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Memfis

Bob Evans and the Odessa series

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I did some searching through the forums and found some old references to the Compuserve Action Games Forums.

Grazza asked:
Anyway, does anyone know whether the Action Games Forum file libraries are archived/available anywhere, or if there is anyone who would have kept a back-up copy of them? There were so many good wads there that it would be a great shame if they were lost forever.

Nemark asked:
As I'm sure most of you know, Chris Klie was one of the authors of the Master Levels for Doom II. [...] These WADs were packaged into a file called CDKSTUFF.ZIP on CompuServe's Action Games Forum back in the day, but is also pretty much impossible to find. If anyone knows where I can get these WADs or you have them and would like to send them to me, please let me know. Thanks.

Grazza said:
maybe someone somewhere has a back-up of the CompuServe Action Games Forum file libraries - apparently there was an average of about 3 new wads per day uploaded there in 1995 and 1996 (I find that figure plausible). Some overlap, of course, but not as much as you might expect.

Really looking forward to seeing this. It sounds like there's a good chance that there are some long-lost gems hiding in there. It's really sad when archives like this get lost, and all the more pleasing when they are recovered again. That's why archive.org is a great choice for hosting this: it's practically their mission statement to try to save things from the Internet that would otherwise be lost.

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kmxexii said:

http://onemandoom.blogspot.com/2011/09/surrounded-surroundwad.html

It's been up since late 2011! You could have found it in the Ultimate Doom index, the author index under Jim Flynn's name, or in the "Additional Works" table near the top of the Master Levels for Doom II article. Or use either of the search tools, either near the top of the page or on the right hand side toward the bottom.

Just how hard did you look for it? :P


What the? How did I miss that? Ive read all those reviews but that one. Well, I'm the forum idiot for the time being. (btw, you should review Sverre's new map, now that its finished ;])

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I'm keeping an eye on this thread. :)

Here are some maps from Compuserve that I would like to play:
Gary Atkinson - Tunnel of Doom, Utopia for Hell
Doria Biddle - Bloody Hell (bldyhl.zip), Cavalcade of Carnage (cc.zip)
Jason Bilka - DM2_evil.zip, DM2_mon.zip
Matt Bollier - D2GOTCHA.WAD, D2PRISON.WAD, MERC.WAD, MINES.WAD, REFINERY.WAD, STYX.WAD
Alex Busby - Castle Of Death (COD.WAD)
Alex Mayberry - INBEAST.ZIP (Doom), STARSHP2.ZIP (Doom2)

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Gez said:

So, any news on the upload front? Is it available now?

Unfortunately I am out of town until next week and the CIS CD is home safe and sound. As soon as I get back home it will be uploaded.

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Really looking forward to this! Will the wads be uploaded individually or do I have to download one giant file? (my internet is limited)

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TimeOfDeath said:

Really looking forward to this! Will the wads be uploaded individually or do I have to download one giant file? (my internet is limited)

I am not sure how the Archive will handle the CIS CD? It is almost 600 MB.

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This really needs to be front page news or something. Seriously, this is the Doom equivalent of finding the Loch Ness Monster, Bigfoot, and D. B. Cooper living together.

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Rampage470 said:

This really needs to be front page news or something. Seriously, this is the Doom equivalent of finding the Loch Ness Monster, Bigfoot, and D. B. Cooper living together.

Once it's available, definitely.

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TimeOfDeath said:

Will the wads be uploaded individually or do I have to download one giant file? (my internet is limited)

Most likely an .iso image. If Bob also uploads a directory listing, you could grab that instead and post requests in the "Trying to Find a Specific WAD" thread.

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Nemark said:

Any word on this? I was looking forward to getting this.

I just got back home yesterday. The weather has been extremely uncooperative in doing so. I should be uploading in a few days...probably Wed. Sorry for the delay.

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This is an amazing thread, I did an Odessa search a couple months ago only finding the 1 and 13 listed in this thread, and I had also wondered about potential lost gems that never reached the archives. Thanks Bob for the archival work!

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I just uploaded all the other ODESSA Levels (9) to the archives. They should become available in the next day or two maybe. Of course given the weather situation at the present (Cold) Ty is probably next to a good fire with a hot.....ah... beverage which is where I am headed. :)
Just try to remember these WADS had their origins prior to DOOM2
being released. They are very old which makes me feel old.
The hair on the back of my neck stood up when I opened them for the first time in 15 years.
The CIS CD upload will require another method. My connection is too slow for the 600MB. It would take about 10+ hours at best I think depending on how heavy NET traffic is maybe longer so I am trying to make arrangements with a local company to use for the upload maybe Saturday if possible.

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Bob Evans said:

Just try to remember these WADS had their origins prior to DOOM2
being released. They are very old which makes me feel old.
The hair on the back of my neck stood up when I opened them for the first time in 15 years.


I would not have suspected that ODESSA predated Doom II, or were they all just started prior to Doom II? Either way, that's hardly a barrier to my enjoyment. Enigma predated Doom II, too, and it's another fave of mine.

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That's awesome news! It'll be great to have these WADs in the archives at last, where they belong.

Regarding the CIS CD, if anyone can do anything to help out, do say!

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kmxexii said:

I would not have suspected that ODESSA predated Doom II, or were they all just started prior to Doom II? Either way, that's hardly a barrier to my enjoyment. Enigma predated Doom II, too, and it's another fave of mine.

Most were started in 1994 prior to Doom2's entrance. Since I did not have access to the Net back then it was one of those Hmmmm moments. "Ok, I made these levels "Now what do I do with them?" :)
They were converted over very shortly after Doom 2 and DEU2(?) came out.

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fraggle said:

That's awesome news! It'll be great to have these WADs in the archives at last, where they belong.

Regarding the CIS CD, if anyone can do anything to help out, do say!

Thanks. Right now, at least, a lot of people are off work due to the winter storm so the NET has been receiving very heavy traffic. A dedicated company server would eliminate that problem.
I live in Northern Florida and we have roads iced over right now, had snow, freezing rain and sleet last night and everything (schools, gov, etc.) is closed.
If you wish you are more than welcome to place any of my levels on your website.

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Bob Evans said:

Thanks. Right now, at least, a lot of people are off work due to the winter storm so the NET has been receiving very heavy traffic. A dedicated company server would eliminate that problem.
I live in Northern Florida and we have roads iced over right now, had snow, freezing rain and sleet last night and everything (schools, gov, etc.) is closed.
If you wish you are more than welcome to place any of my levels on your website.


Two nights ago we got the sleet and snow in MS. It wasn't nearly as bad as other places, of course, but we did end up sequestered at work for the night

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If I had a hard copy I'd have no trouble blasting it onto the net over my job's fiber connection, but it sounds like snail mail would take just as long at this point given the blizzards going on.

Also it's hard to get a CD through the mail intact, unless you have one of those good old metallic AOL CD tins - those are impervious to anything the USPS can throw at them.

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Quasar said:

If I had a hard copy I'd have no trouble blasting it onto the net over my job's fiber connection, but it sounds like snail mail would take just as long at this point given the blizzards going on.

Also it's hard to get a CD through the mail intact, unless you have one of those good old metallic AOL CD tins - those are impervious to anything the USPS can throw at them.

Tuesday afternoon late I sent a package via UPS to Illinois and as of this afternoon late it was still sitting in Montgomery, AL. :/

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If you have any problems with the CD, send it by e-mail to one (anyone) of us. I may be able to upload it, but just to be sure you can just send it to Ty (he's "the one" when it comes to this things), or just upload it to Mediafire or something like that.

Take your time. As GreyGhost said, we've wait this for years, a couple of weeks will make no difference.

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Zed said:

If you have any problems with the CD, send it by e-mail

Heh. Uploading things by email isn't any faster than uploading it by other ways...

(Email actually kinda suck for large files. Emailing CD images is a bad idea.)

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Quasar said:

Also it's hard to get a CD through the mail intact, unless you have one of those good old metallic AOL CD tins - those are impervious to anything the USPS can throw at them.

Wrapping a standard jewel case in a double layer of bubble wrap and a corrugated cardboard outer sleeve also works well, though there's still the occasional broken case.

Zed said:

just upload it to Mediafire or something like that.

With a slow connection, MediaFire's just as out of the question as the Internet Archive.

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Zed said:

If you have any problems with the CD, send it by e-mail to one (anyone) of us. I may be able to upload it, but just to be sure you can just send it to Ty (he's "the one" when it comes to this things), or just upload it to Mediafire or something like that.

Yeah, um, that's not likely to help. The CD is 600MB (way too much to email). And Bob said his Internet connection is too slow or congested to upload; it's not going to make any difference whether that's uploading to send an email or uploading to a website.

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It might help, but it depends on whether it's network congestion that's the problem or if Bob just has a slow Internet connection. If it's the former then it could certainly work a lot better.

It's pretty easy to set up a torrent. Maybe give it a try? Once someone else has the full ISO then they can upload it to archive.org.

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