The /newstuff Chronicles #47

[AndrewB]

Twelve new WAD files have been released in the past two weeks, and they are all brought together in our weekly presentation of the new things found in Newstuff.

• Arcade by Kim Vidal - A 30-map megawad for Doom 2! But don't get too excited just yet. All 30 maps are identical in design. They just have different monsters. Every map can also be finished in four to nine seconds, depending on what monsters are standing in your way. Some Animé-style music is also included with each level.
  
• Frenzy DM by Mike O'Neal - One deathmatch map for Doom 2. This one is considerably larger than most deathmatch maps we're used to. Its theme is brown large bricks with green sewage and a star-filled sky. It has some complex twists and turns. Two different elevations spread out over the map, overall making it more suitable for larger deathmatch games. There's also some very nice smooth lighting, and a pretty good metal/rock MIDI music replacement. Requires ZDoom.
  
• Hal Skin by Carl Celizic - A very simple modification. One skin for ZDoom/Legacy, replacing the space marine with a cheesy colorful ball with arms and legs that makes sounds. Enhanced DOOM port required.
  
• Plinch 3: Final Infest by Michael Smith - One single-player map for Doom 2, running on Map25. Not all that much detail in this mainly indoor map. Ammo balance seems decent for this map. It's rather easy at first, but it gets tight toward the end. The gameplay is mostly linear, and nothing is different or interesting at all. It has a half-decent MIDI music replacement, though.
  
• The Tunnel System by De Zeurkous - One deathmatch map for Doom 2, running on Map04. Very little detail in this map. Mostly 90° lines, misaligned textures, a weird variety of textures, in this overly-large tunnel-filled level. Weapons are placed reasonably scattered around the map. Still, nothing that seems very playable at all.
  
• Marine Army 1 by Virgil - A very odd map for Doom 2. Two Cyberdemons, a Spider Mastermind, and a whole bunch of space marines. This map is mostly just an experiment, rather than something intended to be the least bit playable. Still, flying around and mindlessly blasting an army of clones could help take the edge off the dullness of your possibly pathetic life. Requires ZDoom.
  
• A Funny WAD by Javier Fernando Almenara Otoya - It just gets weirder and weirder. This is a mapless WAD for Doom 2, containing lots of cartoony and circus-like MIDI and sound replacements. There are three graphic replacements as well.
  
• Spectre Shell Skin by Josef Griffiths - Even weirder this time. One skin for Legacy/ZDaemon. It replaces the Doom space marine graphics. It looks like a blue box. Enhanced DOOM port required.
  
• Hsg_0101 by Harry Gunderson - Finally, a map worth playing! One map for Doom 2, running on Map01. There isn't all that much in terms of detail, and a strange variety of textures are used, but this map has a very interesting arrangement. It's sort of a tight, dark sewer theme, but it has other themes as well. Bright rooms, outdoor areas. This map is still mostly dark. It has its share of brain-teasing puzzles, leaving you figuring out what to do next. There's usually more than enough health and ammo, and that may or may not be a good thing.
  
• Genocide by Geoffrey Forbes - One deathmatch map for Doom 2. This map seems quite different from most of the deathmatch maps we're used to. It's sort of an octagonal map, with an outdoor section in the middle, and all sorts of rooms and tunnels surrounding it. As different as this map feels, it may strike a reminiscent chord with some of the more dedicated Doomers. Enhanced DOOM port recommended.
  
• Napalm Deathmatches by Captain Napalm - Three quality deathmatch maps for Doom 2. The first map is a mid-sized castle/courtyard theme, complimented with dungeons and a library. The second map seems to be somewhat of a slime facility. Computer controls, and lots of slime. Finally, the third map has somewhat of a bright indoor computer-lab/warehouse theme. Each map has reasonably well-placed weapons, and it seems like they could make a very enjoyable deathmatch experience. Enhanced DOOM port recommended.
  
• Sin City by Ed Cripps - Here is the masterpiece we've all been waiting for. One map for Doom 2. This map has everything. An elegant choice of texture replacements, an exciting variety of indoor/outdoor/underground areas. Lots of special effects including slopes, earthquakes, and a skybox. Ammo and health balance is quite good, and the map isn't ridiculously difficult, making it easier to enjoy. This dark castle/blood/cave map has quite a wonderful atmosphere, and the music replacement (along with the ambient sounds) makes for quite an experience. Requires ZDoom.

[sgtcrispy]

Christ ALMIGHTY!! SinCity is... is... orgasmic! What Can't the doom engine do?

Slopes, blood spurting from walls, and earthquakes. Not to mention some creepy textures here and there.

Sweetness!!

And Capt Napalms maps were good too. :)
Actually they kicks arse too, and a ZDaemon server should be using these maps.

Is it just me or has some of the best map to come out are ones that are not hyped up or even mentioned until they are released?

I made a poopie!

[sgtcrispy]

I though that was fixed!

Curses!

[Lüt]

Sin City's been hyped on at Ed's Page over at DoomCenter for quite a while.

[rtz]

Slopes? I didn't see any slopes. Where were they?

[Guest Captain Napalm]

errr...everywhere. The lavafall, the caves, the lava stream at the beggining all had slopes.

Sincity is an truly awesome map, too bad ZDoom and especially the betas isn´t too stable on my system.
By the way the midi replacement just really fit and really helped set the mood. Is that a Descent song?

[Guest Captain Napalm]

By the way feel free to use the Doom 1 textures in my wad. They are all the Doom 1 textures that were missing from Doom2.
Should have mentioned that in the txt I guess, oops.

[Guest Captain Napalm]

Genocide shows some real promise, even though the map is too cramped for DM for my tastes. It´s a remake of a ledges map if I´m not mistaken. I used to play that map all the time in DM, but the author seems to have made it smaller.

[Jon]

I remember downloading a chunk of heretic deathmatch levels, only to find out that three of them were just conversions of ledges :|

andrewb missed greenfish.zip, easily the best thing in /newstuff in `01!

[Guest WadEd]

Thats a Skinny Puppy written for Descent2, I was originally gonna use some music from Castlevania 4 but it was a little too 'lonely' feeling for that map. Thanks everyone for the comments btw..

[Guest WadEd]

skinny puppy song*

[TheProphet]

Very good, indeed

[boris]

You've to use ZDoom 1.23 beta 24 to see the slopes. You can get if from http://zdoom.notgod.com/ftp

[Enjay]

I loaded up "Marine Army" and thought OMG that's odd a whole bunch of Blake Stone scientists facing the Doom bosses.

Then I remembered I had loaded in that skin when I was testing it and set the skin colour to white so it look right. DOH!

[Stitches]

well yeah, its not different b/c I'm still just starting out in wad design, thats my 4th release.

anywho I got emails and icq messages about how ppl enjoyed plinch3, you should have to! j/k

[Stitches]

hey at least most of the textures were aligned this time

[Jonathan]

"Still, flying around and mindlessly blasting an army of clones could help take the edge off the dullness of your possibly pathetic life."

rofl, Newstuff Chronicles imitates TVGoHome? Albeit poorly. The Kilroy team would like to talk to you!

[Guest Argh!]

I miss the weekly speedmap packs. :/

[Guest Zeurkous]

I think this would be a good map for Quake lovers. But, overall i don't like it much. The style is too far away from the original DooM style.

De Zeurkous
-----------

Friggin' Machines!

[fyrestorm]

hey damnit, kurt helped me with my map! ;)

[NiGHTMARE]

What, speedmapping is no more? Say it 'aint so!

Or is Ling just on holiday like me and the others can't be arsed to do it?

[Guest Fanatic]

Sin City is pretty sweet from what I can see of it. ZDOOM keeps crashing without any errors. Seems only levels with slopes do this. :(

[Arioch]

Well, week8 of speedmapping hit some complications, but it should be released ".soon.", and TF went down during week9, so I have no idea what's going on there.

[kristus]

Why the hell do I always have to make such big damn maps.

BTW a map from me should be coming soon.

Sin City was cool. a bit to Quake1ish for my taste though, and I didn't care for the music replacement for it. I would have gone for something more atmospheric.

But still a cool map. Ed. You said on your page you were longing for making base maps. wth happened to Legion? It looked sweet as jams.

[Guest WadEd]

Legion went out with a CPU "crash".
Someone wiped my harddrive for a simple upgrade at

*****"Millennium Computers in Easton Massachusetts across the street from Stonehill College.. don't ever, EVER go there for ANYTHING, not even the gum in the lobby. Allyn will search your files for porn, replace parts with stolen merch and wipe your hard drive of 2 years of work for NO GOOD REASON!"*****

*ahem* So anyways, I made Sin City as a sort of 'make up' for Legion. I'm going back to work on Doom3057. I have no other obligations right now and I want to contribute some work to that project. I will hopefully get that sort of Legion style of design in there.

[Enjay]

I enjoyed Sin City. Quite subtle use of slopes and scripting making them feel part of the level and not just a trick for the sake of it.

The only problem I had was Zdoom 1.23 beta 24 crashed every time I tried to save a game.

Last time I got:

R_MapPlane: 0,215 at 136
GetLastError = 0

Anyone else having this problem?

[kristus]

I don't have any problems with zdoom, exept that it don't always work to run it from a doswindow. >:(

Ed: Fuck, it was the best looking base shots I've seen since.. DE2. Well, they'll need your help at RTC 3057 :) Might even get released some day to ;)

[Afterglow]

Very nice map, nice to see someone's using slopes properly. It did crash ZDoom a couple times near the soulsphere secret but ZDoom is shite anyway... you should've used Assimilate. :P

[Law]

Yeah, I get that crash as well when I press F6 to start a new quick save. Instead I press Escape and go to Save Game option. Quick save works from then on...

[rtz]

Thanks. I see them now. The problem was, I was using ZDoomGL and I had to use version 1.22 of the zdoom.wad and everywhere there were slopes, it was just missing parts of the maps instead.

I ran it using the 1.23 beta 24 wad and exe in software mode and I was able to see them, but it crashes out on me.

Can't wait for the next version of ZDoom and ZDoomGL!