk3 and won't be able to see Maps' number in console. I did the same and wondered.. "I don't see a difference". Restarted SRB2 and added file through console just to see at what Map number the levels exist. There might be better ways to check Map Numbers (I don't even know if I'm using the right terms) but those who don't play often might not know them.
Granted "Techno Cavern" is a big enough hint.. but still.

Issues:
Dunno If it's with the maps or OpenGL but the brightness values of all regions looks all the way up (refer to images attached). The workaround I found (by chance) is to somehow redraw the screen (bad terminology alert). I discovered them in 2nd act. Changing "gr_fov" or taking screenshot solved the issue. This problem reappears when map reloads (on death, next map etc.).


Gameplay:
I liked the maps more than Vanilla. To me, they were as open as they should be. Didn't felt cramped or too large that bores players. Specially liked the region in image srb20006.jpg The part with detons in second act was fun (god I hate text formatting here. It keeps changing the size and font).Didn't explored them well due to time constraints (spending more time here typing with this s**#ty text annoyance.)

Make it more obvious (for dummies like me) that you'll die there srb20005.jpg :P

And.. Electric floor part (srb20009.jpg) is hard to see. If it's meant to be look like that then it's fine.

I don't post here often but it baffled me that you can't upload .jpeg images.
And for some reasons unknown to mankind.. Extra blank lines are added after saving the post.