The /newstuff Chronicles #135

Ok, deathz0r's landed on "miss a go" again, so you've got me this week. And for my 2nd newstuff in a row there's a ton of maps (47!) and a megawad to play! There's also some impressive single maps this week, some weird, wacky and wonderful entries, and some pretty pointless ones, too. Which makes for a rather varied chapter in the long running chronicles. Let's begin:

• Metamorphism by Brad Spencer and Karthik Abhiram
  283kb - doom2.exe - SP - (img)
  Somewhat larger than his other maps (although it was co-written this time), this is a mish-mash of styles that manages to come off (and it's not the first time Karthik has achieved this). Nukage and tech are the main themes, with some Doom 2/Plutonia brick areas thrown in. Architecture is pretty good, with some nice lighting effects throughout (and the one looking out of the reactor room is particularly good). Gameplay is fairly good, with a reasonably fine health/ammo balance, good traps and some battles that require thought, although the cyber battles might annoy some of you. Recommended.
  
  
• Bughunt by deathbringer
  415kb - ZDoom/Legacy - SP - (img) (img) (img)
  If you've ever felt the need to squash every bug in your house, garden etc. then this is for you. This 6-map wad lies somewhere between Mockery and One Man and his Doom, as all monsters are giant ants, there are 3 new weapons and all the graphics are of a cheesy non-serious nature. The first map comes close to resembling a normal map, and after that, you're in the silly stages with plenty of ants to squash. Naturally, a wad of this kind is aimed at non-serious rather than serious features, so it's no surprise that the wad is poorly detailed and not very challenging. It does however have that novelty value, and it is fun for the few minutes it takes to complete it. After that, you'll probably forget about it.
  
  
• Arch Vile's Oddness 1 & 2 by Alberto Sposito (Ismaele)
  7kb - ZDoom - n/a - (img) (img)
  A pair of demos (with accompanying maps), showcasing some of the archvile's weird behaviour - namely suicide and infighting. Funny, but you need ZDoom 2.0.38 to see the effect. (it does NOT work in 2.0.47)
  
  
• IPX Setup for CTF DooM by John Cole
  16kb - doom1/2.exe - CO/DM -
  Self-explanatory, with the updates listed in the text file.
  
  
• Novert by Istvan Pataki
  1kb - n/a - n/a -
  A program that turns off vertical mouse movement in dos games like Doom....what use that has is another question.
  
  
• Doom v1.1 to v1.2 patch by id Software
  441kb - doom.exe - n/a
  If you don't know what this is, you need to be slapped around the cheeks with a trout....this patch upgrades registered Doom v1.1 to v1.2...not that anyone will want to do that of course.
  
  
• Doom v1.2 to v1.666 patch by id Software
  752kb - doom.exe - n/a -
  ...and here's another one - the difference is that this patch lets you downgrade from Ultimate Doom v1.9 as well as upgrade from registered v1.2...not that anyone will want to do that either.
  
  
• Doom Raider: Crypt of the Vile by Russell Pearson
  1350kb - ZDoom - SP - (img)
  And now for something completely different...a single ZDoom map with a certain Croftiness about it. And it's really well done, too - the textures/flats give the authentic lost tomb look to it, enhanced by the excellent use of slopes and intricate architecture. It even has some real lost-tomb-style deathtraps in it, along with some other cool special effects that will have you on the edge of your seat throughout. Hexen sounds and a nice string-laden tune completes the atmosphere. Gameplay-wise, the emphasis is clearly on environmental tests rather than monsters, as you'll be jumping around, avoiding deadly traps, inhaling poison gas and even running away from a boulder! Monster-wise, there's only imps, spectres and pain elementals (not much of a challenge, especially with the 3 new weapons) but the modified arch-viles will have you fighting for your life. Ammo and health are both in fairly short supply, and the choice of weapons used throughout will make a big impact on whether or not the fight with the boss is impossible or not. The only downers are the lack of tougher monsters (although that's not the aim here), the potential impossibility of the boss fight and it's easy to get caught by the traps if you've not played the map before. Fans of Lara Croft and Dr. Jones will love this, as will fans of exploration and of course, ZDoom. Enjoy the ride.
  
  
• The Arena by Daniel Carroll
  21kb - doom2.exe - DM - (img)
  A large arena with weapons in the middle, and two secret areas that branch off from it with rewards at the end. Oh, and there's no deathmatch starts.
  
  
• Castle of the Dead by Reverend Maynard
  1000kb - source port - SP - (img) (img)
  A huge gothic map with textures to match. There are some impressive architectural features in this map, including a rising castle, a broken stone passage and a dark room with flashing lights that looks almost futuristic in nature. There's also a variety of neat vanilla tricks, many of which relate to gameplay as well as eyecandy. Many of the 500 monsters here will sneak in behind you, and given that a lot of them are zombies, the amount of health is a bit low. It is pretty challenging though, and there are many traps to catch you out. The 6 minute metal tune fits the map well, adding a bit to the atmosphere along with the many dark areas in the map. If you've got the time to spare, play it.
  
  
• Two test levels by Sphagne
  646kb - ZDoom - SP - (img)
  Two demo maps, showcasing some new ZDoom ideas. The first is a haunted mansion with buzzing flies, a fruit machine, a fake 3D lift and some camera sequences (ie. innovative, but with no real playing value in this demo map, as it's more to look at than to play). The second is simply an ashwall screen with cacos coming at you, which have to be taken down with a plasma gun turret (ie. not very interesting). But these are demo maps.
  
  
• Schreienwolf Fortress by Lutarez
  118kb - ZDoom - SP - (img)
  A Wolfenstein-themed ZDoom map. And it looks the part too, as all the areas (except the odd one here and there) are classic Wolfenstein - square rooms/passages, zero detail (except for things) and all the appropriate textures, although it is a bit on the dark side. Some Doom features (stairs and switches) and ZDoom features are present (teleport lines, coloured lighting and the odd scripting effect) but these don't detract from the atmosphere in any way. Gameplay-wise, it's pretty easy, with mostly small monsters and a few larger monsters, too. Ammo is plentiful and health is reasonable, although there is an interesting battle to finish with. If you're a fan of shooting up Nazi's, then turn away as there aren't any here....if you're a fan of Wolfenstein you'll love this, if not then I don't know what you'll think of it.
  
  
• Heroes 2 by AL and Various Artists
  2500kb - doom2.exe - SP - (img) (img) (img) (img) (img) (img)
  Wheeee, another old wad getting it's place on the archives after all this time. But this time it's a megawad - cue the delight of nostalgia hunters everywhere! 32 single maps compiled together to form one, and the quality is inconsistent - some good, some average and some bad. As you'd expect, the themes vary throughout, often within the same map as well as the wad as a whole. You'll encounter some interesting designs and some downright bizarre ones, too. The downside on the design side is that many of the maps are simply Doom 1 maps with little retexturing when moved to Doom 2 (and some of them will be familiar). The detail is typical mid-90's, with some areas looking pretty nice, others a bit bare, and some looking weird. Gameplay wise, it gets off to an awful start with the first couple of maps, gets better throughout and tails off in the last couple, although not helped by the Doom 1 maps containing mostly Doom 1 monsters. There's far too much ammo when played through properly (resulting in a weaker challenge), so challenge-seekers are advised to play each map from a pistol start. Health varies from map to map, and those powerups are all over the place again, particularly towards the end (though not as abundant as in some of the old wads in newstuff recently). The atmosphere is classic mid-90's, enhanced by some new sounds, tunes and the feel is of classic Doom 1 as well as Doom 2 because of the Doom 1 maps present. If you're a nostalgia hunter then this is the wad you've been waiting for - if not then it's still recommended, as it's surprisingly good, and far better than it's Doom 1 counterpart (The Lost Episodes). An interesting journey.
  
  

First post, heheh.

second post

thanks for the early tip off for me to get fp cyb

mongfucking tastic

yay. third post.

It was just blind luck that I saw this thread when I did. Anyway, the link to the dr1-lite screenshot isn't working. And speaking of that map, the boulder run was the hardest and most annoying thing. I had to jump over the Spectres and Imps to make it out. I heard that shooting the Spectres helps, but I didn't know that at the time.

Fix http://www.doomworld.com/images/newstuff/135/_drlite.jpg

omg doom raider is fucking awesome, excellent stuff russell

that damn boulder killed me tho heh :/

Wow, fp within the same minute.

Congrats indeed Ichor. You have surely deserved this very special cookie.

I will play these maps later.

silvercookie.jpg

fp within a minute is no big deal, if T/nC appears like clockwork at exactly 8.00 a.m. GMT - you just need to be waiting for it.

Anyway, novert is extremely useful if you want to play using the original exes, since it is a nice simple way to disable mouse movement backwards and forwards. Highly recommended if you want to get some compet-n points.

Enhanced '/newstuff unfriendly' mp3 version of Doom Raider available
here(5.8mb)

Doom Raider is fucking awesome! It's great to see really original maps like this! Top class!

Ohh, you didnt show off my brilliant weapon graphics in the bughunt screenshots XD

zarcyb said:

Doom Raider is fucking awesome! It's great to see really original maps like this! Top class!

I second that! "Doom Raider" just made it to my "2003 Great Doom Releases" list! What kinda list would it be without a great Pearson map anyway....

Hey, The Ultimate Doomer, if you had used SPZDOOM2 with the SpInv1 level you would have not seen the ashwall image but a star filled sky, and you would have heard some interesting sound effects, but on the whole you are right, those where just demoes for testing some new ideas, which I wanted to share with others.

Meta.wad was pretty cool. Lots of ambushes to keep you on your toes. wolf.wad on the other hand, was a snore fest.

Wow, Doom Raider Owns! Really Really well done.

Whoever uploaded heroes2.wad, there's a reason why it wasn't in the idgames archive.

Heroes2 is a compilation of doom2 wads that the author found and mixed together. The levels, sounds, and music were all (or at least mostly) taken from other wads.

I'm off to play DooM raider, wish me luck.

Hyena said:
Heroes2 is a compilation of doom2 wads that the author found and mixed together. The levels, sounds, and music were all (or at least mostly) taken from other wads.

If you see anything without modification permissions in there just let Ty know, he'll delete it... I guess I'll check it out later too.

...

It's nuke-worthy material in my opinion.

By the way, the link to novert leads the heroes2 entry (this must be The Ultimate Doomer's sublte sense of humour at work.)

What are you supposed to do in the very beginning of the level in Doom Raider? Can't open the door......

Look around the outer walls of the building. :)

Wow. Lot of nice stuff this week. I'm gonna try that 2-level demo thing, then meta, then doom raider.

It always feels like christmas when Russell Pearson releases a new wad. Doom Raider is a perfect advert for zdoom.

Screenshot 3 for that Heroes 2 megawad seems to be from one of the levels of Enjay ZDoom 2001 (also a megawad), but in that case I think is from the vanilla Doom version of Enjay´s wad. Well, at least in the text file of EZ2001 Enjay says: "Authors MAY use the contents of this file as a base for modification or reuse". I could be wrong about all this, but I´m almost 100% sure I am not.

Heroes2.wad was made long before 2001.

Yeah, some of the maps used are okay since the authors allowed modification or reuse, but at least 3 are "may NOT" maps, 2 of which belong to Dario Casali and John Anderson.

As I see it, any wad that doesn't respect other authors' requests about their creations is crap, even if the author of the offending wad thinks he's being cool by crediting the original authors. If they said "don't use it," don't use it, period.

Hyena said:

Heroes2.wad was made long before 2001.

As well as the vanilla Doom version of Enjay´s megawad. According to the description in the txt file of EZ2001: "32 Levels replacing Doom2, basically following the Doom2 "story". A reworking of my old Enjay Doom project (originally from 1994 for some of the older levels)."

Hyena said:

Whoever uploaded heroes2.wad, there's a reason why it wasn't in the idgames archive.

Heroes2 is a compilation of doom2 wads that the author found and mixed together. The levels, sounds, and music were all (or at least mostly) taken from other wads.

that wad is fucked. He have dm levels too with 3-4 enemies, etc...
Heroes(1).wad was better, imo.

Why does it say meta is for zdoom? I spent a lot of time making it doom2.exe compatable dammit.

Oops, my bad.

/me fixes the thread (but not the article)