Sorry, unfortunately there's not much I can do without completely reworking the layout, or closing off whole segments of the map to the outside.
I optimized the stuff I could but since it was running ok (=almost never under 60)on my ~8 year old pc, I decided to stick to my initial layout. 

Someone tell that big open maps run better in vkQuake on Vulkan-compatible rigs.

About ad_akalakha: Most compare it to ad_sepulcher, but for me it resembles Shadow and Flame (xmasjam2018_ionous), remade with boggy assets instead of obsidian and lava. Not only because of spiral staircase structure, again these tight player pathways, traps in both brushwork and monster spawns, these ruthless secrets... Pulsar basically imitates Ionous' approach to level design(and that's not a poor imitation in any ways)! This is not a complaint, rather not exactly mine taste, and not what I am launching quake for. 

Yes the framerate in vkQuake is better than in QSS (at least on my end) but unfortunately the current version 1.04.1 of vkQuake has some issues with AD 1.8.

For example when you die vkQuake will crash with a "Could not allocate memory for texture" error message.

The custom huds are also not working at the moment.

Maybe one day a new version will fix the problems or the AD team ads vkQuake to the list of officially supported source ports so the current version can run it without any issues but right now QSS seems to be the only stable way to play AD 1.8. 

Akalakha was originally an entry to Xmas Jam 2017. 

@Berzerk
Unfortunately, that's probably a problem with your machine. I've been using vkQuake exclusively for a long time, and have been playing AD 1.8 nonstop since release, and have experienced zero crashes.

Also, where does one report bugs where the team will see them? 

The vkquake crash is definitely reproducable with the latest release, but apparently it's fixed on the most recent codebase. Would be great if a new executable was put up for all of us scrubs that don't go around compiling stuff. :)

For bug reporting, you mean for AD? Here is fine, or you can contract Sock from his site, or me (my mail is in my profile). 

I also have issues with vKQuake, namely that it crashes (or rather freezes) when trying to load a save within the game. Can load saves fine when restarting, but not while playing. Agree that it would be nice to have it work as it's faster.

Replaying ad_tears, it's not a pulsating sound in the final arena, but rather a humming one, same as in The Source. I have the same sound issues with that sound as with the pulsating one. 

it seems to be map dependent now and AD 1.8 engine ignores r_wateralpha config variables. How specifies my own value? 

Skill #0... Nice balanced map. Great enemies, gorgeous too. That Scrag Lord took some beating. 

QuakeSpasm has allowed maps to override the r_wateralpha cvar via a worldspawn key pretty much forever; I think it's inherited from the original FitzQuake code. 

Filled with light and not much shadows. I can look at this misty sunrise all day long. This is how you do heartwarming dimensions.
https://imgur.com/a/JvLjRlx 

increasing -heapsize resolves the problem with loading a save file. 

Thanks for the tip! -heapsize 256000 didn't help, though, but it is an issue with memory allocation as it says so. Perhaps I need to allocate even more, but that was the recommendation I found when googling. 

oh boy!
This map is really somthing in all catagroies.
Brushwork, gameplay, layout.
Finished with 764/766 kills, so I have to replay to find the last two enemies.
The end was epic.
I bow my head! 

should be something. 8-) 

I tried to login last week to start the AD 1.8 thread but my old login is broken (forgotten password). I did let metlslime know, but I imagine he is super busy at the moment. If anyone can update the top part of this thread, it would be awesome thanks.

1.8 Mod Image - http://www.simonoc.com/files/ad/ad_v1_80_small.png

Since release there has been a patch 1 (the original build was completely broken) and the latest version is on my website.

Here is the 1.8 Patch 1 changelog for anyone who is curious to know what has been added/changed to the mod since 1.7.

Changelog - http://www.simonoc.com/files/ad/ad_v1_80p1changelog.txt

The mod is now all in PAK files (its too messy to keep it loose with community content) and it makes it much easier to patch/update.

The mod now supports custom HUDs, a new gameplay mode called Chaos and a new skill level (4) called Evil! I highly recommend that everyone try the new QSS client (there is no new mac version) to get the latest visual effects and custom HUDs!

There are plans for another patch 2, but its going to be a long time coming because I don't want to keep rushing out patches. People don't tend to download patches very much for Quake! Please report bugs here or contact me or bal directly. :)

If anyone is curious for the latest news on AD, checkout bal on twitter who is posting cool gifs showing new features and myself for tweets about new AD info and screenshots. 

sorry about that, it looks like your email was in my junk mail folder.

Updated the top post with the new screenshot and download URLs you emailed me. 

Is ad_tears based on an old nehahra map? 

Nope, it's a completely new one I started this year.

metl, thanks! 

Speaking of bugs, I've found a place where player gets stuck on plain surface, here's the screens. First one is made while being stuck whilst trying to forwards , and others are views at that point on the ground from distance. Also there's a typo, it's spelled "prize", not "priz"
https://imgur.com/a/aCK5Gi9 

 

Regarding my sound issues, turning down the sound quite a lot actually fixed it. I have to go under 50%, but then the clipping is gone and there seems to be no adverse issues with having it so low either. So thanks for the tip, @bal! 

Replayed Grendel to warm up for checking out some new stuff:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5rLejyRbtM

Then jumped into XMASJAM1024_Sepulchre aka AD_AHKALAKAHAKA aka Pulsar's map/room which was pretty cool and packed a lot in:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfRP3BXG4Cw

Both include a lot of derping, a fair amount of getting secrets, appreciation of the designs, and occasional "cuss words". 

Nyarthingy's Castle:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUhTpfbwEH4

In which Shambler mostly gives up the derping for now and occasionally offers a convincing pretence at competence. 

Bal, you have any plans to re purpose your old nehahra maps into AD maps? Would be ashamed to see the stuff go to waste.