So... the "Breakdown" secret has been found??

I was rooting around in the directories of "Doom 64 EX" and found that mysterious folder of JPEGs, with walls in 'Breakdown' circled...

So, has the long-sought easter egg in that level been found? Could someone kindly tell me how to pull it off, finally?

(You can tell me in a PM if you don't want to spoil it for everyone else.)

Kaiser said:

There is no secret message. We've been fooled.

http://www.doomworld.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=641016#post641016

But then, what was the purpose of the "Mysteries" folder, pointing out the tagged walls?

Were they the remnants of a REMOVED easter egg, or what? (Unless I'm missing something, that post you linked me to isn't very explanatory beyond that one line...)

I was both right and wrong, and here's the reason:

The secret DOES exist, however, its disabled in the level which there is no way to trigger the secret.

Even after enabling it after hacking the rom, it still doesn't seem to do anything. But I took screenshots anyways in case someone out there wants to take a shot at figuring it out.

I've found where all the walls are suppose to be 'used' on, but like I said before, they don't seem to do anything, even after enabling the triggers that is used to setup this secret.

Here's the link to the images:
http://doom64ex.sourceforge.net/DOCS/IMG/Mysteries/

There's also a line trigger (no screenshot) that calls line special # 250 with a tag of 273. This of course is very suspicious and is more likely part of the super secret, but like the other one, activating this line doesn't seem to do anything.

So, if I wanted to try out pressing those walls (they need to be pressed in a certain order, correct?? I can't remember the interview), I'd have to activate something in the map using an editor; I can't just plow into the game and press walls? And what about the odd triangles outside the map in the first picture, how are they connected to all of this?

Incidentally, did you find anything suspicious in other levels?

TheLazenby said:

So, if I wanted to try out pressing those walls (they need to be pressed in a certain order, correct?? I can't remember the interview), I'd have to activate something in the map using an editor; I can't just plow into the game and press walls? And what about the odd triangles outside the map in the first picture, how are they connected to all of this?

Incidentally, did you find anything suspicious in other levels?

The 'triangles' just holds linedef specials that are triggered by picking up items, killing monsters etc. One of the lines is suppose to 'setup' the secret at the level start, which is done by setting a flag, and setting the tag of the line to 999, which causes that linedef to be triggered when the level starts. The tag is at 999, but the flag is not set, making it impossible to be activated at level start.

I don't know what order they have to be in. This is something I am trying to figure out, but I am assuming the tags that are mentioned (272, 274, 275, 276 etc) has something to do with it.

Also, the lines that I had circled doesn't do anything, BUT they have both the 'doom secret line' flag and a unknown flag set on them, but none of them contains line specials, or tags.

As of now I haven't found anything else that seems unusual.

Well, it was nice to see that the description in the interview was correct; that two of the triggers are in the red key room and that secret room you have to rush to get into.

Incidentally, what's the significance of those four niches in the hallway that you've circled and put "???" in the middle of? Perhaps that's where the secret is revealed - the textures in those niches change to, I dunno, photos of the designers or something. (But I suppose such textures would have been found already.)

As for stuff in other levels, I'm still very curious about the secret room in Research Lab I stumbled into while playing the ROM at school a few years ago; I specifically remember dashing around the room near the end with all the exits (including the stairs that go into the sewer) and falling into a room that I couldn't escape from that had the "I Suck At Making Maps" texture. For the life of me, I've never been able to do that again; I no-clipped in the ROM *and* Absolution and couldn't find it. But I'm certain I did it, because I made a post on here about it right after it happened.

Oh well - I'm definitely willing to help crack the Breakdown thing; just tell me what to do and I'll do it. Although, after editing the map to activate the secret, did you try pressing those walls in the order of the pictures?? The pictures follow the flow of the level, so I'd think that'd be the most logical place to start.

TheLazenby said:

I specifically remember dashing around the room near the end with all the exits (including the stairs that go into the sewer) and falling into a room that I couldn't escape from that had the "I Suck At Making Maps" texture. For the life of me, I've never been able to do that again;

Congrats, you just broke Doom64, which is common.
The 'I Suck At Making Maps' texture is a placeholder texture used on walls thats lacking an actual texture.

Well, I have some free time at the moment... which level editor should I use for this - activating the string and stuff?

Hey, guys, I have some small questions about this secret

Is the secret supposed to be a hidden area or a sound clip? If it's a sound clip, is it still stored in the game, though just not activated?

I was always under the belief that it's a message or graphic that appears on a wall. (If it was a whole new room, we would've been able to find it while no-clipping through Doom 64 EX. Unless, however, the room is kept invisible until the secret is activated, much like the case with the Stop-N-Swop rooms in "Banjo Kazooie". That made them much harder to find for people snooping around the game data in places they didn't belong.)

Judging by Kaiser's 'mystery' pics, it seems that the message or whatever it is could possibly appear in these yellow recessions:

OK, I read the interview where the secret was first mentioned again...

"All I remember is that there were 3 (i think) 'switches' you had to hit in order, then go to the room with the Red Key. That's where it played I believe."
Ah, so my theory about the recessions is probably wrong. The "3 switches" makes me curious, as Kaiser found SIX walls in the normal playing areas that were mysteriously tagged.

"The last switch may even be in that room... I think another invisible switch was in the small (hidden?) room with the BFG."
There are indeed 'mystery walls' in those areas.

"I can't remember where the other was - but i think i'm at least 80% sure the other 2 I mentioned are correct."
Well, that leaves four possibilities for the 'other switch' then

I'm absolutely certain that if I was told how to make the faulty string activate upon level load (I'm not familiar with map editing, unless it's Duke 3D-related) I could find this within a day or two.

J-selva said:

Hey, guys, I have some small questions about this secret

Is the secret supposed to be a hidden area or a sound clip? If it's a sound clip, is it still stored in the game, though just not activated?

There's no secret sound data of any sort, just all of the normal sound stuff (monsters, player etc). I also didn't find any secret message of any sort in the rom as well.

That's what puzzles me... if it was a hidden texture (like that "I suck at making maps" one), it probably would've been found already.

Kaiser, were you able to dig through the various text strings? I was thinking maybe it was something that appeared at the top of the screen, and that was it... just a little hidden credit or something.

TheLazenby said:

Kaiser, were you able to dig through the various text strings? I was thinking maybe it was something that appeared at the top of the screen, and that was it... just a little hidden credit or something.

Like I said, I've scanned through all the strings in the rom, and found nothing.

I am starting to think this secret was probably something that was not approved by nintendo and thus was removed right before the game shipped.

Funny as it is, publishers are suppose to be informed on all the little easter egg gags and inside secrets that are put into the game and for Doom64, this secret was probably added into the game without nintendo's knowledge until they caught it.

Damn. Oh well... saves me the trouble finding a program to convert the ROM to binary in order to look through the text.