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Greetings, fellow DOOMers!

Myself and my friends have searched HIGH and LOW for decent online DOOM communities, paying close mind to those who are smaller (not Zdeamon).

The software is excellent, and deathmatch is very smooth!

My friends and I look forward to getting to know your community and all it's members much much better.

You may be curious as to how we've come to your little neck of the internet!

You have a player who knows us named "KillerKittyKat" or Kristen. We asked her which community she plays DOOM with, and if they enjoy Co-op and Death match. Thus, she said Odamex!

For a month now, my friends and I (4 people) have been working on our very first DOOM II project. The current title in America and english speaking countries is Projekt Xero.

It will include a 32 megawad single player and coop compatible file (coop is planned to be added in, and made tough)
Also included will be a 10 level (or more) death match only wad with maps based on and themed around chosen levels of the single player file.

My friends and I wanted this community to be the first to see the project aside from "Wads In Progress" and are looking for feedback thus far on the single player (and later, coop compatible) files as we progress, if that's okay.
Currently it is being designed for ZDoom and because of this, we also have questions regarding your engine.
Does it play nice with Zdoom? If not, we've only finished one map and it isn't too late to turn back and change the engine compatibility. Coop and deathmatch for this community is an important part of our project's creation. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated!

List of features (When it's done)

All new 32 level single player wad file complete with secret levels and an all new story (when it's done)
Coop compatibility (when it's done)
All new soundtrack composed by Abiageal O'Meara
Death match levels based on the stories, themes and layouts of single player levels (will be released alongside Projekt Xero single player/coop file)

Optional download of a version without level soundtracks for quick download (death match file included)

We've currently be using Abiageal O'Meara's Projekt Xero soundtrack in a low quality MP3 @ 128kbps for a small footprint. However, we realize some people may have slow internet and as there is a new song for each level the file may prove to be quite large (38 tracks).
We admit of course that the music does add a certain depth to the levels that is otherwise absent but alas, filesize is of course an issue.

Once we've figured out how to get Odamex working on the Macintosh again (minor update problems) we'll be seeing you in game and testing the wad with your engine as well!

For those of you whom are interested, please feel free to try the DEMO version of Projekt Xero found here: http://www.freefilehosting.net/projektxerodemo1

We will be posting on the forums as regularly as possible, getting envolved and things, but, should we be absent for a day or two (completely possible), feedback may be sent to the following address.

littletemplegroup@aol.com

For anything related to the soundtrack, Abiageal O'Meara can be reached at this address

abbey0237@gmail.com

If you'd like to see screenshots, please let us know! =)

Many thanks in advance and have a great day!


Blessings,

Kamila Zielinski, Elizavetta Zielinski, Marus Dudek and Valentine Zajac


EDIT:

After successfully getting Odamex to launch once again on OS X, we have concluded that major texture editing and the reconstruction of a bridge will have to be made in order to maintain compatibility for the Odamex engine.
In the mean time, people who want to test the currently uploaded file may do so by using the Zdoom engine to play! =)

EDIT2:

The file has been reuploaded and should work much friendlier with Odamex. However, there are probably still small bugs. One that is noticible is the exit pipe at the foot of the dam.

While walking along the dam to get to the end where the staircase down is, for some reason the pipe bleeds all over the place and we can't seem to find the cause. This doesn't happen in Zdoom and there appears to be no improper textures.

If someone with more knowledge on the workings of the Odamex engine has any idea, please do let us know as it is visually disturbing.

Our pleasure =)

Design goals are something frequent Odamex players would probably be better at judging then me or my friends however, any design flaws or something tacky mentioned by players will certainly get our attention!

The bridge we never really liked anyway and it was up for change by Elizavetta (whom designed MAP0!) she found it ugly. As for wall textures on the floor and such, they will be easily switched. The Zdoom features currently in the engine are actually quite amazing.

We actually look on the fact of wall textures for wall textures and visa versa to help us be less lazy so, no harm done!

The engine (Odamex) on OS X is actually smoother than the port of Zdoom to the same Operating System and I must say I was surprised. Once we get the textures, bridge, and title/credit pics fixed we'll happily use Odamex as our default testing engine. Once it's all sorted, the game should run smoothly on Odamex, Zdoom, Zdeamon and all other modern source ports that allow HeXen formatted maps.

Early on in the project we thought of hubs, this was Kamila's idea as the lead designer behind myself but, we found ourselves inexperienced for such things. Instead we decided it would be neat to see some of the other levels you'll go into or just left outside a window, ect, of the level you're currently in. Perhaps hubs will come in Projekt Xero II (yes we're almost certain there'll be one sequel.)

Once again, thank you! And enjoy the level thus far! =)

Blessings,

Kamila Zielinski, Elizavetta Zielinski, Marus Dudek and Valentine Zajac

Agreed! It truly is!

Valentine hated the idea at first, claiming it made the levels too realistic and not DOOMish enough. He still feels this way but we are going for doom like levels rather based on realistic looking areas.

We hadn't thought of that for DM maps but, we just might have to give it a shot!


Blessings,

Kamila Zielinski, Elizavetta Zielinski, Marus Dudek and Valentine Zajac

However, there are probably still small bugs. One that is noticible is the exit pipe at the foot of the dam.

While walking along the dam to get to the end where the staircase down is, for some reason the pipe bleeds all over the place and we can't seem to find the cause. This doesn't happen in Zdoom and there appears to be no improper textures.

I cannot find a place with such a bleeding texture in the current download. Is it fixed already?

All teleports that I could find work (using the latest SVN build of Odamex). I think it was fixed a few days before.

Regarding the soundtrack, have you considered using MIDI and moving the high-quality version in a separate pack? Also, MP3 is obsolete. For in-game music, you should use Ogg Vorbis instead of it; it will allow you to either have a better quality with the same size or smaller size with same quality. (If you decide to use Vorbis, don't transcode from MP3, encode the lossless originals instead.)

As for the bleeding textures, has it been updated to accept floor textures on walls as well?

I'm pretty sure the "bleeding textures" issue you noticed is probably a mid-texture on a two-sided linedef far above the player's head that seems to bleed into view. That is due to an integer overflow when calculating the texture's scale and the problem was fixed by clipping those textures in our SVN code.

Players are usually on late at night. Also feel free to ask for games in #odamex http://odamex.net/boards/index.php/topic,2032.0.html

Thank you!

We've also noticed the majority of players in locked servers around the times we check.

Is this normal or a glitch of some kind?

That's most likely the IDL private CTF servers. It's not private to exclude newcomers - it's more like the password is freely available but it's password protected to make sure players are aware of the server's rules and how the system of organizing games works to prevent frustration for all involved.

Secondly, we've attempted .ogg.

Oddly, it works on Odamex fine with no problems. ZDoom however only plays music at the intermissions. (moving forward)

That's odd. You should upload it somewhere and ask on ZDoom forums.
Your demo wad has an MP3 as a map header, so if you put your Vorbis encoded file there, it might be not recognized by ZDoom. I don't know.
Re: quality, there's isn't much to expect from 96 kbps files, but check that you are encoding with variable bitrate (VBR, sometimes named "Constant quality" or similar) and not constant (variable is usually better). This goes for both MP3 and Vorbis.