100% unofficial /Newstuff

In case you're missing your weekly dose of /Newstuff, here's a totally unofficial one by yours truly. Note that a Hexen wad, Carnage Galore III: Fury of Vuradi (fury_ch1.zip / fury_ch1.txt) and a Heretic wad, Steeple Chase (steeple.zip / steeple.txt) were also uploaded in the last week, but I haven't reviewed these. I do have both these games though, so I'll get around to reviewing these two wads soon, along with dissolution (distion.zip / distion), the new ZDoom wad from the makers of Dark7.

What we have this week would appear to be a mixture of the good, the good but ugly, and the bad and ugly:


Area_Hidden Death2 by Kyle (area_hd.zip / area_hd.txt)

A single player map for Doom 1. This is the author's first ever map, and, unfortunately, it most definitely shows. For one thing, it breaks one of the major rules of level design - don't let the level become uncompletable - almost as soon as you start. If you head straight into the teleporter in front of you, rather than turn around and grab the red keycard first, you'll have no choice but to either cheat (no clipping) or restart. Doors that only open once cause the same problem later on in the level.

But what's the actual level like? If you've been around a while, remember back when the first ever levels that didn't just add some stuff to E1M1 were being released? Yes, this level looks just like one of them ;) For the rest of you, think Wolfenstein 3D and you should have a good idea. Most linedefs seem to exist on the 64x64 grid (even the doors!), there are virtually no variations in the floor and ceiling heights, and the same floor and ceiling graphics are used through virtually the entire level. In his favour, the author has tried to tailor the level for different skill settings, with more Imps, Barons and Cacodemons present at the higher harder settings. What else is good about this level? Well the author actually unpegs the doortrack textures, and... umm... it replaces E2M1, so that at least means it has the best MIDI in Doom 1 as the music...


Circle of Boredom by Dumb n00b (cbored.zip / cbored.txt)

A single player map for Doom 2. This level consists entirely of a fairly large round rocky room with a column in the centre (the 'circle' in the name). Scattered around the room are some Mancubi, exploding barrels, mega armours, megaspheres, one of every kind of weapon except the BFG, lots of ammo, etc. Monsters constantly spawn in via the monster spawn cubes from Doom 2 map30, and they do this forever, or until you get bored (the 'boredom' in the name) and exit via the teleporter pad to the north. Maybe you can have fun recording demo's where you try to survive as long as possible or something.


DSV Episode 4: The Revolution by Samuel Villarreal and Yves "evil lair" Allaire

(Eternity version: dsv4_rvltinE.zip / dsv4_rvltinE.txt)

(Legacy version: dsv4_rvltinL.zip / dsv4_rvltinL.txt)


A 32 level Partial Conversion for Doom 2 / Eternity and Legacy (alternate versions). Yet another big Doom add-on for us to enjoy - are we being spoiled at the moment or what? :) The most obvious thing about this PC is that it uses textures and monsters sprites from Doom 64 to give Doom 2 a brand new look. Some of the PC Doom 2 textures and sprites still remain, however, and occassionally they can clash. The PC Heavy Weapons Guy doesn't really fit in with the Doom 64 Troopers and Sargeants, for example.

The new levels aren't too shabby either. I played the Eternity version, and the scripting that was used, although usually fairly minimal and not at all in-your-face, was still pretty impressive (there's even an intro sequence!). The apperance, design and gameplay of the levels is often very reminiscent of the Plutonia Experiment, which believe me is an excellent compliment. This project is definitely worth downloading.


map2wad by Nicholai Main (map2wad.zip / map2wad.txt)

This program converts Duke Nukem 3D (and presumably Blood and Shadow Warrior, but who knows) .map files to the Doom .wad format, which means that, if you want to, you can now make Doom levels in the Build editor. Umm, that's about all I can say. If you want to know more, see the readme.txt in the zip file.


Monster Base by Richard J. Sham (base666.zip / base666.txt)

A single player map for Doom 2. Requires the Gothic texture wad. If you've played any of the author's previous maps, you'll know that he always favours gameplay over visuals. Of course, this doesn't mean fun but incredibly ugly levels :) No, this level plays great AND looks pretty good too! Okay, so it might not be up to the visual quality of the actual GothicDM levels, but then not many things are ;) The only noticeable problem is that although the majority of the level is in the gothic style, there are a couple of computer rooms that seem VERY out of place. Of course, this is a very minor grip with an otherwise excellent level. I strongly recommend that you download it.


ZDoom Spin Spyder Collection (zspincol.zip / zspincol.txt)

11 DM maps for Doom 2 / ZDoom v1.22+ and compatible ports. I'm afraid that none of the levels, which are mostly tiny to small sized arenas, will win any awards for beauty - they all have very basic architecture, there are some very odd texture and flat choices, and many textures are unaligned. Still, if you're a fan of fast 'n' furious multiplayer battles (as I am) you should have fun on them for a while.


Bonus review (aka a wad from the previous week that I felt like reviewing):

Telekenesis by Black Void (tkalpha.zip / tkalpha.txt)

A single player map for Doom 2 / Boom. Rock, flesh and metal make up this short but sweet hellish style map. Although it's for Boom, and uses effects such as deep water and instant teleporters, it's very old school in the looks department. By that I mean that it manages to get away with looking pretty decent without all that much detail. You shouldn't notice the surroundings much anyway, as the monster count is high enough to keep most players busy. The author notes that this is part one of a ten part series, and I'm definitely looking forward to seeing the other nine.

i demand you review everything in /newstuff this week ;)

I demand you give direct links to the files.

Your demand is my command, or something.

you forgot a few.

esayeek said:

i demand you review everything in /newstuff this week ;)

DOWN WITH LIAM, UP WITH NIGHTMARE!!!

:D
Now where IS liam?

bigbadgangsta said:

DOWN WITH LIAM, UP WITH NIGHTMARE!!!

I think he was saying that because he wanted me to review his map2wad program ;)

EDIT: okay, I've added it, along with a wad I forgot about, Circle of Boredoom.

Nightmare!


Thanks for the interesting and refreshing reviews.

I didn't think I departed from the gothic style in base666 but, your correct, I did drift a bit when making those computer rooms. Now I have to check and see which gothic textures might have fit in that environment. :)

Keep up the good work!


Rich Sham

I was wondering when this would happen....someone else taking newstuff into their own hands. I considered it at one point, but I thought no, as Liam would have probably gotten the reviews done by Monday. (Perhaps I'll do it next time....)

It's a pretty good effort though, so the idea does work.

I'll post my opinions (and rants about jHexen not working) on this weeks collection of wads on the official thread (which is now there)

My review of DSV4:
Wow, thirty two (32 for those of you who are alphabetically challenged) new levels for Doom2. But not just any Doom2 levels. These levels have got it goin' on, what with Doom64 gfx in there and all. Yes, I said Doom64 gfx. That means enemies, ammo, weapons, and textures. (Unfortuneatly, I couldn't get the Doom64 weapons to show up as of writing time.) Anyway, what's not to love about this bundle of joy? It has, as has been mentioned, 32 levels, making it replace the entire Doom2. The levels themselves are very nicely and lovingly constructed, especially the Hell levels. These latter are quite spooky, and are filled with devious traps that will have you cursing Deathman for putting them in there in the first place. The first 20, OTOH, are base-style, and like the Hell levels, are expertly crafted and full of style. The only really potential (notice I said potential) is the fact that the megawad requires a source port. As of writing time, there are two versions available: a Legacy version, and an Eternity version. The Legacy version is essential if you want to play these levels over a network.
These levels are a must for anyone who likes Doom64 and good Doom levels in general. You would be doing yourself a mischief by not downloading these levels (6.50 megs, kinda big, but worth it.).
Download DSV4 (Legacy version) Download DSV4 (Eternity version)

Wow, great reviews, really good. Having said that Liam's reviews seem a little more fair and balanced this week, good things all around.:)

I uploaded olympus.zip, map11 replacement for doom2 (Jdoom1.13 +), a teaser map for Underworld ep2.

Review it, damnit.

I've never used JDoom before, and when I tried running it with your wad, it kept saying that it was out of memory or something. It runs fine without any add-ons though. Weird.

Unfortunatly you probably won't be hearing screaming background voices, or seing glowing sectors. Half the doors won't work either, as they're jdoom-only xgdata types.

Meh, i shall wait until the weekend for an official one. Cheers anyway, dude :).

I've been playing dissolution and DSV4 and find them both interesting and fun to play.

I managed to get to the level just past the cyberdemon in dissolution and am on map 3 or 4 of DSV4. I especially like the smoothness and gameplay of DSV4 along with the modified sprites. Nice work!

I already mentioned tkalpha in my comments last week. I liked it but prefer to play in legacy so I did a slight modification of the wad to removed some invalid textures and it played fine (these do not effect the authors choice, zdoom, and are not invalid under that port). I should clarify the fact that the modification was simple and for my personal use and not meant as a critcism to Black Void's choice of zdoom. I just happen to like legacy and wanted to record the wad. Good wad and good gameplay!

When I say 'it runs fine without any add-ons', what I mean is that JDoom runs fine without any pwads.

Nick: dam j00. :p you should have done this when Nimrod and 2002 was released. ;)

The reviews are the only detailed feedback one get me thinks... everyone else just say, it suck or it rocks or it's ok or it doesn't work.. etc..

2 different New Chronicles every week...nice to read different opinions on the same wads also.
The more input ...the better

Rich said:

I already mentioned tkalpha in my comments last week. I liked it but prefer to play in legacy so I did a slight modification of the wad to removed some invalid textures and it played fine (these do not effect the authors choice, zdoom, and are not invalid under that port). I should clarify the fact that the modification was simple and for my personal use and not meant as a critcism to Black Void's choice of zdoom. I just happen to like legacy and wanted to record the wad. Good wad and good gameplay!

Me too..thanks again Rich for helping me 'clean' the wad up to record with Legacy.

NiGHTMARE said:

When I say 'it runs fine without any add-ons', what I mean is that JDoom runs fine without any pwads.

Well i've stripped down all the deds on my doomsday folder, checked that the DD_DEFNS and DDXGDATA lumps are embedded in the wad, and tested the map again. It runs absolutely fine.

Do u use the dlaunch.exe launcher?

What's with the "unofficial" title, it's not like Liam's is the official newstuff reviews :-)

There seem to be a lot of new wad review sites/people popping up recently. Pity there isn't a community site which collects/allows anyone to post reviews, the forums are a good vehicle for discussion but not for record or searching.

Spike said:

Do u use the dlaunch.exe launcher?

Dlaunch.exe? The launcher in the version of JDoom I've got (the latest btw) is run using kicks.exe. There is no dlaunch.exe .

Anyway, I have to use the launcher, because if I try -file, it reports that it can't find the wad, even if I use 'jdoom -file c:\doomsday\olympus.wad'. I even tried putting it under '\data' and 'data\jdoom', and still no luck :(

Kantos said:

2 different New Chronicles every week

Who said anything about every week? I doubt I'll find the time.

NiGHTMARE said:

Dlaunch.exe? The launcher in the version of JDoom I've got (the latest btw) is run using kicks.exe. There is no dlaunch.exe .

Anyway, I have to use the launcher, because if I try -file, it reports that it can't find the wad, even if I use 'jdoom -file c:\doomsday\olympus.wad'. I even tried putting it under '\data' and 'data\jdoom', and still no luck :(

Try downloading ddutils.exe from the http://doomsdayhq.com site ; dlaunch is included in the pack.

DooMboy: about the D64 weapon gfx, I didn't include them because the emulator I was running didn't display the weapon gfx that very well.

But there is a wad done by Ghostpiliot with the doom64 weapon gfx but he removed the wad from his site.

Rich said:

Nightmare!


Thanks for the interesting and refreshing reviews.

I didn't think I departed from the gothic style in base666 but, your correct, I did drift a bit when making those computer rooms. Now I have to check and see which gothic textures might have fit in that environment. :)

Keep up the good work!


Rich Sham

You could at least have mixed them. By making a room with gothic walls and computer panels for example.

Personally, I don't think gothic and hi-tech styles go together, but that's just my opinion.

Speaking of base666, I found it a bit short of heavy ammo towards the end (I ended up taking on hordes of revenants with just shotgun ammo) but overall a good level. I especially liked the big room with the 3 entrances and the Quake portal-textured walls. (an area with very tactical and challenging gameplay, especially with -fast)

Dissolution was good as well (the usual high standard of looks and atmosphere, with a surprising lack of ammo towards the end), but IMO not as good as the other Zdoom projects from the Dark7/Slipgate series. (it was also a bit short IMO, but worth playing nevertheless)

The only good thing about area_hd2 was the enemies striking at you through the walls (if used correctly, it can be quite good) and the circle didn't last very long at all.

Unoffical /newstuff, heh, like it. Would you be willing to do reviews like this every week?

Thanks to Albert Valls for a great legacy lmp of base666.wad. This man can play!

It will be posted at Opulent's DSDA site (http://www.doomworld.com/sda/doom_sda.htm) so please check it out.

Any other lmps would be appreciated. :)