Annotated Version Of The Final Fight

Peter Habel has released an annotated version of the first two episodes of 'The Final Fight'. In addition to saved games at the end of each floor, Peter has also saved the locations of most of the keys, and places where a firearm must be used, such as for Bosses and opponents who are behind barriers. There are also detailed notes on how to complete certain sections of each floor, while using as little ammo as possible. The next installment will be made available once episode 4 is completed, but meanwhile the first part is available from http://www.brlowe.co.uk/TheFinalFightEps1&2annotated.rar .

I must say I was going to ask when someone was going to make this. my dad keeps saying its a hard mod to play but is fun enough to keep playing.

I'm the creator of the annotated version of Episodes 1 & 2. I've previously done annotated versions of Project Eisenritter, Operation Heimzahlung, Secret Missions 4, The Golden Episodes, and Totengraeber II, as well as SOD: Spear Resurrection and A Touch of Nazi. Partially annotated games were Coming of the Storm and Kill Hitler by Kyle. I believe those are available somewhere on the Wolfenstein 3D Dome.

Because of my slow and plodding game style, I don't have the time to play as many different games as I'd like to. I've created and adopted the character Henry Irons, a former black ops colleague of BJ, who relies primarily on his knife, "Molly". Irons will lose his radio sometime during episodes three and four, and will find another way to relay his next report. It would have been nice to complete all six episodes before releasing an annotated version, but this one is still quite new, and it's really good, so I decided to release my game notes in installments, for people now playing it, or for those who may chose to do so, and would like a performance edge.

I fully expect to complete all six episodes of The Final Fight without having my health fall below 110% at any point, and while using the knife as my primary weapon. If you can do that, you can complete a floor, even if you have been killed, and lost all guns and ammo except the pistol and ten rounds. I try to make the game notes both informative, and fun to read.

This is my first posting on this forum. I'm having a little trouble navigating through the topics, but that won't take long to learn. If anyone has any questions or comments regarding this annotated version, or any of my others, please feel free to contact me directly at: bobistheowl@teksavvy.com

Wow! A full guide, eh? Sounds very interesting I think i should read the annotated Project Eisenrriter!

I was working on a fully annotated version of Coming of the Storm a while back. I hadn't saved the earlier floors the first time around. I got as far as the floor with mostly just ghosts, and I could find the exit, but I didn't find anyone to kill. I haven't gotten around to e-mailing Wolf Skevros-Jones to see if there are any opponents on that floor, but I don't want to do an annotated version with less than 100% Kill score for all floors. I first started using the knife as my primary weapon on The Golden Episodes, because ammo supplements seemed to be quite limited. Now I do it for the fun, and because it lets me leave the ammo behind when I save the completed floor for the annotated version. I would leave the BJ life bubbles, too, if they didn't count for the treasure score.

The first time I played Kyle's Kill Hitler, I actually ran out of ammo right at the end, but managed to kill Hitler with the knife, at very close range! I guess one or two extra bullets was all I needed, but that's the first and last time I've ever faced a boss with the knife.

Dark_wizzie, the manual for Project Eisenritter is quite detailed. That game is super tough. Several floors have multiple bosses. I did not complete one of the secret floors, because there seemed to be no possible way to win. There's a room filled with robot cyborgs, and two entrances from where you start. It takes a lot of firepower to kill one of those guys, and there are at least ten, some of which will enter through the second door, and stalk you from behind. I have no idea what lies beyond the room they're in. I never managed to get out of the first room. Take the regular elevator instead on the previous floor.

I'm honored that you are making my mod part of the series. I wonder if you will do one for The Mutant Uprising whenever that mod gets finished.

lilmanjs, I'd love to do some testing when you have The Mutant Uprising done. As for annotating it, I can't make a commitment in advance on any of them. The Final Fight is the first one I've played beyond two levels since I did Spear: Resurrection in January-February '06. Like many of the old guard, (I played the original one episode demo in 1992, when it had to be loaded from a floppy disk every time it was used, because there was literally no disk space for permanent storage), I go long periods of time without playing any Wolfenstein, but I eventually come back to something which is much like an old friend. A big reason why your game was chosen is because it is quite new, and a lot of people haven't played it yet. All of my other annotated games had been out for some time before I did my bit.

The annotated versions ARE meant to honour the games' creators. It's a lot of unpaid work to do, to give something away for free to other people. I do that with analog VHS to digital video transfer and freeware fonts. I take from some, and give to others, and on occaision, to and from both. That's what the Internet is supposed to be about.

I lose interest on the first or second floor of a lot of the mods. I also spent a ton of time on the manual for Spear: Resurrection before discovering that there already was one, with a map, on the download site.

My playing style allows me to leave behind almost all of the ammo and health replenishments. I'd leave the BJ life bubbles as well, if they didn't count as treasure.

I wonder how hard it would be to program status bars for kills, treasure, and secrets discovered to date on each floor. It would save a lot of time testing perimeter walls when everything wanted may already have been found. Perhaps you reach the elevator, and can determine if you have or haven't killed all oponents, found all the treasure, etc., without having to first complete the floor. You could determine the number of secrets on a floor, for example, by dividing 100 by the percentage value increase of the first secret discovered, ie: if it gives you 7% in the secrets status bar, you know there are 14 secrets total. I gave Brian Lowe a new weapon suggestion, and he said he'll post it in the relevant thread.

It's nice to know that my contributions are appreciated as well. Thanks for making a game worthy of my frequent undivided attention.

I've completed the first seven floors of episode 3.

I must say I really like the guide a lot. I can't wait for the rest of the guide.

lilmanjs, as the storyline in the guide progresses, it will mesh more and more with the scenario set out in your Read This! for the game.

The end of the storyline in my guide will be both a logical and unexpected conclusion to both storylines, and will integrate the saved games into the storyline as well.

that is cool. have you got the story already done or do you work on it as you play the mod.

I know the ending, and when certain future events in my storyline will occur. I'm playing the episodes for the first time while doing the written guide, and writing it as I play, so I don't know what's going to happen next in the game. I am playing with the assumption that I can complete all six episodes with 100% kill, health never below 110%, and minimal use of ammunition. I'll also incorporate some people and events mentioned in your Read This!. The saved games will form a part of the storyline.The rest is just going to have to be a surprise.

The following communiqué was received from Henry Irons:

Have completed floors 8 and 10 of My Uncle Funer's Place. No ammo expenditure on my part.

HI.

Hi Peter. There is some coding that allows the player to see what their ratios are during a level. I have it installed in one of my unreleased mods and it works perfectly. I have an Exit sign next to the elevator and when you walk under it the stats appear on the screen, i'm not sure how to have it appear at the players will though, only the game makers.
And the level you are talking about in 'Coming of the Storm' has nothing but ghosts on it from memory, I found it incredibly frustrating the first time I played it but it can be done. You could always open it up in a Editor and get a full look at the level which might help.

Dean wrote:Hi Peter. There is some coding that allows the player to see what their ratios are during a level. I have it installed in one of my unreleased mods and it works perfectly. I have an Exit sign next to the elevator and when you walk under it the stats appear on the screen, i'm not sure how to have it appear at the players will though, only the game makers.
And the level you are talking about in 'Coming of the Storm' has nothing but ghosts on it from memory, I found it incredibly frustrating the first time I played it but it can be done. You could always open it up in a Editor and get a full look at the level which might help.

I just try, try, try again. And save 10 times the amount you try.
Oh, just so you know, the Return to Castle Wolfenstein has that sort of player stat feature towards the end. Play it to see what I mean.

Dean. I know there's a clear path on the Ghost floor of Coming of the Storm where you can zip right through, and not have to shoot once. Now that I know there's no one to kill, I can just do that and finish the annotations. Thanks.

Dark_wizzie, I've had Return to Castle Wolfenstein for a number of years, and installed it once, but I don't think I have enough memory on this computer to play it effectively.

There are countless parameters that could be tweaked to play it eddifenctly. How much ram do you have? set Hunkmeg usage to the appropriate amount. You proprably have enough memory. I am running 256 mb, celeron 1.3ghz, nivdia. it basically comes down to how ugly you can stand the game to be. How ugly can you tweak it? um...lets just say, uglier than the wolf3d (my add-on without any new graphics, pretty much). Oh, and if you cannot use RTCW, then consider using youtube, searching for a rtcw playthrough. Skip to the end.

Can a Wolfenstein 3D mod be set up as if it was a team mission, rather than a solo one? Keep in mind that I know nothing about coding, but here's how I would see that:

If there was a five man team, the health amount would start at 500. If the health fell below 400, one member of the team would be killed, and could only be revived by a BJ life bubble, health chest à la Totengraeber II, or the like.

When your team loses a life, you would return to the beginning of the same floor, but you would keep the floor score to date, all weapons, all ammo, and all kills registered.

There would be only one shooter at the time, but the next team member would then try to beat the scenario that had killed one of his teammates. There would be no opportunities to add additional lives through points scored. Your goal would be to complete the mission, while having as many as possible of your team members survive.

If team members die on a floor, they remain dead for the rest of the mission, unless you can revive them before moving to the next floor. You then have to continue with the men you have left, (maximum health would be 400% if you have four surviving team members). This would give a big incentive to maintaining total team health at or near maximum, and in some cases, may cause you to use health powerups faster than you'd like to.

I also discussed a new weapon in an e-mail with Brian Lowe: explosives.

Here's how I would see them used:

Explosives would be a weapon that could be acquired. They would have their own keyboard weapon number, let's say, five, after the chaingun, or other boss killer usually assigned weapon #4. You can pick up explosives like any acquired weapon, but they're only active if weapon #5 is selected.

You can only have one set of explosives at a time. If you already have the weapon, and move over it on the floor, you lose the opportunity to pick up those explosives later, just like if you already have an optional gun, and acquire another one. The difference is, explosives carry no ammo powerup, so it's just a waste to pick them up when you already have them. You could not create a bigger explosion by placing multiple explosives in the same place.

To use explosives, you would first select the weapon, then left-click where you would like to place and arm them. A second left click would detonate them. Once explosives are armed, they cannot be disarmed. Either you explode them, or you complete the floor, leaving them armed behind you.

If you want to use a different weapon after arming explosives, just switch to a different weapon number. The explosives would always detonate on the second left click when weapon 5 is selected. You could, then, accidentally blow yourself up, if you are carrying explosives, and chose the wrong weapon, in haste. or if you arm some explosives, and pick up some others before detonating the first batch.

Once you use your explosives, you lose that weapon until you can reacquire it somewhere else.

The explosives themselves would be similar to the explodind barrels in Spear:Resurrection, the only difference being that their location would be determined by the game player. We already have the concept of losing an acquired weapon in mid floor, (the jammed chaingun in Totengraeber II).

Ideally, you would place explosives at or near a doorway, open the door, retreat, and detonate as the wave of oppponents exit the room, before switching to one of your other weapons.

Some food for thought.

Very nice plan. However, sadly, there is no finished multi-player wolf3d gam yet. At this rate it seems if there never will be, keeping in mind that it has been over a decade since it first released, and none came out.
But hey, you never know, can ya'?

The multiplayer thing seems to be worked on at different times and I have no doubt that some version of it will come out eventually. I believe that it's been developed more in a Deathmatch type gameplay than co-operative and I'm fairly sure that it's only being developed as a 2 player game.

As for the explosives weapon that you spoke of Dugtrio released and add-on called 'Switch 17' that did something similar to what you describe. This was only released as a demo thing using the original gamemaps, no one has included it into a fully fledged mod at this time.
You can find the full description of what it's features are Here.

I've completed Episode 3 entirely. I had 110% Health at all times on all floors, although it often took multiple attempts to do that.

If you guys are interested, I can release the annotated episodes one at a time from here on, or you can wait until I finish Episede #4 for the next installment. There probably aren't enough people who care for me to do a poll, so how about a show of hands?

um.... poll it is. go check out the poll section, Henery.

lilmanjs, I was unable to find all of the treasure and secrets on floor 1 of episode 4. Could you confirm if this floor contains the secret elevator or not? I'll check the perimeter for a third time, if there's an elevator I missed, but I'd gladly pass on a little coin to not have to go after the gold key on floor two again.

Thanks, HI

Peter, I'm not sure when James gets back but I can give the following info on ep4level1.

There is no secret elevator on e4level1, it's on e4level3.
There are 6 pushwalls on e4level1, 4 or them are obvious, like a portrait or alcove, but the other 2 are less obvious.

Hope that helps.

As long as I have the 100% Kill and I don't miss a secret elevator, that's good enough for me. It's nice to have 100% secrets and treasure, but not essential. It gives somebody playing from the annotated files the chance to improve on my score, but they'll have to play the last nine floors through to do it. I can live with that.

Five floors completed on episode 4.

Nine floor done on episode 4. Between episodes 3 and 4, the style of writng in the game manual changes, from Irons' reporting to HQ by radio, to Irons giving tips specifically for BJ by another method. I'll be forwarding the next installment to Brian as soon as it's done, so watch for it in Dome News.

cool. I can't wait to download it. I'm really glad that people still like the old school mods and don't have to have 90 features for every mod.

I've got seven floors completed on Episode 5. I'm waiting for some info from lilmanjs re: Floor 9 on episode 4 before I can send out the next installment.

well I haven't had trouble playing through the boss level on episode 4. you should ask brian about that level as he'd be able to help you more(he did the amazing level edits on ep4.)

lilmanjs, was the first Boss supposed to have the silver key? If so, then there is a problem. If she doesn't have it, I could use a clue as to where it is, because I have completed everything up to the silver key door.

Thanks.

Sorry, I mean the gold key. I have the silver one.

can you try....Chaosedit and look at the level structure? :/

Dark_wizzie, I only play the games. I don't undertstand the the inner workings, but if you'd like to help, you can download my saved game as at the gold key door:
http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=47DCB35F7A1E37B0

The first Boss is supposed to drop the gold key. I've just tried it 4 times and it worked every time. When I tried your saved game though it wasn't there.

I can only suggest trying episode 4 level 9 again from a saved game on level 8.

Thanks, Brian. I'll try that floor again. I just needed confirmation that the key wasn't somewhere else.

I sent the latest installment to Brian last night, covering episodes 3 & 4. Watch for it in Dome News. I think you guys will like the twists and turns in the storyline, and even bigger changes will happen in the last part. I've completed episode 5, and I think I have both keys on floor two of episode 6, so things are moving quite rapidly at my end.

Peter tells me he tried the e4m9 floor again and this time the gold key was dropped by the first boss.

The annotated files for episodes 3 and 4 are now available at http://www.brlowe.co.uk/TheFinalFightEps3&4annotated.rar .