Nex Encounter news - MacenWolf mod for Wolfenstein 3D

A significant chunk of recent days was spent talking, working things out, modifying, testing, in any order and combination, and results are steadily flowing in. The newest and still not last version of MacenWolf is now in, plus Dermuda assisted me with porting one of his own scenarios this time, and it's a damn good thing he did, because I would have missed a couple things I normally do not miss otherwise, plus it's a complex enough map that I had to consult before being sure of release. This comes together with two others, somewhat similarly named scenarios, plus a revised version of Spear of Longinus, one of my first ports.

Starting with Nexus by Dermuda, a Third Encounter scenario that only holds one map in theory, but it's a pretty meaty one. Nexus is a split start scenario (you'll know when you see it) divided into quadrants, each of which is a representation (or perhaps pastiche) of a mod by Laz Rojas, imitating the originals graphically as well as in details of mapping. It's also a looping map, meaning you will find plenty of exits that bring you back to the start of the map, but if you work hard enough, you'll eventually discover the path that brings you throughout the entire thing and lets you win the scenario. Keep going, it's possible!

And then we have another Nexus, but by a different author. Six fairly small First Encounter maps here, five of which feature very similar layouts (the word "nexus" comes to mind... I mean, quite literally), differing mostly in details like the numbers of hostile Germans or density of other objects. The final map appears to spell a name instead, something along the lines of "JONN APG 2001", so if we assume this to be the author signature, this scenario was made in 2001 by...

Truly amazing detective work, this one, but let it not distract us away from the final full release of this... release, namely Next Encounter. Three maps for the First Encounter by Erin Maguire, said maps are small-to-middling in size and offer a few decently varied, not overly crowded environments, the most notable of which is probably something akin to a pushwall maze on map 2. The other point of notability is that Next Encounter was part of yet another business attempt based on Mac modding: you were supposed to send Erin $2.50 and they would eventually send you back a full version with 20+ maps. And once again, since I don't see this "commercial" version anywhere, it presumably wasn't bought by enough people to have survived to our end times.

Now for a few words on Spear of Longinus, reportedly the last major mod to have been released by Clubey, and at the same time, one of the first two ports in this project. Having talked to Dermuda (who else) a lot lately, I have decided to post a revised version of the game. There aren't actually that many changes - just a few mapping specifics - though one is rather big, as it involves restoring a major feature to the historically important map 20. Why is said map historically important (hint: Clubey was an inventor), how does it tie in with Dermuda's Nexus, and what's the reasoning for my other decisions? Download the mod again and read the readme, there's some good stuff for you to read there if you care about Mac modding history.

And to top things off, probably what these posts should always start with, rather than end, but I never seem to care. MacenWolf 1.15. Two major changes here.

One relates to an undocumented feature that causes Mac Wolf to display walls with door textures that aren't actual doors. In short, I have been somewhat confused about how this thing works and was forced to re-implement it. As a result, some previously ported scenarios have been sneak-updated (I know, that's always fun). The re-implementation itself will not be felt or noticed by players in any way, it's a behind-the-scenes thing, it just ensures that no further mistakes will be made in the matter.

The other thing is about transparent wall quadrants, how they work and interact in certain situations. Turns out you can shoot enemies (with bullets, not projectiles) through transparent quadrants, and they also work when the tile underneath them has no wall (in which case it produces something akin to an invisible wall). Both of these are true on MacenWolf now too! Aren't you delighted? You better be, these have caused our coder Nexion a lot of bonus work. By the way, noticed how the three mods released this time all begin with letters "Nex"? Nobody can beat *me* at office politics.