Played all but the final 3 levels.

Episode 1 was good, but the first two maps needed more monster variety and the third was FAR more challenging than I was prepared for, and had a number of frustrating parts. Still decent maps, though. Fourth map was my favorite, boss was decent.

Episode 2 was where it really shone for me, and being by the author who then released "Ruined Nation", I expected no less. I was knew it would be a challenge, so I conserved and sure enough, it was tough. What made it so good wad that frustrating moments were fairly rare and brief despite the difficulty (unlike qte1m3). The deep underground secret level was nice and different - definitely had the "get me out of here!" feel to it. The final fight wasn't the greatest, but it did little to taint an excellent episode.

So, one nice episode and one excellent episode, worthy of excellent overall I'd say. I might give thoughts of the last three levels later, but a very worthy "unofficial mission pack".

Played final 3 maps.

The Coagula map (qtfin1) was great, and the first fight with the boss was good, but it fell down in the last level - too easy, nothing new, although the crypt wasn't bad and the ending text is worth rading.

Overall thought largely similar to before, distrans is the better of the two mappers but even the scragbait maps are pretty good. Especially when considering that there are at most five good or excellent free mission pack out there for Quake, there's no excuse not to play Travail.

Two episodes of good and big levels, need I say more? Well I guess maybe, this is like another mission pack (joining Nehahra and Soul of Evil in this category). Episode 2's maps were best but the others weren't a letdown! The only letdown really is the final boss, it's too easy. But Nehahra messed up its boss sections worse than this.

Wow - some blindingly awesome mappery in here. Overall, this package is absolutely brilliant because of the sheer amount of excellent quakey gameplay and levels - which are all of perfect length, I must add - not too big and not too small. However, I must say that the pack starts off on its weakest foot - the first 3 levels are strangely cramped and fiddly, full of 64-unit corridors and tiny walkways with all sorts of bits sticking out to snag you and send you plummeting - but these problems largely go away after about level 3 or so, and in the remaining - I dunno is it 12? - levels, it pretty much reaches Quake perfection!

I'm replaying this. So far I have just played through the opening maps - just like I remembered, totally the high-watermark for functional architecture in Quake. Great sense of exploration, and thoughtful design. Good secrets too.

Among all the great custom Quake addons, there are two legendary ones: Nehahra and this. Words can hardly describe both magnitude and beauty of this mission pack. Rarely will you finish a map under at least 20-30 minutes, and often because you have to stop for a while just to admire the landscape. It's really THAT beautiful. Sometimes, it's not about playing through a level, it's walking through a piece of art. There's always something new to see and you won't stop before you have seen it all. Beautiful skyboxes, wonderful architecture, fantastic soundtrack (really try to avoid playing without it!). Even the boss levels are special and go far beyond being plain boring arenas. General gameplay difficulty is above average, yet managable. An absolute must-have/must-play/name-it-what-you-want experience! - Two technical tips at the end: A) Playback of the first demo deactivates weapon bobbing (cl_bob 0). You can fix this by starting the game like "-game travail +map start" (which will simply skip the demo). B) If you want transparent water, search for the Travail "Epsilon Build". This one has VISed maps which looks nice, even though sometimes there are some visual glitches due to level design decisions (underwater parts that weren't meant to be seen and therefore aren't properly continued/finished).

Worst map building ever. You will stuck and jammed every lift, corner, lamp on wall. Gameplay with this shorcomings feels like torture.

You are probably talking about the first episode? I don't like that kind of style either. Try the other one.

5 stars

this is the best pak to date a five stars mod the main flaw is texturing of an episode one i'm a huge fun of the classic id texture but the episode one should've been dressed in the custom set ala ep2

Gave it 5 stars after completion episode two. It is waaaay better than the first one.

In qte2m4 (Excision), how the heck are you supposed to grab the gold key. On Nightmare, even with full health and new yellow armour, I get smashed before I have time to kill more than two of them, wherever I run. Is there a trick?

OK, it looks like you have to find the secret quad to stand any chance. I admit I cheated, and looked up the secrets on the Travail web-site.

Such is Nightmare. Try Hard.

I think I finished Travail. At least, I chased Azoth through the teleporter, then at the end of the next level, killed him. From there, I went through the two teleporters to end the level and get the congratulatory message, but then I was dumped back at the Travail hub. Is there still more to play, that I've missed? Where?

No, that's it. You may have missed the secret maps, but Azoth is the final boss.

I realise I forgot to score this. In 2007 it would have been amazing, but I think that in 2015 it just falls short of five-star status, so I'm going with four stars -- perhaps a little harshly. There are just too many niggles (crudity in some architecture, irritating bits of gameplay, places where you absolutely have to find the secret) to give top marks.

I'm having a problem with the second map. When I open the gold key door and press the button, I get stuck, the screen turns red, and I get "squished" after a couple of seconds. Is this a bug or some sort of punishment for not doing something else first?

Very fun set episodic pack with lots of unique charm about it. Using the optional soundtrack really captured the atmosphere for me.

I have to say I prefer the second episode to the first, but E1 still has some pretty nice moments and is fitting if intended to be played first. Another one of the "Must plays" in my book.

Absolutely amazing so far. Finished first episode, and, as most people here says: first episode is really not very good. You get stuck on geometry quite often, lifts etc...

Second episode, however, is so far A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. However, there is an issue on the second map of the second episode: missing gold key!

When I press all of the buttons in the cave, a elevator gets up, and, there should be golden key in there for me to open the last doors with knight hiding behind them and exit, however, the key is NOT there.

I am using Darkplaces though. I WANT to use Quakespasm however there is not build 0.85 of Quakespasm for Linux, so I HAVE TO play with Darkplaces as there is DP release (lol, sounds kinky) for Linux.

So, could be darkplaces format issue?

Ups, I meant first map of the second episode, that's where the key is missing.

Now, on the second map, on the very beggining - the doors that are supposed to open, won't open !

Try disabling DP's gameplay fixes, specifically the two svgameplayfixdroptofloor.... ones. Current versions have them disabled by default whereas older ones had them on.

There should be a Linux build of Quakespasm 0.92, why not use that?

I take offense at the statement "first episode is really not very good". It has its issues, sure, but the maps and locations are quite unique and imaginative.

@Anthalion the current version of Quakespasm is 0.92.1; there are x86 and x86_64 Linux binaries available here: http://quakespasm.sourceforge.net/download.htm

Depending on your distro there are probably packages available as well (e.g. it's packaged in Debian / Ubuntu, though you might get a slightly older version of QS)

In e2m2, returning to the gold key area after picking it up seems to trap you

No no no, it's definitely DarkPlaces that is at fault here. I was unable to use one secret at the end cause elevator wasn't working.

This isn't the first time in DarkPlaces when running mods, that elevators haven't worked.

So, I "finished" the game. Well, finished would be a wrong word... DarkPlaces crashed on me and wouldn't let me finish the last stage. :(

Is there any way I move the save points to QuakeSpasm somehow withouth going through entire mod again?

I liked it btw... negke, btw, it's not bad, it's just there are some cliches (monsters behind the corner) and some really annoying clipping and getting stuck issues.

So, pretty good, however, wasn't able to complete it cause DarkPlaces is crashing.

BTW, just tried QuakeSpasm... uhh, this will take some time to get used to. I played Quake back in 1996, but in QuakeSpasm, you can see there audio mixing is different then in DarkPlaces, a bit more muddy, and the color mixing is more akin to original.

Nothing wrong with that, maybe I got spoiled.

However, if it'll let me play the mod to the end, so be it... Oh, and the first part of the boss battle (hasn't crashed there, has crashed on loading the stage after he escapes through teleport) was OK.

PS

Also, music wasn't working under DarkPlaces and I read somwhere this mod has it's own music.

The part where I was answering negke was specifically about, I suppose, my opinion about his levels, not all of them. I really do not want to sound harsh, quite the opposite, I wish I could make levels that are at least half-decent in comparing to you, negke...

On the subject of DarkPlaces... I wasn't either able to finish Quoth mod with DarkPlaces. And also few others (which why I haven't wrote about 'em yet).

For all the good things DarkPlaces does (better audit and color mixing), it destroys good impression with so many compatibility issues...

Oh, before anyone goes with "are you sure those are compatibility issues or you just couldn't find the keys"?

I checked youtube walkthrough and forum threads about specific mods that crashed (including this one) whenever it crashed, and yeah, DarkPlaces at fault here.

Also, I play ALL mods on Nightmare. ;) So, it's certainly not my ability in question.

Thankfully, now I know QuakeSpasm will work perfectly, so yeah, thank you guys on links. :) Thanks guys !

Yep, the soundtrack is linked to at the top of this page under "Additional files". It's great (IMHO) and adds to the experience. Unfortunately the files need to be renamed for QS to find them, they should be changed from T03.mp3 to track03.mp3, and placed in the directory quake/travail/music/.

re: quakespasm sounding muffled, try "snd_filterquality 5" for a bit crisper sound. For really crunchy/distorted sound (nearest neighbour interpolation with no filtering) try "sndspeed 44100" (default is "sndspeed 11025")

I think negke meant "try ENabling"... Which DP build are you using?

You may want to try Seven's Travail extensions: http://quakeone.com/forums/quake-mod-releases/finished-works/12381-travail-quake-journey-some-extensions.html Nail position fix and some cosmetic enhancements like footsteps, particle flames etc... Available in two versions: one for DP and another engine-independent version without the particle flame & new particle FX.

Note that if you scroll down to post #11, you'll find a link for Travail VISed maps and .lit files manually crafted by jakub1, as well as a list of Seven's extensions for other mods/episodes. I especially recommend the one for Beyond Belief since it adds the sorely missing impulse 12.

Also, if you find QS a little too vanilla, you can try Spike's QSS. It's basically an add-on for QS with fancier stuff like extended particles and weather effects.

By the way, for those interested, this is the error report I get in my console when trying to play last level:

http://textuploader.com/d5g09

So, someone get make sense of it better then I do? It seems it cannot unpack for some reason the last map?

Had same problem under DarkPlaces with Quoth: played first 3 (PHENOMENAL, btw, imho) maps, and then the error report would say that he was unable to find fourth Quoth map that was looked upon for.

Anyway, lesson learned - *uck DarkPlaces, lol.

I hate to comment such big effort and not appraising it to the max, but I must say that the first world is just dissapointing. It seems to be an vane exibition of grandeur in the map design but the gameplay is left behind. I got so upset that I decided to go the starting hub in which I get lost again and I had to look for any readme.txt to explain me again the "defense levels" and such just to keep on going. The second world seems to be more fun and I found a bunch of new interesting monsters, but I will do no further comments on this pack. It is not my kind of game. Thanks for the effort. I hope it can make happy many many other players.

While the first episode can be grueling and underwhelming, the second one is really top notch. Great choice of textures, excellent encounters, very imaginative architecture and some clever secrets. Such a joy to play!

I have a Lane Powell's problem on second map of first episode. I am squished after pressing tihs button too. Engine quakespasm-0.93.0_win64. What I have to do?

It's not the intended behavior, obviously. The button is not supposed to damage the player. As a workaround, you can try to briefly touch the button and quickly back off again, or simply turn on god mode temporarily.

I tried to make push-and-run-back, I was squished anyway. I loaded last save in old vanilla WinQuake, and in WinQuake it was ok, without squishing. So need we make bug-report in QuakeSpasm thread?

I ended up getting past it by turning on god mode and noclipping. It's worth it, as this is one of the pest Quake map packs, and I didn't find any other bugs. I'm surprised I never posted my comments when I played it. I seem to be one of the few that found the first episode to be a highlight of the campaign!

The first episode is interesting and unusual. I don't think there's anything quite like it. It features a lot of open spaces with various complex structures to traverse.

Episode 2 feels more conformist in comparison. More corridor-heavy, more conventionally pretty - with new textures and whatnot. Almost like they don't belong in the same mod.

I ended all episodes. First episode is just-another-quake episode. Outdoors with default ugly quake textures dont look very good. At the second episode mappers used good texture set, added good level-design and result is amazing. I did not seen all maps from second episode (I missed secret level), but I can say, that second episode is beautiful as Unreal98, atmospheric as Quake2, bloody as Quake1, one of the best things in Q1 I ever seen!

Well, even better the second time. Quite challenging at times too, but secrets are indeed rewarding and I haven't unearthed all of them. I'm glad I found the secret maps, and the ending of the second one is genius.

I too like the second episode better than the first one. Still, this is a massive effort and an impressive set of maps, and I'm upgrading my note from 4 to 5. Thanks again to everyone involved for releasing this.

VERI GUD MAP PAK

A very nice map-pack. While the whole thing is excellent, I actually prefer Scragbait's maps: sometimes their combat and progression are choppy, but he created some really wonderful environments.

I wouldn't say that the second episode is overrated, but the first one does not deserve to be so deep in its shadow.

However, it's the finale that always stood out for me as something to complain about. Not because the boss is frustrating, rather than due to the way it looks. There was some seriously cinematic coding involved in the setup, but the anatomy of the thing amounts to a crayon drawing.

I have just recently opened the pandora's box of the world of Quake Mods, but already have played some, and this one is so far my favourite.

The whole mod felt like a new expansion for Quake, doing the better job than Abyss of Pandemonium. Contrary to most people, I found the first episode better, with its atmospheric maps, though I agree that it started somewhat... slow. Overall, both episodes plays and feels... like Quake should feel. Plus, the shotgun from Nehahra (oh yes!) is always welcome.

The thing I value the most about a Quake map is good combat and new monsters, and the few new ones in Travail were a pleasant addition. Expected the Uberscrag boss to be bigger, but it still was a fun encounter. Jaggers from Abyss of Pandemonium returned, final boss (Azoth) was very well scripted and overall satisfying. Surprisingly, second secret level also contained a small, unexpected boss battle.

Travail is so far the best Quake mod I've ever played (Nehahra aside).

I first played this a year ago or so, and revisited it once since then. The shalraths are a bitch on nightmare, otherwise this is stellar. Truly worthy of the "mission pack" moniker.

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Mixed bag, but fun. The last half was pretty good. Very interesting and clever setups in places. The first episode was too tight, suffered from stuck monsters, and some rather poor monster placement. Geometry felt very oldschool though which was nice. Some areas were quite impressive, especially the boss maps. The end boss himself, Azoth, wasn't the most polished though he did do some cool things I wasn't expecting. The Uber Scrag boss was great, could have been longer, loved how his flap falls off to indicate he is getting hurt. The theme in places was good, but a little repetitive in some maps, such as the secret map. Overall some great stuff, but mixed in terms of quality.

the geometry is infuriating.

The texturing is straightforward, but the architecture of the levels is good and gets better as you go. It has some problems - some unclear progression, a few unfun fights - but there were at least as many clever parts, and I liked it, especially episode two.

I’m surprised to see most reviews seeming to say they preferred the second episode. Personally, I found Episode 1 way more enjoyable- it may be mostly vanilla in its texture use and it doesn’t have any new weapons or enemies, but the wide-open outdoor environments are really nice to look at, and allow for unique monster encounters with their large size. The Uberscrag boss is really cool, too- not only is its pulsating flesh utterly disgusting to look at, its Jack-of-all-trades attack loadout provides for lots of unpredictability and makes for a thrilling fight.

Episode 2 has some nice texture use and the good old Riot Controller is always a welcome sight, but so many of the new features are so underutilized that it feels pointless to have even bothered including them. I swear, those spiders never appear again after that single mid-level cavern that they debut in - unless they returned in one of the secret levels, both of which I missed - and as much as the team tried, the Juggernauts from Abyss of Pandemonium (or just “Juggers” here) still don’t make for a decent threat in the slightest.

Worst of all by far, though, is the final boss. After seeing the Uberscrag, noticing the readme’s shout-outs to Shrak, Zerstorer, and Nehahra, and experiencing all of the build-up to Azoth’s appearance, I couldn’t help but expect something really cool and ghastly. Seeing some kind of ridiculous goat-vampire man descend upon me was a truly laughable disappointment. It doesn’t help that he’s a lousy fight, too- just a massive bullet sponge with predictable and easily-dodged attacks, which you have to unload all your clips on TWICE for no real reason at all. The one thing I did appreciate about him was how, when he deploys his wing-shield, the rockets you fire will bounce of it instead of just no-selling, which was a neat little effect.

All in all, Travail starts out strong and ambition is always commendable, but I just don’t feel like this measures up at all in comparison to the greats. I have to wonder the environment of 2007, long after the heights of Quake’s initial popularity and long before the mod community’s resurgence in the mid-2010s, might have played a role in developing its reputation.

We kept the flame alight and prayed for the resurgence.

The 3rd map in Ep. 1 has thee most broken lift I have ever seen in Quake. I had to Godmode/Noclip thru it, which is something I would never do unless I physically cannot move forward.

Hopefully the map pack 'lifts' off after Ep. 1 is over. That being said, it's probably roughly the same quality so far as the first 2 official map packs, but the quality of luminaries like Beyond Belief and Terra are cold and far like the stars for Ep. 1 of this map pack.

Is there a definition file available for this anywhere?