[Back on idgames] Silence.wad Version 4.1 Full Release (Vanilla Compatible Ultimate Doom Replacement)

[Wilster_Wonkels]

Just finished version 2.2 of the wad, a lot of the optimizations this time around came from watching @sandwedge playthrough the episode.

Edited April 23, 2022 by Wilster_Wonkels

[Lippeth]

Have been playing a lot of this, and the only thing I found was a misaligned texture on both sides of linedef 1909 in E2M6.

 

Pistol starting E2M7 is actually quite difficult. I'm not even complaining, that was a great time.

Edited April 24, 2022 by Lippeth

[The_SloVinator]

Finished this today.

 

Very good stuff. Few things I might mention:

- E1 had too many rockets that didn't seem to have that much use. I would suggest making rockets scarce as Barons & Cacos don't exist yet. Maybe rocket boxes as secret-only items & few rockets in some corners of the map. E2, on the other hand, was balanced perfectly with rocket ammunition. Props for that.

- Some items are a bit too close to the fence (mid-textures), usually the secret ones. They can be picked up from the outside easily. Putting them a bit further away should do the trick.

- E2M5 has an inescapable pit with some radsuits. Not sure what was the purpose of that. Maybe I'm missing something.

- E2M9 has a soft-lock where the silver bars would close again & there is no way to get to the exit anymore if you backtrack. Maybe a hidden switch near the bars could help.

 

Keep it up.

[NightFright]

So what's new in v2.2?

[Wilster_Wonkels]

On 4/22/2022 at 8:11 PM, Lippeth said:

Have been playing a lot of this, and the only thing I found was a misaligned texture on both sides of linedef 1909 in E2M6.

 

Pistol starting E2M7 is actually quite difficult. I'm not even complaining, that was a great time.

Sure, now you tell me about linedef 1909 haha

 

5 hours ago, The_SloVinator said:

Finished this today.

 

Very good stuff. Few things I might mention:

- E1 had too many rockets that didn't seem to have that much use. I would suggest making rockets scarce as Barons & Cacos don't exist yet. Maybe rocket boxes as secret-only items & few rockets in some corners of the map. E2, on the other hand, was balanced perfectly with rocket ammunition. Props for that.

- Some items are a bit too close to the fence (mid-textures), usually the secret ones. They can be picked up from the outside easily. Putting them a bit further away should do the trick.

- E2M5 has an inescapable pit with some radsuits. Not sure what was the purpose of that. Maybe I'm missing something.

- E2M9 has a soft-lock where the silver bars would close again & there is no way to get to the exit anymore if you backtrack. Maybe a hidden switch near the bars could help.

 

Keep it up.

Thanks a lot for catching that soft-lock on e2m9; it completely slipped past me. The radsuits on e2m5 are mostly to help navigate the map more effeciently. There are a few damaging floors throughout, so I thought it would be a nice place to put a few, seeing as you loop past that area a couple times. The inescapable pit is just that (I wanted to spruce up that corner of the room).

 

3 hours ago, NightFright said:

So what's new in v2.2?

V2.2 is just some bugfixes and optimizations, nothing major really.

[Wilster_Wonkels]

Not to ruin anyone's weekend but Episode 3 is now live.

Edited May 16, 2022 by Wilster_Wonkels

[Rudolph]

As weird as it may sound when said out loud, more Doom can never ruin someone's weekend. :P

[Firedust]

Is this planned to be a full 4-episode replacement?

[TheCyberDruid]

Just played through episode 3 and noticed a minor thing in Limbo (my favourite map from the episode):

When you walk back over this bridge it raises again creating a HOM. Solid episode with a pretty cool finale otherwise :)

[Rudolph]

2 hours ago, Firedust said:

Is this planned to be a full 4-episode replacement?

According to the OP, it is unlikely:

 

Another note I'd like to add here is to not expect an E4. I think I've done what I can with these types of maps, and honestly would like to move on to something else once I finish polishing these levels some more.

 

@Wilster_Wonkels Do you plan on giving this megawad a custom soundtrack?

[Firedust]

That's cool. Always better to admit that you've done what you had set out to do rather than try to milk the full 32/36 maps out of yourself! Alright, I guess I'll give this a go now :)

 

Love me some classic Doom.

[Rudolph]

I am missing a secret in E1M4. I take it involves lowering those two pillars with the blue UAC logo screen, but I do not know how to do it.

 

Could I get a hint, please?

[Lippeth]

27 minutes ago, Rudolph said:

I am missing a secret in E1M4. I take it involves lowering those two pillars with the blue UAC logo screen, but I do not know how to do it.

 

Could I get a hint, please?

Spoiler

Trying to not give it away, you can see the two pillars from the adjacent room when standing on the upper level, with three techno pillar sprites now between you and the pillars.

 

[Rudolph]

Thanks! Most of the secrets in this mapset are really annoying to figure out and they bring the pace to a screeching halt.

 

I have only found three (the backpack on the pillar, the blue armor in the middle of a slime pit and the tunnel that is accessible through a fake wall) out of E1M5's secrets so far and I am honestly losing my patience now. Secrets in Doom should not be this difficult to figure out.

Edited May 15, 2022 by Rudolph

[TheMagicMushroomMan]

3 hours ago, Rudolph said:

Secrets in Doom should not be this difficult to figure out.

Disagree, I enjoy secrets that are actually secret. There are enough maps already where many secrets are either in plain sight or easily solved.

[Captain Keen]

@Wilster_Wonkels Congrats on the release of Ep 3!! Looks great.

[Rudolph]

After spending an hour or so shooting and humping walls in E1M5, I had to give up and noclip my way to them; I still could not find the last one, however. If someone knows how to get the secrets, I would really like to know.

 

 

[Wilster_Wonkels]

15 hours ago, TheCyberDruid said:

Just played through episode 3 and noticed a minor thing in Limbo (my favourite map from the episode):

When you walk back over this bridge it raises again creating a HOM. Solid episode with a pretty cool finale otherwise :)

Thanks for catching that, I'll make sure that that problem's gone in the next update.

 

13 hours ago, Rudolph said:

 

@Wilster_Wonkels Do you plan on giving this megawad a custom soundtrack?

I was giving that a lot of thought while I worked on E3 actually. I've made a few midis over the years that I intended for a different project, but I've been testing them out today with this project, and they seem to work fine. They might turn up in the next update or two. You also seem to be taking issue with some of the secret hunting. I get that they're not all easy to find, but we couldn't really call them secrets if they were. I used to play through levels hellbent on total completionism, but eventually I decided to just play along and enjoy myself, finding whatever secrets I may in passing.

[Captain Keen]

Okay, I finished playing Episode 3! A great conclusion for this wad. All the things I liked about the earlier episodes are here, but taken to 11. Some really small claustrophobic maps, too (especially early on), which are pretty intense. GREAT conclusion. E3M8 might be one of my favorites of the entire wad. Really liked the disappearing paths and the multiple cybies and general almost-but-not-quite-slaughter chaos of those final encounters.

 

Some bullet point thoughts:

 

*I kinda like that this wad is no frills. Not even new episode or map renames, no new assets; it's just maps, nothing else. Just the good stuff! Meaning if you do add custom music, I'd prefer if it's a separate add-on in the download so I can play with stock music if I want.

 

*I didn't really notice anything that felt "off". The pacing was great. No horrid bugs. I look forward to playing it again! Great use of stock assets, as before.

 

*For whatever reason I feel like E3M4 and E3M6 could maybe be swapped? Map 4 is so large and feels like a great Mt. Erebus replacement, and I think it would flow well into map 7. The "Wilster is Cool" map 6 feels like it would be great as a slightly earlier map. This is probably just completely my personal opinion, but anyway, I think you could flop the placement of Map 4 and Map 6 in the third episode and it might flow nicely. Something to consider.

 

*One bug I encountered is in that great final map (E3M8); the Spider-Mastermind could get caught in the lifts (even if it's a little far from them) and thus rise into seemingly thin air. I also noticed that if I drew the Cyberdemons toward that platform in the narrow walkway that they too could float sometimes above it. That was harder to repeat, so not sure if that's really a bug, but the Spidey lift bug was pretty repeatable. (I went back with cheats to mess around with it to just see how common the lifting into thin air is, since playing legit doesn't give you a lot of opportunity to bug test with all the rockets and bullets being fired at the player!)

 

*There was one point in E3M2 where I picked up a radsuit that felt like it was unneeded? Maybe I just did things in a weird and particular order. I feel like I'll need to replay to have an opinion on whether it's a player balance thing or a complete non-issue.

 

Anyway... fantastic work @Wilster_Wonkels! This is a really great vanilla wad, and I'm glad to see it (almost) complete! All 3 episodes are killer work as far as I'm concerned. Silence is now definitely on my list of favorite wads.

 

EDIT: Oh, and regarding secrets! I haven't found them all. I don't think this is a real issue, they are "secret" for a reason. As long as the maps flow well, I say bring on the difficult secrets! Unless some of them are bugged? I haven't found everything but I certainly wouldn't make them easier since they are a *bonus* part of the maps.

[Rudolph]

7 hours ago, Wilster_Wonkels said:

You also seem to be taking issue with some of the secret hunting. I get that they're not all easy to find, but we couldn't really call them secrets if they were. I used to play through levels hellbent on total completionism, but eventually I decided to just play along and enjoy myself, finding whatever secrets I may in passing.

I guess that is fair, but what is driving me nuts is that I am not sure if I am missing something or if, as Captain Keen surmised, some kind of bug is preventing me for getting the secrets.

[sandwedge]

It was a real treat to see this was uploaded this weekend.

 

 

General thoughts from vid description:

Played in GZDoom blind on Ultraviolence with pistol starts. Been looking forward to Wilster's final episode to their classic Doom 1 tribute and so far I am not disappointed! Some classic Hell themed levels going off the original design like Id did, but just a bit spicier with some encounters. As always there is plenty of ammo and high ordinance weaponry to deal with enemies like Barons of Hell which avoids some of the pitfalls that Doom 1 can have. If you're itching for some nostalgic Doom goodness you can't go wrong here!

 

I'm really looking forward to playing the rest!

[Wilster_Wonkels]

18 hours ago, Captain Keen said:

*I kinda like that this wad is no frills. Not even new episode or map renames, no new assets; it's just maps, nothing else. Just the good stuff! Meaning if you do add custom music, I'd prefer if it's a separate add-on in the download so I can play with stock music if I want.

 

*For whatever reason I feel like E3M4 and E3M6 could maybe be swapped? Map 4 is so large and feels like a great Mt. Erebus replacement, and I think it would flow well into map 7. The "Wilster is Cool" map 6 feels like it would be great as a slightly earlier map. This is probably just completely my personal opinion, but anyway, I think you could flop the placement of Map 4 and Map 6 in the third episode and it might flow nicely. Something to consider.

I'll definitely keep that in mind to add the music separate... I'm going to call it "The Sound of Silence."

 

You're absolutely right about swapping those two maps now that I think about it, the only sticking point is the secret level exit needs to be on e3m6, so I'll have to make a new one if I swap them around.

[Rudolph]

@sandwedge How did you manage to get the door opened in E1M5 at 6:18? I keep shooting at the wall, but it does not seem to work.

 

Anyway, I have finally managed to spot the shootable switch that leads to the secret courtyard. At least, I know this one is not bugged!

 

However, I get the feeling that there is either no actual seventh secret or if there is, it does not register, as even after using the am_cheats 2 command, I do not see any remaining item or unexplored area on the map.

 

On a positive note, I was able to find all the secrets in E1M6, so no problem there.

 

Also, is the slime pool around the Soulsphere pillar in E1M7 supposed to be non-damaging? Because if so, then I would suggest changing it to water.

 

All in all, my issue with E1M5's secrets aside, it is an excellent Episode 1 replacement. Great job! :)

Edited May 17, 2022 by Rudolph

[sandwedge]

4 hours ago, Rudolph said:

@sandwedge How did you manage to get the door opened in E1M5 at 6:18? I keep shooting at the wall, but it does not seem to work.

 

I watched the footage and I think what happened is it autoaimed at a shotgunner up in the window, which was by that shootable switch which opened the door to the lift.  I didn't even realize.  You can probably shoot it from the ledge on the other side too.  Does seem rather obscure if you don't get lucky, though.

[Rudolph]

That is it! You are right. That leaves me with only one secret to find, but again, I get the feeling that it might be bugged, as I have explored every room in the level and picked all the items. Is there a way for me to figure it out using a level editor or something?

[Wilster_Wonkels]

This took a couple more days than I expected, but I'm ready for the release of version 3.1. The biggest changes this time around are the swapping of E3m4 and E3m6 and the addition of the soundtrack I've been working on.

 

On 5/17/2022 at 12:44 PM, Rudolph said:

That is it! You are right. That leaves me with only one secret to find, but again, I get the feeling that it might be bugged, as I have explored every room in the level and picked all the items. Is there a way for me to figure it out using a level editor or something?

I used to play levels with the editor open on the side so I could collect all the secrets actually, it's helpful, but a bit time consuming. I don't think any of the secrets in here should be bugged though, anytime I playtest the levels I can consistently collect them all myself.

[Rudolph]

45 minutes ago, Wilster_Wonkels said:

I used to play levels with the editor open on the side so I could collect all the secrets actually, it's helpful, but a bit time consuming. I don't think any of the secrets in here should be bugged though, anytime I playtest the levels I can consistently collect them all myself.

I got the fake wall that leads to a Blursphere (1), the Backpack on the pillar (2), the switch in the courtyard (3), the secret room with the Computer Map (4), the Blue Armor (5) and the secret Soulsphere (6). Could you tell me what I am missing there?

[Wilster_Wonkels]

46 minutes ago, Rudolph said:

I got the fake wall that leads to a Blursphere (1), the Backpack on the pillar (2), the switch in the courtyard (3), the secret room with the Computer Map (4), the Blue Armor (5) and the secret Soulsphere (6). Could you tell me what I am missing there?

I feel like an idiot now, but I reviewed the levels and realized that one secret is in fact bugged. I modified the soulsphere secret at one point and didn't realize that an inaccessible sector automatically took the secret flag. I'll remove that in the next update, and thanks for noticing it.

[Rudolph]

@Wilster_Wonkels I KNEW IT!!! :D

 

But hey, do not sweat it: mistakes happen. Thank you for being open to feedback in the first place!

[Captain Keen]

22 hours ago, Wilster_Wonkels said:

This took a couple more days than I expected, but I'm ready for the release of version 3.1. The biggest changes this time around are the swapping of E3m4 and E3m6 and the addition of the soundtrack I've been working on.

 

I think the swap works! Playing through some of this again, it all holds up very well on replay. Great work, you're basically at the finish line now!

 

I hope even more people play this in the coming weeks. Peak Doom Vanilla!