Hey I'm back with cool news!! I have completed the Heresiarch damage skin, it's on the FTP for anyone to download, please tell me how it looks into the game as I couldn't test it (I'm leaving for school now) hope you all like it, if there's something more I can make for you please let me know, bye!!!

I'm glad the H turned out great, it was important. Good work on him, plenty of wounds (which means lots of work), but everything look really cool! I think now we have all major skins we need, missing only the Bishops, but I think it should be for last, since now we really should focuse on npcs. I made lots of sketches for them, which I'll upload today or tomorrow, so the painting could start. Of course you can use your own drawigns, but I'll send them anyway. Unless, of course, you want to work on the Thing. I'll be making the npcs anyway, so you choose, buddy. Alright, great to have some new material. Congratulations for the good work.

I also think the Hurt skins look good. Now I just got to change alot of sprite names and put it into the code, shouldn't take to long.

Maybe the worst one is the Ettin, because I did it before I knew about lots of graphics techniques.

I'm glad the H turned out great, it was important. Good work on him, plenty of wounds (which means lots of work), but everything look really cool!

Hey, thanks! I made a lot of work to make it look like that, I'm happy that you all like it. <!-- s8) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_cool.gif" alt="8)" title="Cool" /><!-- s8) -->

I think now we have all major skins we need, missing only the Bishops, but I think it should be for last, since now we really should focuse on npcs. I made lots of sketches for them, which I'll upload today or tomorrow, so the painting could start.

I was about to request to the programmers <!-- s:wink: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_wink.gif" alt=":wink:" title="Wink" /><!-- s:wink: --> if they can add something to make the bishop "launch" smoke when they get damaged (this is when the damage skin is drawn) so we just can just rip their cloths a bit and make the smoke sprite to be launched. That's not much difficult, that is if the effect can be implemented.

Of course you can use your own drawigns, but I'll send them anyway. Unless, of course, you want to work on the Thing. I'll be making the npcs anyway, so you choose, buddy.

I would like to ask you something about the swamp thing, I would like to see if you could make just one sprite of it so I can see how to make the pencil lines thinner or smaller, because I have worked a bit on it but I haven't been able to do it. I would appreciate if you could make just one sprite for me as a demo. <!-- s:lol: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_lol.gif" alt=":lol:" title="Laughing" /><!-- s:lol: --> Also, I was thinking about the spells, I already got some cool ideas for them, and they aren't too difficult, so if you want I can make the visual effects for them.

That Bishop smoke shouldn't be that hard to do. I have something similar in mine. The Venom Gargoyles use the Stalker projectiles, but I added a slight smoky effect whenever their shots hit something (wall, thing, etc.), making it look more like corrosive acid.

All right then!! When Mago tells me so, I will make the Bishop Damage Skin.

I guess it's alright, go ahead! Just don't waste too much time on him, try to make something easy, because we still have to do lots of things. As for the new attacks/magics, I'm afraid we won't be able to work on them right now, because they are really optional (the magics can work without any sprites, just like in Kmod), and for this, they should be made only if time aloows it. I also started to make sprites for the magics (I made 2 or 3 images a while ago, I guess they are in my sectin of the server), but since they demand lots of "sculpturing" and some detailed work, they may burn the little time we have left. And there's also the problem of actually putting the magic system in the engine, which takes time, and Moose already have lots of work. <!-- s:( --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_sad.gif" alt=":(" title="Sad" /><!-- s:( --> THING: Hey, no problem, I'll make an example and writte a little article about editing these kind of images (black and white, pencil made). I couldn't finish the npcs skethes yet, I have been pretty busy with college work, but I'll put them online at most tomorrow, along with the standing frames. -Ichor: man, your mod is sounding great! I can't wait to see it online.

That first episode already has most of the new monsters, artifacts, and other effects. The biggest thing it's lacking is maps. I'm just about finished with map 8 (I know it's taken a long time, but real life tends to get in the way a lot). Once it's done, I'll probably release it to this forum for testing. Unfortunately, I got a less than enthusiastic response last time when I asked people to test map 7.

Well, sorry to hear that, but as for me, you may find it dumb, but I've never been able to test ANY map outside WadAuthor, just one time when Janis made a city block with the city Mage there, to test the talking system, but even then he had to give me some detailed info. I just can't gat these mods working... I guess they are easy, because everybody uses them, but since then I never tried again. As a matter of fact, I never saw any new map since I'm here, not even the city RambOrc did. <!-- s:oops: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_redface.gif" alt=":oops:" title="Embarassed" /><!-- s:oops: --> <!-- s:lol: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_lol.gif" alt=":lol:" title="Laughing" /><!-- s:lol: -->

Hey thanks mago!! I will be waiting for the information, I will start the Bishop Damage Skin, I'm not looking to finish it right now, just make something for a preview <!-- s:wink: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_wink.gif" alt=":wink:" title="Wink" /><!-- s:wink: --> . I was asking about spell effects because the newest design guide mentions them, but I think they aren't still into the code, right?? If there's something more needed for the spells that I can do, don't hesitate asking me... And thanks for taking time to explain me about the swamp thing and the images!! <!-- s:D --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_biggrin.gif" alt=":D" title="Very Happy" /><!-- s:D --> And Ichor, I would be happy to make any tests you need, just tell me what I need for it and I will be happy to help!!

Hey glad to hear about the Heresiarch... <!-- s:) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" title="Smile" /><!-- s:) --> Question is only, how do I see it in-game? I loaded the wadfile but I guess the code needs to be in for it to work too. Ettin damage skins: I like them a lot, dunno what your prob is. Maps: you copy the wadfile into the root dir of SE, start up SE, pull down the console, and type following: "load whatshisname.map", then start a new game. Spell effects: it's not newly in the design guide, earlier versions had the exact same passages (I think that part of the DG is from last Summer or so). Testing Ichor's maps: I don't even recall map 7 being released for testing.

No need to wait for the code just load SE with '-file whatsitsname.wad'.

It was waaaaayy back in December. I didn't realize just how long I've been working on this one map until just now, and I really don't want to take this long to finish a single map again, heheh.

[quote="Moose":vqv83p6b]No need to wait for the code just load SE with '-file whatsitsname.wad'. You mean the prob was that I added that file to autoexec.cfg?

Don't know I've never tryed that way before, but it should work well replace the H skin with the Damaged H skin.

When adding it with the -file attribute, it worked. Very good, now we really have quite a number of damage skins: - ettin - centaur / slaughtaur - green chaos serpent - brown chaos serpent - death wyvern - heresiarch original Hexen monsters with no damage skin yet: - afrit - dark bishop - reiver - stalker - wendigo - the 3 undead leaders - Korax new monsters without damage skin: - red chaos serpent - red wendigo - emerald wendigo - stone centaur / slaughtaur (I listed only new monsters that are finished) I'd say group B (original Hexen monsters w/o damage skin) have the highest priority, since they're needed for KMOD 2.5 too. When doing the 3 order leaders, get motivated through the fact that you're doing a lot of work in advance for Korax Arena too. <!-- s;) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_wink.gif" alt=";)" title="Wink" /><!-- s;) --> As for priorities within this group, I'd say put the afrit and the reiver at the bottom of the list.

I just would like to know what should I do first?? I know that NPC'S are important, but also Damage Skins are important, I think Mago is doing a lot of work, I would like to help him, so I think that we should make some kind of division of the work, so Mago, how do you want to divide the work? I think it will be easier, because both of us got a lot to do! and this way we will be a bit more focused on what we should do (that's my thought) if you want to suggest something else please tell me so we can make a good arrangement for both of us...

But isn't the afrit, the stalker and the wendigos too fragile to have HS? Maybe it wouldn't be worthy... <!-- s:roll: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_rolleyes.gif" alt=":roll:" title="Rolling Eyes" /><!-- s:roll: --> In my opinion, the only one who still needs a HS is the bishop, because we see him a lot. The others are: too fragile, rare, or possess bodies already heavily damaged (unless we begin to take off limbs, but that may affect the attacks and so on...). As for the bosses, well, I just forgot about them! <!-- s:) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" title="Smile" /><!-- s:) --> I think I'll begin to think about one soon, or else it will be too much work for Firebrand alone. And the new monsters... I don't know. By the way, is there something worng with the Stone Wendigo? Firebrand is right RambOrc, what should we do first? As he said, we might have to split the work, so we won't progress in one area and leave another without anything. I have the npcs, should I paint them? Or sould I help Firebrand with the hurt skins? I'm getting confused! <!-- s:D --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_biggrin.gif" alt=":D" title="Very Happy" /><!-- s:D --> Hey Firebrand, I sent you an e-mail minutes ago with that article I talked about. Hope it will help, man! <!-- s;) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_wink.gif" alt=";)" title="Wink" /><!-- s;) -->

Wendigos too fragile? You know what? Download KMOD 1.0, start it with the Fighter on skill 5 and see whether you'll EVER get through the first Wendigos in the Seven Portals! <!-- s:lol: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_lol.gif" alt=":lol:" title="Laughing" /><!-- s:lol: --> Stone Wendigo: oh, I forgot that one... LOL we've got quite a number of new monsters already. Regarding priorities, NPCs are very important for SE, OTOH they are needed only for the final release of SE, not for Alpha or Beta (meaning there are months yet to do them). Damage skins for original Hexen monsters should be topmost priority, as I still haven't given up the idea of KMOD 2.5 a couple of months before SE public release - which would make it easier for us to keep alpha and beta in-house and still don't have disgruntled fans. <!-- s:) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" title="Smile" /><!-- s:) -->

Oh yes, regarding stone monsters, put their damage skins to the very bottom of the list (below all other damage skins plus the NPCs): we could always use the standard damage skins, claiming that after taking a certain amount of damage they'll lose the enchantment power. Indeed, we could make the stone skin an enchantment to strengthen them... once you've beaten them enough (half HP), they lose the enchantment and become normal versions of themselves, with the HP of a normal such monster. And from that point the countdown starts again and at half of this new HP they'll get the damage skin. Just an idea to spare 2D artwork. <!-- s:) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" title="Smile" /><!-- s:) -->

As for this effect, to make the changing from stone to flesh more real, we could add the "breaking" frames (the death of wendigos) with the new stone spreites I made from those pieces of ice. They could explode exactly when the stone magic is finished. Hurt skins: alright then. Firebrand, what HS should I do? I can start with the bosses, or Korax, since the others are secondary and you are already working on the Bishop... Wendigos: the fragile thing refers to their HP, since they can be killed quite easily and fast, specially with the red wand. Of course their atacks are powerful, but their body isn't. The same goes to stalker and affrits. The reivers are strong, but sice they are undead, maybe they shouldn't have a HS.

Stone shattering: great idea. It should be implemented regardless of what happens to them at that point (i.e. whether they shatter to pieces and that was it, or that a normal monster comes forth from the shattered stone skin - this can be decided later on). Make these damage skins with the satisfaction that you do it for several projects at once... not only will most be featured in KMOD 2.5, they'll most probably get a place in TSP and Arena. Though I have plans for 3D models in both TSP and Arena, at any rate we'll have 2D sprite substitutes. And it might well come to 2D enemies in the end for performance reasons (I'm not yet sure about Vavoom, but I already found out with Doomsday that a higher number of even low-level polygons will slow down the engine so much it's unplayable - it might apply for Vavoom too, especially that I've seen slowdowns in very large maps). What I meant about Wendigos is that you need most of the time several hits to kill them... and especially in an early game, it takes quite some time to bring in those punches, so you see the Wendigo for some time - and if there are several of them, you see better which is low on health if some of them are cracked and bleeding. Same goes for all monsters. Reivers might be undead but they can still lose an arm or - exactly because they are undead - a head. <!-- s;) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_wink.gif" alt=";)" title="Wink" /><!-- s;) --> Stalkers need several punches too. Also, don't forget we might make a way stronger version of any monster any time, justifying a damage skin for every monster. For an afrit, you could cut off a leg or half a wing, too.

Hmm... You mean the engine lags even with powerfull equipment? That will ba a problem, since rpgs need lots of population and large maps, like cities, ports, roads, etc... I was reading a tutorial about Quake mapping, and I read something about node builders. Does vavoom have something similar, because I read that this could make the engine go faster in a map, by pre-calculating the view points the player could see inside the map. I like sprites, it's where I can help the most, but I don't think they would look right in 3d worlds, with slopes. Take the experience felt in Starship Troopers for Duke Nukem, who is similar to the doom engine, but fakes a real 3d world: The Bugs would climb mountains in a total artificial position, like walking on normal ground, looking like they were being lifted by a rope. I'm not saying it was a problem of art, but they are sprites, and they can't be any better. Just for curiosity: I heard the Quake engine is freeware or whatever. I know it doesn't have the same feeling than doom eng, and I'm not saying we could abandon VavooM <!-- s:) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" title="Smile" /><!-- s:) --> which should not be despized, but have you ever thought about considering mods for other engines, IN the Hexen/Heretic world (Heretic 2, for example, uses quake's 2 eng). HS: I'm convinced. <!-- s:) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" title="Smile" /><!-- s:) --> I'm already working on the HS to the Baratus sprites.

Well I've got a small demo map for Vavoom I started years ago but never finished, it's got a hill and when the centaur came up the hillside it didn't look very strange. Not to mention even latest 3D engines produce visual errors when someone walks up a slope. Quake II source code has been released some time ago... but it's a no go for a Heretic/Hexen game IMO, you'd have to start everything from scratch while with Vavoom/Doomsday you can use everything existing (maps and sprites in the first line) and add a little here and there. Same goes for the code, in the Hexen code all existing weapons / monster AI / etc. is already in, when using Quake II code all monsters, spells etc. would have to be written from scratch. By the time you finish all that, Quake II's engine will be nearly as outdated as that of a DOOM port (which is nearer to Q2 as to the original DOOM in terms of features, feeling and look). <!-- s:) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" title="Smile" /><!-- s:) --> The thing of sprites vs polygons meant in the early days of polygon engines that you never had more than half a dozen enemies on the screen - compared to that mayhem in Hexen's "Heresiarch's Seminary" or "Nave" maps, that's quite poor. I think I prefer a big battle with a hundrd monsters at once, all of them 2D sprites, than a small battle with 15 monsters, all of them 3D models. Most time consuming but maybe best solution would be to create all monsters, NPCs and items in both 2D and 3D and let the gamer switch between them (a crude version of this switch is already in KMOD since 1.0, you simply rename modeldef.txt to something else and the game will load no 3D models). p.s. somehow I knew you'd start with that muscle-brained barbarian... <!-- s:lol: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_lol.gif" alt=":lol:" title="Laughing" /><!-- s:lol: -->

I like the idea from the stone monsters! It will be really easy to make it and Mago has done the stone pieces, as for the division of the work I can make the Damage Skins of the Fighter and the Mage, you can do Korax and the Cleric, and for the rest of the Monsters, I can make the Reiver, the Ice and Stone Wendigos for the moment, if you need help with some NPC'S send them to me so I can check them and help you with it... <!-- s:D --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_biggrin.gif" alt=":D" title="Very Happy" /><!-- s:D -->

I almost forget it, thanks for the docs Mago!! They are really helpfull, I will try to finish the swamp thing, and put a preview later...

Mago's already working on the Fighter damage skins.

No need to thank me. <!-- s:) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" title="Smile" /><!-- s:) --> I hope the doc help you out while making the sprites from now on. Division: okay, since I'm already making the fighter, I think you should make the cleric and mage, cause I would really like to make the HS for Korax, if you don't mind, of course! <!-- s:) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" title="Smile" /><!-- s:) --> After those, we should really discuss about one getting the npcs/ingame attack frames (if any) and the ither getting the reamining HS and items sprites, not necessarily in that order. Anyway, let me just finix those 2 skins, and when we are done, we can calculate the amount of work and then separate more wisely. By the way, RambOrc, do you think it's time to make a list about new itens to be implemented, like bags, rope, potions, new weapons, new artifacts, etc? Those doesn't take much time to be made, and won't be a problem. Oh yeah, if you find any problem on making the THING, I don't mind making it too Firebrand. I don't mind anything, if you are getting stuck with something, just letme know and I'll do it, so you can move to another thing you like more. <!-- s;) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_wink.gif" alt=";)" title="Wink" /><!-- s;) -->

The stone Centaur exploding on death thing is almost compleat, I just need to find the stone bits mago made.

That's great Moose. The stone pieces are among the pics in the Stone Wendigo frames. They are 3 different sized pieces, but as I said before, you could try to make them as independent frames (so they won't melt like ice). This way they wouldn't appear to be melting, and could just disappear after some time. Good work, though.

I couldn't see the stone bits in there, maybe it was updated since I downloaded it. But I made my own stone chunk. It all now works apart from the sword and shield theu always seem to fall from the center of my test map (maybe the sector) instead of the enemy.

Fixed my problem. Do you want me to upload it to Koraxdev for you to test.

Well, I didn'y understand what you meant, but I'm sure I sent it in the final version, the time I sent the 3 completed wendigos with new colors to bodies, attacks and pieces. They should be there... But anyway, I'm glad you made it. Please put it there, but could you also writte something to tell me how to test it? Thanks!

I've uploaded my SE build it has a txt file in there that will tell you what to do.

Well, I finally finished map 8 (well, except for the caverns beyond, but I'll get that in once I start on map 10). All the scripts are working fine, but it took a while to get all the bugs out. For obvious reasons, I can't put a link here, so I'll have to email it to anyone who wants to try it out. I didn't include any saved games this time, so you'll have to start the maps from scratch by using the VISIT cheat code.

I'll test map 8 if you send it to me, probabaly won't play it till the weekend thou.

I couldn't send all of the files. For some reason, the zip file was too big. Even after breaking it down into two zip files, they're still too big. I guess I'll just have to wait until the website is working again. Oh well... I'll try one more time though. Ok, I think it worked that time.

I'll test it too, and make a review, but that may take a few days. If you want to send the files to me, you may have better chances with my other e-mail: <!-- e --><a href="mailto:magno.scavoni@sapo.pt">magno.scavoni@sapo.pt</a><!-- e -->

Ok, I think it's sent. It was my account that seemed to be the problem. I was using cox.net to send it, and it doesn't like files over 5 MB. Not only that, it can't seem to read the file sizes correctly. A 5.7 MB file was shown as an 8 MB file, heheh.

I will then make the Cleric damage skin then, and about Korax don't worry, I don't have any problem on it. About the thing, I already have made some experiments with the docs you sent me, I think I'm doing it well, I'm not a good as you... but I think I got something cool!! I will try to send you the things I got when I get some time! Bye!!

E-mail uses different protocols than FTP, thus file size is truly different. ZIP files attached to a mail make the mail signficantly larger than the size of the ZIP file was.

Any comments on the stone centaurs? Oh and I need a few frames that seem to be missing: Stone Centaur - B3 New Wendigos - E3, F3

Let's see... Firebrand: ok, then it's settled. I make the Baratus and Korax, you do the Deadolon and Parias. We see what we need to do after them later. As for the Thing, don't worry. If you like it, keep on working. I'm sure it's great. <!-- s;) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_wink.gif" alt=";)" title="Wink" /><!-- s;) --> Ichor: I'm having trouble in starting the Fury. When I use fury.bat, the code starts to work, but then I'm taken to the doomsday file, and it crashes baceuse I don't have an GL 3d hardware. I did have a 3dfx hardware, but this "new" computer I'm using untill mine get fixed isn't as equipped. What should I do to skip 3d hardware acceleration? Moose: somehow I can't access koraxdev. It just never appears in the window, it loads the page for ever. I couldn't download the files. I'll keep trying, thoug. As for the missing frames, I didn't realized that. I'll check it and deal with it. <!-- s;) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_wink.gif" alt=";)" title="Wink" /><!-- s;) --> Hey rambOrc, I can't post news anymore. I read I new need a personal login, but how can I do that?

AFAIK with Doomsday, you either have 3D acceleration, or it won't work. If with koraxdev you mean <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.korax-heritage.com/koraxdev/">http://www.korax-heritage.com/koraxdev/</a><!-- m --> , I just checked and it worked fine. Just checked in the newsposter tool, the user Mago is still in... if you forgot your pw, I can't very well find it out, so I'll have to give you a new one. Try it with Mago instead of mago though first, maybe only that was the prob. Also, where did you read that you need a new personal login?

AFAIK with Doomsday, you either have 3D acceleration, or it won't work. -Is there any way to play the wad without using Doomsday? Through Hexen 95, the normal bat, or wathever? Yes, now the server is working correctly. It should have been a problem with my modem or browser. "1. Add/Edit News You'll need to login first. Unlike the other 4 modules, this one uses your dedicated username/password combination, not the common team login info. This script will save a cookie to your computer, so theoretically next time you won't need to log in again." That's what is written in Quick Reference. I once tried to add some news, but I couldn't.

Forget about the news, you were right (again! <!-- s:) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" title="Smile" /><!-- s:) --> ), I can now post news as before (I've posted a new one few minutes ago).

It depends on the wad (I'm not sure which one you mean). This is BTW a great advantage of Vavoom, you can run it in software, meaning very little compatibility probs. I succeeded in running Vavoom Hexen on a 133 MHz Pentium MMX with a Matrox Mystique in DOS 6.2 (!) and though it was dog slow, it was working fine. <!-- s:) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" title="Smile" /><!-- s:) -->

Hmmm... But I really can't use any port, cause this pc doesn't have a 3d accellerated card. I wanted to know if I can load Kmod or Fury without having to load Doomsday (only through the hexen executable, or hexen 95 launcher). <!-- s:) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" title="Smile" /><!-- s:) -->

I don't think it will work. The behavior of a lot of things would be different, and there are some new things (monsters, artifacts, etc.) which will cause the game to crash back to DOS anyway.

Well this would be another argument for porting it all to Vavoom, it's mostly a question of human resources that it hasn't been done. I did a test a couple of days ago, I wanted to see my town map in Vavoom. All it needed was to copy town.wad (but not its GWA file! Vavoom will create a different GWA file at first run with a map) to the Vavoom base dir, plus ScatteredEvil.wad. Then start up the Vavoom Quick Launcher, and specify both wadfiles as external wadfiles and it already worked. I was surprised to see that instead of crashing because of undefined objects or whatever, it simply didn't display those roof MD2 models (which are defined in ScatteredEvil.exe AFAIK). Back then I ran it with D3D and it was dog slow (which BTW Doomsday also is on this machine, it's a Coppermine-600 with a G400 Max). Here comes the twist... 10 minutes ago I started it all up again - with Software mode. Setting the resolution to 320x200, it was nearly everywhere in the town completely fluent. There was only one visual error with the sky in directions where sectors were "cheating", I think it's a glvis prob. What do I want to say with this all? While Doomsday works well only with 2nd and 3rd generation 3D cards (and even of those not with all), Vavoom should run on just about any graphics card from the last couple of years. And while it's 320x200 software resolution, it still looks a lot different from original Hexen (it uses different rendering), not to mention the 3D world elements, the MD2 models and the light sources.

Damn... This isn't fair! <!-- s:) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" title="Smile" /><!-- s:) --> It's good to hear we have such a great alternative, though! And by the way, I'm getting my copy of Vavoom right now, to see how the town looks like. See you later boys.

Well the main difference is that all 3D models are missing, thus parts of the architecture look somewhat strange. BTW found out the dog slow thing happens only in Direct3D, but not in OpenGL. In the latter there are some visual errors like black lights though (most probably a G400 driver prob, it has similar probs with other OpenGL games too - not to mention I use a 2-3 years old driver version, newer versions are sure a lot better).

I case anyone is interested I've implemented the stone wendigo ( has a small problem with the projectile) and the death wyvern damage skin. Should have the other 2 wendigos and the Here DS done by the weekend. Should I post this stuff in the news?

Good, be sure to upload that build once it's finished (don't forget to include a WadAuthor config file). As to posting news, why not? Just make sure it's in English. <!-- s:D --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_biggrin.gif" alt=":D" title="Very Happy" /><!-- s:D -->

It's great, but what about the missing frames for the Wendigos? I didn't have time to finish them... Is it easy to add the missing frames after the monsters are installed?

Rambo- I'll upload it when its done then. And seem as my french is very basic I'll have to post in English (and not like my brother) Plus the H DS is in aswell. Mago- Yes its extreamly easy.

[quote="Moose":10yep6qu]I'll have to post in English (and not like my brother) That's exactly what I meant. <!-- s:lol: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_lol.gif" alt=":lol:" title="Laughing" /><!-- s:lol: -->

Don't worry I can't stand reading that kind of speach so I won't write in it. Starting on the 2 wendigos now ish.

Good, that's what I was going to say: you could put the wendigos as they are, so people can still see them in the engine, and get a sense of how they look. Then I just have to send you the missing frames, and the major work would be already done. <!-- s;) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_wink.gif" alt=";)" title="Wink" /><!-- s;) -->

I just saw the screenies of the monsters in the korax site, and I think there's something wrong with the stone wendigo. I made him with yellow eyes and also the powers form his hands should be yellow.

Oh yer I forget about that, when I put your sprites into a wad file it mucked up some of the colours, like the backround was yellow instead of blue.

Damn, that means the frames are still in 16 bits colors... I have to recolor ALL of them again... Damn...

Wouldn't converting them to 8bit pics solve the prob?

Actually it's not that simple. Once in 16 bits, pics which are worked on heavily, such as Damage skins or new sprites, tend to loose great amount of quality when they are reduced to 256 colors. It happened to the centaur DSk. But back then I discovered that by reducing colors gradually, the quality would be almost the same. Anyway, what I meant in th other post is that I'll have to load every frame, from all wendigos, and go through the boring process of reducing the colors from each of them. You said that any 16 bit pics could be implemented in Doomsday, but I've tried, and back then I got the same prob Moose is having: the 16 bits colors, once added to a wad, would suffer extreme distortion on colors, obligating me to reduce the colors from all Centaur DSK.

1) Reducing colors in steps or at once shouldn't make a difference. Either the algorhythm your imaging app uses is bad, or you set things the wrong way. Are you sure you set it to use a custom 8bit-palette and not some predefined system stuff? 2) Janis should know more about this prob, he has a fair amount of knowledge on how the engine works.

Well, my prog is PSP4, and you can try it with you want. In images with lots of tones and midtones in the same color, like the Centaur HS, when I reduced it directly to 256 it would look crappy and pixeled, but when I did it gradually, by setting it first to 64k or 32k, something like that, the image would present much rearest colors comparing to the original. There's no way out- I have to make them 256. It will eat more time, though.

That's a little problem of the engine I think, I have been having the same problem with all the damage skins I have made, that's why it's a really slow process to make the images, because they might look really cool on 16-bit, but then by making them 256 colors with the pallete makes them look awfull or lost midtones, and you have to undo and fix the colors a bit.

If you want I could help you with at least one of the new wendigos to make it faster and less tired for you... By the way Moose, I have seen the new build of the engine, great work!! I can imagine the completed thing and it will be cool to see it!! <!-- s:D --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_biggrin.gif" alt=":D" title="Very Happy" /><!-- s:D -->

I'm rather uncertain on which engine can do what, maybe it's Vavoom that can use 16bit sprites and Doomsday is the one that can use any number of palettes together but one image must have a total of 256 colors or less. Janis, could you clarify this matter?

Firebrand: Thanks for the offer, but don't worry, you already have work enough. <!-- s;) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_wink.gif" alt=";)" title="Wink" /><!-- s;) --> I'll do it when I have time, I just shouldn't have forgotten... Oh, and by the way, in case you have a doubt, you don't actually need to submit the pictures to Hexen's colors. They just need to be in 256, but any color in that category can be used. Sprites: I think Doomsday can actually have only 16 bit graphics, not sprites. But the main problem isn't even the engine, it's the wad itself - when you "replace" an existing sprite for a new one, in Wintex, for example,and it is in 16 bits, the wad will confuse the colors, making them 256 by force, but selecting colors at a random will, it seems...

By the way, I don't think anyone answered this old doubt of mine: Duke Nukem's srpites seems "larger" than Hexen's/Heretic's/Doom's ones (they appear to have a bigger resolution). Is there any way to make sprites a bit larger (let's say instead of around 80 pix in height, something like 150) WITHOUT having a huge inscreen sprite (it would have the normal size, but more detailed)? I say this because we could have way better looking sprites in SP (if time allows it, of course), and we wouldn't even need to make ALL sprites from scratch: all the monster could be "updated" to the bigger resolution just like I did with the Korax logo (which I began in a much smaller pic (wrongly), and then I resized it, and after some work, I could "split" the big pixels in much smaller ones, giving a lot more detail to the pic). Can somebody answer this?

I'd say don't even think of this for SE (I don't want to alter that dead-end engine altered in any way any more, it'd be a waste of resources), but it shouldn't be impossible for our Vavoom-based projects (same goes for textures, I even have about 2 dozen textures from Sylon which were made in 4x resolution - 256x256 to be used in the same size as 128x128 textures are now).

I did mention it as a Serpent Power feature... Did you like the idea, or shoudl the sprites be the same as they are now? Even though it means loads of work, I really think we should do something to really improve the game, even if only in the graphics area.

Now I re-read that post again I saw you said "in SP", OK. BTW that's one of the reasons why I christened it to TSP (The Serpent Power, vs SE - Scattered Evil). <!-- s:) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" title="Smile" /><!-- s:) --> And yes, I also think that higher resolution graphics should be implemented in TSP (that means most probably also in Arena), especially for skyboxes (but not only).

That's great, sir! <!-- s;) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_wink.gif" alt=";)" title="Wink" /><!-- s;) --> I guess we just need Janis opinion about vavoom so we can start planning.