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.