When did you find the Map Markers useful?

Did you know that Doom has a feature to place markers on the Automap? Press M to place a marker in the spot where you stand or where the cursor is, can place up to 10. Press C to clear. I myself never really used it, forgot it was a thing. It's been a feature since DOS Doom, apparently.

But it was useful for me once, recently. While I was playing MAP12 of Eternal Doom, I found myself finding various unpressable switches, only to go to them at a later point in time to activate them. Given that the player is likely to encounter most of them by the time they are able to press them, it would be tedious to go search for them a second time. Thus, I realised that I can just mark them on the map as I find them for the first time, and when I am supposed to press them, I immediately know where to go. Eternal Doom is known to have levels that think outside the box when it comes to gameplay and design, and I totally appreciate that. I presume that some other WADs might have a similar use for the markers as well.

What about you? Do you also use the markers to mark places you want to go to more than once? Do you have some other use for them? I'm curious.

I just learned this feature existed now what the fuck man.

I use it in large levels to mark ammo/health/armor caches, that way I know where I can find supplies if need be.

I think I'm one of the few players to actually use these things whenever I find something I know I'll go back to, like a secret that is visible or such. MAP12 of Eternal Doom and its expy in Epic 2 (MAP28) are the obvious marker spots, but you'd really want to use these for levels that twist and turn way too much.

1 hour ago, Andromeda said:

I use it in large levels to mark ammo/health/armor caches, that way I know where I can find supplies if need be.

I don't know why I never thought of doing this. I very rarely used the markers for switches but this seems like an even better use.

I seriously have no idea what to do with this information now. I wanna play through every map I've ever played just to use this knowledge. How have I never heard of this.

A few weeks ago, I played Eternal Doom map12 and used this feature for the first and only time (so far), after reading some posts on this site strongly recommending it for that map. I made the right decision.

Knew about them and been using them since forever. Only on large maps though.

Locked doors, ammo/supplies or yet unreachable things (like a weapon raised on a pillar so I don't forget about it). Really handy feature. The ability to make custom marks on the map should be included in any game that has a map IMO.

Doom has spoiled me in this regard and it always makes me sad when you can't mark spots on the map in newer games like a huge RPG with a massive world for example but you could in Doom, a straightforward FPS from 1993.

14 hours ago, N1ck said:

I just learned this feature existed now what the fuck man.

Yeah same, had no idea this was a thing wtf.

Either way, I would never find much use for it, as I don't try to see absolutely everything in the map, my main goal is always reaching the exit.

automap markers is a nice feature, but it needs more love. at least in sourceports. i'd like to have a way to assign labels to them, to remove only some markers i don't need anymore, to center the map on them, prolly have a HUD marker with direction and distance to the selected marker(s), and such. for now markers are so barebones that they rarely worth using (at least for me).

i have plans to improve that in k8vavoom, of course. ;-)

I'll use them occasionally for puzzles or in very large maps / when I'm lost just to tell/remind me to go somewhere. I used to use them to mark locked doors, but source ports pretty well take care of that.

There's a very long thread called Things About Doom You Just Found Out. You can incidentally find a lot of things that you then would be eligible to post in the very same thread. 

1 hour ago, HAK3180 said:

automap markers is a nice feature, but it needs more love. at least in sourceports. i'd like to have a way to assign labels to them, to remove only some markers i don't need anymore, to center the map on them, prolly have a HUD marker with direction and distance to the selected marker(s), and such. for now markers are so barebones that they rarely worth using (at least for me).

 

i have plans to improve that in k8vavoom, of course. ;-)

Better controls regarding markers would be nice, yes. Looking Glass Studios games like System Shock or Thief had it best.

And yeah, even though it appears to a niche feature, it does actually have its fans.

I've been aware of them, but in all my 21 years of playing Doom, I've never used them.

I knew about them, but since I use a textured automap, the numbers are kinda hard to see. If it had some sort of marker that stood out more, it'd be a great big help.