BRUTAL HERETIC RPG (ZDL Edition) v6.5

[UncleRusty]

Also is there a console command to statically set either your level or manually add XP? I would like this as I'm playing around with the difficulty options, and don't want to necessarily start a whole new game just to bump up the difficulty. Thanks!

[ZDL_800]

Hello and hope you are good.

I've never heard of this aspect ratio and resolution before (32:9 5120x1440) That must be a very expensive display indeed.

I don't even know how I could test this out as I cannot render that aspect ratio? At the moment the aspect ratio goes to max 21:9 so I'm confused on how you got 32:9 as I haven't edited anything with these values it should work?

I just had a look online for 32:9 monitors and they are very expensive, they look insane. Right can you test out a beta version of gzdoom with 32:9 aspect ratio and see if the issue occurs there.

What version of gzdoom do you have that works with 32:9 ratio? How exactly did you edit the settings so it works? Please can you upload me some screenshots to imgur and DM me the screenshots please?

Please send me the screenshots for,

Gzdoom screenshot video options panel with the settings working for 32:9
Gzdoom screenshot of ingame with 32:9
Nzdoom screenshot video options panel with the same settings for 32:9
Nzdoom screenshots of ingame with 32:9

Also regarding the difficulty for the game, for single player Brutal Heretic you can select normal for casual or increase the difficulty for more challenge or for coop mode, there is noway to give you XP thats classed as cheating so its all disabled.

I appreciate you testing our engine that means alot to us, you actually need the Nzdoom engine for Brutal Heretic/Hexen as they both utilize dynamic lighting, if you test out these games with Gzdoom you will notice the firetorch light rays will be green instead of orange aswell as other light sources will bug out, the dynamic lighting is broken on Gzdoom and the devs refuse to fix it, been like this for well over a year now. Nzdoom engine fixes all these issues and more, every tester has stated that our engine plays more smooth and has consistent high frame rate aswell as all the sector/dynamic lights are fixed.

Hope this helps.

PS. I just loaded up Brutal Heretic on my laptop which only has a 1280x800 display yes I'm poor but I can emulate the resolution of 5120x1440 and the weapons are not stretched but the HUD is stretched, I need to update Brutal Heretic with full scaling HUD values, I have done this for Brutal Hexen but the update is not out yet. Please take a look at the screenshots I uploaded on the first page here and look at the weapons, are they the same?

[UncleRusty]

Hello and hope you are good.

I've never heard of this aspect ratio and resolution before (32:9 5120x1440) That must be a very expensive display indeed.

I don't even know how I could test this out as I cannot render that aspect ratio? At the moment the aspect ratio goes to max 21:9 so I'm confused on how you got 32:9 as I haven't edited anything with these values it should work?

I just had a look online for 32:9 monitors and they are very expensive, they look insane. Right can you test out a beta version of gzdoom with 32:9 aspect ratio and see if the issue occurs there.

What version of gzdoom do you have that works with 32:9 ratio? How exactly did you edit the settings so it works? Please can you upload me some screenshots to imgur and DM me the screenshots please?

Please send me the screenshots for,

Gzdoom screenshot video options panel with the settings working for 32:9
Gzdoom screenshot of ingame with 32:9
Nzdoom screenshot video options panel with the same settings for 32:9
Nzdoom screenshots of ingame with 32:9

Also regarding the difficulty for the game, for single player Brutal Heretic you can select normal for casual or increase the difficulty for more challenge or for coop mode, there is noway to give you XP thats classed as cheating so its all disabled.

I appreciate you testing our engine that means alot to us, you actually need the Nzdoom engine for Brutal Heretic/Hexen as they both utilize dynamic lighting, if you test out these games with Gzdoom you will notice the firetorch light rays will be green instead of orange aswell as other light sources will bug out, the dynamic lighting is broken on Gzdoom and the devs refuse to fix it, been like this for well over a year now. Nzdoom engine fixes all these issues and more, every tester has stated that our engine plays more smooth and has consistent high frame rate aswell as all the sector/dynamic lights are fixed.

Hope this helps.

PS. I just loaded up Brutal Heretic on my laptop which only has a 1280x800 display yes I'm poor but I can emulate the resolution of 5120x1440 and the weapons are not stretched but the HUD is stretched, I need to update Brutal Heretic with full scaling HUD values, I have done this for Brutal Hexen but the update is not out yet. Please take a look at the screenshots I uploaded on the first page here and look at the weapons, are they the same?

Thanks for the detailed response and getting back to me! So I've played around with it a bit in both NZDoom, as well as the latest GZDOOM 4.12.2. It definitely looks much better in NZDoom thanks to the dynamic lighting effects, looks fantastic. To get 32:9 working correctly, I basically have to disable scaling and set that resolution manually, which actually works fine in both.

I realized that in NZDoom specifically, the weapon scaling issue is actually only present if I use the minimal HUD, which can be accessed via the '-' button -- in this case, the weapons get cut off basically but it's still playable. If I instead use your default HUD, the weapons are actually not cut off at all, just stretched slightly due to 32:9 not being officially supported. In GZDoom, using the minimal HUD doesn't have this problem actually. The only complaint I have with the default HUD, is that the icons for weapons and text are quite large on this display and I can't seem to be able to actually adjust their scaling with any settings, this may be hardcoded or related to the fact that I'm just forcing the resolution without actually setting an aspect ratio since this one isn't officially supported. It's not a huge deal as it's absolutely playable like this, and I prefer the lighting that NZDoom offers as it's a great upgrade over GZDoom lighting.

And yes, the 32:9 monitors are not cheap lol, but I love high-end technology. Rocking a QD-OLED model from samsung at this resolution, it works great and HDR actually seems to mostly work when enabled in the settings --- It's a blast to play old titles like these with a few visual upgrades at 240hz refresh rate. I will get some screenshot comparisons for you later when I have a chance, appreciate you looking into this as there are a handful of us out there running 32:9 monitors, old school shooters and boomer shooters are some of the few games you can actually run at this resolution with 240FPS locked on these, it's a great experience for twitchy shooters like this in terms of super-smooth response. Thanks again!

[ZDL_800]

Thanks for the reply UncleRusty.

This sounds absolutely insane! Brother are you playing Brutal Heretic at 240FPS at 5120x1440 resolution! That sounds like ultimate nerd heaven that is brilliant stuff.

Please tell me you have a VR headset right? You need to get the Brutal Heretic VR Edition its truly mind blowing, you can hold the firetorch in realtime dude with all the dynamic light shaders running! All Voxel weapons with powered up sequence on the Brutal Crossbow.

You need the best of the best right, you need our new ZDL its the best version in the world. I want to see ZDL running at 5120x1440 resolution I would love to see a screenshot of that.

I can send you a Brutal Hexen v7.5 test with the new scalable HUD and see if it works correctly before I release the next main update, can you test it for us?

Many thanks dude for trying out the mods and the NZDOOM engine.

[Gigalagaki]

Greetings Brutalists...


This is the continuation of Sergeant Mark IV's Brutal Heretic mod. Well, after been seemingly abandoned for a few years, we have continued Brutal Heretic where Sarge and Seidolon has left off.


Latest Update July 16, 2024









Download and play for an amazing experience of brutality. Leave feedback please! Good feedback = progress.

Credits...


Sprites:
Seidolon - Sabreclaw gibs, Purple flares, some spark recolors, Crossbow powered sprites, some tracer recolors, Corvus kick
Neoworm - Heretic Staff swing
ZDL - Optimized Sprites

Sounds:
Raven software - Hexen, and Hexen 2
Id software - Doom, and Doom 2
Seidolon - Edits from the Free Sound Library

Misc. Graphics:
Seidolon - Title graphics, minor edits of blue shadow's stuff, black box in main menu
Blue Shadow - HUD bar graphics

Code:
Sergeant Mark IV - Brutal Heretic stuff (will specify eventually)
Seidolon - New stuff (will specify eventually)
Randy Heit - Decorate bases on ZDoom Wiki
ZDL - COOP implementation, Optimized and error fixing

Coop Online
At the current moment the mod works correctly in Coop Online mode, its highly recommended to add 'ResurrectUpdate' and 'Episodic EX' to the mod order.

VR Edition
For more information on the Brutal Heretic VR Edition please head over to the ZDL Projects Patreon page.

Work In Progress
In the process of Ai Neural Network Upscaling sprites and optimizing the lighting system for newer versions of GZDoom.

DOWNLOAD

ZDL - ZDL v5.4

BRUTAL HERETIC RPG - Brutal Heretic v6.1

If you like our work, please consider supporting us on Patreon.

[ZDL_800]

Hello Gigalagaki hope you are having some fun with the mods.

Yes indeed it works fine with the 6th chapter, you know some hidden knowledge there, that's great.

Hope you have some brutal fun!

Thanks for visiting NZDOOM.

[UncleRusty]

Thanks for the reply UncleRusty.
This sounds absolutely insane! Brother are you playing Brutal Heretic at 240FPS at 5120x1440 resolution! That sounds like ultimate nerd heaven that is brilliant stuff.
Please tell me you have a VR headset right? You need to get the Brutal Heretic VR Edition its truly mind blowing, you can hold the firetorch in realtime dude with all the dynamic light shaders running! All Voxel weapons with powered up sequence on the Brutal Crossbow.
You need the best of the best right, you need our new ZDL its the best version in the world. I want to see ZDL running at 5120x1440 resolution I would love to see a screenshot of that.
I can send you a Brutal Hexen v7.5 test with the new scalable HUD and see if it works correctly before I release the next main update, can you test it for us?
Many thanks dude for trying out the mods and the NZDOOM engine.

------------------------------------------------
Hey, sorry for the delayed response my friend but it's been awhile! Hope you've been doing well! I'm playing around with Heretic and Hexen again, with your updated Brutal mods, especially now that NightDive has just released a new updated source port that includes map changes as well as a complete new episode for both Heretic and Hexen!

Definitely check it out when you have the chance, they've added a lot of very cool changes to both games, though not all work when running the updated wads in gz or nz doom.
I'm happy to try out any beta or updates if you have them, not sure if you've been working on any changes in the past year. For reference, I'm including a couple screenshots of some of the weapon scaling issues I'm seeing at 32:9, not a huge deal but would be cool if it's possible to fix them! I do have an Quest 3 VR headset as well, have played around with Brutal Doom with VR mods which is very cool, but haven't messed around with that in a while or tried Heretic/Hexen yet.

I'm including several screenshot variants with mods enabled and disabled below for reference, but let me know if there's anything else I should test specifically. Thanks again!

https://imgur.com/gallery/brutal-heretic...ng-eA1TQlL

[ZDL_800]

Uncle Rusty its great to hear from you! I'm ok having some bad days but who doesn't right, I hope you are good.

Thats great to hear you started up the updated mods, should be more fun with the new episodes. To celebrate the new Heretic+Hexen release we updated the ZDL Steam Edition to include Dual Mode (Light/Dark theme) and Grey Mode (Locked grey theme) Free to download so grab yourself the new ZDL v5.4.

Ok the new update isnt ready yet as we need to upscale to rest of the new sprites but I have finished the HUD for Brutal Hexen so its now fully scalable, when the update is out work will begin on Brutal Heretic to update the HUD etc.

Thanks so much for showcasing the issues with 32:9, look how bad and washed out gzdoom colors are and its way too bright. I can only replicate the resolution and I get like 0.1 FPS but thats all I need to debug the issue.

Also the HUD is stretched on Brutal Hexen 32:9 can you please try and force the aspect ratio to 21:9 try and get the HUD elements the same size dimensions as the screenshots here.

Thanks again Uncle Rusty for all the help, please get the new ZDL its free to download and please show me a screenshot of ZDL at 32:9!

Take care Uncle Rusty and hope to speak soon.

[BlazinHammerPaws]

Thanks for reading this.

I've been playing Heretic literally since 1994. I've had it on multiple systems, downloaded the Steam version and ZDoom several years ago, and I play this game weekly I love it that much. A few days ago I discovered Brutal Doom RPG and have really been loving the new textures, 3D environment and music. Funny how this all happened the week they released Heretic Hexen which I purchased for my PS4, so now I alternate between my PS4 and my PC. However I've discovered some things I would really like to understand.

#1. Secret counts appear to be skewed.

I've noticed that some levels say there are more secrets than one can find. I'm not really comparing the official releases with Brutal Heretic, but on e1m2, it usually has seven secrets but Brutal Heretic is saying there are nine. I've scoured the whole map and killed every enemy but there is one secret I cannot find. If someone could direct me to a list of secrets for Brutal Heretic I would appreciate it, or else I will assume the MOD is broken.

#2. To what end do the level ups help in the game? It appears as though all the five campaigns have been consolidated into one full RPG experience, but how do those level ups help you get stronger? Anyone?

#3. I downloaded v6.1 following the links at the beginning of this forum, but the opening screen says v2. Is there somewhere I can verify I'm actually running v6.1?

#4. I've got the options set to display # of Items on the map screen, but they do not show. So I have to guess that I've got all the items. Trying to complete each level here. 

#5. Finally what is a good resource for information on this MOD? I don't necessarily want to swim through an ocean of replies in this forum. 

Thanks.

[ZDL_800]

Hello BlazinHammerPaws and hope you are good.

Thanks so much for the detailed reply, this is great stuff, I need experts like yourself to give feedback so the mod can progress! I cannot do this by myself, its the power and knowledge of the people that makes Brutal Heretic!

#1. I have noted the secret issue for e1m2 so allow me to test this out, I have never heard of this issue and I always remove secret/kill count on the mapscreen in options so I need to revert the changes and test this out!

#2. When you level up in Brutal Heretic you gain more health and progress to unlock new alt fire modes for the weapons, combine with the Tome of Power you now have 28+ fire modes for all total weapons, that was a nightmare to implement as it was broken and not finished when I was granted permission to update the mod, its all fixed now. I personally added 14+ new firemodes.

#3. Its highly recommended to use the NZDOOM Engine for all ZDL Editions, if you check out Uncle Rustys screenshots kindly showcased here you can see the washed out colors on gzdoom. I dont see any version when booting up Brutal Heretic? Could it be my low resolution? Please allow me to test this out! I'll see if it works by emulating a higher resolution maybe?

#4. Let me get back to you with this, I believe it may have been removed as Brutal Heretic adds the random drops from enemies?

#5. I dont have a Brutal Heretic Starter Guide right now but I will look into writing one similar to Brutal Hexen Starter Guide over at the Compendium panel.

Thanks so much for the feedback here, allow me to check out the issues and debug, I'll report back ASAP.

Thanks for visiting NZDOOM.