Source port: EDGE-Classic v1.38 release (August 2024)

New release!

HOLY SHIT NEW FEATURES????? I FUCKING LOVE FEATURES

EDGE-Classic v1.36 released.

EDGE still lives? Well holy crap, time to play Immoral Conduct all over again!

For the ones of EC fans out there, an early Christmas present: EDGE-Classic 1.37 has been released! Here are some of the major changes:


- Lua is now the default scripting language, with COAL loaded on an as-needed basis for PWADs that still use it. There is a COAL compatibility library so that Lua scripts can be written in a similar fashion to COALHUDs
- MPEG video playback is supported via DDF and RTS
- MUSINFO changers will now function within the program, assuming that they use the traditional 14100-14164 range of numbers
- A simple IWAD selection dialog box will appear if multiple valid games are detected but none are specified via parameters
- RTS scripts can now use sector tags or indices as trigger boundaries instead of an actual radius
- (For developers) Support has been added for the Tracy profiling tool
- Option menus will now use grayscaled title images as their backdrop by default in an effort that is shamelessly ripping off Doom Retro
- Default console and option menu fonts have been updated; TrueType font rendering and scaling has been improved across the board
- Reality Adlib Tracker v2 modules are now playable (libVGM has been removed, though)

Full changelog and downloads can be found HERE

EDGE-Classic v1.38 has been released!


New Features
+ "UI Options" menu added, with some new options and others relocated from elsewhere.
- New options:
- Show ENDOOM On Quit: Yes by default; 'endoom' console command will work regardless of this setting
- Confirm Quickloads: On by default; if disabled will skip confirmation prompt when quickloading
- Confirm Quicksaves: On by default; if disabled will skip confirmation prompt when quicksaving
- Max Pickup Messages: 4 by default; governs how many item/ammo/etc pickup messages to display simultaneously
+ IWAD support added for Chex Quest 3: Vanilla and Chex Quest 3: Modding (both can be found at melodic-spaceship.neocities.org/chex3v/downloads)
- MBF dog sprites from CQ3 Vanilla also added to original Chex Quest 1 base
+ IWAD support added for Harmony Compatible (https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/g-i/harmonyc)
- Support for the original Harmony release remains unchanged
+ Console: New commands
- cd : Allows switching directory contexts for the ls/dir, exec, pwd, and cat/type commands. Valid options are 'game' and 'home'
- Note that when running in portable mode these will resolve to the same path.
- pwd : Print real path to either home or game directory
- As above, in portable mode these are the same thing.
+ COALHUDS/LUAHUDS: New commands
- hud.lookup_LDF(languageEntry) which will return the language.ldf entry
- hud.game_skill() which will return a number from 0 to 4 reflecting the current game skill
- hud.get_text_width(string,size) will return the width in pixels of the given string, taking into account the current font
+ LUAHUDS-specific commands:
- Several functions which will return a table containing useful information:
- game.info()
- map.info()
- sector.info()
+ UDMF: Linedef 'alpha' field now supported; governs translucency of associated sidedef surfaces
+ UDMF: Sector 'alphafloor' and 'alphaceiling' fields now supported; governs translucency of associated planes
+ GAMES.DDF: New command
- DEFAULT_DAMAGE_FLASH = (hex) which will set damage flashes from all sources to this color unless specified otherwise in an individual DDFATK entry.
+ THINGS.DDF:
- New Powerup type: POWERUP_TRANSLUCENT
- Functions identically to POWERUP_PARTINVIS, but uses translucency instead of the Doom "fuzzy" effect
- POWERUP_TRANSLUCENT and POWERUP_PARTINVIS are mutually exclusive
- New Special flag: TRIGGER_TELEPORTS which will allow this thing to use teleports even if NO_TRIGGER_LINES is set. i.e. you want a dog that cannot open a door, but can teleport for example.
+ New CVARs/params:
- "use_menu_backdrop" which governs the use of the auto-generated monochrome backdrop for option menus
- "fliplevels" allows you to play a mirrored version of the map. All textures will also be mirrored.
- New "flipme" cheat code also allows this to be toggled during gameplay
+ STYLES.DDF: able to add a dropshadow effect to TEXT, ALT, TITLE, HELP, HEADER or SELECTED strings via 2 new sub-commands
- .DROPSHADOW_COLOURMAP = [colourmap]; //"TEXT_BLACK" colmap generally looks good with everything
- .DROPSHADOW_OFFSET = [float]; //smaller values like 1 or 2 are best
+ STYLES.DDF: ENTRY_ALIGNMENT will now work with the MESSAGE style (pickup messages)
- Values other than "LEFT" or "RIGHT" will center the messages as usual
- Only X alignment can be altered; pickup messages will always be at the top of the screen
+ ATTACKS.DDF:
- BLOOD=[things.ddf entry] command added to allow overriding how the monsters bleeds. Any monster hit with this attack will use this blood object instead of its own.



General Improvements/Changes
- Optimized GL state caching and other rendering-related factors to improve performance with the current renderer
- Reduced CPU load when frame limiting (i.e., regular 35/70FPS modes)
- Reduced renderer near clipping distance to prevent graphical oddities when traversing in and out of deep water
- Removed voxel loader and rendering functions due to performance concerns
- Improved sector fogwall appearance/coverage when adjacent to detail slopes
- Added one-time startup message/warning to user if loading a configuration file from a previous version of the program
- Disabled default support for Strife (it is now a compile-time option for developers)
- Limited fallback IWAD selection dialog to 8 options, even if more valid games are found.
- This is to account for a hardcoded SDL limitation for some backends
- Tweaked MIDI/OPL default gain levels to be more consistent with each other
- FIRST and LAST fields in anims.ddf now work with TX textures
- Autoswitch to a new weapon works even if the new weapon's clip is not full
- Restore mipmapping as independent menu option
- Stacked pickup messages now allow multiple messages on screen simultaneously. Number of simultaneous messages can be changed from options menu
- Keylocked doors and Cheat messages moved to middle of the screen (same as "Found a Secret" message)
- Updated Blasphemer base files to support the latest Catoptromancy fork (https://github.com/Catoptromancy/blasphemer/releases/tag/006 as of 1.38)
- Renamed "Autoaim" menu item to "Aim Assist" and added/changed behavior of possible values:
- Vertical+Horizontal: Previously "On"; no changes to behavior.
- Vertical+Horizontal+Snap To: Same as above, but will snap player view to be centered on the current target when firing.
- Vertical: Previously "Mlook"; horizontal assist component removed.
- Vertical+Snap To: Same as above, but will snap player view to be centered on the current target when firing.
- Off: Behavior and name unchanged.
- Developers:
- Support for exceptions/RTTI removed from program with compiler flags/options set accordingly
- Primesynth swapped back to Fluidlite for MIDI playback due to Primesynth's heavy reliance on exceptions
- Use of C++17 filesystem functions removed and replaced with Windows/POSIX specific functions
- All uses of streams replaced with EPI file or memory I/O
- Superfluous typedefs removed in favor of standard types (i.e., uint8_t instead of byte, etc)
- Simple macros converted to either inline functions or constexpr values as appropriate
- Remaining macros use consistent naming scheme (EDGE_*, DDF_*, EPI_*, etc)
- Consistent code styling and formatting performed on all files under the /source_files project folder
- Removed support for absolute paths and path traversal with '..' for the exec, ls/dir, and cat/type console commands
- Removed support for path traversal with '..' when searching for or opening pack files
- JUMP_LIQUID() action now only triggers if the object is touching the floor
- Savegame screenshots will properly match the original aspect ratio in which they were taken when scaling
- Save game info/description strings will be truncated instead of extending beyond the box that contains them



Bugs fixed
- Fixed sector fogwall check producing black 0% alpha fog walls for otherwise unfogged sectors
- Fixed Autoscale texture linetypes(855,856,857) and Brightwall(850) being USEable (repeatedly) by the player.
- Fixed DDFLEVEL fog density using wrong multiplier when being applied to sectors
- Fixed DDFLANG entries not being applied to Option Menu entry names
- Fixed several factors preventing standalone games using the EDGEGAME lump/file from loading
- Fixed BOOM Colourmaps with lump name collisions potentially having assertion errors on load
- Fixed MBF dog replacement sound lumps not overriding the stock OGG files
- Added entries for multiple missing BEX strings
- Fixed Boom all-key door failure messages not distinguishing between whether or not 3 or 6 keys are required
- Fixed Dehacked code pointer entries with trailing spaces not matching defined actions
- Fixed frames with a valid '0' rotation sprite still using other rotations if found elsewhere in the load order
- Fixed UDMF 'ypanningfloor' and 'ypanningceiling' using inverted values.
- Fixed COAL/Lua functions hud.get_image_width() and hud.get_image_height() not returning 0 if image does not exist.
- Fixed multiple RTS scripts with the same tag not running simultaneously: we were only running the first one basically.
- Fixed bot automap arrows being drawn in deathmatch; reinstated disabling of automap cheats when in deathmatch
- Fixed raw flats exported from SLADE (.raw extension) from being recognized and loaded properly when in an EPK/folder
- Fixed erratic view height change when rising from a crouch while standing on a flat with the SINK_DEPTH DDF special
- Fixed quicksaves not correctly updating the save screenshot for the relevant slot
- Fixed "Press Y To Quit" message on exit not using DDFLANG value
- Fixed intermission text screens advancing too early if a sufficiently high TEXT_WAIT value was not present
- Fixed NO_RESPAWN special in things.ddf being ignored
- Fixed CTD when using a LOAD_SAVE_MENU DDFSTYLE definition that did not have an ALTERNATE text style defined
- Fixed text scaling not being used when rendering non-ENDOOM quit messages

Finally tried out EDGE-Classic and a few mods. Playing on a fresh build on a Debian system, after having mapped the extra buttons, and then alt-fire to right mouse button, I start to pick up on an annoying look-limitation stemming from using alt-fire. It finally dawns on me that strafe must be bound in the classical manner, which I wasn't expecting from a feature-rich port. (Interestingly, the keybind screen said it was mapped to Mouse3, but it was activating on Mouse2..) I just wanted to note that this probably hurts first impressions, esp for those unaware of the classic mouse scheme. It was interesting and welcome to see that the port supports such use with the mlook options, and I had shuffled through them, but yeah, might not be best for a default bind, assuming toggling through the modes didn't set that some kind of way.

Edit: Maybe I'm unaware and Mouse3 has always been RMB on Linux.. looking into it. Pretty sure it wasn't the Mouse1+Mouse2 thing.

That aside, I'm having fun with it. The Duke mod is pretty good.

No, I don't think we've had a use case for such a thing. A railgun like the one in Duke It Out is done via a fast projectile attack with a smoke tracer (which realistically is what a railgun attack would be anyway, although setting the projectile speed too high would probably miss some blockmap collisions).

EDIT: You could, theoretically, recreate the attack with our newer DUALATTACK type, which can execute two separate attack definitions at once. So, the first attack could be the actual hitscan which does damage, and the second is a benign "projectile attack" which leaves the tracer.

My apologies for the noob question, but is documentation available that explains how best to install this on Linux? The site I went to says that EDGE is compatible with linux, but I can't find instructions on how to install or even compile it.

After following the compilation instructions (github.com/edge-classic/EDGE-classic/blob/master/COMPILING.md for reference), the executable 'edge-classic' should be placed in the root of the project directory. It should run out of there just fine; when not running in portable mode config files and logs and such are placed in the SDL2 user pref path which is usually something like ~/.local/share for Linux.

There are no 'install targets' for Linux at this time, so it shouldn't be placing anything in /usr, /usr/bin, etc

Not included by default, no.
Can a modder create one? Yes.