lerner

That's damn pretty.

Crazy. I think what happened was that you guys uploaded sometime when all the #261 wads were uploaded (which Bloodshedder told me to ignore) and somehow got caught between them and I missed it. Of course that doesn't sound totally likely but I'll check anyway. Edit: This is indeed what happened. Bloodshedder told me to ignore a range of wads for simplicity's sake and yours accidently got caught within it. Evilhomerdoomer's wad was made before the 25th, though, so that's why he wasn't included. I suppose #263 could amend that small mistake, but I am still quite sorry, as it was unexpected.

Enjay: Yeah, I still can't play it though :P. Impossible for me to play something that runs at like 15 fps. Jon and evilhomerdoom: When were your wads released? I reviewed from the last /newstuff (which was 260 when I started) to January 7th's wads.

Well, here it is. Sorry it took so long, unavoidable stuff in real life that was more important, but here's a my little guest offering. Not all levels have screenshots, as I deem some levels are so small that it'd be pointless to take them, or they are so pointless that it gives them too much credit. There seem to be a couple of older wads in this bunch that aren't quite up to standards but there are plenty of better ones as well. My reviews are equally inconsistent, as well, so bear with me. I'll list them in alphabetical order of filename. Unless otherwise noted, I tested with Zdoom v. 2.0.98. Note: This edition of the /newstuff Chronicles was written and compiled by lerner.Area of 666 Sectors - Karoly (Charles) Horvath Advanced Port - Solo Play - 320 kb - (img) Generally craptastic. The main part of the gameplay is annoying switch hunts and trying to avoid death long enough to finish the damn level. The architecture is fine but certainly could be more detailed, the texture choices are god awful, and the health/ammo placement could have been a billion times better. It keeps going like this for a good while, and the best weapon for about the first 1/5 of the level is the shotgun (while fighting numerous cacos and barons). While there are certainly worse levels out there, I believe this one shows that the author should just stop trying. If touching up his first level gives this, then maybe he should try alternative outlets for his creative passions. I recommend you pass this one up. Canary Squardron - Chris Bourke Limit Removing - Solo Play - 263 kb - (img) (img) Unexpectedly difficult would be a nice summary of this wad. It looks fine, nothing special, and the layout is alright, but the thing that really makes it worth it is the thing placement. It's quite a bit frustrating, actually, as there are spectre imps to watch out for (those things are evil) as well as lots of cacos and a good number of big monsters. There's also a nice romero-head barrel teleport that leaves you with nothing to use but a chainsaw on level 4 (against a baron, no less). I would recommend this for a download, but keep at it when you get frustrated if you have trouble. It's a nice wad. Canary Squadron (Fixed) - Chris Bourke Limit Removing - Solo Play - 265 kb Same as the above Canary Squadron, except fixed to work with ports besides Zdoom. Get this if you plan on using something else to play it. Classic Episode 2 - Singularity Complex - Jan Van der Veken Limit Removing - Solo Play - 978 kb - (img) (img) (img) One of the few newer Ultimate Doom episodes, Classic Episode 2 pulls off a feeling of fear all over again as trap after trap after monster horde after monster hoarde is sent after you in 9 base style maps. The "hub level" is a unique style of level ordering that I suspect will catch on with people who are looking to rip off styles from famous maps. I also like that it utilized the secret level slot for a regular level. The gameplay is quite excellent but has many traps and lots of bigger monsters (such as barons) strewn around. It's also a good looking mapset, at the same time feeling older. I very much suggest looking at this and name this my favorite wad out of all of them in this /newstuff. Deadly Simplified - Derek McDonald aka Afterglow Limit Removing - Deathmatch - 200 kb - (img) A nice, open DM level for limit-removing ports. I didn't get to play a match on it, but it looks pretty damn good. Big enough for a nice firefight. All weapons except BFG and chainsaw are available, but the plasma gun is a little too easy to get for my tastes. Still, it doesn't detract from what seems to be a nice deathmatch level. Horizontal Spinning Fan in Doom - Derek McDonald aka Afterglow doom2.exe - n/a - 17 kb Interesting tech demo. I'm not sure how it works (I didn't bother to look inside the wad) but it makes a nice spinning fan that should work in all ports (it worked in Chocolate Doom, anyway). Take a look at it if it's your thing. Fear is the Price of Sin - ReX Claussen Limit Removing - Solo Play - 250 kb - (img) A very nice map that was quite worth the download. The detail is great and the gameplay is superb as well. It has a nice non-linear flow to it where you still have some idea of what to do, and the difficulty is at a nice medium where it's still challenging to me (and I wouldn't consider myself exactly skilled but I'm certainly not a bad player) and yet I can beat it without too much trouble. Recommended. Flash of Death - Cyberdemon (Mike Watson) doom.exe - Solo Play - 139 kb Mediocre at best. The detail is pretty low, and there's far too much close quarters fighting with a large numbers of (the same) monsters for gameplay to be worth it at all. Don't bother downloading it. ic2005 - Ian Cunnings Boom Compatible - SP/Co-op - 1,521 kb Sadly, in my franticness at trying to complete this edition of the /newstuff Chronicles, I left this gem out. I played through a bit and got stuck but haven't the time to play through the rest and give it a proper review. From what I've played, however, it looks pretty good, with lots of detail while still delivering solid gameplay. Try it and see if you like it. Last Resort - Frank Polster doom.exe - Solo Play - 56 kb For the era which I will now assume the wad comes from (1994-5ish) this isn't that bad at all (besides the gunswitch which gives no attempt to alert you to the fact that it's a switch). The level seems to be some sort of base, with a nice little elevator ride at the beginning and a useless yellow keycard. The layout even is semi-realistic for the time period (though it could use a very nice slice of detail). Overall, however, this is something to stay away from. Maxima - Jacob H. Orloff ZDoom - Solo Play - 161 - (img) (img) Though the start is rather irritating (2 pain elementals, a hell knight, and a horde of imps vs. you with a normal shotgun in a medium sized cavern) this wad picks up. 4 levels (really 3) of great fun. Aesthetics are fine, although level 3 had some jarring texture choices (but then again I suppose it's supposed to be crazy like the Doom 2 hell levels). Overall I would suggest this for its solid gameplay. Operation Overlord - Enjay GZDoom - Solo Play - 5,424 kb I refuse to keep trying to play this. On the lowest difficulty setting, it's so choppy that I could NEVER even get close to trying to play it. This could be GZDoom, but personally I don't think you should just butt out anyone who just plain can't afford to have a better computer than the one he has now from ever playing your wads. Not to mention the mass of enemies in the first area make that area nearly unplayable in the first place. Hitscan + wide area + large amounts of enemies + only weapons are the horribly difficult to hit with railgun and a pistol = crappy design choices. If Enjay would like to make a version that my computer could possibly play, I'll try it later. For now, I don't think anyone without an actual video card should go near this. (Note: I wrote this review after being a little cranky at the wad, so don't take it seriously. It did look nice, I just couldn't play it at all.) Nothing - Joe Winiarski Skulltag - Deathmatch - 81 kb This is what at first appears to be a nice ripoff of the concept of a good many Quake III maps, but doesn't hold up. There are floor alignment errors (when skulltag can do that perfectly fine) and a sort of see-through wall (not a hom, different). Then there's the ridiculous power up area. There is a place, quite easy to get to within the level, where you can get an assload of power ups (both BFGs, all the spheres, a rune, lots of ammo) and then just walk out like it was nothing. I would not recommend this level for playing on. Quake 3 Tourney 6 - Joe Winiarski Skulltag - Deathmatch - 31 kb This is a pretty faithful copy of the Quake III map of the same name. It looks nice and (according to my memory) is pretty much exactly what Q3T6 was. This would probably be a lot of fun to DM on. Go ahead and try it. Outer Rim - ravage doom.exe - Solo Play - 173 kb - (img) Good level, nice level of detail, great gameplay (although it was a tad bit unclear what switch did what, but that's a side effect of being larger than most levels). Not a bad timewaster. Rim - The Colony - Frank Polster doom.exe - Solo Play - 55 kb Not really what I'd call a good level. It's giant but filled with absolutely nothing, has bland architecture, and boring gameplay. On the plus side, it's got one of the most pathetic attempts at colored lighting I've ever seen in the Doom engine. Not recommended by any means. Rim 2 - Cere - Frank Polster doom.exe - Solo Play - 129 kb More giant empty spaces, boring gameplay, and bland architecture. Luckily this one's architecture is a bit better (has a nice flag sitting up in one part of the level), but unluckily the gameplay is worse because key doors aren't labeled. Pass up. Infected Telekom Stations v 1.2 - Karoly (Charles) Horvath Limit Removing - Solo Play - 3,847 kb Exactly 18 levels in this wad are pure shit. Sadly this is exactly the same as the number of levels. The music didn't really catch me either, although it's not quite so bad. Ridiculously oversized environments and pitiful gameplay are the things that link these together. Avoid. And that's it. Thanks for giving me a chance, even though it was a very feeble effort on my part. Luckily I'm not planning to do this again.

Well, here it is. Sorry it took so long, unavoidable stuff in real life that was more important, but here's a my little guest offering. Not all levels have screenshots, as I deem some levels are so small that it'd be pointless to take them, or they are so pointless that it gives them too much credit. There seem to be a couple of older wads in this bunch that aren't quite up to standards but there are plenty of better ones as well. My reviews are equally inconsistent, as well, so bear with me. I'll list them in alphabetical order of filename. Unless otherwise noted, I tested with Zdoom v. 2.0.98. Note: This edition of the /newstuff Chronicles was written and compiled by lerner. Area of 666 Sectors - Karoly (Charles) Horvath Advanced Port - Solo Play - 320 kb - Generally craptastic. The main part of the gameplay is annoying switch hunts and trying to avoid death long enough to finish the damn level. The architecture is fine but certainly could be more detailed, the texture choices are god awful, and the health/ammo placement could have been a billion times better. It keeps going like this for a good while, and the best weapon for about the first 1/5 of the level is the shotgun (while fighting numerous cacos and barons). While there are certainly worse levels out there, I believe this one shows that the author should just stop trying. If touching up his first level gives this, then maybe he should try alternative outlets for his creative passions. I recommend you pass this one up. Canary Squardron - Chris Bourke Limit Removing - Solo Play - 263 kb - Unexpectedly difficult would be a nice summary of this wad. It looks fine, nothing special, and the layout is alright, but the thing that really makes it worth it is the thing placement. It's quite a bit frustrating, actually, as there are spectre imps to watch out for (those things are evil) as well as lots of cacos and a good number of big monsters. There's also a nice romero-head barrel teleport that leaves you with nothing to use but a chainsaw on level 4 (against a baron, no less). I would recommend this for a download, but keep at it when you get frustrated if you have trouble. It's a nice wad. Canary Squadron (Fixed) - Chris Bourke Limit Removing - Solo Play - 265 kb Same as the above Canary Squadron, except fixed to work with ports besides Zdoom. Get this if you plan on using something else to play it. Classic Episode 2 - Singularity Complex - Jan Van der Veken Limit Removing - Solo Play - 978 kb - One of the few newer Ultimate Doom episodes, Classic Episode 2 pulls off a feeling of fear all over again as trap after trap after monster horde after monster hoarde is sent after you in 9 base style maps. The "hub level" is a unique style of level ordering that I suspect will catch on with people who are looking to rip off styles from famous maps. I also like that it utilized the secret level slot for a regular level. The gameplay is quite excellent but has many traps and lots of bigger monsters (such as barons) strewn around. It's also a good looking mapset, at the same time feeling older. I very much suggest looking at this and name this my favorite wad out of all of them in this /newstuff. Deadly Simplified - Derek McDonald aka Afterglow Limit Removing - Deathmatch - 200 kb - A nice, open DM level for limit-removing ports. I didn't get to play a match on it, but it looks pretty damn good. Big enough for a nice firefight. All weapons except BFG and chainsaw are available, but the plasma gun is a little too easy to get for my tastes. Still, it doesn't detract from what seems to be a nice deathmatch level. Horizontal Spinning Fan in Doom - Derek McDonald aka Afterglow doom2.exe - n/a - 17 kb Interesting tech demo. I'm not sure how it works (I didn't bother to look inside the wad) but it makes a nice spinning fan that should work in all ports (it worked in Chocolate Doom, anyway). Take a look at it if it's your thing. Fear is the Price of Sin - ReX Claussen Limit Removing - Solo Play - 250 kb - A very nice map that was quite worth the download. The detail is great and the gameplay is superb as well. It has a nice non-linear flow to it where you still have some idea of what to do, and the difficulty is at a nice medium where it's still challenging to me (and I wouldn't consider myself exactly skilled but I'm certainly not a bad player) and yet I can beat it without too much trouble. Recommended. Flash of Death - Cyberdemon (Mike Watson) doom.exe - Solo Play - 139 kb Mediocre at best. The detail is pretty low, and there's far too much close quarters fighting with a large numbers of (the same) monsters for gameplay to be worth it at all. Don't bother downloading it. ic2005 - Ian Cunnings Boom Compatible - SP/Co-op - 1,521 kb Sadly, in my franticness at trying to complete this edition of the /newstuff Chronicles, I left this gem out. I played through a bit and got stuck but haven't the time to play through the rest and give it a proper review. From what I've played, however, it looks pretty good, with lots of detail while still delivering solid gameplay. Try it and see if you like it. Last Resort - Frank Polster doom.exe - Solo Play - 56 kb For the era which I will now assume the wad comes from (1994-5ish) this isn't that bad at all (besides the gunswitch which gives no attempt to alert you to the fact that it's a switch). The level seems to be some sort of base, with a nice little elevator ride at the beginning and a useless yellow keycard. The layout even is semi-realistic for the time period (though it could use a very nice slice of detail). Overall, however, this is something to stay away from. Maxima - Jacob H. Orloff ZDoom - Solo Play - 161 - Though the start is rather irritating (2 pain elementals, a hell knight, and a horde of imps vs. you with a normal shotgun in a medium sized cavern) this wad picks up. 4 levels (really 3) of great fun. Aesthetics are fine, although level 3 had some jarring texture choices (but then again I suppose it's supposed to be crazy like the Doom 2 hell levels). Overall I would suggest this for its solid gameplay. Operation Overlord - Enjay GZDoom - Solo Play - 5,424 kb I refuse to keep trying to play this. On the lowest difficulty setting, it's so choppy that I could NEVER even get close to trying to play it. This could be GZDoom, but personally I don't think you should just butt out anyone who just plain can't afford to have a better computer than the one he has now from ever playing your wads. Not to mention the mass of enemies in the first area make that area nearly unplayable in the first place. Hitscan + wide area + large amounts of enemies + only weapons are the horribly difficult to hit with railgun and a pistol = crappy design choices. If Enjay would like to make a version that my computer could possibly play, I'll try it later. For now, I don't think anyone without an actual video card should go near this. (Note: I wrote this review after being a little cranky at the wad, so don't take it seriously. It did look nice, I just couldn't play it at all.) Nothing - Joe Winiarski Skulltag - Deathmatch - 81 kb This is what at first appears to be a nice ripoff of the concept of a good many Quake III maps, but doesn't hold up. There are floor alignment errors (when skulltag can do that perfectly fine) and a sort of see-through wall (not a hom, different). Then there's the ridiculous power up area. There is a place, quite easy to get to within the level, where you can get an assload of power ups (both BFGs, all the spheres, a rune, lots of ammo) and then just walk out like it was nothing. I would not recommend this level for playing on. Quake 3 Tourney 6 - Joe Winiarski Skulltag - Deathmatch - 31 kb This is a pretty faithful copy of the Quake III map of the same name. It looks nice and (according to my memory) is pretty much exactly what Q3T6 was. This would probably be a lot of fun to DM on. Go ahead and try it. Outer Rim - ravage doom.exe - Solo Play - 173 kb - Good level, nice level of detail, great gameplay (although it was a tad bit unclear what switch did what, but that's a side effect of being larger than most levels). Not a bad timewaster. Rim - The Colony - Frank Polster doom.exe - Solo Play - 55 kb Not really what I'd call a good level. It's giant but filled with absolutely nothing, has bland architecture, and boring gameplay. On the plus side, it's got one of the most pathetic attempts at colored lighting I've ever seen in the Doom engine. Not recommended by any means. Rim 2 - Cere - Frank Polster doom.exe - Solo Play - 129 kb More giant empty spaces, boring gameplay, and bland architecture. Luckily this one's architecture is a bit better (has a nice flag sitting up in one part of the level), but unluckily the gameplay is worse because key doors aren't labeled. Pass up. Infected Telekom Stations v 1.2 - Karoly (Charles) Horvath Limit Removing - Solo Play - 3,847 kb Exactly 18 levels in this wad are pure shit. Sadly this is exactly the same as the number of levels. The music didn't really catch me either, although it's not quite so bad. Ridiculously oversized environments and pitiful gameplay are the things that link these together. Avoid. And that's it. Thanks for giving me a chance, even though it was a very feeble effort on my part. Luckily I'm not planning to do this again.

They were fine. I liked the extra level you added to view them :P.

Well considering I'm the reason that it's all late and stuff I suppose I could paste the review I have since it's finished: Though the start is rather irritating (2 pain elementals, a hell knight, and a horde of imps vs. you with a normal shotgun in a medium sized cavern) this wad picks up. 4 levels (really 3) of great fun. Aesthetics are fine, although level 3 had some jarring texture choices (but then again I suppose it's supposed to be crazy like the Doom2 hell levels). Overall I would recommend checking this out. I am sorry it has been late so far, btw. Real life stuff that was way more important at the time came up. All I have to do is finish playing through canary.wad and write a review, then send it to Bloodshedder (maybe after taking pictures though).

Mac? Eek. There's not many ports that play Mac. This might be impossible to do but I'm not exactly sure so don't take my word for it. Research what ports have a Mac port and see which one is best.

Looking at those screens this seems to be very haphazardly textured. Try to get it to look a bit smoother when changing from one texture to another on the walls. Also a window was on a corner in one of the pics 0_o. Oh and Legacy crashes for most people, I hope you know. Don't expect many people to play your map because of that.

Eh, I can't say I liked this week's /newstuff Chronicles. I can understand not wanting to play a Legacy map due to the fact that Legacy doesn't work well for many people, but not wanting to play Skulltag because you usually don't? 0_o. Oh well. Not something I can bother being concerned about since I have no say.

1. Pwads are patch wads, the kind you use with -file. Iwads are internal wads, and contain the main data for doom and doom2. Examples are doom.wad and doom2.wad. Hub is a term used to describe certain levels that usually are interconnected in a way similar to Hexen's levels and have puzzles you must solve. Could also be used for the "central" map in a wad in that style. 2. Bug Randy about it if you want, but it's not really required to have interesting architecture and level designs. Besides, you could always fake it using TeleportToLine. 3. Doom Builder, hands down. 3d editing mode rocks.

Hey, I want a texture or two. I want a 128x32 computer screen with lots of crazy info stuff on it, placed on top of shawn2, then a 64x64 computer screen that also is placed on top of shawn2. Can you do that?

Hey speaking of which, I'd play skulltag more if someone could figure out why the heck it has suddently started lagging like heck with my DSL connection :(.

Well, that sounds dumb.

Primer for slopes: Step 1) Make the sector you want sloped be lower than the sector it's sloping up to or vice versa on whichever flat plane you're sloping (floor or ceiling) Step 2) Use the H Align Plane linedef type (181 if I'm not mistaken). For the floor, set the first argument to 1 if you're sloping outwards or whatever from the front side of the linedef, or 2 if you're sloping from the back. Same with the second argument for ceiling sloping. You can slope both at the same time with the same linedef btw. Edit: Oh forgot about hubs. Hubs are done via MAPINFO lump. Define a cluster of levels, and use the hub flag or whatever in that cluster definition. Also make sure that you turn on that one flag thing that turns of intermission screens (because it looks stupid to go into a weapons shop and then be greeted with an intermission screen). Then just design your maps to be able to be entered from other maps and make sure you never get stuck in one map unless you have to have him there (like if it's a boss at the end of the wad in a level and you prevent the player from leaving to get health because he's a coward or whatever). Sound easy?