Eternal X v1.1

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Pfhorrest
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UPDATE:

Eternal X v1.1.0 final is now online, and I've taken the "last stable" v1.0.3 down at last.

The 1.1.0 final is the same as b5 with two or three very minor bugs fixed.

Further development (besides possible bugfixes) will have to wait for 1.2 which will probably be in another seven years at the rate things have been going, but as soon as life settles back down again I'll get back on that texture project, and then figure out the new toolchain and start brushing up the maps a little, and meanwhile I'll keep on bugging people to finally get those damn weapons rendered, and we'll see what comes of it all.

But for now, at least it's no longer just a years-old "beta" sitting next to an even-more-years-old "stable" version on the front page of the website.
Pfhorrest wrote:UPDATE: Ok, so it was only two years' delay this time. Now watch me invoke fate to destroy my life again by daring attempt to do even something minor like this with it. Anyway...

Available now at eternal.bungie.org is Eternal X v1.1 beta 5. It's basically just b4, plus:
  • The Previous Aleph One AI script to let things continue working they way they used to despite the changes made in Aleph One's AI in its own 1.1 update.
  • An updated version of President People's patch to the Eternal shapes, fixing 3rd-person view of the Marine sprites and a few other things. Hey, that's the only substantial "known problem" from the first beta, and now it's finally fixed!
  • All of the terminal picts are redone. They don't perfectly match the terminal textures anymore, but stock Marathon didn't do that anyway. Updated textures including new terminals are in the works for a 1.2 release... someday. That part of it is already done, but not included here because it doesn't match the rest of the textures that aren't redone yet.
  • The floating HUD now displays the level names in a Halo-like way as each level loads.
  • Assorted bugfixes.
So I'm going to give it like a week (hahaha, I've said that before) for just one person (LT, I'm looking at you) to play through this and tell me it's not completely broken, and then I'm going to call this 1.1 final. Anything else can go into 1.2 instead.

If I don't actually call this 1.1 final within a week, someone please call me out on that.

So besides the redone textures, and the weapons if they ever get finished (Nick, CryoS, where are you guys?), on the docket for the next release is to change out the annoying PiD monsters from chapter 5 to something scarier. I'm thinking of keeping the Banshees, replacing the Headless with invisible Devlins, and just turning the Nightmares invisible, unless someone can think of a better third scary monster that already exists that I should use there. Or unless everyone thinks this is just a terrible idea.

Also, at some point I might learn the new toolchain and actually go through RyokoTK's and Crater Creator's reviews and fix all the little things they point out.

And remember, if any of you would like to help with that, the Eternal Maps merge folder is up on github now, so you can make small changes as you like and I'll roll them in to the next version of Eternal.
Pfhorrest wrote:UPDATE: So I've finally found time to get what's been sitting on my HD since 2009 out to the public and try to finalize it as v1.1 as I was trying to do four years ago before life buried me in too much shit to even think about games.

Available now at eternal.bungie.org is Eternal X v1.1 beta 4, which is whatever I had sitting around on my HD as of late 2009 plus any improvements I might have made in the interim plus anything anyone else has contributed in that time frame, plus a few minor enhancements I've recently made while finally playing through all that to make sure that you can at least get from beginning to end.

Since I haven't really been on top of things, I can't give a complete change list, but some things that jumped out to me as newish on my play-through or are recent enough that I remember doing them:
  • There's a new floating HUD, with graphics of my design and scripting by Hopper. I think it's pretty awesome.
  • The textures are improved.
  • The landscape textures are now taller, to accommodate the increased vertical viewing angle Aleph One's new Shader renderer.
  • Lots of miscellaneous graphics (like the main screen interface and theme) are improved.
  • Terminals new use the RIGHT tag for PICT sections and make use of the STATIC section for some interesting purposes.
  • I can't really speak to what differences there may be in the maps from 1.1b3 since it's been forever since I played it, though there seem to be some changes made to improve the flow of the prologue level, so I imagine there are probably lots of minor things like that throughout. I think chapter 5 may be a bit different from how it was before too.
I'd appreciate it if anyone could play through this and let me know if there are any show-stopper bugs that should keep me from calling this v1.1 final and taking v1.0.3 down for good. If I don't hear anything like that back in a week or two, I will probably give it another, more thorough play-through myself and call it a day. I'm open to suggestions for people who think I should push back or move up that schedule or proceed differently in any other way, too.

For the future, I am looking to get this up on some kind of version control system along with all of its source files (merge folder for the maps, original PSDs for the textures, etc), so I will no longer be a bottleneck in the release process. It's not looking hopeful as far as solutions for that go, however, so I may end up just putting the map merge folder by itself up on GitHub, though that will still leave me as a bottleneck for getting a merged map into the actual release, not to mention any other improvements anyone wants to make to the rest of the project. (Like poor Hopper's work being stuck in limbo for all these years). I welcome suggestions on this front as well.

I still have someone working on finalizing the new weapons (he keeps forgetting, and I've been too busy to ride him about them), and I'm hoping to recreate all of the textures in even higher resolution (and with other improvements along the way), together with glow and bump maps, to fully modernize them for the new Shader renderer, but I can't make many promises on that front as it depends on the workload at my paying job and other major life factors. But things are looking up on that front, so hopefully no more four-year delays to look forward to :)
Pfhorrest wrote:UPDATE: Eternal X v1.1.0b3 is now available.

http://eternal.bungie.org/files/_releases/...Xv110b3Full.zip

Changes since Eternal X v1.1.0 b2:
- Four tracks of new music from the Pfhorms' own Tommy T-Bone; featured mostly in Chapter 3, but more sparsely in other chapter as well. (The music which "broke" in the b2 supplemental map now works again too).
- Updated interface (splash, main screen, loading, credits) and a theme to match which works on modern builds of Aleph One.
- Experimental implementation of mobile fusion turrets on the success branch of Chapter 5. Needs thorough testing to balance them just right.
- Assorted bug fixes, including some major ones on Unwired (sigh, again) and My Kingdom Pfhor A Horse.

Still to come later:
- Experimental varying starting weapons (e.g. you start with more on later levels).
- New weapon&player sprites from CryoS.
- A floating HUD.
- Maybe that coop vidmaster pack.
Pfhorrest wrote:UPDATE: Having finished play testing through all of b1, I've fixed some bugs and made some improvements and there is now a b2 available.

http://eternal.bungie.org/files/_releases/...Xv110b2Full.zip

Changes since Eternal X v1.1.0 b1:
- Visciom has let me implement the hires blood and explosions and stuff from his WEP, as well as his hires fusion pistols and N-cannon. However CryoS has stepped up to fill Julian's shoes, so there will probably be new and improved fusion pistols and N-cannon eventually. I've also expanded on the blood and explosions from the WEP, making hires blood for the Hulks and hires impact effects for the S-rifle.
- A major bug on Deep Into The Grotto fixed. (A door was mistakenly marked to open only once and close on initial level, which could cause the level to sometimes become unbeatable if a monster opened it before the player got there).
- I've fixed some miscellaneous sequence issues with F'lick'ta blood and M1 Enforcers.
- Minor things like texture tweaks and fixed terminal pics here and there.
- I added Julian and $teve to the credits, as well as Visciom.

Interesting news:
- The fancy-pants 5-level coop vidmaster pack I've been wanting to put together for a while, may end up happening after all, so between that and CryoS hiresing things, this 1.1 might turn into Omega after all.

Known problems:
- Players mostly still look wrong in third-person. (I did get started on a half-assed solution of photoshopping things, which I stopped when CryoS stepped up, so the pistols now look like proper fusion pistols, but that's all).

Unknown problems:
- Please list below.
Pfhorrest wrote:So, Eternal X Omega is going kind of... not... since Julian vanished. But for a while people were clamoring for some Eternal X coop, so I've just been waiting for one map from $teve (making chapter 3 complete again) to release what I have so far, with coop enabled. I'm calling this a "beta" just because I haven't playtested the whole thing online yet (that's why I'm here), but hopefully it's more or less final.

http://eternal.bungie.org/files/_releases/...Xv110b1Full.zip

Changes since Eternal X v1.0.3:
- Chapter 3 has been reorganized a bit, and one map replaced, for story reasons.
- Various graphical touchups all around, plus bug fixes, etc.
- Coop enabled on all maps.
- Three competitive netmaps ported: Mars Needs Women, Thunderdome, and Duality.

Known problems:
- Players still look wrong in third-person (the main thing Omega was supposed to fix)
- I need to add Julian and $teve to the credits.

Unknown problems:
- Please list below.
Last edited by Pfhorrest on Oct 27th '15, 06:37, edited 5 times in total.
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Lawstiker
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Wow! I didn't even know Eternal X Omega was in development. To bad Julian disappeared, maybe he will show up some time in the future. Either way this V1.1b will give me a reason to play through Eternal again. If I find any problems i'll post it here.
Last edited by Lawstiker on Jun 24th '09, 04:26, edited 1 time in total.
Meta

And I just downloaded 1.0 too. Oh well...I am Failstiny.
Last edited by Meta on Jun 24th '09, 05:04, edited 1 time in total.
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tehWastedJamacan
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You seem to fail a lot, recently at least.

Seriously, what have you been smokin? I'm tempted to try some.
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I'd like to see some changes to the final level that make it easier to climb that stupid mountain. Although, I know it would be a pain to adjust such a ridiculously high-poly map, and this is probably why it's as bad as it is.
Meta

tehWastedJamacan wrote:You seem to fail a lot, recently at least.

Seriously, what have you been smokin? I'm tempted to try some.
I'm too high on whatever I've been smokin too know. This is some strong shit. [spnkr]
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tehWastedJamacan
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apparently! [MUp]
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Shadowbreaker
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I'd make sure not EVERY level is Co-op, cuz some might not be playable without, say, a chip from the previous level.
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Pfhorrest
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Shadowbreaker wrote:I'd make sure not EVERY level is Co-op, cuz some might not be playable without, say, a chip from the previous level.
I'm pretty sure even before I made it coopable I made sure every level was viddable. If you "need" a chip from the previous level, there's a chip hidden somewhere on the level that you need it, just in case you're vidding it.
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Director of the Xeventh Project, the team behind Eternal
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Meta

Pfhorrest wrote:I'm pretty sure even before I made it coopable I made sure every level was viddable. If you "need" a chip from the previous level, there's a chip hidden somewhere on the level that you need it, just in case you're vidding it.
I'll be sure to keep that in mind when I'm not vidding it but I just suck to much to have gotten the chip on the previous level.
edit: Anyone want to get a game of eternal co-op going? Normal difficulty please. [MFrown]
Last edited by Meta on Jun 25th '09, 01:33, edited 1 time in total.
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Pfhorrest
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Apparently something was kinda wonky with the map file in the above release, and $laves new level didn't actually merge in right. So, here's an updated map file.

http://eternal.bungie.org/files/_current/Eternal_Maps.sceA

And actually, I believe this map file (plus an older version of Eternal) will suffice for being able to coop, although the landscape on Mars Needs Women might be wrong, but not too wrong.
Last edited by Pfhorrest on Jun 26th '09, 03:51, edited 1 time in total.
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Director of the Xeventh Project, the team behind Eternal
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I guess I'll be spending most of this weekend inside... unless this lightning storm currently over my home fries my computer.
Last edited by SynthNinja on Jun 27th '09, 00:12, edited 1 time in total.
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So, found a bug. The game quits when I teleport out of the first level. I could be an Aleph one thing though.

I like what you've done to the Jjarro textures, they look fantastic, and having that touch of green is perfect. I'm running at 1920x1200, which makes the hi-res textures look great, but really reveals a lack of hi-def-ness in everything else. The weapon in hand sprites could stand to be rendered at a higher res, and of course all of the aliens and BOBs. The landscapes too, for that matter. They're pretty good, but not as sharp as the wall textures. I feel like that shouldn't be hard to do if you still have the PSD files (not that I know much about photoshop).

So far, everything seems good!
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Blake37 wrote:I like what you've done to the Jjarro textures, they look fantastic, and having that touch of green is perfect. I'm running at 1920x1200, which makes the hi-res textures look great, but really reveals a lack of hi-def-ness in everything else. The weapon in hand sprites could stand to be rendered at a higher res, and of course all of the aliens and BOBs. The landscapes too, for that matter. They're pretty good, but not as sharp as the wall textures. I feel like that shouldn't be hard to do if you still have the PSD files (not that I know much about photoshop).
Such is the curse of never having the sprites upgraded. Those MADDs you see are all from M1! I guess some wise guy could just find a way to vector all of the sprites up to stratch, but currently we don't have any high res (or 3d, though we could) monsters. Forrrest supposedly had some high res 3d guy once, but he... left.
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Yeah, I was kinda being a punk when I mentioned the monster sprites, since I do know how old they are. But then, given everything else that's gotten the hi-res treatment, there are very few instances of the sprites getting a spruce up in any scenario. Easy for me to say, being almost completely incapable of any visual art at all, but it'd be cool to see.
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Pfhorrest
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Before he vanished, Julian was talking about redoing all the Bobs based off of the player model he was working on, after the weapons were done, and then he got crazy and started talking about redoing ALL the monsters... and then he disappeared.

Who knows, maybe he's just too busy modelling to reply to emails and will show up here some day with every monster from Eternal modelled in 3D :-)
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Blake37
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Hmmm, I still can't move from level to level... Do I need any of the other files from the Aleph one package other than the alephone.exe? I just grabbed the newest version treellama put up a month or so ago, and I'm running Win XP other here.
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Try disabling DirectInput/DirectDraw in your graphics prefs, or, if that doesn't work, revert to software mode.
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Treellama wrote:Try disabling DirectInput/DirectDraw in your graphics prefs, or, if that doesn't work, revert to software mode.

Allright, will do. What does directinput/directdraw do?


Edit: Yup, disabling direct thingy works, but it still does a weird hiccup thing between levels. Thanks!
Last edited by Blake37 on Jul 3rd '09, 15:03, edited 1 time in total.
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Blake37 wrote:Allright, will do. What does directinput/directdraw do?
It uses SDL's DirectX 5 driver, which is old and not supported very well. I made it the default because it does the cinematic fade in/out correctly, but it is working for fewer and fewer people, so I may uncheck it by default in the next release. It doesn't work at all with Vista.
Last edited by treellama on Jul 3rd '09, 15:29, edited 1 time in total.
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a few bugs and a suggestion:

There are a few problems on 'unwired' The first is that there is an outdoor wind sound in an indoor area, which I have labeled...ish in my first attachment. It's very out of place feeling. Secondly on "Unwired" the hunters which stand on the labeled polygon vanish sometimes. They still make noise and shoot, but ya can't see 'em.
This third item relates to all of the human textures, and maybe the other sets too. The walls that have see thru portions have white pixels on the edges that detract from the overall experience. (Note, in the picture, I've been shot. There is nothing wrong with your television set, do not attempt to adjust the dial)

Lastly, I feel like it'd be really cool on "Sehmakt Rising" (sp) if there was no sound except for the marine breathing, and other things that might be heard in a suit.
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Blake37 wrote:wallofstuff
The disappearing Hunters is not exclusive to Eternal, this happens with many enemies in many scenarios. Treellama might be able to explain better if he really cares to but regardless: don't worry about it.
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Lh wrote:The disappearing Hunters is not exclusive to Eternal, this happens with many enemies in many scenarios. Treellama might be able to explain better if he really cares to but regardless: don't worry about it.

Cool, cool
One thing to report to Fobo.

The switch at the top of the elevator heading into the sewage on "core done blew" has to be hit twice for the platform to descend. Damn, this is a tough level. I like it.
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Pfhorrest
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Having finished play testing through all of b1, I've fixed some bugs and made some improvements and there is now a b2 available.

http://eternal.bungie.org/files/_releases/...Xv110b2Full.zip

Changes since Eternal X v1.1.0 b1:
- Visciom has let me implement the hires blood and explosions and stuff from his WEP, as well as his hires fusion pistols and N-cannon. However CryoS has stepped up to fill Julian's shoes, so there will probably be new and improved fusion pistols and N-cannon eventually. I've also expanded on the blood and explosions from the WEP, making hires blood for the Hulks and hires impact effects for the S-rifle.
- A major bug on Deep Into The Grotto fixed. (A door was mistakenly marked to open only once and close on initial level, which could cause the level to sometimes become unbeatable if a monster opened it before the player got there).
- I've fixed some miscellaneous sequence issues with F'lick'ta blood and M1 Enforcers.
- Minor things like texture tweaks and fixed terminal pics here and there.
- I added Julian and $teve to the credits, as well as Visciom.

Interesting news:
- The fancy-pants 5-level coop vidmaster pack I've been wanting to put together for a while, may end up happening after all, so between that and CryoS hiresing things, this 1.1 might turn into Omega after all.

Known problems:
- Players mostly still look wrong in third-person. (I did get started on a half-assed solution of photoshopping things, which I stopped when CryoS stepped up, so the pistols now look like proper fusion pistols, but that's all).

Unknown problems:
- Please list below.
-Forrest Cameranesi, Geek of All Trades
Director of the Xeventh Project, the team behind Eternal
"I am Sam. Sam I am. I do not like trolls, flames, or spam."
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Allow me to break in this latest release with a shiny new problem. It doesn't work. All the relevant files appear to be in order, the A1 app is fully functional, but attempting to run Eternal results in absolutely nothing happening. No error message. Nada.
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