Urania - megawad in style of Plutonia [release]

Doomworld guys recommended me to create a thread for this to see your thoughts, so feel free to do this!

For those who like plutonia gameplay and architecture but this maps sometimes bigger than average.

Actually it's supposed for vanilla doom but it requires Plutonia IWAD.

Some screenies:







Download link:
 

Alternate links download:
https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/megawads/urania  or here http://www.mediafire.com/file/p75i5yf37ledm39/urania.zip

Fixed Dehacked file for vanilla Doom
http://www.mediafire.com/file/w7d7apws0n7zcnf/urania.deh

Playtrough by Lingyan203
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgS1ZoidySwNLg0TasxFsqmwpa9Z73EdC

Levels review by galileo31dos01
https://www.dropbox.com/s/yq82zi3zdgzp6bc/Urania thoughts.docx?dl=0

DSDA demos
http://doomedsda.us/wad2843.html

List of MIDIs used:

Fix your aspect ratio.

And how do i get on the platform required to beat the IoS?

The pics looks awesome, the kind of stuff I like haha
I'll check it out when I have more time avaliable, though :/

Voros said:

Fix your aspect ratio.

I know that. I'm just changed resolution for small screenshots.

Voros said:

And how do i get on the platform required to beat the IoS?

Same way as you come to this platform first time when you pull the switch inside - by the lift! At first you need to pull some switches in the "towers"...

Holy carp, another new megawad? Downloading now. Will play once I am done with Threnody.

Firedust said:

Holy carp, another new megawad? Downloading now. Will play once I am done with Threnody.

Doom will not dead, only players (c)

Played the first three maps. So far this is awesome. I am a huge fan of plutonia, and you've most certainly captured that feeling pretty well. Monster placement is brutal, ammo appears to be scarce, especially if you don't know where to go. So many chaingunners and revs. 10/10 so far. Is this your first project?

link doesn't work for me for some weird reasons...

anyway looks pretty cool from the pictures...

Yeah I really wanna check this out. Love me some Plutonia. Hope very much to see this available again soon!

Jimmy said:

Yeah I really wanna check this out. Love me some Plutonia. Hope very much to see this available again soon!

the germany mirror checks out okay

Virginia mirror worked fine to me.

Do you need to Secure Uranus in this wad?

idclev'd around a bit, looks pretty nice, will have to give this one a proper play.

Now links work, finally!
Downloaded!

Da Werecat said:

Do you need to Secure Uranus in this wad?

lol, nice one!

Map 4: Right, this map is a bitch. Hitscanners everywhere. There is only I thing that I suggest you fix here. The lifts in the trenches area. Firstly, the one that leads to the yellow key switch is not so obvious. If you miss it, once you have pressed the switch, you have to backtrack. Secondly, the lift to the exit teleporter where the baron was. It's really not so obvious what the switch that lowers it does since it's so far away from the teleporter.

This megawad is becoming like a mixture of plutonia with eternal doom. Big maps but full of revs and chaingunners. I died more times in map 04 than in any Sunlust map haha. Apparently, I suck at maps with tons of hitscanners. Will continue posting my feedback as I play through the wad. Still, great fun.

Firedust said:

Played the first three maps. So far this is awesome. I am a huge fan of plutonia, and you've most certainly captured that feeling pretty well. Monster placement is brutal, ammo appears to be scarce, especially if you don't know where to go. So many chaingunners and revs. 10/10 so far. Is this your first project?

I did some of the maps back in the days, they are available at idgames archives. Some time ago I have been fan of Evilution, rather than Plutonia, but later change my mind.
Also creating a megawad of 32 maps need a lot of patience, time, and ideas - I do not recommend beginners to do this, better start from 5-7 maps. Actually people creating maps mainly for community projects because the it's more prominent.

Eris Falling said:

idclev'd around a bit, looks pretty nice, will have to give this one a proper play.

Spoiler

ATTACK and VIRGIL in MAP32 :D

In my opinion MAP32 is most hardcore (or slaughterfest?) map.

Firedust said:

This megawad is becoming like a mixture of plutonia with eternal doom. Big maps but full of revs and chaingunners. I died more times in map 04 than in any Sunlust map haha. Apparently, I suck at maps with tons of hitscanners. Will continue posting my feedback as I play through the wad. Still, great fun.

I hope you immediately pull that switch near start of MAP04, it can save a lot of HP.
And yeah, some of the maps are different. It's probably because map04 is from early 2015 or even from 2014. Honestly, I did not like creating huge maps - testing part takes a lot of time.

Stuck on map 6. Got the red key, got the blue key, pressed the blue key switch. How do you get the yellow key?

EDIT: Figured it out. If there is someone out there who love both Eternal Doom and Plutonia, this is THE shit. I like it.

EDIT 2: Somebody, please, do a playthrough of this. I wanna see people UV-max this stuff.

Firedust said:

If there is someone out there who love both Eternal Doom and Plutonia, this is THE shit.

I'm sold.

I started on UV and only got through half of MAP03 before I was crying mama. So many chaingunners. If this is Plutonia's little brother, then it's Macaulay Culkin's character from The Good Son. I retreated to ITYTD but that was too easy.

I like: How the sense of scale matches up with the Plutonia textures. It feels a little like mini-Doom (but do not underestimate the challenge that will follow). And I really like how progression is often puzzle-like, with the world unfolding in interesting ways.

Don't like: Not sure about balancing just yet. It took me about 15 tries to get out of the blue key room in MAP02. The smaller scale and high difficulty made things pretty tight.

Looking forward to playing more, possibly on HMP.

EDIT: Played MAP04 on HMP. Now that feels more like a sweet spot. Still a ton of chaingunners, but I can handle them without running totally dry on ammo. I spent 59:59 wandering around and playing with the puzzles and funny little spaces and stuff I didn't expect to find around the corner (while carefully fighting back the hitscanner hordes). There's no tremendous architecture, just a lot of well done small stuff, including some chin-scratching moments. A super interesting level. MAP05 is also really cool. 4 and 5 feel very open-ended. I started out exploring a lot, not sure which way to turn to progress. There are fewer hit scanners in 5 and more revs and hell knights, which played well for me.

The bagpipe music at the menu is amazing.

Aquanet said:

I started on UV and only got through half of MAP03 before I was crying mama. So many chaingunners. If this is Plutonia's little brother, then it's Macaulay Culkin's character from The Good Son. I retreated to ITYTD but that was too easy.

I like: How the sense of scale matches up with the Plutonia textures. It feels a little like mini-Doom (but do not underestimate the challenge that will follow). And I really like how progression is often puzzle-like, with the world unfolding in interesting ways. Bright lights. Pulsating colors.

Don't like: Not sure about balancing just yet. It took me about 15 tries to get out of the blue key room in MAP02. The smaller scale and high difficulty made things pretty tight.

Looking forward to playing more, possibly on HMP.

Despite this not being a slaughterwad, it's still frigging difficult. The balancing is alright if we are talking about ammo and health. I am on map 7 and so far I haven't come across bits that seemed impossible. And there are no unescapable pits or traps that require preknowledge of the map. The only problem I could possibly name thus far is that this mapset isn't as friendly for pistol-starters. Like map 7, the ssg is in a secret area and there's a ton of revs everywhere from the get go. Ofc you can try and figure out how to lower the RL platform but by that time you are very likely to have a few rockets or fireballs up your ass. Thankfully, I am playing continuous.

EDIT: Map 9, what's the blue key for? Didn't find any switch or door that needs it...

EDIT 2: Map 13, how are you supposed to make the jump to the spiderdemon area? Is there a switch that raises another pillar? I can't seem to find it. I go through the blue door and I can't make the jump.

EDIT 3: Map 32, chaingunners are stuck in the pillars in the starting area and because of this, they can't attack.

Played through the first 3 maps and I'm impressed. Really tough gameplay and complex level design with tons of rooms and various paths to take. Probably the hardest map01 I've played in a megawad. Very clever monster placement too instead of relying on pop-in/teleport abuse. Good stuff mate.

Map 18, not enough ammo. How are you supposed to kill all the barons and revs AND the cyberdemon?

Maybe by causing them to infight? I haven't either seen or played the map, though.

scifista42 said:

Maybe by causing them to infight? I haven't either seen or played the map, though.

You can't. Trust me. They are in separate areas.

Riderr3: This wad is great, but you really do need to add more ammo in later maps. Did you manage to UV-max all of them from pistol start?

EDIT: Map 19, there are two lost souls on the opposite ends of the map (both are near the weapon rooms, where the shotgun and chaingun are, I think) that are not waking up and are thus impossible to kill. Great homage to dead zone btw.

EDIT 2: Completed the first 20 maps + secret levels. This is a fantastic mapset. But seriously consider adding more ammo.

Finally continuous players get a hard wad with good balance for it. I say keep the ammo as it is!

This is a fantastic megawad. Very challenging. Highly recommended.

Aquanet said:

Still a ton of chaingunners, but I can handle them without running totally dry on ammo.

Try searching extra ammo in secret areas.

Firedust said:

you really do need to add more ammo in later maps. Did you manage to UV-max all of them from pistol start?

Sure. Even UV-Max, but with saving/loading. Somebody can do it with a single playtrough.

Firedust said:

Map 19, there are two lost souls on the opposite ends of the map (both are near the weapon rooms, where the shotgun and chaingun are, I think)

Probably they released by p. elementals.

Firedust said:

EDIT 3: Map 32, chaingunners are stuck in the pillars in the starting area and because of this, they can't attack.

That depends on which sourceport you using.

riderr3 said:

Sure. Even UV-Max, but with saving/loading. Somebody can do it with a single playtrough.

Yeah, I just managed to beat map 18 from pistol start. It's such a bitch lol. I really like your mapping style. Very clever monster placement. I hope you release more stuff in the future.

EDIT: Map 9, what's the blue key for? Didn't find any switch or door that needs it...

EDIT 2: Map 13, how are you supposed to make the jump to the spiderdemon area? Is there a switch that raises another pillar? I can't seem to find it. I go through the blue door and I can't make the jump.

Firedust said:

Yeah, I just managed to beat map 18 from pistol start. It's such a bitch lol. I really like your mapping style. Very clever monster placement. I hope you release more stuff in the future.

Yeah may be I will try limit-removing or boom map format. But I take a brake for next months.

Firedust said:

EDIT: Map 9, what's the blue key for? Didn't find any switch or door that needs it...

And you will not find. It's kind of "feature" of this map. That place exists for BFG and armor.

Firedust said:

EDIT 2: Map 13, how are you supposed to make the jump to the spiderdemon area? Is there a switch that raises another pillar? I can't seem to find it. I go through the blue door and I can't make the jump.

There are 2 switches for 2 pillars. And try searching in metal room, there are 3 switches overall.
http://imgur.com/a/B4FOF

riderr3 said:

Yeah may be I will try limit-removing or boom map format. But I take a brake for next months.

And you will not find. It's kind of "feature" of this map. That place exists for BFG and armor.

There are 2 switches for 2 pillars. And try searching in metal room, there are 3 switches overall.
http://imgur.com/a/B4FOF

Thanks for clarifying! Yeah, I thought I missed something so I searched for a switch or door that needs the blue key but did not find it. :)