Sonic Doom 2 v4.1 Released!

[SSNTails]

Got something to keep you busy while you wait for 2.1. ;)

After a 15-year hiatus, Sonic Doom 2 back!

"What is Sonic Doom 2?", you ask? Think of it like SRB2 v0.01. In fact, SRB2 was built on top of SD2 for several months before it could stand on its own.

Been long enough, hasn't it? Mod updated to be compatible with ZDoom-derived ports.
FIXED THAT BLASTED CARNIVAL NIGHT ZONE 2 BUG THAT KEPT YOU FROM PROGRESSING!
Some of the worst graphics have been updated (mainly fonts).

Included the never-released unfinished Launch Base Zone Act 2, plus another
new secret level that may seem familiar...

http://www.spaddlewit.com/ssntails/games/sdoom2.zip


Not sure where I'm going with this... if I want to continue it, or what. Depends on if there's anybody else interested in updating stuff for it.

 

[ZeroGravityDarkis]

Its looking interesing. Im downloading it now...

 

[Shadow Hog]

Out of curiosity, which ZDoom variant and version did you test against?

 

[SSNTails]

Early adopters -- please refresh your copy. ZDoom broke Hydrocity Act 2 (you can't pick up the key), so I had to move it.

I tested against the newest ZDoom on the website... why?

 

[Shane]

Awesome!! I can't wait to try out your new updates. I'll post more when I get home, but I loved this mod. It's probably the only good Sonic Doom mod out there. At least it's the only when I can recall off the top of my head aside from Super Sonic Doom (which I don't recall being very fun to play).

Edit: If you want, I'll get together with you about possibly working on it some more with you after work too.

I tested the maps on ZDoom, GZDoom and Zandronum. The WAD works in all the ports, but water creates a HOM effect on OpenGL renders. I'll scope out the water on the maps where it happens.

Spoiler: Comparison screenshots to show an example.

Software (Doom) render.

AMD hardware (OpenGL) render.

Nvidia hardware (OpenGL) render.

The good news is that this only a minor inconvenience and not game breaking, so you don't have to switch ports if you really don't want to. You'll just have to deal with some broken water.

 

[Root]

Awesome that you are working on this again, but how do i play it? I added Sonic.wad, Tails.wad, Knux.wad, and SDOOM2.wad to ZDL and started ZDOOM, but everytime i just get a "Sprite BSPI frame C is missing rotations." error.

 

[D00D64]

You can't add all the characters at once. You need to load a character's WAD, DEH, and BEX files all at once, and only the last loaded character WAD-DEH-BEX will be used.

Anyways, its great to see you at least updating this a little again! Still wish that Super Tails+Flickies actually got done, given how much they appear, and that Death Egg Act 2 had something, even if it was just a retexture of the original map. There may also be a need to make a Zandronum wad that uses a more modern class system so all characters could be used, too. But still, I certainly wasn't expecting something like this!

Also, I notice Sonic can shoot his shotguns (and pistol?) faster and Knux punches super fast, but what do Tails and Mecha do?

 

[Shane]

Awesome that you are working on this again, but how do i play it? I added Sonic.wad, Tails.wad, Knux.wad, and SDOOM2.wad to ZDL and started ZDOOM, but everytime i just get a "Sprite BSPI frame C is missing rotations." error.

Be sure you only load one character at a time. Another thing is to make sure you add the *.bex file to ZDoom as well. I think it should go without saying that you should load it with a Doom 2 IWAD too. If you're using the Doom IWAD, it will give you the missing rotations error. So you should have
zdoom.exe -iwad doom2.wad -deh character.bex -file character.wad sdoom2.wad.

There may also be a need to make a Zandronum wad that uses a more modern class system so all characters could be used, too.

It's possible to do the "classes" within ZDoom. Remember, HeXen did this. Mods like Hunter's Moon also have a multitude of classes in one mod. I may look into doing this and also releasing the game in a proper PK3 for ZDoom.

 

[D00D64]

I know, but in multiplayer, I feel its more important, since naturally, everyone would have their own choice for characters. And if its Zandronum compatable, its most likely ZDoom compatable.

 

[Shane]

I know, but in multiplayer, I feel its more important, since naturally, everyone would have their own choice for characters. And if its Zandronum compatable, its most likely ZDoom compatable.

I'm going to look into this more, I'm actually making the PK3 as we speak. I believe the class select should work in Zandronum as it's HeXen based. I'll keep playing with it and let you know when I have a version to test out.

Edit: Here is my first attempt at just a straight PK3 conversion. It should play just like the WAD. You can try loading it in place of the WAD, but it shouldn't make a difference at the moment. I'm going to look into the classes more over the weekend and attempt to release a version where you can pick a class. Then I'll need to test it in multiplayer.

 

[SSNTails]

Awesome that you are working on this again, but how do i play it? I added Sonic.wad, Tails.wad, Knux.wad, and SDOOM2.wad to ZDL and started ZDOOM, but everytime i just get a "Sprite BSPI frame C is missing rotations." error.

Uh.... BAT files are included... and the readme says to use those...

I like your idea of being able to make player classes, Shane. It'd be cool to have different characters in a netgame. What's the point of using PK3, though? I think you can actually embed BEX/DeHackEd into WADs now, right? All of that info should probably be converted to DECORATE, anyway.

Also, I notice Sonic can shoot his shotguns (and pistol?) faster and Knux punches super fast, but what do Tails and Mecha do?

Tails was supposed to be able to fly.. heh.. Mecha was supposed to have a broader assortment of weapons, and higher ammo capacity (maybe the rocket launcher replacement would be an unlimited weapon).
Knuckles was also supposed to be able to climb walls. In fact, some of the levels have Knuckles-only areas designed around this that can currently only be accessed with NOCLIP.

I probably should dig up what info I still have and make a little design document of sorts.

Lastly, is there some sort of way in ZDoom wads to specify a 'Version' to help with version confusion? Esp. if Shane is going to be releasing lots of betas. I'd suggest keeping the releases minimal, except when testing is needed.

 

[kyllian1212]

Woah what?
SRB2 v0.01?
Tails with weapons?
Hmmm...

 

[Shane]

I like your idea of being able to make player classes, Shane. It'd be cool to have different characters in a netgame. What's the point of using PK3, though? I think you can actually embed BEX/DeHackEd into WADs now, right? All of that info should probably be converted to DECORATE, anyway.

You can probably add them as text lumps. I know you can make a Dehacked lump within a WAD, but I'm not sure about the Boom extensions. Either way, it should all be converted to DECORATE at some point.

The PK3 has a few benefits. In essence, they're just ZIP files, but it makes modifying content a little faster. No need to go into a WAD editor to change the graphic you just updated, just throw the PNG into a folder in the PK3 and you're good to go.

Of course, being ZIPs, they're smaller file sizes too. That's not a huge concern with modern internet speeds, but we went from an 11MB WAD to a 5MB PK3. Of course, that means it will take a little longer to load on start up, but that's hardly noticeable... unless you're still running on a 486. :P

It's also little more organised. Sprites are in a sprites folder, flats are in a flats folder, patches are in a patches folder, etc. The downfall to this, though, is I had to manually go through and organise all of the pictures (from about 1500) and make a TEXTURES lump. Fortunately, once it's setup in a PK3, it's really easy to convert it to a WAD. So, if that's the preferred method of release, then it's feasible.

If it's becoming a ZDoom specific mod either way, the PK3 format is pretty much the standard format for distributing those mods nowadays. I think it will make it easier to update the mod, and it's nice, neat and tidy now. If you want to go back to WAD, I can easily convert it back and continue work that way.

I probably should dig up what info I still have and make a little design document of sorts.

I'll want to work with you a little bit closer on the design aesthetics. I think that this would be beneficial in that regard or if you just want to take the mod a little further in general.

Things like Knux climbing or Tails flying may be difficult, if not impossible, to pull off without EXE mods. I think it's something we can look into anyway. Mecha's would be the most feasible in Decorate. We would just need to change the weapons his class spawns with.

Lastly, is there some sort of way in ZDoom wads to specify a 'Version' to help with version confusion? Esp. if Shane is going to be releasing lots of betas. I'd suggest keeping the releases minimal, except when testing is needed.

Aside from manually numbering, not that I'm aware of. I can add a date to the PK3s as I make them (e.g., sdoom2-YYYYMMDDHHmm). I only wanted to release the PK3 version to see if anyone had issues with it. It's also how I wanted to do the base of my work.

I will probably look into fixing those issues with the water in the maps, as it should be relatively simple. I don't plan to release updates every time I write a line in DECORATE or something. Mostly when the goal I set to do is done.

 

[Shadow Hog]

I tested against the newest ZDoom on the website... why?

No real reason. Curiosity, mostly. (That, and to see if it was after a certain revision, since your secret stage would benefit from one recent feature addition in particular...)

You can't add all the characters at once. You need to load a character's WAD, DEH, and BEX files all at once, and only the last loaded character WAD-DEH-BEX will be used.

I'm... pretty sure you don't need both DEH and BEX. BEX is an extension of DEH, and should supercede it in every way.

Although if this is a ZDoom-specific WAD, using the relevant lumps would be a better way to go. Y'know, DECORATE, MAPINFO, LANGUAGE, etc.

Tails was supposed to be able to fly.. heh.. Mecha was supposed to have a broader assortment of weapons, and higher ammo capacity (maybe the rocket launcher replacement would be an unlimited weapon).
Knuckles was also supposed to be able to climb walls. In fact, some of the levels have Knuckles-only areas designed around this that can currently only be accessed with NOCLIP.

I probably should dig up what info I still have and make a little design document of sorts.

You could probably do a fair bit of this via compiled ACS libraries. Flying, certainly; I was able to implement a double-jump, after all, so flying should probably be along the same lines. Climbing might be a bit trickier, but probably not impossible.

As for Metal, you should be able to do class-specific weapon replacements; look at Hexen or the recent popular Doom/Heretic/Hexen/Strife/Chex Quest/Harmony/whatever-ZDoom-supports mod Samsara, as they both have weapon pickups show up at the same place, but change what you get depending on what character you're playing as. You'd need to create new classes inheriting directly from Ammo, however, to redefine the maximum amount of ammo that could be picked up, apparently. Metal's guns would presumably just inherit from the stock ones, but use the Metal-specific ammo.

Lastly, is there some sort of way in ZDoom wads to specify a 'Version' to help with version confusion? Esp. if Shane is going to be releasing lots of betas. I'd suggest keeping the releases minimal, except when testing is needed.

Well, naturally ZDoom checks hashes of all the files loaded to make sure they match one another... but the only way to translate that into a "this release is newer than that one" is to add some text defining what version it is into the file name or title screen or something where the user would be likely to see it.

 

[Shane]

I'm... pretty sure you don't need both DEH and BEX. BEX is an extension of DEH, and should supercede it in every way.

Although if this is a ZDoom-specific WAD, using the relevant lumps would be a better way to go. Y'know, DECORATE, MAPINFO, LANGUAGE, etc.

The BEXs actually have a line that include their corresponding DEHs. I am looking at doing it all natively to ZDoom as well. The DECORATE rewrite will probably take some time, as I will be adding the classes in this fashion too.

You could probably do a fair bit of this via compiled ACS libraries. Flying, certainly; I was able to implement a double-jump, after all, so flying should probably be along the same lines. Climbing might be a bit trickier, but probably not impossible.

Thanks for saying this. I totally brain farted. I forgot that you could fly in Heretic and HeXen.

Tails flying should be fairly simple, then. I'm sure we could tweak it someway to make Knux glide. I'm not sure how the wall climbing will work still. I have seen mods where you could wall jump and such, so I could take a look at those and maybe figure something out.

As for Metal, you should be able to do class-specific weapon replacements...

That's exactly what I was thinking.

 

[toaster]

Good to see everything's working :D Glad to see SD2 has returned, and glad my advice helped with things. I've got a teensy bit cooking related to this, and I'm glad to see SSN has got it all working!

 

[Shadow Hog]

Thanks for saying this. I totally brain farted. I forgot that you could fly in Heretic and HeXen.

Well, I meant Sonic 3-style flying where you repeatedly press the jump button to go up higher and higher until you tire out (this is doable in ACS), but if you wanted to let Tails players have Heretic-style flight, I suppose that might work.

 

[Shane]

Well, I meant Sonic 3-style flying where you repeatedly press the jump button to go up higher and higher until you tire out (this is doable in ACS), but if you wanted to let Tails players have Heretic-style flight, I suppose that might work.

I'll look into it more. I'm going to work on some graphical stuff first. Mostly the water issues on early maps, and add texture warping and extra ANIMDEFs to the liquids. I might also look into using deep water in Hydrocity so you can actually swim around, but it may not be worthwhile if there's no reason to.

 

[Root]

I started playing, and I love it! (Sorry for only saying I love it, I have a hard time being specific about stuff i like in games.) I got up to launch base 1, how do I get past the circular room?
EDIT:Figured it out.

 

[kyllian1212]

Sorry for bumping,but hey Sonic Retro made a news about it: http://www.sonicretro.org/2013/06/fan-game-frenzy-sonic-doom-ii-bots-on-mobius/