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Peter

Master Levels for Doom II - 25th Anniversary MIDI Pack

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27 minutes ago, Doomkid said:

I'm sure it could be improved upon, but here's a titlepic I was working on for the master levels - I feel like it just needs a little something extra to make it pop, but it could be a decent basis.

 

 

MASTER_TITLE.png.a3a9cbc01e125373101b64760e08e72e.png

 

That actually kind of reminds me of the kind of splash screen you'd see on installers of the time. Master Levels does have a very defined aesthetic for its stuff though;

 

https://gamesdb.launchbox-app.com/games/images/17604

 

Theres a menu icon right there, and a titlepic and credits screen at least

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Master Levels sort of technically has an official titlepic. In the Xbox version of Resurrection of Evil, when you're selecting a classic Doom game from the menu, the titlepic for your selection is shown in the upper left. I took photos of my TV to prove it!

 

Spoiler

IMG_20210126_203315.jpg.85c5638b92939d2dd4af8febcc534928.jpg

IMG_20210126_203404.jpg.2a52c48063c81f1a7ab997a6962316f1.jpg

IMG_20210126_203343.jpg.507374e3880a511b04b164c1bbd4a6d7.jpg

So yeah, it's just the top of the box cropped to 4:3. :|

 

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Oh wow, no clue how I didn’t take more inspiration from the box art - I completely forgot about it!

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I use this TITLEPIC for my own compilation since... long ago.

Don't remember if i made it or if i grabed from somewhere else :/

MasterLevels_Title.png.a74088db4d8e4331b7ce229c6b9c09c9.png
I think this one fits the maspset pretty well.

here tiny version:

titlepic_master3_copy.png.8273936969b7f577edc26c7e13f5cbae.png

 

Also, i rearrange the midi list as i use a slighty modief version of the PSN maps order.

I just use TEETH.WAD on map slot 15, that way, the secret exit works properly and map 31 leads you to map16 Mephisto's Mausoleum.

Black Tower comes as the last map of a megawad of 20 + 1 secret mapset.

For aesthetic reasons i use the starry sky for the first episode, and Doom 2 hell sky for the second episode.

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I'd say it needs to be whiter, and could be made widescreen as well to meet the new official standards of the Unity port and the widescreen IWAD titlepics in GZDoom. The thought of a proper complete upgrade pack for the Master Levels for all the big ports, vanilla included, pleases me. Master Levels has always been the weird release of the series.

 

EDIT: Scuba Steve you ninja xD PERFECTLY timed!

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Hmm... the iconic twisted face is covered by the "MASTER LEVELS" logo... I should play with it tomorrow and find a way to feature that specific face more prominently.

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97971-master-levels-for-doom-ii-dos-othe

 

I feel this version of the boxart would be perfect for a credits screen with the level authors on one side and Doomworld members on the other, or it could be a  BOSSBACK for after the combined Megawad ends after TEETH. Easy widescreen too.

 

Untitled3.png.b1e12cf4ae29776287ccba0c892a4723.png

 

This would be an ideal menu pic logo (That box art site is one of those sites that doesnt let you download anything, so I had to crop a screencap)

 

In other news, I opted for the much better Playstation Master Levels text screen over the bottom effort PS3 version in a combined Master Levels wad mapinfo. Im not sure I got the spacing right, as this is my very first attempt at a text screen. No idea what flat to define for it.

 

 

c536fe18-13e8-4b05-b4e9-09d5c84c0154.png

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unknown.png

 

unknown.png

 

@Scuba Steve how it looks ingame in my copy of masterlevels.wad with my MAPINFO lump, good stuff :D

 

EDIT: Clean title pic, Doom Launcher made this hard to track down

 

5114e7de-4039-428f-b3a6-2d4a8fbcaead.png.5a077e7ba168552fa9cb7053282b0257.png

Edited by Devalaous

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43 minutes ago, Diabolución said:

 

Do recent versions of GZDoom support UMAPINFO? If so, this is the way to go, in my view. A PWAD featuring a UMAPINFO lump for the canonical masterlevels.wad would be cool, just cool.

 

Not sure. Im a GZDoom kind of guy, hence why I'd like help with other ports for a potential 'Master Levels Upgrade Pack' or Master Levels Plus or whatever we could call it.

 

What ive got in my head for a feature list is:

  • 20 loose fix wads for the seperate original release wads, loaded beside them, because modifying official files is a no-no
  • 7 loose fix wads for the Reject levels, because they are an extended part of the Master Levels history and deserve the love too, especially since so many don't know they exist. I opted not to include these wads in the fixes, as that would require asking Klie and Mustaine for permission. All seven are easily available however.
  • 1 fix wad for 'masterlevels.wad' the combined version built by various ports or extracted from a PS3.
  • All wads with a MAPINFO lump and derivatives that show the map name and the level authors, and also ensure map07 tags work and the proper skies are shown (I managed to break the two Flynn wads into having a cloudy Doom 2 sky somehow without the sky declaration bit)
  • All wads with Peter's midis and a TITLEPIC and INTERPIC and any custom graphics needed for ports that need them (CWILV00 lumps for example, GZDoom doesn't need them, but some ports do)
  • CREDIT lump crediting the original Master Levels team, and the makers of the upgrade pack. Probably best to use a one-size fits all pic for the 27 single fix wads, instead of one for each author.
  • BOSSBACK lump for the combined version, this may or may not be needed. The IoS does feature in Mephisto, but there's also lots of neat Master Levles art to use.
  • Master Levels loadable as an episode in GZDoom like No Rest for the Living. I have this working currently, but I had to change the lumps in the wad to ML01 to ML21 by hand which isnt the most user friendly. If theres a better to do this, let me know! I have it as ML01 to enable level warping; NRFTL uses LEVEL01 to LEVEL09, when Doom2.wad, nerve.wad and masterlevels.wad is loaded together I can type Map Map01-32 to warp to Doom 2, Map ML01-21 to warp to Master Levels, and Map Level01-09 to warp to NRFTL levels. NRFTL uses MAP01-09 internally though, so I don't know how GZDoom is doing that.
  • Combined version ending after Map 20 or 21 if reached; otherwise the game will spill into normal Doom 2.
  • Dehacked for ports that need them, to show automap names.
  • PAR times can be set, this would require the community to decide on a defacto psuedo-official set of times for the levels
  • I have made a version of masterlevels.wad that doesnt use Peter's midis as they arent everyone's cup of tea; in this case I set every level to use a base Doom 2 midi, keeping John and Sverre's level music the same with exception to Mephisto (Sorry @Soundblock but D_SHAWN three consecutive levels in the offical combined order is too much :p I set Mephisto to use D_DEAD to keep D_SHAWN on Bloodsea Keep and Nessus, with a still-fitting midi for the level, given its a mausoleum). For all the other levels that used Map01, only Attack still uses D_RUNNIN, and every track except D_OPENIN is used at least once.
  • Possible compatibility and features in MAPINFO derivatives, but this is touchy. I don't want to enforce no jumping and no freelook for example, as sure, the levels were not designed with this in mind, but who are we to say how people can play?

What I DONT want to do is add endgameC entries to the single map fixwads; a lot of people like to collect the single wads on Doom launcher and track stats for each map, and stat tracking breaks on endgame sequences for ZDoom based ports; this is one reason why I set the levels to loop. The stats get tracked, and you get to either quit to desktop or replay the level with the weaponry you picked up during the level as opposed to pistol-starting. A new game plus if you will.

 

What else do we need? I'm not well-versed in the needs of other ports, my friend Megamur used to tell me this stuff, but hes been gone for a very long time and I only recently came back to the Doom community.

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I read (past simple) the entire post. I will start with the UMAPINFO stuff later. I would suggest to keep this simple(r), though. Fixes for the loose official maps, without any form of MAPINFO, and for the official masterlevels.wad, with UMAPINFO at least. Does someone happen to dislike the MIDIs of Peter? Well, that is his / her problem, neither yours nor mine.

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Spoiler

 

image.png.278c24e009a9193b729c1774a455562f.png

 

image.png.666209e0eb8501bac4ddb404cbd4a0e0.png

 

image.png.de05e9621af95f3abf39577cf07ce826.png

 

 

I have looked at Diabolución's changes and applied them to the Rejects (Im opting to use Reject: <name> instead of level; numbering them doesnt seem right given its a collection of 28 levels. Maybe 'master level: attack' would be better than 'level 1:attack' for the single wads for example?), and figured out how to do the CWILV texts; I just wish I could shrink the author name. Scuba Steve's stuff isnt fully working with Crispy Doom, but it works in GZDoom off the bat as one would expect.

 

Its fine to have the mapinfo lump in the fix file; Crispy ignores it, and GZDoom ignores the CWILV and dehacked lumps in favour of the mapinfo. This is the kind of thing BTSX has inside it for cross-port compatibility with no fuss.

 

Will we need a seperate 4:3 titlepic for Crispy, or am I doing something wrong? I'm definitely having fun with this sudden crash-course in editing, and am happy to do all the grunt work that isn't art related, if pointed in the right directions. Thanks @Peter and @Diabolución for getting me inspired to contribute to the community again. Haven't worked on Doom since I left TNT Revilution's development for a job in the video game business and I forgot the vast majority of technical doom stuff like dehacked/mapinfo in the years since, but its all floating back into my head now.

 

EDIT: I see the problem, a new version of Crispy came out that adds widescreen support.

Edited by Devalaous

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Does Crispy support 21:9 or just the 16:9? If the latter, the images need to be cropped to 426 pixels wide in order to display properly.

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On 1/27/2021 at 8:47 PM, RiviTheWarlock said:

@Peter Would you be fine with letting people use these MIDIs in their own WADs?

Since track 17 is mine, I can give you the go ahead on that one, I don't mind.

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29 minutes ago, Bloo said:

Since track 17 is mine, I can give you the go ahead on that one, I don't mind.

Thanks, most people who make MIDIs are cool with it being used in WADs, I just wanted to make sure

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On 1/28/2021 at 2:47 AM, RiviTheWarlock said:

@Peter Would you be fine with letting people use these MIDIs in their own WADs?

This kinda just comes by default when releasing MIDIs on Doom World don't it?

Yeah of course you can.

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Made a patch that uses UMAPINFO to restore the skies and music that are lost when converting each wad into the psn map order.

Also includes a version that works with the midi pack of course.

 

EDIT: Updated to fix MAP07 Specials

masterlevels_umapinfo.zip

Edited by Firebert : Updated to fix MAP07 Specials

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The title screens posted by Scuba Steve are excellent in my opinion (although personally, I much prefer the one with the title at the top), however, the image posted by Doomkid is also interesting, so I thought, maybe it could be a BOSSBACK instead? But because it's not widescreen, I've done this quick edit to it:

mKpIXGt.png

Here is an attempt at using a generic background for it, in this case, some old rocky texture from skulltag.wad
mS8fN0j.png

A different background could always be used, and I think the ID software logo should be removed if it's meant to be used as a BOSSBACK (maybe Doomkid himself could do this?), but other than that, I think this is a neat enough addition for the end cast when playing master levels.

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I have to say, all the variants look good, but the logo at the top just feels like the more natural of the two variants Scuba made.

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On 12/24/2020 at 11:42 PM, Peter said:

Currently mainly for Crispy Doom, using the 'Doom Classic Complete' arrangement (looking for people to port this over to other source ports).

 

Well I'm not sure if I understood correctly, but I managed to incorporate your music into the master.wad without replacing the original doom2 music (for those that have master levels as an episode). Just open both the file and master.wad with slade and copy everything from the file to the main wad.

merge-with-masterWAD-using-slade.rar

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