The /newstuff Chronicles #234

[Xenaero]

Bloodshedder says: You can thank DD for not saving his work before putting it in our patented /newstuff Maker™, which is web-based, was written in a few hours, and may crash certain browsers if enough text is entered. Anyways, here's DD, who still hasn't learned how to spell:

Ugh, late yet again, but you can blame Cyb for it being on Tuesday and me for it originally being on Monday, so tough luck. Here's my peace offering of 8 (7 working) wads for this measly week. Also, note I decided to pull a deathz0r and not review any of the insanely old 1994 wads, horray!

• "Anime Music" and "A real rude one" - Walter "daimon" Confalonieri
  Limit Removing - n/a - 1593 kb -
  The title basically explains it all. You got 2 music wads here, with one containing music you wouldn't expect to play with in Doom, all happy anime tunes. It either might fill your day with visions of demons running along happily along a field of flowers, or you throw something in disgust against the wall. The day, however, can be saved yet! You got a rude.wad, with more heavy tunes containing come rock, roll, and the like, which probably would be better for actually playing Doom with. Each of these wads contains music replacements for both Doom1 and Doom2.
  
  
• BFG arena - Skullers
  doom.exe - Solo Play - 1 kb -
  As said in the text, makes the game BFG only, replacing your Pistol. But not only that, it gives you infinite ammo for said BFG, so you can maniacally run around any level on Nightmare holding down your fire button without worrying about other weapons or ammo. Do you have a choice?
  
  
• Braham Manor - Bryant and The Solution
  Vavoom - Solo Play - 23469 KB -
  Oh man, a Vavoom map! First off, no screenshots just shows how much I know of Vavoom, and i'm currently under the impression after using the PrtScn button along with using 'Screenshot' in the console frantically, that Vavoom can not take any screenshots. If it can, well, too bad, because by the time you tell me this i'll be done with this review ahahaha! Ok, Braham Manor is a very spacey map, containing multiple floors, lots of bedrooms whose most have no real importance. This map is set in an old style mansion (I don't know, early 1900s?), apperantly haunted. One thing I have to complain about, is that there is barely any ammo to speak of when you play this. I found myself fending off Revenants with my pistol most of the time. Same thing with the health packs, there's barely any I could find. I also thought that the wad was a bit too spacey, but there's not much detail to speak of. Most rooms have like, a bed and a closet, while the rest of the room is massive. Sometimes you get a painting or a little table but that's about it. Even when there's monsters in the room it just seems too big for real life. Bottom line, good wad for the experts, can get frustrating for everyone else.
  
  
• Happy Time Circus - Shitbag
  ZDoom - Solo Play - 2554 KB - (img) (img)
  Out of all the things you might expect from the name, I didnt expect this. A totally demented circus taken over by hellish spirits, this is a great and fun wad. And just could make you wary of entering a circus again. You start on a dark road with a very evil sky looming over you and no music playing, but there are some great ambient sounds. The atmosphere in this was carried out very very well, I think. Soon you happen upon a circus where time possesed laughing skulls clase after you trying to bite your toes off, along with evil balloons chasing you inside the tents that you visit. Ammo and health balance was great for this wad. If you run out, you can always punch to baloons, sometimes they yeild items. I loved the music playing in the background as you fought your way through the tents and such. Great wad, and my pick of the week, download it now.
  
  
• HeDRoX - Rodrigo Acevedo
  ZDoom - Solo Play - 503 kb - (img)
  A short, fast and furious map lands in this week, HeDRoX pops in as an extremely detailed single map wad, loaded with high level enemies. The map itself is a pretty short play through, but you're thrown into a level where you can fight off nearly every monster in doom, including archviles that pop up right in your face, and usually no where to run. What was really fun about this wad is in nearly every room you find a group of monsters and usually one you haven't encountered before. Making it in essence, a guantlet. The detail is just staggeringly good and in good supply. A good SP challenge.
  
  
• OMG Hax Deathmatch - Brandon "exp(x)" Del Bel
  doom2.exe - Deathmatch - 3 KB - (img)
  I hope whoever made this dies a bloody death. Best wad ever.
  
  
• Try of a level of DooM (In Italian,"prova" means "try") This level as been updated in 13-05-05 - Walter "daimon" Confalonieri
  doom.exe - Solo Play - 147 KB - (img)
  The most cramped, hom-filled, bug ridden, barely navigatiable, waste of my time I have ever seen. There is nothing good about this period. It rips textures from doom2 and colorizes one of the doom ones to green for some weird alien cave look. The first map is near impossible to complete because you start out with pistol and you dont get any guns until you kill one of the 20 shotgunners that you face later in that level. If by some miracle you manage to get past this one, the next one is pretty pointless. You run around getting keys and suck when you dont even need them in the first place because the exit is in some kind of massive square room littered with zombiemen hidden behind a secret wall. Isn't that nice?
  
  
• Nightside beach valley/Strimmer - me
  jDoom - Solo Play - 6200 KB -
  I'll mention this because I couldn't ever get it to work with jDoom for some reason. Hopefully someone can get to work?
  
  The following review is by The Ultimate DooMer:
  
  
• Heroes by Various Artists
  2370kb - doom.exe - SP - (img) (img) (img) (img) (img) (img) (img) (img)
  This appeared in /newstuff #230 but got missed due to dropping in late. But since I was going to play it anyway, I decided to review it as well. A full 4-episode megawad for DooM 1, compiled from classic maps and tweaked for fixes and secret maps. You get every sort of map here, all with the atmosphere that comes with those early wads. If you know your classics you'll spot some of them here, otherwise you won't (heh). The detail varies quite a lot but it can look quite good at times and there's quite a few large-scale areas that look good considering the technology (you'll also see the tallest lift ever). Gameplay-wise it's surprisingly hard, with lots of bigger monsters, sneaky traps and tricky set-pieces. You're never short on ammo and in some places there's too many powerups but health isn't always around so you'll have to be careful in places. On the downside, the layouts can be confusing at times and you'll run into a lot of non-obvious doors and some that you'll wonder how to open. Overall it's a lengthy but worthwhile journey through classic land if you wish to take the trip.
  
  

[Use]

fp

[Xenaero]

Bloodshedder said:

Anyways, here's DD, who still hasn't learned how to spell

Rofl, you are mean. :(

[DOOM Anomaly]

Woah this one came out of nowhere!:D

[MikeyScoots]

Damnit, my wad didnt get reviewed. Ah well, this gives me time to start working on map02 of my episode.

[Vile1011]

Why was hedrox reviewed again? It was bad enough the first time.

[Xenaero]

Bloodskull said:

Damnit, my wad didnt get reviewed. Ah well, this gives me time to start working on map02 of my episode.

Because you suck and it didnt come in on my week.

Vile1011 said:

Why was hedrox reviewed again? It was bad enough the first time.

It came in this week apperantly as an update (maybe?) so yeah.

[Jehar]

Man. Happy time circus was freakin awesome. What other wad has me freakin out and shooting innocent baloons, huh? Fucking *******.

[SyntherAugustus]

We need more newstuffers to pull deathz0rs. I wish that asshole would stop uploading those 94 wads.

[Xenaero]

BlackFish said:

We need more newstuffers to pull deathz0rs. I wish that asshole would stop uploading those 94 wads.

The name I have come to sometimes hate: FunDuke. :P

[Dr. Zin]

BlackFish said:
We need more newstuffers to pull deathz0rs. I wish that asshole would stop uploading those 94 wads.

Where the hell did he get all of them anyways?

[bryant robinson]

Hmmmmm why did TY Halderman put Braham Manor in Deathmatch ports section of the Idgames database when its not a deathmatch map?

[Nuxius]

Dr. Zin said:

Where the hell did he get all of them anyways?

From what I can remember, he said he got them off of some Doom compilation CD that had a bunch of levels on it.

He only uploads a few at a time though, for reasons for us to guess, and him to know. Also, sometimes, he'll stop out of nowhere, tricking you into thinking that he's done. And just when you think its safe to come out, BAM!, he starts uploading them again.

Anyway, he claims it's for some website list thinger...

[amberleaf]

I bought a 2 CD package off ebay, its called deathmatch 7000. Basically full of shitty 94/95 wads and betas of some level editors and tools. Anyone else ever seen it in the shops?

[myk]

bryant robinson said:
Hmmmmm why did TY Halderman put Braham Manor in Deathmatch ports section of the Idgames database when its not a deathmatch map?

Just let him know by e-mail and he'll move it.

DD_133 said:
Rofl, you are mean. :(

No, he's Spellchecker.

BlackFish said:
I wish that asshole would stop uploading those 94 wads.

Whatever. People upload what they will, you have no say unless they breach copyrights or such, and you're not forced to play anything. I mean, even annoyed customers bitching at petty bullshit are pretty retarded; and you're not paying for anything here.

[exp(x)]

I think it's good that the '94 wads are uploaded simply because the archives are more complete with them. I have no objection to them not being reviewed, however.

[Scuba Steve]

Oh my god I love Heroes!

[TwinBeast]

Hey, Ultimate Doomer, what kind of problems you had with my wad(Nightside Beach Valley)? Did you do everything like I said in the instructions? If you didn't, what did you do then? Did you have correct Doomsday version? It requires 1.8.6.

I knew this would happen...

[NiGHTMARE]

I'd have no objection to 1994 levels being uploaded if they were actually good 1994 levels... but a large proportion of those being uploaded seem to be some of the worst 1994 levels imaginable.

[kristus]

Happy Time Circus is really cool.

[TwinBeast]

I made nice wads around 1994... but they got all erased by a terrible accident... I recreated one of them though...

[kristus]

I thought I made awesome maps around 1994, I was wrong.

[Manc]

Jimi said:

Hey, Ultimate Doomer, what kind of problems you had with my wad(Nightside Beach Valley)? Did you do everything like I said in the instructions? If you didn't, what did you do then? Did you have correct Doomsday version? It requires 1.8.6.

I knew this would happen...

It was DD_133 that reviewed this week, not TUD, and DD usually has problems with at least one wad, often jdoom or edge.

[The Ultimate DooMer]

Yeah, this was a 'guest review' if you like, as I was playing the wad in question and thought 'why not review it since i couldn't when it appeared in my newstuff a few weeks back'.

[Use]

NiGHTMARE said:

I'd have no objection to 1994 levels being uploaded if they were actually good 1994 levels... but a large proportion of those being uploaded seem to be some of the worst 1994 levels imaginable.

I don't know, someone might like them...somewhere...

[TwinBeast]

Mancubus II said:

It was DD_133 that reviewed this week, not TUD, and DD usually has problems with at least one wad, often jdoom or edge.

Oh... that line after the review of my wad had something about The Ultimate Doomer... so I thought it meant my wad, because that line looked like being part of the review...

So, The Ultimate Doomer reviewed Heroes and not my wad.

Well.. DD_133, what kind of problems you had then?

[deathbringer]

It would help if jdoom worked with the simple -file command, not FORCING you to use thier shitty launcher with loads of options you dont want, if you can even work out which of the 100-odd folders you hacve to put your wads in, and thats hoping the maker didnt "help" by making the wad create its own folder structure when unzipped, which with jdoom isnt really noticable because theres loads of folders anyway so why would you notice another 5 suddenly appearing?

Nice lighting though

[TwinBeast]

deathbringer said:

It would help if jdoom worked with the simple -file command, not FORCING you to use thier shitty launcher with loads of options you dont want, if you can even work out which of the 100-odd folders you hacve to put your wads in, and thats hoping the maker didnt "help" by making the wad create its own folder structure when unzipped, which with jdoom isnt really noticable because theres loads of folders anyway so why would you notice another 5 suddenly appearing?

Nice lighting though

You can play jDoom without the launcher. You're not forced to use it. It also has that -file command. But if you're using it without the launcher, you'll have to type a bunch of other commands too.

You don't have to put your wads into any folders you don't want to put them. You can always load them wherever they are. If you use something frequently, you'll notice, if there's suddenly 5 more folders. And the folders there are by default, aren't some odd folders you don't know what they could be. The folder names gives you the idea what kind of stuff they contain.

Like if you had a folder named "wads" would you put something else than wads in it(yea, maybe some txt files with the wads)?

I can't help it, but if someone can't use jDoom, that someone is stupid.

I really don't know how people can complain about some folders.. just look in your windows folder... Or any other game folder. You probably keep all your games in different folders. Or do you just install every game into one folder? Computers at the moment are all about folders. Even DOS had folders. If you have a computer and use it, but never check what's in this folder or in that folder... how do you even know what's in your computer? .. from the start menu? from the desktop? Even they can have folders!

Oh no! There's a big folder coming here! Watch out, Mux Folder and Scana Dully! Run for your life! The folders are coming!!! Where is Fox Mulder and Dana Scully!?! They got exterminated in the ex-folder!!

My spidersense is tickling and saying this post is gonna get deleted too soon... This could be a start of a flame war between different Doom ports... but I've never been in a flame war before.. aw... Can I have a flame war? Please, please, please, lemme 'ave a flamey warey?

/end of transmission

[NiGHTMARE]

Jimi said:

I can't help it, but if someone can't use jDoom, that someone is stupid.

If JDoom can't be used by stupid people, JDoom is stupid.

[TheDarkArchon]

Jimi said:

You can play jDoom without the launcher. You're not forced to use it. It also has that -file command. But if you're using it without the launcher, you'll have to type a bunch of other commands too.

A tad less convienent than every other port, no?

Jimi said:

I can't help it, but if someone can't use jDoom, that someone is stupid.

Or maybe that someone can't be bothered setting up something that is cubersome to use and stick to something simpler to use.

Jimi said:

I really don't know how people can complain about some folders

Ease of use issue again. Arsing around with folders is a lot more bothersome compared to the "exatract & go" capacity of other ports.