Tips for surviving 1994 wads

[40oz]

1994 wads were maps created at the very start of Doom's modding legacy. Map editors were very primitive, and not many people knew what it takes to make a good map. As such, it's not easy to find maps made in the year 1994 that are very user-friendly. But with enough experience with Doom, many of them can be a very fascinating experience. The maps may be difficult, but more often are complicated or confusing. Not all 1994 maps are the same of course, but here are some tips that will help you survive some of these ancient forgotten worlds. 

 

Be aware of the linedef types and sector effects - There's some common mapping knowledge that can carry you a long way if you don't already know. Switches that are repeatable (able to be pressed more than once) are usually for moving floors up and down. If there is no delay, its likely that pressing it more than once is not doing anything. If there's a delay between allowable presses, its probably a timed lift or a door that you have to find before it raises or closes again. Also, there's one sector effect where a blinking strobe light also does 20 damage, so be careful around blinking lights if you can avoid them, because they sometimes can hurt! Sometimes switches are gunfire activated too, so if you've hopelessly wallhumped everything, try punching or chainsawing each of the walls while trying to open them and see if that moves them.

 

Any change in texture is probably usable - For some reason it's commonplace in 1994 to use non-door textures as doors. If you're in a brick room and there's a random wood panel, or a metal room with a random concrete wall, check it! Sometimes it's a door or a misaligned switch texture! Also be on the lookout for texture offsets. Older editors always started textures at 0,0 offsets, so even if the room is completely textured in one texture, look for irregular repetition in the textures pattern, as that can be a hidden door too. Always check corners and dead ends too.

 

Using the "Right Hand Rule" - If you are lost in a maze, most mazes can be escaped by always making a right turn whenever possible. Whenever you're at a junction where you can go left right or straight, always pick right and you will eventually get out of there. 

 

You don't have to kill everything - In maps that are lacking weapons and ammunition, practice bypassing easy monsters and damage sponges like imps, hell knights, pinky demons, cacodemons, and barons of hell. You can watch UV-Speed or UV-Pacifist demos on youtube for some demonstrations on how some monsters can be safely avoided. Sometimes the weapons you need are later on in the map, or you'll find a secret stash further along. You can come back to kill them later. Or not. It's your choice. 

 

Use the automap - Look at the walls on the automap. If there are changes in color on the walls, that's an indication that it may be a door you can use, or maybe a passage that is activated remotely by another switch or walkover action. You can also press F to toggle "follow mode." When it is off, you can pan the view around the map with the arrow keys. You can also press the M key to mark locations on the automap you might need to check later.

 

If you've played through some pretty confusing 1994 maps, please share any useful tips new adventurers could use to get through them!

Edited September 9, 2017 by 40oz

[Endless]

Reading this makes me feel nostalgic, reminds me a lot of those old gaming magazines where you could read a lot of useful 90's style guides. Thanks a lot! Nice tips btw.

[Scypek2]

Reading this made a Doom-unfitting classical music midi play in my head.

[scalliano]

Above anything else, TRUST NOTHING!

[Deleted_Account]

And drink lots of water.

[joepallai]

to go with your second tip:  Early wad authors often used computer stations as switches.   (Flats CONS1_1, CONS1_5, CONS1_7)

 

 

[Fuzzball]

Perhaps look out for "on=off" for switches? Reversed use- off state using an already flipped or pressed texture!

[Deleted_Account]

56 minutes ago, joepallai said:

to go with your second tip:  Early wad authors often used computer stations as switches.   (Flats CONS1_1, CONS1_5, CONS1_7)

 

 

This is something I like seeing in maps.

[Cruduxy Pegg]

Use software because there might or might not be any shading going on.

[Empyre]

I have used the "Right Hand Rule" since before Doom, except I go left instead, and I call it "Follow the Left Wall". Left or right doesn't matter, as long as you choose one and stick to it.

[Spectre01]

Play continuously if it's a multi-map wad. Often you'll find rockets and cells in maps that don't have those weapons. Pistol-Start balance can be strange or just plain grindy without adding actual challenge.

[printz]

On 09.09.2017 at 8:47 AM, 40oz said:

Sometimes switches are gunfire activated too, so if you've hopelessly wallhumped everything, try punching or chainsawing each of the walls while trying to open them and see if that moves them.

The real telltale sign is that you don't make any noise when attempting to press them. When that happens, use the fist.

[RjY]

4 hours ago, printz said:

The real telltale sign is that you don't make any noise when attempting to press them. When that happens, use the fist.

Sadly, as vanilla compatibility lacks Boom's bugfix to play sfx_noway on blocking but nonspecial two-sided lines (PTR_NoWayTraverse), this trick is not so useful, due to the ubiquitous false positives.

 

[Reisal]

There are many crappy 1994 maps but there are still some gems in the rough that is the year 1994 and early 1995.

 

Example:

 

 

I had a lot of fun playing through this older map. The copy of the map on the D!Zone 2 disc I have dates to March 1995.

[nicolas monti]

51 minutes ago, Glaice said:

There are many crappy 1994 maps but there are still some gems in the rough that is the year 1994 and early 1995.

 

Example:

 

 

I had a lot of fun playing through this older map. The copy of the map on the D!Zone 2 disc I have dates to March 1995.

Loving compohso + marble. Going to make 3 megawads with just those textures XD

[Memfis]

Be careful with straferunning. The author might not have known about it, so it's possible to get stuck after doing a smartass jump.