The DWmegawad Club plays: Tangerine Nightmare & UAC Ultra & Realm of Shades

 

What is the DWmegawad Club?

This is a place where we settle down, have a cup of tea (or drink of your choice) and take a month to play through a megawad on our own, together! Any keen observations, criticisms, or frustrated ranting about it goes here in the discussion. As long as you want to say something about what you've played, feel free to speak your mind.

 

Can I join?

Sure. The only rule is that you have to play at least some of the levels in our monthly megawad to contribute, but you're generally encouraged to finish the whole thing, even if you've played it before.

 

What levels am I allowed to post about?

Whatever day of the month it is, is the upper limit for the map you can post on. So if it’s the 6th, you may discuss up to MAP06.

 

Do I have to post an entry every day?

Nope, not at all. This is only for our more enthusiastic members. As long as you play through it with us you’re part of the club.

 

When do we vote on the next month’s megawad?

Voting begins on the 25th of the current month. Remember to add one “+++” before your vote to make it easier to count. For example:

 

+++ Ultimate Doom

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>>>DOWNLOAD TANGERINE NIGHTMARE HERE<<<

>>>DOWNLOAD UAC ULTRA HERE<<<

>>>DOWNLOAD REALM OF SHADES HERE<<<

(I’ve also compiled all the Realm of Shades file into one wad you can download here)

 

Are you ready to travel through 20 years of Doom history? First up is Tangerine Nightmare, a gothic adventure where French mappers team up with the color orange to deliver some devilish maps. Next is 2010’s UAC Ultra by 40oz and Super Jamie, which is an explosive journey through grimey, hell-infested techbases. And lastly we have 1998’s Realm of Shades by NokturnuS, which looks to be a fairly classic Doom romp.

 

(Start on the 1st)

Author & Maplist for Tangerine Nightmare:

MAP01 - “Sombre Venue” by Datacore, franckFRAG

MAP02 - “Molten Desolation” by Datacore, [WH]-Wilou84

MAP03 - “Rain of Embers” by Datacore, [WH]-Wilou84, franckFRAG

MAP04 - “Bile Noire” by Jambon, franckFRAG

MAP05 - “Orange Juice” by Chaos

MAP06 - “The Forgotten Land” by JCD

MAP07 - “Goetia” by Roofi

MAP08 - “Pandemonium” by franckFRAG

MAP09 - “Credits” by JCD, Roofi

MAP10 - “Umbreion Nils” by [WH]-Wilou84

 

(Start on the 10th)

Maplist for UAC Ultra:

MAP01 - “Dig”

MAP02 - “UAC in Exile”

MAP03 - “Sifting Adjunct”

MAP04 - “Pyrolysis”

MAP05 - “Hardware”

MAP06 - “Collapsys”

MAP07 - “Haymaker”

MAP08 - “Worst Case Scenario”

MAP09 - “Counteraction Terminal”

MAP10 - “Skagway”

MAP11 - “Sick”

MAP12 - “The End”

 

(Start on the 22nd)

Maplist for Realm of Shades:

MAP01

MAP02

MAP03

MAP04

MAP05

MAP06

MAP07

 

BONUS CONTENT

Doomwiki: UAC Ultra |

DSDA: UAC Ultra | Realm of Shades

Kmxexii’s review: UAC Ultra

Suitpee plays: UAC Ultra

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OLD THREADS

 

Edited May 9, 2023 by dobu gabu maru

Tangerine Nightmare (2018)
map01: Sombre Venue - Datacore / franckFRAG
zdoom2.8.1, uvmax, pistol start, no saves, first time played

The opening map immediately introduces us to the gorgeous tangerine themed color scheme and exquisite texturing used right throughout this wad.

Tangerine Nightmare also has sprite changes to introduce a more medieval theme. The zombieman has been reskinned with a black cape while the shotgunguy now has a helm and armor. The demon has developed some black spines. The hellknight has changed into his best formal dark slacks, after all this is a classy wad with a dress code, not just any monster can wander in! There are also changes to the arachnotron, mancubus, cacodemon, baron of hell, and boss brain but I'll briefly mention those on the maps where they first appear.

The map consists of making your way from the lava depths (none of the floors are damaging though) and climb your way up a mountain to the doors of a small castle carved into the mountain. You need the fight your way in and through the castle.

You are only provided with shotgun to take out the low tier monsters and hellknights and revenants you face along the way. None of the fights are very scary but when the wad throws mid tier enemies at you from the first map, you can expect the battles to quickly escalate on later maps.

The 2 secrets are easy enough to find. In the mountain climbing secret area you can look through some bars into a room with 2017 and a strange symbol etched into the floor, I'm not sure what this symbol represents.

Map 01 : Sombre Venue (Tangerine Nightmare)

 

 

Difficulty : Easy

 

This map was not made from scratch. Indeed , for those who follow meticulously Datacore's works , it's possible to recognize the first map of "Short map for short people" which is a traditionnal speedmapping project. To be honest , I was perplexed of the idea of enhancing a very little and simplistic map for this project , especially for the first map but Franck accomplished it perfectly. The map highlights very well the features of this project.

 

The level  is very calm , the sign above our head at the beginning welcome us in Tangerine Nightmare. We must walk on non-lethal lava , this is weird but we are in a tangerine Nightmare where almost everything is orange , even water... This level presents some vicious traps which can kill you quite easily . The trap with the instant-lowering wall could make people startle. Some revenants must be killed with the shotgun , it can be tough due to their attacks . The most reckless could be trolled by the last revenant near the exit. The two secrets are quite easy to find but only the green armor is really useful , it's too much risky to kill revenants with an invisibility sphere or other non-hitscan monsters.

 

For curious , here is a screen of the first map of Short map for Short people :

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 31, 2018 by Roofi

I'll just join in for UAC Ultra this month, so see you on the 10th :)

 

1 hour ago, tmorrow said:

In the mountain climbing secret area you can look through some bars into a room with 2017 and a strange symbol etched into the floor, I'm not sure what this symbol represents.

i think its meant to be an fF for franckFRAG (the map author) :)

I like OP's sence of humour!

I played TN last month, so I won't play it again so soon. I'll just go back and look at the maps in the editor and try to remember what they were.

Tangerine Nightmire

 

MAP01: I wasn't sure to play this since I thought this was merely going for the gimmick of unusual colors and I was very skeptical, but I was pleasantly surprised. It's well made and very polished, with a distinct aesthetics and custom sprites and sounds too. Now I think I'm setting my hopes too high for the next maps. The only thing that puzzled is the non-damaging lava, it's okay in the first pond by the moving platforms part is pointless. Also what have you done to the Eternal Doom bricks? D:

the non-centered UAC Ultra logo in the OP picture is triggering my aesthetic sensibilities!

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/16505976 = my old playthrough of UAC Ultra. (not my Ironman run)

 

Won't be able to participate in this month's DWMC due to focusing on my request list this year.

MAP01 - “Sombre Venue” by Datacore, franckFRAG

i haven't played tangerine yet, so my first thought was: what a beautiful map. that rocky landscape with some castle is crafted with attention to detail. one can climb to that ominous red cross and find an armor + that fF easter egg. the music and that chain sound from quake for doors opening are spot on. textures and changes to the monsters fit the medieval style of the wad well. gameplay is easy, i got through with barely a scratch, but i have a bad feeling about this after seeing revenants and chaingunners. the cave looks surprisingly real for something built in the doom engine. again, you can see the cave before you enter it... and then you jump into the dark. great.

 

 

in all its glory:

Hopefully I can find time this month to play/write about every map. Haven't fully participated since PRCP. :(

Seems to be a -cl2 wad aside from map08, so I'll be using GLBoom+, UV-Pistol Starts, and no saves. Let's Have @ It!

 

MAP01 - “Sombre Venue” by Datacore, franckFRAG

Very nice visuals right off the bat! The orange Hell aesthetic is not something I've seen outside of skillsaw's work in Vanguard and Valiant, but this wad delivers its own unique take on it. I'm generally a fan of custom resources/sprite/sound replacements, assuming they aren't too silly, and the variations of the original monsters look really good so far. The monster count is surprisingly low, 38 I believe, so it's a rather quick map to blast through. I nearly jumped to the exit quite early, but decided to backtrack and find the 2 secrets after everything but one Revenant was dead. Gameplay is the standard mix of incidental combat and a couple of traps; but nothing particularly dickish or challenging.

 

But yeah, TN makes a good first impression. The new menu graphics/font/textures etc. give it a really nice and professional touch. Looking forward to the rest!

What? this month's events have already begun? Oh I should follow up. Of course my profile screenshot is a spoiler of UAC Ultra :)

 

For Tangerine Nightmare I am currently the table filler and going to finish map10 if possible. All my runs can be improved by 20%-50% as my estimation and faster runs are welcomed.

 

Note: Map08 should be played with -complevel 9.

 

Map01: Sombre Venue UV Max in 2:36

 

 

Map02: Molten Desolation UV Max in 4:48

 

 

Map03: Rain of Embers UV Max in 6:49

 

 

Map04: Bile Noire UV Max in 10:29

 

 

Map05: Orange Juice UV Max in 8:27

 

 

Map06: The Forgotten Land UV Max in 14:45

 

 

Map07: Goetia UV Max in 26:04

 

 

Map08: Pandemonium UV Max in 14:37

 

 

oh well, looks like i wasn't far off with that bad feeling  ;)

Tangerine Nightmare

 

Usual ZDoom 2.8.1, mouselook, UV, pistol starts, save/reload as see fit

 

MAP01: Sombre Venue

100% kills, 2/2 secrets

 

Nice little opener, showing off that really beautiful orange color scheme. I'm always a big fan of maps using one or two main colors (except for brown, fuck brown) so this hits the spot for me. Love that custom grate fence at the start too. The sound replacements seem fine so far, and the sprites are pretty good, even if the zombiemen wearing cloaks makes me giggle a bit. The only real combat of note was the insta-pop ambush on the green key, definitely got some cheap hits in there. Speaking of the green key, quite easy to grab it from the 'wrong' side of the bars using the staircase, nice trick for speedrunners. I was able to hit :40 seconds on this map despite missing the jump the first time, I'm sure actual speedrunners could finish this one quite quickly.

7 hours ago, Magnusblitz said:

The sound replacements seem fine so far, and the sprites are pretty good, even if the zombiemen wearing cloaks makes me giggle a bit. The only real combat of note was the insta-pop ambush on the green key, definitely got some cheap hits in there. Speaking of the green key, quite easy to grab it from the 'wrong' side of the bars using the staircase, nice trick for speedrunners. I was able to hit :40 seconds on this map despite missing the jump the first time, I'm sure actual speedrunners could finish this one quite quickly.

 

The cloaked zombie dude is the dune warrior from r667. Saw a bit of the rest of the cast yesterday, the red horned demon, the chaingunner in his tin suit,  the winged baron, the ancient and alien looking mancubus and arachnotron, it's indeed very inspired by skillsaw's orange hell, which I liked a lot, so good to see that the French team picked this theme. It's more Gothic in their version with all those demon faces, while in valiant it seemed rather technological with steel and lights, and looks polished and detailed.

 

So first thing I boot up, GZDoom already shows Tangerine Nightmare watermark, hmm...
Sees custom font...hmmm...status bar...hmmm...custom sprites and sounds...hmm...

 

MAP01 Sombre Venue

 

A scenic opener, one without enemies at first, plus the gate above showing, hey, the name of the wad. And the lava doesn't hurt upon stepping it, alright then. Cloaked former humans and horned demons are around here in a simple little fort where you can get a shotgun in. A few hell knights are in the area beyond, yes, the GREEN door. They changed yellow to green where it probably wasn't for the better in all honesty. You can make orange out of yellow too you know.

 

You know how much I hate rising/lowering platforms, well here, I gotta say, this was probably one of the worst implementations of one. Maybe it could be forgiven of its faults at some points, but dammit, the lava is not damaging at all in the map. So what you do is just run into the lava and go to the last platform when its at the bottom, then take it up, then jump to the switch to open the exit. And then you can just ignore platform hopping thanks to the lift that takes you back to the ledge before the platforms. Maybe the lava in this map should be damaging after all (this would mean to add more health if you wish too).

lol yeah i spent time hopping between them, then noticed the lift to get back up and realised the lava was not damaging >.<

3 minutes ago, rehelekretep said:

lol yeah i spent time hopping between them, then noticed the lift to get back up and realised the lava was not damaging >.<

Even so the three platforms are surely 0/10 rated. Also @NuMetalManiak you are not the only one who hates rising/lowering platforms especially when they are too slow.

 

You can check this in my run.

i think i will skip UAC Ultra (played it Ironman), and Realm of Shades but i definitely want to give Tangerine Nightmare a go!

 

map01 fda

glboom+ / uv pistol starts / saveless

not much more to add - i enjoyed the map, it was giving me Hell Ground vibes at the start with the sign over the path. i enjoyed finding the secrets until everyone said they were easy >.< the only 2 things i wasnt so keen on were the instapop ambush and the slow pillars. the final area that you can peek at through the lava floor is beautiful, and the fF logo was cool. a very attractive start!

Edited February 6, 2018 by rehelekretep

Joining this month because I’ve been looking forward to Tangerine Nightmare for quite some time! UV, pistol starts, saves.

 

MAP01: By all accounts this is a fairly beautiful—albeit typical—opener for a mapset. There’s some nice outdoor scenery, some gothic base exploration (complete with some classic inverted crosses), caves to explore, and even the faintest hint of platforming. Enemies and difficulty are why I say this is a “typical” opener, since combat is all shotgun based and there’s only five mid tier enemies to dispatch. What really carries the map is the commanding presence of the new visuals: the orange textures are vibrant, the brown & black textures contrast the orange nicely, and most of the demonic legion have gussied themselves up. The sergeants in particular are fairly hilarious, donning medieval/apocalyptic-punk armor to fight you while remaining incapable of letting go of their modern weaponry. It could my love for the new visuals talking, but this is a really strong opening map IMO, and it gets me pumped for whatever is coming next.

Cool, cool. UAC Ultra is a fave, but TN is also something I'd wanted to get to sooner than later, so here we go! As usual, GZDoom/continuous/keyboard-only, HMP this time.

 

MAP01: Sombre Venue

12:01 | 100% Everything

Such a gorgeous palette here, though the sprite replacements might take a bit of getting used to. The zombies and sergeants, I mean; the others are pretty cool. (I especially liked the HK redeco.) After a peaceful little bit of exploration for an intro, this set shows its teeth right away with a nasty ambush by the green key (that I narrowly avoided by just turning and running) and then almost immediately you get to face down a couple of revvies with just a shotgun. I think I took a rocket or two, because I was down to 7% health by the time I managed to venture back outside, which consisted of a little bit of courage and a lot of peering out the doorways and taking a shot at anything moving before immediately ducking back inside. Thank goodness for all the health bonuses strewn around because, um, I don't think there was any other health in this map, right? Yowza. Secrets were pretty fun, and I found most of them after clearing everything else out. I did find another place to do some rock climbing that I was sad didn't conceal a secret (it was almost a back avenue to the blursphere area.) Fun map, looks fantastic. Looking forward to more. (And very glad I kept it at HMP!)

 

Edit: Funny story. I just went to download Realm of Shades (which I don't recall having heard of before) and went to save it into my Doom2 WADs directory... only to find that I've had it sitting on my hard drive for a little over 3 years. Hunh.

map02: Molten Desolation - Datacore / [WH]-Wilou84
zdoom2.8.1, uvmax, pistol start, no saves, first time played

This map introduces 4 more enemies - we see sprite changes to the arachnotron, mancubus, cacodemon and baron of hell. The arachnotron looks more spidery, the mancubus more formidable, the cacodemon more hideous and we see the baron of hell has earned his evil wings at last.

I love the ambience and immersivity of the TN maps. You can't help but feel a rising sense of dread as you face each new switch that you know must be pressed in order to progress but will come with who knows what horrors.

The fights on this map turn out not to be overly dangerous if you take it slow and steady. The most dangerous trap is the archvile and hellknight trap, but there is still cover to be had and room to move.

The 3 secrets on the map did not take too long to find. You are teased with an unreachable soulsphere at the start but it is the last secret you can access on the map.

Map 02 : Molten Desolation (Tangerine Nightmare)

 

 

Difficulty : Easy

 

It's an another heavily enhanced datacore's map but his style is more recognizable because the modifications only affect the aesthetic. This level is very easy and probably the easiest without counting the credit map of course. Even the first map is harder according to me for some reasons that I will explain a bit later.

 

Datacore loves making maps focused on close-quarters combats with SSG. Contrary to the first map , traps are also not that instantaneous so that you have always the time to react. The trap with the 2 Hell knights and the arch-vile can be considered as the deadliest in the level. The gameplay is fun and not  a pain in the ass but this is my least favourite map to be honest. The layout is too much narrow and the gameplay too much focused on SSG so  the fights are quite monotonous. I liked the ambiance despite all , the cavern mixed with the music remind me a lot of Goldeneye 64 and I like underground levels in general.

Edited February 1, 2018 by Roofi

MAP01 - “Sombre Venue”

 

Alright, nice little opening level here. Don't remember anything too substantial, gameplay-wise. Looks great, and gives me nice memories of Valiant. The colors all look great, as I too like it when levels use only a few colors at a time (Why I like Valiant more than AA). Interesting spite replacements, all fit very well with the new aesthetic.

MAP02: Molten Desolation

100% kills, 3/3 secrets

 

Oh hey, "Caverns" from Goldeneye 64. Always thought that game had a ton of tracks that would be great Doom music tracks. As Roofi said, lots of close-quarter SSG combat here. In fact I found the two revenants outside to be quite annoying since I only had the SSG, no regular shotgun, and didn't want to waste my rockets. Thankfully later I found enough bullet ammo to take them out (there's a single shotgun in a secret later, but it's so late as to be basically pointless). It was fine to play through once but somewhat forgettable I think, and probably a good thing that it's relatively short because a longer map would've become monotonous.

'Bout damn time we got to UAC Ultra. Someone ping me if I go missing before we hit the start date, as I tend to do with my Club entries. Anywhoo, been meaning to tackle Tangerine Nightmare for a while; this is as good a time as any. Playing in PRBoom+, -complevel 9, UV continuous with saves.

 

MAP01 - Sombre Venue
38/38 kills, 2/2 secrets (MAX'D)

You know you're in for a good time when the WAD proudly proclaims its name right at the start. Digging the hell out of the custom textures and enemy replacements. This first level's nothing too bad at first, right up until you get in a practical knife fight with two Revenants, which makes for a tense and thrilling fight (especially after I got dinged the hell up by the hitscanner ambush right beforehand). Quite a bit of fighting mid-tier monsters with a shotgun going on in this map, between the Revs, and a couple of Hell Knights just a few minutes later. There's a bit of platforming to get to the exit switch, but surprisingly the lava(?) doesn't appear to be damaging. Good for my low health butt, but puzzling nonetheless. No idea how I managed to get the partial invisibility, but the green armor secret is pretty clever in its placement, and would've help wonders had I managed to find it earlier before entering the compound. Surprise Rev at the end sure was a surprise, even knowing there was one enemy left.

 

MAP02 - Molten Desolation
76/77 kills, 2/3 secrets

Oh man, the Goldeneye music. Takes me back. Love the sector credits.

 

This map ramps up the difficulty a few notches, introducing the remaining members of the bestiary missing from MAP01, save the PE and her pets, Mastermind and Cyberdemon (and the SS, but who gives a damn about them?). The start appears to have wanted you to put in some work with the chainsaw, but I had more than enough ammo to take care of business without its help, due to the continuous play. Not that it would've mattered, since the level hands you the entire ballistic arsenal. You'll need it too, since this map uses the mid-tiers much heavier than the last map. It gets to be a bit much, with Mancs just jamming up the corridors, feeling at times like doors with health. A deviously placed archvile coming out of the switch room for the red key can really ruin your day if you're not careful here (not so much the first one, who is stuck behind a wall leading to the room, and who can be safely rocketed from a distance). While the first appearance of the Baron was cool, the final encounter overall felt a little like overkill, between him, the Spiderdemon at the top of the stairs, and TWO Revs hiding in the corners. Overall, not too jazzed about this map, but damn, does it look pretty.

MAP02: Molten Desolation

16:25 | 100% Everything

This one was fun. Lotsa meat to grind through, almost leaning toward too much, but the SSG and copious shells made it bearable. The manc usage here was pretty dangerous, though my only death was from the spider at the exit (running away from the HK/baron ambush and couldn't switch away from my SSG in time.) The manc and spider reskins seem familiar (Mayan Mishap?) and the new baron I recognize from playing Threshold of Pain late last year (though I think this is a straight-up sprite upgrade w/out the extra attacks?) I mostly liked the way the layout looped around on itself a couple of times, even though the early loop is totally extraneous and led to me getting lost briefly. Everything was gorgeous as usual, and the music was great, too. (Never played Goldeneye.)

Are the monsters modified at all? The cacos seemed a bit faster to me, but that could just be a combination of the close quarters and new sprite.

 

3 hours ago, Salt-Man Z said:

The manc and spider reskins seem familiar (Mayan Mishap?)

They're sprites by Eriance and I think first used in his Demon Eclipse, but you probably remember them from Ancient Aliens.

MAP02 - “Molten Desolation” by Datacore, [WH]-Wilou84

Is Software Mode recommended for this? Because it looks a lot less tangerine than in OpenGL.

 

Gothic, underground caves with a large emphasis on close-range SSG encounters here. Difficulty is still rather chill, and the ammo is plentiful. Cool new skins for the Cacos, 'Trons, Mancs, and Baron. I was half expecting the Baron to do something slightly different, i.e. throw two projectiles like in Bloodstain, but alas it's just for show. I could never figure out how to get the damn Soulsphere behind spawn.