DescentBB

Descent: The Enemy Within
By: Darkflamewolf, Darkhorse, Sirius, Pumo, Wishmaster, Kyouryuu, Alter-fox


This was a long time in coming. I originally wanted to start a mission set
with other level designers a long time ago, since before Apocalyptic Factor
that DH and Sir made a while back. I was unable to do my part at the time,
but I've since paid that back in spades here.
The goal was simple, have people submit around 5 levels to the set, relatively
small in nature and with a whacky level theme that you wouldn't really expect
to see in Descent. What we got was a wide assortment of interesting levels
and challenges. I'm personally surprised at what we all came up with and
I'm proud to have been a part of this set.
Because of the community help, this is THE biggest mission set to date, with
32 whopping levels with an all brand new robot cast + bosses, brand new player
ship with custom cockpit and a kickin new soundtrack. This is definitely one
mission to put on your permenant backup harddrive for future revisitations.
Without further adieu, here is the level line-up!


Level 1: Itdak'maz Outpost - Pumo
Major level theme: Central hub
Major secret: 4-pack Flash Missiles


Level 2: Winding Back - Darkhorse
Major level theme: Winding tunnel through level
Major secret: Quad Laser


Level 3: Pinhead - Sirius
Major level theme: Circular ball level design
Major secret: Spreadfire Cannon


Level 4: Through Broken Skies - Darkhorse
Major level theme: Detailed caves with sky outlets
Major secret: Smart Mine, Invulnerability, 3 Extra Lives


Level 5: Dragon's Nest - Wishmaster
Major level theme: Non-linear level centered around boss room
Major secret: Shield Converter, Quad Laser


Level 6: Merry go Rounded! - Pumo
Major level theme: Circular water basins
Major secret: Full Map


Level 7: Brightwater Caverns - Sirius
Major level theme: Bright water canal throughout level
Major secret: Shield Converter, Quad Laser


Level 8: The Flowing Trench - Darkflamewolf
Major level theme: Flowing trench connecting all areas
Major secret: Helix Cannon


Level 9: Into The Deep - Darkhorse
Major level theme: Surreal rooms and ruined station
Major secret: Ammo Rack, Super Laser


Level 10: Sphere of Influence - Darkflamewolf
Major level theme: Spherical boss room with side halls
Major secret: Helix Cannon, 2 Smart Missiles, Extra Life


Level 11: Hot Stuff - Pumo
Major level theme: Massive lava rooms, cramped corridors
Major secret: Plasma Cannon, Quad Laser


Level 12: And Lava Runs Through It - Darkflamewolf
Major level theme: Central lava corridor
Major secret: Ammo Rack, Fusion Cannon, Phoenix Cannon, Mega Missile


Level 13: Caldera - Sirius
Major level theme: Underlava sections
Major secret: Smart Mine, Mega Missile, Fusion Cannon, 2 Smart Missiles,
Invulnerability, Extra Life


Level 14: Dragnet - Wishmaster
Major level theme: Central tower, criss-crossing catwalks
Major secret: Cloaking Device, Smart Mine


Level 15: To Overworld - Darkhorse
Major level theme: Chessboard boss room with surrounding halls
Major secret: Omega Cannon, 3 Mega Missiles, 2 Extra Lives


Level 16: Ice Reactor Cavern - Darkflamewolf
Major level theme: Central tower connecting various areas
Major secret: Helix Cannon, Quad Laser, Mega Missile


Level 17: Descent Dreams - Pumo
Major level theme: Radical texture schemes with cool room designs
Major secret: Phoenix Cannon, 2 Mega Missiles


Level 18: The Endless Flows - Darkflamewolf/Alter-fox
Major level theme: Trench flows connecting central part of level
Major secret: Omega Cannon, Invulnerability, Shield Converter, Phoenix Cannon


Level 19: Sidera - Sirius
Major level theme: Massive battle rooms
Major secret: Extra Life


Level 20: Gettin' a Cold - Pumo
Major level theme: Central hub catwalk area
Major secret: Ammo Rack, Omega Cannon


Level 21: Loop de Swoop - Darkflamewolf/Sirius
Major level theme: Swooping corridors around central hub
Major secret: Omega Cannon, Smart Mine, 2 Mega Missiles


Level 22: Over Then Under - Darkflamewolf
Major level theme: Twin rooms on top of each other
Major secret: Omega Cannon, Ammo Rack, Quad Laser, 2 Invulnerabilities,
Earthshaker Missile


Level 23: A Road That Leads - Darkhorse
Major level theme: Intricate cave system with new textures
Major secret: 2 Earthshaker Missiles, 2 Mega Missiles, Ammo Rack, Omega Cannon,
Smart Mine, Invulnerability


Level 24: Aurora Outpost - Kyouryuu
Major level theme: Standard facility level, near symmetrical
Major secret: Earthshaker Missile


Level 25: The Core is the Nexus - Darkflamewolf
Major level theme: Central tower located in main arena hub
Major secret: None


Level 26: The Sunspire - Sirius
Major level theme: Central spire hub
Major secret: Ammo Rack, Shield Converter, 6 Earthshaker Missiles

And for the secret levels:


Secret Level 1: Segmented Sanity - Darkflamewolf
Major level theme: Different themed rooms connected together
Major secret: All of it


Secret Level 2: Rolly Polly - Darkflamewolf
Major level theme: Locked doors, grates and lava in a 360 degree ball
Major secret: All of it


Secret Level 3: Here and There, Then and Now - Darkhorse
Major level theme: Massive level with Obisidian like quality design
Major secret: All of it


Secret Level 4: Terra Firma Facility - Darkflamewolf
Major level theme: Blow the reactor and escape while grabbing all the stuff
Major secret: All of it


Secret Level 5: Corckscrew Canyon - Darkflamewolf
Major level theme: Central room circled by curving hallways
Major secret: All of it


Challenge Level: The Grand Finale - Darkflamewolf
Major level theme: Six bosses at once, cloaked, one big, detailed, massive room
Major secret: None

Now a mission set wouldn't be completed without a new line-up of robots! Below is the entire list of robots you'll be encountering in this mission:


Acolyte
Armament: Concussion Missiles
Threat: Mostly stationary, but can do damage from afar if you ignore it too long.


Angler
Armament: Light Vulcan, Concussion Missile
Threat: Fast, pesky and annoying, a flash missile should ease the pain somewhat.


Bolas
Armament: Fast Phoenix Cannon, Smart Missile
Threat: Dangerous in close quarters, fight them with some elbow room.


Echo
Armament: Level 1 Laser
Threat: A nuisance, keep watch for where it is, it is very tiny and you could
lose it.


Fulcrum
Armament: Diamond Cutters, Energy Diffuser, Energy Pulse
Threat: Very deadly enemy with a self-defense ability that can drain your shields.


Gatling
Armament: Helix Cannon
Threat: Quick on the draw with great situational awareness, attack swiftly.


Golem
Armament: Super Smart Missiles, Energy Pulse
Threat: Extreme death awaits those who don't know how to dodge.


Harpoon
Armament: Phase Energy Release
Threat: Deadly in the early stages with minimal weaponry, but easy later on.


Juju
Armament: Level 6 Lasers, Energy Pulse
Threat: Bothersome in close quarters, they spawn Sprites which doesn't help
things.


Kalki
Armament: Omega Cannon, Homing Flash Missile, Energy Pulse
Threat: THE most dangerous non-boss robot in the set, don't let it see you.


Komodo
Armament: Homing Missiles
Threat: Dangerous, bum-rushing robot that attacks with flurries of missiles.


Legionnaire
Armament: Plasma Cannon, Mercury Missile
Threat: Usually takes a backseat to other threats, but that is just the way
it likes it, watch out!


Mantid
Armament: Diamond Cutters
Threat: Very wily, sneaky, crafty cutting robot that will try to get behind you.


Meson
Armament: Spreadfire Cannon, Energy Pulse
Threat: Tricky early on, but nothing more than a nuisance later in the mission.


Morning Star
Armament: Light Vulcan, Flash Missile
Threat: Moderately dangerous, more so since they spawn Anglers on death.


Mule
Armament: Fast Phoenix Cannon
Threat: Stationary robot that is easily wiped up if you don't ignore it.


Parasite
Armament: Concentrated Kamikaze Explosive, Energy Pulse
Threat: A more deadly version of an Omega, now with self defense.


Piper
Armament: Vulcan Cannon
Threat: With crack-shot aim and quick reflexes, this is one robot that can't be
left alive for long.


Sapper
Armament: Phoenix Cannon
Threat: A much weaker, milder version of the Bolas that it spawns from.


Somnambulant
Armament: Flares, Energy Pulse
Threat: Annoying and frustrating thief, with self defense added to the mix,
he is downright deadly.


Sprite
Armament: Level 4 Lasers
Threat: Very small, quick buggers that can overwhelm you in great numbers, spawned
from a Juju.


Terapinner
Armament: Gauss Cannon
Threat: With eagle eyes from a distance and precise aim, these robots are
nothing to sneeze at.


Warlord
Armament: Fusion Cannon, Mega Missile, Energy Pulse
Threat: One hit kill and massive weapon potential to boot, destroy it from afar.


Boss 1: Raptor
Armament: Gauss Cannon, Homing Missile, Energy Pulse
Threat: His arena gives him a lot of room to manuever around you.


Boss 2: Ghast
Armament: Fast Phoenix Cannon, Super Mercury Missile, Energy Pulse
Threat: With the dark outer sphere, it may be hard to spot him.


Boss 3: Chimera
Armament: Super Smart Missiles, Homing Missile, Energy Pulse
Threat: The multitude of matcens helps protect this robot.


Boss 4: Sagittaire
Armament: Omega Cannon, Mega Missile, Energy Pulse
Threat: A relatively small arena for such big weapons make for a tricky fight.


Boss 5: Senbonzakura
Armament: Mega Missiles, Homing Flash Missile, Energy Pulse
Threat: Multitudes of Kalki matcens and wide spacious spaces make this an epic
battle.


Boss 6: Hangman
Armament: Fusion Cannon, Earthshaker Missile
Threat: His entourage of robots will probably do more damage than he will.

With all that coolness out of the way, want to see what type of bucket of bolts you'll be flying? How about the Hunchback!


If that weren't enough, here is a quick run-down of what this level set has to offer in a quick, easy to read format:
32 levels total
5 secret + 1 challenge level
All new robot line-up
6 new bosses
New player ship
New cockpit graphics and HUD
New soundtrack
New detailed briefing and story
Hours of entertainment!

So without further adieu, here is the link! Now get out there and start Descenting and reply back here to let us know how we did! Sit back, grab your joystick (or other playing device) and enjoy the ride!
http://www.povterminal.net/files/EnemyWithin.exe

awesome, I'm gonna have to get d2 back up and running now!

Very cool, I'll drop this in over the weekend.

Bravo!!

Congratulations for a great release.

I would love to play it... if DFW would provide it in a non-EXE format, for those who do not play on Windows. :/

Very Nice. I'll try it!

WOW this looks simply gorgeous! Congrats to everyone who was invloved in making this, I can't wait to play it!

All those screenshots looks way too attractive!
I can't wait anymore to play it!

I liked a lot the main title screen. Nice work.

If DFW allows me I would like to mirror a ZIP-Version of the LEvelset for all those who use non-Windows systems to play it. I take care about the webspace and also would provide a Download link with all credits on my page.

Great job guys. Just looking at the pictures brings back some fond memories.

Go ahead Zico, don't want Mac and Linux users out of the loop. The exe is mainly a professional front/look to the project. Similar to how Ellusion Designs did with Obsidian and Encounter at Farpoint 2.

If you use .rar, it'll be about half the size.

I sent it to Zico as rar, so its pretty darn small. I'm personally keeping the exe copy on my backup HD, because its purdy. (and has your splash screen DH, rar can't do that! ha ha)

I'll offer it in different formats if possible. For Linux users it will be lzma which is way smaller than closed-rar.

No matter. I'll host it, soon and send DFW the links to spread.

Looks GREAT! Pardon me for being an idiot, but could you post a little more detail on installing it? Got D2, got the exe, and then... thanks

Depends if you have the exe installer or not. If so, run it, it'll ask you for the D2 directory, and pretty much all will be done.

Wow, I really want to try this. Why is it an EXE? It only works in windows? If it is only for windows then dang, that sucks.

This looks awesome, guys!

YAY! Thanks DarkFlameWolf! My wife's gonna hate you.

Mission downloaded. Ready for descent.

Looks outrageous! Can't wait to play!

dafzero wrote:Looks GREAT! Pardon me for being an idiot, but could you post a little more detail on installing it? Got D2, got the exe, and then... thanks

hehe, me too. I feel like an idiot. I extracted the mission files to /usr/share/games/d2x (where the rest of the d2 data files are) but can't figure out how to actually play it. D2x-rebirth doesn't prompt to choose a mission like D3 does if you have multiple ones.

EDIT: by the way, which version of Descent is recommended to get the most out of this?

Doesn't really matter. It should look fine in any version you care to throw at it. Some features won't be supported in certain versions (e.g. D2-3DFX never supported full-screen cockpits although the status bar should be OK), but on the whole it works as well as it could be expected to in all of them (including robots, which isn't the case for most latter-day projects).

That said, D2X-XL gives you better visuals for pretty much anything you care to name - but that comes down to personal preference.

Sirius wrote:That said, D2X-XL gives you better visuals for pretty much anything you care to name - but that comes down to personal preference.

Heh, well. Every time I attempt to build D2X-XL for linux I run into problems at every step of the way and usually just give up in the end with the hope that whoever is in charge of that will fix it for linux. I suspect the installation instructions are way out of date or they just don't care. And also, having a special version of SDL-mixer installed on my system just so D2X-XL is happy and doesn't crash doesn't sound like good programming practices to me and leaves a lot of doubt in how well it actually would work if I was able to ever compile it.

Oops, sorry. Not the thread for this.

Anyone know how to get d2x-rebirth to recognize this new mission? Or does it give you the option to choose for other people (maybe I just put the files in the wrong place).

It's the same as getting it to recognise any other mission? Unless this is the first time you've downloaded one, I'm not really sure where the trouble is coming from...

I don't run Linux, but I believe there are people who have managed to get D2X-XL to work there. If you still have the inclination, you could try finding them somehow. Either way, suit yourself.

Xamindar wrote:

dafzero wrote:Looks GREAT! Pardon me for being an idiot, but could you post a little more detail on installing it? Got D2, got the exe, and then... thanks

hehe, me too. I feel like an idiot. I extracted the mission files to /usr/share/games/d2x (where the rest of the d2 data files are) but can't figure out how to actually play it. D2x-rebirth doesn't prompt to choose a mission like D3 does if you have multiple ones.

EDIT: by the way, which version of Descent is recommended to get the most out of this?

Just make a "missions"-subfolder in your directory (the sharepath or under ~/.d2x-rebirth) and place the mission there. Missions always have to be in that missions sub-folder. Should be noted somewhere in install.txt.

wow. I've never seen a levelset quite like this before.

bravo

EDIT: it seems to take down rebirth in the first level.

I'm going to have to refer you to Sirius or Darkhorse for technical problems, I'm only using d2-xl. But Sirius and Darkhorse tested this in vanilla and rebirth versions. So they'd know more about these problems.
Anyway, for those who enjoy this mission set, here are a few other recommended ones if you've never played them before:
Darkflamewolf mission sets - Bahagad Outbreak, The Lost Levels
Sirius/Darkhorse mission sets - Obsidian, Apocalyptic Factor
Kruel mission sets - Kryllidian Krusade, Konflict at Karon
Luke Schneider mission sets - Entropy 1 and 2
Kyouryuu mission set - Project Mandrill
Misc. mission sets - Encounter at Farpoint 1 and 2, Project Hydro

I will run this levelset within he next days to see what's all wrong with Rebirth.

Nothing should take Rebirth down. Even if a level is totally corrupt, Rebirth should display an error (it doesn't but I want to have it like that). Since I this levelset has been tested, it's mostly a Rebirth bug.

zico wrote: Just make a "missions"-subfolder in your directory (the sharepath or under ~/.d2x-rebirth) and place the mission there. Missions always have to be in that missions sub-folder. Should be noted somewhere in install.txt.

Aww, that did it. Thanks. Had to make it with a "lower case" m. It's not playing the music but oh well. I'll try putting that sng file in different places to see what happens.

Ferno wrote: EDIT: it seems to take down rebirth in the first level.

Where at Ferno? In the reactor room somewhere?

I just played a little bit of the first level and only got through the blue and yellow rooms before getting that thief bot. Guess we are just supposed to avoid and ignore him because he is impossible to hit - unless you get lucky and nab him in a doorway. I can't even turn the ship fast enough to follow him

This looks to be really fun!

You should get music if you compile Rebirth with sdlmixer=1 and install Timidity and a good soundfont as well.

Howeve rI think we go a bit off topic here so if anyone has specific Rebirth problems, please use the designated forum. Thanks.

zico wrote:You should get music if you compile Rebirth with sdlmixer=1 and install Timidity and a good soundfont as well.

Howeve rI think we go a bit off topic here so if anyone has specific Rebirth problems, please use the designated forum. Thanks.

Well, it plays the normal d2 mission music. Not bad, but I wanted to hear something new

I ran through this thing on Rebirth during testing. Only had it crash on level 21, and with the number of segment errors in that level I'm surprised it didn't crash on everything. That's been fixed and I've never had any problems since.

The thief bot is killable. Prox bombs and smart mines are your friends, esp if you know the thief bot is coming up behind you or behind a door you know he has to come out of eventually. Furthermore, some levels have such a long draw distance that the thief is still visible for your weapons, but he can't 'see' you, making him a perfect immobile target.

Xamindar wrote:Where at Ferno? In the reactor room somewhere?

It usually happens when I'm dealing with that thiefbot.

I recall 0.53 had a possible memory problem with the thief, but that should be gone in 0.54.

3 levels in I got tired of dealing with a thiefbot that was too fast to deal with.

oh well.

um who playtested this levelset?

level 3's a joke. wrong bots for that environment.

level 4 is simply a test in frustration.

I had to resort to hunt and peck tactics. definitely not fun.

Ferno wrote:level 4 is simply a test in frustration.

x2.. I gave up on lvl 4.

If need be, turning the difficulty level down might help.