New D2 Anarchy Level: Omnidoom Rebirth

[Najarati]

Hey folks, after 18 years I decided to finish some old business and redesign one of my earliest anarchy levels--Omnidoom. Yeah, I don't remember why I called it that, but since this is a recreation I'm keeping the name. It's certainly not the most cube-efficient level, not by a long shot, but it more closely resembles what I wanted to do with Omnidoom back in the day, but couldn't due to technical limitations (and proficiency at the time). Admittedly, I may have gone a bit crazy with the segments.

As the name implies, Omnidoom Rebirth is meant to run using Descent Rebirth since it exceeds the 900 segment limit by quite a margin.

Currently, I need seven other pilots to test the level at full capacity and to make sure I placed enough weapons. Level layout, lighting, texturing, and all that jazz is complete. If folks are interested, please post in this thread and I'll try and get things set up.

Below, you can see a screenshot of the level from the editor. Thanks.

[LightWolf]

Looks pretty sweet so far.
I wish I could help test, but due to various tech restrictions I can't.

You should re-redesign it to make it more cube-efficent.

[Alter-Fox]

I would love to help test if we find a time that works with my erratic work schedule.
Lol Lightwolf, if you're playing on Dosbox you can't really test multiplayer anyway.

[LightWolf]

I use Rebirth/XL, depending on what I'm testing/playing. I just can't get online MP working.

[Najarati]

I've not yet tried to do any multiplayer on D2x Rebirth so I've no idea if it works.

My schedule is somewhat flexible. I'm typically available on weekdays after 9 PM MST and on weekends.

Unfortunately, redesigning the level to be "cube efficient" would require starting from scratch, which I'm not prepared to do. The original level always had a compact and interconnected design so I don't want to move away from that. With the new version, one of my goals was to combine the original layout with "architecture" as it's a fun challenge to manage; I also never intended to stay below the original game's segment limit. I think I mostly succeeded on the architecture, though there are a couple places where D2x struggles to render all the cubes at once depending on where you look and at what place; thankfully, it's both brief and limited to the center lava room on the middle tier. Believe me, I had to make a few hard decisions on where to cut down on the amount of space visible at any given place. It used to be more open than what I have now.

[Sirius]

Are you aware of the Rangers' Mumble server? (You don't need to be a member to log on to it.) That's probably the best place to scrape together a few people to play - Big Rat gets his latest levels tested that way.

[Najarati]

Are you aware of the Rangers' Mumble server? (You don't need to be a member to log on to it.) That's probably the best place to scrape together a few people to play - Big Rat gets his latest levels tested that way.

I wasn't aware! I've been out of the Descent loop for a long while, plus I haven't used Mumble in years and even then it was only briefly. Where can I get the server name, port, and all that?

[Sirius]

Hmm. Scroll down to the "Meeting pilots, arranging games" section on this page - it probably explains the current scene better than I can alone
http://descentchampions.org/new_player.php

The actual Rangers site (comes with an auto-updating list of who's connected to the server and in what channel) is here: http://www.descentrangers.com

[Najarati]

Hmm. Scroll down to the "Meeting pilots, arranging games" section on this page - it probably explains the current scene better than I can alone
http://descentchampions.org/new_player.php

The actual Rangers site (comes with an auto-updating list of who's connected to the server and in what channel) is here: http://www.descentrangers.com

Thanks for the information, Sirius. I'll have to see what I can arrange. I was finally able to get my hosted games to show up on the Tracker (once I edited the D2 ini to use the correct tracker).

[Najarati]

Hey everyone,

After a lengthy hiatus, I finally finished Omnidoom Rebirth. I've lost count the number of hours I spent knocking this thing into shape, but it has reached a state with which I'm happy.

Note: Due to the sheer number of cubes visible in a few places, Descent Rebirth will show "black cubes" on occasion. I've tried to reduce this as best I can, but to eliminate it entirely would require an entire rework of the level, which I'm not prepared to do. On the other hand, Descent 2X-XL renders the level like a champ; it looks quite nice with the colored lighting.

You can grab the level here (Dropbox link): Omnidoom Rebirth v1.1.zip

Editor View:




Some in-game screenshots taken using D2X-XL:

[Xfing]

Holy moly man! Now that's some detail! Over 2500 cubes definitely allows you to make some extremely impressive-looking areas. This doesn't look any worse detail-wise than say, Quake 2. Too bad that working with such high cube counts is so time-consuming, and the original game doesn't even support them anyway. Thank goodness for Rebirth though.

[Najarati]

Holy moly man! Now that's some detail! Over 2500 cubes definitely allows you to make some extremely impressive-looking areas. This doesn't look any worse detail-wise than say, Quake 2. Too bad that working with such high cube counts is so time-consuming, and the original game doesn't even support them anyway. Thank goodness for Rebirth though.

Yeah, ODR is a beast; definitely wasn't designed with the original Descent 2 in mind. Even Descent 2 Rebirth, for which the level was originally intended, struggles with the central area--so many cubes causes some texture popping. As of now, D2X-XL offers the best experience.

I'm glad you like the detail. It's something I've always wanted to do since the early days of Descent 2 back in the mid 90's. That said, working with so many cubes at once is indeed a pain in the ass. That central lava fall area with the metal tube was the worst. Texturing everything is almost as bad. It becomes impossible to line everything up. Some stuff will just stay misaligned no matter what you do. You just have to decide what you're okay with.

Anyways, I released a new version (already). Some minor geometry corrections, texture changes, and texture alignment. I've replaced the old link above with the new one.

Enjoy!