Essential Doom mods? (Megawads, Gameplay-altering wads, everything)

[Mangcubus]

I'm trying to assemble a .zip folder with all of the essentials so newbies can get right into playing.

 

I'm looking for a little splash of everything. Megawads, shorter wads, weapon wads, total conversions, etc. I've already got a bunch but my Doom knowledge isn't perfect.

[NoahRules]

I got a few:
Ancient Aliens
Eviternity
Nobody Told Me About Id (The gameplay WAD not the song)
You should probably share what WADs you have in the folder so no one will be requesting WADs you've already included

[Mangcubus]

So far:

• 10 Sectors
• Akeldama
• Ancient Aliens
• Community Chest 1-4
• Eternal Doom
• Eviternity
• Going Down
• Icarus Alien Vanguard
• Japanese Community Project
• Jenesis
• Memento Mori 1 & 2
• Plutonia 2
• Scythe 1 & 2
• Demonsteele
• Extreme Weapon Pack
• Russian Overkill
• Simpsons Doom
• Action Doom 1 & 2
• Batman Doom
• Sky May Be
• Mock 2

[Pseudonaut]

Requiem

Hell Revealed

Alien Vendetta

Deus Vult 1 and 2

Sunlust

Sunder

Valiant

Sigil

[xvertigox]

The Doom/retro FPS /vr/ thread has info you may find useful (I've removed the url to the iwads from the image.)

 

If you're trying to make a zip/self-installer for noobs then you'd want to look at which source ports you're including, how they're set up and having Doom Launcher set up out of the gate.

 

Honestly, I'm not sure how useful this zip file would be given that you can point people to numerous online resources including the Cacowards.

 

Spoiler

 

[TheNoob_Gamer]

Perhaps this thread of mine containing various visual improvement/alteration mods might interest you (there are a few more quite interesting in the comments also, which I may or may not edited in the OP). I think the most quintessential ones are in the Graphics enhancements section.

 

 

[Midnight_00]

Everything with a WAD spotlight in Roots is probably essential for understanding the different styles of mapsets, at least. Aliens TC and Batman Doom would be essential early TCs.

[HLRaven]

You should add Hideous Destructor

 

[D4NUK1]

I'll add

MetaDoom.
Revilution.
D4T.
BTSX (Ep1 and 2)

Deathless

"Brutal Doom v21"
"Extermination Day...when it's full completed"

Zagemod.
Running Late 1&2.
SmoothDoom.

 

 

 

[DCG Retrowave]

Here are some more suggestions.

 

1. Cyberdreams

2. Arch-vile Jump

3. Hell Revealed 1 and 2

4. Scythe 1 and 2 (I know these were already mentioned, but they're great so I'm just emphasizing them :D)

5. Nuts 1, 2, and 3 (why not :D)

6. Eternal Doom

7. DWANGO5 (At least one DM WAD would be nice :D)

[Mangcubus]

I don't play multiplayer WADs so those would be most helpful. Good suggestions guys.

[xvertigox]

Just now, Mangcubus said:

I don't play multiplayer WADs so those would be most helpful. Good suggestions guys.

 

For multiplayer wads Doomseeker will take care of downloading whatever is needed via it's built-in wadseeker. You could also fire up Doomseeker to see what's popular but be prepared to see av.wad + 1000 random bullshit wads on every second server.

[DCG Retrowave]

24 minutes ago, xvertigox said:

 

For multiplayer wads Doomseeker will take care of downloading whatever is needed via it's built-in wadseeker. You could also fire up Doomseeker to see what's popular but be prepared to see av.wad + 1000 random bullshit wads on every second server.

I only use Odamex so the most I usually see is two WADs per server :D

[Doomkid]

Do you want 90's styled stuff, or mostly just modern or more refined stuff? If we're only talking essentials, Far Side of Phobos and Fava Beans have to be in there. There's also THT: Threnody and Mutiny from 2016 which both ended up very solid wads. In terms of custom weapons, the old Immoral Conduct which is just a basic weapon mod but is honestly still fun to use.

 

Even though Doomseeker / Doom Explorer will auto download wads, maybe it's a good idea to include 10 or so DM megawads just in case for people who just want to play on LAN or who use other ports that aren't supported by server browsers. If you want to add some, I have a list here that is 100% guaranteed / time-tested fun deathmatch turf: https://doomshack.org/recommended.html

 

Do you want more recommendations, like to make this a huge pack, or just 'guaranteed quality' stuff? If you only want the cream of the crop, I think you pretty much have it if you take every suggestion up to this point and cut it off there. If you want to make a giant pack though, I definitely have a whole lot more wads I can suggest.

[Mangcubus]

I don't want to put every wad ever made in it, but I want a decently large selection. Comprehensive but not exhaustive.

 

I think having some representation from all eras (and all genres) of Doom modding is good too. The only thing I wanna avoid is having too many samey or shitpost-y type wads.

[xvertigox]

@Mangcubus Why not just use DW resources for this already? If you were you use the wads below (or cherry pick) it'd be extremely comprehensive and diverse. It backs up my point as to why this is even necessary in the first place? I don't think it's hard at all for new players to find good wads.

https://www.doomworld.com/10years/bestwads/
https://www.doomworld.com/25years/top-100-memorable-maps/
https://www.doomworld.com/25years/top-25-missed-cacowards/
https://www.doomworld.com/cacowards/

[Mangcubus]

Each of those links spirals off into like 100 different wads each. That's kind of daunting for people who are brand new and have no idea about the history of Doom modding or what the paragraphs and paragraphs of cacoward text mean.

 

Additional ease of entry is worth some effort.

[xvertigox]

I think if you just link someone to the latest cacowards it's pretty intuitive. You'd need a supplemental text file to go with the wads explaining what's what and all that work has already been done.

 

https://www.doomworld.com/cacowards/2019/best1/

[Cinnamon]

My suggestions (aside from the obvious fact that everyone should play the IWADs, including DOOM 64 and Sigil):

#1: Alien Vendetta.
#2: Scythe (haven't played Scythe 2 yet so that might be a consideration).

#3: DOOM the way Id Did - I recommend the first one because (imo) the improvements to episode 3 are greater than the improvements D2twID had for D2.

#4: Back to Saturn X 1 (haven't gotten to episode 2 yet).

#5: Hell Revealed (haven't played more than the first 10 or so levels of the first one, but they are pretty renowned in my estimate).
 

[revlis]

I would definitely add Final doomer to the list.

[Michael Jensen]

Equinox 

Icarus: Alien Vanguard

Eternal Doom

Reverie

TNT: Revilution

THT: Threnody

[Omniarch]

Give Ultimate Doom some love!

• Doom The Way id Did (Lost Episodes and Ultimate) - for more vanilla-style content
• No End In Sight - for pushing the limits of the vanilla format
• Double Impact - for being Double Impact
• Jan van der Veken's stuff (The Classic Episode, No Rest for the Living) - for all your E1 needs
• Return to Hadron - for fast-paced, fluid gameplay.
• Phobos: Anomaly Reborn - for showing some of the possibilities of the Boom format
• Knee Deep in ZDoom - for an introduction to ZDoom features
• Nihility: Infinite Teeth - for being the truest successor to E2 out there

Also, on the Doom 2 front:

• Struggle: The Antaresian Legacy - for its unique audio-visual landscape and fantastic dehacked work
• Doom 2 The Way id Did - for the one guy who likes vanilla Doom 2. No, really, its good.

[Sir Hattington]

https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom/v-z/wow

[TheMagicMushroomMan]

P I R A T E   D O O M

[dmslr]

21 hours ago, Mangcubus said:

newbies

 

21 hours ago, Pseudonaut said:

Sunlust

Sunder

😧

[MemeMind]

Guncaster is a NEED 

[Pseudonaut]

6 minutes ago, dmslr said:

 

😧

I guess I missed that part, lol. Sunlust has difficulty settings at least.

[dmslr]

11 minutes ago, Pseudonaut said:

Sunlust has difficulty settings at least.

Yeah, I forgot that. :)

[CBM]

for anything sprite.. I would have to say ...

 

Psychic

https://forum.zdoom.org/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=21681

 

Brutal Doom

https://www.moddb.com/mods/brutal-doom

 

brothers in arms

 

and

 

vehicle combat demo (great for summoning help for example)

 

[NoahRules]

When will you be releasing the ZIP file?