Good Doom/Heretic/Hexen WADs

[Biscotti]

I doubt anything of the sort will happen anymore. R.I.P. Thief FM sticky, never forget...

 

[BLOBERT]

I doubt anything of the sort will happen anymore. R.I.P. Thief FM sticky, never forget...

BRO I DONT CARE FUCK SHIT

THIS PLACE ONE ONE LAST RESTAR OF REAL GAMING

FUCKING STICKY THE DOOM THREAD THE DECLINE THERE IS FAR LESS WORSE THAN THE ENTIRE RPG FORUM

ONE GOOD DEED THE ADMINS CHN DO TO MAKE THIS AN ACTUAL GOOD PLACE FOR PC GAMERS

 

[BLOBERT]

BROS MODS IF YOU THINK YOU HAVE STICKY MANY

UNSTICK THE KICKSTARTER THREAD CAUSE KICKSTARTER HAS BEEN SHIT FOR SEVERAL YEARS

 

[Ol' Willy]

FUCKING STICKY THE DOOM THREAD THE DECLINE THERE IS FAR LESS WORSE THAN THE ENTIRE RPG FORUM

Once you learn how much troons are in Doom community though...

 

[NecroLord]

FUCKING STICKY THE DOOM THREAD THE DECLINE THERE IS FAR LESS WORSE THAN THE ENTIRE RPG FORUM

Once you learn how much troons are in Doom community though...

One of the reasons I never bother with the Doomworld forums.

 

[ghardy]

Doomworld forums

Are there any other forums with substantial activity? The Doomer boards were (are?) devolving into mod-wars.

Most of the mainstream forums fall prostrate before Romero and have periodic two-minute hate sessions for Carmack.

 

[NecroLord]

Doomworld forums

Are there any other forums with substantial activity? The Doomer boards were (are?) devolving into mod-wars.

Most of the mainstream forums fall prostrate before Romero and have periodic two-minute hate sessions for Carmack.

Don't really know, to be honest.
Why do they hate Carmack? Is it because of Doom 3?

 

[ghardy]

Why do they hate Carmack?

He's not a leftist.

 

[NecroLord]

Why do they hate Carmack?

He's not a leftist.

Right, I forgot about that.
I was thinking it was due to his different game design philosophy.
Romero cultists are really dumb.

 

[Ninja Destroyer]

https://doomwiki.org/wiki/Demonfear

https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/megawads/rebirth

I recommend trying "The Rebirth" as well. It has the same philosophy, when it comes to maps - small compact structures that are excellent if you would like to test some gameplay mods.

 

[ghardy]

I recommend trying "The Rebirth" as well.

Nice concurrence. I began it yesterday, in fact.

 

[Baron Dupek]

Doomworld forums

Are there any other forums with substantial activity? The Doomer boards were (are?) devolving into mod-wars.

Most of the mainstream forums fall prostrate before Romero and have periodic two-minute hate sessions for Carmack.

Don't really know, to be honest.
Why do they hate Carmack? Is it because of Doom 3?

https://www.pcgamer.com/doom-co-cre...onvention-that-rails-against-woke-propaganda/
https://old.reddit.com/r/scifi/comments/13kyodn/doom_cocreator_john_carmack_is_headlining_a_toxic/

 

[NecroLord]

Doomworld forums

Are there any other forums with substantial activity? The Doomer boards were (are?) devolving into mod-wars.

Most of the mainstream forums fall prostrate before Romero and have periodic two-minute hate sessions for Carmack.

Don't really know, to be honest.
Why do they hate Carmack? Is it because of Doom 3?

https://www.pcgamer.com/doom-co-cre...onvention-that-rails-against-woke-propaganda/
https://old.reddit.com/r/scifi/comments/13kyodn/doom_cocreator_john_carmack_is_headlining_a_toxic/

Well there it is...

 

[ghardy]

This is the man who took a holiday back in 2018 to have some fun... writing neural networks on OpenBSD:

John Carmack: hermit mode and neural network implementations

After a several year gap, I finally took another week-long programming retreat, where I could work in hermit mode, away from the normal press of work. My wife has been generously offering it to me the last few years, but I'm generally bad at taking vacations from work.

As a change of pace from my current Oculus work, I wanted to write some from-scratch-in-C++ neural network implementations, and I wanted to do it with a strictly base OpenBSD system. Someone remarked that is a pretty random pairing, but it worked out ok.

Despite not having actually used it, I have always been fond of the idea of OpenBSD — a relatively minimal and opinionated system with a cohesive vision and an emphasis on quality and craftsmanship. Linux is a lot of things, but cohesive isn't one of them.

I'm not a Unix geek. I get around ok, but I am most comfortable developing in Visual Studio on Windows. I thought a week of full immersion work in the old school Unix style would be interesting, even if it meant working at a slower pace. It was sort of an adventure in retro computing — this was fvwm and vi. Not vim, actual BSD vi.

[His original post was on Facebook, which I decided against linking to.]

He liked the OpenBSD system enough to have made a Silver donation (amount USD 10,000-25,000) to the OpenBSD Foundation twice:
The OpenBSD Foundation receives the first Silver contribution from a single individual
https://www.openbsdfoundation.org/contributors.html

So, even though he works on Windows with Visual Studio, he spent time getting to grips with programming on a different system with a different philosophy. And he sent a large amount of money to further the development of this system he doesn't even use regularly.

Looks to me like Carmack is a great guy!

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

Once you learn how much troons are in Doom community though...

This is something I found out recently. Holy shit.

 

[Lawful Pacific]

 

[ghardy]

Yes, this was one of the stupid posts that stopped my frequenting the forum. (How "emotionally intelligent" is it to write a whining post on a prominent forum unless it is to feed your ego with approvals from fellow fragile folk?)

That forum has turned into an insufferable, irredeemable cesspool. Sad. Some of the old-timers used to have good discussions and insight.

 

[NecroLord]

Yes, this was one of the stupid posts that stopped my frequenting the forum. (How "emotionally intelligent" is it to write a whining post on a prominent forum unless it is to feed your ego with approvals from fellow fragile folk?)

That forum has turned into an insufferable, irredeemable cesspool. Sad. Some of the old-timers used to have good discussions and insight.

Trying to cancel one of the very Creators of Doom?
That was pretty bold of them, I'll give them that.

 

[ghardy]

I had a good time reading David Kushner's Masters of Doom some time ago. It chronicles the development of DooM and id Software in the early days before, during, and after DooM.

Perhaps the two Johns are credited too much in computer and video gaming mythology history, but I personally think the two of them have earned it abundantly.

 

[NecroLord]

I had a good time reading David Kushner's Masters of Doom some time ago. It chronicles the development of DooM and id Software in the early days before, during, and after DooM.

Perhaps the two Johns are credited too much in computer and video gaming mythology history, but I personally think the two of them have earned it abundantly.

Small team, BIG results.
Nowadays studios are simply overcrowded and stacked with useless staff.

 

[ghardy]

As for WADs...

Sometimes you just want to chill. The good old Fava Beans (from 1995) is a competent, fun set (except the last level.)

It replaces Episode 1 while capturing it's spirit nicely.

It's easy. It's simple. Nevertheless, it is a favorable look at the early days of DooM modding.

https://doomwiki.org/wiki/Fava_Beans

 

[Unkillable Cat]

I've been playing Brutal Doom for years, but today I learned something new.

There's a 'taunt'-command where Doomguy sticks out a finger and yells "Fuck yo'selves!". I use it because it works great as a aggro-ping mechanic, triggering monsters out of sight or reach.

The thing is, this taunt-command also uses the cursor: If you're 'looking' at some monsters while using the taunt, they get mad. Pinky gets mad and runs faster, but then I had the misfortune of taunting a cyberdemon. He got PISSED, he moved faster, fired more rockets (and with a greater spread) but most importantly the rockets go faster. Not even Doomguy at max running speed can outrun those...

Pissed-off Cyberdemon is a real threat.

EDIT: Just learned now that Pissed-off Cyberdemon is immune to stunlocks. THAT is a serious problem.

Update: Been messing around with this. Pinky's invisible brother Spectre is also affected by this, but the only other monster that gets enraged is the Mancubus.

But the thing with the Cyberdemon-rage is that it's in levels. Your bog-standard Cyberdemon gets enraged, he fires faster as mentioned above. But the Cyberdemon Lord found at the end of E2M8 of Doom starts at that level. He can then get enraged via insult to fire EVEN FASTER rockets. Be quick or be dead!

(Remember, Boss-level versions of the monsters have a rare chance of spawning in whatever map the regular variety appears in. Killing them ends the level and loads up the next one.)

I looked up some old wiki-page about Brutal Doom, and in an older version of the mod the Cyberdemon could be enraged a total of three times.

 

[NecroLord]

Brutal Doom is nuts.
Imagine playing slaughter maps with that shit...

Say bye-bye to your framerate.

 

[HansDampf]

I'm back from rl and played some WADs for Halloween season. Better late than never. Screenshots go into the screenshot thread. Opignons go here.

Ad Mortem, 34 maps made by 4chan's vr board

Being a community project, the maps vary wildly in quality, difficulty, length and style. The new monsters, weapon sprites, sound effects, and Halloween aesthetics are the glue that hold it all together. Average difficulty is maybe between Eviternity and Ancient Aliens. But you can expect a few funny/unfair traps. And LunchLunch's maps tend to be more slaughtery. If you're looking for something to play during Halloween, Ad Mortem should be on your list.
Spookiness: 10/10 Everything looks like Halloween.

The Settlements, 3 maps with liminal space aesthetics and focus on exploration

It's nice. Not much else to say.
Spookiness: 2/10 Liminal spaces can be unsettling? Maybe...

Alcázar, 6 Halloween themed maps inspired by the Wormwood series

The main gimmick here are the jump gems. Touch a gem, and it will launch you into the air for 20% health, like an AV jump. These are used for some platforming but also as obstacles in combat arenas. For example, you may have to jump onto a platform to restock on health and ammo during a fight.
The first 3 maps are short (map 3 is just one fight) and kinda meh. Maps 4 and 5 are "real" maps with typical progression and nice visuals. Map 6 has no monsters and is just platforming but well made (with a secret ending). Recommended if you like a challenge.
Spookiness: 4/10 They say it's Halloween-themed, but I don't see much of it.

worm\V/wood, 3 Halloween maps + 2 bonus maps

This is the fifth (and final?) entry in the series, and it has some special magic. Ribbiks found a way to create a randomizer in Boom. Keys and weapon spawns are randomized and change the way you go through a map. Map 1 introduces the gimmick. Map 2 is annoying chaos (20 minutes of "what is happening?", "where am I going?", "where are the weapons?"). The two bonus maps are also lame.
It's really all about map 3, a long and non-linear map that, on top of the randomizer, also keeps track of your "curse level". Every time you pick up a key or a new weapon, your curse level increases. Higher curse level means more difficult combat, more enemies, low-tier monsters replaced by high-tier monsters, or sometimes even changes to the arena. You can also get an optional BFG that raises your curse level by 3 points.
This map is genius! But it can also get very hard if you aren't careful. Maybe don't play on UV the first time.
Spookiness: 7/10 Cursed to the bone. Berserk is replaced with an axe. And music is Soul Sanctum from Hollow Knight.

Orange Is True Love, 3 short Halloween maps

This is more like a prototype of what would eventually turn into the Wormwood series. I actually do not recommend it. Just play Wormwood instead.
Spookiness: 4/10 There are some bats in map 1. But this WAD is too short to invoke much spookiness.

Simulacrum, 32 maps of medium difficulty slohtre made by two guys

... and overall the best WAD in this post, evidenced by the fact that I binged through it very quickly in one weekend. The maps are consistently good, every map looks different, the fights are fun with some creative setups or funny traps, and almost all of them give you a fair chance to beat them on your first attempt. You'll die plenty anyway, of course, because you suck. Or maybe that's just me... My only small nit pick would be that there is almost no variety in the overall map design style besides the visuals (exception: map 31, which deserves the name "combat puzzle").
This WAD also makes use of a feature I wanted to see more of in Doom since I first saw it in Stardate 20X7: Animated sky textures. More maps should do this.
Spookiness: 0/10 No spook. Only fun.

Magnolia, 3 tough maps with complicated layouts and progression

An acquired taste. First map isn't really my goblet of earl grey. Lots of mystery switches, stupid secrets and other nonsense. Combat is also rather slow and you have to rely on infighting a lot. The other 2 maps are really cool, though, both in their own way.
Map 2 introduces the Evil Eye that functions as an invincible turret that shoots plasma projectiles at you like Arachnotrons. You don't get any weapons (except a secret BFG with one shot) and have to fight monsters by making the eyes shoot them for you. This is the most digestible map.
Map 3 is another long map but with less nonsense than map 1. The layout is still complicated. Even after playing it for 3 hours, I still got lost. I also didn't bother with all the secrets. Sometimes with popular WADs like this, I get the impression that they're primarily made to appeal to other mappers, not players. I can't really get excited about awkward SR50 jumps or fence glides. But as long as it's just for secrets, it's fine, I guess. There are some great combat setups with the evil eyes, though. The final fight has to be seen to be believed.
Spookiness: 8/10 for map 3 with its dark and oppressive atmosphere.

Magnolia has a funny backstory, btw. Ribbiks likes to point out in his txts that his maps are designed for HMP difficulty, and that UV is intended as a NG+ mode for Doom gods and "not fun". Of course, this doesn't stop people from jumping straight into UV, anyway, and then complain about unfair difficulty. For Magnolia, he decided on a different approach and didn't implement UV at all. Playing on UV is the same as playing on HMP. If you wanted the UV version, you had to earn it and send Ribbiks demos of you beating the maps on HMP without saves. That's some top-tier gatekeeping. The first 8 people who sent him demos also received a unique bonus map. Only 2 of them have been leaked, afaik.
Since then, he's made the UV version publicly available on his site. But I'm a good boy and still played on HMP.

I think, I've fully transitioned to DSDA-Doom which I'm using for most WADs now, even if I prefer how the mouse controls feel in GZDoom. And I miss the anti-aliasing. But I don't want to have to deal with all the small inaccuracies anymore. You can never be sure if a map is behaving as intended or if it's GZDoom having another hickup.

 

[Sceptic]

Ad Mortem is one of my favourites. Not all maps are great but I don't think any one is truly bad, and there are many gems in there. I think it was also one of the pioneering MBF21 wads (phase 1 is from 2021 IIRC) and some of the tricks they do are fantastic. It's also the first wad I played that used the Boom randomizer trick, the final map uses it to change where the keys appear. It's also one of the better Icon of Sin maps that I played.

Ribbiks in general is an acquired taste. Some of the Wormwoods are great, others less so, though I haven't played the final one yet.

I fell in love with DSDA-Doom very quickly, I still use GZDoom but it has to share the go-to port spot with DSDA now.