journey to hell fix

[j4rio]

Made a fixed version of jth (original thread http://www.doomworld.com/vb/wads-mods/45593-my-megawad-project-journey-to-hell/ ). It was almost complete 32-map set so I thought I could pull it out of ... somewhere. Author stated anyone is free to modify it so I did.

Maps 1-25, 31 and 32 work (26-30 do not, don't play them), boom, tested only in UV with prboom+. Changes were mainly gameplay oriented, so some copypaste from reknown wads might be still spottable - I've concealed a few obvious spots though. Most of maps are linear and big, with hr-ish gameplay. Except that, some midis might be out of place - I don't have artsy ear so any suggestion would be appreciated.

Thanks to Anima Zero for help and FDAs and obviously Isaac.

dl - http://www.mediafire.com/?h8x516ijh3hk3a7

[General Rainbow Bacon]

What's wrong with 26 - 30? And link is broken

[Grain of Salt]

[j4rio]

Urgh just noticed some broken stuff that apparently happened due to changing map order. New link in OP.

DoomHero85 said:

What's wrong with 26 - 30? And link is broken

They are the same as they are in previous version, and previous version has barely any playable maps.
I'll post a different link when I change a few more things I noticed.

Grain of Salt said:

Yes.

It's important to mention, for people who've never heard of this wad before, a large number of the maps in here (still) are essentially remakes of pre-existing maps (mostly from HR, AV and HR2). Here's a relevant thread, if anyone's interested (map numbers have changed since then, for the record). There was also an argument about it on Newstuff at some point, but I can't find that for some reason...

I'm not complaining about this release -- I think it's fun, and very interesting in its own way, and I'm glad someone took the time to tidy it up -- I just think it bears repeating that a lot of the material here borders on plagiarism.

I've read most of arguments about it and wanted to get rid of the most ripoffish maps. Although I realised after that I really have no desire to map anything for this wad from scratch.

[General Rainbow Bacon]

I think you should fix up those last few maps as map 28 is a huge, and actually pretty fun map if you have the necessary equipment.

[j4rio]

Don't tell me you've already played 27 maps and had not enough. :P

Nah, no I won't touch those maps anytime soon because they are too stupid not to make me immediately close them once they load up in doombuilder. 28 was probably tested only in zdoom because no matter what it crashes prb+, also every single encounter is utterly silly. It was hardly tested at all. As for the rest of maps - 26 is total ripoff, 27 was a bit changed but later parts of layout hardly allow any witty encounters, 29 is also stupid and requires complete remake and 30, well, no comment on that disaster.

[whiteboy567]

Does this fix the blatantly ripped off maps?

[j4rio]

Concealed rather than fixed. Gameplay in those maps was special kind of weird rather than ripped off, so I focused on it. If there is any way too obvious ripoff, I'll gladly delete/remake it - to be honest, I don't know AV and HR that much to notice all "similarities".

There are also 5 stock maps author left behind before vanishing that don't seem to be ripped off anything, but are just as weird anyway. One was used to fill removed hr2's map9 ripoff, the rest is unused. I wanted to be sure which maps to remove before using these.

[Phml]

Hehe, I had a play through this yesterday and kept telling myself "this part is from AV", "this part is from HR" multiple times per level. There really is a lot that isn't original, and as I haven't even played through HR2 or know the HR/AV levels by heart, there's probably a bunch of stuff I'm missing.

It's a mini-challenge in itself, where's waldo for Doom. I'll have a stab at it, without cheating by checking Grain of Salt's previous list. :)

Map01:

Right after the very first door, this area is straight out of AV Map04 (after taking the lift in that map, the corner with orange sky).

Later on, the "outdoor" area with a red star on the ground is straight out of HR Map01. The star was actually there in HR although it's just light, the zimmer columns, the pillar decoration are all the same.

Map02:

The start area is right out of HR04, except it's straight instead of being curved.

After entering the first room, you can glance on your left for a look at HR03 (roughly the same room as the one you get when you open the door on your left in that map) or, if you prefer to do so, marvel at HR02 on your right. HR02 is again used a bit later on with that switch that opens a door on the opposite side.

Map03:

The start area as well as the first corridor and window are from HR01.

Map04:

While I can't recognize it, I would bet the center room with the caged revenants and lowered floor is from a classic map, as I've seen Alexander S. using a similarly looking setup in one of his maps, and he often takes old classic stuff and put a spin on it that makes it better more often than not (see, that's the difference between a ripoff and a homage! ;) ).

The corner with the metal textures and plasma gun room is eerily similar to the area leading to the blue key, including the BFG room, in AV14.

Map05:

Strong inspirations, but no direct similarities that I could spot. That brown straight corridor filled with imps, with columns in the middle made me think of the starting room from HR23. The blue room reminded me of the one from AV26. Bright colors and slow lowering floors with hordes of teleporting monsters bring Deus Vult to mind too.

I might be stretching a bit on these ones, it's just how it felt to me.

Map06:

The corridor leading to the SSG/berzerk is right out of HR11.

Beyond the first door, most of the map is a smaller sized, bastardized HR13 (starting at the open area with a cybie in a fountain and 4 doors).

The area leading to the yellow key is similar to the final corridor in AV04.

Map07:

This is pretty much Arachnophobia (HR07)... Except there's only four spiders! Oh, the humanity.

Actually, that made it end up different enough to have some value... That is, the value a square room with four identical encounters and monster block lines ruining any chance for monsters to corner you can have.

Also, one can fall down and get stuck indefinitely if rushing to the door before having killed mancs and arachnotrons. Inescapable pits are the devil, especially non-damaging ones.

[j4rio]

Heh, it's quite the other way around with me. I know hr2 just about entirely whole, so I knew what to get rid of / change when it was hr2ish. I guess I should have played through AV and HR before doing this... sigh.

[Grain of Salt]

[j4rio]

Damn, played a bit of HR in nomo and I really spotted some similarities. Next time I touch this there'd most likely be a bit junking with layout, although getting this at least playable was annoying enough.

@Phml Thanks a bunch for listing, I'm sure I'd never spot some of those.

@Grain Yeah, but I changed stuff according to those demos so they all desync. :(
Pity, I wonder how Anima got through most of the late maps AND in a single go!

Besides, guys, you don't feel like helping up a bit with polishing this? I'm sure you'd be easily able to make it look a lot less like ripoff than I ever could.

[Grain of Salt]

[Phml]

I'd rather make an entire new megawad from scratch than play used car salesman.

I don't feel strongly against copying stuff, many of my favorite maps are remakes Alexander S. made, but here the result is worse than the original. It's pieces and parts plopped down haphazardly into maps, and what little content seems to be new plays just as poorly.

IMHO, YMMV and all that.

[j4rio]

@Graim Got it, old version and fdas - http://www.megaupload.com/?d=ZFBD11HM

@Phml I understand.

Guess I'll let this rot for now. I wanted to do quite a lot more changes but it was already damaging my brain. I still think this could be polished into a playable thing but that's just out of me from now on.

[Grain of Salt]

[IRod54]

Can anyone redownload my mapset that includes the 5 maps I had changed and post it here so I can retrieve it? (9,21,24,25,33)Thank you

[Mad Butcher]

This is the latest version I have.

http://www.mediafire.com/?mpuv783q8ag3oj9

[IRod54]

Yes, just what I was looking for, thx! :)