DescentBB

Yes, I finally have reached Level 26 of the *great* TEW - so much fun!!

I destroyed nearly all bots and explored all rooms but one: I just can´t reach the hostages
- the room can be reached only via a tunnel from the next room to the right
- that tunnel is opened by a switch *in* the closed room
- you can see the switch from the central area but there´s \"glass\" between you and it (no grate you could shoot through!)
- between the two rooms there is a wall with two openings which aren´t penetrable by any shots or rockets (tried all of them and _none_ passes)

It seems to me like I ought to shoot a Guided Missile through these openings or the \"glass\"-wall and shoot the switch; tunnel opens; rescue hostages - fine.
But I can´t shoot through

For reference:
- tunnel-openings: cubes 522,4 and 523,4
- operated by switch: cube 532,4 (trigger #1)
- impenetrable \"glass\": between cubes 476 and 304
- impenetrable openings: between cubes 525 and 535 (texture \"metl086\")

Need help!
Thank you!

hori wrote:It seems to me like I ought to shoot a Guided Missile through these openings or the "glass"-wall and shoot the switch; tunnel opens; rescue hostages - fine.

That's right. Something's wrong with your D2 version if that doesn't work.

Solved!

It was a problem with the HiRes-texture-file \"metl086.tga\".

Now that I knew this was not by design I checked the following:
- updated from v1.14.27 to v1.14.34 - problem exists in both versions.
- what else was non-standard? HiRes-textures!

Deleting the file \"textures\\metl086.tga\" did the trick.
Now the opening doesn´t appear white and closed any more but is see-through shoot-through as expected:


Many thanks!

D'oh. Yeah, I might actually remember that problem. Someone made a mistake when creating the hi-res version of that texture I think.

That's it. I'm surprised no-one's spotted that before, actually; surely someone else with high-res textures has got to that bit.

well, you're almost near the end anyway. Hope things work out and maybe try taking on the challenge level! XD

done:

- rescued those hostages
- finished the final boss
- found the secret exit
- cleared the challenge level

- had a very great time doing so

Again:
Thanks to you TEW-guys for this masterpiece.
Thank you very much indeed!

Did you ever find all the other secret levels? At levels 4, 8, 15, 19, and 21? I don't count the challenge level as a secret level since you don't really 'earn' anything from it that'll benefit you later in the missions since its the last level technically, in the mission.
But you're welcome for a great play experience. Now try it on the next higher skill level! XD

Yes, I did a 100% play-through:

- 100% hostages rescued
- 100% robots destroyed
- 100% secrets found, esp. all secret levels
(I like the \"having seen all of the game\"-feeling...)

Yet I have to admit that I made my life easier in three ways:
- I am a huge friend of save´n´load so I never really died - and now I have a whopping 138 lives left
- I used D2X-XL with its superior automap showing you the position of the robots
- I deactivated the Thiefbot. I CONFESS! I ADMIT IT! Come on, flame me!

Some of my impressions:
- level 1 \"Itdak'maz Outpost\" was *extremely* hard since you don´t have any powerful and fast-travelling weapons to fight the very mobile little Angler-bots with their light vulcan
- I enjoyed levels 3 \"Pinhead\" and 9 \"Into The Deep\" for their very unique design
- level 4 \"Through broken Skies\" was very impressive: I liked the D3-style parts of the mine and was dumbfounded by its sheer size!
- level 20: the hardest of the bosses imho
- level 21 \"Loop de Swoop\", though very cool, got a bit tedious since you have to travel miles and miles and miles...
- I really enjoyed clearing level 23 \"A Road That Leads\" for I quite liked the cavern-design; it even felt like playing Doom or Quake a bit
- finding a way to clear level 26 \"The Sunspire\" was very tricky - and very rewarding; but I found the final boss quite easy to destroy...?
- all secret levels were very cool, but my favourite is secret 3 \"Here and There\" for its *extreme* non-linearity
- I didn´t like secret 4 very much: the level itself is as cool as all your work but I´m just no friend of one-time-doors and one-way-corridors

Since I did a teeny-weeny-itsy-bitsy-tiny little bit of Descent-level-editing myself back in the time between D1 and D2 (with \"DEVIL\", the \"Descent Editor for Vertices, Items and Levels\") I am just staggered by the amount of work you did, the imagination the love to detail you showed and - most of all - the feeling for balance you have proven.

Wow.

The thiefbot; you either love it or hate it. This level set has the dubious honour of being the reason that feature was put into the game...

was secret level 4 the one where you blasted the reactor and had to run through the rest of the level getting stuff and solving puzzles? Yeah, that one is a bit hectic. You basically pick a route and you're kinda stuck with it...HOWEVER! There is a section where you can cross over to the other route halfway through, but the initial room on the other route is still blocked off to you. And that could mean the difference between an extra life or two or some megas.

Yes, thats the one.

I destroyed all bots in the initial rooms on both sides (through the door) before picking one side to proceed - so I got 100% of the robots.
Yet it still nagged me to have to leave some nice stuff (2 megs, 1 life) behind because of the one-way-doors

But since this is a secret level I am completely ok with this as normal \"rules\" of gameplay don´t apply there.

Still TEW proved to be enjoyably fair all the time:
- (nearly) no one-time-switched-doors
- no walls popping up behind you
- a fullmap in every level
- no robots immediately after entering a level
- no levels without an energy-center
- etc.

A masterpiece!

Concerning the Thiefbot:

I quite liked the idea of the Thief back when D2 was released and enjoyed the hunting until I reached Secret Level 2.

Due to a bug (?) or a savegame-error (?) or a catastrophic level-design-mistake (?) there were unlimited Thiefs there!
I destroyed one - another one appeared.
And on and on and on...

This was the worst-case for me since I absolutely hate unlimitedly spawning enemies in a game - can´t get 100% there
I got tired after having shot about 50 or so (I suspected a mechanism like the bot-generators behind all this - not an endless number of bots but 3x5, perhaps twice or three times or so).

Since this level I loath the Thief

Does anyone know if this behaviour of D2´s Secret Level 2 was a bug or by design?

Was secret level 3, and it looks intentional; the thief is specifically hard-coded to respawn when destroyed on a secret level. Doesn't appear to be mission-dependent either.

P.S. It also doesn't respawn immediately - it is 10 seconds after you destroy it. If you're feeling adventurous you could try returning from the secret level during that grace period; if you're lucky that will permanently kill it. If you aren't, it'll crash the game. But whatever, worth a try isn't it?