The /newstuff Chronicles #290

[deathz0r]

After reading Assmaster's reviews last week, I have officially decided to become even more of an asshole and play each WAD in their "intended" port instead of always using ZDoom-based (unless it's for Legacy/EDGE/JDoom/Vavoom, naturally) ports, effective immediately. I will announce this once: If a WAD does not run properly in the "intended" port the author stated, I will not give it a proper review. If you state the wrong map in the text file, I will not review it. This is not my response of saying that I'm sick of doing this: I enjoy doing /newstuff despite of what gets uploaded. This is a response to people giving bullshit "intended source ports" in their text files where it's blatantly obvious they haven't actually tested it in said port. You have been warned.

Furthermore, if you don't state an intended port or any reference to that port (mentioning DECORATE for instance), I will automatically assume that it's a vanilla map. I will test vanilla maps in Chocolate Doom. I will test limitless port maps in PRBoom with Doom/Doom 2 v1.9 compatability. I will test Boom maps in PRBoom. If you state a particular Boom version, I will use the proper compatability level. If you say "ZDoom-based" but no specific version, I will test it in ZDoom 1.23b33. What is this, my friends? I call it "quality assurance". I hope we will all agree on that. If not, feel free to flame me, but don't blame me for your stupidity.

Also, I apologize for being a day late. Normally I'd come up with a crappy excuse, but one of my dogs shot 10 puppies out of her peepee hole on Friday and mum decided to conveniently place the whelping box in the same room as the only computer with internet access, therefore I couldn't download the WADs until the middle of the night on Saturday.

• 1024-2 - alterworldruler
  Boom - SP - 71kb - (img)
  DOES NOT WORK IN INTENDED SOURCE PORT
  
  
• 1024-3:Marine goes to hell - alterworldruler
  Boom - SP - 40kb - (img) (img)
  DOES NOT WORK IN INTENDED SOURCE PORT
  
  A lift or something does not function (second screenshot), meaning I can't finish the level. What a shame, it looked promising too.
  
  
• Gamarra's story: Part IV "The nightmare" - Giulio Galassi
  ZDoom - SP - 40kb - (img) (img) (img)
  My, head, fucking, hurts. Badly.
  
  I had these weird dreams back in 1994 where I was playing incredibly huge Doom maps with really crappy textures that were badly tiled and not enjoying it one bit, and I'd wake up in the middle of a night with massive headaches from even thinking of rooms that big. Maybe it was some precognitive ability I had, but thanks for making my dream come true you goddamn asshole. I can't even think straight anymore and I still have other WADs to review.
  
  
• Horror in the Deep - Aluqah
  ZDoom - SP - 232kb - (img) (img)
  I played this directly after gamarra4 so I had a very, very short fuse, but fortunately this was more entertaining than I expected. I've reviewed some of Aluqah's WADs before and I didn't give them favourable reviews in the past, but he has really improved over time. This WAD makes use of ZDoom features quite well: not over the top, but it works fine. However, please do not use teleporting elevators in the middle of hallways: that gave me a massive "WTF" when I teleported after walking off the elevator when it was going up.
  
  However, I am in a really shitty mood and I have to point this out:
  
  Base: New from scratch, but the boat of the end, was taken from "Dystropia 3" (Anthony Czerwonka and Iikka Keranen).
  
  Followed by this:
  
  * Copyright / Permissions *
  
  Authors may NOT use this map as a base for new ones or reuse. Get your own ideas.
  
  Way to self-contradict yourself, moron.
  
  
• Paradox 2 - Morbid DooMer
  Limitless Port - SP - 259kb - (img) (img) (img)
  Wow. This single map WAD is amazing. I haven't played other maps by Morbid DooMer before, but this is really awesome and fun to play. Extremely challenging gameplay but not over-the-top, the detail level is great and I would love to play this on coop sometime. The music replacement is feels appropiate for this map as well. WAD of the week.
  
  
• Portal To Hell - Portal To Hell
  doom.exe - SP - 33kb - (img) (img) (img)
  The date of the WAD and the lack of release date in the text file almost made me not review this, but the amount of broken WADs this week forced me to review this. For the love of god, don't make me do it ever again.
  
  Seriously. I cannot say anything positive about this, but please listen: "needed 3 days" does not mean effort in making a Single Player level for any mapper unless you're one of them crazyass speedmappers. If you spent a week or more on this, it would probably be more interesting than this tripe.
  
  
• SJS2: Outpost - Simon 'SlayeR' Judd
  Boom compatible - SP - 410kb - (img) (img) (img)
  It was tough between giving this and Paradox 2 the WAD of the Week award, but this narrowly missed out by the slightest margin. The gameplay is solid and is hella fun to play, but it's slightly easier than Paradox 2. The new textures and music are both great and really add to the atmosphere of this WAD. If you had to pick two SP maps to play this week, I strongly suggest downloading this and Paradox 2.
  
  
• Styx Deathmatch 01 - Richard "Styx" Jaspars
  doom2.exe - DM - 234kb - (img) (img) (img)
  I love this mapset. A very solid four-map WAD that has a strong greenwar/tntblood feeling. Is it a coincidence that it was made by one of the tntblood mappers? Of course not! The maps are incredibly smooth for movement, rather open and weapon placement is excellent. Try these out on your local client/server port or on chocolate-doom with Doomwire!
  
  
• The Archives Are Doomed - Wills
  ZDoom - SP - 1105kb - (img) (img) (img) (img) (img) (img) (img) (img)
  This was the first WAD I played this week, and I'm really glad that I did.
  
  Now, I know a certain person didn't like me being an egotastic jerk and referring to my own WADs during reviews, but this is a blatant do-tims imitation that I have to mention it. The whole premise of it just reeks of do-tims. Does it live up to my awesome WAD however? A valid question indeed.
  
  The short answer is yes. As soon as I played the first map, I knew instantly that I was going to enjoy this from start to finish. To quote Tom_D non-verbatim (note to self: why the hell is MSN not logging), this "lampoons so many damn WADs that you have to totally play this dean". I was like "o rly" and he was like "it even lampoons do-tims" and I was like "HOLY SHIT I MUST PLAY THIS NOW" and he was like "he even lampoons his own previous WADs" and I was like "well hot damn, i'm going to seriously check this out now".
  
  There's obvious references to 1994 WADs, wow.wad, Mock 2, Congestion 1024, do-tims, How To Not Be Seen, Imp Encounter, dwforums series, Lost Soulsphere and other various WADs that this is almost like an episode of Family Guy, except I'm actually laughing at it. Who woulda thunk?
  
  However, I did not like the lack of co-op support (something I believe makes jokewads a lot more fun) and I found the DM levels to be extremely lackluster, although DM01 was hilarious because of the map title and the reference to "JACK BAUER SON" in DM03.
  
  
• The Ghoul's Forest 2 - Cutmanmike
  ZDoom - SP - 1,306kb - (img)
  This WAD kicks some serious ass. Whatever you do, don't play this during daylight _OR ELSE_. Perfect for the upcoming halloween season.
  
  
• Xenus:Lost base - alterworldruler
  Boom - SP - 60kb - (img)
  DOES NOT WORK IN INTENDED SOURCE PORT
  
  

There's also an update to Hard Attack.

[Xtife]

fp suckas

paradox 2 ftw! nice job

[caco_killer]

I don't think there's anything wrong with you playing WADs in their "intended source ports." WAD designers need to learn to test their files with the source port they suggest people use. It only makes sense.

[myk]

deathz0r said:
SJS2: Outpost - Simon 'SlayeR' Judd
Limitless Port - SP - 410kb

This one appears to be an actual Boom compatible wad, since I tried playing it on Doom2+ and some switches and triggers did nothing. The TXT says something like "Boom, limitless" so I wasn't sure, hence I tried it thus.

[sirjuddington]

Yeah, it uses some boom features.

[deathz0r]

Woops, way to make a mistake.

And another one with "The Archives Are Doomed": It's meant to say ZDoom, not doom.exe. Copy+paste ftw

EDIT: Plus it should be 1,105k.

And Horror in the Deep should be ZDoom and 232k. Hooray for rushing it!

[fraggle]

deathz0r's reviews remind me of "Fat Sow" from Digitiser.

[Pure Hellspawn]

I would like to comment on the Ghoul's Forest #2 and state that the ghoul is a legendary monster. It truly does scare the living shit out of you. MUCH better than the first wad (and the monster is somewhat of a challenge for you Doom Gods out there as well)

However, I would also like to point one bad thing about the wad:

When the Ghoul chases you, it loops through it's chase sound too quickly.

Anyways, go scare the shit out of yourself. You did? Do it again once more. Then go scare the living hell out of unexpecting people. Nice Halloween spook.


Also, Hard Attack is the name of HR #18.

[DOOM Anomaly]

Hurray. :D

I'll try out every one that I can get to work. :D Thanks. :D

[LexiMax]

The jokewad was pretty awesome imho. It didn't drag out in an unfunny way like the ones that actually try to cover any actual forum drama, which is a good thing, it was more like a mock2, straight and to the point.

Plus JACK BAUER SON!

[exp(x)]

Yay, chocolate doom screenshots.

[Schneelocke]

deathz0r said:

After reading Assmaster's reviews last week, I have officially decided to become even more of an asshole and play each WAD in their "intended" port instead of always using ZDoom-based (unless it's for Legacy/EDGE/JDoom/Vavoom, naturally) ports, effective immediately.

I think that's a great idea. :)

If you say "ZDoom-based" but no specific version, I will test it in ZDoom 1.23b33.

This, on the other hand, seems a bit unfair - that's kinda like taking a windows program that someone gives you, trying to install it on windows 3.1, and then complaining it doesn't work.

Base: New from scratch, but the boat of the end, was taken from "Dystropia 3" (Anthony Czerwonka and Iikka Keranen).

Followed by this:

* Copyright / Permissions *

Authors may NOT use this map as a base for new ones or reuse. Get your own ideas.

Way to self-contradict yourself, moron.

Haha, pwned. ^^

[Kinsie]

Schneelocke said:

This, on the other hand, seems a bit unfair - that's kinda like taking a windows program that someone gives you, trying to install it on windows 3.1, and then complaining it doesn't work.

Yeah, this is the only real gear in the works, seeing as there's an official release that ISN'T five or so years old.

[Bloodshedder]

Originally, deathz0r said ZDoom 1.22, and after I called him a retard, he said change it to 1.23b33. I think the latest version, or even 63a, would be a better choice.

[TheDarkArchon]

I've noticed that all the maps that "DO NOT WORK ON THE INTENDED SOURCE PORT" are made by the same person...

Deathz0r: You do know that Morbid DooMer = Dutch Devil, right?

[Dutch Doomer]

What the fuck Morbid DooMer stole my map he is gonna pay for this ;)

[Alter]

Oh sorry for the bugs about my maps! they're old and hadn't tested them in boom :( heh next maps will do not have that same error! and those maps need zdoom!

[LexiMax]

Bloodshedder said:

Originally, deathz0r said ZDoom 1.22, and after I called him a retard, he said change it to 1.23b33. I think the latest version, or even 63a, would be a better choice.

Aren't there examples of ZDoom maps that work in older versions that break in new versions? I seem to remember there being a few examples, but I can't recall off the top of my head.

EDIT: I found one, ZanZan TC, but incidently that was made for a specific version of ZDoomGL, not ZDoom, and there is an updated verison avalable for GZDoom that was uploaded a couple weeks ago, so bleh.

[funduke]

Thanks for the WADs and reviews.

Where can i get the original PARADOX2 by Tom Mustaine?

I found info about it's existence here:

http://72.14.221.104/search?q=cache:glr_9fDNUm4J:www.mustaine.com/modules.php%3Fname%3DSections%26op%3Dviewarticle%26artid%3D32+paradox2+mustaine&hl=de&lr=&client=opera&strip=1

Greetings
Funduke

(This posting is edited by Funduke)

[Kristian Ronge]

It's one of the "Master levels".

[funduke]

Kristian Ronge said:

It's one of the "Master levels".

Huh! you're very quick!
I mistyped my question. Please check my edit version of my question above.

Greetings
Funduke

[Dutch Doomer]

Hey nice website cool to read how the original Paradox was born after Mustaine his first map wasn't accepted by American McGee.

[Hobbs]

Out of curiosity, why aren't the (possibly unfair) reviews for alterworldruler's wads being bitched and moaned over while reviews for wads such as demon eclipse and, moreso, sapphire received heavy criticism. After all both could be considered biased and improper.

Fans of so-called 'awesome mappers' for ZDoom I am interested to hear your nonsense answer regarding this.

[Alter]

And thing about reviews! you should add which source port works fine with my maps after DOES NOT WORK IN INTENDED SOURCE PORT! and demon eclipse review was unfair because eriance put many much work in it so don't negative him!

[Schneelocke]

HobbsTiger1 said:

Out of curiosity, why aren't the (possibly unfair) reviews for alterworldruler's wads being bitched and moaned over while reviews for wads such as demon eclipse and, moreso, sapphire received heavy criticism. After all both could be considered biased and improper.

Good question. I just played alterworldruler's WADs, and I've got to say they were quite nice - I particularly liked 1024-3 (I've just got a weak spot for hellish maps). :) So yeah, a better review would've been nicer, although I can also understand deathz0r's frustration that they didn't work in Boom as advertised.

Ah well.

[zap610]

alterworldruler said:

And thing about reviews! you should add which source port works fine with my maps after DOES NOT WORK IN INTENDED SOURCE PORT! and demon eclipse review was unfair because eriance put many much work in it so don't negative him!

First of all, it is the mapper's responsibility to tell which source port works with the map. It is a reviewer's job to review the work, not to correct it. And while it is sad that he put so much time into DE and ended up with a negative review, the fact remains life is unfair.

[Quasar]

Maybe the wads should be fixed and reuploaded, then they could be reviewed for real. As a source port author, I am also very tired of the false compatibility statements. Anything BOOM-compatible should be able to run in PrBoom or EE (possibly with a few tiny differences that should be resolved eventually...), and if they don't, they need to state what port is REALLY needed to use them.

We port authors go to great lengths to document our engines and produce standards for feature use. Mappers need to follow them.

[Use]

alterworldruler said:

and demon eclipse review was unfair because eriance put many much work in it so don't negative him!

Who cares? The wad wasn't fun. I'm sure alot of work was put into Unreal 2 and it still sucked. Welcome to the real world where simply putting effort into something doesn't make it great.

[Russell_P]

AlexMax said:

Aren't there examples of ZDoom maps that work in older versions that break in new versions? I seem to remember there being a few examples, but I can't recall off the top of my head.

My son was playing Romero Death Skittles in a newer version of ZDoom (can't remember the version number off hand) and some of the effects weren't working correctly at all. Actually I'd say it was verging on being completely messed up. Oh well, :(

[LexiMax]

Russell_P said:

My son was playing Romero Death Skittles in a newer version of ZDoom (can't remember the version number off hand) and some of the effects weren't working correctly at all. Actually I'd say it was verging on being completely messed up. Oh well, :(

Knew it. This is why stating the version of ZDoom is important, because things can (and often do) break from version to version.

HobbsTiger1 said:

Fans of so-called 'awesome mappers' for ZDoom I am interested to hear your nonsense answer regarding this.

Because one was created by one of the so called 'pillars of the community' like Tormentor or NiGHTMARE, and the others aren't. Plus Tormentor and NiGHTMARE are good at being whiny little bitches. I can't wait until KDiZD comes across my hard drive.

Wasn't Nick baker a respected member of the community before he went batshit insane sometime durring the development of KDiZD? Seriously, his prior work was pretty OK, and I loved his texture packs, even going so far as to use Nightmare 1 and 2 for ZDaemon CTF's map packs. I considered de-NickBakerfying the remakes of them I'm doing for ClassicCTF, but they just wouldn't be the same...