Spear of Destiny: Acquiring the Spear on any level besides 18 triggers the end of level/loading next level sequence

[Jasyn Lewis]

Hey there!

I am using ECWolf 1.3.3 (x64) and I’ve been designing a small six-level pack for Spear of Destiny. I placed the spear on floor 5 with the intent on it transitioning the player to floor 21 upon collection (just like it does in the original game on floor 18). However, in ECWolf I have discovered that when you collect the Spear on a level other than 18, while it DOES still take you to level 21, it first triggers the usual end of level stats and then the loading screen for the next level instead of the “unannounced” transition it should do. I have tried my map file in the original DOS version of SoD and the transition from level 5 to 21 is seamless (skipping the end of level/loading screens), just as if it were from level 18.

Is this something that can be fixed in a future build of ECWolf? It’s not the end of the world but it definitely messes with the level-design I was planning out.

Thank you so much. ECWolf is an absolutely fantastic port!

[Braden Obrzut]

Now that you mention it, I’m not sure why I thought the solution I have would be enough. In any case for your specific mod if you add “nointermission” to MAPINFO for the map with the Spear you should get what you want.

I can’t tell if you’re doing a vanilla map set or an ECWolf specific one, but if vanilla compatible remember that you can put an ecwolf.sod file inside your zip archive which can be a pk3 containing the mapinfo.

This is indeed a bug, just giving you suggestions on how you can work around it.

[Jasyn Lewis]

Ah, thank you so much! I will try that. I’m not 100% sure how that’s done (I have not yet made an addon specifically for ECWolf) but I am sure I can figure it out.

As for my map set, it generally works in both ECWolf and Vanilla DOS (I have to remove a few objects here and there for the DOS version). But the issue doesn’t actually occur in the DOS one.

Thanks again for this info. This is great!

[Braden Obrzut]

Essentially all you need to do is zip up a mapinfo.txt that contains this block of code https://bitbucket.org/ecwolf/ecwolf/src/afbb0e669c44a148eea80ce7108d826ba2d839c9/wadsrc/static/mapinfo/spear.txt#lines-257 with a line that reads nointermission added to it. Rename that zip to ecwolf.sod and then when you drag and drop a zip containing your gamemaps.sod/maphead.sod and ecwolf.sod together ECWolf will know what to do. (While working on your mod outside of a zip file obviously you’ll need to load ecwolf.sod manually. You can even just load your mapinfo.txt directly since you don’t have any other scripts.)

If the final version of your mod isn’t going to be compatible with Wolf4SDL or DOS then of course I’d recommend making a proper PK3. WDC and HWE have the ability to export your maps into the wad format which can go in the maps/ directory of your zip file.

Not that you asked, but as a side note if you want to add map names for display on ECWolf’s automap you have a few options. You can create a language.enu and change the strings there: https://bitbucket.org/ecwolf/ecwolf/src/afbb0e669c44a148eea80ce7108d826ba2d839c9/wadsrc/static/language.enu#lines-215 Alternatively you can copy the definitions for all of the relevant maps and put the string there (just remove the lookup keyword). Or remove both the lookup keyword and the string after and ECWolf will use the 16 character string in gamemaps.

[Jasyn Lewis]

I can’t thank you enough for that. I’ll try it first chance I get!