a "deluxe edition" of the Master Levels

[JPL]

Recently I replayed the Master Levels for Doom II, and got a bit obsessed reading about the various authors' other Doom work and careers that followed.

 

I learned that in a majority of cases, the levels of theirs that ended up in the Master Levels were part of a larger body of submissions, most of which have been publicly released in some form: Sverre Kvernmo's Cabal series (of which 5 out of 12 maps made the cut), Chris Klie's 6 "outtakes" to match the 6 of his that were accepted, the 4 other maps Jim Flynn released in an implied "Titan" series, and of course John "Dr. Sleep" Anderson's famously incomplete Inferno series, one map of which ended up as E4M7 of Ultimate Doom.

 

And so I realized that here were the makings of something akin to a "deluxe edition" re-release of some classic rock album, with outtakes, demos, alternate versions, etc. It didn't take too much work to prove out the concept by creating some MAPINFO data to string all these series together into distinct episodes:

• Cabal (Kvernmo's story of a fallen cyberdemon's quest for revenge)
• Titan (Jim Flynn's series, set on Jupiter's Saturn's largest moon)
• Klie (Chris Klie's Master Levels plus his 6 similarly themed, story-free "outtakes")
• Inferno (Dr Sleep's 8-level series, concluded by a tribute - see below)
• a "miscellaneous" mini-episode including Tom Mustaine's single Master Level, and Tim Willits' (plus his uncredited sister, Theresa Chasar) two Master Levels. I also included Mustaine's rejected Doom 2 MAP14 "homage", which he released on his website a few years ago.

 

Playing them all together I found they make for a diverse and interesting collection of maps, a collage of very different creative styles in Doom mapping circa 1995.

 

I reached out to Sverre Kvernmo and Chris Klie to ask 1) for their permission to repackage their work in this form, and 2) if they had any strong feelings on how their work would be presented; things like preferred level order, pistol start, music, skies etc. Klie didn't have any opinions on the matter, which makes some sense given that his levels are all relatively short and self-contained. Kvernmo had a lot of very interesting input on level order, offering multiple proposals that emphasized difficulty ramp vs theming. The current ordering I have for his episode is based on our discussions.

 

Lastly, I just heard back from Xaser about the possibility of including his E4M8 from Ultimate Doom The Way id Did, a tribute to Dr Sleep based partly on the only known screenshot of his unreleased Canto IX, "Waters of Lethe", as a way to close out the Inferno episode.

 

So here's a download of what I have so far. Please consider it a rough draft; I'd like some feedback on some things. (see below)

Update: officially released now, get it from https://jp.itch.io/deluxe-master-levels

 

A few things worth stating:
- This is currently ZDoom-compatible only. The way I've strung all the maps together is dependent on MAPINFO features I'm not sure are supported in other source ports. If anyone with deep knowledge of other ports knows how it can easily be adapted without any compromises, please let me know.
- No copyrighted content is distributed as part of this, obviously. You must own Doom 2, the Master Levels, and Ultimate Doom (for E4M7 aka Canto VIII aka Chiron aka And Hell Followed). The way I currently reference these assumes that you have these compiled them into a Doom Classic Complete IWAD via my program WadSmoosh, which as above is ZDoom-only. If there is very strong interest in a non-WadSmoosh / other port compatible version, I could look into it, but again the interest would have to be strong enough for it to be worth a non-trivial chunk of my time.
- The only modifications I've made to the levels themselves are to fit them all into a single PK3 with no map slot or texture conflicts, and to fix any critical bugs - the only one I've found so far was an unattainable secret sector in one of Klie's outtakes. In general I'd like to preserve the author's work as faithfully as possible, especially that of the two authors who have passed away (Flynn and Anderson).
- I'll soon be adding map author credits to the intermission screen graphics for each map's name, in the same style included for the id maps in recent versions of WadSmoosh.

 

Things I could use some input on:
- Level order, music, and skies for the Chris Klie levels, and a name for his episode. The level order in the current download is relatively arbitrary based on a few of my playthroughs, alternative suggestions welcome.
- Music for the Titan, Inferno, and misc episodes. Most of these use D_RUNNIN, and it would be nice to pick out some Doom 1/2 tracks or add some new ones that go well with each.
- Tom Mustaine apparently submitted two other maps for the Master Levels, which were later included as MAP01 and MAP10 of TNT Evilution from Final Doom. I could add these to the Willits + Mustaine episode, at the cost of adding Final Doom to the "retail content owned" requirement for players. I'd be fine doing this but I'm not sure what % of the target audience for this owns Final Doom.
- Ordering of the episodes in the New Game episode list. Each one has its own difficulty ramp, and I can imagine a few different rationales for why one works better before another.
- Should these levels default to pistol start? That's how the original Master Levels were intended to be played, and most of the episodes work pretty well like that. Kvernmo sent me a version of the Cabal maps collected into a single file called CABALL.WAD that had some minor revisions that made the series play better with accumulating weapons, so I think that's the way he intends for the series to be played. I've included a bit of ZScript to enforce pistol starts for all the other episodes, and a menu item + cvar that lets you disable this behavior. Much of this could also be done with MAPINFO, of course.
- Endings for each of the episodes. Right now it goes straight to the Doom 2 curtain call, but I'd like to add some finale text for each. I definitely want to add a brief dedication to Flynn and Anderson at the end of their respective episodes. Beyond that, it might be cool to have a custom graphics screen but I don't really have any ideas for it.
- Likewise I whipped up a title screen based on the original box art, but if anyone has suggestions for something better, I'm all ears.
- Lastly, I don't have an official title for this project yet. My first idea was "Master Levels Deluxe Edition", but Chris Klie said he wasn't necessarily comfortable using the phrase "Master Levels", out of possible confusion with the retail product. Kvernmo felt the opposite, that it benefitted from that specific association. I suggested "Works of the Masters".

 

Feedback welcome! I'm not sure how many people are interested in this old stuff, but I think it could be a cool way to pay tribute to an interesting chunk of Doom history, and collect the work together in a way it hasn't really been possible to enjoy before.

Edited October 13, 2020 by JPL : updated download link

[SiFi270]

good minds think alike

[Diabolución]

As for the commercial and official levels, I use this for PrBoom-Plus for my personal enjoyment:

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/r62xb1hbanpjd31/master.zip?dl=1

 

Order of the levels and music picks are basically the @Xaser´s picks as created by this tool. And the CWILVxx and INTERPIC lumps were borrowed from @MadGuy´s mlbls.wad. Unfortunately, I am really bad at choosing a climatic and fitting music piece for the levels and at choosing the most proper order for a succession of loose levels, so I cannot tell anything concerning the extra free levels.

Edited June 17, 2019 by Diabolución : Silly errata (feeting -> fitting)

[CorianderCastor]

Well that Mustaine map has always been a mess on HMP, but tagging the blue key for medium skill would be a minor qol change.

 

Part of the fun of a collection like this is curation and continuous play, but I've no experience in music collection. I'd love to see what @Xaser and @kmxexii could input on level order and music selection. But yes, these maps are playable pistol start, so I'm glad it's optional. I'd set it off by default myself.

 

If this is going to require Doom Complete, might I suggest auto loading that IWAD, if dragging and dropping, via GAMEINFO? I mean if UDoom is not included it could be a problem, but I think it might be better.

 

I don't think Mustaine's Final Doom maps are necessary, but I see no issue with them being included. It's not like his works were part of a bigger collection like Anderson's.

 

Also what features of MAPINFO are we talking about? I don't recall EMAPINFO having pistol start functionality though. And I don't think EE likes underscores in internal map names. There's something it doesn't like about Doom Complete. It loads Plutonia's MAP01, heh. I think supporting EE would truly require a remake, definitely a unique EMAPINFO. So that's up to someone who loves EE to do. But most of the other Master Levels collections, both commercial and deluxe, are ZDoom family only, so I'm okay with this being so as well.

 

This is great, and very convenient. I am excited to see this become the standard method of playing through the extended works from the masters.

[Gez]

On lundi 17 juin 2019 at 8:57 AM, JPL said:

- Lastly, I don't have an official title for this project yet. My first idea was "Master Levels Deluxe Edition", but Chris Klie said he wasn't necessarily comfortable using the phrase "Master Levels", out of possible confusion with the retail product. Kvernmo felt the opposite, that it benefitted from that specific association. I suggested "Works of the Masters".

The Expert Maps

The Monster Levels

Metallica Presents: Iron Maiden Remake 4

[P41R47]

Maste

On 6/17/2019 at 3:57 AM, JPL said:

- Lastly, I don't have an official title for this project yet. My first idea was "Master Levels Deluxe Edition", but Chris Klie said he wasn't necessarily comfortable using the phrase "Master Levels", out of possible confusion with the retail product. Kvernmo felt the opposite, that it benefitted from that specific association. I suggested "Works of the Masters".

''Ultimate Masters Works'' could be a good name, as this compilatios is trying to be the definitive way to play this levels. Hope Xaser let you use his UDTWID E4M8 in this project. Check this out, it is a mock up, but gives the idea; could be the TITLEPIC or the BOSSBACK or some kind of EndPic:

(PIC REMOVED)

 

-As for the music, i know its just a compilation wad, but this deserves a totally new MIDI pack. This levels, although old, are gold. I dreamed a lot about playing the Inferno serie by Dr. Sleep and also Sverre Kvernmo's Cabal serie.

This NEEDS a MIDI pack.

-Its a shame it can't be vanilla compatible as Doom 2 episode's textscreens will disrupt the levels set.

-As for the ending text for the levels sets, if we knew how the story goes for them, we can write a decent ending text.

-Chris Klie set of levels could be named CK_Triumph, aa little homenage and reference to the Chris Klie's BF_THUD!.wad (what's a BF_THUD?)

-I suggest to add Mustain's Evilution maps, maybe retextured a little, to be independent of their TNT incarnation.

-Although the original Masters Levels were intended for pistol start (bad move from Id, it surely would be better to be another full megawads), i'm with Kvermmo in this. Doom, whatever incarnation it takes, is meant to be played as a continuous play. But as dying and not saving, back in those days, was a natural posibility, they designed the maps with the idea of the player dying in the process. So, the maps as they are surely will be good as pistol start or continuous play.

 

Edited October 20, 2019 by P41R47

[dmslr]

This is a decent research. Why didn't this "project" receive appropriate attention?

Edited August 31, 2019 by dmslr

[JPL]

Hi, I haven't forgotten about this project, and did some work on it today. New download link, which unlike the Dropbox one should remain stable:
http://vectorpoem.com/doom/masters_alpha.zip

 

Changes since the last build I put up over a year ago:

• author credit text for all maps, seen on GZDoom intermission screen.
• added episode end text for Titan and Inferno episodes, with a dedication to each author.
• added cabal 1-7 readme to historical readmes folder, as it has lots of story and info that isn't in the CABALL readme.
• removed zscript-based pistol start option and replaced it with a MAPINFO ResetHealth/ResetInventory, for all episodes except Cabal (whose author balanced the CABALL.WAD maps for non-pistol-start)
• changed map sequence of Titan episode from release order to one that works better for episode pacing.
• chose non-default skies and music for Klie outtakes, subjectively based on each map's themes.
• fixed a bad floor height in "Trouble on Titan" that made a secret inaccessible - my error, not Jim Flynn's.

 

I'd still appreciate any sort of feedback from anyone who plays this!

 

One more thing: can anyone confirm Jim Flynn's birth year as 1952? In Lee Killough's thread announcing his passing, he mentions Jim was 66, but that means he could have been born in either 1951 or 1952. The 2018 Cacoward tribute to him says "~1952 - 2018" but, er, if for no other reason than that Doom's default font doesn't have the ~ character, it'd be nice to have a definite year.

 

Quote

If this is going to require Doom Complete, might I suggest auto loading that IWAD, if dragging and dropping, via GAMEINFO? I mean if UDoom is not included it could be a problem, but I think it mig ht be better.

I just tried that, and for some reason "doom_complete.pk3" doesn't work in a GAMEINFO lump the way "doom2.wad" etc do. This might be a bug in GZDoom.

[pcorf]

On 6/17/2019 at 4:57 PM, JPL said:

• Titan (Jim Flynn's series, set on Jupiter's largest moon)

 

 

Titan is actually a moon of Saturn.

[JPL]

1 hour ago, pcorf said:

 

Titan is actually a moon of Saturn.

Haha, you'd think I'd have gotten that right considering that it's incredibly visible in the levels' sky art!

Fixed. I don't think I made that mistake anywhere in the project's text data, thankfully.

[JPL]

New build, as usual at http://vectorpoem.com/doom/masters_alpha.zip

 

Changes since the 2020-07-05 version:

• Reordered episodes for pacing: Chris Klie, then Cabal, then the Willits/Chasar + Mustaine episode, then Titan, then Inferno.
• Titan episode: switched Mines of Titan and Titan Anomaly back to original order. Mines is still a slightly odd one to start with but I decided it wasn't worth breaking the readme story order.
• Cabal episode: fixes in Temple of Death and Image of Evil to make 100% secrets possible. Nudged some armor bonuses in Image of Evil that were half stuck in walls to make 100% items possible.
• Inferno episode: fix in Dante's Gate to make 100% secrets possible.
• Willits/Chasar + Mustaine episode: tagged blue key for medium difficulty in Tom Mustaine's Doom2 MAP14 homage.
• Added Theresa Chasar's name to the episode with her contributions in it.
• Reduced title screen art to 320x240 for a more 1995 feel.

Not sure any further changes are needed to the maps themselves, unless someone finds any bugs.

[SiFi270]

It's a small thing, but I think the last two Inferno levels should have the names Dr. Sleep originally intended for them, Chiron and Waters of Lethe. I'm also not sure why the textures have been converted to PNG. Leaving them as they are would keep them from looking out of place if a palette modification like PalPlus or ColdPal is loaded with this.

[JPL]

On 7/11/2020 at 8:03 AM, SiFi270 said:

It's a small thing, but I think the last two Inferno levels should have the names Dr. Sleep originally intended for them, Chiron and Waters of Lethe. I'm also not sure why the textures have been converted to PNG. Leaving them as they are would keep them from looking out of place if a palette modification like PalPlus or ColdPal is loaded with this.

 

Ah, I hadn't realized I just defaulted to extracting the graphics as PNG. I re-extracted them as lumps and the Titan maps work as expected with palette mods now.

 

I renamed E4M7 to Chiron to reflect the author's intent. But I left the final map as "An End to Darkness", since it is only a tribute by another author and not Dr. Sleep's actual intended Waters of Lethe, which sadly is probably lost to time. Xaser's map has a hidden dedication in a texture (that can't be seen without noclip, as far as I can tell) that makes specific mention of Waters of Lethe and I'm happy to leave it at that.

[SiFi270]

All right. That makes sense.

[Xaser]

I dunno if this changes things any, but the map was named "Lethe" during development, so it's about as official a name for the map as Chiron is for E4M7.

 

The map was assigned an E4-sounding title from (I believe) Alfonzo, to fit the King James naming scheme (and I kinda dig it 'cause it has "end" in it :P ), i.e. it's also an aftermarket title like And Hell Followed was. IMO it probably makes sense to use the Sleep-ish names (Chiron+Lethe) for both.

[JPL]

Hi again. This project is now hosted on itch.io, with a semi-fancy page and stuff:
https://jp.itch.io/deluxe-master-levels
Until it's ready for full public release I've locked it behind a password, "dewm", but anyone here who's interested should feel free to have a look.

 

Changes since last build:

• Added masters_readme.html, which includes instructions on how to run the compilation and an essay-format writeup on the project, its slice of Doom history, and individual levels. Still a work in progress, pretty much the last thing I have to finish. The parts of the doc that are still being worked on are clearly marked.
• On Xaser's advice, renamed the final level of Inferno to "Waters of Lethe".
• Renamed internal map filenames to their original WAD filenames - only affects map name as displayed in automap.

[Maximum Matt]

Excellent.  All this needs now is a definitive "Minimum Doom" to go with it.

[NightFright]

Only yesterday I actually merged all Flynn maps together with the rest of the unused Master levels, which took me the better part of the day since I did the texture comparisons manually in order to eliminate conflicts. Now this is released and I realize I did everything pretty much for nothing. Epic facepalm moment.

[eharper256]

JPL, will you include a way to naturally smoosh this into a Wadsmoosh as an option to replace the usual Master Levels package?

[Gez]

The Master Level episode in WadSmoosh's doom_complete.pk3 begins at map ML_MAP01, so if the "Deluxe Master Levels" start at ML_MAP01, they'll naturally replace the Master Level episode from WadSmoosh.

[eharper256]

6 hours ago, Gez said:

The Master Level episode in WadSmoosh's doom_complete.pk3 begins at map ML_MAP01, so if the "Deluxe Master Levels" start at ML_MAP01, they'll naturally replace the Master Level episode from WadSmoosh.

True, but I'm guessing a cut and paste job won't function as expected? At the very minimum, one would have to fiddle with the MAPINFO and Episode select menu options, right?

 

Its probably something I could make work, as I'm a modder as well, but the question is still relevant.

[Gez]

Logically the DML come with their own MAPINFO and, again, if the episode is ML_MAP01, it'll just replace the ML_MAP01 episode from WadSmoosh.

 

In the same way that if you load Sunlust, its MAP01 episode replaces the MAP01 episode from Doom II.

 

Yes episodes are defined by the map slot where they start. An episode selection screen is really just a map selection screen.

[NightFright]

The only problem I have with E4M7 and Lethe in this compilation is that they are Doom 1 maps, therefore they'll stick out (no SSG or D2 monsters). As isolated maps it's not a big deal, but embedded into a set of D2 maps it's a different story. It'd be great to have a proper D2 conversion (including texture adjustments) for these two entries.

[JPL]

Update: I decided to finish up the readme and release this project for real, it's now available here: https://jp.itch.io/deluxe-master-levels

[Caleb13]

I downloaded the latest Itch version 5, but I encountered several "Unable to open map XXXX" errors. It happens even after the very first map, I got Unable to open map 'ML_MAP06'. You renamed the map files or something?

 

Edit: oh, I see you've already explained it on Itch. Nevermind then.

[Randomly Chosen]

I've tried to combine this interesting project with the MegaSphere's 25th anniversary MIDI pack for my next playthrough of the (official and unofficial) master levels. I've added the corresponding tracks to the levels, leaving the unofficial ones as JPL left them. Menu music, intermission and cast screen have been modified too with the corresponding track. I'll leave the result here just in case someone finds it useful. Hope I haven't made any big mistake, as I had never looked into Doom's "guts" before.

Feel free to improve on it.

I was planning to do the same for NRFTL and Plutonia, but JPL had me covered there: https://itch.io/post/4236126

wotm_music_pack.zip