Captain Ventris Presents:

This blog and the accompanying forum are totally dead, bros. BUT...

2011-08-31T19:32:00.000-07:00

As the title says. If you wish to contact me about ZDoom Wars, refer to the appropriate section below.

The Past:
If you're curious about how I did something, I may not remember, but it's worth a shot asking. Remember that the maps and music are credited in the manual, so there's no need to ask about that or specific sprites that are credited. Ask the authors, not me.

The Future
I no longer in any way work on ZDoom Wars. If you want to offer input, contact Repo Man or Banjoster, as they are working on an end-all, be-all version of ZDWars with my blessing, called "ZDoom Wars Optimized". I am not at all involved in that project, so any particulars are up to them. I trust them not to jack it up too badly. :P

How to contact me:

-pm me on the ZDoom Forums.

-E-mail me at d w sanchez @ g mail . com

I will gladly and dutifully answer your questions through those two channels of communication. I'll even say things like 'Thanks a bunch, man' instead of my standard essays on how much I hate you. Sarcastic questions will be wholly ignored.

For less reliable, but more personal and possibly quicker contact:

-You can find me on the ZDoom IRC channel. I'm not always on, and even when I am, sometimes I may be playing a game and so not actually be present. Don't get butthurt.

-At my steam account: Captain_Ventris. Don't forget that I am a grumpy old man, and often will not respond via Steam unless I really like you. Also, I may often be playing a game, and if it's particularly atmospheric, story driven, or I just don't feel like speaking to random dudes, I will not respond. If it's not clear who you are (and if I even know you at all), I am unlikely to friend you on Steam. You're still not allowed to get butthurt.

'Hey, what about ZDoom Wars 2?', I hear you say in the whiny voice I reserve for imitating the unwashed masses. I'm going to tackle this question riiight here. ZDoom Wars 2, as a Doom mod, is dead, and will never occur.

The more observant among you will notice that I did not say that ZDoom Wars 2 would never happen. My brother, myself, and a friend of ours have tossed about the idea of working on a couple actual commercial games with the Unreal Development Kit. THIS IS NOT ASSURED. THIS IS NOT A PROMISE. THIS MAY NEVER HAPPEN. But it's an idea, and if it did happen, it would more than likely take YEARS. Naturally, one of these ideas is to make ZDWars 2, albeit under a different name and with original content.

I do not understand how business-stuff works. That's my brother's department, but nonetheless: If you are interested in aiding in any way, contact me, and make it clear what your skills are.

If you want to test, that's cool. If you can operate as a legitimate Graphic (logos, fonts etc.) artist, that's fantastic. If you can draw textures, fire away. If you can do 3D models in whatever format UDK likes, that's awesome. If you can code Unreal Script or C++, sweet. If you can map in UDK, or are willing to teach yourself, right on. If you have the capacity to record or create sound effects, tell me about it.

I request a sample of work, some sort of informal resume, that kind of thing.

To recap, the desired folks are:
-Testers
-Graphic Artist (For logos, fonts etc.)
-Texture Artist
-3D modelers (in UDK-compatible formats)
-Coders (Unreal Script, C++, or both)
-UDK Mappers
-Sound Effect Makers/Recorders

I make no promises that you will be added to the development team in the case that this project occurs, and even if we are interested in your talents, there is no assurance that this project will ever occur, or that we will accept all promising applicants. I cannot speak for the business side of things, and at this point there is no basis on which to do so.

Given the lack of a time frame for this project, informing me of your interest is not an immediate, binding thing. You can change your mind later out of disinterest or a conflicting schedule when it is actually time to start working (if ever).

Anyways, this will be my last post here, so if you skipped here for the TL;DR version: Suck it up and read the whole post.

Hotfix 2 released: It actually runs now!

2011-01-05T19:30:00.001-08:00

ZDoom Wars Classic Patch: 0.32_1

2010-12-23T12:46:00.000-08:00

Just a minor update to fix a couple reported issues.

-HPBAR spam shouldn't happen now.
-Ghost and nitro mummies spawned faster once ghost nitro mummies were unlocked.
-Made Rail Rev trails client side.
-Put obituaries straight into many of the projectiles.
-Some monsters did not have -COUNTKILL.

Captain Ventris Presents: The Livestream show

2010-09-24T17:13:00.000-07:00

Starting on October 1st, at 4:00 pm American Central Time (GMT -6), I will begin hosting a weekly, half-hour show on livestream about recent Doom wads that I find interesting, pc games I've come across, and other topics that pop up. I will do some brief speaking on ZDoom Wars 2, so be there or be a non-2.5d shape.

I have no camera, but there will be visuals, and Livestream has a chatbox on the side so you can heckle or whatever.

The channel where it will occur can be found here.

THE END

2010-09-05T12:28:00.000-07:00

1 And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, all of the three testers saying, Come and see.
2 And I saw, and behold a small town: and he that lived in it had a pizza; and a map pack was given unto him: and he went forth mapping, and to map.
3 And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the first tester say, Come and see.
4 And there was a man in another town: and power was given to him that lived therein to put detail in the maps, and that the players should appreciate the aesthetic: and there was given unto him a high school diploma.
5 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the second tester say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo the testers had gathered; and they had amongst them a pair of balances in each hand.
6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the three testers say, A measure of Decorate for a script, and three measures of Decorate for a table; and see thou hurt not the health regen and the mana rate.
7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the third tester say, Come and see.
8 And I looked, and behold a pale nerd: and his name was Slyfox, and Duke followed with him. And power was given unto him over the fourth part of the earth, to torture with Arena, and with Realm, and with Duke, and with the tasteless players of the servers.
9 And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that refrained from Slyfox's Servers, and for the testimony which they held:
10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Ventris, douchey and witty, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the servers?
11 And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow players also and their server hosts, that should become tired as they were, should be fulfilled.
12 And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as an Afrit swarm, and the moon became as a Lost Soul;
13 And the players of the wad fell unto the servers, even as Island casteth her movement scripts, when she is shaken of a mighty delay.
14 And the wad was finished as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every fort and slope were moved out of their places.
15 And the hosts of the Duke Servers, and the skilled Arena Players, and the experienced Realm Players, and the experts in 4x, and the great Instant Death champions, and every tasteless man, and every apathetic man, hid themselves in the caverns and in the platforms of the hillsides;
16 And said to the platforms and hillsides, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:
17 For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?

CHAPTER 3

2010-09-04T07:52:00.000-07:00

1 To every wad there is a season, and a time to every purpose under Skulltag:
2 A time to post project threads, and a time to end projects; a time to code, and a time to debug that which is coded;
3 A time to release the source, and a time to create sequels; a time to reverse engineer, and a time to code from scratch;
4 A time to refrain from play, and a time to participate; a time to whine, and a time to give Cacowards;
5 A time to cast away old code, and a time to gather old code together; a time to accept criticism, and a time to refrain from the critics;
6 A time to lock pk3s, and a time to be banned for it; a time to claim rights, and a time to release resources;
7 A time to lock, and a time to unban; a time to contribute, and a time to troll;
8 A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of flame wars, and a time of peace.
9 What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth?
10 I have seen the travail, which iD hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it.
11 They hath made every wad beautiful in their time: also they have set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that iD maketh from the beginning to the end.
12 I know that there is no good in them, but for an author to rejoice, and to code well in his life.
13 And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his coding, it is the gift of iD.
14 I know that, whatsoever iD doeth, it shall be for all: code can be put to it, and any code taken from it: and iD doeth it, that men should fear before them.
15 That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and iD requireth that which is past.
16 And moreover I saw under the sun the place of judgment, that wickedness was there; and the place of righteousness, that iniquity was there.
17 I said in mine heart, Scuba Steve shall judge the righteous and the wicked: for there is a time there for every game mode and for every wad.
18 I said in mine heart concerning the posts of the sons of men, that Metalhead might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are furries.
19 For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth Furries; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a Skulltag player hath no preeminence above a Furry: for all is vanity.
20 All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.
21 Who knoweth the spirit of Skulltag Players that goeth upward, and the spirit of the Furry that goeth downward to the earth?
22 Wherefore I perceive that there is nothing better, than that an author should rejoice in his own works; for that is his portion: for who shall bring him to see what shall be after him?

CHAPTER 2

2010-09-03T09:47:00.000-07:00

1 I said in mine heart, Go to now, I will prove thee with mirth, therefore enjoy playing: and, behold, this also is vanity.
2 I said of flem spores, It is mad: and of mirth, What doeth it?
3 I sought in mine heart to give myself unto sarcasm, yet acquainting mine heart with gameplay balance; and to lay hold on bugs, till I might see what was that good for the sons of men, which they should do under Skulltag all the days of their life.
4 I made me great works; I builded me factions; I coded me tech trees:
5 I made me spawners and monsters, and I coded states in them of all kinds of purpose:
6 I made me balances of damage types, to fuel therewith the counters that bringeth forth challenge:
7 I got me servants and maidens, and had servants born in my community; also I had great possessions of great and small fans above all that were in Doom Wars before me:
8 I gathered me also blogs and IRC Channels, and the peculiar treasure of wad authors and of the servers: I gat me men bounty hunters and women bounty hunters, and the delights of the sons of men, as Newgrounds music files, and that of all sorts.
9 So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in Doom Wars: also my sense of gameplay remained with me.
10 And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any feature; for my heart rejoiced in all my coding: and this was my portion of all my coding.
11 Then I looked on all the actors that my hands had wrought, and on the code that I had worked to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of hard drive space, and there was no profit under the sun.
12 And I turned myself to behold gameplay, and imbalance, and bugs: for what can the man do that cometh after the first author? even that which hath been already done.
13 Then I saw that gameplay excelleth bugs, as far as light excelleth darkness.
14 The gameplay-oriented author's eyes are in his head; but the fool walketh in darkness: and I myself perceived also that one event happeneth to them all.
15 Then said I in my heart, As it happeneth to Voltlock, so it happeneth even to me; and why was I then more inclined to gameplay improvements? Then I said in my heart, that this also is vanity.
16 For there is no remembrance of the gameplay-oriented more than of the fool for ever; seeing that which now is in the days to come shall all be forgotten. And how dieth the gameplay-oriented author? as the fool.
17 Therefore I hated life; because the code that is wrought under Skulltag is grievous unto me: for all is vanity and vexation of hard drive space.
18 Yea, I hated all my code which I had taken under Skulltag: because I should leave it unto the man that shall be after me.
19 And who knoweth whether he shall be a gameplay-oriented author or a fool? yet shall he have rule over all my code wherein I have laboured, and wherein I have shewed myself gameplay-oriented under the sun. This is also vanity.
20 Therefore I went about to cause my heart to despair of all the code which I took under the sun.
21 For there is a man whose code is in gameplay, and in flawlessness, and in balance; yet to a man that hath not coded therein shall he leave it for his portion. This also is vanity and a great evil.
22 For what hath man of all his labour, and of the vexation of his hard drive, wherein he hath coded under Skulltag?
23 For all his days are sorrows, and his travail grief; yea, his heart taketh not rest in the night. This is also vanity.
24 There is nothing better for an author, than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his coding. This also I saw, that it was from the hand of iD.
25 For who can eat, or who else can hasten hereunto, more than I?
26 For iD giveth to an author that is good in his sight gameplay, and balance, and fun-factor: but to the sinner he giveth travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him that is good before iD. This also is vanity and vexation of hard drive space.

CHAPTER 1

2010-09-02T17:09:00.000-07:00

1 The words of the Author, the son of Val, king of ZDWars.
2 Vanity of vanities, saith the Author, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.
3 What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the light of his screen?
4 One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but Doom abideth for ever.
5 Carnevil also ariseth, and Carnevil goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose.
6 The players goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; they whirleth about continually, and they returneth again according to their circuits.
7 All the wads run into Doomseeker; yet Doomseeker is not full; unto the place from whence the wads come, thither they return again.
8 All things are full of labour; man cannot utter it: the eye is not satisfied with Nashgore, nor the ear filled with Perkristan's sound pack.
9 The wad that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new wad under the sun.
10 Is there any wad whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us.
11 There is no remembrance of former wads; neither shall there be any remembrance of wads that are to come with those that shall come after.
12 I the Author was king over ZDWars on Skulltag.
13 And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all wads that are made under Skulltag: this sore travail hath iD given to the sons of man to be exercised therewith.
14 I have seen all the wads that are made under Skulltag; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of hard drive space.
15 That which is hopelessly buggy cannot be made straight: and that which is wanting cannot be numbered.
16 I communed with mine own heart, saying, Lo, I am come to mild popularity, and have gotten more experience in gameplay balancing than all they that have been before me in Doom Wars: yea, my heart had great experience of gameplay and balance.
17 And I gave my heart to know gameplay, and to know imbalance and bugs: I perceived that this also is vexation of hard drive space.
18 For in much bug support is much grief: and he that increaseth balance changes increaseth sorrow.

OWAIT

2010-08-17T12:13:00.000-07:00

Found something. Gonna fix it real quick. I'll edit when it's reuploaded.

EDIT: K, go play nao.

ZDoom Wars Public Beta 3.1 now available!

2010-08-17T11:53:00.000-07:00

And it's pretty cool.

NOTE: Slime Meteors and Carriers just aren't going to work right until Skulltag has SXF_TRANSFERPOINTERS. Sorry.

Overall:

Balance Changes:
-The health bar will now scroll much faster, so you can assess how much damage you've taken quicker!

New Additions:
-All Hero and elite Units have healthbars over their heads now.

-Each class now has differing health values, and each spawn with something unique. This is covered in each faction's manual. C-375 has gone unchanged.

-Manuals and quick reference sheet updated. Combat units with support or non-combat abilities are now more clearly demarcated.

-All summoners will now not be switched to when unlocked, and non-basic units will not auto-fire if the button is held. Tap to spam these guys. This protects against accidentally spawning two barons of hell or what not.

-Sound improvements, courtesy of ReDoom. The Cyberdemon has a new death sound, the Chaingunners and the Mastermind will have beefier

sounding guns, and numerous blood splats, footsteps, and bullet pinging sounds are upgraded.

-Finally found the psd file for the credits screen. It has been updated.

-All gibs and deathsplosions are now clientside. Apparently they weren't before. :|

-Evilspacetomato has revised the ACS to be much more streamlined.

Bug Fixes:
-Small things with green or blue blood will no longer be tossed about when they bleed. Thusly, Flemoids charging a Chaingunner will be

more effective, and Flemoid units' superior weight will be able to be brought to bear.

-Evilspacetomato fixed the bug where the cooldown image was not in time with the actual cooldown.

-Hero summon projectiles now uniformly use the same graphics and sounds.

Map Pack:
-The pit in the center of Wierd Bases has been removed and replaced by some decoration on the ground.
-Each base in Wierd Bases now has a one-way teleport to another base. The opening of each teleport depends on where players spawn.
-The number of fireballs in Wierd Bases has been halved to reduce lag.

-Reduced the unit holding capacity and raised the vulnerability of the Hall of Death in Da Void.
-Got rid of a couple of useless platforms in Da Void.
-Improved a couple fortifications in Da Void.
-Increased the size of the automatic elevator in Da Void, and slightly decreased its wait time.

-Changed the script numbers in Valley to avoid conflicts.

-Some texture misalignments in Blazing Colosseum were fixed.

-Turmoil and Command and Conquer had their sky heights lowered some.

-Enabled heroes to enter the tomb in Grimwald.
-Changed the bars in the tomb in Grimwald to a low barrier to weaken the fortifications.
-Made the side platforms in the Grimwald tomb smaller.
-Made the side entrances in the Grimwald tomb larger.
-Adjusted the sound blocking lines in the Grimwald Cavern.

-A malfunctioning pit in Something Epic was fixed.

Doom:
Balance Changes:
-Zombieman accuracy increased from a 10 degree variance to a 9 degree variance.

-Imp attack speed increased by 1 tic.
-Imp fireball speed increased from 20 to 25.

-Spider Mastermind max damage raised from 18 to 19.

-It now only takes 5 mancubus to unlock Arachnotrons, down from 8.
-It now only takes 4 Arachnotrons to unlock the Spider Mastermind and Cyberdemon, down from 6.

-Baron of Hell and Hell Knight speed increased from 9 to 10.

-Pain Elemental price lowered from 40/24 to 35/12.
-Dual Pain Elemental price lowered from 50/26 to 40/14.
-Pain Elemental retrofit price lowered from 15 to 10.

-Arachnotrons now have an 18 tic wind up period before beginning their attack.
-Arachnotron projectile speed reduced from 35 to 30.

Bug Fixes:
-Pre-upgraded Revenants took 12 to unlock Mancs, instead of 6.

Heretic:
Balance Changes:
-Dismounted D'Sparil's projectile will now force radius damage.

Bug Fixes:
-When unlocking the Nitro Mummy Ghosts with Nitro Mummies, you were not notified that you had also unlocked the Mummy Upgrade.

Hexen:
Balance Changes:
-Swamp Stalker health boosted from 200 to 250.
-Boosted the firing height of the Swamp Stalker's projectile by 12 units.
-Swamp Stalker projectile damage boosted from 8 to 10.

-Only half of Zedek's attack now effects ghosts.
-Lengthened Zedek's attack state by 6 tics (after the attack itself).

-Lengthened Traductus' attack state by 6 tics (after the attack itself).

Bug Fixes:
-The last frame of the summoning animation was too high up.

-Enchant particles were not client side. Yeah, I know.

-Korax cost 10 less normal mana than he was supposed to.

Strife:
Balance Changes:
-The Order Turret Ranged attack has been reduced to 3 bullets, down from 4.
-Order Turrets can no longer hit ghosts. Rejoice.

-Spectre A price lowered from 70/60 to 70/40. Because really, Spectre B is 80/40. :|

-Acolytes did not have obituaries.

Bug Fixes:
-Order Turret wrecks were solid.

CQ:

Bug Fixes:
-First person to read to here gets slow applause that they'll never hear.

-Upgraded Common Flemoids had 10 more health. D:

Virus:
Balance Changes:
-Turret attack rate slowed by 2 tics.

-Spreadshot turret attack spread reduced from a 4 degree variance to 3.
-Spreadshot turret minimum damage raised from 3 to 4.

Bug Fixes:
-The Land Unit upgrade actually decreased the Felix's health until both iterations have been bought. The health value for the first upgrade is now 4600, and 4750 for the second.

-Turrets did not change appearance immediately upon being retrofitted.

3.1 is on the way!

2010-08-16T18:37:00.000-07:00

Seriously. Honestly. Next couple days at the most.

Also, Mik57 is reworking Doom City and Doom City Outskirts, so whenever he's done with that will be p. cool and stuff. Yeeeeaaaah

Yeeeaaah

2010-08-11T19:08:00.000-07:00

Guest viewing or whatever is on in the forum now. Guests can post only in the announcements forum. For those who don't have an account. Yeeeaaah

ACS Source now viewable

2010-08-04T12:18:00.001-07:00

The summation of the several ACS lumps present in ZDWars can now be downloaded/looked at. It's called "ACS Source", and is on the download page.

YES

2010-07-30T23:47:00.000-07:00

Finally got the music pack to reupload. The only new thing is that Caverns uses a short track from Stargunner.

New Silliness

2010-07-30T08:08:00.000-07:00

I have decided to start posting "bounties" on people in the forum. The first to collect a bounty gets a prize. Full details are in the forum, and the only way to cash in is to post in the forum thread itself. The thread topic in the IRC channel will also denote if a bounty is in progress.

To the obtuse person that Thetis said was in the Supergod server:

2010-07-29T19:49:00.001-07:00

Spider Masterminds use 250 speed fastprojectiles, as do all other "hitscan" units.

That is all.

ZDWars 3.1 preview

2010-07-27T18:30:00.000-07:00

ZDWars 3.1 is going to do some neat things. Nothing earth shaking. There won't be a version on par with 2.9 in a long while, but 3.1 is a step towards perfecting 2.9, so that's cool. Anyway, some of the highlights:

-All Hero and Elite (cost more than a Hell Knight) units will have a health bar floating over their heads for all to see.

-All summoners will now not be switched to when unlocked, and non-basic units will not auto-fire if the button is held. Tap to spam these guys. This protects against accidentally spawning two barons of hell or what not.

-Doom's middle tech tree branch will take less units to progress through.

-Swamp Stalkers are getting a combat buff.

-Order Turrets are getting nerfed, and will no longer be able to hit ghosts.

-Flem spores should finally work correctly.

-Virus turrets getting nerfed, spreadshot turrets getting buffed.

There are also other things that have only been revealed in the IRC channel, because those people are SPECIAL.

Someone must be crucified

2010-07-26T10:54:00.000-07:00

Today, a certain someone ran an LMS server with the following wads:-ZDWars
-Doom Urban Real Guns Advanced +4 Gold Edition Mark 4 Aleph 19.2456443 or something
-Hell Revealed 2
-GvH

I assume he somehow thinks this is funny, or fun, or something else that starts with the letter F. A couple minor people, two from the Iron Lich clan, were in the server with him, apparently (and I say this in horror) enjoying the absolute cluster he had constructed.

Now, he's been running ZDWars coop with some map packs in the past, and that's cool. It technically works and such. However, I do believe this crosses a line. He's on the forum, he's in the IRC channel. I'm guessing he's doing this in part to make me face palm or something, but really, this in particular is actually kind of offensive, and not just to me, but to anyone with decency and taste.

Hell Revealed is a map pack. It's just the kind of target for weapons mods like RGA. Those two being run together makes sense, though obviously does not appeal to all tastes. Voltlock or whoever he undoubtedly hoisted RGA on to is beyond all forms of offensiveness to begin with, so we need not discuss him here. Unless the RGA in the middle of the wad name is coincidental and the wad is something which I'm sure is ENTIRELY different and Voltlock isn't involved at all. Whatever, not the point.

Now, CutmanMike more than likely has a longer fuse than I do given the player base that surrounds GvH, and GvH has been hosted with retarded things before, but this is still just messed up. I don't imagine he'll make a statement, because he is notably more polite than I am and not so bothered by minor things.

Thusly, I would like to explain something: ZDoom Wars is not a weapons mod. It is not a level pack. It is a self-contained project which focuses on a specific type of gameplay which favors specially made maps, in a precise mode, and exact environment. I work on this wad because I really, really like it and what it does. What it does is provide a certain type of gameplay, which is not at all related to being mixed up with other things like a botched genetics experiment. If you want to play a complete cluster, go pick up an old version of EB Doom or something.

When you host a very custom wad with a retarded set of other things, it just says to the author that you have little respect for the effort they put into making the wad the way it is. It says that you have no regard for what they may look upon with pride. It's like using a Van Gogh as a table cloth (Roger Ebert be damned). It's disrespectful, and clearly tasteless.

I wouldn't be saying this if it wasn't for the fact that I actually communicate with the guy who hosted this on an almost daily basis, therefore I technically know him. If he was some random guy in Croatia, whatever. But the fact is, he isn't. So it's really more like going over to Van Gogh's house for dinner, and then pulling one of his paintings off the wall to use as a table cloth. Not that I'm comparing myself to Van Gogh as far as genius or anything, but I doubt many of you would understand a Buckminster Fuller/Geodesic Dome metaphor.

Though this message may apply to all those DBZone servers in which helmeted people drool on model-rip weapons or whatever, this really applies specifically to the guy who hosted this particular server.

Updated Music Pack finally available

2010-07-17T19:38:00.000-07:00

If you're sick enough to download 90 megs so that you can hear a single new track, go right on ahead. yeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaa

EDIT: nm. Blame migrant workers.

ZDoom Wars Public Beta 3.0

2010-07-14T18:20:00.000-07:00

After a couple days of gay download errors and WhoDaMan trying to gain Amnesty, it is finally here.

Overall:
New Additions:
-Caverns music is different. You obviously don't need to download the updated music pack, but you can. It's a song from Stargunner. (jk it's not up for download, wait till 3.1)

Bug Fixes:
-There was a typo on the Help screen.

Map Pack:
-The plateau containing the green structure is now reachable from the ground in battlefield 1994.

-Fixed Sound Blocking lines in Grimwald, Greater Crucible, and System Reboot.

-Platforms at gate base in Despair Canyon are now larger.

-The System Reboot side-bases now have no doors and some platforms have been removed/made more accessible.

-Caverns has been adjusted to prevent monsters from crowding in corners. The center and the bridges therein should be a focal point of the action now.

-Red Canyon has been slightly updated by Whodaman with minor playability changes. The hanging bodies that blocked spawns are gone,

some passageways are larger, and there are some new platforms in the center.

-The starting message on Lesser Crucible should now be correct.

Doom:
Balance Changes:
-Flame Mancubus now use the "Suppression 2" damage type, which deals 1.3 times damage against units who are also vulnerable to Snipers.

-Chaingunner ranged attack variance lowered from 10 degrees to 9.

-Barons of Hell can now hit ghosts, and their ranged damage was boosted from 10 to 11.

Heretic:
Balance Changes:
-Pods can now only spawn up to 15 other pods.
-Primogenitor Pods now have only have 400 health.
-Primogenitor Pods are now slightly larger.

-D'Sparil's serpent will now spit 2 fireballs when at full health, and 4 when at low health.

Bugs:
-10 Ghost Nitro Mummies are now required to unlock Clinks. Before, it could be done with 29 of any type of mummy, and 1 Ghost Nitro Mummy. Progress chart updated accordingly.

Hexen:
Balance Changes:
-Swamp Stalkers now have a 72 unit melee range.
-Swamp Stalker projectile speed raised from 15 to 20.
-Changed the Swamp Stalker burrowing sound to a sound from Starcraft.

-Traductus speed reduced by 2.

-Menelkir speed raised by 3.

Bug Fixes:
-Swamp Stalkers were stuck in the sector they were spawned in due to an inheritance issue.

Strife:
Balance Changes:
-Order Turrets will now not fire its alarm beams if the foe is within combat range.
-Order Turrets will now appear a tiny bit larger.
-Order Turrets will now only fire one alarm beam instead of three, to reduce lag.
-Order Turret max engagement range reduced to 18000 units, from 20000.
-Order Turrets are now solid, because Turret Gods are for weenies.
-Order Turret price raised from 10/4 to 12/5.

-Templar ranged attack variance decreased from 13 degrees to 11.
-Templar minmissilechance reduced from 200 to 190 (will shoot more often).

-The Entity is now 3/4ths its original size.
-Entity speed raised from 16 to 18.
-Entity Minmissile chance lowered from 55 to 50 (It will shoot more often).
-The Entity will now try and maintain a 3000 unit distance from foes.

Bug Fixes:
-The Order turret didn't have an Obituary.
-The Order turret's summonball was the wrong width.
-Order Turrets did not drop mana.

-Alien Spectres and The Entity have obituaries now.

CQ:
Balance Changes:
-Slime Carriers will now create less Flem Spores and Resurrection slime as a result of re-solidifying Flem Spores and Resurrection slime.

-Slime Meteors now spawn at a much, much higher rate, but only when the enemy is not only within sight, but within 1800 units.

-Flem Spores and Resurrection Slimes are now solid once more.

-Lord Snotfolus' height has been reduced from 132 to 126 so that he can traverse standard 128 unit tall halls.

Bug Fixes:
-Some jumps in the Slime Carrier were inoperable, thus the Slime Carrier didn't properly weaken as it was hurt.

-Slime Carriers and Flem Meteors should spawn things that actually fight now. Hopefully.

Virus:
Balance Changes:
-Drone minmissilechance lowered from 140 to 135 (slightly increased fire rate).
-Drone health buffed from 40 to 45.

-Shield Drones will now try to keep a small distance between themselves and enemies.

-Leader health increased from 3500 to 3800.

-Land Carrier minmissilechance reduced from 70 to 60 (it will shoot more often).

-Turrets will now have a quicker reaction time.

Bug Fixes:
-Preupgraded Spreadshot turrets had a slower See state animation.

2010-07-14T08:38:00.000-07:00

Progress on 3.0

2010-07-08T12:08:00.000-07:00

The big Three-Oh is comin' up. It's primarily going to work on the new units, but there is still a host of other changes to continue improving your ZDWars experience. Highlights so far:

-Flame Mancubus will deal 30% extra damage against basic units.

-Pods won't be so spammalicious.

-Order Turret price is going up to 12/5, and they won't be stackable. They may recieve another nerf on top of that.

-Slight adjustments to keep the Slime Carrier from being able to be abused.

-Slime Meteor improvements.

The rest is all even more minor, really. There will also be some minor map adjustments and fixes. This version isn't anything special, but it will iron out the big issues with the new units and continue to fix up the gameplay.

2010-07-04T14:37:00.001-07:00

ZDWars Public Beta 2.9 is now OUT!

2010-07-01T09:34:00.000-07:00

So, here it is. Two years down the line, and with a new set of monsters.

Changelog:
Balance Changes:

New Additions:
-To celebrate ZDoom Wars' 2 year anniversary, every faction has recieved a new unit.

-Updated the manuals, etc. etc.

-Made the list of units effected by the Repair Drone in the Strife manual more specific.

-Updated and changed the F1 Help screen.

Bug Fixes:
-The player class previews in the Multiplayer menu should no longer flicker with doomguy graphics.

-Hero death sounds should be much more audible now.

-EvilSpacetomato has greatly revised the C-375 height limiting system. It should work much better now, and allows unconditional ladder use. There is also a height indicator on Virus players' HUD that shows how high you are. 384 units is the max height. C-375 can now use the water entrance into Tech Monolith.

-Some jumps were removed from Retrofitted units to slightly reduce bandwidth usage.

Map Pack:
-Blazing Colosseum scripts revised to eliminate the double deep and damaging ground bugs, by evilspacetomato.

-The slime in Despair Canyon now kills units who fall or are spawned in it.
-Some graphical glitches on Despair Canyon were fixed.

-Wierd bases has been made more attractive.
-The delay between the center of the level lowering in Wierd Bases has been doubled.

-Da Void's skybox has been fixed.
-Da Void has been made more attractive.
-Some areas of Da Void have been changed to be more accessible or less campable.

-The watery pits on either side of the bridge in Valley will now kill monsters.

-The sector that would kill players instead of teleporting them in Something Epic has been fixed.

-Fixed a spot in Grimwald where large monsters couldn't pass through.

Doom:

New Additions:
-The Doom Faction has a new unit: The Lost Soul, unlocked alongside imps.

Balance Changes:
-Cyberdemon price raised from 130/115 to 140/125.

-Spider Mastermind attack variance increased from 8 degrees to 10.
-The Spider Mastermind now fires 4 bullets per attack cycle, up from 3.
-Spider Mastermind minimum damage raised from 14 to 16.

-Buffed Cacodemon melee damage from 12 to 13.
-Increased Cacodemon melee range from 72 to 84.

-Pain Elementals will now attempt to distance themselves from opponents who are within 800 units.

-Archviles will now distance themselves from enemies who are within 500 units.
-Archviles now only lose 10 health per resurrection, down from 15. This means they can resurrect 90 units if they are not hit otherwise, up from 60.

Bug Fixes:
-Retrofitted Pain Elementals would not attack at range.

-The invisible Lost Soul projectile made sounds.

Heretic:

New Additions:
-The Heretic Faction has a new unit: The Gas Pod, unlocked alongside Ophidians.

Balance Changes:
-The point at which D'Sparil begins spitting triple fireballs has been changed from 1600 health to 2200 health.

-Lich Whirlwind height decreased from 32 to 24.

-Maulotaur melee speed increased by 3 tics.
-Maulotaur health increased from 4200 to 4400.

Bug Fixes:
-Nitro Ghost Mummies could not be unlocked using normal mummies.

Hexen:

New Additions:
-The Hexen Faction has a new unit: The Swamp Stalker, unlocked alongside Chaos Serpents.

Balance Changes:
-Enchant radius raised from 200 to 225.
-All Enchant-able Units are now immune to radius damage coming from other Enchanted units.

-Menelkir damage reduced from 10 to 9.

-Enchanted Chaos Serpent direct damage reduced from 6 to 4.

-Enchanted Bishop direct damage reduced from 5 to 4.
-Enchanted Bishop projectile homing max turn angle lowered from 9 to 8.

-Wraith ranged attack damage reduced from 8 to 7.

-Wendigo health boosted from 850 to 1000.

-Enchanted Ettin magic attack chance raised by 30.

-Centaurs now fire 3 magic projectiles when enchanted, up from 2.

Bug Fixes:
-Homing chaos Serpents and Bishops were immune to radius damage.

Strife:

New Additions:
-The Strife Faction now has a new unit: The Order Turret, unlocked alongside Reavers.

Balance Changes:
-Devastator Crusader's melee attack has been sped up by 2 tics.
-The Crusader's missile now has a slight homing ability, increasing its effective range.
-Crusader price lowered from 40/10 to 35/8.
-Pre-upgraded Crusader price lowered from 55/12 to 40/9.

-Crusader retrofit price lowered from 15 to 12.

-Gargantuan Sniper Templar price change. It now costs 18/7, instead of 40/6, which was dumb.
-Templar retrofit cost reduced from 15 to 10.

-Stalker width reduced from 30 to 20.

-Alien Spectre fleeing range increased from 2000 to 3000.

-The Programmer will now move away from foes who are within 1200 units.

-The chance of each unit effected by a Repair Drone of resurrecting has been increased.

-Removed the inheritance from Rebels and Acolytes, so they theoretically won't set on fire now.

Bug Fixes:
-Spectre A dropped 10 mana, instead of 25.
-The pre-upgraded Devastator Crusader's melee attack was slower than it should be.

CQ:

New Additions:
-The CQ Faction now has a new unit: The Slime Carrier, unlocked alongside Super Cyclops.

Balance Changes:
-The commonus split upgrade now effects the spores created by Slime Meteors.
-Slime Meteors now drop 6 spores on death, up from 3.
-Slime Meteor spawn chance increased by 30, and idle spore spawn chance increased by 15.
-Slime Meteor's health has been increased from 250 to 300.

-Boosted the chance of a Flem Spore spawning a bipedicus or larva.

-Flem Spores will now always successfully spawn, though their spawning of the flemoid itself is not full proof.
-The way Flem Spores move about is a little more randomized to avoid overlapping spawns.

-Cyclops pain chance raised from 40 to 50.

-Resurrection Slime summon balls are no longer +RIPPER.
-Resurrection slime can now pass through monsters and will always successfully spawn.

-Super Cyclops damage reduced from 8 to 7.
-Super Cyclops health reduced from 750 to 700.

Bug Fixes:
-The Slime Meteor is now referred to by its proper name in the onscreen message and manual.
-The Slime Meteor summonball was 5 units too thin.

-The Super Cyclop's frames during its chase state were not evenly distributed.

Virus:

New Additions:
-The Virus Faction now has a new unit: The Shield drone, unlocked alongside Greater Prisms.

Balance Changes:
-Spore health increased from 65 to 75.
-Spore attack rate sped up by 2 tics.

-All Virus units are now immune to the explosions from other Virus units.

-Air Carriers now carry 30 drones.
-Air Carrier health raised from 600 to 750.

-All of the Leader's attacks can now hit ghosts.

Bug Fixes:
-C-375 was not resistant to KaBoom damage.

ZDoom Wars Birthday Week Finale: Virus Unit Reveal, and 2.9 new stuff

2010-06-30T08:15:00.000-07:00

The Virus faction will gain the Shield Drone

Cost: 8/2 Health: 300

Attack: Ranged Damage: N/A Role: Support/Defense
Shield Drones are, on their own, near completely harmless. However, when used in support of other units, they become an important part of an advance. The Shield Drone constantly attracts the attention of enemies and absorbs damage so its lighter armored comrades can survive longer. It will also occasionally let loose a short range, prolonged wave of projectiles that will block incoming fire, set off explosive projectiles early, or stop charging units.

The Shield Drone is unlocked alongside Greater Prisms, and will hopefully give Virus some added punch in a siege or big brawl.

As for ZDWars 2.9, there are many balance changes to accompany the inevitable paradigm shifts that will be brought about by the new units. Some of these have been covered before, but I'll go over the high points again:

-The F1 help screen has been updated with some more info, and the url to reach the documentation.

-C-375's height code has been made much more solid by evilspacetomato, and there is also an altitude indicator for Virus players. The max flight height is 384 units.

-Despair Canyon's slime will now dispose of monsters that fall in it, as will the water below the bridge in Valley (no more deathpit!)

-Da Void's funky skybox now works, and parts of it have been made more accessible and flow better.

-Yes, that sector in Something Epic is fixed (so says Damage :P ).

-Cyberdemon price raised from 130/115 to 140/125.

-Spider Masterminds have been slightly reworked so they are better at spraying multiple units. Try e'm out.

-Pain Elementals and Archviles will now try to keep a distance from the foe.

-Enchant has an increased radius, and Enchanted units are immune to radius damage from other enchanted units.

-Crusaders are now much cheaper.

-Normal Crusader's missiles now have a slight homing ability, so they are useful at extreme ranges.

-pre-upgraded Sniper Templars are now much cheaper.

-Stalkers had a width reduction.

-The Programmer will attempt to keep a short distance from foes.

-The chance of repair drone resurrection has been increased.

-The Commonus Split upgrade now effects spores spawned from Meteors as well.

-Common flemoids were given a slight buff.

-Flem spore spawning has been altered some, and the spores are more likely to create Bipeds or Larva now.

-Spores were given a slight buff.

-Air Carriers were buffed.

-Virus units are now immune to the death explosions from other Virus units.

And quite a few bug fixes. It's gonna be pretty sweet, even aside from the new units. We'll see what new strategies pop up.

ZDoom Wars Birthday Week: Chex Quest Unit Reveal

2010-06-29T08:38:00.000-07:00

The Chex Quest Faction will gain the Slime Carrier

Cost : 30/8 Health: 600

Attack: Ranged Damage: N/A Role: Support/Shock

As the flemoids encounter the forces of other dimensions, they adapt and grow. In response to fortresses, the flemoids have created a new slime-form.

The Slime Carrier acts as a sort of troop carrier for the flemoids. Unlike other air units, it must be spawned on the ground, where it will undergo a period during which it is inactive while in synthesizes the fuel it uses to float, and grows its batch of flem spores. Upon activation, the carrier rockets a short distance into the air, and is awakened. When closing to within a short distance of the foe, the Slime Carrier unleashes its payload, rocketing around violently as it deflates. The ensuing swathe of flem spores (and even some resurrection slime) can break a battle line or swamp a garrison, or simply be used as an instant army. As the Slime Carrier loses health, its payload decreases, and if killed before beginning to unload, it has no effect.

ZDWars Birthday Week: Strife Unit Reveal

2010-06-28T09:03:00.000-07:00

The Strife Faction will gain the Order Turret

Cost: 10/4 Health: 225
Attack: Ranged Damage: High Role: Defense/Skirmish
Burst firing and deadly. At least they can't chase you.
Order Turrets are sentry units, effective in combat at short distances, where they fire a burst of bullets that deals heavy damage. As they fire, they emit glowing beams that point to their target, alerting the Commander of the enemy presence. They have an incredibly quick reaction time as well, so don't expect to sneak past them. Not good if you want to stay hidden. Order turrets do not block other monsters, or players, and can hit ghosts.

Again, no surprise here (hopefully), though the additional sentry abilities will heighten Strife's siege capacity, and make them additionally effective when inhabiting outposts or establishing forward positions. Your turrets can give you that head start warning while you're busy spawning stacks of Stalkers in a corner. Heed their relatively obnoxious warning! Turrets are unlocekd alongside Reavers.

THE MIND BLOWING AWESOMENESS of the last two units is yet to come!

ZDWars Birthday Week: Hexen Unit Reveal

2010-06-27T13:02:00.000-07:00

The Hexen Faction will gain the Stalker

Cost: 18/5 Health: 200

Attack: Ranged/Melee Damage: Medium/Medium Role: Skirmish/Shock

Stalkers are aquatic reptiles with huge talons designed to rend their prey into bite-sized morsels, and can fire slime projectiles.

Swamp Stalkers are a particularly effective harassment unit with high endurance. Spending most of their time burrowing, they only emerge to attack, and then quickly dive below the surface again. They are quick and can harass groups of enemies or surprise enemy commanders with ease. Though they cannot be hit most of the time, a Swamp Stalker will quickly perish if caught in a melee.

Of course it's the Stalker, what were you expecting? Mushrooms? REALLY? There's a whole functional, not ridiculous monster floating around, and the friggin' MUSHROOM was one of the theories? Bejeebus.

Anyway, don't spawn him in water, because he'll act as dumb as the next guy. He's unlocked along with Chaos Serpents.

Also, I don't care that it's 3 PM, it's Sunday. Love to all my haters.

ZDWars Birthday Week: Heretic Unit Reveal

2010-06-26T07:38:00.000-07:00

The Heretic Faction will gain the Gas Pod

Cost: 25/8 Health: 300/75
Attack: Ranged Damage: High Role: Defense/Shock
These volatile organic pods grow all over the place, making a walk in the park a little hazardous.
Gas Pods are ideal for defense or for containment. Their primary function is to explode upon death, injuring nearby friend or foe. Upon spawning the first “Primogenitor” Pod, it will spawn four lesser pods around it. The Primogenitor Pod has more health than the pods it makes, and is larger. When alert to enemies, the Primogenitor Pod will attempt to spawn another pod nearby every eight seconds when an enemy is visible, up to 20 over its lifetime. This time span can be interrupted if the pod is hurt. The Primogenitor pod is immune to splash damage, but the lesser pods are not, so chain reactions can result. All Pods are immobile, but can easily be pushed.

So, Heretic receives a solidly siege or defense focused unit. A lot of times, Heretics hordes can fall short in a pitched melee against an Enchanted Hexen force or a Flemoid horde without its elite units, who themselves aren't as tough as other factions elites. So, when you unlock Ophidians, another unit useful for defensive purposes, you also gain the Gas Pod. Heretic operates on a middling level with high numbers and some decent artillery, but sometimes need an extra bang.

The Gas Pod is that literal extra bang. Upon the instance of its spawn, it's not that dangerous. In an open area, it's not that dangerous. The Pod will require finesse to use, as the Pod Field will draw fire from the foe. Still, when given a bit of view and the time that it takes an approaching army to reach your defenses, a pair or trio of Primogenitor pods can construct a disruptive defense that can break groups of enemies or shatter momentum, allowing Heretics units to use their speed to fill in the gap and rout the foe. Pods can also be interesting as traps, both for enemy monsters and an unlucky player, whom can be crippled by a chain reaction.

ZDWars Birthday Week: Doom Unit Reveal

2010-06-25T08:03:00.000-07:00

The Doom Faction will gain the Lost Soul

Cost: 3 Health: 70

Attack: Ranged Damage: Low Role: Brawler/Meatshield
Dumb. Tough. Flies. On fire. 'Nuff said.
Lost Souls are a cheap air unit which attacks by charging their foe. Useful for soaking up damage and pinning down enemy formations, Lost Souls have a relatively accurate charge when at medium ranges, but may miss from too far away. Lost Souls spawned by the player are tougher and larger than those spawned by a Pain Elemental, and lack their suppression and KaBoom vulnerabilities. Lost Souls are vulnerable to snipers.

Many folks saw this one from a mile off, both because it fit my criteria, and because it was clear in the picture. And there are some of those people who think that spawning Lost Souls would be lame, presumably based on the fact that it could be seen as redundant or unexciting.
However, you will note that when a Pain Elemental spawns the Souls, they are weaker, and you can't decide where they are spawned. Direct control over Lost Soul spawning also allows having Lost Souls without having a Pain Elemental, which still fits the Pain Elemental's role as a Support unit: It supports both your army, and your spawning efforts.
Lost Souls will be unlocked alongside imps, chaingunners, and pinky demons, giving Doom a varied second tier, as well as a cheap, albeit unconventional, air unit. Lost Souls can be used to unlock Cacodemons, just like imps can.

ZDWars Birthday Week

2010-06-24T09:09:00.000-07:00

On July 1st, ZDoom Wars will have been in development for exactly two years. So that sets the date for version 2.9 for July 1.

Naturally, I'd want to do something special for the Birthday wad, so today begins ZDWars Birthday Week!

Version 2.9 will contain the normal fixes, balance adjustments, and map maintenance, but there will also be a special add-on. It is my honor to announce to you:

I'm doing this Super Smash Brothers style. Each faction will be receiving a new unit, each of which is featured in the background of this image. Some are obvious by their shape, others can be determined by what has been asked for in the past, and others may be a complete surprise. Each day from here until the 30th, I'll be showing and introducing each new unit in the traditional faction order: Doom, Heretic, Hexen, Strife, Chex Quest, and finally, Virus.

None of these units are particularly elite, and most will be available midway (or earlier) in each tech tree. Each has an interesting behavior and use that will greatly expand each faction's gameplay, and fill in needed strategic weaknesses. Since they're new, don't expect them to come out of the gate well balanced, but do expect there to be a big shift in certain gameplay factors.

Sieges will be changed forever. Field battles and defense will be more devious than before. Some factions will gain special defensive units, others fresh attack units, and one faction even gets a new Support unit. Your old strategies may need adjustment or abandonment, as every single faction is getting a unit that has the potential to change how the game is played.

(Don't expect another monster add-on. Ever.)

Let the speculation begin!

All Server Owners...

2010-06-23T12:31:00.000-07:00

Ya'll should change the max connections from a single ip address (sv_maxconnectionsfromip ?) to 4, because I've been trying to LAN party at one of my brother's friend's house.

I mean, I'm just sayin'. Yeeeaaaah.

Optimization

2010-06-18T08:43:00.001-07:00

It's a well known fact that ZDoom Wars is ridiculous, by its very nature. So, I'd like to enlist some folks willing to comb through the code and/or propose methods by which ZDoom Wars can be made to run more efficiently.

Supergod quotes ZDWars as currently sucking up about 150 kb per second, per player. I mean, wow.

So, if you know, or are, someone adept at optimization, do tell. Supergod has stated that he personally has no issue with the bandwidth useage, but that, obviously, certain players do. At any rate, it couldn't hurt to make the whole darn thing work smoother.

Every morning at the mine...

2010-06-15T15:10:00.000-07:00

...you could see him arrive, he stood six foot six, and weighed two forty-five. Kinda broad at the shoulder an' narrow at the hip, everybody knew you didn't give no lip to Supergod.

There is now a Supergod ZDWars server. Make bets on how long until he flees in horror at the bandwidth consumption.

Anyway, it's called [FR] SuperGod's Server #27 > > Last Man Standing : ZDoom Wars v2.8 < <

Some info on 2.9

2010-06-10T20:17:00.000-07:00

There's a decent group of changes coming with 2.9, as well as a couple minor map fixes. Among these things:

-Blazing Colosseum scripts revised to eliminate the double deep and damaging ground bugs, by evilspacetomato.
-Cyberdemon price raised from 130/115 to 140/125.
-All Enchant-able Units are now immune to radius damage coming from other Enchanted units.
-Adjustments to make Crusaders worth your buck, and cost less.
-Stalker width reduced from 30 to 20.
-Some changes in Virus to make it a little more satisfying.

It seems that less changes are being made in more recent versions. Is this because the product is improving? Hopefully.

Damage talks about watching his own porn movie:

2010-06-08T19:30:00.000-07:00

<`Damage`> I saw myself getting hit by my own balls.

More with his interview with Barbara Walters tomorrow night on 20/20.

New Dedicated Server

2010-06-08T17:58:00.001-07:00

There is now a new ZDWars server, based in America: Demon RiderZ Server (wumbo) #27: -=ZDoom Wars =-

ZDoom Wiki page updated

2010-05-31T12:43:00.001-07:00

Not that it particularly matters, but I finally got around to updating the ZDWars page in the ZDoom Wiki.

Also, have a nice Memorial Day.

Public Beta 2.8 OUT!

2010-05-29T19:52:00.000-07:00

Alrighty, this is a good one. :D

Changelog:

Overall:

New Additions:
-Grimwald now has a new music track. Music Pack updated.
-Dead Haze now has a new music track. Music Pack updated.
-Despair Canyon now has a new music track. Music Pack updated.

-The Heretic Teleport fog is now used instead of the Strife Teleport fog.

-There is now an image to display your progress in unlocking units. This is toggled using the Strife Objectives key, so bind that to turn it on or off if need be. It appears in the right, upper corner of the screen.

-The HUD will now always be in the lower right corner, no matter the resolution, and will still be visible with the automap open. In addition, the mana and hero mana bars are now labeled.

Bug Fixes:
-Manuals updated and corrected in a couple instances.

-Health will now work properly in the event of a telefrag.

Map Pack:
-Sauerkraut has decorated and expanded Grimwald, providing operable gates and enhanced fortifications.

-The Crucible maps have been upgraded.

-The randomly scrolling floor in Valley has been fixed.
-The step that prevented the land bridge from being useful has been fixed.

-Raised the roof of the elevator and surrounding area in Tech Monolith.

-Changed the script numbers in Blazing Colosseum to prevent script conflicts with the Hero notifications.

-The walls of the chip on System Reboot are now 96 units wide.

-Adjusted all three bases in Despair Canyon, weakening the Hell Base and making the Gate Base less defensible, and making the Trench Base have some better firing arcs and making the battlements more useable.

-The timing was a little off on Lord Malvadious' spawn time.
-The Malvadious actor was moved so it will roam about before being released more reliably.
-There is now a dividing wall in the cage in the south end of city of Chaos.
-Lord Malvadious is now more persistent.
-One of Lord Malvadious' attacks was buffed.
-Lord Malvadious' stepping sounds are now better in sync.
-Lord Malvadious now has an incredibly destructive and dangerous death sequence.

Doom:

Balance Changes:
-The Spider Mastermind now spawns bullets from 8 units higher.
-The Spider Mastermind has been reduced in size from .85 it's original size, to .75.

-Imp health increased from 90 to 100.
-Imp speed increased from 8 to 9.

-Shotgunguy accuracy increased from a 13 degree variance to a 12 degree variance.

-Zombieman attack wind-up reduced by 1 tic.

Bug Fixes:
-Spectre Gibs are now transparent.

Heretic:

Balance Changes:
-The Iron Lich's Whirlwind no longer forces radius damage, so it can't hurt itself. This makes the attack ineffective against heroes, but it was primarly anti-infantry to begin with.

Bug Fixes:
-Normal mummies couldn't be used to unlock Clinks and Disciples.

Hexen:

Balance Changes:
-Afrit health buffed from 50 to 60.
-Afrit attack sped up by 3 tics.
-Afrit Enchanted Death shot speed increased from 20 to 30.
-Afrit Enchanted Death shot now homes in.
-Afrit fireball speed increased from 16 to 22.

-Wraith melee and ranged attacks sped up by 3 tics.
-Wraith health increased from 300 to 320.

-Menelkir minmissile chance raised from 85 to 100 (He'll shoot less).

-All Enchantment effects will not longer reflect.

-Enchanted Serpent projectiles now pierce invulnerability.

-Slightly increased the range of the Enchanted Centaur projectiles.

-Only the first two projectiles in Traductus' attack will now hit ghosts.

-Bishops are now immune to non-forced radius damage.
-Bishops can now be enchanted. Details in the manual.

Bug Fixes:
-Korax's summonball was, get this, twice as wide as it was supposed to be.

-Did a code rewrite to prevent Homing Serpents from appearing green. We'll see if it worked.

-The Bishop now has a short animation in which he closes the magic portal in front of him before going back to his See state.

-Menelkir's walking animation has been slowed down.

-The slaughtaur's unlock message was misspelled.

Strife:

Balance Changes:
-Reaver melee max damage reduced by 1, and melee attack speed slowed by 1 tic.
-Reaver health reduced from 300 to 280.
-Reaver melee range reduced from 72 to 68.
-Reaver speed reduced from 12 to 11.

-The Programmer's lightning bolt damage has been reduced from 13 to 11.
-the Programmer's lightning now deals Ridiculous damage.

Bug Fixes:
-Fixed a graphical bug with the Spectre A spawner.

-The Repair drone no longer drops mana.

-The Programmer's attack frames had some translucency issues.

CQ:

Bug Fixes:
-The Cyclops flemoid sprites are now aligned to more accurately represent their position.

Virus:

Balance Changes:
-Felix health increased from 4000 to 4500.
-Felix minmissilechance reduced from 100 to 50 (He should shoot more often).
-All of the Felix's attacks were majorly buffed.

Bug Fixes:
-The Mill's laser pierced invulnerability.

o u know

2010-05-27T19:05:00.000-07:00

That, in the upper-right corner of your screen, and with working progress bars and pretty pictures of locks for monsters you haven't got yet.

2.8 is due soon!

2010-05-27T09:13:00.000-07:00

How soon isn't really clear - there's still a little work to be done. Anyway, the Crucible maps are getting another upgrade, so the current Greater Crucible will become Lesser, and a much expanded and improved map will fill in the spot left vacant.

Bishops will be able to be enchanted in 2.8, as well. When enchanted, they will gain a slow, homing projectile attack which can stunlock lesser units in a radius around the impact, as well as dealing sufficient damage to them.

Evil Space Tomato has magically whipped up a Tech Tree Progress display for all classes, which shows your progress towards unlocking units in the upper right corner of the screen. It is currently triggered by the Strife Objectives key bind.
He has also improved the HUD so that it always displays in the bottom right corner of the screen, and works at low resolutions. Each mana bar is also labeled. So, many thanks to him for these fantastic additions!

That brings this a little closer to tournament-shape. I still need some sprites, though! D:

New Dedicated Server

2010-05-25T08:49:00.001-07:00

I'm a bit late here, but there's new ZDWars server called [-==Destiny Server==-] #05 ZDoom Wars. It's in Hungary, and has 4 player slots. It's pretty good, so get in there!

2.8 Report

2010-05-22T11:45:00.000-07:00

Just now, Neuralstunner, MisterCat, and Kate helped me make Health work correctly in the event of a telefrag, so they honestly, really won't be an issue in 2.8.

The music pack will be updated in 2.8, though right now only the track for Grimwald is set to change. Others may follow suit.

The wad is going to use the Heretic Telefog instead of the Strife Telefog, since it looked odd with D'Sparil's Disciples.

There are also a few cosmetic fixes besides that, mostly to fix bugs. For example, the Cyclops flemoid's sprites are going to be better aligned to represent its actual position.

Grimwald is also recieving an update which increases its size a bit, and buffs up the forts, with a couple gates added in, and the water treatment plant thing getting a rehaul.

CQ Monster Pack updated

2010-05-21T19:03:00.001-07:00

I fixed some bugs with the CQ monster pack, for use in coop, sp, survival, etc.

-Players were not given the mini zorcher correctly.
-Maximus was too wide for his niche in E3m5, and the Flembrane was also reduced in size for a similar reason.

So yeah, go download that and play with it sometime! One day I might even muster the energy to make the monster packs for the other games. :P

So, no Chromium or Obsidian server...

2010-05-21T13:04:00.000-07:00

The folks who run the Chromium and Obsidian servers have judged ZDWars to be too much of a drain on resources. UNLESS I could implement a pop cap CVAR or something, which I have no idea how to do. So, yeah, join the forum and discuss that one.

Map Submissions

2010-05-18T09:19:00.000-07:00

I've been getting a couple map submissions recently, and it's brought to my attention that a couple earlier submitted maps need some love. So, if you've sent in a map, and I requested that you work on it some, remember to do that!

A bit of server news...

2010-05-16T18:52:00.000-07:00

Eruanna informs me that, since ZDWars eats Bandwidth like a skinny Japanese woman at a hotdog eating contest, it'll only be up towards the end of this month, but that's something.

In other news, remember we have a forum, so sign up for it and start posting. There's already some regular activity, and a screenshot thread where you can show old scars and brag. The link is up top, near the download link.

Oblacek server updated!

2010-05-15T08:01:00.000-07:00

It's now on 2.7, so play it to death. Still no news on NODE-3 or Obsidian.

Public Beta 2.7 released!

2010-05-13T14:12:00.000-07:00

Changelog:

Overall:
New Additions:
-Updated and corrected the Hexen, Strife, and Virus Manuals.

Bug Fixes:
-Player footstep sounds should no longer occur while in the air, or swimming.

-A couple sprites were accidentally removed as part of the 2.6 clean-up.

-There are no longer traces of red in the green blood.

-Got rid of a couple harmless but annoying console messages.

Map Pack:
-Monsters will now die if they fall off the level in Something Epic. The pits are no longer hidden deepwater sectors, so lingering debris won't slow down the game as a fight goes on.

-Fixed some visual issues in several maps.

-There was a lamp on one of the elevators in Doom City Outskirts.

-Fixed an exploit in Battlefield 1994.

-There was no south spawn point in Wierd Bases.

-Added sound-blocking lines to Grimwald.

-Made some anti-camping adjustments to Despair Canyon. The Gate switch is easier to get to, the trench base is more open, and the Hell base now has a ground entrance.

Doom:
Balance Changes:
-The Vile Pulse is now on key 7, so that it is separated from the units, like the other factions.

Heretic:
Balance Changes:
-Undead Knights' red axes now only drip half as much blood, to reduce lag.

Bug Fixes:
-The Barrage Weredragon's fireball wasn't animating.

-"Maulotaur" was misspelled in the unlock message.

-The Iron Lich's whirlwind was not animating correctly.

Hexen:
Balance Changes:
-Menelkir's shot damage has been raised from 6 to 10.
-Menelkir's minmissilechance has been reduced from 90 to 85. (He will shoot more)

-Chaos Serpents can now be Enchanted if they are retrofitted, and can then be re-retrofitted or re-enchanted at any later time.
-Same for preupgraded Serpents.
-Chaos Serpents are no longer immune to radius damage, but enchanted serpents will no longer be able to harm other Chaos Serpents at range.

Bug Fixes:
-The radius of Enchant will now effect Chaos Serpents.

-The Death Wyvern's tooltip did not specify its cooldown time.

Strife:
Balance Changes:
-The Inquisitor's grenade attack has been sped up by 4 tics.
-The Inquisitor's Rifle attack has been sped up by 2 tics.

-Spectre A now has 3500 health, up from 3000.

-Spectre B now has 4000 health, up from 3000.

-Both types of Spectre will now try to back away from opponents when within 2000 units.

Bug Fixes:
-The invisible Rez actor employed by robots effected by the Repair Drone did not disappear as they were supposed to. They now only exist for two minutes, and have 200 health. This should solve the issue with monsters striking at invisible targets.

CQ:
Balance Changes:
-Reduced Snotfolus' main slimeball damage from 24 to 22.

Virus:
Balance Changes:
-Many of the Virus units have been shifted forward in key selection, due to a bug with selecting the turrets with your number keys. The selection for Virus units now spans 6 keys.

-Upgraded Spores now take no extra damage from Snipers.
-Upgraded Spores now have 50% resistance to KaBoom damage, changed from a 30% resistance.
-Upgraded Spores now have 20% resistance to Suppression Damage
-Upgraded Spores now have 20% resistance to Ridiculous Damage.

-A Prism's first shot in its firing state now has a 4 degree variance, up from 3. The second shot still has only a 3 degree variance.

-Virus speed reduced from 16 to 15.
-Virus will not only begin to back up when within 800 units, down from 1000 units.
-Virus fire rate has been slowed by 4 tics.

-Virus unit death explosions now deal KaBoom damage.

Bug Fixes:
-Fixed a selection bug with the Turret.

Sooooo...

2010-05-11T14:30:00.000-07:00

The votes for the forum came in pretty quickly, and the 2 negative votes may have been chosen simply on the basis that the 4th answer was an Exorcist reference. Anyway, I've now thrown together a goofy little free forum with some tacky Faction-related themes, so get posting! There's a link to it just above the ZDWars download link at the top of the blog page. This blog will continue to operate in much the same manner it already is.

So with that, I've put the forum poll out of the way again.

I am an adventurous man

2010-05-10T20:06:00.000-07:00

I'm now running 2 polls at once, at the risk of the previous poll being missed. Anyway, the new poll. Vote on it, but don't forget to scroll down if you haven't voted on Despair Canyon's future yet.

Oblacek - now running 98c Betas

2010-05-10T13:00:00.001-07:00

As the title says. Suck it up and install the 98c beta, using your server browser's ability to identify a testing version folder (at least with Doomseeker), and see if it's more stable than before.

Waaaaait...

2010-05-10T07:27:00.000-07:00

So, it seems that the winning poll option is going to be putting in both versions of Despair Canyon, but there's a problem with that...

...How am I exactly supposed to do that? I mean, having one take up a slot on the next map pack would be a total rip off for the mappers, and take away a map that many enjoy for months, but I would also dislike having to name it ZDWars2v2 or something dumb, and set a precedent for keeping older versions of the map, which is counter-productive.

...What if the new version was just made significantly less campy? Is that objectionable? Just... balance it out between the two versions? Therefore, it would cater to both the berzerker types as well as the tacticians, as the fortifications would be minimized?

NEW POLL

P.S. Yes, I'm a fan of early voting. There's no reason to delay clicking the check box, it's the internet.

New Server

2010-05-07T16:46:00.000-07:00

There is now a SKILL ZDWars server. The Hosting for ZDoom Wars page has been updated to list it. Mobius is the admin.

Also, NODE-3 is apparently down for the time being. :(

The Node-3 Server

2010-05-07T14:19:00.001-07:00

Play on it. That is all.

The first news on 2.7

2010-05-03T21:36:00.000-07:00

Haven't seen many players lately. Any particular reason you know of? Then again, I've been playing AvP 3 a LOT for the last few days. Like...a LOT.

Anyway, Mik57 is moving, and Damage has finals, so this week will be rather quiet in the mapping department. But I don't exactly have a time table, so I'll be willing to wait on them. At any rate, expect some more detailing work, and if there are gameplay changes you wish made to the maps, throw in your two cents in the comments, the threads, or on IRC, where it can be discussed live.

In the mean time, I've been cracking down on bugs, many of which have been reported by Avernus in the IRC channel THAT I DON'T SEE TOO MANY PEOPLE IN :'(

In case you didn't know about it, there is a ZDoom Wars IRC Channel on irc.skulltag.com, #ZDoomWars.

Anyway, fixes include something that should solve the problem with monsters attacking the ground, and a couple projectiles rendered invisible by mistakes made during the minor wad clean up in 2.6. There are a couple other minor things to be fixed in a couple maps, and then one vexing bug:

If you retrofit a Weredragon, and then use Ghost Wave on it... it doesn't work. At all. And I cannot for the life of me find out why. So if someone wants to poke around in the code and try and figure it out, please do!

As far as current balance changes, expect some improvements to Strife's Spectres and Menelkir, as well as the Inquisitor's attacks being sped up.

As far as balance, the Strife Heroes remain my primary focus, at least for the current versions. Any other outstanding balance issues you've encountered? As is, I think it's getting pretty close to balanced, but I want to make sure that people are actually using the Faction's special abilities. I know Ghost Wave gets used, but try out Enchant. Rough estimates say that it makes Ettins 50% more effective in melee, and the radius blast serpents can wreak total havoc.

Anyway, to recap my questions:
-Any map bugs you've encountered?
-Any map gameplay problems you've seen?
-Any general bugs you've seen?
-Can you figure out the Weredragon issue in Bold up above?
-Are there any balance issues you've noticed in 2.6?
-Are people really using the Special Abilities?

Slyfox's ZDWars 2.6 preview

2010-04-30T14:21:00.000-07:00

As he did with 2.5, Slyfox has put out a video highlighting some of the changes made in 2.6, presumably to both exercise his video mojo, and to satisfy people too lazy to read the changelog by giving the high-points. There is also odd music. Strangely bubbly. It makes me want to go on a killing spree. Anyway, enjoy.

Things that (ideally) must happen before a Tournament is held

2010-04-29T14:50:00.000-07:00

I have mentioned on many occasions that I'd like to run a ZDoom Wars tournament at some point. I have not before provided an actual time frame, as there are certain things I'd like to have done first.

-Each Retrofitted unit needs its own sprite set.

-I must feel that each faction is balanced enough to be fair in a competitive environment, and that each unit pulls its weight and is used by players. The same goes for the Special abilities.

-I want to have the older maps visually rehauled.

-I want all the maps to have up-to-date gameplay and a similar fun factor, with all known bugs fixed.

So, basically, once these things are well and truly done, I'll be willing to have a tournament. And really, the last two are up to Mik57 and Damage, while the second is up to me. None of us are particularly capable or willing to do the first.

Version 2.6 is now available!

2010-04-27T20:03:00.000-07:00

Get it from the download link at the top of the page, as usual.

Changelog:

Overall:

Balance Changes:
-non-flying heroes can now never fall off of ledges, or be forced off of them, even by loremasters.

New Additions:
-Updated the manuals and readme.
-Revised the map description section of the Main Manual.

-Updated the Quick reference sheet's map list, which I had failed to do before.
-Revised the Tech Tree portion of the Quick reference sheet to instead talk about what thin and offset lines mean on the tech trees.

Bug Fixes:
-Removed a bunch of unused resources to reduce file size.

Map Pack:
- Organized map pack wad, maps are in order and other resources are cleaned up.

-All maps now have Air Control, as they should.

-Changed some script numbers on Blazing Colosseum to prevent conflicts.

-Buffed Lord Maldovious quite a bit.

-There are now 4 symmetrical bases with Center Bridge Control in Caverns. It now supports 4 players, in other words.

-Majorly upgraded Throughfare Castle in Valley. Re-textured the rock walls in the map. Ice FOrtress now has some more ledges to put monsters on.

-Detailed Despair Canyon (e.g. separated hex tiles, added borders, replaced multiple textures, added grey ashwalls, aligned textures)
-Made the 3rd ridge in Despair Canyon accessible to every class. (Was useless before)
-Added on to each base, and added spawns to Despair Canyon.

-Added two small towers to the center of Wierd Bases.
-Fixed misaligned window textures in Wierd Bases.
-Fixed a bug that prevented access to the spawn points in a couple places.

-Added 2 small rock islands on opposite sides of Pacific Battle.

-The statues in Flame Temple will now be uniformly grey.
-The elevators in the Inquisitor area of Flame Temple now work.
-The Inquisitor's cage didn't have an inside before.
-The Inquisitor base is smaller and more accessible now, so should be less prone to being spammed with shooting units.

Doom:

Balance Changes:
-6 Hellknights are required to unlock Barons, up from 5.

-Barons of Hell no longer simultaneously unlock Cyberdemons. It now takes 3 Barons to do so.

-The Doom Tech Tree image has been updated to reflect these changes.

Bug Fixes:
-There was a bug that required only 3 Hellknights to unlock Barons and Cyberdemons.

Heretic:

Balance Changes:
-Raised D'Sparil's Disciple-summoning projectile spawn height from 35 to 50. This may improve the chances of the projectile succeeding in spawning a Disciple.

-Undead Ghost Knight price raised from 10/4 to 10/5 due to their recent improvements.

-Barrage Weredragon's secondary projectile can no longer hit Ghosts.

Bug Fixes:
-The Iron Lich's Iceball can now hit Ghosts.

Hexen:

Balance Changes:
-Zedek shot radius explosion reduced from 84 to 72.
-Zedek health reduced from 1200 to 1000. His health was so high because he was injuring himself before. Now it's just silly.

-When the Heresiarch summons Bishops, they will no longer play their rising animation if they fail to spawn.

Bug Fixes:
-Enchant sparkles will no longer splash in water.

Strife:

Balance Changes:
-Inquisitor rifle shot inaccuracy reduced from 10 degrees to 9 degrees variance.
-Inquisitor grenade explosion radius increased from 192 to 210.
-Inquisitor grenade direct damage reduced from 18 to 12.
-Inquisitor grenade explosion damage is now forced, and deals the KaBoom damage type.

-Sped up a couple of the Entity's attacks, and made a couple others fire multiple projectiles.
-The Entity and Sub Entities no longer have the +SHADOW flag.
-Made the Sub Entity fire two projectiles in its attack state, instead of just one.

-The Programmer's missile state is now several times longer, so he'll be vulnerable while conjuring a lightning storm.
-The Programmer's minmissilechance was raised from 180 to 200 (less shooting).
-The Programmer's health has been raised from 2400 to 2600.

Bug Fixes:
-There was an incorrect jump that caused the Inquisitor to always use his close-range grenade attack when close enough. Now he will also use his rifle.
-Got rid of some unused code in the Inquisitor.

CQ:

Bug Fixes:
-Common Flemoids still dropped mana.

Virus:

Balance Changes:
-Unupgraded turrets can hit ghosts once again, but spreadshot turrets still can't.
-Spreadshot turret attack sped up by 2 tics.

-Prism attack state sped up by 2 tics.

-Greater Prism direct attack state sped up by 2 tics.

-The Virus will now attempt to move away from an enemy if it is within 1000 units after each shot it takes.

Bug Fixes:
-A once-upgraded Land Carrier cost too much mana.

-The Ground Unit Upgrade was working sort of in reverse. Upgrading once gave level three units, but upgrading twice gave level two units.

And there you have it. Now go get on the Oblacek and NODE-3 servers and test drive the new stuff!

Also, there has already been some useful discussion no the IRC channel. Really dudes, even if you don't use IRC start! :P

EDIT: NODE-3 and Oblacek are both updated.

FNF#7

2010-04-27T17:11:00.001-07:00

I seem to be posting FNF earlier and earlier since I am usually nowhere to be found later in the week. This week will feature 1-flag CTF from the awesome wad that is legendary. Silvertear has worked hard on this and has provided 15 excellent maps to choose from and even provided an update for us this week!

Also yes, with much pestering about a European FNF as well, I will try to get a European based server to host it.

Game Mode: 1-Flag CTF
Wad: legendary-37p

Maplist: MAP01-15
Time limit: 15 minutes
Flag limit: 5 Flags
Player/Client limit: 16/20
DMFlags: 799822852
DMFlags2: 1024
Compatflags: 5898304

sv_maxteams 2
sv_suddendeath true

Date and Time:
North American FNF - April 30, 2010, 7:00 PM CST, 8:00 PM EST
European FNF - April 30, 2010, 3:00 CST, 21:00 GMT

Servers:
North America: NODE-3, Red Nexus
Europe: TBA

Official Thread

Software vs OGL poll, and an IRC Channel!

2010-04-27T14:45:00.000-07:00

At the time of this posting, there is still nearly a day left in the vote, but things haven't budged for a couple days. So, safe to say that a scant 20% of ZDWars players use Software to play it. I'm honestly surprised.

For those who use Software, you might consider living in fear. At this point, there'd be no reason to use 3D floors, even if they were implemented in Competitive modes. But in the future, it COULD be a possiblity. :P

In other news, Mik57 is playing around with the map pack in preparation for my final look-through. The map changes are gonna' be pretty sweet. Remember that there is now a NODE-3 server, so get playin'!

Also, on irc.skulltag.com, there is now a #ZDoomWars, so jump in there and talk about ZDWars, give feedback, share strategies, etc. I may even divulge some info about development that's not even seen here. ;)

SPRITING HELP WANTED

2010-04-25T12:42:00.000-07:00

Unique sprites are needed for the Sniper Templar. Below are the details for the job. Anyone willing to try it out can work on a frame or two and give me a preview.

Goal: Create a sprite-set edit of the Templar in which the Templar's gun is modified to look more like it's a sniping weapon of some sort. Nothing huge, just a elongated or more powerful looking weapon of some manner. Make it enough to be noticed, at least.

Requirements:
-The sprites must, of course, be of decent quality.

-The sprites must remain in Strife's native palette. The easiest way to do this is to extract the png graphics from ZDoom Wars itself, and work in a non-paletted editor of some sort. At any rate, DON'T SCREW UP THE COLORS. If you're a software user, open up the wad and gaze upon the beauty you are missing in-game.

-Please do not perform any color-changes to the sprites outside of the gun (and make any gun color changes fit the color theme of the rest of the sprite). So don't think you're witty and change the color of the visor or something.

-Do not change the color of the gun's muzzle flash, since the bulletpuff is the same sprite as the normal templar's shot, except bigger. It would be pointless to change the muzzle flash color, in other words.

-Optionally: Put the sprites in wad form, rename them, and align them if you love me.

You compensation will be... your name on the last page of the Main Manual. And an e-fist-bump.

ZDWars NODE-3 Server now up!

2010-04-24T10:29:00.000-07:00

There is now a Node-3 server for ZDWars. Server info is going up on the Hosting for ZDoom Wars page. The server is located in Dallas, Texas.

EDIT: The server had the difficulty level set to Nightmare. This is now fixed.

FNF #6

2010-04-21T14:46:00.001-07:00

Game Mode: Team Deathmatch
Wad: UDMX

Maplist: MAP01, 04, ,06-14, 16-20, 22, 23, 25-30, 32
Time limit: 10 minutes
Point limit: 50 Frags
Player/Client limit: 20/24
DMFlags: TBA
DMFlags2: TBA
Compatflags: TBA

sv_maxteams 2
sv_suddendeath true

Date and Time:
North American FNF - April 16, 2010, 7:00 PM CST, 8:00 PM EST

Servers: NODE-3, Red Nexus?, The Best Ever?

Official Thread

New banner Background, and some previews of 2.6

2010-04-21T07:41:00.000-07:00

Just for teh lulz.

Now I've already brought up the Despair Canyon and Caverns rehaul, and the beginnings of the map pack 1 and 2 visual updates, so now some about the gameplay. 2.6 will resolve some bugs, as usual, and refine some of the nice changes made in 2.5, as well as solving a couple minor gameplay nitpicks that will work to make the wad play just a little smoother overall. For example:

-non-flying heroes can now never fall off of ledges, or be forced off of them, even by Loremasters.
      Yup, no more frustration with your hero ending up where they aren't supposed to be. Heroes are too epic to get pushed around like that! Note that they can still be pushed about by gunfire, and yanked by Loremasters, they just won't fall off cliffs.

-Undead Ghost Knight price raised from 10/4 to 10/5 due to their recent improvements.

     Well, with the improvements to the Undead Ghost Knight (increased melee range, health, etc.) in order to make there be a defineable difference between the two types of Knight, the standard Undead Knight was seriously obsolete. So now the Undead Ghost Knight will be two Hero Mana more in cost, which can stack up. So the more stingy types might actually opt to use standard Undead Knights (with Ghost Wave, if necessary).

-Barrage Weredragon's secondary projectile can no longer hit Ghosts.
     Barrage Weredragons are great. Spectacular, in fact. A battery of them could be nigh impregnable. So now, though they will retain their standard effectiveness, and still be able to effect ghosts more than normal Weredragons, Ghost units will at least be more resistant to their attacks so that Barrage Weredragons have a definable weakness of some sort.

-Zedek nerf.
     Seriously, he has 1200 health. Why, you ask? Because it was the longest time before I realized he was hurting himself, and kept trying to make him useful by buffing his health. Now, that's being turned down a notch, and the radius of his explosive attack is less significant, so he might actually be able to be overwhelmed.

-Inquisitor is more awesome across the board.
     More accurate rifle, bigger grenade explosion with forced, KaBoom type damage, actually using his rifle when up close. He'll be pretty sweet, though the direct damage of the grenades is reduced to compensate for the forced explosion damage.

-Programmer balanced further.
     He's cheap, let's face it. Now he'll take longer to conjure a lightning storm, and will shoot a little less. Still, his health has been bumped up to 2600, so his greater vulnerability and lessened omnipotence won't make him suck.

-Buffed Entity.
     He'll attack faster, and shoot multiple projectiles for some attacks (which, by the way, Spectre A and B already do, to a lesser degree).

-Normal turrets will be able to hit ghosts again.
     The recent Ghost revision made Virus lulz against Ghosts, and turrets nearly useless in some instances. So, in 2.6, a Virus player will want to not only use turrets, but mix in the two types: the choice between hitting Ghosts, or oodles of firepower? The Spreadshot turret's attack speed is also increased, so expect massive resistance when facing them.

And that's just some of the big stuff I have lined up. There are other, more minor changes, and quite a few bug fixes. The maps are undergoing some more work, as mentioned before, with a couple bug fixes and minor issues solved (Yes, Lord Maldovious will be really powerful).

Fun fact: Valley is getting a bit of a renovation. Yup. The old staple map is getting some fresh air.

Anyway, I, for one, am excited to see the result of Mik and Damage's first joint venture, because believe it or not, I don't get to see the maps other than an occasional screenshot until the pack is all done. :P

ZDWars Settings Poll

2010-04-20T12:47:00.001-07:00

There's a new poll up, about what settings you use for your renderer when playing ZDWars.

Oblacek server settings update inbound

2010-04-19T11:36:00.000-07:00

If the settings aren't already changed, the settings for the Oblacek server should conform to the guidelines on the Hosting a ZDoom Wars Server page as of their next restart. It's always good to have a responsive host, and doubly good to know that people really pay attention to this blog. :P

Hosting for ZDoom Wars page updated

2010-04-18T14:55:00.000-07:00

There is now a section on the active dedicated servers, which currently has only one entry - the Oblacek server. The location and settings of the server are listed.

ooookay

2010-04-17T15:32:00.000-07:00

So, bit of a server issue right now. Obsidian ran over their Bandwidth for this month, CLUB is changing hands and might suck when it's back (there might be server cuts), so all you guys are left with is Oblacek for the time being.

In short, bug Jenova to put up the Best Ever servers. :P

Also, if any of you know who runs the Oblacek server, tell him it's fine to let the Spectators chat with the players. D:

EDIT: Also, there is a new page about hosting ZDWars servers, that can be accessed via the side bar.

Today is Damage's birthday...

2010-04-17T14:04:00.000-07:00

BUT SCREW HIM HE DIDN'T WISH ME A HAPPY BIRTHDAY

NO ONE GIVE HIM YOUR BEST BIRTHDAY WISHES

I HOPE YOU HAVE A REALLY CRUDDY BIRTHDAY

THE KIND OF BIRTHDAY THAT SHOWS UP ON "WHY AM I STILL ALIVE?"

Mapping for ZDoom Wars Page Edited

2010-04-16T15:23:00.000-07:00

I've added some details to the Mapping for ZDoom Wars Page on the side bar to include some organizational things I may do, including moving your map to another pack for variation, or if you already have one map in the pack. Of course, to bump a second map by an author would rely on the quality of what I would replace it with.

I am asked for some sex counseling on IRC

2010-04-15T17:34:00.000-07:00

"I know he lets off smoke after he shoots, but if he isn't shot back by something, he just stands in one spot jerking until something hits him..." ~ Damage

Okay, so it was a bug report about the Felix, but close enough.

FNF #5, April 16

2010-04-14T11:52:00.000-07:00

Well finally I have time to write this on my iPod after finishing 3 papers earlier. This week will provide a new gamemode that Badlag and Aerial based it off n00b deathball from zdaemon. Essentially this is 1-flag CTF but with a chance of multiple scoring areas. There should be some familiar maps in this 15 map setlist. Since it's only Tuesday, I expect much hype after announcing this week so early!

Game Mode: Teamplay
Wad: the deathball one

Maplist: MAP01-15
Time limit: 10 minutes
Point limit: 5 scored
Player/Client limit: 12/16
DMFlags: TBA
DMFlags2: TBA
Compatflags: TBA
sv_maxteams 2
sv_overtime true
sv_maxplayersperteam 6 (if this even exists)
sv_randommaplist true (someone tell me if this is right)

Date and Time:
North American FNF - April 16, 2010, 7:00 PM CST, 8:00 PM EST

Servers: NODE-3, Red Nexus?, Canadian Bacon?, The Best Ever?

Official Thread

oman

2010-04-13T05:30:00.000-07:00

I don't believe I've actually mentioned this, but Damage is officially a mapper for ZDoom Wars, and is working in Concert with Mik57 on the map pack.

As is, Mik57 first makes gameplay changes, and then sends the pack to Damage, who will be doing detail work. At this point, the map pack is in Damage's hands, so 2.6 shouldn't be too far off, and as mentioned before, will pack some tasy map changes as well as balancing and some bug fixes.

I've been at a gaming convention here in San Antonio called Chimaeracon this past weekend, thus the inactivity on ZDWars servers. Now that I'm again able to work on this in my freetime, I may toss out the Heretic monster pack or something.

Anyway, I received yet another Map Pack 4 submission this weekend, but there are still open slots, and there can always be another pack! Just don't count on seeing your map in action within the next... the next, uh... long time span. The good news is that I'm feeling more and more confident about the wad's balance, and there are a couple other handy developments at hand as far as the map pack and such that can help set the stage for the long-promised tournament at some future date. :D

FNF #4, April 9

2010-04-08T16:39:00.000-07:00

Game Mode: Deathmatch
WADs: gw2.wad

Maplist: MAP01-MAP36
Timelimit: 6 minutes
Fraglimit: 30 frags
Player/Connection Limit: 12/14
DMFlags: 2380932
DMFlags2: 1600
Compatflags: 655456

Date & Time: April 9th, 2010 @ 8:00 PM EST
Servers: Red Nexus + Node3??

Official thread

I WOULD JUST LIKE YOU TO KNOW

2010-04-06T05:48:00.000-07:00

THAT THE 4TH WAS MY BIRTHDAY AND I GOT A TOTAL OF ONE HAPPY BIRTHDAY, FROM SIGGI.

MIK AND DAMAGE YOU GUYS SUCK YOU'RE FIRED WAIT I TAKE THAT BACK NUUUUU

Seriously though, in 2.6 there will be some nice changes. It won't be out for a time, but will include some further balance adjustments as things get closer to satisfactory, as well as some refinements to map pack 3, and the beginning of refurbishing the old maps to bring them up to par. In time, expect the first two map packs to look a lot more attractive then they currently do (except battlefield 94', maybe. 'cause it's themed and such).

ZDWars version 2.5V2, post ridiculous version, now out!

2010-04-04T10:57:00.000-07:00

Some good changes here. Really stabilizes the new stuff, and even gives a shot in the arm to some of the Map Pack 3 Maps.

Full changelog:

Bug Fixes:
-Got rid of the A_Queuecorpse commands, which were apparently useless anyway.

Map Pack:
-An Updated version of Flame Temple has been swapped in. The map can now theoretically support 4 players, and has another statue - of an Inquisitor.

-An Updated version of Red Canyon has been swapped in. The bases look much nicer, and there is a large new area with an additional fortress and new base connections.

-The doors in Command and Conquer are now Repeatable Lines, so they can be opened and closed as you please.

-Updated the author's name in Despair Canyon.

-There is an updated version of City of Chaos, with new rooms and awesomeness.
-Updated the author's name in The City of Chaos and Turmoil.

Doom:

Balance Changes:
-Chaingunner health increased from 180 to 220.

Heretic:

Balance Changes:
-Ghost Undead Knight health increased from 330 to 380.
-Ghost Undead Knight melee range increased from 72 to 84.

-Mounted D'Sparil now has the MISSILEMORE flag.
-Dismounted D'Sparil now has the MISSILEEVENMORE flag.
-Mounted D'Sparil minmissilechance decreased from 110 to 100 (an increase in fire rate).

-Barrage Weredragon projectile's radius damage removed. Direct damage increased from 6 to 7.
-Yeah, I had no recollection of making them do radius damage. Anyway, Barrage Weredragons should no longer do radius damage, and therefore not hurt themselves.

Bug Fixes:
-Disciples will no longer ghost on and off during their attack state, since it interfered with the Ghost Wave ability.

Hexen:

Balance Changes:
-Afrit Enchanted Death projectile damage raised from 7 to 9.

-Zedek and Traductus will now strafe less.

Bug Fixes:
-Chaos Serpent Enchantment was broken.
-Homing Chaos Serpent fireballs didn't use all the appropriate frames.

Strife:

Balance Changes:
-Increased the Programmer's minmissilechance from 115 to 180. (less shooting)
-Decreased the Programmer's speed from 24 to 22.

-Spectre A will now fire two projectiles per attack, instead of one.

-Rebel speed boosted from 8 to 9.

Bug Fixes:
-Adjusted some flags with the Programmer.

-Spectres no longer have the +SHADOW flag.

CQ:

New Additions:
-Added in obituaries from CQ3.

Virus:

Balance Changes:
-The Felix has been given a minmissilechance of 100. (more shooting)

Bug Fixes:
-The Upgraded Spore projectile inherited from the wrong actor.

Friday Night Fragfest #3

2010-04-02T08:32:00.000-07:00

Tonight, there is to be another long round of savage gibbing and plasmaballs!

Full info from the official thread:

Game Mode: Instagib
WADs: sbbtmrtr.wad

Maplist: SMDM01-04, SMDM06-07, SMDM11-15, SMDM25, SMDM27, SMDM30, SMDM35, SMDM37-38, SMDM40
Timelimit: 5 minutes
Fraglimit: 30 frags
Player/Connection Limit: 16/20
DMFlags: 2121347
DMFlags2: 1024
Compatflags: 524352

Date & Time: April 2nd, 2010 @ 8:00 PM EST / 7:00 PM GMT
Servers: Red Nexus

If you're worried about the player limit, don't be. I'm gonna put up a sister server to FNF #1 on RN, so hopefully anyone who wants to play gets in one of the 32 total player slots! Does not seem like an official Euro host will happen due to exceptionally poor turnouts in FNFs previous (Thanks Euranna for more detail on that). One is welcome to throw up a server over there if there's interest, though!

ZDWars 2.5 Trailer

2010-04-01T17:15:00.000-07:00

Slyfox has taken the liberty of putting together a little guide to the new stuff in ZDWars. Enjoy.
View it here

ZDoom Wars 2.5 and Map Pack 3 Released!

2010-03-31T21:21:00.000-07:00

At long last, Version 2.5 of ZDoom Wars, along with Map Pack 3, has been released. Click the download link at the top of the blog page and retrieve all the files!

The complete changelog:

Overall:

Balance Changes:
-Units that cost only 2 mana no longer drop anything upon death.

-Ghost Units are overall more useful, due to several changes (see below)

-Retrofit Summoners are now listed just after the monster they effect, Pre-upgraded monsters are next to Retrofits, and some monsters were reordered to reflect their relative power.

-Many Heroes weren't immune to Radius Damage as they should be.

New Additions:
-Manuals updated, etc, with new purty stuff that makes it easier to use.
-Added flavor text to the monster profiles in the manuals from the original game manuals.

-Mana will now work correctly after respawning.

-Barrage Weredragons now have their own sprites, courtesy of Banjoster.

-Heretic, Hexen, and Strife summoners now use png graphics.

-Weird Bases now uses a High Quality version of the music it had previously.

-Introduced a "Ridiculous" damage type, used to make heroes resistant to certain things. Heroes only take 60% damage from Ridiculous damage.

-New, custom ZDoom Wars HUD, by Firewolf. It displays health and both types of mana, with both bars and numerical values visible. It also works in Widescreen, and is easier to read than the default HUD at high resolutions.

-Mana items will now blink for a few seconds before vanishing. Suggested by Zal. Don't know why I didn't do this before!

-Those who voted that something in the wad would be retarded were, of course, correct.

Bug Fixes:
-Player footstep sounds were broken.
-Some classes used incorrect frames in their HeroSuppression.Pain state.

-Each class now has game-appropriate blood.

-Hero indicators weren't moving at the right speed, and so were inaccurate.

Map Pack:
-You may notice that there are 8 brand new maps. Check the manual for Map descriptions. The descriptions will be more filled out and such in later versions.

-Weird Bases rehauled. Name purposefully misspelled for no clear reason.

-Battlefield 1994 rehauled.

-You can no longer spawn monsters outside the level in Dead Haze.

-A monster-blocking line in Valley was removed.
-Added some more sound-blocking lines in Valley.

-Lesser Crucible, though keeping its name, has been replaced by Greater Crucible, which has been replaced by an even greater Crucible map.

-Courtyard Teleport in Tech Monolith now only works for players.
-Fixed the HOM in the Courtyard Teleport destination.
-You can no longer go outside the wall in Tech Monolith.

Doom:

Balance Changes:
-Several unit prices shifted to have less normal mana cost, but more hero mana cost.

-The Shotgunguy will now be BRIGHT during his firing state, for the sake of Software users.

-Cyberdemon price raised from 120/100, to 130/115

-Mancubus now deal "Ridiculous" damage. Heroes only take 60% damage from this damagetype.
-Mancubus damage reduced from 14 to 13.
-Mancubus projectile speed increased from 22 to 24.

-Flame Mancubus now fire 2 more flames per attack.
-Flame Mancubus projectiles now live for 2 tics longer.

-Normal Lost Soul health boosted from 40 to 60.
-Normal Lost Souls now take 120% damage from Suppression and KaBoom damage type attacks.
-Lost Souls from Dual Elementals are now slightly smaller, to differentiate them a bit.
-Lost Souls from Dual Elementals now take 150% damage from Suppression and KaBoom damage type attacks.
-Increased the dimensions of the Lost Soul Projectile.
-The Lost Soul Projectile can now be shot in midair, to reduce the times the soul deals damage despite being stopped midair.

-Pain Elementals may now only use their missile attack 40 times during the course of their life.

-Preupgraded Rail Revenants took longer to fire than retrofitted ones.
-Revenant melee damage reduced from 20 to 18.
-Rail Rev accuracy increased from a 5 degree variance to a 4 degree variance.

-Revenant's dumbfire rockets can no longer hit Ghosts.

-Arachnotron health decreased from 850 to 800.

-Spider Mastermind minimum damage raised from 12 to 14.
-Spider mastermind accuracy increased from 9 degrees of variance, to 8.

Heretic:

Balance Changes:
-Ghost Wave radius increased from 125 to 175.

-Gargoyle and Gargoyle Leader mass reduced to 30.

-Disciples of D'Sparil no longer temporarily lose their Ghost Status while firing.

-Iron Lich's secondary Ice shards did not use the Hero Suppression damage type.

-Barrage Weredragon secondary projectiles now can only fly upwards at a pitch of 60 degrees max, down from 90.
-Barrage Weredragons are now immune to their secondary projectiles, enemy's or otherwise.

-Maulotaur Melee damage increased from 36 to 45.
-Maulotaur health increased from 4000 to 4200.

Bug Fixes:
-You are now notified when you unlock the mummy upgrade, since you actually have to unlock Nitro Ghost Mummies to recieve it.

Hexen:

Balance Changes:
-Enchant particle size increased slightly.

-Ettin painchance lowered from 60 to 50.
-Ettin enchantment now also delivers damage on strike.
-Enchanted Ettin hit knock-back force raised from 500 to 750.
-Chance of Enchanted Ettin hit raised by 10.
-Frame count in the Upgraded Ettin's pain state rearranged to be more efficient. They now get a full 25 tics of reflection, with less wasted frames, making the defense more effective.

-There is now a more significant visual effect for the Afrit Enchanted Death.
-Afrit Enchanted Death damage buffed.

-All Chaos Serpents are now immune to radius damage.

-Chaos Serpent Enchanted Projectile buffed in both explosive damage and explosive radius.

-Homing Chaos Serpent projectiles now home in less effectively.

-Enchant ability radius increased from 125 to 200.

-Centaur Enchanted Defense effect increased in size.

-Bishops can no longer hit Ghosts.
-Decreased the number of projectiles fired by a Bishop, but increased the per-projectile damage to compensate. The purpose of this is to reduce lag.

-Wraith speed increased from 13 to 14.
-Wraiths now have the +MISSILEMORE flag.

-Heresiarch health boosted from 4000 to 4500.
-Heresiarch bouncing, flaming head damage increased from 10 to 18.
-Heresiarch purple sphere damage increased from 6 to 7, and explosive damage increased from 20 to 30.

-Korax minmissilechance reduced from 70 to 60. He should shoot more often.
-Korax health raised from 5000 to 5500.
-The damage was raised from 8 to 9 on a couple of Korax's projectiles.
-...Korax couldn't hit Ghosts. :|

-Zedek, Traductus, and Menelkir now have the NODROPOFF flag. This means that they won't go strafing off of cliffs, and cannot be pushed off cliffs.
-Zedek and Traductus no longer have melee states.
-Zedek is now immune to radius damage.

Bug Fixes:
-Even un-enchanted Afrits emitted their death-projectiles.

-The Death Wyvern was not immune to Annihilate damage.

Strife:

Balance Changes:
-Spectre A has been replaced by the Programmer. He's very similar to the old Spectre A, but is faster.
-Spectre B has been renamed Spectre A, and Spectre C has been renamed Spectre B.
-Spectres incorrectly had the Shadow flag.
-Both Spectre types given more effective melee attacks.
-Spectre A's attack now homes in more effectively.
-The Spectre C (B) attack will now make less projectiles, so it shouldn't lag as much, though it will be weaker.
-Therefore, Spectre B main projectile damage has been raised from 13 to 15.
-All Sigil attacks can now hit Ghosts.

-The Inquisitor now shoots 4 bullets in its attack state, up from 2.
-The Inquisitor's Grenade states were shortened by 2 tics.
-The Inquisitor's shooting state was shortened by 3 tics.
-The Inquisitor's health was raised from 4250 to 4750.

-The invisible Robot Rez actors will now vanish after 2 minutes.
-Repair Drone effect radius increased from 200 to 250.

-Reavers can no longer hit Ghosts at range.

-The Sniper Templar's attack state was shortened by 4 tics.

-Order Bishops can no longer hit Ghosts.

-Templar health boosted from 350 to 400.

Bug Fixes:
-Fixed a visual innaccuracy with the Tech Tree image.

New Additions:
-There is now a visual effect for the Repair Drone.

CQ:

Balance Changes:
-Flembrane mass increased from 4000 to 6000.

-Larva mass increased from 100 to 150.

-Super Cyclops mass increased from 800 to 1000.
-Super Cyclops will now dodge less.
-Super Cyclops flem spore chance reduced by 5.

-Stridicus mass increased from 500 to 600.
-Stridicus pain chance increased from 15 to 25.

-Cyclops mass decreased from 260 to 220.
-Cyclops speed decreased from 12 to 11.
-Cyclops meleerange decreased from 86 to 78.

-Flembomination fire rate increased by 2 tics each cycle, overall.

-Snotfolus spore production rates increased by 5.

-Maximus can no longer hit Ghosts.

Bug Fixes:
-Fixed a sprite conflict with an unused sprite.

-Stridicus took away one less Hero Mana then they should have, presumably because I programmed the perfect douchebag.

Virus:

Balance Changes:
-Greater Prism health raised from 350 to 360.
-Greater Prisms now fire 4 projectiles in their missile1 state, up from 3.

-Spore shots changed to the KaBoom damage type, to reduce their effect on players.
-Spore speed reduced from 17 to 16.
-Spores given a minmissilechance of 160, so they shoot less often.
-The Spore Upgrade now gives Spores a 30% damage reduction vs. KaBoom damage, lowers their painchance by 20, and lowers their Sniper vulnerability from 150% to 120%, but no longer allows them to hit Ghosts.

-Meshwalkers can now hit ghosts, but only with their blaster.

-Drones can no longer hit Ghosts.

-Spreadshot Turrets can no longer hit Ghosts.

-Meshflier price raised from 40/8 to 40/15.
-Meshflier health reduced from 1500 to 1200.
-Meshflier missile explosion radius reduced to 90.

-Land Carrier frontal assault variance reduced from 3 degrees to 2.
-Land Carrier drone capacity boosted from 40 to 50.
-The Land Carrier's projectiles can no longer be reflected.

-Air Carrier drone capacity boosted from 16 to 20.
-Air Carrier health boosted from 500 to 600.

Bug Fixes:
-It costed more to retrofit a turret than to summon it pre-upgraded.

-Meshfliers spawned quicker than they were supposed to.

I am quite relieved to finally have that out of the way. Focus in the next few versions will be on ironing out Map Pack 3, and continuing to fix up unplayed maps, as well as detail them. Balancing will of course happen as normal. Meanwhile, I can work on OTHER things. Remember, spots in Map Pack 4 are open - though it will be a very long time before it comes out.

EDIT: 10:16 AM Hotfix, because Spores could STILL hit ghosts. D:

JUST KIDDING

2010-03-31T18:39:00.000-07:00

So, Knee Deep in ZDoom Wars will not be in Map Pack 3. Sorry.

Wait, what's this?

Update to Doom Monster Pack

2010-03-31T07:28:00.001-07:00

The Shotgunguy should now be bright during his firing state, and the Lost Soul's invisible projectile can now be shot midair, so it stops when the Lost Soul does.

EDIT: Oh fuuuuuuuu failed with redefining the Super Shotgun. Updated again.

Nuthin' much.

2010-03-30T19:52:00.000-07:00

Minor Update to Chex Quest Monster Pack

2010-03-30T19:13:00.000-07:00

The Minizorcher uses up ammo again, the LAZ Device and Phasing Zorcher give less ammo on pickup, and the Bootspork alerts monsters in its ready state. Get it from the above download link, as usual.

Map Pack 3 Finalized

2010-03-30T16:22:00.000-07:00

Just on the verge of release, the Map Pack is getting finished. Here is the complete list of the maps included in Map Pack 3:

Flame Temple by Guigui, 2-3 players.
Red Canyon by Whodaman, 2-4 players.
City of Chaos by Always Doomed, 2-4 players.
Pacific Warfare by Mik57, 2-4 players.
Grimwald by Sauerkraut, 2-5 players.
System Reboot by Damage, 2-6 players.
Knee Deep in ZDoom Wars by Damage, 2-6 players.
Something Epic by Corpsegr1nder and Omegamax, 2-6 players.

Overall a varied map pack with unique design ideas, new themes, and brand new hazards, accompanied by all new music.

Also included are the updated versions of Weird Bases and Battlefield 94', Da Void (the replacement for Deja Vu), as well as the Lesser - Greater - Greater(er?) Crucible update, and a couple fixes to the current maps. Wierd Bases and the Crucible Maps have improved music, as well.

Doom Monster Pack Released

2010-03-29T13:06:00.000-07:00

Now available from the above download link is the Single Player monster pack for Doom 2. Mancs, Pains, and Revs will be randomly upgraded. You are given quite a bit more ammo than normal to compensate for the health increases of the monsters. The Fist will not alert monsters and is slightly faster, so sneakiness may be an option.

Minor update to ZDWars Chex Monster Pack

2010-03-28T21:18:00.000-07:00

I made the bootspoon silent and slightly quicker, the bootspork more damaging, and the minizorcher no longer uses ammo.

This rewards the player for stealth tactics (monsters will forget you or ignore you if you are behind them), so group CQ runs should be interesting. The minizorcher didn't need to use ammo since it was almost useless, anyway. In groups, disciplined fire with minizorchers can still be effective.

Yeah, yeah, yeah...

2010-03-28T20:09:00.001-07:00

So I actually played for once. Sue me. Just so you know, my base was awesome, and I raped Damage with a Death Wyvern before we all timed out.

Ever wanted to fight the ZDWars monsters in Single Player?

2010-03-28T17:10:00.000-07:00

Well, now you can - at least in Chex Quest 3. I've created a wad that gives the CQ3 Flemoids their ZDWars behaviors. Download it from the "Monster Packs" folder in the ZDoom Wars download link. Ammunition is also increased, due to the vast increase in overall enemy health.

Eventually, I hope to do the same for all the IWADs in ZDoom Wars.

SURGEON GENERAL'S WARNING

2010-03-26T20:52:00.000-07:00

NEWS FROM SURGEON GENERAL MATTMAN3000:

some people say that playing zdoomwars too much may decrease your skills in certain game modes like dm or lms or other games modes like that, being that your barely making contact when fighting your opponents

EXPOSURE TO ZDOOM WARS HAS BEEN SHOWN IN -1 TEST SUBJECTS TO DECREASE DEATHMATCH SKILL AS A DIRECT RESULT OF STARING AT YOUR MUMMY SPAWNER.

DO NOT PLAY ZDOOM WARS IF YOU ARE PREGNANT, MAY BECOME PREGNANT, OR HAVE A HISTORY OF HEART DISEASE IN YOUR FAMILY. IF AN ERECTION LASTS LONGER THAN FOUR HOURS, STOP PLAYING ZDOOM WARS IMMEDIATELY AND CALL YOUR DOCTOR.

TALK TO YOUR DOCTOR BEFORE PLAYING ZDOOM WARS.

New ZDWars Server

2010-03-26T10:55:00.000-07:00

There is now an Obsidian-UK server for ZDoom Wars, provided by Eruanna. This means that there are now two European servers. :D

Eruanna has also provided a spot on DRDTeam from which to host the ZDWars files, which is better for server host's sake than the Mediafire account I was using before.

Ideas past

2010-03-26T08:55:00.000-07:00

That's why I'm not an artist. Drew that last year.

Anyway, while we're talking about the past, there are plenty of ideas which have been set aside during the development of ZDWars.

As some veterans may remember, I once had the idea of One Man Armies, lone characters who would be extra powerful, and face off against the Summoner players. It was realized in time that this would be impossible to balance, and frankly would defeat the purpose of the mod.

I have also considered making Factions of Chosen, Batman Doom, and Action Doom 2, but none of them had enough variety to work out, or would end up too messy, though not for lack of planning:

Of course, there have been ideas that still have some promise in them, and might make it in at some point. For example, I had the idea of giving each player class different stats. I mean, Virus flies, right? I had tossed around thoughts like Doomguy having armor, Corvus having less health but becoming a Ghost when on low health, etc.

Another idea that remains with some promise, I considered a Last Stand option, in which the player would lose all their summoners, but be given a gun with a certain amount of ammo and have their health refilled, just to try and exact revenge. It would be an irreversible process, and I would want it to be very hard to trigger accidentally.

The third idea, which I have really considered, is giving each class a selection of simple Static defenses. When I first tried this out, it was messy, and it was before the game had become so focused on holding areas and sieges, etc, and might be great. It won't be in 2.5 at any rate, but might get in at a later date. The ideas I had were:

-a low barrier that most things could shoot over, but would block movement, and be used to bolster defenses and allow corridors to be defended easier.

-A High barrier that would block pretty much all things from firing. Used to deny movement to an area.

-An "Auto-Bridge". Something that drops to the ground, and then shoots forward a string of Bridge Things. I would need some way for it to be destructible, and also don't know how bridge things work when spawned in a map. I would give them a set of graphics of course.

-And lastly, an Alarm of some sort. Either numbered or color-coded, they could give their owner a notification when an enemy passes nearby, i.e. "Green Alarm has detected movement" so you can know when your castle is under assault while out in the field, etc. This one is probably beyond me to code.

I also think it would be neat for each Faction to have its own unique defense. Feedback on this would be nice. Good idea? Bad? General input of any sort?

You know those stupid Telefrags?

2010-03-25T20:30:00.001-07:00

They should be fixed in 2.5

Yeeees, that means you could theoretically play Deathmatch or Survival Coop with multiple lives, but that would be silly.

FNF #2, March 26

2010-03-24T12:25:00.000-07:00

FNF this week is 4-Way CTF, starting at 7:00 pm Central Time, and 20:00 GMT for the European Server.

Official Thread

Just a little something...

2010-03-23T18:23:00.000-07:00

With 8 days left until 2.5 is released, I figure I'll throw in another map preview:

Again, this is a map by Damage. Try and guess its name in the comments!

Also, the order of spawners in 2.5 should make a little more sense. It'll be confusing at first since many of you are used to the current order, but it should be easier for new players. There are some readjustments according to strength, and upgrades are next to the monsters they effect.

FNF #1, March 19

2010-03-18T13:23:00.000-07:00

Here's the official thread.

Tomorrow, the Friday Night Fragfest server will go up. This week, it's LMS, on stlms and the stock Skulltag maps, for 25 players and 32 clients.

The North American server will start up at 7:00 PM Central. Other information is forthcoming in the thread.

So, tomorrow evening, go blast some faces!

A Relic of Doom Wars past

2010-03-18T12:58:00.000-07:00

Pretty much every one of you should know that ZDoom Wars was based off of a Legacy wad called Doom Wars by Martin Collberg (creator of the Cajun Bots). Well, in 2006, before I knew DECORATE, I first proposed the idea of a ZDoom version of Doom Wars.

A fellow named eliw00d had the same idea, and whipped up this straight conversion of the original Doom Wars. He never coded the Mana-giving items that existed in Doom Wars (there were fields of mana you could place in a map to play in), but the rest is almost exactly the same as the original Doom Wars, except you cannot freely select normal weapons, and the barrels are actually explosive, instead of being barriers.

So, on July 1, 2008, I began ZDoom Wars, using the same name, since it was essentially a continuation of eliw00d's effort.

Have fun and look at a bit of the past, hosted, for some reason, by Blazing Phoenix:
ZDoom Wars, eliw00d's version.

Best Ever Servers down time

2010-03-18T08:20:00.000-07:00

In case you haven't noticed, the Best Ever servers are currently down as the Admins work out something with their hosts. They'll be back up at some point, hopefully not too far in the future.

ZDoom Wars 2.4v2S1 is totally not mine

2010-03-16T19:31:00.000-07:00

I just stumbled across a server hosting a file called zdoomwars204v2s1. Upon downloading the file and entering, I found two players named omnomnom and Noob playing what, to all intents and purposes, was ZDoom Wars. I attempted to speak to them, but spectator chat was off, and despite my best attempts, they would not acknowledge my presence.

I do not know what this file is, but it is not mine, and if those involved with its creation are reading this, I find it rather rude to simply append your own version name onto my work, rather than make a rename enough to not confuse people.

I don't know what is changed, etc, and don't care too much, but rename the file, please, rather than more or less inadvertently passing it off as my work.

I understand that I have never been completely clear on my stance on fan-made content for ZDoom Wars, though my rage-fests over the Duke 3D faction that was floating around is well known. Changing the files for private use is fine. Linking to them and failing to acknowledge that it is unofficial through either the file or server name is NOT.

Tournament Participation Poll Results

2010-03-16T12:54:00.000-07:00

Alright, so 22 people, 4 of which might get lag killed or DC in the middle of a match. That's alright. It won't be a long tournament, but it should work out fine. The tournament won't actually occur for a while. I want you fellows to be familiar with map pack 3 first.

You may have noticed a new entry in the Index, "Mapping for ZDoom Wars". If you want to make a ZDWars map, go ahead and read that, and if you still have questions, contact me however.

Anyway, Mik is presumably working on map pack 3, and once I receive it, I'll put a couple spoilers, etc to tide you over until release. Until that point, how about a list of the general gameplay and cosmetic changes coming in 2.5?

-Ghost Units are overall more useful
-Heretic, Hexen, and Strife summoners now use png graphics for the monster images
- New, custom ZDoom Wars HUD, by Firewolf. It displays health and both types of mana, with both bars and numerical values visible. It also works in Widescreen, and is easier to read than the default HUD at high resolutions.
-Mana items will now blink for a few seconds before vanishing.
-Player footstep sounds were broken.
-Some classes used incorrect frames in their HeroSuppression.Pain state.
-Each class now has game-appropriate blood.
-Hero indicators weren't moving at the right speed, and so were inaccurate.

The total list of changes to the Factions themselves will just have to wait until release! ;)