30 secrets in the main map, is this a new record? :)

As you have to use RMQ for this release, and the RMQ defaults for some of the visual effects will be undesirable for some, here are the cvars you will want to change:

r_motionblur "0"
r_colored_dynamic_light "0"
r_colored_dynamic_light_mflash "0"

The only cvar I couldn't find was for the gl_flashblend style dynamic light halos, I'll post again if I find it.

r_show_coronas "0"

Thanks onetruepurple!

For the above:

r_show_coronas "0"

DERP

I can't get this to run.

Tried RMQengine-win32 and it says:
"wicked.bsp has wrong version number 1112756274 should be 29"
Also tried: fteqw.exe -game wicked
and it never finds the map.

Never mind, got it to work now. =)

Only found 29 secrets :(

Damn you Tronyn. I thought I was going to hold the secret record with apsp3, but you blew me away by a whole 10 secrets (also, maybe there were more than 20 in some other large maps?)

Very, very good map that is like a whole episode in 1 bsp. I really don't know how Tronyn pumps out so many massive and awesome maps in such a short space of time, but I hope he keeps doing it!

User 3226, I get the same messages and still can't get either engine to load. How did you solve the problem?

Under windows, I still needed to upgrade to the very newest RMQEngine-Win32.exe, which is revision 3736, instead of using my older revision.

download here:
http://svn.icculus.org/*checkout*/remakequake/engine/Experimental/RMQEngine-Win32.exe?revision=3736

Thanks, user3226. I finally got it to work on my old PC, but it wouldn't run RMQ. It somehow DID run with fteqw_dll_gl.exe and I don't know how I stumbled across that, but it was choppy on the main map. It still looked wonderful, but I eventually had to scrap playing it b/c my video card just isn't up to-date enough.

I finally found the disk that I thought I'd lost for my more powerful computer -- was using it for recording music with a higher cap. HDD and THAT disk is...no more :/ -- and it runs ok with an Nvidia 5200 card with the settings on min. and (still) with 32 bit graphics; runs ok. The fog effect on the start map is fantastic, and this is (so far) shaping up to be one of my most favorite maps (yet again one of Tronyn's) ever at 256 kills so far on hard. Now I can run RMQ, but I like the tweaking capability with fteglqw better, however, it won't run this game, but will run standalone. Get some kind of error message "Host_Int: An error occurred. Try the -condebug commandline parameter." Well, that doesn't do anything and a google search turned up nothing except technical compilation things that are beyond my scope.

This IS a great map though, and I'm just happy to be able to play it at all! Thanks, Tronyn, PM, Tyrann, and necros for such a monumental and professional looking effort. You guys all should be making top dollar in the biz IMO!

I've download fteglqw64.exe, but how can i start the game? Please help me.

In the console enter "gamedir wicked" then enter "map wickedstart".

Make sure you are using the experimental build of FTEQW; the stable build won't work.

Really, really enjoyed this map/level. Thanks again for your collective effort and please, more!!

Finally got around to makeing the video playthrough of this :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jeah5DAIYf8

Generally quite nice. Tronyn's, hmm, 'Doom fetish' is here as well, but so what. :) Some open parts let the whole architecture just breathe, awesome.
The map has only one problem. The difficulty at the very end. It's too much for my nerves. So unlike Honey, I'll likely not play this one 3 times, but who knows.

P.S.
Linux 32bit RMQ binary worked just fine, no need to get latest svn for just this one. For everything else, I always use quakespasm, but I had to make an exception because of this map. Well, it's not like RMQ would feel so different. ;)

Of all the Quake maps, Tronyn's are the best. Architecture, atmosphere, monster placement( his easy is harder than the original's nightmare!), and game flow are superb. However, I'm completely stuck in this map! I've long since found the silver and gold key, even wandered all the way back and opened the OTHER gold key door. I've been through ever door accept the main door under the big Quake and the 'dragon magic' door. Someone give me a damn hint!

Hey, thanks for the compliments. So, you have the secret gold key (near the start) after you got the gold key in the cavern where the statues attack?

Actually, maybe the best thing to do is to is to watch Daz's video playthroughs on Youtube; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jeah5DAIYf8 and there's a Part 2 and Part 3 as well. Skip ahead to when he's where you are now, and then see what he does. Hope that helps and thanks again!

Ah, excellent suggestion, Tronyn. Thanks, I shall watch it! And you and those who worked on this deserve the highest praise. I'm still in the first map but its is just AWESOME.

This is Quake, in 2013 - period. Tronyn deserves all the credit for creating such an epic.

So this doesn't run on Quakespasm huh? Damn you OS X... Maybe I'll try it anyway, cross my fingers :P

This runs in Darkplaces, though framerate is uneven. Will try again with different settings/another engine. Clearly pushes the limits of the id tech 1 engine.

Cool, I've never played with Darkplaces but I'll try it.

Just finished with 3-player coop, took us 100 minutes in total and it was worth every minute. Very impressive.

Even if this is not your kind of gameplay, if you're interested in Quake you should at least look at these three maps (especially the start map and the main map), because they are spectacular.

I adore the unapologetic extravagance and breathtaking scale of the start map. Gameplay in the main map is perhaps a little chaotic for me, but that's a matter of personal preference; one could certainly argue that being constantly shot at from all directions is realistic. The final map is a fittingly dramatic conclusion (though too much for my nerves/reflexes, so I just switch on godmode at that point).

When it comes to maps of epic proportions, my personal favourite is still Marcher Fortress, but there's no denying that Something Wicked does what it does very, very well.

It's probably worth to mention that FTEQW engine is the best bet to play this pack at the moment imho. - The newest experimental build has some fixed bugs (thanks for the engine developer, Spike). - The performance is significantly better than Darkplaces (100 fps vs 60 at some points of this map). - It also doesn't produce certain oddities like RMQ build 3714 at least on my system (specifically, non-playing door/lift sounds, no ammo level displayed for Magic Wand).

To get rid of ugly fullbrights on textures in FTEQW you'll need to use 'rfbbmodels 0' cvar setting (requires vid_restart).

Other cvars I'd find useful: rwaterstyle 1 - sets default quake water (2 sets pretty shader always transprent water, which will kill fps on this map) vidconautoscale 3 - enlarges menu and hud

Also fteqw.exe can be launched with -nohome key to prevent relying on "My Documents" folder and keep it compact and portable.

I can't get the map to work with RMQ, get the 'should be 29' error user3226 reported. Could you give me the workaround?

QuakeForever, I know this is not an answer to your question, but for what it's worth, I had no trouble at all running this under DarkPlaces (so if you cannot find a solution to your problem with RMQ, DP might be a feasible alternative).

Quakespasm can now run BSP2 as of this build

Thanks for the help :)

Bootcamped my shitty Mac and played this. Brutal and awesome.

I'm just not good enough to beat these insane Tronyn final battles though. Christ....

I guess it's mainly those annoying Quoth flying lightning monsters. There's not a lot of cover so their attacks are tough to dodge--actually one of the reasons I like Quake better than most modern shooters (say, post-Halo) is that most standard Quake enemies have dodgeable attacks, so the game tends to emphasize agility rather than just using cover and shooting fast. But ok, I just need practice I guess. But getting used to these massive horde battles is rather like getting used to bullet hell shooters for me.

*their attacks are tough to avoid I mean (if I could dodge them, i.e. if they didn't connect instantly, I wouldn't have this problem!)

Runs smooth as silk on DirectQ :)

I have finally made it to the end of the main map -- 677/690 kills and 17/30 secrets on Hard. I will have much more to say about this (especially once I've played the end-game map) but I just wanted to note my achievement.

Uh, make that 18/30 secrets -- I walked across from one of the tall towers (with the quad) to the other (with the pendant). Not that it was much use to me, as I'd long before cleared that area out.

Now nothing lies before me but the horde combat of the final map -- which I have to admit I am not really looking forward to.

Well, the first thing to say is that this is an astonishing technical and artistic achievement, and it would be churlish in the extreme of me not to award five stars. So I will. The architecture is unquestionably the most astonishing I've ever seen in Quake, and there is something exhilarating about returning to the same vast caverns at ever higher levels.

That said, there is something about the extreme size of this map that makes it, in the end, feel like a bit of a grind in places. You can work your way through fabulous chamber after glorious hall, then look down and you've only killed 120 of the 690 monsters. To my surprise, I found myself thinking I'd have had more fun if the vast main level had been split into four merely big levels. I can't really explain this -- it doesn't make much sense even to me -- but that's the impression I was left with.

So I admire it more than I enjoy it.

Also, the giant combat in the final map ... it just does nothing for me. Being inundated by dozens of spawns? Where does that get fun. Unless I missed something, there's no real way to avoid the combination of them and all the bosses that appear next. So I went shamelessly into god mode to finish, which is always an unsatisfying way to complete a map.

Still and all, I don't want to end this comment on a low. The important thing is that this map is truly awesome and I'm truly amazed that this has not only been created but given freely to the world. Incredible.

Worked wonders with Darkplaces, loved every second of this map. The pacing was perfect and the map felt cleverly built, with the next step never being too obvious nor too far from where you are. Fights were engaging and nicely placed, while the last map could be a bit overwhelming at first, it gave you all the tools to curbstomp the horde.

Completely awesome.

Late to the party, but I just finished it using quakespasm last night, and I have to say hands down, an amazing single player experience. Everything about this "map" was incredibly well done - layout, monsters/bosses, weapons, scale/flow/balance...just incredible. I especially liked the fact that not only is it just one HUGE map (instead of several small episodic maps), but it flows very smoothly (very seldom are you stuck, lost, or have to backtrack.) I actually have zero complaints.

Also, the boss stage has such doom like ominousness and is challenging as "hell", absolutely loved it.

Stunning map...I was so immersed....Any more from these guys?

Yes, plenty! Search their names in the archive--I recommend Tronyn's A Roman Wilderness of Pain and necros's The Altar of Storms.

"See our BSP2 Format page." The page in question was relocated to QuakeWiki but the link sends an error 404.

https://quakewiki.org/wiki/BSP2 works fine here.

Thanks guys for the links...

quakespasm-sdl2 works wonderfully on these maps - 2nd play already and still as brilliant to play...

your maps failed. i read the file's readme and followed the directions it said to install the maps and it gave me an error

it seems you're failed, lol

Has anyone been able to find all 30 secrets? I've replayed the main map several times and I allways end at 556/557 kills and 29/30 secrets on normal.

Not sure if it's the missing kill and/or the key to the last secret but one of the flying monsters that sits on one of the "horns" at the top of the left tower in the first cave remains in its petrified form after killing all other monsters.

Where is the first of the three secrets in the start-map? I have #2 (the blue armour: fall onto the roof where it lives) and #3 (the infinite-ammo hitscan weapon: jump across to the Nightmare pool, then drop down onto the arch below it). But I can't find #1.

@MikeTaylor: ** Spoiler alert ** :)
.
.
.
Look for a horned skull in a pentagram on a wall at ground level. Shoot the wall TWICE to reveal the first secret.

Who the hell just rated this masterpiece a 2?!?

@ncMaothVez Thanks for the tip. This one has been bugging me too. The "twice" part is... wicked.

Thanks, got it! For anyone else searching, it's at ground level within the castle.

A behemoth if there ever was one.

The start map quickly introduces the massive spaces you will be exploring here and it had to have taken a grand long time to complete! There are even some secrets to be found here!

The main course is a magnificent display of the mappers at hand. Fun secrets at every corner, massive spaces to explore...unique brooding setting and fun (for the most part) paced combat encounters. It is hard to review a map of this size so I won't go into anymore details...but you should definitely play it!

+Huge spaces +Tons of secrets and places to explore + Fun combat with drake mod infusion provides some large battles + Brimming with atmosphere and excellent brushwork. + Gold key secret is well thought out!

-Some encounters are excessive (Fight when the runic towers opens come to mind) -Range for nail ogres and crossbow grunts, and droles is downright obnoxious.

That's really it to be honest, the range of those shooters being the largest offender.

Playing in QuakeSpasm, see fullbright pixels on rock texture, how can I turn off it?

Vasya shkolnik, you can set "gl_fullbrights" to "0" (default is "1"). Pull down the console using the "~" key (or whatever key is to the left of the "1" key on your keyboard) and type in "gl_fullbrights 0".

Keep in mind, though, that this changes Quake's intended look, as there are textures that deliberately contain fullbrights (e.g. light fixtures, teleporter textures and certain pickup items). It doesn't matter so much here, as the something_wicked maps are lit with what looks like a rather high minlight value (i.e. there are no truly dark areas, and the absence of intentional fullbrights will not really be noticeable) -- but I'd recommend fullbrights back on for playing other maps (i.e. set "gl_fullbrights" back to "1").

...and type in "gl_fullbrights 0"...

Without the quotation marks, that is.

This map is awesome! I haven' played Quake in a decade or so but when I played this map it was as exciting as in 1996 when I played Quake the very first time.

Could someone name me some other maps the same quality and size?

rcoma, you should try the Rubicon Rumble Pack (rrp). The biggest map there is about the same size as Something Wicked -- and, for my money, rather better, which is saying a lot. The other two maps in the pack are also nothing short of stellar.

Played through this last weekend on stream and it was GREAT fun! I recently started creeping back to playing Q1SP stuff and this was a delight to play. The unique enemies and weapons, the verticality of it all, the sheer size. So far, in the little bit of custom content I have touched, this has been my favorite, but I know there is so much more to see.

Meant to add, my 1st playthrough can be found here. You can watch me derp it up lol! Also, mind the salt when I get to the suicide blood bomb things lol ...

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/164683769

I played this with Quakespasm, and was overall positively impressed.

The start map is large and a very nice touch, but the main map is simply spectacular: the scale is immense, the aesthetics are fantastic, the attention to details is excellent, and there is lots and lots to do. It took me about 80 minutes on normal, and I got lost a few times.

What I did not like in the main map however is the fact that a lot of times you're getting shot from enemies that are too far to shoot at. I also didn't like those rune towers elevators because enemies often get stuck in there. Nothing game breaking but still a bit dumb.

And now let's get down to the ending. What a massive disappointment: it looks good but it plays like shit. It's way too hard, and it's basically just an arena full of the most annoying enemies from Quake, the mission packs, quoth, drake and soul of evil, all at the same time. Like what the fuck were you thinking man? I like a challenge, sure, but I don't like having 15 dragons throwing lightning at me, while dogs bite my ass, armored shamblers throw fireballs at me, and wizards do whatever they do. You owe me a new keyboard for that level. Fuck you.

Overall: 9/10, but fuck the ending.

Absolutely awesome. Is this the biggest level for Quake? Surely seems so. 690 enemies on Hard just in the middle map. The ending made me yell "Whaaat?" time and time again, but when I squashed all those enemies beneath my feet, it sure felt rewarding. The respawning SuperMedpack is the key there.

The level architecture is astounding.

Overall an outstanding achievement and one of the best campaigns in Quake. A lot of work and a lot of attention to detail - new music, sound effects, monsters, environments and an extremely large second level full of surprises.

Just one point though - the ending. It was fun but too much. I was playing on easy and it was a massive clusterfuck. Thank God I had ice bolts. Overall I'm very impressed though, fantastic work.

The main map is one of the finest I've ever played, it is absolutely stunning, gorgeous, challenging, well-designed, and extremely fun to (re)play. And I can't wait to find someone to play it in coop with. Reminds me a lot of the "This Onion" series, but even better.

I found the Nightmare mode and am replaying this now (great fun!), but I have no idea how to open the access to the Hell mode. Sure, I found its location but had to noclip like a coward. Also, when I did, I found no difference in the enemy count compared to the Nightmare mode; what are the differences (I did not play long enough to notice them)?

And on a side note, is Tronyn still active? :-)

Well, as I dreaded, the hellish ending I had experienced is indeed part of this map pack and I can relate to the above comments. My first experience a while back ended with me using god mode because I did not think it was possible to survive it.

However, I feel great having finally completed it in Nightmare mode (took a few tries of course). Finding both secrets did not help much, but I had not noticed before that it was possible to obtain the powerups. Not that you won't have to put up a fight even with them of course, you'll still have to keep running.

Well, time for the ending of A Roman Wilderness of Pain, which was in the same league ...

I just found out how to access Hell mode.

One of the secrets in the start map is a wand. Once you've found it, shoot the wall behind it.

Time to discover how much crazier this masterpiece can get!

How do I play Hard mode? Just go up the hard tower then fall back down and go through the main door?

I don't know why the description says this is a 3 map episode. It's got a start map, one main map, and then a boss fight of sorts. So it's really just one map.

It's neat how intricate the map is, but too much of the gameplay design is just "here's a ton of monsters"

And as intricate as it is, I got lost a few times just trying to figure out how to proceed and it led to some boring downtime.

One of my favourite Quake maps, the start and main episodes are just magnificent in size, atmosphere, detail and game play and despite their huge sizes they are quite linear; it’s usually clear which way to go. I’ve played this one a number of times, it’s become my Christmas map.

I like the way you can generally play the huge main episode by exploration and discovery; my preference since my combat skills are very limited. Often there’s enough cover for sniping enemies and for not taking on too many at once and for trying to provoke infighting and in some cases creeping up on difficult enemies from behind. The huge size of the main episode is great for rocket sniping too which is handy for dealing with the odd Scrag (or 50) and great for shooting enemy snipers from a safe distance.

The souped up double barrel shotgun is particularly good too. It has a satisfying crack and echo and will take down a knight with one shot if you're close enough. I found my self getting quite low on ammo until I had progressed a bit and then it becomes plentiful. You can also save ammo by killing some of the slower moving enemies, particularly zombies, with the ruby wand. There are quite a few new weapons some of which seem to be a way of expending lots of ammo not very effectively. I found myself using my favourite weapons the super shotgun, super nail-gun and rocket launcher, most of the time. Mind you the ice arrows are very useful for dealing with Shamblers and Droles.

Finding secrets rewards the player well, hints; there are some secrets within secrets and when you get the gold key cast your mind back to the room you started in. By finding the secrets (I found 29 of 30) you often get ammo, armour, power-ups and most helpfully the good weapons ahead of when you otherwise come across them through the normal progression. This makes the game play easier at harder levels. After a few plays I was able to complete the main episode in hard skill without resorting to god mode but still saving a lot. I suppose having played it a few times now helps with knowledge of the way around and builds a knowledge of the location of the ambushes and what lurks behind various doors.

I didn’t particularly like the end episode but that’s a matter of taste. If you like big fights with lots of strong enemies in a large but confined space with virtually no cover where you have to keep moving then I imagine you’d enjoy it. To get it over and done with I just ran around in god mode whilst letting infighting do most of the killing.

Map was Great, not much to say, I found a fun skip though. There's a part near the bronze key door where 2 ogres are throwing grenades at you from a balcony. Once you get to the upper section, and have the rocket launcher, you can just barely rocket jump to a small torch holder near the platform, and then slide down onto the ledge. If you do it you can get the gold key and skip a quarter of the level. Very fun.

Finally finished the main map in hell mode, yay! I'll try and finish the crazy last map but those damn spawns are tricky. Well, that and all the respawning, extra aggressive foes of course.

... done. Took a long time and probably many years off my life expectancy but I made it. Replaying the episode in Nightmare will feel like a cakewalk after this.

I must say it is especially frustrating to get killed by a mere Hellhound when you've spent that much time trying to - and finally succeeding at - surviving a Sha'vile and a Gug. It's a good thing Droles helped for once.

Still no hope for A Roman Wilderness of Pain in the same inhuman mode though.

Epic has a new meaning. Thanks, Tronyn.

Btw, are there any differences between Hell mode in ARWOP and this? I finished ARWOP in Hell mode pretty good, but could not get past the first room of Something Wicked...

As far as I can tell they are the same, monsters respawn and they're also stronger and improved: for instance, Fiends are able to reach me with super high jumps from their pool at the start, Ogres are much better at aiming, and overall you can get killed pretty quickly with just a few hits. If you haven't done so already, I recommend you explore the map in a more reasonable setting (even Nightmare) and find the most important secrets: you will need them, and you will also need to know when to go and get them.

Interesting comment, as I'm still stuck next to the gold key in ARWOP whereas I was able to complete Something Wicked - but it was by no means easy.

I loved this. Hell mode seemed like a lot of fun with the leading shots, but couldn't take the respawning so had to settle for nightmare in the end.

SCALE. Humongous but navigable due to the interconnectedness plus useful portals and shortcut lifts that open up. Despite these kindnesses from the mapper I still managed to get lost a few times. Mostly searching for doors as they were sometimes quite a way from the keys or so it seemed.

The vertically stacked architecture of the second large segment was amazing and had me gawping with surprise that there was still more each time I jumped up a level. Is this the tallest Quake map I've ever played? Could be.

The new weapons and enemies are all worthwhile as well (except for the sidewinder, used once and shelved forever). The little swooping demon fellas were especially challenging and fresh, wish these were in more custom maps.

It's funny because a few weeks before playing this I was wondering what a Doom WAD-esque approach to map design would be like in Quake. Obviously enemy counts are much higher and I tend to find combat in good custom Doom maps more multidirectional than they typically are in Quake, despite the 2d nature. Question answered. With some flourishes right out of that old title with the bloodfalls and icon of sin staring out above the end of the second map no less before going to full-on slaughter, Quake style, in the final map.

Great stuff! I'll be going through your back catalogue Tronyn for sure!

Mega fun! Tronyn-style! The architecture and map-building is top-level. Combat encounters are great: challenging and entertaining! I giving it the highest rating. Only two small complaints, actually: 1) Sidewinder uses the same model as Scourge of Armagon weapon... don't think it's great, it should've had a different color or something. 2) Game lacks final boss... well, we get a boss battle with several strong enemies, appearing one after another, but they're all too weak and previously appeared in other mods. I expected some Bigger Bad to appear after the demise of Gug (the last, four-armed enemy to show up) but nope... only one lonely uberarcher to finish it all))) But those are minor complaints! Mod is superb. Next one in my list... Unforgiven)

I'd be ashamed to admit how many times I've played this level. I don't play just to win anymore... now it's a challenge to see how many enemies I can leave alive while finishing the level. And I've found a bypass that lets me finish the level with a gold key in my pocket, and avoids the entire upper-level outdoor segment; finished the level this last time with just 480 kills, and never had to face the lightning-throwing flying demons, whatever they are called.

I feel like I know this castle better than my own house...

ack. I should have said "the first level." Honestly don't care for the second, actually, but the first is SO good...

Solomoriah: interesting challenge, your idea led me to try something similar on the last level of Unforgiven. I'm not trying to keep enemies alive though, only to shoot as few of them as possible. I've managed to only shoot 6 of them so far (out of 300) but I'm not done yet. I'll try this with Something Wicked eventually.

Wickedend level 2\2 secrets but only 100/103, damned for the life of me i cannot find the 3 monsters, tried it numerous times same 100\103 - nightmare skill 3,Quake spasm spiked

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Absolutely awe-inspiring. One of the finest maps ever created; an absolute must-play. Wickedend was a fun capstone, but mileage may vary on that one.

Before I shart everywhere, I had to do both game wicked, and map wicked. I think that worked. It has to be in a folder named wicked, because otherwise there's a lot of letters I might mistype.

A large number of very scary things are attacking me. I think this is what I wanted, but how does an ignorant tw@t like me get started? It's nearly incomprehensible with so many instructions from 1996 and changes since then. AD180 worked immediately, rrp finally worked after I think a lot of alcohol, this murdered me but was playable. mapjam6 no werk. Zer maybe.

I just do not understand how to simply start a map, figure out how it is supposed to work, decide which engine, troubleshoot the message of the console, and kill all of the idiot enemies which is the goal.

Just too big for it's own good. Impressive, but sometimes not fun to play. I hate getting lost and it's inevitable on a map this big.

This is the definition of epic. After playing several of the author's Drake maps, the mod has really grown on me. It took a while to get used to being shot at from thousands of units away, where you can barely (if at all) discern your attacker! Anyway, once I came up with a strategy to counter them, I was able to relax and appreciate the beauty of these maps a little more.

IMO, the only thing that comes close to these in terms of size, complexity, and sheer beauty are the top of the line AD maps.

The first time I played this episode it was on skill 1 and it gave me a lot of trouble, especially the end map. The second time through, I opted for skill 2 (I'm a glutton for punishment) and things went a lot smoother. I still have 4 secrets to find in the main map, but I did finish the end map.

My hat's off once again to Tronyn, and I'm hoping he's working on something new for us!