The Great Galaxy-Mod Bug Hunt 2020

Here is where to post about the latest Commander Keen fangame or modification you've finished, a new website you've made, or another Keen-related creation.
User avatar
K1n9_Duk3
Vorticon Elite
Posts: 781
Joined: Mon Aug 25, 2008 9:30
Location: Germany
Contact:

Re: The Great Galaxy-Mod Bug Hunt 2020

Post by K1n9_Duk3 »

Nisaba wrote: Sun Jan 24, 2021 8:46Like K1n9_Duk3 already mentioned, there is a limit of characters per line. If expanded the game gives an error message. So your level name shouldn't exceed the maximum width of X characters in order to be displayed properly. In other words, when a text window is given a line of text too wide for it, the message "US_CPrintLine() - String exceeds width" occurs.
No, that's not the actual problem. "US_CPrintLine() - String exceeds width" means that the width (in pixels!) of the graphical representation of the string (using the currently selected font) exceeds the width (again, in pixels) of the text box in which the string should be centered. This has nothing to do with the amount of characters in that line, at least not directly.

The only reason why this causes an error is that John Carmack, John Romero or Jason Blochowiak wanted it to. The team had a policy of making even minor errors quit to DOS to force each other to fix those issues right away.


The rest of what Nisaba wrote about changing level names and messages is correct. I wrote a program that could be fed all of the level name and entry strings and it would automatically merge any duplicate strings and spit out a set of heavily optimized patches. I used that program when I revised the patch file for The Alphamatic to support up to 50 levels instead of just 25. I won't be releasing that program to the public, though. As I mentioned elsewhere, people shouldn't be making new Galaxy mods via patching to begin with. These problems are easily avoided when compiling from the source code.
Hail to the K1n9, baby!
http://k1n9duk3.shikadi.net
User avatar
Snortimer
Vortininja
Posts: 267
Joined: Wed Jul 22, 2009 8:04
Location: Toronto, Canada
Contact:

Re: The Great Galaxy-Mod Bug Hunt 2020

Post by Snortimer »

Nisaba wrote: Wed Nov 25, 2020 9:51gonna upload those fixed version to the wiki at some point.
Been a while. :) Anybody mind if I do it? It would save people some frustration.

It can look in the info-box like it currently does for Keen Meets the Meats or Ruin of Roib - "newest (unofficial bug fixed)" - that way, it is clear that it isn't the official release but it's probably the one you should get.

EDIT:

Also, I played through Meets the Meats and found some more bugs that haven't been fixed yet:
viewtopic.php?p=108383#p108383
But on the other hand, unlike what the "TODO" in the changelog says of the 2020 unofficial bugfixed release, I found the levels did not need redesigning (aside from a few issues I mention in the other thread).
Member since at least 1998 with... ah... some long absences. I was even a moderator at one point. I'll probably keep coming back here and there as long as this place still exists.
User avatar
K1n9_Duk3
Vorticon Elite
Posts: 781
Joined: Mon Aug 25, 2008 9:30
Location: Germany
Contact:

Re: The Great Galaxy-Mod Bug Hunt 2020

Post by K1n9_Duk3 »

Hello everybody. It's been a while. I thought today was the perfect day to share my updated version of

Valo Keen a.k.a Keen's Valentine Bash

with all of you. Have a happy Hallowee... er... Valentine 's Day.
Hail to the K1n9, baby!
http://k1n9duk3.shikadi.net
User avatar
Syllypryde
Vorticon Elite
Posts: 1025
Joined: Tue Jan 20, 2009 18:33
Location: Michigan
Contact:

Re: The Great Galaxy-Mod Bug Hunt 2020

Post by Syllypryde »

K1n9_Duk3 wrote: Wed Feb 14, 2024 12:52 Hello everybody. It's been a while. I thought today was the perfect day to share my updated version of

Valo Keen a.k.a Keen's Valentine Bash

with all of you. Have a happy Hallowee... er... Valentine 's Day.
You had mentioned in your introductory post that this mod had severe issues. I'm curious as to how severe.
.niarb ym fo
snoitulovnoc eht tuaba
selbbarcs ssensuoicsnoc
rehgih a ekil smees
User avatar
K1n9_Duk3
Vorticon Elite
Posts: 781
Joined: Mon Aug 25, 2008 9:30
Location: Germany
Contact:

Re: The Great Galaxy-Mod Bug Hunt 2020

Post by K1n9_Duk3 »

Some of the patches in the original release of Valo Keen were using the wrong registers, which meant the code didn't behave as intended and instead caused some memory corruption when the patched code was executed. And on top of that, the original patch file replaced parts of the game's startup screen data with new code without preventing the memory manager from re-using that part of the program. This meant that the new code would get overwritten with new data (sounds, music, graphics or whatever) at some point, which would have caused the game to crash or behave erratically when it tried to execute the new code after it had been overwritten by the memory manager. I would have to look up what code was put in this area. I think it was some of Count Chuck's code, but I'm not sure.

And on top of the technical problems, I think it was extremely difficult if not impossible to finish Castle Ramenstein without cheating. In fact, I found the three levels leading to the boss battle (Broom Ride, Stumbledark, Castle Ramenstein) extremely unfair.

Maybe the broom ride level was "easier" in the original release due to the crappy screen scrolling that didn't scroll the screen up or down unless Keen was at the very top or bottom of the screen. The scrolling might have prevented the game from activating some of the enemies, which might have made the level easier if you knew exactly which path you needed to take. But the old scrolling meant that you could easily get killed by something just off-screen that you couldn't even see before it killed you, which is why I changed the scrolling behavior in the first place. Anyway, my band-aid solution for the difficulty in the broom ride level was to add an optional easy version that has only one single enemy in it. You can still play the original (hard) version of this level in my updated release instead of the easy one if you want, but you don't have to. Sure, you could just play the original level and turn on god mode, but I hate it when a game practically forces you to use cheats.

And once you know your way around Stumbledark, it's really not that difficult. To make this level a little easier for first-time-players, I marked the doors that lead to the exit in this new version. The marks are very subtle, but they're there if you look carefully. As long as you don't go through one of the unmarked doors, you'll be able to beat the level in under a minute.

There are some other changes I made to the levels, just read the changelog.txt if you want to know more.

I usually play Keen games and mods on easy, but before I released this update, I did a full playthrough on Hard in this new version and I managed to beat it without using cheats (if you don't count using the Easy Broom Ride level as cheating), so I guess the overall difficulty is manageable now.
Hail to the K1n9, baby!
http://k1n9duk3.shikadi.net
User avatar
Soul Monster
Vortininja
Posts: 223
Joined: Mon Jun 14, 2021 2:47
Location: An Arctic Hellscape

Re: The Great Galaxy-Mod Bug Hunt 2020

Post by Soul Monster »

K1n9_Duk3 wrote: Wed Feb 14, 2024 12:52 Hello everybody. It's been a while. I thought today was the perfect day to share my updated version of

Valo Keen a.k.a Keen's Valentine Bash

with all of you. Have a happy Hallowee... er... Valentine 's Day.
Thank you for uploading this, K1n9_Duk3! I had been wondering if you would ever revisit this project of yours, and it seems you have. Reading through the change log, it sounds like the work you put into this one was pretty involved.

Anyway, I played through it last night (was hoping to do that on Valentine's Day, but my schedule wouldn't allow that), and it was disorienting how much more playable this version is. Not once did I have to reset the game before the stages that generally have the worst crashing issues, but also the stages that have very unfair difficulty in places like Witch's Cottage were actually beatable without save scumming. I like that there's a little more leeway in the hitboxes for the spears and broken glass, it makes the challenge in certain parts much more balanced. I like what you did with the Broom Ride, with just a single enemy at the very end, which made it a lot easier to navigate and rack up some extra points, but I agree it's still an unfair level. I also like the added challenge in the boss fight where you have to light multiple crosses on fire to defeat Chuck, as one burns out after 1 or 2 hits now. I beat the whole thing in 2 hours 36 minutes, and not having to constantly reset the game or save scum in unfair places really helped keep that momentum going while playing the game. Oh yeah, another thing I should mention is that when the track Sweet plays (The one used in the help menu and Carpe Jugulum), there's audible static in the track in this version.

Overall, while the game still has some flaws, it's 100 times more playable than it was thanks to you. This made for a nice Valentine's present to the community. Do you plan to continue with your bug hunt, or not really? Also, if anyone plans to make any other revisions to this mod, please hit me up, there's still some flaws I've found in the game that need fixing. Thanks.
"Remember to be happy, and keep smiling, and have hope, and know that there's sunshine everywhere. Just look around, and you'll find it."
User avatar
K1n9_Duk3
Vorticon Elite
Posts: 781
Joined: Mon Aug 25, 2008 9:30
Location: Germany
Contact:

Re: The Great Galaxy-Mod Bug Hunt 2020

Post by K1n9_Duk3 »

Thanks for your detailed feedback, Soul Monster. I had announced in 2020 that I had already fixed most of the crippling bugs and that I was going to release an updated version at some point. I had always wanted to release the update to this particular mod either on Valentine's Day or on Halloween. This year, with FITF out the door, I finally had enough time and motivation to apply the finishing touches to the updated version and release it. After re-reading the story, releasing it the day before Valentine's Day would have been more appropriate, but I completely forgot about that and I was still working on the update anyway.

About the "added challenge in the boss fight": That's actually the way the boss fight was originally supposed to work. The old version just used the wrong register in the code responsible for that, which prevented the explosions from putting out the fire and instead caused some memory corruption.

Also, I didn't change the hit detection for the broken glass, just for some of the spears and spikes. But I did modify a section of Carpe Jugulum so that you can collect the goodies above the broken glass in the room with the fireplace. I did not modify the placement of the broken glass in the room with the 1UP and the golden goblets in the top left corner of the map, since using the pogo instead of jumping seemed to be the intended solution there, but I did place a second red key in that room (even though you don't actually need to open the second red-key-door).

So yeah, not all of the changes I made are actually listed in the changelog. Oops. Things I forgot to mention:
  • Map 3 (Pumpkin Patch): Placed some blocking tiles in a secret to prevent Keen from climbing into a hole in the wall and getting stuck.
  • Map 4 (Tomb Hall): Placed some blocking tiles in a secret to avoid egde grab bugs. Changed some tile attributes to prevent Keen from jumping through the ceiling into the room above.
  • Map 5 (Swamp): Replaced some non-blocking tiles with blocking ones. Now that I look at it, it seems that I accidently created another place when Keen can climb into a wall and get stuck at the buried skeleton in the top left corner of the map. So that's at least one thing that still needs to be fixed.
  • Map 6 (Dead Forest): Placed some blocking tiles and moved decorations around to avoid edge grab bugs. A tree branch has been moved and extented to make it easier to get to the exit. A misplaced foreground tile has been removed from the exit sign.
  • Map 8 (Boneyard): Replaced a 45 degree ceiling tile with a 23 degree ceiling tile.
  • Map 9 (Bonepile Crypt): Placed a blocking tile to prevent Keen from climbing into a wall and getting stuck in the wall.
  • Map 11 (Broom Ride): I moved Keen's spawn point and added the missing tips for the spikes (or whatever they're supposed to be) at the bottom of the first tree. I originally wanted to place an easy level exit on the left (where Keen starts), but the level must be finished via the triggers on the far right (they basically work like the foot in Keen 4) to make Keen fly to the castle bridge, otherwise you can't get to the final levels. I also needlessly closed the exit behind the locked door to prevent the player from exiting the level normally. But you can't even get close to the exit without touching the (almost) invisible foot sprites.
  • Map 14 (Chuck's Lair): The moving platforms in the switch puzzle section have been moved to put the switches in the middle of the platforms instead of their far left edge. This also means moving the block icons and adjusting the link coordinates placed on the switches. The bone platform that replaced parts of a spiked ball at the bottom of the boss section has been replaced with a proper spiked ball.
  • Map 15 (Castle Ramenstein): The key-sensing doors aren't completely invisible anymore when they're open. You can still see a piece of wood on the ceiling and a mark on the floor. I also placed red arrows in the passage below the pit of spears, hoping that they will lead first-time players to the exit instead of going through the door I added in that passage. The door leads back to the castle entrace and should only be taken if the other path is blocked (because the player didn't bring a key).
I don't know what's going on with the music on your end. I don't hear any static and I can't notice any other differences between the original release and my new version (I started them both and pressed F1 during the Terminator intro to get to the help menu). I can't imagine why you seem to get a different sound since haven't modified the audio files at all. And the modified music loading code should not change the actual music data either (the EGADICT file that the original version uses to "decompress" the audio data is a perfect dummy dictionary).

I am open to suggestions on how to improve this mod even further, so feel free to post them in this thread. This is a discussion forum after all, and your comments on what works and what doesn't might even help others improve their designs in future mods or level packs.

I would of course prefer it if a member of the mod's original developers came back to fix the remaining problems (or help me fix them), so that you could get to play what the mod was meant to be, not my interpretation of it. In the past, I usually contacted the mod's authors before I released the bug-fixed versions, but I didn't do that here. Because I wanted to release it on Valentine's Day and I didn't really think I would get a reply anyway, given that I haven't seen Levellass post anything since the Halloween release of "Prelude".
Hail to the K1n9, baby!
http://k1n9duk3.shikadi.net
Post Reply