The /newstuff Chronicles #132

Yay, more old wads to waste my time with! Since they are too old, I will not be reviewing dis2000.zip or indifference.zip this week. Therefore this weeks total wads climbs down to a staggering four. What an exciting week for /newstuff. So what are you waiting for? A semi-interesting week of /newstuff awaits you!

• Dan0's crack pipe - Erik Alm
  74kb - Enhanced Port - DM(img) (img) (img)
  If there was one person who deserved to beat me in the ZDaemon contest, it obviously has to be Erik. His map literally kicks the living crap out of mine, yet it was only rated one point above my level. Getting back to his level, this single-level DM wad is definitely the better wad out of the two DM wads available this week. It has superb gameplay and great detailing, although DM wads tend to usually look a lot more uglier than their SP counterparts, not like I care about detailing in DM maps anyway. This map was entered in the ZDaemon Contest, which was to make a map with only using shareware Doom limits (textures, items, etc). The only downside to this wad is that it lacks a music replacement, but the rest of the level definitely makes up for it. A recommended addition to your DM collection.
  
  
• NUTS2 - 2nd and/or 1st Anniversary Gold Plated Plutonic Aloy Coated Eight volume Nuclear Donkey Edition of Nuts.wad (a.k.a 'Time To Overclock Your Computer. Again.") (a.k.a 'Goodbye Mr.FPS') - B.P.R.D
  150kb - A computer than can run it - SP(img) (img)
  Holy crap, it's the offical sequel to nuts, and it even has a Wizardry midi! =D~~~~
  
  This is the first comedy wad in ages that has actually made me laugh. The simple modification to certain things makes it a really unpredictable level at first, but it grows onto you eventually. Even the poster-thing is quite funny. Go download it, now!
  
  
• SargeBaldy Speedmapping Compilation #9 - Various
  225kb - Boom - SP(img)
  Since I'm reviewing yet another speedmapping compilation, I feel like that I'm obliged to do a speedreview. Any complaints will be seriously ignored.
  
  MAP01 - Borderline
  MAP02 - Good
  MAP03 - Borderline
  MAP04 - Horrible
  MAP05 - Excellent except for the Cyberdemon and Spider Mastermind battles
  
  Phew, that wasn't so hard now, eh?
  
  
• ZDaemon Contest Map - Dean "deathz0r" Joseph (that's me you idiot)
  47kb - Doom.exe - DM(img) (img) (img)
  Note: I did not write this review. For those who saw the thread in the forums, I asked you people to write a review for my DM map. I only received one review, so at least I know who to rely on now to get a review for my map when it's my week. Anyway, Lee Szymanski has willingly offered to write a review of my map, and I don't care in the slightest that he gave it a bad review. A review is a person's opinion, and you can't change it regardless of how many times you plead.
  
  A simple symmetrical Deathmatch map running on DOOM/Ultimate DOOM. Connections between the rooms are relatively short but their width makes rocket kills easy. Thankfully plasma weapons are ommited. A chainsaw is provided in the exit but a cache of health (like map01) would be more usefull. The RL is kept separate from it's ammo and windows into the RL room allow fighting from adjacent corridors. Ammo is spread evenly through the map. The detail is kept to a minimum with the corridors suffering the most from basic lighting and texturing. The 4 rooms at the map corners are all have distinct detail helping to aid memory, unfortunately all but one contains green armour. An ok map which could have been much better, good for a few rounds but is likely to get old quickly.
  
  [i]Thank you Lee! The only thing I have to say in my defense is that there is a green armour in each corner, and that the contest did not state anything about detailing, so I decided to relax for once. I should also point out that this map is compatible with every Doom IWAD, even v1.1.
  
  

fp! props to all logged in trolls!

deathz0r said:

Since I'm reviewing yet another speedmapping compilation, I feel like that I'm obliged to do a speedreview. Any complaints will be seriously ignored.MAP01 - BorderlineMAP02 - GoodMAP03 - BorderlineMAP04 - HorribleMAP05 - Excellent except for the Cyberdemon and Spider Mastermind battlesPhew, that wasn't so hard now, eh?

BEST REVIEW EVAR

This was indeed one of the best sargebaldy speedmapping packs in quite some time. I wonder if he's around...

Mancubus II said:

This was indeed one of the best sargebaldy speedmapping packs in quite some time. I wonder if he's around...

Surely! We just cant see him!!

DOOM Anomaly said:

Surely! We just cant see him!!

or can we? ...

also I have to say nuts2.wad is quite awesome. usually sequels aren't as good as the original (well, with movies anyway), but this is even BETTER than the first one.

uh...first staff post!

Cyb said:

also I have to say nuts2.wad is quite awesome. usually sequels aren't as good as the original (well, with movies anyway), but this is even BETTER than the first one.

yeah i agree completely. the first was good as a benchmark for source ports, but this branched out. i was afraid it was just going to be an even more extreme version of the first, but instead it was a little less extreme and a lot more amusing. props to B.P.R.D on a job well done.

A simple symmetrical Deathmatch map

uh i thought there was nothing you hated more than symmetrical dm maps?

Cyb said:

or can we? ...

also I have to say nuts2.wad is quite awesome. usually sequels aren't as good as the original (well, with movies anyway), but this is even BETTER than the first one.

uh...first staff post!

come on, heh1 and heh2 was fun. :P

The only slowdown I had with nuts2 was when I had 100 odd archvile all trying to spit roast me :p

It was mid November, 2001, when the original came out.

Previously, I believe the single map that had the highest monster count was Hell Revealed II 32, but nuts took that a whole order of magnitude higher. Having over ten thousand monsters, it made us all laugh while simultaneously reminding many of us that our systems were woefully underpowered. I seem to recall it being named as one of the most downloaded wads ever.

Now, seemingly out of nowhere, we have the sequel; less extreme in its population but arguably better, certainly full of surprises, and much more than just a one-joke map.

But, think back again. Shortly after the release of the original, another wad was released by the same author, one whose incredible atmosphere blew the minds of many players the world over. A set of replacement sound effects made amazingly spooky by extreme use of reverb; possibly the best red key replacement ever; and most strikingly, an almost unique ability to tell a story as you played through it, without requiring a supplementary text file to fire the imagination. Its name was Equinox.

Now here we are, eighteen months later, and we have a sequel to nuts, the infamous monster riot. So the question creeps inevitably into my mind...

Equinox II...?

(tldr: I am hoping history might be about to repeat itself in that Equinox II might be about to be released, and I think that idea is sufficiently exciting to write stupid posts on Internet forums about it)

What's this? Who's this this strange-named fellow to whom I owe a cookie? I can't think..

Here's a pretty unusual one for you. Hope you like pecans.

cookie_cc_pecans_big.jpg

Thanks for NOT reviewing dis2000... :(

Damnit, i was looking forward to it :'( ... Slacker! :P

I don't understand why you won't review old wads. It's not even like there were a lot this week.

Haha.. Deathz0r making a symmetrical map. Now that's something I thought I'd never hear.

RjY said:

Equinox II...?

That would indeed be something to get excited about. Still, consider the build times before getting your hopes up too much:
Nuts.wad: "This WAD is just some crap i threw together one night."
Equinox.wad: 4.2 gazillion hours
Nuts2.wad: 2 days

dis2000 should get a review of course. AFAIK it hasn't been released before in any way (it was intended as part of HR2, but it seems the author got fed up of waiting for a project that may never be completed).

Hey, how come I count nine wads in /newstuff, and when I add the two you skipped and the ones you did review, I get six?

One of them was reviewed last week (they stay in newstuff for 10 days) and two of them were uploaded yesterday (after deathz0r had uploaded the reviews - he's on GMT+10) so I'll be reviewing them next week.

<-----------

RjY said:

possibly the best red key replacement ever ... Equinox

BTW, I notice the cookie has been downloaded more than once. Perhaps it should be encrypted and a password PMed to its rightful recipient.

The Ultimate DooMer said:

One of them was reviewed last week (they stay in newstuff for 10 days) and two of them were uploaded yesterday (after deathz0r had uploaded the reviews - he's on GMT+10) so I'll be reviewing them next week.

Ah, ok. Heh, forgot that time zones exist.

RjY said:

Shortly after the release of the original, another wad was released by the same author, one whose incredible atmosphere blew the minds of many players the world over. A set of replacement sound effects made amazingly spooky by extreme use of reverb; possibly the best red key replacement ever; and most strikingly, an almost unique ability to tell a story as you played through it, without requiring a supplementary text file to fire the imagination. Its name was Equinox.

I think I recall Equinox coming out long before nuts.wad. Perhaps you're thinking of some re-release or something.

nuts2 was disappointing... tamer than the first? what?
and it runs on Boom with no problems... unless there is some scripting or something I am missing.

Opulent said:

nuts2 was disappointing... tamer than the first? what?
and it runs on Boom with no problems... unless there is some scripting or something I am missing.

sweet, do a UV speedrun!

also:

11/21/01 <- equinox release date
11/14/01 <- nuts.wad release date

also oddly enough there are files named nuts.zip and equinox.zip both from '95...hmmm

Cyb said:

sweet, do a UV speedrun!

I did a 3:30 pacifist the first time through. 91% kills.
the sprites replacements are just annoying. :)
and I think he/she/they forgot to populate the 3rd room??

I think that's a joke. You have all this ammo around as if to prepare you for a huge battle (even that 'Good Luck' message). As those walls lower, you begin to get more anxious, until it reveals...a few minor enemies that you could pick off with the pistol.

HAHAHA, nuts2 is funny, I just played the beginning though. Man it tricked me good.

Ichor said:

I think that's a joke. You have all this ammo around as if to prepare you for a huge battle (even that 'Good Luck' message). As those walls lower, you begin to get more anxious, until it reveals...a few minor enemies that you could pick off with the pistol.

heh yeah. that was the funniest part of it all imo. actually as it was coming down i was thinking 'hey, i've already fought a ton of cybs and spiderdemons, what could he possibly top that with'. and heh, it was definitely roofles.

Ichor said:

I think that's a joke. You have all this ammo around as if to prepare you for a huge battle (even that 'Good Luck' message). As those walls lower, you begin to get more anxious, until it reveals...a few minor enemies that you could pick off with the pistol.

you're probably right... I'm was too dumb to figure that out. :)

Opulent said:

you're probably right... I'm was too dumb to figure that out. :)

I was fooled by that too, but was very disappointed that there wasn't a colossal battle in that last room. I was quite apprehensive about it too, given the lack of any obvious invulnerabilities. First time through, I thought the marines lined up at the end were probably some ultra-powerful new enemies, so I BFGed 'em. Whoops!

Anyway, here's something for you all to beat:
NM Pacifist Reality (i.e. no damage taken) in 1:52 with 108% kills. The time is easily beatable, but the "Reality" aspect of it needs a bit of luck.

I'd envisaged a follow-up to Nuts.wad as having a few more areas with masterminds (et al.) packed together, and a number of switches the player could only reach with multi-AV jumps. And maybe a mastermind/AV/invul racetrack kind of thing. If you see what I mean. Also possibly a big crusher device to make a Max demo more of an attractive idea. Hmm, maybe I spent too long playing Nuts.wad.

I was actually totally expecting the third room to have really weak monsters. In fact I thought there would only be one Zombieman and thats it. Took me about 21 minutes to kill everything... with cheats on of course.

Hello. I'm the one who made Equinox and Nuts and what have you. And for the person who said 'Will there be a Equinox 2' no I don't think there will be. I would like to but it took me like a YEAR (!) to make Equinox. It was probably more like on and off for a year (at least I hope it was). And spending so much time making levels for just one game out of the thousands out there is sorta, well, a waste of time. Though if i did make more wads, they would be smaller and quicker to make. Most probably something silly and fun, like Nuts2 was.

Cyb said:

sweet, do a UV speedrun!

Somehow that seems like it should be my job.
[quote]Assmaster said:
Took me about 21 minutes to kill everything... with cheats on of course.

You used the crushers, right?