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    The /newstuff Chronicles #238


    deathz0r

    Hey there, it's everybody's favourite controversial reviewer doing another round of /newstuff goodness. Removing all of that 1994 crap (and some WAD filled with modified user-made Hexen levels), we have a grand total of five zips to cover this week. Do they have any chance of being regularly played WADs? Find out in this edition of /newstuff by clicking on that "Read more" link now!

    • A day of Revnants and Archviles - Cecelia
      Legacy - SP - 123kb -
      TOP QUALITY CRAPGOODNESS PACKED INTO A SINGLE MAP

    • Beyond Kadath - Chad Noles
      Enhanced Port - SP - 471kb -
      According to the author, this WAD was shelved in 1995 due to not having the time to complete production of this level. If this WAD was released in 1995, I'd be going "holy crap that's so awesome", but the overall score gets reduced to "hey that ain't bad" for being left alone for 10 years. The level is very atmospheric, and the music replacement backs up the atmospheric feel of the level. The difficulty level is moderate, but you might get a bit confused on where you have to go, as there's a secret door that you need to find to even fight some monster, and there's also a medium-sized maze with an easily forgettable blue key-locked door hidden within the maze. I was running around in circles for five minutes until I remembered about the door, and then I continued to finish the level without any problems. The detail varies from being great to really ugly, and there does not appear to be a consistant theme throughout the entire map. It's an OK map, but there's definitely better in /newstuff this week.

    • Head Survival - James Lord ( Zippy )
      ZDoom - Coop - 1003kb -
      Head Survival is (more or less) unique in being a map where you have to continiously fight until you complete Round 20. The pre-fighting is unique in that you can choose one of four special abilities, such as having more health per round, having a rocket launcher, and being able to summon monsters. It also appears that this map was created with co-op in mind, since I only got up to Round 6 before I died a horrible death. Still, if co-op and staying alive is your thing, you might want to check this out.

    • Hi-Tech Hell 2 - Alien Tech - Simo Malinen
      Legacy - SP - 3091kb -
      Apparently DD_133 couldn't get this WAD to work, so I'm going to review it (plus it gives me something to do):

      This is a set of seven maps that utilises the many features of Legacy to their greatest capabilities. The gameplay and detail are absolutely fantastic, and the cutscenes are very beautiful to watch (plus skippable, for those who prefer action). The last time a Legacy WAD of this calibre was released was none other than Nimrod, and this may possibly be even better than the WAD commonly known as the "definite Legacy PWAD". There are a few minor problems however (personal preference thing), such as the lack of new music and the first action-based area is a little bit tough to get past if you don't notice the weapons hidden behind vent grates. I recommend that you play this now.

    • Lost Base - Ravage
      ZDoom - N/A - 45kb -
      A new map by Ravage that is heavily inspired by the stylings of Episode 1 (UNORIGINAL) which replaces E1M1. The detail and texturing is extremely similar to what you expect with a typical E1-inspired map, but the most interesting thing of this map is the somewhat easy difficulty of this level. I completed this WAD without dying once, although I did not have much ammo left when I hit the exit switch. The map is not that large in size, and can be easily finished within three minutes if you actually tried. Overall the map isn't that bad, but it is something you'd expect from an episode replacement, not a single map.

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    I played High Tech Hell 2 earlier this week, and I was floored. If there was ever a map that showed how powerful Legacy's Floor over floor feature is, this map is it. The architecture is breathtaking and the new textures are beautiful. It's too bad about the abysmal cut scenes and hud message conversations that I thought were relegated to only ZDoom maps. One of the best projects released this year, or for that matter many years since ports debuted is a Legacy map. For all the vitriolic things I've had to say about Legacy over the years, this project proves the power hidden within (too bad Legacy is still quite buggy however). Like Deathz0r said, it's unfortunate there's no new music and a crash on map 5 preventing it from loading are unfortunate.

    Four Flippers a Snorkel and a Goggle folks, you heard it here first.

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    Beyond Kadath is awesome. If it had actually came out in 1995 it would easily have been my favorite map to come out of that year, and I have played all the other wads people said they liked from that year. Also, it's the first Lovecraft tribute map that actually felt Lovecraftian to me. Admittedly the gameplay is kind of annoying in a few parts though. Even still it's an instant classicâ„¢ and has my full approval.

    Edit: Actually, he did release most of this map in 1996 but in that everything is in two maps, the gameplay is a lot worse (way too easy), and it doesn't really work as well. Also in this new version he's got rid of some parts and added others to good effect.

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    I agree with Sarge Baldy, Beyond Kadath is a great map and is my spotlight of the week. The maze area is the only annoying spot in an otherwise classic. Very atmospheric, so much so that I was on edge for most of the map, until I died that is. I'd definitely recommend trying the map out at the very least for those wary of playing something that's been in production since 1995.

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    Hmm, I always thought Phobia was the "flagship project" of Legacy (not my words btw) and yes, HTH2 is a really nice set. Very very nice indeed.

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    Beyond Kadath was good and easy, until the end .. 4 arch-viles and no cover in sight? Retarded .. XP

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    I'm honoured that you didn't think it was shit. :)

    insertwackynamehere said:

    from the screens, lost base reminded me more of E2, but it looks good anyway

    I don't think i even used any textures from E2.

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    A Day of Revnants works fine in Dos legacy, but I too get
    that segfault message in windows. :| It's an OK map though as far
    as detailing goes, but I've only leafed through it, so can't say
    much about the gameplay.

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    DooMer87 said:

    an okay lineup. I've seen better WADs, but this is okay.

    7/10

    You're retarded, High Tech Hell is magnificent.

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    udderdude said:

    Beyond Kadath was good and easy, until the end .. 4 arch-viles and no cover in sight? Retarded .. XP

    No cover in sight? If you just run around the outer part none of them can get you, and if you click the switches in the center an invulnerability orb opens up. I actually thought that was a pretty damn good idea, since it actually makes you work for it.

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    Bloodskull said:

    He might not of, but I sure do.

    You say its shit because i said your maps are shit. I never listen to YOU anyway.

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    ravage: I played your map, I like it. It doesn't suck, but it could be better. And you do use a lot brovine1 which to the best of my knowledge wasn't in E1, thus making it feel more like an E2 map than E1 map.
    I suggest you do more maps like this :)

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    Lost Base was decent. I just expect more in my wads nowadays, and I've seen your other wads and know you can make stuff more complex. If I hadn't known any better, I could have misteken it for a 94 wad. However I surmise that was your intention.

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    I don't mind plain maps, but I do like when they're actually for vanilla or at most a limitless port. If something looks like a vanilla map, I'd rather not be arsed in using ZDoom to play it.

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    Bloodskull said:

    He might not of, but I sure do.

    Mr. Gargantuan Retarded here is trying to be an asshole! Considering you can't make anything better, I really don't think you should talk.Ravage's map may not be jam-packed with a million sectors, but at least it was fun to play. That's really all that matters.

    Anyways, great newstuff this week. I really liked Hi-Tech Hell. It was rather interesting. Ravage's map was quite good as well.

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    sargebaldy said:

    I don't mind plain maps, but I do like when they're actually for vanilla or at most a limitless port. If something looks like a vanilla map, I'd rather not be arsed in using ZDoom to play it.

    Actually, it says vanilla doom in the TEXT FILE that deathz0r probably didn't read. It was also tested in vanilla as well.

    Advanced engine needed : If it runs in doom.exe....

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    Having downladed all but the legacy stuff (legacy and my PC are like polar equals, you can't stick 'em together without forcing it) let me say this weeks /newstuff was about as worth my time as when I stabbed myself in the hand yesteday. Head Survival freaked me out, Lost Base wasn't worth the time, and Beyond Kadath was, meh, ok I played it, delete from hard drive.

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    yea i cant even get the head hunter map to work. and for some reason there's no readme to the zdoom to know how to do multiplayer (at least for the most recent release).

    apparently everybody must know everything if they got this head hunter map to work. I have 2.0.96, DOOM2 wad, and selected map01. Even in the supposed single player mode, it still showed the original Map01 map.

    Looks like in the meantime, I'll try valiantly to get this to work... Oh and when I get legacy installed, I will then commence to get that High Tech map working in one try unlike this one.

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    A Day of Revnants works fine in Dos legacy, but I too get that segfault message in windows. :| It's an OK map though as far as detailing goes, but I've only leafed through it, so can't say much about the gameplay.

    No, it's not. I actually ran though it in DB. It looks like some kind of horrible joke wad, or perhaps something from 1994-5. deathz0r getting that error was probably a good thing. :p

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    BTW, this might be a good time to mention to all you people who have serious troubles with Doom Legacy that if you want to help change that, there's an open Alpha release of the new rewritten C++ version of Legacy that is being tested now in the hopes to create a steady base to build the next generation of Doom Legacy upon.

    You can find the thread in the Legacy forum here:
    http://forums.newdoom.com/showthread.php?t=27776

    Just download and play it and then report all bugs in that thread. Or at the sourceforge thingy. (Don't expect it to be perfect right away, it's still just an Alpha)

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    Nuxius said:

    No, it's not. I actually ran though it in DB. It looks like some kind of horrible joke wad, or perhaps something from 1994-5. deathz0r getting that error was probably a good thing. :p


    Some people should be prohibited from releasing WADs. This is a perfect example of it. Recommending an engine that isn't bothered by a beginner's error?

    This is part of an error checker's output of the map. Not surprising that it doesn't work:

    ERROR: LineDef #949 has no first SideDef!
    ERROR: LineDef #986 has no first SideDef!
    ERROR: LineDef #1014 has no first SideDef!
    ERROR: LineDef #1311 has no first SideDef!

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    Scuba Steve said:

    You're retarded, High Tech Hell is magnificent.


    well, that's where most of the 7 came from. I did play only one level of that wad, cuz im so busy down here. okay goodbye

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    ravage said:

    Actually, it says vanilla doom in the TEXT FILE that deathz0r probably didn't read. It was also tested in vanilla as well.

    oh ok thanks, I'll play it then :P

    edit: Well you couldn't have tested it that well since your exit door splits. Don't use ZDoom's node builder when making vanilla maps.

    As for the map itself, it kind of ranges in quality from OK to pretty good. It's better than average though and the actual map progression works pretty well. I wouldn't say it looks anything at all like E1 though.

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    sargebaldy said:

    edit: Well you couldn't have tested it that well since your exit door splits. Don't use ZDoom's node builder when making vanilla maps.

    I used Zennode.


    As for the map itself, it kind of ranges in quality from OK to pretty good. It's better than average though and the actual map progression works pretty well. I wouldn't say it looks anything at all like E1 though.

    You're right. No Startan textures (which for the most part is a good thing)

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    ravage said:

    No Startan textures

    So what? The brown* textures are more common than startan in episode 1. E1M6 only uses startan in one room, E1M8 and E1M9 have no startan at all.

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