Doom: Best of Old School

I was thinking of putting together a megawad consisting of what is to be considered the best of old level wads from 1994-1996. Sort of like a homeage and tribute to this classic game and the people who have left their mark on its history. I will, if possible, get in contact with the people whos levels will ultimately be selected.

I am currently downloading levels from the idgames archives dated from 1995. The whole selection process will be a long and tidious one as i will have to go through 100s if not 1000s of these old levels and somewhat review them. There will be oblivious rules, which are as follows: Doom 2 only (might consider doing a seperate one for Doom 1), no megawads or TCs or PCs, full support for singleplayer, cooperative, deathmatch and all five skill levels (main focus will be on singleplayer though).

All selected levels will be stacked into one single wad file also containing a map definition lump, one for Zdoom and one for EDGE (and also Legacy if i can figure out how it works). The order of the levels will be selected primarly after their difficulty (but other factors might be involved too). There might be some other, new goodies, such as new music added.

If anyone has any ideas of where else, other than the idgames archives, i can find some old stuff, please inform me. I know there is some stuff which i remember that isn't there anymore. Or if anyone wishes to help out in any way.

Honestly, compilations nowadays are pretty much redundant, especially with the massive amount of levels available (from all times) and the relative ease with which we can browse or search for them. Back in '94 and '95 people did this sort of thing, but because there were fewer good levels (which were sometimes hard to get or find) and almost no episode replacements, and they were eager to try mods with more than one or two (decent) levels. Now we have tons of megawads, many of high quality. Plus, would this require an advanced engine (ZDoom or EDGE) to work? Many people prefer to use engines like PrBoom or Chocolate Doom for older levels.

Remakes (if allowed by the authors), demo recordings, or smart reviews seem to me much better forms of homage and tribute than mere compilations (which require permission anyway, see below).

CeeJay said:
I will, if possible, get in contact with the people whos levels will ultimately be selected.

That would be a requirement with wads where it says "Authors may NOT use this as a base...", in order to get any permission to use them.

Yes, there is a massive ammount of levels out there now. But the fact being is that many of those old ones are really bad. So wouldn't be a good thing if somebody took his time and went through all of them and picked out all the best ones and collected them into one single wad? This idea is meant as a nostalgic trip for all of us long-time doomers and a chance for all new doomers to see how it begun. I been 'round since 1997 myself. Played Doom the very first time in 1996. I remember a lot of levels that i can't seem to locate anymore, i'm hoping to get a hold of those aswell as other "lost" oldies so i won't limit myself to the idgames archives providing there is someone out there who would like to help out.

Of course it will not require an advanced engine to work, the levels are designed for original Doom 2 and this compilation will feature map info extensions for ZDoom and EDGE storred inside the wad itself but will be playable with basically any sourceport.

The levels themselfs will not be altered in any way other than changing the map number. The levels will remain untouched. I don't see this as a violation of that rule, do you??? I will of course try all the available e-mail address i can find but of course many of the authors of these wads have since long changed their e-mails so there is probaly no way of getting in contact with them.

I appreciate any feedback, but if you don't have a single damned positive thing to say then please don't bother at all.

CeeJay said:
The levels themselfs will not be altered in any way other than changing the map number. The levels will remain untouched. I don't see this as a violation of that rule, do you???

I'm sure it is, as the standard permissions blurb is something that allows you to either use it in general for whatever add-on of yours (you MAY use) or to only download it and play it "as is" (you may NOT use). It's like taking a whole chapter "as is" from someone's book and placing it in yours. That naturally requires permission form the original writer.

I had forgotten, but if you do create the compilation, you'd probably have to host it or find some place for it, as the /idgames archive doesn't normally accept compilations of stuff that is already on it.

"It's like taking a whole chapter "as is" from someone's book and placing it in yours. That naturally requires permission form the original writer."

Yes, but there is one crucial diffrence: I won't claim it as my own nor will i mix it with my own stuff (levels) and as i said i WILL try to get in contact with the people. I probaly will not include those levels whom the authors i can not get in contact with or who don't agree to the project.

This was only an idea i had, but maybe it wasn't sucha good idea afterall.

It's an idea that's probably past it's "use by" date but still worth raising in the forums even if you wind up getting shot down in flames. :-)

This reminds me of a project from 1995 when all(?) of the third-party Doom wads were compiled into a series of 50-odd megawads by a Doomer called Stephen Scaife. A major undertaking that's possibly gone all but unnoticed. I stumbled upon an incomplete set of wads on a shovelware CD some time back and have kept them to help identify mystery maps.

I support this.

CeeJay said:

"It's like taking a whole chapter "as is" from someone's book and placing it in yours. That naturally requires permission form the original writer."

Yes, but there is one crucial diffrence: I won't claim it as my own nor will i mix it with my own stuff

So what? If you don't have permission to use their work, then it doesn't matter whether you credit the authors or not.

As long as you only use maps that you have received appropriate permission to use, there won't be any problem.

Try and read what i actually wrote:

"... I probaly will not include those levels whom the authors i can not get in contact with or who don't agree to the project."

I rephrase myself: I WILL not! Satisfied???

CeeJay said:

Try and read what i actually wrote:

"... I probaly will not include those levels whom the authors i can not get in contact with or who don't agree to the project."

I rephrase myself: I WILL not! Satisfied???

Of course. That's all we wanted. Now, I wish you good luck on your project.

Interesting Idea. Tons of work would be required..

There are plenty of maps around that do allow "use as a base" in their text files.

I suggest you start by reading the oldstuff chronicles to see what old maps have already been reviewed so you don't have to go blind or brain dead when you get your project under way.

Heck, if you put the time in to play all those old maps maybe you could continue some reviews for "The Oldstuff Chronicles" and continue the project even for a short time. That would benefit the community as well.

http://www.doomworld.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=10243
That is number one.

http://www.doomworld.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=11232
That is number 2, etc.

You could look at, say, only the ones rated at 75% or above. That would save a lot of brain damage for you.