Maps With Lots of Detail and Atmosphere

I would like your suggestions on finding a few more good maps that are stocked full of detail and atmosphere. They need to be able to run in zdoom (not gzdoom) and not slow down my laptop too much. What I am looking for is highly detailed architecture, lots of foliage, ambiance such as fog, lots of usage with decoration crates and things, and lots of eye candy. I can't have the maps be too dark nor have in excess of too much flashing lights. I don't want these maps to be slaughter maps, nor should they be that difficult. They can be for Doom, Heretic or Hexen.

A few good maps include:

1. Total Control by: Dutch Devil

2. Khorus MAP01 & MAP05 by: Shadowman

3. Going Down - Various Maps by: Mouldy

4. Rusted Turmoil by: DooMad

5. The Shrine by: Espi

6. Blackrock by: Vader

There is a bunch more but I cannot remember them at the moment.

Ultimate Simplicity

https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/megawads/sp_usimp

Mega detail, definitely not slaughter maps.

1 minute ago, Liberation said:

Ultimate Simplicity

 

Mega detail, definitely not slaughter maps.

Oh yes, Ultimate Simplicity. I had a blast playing that one. Best maps for detail include: Long Library and Eternal Void.

Well, there's this...

(I should probably mention that this is still somewhat WIP, although the bulk of it is indeed complete. Feedback is appreciated though!)

Is 60k linedefs / 600 monsters in non-slaughter enough? Complete map01, there are some other maps but you must idclev them:

Hmm.....I was going to say Winter's Fury but idk if it'll be optimal for some PCs

Sunlust has some whack ass maps.

Anything from Epic/Epic2, especially the Egypt-themed maps. Fucking incredible, and probably my favorite WAD(s) ever created. I wish Eternal would come back from the dead and create another project.

Map24: The Chasm (Doom 2)

Map28: The Spirit World (Doom 2) [this and the previous map have lots of detail and atmosphere for '94 standards]

Map30: God Machine (Sunlust)

Map03: 13 Angry Archviles (Vanguard)

Map09: 14 Angrier Archviles (Valiant)

Map31: Cyberden (The Plutonia Experiment)

Map20: Misri Halek (Alien Vendetta)

Any map from Epic or Epic 2

Most maps from Hellbound have good detail, I'll say that.

All of Skillsaw's wads fit the bill tbh. Valiant, Vanguard and Ancient Aliens are the 3 you would likely most enjoy given your list of requirements.

On 1/25/2018 at 0:54 PM, Halfblind said:

highly detailed architecture, lots of foliage, ambiance such as fog, lots of usage with decoration crates and things, and lots of eye candy

On 1/25/2018 at 0:54 PM, Halfblind said:

not slow down my laptop too much

Choose one!

For limit-removing, I'd suggest checking out Brigandine.

I second Brigandine. Also check out Breach by the same author.

Check Chris Lutz’s stuff, like his recent releases Dark Tide, Hellscape, and No End In Sight e4m5.

Unfortunately, I cannot find the name of the wad itself but I seem to remember that Elzee made a map it didn't contain monsters but was a hugely atmospheric tech base style map. I'll try and do some more digging. Found it, it is called Rain this was a bitch to find in the end. Download doesn't work but I am sure I have the map somewhere.

https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/hexen/j-l/kaiser_28

https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/heretic/Ports/curse

^{Hell Ground: https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/g-i/hg}

Hell Ground is incredible, but I do believe it requires OpenGL and the OP said ZDoom and not GZDoom.

I'll recommend the similar sounding Hellbound for some detailed, atmospheric maps with a strong sense of place. map29 will likely lag hard in ZDoom though. 

https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/themes/TeamTNT/ed4_rfo/ed4_rfo1

Especially map 27. Everyone should try that one at least once

Hellbound has pretty great maps with lots of deatil and the most detailed map is hands down Map 29: Ascention. RIP in frames if you play it in ZDoom based port.

On 1/26/2018 at 1:54 AM, leodoom85 said:

Winter's Fury

It was running fine on my PC until I got to the part where you have to defeat the first Cyberdemon then it started to run slow as hell.

On 1/26/2018 at 2:35 PM, Bauul said:

Choose one!

I guess what I am trying to say is that I like detail but not at the sacrifice of slowing down my laptop. Kind of like the Goldilocks zone when it comes to Doom wads.

On 1/27/2018 at 6:39 AM, Gez said:

https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/hexen/j-l/kaiser_28

https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/heretic/Ports/curse

Thanks I have played both of them before and they are really good.

On 1/27/2018 at 2:29 PM, Spectre01 said:

Hellbound ... map29 will likely lag hard in ZDoom though.

And so it does on my laptop.

On 1/27/2018 at 6:42 PM, Octavarium said:

https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/themes/TeamTNT/ed4_rfo/ed4_rfo1

 

Especially map 27. Everyone should try that one at least once

That is one of the best levels ever. You should play that one as much as you want. Play it with a few mods, play it with your friends, it is just amazing.

On 1/28/2018 at 10:50 PM, A_D_M_E_R_A_L said:

Hellbound ... Map 29: Ascention. RIP in frames

MAP29 lags hard. RIP in frames? What is that and where do I find it? I can't seem to find it anywhere.

Thanks everyone else for their suggestions. I appropriate it a lot. I'll continue to update the first post as I remember more great maps.

Waterlab GZD is very detailed and has a grimy atmosphere. It's a big map with custom monsters, I'm sure you'll like it.

Are there atmospheric maps, that have few enemies or none at all ? I know an old one from a Chris Lutz Doom 1 Inferno episode(first map).

Also No End in Sight's Episode 3's first map, also most of Episode 4 is pretty atmospheric, but it's also full of hard gameplay.

Brutal Doom's Hell on Earth Starter Pack's all hell levels, especially Sacrificial Grounds.

The hub maps in BTSX have no enemies.

someone probably mentioned Unloved already but it fits the bill. just beware the cheap-ass fights you have to save-spam to survive.

If you're looking for atmosphere, then look no further than Forsaken Overlook. It's my favorite Doom map, and a lot of that is because of just how absorbing its bleak atmosphere is.

if nobody says hellground i am gonna flip my shit!

Quote

Hell Ground is incredible

....im an idiot *slowly starts putting pants back on*

everything by eternal is amazing.

TUTNT is great. impossible to run.

valhalla (anything by ed is dope as well)

DTST if youre feeling...weird.

RTC-3057: Blue is a brilliant atmosphere piece from 2004 set on an abandoned spaceship, with sleek visuals that were far ahead of their time and an incredible soundtrack that sets the mood perfectly. This is one to put on headphones, turn out the lights, and really get immersed in.

16 minutes ago, Ajora said:

If you're looking for atmosphere, then look no further than Forsaken Overlook. It's my favorite Doom map, and a lot of that is because of just how absorbing its bleak atmosphere is.

I'm gonna look this one up. I'm not sure if I've played it.

Arcadia Demake is atmospheric as hell. I've heard good things about Hellcore 2.0, but I've yet to play it to confirm.

Hellcore 2.0 is definitely good for atmosphere, but the gameplay is frequently really really bad. It's the kind of WAD worth playing in no monsters mode.