Things about Doom you just found out

[zokum]

E1m9 is perhaps in my opinion not the best map in the episode, but it introduces elements that you do not see in any other map. These are a hint of what might come in the full game.

I have only just recently noticed how common impossible architecture is in Doom episode 1. Buildings are often bigger on the inside than the outside. This is easily seen on e1m1 and e1m5. I've known for 20 years that the rules are a bit bendy, Romero seems to go for good looking areas, even though they are impossible in reality.

If you're unsure what I am talking about, check out the zig zag room the the outside VS how big it ins on the inside on e1m1. As for e1m5, go to the outside area with the soulsphere and look at the building vs how tall the building is on the inside. The ouside ceiling level is -16, while the building inside has a ceiling level of 144 in the raising floors in the nukage area. The nukage area is also way too tall, with a ceiling level of 72. This one is even worse, since this area is much close to the outside.

Many maps contain such errors, and as long as they aren't too obvious most people never notice them. The indisputed king of impossible architecture has to be they bars on e4m3, closely followed byt the razor thin wall on e3m9, that was fixed on e3m1.

[DRM-MAN]

That the chainsaw isn't totally useless.

[dr_st]

8 minutes ago, zokum said:

the razor thin wall on e3m9, that was fixed on e3m1.

It wasn't fixed, just the door was lowered, so that you couldn't get yourself stuck inside (only it was done in the wrong level).

[zokum]

3 minutes ago, DRMman said:

That the chainsaw isn't totally useless.

It has the same damage potential as the chaingun, costs no ammo and the many small hits will statistically frequently trigger the pain animation, making many monsters unable to retaliate due to getting their damage sequence aborted by the pain animation cycle.

 

[Jon]

Are we convinced e3m1 was edited later than e3m9?

[Hisymak]

I just realized recently that Lost Souls make no sound at all when they see or hear you and become active.

[xdarkmasterx]

Weapon slot 3 on the HUD doesn't light up if you have the SSG but not regular shotgun

 

[Mangcubus]

Pinkies have a really freaking bizarre body plan. Their faces are larger than their entire torso, and their legs are enormous. They're like if a kiwi bird had angry sex with a shaved gorilla. The recycled Baron muscles on their backs make no sense, it looks like a slightly different creature from every angle. So odd.

[The_MártonJános]

Nearly all the Barons don't appear in E3 outside Ultra-Violence/Nightmare.

In fact, E3's difficulty lies rather within its complexity and puzzles than its monsters. Inferno is a master of trickery, but not a tough bastard. E4, on the other hand...

[Optimus]

Historically, I wasn't aware about this one. Probably because these are not uploaded on idgames so I never encountered them.

It does make sense as I read later, if you don't move geometry you don't have to rebuild BSPs, but you could add things/hack sector variables, etc.

I am wondering if there is a site keeping these kinds of IWADs for historical reason, or maybe I'll try some Doom CDs.

 

 

 

 

 

[Moustachio]

Call me crazy, but the melody right at the beginning of Opening to Evil is the same one as the main Doom II Intermission Theme riff, isn't it?

 

 

 

[TakenStew22]

1 hour ago, Moustachio said:

Call me crazy, but the melody right at the beginning of Opening to Evil is the same one as the main Doom II Intermission Theme riff, isn't it?

 

 

 

Huh, it does sound like it a little.

[Doomkid]

17 hours ago, Optimus said:

Historically, I wasn't aware about this one. Probably because these are not uploaded on idgames so I never encountered them.

It does make sense as I read later, if you don't move geometry you don't have to rebuild BSPs, but you could add things/hack sector variables, etc.

I am wondering if there is a site keeping these kinds of IWADs for historical reason, or maybe I'll try some Doom CDs.

I think there's a chance Maes may know of at least one, I'm sure he's posted about it before.

 

I had no idea they were common-ish for a brief little window, but in a kinda similar vein, I started off "modding" by using some util that would either alter the iwad or savegame files (can't remember which) to allow you to replace certain objects like weapons and monsters. Can't remember what it was called, but that tool was probably old by the time I got my hands on it. A little later in 2001 I was sent WadAuthor and I ended up editing the iwad before I actually knew how to construct my own level from scratch. This was in 2001 though and I was just young and dumb, unlike the guys who were editing the iwad out of necessity. Pioneers!

[plums]

The first Quake maps were the same, manually adding monsters into the qtest levels. Many of these are still available: https://quake.fandom.com/wiki/Qtest_Custom_Files (Fandom link, sorry.)

[URROVA]

if an elemental pain shoots you very close, the lost soul does not spawn, so following this you can kill a PE by hitting it with the berserk pack

[Gez]

3 hours ago, URROVA said:

if an elemental pain shoots you very close, the lost soul does not spawn, so following this you can kill a PE by hitting it with the berserk pack

Or regular punches, if there are no other enemies around to make time a pressing matter.

 

The best weapon against the pain elemental is the chainsaw: the way it "bites" into monster, pushing you toward it, makes sure that the PE will never get far enough to spit a lost soul.

[Wagi]

Today, I found out that a door can get completely stuck and inoperable under certain circumstances if you open it while it's trying to close. Happened to me on HR2 MAP19 on the red key door. I haven't looked at the linedef actions but I think it might be something where one side of the door is locked and the other isn't. In ports with interpolation like Crispy Doom, the door is vibrating in place, like it's trying to simultaneously open and close at the same time.

 

Also found out that Rottking still makes maps and and he's still really good at it. Saw Vinesauce's Joel play it as part of a mapping contest.

[Get Phobo]

1 hour ago, Wagi said:

I haven't looked at the linedef actions but I think it might be something where one side of the door is locked and the other isn't.

The linedefs on either side allow you to open the door if you have the red key. So it must have been some kind of bug.

 

EDIT: I checked this in vanilla. It's an example of bad mapping.

The inner-side linedef is, for no apparent reason, a single-use one that will leave the door opened once you hit it. But you have to wait for it to close first because if you try to open the door while it is closing, it will just stop instantly and stay that way forever. You would then have to reopen it from the outside to reset it.

Edited June 1, 2020 by Get Phobo

[Can't play on Nightmare]

Doom 2 Level 5

 

 

When we go down from where we have started, there is a place just in the left that gives us health.

 

I noticed it when I was playing on UV-Fast after I needed health. When I got that health, the game went pretty cool after. Fast Bang Bang on UV Fast with good health.

 

I've been playing it since 1998 but I hadn't noticed this until May 2020.

[dmplayer5]

I just noticed some interesting things about the message when you pick up shotgun shells: "Picked up 4 shotgun shells."

 

1 - It is the only ammunition pickup message that specifies the amount picked up. The other ammunition types show:  "Picked up a box of bullets.",  "Picked up a box of rockets.", "Picked up an energy cell pack."

 

2 - It is wrong when playing on the easiest and hardest skills as you get double the amount on those skills.

[ZeroTheEro]

On 5/19/2020 at 6:49 PM, ABRACADABRA said:

It's not about whether it was or wasn't in the original but simply a question of usability. It's hard to think of modern re-release of a game without that kind of QoL feature - it neither affects gameplay, neither makes game better without it. It's usually as common a feature as an updated screen resolution and gamepad support

Quicksave/Load is better to be honest. That's not in the original either.

[Jimmy]

Heretic is TRVE CVLT. In a couple of places on the HELP1 pic it uses the "v" character in place of a "u", resulting in "Fvnctions" and two instances of "Pavse".

 

 

 

On the other hand, HELP2 is quite confused as to whether "Tome of Power" is an inventory item or a key on the keyboard.

 

 

Also, check out the alternate "r" character that's used interchangeably with the final version. "Dragon Claw" uses the old, "Phoenix Rod" uses the final.

 

[Gez]

For Phoenix Rod vs. Dragon Claw, it might be a case difference. Even if both cases are proportioned in a lower case style.

 

For tome of power, notice that "skip inventory" also has sides switched.

[Pegleg]

1 hour ago, Jimmy said:

Heretic is TRVE CVLT. In a couple of places on the HELP1 pic it uses the "v" character in place of a "u", resulting in "Fvnctions" and two instances of "Pavse".

 

 

 

 

But, interestingly enough, "menu" and "automap" are not "menv" and "avtomap."

[seed]

21 hours ago, Jimmy said:

CVLT

 

Make it more KVLT please, CVLT is for peasants :p .

[Redneckerz]

Not exactly Doom but still note worthy:

 

ARK: Survival Evolved on Nintendo Switch is able to hit a lower dynamic resolution than original Vanilla Doom.

 

In Docked mode. (So the most grunt is available).

 

At its worst, it runs at a whopping 304x170.

 

 

[Mangcubus]

On 6/5/2020 at 5:45 PM, Redneckerz said:

Not exactly Doom but still note worthy:

 

ARK: Survival Evolved on Nintendo Switch is able to hit a lower dynamic resolution than original Vanilla Doom.

 

In Docked mode. (So the most grunt is available).

 

At its worst, it runs at a whopping 304x170.

 

 

That's actually super fascinating from a technical standpoint. I wonder how they pulled that off.

[Redneckerz]

1 hour ago, Mangcubus said:

That's actually super fascinating from a technical standpoint. I wonder how they pulled that off.

I found this: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.gamesindustry.biz/amp/2018-03-21-how-they-got-ark-survival-evolved-working-on-switch

[DynamiteKaitorn]

I recently found out that GZDooM can display a tutti-frutti error if you cock up the conversion of a flat.

 

 

Wasn't aware this was even possible in GZDooM. XD

[Gez]

Flats are just a pixel dump, with no metadata at all, every byte is displayed. If you have a patch that gets interpreted as a flat, you're going to see the patch's metadata displayed, and this is kind of how it looks.