CQscreenies

Here are some comparison shots between Chex Quest Phase I and the work currently in progress:
(Warning: Lots of Graphics = Slow Page Load)

Here is the diner (E2M1) with its sprites based stools.

Here is the Phase II diner with its 3D sector based stools, and a tile floor.
(Please note the box of Rice Chex at the far end of the counter)
The counter top has also been built out using one of Legacy's 3D sectors.

The walls of the diner were so thick, that I was able to add booth seating.

<<EDIT (February 5, '04): I've switched the old pic for a new one showing the new textures for the booths, and the new windows (with translucent textures for glass). Outer walls have been constructed for the hangar outside, which can also be seen. There is no new flat for the tops of the seats yet in this shot. The upholstery on the seats may have to be changed to dark grey in order to match the stools.>>

The hangar (E1M1)

The changes made here for phase II are subtle. I have built out the baseboards at the bottoms of the walls, and the siding at the tops of the walls. There are even 3D sectors up there. It doesn't look much different, but does increase the feeling of depth. That funny pale line at the bottom of the baseboard is actually Legacy's openGL mode attempting to anti alias the bottom of the texture with the top of itself. The Legacy team is working to fix the problem.

Art Gallery.
Some slight changes to the Art Gallery level (E2M3). More paintings, fossils, and signage will be added in the near future.

Eat your Chex!

Switching the original Chex Quest levels over from the original DooM engine to DooM Legacy created some slight problems in the laboratory level (E1M3). The Legacy team has given some of the DooM items partial transparency, and given coronae (plural of corona) to others. Unfortunately, these changes do not benefit the Chex Quest items that happen to replace DooM items that either glow, or have become see through. On the left, you can see two victims of this problem. Personally, I would tend to avoid flasks that are glowing, and although the transparency looks good on the liquid in the beaker, the transparency on the Bunsen burner is just plain wrong.

On the right, you can see that I have changed the flask to a non glowing item, and the beaker with Bunsen burner is now two different things. One thing is the original translucent item, which gives us the liquid, an the other thing is is opaque, for the Bunsen burner and the outline of the beaker. The second thing also has dynamic lighting that simulates the light cast from the burner's flame.

Every time I enter the Museum level (E1M3 of Chex Quest 2 / E2M3 of TUCQ) I cannot help but ask myself two things: 1.) How the heck did I get into this small enclosed courtyard? Did I fly? and 2.) If the museum is so tall that I have to run up three flights of stairs to reach the main gallery, and that gallery is itself over two stories tall, why in heaven's name can't I see it from this one story courtyard?

Something is definitely wrong here.

Ah! There is is!

I opened up the area around the courtyard, and built a way in Presumably, the player got in via the gate on the one side of the courtyard, which has, unfortunately, locked behind him, forcing him to play through the level, instead of running away down the boulevard like a coward.

Although it does not have any textures yet, I have constructed the outside wall of the museum. It is meant to take on the look of a 19th century museum, hence the large cornice on the roof line. The outer wall is only 24 pixels taller than the ceiling height of the main gallery, which merely accounts for the thickness of the roof, so this really is how tall the museum is supposed to be.

Another shot of the original version of the courtyard. The texture for the wall does not tile well. You can easily see a line of demarcation where one side of the texture ends and the other begins. The narrow texture also repeats too much.

Also, since the player starts next to that very wall, one really has to ask how the heck he got there.

In the phase II version, the east wall of the courtyard has been opened up, with a boulevard extending away. To keep game play the same, the way out has been blocked by a gate (There no texture for it yet), which has been made up out of Standard DooM lowers, plus Legacy's 3D sectors. The texture for the walls has been extended from 64 pixels wide to 256 pixels wide, and repainted so as to make it tile better, and reduce the frequent repetition. The bases and crowns of the walls have been built out, as they were in E1M1 (see above). It may be subtle, but it adds a lot of extra depth to the scene.

Here is the stairway leading up to the main gallery of the museum. It's so plain, isn't it. The height of the ceilings are kind of low at the top each flight of steps too. Don't bump your head!

BTW: That ugly red ceiling has got to go!

The ceiling height has been raised, the red ceiling has been replaced with a tan stucco ceiling that goes better with the walls, and some sconced lighting fixtures have been added, which actually cast light in openGL mode, for a much warmer and brighter look.

BTW: Please note that I have changed Legacy's HUD icons for armour and ammo to more Chex appropriate icons.

Some girders for internal structure, and some corrugated steel textures, make the hangars on E2M1 look a lot more like real hangars.

Just a few trusses along the ceiling, some lights, and a better looking set of flats for the floor, and this baby ought to be looking real good!

An improved version of the teleporters on E1M2. The pads are recessed into the platforms, and a Heretic style rising glitter effect has been added.

A non-functioning teleporter. The player starts here on E1M2.

These storage cabinets have been built out from the wall using Legacy's 3D sectors, giving them more depth than they had as just flat wall textures. For comparison, please note the glass cabinet towards the right of the picture, which has not been built out yet.

One of the rooms on E1M3 with some rather unconvincing looking tables, and glowing flasks.

The same room in its current state for phase II.

The largest landing bay (Bay 1) before alteration. This bay is sunken down below the level of the rest of the structures in this level, but does not compensate for the change in height along its north and west walls. A problem with this is that it means the adjoining structures are taller on the inside than they are on the outside. Not only can you not do this in real life, due to those darned laws of physics, but you can't due it in DooM Legacy either, because of the Legacy's openGL ceiling "bug". If you look above the door, and the observation window, you can see the ceilings of those adjacent structures floating mysteriously in the sky. Not good.

Also note the flat used for the floors in this level. The flat fades towards its edge, and doesn't tile very well. I have heard this flat referred to as the "mouldy carpet" flat by a few people, because the overall look it gives it the appearance of a piece of old worn out carpet.

Bay 1 after alteration. The heights of the walls on the north and west sides have been raised in order to agree with the size of the adjacent structures. Additional walls have been build around other sections of the map that might possibly trigger the ceiling "bug". The crowns and bases have been built out, just as they have been throughout this level, although it may be difficult to see the difference at this distance. The size of the observation window has been increased, and the flat has been edited so that it tiles better, and no longer has that "mouldy carpet" look. This section of E1M1 was probably the most difficult area I have had to edit for TUCQ so far, due to the complexities of setting up the sectors in the regions where shorter and taller walls meet.

Me and a couple of bots go for a swim on E1M3.

A 3D hydraulic lift on E2M1. A 3D sector based switch box that lowers the lift is to its right. Another switch box, also made out of 3D sectors is perched atop the lift platform itself

Another view of the lift, lowered this time.

The Arboretum on E1M4. With no sunlight and no electrical lights in this room, how do these trees manage to grow?

The phase II version of the arboretum is set up as a greenhouse. Now we know where the trees get their sunlight from. The glass is simulated with Legacy's translucent texture line type for the wall, and a translucent 3D sector for the ceiling.

The pond now has a sloping bottom, and 3D water inside. Some lilies are growing in the water at the edge of the pond.

There are approximately 800 lindefs showing in this screen shot, as opposed to 30 or 40 in the older version.

Here is another improvement to the look of the teleporters. The bad news is that it can only be seen in opengl mode.

DooM Legacy allows for flats that are larger than the standard 64 × 64 pixel flats used by DooM.
I used this feature extensively in E1M3 to create matching ceilings for the "steel plate" motif used throughout the level.
Twenty-eight 128 × 128 pixel flats were created for this job.

All the pick up messages, death messages, and exit messages , save one I liked, have been changed from their
original DooMish versions to the appropriate Chex Quest versions. This is the first time anyone has ever
successfully changed the Legacy Death messages (i.e. Boingo was shot by a possessed, Boingo was fried by an
imp) or the exit messages (Don't leave -- there's more demons to toast!) to something else.