Vanilla Doom pWAD recommendations?

Hello again.

Does anyone have a list, or a few off-hand recommendation, of the best Vanilla compatible pWADs?

Dehacked optional, but it's got to be vanilla dehacked.

I'm asking because I don't know how well I would find decent mods by randomly digging through the database.

Help please...

You could always check here: http://www.doomworld.com/10years/bestwads/

Better way is to browse the /idgames archives by using Doomworld's service, doomworld.com/idgames , and trying the maps that have reasonable ratings (like 3 stars or more). That way, you can find good wads that didn't make it in those short "top ten" lists.

Google any of the following plus the word "idgames" and they should be among the first results:

Suspended in Dusk

Back to Basics

The Rebirth

Batman Doom

printz said:

Better way is to browse the /idgames archives by using Doomworld's service, doomworld.com/idgames , and trying the maps that have reasonable ratings (like 3 stars or more). That way, you can find good wads that didn't make it in those short "top ten" lists.

Problem is that they aren't sorted by Vanilla compatibility. The database is chock full of ZDoom, GZDoom, and other port specific pWADs. Short of Chocolate, almost every port supports Vanilla + standard dehacked.

E.J. said:

Problem is that they aren't sorted by Vanilla compatibility. The database is chock full of ZDoom, GZDoom, and other port specific pWADs.

Vanilla maps are in /levels/
Maps for Boom/Zdoom/etc are in /levels/ports/

Super Jamie said:

Vanilla maps are in /levels/
Maps for Boom/Zdoom/etc are in /levels/ports/

Awesome, thanks for the miss.

That almost puts me back at square one though. I'll end up having to try a bunch of different wads. Does anyone have a Vanilla greatest hits recommendation list? Or since I'm fairly new to Doom pWADs, can someone recommend the best mappers/modders, so I can search by author?

BTW - Would anyone happen to know what happened to this project?.
Knee-Deep in KDiZD

HR
AV
SCYTHE
bldnight
eaxt
slayer

There are some review sites you could take a look at. But note that they haven't been updated for many years, so while they are a good source of information on the older wads, they obviously can't hel with more recent ones. Having said that, a lot of the best vanilla wads are from the period when these sites were active (and the more recent ones are less likely to escape your attention anyway).

Sir Robin

Doom Undeground

There's also a smaller selection of reviews at Visions of Doom, but this also includes screenshots and demos of each level.

In each case, the site indicates what exe/iwad each one is designed to work with.

Another thing you could do is to take a look at which wads have been most popular for demo recording. Here's a list from Andy Olivera's site. Generally speaking, people will spend the most time recording on wads that they like, but note that this isn't a direct correlation, since some excellent wads are not very demo-friendly, and vice versa. And obviously, this listing will tend to favour megawads over episodes or single-level wads.

And if you still want more wad reviews, you're welcome to scour the list here. Some of the sites are dead though, or don't contain a whole lot of content.

E.J. said:

BTW - Would anyone happen to know what happened to this project?.
Knee-Deep in KDiZD

They finished it. It was rubbish.

The second episode has different authors and is looking alot better, just don't hold your breath waiting for it to come out.

Super Jamie said:

They finished it. It was rubbish.

The second episode has different authors and is looking alot better, just don't hold your breath waiting for it to come out.

Wrong project, Jamie. Reread more carefully ;)

No, it's not finished. Progress is slow, and getting active contributors to stay on board has been difficult, but I wouldn't say it's completely dead. I wouldn't expect a release anytime soon, though.

esselfortium said:

Wrong project, Jamie. Reread more carefully ;)

*facepalm.wad*

Super Jamie said:

*facepalm.wad*

I like that wad too.

Too bad facepalm.zip doesn't exist. There are so many tempting names not taken, such as doom.zip.

Memento Mori 2 is the most recent one I've played that hasn't been mentioned. Most of the maps are great (although Map01-06 are inconsistent at best).

HR, AV, and SCYTHE are all in my top 5 megawads, so I'll second those.

Also facepalm.wad for best jokewad *evar*

printz said:

Too bad facepalm.zip doesn't exist.

Let's make a facepalm jokewad together <3

Super Jamie said:

Let's make a facepalm jokewad together <3

I've got no sense of humor at all.

printz said:

I've got no sense of humor at all.

What a coincidence, jokewads aren't actually funny. A perfect match :P

E.J. said:

Does anyone have a list, or a few off-hand recommendation, of the best Vanilla compatible pWADs?

very good vanilla wad... Why do you want to play vanilla maps only? The wads for ZDoom and GZDoom are much better, because they have more special features :-P!

EDIT: Don't forget to play this vanilla map: school doom 2

Deeforce said:

The wads for ZDoom and GZDoom are much better, because they have more special features :-P!

(insert your favorite facepalm macro here)

Gez said:

(insert your favorite facepalm macro here)

Either that or "fail troll is fail".

No love for Requiem? For shame!

Vanilla wads, is it?

Darkening
Darkening 2

'Nuff said.

Darkening 1 is overrated. So is Requiem.

No mention of Memento Mori and Memento Mori 2?

footman said:

No love for Requiem? For shame!

Yeah I love this one. One of my all time favorites!

Eternal Doom. One of the best.

kristus said:

Darkening 1 is overrated. So is Requiem.

It has some good music selection. So does this.

printz said:

It has some good music selection. So does this.

Which says what about the maps in it?

esselfortium said:

Which says what about the maps in it?

Requiem got boring for me by the second episode, but not Darkening. Some Requiem levels have astounding tracks, such as MAP05, that keep me playing the maps.

EDIT: Requiem manages to look detailed without being physically so, unlike KDiZD.

They both may be overrated, but aren't bad either.