Endless

I just want to say this is the most impressive WAD thread presentation I've ever seen in all my years in Doomworld. @4MaTC @Nikoxenos check this shit the design is badass.

Even if the WAD sucked (which doesn't!) this thread alone is worthy of commendation.

On 1/25/2024 at 8:12 PM, DoomGappy said:

Don't know if this is the right place to ask, but how are megawad added to the wiki? I was playing switcheroom and it doesn't have an article there, though the lead, Jaws in Space, has one and the megawad is listed on his page. 

The Doom Wiki is a volunteer effort, so first someone needs to manually create the article following the proper instructions.

Second, the Doom Wiki has certain notability guidelines which help with deciding what deserves and wiki article and what doesn't. For WADs, however, it is very flexible and open, so it ultimately comes down to who has the time and skills to create the article. Megawad pages tend to be very large and have multiple other pages for each map.

25 minutes ago, Xaser said:

this thread is supposed to be for posting things that are lost to time,

I have also noticed a little overlap with new posters and the kind of WADs they ask or post about, so I'm gonna chime in and remember everyone: This thread is designed as a sort of ''graveyard'' for WADs that we have proof existed at some point in time but are currently lost or unavailable for download.

Before you post anything here, I recommend to first ask in the Official 'Trying to Find a Specific WAD' Thread to see if maybe someone has a version of the WAD you are looking for. There's ton of archivist there that hold on to various zip files across decades so you never know if the WAD you think is lost, maybe is just tucked away waiting in some drive.

If the WAD author you are looking for is still active and reachable in the community, then I'd recommend to contact him/her first to see if maybe they have a working  version of the WAD, and if not, then at least you can gather more info about what happened to it and share it with the rest of us here in the thread.

7 minutes ago, Maximum Matt said:

Of the best wads from '94, I can co-sign Base, Bleak House, Castle Of Evil, Caverns, Crossing Acheron, Dante's Gate (both Dr. Sleep levels - should've mentioned that), Der Turm, Doom Anomaly, Doomsday Of UAC, E1M1SAS, Eternity, Galaxis, H Hotel, Infestation, Invasion: Level 1, Legion Down Under, NJ Doom, Pueblo, Redrum, Return To Phobos (despite the problem with level 2), Runaway (AKA Run666, this had a hidden mandatory door tho), Slaughter Until Death, Stones, goddamn Sungod, The Deimos Subway, UACPen, UCA, Urbnbeta, and Wasteland: Mountain Of Fire.  

Killing Zone, though, sucks.

Now I know who to contact for part 2 ;)

52 minutes ago, Li'l devil said:

Yeah. We're complaining about no reviews section, but it can get a lot worse than that. What if DW dies tomorrow? Where will we all go? Interesting question actually.

I asked something similar and these were the responses I got from back then if you are interested.

TL;DR: We don't know. Most of the admins are inactive and have been for years, re emerging every once in a while for a quick update or something. Right now, Doomworld has been bugged for a month already (status and posts are not updated since December 23 more or less) and it seems to just fly under the radar. I get it. The admins are all grown ups and probably don't really care that much about Doom anymore with their busy lives, but it still kinda discouraging to see the forum slowly lose its oil.

The demise of /newstuff was a big hit back then. I used to be a big reader and I absolutely loved it. I also asked more about why it stopped working back then in case you also want to learn more, or anyone else.

TL;DR: /newstuff couldn't work due to a combination of several factors, included: a lack of new reviewers, the forum software update of 2017 (I think it was) which removed the frontpage, making the /newstuff less noticeable, and the way /newstuff itself worked, forcing reviewers to play ALL the WADs that were being uploaded, slowly building up a massive backlog, meaning that if you wanted to review something ''new'', you had to first review something ''old'' so that the slot would be open.

As for the locking of reviews, now that is something I'm still salty about. Wish I was an web engineer or had the skills to properly created something new for WAD downloads, but the truth is, if you are a Doom fan, your only way to finding WADs is either Doomworld or the Doom Wiki. Ever since the demise of reviews, as well as the closing of WAD Archive, the Doom Wiki became my main source to search for new WADs to play. If you are just a regular user and don't really use the forums or navigate deep enough, most WADs will remain hidden and only the usual Cacowards or Top 100 tend to be the ones that shine. That is ultimately just the nature of this community. So many new stuff coming out, but we don't have a proper system to filter it and catalogue it.

I do believe that the growth of the playerbase is limited by the lack of a proper WAD repository. Search ''Doom WADs'' on google, and the first 3 results are the Internet Archive, Doomworld Top 100 WADs, and the Doom Wiki Notable WADs article.

32 minutes ago, joepallai said:

It's nice to see this still going.   

So far no plans of making it stop :)

20 minutes ago, Mr. Freeze said:

Delivery driver for Amazon.
It's alright.

Gonna take a wild guess and say this is Arizona.

Love the scenery right there.

TSUNAMI1.WAD | Orin Flaharty | 1996

A single-level deatmatch arena designed for duels. Nothing extraordinaire or impressive, but still a good and decent-enough effort that actually shows at least some thought behind its creation. It is a little too cramped at times and feels more like an empty single-player level than an actual deathmatch map, but I can still see it work despite the rather tight scenery. What's more interesting about this map is the fact that it was created using DEEP, a rather obscure map editor that was sold commercially, but the latest version is actually free to get on idgames if you are curious. Apparently, it was a very well-done and robust map editor from back then, and to be honest, I think the results are quite solid. The map does feel more polished than your average level from 1996.

SargeBaldy Speedmapping Compilation #20 | Various | 2008

Just three speedmaps made by Nuxius, Memfis, and Karthik, names that are mostly part of history now. A rather simple and very rudimentary speedmapping project, it doesn't really hold much weight and while the maps are essentially made in just 100 minutes, I would still expect a little bit more creativity rather than just boxy layouts with generic texturing. The best and most creative map is probably the last one, which manages to be its own little thing and uses its limitations for its own good. Overall, quite forgettable, very short, but at least works.

2 minutes ago, ICID said:

Tagging a mapper into a negative review of their work

Should be worth clarifying that this is specifically for destructively negative reviews, write ups that do not contribute to the experience and betterment of the mapper/author, and are just plainly shitting on someone's work.

I think the only other times a review score would be invalidated, is if you don't do a review at all of any kind and just post the WAD without any comments, opinions, or at least some proof like a video that you played it. So someone just posting ''Today I played randomly Origwad, STONES.WAD, and Scythe X" doesn't cut it. Not saying anyone has done that here so far, but just an example.

Was playing Snow Wave using the latest version, and DR always crashes on MAP06. Using the warp command instantly crashes it, doesn't even let the intermission screen finish.

42 minutes ago, Average said:

Bobby Prince's composing isn't as good as people say it is.  Doom's soundtrack is only 'legendary' because it's attached to a landmark game.  If the soundtrack had been in a throwaway title nobody would be recording covers of it and nobody would be talking about it in EVERY. SINGLE. YOUTUBE. RETROSPECTIVE like it's some kind of masterpiece.  Everyone knows it's mostly just ripped riffs and basic blues.  There.  I said it. *phew*

He made Sign of Evil, which is an original masterpiece (and seems to not be a straight rip-off like a lot of other songs from the OST) so that in my book makes him legendary as fuck.

- End my WAD history book.

- Actually play current releases instead of WADs from 30 years ago.

- Finish my E4-inspired WIP project.

- Increase the speed of Wadazine releases.

- Make more Heretic maps.

1 hour ago, Naarok0fkor said:

AD&D 2nd edition...

Excuse me...

6 minutes ago, brick said:

Runaway (1994) by Eric C. Reuter. 1 SP map for vanilla Doom. 

Ah I remember this one. I found it some time ago while editing the Doom Wiki. It is a surprinsingly good map that has some good, almost OG-level of quality to it. While I wasn't overly fond of the layout and some of the last areas, I still enjoyed it and found it to be a very well polished (for the time that is) map.

I also included it as part of my Top 50 WADs from 1994, to celebrate Doom 30th anniversary.

22 minutes ago, elborbahquarama said:

thanks to this post i finally played the classics castle of evil, mayan temple, crossing acheron and dante's gate and it was a very nice moment, i regularly played little wads from the 90s recently but more from the following years and more rarely 1994, these "rough" spaces are charming to be in and i think this will eventually inspire me to take the time to play more that i've read about

Glad to hear that! Out of those that you mentioned, Mayan Temple is my personal favorite. I really enjoy its custom texture work and rudimentary but charming architecture. It is simple, but good enough for me :)

Gideon for Doom ][ Deathmatch | Steve Grecni | 1995

A small map with a single area divided in three small rooms each one with different height variations and just like three fucking textures in total. This is as barebones as it gets. There's only 3 monsters in SP mode and an exit, as usual, so at least there's that I guess. Weapon balancing is terrible, very little ammo, and almost no items to find. At least the layout is still manageable, but other than that, this feels more like a backrooms level than anything else.

:The Deathmatch Arena | Rob Mosher | 1996

Well, we up one year but down the quality a little. This so called arena is more aptly a mess-rena (greatest pun) that lacks any sort of... logic, or sense. A variety of rooms that really make you wonder how far down the insanity of man can go. One wonders what was the creative process behind this thing. It is terrible in everything, pretty much. It has tight rooms, one-direction dimensionless corridors, inescapable death traps, and an exterior area with both a moving ceiling and floor to extra crush you and spite on you. Also, for some reason the author likes to start every sentence with '' : ''

Running Late | @A2Rob | 2017

A small 5-level WAD for Doom 2 that brings some delightfully short and quick-paced maps to the table, mixed with small visuals tweaks that make it feel fresher. Running Late has you gunning down demons in a collection of scenarios that range in style and challenge. Techbases, industrial complexes, and a abandoned outposts, it feels rejuvenating to finally find something good here, and a small yet fun WAD that actually has some good quality! Running Late is essentially, a good WAD. It doesn't stray too far from the tree and keeps traditional Doom roots; gameplay is tightly designed around mostly medium to small-sized areas, lots of corridors and running through interconnected rooms. At some points I did felt like some of the maps had a little too many doors and elevators to take, in efforts to make it feel more circuit-like, which I don't personally mind, but I prefer it when maps go crazy with the gun & run aspect of the game. Running Late follows a similar pattern, but it also ensures to make each area distinctive from the other. Most maps are around 70-100 monsters, with the last two having the most, mixing a little bit of slaughter that's pretty manageable and enjoyable. What can I say? It is a good WAD, really good to just kill the time and enjoy some simple but fun maps.

Awesome! I enjoyed working on the first one, so I'd like to take MAP21 for this one, please :)

17 minutes ago, TheMagicMushroomMan said:

Nah, it was a shitty collection that consisted of 99.5% shit/broken maps (and duplicates of shit/broken maps), 0.45% mediocre maps and 0.05% okay maps. It contained copyright-violating material (which I have no moral problem with) that only adds to the shitty "throw in every piece of shit we can find" feeling of the CD. Maximum Doom is only unknown to people who aren't into Classic Doom, everyone here knows about it already. Most of them haven't played it, because there's little reason to unless you're curious/a masochist/Matt. It is not in any way a "good expansion". Just ask Matt. The CD is a curiosity and a meme, and a reminder of simple times, but it was never a quality product.

Eh, partially agree but also disagree with some points. Morally, it was a shitty move, but from a retrospective, Maximum Doom does represent the average quality you could find in most PWADs back then on the old internet. Some comments around here from people that were there back when it released have more or less a mixed opinion about it, mostly regarding its fake promises and shady marketing, but considering that not a lot of people had, or fast enough at least, internet, Maximum Doom was a gateway into what the community offered during the 90s.

There's tons of shitty duplicates and poor conversions that's true, but the 0.05% okay maps comment, I'm not sure, I've played a lot of it (but not even close to finishing it) and I've found some good hidden gems as well as some other well known titles from the 90s that are usually remembered fondly today.

Then again, there's my personal bias of course, as I do enjoy the jank era of the 90s, but I still think that if I was a kid playing Doom in the 90s, and somebody gifted me Maximum Doom for Xmas, I would probably have been quite happy with it.

Addendum: In modern times, there is no reason at all to play Maximum Doom, that is true, and even if you are one of those that enjoy a completionist style of gaming, completing the entirety of Maximum Doom just because you want to is insanity-inducing and will make you hate the game. The only reason to play it today is either because you want to relieve the 90s experience, or you are some sort of nut old-school WAD archeologist, like me.

20 minutes ago, Cutman 999 said:

Scythe 2 isn't by any metric bad, but map23 onward just demotivates you for the massive difficulty spikes. 

Oh yeah. I wouldn't say it ruined S2 completely, but to date, I haven't finished Scythe 2 because of the last maps. The sudden spike in difficulty was too much for the me the first time, so I just dropped it and have not touched it since. I think it is one of those cases where the levels are pretty good on their own, but change their gameplay style so abruptly to something I don't enjoy.

Citadel at the Edge of Eternity kinda ruined Community Chest for me. It's not like CC1 is a great megawad anyway, but MAP29 really just made it such a horrible, horrible experience.

Also Community Chest 2, is not a bad megawad per se  (more or less a hit and miss), but once you get to The Mucus Flow, it really changes everything.

2 hours ago, Steve D said:

Brandon said this was his second map. I wonder if any more are out there?

Sadly it seems his first map was never published, or perhaps never uploaded to /idgames. For just being his second map, he showed some great promise that could rival even pro mappers from the time.

Btw, if you ever feel lost, need help or want to search more about a map, consider looking at the Doom Wiki. A lot of the maps here, I have created and/or edited wiki pages for them. BASE.WAD has one :)

15 minutes ago, Jakub Majewski said:

Awesome, nice to see more appreciation of 90score.

 

May I ask why version 1.666 of Dante's Gate was included instead of 2.5?

Thanks.

Decided to include the original updated version for og Doom just for the sake of keeping it vanilla, since it was meant to be the original version, so I wanted players to experience how it was originally introduced to the world.