Mod: Secrets of the Citadel

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Falcury
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Mod: Secrets of the Citadel

Post by Falcury »

Update (16 February 2017):
Please find the latest version (v1.2.1) here:

viewtopic.php?f=73&t=3664&p=20766#p20766



Hello everyone,
I proudly present my mod: Secrets of the Citadel

Technically this is a re-release of my older levels, although everything has been fully revamped and lots of new stuff has been added.

What to expect:
- Eight challenging levels, all fully explorable (you win the game after level 8)
- The levels are tough, but designed to be fun for both intermediate players and experts
- Normal, hard and impossible difficulty modes
- Some other surprises and secrets!

Image

Image

The mod has been designed to be played using a modified version of SDLPoP, David's open-source port of the DOS version.
This makes possible a number of things:

Quicksaving and quickloading!

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You can make use of this SDLPoP feature in this mod.
- To quicksave, press F6; to quickload, press F9.
- Quicksaving often is highly recommended when playing these levels: more fun and less frustration!
- Note that quickloading to an earlier saved location incurs a time penalty of one minute, so quickload with moderation!

Fixes for a lot of annoying bugs!
- Trick 25 is no longer necessary: the kid now automatically adjusts his x-position so he will no longer fall off.
- I have also disabled some tricks (sorry :)). For example, pressing buttons through closed gates (Trick 1) has been disabled, as well as jumping on top of guards without losing health (Trick 11).
- Time freezes when the level end music plays, so you don't need to disable sound.

New potions!

Image Image Image
- The extra time potion grants the desperate drinker valuable bonus time to complete his journey (in exchange for his life energy).
- The full health potion is a rare find, but this refreshing draught is capable of restoring all hitpoints at once.
- ... ?

Multiple difficulty levels!
By default, the game starts on normal difficulty.
To try out hard mode, run the game through start_hard_mode.bat or add the command line parameter "hard".
In hard mode, you start with less time remaining and extra time potions do not restore as much time.
To start the game in impossible mode, add the command line parameter "impossible".
Warning: do not attempt impossible mode under any circumstances, unless you are already comfortable beating hard mode!
(Strictly speaking, I haven't fully checked whether impossible mode is theoretically beatable, but I think it is. Just about.)

Image

Get your name in the Hall of Fame!
Whoever beats hard mode will be added to the official Hall of Fame!
I will keep track of it in this post. I will also distribute the Hall of Fame along with the mod in a special PRINCE.HOF file, so you will be able to compare scores when you beat the game.
If you want your name in the Hall of Fame, please post a recording of your playthrough and I will add your time.

Download:
See the attached file below!
(alternate download link)

Please feel free to let me know if there are issues or questions,
Enjoy,

- Falcury
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SDLPoP_SoC_v1.0.zip
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David
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Re: Mod: Secrets of the Citadel

Post by David »

Hey, what's that on the last screenshot?
An alternate ending?
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SuavePrince
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Re: Mod: Secrets of the Citadel

Post by SuavePrince »

When you say impossible,you mean less time?
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Re: Mod: Secrets of the Citadel

Post by Falcury »

David wrote:Hey, what's that on the last screenshot?
An alternate ending?
Well, I decided to go spoiler-free as much as possible in my comments so I will neither confirm nor deny that there is an alternate ending. ;)
SuavePrince wrote:When you say impossible,you mean less time?
Yes, impossible mode has even less time available than hard mode. The extra time potions also restore even less. Other than that, there are no differences in the levels.
(Basically, impossible mode means that you need to do a speedrun in order to win!)
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Re: Mod: Secrets of the Citadel

Post by SuavePrince »

How many minutes in mode impossible,i dont know?
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Re: Mod: Secrets of the Citadel

Post by Falcury »

Nice find!
Bypassing that guard wasn't really supposed to be possible. That gate in the upper right corner is only open so you have a chance to explore... :) I'll leave it this way for now (maybe I will fix it in a future update).

Impossible mode starts out with 30 minutes. To launch it, you can make a copy of start_hard_mode.bat and open that in Notepad, then change the command to "sdlpop fullscreen impossible".
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Re: Mod: Secrets of the Citadel

Post by Norbert »

I've added three additional files to the ZIP package at popot.org, namely SDLPoP (64-bit Linux executable) and start_hard_mode.sh and start_normal_mode.sh, the .BAT equivalents for Linux.

We could look into a good solution for Total Pack, since currently it will say "Exe version is unknown." and start, then immediately exit DOSBox. Maybe the mod should not be included in popot.org's XML that Total Pack relies on, or maybe it could pass some unique identifier to Total Pack so that the program knows it is a SDLPoP mod.
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Re: Mod: Secrets of the Citadel

Post by Falcury »

Norbert wrote:I've added three additional files to the ZIP package at popot.org, namely SDLPoP (64-bit Linux executable) and start_hard_mode.sh and start_normal_mode.sh, the .BAT equivalents for Linux.

We could look into a good solution for Total Pack, since currently it will say "Exe version is unknown." and start, then immediately exit DOSBox. Maybe the mod should not be included in popot.org's XML that Total Pack relies on, or maybe it could pass some unique identifier to Total Pack so that the program knows it is a SDLPoP mod.
Thank you! :)
I don't know what would be the best solution for Total Pack, I'll leave the decision to you.

Edit:
Hm, after thinking about it some more, perhaps the mod does not really fit the current Total Pack launcher very well? It would increase the Total Pack's download by quite a bit, because it is essentially stand-alone and includes all of the required assets...
Perhaps if more people want to make mods using SDLPoP, a separate "SDLPoP mode" for the Total Pack might be a good idea. More radically, we could also allow older mods to be played using SDLPoP, come to think of it.
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Norbert
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Re: Mod: Secrets of the Citadel

Post by Norbert »

Falcury wrote:It would increase the Total Pack's download by quite a bit, [...]
Well, only when a user installs your mod. Total Pack retrieves data from popot.org, so the default size of Total Pack did not change.
(At least since Total Pack version 3.)
Falcury wrote:More radically, we could also allow older mods to be played using SDLPoP, come to think of it.
Yeah. I've contacted Total Pack's author via e-mail, maybe he can chime in.
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starwindz
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Re: Mod: Secrets of the Citadel

Post by starwindz »

After changing some base source code of Total Pack, SDLPoP based mods could be run under Total Pack properly since Total Pack can detect the SDLPoP exe automatically by checking hex codes in an exe file. Updating total pack would take some time(several weeks), and the next version of total pack would be 3.01. :)
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SuavePrince
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Re: Mod: Secrets of the Citadel

Post by SuavePrince »

Nice mod,coming soon walktrough,im busy...but i like it,i try only to level 3,nice ... :D
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SuavePrince
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Re: Mod: Secrets of the Citadel

Post by SuavePrince »

i cant record,i need copy level dat,in other folder, i pass two ways,sdlpop and other is dfenreloaded dosbox,and when play in sdlpop there other sound and i cant some trick,maybe is necessary change configuration in sldpop,i upload videos in dosbox,i dont wanna,but no there other option :|
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Re: Mod: Secrets of the Citadel

Post by Falcury »

SuavePrince wrote:Nice mod,coming soon walktrough,im busy...but i like it,i try only to level 3,nice ... :D
I'm glad you like it!
SuavePrince wrote:i cant record,i need copy level dat,in other folder, i pass two ways,sdlpop and other is dfenreloaded dosbox,and when play in sdlpop there other sound and i cant some trick,maybe is necessary change configuration in sldpop,i upload videos in dosbox,i dont wanna,but no there other option :|
Hm, maybe we could build recording capabilities into SDLPoP itself... something for the next update perhaps?
Or perhaps something like Fraps will work for now?

Anyway, because you're awesome, I'll try to think of some good speedrunning feature for you in a future update :)
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SuavePrince
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Re: Mod: Secrets of the Citadel

Post by SuavePrince »

I like this mod,but i cant record,if you believe appropriate play with sdlpop..ok,maybe only me cant record,i dont know(I am new at this).im record with dfendreloaded dosbox I've always played with this emulator,i don want more time,i dont need save state,and i know that trick i cant do..hey great mod!!!! :)
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Re: Mod: Secrets of the Citadel

Post by SuavePrince »

My name in Hall of Fame?..i beat this mod in less half an hour... ;)
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