tomatoKetchup

Well, the chances were extremely slim anyway, after that many years and a couple hard drive formattings... Probably for the best in all fairness. Thanks for your help mate.

Yeah forget ab out it... Further down the file I found some actual XML code relating to... an Avid software! (Probably cause I used to have Pro Tools installed). Whatever this file is, its clearly not a wad, despite bearing the name and extension. False hope, snif...

I found a website that read the wad in ASCII. Comparing with a couple other working wads, the 1st 4 hex values should be [50 57 41 44] which reads "PWAD". This is clearly not the case on mine. Am I clinging on desperate hope there...?

Thanks for the reply, I was expecting this wasn't going to be an easy one. What app would you recommend to read the wad in ASCII?

Hello, Some years ago I was working on a custom wad and had to stop because I lost courage. I recently started playing Doom again and was curious to try and reopen the wad I was working on and see if the time passed would shed some new inspiration on this project. Unfortunately, I soon realised I could not find the WAD anywhere on my computer. Since it had had one or 2 complete wipes since then I thought the file was simply lost forever... ... that is, until, without much hope, I downloaded a data recovery app, ran a full scan... and somehow managed to find the WAD! ...or at least what somehow remained of it cause unfortunately when trying to open it it does not work. I tried Doom Builder 2 (what I was using at the time), DBX, SLADE and playing the WAD using prBoom + and GZDoom, with no luck... The file is 7MB big so the data seems to be there somehow. SLADE at least gave me a "corrupted wad" message. Any thoughts, advice, ideas on how I could somehow miraculously repair that wad ? I have attached the file if you feel like trying to open it yourselves. Thanks! DOWNSKY.rar

Wow... I see these forums are more active than ever before. I wasn't expecting such a response. I may have enough recommendations here to binge-play until I die. Bitta overwhelming actually, don't know where to start. Oh yes I do actually... Romero's Episode 5 is defo on the top of my list! I remember hearing from it after I quit playing, and thinking "well, I won't play it because I'll fall back into it again", but now may well be the right time. On a side note, I was living in Galway, Ireland around 2016, and had just learned John had relocated in town. It's like the universe was telling me "don't stop playing Doom you s#cker!". :D Anyway... a big thank to all of you, and I'll make sure to (eventually) have a look at every one of your recommendations!

PRBoom+.... hmm I think I've fallen behind, gonna have to catch up on compilers! Also, I'd prefer no Megawad*, as I'm looking for something a bit more consistent and with a coherent atmosphere, if that makes sense (again, trying to tickle the nostalgia of the original games here). Thanks for the suggestion though! *EDIT: I've lost on the vocabulary too! I meant no compilation where every map is by a different mapper! So your suggestion is valid. Sorry about that

Thank you. I should probably take the time to go over these pages but I'm a lazy f#cker...

Hoy! So today I've logged in DW for the 1st time in... 6 years, when I decided I should no longer play/map on Doom for my own sanity. Fast forward 2021, using the same computer that can no longer run any decent games, I've decided it's time to try a good aul' little Doom, just to see how it feels... However I don't exactly fancy playing any of the original WADs. I'm looking for some of the best WADs that were released in recent years, provided they are very true to the original Doom/Doom 2 in terms of atmosphere, graphics, game play (no extra fancy game mechanics and whatnot, just pure classic fun). Something with decent difficulty, no slaughtermaps or overly hardcore. Advise me.

Thanks for the newer feedback. I've heard of that technique of giving yourself a certain period to finish a map and restarting from scratch at the end of it, but find very difficult to apply it. The reason is that I generally start a map with a certain idea and then find difficult to "fill the gaps" and turn that initial idea into a full map. But I'm generally quite happy with all that I've done until the moment when I run out of inspiration, and I just can't delete the work accomplished so far.

Thanks guys for your feedback. However I have to say I'm a bit disappointed that no member with long AND prolific mapping pedigree commented on their experience of the whole thing... I am not looking to selfishly draw the attention on me here, I just thought that this topic would help all the new (and less new) mappers experiencing the same kind of frustration than me (and I'm pretty sure there loads here).

Hello mappers of all experience. You are all welcome to read this thread and comment on it/answer my questions. I know there's already been dozens of threads about these questions, but here I'll try to be thorough and approach all the direct and surrounding aspects to take into account when mapping. The reason why I created this thread is because I reached a really decisive point in my mapping experience and don't know what to do. I am one of those numerous people that are always excited about trying something new but never get to finish anything, and keep moving on to the next thing, leaving half-done works behind themselves. I had happen to me with music composition before, and is about to happen again with Doom mapping. I am in a point when I am literally torn in between a strong desire to pursue the wad I'm working on and another desire to throw everything doom-related in the bin of my computer just to free my mind. I started mapping about 2 years ago, and have been working on this wad about a year ago. I have an overall idea of what this wad will be, but I'm struggling on the actual content. Since I started this project, I have been oscillating between periods of creative inspiration, sometimes so overwhelming that they keep me awake whole nights because ideas tumble out of my saturated mind and I can't stop thinking of "what to do next on my map" ; and periods of no inspiration whatsoever, leading to frustration, resulting in more sleepless nights. Lately those periods of frustration took over my creativity, becoming so powerful that they turned into real depression, and the mental block I am right now experiencing, afraid to even open Doom Builder because of all the psychological pain it eventually gives me. I came to think that the only solution now is to throw everything away to stop the suffering. So this thread is like a ultimate attempt to help me turn this whole mental bedlam inside my f#cked up head into something sensible and maybe come up with a more healthy way to tackle my mapping experience. TL;DR, I'd like to have your experience of mapping, especially the prolific mappers around here. How do you keep coming back at it, how do you progress through it and keep your head fresh and away from overdriving? Also, an important aspect that is not often brought up is time management. How often do you map a day? A week? How do you manage your time between mapping and the rest of your life (job, studies, family, etc.)? Do you give yourself some restriction in the amount of time you spend mapping per day or week? At last, do you have any tips about keeping the flow of ideas coming at a steady rate and avoid either saturation (to much coming at once) or scarcity? If you also have links to any articles on the internet talking about mapping/level design processes and mind-setting, I'd be happy to have a read at them. Thanks for taking the time to read this!

Cool, here it is: MAP31 - Behind the Scene

TraceOfSpades, are you keeping the map31 I submitted as a candidate to the project? If yes, would it be possible to list it as is on your main post? I wouldn't mind a bit of exposure and hopefully more playtesting to improve it and increase its chance to be selected.

No bother, thanks for testing anyway. The teleporter maze can be beaten without trial and error, just got to find the combination hidden somewhere near... ;) As for the 4-switch puzzle, I knew it wasn't obvious and I would have reworked the puzzle to give more and better clues. But as it stands now basically, a combination of two faces on top will trigger the crusher wearing the face underneath. A picture's worth 1000 words: Although I must admit, the clue in the wall is wrong, two faces have been inverted, which makes the puzzle unsolvable by logic. On the picture above the mistake has been fixed. My bad...