Comments - hexenstar

Hey. New and improved Q2HM launches this April!
Gunner now speaks his own new and unique machine language :-).

Thank you. Although, the mod is a work in progress so far, which is why i didn't make a big deal out of the interim beta 0.4 release. I am being patient and working hard toward
the major launch of the version 0.6 - estimated to be this April. Now that one will have all the needed magic, battles and olschool eye-candy mystical worlds to make a proper dark fantasy statement.
As for the other Hexen mods...unfortunately, the state of
Hexen mod scene leaves me sadly disappointed. It is also a part of the reason why i push myself to the maximum with Legend-9. There are only two Hexen mods that i was ever impressed by: Shadows of Cronos and Faiththless Trilogy. Both of these have inspired and affected my creative approach greatly. Even though the latter is technically not a Hexen mod, but it plays like Hexen, or more precisely - what Hexen should've been from the get go. Hence i consider it as such.

I have been thinking about this very concept lately. And must say that this is becoming less and less likely. The reason for that is rather simple: while i generally view the idea of GZDoom very positively, as it would provide me with greater control of the mod and open doors to features and design decisions that are inaccessible under current conditions.
HOWEVER...(there is always that). Legend is THE most complex Hexen (or Heretic) project out there. It remakes literally everything, and to a rather significant degree. The degree of mastery over GZDoom scripting that i would need to have,
to implement all of that - would require me to effectively stop any possible mod development, for any game - and instead, - just learn, research and experiment with GZDoom scripts until i could accrue enough expertise and make it work. A process like this, i estimate, - would take roughly up to TWO YEARS. After all, modding is not my day job. lol.

And frankly, i am not up to such an undertaking. I want to continue developing my projects for Quake II, Doom III, Hexen: Deathkings, Heretic, Doom, and even
Quake I (sound enhancements, what else). Considering my mod-making pace, - even with the best of intentions, this whole GZDoom thing becomes unrealistic the more i think of it. I am not ready to stop creative mod making as i do and just invest two years into learning GZDoom to the degree that is required to translate Legend-9 into GZDoom. It is also possible, is that by the time i would have completed ALL projects (2028? 2030? lol), - i might no longer desire making mods of any kind, because there are other creative things i desire in life.

The only feasible scenario of that happening, is working with a partner/co-creator, who is committed enough to spend time and effort on translating every single feature, game mechanic or script that Legend-9 has, while working closely with me, - both in receiving instruction and understanding the way mod works, as well as confirming with me that the result in GZDoom indeed functions as a carbon copy of Legend-9. The chances of that happening are...very slim. But, not zero, mathematically speaking.

Finally, there is this other, parallel Hexen upgrade-remake that is being developed as we speak, in full 3D with some impressive 3D modeling every now and then i must say. I am not a fan of it, (cause it just retraces all the vanilla blunders), but what engine do you think it uses?! Spoiler alert: Doomsday.

That's the state of things, my friend. I have come to realize this, with time.
Perhaps, i should publish these thoughts of mine as a greater article, to lay this question to rest once and for all. And i probably will, once Legend9 gets
at least to build version 0.8 (or higher).

Having that said, the Doom mod that i am planning - is for GZDoom.

Finally! A version where you can disable the respawn! As beautiful as the
levels are, the crazy respawn was literally knocking all the joy out of them, discouraging exploration and making it tedious, if you decided to persist. I should add creating a proper weapons mod for this one on my to do list. And
then give it another go.

I'll second the idea about attaching some kind of a portable ammo magazine to it, not for the reason to hide the rockets though, but to show that they do load into the weapon from an ammo source, not magically out of thin air. The classic height is good, no gimmicks necessary.

Very nice! The pixel flow is very well done, and that's the key factor here.
Now it needs to be as impressive in action as it is in the stills.

Absolutely! In the vein of Quake 1.5 weapon upgrades. Couldn't be better.
What is needed now, is the equally stylish weapon effects. Flame tracers,
explosions, sparks - the kind of stuff that the original could've done right,
but didn't, cause ID were always notoriously lazy on the presentation factor.

How about removing that right hand altogether, focusing on
the detailing of the right side of the weapon instead?
Making more of the gun and its detailing visible would compliment
the weapon visually far more than this strange looking hand.
Just imagine that the right hand is already on the trigger.

Very simple: because it does not improve anything that indeed needs improving, and yet dares asking money for such laziness. Take a look at Quake 1.5. That's the way to go. In comparison, this "Q2 remaster" is nothing but a scam.
With a capital "S".

P.S.Q2HM upgrades in the near future.

Thanks! It's great to know that someone actually reads
this stuff, and not just skims for pictures :-)

Thanks!!! I did my best with this one.
Everything is done with the old-school frame-by-frame animation.
The fire sword flames were built from scratch, it is not a recolor.
Mage, Templar and Elf classes are soon to follow. I am finalizing
those as we speak. Marine and the Mercenary - that will take longer,
cause Legend-9 kind of deconstructed some of their unique features.
I'll have to put on my thinking cap with those two.

I really like the green projectiles. They look the most powerful.
It would be cool if the next level (red) would have vertical fire,
similar to the Fire Rain effect in Heretic, only less AOE, while
otherwise faster and fancier looking. Just an idea.
Also, spicing up the wand's crystal animation with something
above the vanilla - would go a long way.

Wow...you caught me speechless. I thank you for the honor and the gesture. I really wish i could release version 0.6 right now. That would substantiate such claim much, much better. Unfortunately, there are still ways to go. Not too long, but not something that can be finished in less than 2 weeks. The ambition is there though. I firmly stand by the promise i made to deliver the ultimate Hexen adventure in the form of Legend-9.
Over a year ago, in response to your comment (which is still there, on the main page) i said something like "unfortunately Legend is at the bottom of my top 10", well, i am glad to realize that as the project slowly but surely takes the intended shape - that conclusion is no longer true. Version 0.6 will be the definitive step forward that the mod really needs to make a solid statement.

Yeah, that underlines the importance of longplay testing, and not just incremental or selective testing. No matter how much you do of the latter, - there is no getting away from the former. The only question is time, as in when.
That build has its fare share of issues, but i intend to launch the updated one tomorrow.

Well, you'll have more than enough time to try them all. As even the characters with the weapons that cause a crash - don't crash right away, which is the most bizarre thing in itself. Sometimes, you can spend a good 3/4 of an hour - and nothing happens. Other times, it only takes a single heavy battle where you rapid-fire the Elvenwand/Lightning Spell respectively for an extended time - and it's a nasty trip back to desktop...

The current version of the Templar DLC can be used with Legend9, but it has a few lesser issues. I will be releasing the updated version of that DLC in a day or two after the main mod. So if you intend on playing the Templar campaign first, i would recommend to wait a couple of days for the more polished version.

The Templar has a different story, which is tailored only to him.
Although, since this version of Legend9 is limited to 2 hubs, so it's going to be a cliffhanger for him or the main cast, regardless ;-)

Amen to that. I really hope so.
And thank you for the support.

I will try everything that you suggested. Though i guess first i have to have some kind a completed build in hand to do so. (an interim "early access build", in this case).

As far as the division of Darkmere, - it actually turned out to be even better than i thought. Not only it gets two birds with one stone, but those concepts look not nearly as impressive in the fog, as they do without it. And the level just plays and feels better in this shorter form. Trust me, it is long enough still.

The thing stopping me from moving the project to GZDoom is KNOWLEDGE. Or in my case - lack there of. Legend9, if to look at it deeper - has only a handful of features, but each one is delved into extensively.

- Levels
- Weapons (graphics, animations and balance)
- Enemies (upgrades for almost every enemy, plus - 4 new enemies)
- Animations
- decorations
- multiple death sequences for enemies
- blood effects, weapon effects
- extended story with proper story presentation

And i have ZERO knowledge as to how to implement any of that (sans levels, obviously) in GZDoom. I have had a taste working with GZDoom
(the Invasion mod demo), and i can tell you that anything that does not concern map making - is not intuitive at all in that engine, and i had to make weeks of research and learning even for the meager peanuts of code that exists in that map. (btw, have you tried it?)
Having that said, moving the project to GZDoom would ultimately not be impossible. Though if i started today - that would have the mod released in 2025. And that, being the SOONEST ETA i can think of, given under the assumption that i would not do any other mods during all of that time, which is rather unlikely to happen.
I would, perhaps, even consider doing so, or at least making an attempt, - but for that i would need a functioning build of the mod available for the public first. Under whatever engine.
Simply throwing to the people a line like "just wait until 2025...or maybe 2026" (LOL) would essentially erase me from the modding board (if to paraphrase Hexen along the way). Making such a move would be an even greater blow to me than to the fans who play my projects, as it would spell in all caps, - that even after what's been close to 10 years of development - i have accomplished nothing.

Bottom line is, i've got to find a solution to this ********. I've started researching, and in the end - all those ID-Tech1 sourceports are based on the same properties, even a lot of notions and technical terms are identical. Someone must know something, even if working on a different engine - cause the original Doom engine lingo is the same: i've already seen that it is. There's got to be a way to circumvent the nonsense. AT least, i hope there is.

I applied for membership in Doomsday Engine Forums, (your registration there has to be approved, believe it or not). My account has been authorized just today. Strangely, it says there in the forum guidelines to post bug reports on a separate bug tracker page...which requires a separate sign-in with a proprietary account (unrelated to the Doomsday engine forums), and there is no option to make one.
I'll try to post a request for help in the regular Hexen related category.

The situation is even worse, as of yesterday: the bug happens with the Elf class as well. What i know, is that fortunately it has no relation to the levels, but to the Doomsday engine and Legend-9 Doomsday script.
If you think that's not enough, then try this: after some research, i've found that one of the Doomsday official testers have found this exact same bug 8 years ago, - and reported it. It was not addressed up to this very day.

It's like fighting some kind of a cursed Hydra: you cut one head off, and two more grow in its place. I did manage to restore the FPS to normal with the level division and switching, and the Castle of Grief in turn, - appears not to crash on startup either. And i finally got the Mage weapons perfected. Sounds like good news, right?
And now we have this, which might derail everything...

I really don't know what to do at this point. On one hand, it would really be wrong - releasing a mod with game-breaking bugs openly present, on the other hand - i don't want to feed people anymore delays and ETA's. I do want the fans of the game to see what Legend-9 can do. But the situation now really sucks...

You mentioned Doomworld forums, - of course i will try, but i doubt that anyone there would even touch Doomsday with a 10-foot pole, and probably would not have heard of it or its issues. Suggestions?!

The only thing i know so far, is that the bug does not happen in the vanilla, even if i load Legend-9's levels. But the Legend-9 script does not modify that damn Lightning Spell in any way,- its action is exactly as vanilla to the letter, only the damage is increased, that's all. Work in progress... :(

It's the way the game was designed. Roguelite fashion.
Saving only works when you have cleared a level.
Not the best choice, i agree, but if you calibrate the
jump function properly in console (/g_gravity 600), then
with a reliable jump - the levels become very manageable.

Try playing it with a properly calibrated jump function.
By going into console and typing /g_gravity 600 you will get
a jump function that was properly measured and calibrated for
this game's levels. This will change your enjoyment of the
game dramatically, make platforming and exploration actually
fun and minimize cheap deaths.

Saving only works when you have cleared a level. The game does not tell you this and there is a save menu which is available at all times, so it can be very confusing. The game works like a roguelite: you can save your progress at each new level, but not within the level.

Having that said, there appears to be a lack-of-testing issue, which resulted in a poorly tested jump function. Type /g_gravity 600 in the console and you'll find yourself enjoying the game a whole lot more.

Doing some extra effort to finish this level. I modded and added numerous tree sprites, but not all of them look good. Hexen color palette is rather hard to please. Also, some polish needed here and there, but overall it all works without any issues. So at least that, which is not too shabby, - cause i have deleted almost all the original level actions and scripts, and such bold steps have a tendency to cause a random crash.
A little more mana, a little more enemies on the return paths
and i am that much closer to being done with the second hub.

Fair enough. Being the only engine automatically makes it the best in the current situation. I am familiar with the concept.

I wonder, what is your opinion of the "Ironwail" sourceport?
It is lightweight and pretty damn fast and can support complex maps.

Reverting the standstill chaingun sprite to having 3 barrels on top
instead of two - would also be really nice.

Ah, the "scam version" ;-) hehe. No idea if that even runs on ID-Tech2.
Either way, it is likely to be incompatible for the same old reason: sound engine does not support 44khz stereo. Because a lot of the weapon SFX in the mod - were designed in stereo. That, or some other glitch. It's totally fine by me. I am all for the original Q2 via sourceports + mods. The "remaster" has never happened. Not for me.

Awesome! I am doing my best to bring you the version i am working on as soon as possible, but everything points to the inevitability of one last delay. 4 weeks, most likely. Thanks to the Doom project that i did kind of spontaneously in the middle of Legend9 development. (did you try that one?)
Never hurts to remind that Legend9 is Doomsday-engine exclusive. It is not compatible with anything else. Also, the version to be released is not going to be a complete one. Most likely, - something like half a game. A lot more than the demo (which is getting seriously outdated by the minute), but not yet the full game with some of the features currently missing or unfinished.
Limited testing in some places too. But i do want to expedite this release as the World of Hexen needs that :-) and i am planning to step away from Hexen for a good several months, to work and finalize my top project, which is for Doom3, and its little brother - for Quake2.

Doing my best, working on it every day without exception, whatever time i can spare. Nonetheless, it appears that one final delay is going to be unavoidable. There is still work in the second hub, and if i want to add the third - it's gonna be a tall order.

On the other hand, this time i am aware that i am releasing something not yet finished and merely interim, yet first of all i do want the Hexen and Legend fans to detach from that outdated demo which seriously pales in comparison to what i am working with, and secondly - i am planning an immediate departure from Hexen for a a good few months, - into the direction of Doom 3 and Quake 2. I can't wait to finally work on and provide the maxed out version of Doom-3-Bravo and see what i can add to Quake 2: Heavy Metal. I saw that recent hideous remaster where nothing is fixed (as usual with that lazy Nightdive bunch), and that only accentuated to me how good the fan-made engines like Quake2Max look like, compared to that weird nonsense. Too bad Q2Max is an abandoned project and is incompatible with many things (including my Q2HM), but i'll keep on working on my part of this game.

I haven't played Doom Eternal yet, but i watched a lot of it and it consistently failed to interest me. This mod, however, just might turn that around. You sir, have created something that sounds extremely intriguing! Looking forward to try!