SquareEngine

Being able to give a citation for the 1994 release date would be good in and of itself. SQUID2.WAD doesn't seem to have its own wiki page as well. It's hard for me to tell, what's the date of the earliest known mention and/or release of the map?

I am experiencing a similar issue with setting my resolution to 1920 x 1080 on a beefy computer. I can't pin down what's causing it. What's worse is that it sometimes works... checking it right now shows that it's set to 1920 x 1061 despite never setting it to that resolution. Usually it's a very low resolution like the one you described. Some days I have to set it to 1080p every startup and some days I don't. It'll change despite never doing anything that would affect it. All I've done is to change this one setting, load and save some levels, and maybe start a new game. There's no discernible pattern. I'm using Windows 10 Pro with two 1080p monitors. I'm not sure what other information would be useful.

This is something that has been on my mind. While reading House of Leaves I got into a conversation about MyHouse with someone who I know would hate the violence in Doom and never plays videogames. They're in their 20s. MyHouse has some universal traits that make for a good story, but the medium in which it tells that story cannot be separated from it. When I told the story of the mod it was a thrilling tale. I'm no professional storyteller and I abridged many parts to suit my audience, but it was the story and experience of MyHouse that made it captivating. (I am, admittedly, competent enough to tell stories without absolutely bombing it.) I think that if someone has never played Doom or Doom II then they should be encouraged to play through 10 levels or so. I'd point them at The Ultimate Doom and tell them to give Knee-Deep in the Dead a try on any difficulty they like. It still holds up. Plus, GZDoom as a program has some painful rough edges that make it hard to casually use despite its impressive compatibility and feature set. I'm still having to manually change the resolution to 1920x1080 sometimes and alt+tabbing when using it in fullscreen mode sucks so bad. I know by personal experience that the program has improved greatly since 2016-2018... but it's in need of a casual review of quality of life features.

I know nothing about file forensics but I can see what you mean plain as day when I opened up the files in Notepad++. (Regular ol' Notepad works but it will freeze for a short while as it loads "big" files.) It's stored in the file in plain text. This is pretty neat to see. Thanks for pointing it out. IMG_20220816_150024570.jpg (framed photo of Thomas Allord and Steven Nelson) motorola; moto g power Adobe Photoshop CC 2015 (Windows); 2023:02:23 20:24:13 2023:02:23 15:00:25 2023:02:23 15:00:25 Adobe_CM; Adobe http://ns.adobe.com/xap/1.0/ <x:xmpmeta xmlns:x="adobe:ns:meta/" x:xmptk="Adobe XMP Core 5.6-c067 79.157747, 2015/03/30-23:40:42 "> <rdf:RDF xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"> <rdf:Description rdf:about="" xmlns:xmp="http://ns.adobe.com/xap/1.0/" xmlns:photoshop="http://ns.adobe.com/photoshop/1.0/" xmlns:xmpMM="http://ns.adobe.com/xap/1.0/mm/" xmlns:stEvt="http://ns.adobe.com/xap/1.0/sType/ResourceEvent#" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmp:ModifyDate="2023-02-23T20:24:13-06:00" xmp:MetadataDate="2023-02-23T20:24:13-06:00" photoshop:DateCreated="2023-02-23T15:00:26.031148352" photoshop:ColorMode="3" photoshop:ICCProfile="sRGB IEC61966-2.1" xmpMM:DocumentID="adobe:docid:photoshop:477c519f-b3ea-11ed-b069-fb749474bb69" xmpMM:InstanceID="xmp.iid:b8ffa766-d286-c047-9456-1b35b00fd252" xmpMM:OriginalDocumentID="0AFDA84881B802F639F775F4081AD067" dc:format="image/jpeg"> <xmpMM:History> <rdf:Seq> <rdf:li stEvt:action="saved" stEvt:instanceID="xmp.iid:32140179-4be9-2c4c-9c94-b94600833f36" stEvt:when="2023-02-23T20:24:13-06:00" stEvt:softwareAgent="Adobe Photoshop CC 2015 (Windows)" stEvt:changed="/"/> <rdf:li stEvt:action="saved" stEvt:instanceID="xmp.iid:b8ffa766-d286-c047-9456-1b35b00fd252" stEvt:when="2023-02-23T20:24:13-06:00" stEvt:softwareAgent="Adobe Photoshop CC 2015 (Windows)" stEvt:changed="/"/> </rdf:Seq> </xmpMM:History> </rdf:Description> </rdf:RDF> </x:xmpmeta> I don't know quite what that is, but I'm 99% sure there isn't any personal info in there except for timestamps and what kind of phone or camera took the photo. The IDs are likely hashes that identify specific offline temporary files used by Photoshop. It hardly needs to be said, but everyone should know without a doubt that MyHouse and its premise is a work of fiction. Veddge is an artist and a storyteller who prepared a work for others to experience. What we're looking at is some under the hood info about how these files may have been made. IMG_20220816_233744312.jpg (obituary page of Thomas Allord) motorola; moto g power Adobe Photoshop CC 2015 (Windows); 2023:02:23 19:46:30 2023:02:22 23:35:21 2023:02:22 23:35:21 2023:02:23 Adobe_CM; Adobe http://ns.adobe.com/xap/1.0/ <x:xmpmeta xmlns:x="adobe:ns:meta/" x:xmptk="Adobe XMP Core 5.6-c067 79.157747, 2015/03/30-23:40:42 "> <rdf:RDF xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"> <rdf:Description rdf:about="" xmlns:GCamera="http://ns.google.com/photos/1.0/camera/" xmlns:xmp="http://ns.adobe.com/xap/1.0/" xmlns:photoshop="http://ns.adobe.com/photoshop/1.0/" xmlns:xmpMM="http://ns.adobe.com/xap/1.0/mm/" xmlns:stEvt="http://ns.adobe.com/xap/1.0/sType/ResourceEvent#" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" GCamera:SpecialTypeID="com.motorola.camera.SpecialType.BestShotType" GCamera:BurstID="53b1f9e4-3022-4289-990f-17fc642c5942" GCamera:BurstPrimary="1" xmp:ModifyDate="2023-02-23T19:46:30-06:00" xmp:MetadataDate="2023-02-23T19:46:30-06:00" photoshop:DateCreated="2023-02-22T23:35:22.58632704" photoshop:ColorMode="3" photoshop:ICCProfile="sRGB IEC61966-2.1" xmpMM:DocumentID="adobe:docid:photoshop:07b18ea6-b3e5-11ed-b069-fb749474bb69" xmpMM:InstanceID="xmp.iid:ea8e4252-6bc3-d74e-84b2-54695d45ac83" xmpMM:OriginalDocumentID="5B6B8E22E82CEB48139E0AA93A235C63" dc:format="image/jpeg"> <photoshop:DocumentAncestors> <rdf:Bag> <rdf:li>0CC4C8849D496E497B3D54AADE73A4BA</rdf:li> <rdf:li>5B6B8E22E82CEB48139E0AA93A235C63</rdf:li> <rdf:li>FA1463BA8E71EF7C2C93B0BA162A8D37</rdf:li> </rdf:Bag> </photoshop:DocumentAncestors> <xmpMM:History> <rdf:Seq> <rdf:li stEvt:action="saved" stEvt:instanceID="xmp.iid:af152953-ec7c-0646-a08f-dd434f9d3ab0" stEvt:when="2023-02-23T19:46:30-06:00" stEvt:softwareAgent="Adobe Photoshop CC 2015 (Windows)" stEvt:changed="/"/> <rdf:li stEvt:action="saved" stEvt:instanceID="xmp.iid:ea8e4252-6bc3-d74e-84b2-54695d45ac83" stEvt:when="2023-02-23T19:46:30-06:00" stEvt:softwareAgent="Adobe Photoshop CC 2015 (Windows)" stEvt:changed="/"/> </rdf:Seq> </xmpMM:History> </rdf:Description> </rdf:RDF> </x:xmpmeta> IMG_20220816_003137444.jpg (Blue key card drawing) 2023:02:24 00:31:37 http://ns.adobe.com/xap/1.0/ <x:xmpmeta xmlns:x="adobe:ns:meta/"><rdf:RDF xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"/></x:xmpmeta> The notable info here seems to be that some work on creating the pictures in the Google Drive happened on February 22nd and that Photoshop was used as part of that process. The fact that it was on a Windows computer or that a Motorolla cellphone or camera was used to take the photo is akin to trivia about what exact kinds of paintbrushes an artist used to paint a painting. It's important to understand that this is unintentional leftover info about how something was made and not lore about MyHouse.

I'm glad you wrote this. I struggled with House of Leaves and put it down because I had the wrong expectations. I was expecting something more like MyHouse.wad (or Control [2019]) and it really isn't like either. I was frustrated about the interjections that had nothing to do with the spooky house because I thought that it was all about the spooky house. That sounds idiotic saying it now, but I came into it with the absolute wrong expectations. It is its own thing. I'm still too early into the book to give any decent commentary about it. I see MyHouse.wad as partially about how fickle memories are. Who here has not experienced an old memory being wrong? Of mixing up two places and realizing that they didn't happen at the same time or weren't in the same place? The impossible rooms on the 2nd floor of the house are a prime example of this. Neither appears at first or when the house is finally emptied and sold. At first a door on the right is there and inside is a room that could pass for being a real part of the house. It is as if it's really a part of another similar house with a similar layout, or a long-gone remodel, or a memory of a dream. A Pepsi was had there. Then a second door appears and the left one leads into a place with a completely different look. How could this ever be a part of the real house? It is as if it is from some other place or maybe some other time! Now the door on the right is gone and what's left looks like the end of a hallway. The end of the hallway itself is as if it is from some other house in some other place. That really speaks to me. That we can be so wrong about something that we were present for. That we can forget something and find ourselves realizing that what we remember could not have happened as we remembered it. That's not a weakness, it's a fact of life that we deal with.

It does sound interesting. Which files exactly? I looked through the basic details of the files I downloaded (on May 25) and didn't spot any smoking guns. The photos that I most suspect are direct outputs from an image editing program are the two black and white sketches. The house looks like it has a filter applied and the dog always struck me as something that was made using an AI (or was at least initially photoshopped). They're also half the resolution of the blue key sketch which would help obscure details that could give away any fakery. I suppose it is also possible that these were printed directly onto the paper because they have subtle vertical streaks that are telltale artifacts of something that has been printed. There are machines, often found in schools for use by teachers, that will bind up paper together like that.

A way to reset the height of the pillars could help. I had to reload many times because there's no way to bring them back down. I definitely had to reload a save the first time I got there because I wasn't expecting it and by the time I understood how it worked it was already too tall.

Thanks for the history lesson. I really couldn't find that on my own. It puts the setting in context. I'm gonna drop this here as it's no hill worth dying over and I don't want to give any devs grief over great work. You're right to point out anisotropic filtering because it definitely enhances the quality of distant textures when filtering is used. GZDoom defaults it to 8x and not 16x. Running my tests again both entrenches my preference and shows me why you like your setting. This is a tall can of worms! Bilinear can be ignored because it's inferior to trilinear but everything else is valid option because it's making specific compromises. That leaves 6 choices that in order to be simplified must first be technically understood. I got worried about this because I thought that MyHouse.wad might be better played with something other than the default options. While I do agree that using none or none(+) is a lossless improvement of the textures, the design of the textures used in vanilla Doom and MyHouse.wad are not made worse by blurring them because doing so increases at-a-glance readability. The awkward chunky edge smoothing isn't flattering but there is no greater detail to be gained regardless of which setting is used. If it's hard to read on one setting then it'll be hard to read in the other. I'm spoilering this because this is getting too long. For any lurkers or other confused folk, the one objective improvement is changing the default "Anisotropic filter" option from 8x to 16x. Setting it to off only makes the "Texture Filter mode" give worse looking results and isn't what anyone is suggesting. In my opinion, the default trilinear filtering option is okay except if a particular mod uses a high resolution image with tiny pixel art. MyHouse.wad does not. That was why I was worried and now I am at ease.

I had a good time with this one. I beat it on Hard difficulty. I didn't expect the low ammo cap on the shotgun going in but it definitely prevented me from cheesing two fights. Were the RGB imps special or just for looks? One part that I felt relied too much on RNG was when you have to kill 8 or so teleporting chaingunners in a row with the shotgun. Was there a trick to that? I died a lot because of the RNG damage that the shotgun deals combined with the RNG of them firing (and hitting or missing) before I could get off a second shot. I didn't save scum through it but I felt that I was missing some intended strategy somewhere. Maybe it's fairer on Normal difficulty? I managed to get that group kill nearly every time. The real problem was that I could get hit before the BFG blast went off. Maybe if I fired the projectile closer and then ran into position it would be safer.

This was a very enjoyable map. You ended up with a great aesthetic. I had fun dodging and platforming past enemies. There were a few difficulty spikes where a particular challenge had me save scumming to get by. I played this a week ago so my memory of a few problems is faint but it's important. 1. The notice about requiring jumping, crouching, and pistol starts isn't given in the readme SENSORY.txt for the mod. It's only given on the first page of this thread. 2. There are several spots where you can fall down into a pit that you can't escape from. I think the first one I ran into was on level 2 with the very wide, yellow Cyberdemon? It happened more frequently on the final few levels. I ended up noclipping to get out of pits instead of reloading a save. 3. The part with the four side-by-side pillars that push you upwards... How on earth do you complete that legitimately?! I had some luck jumping on and off the tower to make it rise but it seemed like such a strange way to complete it that I still wonder if I was missing something. What pushed it over the top were the invincible Pain Elementals that kept spawning lost souls. My HP was too low from previous fights to take more than four or so hits. Even god mode didn't help because the lost souls would push me off the rising pillar. I used noclip to pass that one part but I worry it affected later parts of the level because there were a few locked doors at the end that I couldn't pass except with noclip. It was most obvious in the room with every weapon lined up in rows. I must have skipped some important trigger without knowing. I can't remember if they were keycard doors or not. Either way, I was stuck in a room with no way to backtrack.

Here's a hint to get you on the right track. Relatedly, I was reading chapter two of House of Leaves and noticed that

I know where it comes from and I know who Daisy is. I'm asking if using that disembodied head is something ID ever did, a third-party that sold Doom products ever did, or if it's something a fan whipped up one day. Not the end of the world, but I think it's tacky.

This talk about texture filtering made me nervous. I've played with that thing on for as long as I've used GZdoom. Finding the setting and messing with it actually brought back memories of wondering which was "correct". Having so many settings is a pro and a con all at once. I didn't have an answer back then but I'm more confident in it now. I think it's fine either way. Both "None (trilinear)" and "Trilinear" are the best options depending on personal preference and what art style a mod is using. I know that when I play old pixel art games that smoothing can be awful, ugly, and the wrong choice depending on how the original work was intended to be viewed. For GZDoom, the use of shading in vanilla Doom and MyHouse leaves me thinking that it's designed to be played with it on. Even then the difference is minor. Just don't use plain "None" because that makes a static mess in the distance. GZDoom in general is really weird. Does that bunny head come from somewhere or is it fan-made? *Was that bunny head ever used as a mouse cursor before GZDoom, or is it fan-made? Every single time I set up a new install of it I change it to the neutral simple arrow. When I was playing through MyHouse I had to contend with the weirdest GZDoom bug. It would lock up my mouse and make my clicks do nothing when I switch to another window. (I run W10 Pro version 22H2.) The reliable solution was to right click the taskbar twice whenever I alt+tabbed.