Finally, I have been able to get my hands on the PC with original work in progress version of Tartar source code that was intended as a basis for the next major version (or "stage" as I prefer to call them). The outcome is a new development branch that supercedes the previous trunk, and which will include any bugfixes or enhancements that may get produced over time, while current Stage 3 Maintainance 3 build from the previous trunk remains the "stable" version.
Talking about enhancements, here they are:
1. Automatic loading of well known multipart WADs (Back to Saturn, Arctic Wolf and1st Encounter), so ther's no longer need to include each and every WAD into the command line arguments
2. For Arctic Wolf, Tartar will even load WAD and DeHackEd patch for the second part of the game when the player gets there, and will load first part assets for new game or game from previous stage loaded.
3. And for those WolfenDoom PWAD-s that are closer to the original Wolf3D game, special mode is automatically activated which switches off monster in-fighting, removes maximum armor cap and damage absorbtion by armor (armor count is basically treasure score in this mode) and ensures that if intelligent blood recoloring is on zombies bleed purple and human bosses bleed red.
Players can switch this mode off in Features > Tartar Options menu
4. Want even "wolfier" experience? Try another option in Features > Tartar Options that removes weapon recoil, diminishing light, head bobbing and accuracy reduction when holding fire.
5. But that's probably enough WolfenDoom by now. One person asked on the forum boards recently about the necessity of UltraViolance playthroughs of the "core" Doom episodes, such as "Thy flesh...". This made me think about a more exploration friendly game mode that would tread dying at the hands of the demons less... seriously and more in line with "arcade games". In this "Continue" mode players can press fire after they have fallen to simply revive on the spot with half starting health and some of their ammo. Look for it under Features menu.
This is it for now. The builds with newly presented features will eventually be shared in the TESTING directory of the binary distribution.
Stay safe and happy Dooming
