DF-21 Forums

[lucius]

Post on the DarkXL Blog

DarkXL Build 9.08 has finally been released! This release features a lot of work on getting most of the remaining enemies in the game as well as resolving most of the INF issues. With these changes, you can now play through every level in the game and even get to the final boss battle with Mohc. The final battle doesn’t play out right and you may have to cheat to actually finish the game, but that will come in the next build. A variety of things went into this build in order to get to this point:

*3DO Texture fixes – now most 3DO’s are textured correctly, included 3DO bridges.
*Shoot switches now work correctly.
*Due to INF fixes, things like Force Fields now work correctly.
*Magnetically Sealed Rooms now work (rooms that cause blaster bolts to be reflected off the walls).
*Land Mines now work (though the explosion radius seems too big still).
*Exploding walls work.
*Dynamically switching adjoins now work.
*Stop delays of less then 1 second are now supported, fixing many areas with strobing lights and texture animation.
*Non-Player objects now honor second heights properly.
*Order of loading issues fixed, which fixes issues with objects being assigned to the wrong sectors in some cases.
*Teleport Chutes implemented.
*Secret tracking, the proper percentage of found secrets is now displayed in your PDA.
*Most enemies are now implemented.
*First pass (incomplete) Dark Trooper (Phase 1, 2 and 3) AI and Boba Fett AI. These will be finished next build but are in so the levels are completable.
*Boss elevators work correctly.
*Fixed jumping/falling so that you can jump onto very skinny ledges (needed for the Arc Hammer)
*Implemented Damage Floors, Walls and Gas.
*Implemented the Gas Mask.
*All Briefing screens now render correctly.
*A lot of INF fixes (too numerous to list).
*All levels completable (except maybe the last boss – this is glitchy still).

Despite the length of this list, most of the time was spent working on INF. There are still some rendering glitches, AI needs refinement and various bugs – but this is a large step towards Beta. Note that in the Imperial City, ending the level is a little confusing due to the simplistic Boba Fett AI. Normally you would beat him then go into the start sector and end the level. Right now, since he never leaves the start sector, when you beat him you actually have to back track a little then re-enter the final sector to complete the level. In the Executor level, moving the cargo unit to the end looks a little weird – it doesn’t render properly until after you hit the first switch and there are some visual glitches – but it works correctly and the level ends properly. Finally the puzzle near the end of the Arc Hammer doesn’t quite look right, but it works correctly. And as I’ve already stated, the final battle is glitchy, so you might have to cheat through the last doors in the level to finally beat it. So it’s not perfect, but I will be dealing with these problems and others in the next build.

Also, remember – using the Plasma Cutter will crash the game. Sorry, this too will be fixed next build.

The next build will see AI refinements (and completion in the case of the bosses), the rest of the weapons implemented, remaining level issues tackled and the last few logics implemented. As of the next build (9.09), DarkXL will be almost feature complete – as far as what is needed to play vanilla Dark Forces (of course other features will follow as I’ll discuss in the future). The following build (10.0) will be the first Beta and should be a complete replacement for vanilla Dark Forces as far as playing the original game. Builds beyond that will start fixing issues with user mods – until everything works correctly.

The Future of DarkXL
Beyond the Beta, DarkXL has a bright future. In addition to fixing bugs, making improvements needed for user mods to work correctly – past and future, and in general preparing for the Release Candidate there are other things in the pipe.

Once Beta is released, I will start working on the built-in level editor again. I will also start adding Outlaws level support, as well as adding the additional functionality found in the Outlaws version of the Jedi Engine to DarkXL – including slopes, double adjoins, vertical adjoins, per-sector gravity and so on. In addition to making these features available for DarkXL modding, it will also pave the way for Outlaws support. DarkXL will become a multi-game engine (“port”) similar to projects like ZDoom, Doomsday and so on. In order to support Outlaws and to add new interest in Dark Forces, I will also be adding full multiplayer support for both games – including new game modes. There is a third, suprise, game I’m planning on adding support for – though I won’t mention it here yet.

Anyway, to get the latest build go the downloads page.

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DarkXL....http://darkxl.wordpress.com

[Marley]

RAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Fisrt Can't wait to get home.

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*ZaP*

[Dreadopp]

Awesome stuff, Lucius!

[Burning Gundam]

NICE! Too bad I have to leave for work in a half hour or I would check this out.

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I don't think outside the box... I customize it.

[BlazingPhoenix]

This is awesome! I can't wait to try it.
Edit: Huh, the music is quieter than normal. :S

[Jimmy Chicken]

Just tried it! I was able to play through the entire game with minimal cheating. Awesome job lucius, this was well worth the wait.

[lucius]

[Ryuichi91]

Amazing Build Lucius, however I did run into some issues while playing.

1. Beating Gromas Mines and selecting "Next Mission" caused it to crash. Playing from Detention Center to Arc Hammer ran just fine.

2. The hallway to the 3rd sequencer charge's puzzle is isn't rendering correctly, making it harder to solve it.

3. Beating the Arc Hammer only shows the Credits scene rather than the ending scene.

Still playing this Build has put a smile on my face even with the little oddities still in.

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[Marley]

Played through last night - on Nar Shaddarr Detention Centre and Executor... Was great fun. Some bugs I saw (you're probably already aware of)

Bugs ;-

1. Crushing sector in the sewers on Detention centre doesn't inflict damage - also the water here doesn't seem to work properly (you don't sink into it) I assume these problems are maybe related? Also shots reflect off it (which looks pretty cool actually)

2. The hit map for Gamorreans is too small meaning they are hard to hit some times.

3. The forcefield sectors in Detention Centre don't render correctly when flashing (sorry can't be more specific, I can't remember how they looked and can't test now!)

4. The doors at the start of the executor didn't blow automatically when I went up to them - had to cheat.

5. Mines are way too powerful! (think you mentioned this)

6. The shuttle in Detention centre seems to run too fast - also the forefields seem to flicker too fast. Infact a lot of the inf seems to be running too fast. Will do some testing and try to be more specific.

7. The doors to the first group of cells in detention centre don't shut properly (they stick up from the floor a bit)

8. The mincing dark troopers made me lol

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*ZaP*

[lucius]

[Marley]

The game seems fine otherwise. The speed thing seems just to be the inf - I've only noticed it on the Shuttle in the det centre and the forcefields to be honest - I'll check some other things see how they work.

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*ZaP*

[tnoyce]

Lucius,

I haven't had a chance to play it much, though I see some definite improvements.

One minor annoyance.. Music still sometimes gets 'stuck' between tracks. Where the last note of the previous track will continue to play, along with the next one. I'm not certain if you've looked into it though..

Otherwise, looks really good. I'll keep playing, and let you know if I have any more problems.

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Tim Noyce

[Burning Gundam]

He said he was going to implement iMuse technology from the guys from ScummV at some point or another. I think it's the beta he was going to do that.

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I don't think outside the box... I customize it.

[lucius]

[BPzeBanshee]

Some things I noticed when playing:

Going into fullscreen mode suddenly seems to make me move slower for some reason (not game lag, it literally makes me slow on the floor tile I'm on). The movement of the guns is lessened by a lot too in fullscreen.

Also, in Secret Base, I swear the Red Key door opens and closes way too fast too quickly. Besides that I didn't notice anything that hasn't already been spoken of.

[ZOmegaZ]

Unless we're talking about two different sectors, the crushing sector in Detention worked fine for me. I died there twice. Water seemed to behave how I expected too.

I do have one problem. I start the game, bringing me to the loader screen. I set my graphics settings, I start the game. Works fine. Exit and restart, and I get a black screen. The only way around this seems to be to delete darkxl.cfg. I wonder if it has something to do with the fact that I'm running two monitors? Or two monitors of different resolutions?

[ZOmegaZ]

Oh, yes, and I couldn't use the IM mines or the mortor launcher, even once I picked them up. Buttons 7 and 8 just didn't seem to do anything.

[lucius]

[ZOmegaZ]

Just checked, fullscreen only.

[Ryuichi91]

Found another bug, Safe Spots used to respawn after you are killed don't move with any Elevators. Was going through the Arc Hammer and the elevator that leads to the final fights with the dark trooper, one of the Phase 2s killed me. I respawn only to see a HOM and hear Kyle screaming when he falls. I fall all the way done the elevator and die. Respawn and it happens again.

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[lucius]