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Zortch

Zortch Maxinum against The Alien Brainsuckers 路 By mutantleg

Bugs Sticky

A topic by mutantleg created Apr 24, 2023 Views: 998 Replies: 78
Viewing posts 1 to 21
Developer

Please report bugs here! (post release)

(+1)

Ahoi! First of all, wonderful game you've got here! Absolutely loving it!
However, there does seem to be a small issue with the players running.
So holding the run button seems to not allow me to fire my guns... sometimes...

It seems very fickle, but sometimes I'll run and my guns won't fire at all,
and sometimes I'll run and I only can't fire the alts for the weapons.
Quite strange.

Developer

I'm afraid this a feature and works like this by design
the real bug is that it allows you to fire while running 馃

(+1)

I figured that might be the case.
But with that said, I would recommend that with that being a feature you still get some kind of feedback.
So say if I'm running, and I try to shoot, the gun makes a clicking sound and the crosshair gets replaced with
a prompt to let you know you can't shoot. Without that, it feels unintentional.

Developer (1 edit)

changing (or hiding?) the crosshair while running sounds like a good idea 馃 ( I didn't thought of that because I play without it)
also I'll see if I can make it more obvious

(+1)

I been getting slowdown in most of the Episode 3 levels, and maybe some of the later episode 2 levels. i'm not sure how to be more helpful with my description. i have been playing on Subjugator if that helps.

I would give more information but i kind of trained myself to ignore it, but then i thought -oh shit, i should probz report this just in case.
maybe i could go back and play again? Subjugator is hard tho

Developer(+1)

that is strange (slowdown anywhere is strange ) 馃
are you playing with vsync on?
does changing any setting help?
(also I probably asked your specs before but I forgot them)

(2 edits) (+1)

So i've intuitively learned of the map [mapname] console command to reload those maps that gave me trouble yesterday. i've been playing at the highest settings and the most i've experienced in terms of slowdown is slightly under 60fps. i was running through areas aggroing every enemy i could find and just dodging while i study the framerate (this was actually really fun for me) and it was all good!

So, i must have been running other shit in the background while playing the game that caused the slowdown. shutting down my computer and then booting it up again today must've fixed it.

Sorry for the false alarm

Developer(+1)

that's alright - there were many non false alarms 馃様

(+1)

I think starting at episode 3 the game sometimes crashes when saving, later it crashes on every save or quick save. Happily the save file is always there after restart. I'm using Windows 10 and the version 1808 but played the version before with the same save files. Crashing means the game closes immediately without a message.

Developer (1 edit)

it's very strange that there is no message 馃
so far I have trouble reproducing it, and only got hunches what could cause it:
does it only happen on episode 3?
is there a screenshot for the save files?
do you see a file called  "tempsave.sav"  in the game dir?
also are you using the itch.io app to play and if not does that make a difference?

(+1)

I'm not using the itch.io app, I have a folder on my desktop. There is a screenshot and there is no tempsave.sav. It started in episode 3 but I havye savegames from episode 4 and 5 where the bug is reproducable (at least for me). Just load a corrupted save files (this works) and then save again (quick or normal) and then it crashes after saving.

Developer (5 edits)

sounds tricky - so the saving seems to work and a  corrupted value could be causing a crash?
still it doesn't make sense why there is no error popup of any kind on crash 馃
(I guess if it's truly corrupted save I will be able to reproduce it, but just in case:
so if you start a new game on episode 3 with the level select and save the game then it works ok?)

(1 edit) (+1)

Can I post a link here to the zipped save files? There are no DM on itch.io.

Update: I fixed it by deactivating Avast Antivirus, in windowed mode I could read the message. It didn't like the game writing in a desktop folder and asked for permission. Strange thing was, the save files were also written before but with a crash after.

Developer

sure, but you can also just send them to mutantleg(at)gmail.com

(+1)

Sorry for the false alarm, antivirus and firewalls can be annoying. It's probably not best practice to run an application on the desktop, but most of the time it works. But I wonder if it gets better under c:/programs/, save games should actually be stored under AppData\Roaming\... or AppData\Local\..., sometimes also in the documents folder.

Developer

so it was just the antivir acting up then?
I guess that explains the weird crash - still I wonder what part bothered them 馃

(+1)

I played it through and it was very smooth. The level design was extremely creative and never unfair and well balanced. I never got stuck in the walls or anything like that, the controls are very precise. What I found is hardly worth mentioning...

In E1M3 I saw a gap under a path, looking out of a chamber that was blocked by a stone:

In E5M3 you walk at the top of the glass roof where the red key is against the invisible level wall. It was probably intentional, but a high fence would be better and the direct view of the entire skybox is not advantageous either:

Also in E5M3 there were two floating boxes outside the water (there is water on the right, not in screen):


For stairs, it would be nicer if the pattern matched the height of the steps so that each step looks the same. It's close but usually doesn't quite fit:

Developer

I'm glad you enjoyed it!
E1M3 is something I definitely need to make a patch for 馃
the others are lower priority  but seem easy to fix

(+1)

Yes, all are absolutely uncritical. Only the first and third are minor errors at all, 2 and 4 are a matter of taste.

(+1)

Here's one I've forgotten to address: when you grab the invisibility powerup and throw dynamite one by one constantly, you can keep throwing dynamite as its ammo counter reaches negative values. This only happens in primary fire and not secondary.

Developer

I have trouble reproducing this one .. do you know of a map or area where it happens every time?
or do you perhaps have a save file? 馃

(1 edit) (+1)

I tested this on E1M1 in the room where you get the invisibility powerup for the first time. Also on E1M2 where you get the invisibility powerup after a slam dunk with the basketball hoop and then you eventually get five dynamite. Seems to happen in every level. The powerup is bugged with the dynamite, but thankfully, the other weapons are not affected.

Developer (1 edit)

ok I finally got it - this is really weird and there doesn't seem to be anything obvious in the code that causes it 馃槙
anyway for fixing it I added an extra ammo check before firing throwing the tnt: Patches.zip - Build 1816
also thank you for finding this one 馃憤

(+1)

You're welcome.

(+1)

I found a bug in which doors can open up by the contact of grenade or the wrench tool hitting them, which I don't think should be doing that.

Developer

this  is actually a feature (just not a very useful one)
it's like this because it worked the same way in LAB

(+1)(-1)

Uh, didn't realize that. But overall is an ability that isn't very feel fleshed out and wouldn't be too much of a loss if it was removed.

(+1)

oh god don't remind me of how many nuke launchers I got while recording part 2... just why so many nuke launchers

Developer

can you ever have enough nukes though? 馃
(I think it was because of the level select - you start only with the pistol)

(+1)

After the wake up animation, the POV remains slighty tilted and doesn't change. Surprised this bug hasn't already been fixed.

Developer(+1)

I don't remember it being reported before 馃  (I probably just forgot about it)
hmm.. I reproduced it after a few tries: it seems it doesn't happen everytime  馃
(maybe caused by a new setting?)

Developer

 I uploaded a fix to Patches.zip  (Build 1827)
(better late than never I guess
馃 )

(+1)

Found a missing texture in the first level in the teleporter room (there's a wall on the other side):


and in the same level, there's a weird geomtetry displacement that wasn't there before:


Also, dunno if it's a bug too, but I wanted to experiment with making a map recreating the famous "Into The Abyss" level from Titanfall 2, and run in this effect in which the other side of the mesh becomes traslucent for no reason when it isn't supposed to do that:

Developer(+1)

thank you for finding these! (so much patching to do 馃様 )

for some textures it auto sets flags for the entity .. or could be a bug - without looking at the map file I cannot tell for sure 馃

(+1)

I wanted to get below 1 minute for E1M1 so I played the game bit different than before and recognized this:

I have run toggled on, then after falling in E1M1 I crouch into the ventilation shaft. When I'm into it I cannot kick with fire-key, I see the crosshair wobbling but nothing happens, only the kick key Q works. Behind the shaft, when standing, the kick works again with fire-key or Q.

Developer

that's odd 馃 I'll look into it
thank you for finding it 馃憤

Thanks! It seems that even the kick over dedicated Q-key isn't always responding in that situation: running and sliding crouched in that shaft and than trying to kick the grid. Run & shot would also help in some situations.

(1 edit) (+1)

Found some misaligned tiles and voids in the early levels:





Also found this weird visual glitch in which the flame brute shines like he's invisible:


Developer

thank you for finding these! 馃憤

the brute is normal - he just has an additive map (a bit too shiny I guess)

(+1)

In E5M3, there is a slight misalignment in the vent near that malfunctioning laser cannon

Developer

thank you for finding this!
alas fixing these small ones is more trouble than it's worth 馃様

(1 edit) (+1)

You don't have to fix it immediately or have to fix it at all, but why is this trouble? You can collect these and fix them at once.

Some overlapping polygones at E3M1


Developer

it's just fixing small stuff is just so annoying 馃様 I don't know why

Then document them instead of fixing them, thats fine

(+1)

When quicksaving often, the saving process seems to slow down with every save until the game crashes. I now have a quicksave file which I can load but not save again from that point. It's the slot0.sav and it is 17194 KB big. It's from E2M3 but I think it can happen in every map.

Developer

I couldn't replicate it yet .. at first I thought it's probably all the crates generated
but the number of objects don't seem to be increasing after a while

hmm.. can you send over the save file somehow?

(+1)

Here it is.

https://bytes.one/upload/slot0.zip

Developer

I'm not sure how it happened but somehow a 158mb large decal mesh was generated 馃ゴ
(how it not just crashed is anyones guess)
it's rather strange - there is a hard limit how many triangles a decal can make
and all mem seems to be initialised properly..  so I have no idea of the cause
anyway I better put in some safeguards/sanity checks just in case

for now here is a fixed version of the save:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dJHbPpHYxNT81XvVTynfIDeqdV_GoVJV/view

(+1)

Now I opened the Windows Explorer to see the filesize and hammered F6 (sometimes F9)  in the gameplay and it is inconspicuous until I come to the dump in E2M3, here for example after some time the save file seems to double its size every time or at least grow faster every time.

Developer

this bug is so weird - it worries me a lot - but I just cannot seem to reproduce it 馃
anyway I added a new hotfix to Patches.zip (Build 1890)
please check if it still happens with this version
(it double checks if the decal mesh seems correct)

(+1)

It's getting worse but maybe the way it does helps you figure it out. I played the same map E2M3 at the same spot. This time I just saved 2 or 3 times until the game crashes. Now this is interesting, the quicksave from 1890 crashes 1890 but works in 1878. So it is somehow corrupted but you only stopped the uncontrolled growth. https://bytes.one/upload/e2m3_quicksave.zip

It's no big deal for me but this could be one of the more serious bugs which affects at least some people.

Can you confirm the crash with my savegame in 1890 on your computer?

Developer

yes, save files help me a lot - I can actually debug and see where the crash is 馃憤
of course in this case an opengl call seem to not like something about the mash data
so all I know is that  a decal mesh that got malformed somewhere
I added more sanity checks and it seem to have worked
( it now attempts to fix the mesh on load more aggressively - or throws away the decal altogether if it's beyond saving)

anyway I added the fix to Patches.zip (Build 1892)
also thank you for finding this and of course helping fixing it!
this is one of those - how nobody have noticed this before bugs 馃様

(+1)

It looks good, couldn't break it anymore!

(+1)

I tested gamepad support in 1892. I'm not a gamepad player but I can give you some feedback for that. I'm sure you are making many couch players very happy with that functionality.

For the moment I still see some work to do. It's not always picking the right controller.

I'm using (newest gen) XBox Controller and have two paired, but only one was connected ("switched on")  and I had NO working gamepad in the game. Second try I connected both controllers and the other which was switched off before worked. Next time I started the game, the other one worked.

I think it is complety ok to automatically pick one controller if more than one is connected but you seem to pick just "controller 0" if it is connected or not.  I'm not sure how a connection is detected but the axis should have valued around 32k when on and 0 if off.

Another problem is with looking, it is splitted between the wrong axis on the right stick and the trigger buttons:

right stick up looks to the left
right stick down looks to the right
left trigger looks down
right trigger looks up

I can also see it in the config, that the rigth stick only moves left/right. About the naming:  XY nub and ZR nub sound odd to me, it should be named "right stick" and "left stick": https://gameuxmasterguide.com/2019-04-18-DesignSenses/

So for the moment I cannot test how it really feels in the gameplay but I will do that, when the axis are fixed.

Developer (1 edit)

thank you for taking a look!
but it was only included because it is what I'm working on now (and that is why I didn't mention it):
my XBox controller is only arriving on wednesday (earliest)
and so far it was only tested with a PS1 controller I had lying around
alas it looks like I'm far from finished 馃様

(+1)

I'm sure these are minor problems to solve but maybe there is some fine tuning needed after that for response, dead zone handling etc and people would appreciate if the can use the menu with gamepad. So you have no keyboard input for the menu but a gamepad mouse-cursor control would do it.

Developer

indeed - for now I'd like to not think about how much work is still ahead 馃様

If it helps you, you've already written a piece of video game history that will live on. Next milestone: 500 reviews on steam to archive

"overwhelmingly positive"

Developer

I updated Patches.zip with Build 1903
it has an improved support XBox controllers (if you are interested)

it finally arrived today:  turns out both shoulders use the Z axis
still needs some adjusting  and I still need to account for possibly multiple controllers ones plugged in
but at least now you can move and aim at the same time

of course I'm assuming that all XBox controllers use the same input setup 馃

Great work, I think this can be productive used by any user!  it was a good idea to handle the triggers as buttons and not as axis. I am not the right person to tell you the best (most common) defaults but it seems to work very well.

In my opinion the assignable actions are complete but maybe someone could wish quicksave/load
D-Pad diagonal does nothing, doing both would be better at least if you move with it
I would call the "nubs" left and right stick

To name the buttons 1-12 is safe but which controllers for Windows really exist which have a complete other button layout than XBox? For me it would be nice to call them what they are: X, Y, A, B, shoulder, menu, start,...

I searched for my "gamepad mouse" code for cursor movement in the menu, it's in a very odd Basic dialect but should be readable as pseudo code.

Proc Joy_StickMouse
  parameters device&, axis1&, axis2&
  declare newx&,newy&,dist&
 
  'bring rest position from 32767 to 0
  joy_x_raw! = Joy(device&, axis1&) - 32767
  joy_y_raw! = Joy(device&, axis2&) - 32767

  '6,25% deadzone
  if (abs(joy_x_raw!) < 2048)
    joy_x_raw! = 0
  endif

  if (abs(joy_y_raw!) < 2048)
    joy_y_raw!= 0
  endif

  if (joy_x_raw! <> 0) OR  (joy_y_raw! <> 0)

    'set new cursor position
    newx& = %mousex + min(24,(joy_x_raw! * 0.0005 * (1 + joy_mouseacc!)))
    newy& = %mousey + min(24,(joy_y_raw! * 0.0005 * (1 + joy_mouseacc!)))
    SetCursorPos(newx&,newy&)

    'calculate acceleration based on "distance" last input
    joy_mouseacc! = joy_mouseacc! + sqrt(abs(int(joy_x_raw!)*int(joy_x_raw!)) + abs(int(joy_y_raw!)*int(joy_y_raw!))) * 0.0000025
  else

    'no input? reset acceleation to stop movement immediately
    joy_mouseacc! = 0

  endif
EndProc

(+1)

谋 finded some colorless walls in custom maps and 谋 find white question marks. And two question marks are standing halfway on the floor.

Developer

sorry for the late reply - your post got stuck in itch.io's spam filter (and I didn't notice)

those are placeholders for old meshes that got deleted - for custom maps it's not considered to be a bug to be missing

(1 edit) (+1)

slight animation bug when raising the tripmine after using it or after equipping it where the tripmine kind of adjusts to the arm/hand after the animation is done which is weird

if it doesn't happen then try this
resolution = 640x480

FOV = 90

Developer

changing the FOV led to so much animation issues .. 馃様
for now if it looks ok on 60 FOV so I don't care - at least until I figure out this fov thing
I thought that for old games the complaint was for 60 horizontal fov  and .. 90 vertical fov kind of deforms everything
so what could be the right choice - I'm kind of stuck here still 馃

FOV in this game is vertical. On a 16:9 aspect ratio a fov of 60 vertical is equal to a fov of 90 horizontal. I use https://themetalmuncher.github.io/fov-calc/ to see what kind of fov I need.

(+1)

take your time mutant I am sure that you will figure it out sooner or later don't rush anything it doesn't bother me that much :)

(+1)

i got the It's Mine Now! steam achievement while i was alt-tabbed from the main menu for like 30 minutes, lol.

Developer

yes, in the demo it removes a mine and you get the achievement for that - it was too amusing and it was left in

on the other hand: you mean the game was alt-tabbed and was not paused? 馃

(2 edits) (+1)

um i guess so? i was doing something else and heard the achievement noise
edit: cant replicate the demo continuing to play when im alt-tabbed, sry. ><

Developer

that's alright - thank your for checking it 馃憤

(+1)

Can't save game when not running as Admin (Win 10 64 bit, Itch version).

If anyone has trouble saving their settings or saving the game's progress, running the app with administrator privileges might be the fix.
I usually don't encounter this sort of issue, as I run a rather lose Windows security setting, and was doubly surprised as the game was also not installed in a protected file system. But oh well. Just something to be aware of I guess.

Otherwise having a great time!

Developer

that is strange 馃

so far I only know of this being a problem on Win 8
the solution there was to use the itch.io app to run the game

(+1)

Crouching with the default Ctrl bind does not work - I've had to set it to LCtrl instead. Perhaps it has something to do with my keyboard? (playing on an Acer Predator Helios 16 laptop)

Developer(+1)

your keyboard is fine; it's a bug: the old ctrl was replaced by LCtrl and RCtrl and nobody noticed before that the default config is wrong
thank you for finding it 馃憤

(+1)

The game appears to lack high DPI-awareness - my Windows display scale is set to 150%, and the game window was slightly blurry until I enabled the application DPI scaling compatibility option in Zortch.exe.

Developer(+1)

I'm afraid that is the recommended solution for now
until I figure out how it goes wrong 馃

(+1)

Two small issues next to each other in e5m1, in the red key room

Texture seam


Z fighting where the crosshair is


Developer

thank you for finding these 馃憤