:-) I got to hear that A LOT during the last 10 days :-) which should tell you that i am back to the levels and working hard on the extensive rearrangement of Map 27 (that's map 13 for the non-modders among us). With this one, my approach had to be way more thorough than ever. Goes without saying that the boring vanilla went out the window long ago, but this time i wanted the level to make more sense and work similar to the Doom map remake that i did.
Obviously, a ton of new detailing - instantly knocked down the FPS, what else is new. So the direct solution was to dismantle as much as possible of everything that is not Legend-9 lol. That was easier said than done, cause Heresiarch Seminary relies on a lot of scripts that do stuff related to level structure and progression. So, i had to learn those scripts, identify what they do, - AND ONLY THEN start dismantling stuff, while essentially creating a new path of level progression and restructuring the layout to accommodate the detail eye candy.
I have remade everything so that no level space is wasted. The places you need to go, - are all mandatory. Whatever i could put in areas that are unavoidable, - i did, so that i could save sectors. And trust me when i tell you that i needed those sectors, to regain the FPS as much as it was possible. Because, the battles in this level are pretty intense. As you already know, Legend-9 upgraded monsters are quite deadly, - and now they start encountering in higher numbers. To fight all that and have the speed - the FPS needed to be kept within reason. It still drops in the area of max detail, but it is acceptable (at least to me). I was able to circle-strafe and move in a split second. So that part is done. I also avoided inputting any commands through Doombuilder, instead - i did everything through Hexen's ACS. Nothing fancy, with a little deduction and my experience in Doom, i was able to make the few scripting functions that i am using to work as intended. (sadly, Hexen does not have the "hudmessage" command...)
I also assigned text hints as to what switches do: so there is no more vanilla-style guesswork. Over time, i will eliminate ALL guesswork from all the important switches in the game, cause i see that concept as a rather stupid one. In the end, the primary goals at the Monastery remain the same: get the gems, pull 9 switches, kill the boss. But the progression through map 27 is way more interesting now...and it ties in to the story as well (the new story, not vanilla). I will make an action video from the level, not a walkthrough - cause that would just spoil everything.
I will need to re-script the Winnowing Hall as well, and probably 7 Portals, cause during the time i did the remaking of the 7 Portals - i would ignore scripts and just break and dismantle sequences and events with no regard whatsoever. I will need to do it properly to avoid any future "accidents". Let's hope this one runs without problems!
