[Map Pack] IX-Pack {v1g released} [Jan 3 2015]

[BiscuitSlash]

I can't imagine those Guts lifts with those graphics and sounds in a tomb like IDM05. Maybe if you  change the sprites and remove the sounds or something though.

MM2 Wily Lifts.

Oh yeah, those. Could easily use those if there's room for them I guess.

[Ivory]

I built the stage around those traps. Guts Lifts would just be pure shoehorned in. Anyways, gimmicks not in IDM05 that I can think of

Guts Lifts
Low Gravity
Gravity Man changing gravity
Burst Man Water
Centaur upside down water
regular water
Weather changing
floor changing
crushers
electric traps
vanishing blocks
fire traps
low friction
Gyro Fans
Freezing Lava Pillars
springs
those turbo riders
those damned tires.
Wave Bikes
Being forced to go about with Super Adaptor

[Knux]

I think IDM05 has enough traps to keep it interesting. Adding any more might ruin getting around, unless they're for getting an item or weapon.

[TheDoc]

I think it's fine the way it is. Adding gimmicks for the sake of adding gimmicks is just stupid. It's a tomb, so it should have some traps, etc, but let's not overdo it.

[Ivory]

I'm not adding anymore gimmicks. I only made that list to showcase the fact that IDM05 has far from every gimmick in the vanilla game.

[SaviorSword]

I've finally scanned the pack again... but I was disappointed.

Vastly improved for Bot Apoc, thanks for the support! I've now upped my standards of linedef scannin' and I'll post pictures of places that still lack "block monsters" or if there's excessive amounts of the said property.

IDM02- Excessive on that area, and there's a texture offset problem for software.

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IDM03- Lack of on that Rain Flush spot. I did really like the light drizzle instead of "wind" now, however that doesn't show up online.

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IDM05- Excessive on the light room, and lack of on the bridge.

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IDM07- Excessive on those 2 hallways

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IDM09- Excessive on many places.

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IDM12- No problem, however, with the sheer amount of grass around, testin' this map was very frame laggy. I'm afraid I recommend more mowin' the lawn in that map.
IDM13- Excessive on a few hallways.

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IDM14- Excessive on that only bridge spot.

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IDM15- Excessive on a few hallways.

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IDM17- Excessive on the bridges and lots of interior problems.

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IDM18- Excessive on hallways and upper areas. Also still missin' block players linedef at where Time Stopper is markin' at.

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IDM19- Questionable excessiveness since MM4TOA follows the same suit, however to the bridges is a different story.

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IDM20- Excessive on that cliff. Lack of to the well.

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IDM21- No excessive. Lack of on that cliff marked by the Time Stopper.

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IDM22- Excessive on lots of areas, the middle pit, hallways, and the ladder place to name a few. The ladder area has somewhat of an invisible ladder problem.

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IDM25- Excessive on the middle pit, and humorously enough, the bots can climb the ladders in thin air.

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No, I didn't forget IDM23 and IDM24, they were flawless.

XDM04- Debateable excessive on lower beam area. Lack of on one corner, again, marked by the Time Stopper.

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XDM10- No excessive. Lack of on the those 2 brick areas.

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I'd love to scan all the maps before it's release, however I don't get to call those kind of shots though...
Changes are lookin' pretty good! Can't wait till it's released! Hopefully with CSCM around the same time, and it'll be Christmas again!

We'll let you play it before everyone else if you play your cards right...And by play your cards right, I mean wait for it to be publicly released and then rush to be the first to download it, oh ho ho!
And my biggest fear came true...

Not a SINGLE linedef was fixed. NONE! Nada, zero, zilch, nothin', nil, (goes on with thesaurus). Not only that, some other linedefs that were mentioned earlier were also compeletely ignored. Ivory, I know that we had a rough history in the past, but could ya bury yar hatchet and give me another chance? I know I was a lot more ignorant from my eariler times in MM8BDM.

Here's screens of other notable linedef problems for bots, non-bots, new maps.

IDM06
The floor above that magnet spot is safe. Marked with Time Stopper.

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IDM16
Some software glitch, some lack, and some excessive.

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IDM17
Weird excessive all over the place.

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IDM20
Unblocked at the Kryown.

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IDM21
Unblocked at spot marked with Time Stopper.

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XDM02
Excessive in many places.

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XDM10
No new problems (same old problems though), but I suggest that those block's texture would be changed to be flashin'.

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Now I'm really afraid of the MM8 expansion of sharin' the same fate as what has happened here...

[Mr. X]

Look.  We simply do not care about bots or bot apocalypse or anything like that.  We'll purposely put and check for block monster linedefs in two places only:  pits and places where they'd otherwise bunch up and cause lag/problems, and even then if we forget one, we consider it a very very very very minor issue.  Pretty much the most minor issue that could ever exist.  As such we forget.  If they accidentally end up elsewhere, oh well.  We simply do not care.  The maps are meant to be played online with other players.  Bots are boring, and bot apoc isn't played even remotely near enough to make it a big enough issue to actively fight.

As for MM8, we'll be slightly more careful since having bots fight you is (an unfortunate and boring) part of the campaign.  Here, we do not care.  At all.



As for the other details, the flashing bottoms are being added to the question mark blocks in XDM10, and we do appreciate the other flaws you've pointed out such as the software issues and the spots that aren't killing that should be.

[SaviorSword]

I feel that's rather inconsiderate. Sure, ya and Ivory don't care about bots much at all, but some folks do! Fixin' those said linedefs isn't gonna hurt yar wallets or anythin' at all. How could ya brush off bot apoc like that? It's just like any major mode like robozena and classes. Robozena and classes both have flyin' and climbin' that can break maps if proper linedefs are not set in place. Classes, however, might have monsters (Gemini clone comes to mind) so can ya really ignore faulty linedefs for somethin' as big as classes?

[Ivory]

Yes actually. I tailor IX for vanilla gameplay first and foremost, if the maps work in other gamemodes, that's just bonus in my books. Fixing linedefs like in IDM20 or faulty floors like in IDM06 is what I care about. I looked at some of your requests, and I just saw bots piling up in areas, so I didn't fix it because I'd rather support vanilla bot gameplay first, bot apocalypse second. But who knows, I'm slowly reconstructing IX to consist of smaller, more concise and friendly maps. Maybe some maps will self improve as a result. We'll see. For now MM8 is the priority. Thank you for your concern.

[Tesseractal]

I'm going to go with Shade Guy on this one: focus on the quick beams in IDM05. The rest of the traps are manageable without too much thought. The quick beams are really too fast and dangerous to approach virtually ever. The ones on Time Stopper don't bisect an area; the other ones do.

I suppose the dark room's interval changing wouldn't hurt. I haven't looked at that area in a long time. (It's dark, you know.)

[Mr. X]

SUDDEN TOPIC HIJACK

I actually have a non-IX-Pack question but it's a mapping question and I don't feel like it's big enough to fit in its own thread and it really doesn't fit in MM8 Expansion discussion.

MMCTF05.  As I've said in the past, I removed one of the gravity switching rooms and added a new lava room.  It's still a gimmick but instead of going from something annoying (high gravity) to...something annoying (low gravity), it goes from something deadly but not hard to avoid (lava) to something not deadly at all and thus not that annoying (ice).  However, I am seriously considering tearing out the other gravity switching room and putting in the same lava room on the other side.  I know it seems lazy, but really, that other gravity room is probably the most blah part of the map (the dark rooms can be annoying but there's a very simple trick for getting through which I won't say).

I also think I'm going to remove the crushers since they're the only gimmick not synched with the clock and thus really have no point other than to be annoying.  I'll probably leave the conveyors though, albeit they'll likely be shorter in length.  This way, the map would experience a net loss of 1 gimmick while changing something annoying for something significantly less intrusive on matches.

Thoughts?  Suggestions?

[Korby]

Keep the crushers, and I'd have to play on it first before saying remove the gravity room.

Will Sakugarne still be in the map?

[Mr. X]

No, it will not.  It never really had a point to begin with.

[Tesseractal]

I'm for axing the crushers.

The gravity room I won't miss too much. I can see some people missing it because you'll make the map more symmetrical, although I have a feeling this would be better. (I have a hunch most people would pick the lava room 100% of the time for reasons you stated).

But Sakugarne!? Without your map, Saku won't be in any CTF map! That means the entire CTF map set loses the best weapon ever. (I suppose if you really do not have any more place to put it. But losing that would be a terrible disappointment. I mean, we'd have to start playing ICTF02 again.)

[Mr. X]

But but but Saku had no point!

Also, yeah, I was running off the assumption the lava room would be picked 100% of the time (well, once I fix the upper route I added so it's not gimmickless, the safest, AND the fastest route) making the gravity room's demise all the more certain.