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Author Topic: Odamex 0.5.1  (Read 1460 times)

Hyper_Eye

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Odamex 0.5.1
« on: December 10, 2010, 08:53:00 PM »

Today is the 17th birthday of Doom and I am pleased to announce the release of Odamex 0.5.1 for all platforms including Xbox. This release has many Xbox bug fixes as well as the addition of chat macro support which allows Xbox players to communicate using the controller. Please read the updated README.Xbox to learn about the chat macro feature as well as the new default controller scheme. If you have played Odamex on your Xbox before you may want to reset your configuration settings so that your controller bindings will update to the new defaults. You can do this by selecting "Reset to defaults" at the bottom of the Odamex options menu.

General Odamex Changes:

- Fixed DirectX palette issues on Windows Vista/7
- First pass of zdoom map support including acs, mapinfo (classic)
- Scoreboard fixes
- Higher resolutions supported
- Various bug fixes and more

Odamex Xbox Changes:

- Chat macro support
- Fixed a bug that makes retrieving/refreshing the server list many times faster on affected Xbox's.
- Fixed DEH/BEX patch loading (mods like Batman Doom and GoldenEye load correctly)
- The player color sliders are now usable
- The launcher loads Odamex properly when it uses a long path name
- odamex.xbe can be launched directly from an XBMC shortcut with command-line parameters using the <game> tag
- Various other bug fixes

Thanks l11l1VeNoM1l11l for the box art.

Here is the updated README.Xbox

CODE
===============================================================================
                            Odamex v0.5.1 for Xbox
                              http://odamex.net/
                                 Authored by:
                            Michael "Hyper_Eye" Wood
                       Revision date: December 10th, 2010
===============================================================================

Table of contents:
    1. Introduction
        1.1 What is Odamex?
        1.2 Xbox Features at a Glance

    2. Installation
        2.1 Requirements
        2.2 Installation - binary download
        2.3 Installation - source download

    3. Xbox Controls
        3.1 Launcher
        3.2 Game Client

    4. Issues
        4.1 TODO
        4.2 Known Issues
        4.3 Bug Reporting

    5. Frequently Asked Questions

    6. Acknowledgements

===============================================================================

Section 1: Introduction

1.1 What is Odamex?

Odamex is a modification of DOOM to allow players to compete with each other
over the Internet using the client/server architecture. Odamex also provides
a feature-rich single-player engine.

Please see the general README provided with Odamex for a thorough description
of Odamex and its features.

1.2 Xbox Features at a Glance

 * Supports all online game modes and features that are available on other
     platforms
 * Game launcher with server browser and solo launcher with wad selector
 * Multiple wad search paths can be configured
 * Complete analog Xbox controller support with configurable axis assignments,
     turn sensitivity, optional freelook, and configurable button bindings
 * Support for USB mouse and keyboard
 * Saved games and configuration files are stored in UDATA and TDATA paths so
     they integrate properly with the official memory manager as well as
     homebrew dashboards complete with icons
 * Saved games can be deleted using the memory manager
 * Saved games can be copied to and from a memory card
 * Vanilla 320x200 resolution, multiple SDTV resolutions including 480i, and
     HDTV resolutions up to 720p are supported

===============================================================================

Section 2. Installation

2.1 - Requirements

Odamex requires a modded Xbox in order to operate.

2.2 - Installation - binary download

Binary downloads of Odamex are not available from odamex.net or any site
associated with The Odamex Team. Because Odamex is built with the official
XDK binary builds cannot be provided.

2.3 - Installation - source download

If you are interested in the bleeding edge development of Odamex, you can
access the SVN at http://odamex.net/svn/root with anonymous read access. Be
warned however that it might be incompatible with current release versions,
and stability is not guaranteed.

The following libraries are required:
    
    * SDLx (http://svn.huntsvegas.org/wsvn/SDLx)

Additionally the launcher also requires SDLx and the following libraries:

    * pthreads-Xbox (http://svn.huntsvegas.org/wsvn/pthreads-xbox)
    * Agar (http://www.libagar.org)

Building the Odamex and AG-Odalaunch source for Xbox requries the use of the
Microsoft Xbox Software Development kit (a.k.a XDK). You must be a Microsoft
approved Xbox developer to gain access to the required software.

===============================================================================

Section 3: Xbox Controls

3.1 - Launcher

Left Analog Stick - Move Cursor
Left/Right Trigger - Increment/Decrement list selection by 10
D-Pad Up/Down - Increment/Decrement list selection by 1
Left/Right Trigger (Held) - Scroll list selection
D-Pad up/Down (Held) - Scroll list selection
D-Pad Left/Right - Cycle focused widget/button
A Button - Activate cursor selection
B Button - Activate focused widget/button

3.2 - Game Client

The D-Pad is used to navigate the game menus while A activates
items within the menu and B returns to the previous menu.

When the console is down the left and right triggers scroll.

Default Controller Binding:

Left Analog Stick X Axis - Step left/right
Left Analog Stick Y Axis - Move forward/backward
Right Analog Stick X Axis - Turn Left/Right
Right Analog Stick Y Axis - Look Up/Down (Freelook disabled by default)
Right Analog Stick Push Down - Center View
D-Pad Up - Say
D-Pad Right - Team Say
D-Pad Down - Quick Swap to Shotgun & Toggle SG/SSG
D-Pad Left - Spectate/Spy Next
Left Trigger - Walk/Run
Right Trigger - Attack/Fire Weapon
A Button - Activate
X Button - Strafe
B Button - Next Weapon
Y Button - Previous Weapon
White Button - Scoreboard
Black Button - Toggle Automap
Start Button - Menu (Not Configurable)
Back Button - Toggle Console

===============================================================================

Section 4: Issues

4.1 - TODO

 * Virtual (On-Screen) Keyboard
 * Configurable overscan in launcher
 * Rumble
 * Use a DVD as a wad source
 * Further optimization (Improve 720p performance)

4.2 - Known Issues

 * The game currently cannot be launched from a DVD. This is hampered by a bug
    that is very difficult to debug.
 * Controller events are not received in the launcher while the master list is
    being queried or a complete server list refresh is taking place. Joystick
    events are disabled during these tasks because of a mutex issue or race
    condition that results in a freeze before processing the final queried
    server. The cursor can be moved with a mouse during these tasks.
 * The "Query Master On Start" launcher option does not work. It might be that
    the Xbox network controller takes a little longer to initialize but I
    don't really know at this point.
 * You must hit A inside the main launcher window before you can use B to
     activate a focused widget. This is due to a window focus issue.
 * The version of SDLx used with Odamex supports 1080i but 1080i has been
     disabled in the library as it is not currently usable in Odamex. Selecting
    1080i results in unplayable framerate and likely a crash when the system
    runs out of memory.
 * SDLx reports all 4 joystick ports as active regardless of whether or not a
     joystick is plugged in. If the active joystick selection is changed to a
    port that does not have a joystick plugged in control may be lost and a
    reboot is required or the selection must be changed with a keyboard.

4.3 - Bug Reporting

Please report any bugs you find at http://www.odamex.net/bugs
Your bug submissions help us make Odamex better. Thank you!

===============================================================================

Section 5: Frequently Asked Questions

Q. How do I communicate with other players?
A. Currently there is no way to insert text using the Xbox controller. Xbox
    players can communicate by either plugging in a USB keyboard or by using
    chat macros. A virtual keyboard is a planned feature.

Q. How do the chat macros work?
A. While in a multiplayer game push either "Say" (default: D-Pad Up) or
    "Team Say" (default: D-Pad Right). You can then insert a macro by
    pushing D-Pad Up + the macro button that corresponds to the message
    you wish to insert. For example, to say "Hi" to everyone in the game
    you would press D-Pad Up and then D-Pad Up + A.

    The default macros on Xbox are as follows:

    A - "Hi."
    B - "I'm ready to kick butt!"
    X - "Help!"
    Y - "GG"
    White - "Yes"
    Black - "No"
    Left Trigger - "I'll take care of it."
    Right Trigger - "Come here!"
    Start - "Thanks for the game. Bye."
    Back - "I am on Xbox and can only use chat macros."

Q. How can I customize the chat macros?
A. You will need to manually change them in your odamex.cfg file.
    To do this perform the following steps:

    1) Launch the Odamex game client from the launcher (a solo game is fine)
    2) Quit Odamex using the game menus (turning off the power without
        quitting will discard configuration changes.)
    3) Quit the launcher and return to your dashboard.
    4) FTP into the machine or use another method of accessing the file system.
    5) Copy E:\TDATA\4f444d58\odamex.cfg to your computer.
    6) Open odamex.cfg in an editor.
    7) Find the "chatmacro" options and change them as desired (note the order
        as they correspond to controller buttons above.)
    8) Save the file.
    9) Copy odamex.cfg back to E:\TDATA\4f444d58\odamex.cfg

Q. How do I change my player name without a keyboard?
A. You will need to manually change the setting for your player name in
    your odamex.cfg file. To do this perform the following steps:

    1) Launch the Odamex game client from the launcher (a solo game is fine)
    2) Quit Odamex using the game menus (turning off the power without
        quitting will discard configuration changes.)
    3) Quit the launcher and return to your dashboard.
    4) FTP into the machine or use another method of accessing the file system.
    5) Copy E:\TDATA\4f444d58\odamex.cfg to your computer.
    6) Open odamex.cfg in an editor.
    7) Find the "cl_name" option and change the name to your desired handle.
    8) Save the file.
    9) Copy odamex.cfg back to E:\TDATA\4f444d58\odamex.cfg

Q. What is required to use a keyboard and/or mouse?
A. A simple USB-to-Xbox adapter will work. These can be easily obtained
    from online stores and auction sites for little cost. A device with a
    cable modified to use an Xbox safety release cable will also work.

Q. Is it safe to try all the resolutions listed in the resolution list?
A. SDLx scales all resolutions to 640x480 except for 720x480 and 1280x720.
    Only resolutions that are supported by the AV pack and system settings
    are shown.

Q. I have a widescreen television but the 720x480 options isn't available?
A. In your Xbox system video settings select "Wide Screen" or "Letterbox".

Q. I have an HDTV and the HDTV AV Pack but the 1280x720 (720p) option isn't
    available?
A. In your Xbox system video settings enable the 720p HDTV resolution.

===============================================================================

Section 6: Acknowledgements

This port would not be possible without the contributions and assistance of
many people. The following especially deserve to be mentioned.

 * Undead of Team Assembly - Undead donated 2 Xbox debug kits that proved
    to be instrumental in the development of the libraries that Odamex
    depends on as well as Odamex itself. HUGE thanks to him for his
    kind donation!

 * Vedge of Hypertriton, Inc. (Developer of Agar) - Agar is a critical
    piece that serves as the cross-platform GUI toolkit behind AG-Odalaunch.
    Vedge provided assistance and knowledge as well as bug fixes and feature
    enhancements that directly benefited the Xbox and the development of
    AG-Odalaunch. He also trusted me with commit access so that I could
    more efficiently get code changes into Agar. Thanks for not getting
    annoyed while I flooded the channel with my thoughts, inquiries, and
    general ramblings.

 * Sirlemonhead - Sirlemonhead helped get me set up for development and I
     e-mailed him with questions and ideas on many occasions. Also, he made
    the AvP port and nobody can thank him enough for that.

 * weinerschnitzel - Provided testing and feedback throughout development.

 * ldotsfan - Bouncing Xbox development tricks back and forth with him has
    been both an enjoyable and educational experience and I look forward
    to more of the same.

 * Likklebaer - Thanks for your role in Doom-X and for sharing your experience.

 * To all those at Xbox-Scene that have provided interest, suggestions, and
    great encouragement. I hope you guys love playing this port as much as I
    enjoy working on it - Clockface, Cheema201, guybird, ultimate509, neil222,
    moonmaster1, lawdawg0931, Mega Man (?), flux2k, Pulsemasta, rubarb, Koooi,
    Finker282, Rygrass, trrobin, |11|1VeNoM1|11|, XTecuterX73

 * Special thanks to the faithful Odamex bug testers and patch contributers who
    put up with our crap on a daily basis because they believe in Odamex and
    the philosophies behind it - Spleen, Ladna, HeX9101, tm512, GhostlyDeath,
    and a hat tip to blzut3

 * To anyone I missed and all the developers in the Xbox development scene that
    released source and made it possible to work on the system without being
    completely lost. The Xbox Linux guys, XBMC devs, Arnova and the rest of the
    XBMC4Xbox devs, XPort, madmab, Team Assembly, RessurectionXtras, Team Evox,
    MXM devs, everyone who has contributed to openxdk, and all the rest.

 * Finally, all the members of the Odamex development team. Working with you
     guys is great. I appreciate the maturity, intelligence, and dedication each
    of you has brought to the team. It is the level-headedness and respect that
    everyone working on this project maintains that will see Odamex succeed as
    a great open-source project and Doom source port - Manc, Russell, Ralphis,
    Denis, and NES
===============================================================================
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xyteam

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Odamex 0.5.1
« Reply #1 on: December 11, 2010, 04:49:00 AM »

thank you for the update and your hard work on this fantastic programme,great work as always.
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DARKFiB3R

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Odamex 0.5.1
« Reply #2 on: December 11, 2010, 09:17:00 AM »

17 years man, where did they go!?!?! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)
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Buzzcut

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Odamex 0.5.1
« Reply #3 on: December 11, 2010, 10:57:00 AM »

QUOTE(DARKFiB3R @ Dec 11 2010, 04:17 PM) *

17 years man, where did they go!?!?! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)


Still got many happy memories of multiplayer co-op in the Uni computer labs in '96.  

No way I could play an FPS without a mouse now though..
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Hyper_Eye

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Odamex 0.5.1
« Reply #4 on: December 11, 2010, 11:20:00 AM »

QUOTE(Buzzcut @ Dec 11 2010, 11:57 AM) *
No way I could play an FPS without a mouse now though..


Well you're in luck then because you can play Odamex on your Xbox with a mouse and keyboard. The only thing that is missing is the mouse wheel and I plan to add that to SDLx, and in affect Odamex, in the near future.
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Hyper_Eye

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Odamex 0.5.1
« Reply #5 on: December 11, 2010, 11:37:00 AM »

Some people might notice 2 Thumbs.db files and wonder what their purpose is. KDE (a *nix desktop) automatically generates these if a folder has images in it and I packaged the folder up without noticing them. They are minuscule in size and they don't hurt anything but you can feel free to discard them. I will be more careful next time.
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XDelusion

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Odamex 0.5.1
« Reply #6 on: December 11, 2010, 09:37:00 PM »

Hyper: Thank you so much for all your work, I knot we've not talked before as I've been absent from these forums in the past few years, but I have heard about you and your work somewhere on IRC and have been meaning to get in touch.

Back when the XBOX scene was busy with activity, I had been waiting for an advanced DOOM port to come along.

We had DOOM Legacy, but the original authors of the PC project got busy and could not keep it updated, so naturally the XBOX Legacy port fell to the wayside as well.

We also have DOOMX, which while a great port, does not support any of the BOOM features which give classic doom that extra little kick it needed, and which I rely upon for my Star Wars total conversion.

I had pretty much given up all hope of seeing BOOM or anything related on the XBOX, or any other console for that matter as it seems that every time someone had began a port for the Nintendo DS, Wii or what have you, that they abandoned their work and left many important features broken or incompatible with modern software hacks, flash cards, or what have you. And if was not that, then the controls often times sucked...
...quite the opposite of your amazing efforts!

 And then there was Odamex. A port I'd really not kept up with, but heard it was really great. It was not until recently that I looked into it, and boy was I surprised. All this time I thought it was another vanilla DOOM based project that went on-line, and I come to find that it not only support BOOM and MBF, but also classic ZDOOM features! Granted there are a few bugs, like I can shoot through walls that I tell the engine not to allow me to shoot through, and I do have had issues getting my server to show up in the list, but that aside, it's been a great environment to work with, and it is more exciting for the fact that you have dedicated your self to keeping it up to date on the XBOX.



 Now I have heard that you were working on a port of this for the Wii? Is there any truth behind this? I would be most interested to see it running on there, and I'm also preparing to start a bounty to attempt to get this ported to Amiga related OS environments such as AROS and MorphOS.

 As I stated, I have a Star Wars (in vein of Dark Forces) project that I've been putting together for the past 10 years. Granted I've been learning the ins and outs of DOOM editing during this time, and have also scrapped a lot of old work as my project was forced to switch engines and focus do to the changes within the scene itself, though I've still got a lot accomplished, and am nearing a demo release that I can be proud of.
So as you can see, I'm eager to see it running on the XBOX when I've finally got it all polished off and done. Thus far I have had zero issues running my work with your port, aside of the bugs mentioned above, but I've also found them on the PC version as well, so I know they're no a fault on your end.



Man these are exciting times!!! Thankx again!

This post has been edited by XDelusion: Dec 12 2010, 05:46 AM
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supmax

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Odamex 0.5.1
« Reply #7 on: December 12, 2010, 12:30:00 PM »

Great Work thanks for releasing this! Cant wait to try it
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ryknow27

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Odamex 0.5.1
« Reply #8 on: December 12, 2010, 12:40:00 PM »

Awsome, thanks!
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iwanttheagrocrag

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Odamex 0.5.1
« Reply #9 on: December 12, 2010, 05:16:00 PM »

I love the chat macros and the mouse and keyboard option as well as some others. Great work @Hyper_Eye if I was a DOOM dev seeing the love for this game is still around so much that's its being updated 17 years later, I'd be damn proud. This game still is awe-some to this day.
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shtewps

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« Reply #10 on: December 12, 2010, 08:27:00 PM »

0 players online? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)
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Hyper_Eye

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« Reply #11 on: December 13, 2010, 12:23:00 PM »

QUOTE(XDelusion @ Dec 11 2010, 10:37 PM) *

Hyper: Thank you so much for all your work, I knot we've not talked before as I've been absent from these forums in the past few years, but I have heard about you and your work somewhere on IRC and have been meaning to get in touch.

Back when the XBOX scene was busy with activity, I had been waiting for an advanced DOOM port to come along.

We had DOOM Legacy, but the original authors of the PC project got busy and could not keep it updated, so naturally the XBOX Legacy port fell to the wayside as well.

We also have DOOMX, which while a great port, does not support any of the BOOM features which give classic doom that extra little kick it needed, and which I rely upon for my Star Wars total conversion.

I had pretty much given up all hope of seeing BOOM or anything related on the XBOX, or any other console for that matter as it seems that every time someone had began a port for the Nintendo DS, Wii or what have you, that they abandoned their work and left many important features broken or incompatible with modern software hacks, flash cards, or what have you. And if was not that, then the controls often times sucked...
...quite the opposite of your amazing efforts!

 And then there was Odamex. A port I'd really not kept up with, but heard it was really great. It was not until recently that I looked into it, and boy was I surprised. All this time I thought it was another vanilla DOOM based project that went on-line, and I come to find that it not only support BOOM and MBF, but also classic ZDOOM features! Granted there are a few bugs, like I can shoot through walls that I tell the engine not to allow me to shoot through, and I do have had issues getting my server to show up in the list, but that aside, it's been a great environment to work with, and it is more exciting for the fact that you have dedicated your self to keeping it up to date on the XBOX.


I am glad Odamex has the features you have been looking for. I put a lot of thought into how I wanted to approach joystick support and my main goal was to develop a good platform-independent implementation, provide the same customization options other input devices have, and provide a good default controller scheme on Xbox. Obviously I can't finely tune a PC controller scheme the same way as you only have a generic idea of what to expect of the joystick that will be plugged in but consoles offer the opportunity to start with a great default.

QUOTE(XDelusion @ Dec 11 2010, 10:37 PM) *
Now I have heard that you were working on a port of this for the Wii? Is there any truth behind this?


I did start working on a port for the Wii. The last time I worked on it I was at the point of being able to successfully build a Wii bin. Unfortunately it does not yet play but I have succeeded in getting other projects going on the Wii so I am confident I can get this one going as well. I have no time line on it though and there are a lot of things on the todo list.

QUOTE(XDelusion @ Dec 11 2010, 10:37 PM) *
I would be most interested to see it running on there, and I'm also preparing to start a bounty to attempt to get this ported to Amiga related OS environments such as AROS and MorphOS.


I maintain the Mac OS X project files as well as work on bugs on that platform an build the releases. I build universal bins on that platform meaning they are both ppc and x86 native. All of my servers (Huntsvegas servers) run on PPC Linux. My main desktop is Gentoo amd64. Odamex has been ported to many platforms and architectures including BSD's, Solaris, Irix64 (64-bit mips), arm, etc. If the platform supports SDL and SDL Mixer you should be able to build Odamex. I did see your threads on morphzone.org and amiga.org a few months ago. I wish you luck in that endeavor. Let us know how it goes so we can add to the list of confirmed platforms.

QUOTE(XDelusion @ Dec 11 2010, 10:37 PM) *
As I stated, I have a Star Wars (in vein of Dark Forces) project that I've been putting together for the past 10 years. Granted I've been learning the ins and outs of DOOM editing during this time, and have also scrapped a lot of old work as my project was forced to switch engines and focus do to the changes within the scene itself, though I've still got a lot accomplished, and am nearing a demo release that I can be proud of.


I have seen your posts on the Odamex message boards. I do not know enough about map editing to be of great help with the issues you are working through and I know that forum is very slow (since people almost never post on it.) I hope you are finding your way through the issues. It really helps for projects to target Odamex because it encourages people to use the originally targetted engine. Getting Odamex regulars is really what we need at this point as the server list being empty of players is what really turns people away at the moment imo.

QUOTE(XDelusion @ Dec 11 2010, 10:37 PM) *
So as you can see, I'm eager to see it running on the XBOX when I've finally got it all polished off and done. Thus far I have had zero issues running my work with your port, aside of the bugs mentioned above, but I've also found them on the PC version as well, so I know they're no a fault on your end.
Man these are exciting times!!! Thankx again!


Please report any bugs you experienced on our bug tracker. The bug tracker really guides our development. Thanks for your support and thank you for being excited about Odamex!
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Hyper_Eye

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« Reply #12 on: December 13, 2010, 12:35:00 PM »

QUOTE(iwanttheagrocrag @ Dec 12 2010, 06:16 PM) *

I love the chat macros and the mouse and keyboard option as well as some others. Great work @Hyper_Eye if I was a DOOM dev seeing the love for this game is still around so much that's its being updated 17 years later, I'd be damn proud. This game still is awe-some to this day.


I thought that the way chat macros turned out was pretty cool myself. I'm glad you like it.

QUOTE(shtewps @ Dec 12 2010, 09:27 PM) *

0 players online? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)


Odamex is a growing port. Unlike older and less open ports that have hardened their position within the community, Odamex does not have a large enough playerbase to have constant online activity. Unfortunately it is a circular problem. People aren't willing to join servers because nobody is playing on any servers. Obviously if people joined a server every time they checked the list, regardless of whether any games were active, there would be a lot more games and that would eventually result in a growing dedicated playerbase. It is a difficult process and can be particularly frustrating for the developers that spend so much time working on it without seeing the results in a sustained playerbase but we are in it for the long haul and we know that Odamex is the future for online Doom.

Once a match gets started people do quickly join in. I waited in a server for a couple of minutes last night and before I knew it there were 6 other people playing a great FFA match. I stayed in there for a good hour and a half. So joining a good server and waiting a little while can yield good results. Your chances also go up a lot if you jump into our irc channel (#odamex on irc.oftc.net) and just let people know you are interested in a game.

I put together a multiplayer map pack that contains all the wads in use by the servers currently online (no commercial wads are included of course.) With this pack you should be able to join any of the servers without having to download anything. The pack should be uploaded to emuxtras.net sometime today.

This post has been edited by Hyper_Eye: Dec 13 2010, 08:36 PM
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XDelusion

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« Reply #13 on: December 14, 2010, 01:06:00 PM »

Hyper: I'm very glad to hear back from you, and yes, you did a great thing with the Joystick support! I don't believe I could ask for a smoother, and more professional control system than what you have provided on the XBOX.
I've only tested the controls briefly on the PC, but I have a crappy Logitech stick with it's loose PS2 style analog sticks, so I don't want to make any judgments till I can afford a 360 controller to test it out with, though I will say that even with the crappy Logitech stick, things are looking promising!

In regards to Odamex having the features I need...

 Well here is the deal. I originally started this project with DOOM Legacy in mind. I don't know what it was about that port, but I loved it a lot and at the time thought it would be around forever. As fate would have it, the primary author of the project got hired up by one of the major game design companies from what I recall and the rest of the team didn't seem to have the time or know how to keep Legacy up to date, let alone implement all the features that were left unfinished or in beta stages.
 I then began to despair, that is until GzDOOM came out! It had some of the features of Legacy, mixed with all the features of ZDOOM, but with 3D acceleration! If there is something that GzDOOM can not do, I'm unaware of it. I believe I had it cooking breakfast in bed for me the other day....

Seriously though, GzDOOM shook my world and got me really excited, but the downfall was that I was going to have to learn a new scripting system as well as how to edit DOOM in ZDOOM - DOOM in HEXEN mode as opposed to merely editing for DOOM which is obviously a lot simpler due to the lack of extended features.

 Well I began with that, and was making some headway, when I began to hear all these rumor of PrBOOM being ported to the Dreamcast, and other systems. It was then that I looked more in depth as to what PrBOOM could do as I knew I used some of it's features in Legacy.
 To my surprise there were not many BOOM centric WADs in the community being made for BOOM, yet it had enough features to pretty much create a TC for DOOM that would not be recognizable as DOOM.
The only down side is that I would need to use DOOM2 as my base so I could have access to all the extra Items such as the Enemies and Weapons that were not present in Ultimate DOOM. This of course would result in the sacrifice of intermission screens, thus crippling my ability for story tellings between levels, which is kind of an important feature to have when creating something within the Star Wars universe. I mean after all I don't want to just make a game where I run as fast as I can to the end of the level, blasting as many Star Wars related characters as I can. That would have no rhyme or reason as far as I'm concerned, which, I'm sure has a lot to do with why Lucas Arts designed their own game engine for Dark Forces, rather than license the DOOM source from ID Software.


 As fate would have it, none of the guys behind the Dreamcast, DS, Wii, AROS, MorphOS, BeOS/Haiku ports seemed to have any love for their work, but rather viewed DOOM as one of those classic Pac-Man titles that they would just port real quick as an experiment.

Granted, I have spoke to the author of the latest port of DOOM for the Dreamcast which came out less than a year ago, and he had expressed interest in my project and state that he intends to port PrBOOM to the Dreamcast still, but we've not spoken in a minute.

To make a long story short, DOOM, especially PrBOOM has gotten no love, but while I had hopes that it would, I began to adapt my project from to focus on BOOM, figuring I'd be able to play it on about any OS or console out there. As for the story line, I figured I could compensate by using the SWANTBLS tool to create new animated textures which would feature the head shots of people you were speaking to on your ship or what ever, and next to the head shot, text would scroll relaying missions, details as to what is going on, etc.
Something I've not seen done in BOOM as of yet.

 And then comes Odamex to ruin my day. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Not only does Odamex seem to be on nearly every OS out there (except the ones I truly love Haiku and Amiga), but it is also on the XBOX, and now I understand the Wii some day too! More than that, it also has most the features I had been using for my PrBOOM project, but with a few new features added form the old ZDOOM source which will compensate for those BOOM or MBF features that may be broken.
As an extra boon, I should have no problems what so ever telling a story within the game thankx to MapInfo and the ACS scripting language. I'll also be able to make more than one type of door, and once I get SNDINFO and ACS figured out, I should have access to a total of 64 Ambient sounds and or sounds to momentarily trigger within game!!!!!!!!!!!

Dude, I can't tell you how awesome this truly is!!!

Needless to say I have been trying to make more and more time for the project as this port has totally renewed my interest, not to mention the positive feed back from those who I've let beta test my work.


Now that I have heard you state officially that a Wii port is on the way (some day) I have not reservations about dropping the DOOM/PrBOOM mapping format and going to DOOM - in DOOM Hexen mode entirely! The only sad thing is that now I have more features that I know what to do with (like GzDOOM), which makes being creative hard at times. For what ever reason, I work better when my options are limited, but I'll try to keep it basic and not try to learn more features than I'm ready to practically implement into my game.

 Now one thing that does discourage me is the fact that I've really no clue as to what Odamex's features are. I mean I know it has BOOM support to one degree or another, which means MBF support to one degree or another. And I know it is based off of ZDOOM 1.22 and has implemented some of it's features, but I never used ZDOOM back then, at least not as a game designer, so I don't know what all is out there for me to use, and what of ZDOOM came out after 1.22 and is no longer used.
One thing Odamex could go for is it's own game configuration in DOOM Builder 2, this way the features that it CAN USE would be clearly defined.
I also saw that the team is asking for help with the Wiki, which is another thing Odamex needs hard core for those people such as my self that need to get familiarized with how to pull off the latest tricks within the engine. Who knows, maybe that is something that I could help with, using the knowledge that I do have.

As for the bug tracker, I'm going to get connected with that here today. In fact I intend to be as helpful with the project as I can be, and would be more than happy to report bugs as I find them.

Now as for the future of Odamex, I believe it has a high chance of dominating the DOOM on-line scene, not just for the fact that it's turning out to be some great code full of features, but also for the fact that it's on about everything. The fact that you're keeping the source focused on both x86 and PPC only make the possibility of it getting ported to more platforms and OS's more hopeful!

Now I just hope that  my project turns out as good as I and my beta testers feel it is, and that it helps to draw a larger crowd to Odamex.

I will say though that I have not designed any maps with Death Match or Capture the Flag in mind. Most the games I play (with the exception of Quake III), are Single Player or Co-Op, so that is the road I'm going to stick with, though I'm hoping that once my base WAD has more of the textures, and sprites completed, that I could encourage some of the people from the DOOM community to design some DM and or CTF maps to include with my project.




Anyhow, I've written a book, so I must close this message and get back to what I was doing...

...trying to resolve those issues that no one seems to be able to help me with in the Odamex forum. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)
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law56ker

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Odamex 0.5.1
« Reply #14 on: December 18, 2010, 10:23:00 PM »

Hey Xdelusion nice to see you around I remember you from the dreamcast forums and also these xbox forums. Seems the dreamcast scene is pretty much dead which is sad, it's what got me into emulation in the first-place.

Hyper thanks for this awesome update to an already great addition to the xbox gaming community, I love doom and I love being able customize it and play all the great levels and mods the gaming community has made.

Odamex is an amazing and easy to use program to play doom. I'm excited to see how it evolves in the future.
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