Announcement

**Mr.Burns** · 12-22-2019, 11:43 AM

Well done and thank you to both of you (OV3RDR!VE and Seven) for putting this together. I'm currently hooked on Arcane Dimensions but I'll have to give AOP a go

Kind regards
Monty

**apm** · 12-22-2019, 03:34 PM

Hey I remember getting AOP as a kid when it first came out, I was super excited about it!

Look at this... bet there arent too many of these in the world anymore.. https://imgur.com/a/oI7i3sX

Are you one of the original developers of the mission pack? If so ..its so awesome you have stuck around in the quake scene for so long and still care about your work 20 years later. Your work was part of my childhood and one of the reasons i got into maps and mods, and I still play quake to this day.
I had so much fun with AOP, some reviews that you can see online thought it wasn't that good but I thought it was super fun! super underrated. The new weapons were so fun and imaginative, and it had lots of cool maps and monsters. Temple of the moon blew my mind when i first saw it. I still love it!

BTW, I recognize the "Evolve" logo you have, I think i remember it from somewhere, ... perhaps some quake 2 mission pack.. were you involved in that as well?

I would love to hear the backstory about all this stuff and have a chat with you,

Would love to hear from you, all the best,
Alex

**OV3RDR!VE** · 12-23-2019, 06:30 AM

Thank you guys for your positive respond, it's a pleasure to hear it from you.

No, I'm no way an original developer of AOP, I'm just a passionate enthusiast who is excited about this game just as you Alex.

I truly consider AOP being an unofficial Mission Pack #3 for Quake and therefore wanted it to be as bug free as possible.
I tried to refurbish it using all my little knowledge in order to make it as worth as 2 official mission packs.

So the patch I presented is the the outcome of that attempt.

Are you considering to sell your original copy of Abyss Of Pandemonium sometime on eBay?

Regarding my "EVOLVE" avatar... I'm a big fan of Zaero Add-On Pack For Quake 2 and own an original US boxed version
of the game which was released with 28 page user manual. EVOLVE team did an astonishing job on creating this so called "Mission Pack #3"
for Quake 2 and I really loved it.

BTW, Alex, take a look at my self made front cover and inlay for CD regarding Abyss Of Pandemonium v2.0.
I burned my tweaked version of AOP v2.0 onto CD just for the sake of my old games collection

image_3146.jpg

image_3147.jpg

7.jpg

**OV3RDR!VE** · 12-23-2019, 06:31 AM

I also printed official user manual and the story from a long ago shut down website.

8.jpg

**apm** · 01-06-2020, 11:43 AM

Oh thats awesome dude, I love quake 2 and all the missions packs including Zaero.
Q2 still has some singleplayer mappers too this day, although its no where near as active as quake.

Id love to chat with you more about q and q2 mission packs,

Feel free to add me on discord APM#5097
and drop me a message in chat.

Have a good one,
Alex

**OV3RDR!VE** · 01-06-2020, 05:18 PM

Thanks, Alex. I would like to chat with you regarding Quake too but I don't use discord. You may send me the link to your Facebook account (if you have one) and we may continue our chat there, via private messages.

Best regards

**apm** · 01-11-2020, 07:34 PM

not really a facebook kinda guy, tho i do use WhatsApp, do u use this?

Ill send u a PM with my WA,

Thanks, All the best!

**OV3RDR!VE** · 01-12-2020, 02:20 AM

Hello, Alex. Unfortunately I don't use any messengers.

All I can suggest you is to chat via Facebook or sending private messages here.

I hope you understand.

My best regards.

**Moon[Drunk]** · 01-13-2020, 04:37 PM

Originally posted by apm View Post

...

Look at this... bet there arent too many of these in the world anymore.. https://imgur.com/a/oI7i3sX

...

Nice one! I used to check Ebay on a regular basis back in the day for one of those

/Moon

**OV3RDR!VE** · 01-28-2020, 03:35 AM

Originally posted by Mr.Burns View Post

Well done and thank you to both of you. I'm currently hooked on Arcane Dimensions but I'll have to give AOP a go

Kind regards
Monty

Hello, Morty!

I would love to hear from you regarding your thoughts on our patch for AOP v2.0. Have you played it already?

Please complete the game with it and let me know what you think

Best regards.

**nixos** · 08-11-2020, 04:51 PM

Originally posted by OV3RDR!VE View Post

[SIZE=18px][I]Greetings, everyone!

I remember myself enjoying to play AOP as it really felt like a continuation of Quake's story and had some unique features which fit quite well into the world of Quake.

There were some things I wanted to improve and polish while playing this mission pack and now most of this stuff has finally been implemented.

hi there, would it be possible to add the option to customize monster health, ammo gained (at ammo box pickup and at weapon pickup), max ammo and powerup duration ? (writing values on autoexec.cfg) like someone did with this mod.

https://www.moddb.com/downloads/quake-config-mod

this mod has a custom version for base game and each mission pack (1 and 2), you write inside autoexec.cfg the new values, (for mp1 and mp2 the new monsters, weapons, ammo, powerup are also customizable.)
(for example i made the small medkit give 10hp instead of 15, i made the mp1 empathy shield last 300 seconds instead of 30, just writing the modded values in autoexec.cfg)
(i changed max shells ammo to 200, and max nail ammo to 600 like this)

///////
/////// Set your desired values for monster-health here
///////

/////// monster health values

set fish_health 20 // default 25 //Rotfish //Zombieman
set dog_health 20 // default 25 //Rottweiler //Zombieman
set soldier_health 30 // default 30 //Grunt //Shotgun Guy
set enforcer_health 50 // default 80 //Enforcer //SS Nazi
set ogre_health 60 // default 200 //Ogre //Imp
set wizard_health 70 // default 80 //Scrag //Heavy Weapon Dude
set knight_health 100 // default 75 //Knight //Lost Soul
set hellknight_health 150 // default 250 //Death Knight //Spectre
set demon_health 150 // default 300 //Fiend //Demon (Pinky)
set shambler_health 500 // default 600 //Shambler //Hell Knight
set shalrath_health 300 // default 400 //Vore //Revenant
set tarbaby_health 40 // default 80 //Spawn
set zombie_health 60 // default 60 (more than 110 makes them invincible against grenades/rockets) //Zombie
set boss0_health 1 // default 1 (zaps from Electric Pylon on Easy)
set boss_health 1 // default 3 (zaps from Electric Pylon)

set eel_health 30 // default 60 //Electric Eel //Shotgun Guy
set tarbaby_mitosis_small_health 20 // default 60 //Hell Spawn (duplicated)
set tarbaby_mitosis_big_health 40 // default 100 //Hell Spawn
set knight_statue_health 100 // default 75 //Statue (Knight)
set hellknight_statue_health 150 // default 250 //Statue (Death Knight)
set sword_health 150 // default 150 //Phantom Swordsman
set ogre_boss_health 90 // default 200 //Multi-Grenade Ogre
set wrath_health 105 // default 400 //Wrath
set overlord_health 1050 // default 1000 //Overlord (leader of the wraths)
set mummy_health 90 // default 500 //Mummy
set mummy_strong_health 900 // default 1000 //Queen Mummy
set guardian_health 200 // default 200 //Guardian
set guardian_boss_health 2000 // default 2000 //Quake's Guardian
set hephaestus_health 1000 // default 1250 //Hephaestus
set hephaestus_skill_health 0 // default 250 (adds health on difficulty)
set dragon_health 4000 // default 3000 //Dragon
set dragon_skill_health 0 // default 1000 (adds health on difficulty)

/////// monster gib values

set demon_gib -80 // default -80
set dog_gib -35 // default -35
set enforcer_gib -35 // default -35
set fish_gib -20 // default -20
set hellknight_gib -40 // default -40
set knight_gib -40 // default -40
set ogre_gib -80 // default -80
set shalrath_gib -90 // default -90
set shambler_gib -60 // default -60
set soldier_gib -35 // default -35
set wizard_gib -40 // default -40

set eel_gib -12 // default -12
set mummy_gib -35 // default -35

/////// ammo pack values

set shells_small_ammo 10 // default 20
set shells_big_ammo 20 // default 40
set nails_small_ammo 30 // default 25
set nails_big_ammo 60 // default 50
set rockets_small_ammo 5 // default 5
set rockets_big_ammo 10 // default 10
set cells_small_ammo 15 // default 6
set cells_big_ammo 30 // default 12

set lavanails_small_ammo 30 // default 25
set lavanails_big_ammo 60 // default 50
set multirockets_small_ammo 5 // default 5
set multirockets_big_ammo 10 // default 10
set plasma_small_ammo 15 // default 6
set plasma_big_ammo 30 // default 12

/////// weapon pickup ammo values

set supershotgun_pickupammo 20 // default 5
set nailgun_pickupammo 60 // default 30
set supernailgun_pickupammo 60 // default 30
set grenadelauncher_pickupammo 10 // default 5
set rocketlauncher_pickupammo 10 // default 5
set lightning_pickupammo 30 // default 15

set nailgun_lava_pickupammo 60 // default 20
set supernailgun_lava_pickupammo 60 // default 20
set grenadelauncher_multi_pickupammo 10 // default 3
set rocketlauncher_multi_pickupammo 10 // default 3
set lightning_plasma_pickupammo 30 // default 5

/////// max ammo values

set shells_maxammo 200 // default 100
set nails_maxammo 600 // default 200
set rockets_maxammo 100 // default 100
set cells_maxammo 300 // default 100

set lavanails_maxammo 600 // default 200
set multirockets_maxammo 100 // default 100
set plasma_maxammo 300 // default 100

/////// heal item values

set medikit_small_heal 10 // default 15
set medikit_big_heal 25 // default 25
set megahealth_heal 100 // default 100

/////// armor values

set greenarmor 50 // default 100
set yellowarmor 100 // default 150
set redarmor 200 // default 200

/////// powerup time

set envirosuit_time 30 // default 30
set invulnerability_time 30 // default 30
set invisibility_time 30 // default 30
set super_damage_time 30 // default 30

set powershield_time 30 // default 30
set antigrav_time 300 // default 45

/////// item respawn time

set ammo_respawntime 30 // default 30
set health_respawntime 20 // default 20
set megahealth_respawntime 20 // default 20 (5 + health rot time + respawn time: (5 + 100 + 20 = 125)
set armor_respawntime 20 // default 20
set powerup_respawntime 60 // default 60 (invulnerability/invisibility: respawn time * 5 ("60 * 5 = 5 minutes")

**OV3RDR!VE** · 08-18-2020, 06:28 AM

I think that customization options you're talking about are as useful as football bat.

Enjoy pure gameplay with original values.

Best regards.

**nixos** · 08-21-2020, 06:32 PM

Originally posted by OV3RDR!VE View Post

I think that customization options you're talking about are as useful as football bat.

Enjoy pure gameplay with original values.

Best regards.

i see, recently i found seven modified source code, and customised it... i am having a blast with the modified gameplay, i also found seven modified abyss source code, and learned how to compile qc code... i will try to modify and compile source codes for all mission packs and post the result on this forum if i succeded. when i wrote the reply here i didn't know how to modify and compile qc code, also those values do not make the game as fun as the new values i put after i discovered seven modded source code. thanks for the reply.

**Gribe** · 11-13-2020, 10:16 PM

Hi OV3RDRIVE and everyone,
I am one of the original developers of Abyss of Pandemonium. I was credited for Game Core Design, Lead Programmer and QA, but also designed levels AOPEND, AOPDM5 and AOPDM6.

Firstly I'm amazed and impressed that people are still interested in this mission pack 22 years later and still developing mods and enhancements for it. This was a hobby project for most of us back then and we never thought it would have much of a life beyond the release of Quake 2. It was a joy to play through this improved edition and see all the enhancements made.

I have a few interesting tidbits about the development of the mission pack which I'll share, and if anyone has any questions I can do my best to answer them here.

We got together in 1997 with the aim of developing the unofficial 3rd mission pack for Quake 1. Aj Greenlee had the initial idea and put out a call on a Quake message board to assemble a team. Myself along with about 4 or 5 others showed interest, we were all from around the globe, I was in Australia, there were a few in the US, Canada and a few more in Europe. It was never intended to be a commercial venture, just a passion project. We exchanged emails and did the entire development over e-mail group messages and ICQ instant message chat.

I was 15 when I joined the team and was programming after school and during school holidays. I had no C programming experience, I'd done a little bit of QuickBasic programming and Visual Basic, and made a few adventure style games using Hypercard on Mac. I had learned a little bit about QuakeC by working on two projects, and X-Files total conversion that was abandoned fairly early, and Descent to Quake, which changed the character to a space craft that could move in any direction and could shoot lasers, orb projectiles and missiles, like the gameplay from Descent. Many Total Conversions were being developed for Quake in those days, and while the idea of using the Quake engine to create a whole new game was appealing, the work involved always become insurmountable and the projects frequently fell apart. The appeal of starting a mission pack project was that the work was fairly manageable, just a handful of new enemies and weapons, and there were plenty of levels designers who could contribute to a new set of levels by substituting in the new enemies and weapons into their currently in-development maps.

The technique for developing the weapons and monsters was to copy John Carmack's existing code provided in QuakeC and change values and variables and functions to have different results. For example, the leap attacks for the Dark Knight and Blud were taken from the Fiend, LG2 Prototype lightning was made to bounce by changing the projectile type to the same as grenade when it hits a wall, then changing it back. I couldn't get the lightning attack from the Shambler working for other enemies so I changed it to an attack that locks onto you but had a percentage chance of missing to the left or right, however this had the odd side-effect that lighting enforcers can attack in a direction they're not facing.

We wanted to boost the number of new monsters without having the animators/modellers to create all new models and animations, so someone suggested doing reskins of the Enforcer and Knight and giving them new attacks. I remember personally drawing a new skin for the Enforcer which had grey skin, different texturing on his clothes and chubby cheeks and we put it in the game. When we signed up with a publisher, and the publisher negotiated with ID software the terms of the sale of the Mission Pack, we found out we can't include any ID Software copyrighted material in our .pak files. As our reskinned models were originally animated by ID Software, and we'd just put a new skin on it, the publisher deemed this was a risk of copyright infringement. So we had to either reference the original model from ID Software with no modifications, or create a brand new animation for the enemy with an all new skin. One of our modellers quickly took on the task of coming up with an original model for the Dark Knight, however we referenced the original Enforcer model to save time. So the fact that someone reskinned the Lightning Enforcer in this mod makes me very happy as that was the way it was always intended to be.

We also discovered that all the textures for the levels were stored in the level files, which means all our levels had ID Software copyrighted content, so we decided that in order to sell the mission pack we'd need to replace every single texture in the game. So one of the texture designers redesigned literally every texture to give it a unique look. They did a fantastic job in a short amount of time, and allowed us to move forward with publishing the game.

The reason there are two models for the Juggernaut is that we did not coordinate which modeller would work on which enemy, so both our modellers worked on the Juggernaut and we ended up with 2 models. We decided to implement them both and the game randomly chooses which model to use. This has the undesired result of infighting between the Juggernauts.

Our publisher pushed for a December 1997 release, in order to better line up with Christmas sales, however this pressure made the end of development quite rushed. We intended to have 2x6 missions but ended up with 10. The final boss was modelled from what I think was a 'stock' human model with modified animations. I was always a bit disappointed that the final boss was not big and scary, but we were really strapped for time. In the final months of development the last level had not been designed, Aj Greenlee had done a small map with a narrow corridor very early on, and someone put the boss in this map and showed me. I was really disappointed as it was not the arena-style final battle I had envisioned. I had been dabbling in quake and doom map design for a few years, and I had an unfinished map that I knew with a bit of time and attention could become the final level. So I added the arena to it and put in the boss and it was complete. I don't think my map is up to the same standard as the other map designers, it's pretty crude in some places, however it achieved the arena style battle I wanted and also added some additional gameplay length to the 2nd chapter, which was already quite short with only 3 maps at this point and boss room.

Also the first level in the game after the hub was not originally intended to be there at all. One of the map designers had done an epic level that (from what I was told) was the best map in the game, so we decided we should put it first to make a good first impression. As the map become closer to being finished, I started to hear reports that the map was taking a long time to compile (all maps are run through a compiler before they are playable). Then I heard reports that the map was taking longer than 40 hours and would still be compiling. Someone took the level to their office and tried to compile it on the fastest, most advanced machine their company had and it would still just endlessly compile, never finishing. I heard that it did successfully compile at some stage but there were all these glitches in the drawing of the level by engine that it was unusable. So we decided we had to throw out that map and one of the level designers volunteered to design a new map for the first level and did it all very quickly, I think we told him the situation on Friday and by Monday we had a finished level 1 that played great. Still I always wonder what this 'lost level' looked like. There would have been some 'in-progress' builds of this level floating around at the time, but they would be very hard to track down now.

Some regrets I have are that the Lightning Enforcer's attack is too short and looks dumb when it misses you, I wanted to differentiate the Lightning Enforcer attack from the Dark Knight's lightning attack, the Shambers attack and Legond's attack, but this a cheap fix that didn't make a lot of sense. Also calling the last map 'Legonds of Quake' was a play on words of 'Legends of Quake' that doesn't make any sense in the context of the story. My coding was not very optimised, which meant the other programmer couldn't easily fix of modify the stuff I was working on. Also the publisher put the label 'Total Conversion' on the box, which we never told them it is a 'Total Conversion' and it's obviously not a 'Total Conversion', we asked them to take it off but I assume the first batch of boxes had been printed. They did send us each a boxed copy of the game which was great though.

Working on this mission pack was a great experience and I learned a lot about working in a team and coordination, and the effort it took to deliver a finished product. While the vision was to produce an expansion pack up to the same quality of the official ones, and I think we may have fell a little short, but I'm still very happy with the final result. Deciding to publish the game commercially was a bit of a double edge sword, it attracted more talent to the project as they prospect of getting paid was alluring, but it also brought a lot of problems with the high pressure to deliver before christmas, and also the additional time we had to put in with retexturing and creating new enemy models.

So yeah, that's some brief notes about development, it was a very exciting time to be doing modding as the Quake modding community was thriving, with Quake being the most advanced 3D tech on the market. Thanks everyone for still playing and continuing to develop this expansion pack. I'm very pleasantly surprised that the project still lives on.

- Ryan 'Gribe'

Announcement

Abyss Of Pandemonium v2.0 Improved Edition (2019)

Abyss Of Pandemonium v2.0 Improved Edition (2019)

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