Not done with my playthrough yet- savoring this one a level or two at a time.

Playing on normal, and it's a great mix of challenges in each level so far. Just got through 'Under a Funeral Moon', and there's this stairs encounter that is setup so well (toward the end, iirc). Makes you climb all the way to the top of the stairs to keep up with the placed and spawning monsters. I thought that was genius encounter design there. Puts you in an urgent situation, but rewards methodical movement and careful progression. I felt the previous rooms prepared me to handle it as well. Kind of a building momentum.

That's just one bit of several amazing moments thus far. Looking forward to continuing on. May post again when I'm done. 

I collected both keys, but cannot find anything to open.
Looking at a walkthorugh I found that there's a blue scarab in the tower, but when I get there, I only have a MegaHealth. Playing on Quakespasm 0.93.0. +sv_protocol999 -heapsize 262144. Skill 3.

What gives?
Did I do something wrong? 

You did. I posted a hint in the Quaddicted thread. 

Hey y'all, what will probably be the (hopefully) final patch for Episode 1 is here! This fixes all bugs that have been reported to us.
The fix for lerping monsters in QSS is in the newest dev build of the engine, which you can find here.
In this build, we're also pushing a prepackaged version of the mod, including the latest version of Quakespasm Spiked and the mod, just add Id1 and hit that batch file!
Downloads


Start
- Fixed minor texture issues.
- Improved Nightmare door sequence.
- Nothing else :)

D1M4
- Fixed entrance message not triggering.
- Fixed a major crash on Debian-based Linux systems.
- Modified out-of-water trap encounter.
- Fixed a minor softlock.
- Small texture alignment fixes.
- Fixed the exit sound not playing upon approach.
- Most Ogre perches are now accessible.

D1M5
- Fixed some texture issues.
- Fixed a softlock that occurs if you grenade jump to get a key early.
- Added a "Reward" for doing so.
- Modified Rocket Launcher Secret to no longer be unmarked.

D1M6
- Improved Clipping.
- SNG Shamblers koolaid instantly.

D1M8
- Added a little helping hand to Wave 4.

D1M9
- Fixed a softlock in a secret area.
- Improved Boss Fight. 

d1m9 Patch2 has a bug(?) While I'm proceed, and do not touch the LG, there is no way to get out from GK room, ogres on opposite wall did not appearing too. Or it is by design?
Demo:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1i18hvkwl5DTqKf_w2T6DO6HQgaNKVCnd/view?usp=sharing 

The only first variant of map has the same thing. Second ver. (from P1) I do not have already. 

Played on skill 1. Pretty awesome pack, especially the final couple of maps, but the episode overall is remarkably consistent. I really like that Copper is becoming the next big "mapper's mod." The more I play levels with/for it the more I appreciate the subtle ways its tweaks Quake's basic gameplay.

I didn't find it too hard but I'm the sort of person who enjoys Tronyn maps. I'd have to replay them to be sure, but I feel like the final fight was easier than certain Tronyn battles due to the respawning ammo and armor. (I'm not sure how I feel about the trend of respawning supplies, since it tends to devalue secrets, though there is an argument that it encourages more complex movements than "mere circle strafing" since you have to adjust your route to coincide with spawn points—there's a slaughtermap concept for you.)

On the other hand I made a pretty poor showing with finding secrets except on a couple maps. Any hint on what level to look for the secret map? 

#54
Played on skill 1. Pretty awesome pack, especially the final couple of maps, but the episode overall is remarkably consistent.
Thanks a lot, I was blown away by the level of consistency myself honestly. My favorite has to be D1M2 though, so many Quads!

I really like that Copper is becoming the next big "mapper's mod."
I agree, it's also got a very well commented and clean codebase so it's perfect to build a large project like this off of, Lun deserves a lot of praise for that.

I didn't find it too hard but I'm the sort of person who enjoys Tronyn maps. I'd have to replay them to be sure, but I feel like the final fight was easier than certain Tronyn battles due to the respawning ammo and armor. (I'm not sure how I feel about the trend of respawning supplies...)
I sort of agree with the final fight, but there's something to be said about having to manage your resources closer like that. I just wish there were more "Oh shit!" moments like the final Shambler / ect where you really have to pump some LG to take minimal damage.
If it was me, a good 15 or so vores would have spawned.. or something on the same level of stupid :D

On the other hand I made a pretty poor showing with finding secrets except on a couple maps. Any hint on what level to look for the secret map?
The order of the screenshots on Quaddicted is a good hint :) It's a multi-part russian nesting doll secret too. Enjoy.

#52,53
d1m9 Patch2 has a bug(?) While I'm proceed, and do not touch the LG, there is no way to get out from GK room, ogres on opposite wall did not appearing too. Or it is by design?
Yep, this looks like a bug. Unless we have larger updates needed it looks like that one'll be staying in until Episode 2 hits, unfortunate to say. 

Sorry if this was already mentioned or asked somewhere, but will the other episodes be released separately like a 'standalone' mods/folders (dwell2, etc) or will there be a complete release?

Also, will the other episodes be released one by one? Judging by "until Episode 2 hits", seems like they will be released one by one when they are ready. 

will the other episodes be released separately like a 'standalone' mods/folders (dwell2, etc) or will there be a complete release?
There will be a complete release, packaged with Episodes 1 and 2, then 3/4.

Also, will the other episodes be released one by one?
Final bit of the Overview at the top of the page should have you covered :) 

After finishing the entire episode, here are my 5 cents:

Pro:
+ Level design is amazing. Best Egyptian architecture I have seen in Quake since a while
+ Items are (often) respawning, so you shouldn't run out of ammo/powerups
+ Copper changes blend in just fine
+ Secret level lives up to expectations (if you find it)
+ Impressive boss battle

Con:
- Very hard, even on Easy (think Plutonia)
- Later levels are complex and difficult to navigate --> you can get physically exhausted (D1M7-D1M9 are for masochists)
- It's often dark, making it challenging to play during daytime
- Secrets are hard to find (e.g. secret exit)

So bottom line: The first 3 or 4 maps were just a delight (D1M2 especially - beautiful lighting, reminded me of Serious Sam), then it got too hard for me, not just regarding monster amounts/placement, but also level complexity. I prefer smaller maps, but I guess this episode isn't meant to be played in one sitting. Eventually you reach a point when you just want to get things over with - that's the time to take a break. I am definitely digging the Egyptian setting which is well executed and blends in with the early Rogue maps from DoE, just much nicer and longer. Also I didn't have any crashes with QSS.

It's still absolutely worth playing this, however I would have wished for more lenient/forgiving gameplay on the lower difficulties. 

first play demos from 4 maps:
http://www.quaketastic.com/files/demos/dwell_maps_1-4_ankh.zip

Had a lot of fun 

The map design is top-notch, and it has a sort of "Dissolution of Eternity meets Zerstorer" feel to it. I love the new soundtrack as well. Really looking forward to the next epsiode. 

That's very charitable towards DoE... 

Demos for maps 5,6 and 7
http://www.quaketastic.com/files/demos/dwell_maps_5-7_ankh.zip

Again all maps were great.

I started map 8 but saw the monster count of above 300. Tried for a bit but didn't find the power to continue. 

Ok. Map 8 was cool too :)

http://www.quaketastic.com/files/demos/dwell_map_8_ankh.zip 

The last boss battle was something and a half. Regarding that, I have a question - is there a way to increase the number of particles?

Played on QuakeSpasm. When there's too much monsters around, with the projectiles and particle traits from attacks and gibs flying around, it's obvious that sometimes the particles just dont appear, like for example I fire a rocket and I see only the model, then only sprite of the explosion - no particles in the trail and no particles in the explosion.

I remember seeing that many years ago as well when the horde combat style maps were in fashion, it happened all the time. But I thought the sourceports and engines improved since then? 

There is a command line option for that in QS, -particles. I dunno what the default value is, but you could try with something like -particles 8000. That should do it. 

Thanks, that helped! 

Finally found the Super Secret in That Which Can Eternal Lie. It must have been the single secret I've been trying to figure at the longest ever. And of course it was easier than I thought once I got it. 

Congrats on getting it. It's not a super secret anymore as of patch 2 though. 

Damn, I should have found it faster! Anyway, excellent map - one of my favourites in the episode. 

I haven't found the secret map yet, but completed this otherwise on skill 2.

If anyone is sleeping on this for some weird reason, please don't! It's a fantastic set of maps. Somewhat cohesive (because of the loosely shared theme) but a lot of cool variation and different ideas/approaches. It does have more than a bit of an "identity" or vision as an episode, which I really appreciate.

I think the new music soundtrack also has a lot to do with giving the whole thing an overlay of a unified vision -- it's hard to overstate how much (for me) good new music adds to things.

Anyway: kind of reminds me of my feels playing through Zerstoerer way back when.

I won't say much (yet?) about individual maps; there's been a lot said about those above. One critique though about the end map, which is truly excellent in and of itself:

IMO it can be a mistake to have an episode end on a mega huge map. Finishing this map was a satisfying accomplishment but it threw the pacing of the episode all out of whack. It feels like -- although I don't know if this is actually true -- I spent as many play sessions on the last map as on the rest of the episode put together, which starts to push those previous (also excellent) maps out of my overall memory and flattens out my experience of that cool variation and experimentation that was happening up until then.

Gotta say though, still a great episode, 5 stars, looking forward to the next. 

Although the title does remind me of this, which I used to walk past daily in pre-COVID times: https://goo.gl/maps/UN9VhsCSjv3uo1aD7

:-) 

What a great map pack, I am super impressed. Looking forward to the future ones!

Somehow I stuck on d1m8 after surviving all waves. I have 473/476 kills but neither enemies appear nor I am able to leave the arena.