FAQ Time

Anyone who has questions regarding to this project, post them here. For example, I am starting to see people referring to this as a ‘total conversion’, so is PowerslaveEX a total conversion? No, it’s not. So if there’s anything you wish to have answered, ask them here. The questions mentioned will be compiled into a FAQ section on this site sometime soon.

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32 Responses to FAQ Time

  1. majorfoley says:

    I don’t know if you would consider this a dumb question or not but i guess we will see. Since you mentioned toying with a mod that added PC death animations if it would be possible to make a mod to change the HUD to the PC version?

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  2. Alex K. says:

    I thought TC was the appropriate term for this kind of project so you have my apologies for mislabeling your work.

    So, there’s not going to be Bomb-Jumping like in the Saturn version. Hopefully, maybe this can be modded in at some point down the road?

    Will this have online multiplayer?

    Possibility of supporting the magic from the PC version?

    This is a 1:1 recreation of the PSX version, no big changes to expect, right?

    Since you want to support PAK files does this mean we can make levels with Doom Builder?

    As an aside: I loved what you did with Doom 64. I actually had that game back in the day but I didn’t really appreciate it at the time because it wasn’t up to snuff with modern FPS at the time (such as 3D models, jumping, crouching, aiming, storing and using items, etc). But going back to it and looking at it as a kind of Doom 2.5 it really holds up. Fantastic game. Thank you for all the free work you’ve done on these projects. I’m not a technical person, I don’t code, I can’t make games, so I apologize if my questions seem ill-informed.

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    • Alex K. says:

      Also, forgot to ask this, when do you see the game being completed in some form? I know the Alpha is coming in April but is it fair to assume that the full game will be done by the end of the year?

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    • Kaiser says:

      * I plan on looking into finding a way to allow the ability to mod certain gameplay mechanics, such as allowing the bomb boost trick. It’s something I’ll be investigating once the project is done.

      * No multiplayer is planned. I lack the ability (and patience) to work on a full-fledged multiplayer system

      * Same as answer #1. It all depends on how flexible things can be modded.

      * That’s kinda a bit tough question to answer. While yes, its aiming to be a 1:1 recreation but some things had to be bent in order to work around some of the issues I’ve ran into. Such a case was the way the game did randomization, which was difficult to mimic so that may have a impact on the gameplay. Some things were also changed for the sake of better gameplay (like increasing the chances of the Lava Mantis from rising out of the lava). But aside from that, there will be no drastic or major change to the game.

      * The game will use .KPF files (Kex Pak Files) which is basically PK3, but the map format will be totally different. However without a level editor (yet), I plan on making that easier by having the engine translate the .WAD format to its own format when you load it in the game. So it’ll have some form of compatibility with various map files like Doom’s .WAD and maybe Quake .BSP as well.

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      • Alex K. says:

        Didn’t even realize you were the guy behind TurokEX too. That project looks amazing as well.

        Again, thanks for all the hard work you’ve done.

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  3. Axl says:

    Like Alex K above, I’m no programmer, so my questions may also seem a bit foolish (in that case I apologize):

    1. How is such a fast development possible? You’ve only started 2 months ago and are already reaching the alpha stage.

    2. How is this possible without a source code? Are you reverse-engineering the whole thing?

    Again, I’m sorry if these questions may seem dumb, but over the years I’ve seen so many projects to recreate a game without the source code start and ultimately fail or end up in hiatus (Blood would be a good example: Transfusion, Winblood, BloodTC, XlEngine, …) and you seem to do it so flawlessly with Doom64, Turok and now with Exhumed.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Alex K. says:

      There’s also Buildsharp: https://sites.google.com/site/buildsharp/

      The author is hoping to have it out by the end of the year.

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    • Kaiser says:

      * I’ve used a framework that I’ve built over the years to help speed things up. Most of it was from my TurokEX project. Also I spent a while on and off last year figuring out how Powerslave worked and figured out it’s data format. December 2014 was when I finally figured everything out and started actual development.

      * The whole thing is being reverse-engineered with the addition of blindly guessing how some of the mechanics work. Under the hood, this game is surprisingly simple to figure out.

      I understand your concern about me randomly abandoning the project, but just to make it clear that I don’t intend on doing that. I always finish what I started.

      As for TurokEX, it’s on hold and there’s good reasons why. You’ll be hearing more about it sometime in the future.

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  4. Pharaoh says:

    All that really matters to me is the release date. Nothing else do I need to ask since I have alot of faith in your project. Truly love your work of technomagic.

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  5. Alex K. says:

    One last question: will you include a harder difficulty setting to compensate for playing on a Mouse/Keyboard like Doom 64?

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    • Kaiser says:

      I have thought about that actually. This is going to be something that’s going to have to be tested and experimented with once the project enters it’s public alpha stage.

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  6. nicolascy says:

    I did not know that you were behind TurokEX too ! Through that is a very ambitious project as Turok was a much more complex game and a very seriously flawed to start with.I probably finished it 2-3 times because i liked it so much but it had poor lighting especially in indoor locations,along very poor viewing range and limited save functionality.As with exhumed it would too be awesome to replay it properly.
    Best of hopes ,can’t wait to see more of exhumed improved !

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  7. Axl says:

    Just 2 more questions:

    1. How is this related to the Night Dive Studios project? On wiki one can read “In February 2015 is was announced by CEO Kick that they were working on re-releasing PowerSlave for the digital distribution services with an added bonus of porting the Saturn version into the package.”;

    2. Will this be free? Or should one have the original psx-rom? (like Doom 64 EX)

    Thanks in advance

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    • Kaiser says:

      1. As of right now, PowerslaveEX is not related to the Night Dive Studios project. HOWEVER, Night Dive is currently discussing plans with the IP owner. If things works out, PowerslaveEX just may become a Night Dive project. Either ways, PowerslaveEX will still be open source.

      2. If PowerslaveEX continues to be a non-Night Dive project, then yes, it will be free. Everything will be included unless I receive a cease and desist letter. Otherwise, it will require the user to have the PSX CD.

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      • Axl says:

        Thank you for the clear answers ! Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t mind paying for your EX version even though I still have the original PSX cd. Just keep up the good work !

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  8. Kingu Prima says:

    Are you planning a mac or raspberry pi version ?

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    • Kaiser says:

      Mac/Linux versions is already planned. I don’t have a Raspberry PI to test it on, but PowerslaveEX will be open source though.

      Like

  9. Alex K. says:

    Hate to be “that guy” but ETA on the Alpha?

    Like

    • Kaiser says:

      Its not in a state where I feel comfortable releasing yet. I am still aiming for mid-May but if its still not ‘good enough’ for public alpha, then I will have to delay it a bit more.

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  10. AndromedaX says:

    My mind is blown. I tried porting the game to zdoom engine a couple years ago, but I quickly reached the limits of my knoweledge of Decorate and the project quickly fell apart after coding in a couple weapons and monsters.

    I wonder, how easy would it be to edit the levels ? One of my goals in the zdoom mod was to add difficulty levels with more monsters. Just wondering if I could quickly load up the levels in an editor and up the challenge myself by adding barrages of baddies around every corner.

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    • Alex K. says:

      Looking forward to the mods you make. I remember seeing your project on Zdoom a few years ago.

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      • AndromedaX says:

        I don’t think I ever went public with my project. Must be someone else’s ! And I dont know if I’ll ever mod for powerslave, depends on the difficulty of it. I’m pretty incompetent :p

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  11. 0x5f3504f3 says:

    What’s so special about this game that you decided to make hack-port of it to PC? I played it on PSX and tried to play Saturn version, I also almost vomited when played PC port, because it feels to me uninspired and flat in sense of game design, even though I really like old school shooters.

    Probably you know another game for PSX called Disruptor? Have you ever thought about making port of this particular game? I really have dream to play it on PC without that infamous Integer Hell which is absolute plague for all 3D games on PSX…

    And how about another game called Chasm: The Rift? This one is really easy to hack, even I did some hacking of this game few years ago and I’m just curious guy without programming skills, who likes to dig into game resources.

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    • Mark says:

      Now there’s gratitude! I for one cannot wait for this port. I played it thoroughly on the Saturn and enjoyed it every bit as much as Lobotomy’s other output, Duken Nukem and Quake. This will be glorious. And MUCH appreciated.

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  12. nicolascy says:

    Well without needing to defend the game as this would be silly and everyone can have his opinion ,the saturn was a much much better game than the pc port.I played at the time only the pc and i did like it because it reminded me of stargate ! But the saturn version had much better graphics with colored lighting -something not many games had during those times,a hub world design and rpg elements with improving health and aquaring new powers that made it possible to visit new locations on the hub world.And last but not least a kick ass soundtrack compared to the midi of the pc version…So at least for me its a game i really want to play ,even after playing many new AAA titles.

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    • majorfoley says:

      I only ever played the PC version, so I cant comment on the other versions BUT I don’t like the idea of shared ammo (watched on stream) that was on console versions. but like you said everyones entitled to their own opinion and one day I shall emulate Saturn or get ps1 version

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  13. Tricky_Rich says:

    I adored this on Saturn, back in the day, so can’t wait to try out your remaster for PC. Rather excited!

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  14. DOOMman says:

    Hi, Kaiser! The last time when we talk was may be 8 months ago. You told me that Powerslave EX will be released September 2015 and after that I can expect also the editor for the game to make new levels. My question is: Did you complete this project already and if “yes” where to download it?

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