this week in doom - week ending May 1, 2016 (doom date 22.8181)

If this is your first time visiting this weekly chronicle, welcome. If not - I hope you like (and enjoy) some of the changes I've made to the page to make it easier to find the content you're looking for as well as the aesthetic changes to make the page more palatable. There have been changes to the look and feel, navigation, etc.... If you have any feedback on it or would like to suggest any further changes - you can use the email ink above.

As I have been doing for the majority of the history of Doom's existence, I will continue to bring you new doom wads, new reviews, updated news and much more. This particular page is my modest attempt to keep you abreast of all the current goings on in the Doom community - new Doom wads, new Doom 3 maps, updates on projects, Doom engines and more. And, don't forget - pretty soon, we'll be able to celebrate the release of Doom (2016). Enjoy and Keep on Dooming!

New Romero Map Unleashed

Big news for Doom fans this week as John Romero released another new map for the Ultimate Doom iWad! This map runs in the E1M4 map slot, in any limit-removing format.

Now, as many Doomers know, E1 from Doom 1 was mostly designed by Romero. His hand was at least in 8 of the 9 maps, with the exception being E1M8 "Phobos Anomaly," which he remade at the start of the year. However, there was one other map in the episode, E1M4 "Command Control," which was not made 100% by him. Now we can truly say we have a full Romero E1. Don't get me wrong, though, I still love the original E1M4-and-8's and do not think Doom could have been the same without Tom Hall, but Romero has done such an awesome job with both of these maps that I can safely say 20 years has not dulled his chops; if anything he's better than ever.

Yes, it's true; from demons, imps, and cyberdemons to E1M8b and now E1M4b, John Romero likes cracks of all shapes and sizes and everybody's favorite feature of E1M8b makes a return. Fortunately this time they are not in your way very much at all.

Aesthetically this thing looked awesome and would totally fit into E1M4's place. I liked the way that Romero lit the map and the waste pipe looked pretty cool, too. The computer room was gorgeous.

The gameplay of this map fit right into the E1M4 slot, being mostly shotgunners (74), followed by imps (58), zombiemen (22), demons (18), and spectres (13), with a chaingun and shotgun available from the start and a rocket launcher and chainsaw found later on. The SS secret was much less frustrating than in the original E1M4, too, for what that's worth, heh. Health and ammo were nicely balanced with the opposition. If you haven't already, play this map asap!

Let's jump on over to /idgames!

NEWS from the /IDGAMES ARCHIVES

First on our plate this week is a mod titled "Beeeeees" by pancrino, which contains racist language in its MAPINFO lump, so... f*ck it.

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Next is Mr. Romero's map, "Phobos Mission Control;" great to see it added to the archives! Find it here: http://www.doomwadstation.net/idgames/doom/Ports/d-f/e1m4b.zip

Also, you can go to the following link for Blue Paladin's thoughts and more screenies!

:-)

http://www.doomwadstation.net/Romero/e1m4b/

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Third up this week is a wad confidently called "Confinement 256?" by Xyzzy01, which can be found here:

http://www.doomwadstation.net/idgames/doom2/a-c/conf256a.zip

This huge, massive, spacious map is all contained in a 256x256 area... well, just the playable portion of it, heh. For something this small, it was pretty fun, but a quick look at the triggers in this thing in the editor raises a few brows, hehe. Jokes aside, this was fun. I liked it and I'm sure you will too; give it a shot!

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After that is a wad called "Toxic Line" by Vincenzo VTM and can be found here:

http://www.doomwadstation.net/idgames/doom2/s-u/toxiclin.zip

This level runs in Chocolate under the Doom 2 iWad.

I think one of my favorite things about this map was the high proportion of non-90 degree walls; many corners were angles higher than 90 degrees, giving this map a nice look and feel. The detailing was great for its compatibility level and there were a few surprises to be had in terms of encounters, which was nice. I really liked this wad. Try it out right away!

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Our fifth and final wad this week is called "Innocence X" by Donnel "Jazzmaster9" Enriquez, which can be found here: http://www.doomwadstation.net/idgames/doom2/Ports/g-i/inncnx.zip

This ten-map wad runs in zDoom with Doom 2 as the iWad and features the Doom 64 soundtrack. It also contains an extra wad titled "c_weapons" for normal Doom weapon behavior, though the only differences I noted were a slight recoil/camera-bump and a slight push-back for the SSG and RL, a la Heretic's Pheonix Rod.

I had a lot of fun with this map set; the slight recoil of the guns made them feel more powerful, without over-doing it like some other mods. The push-back was a nice touch, as well. There was also an Unmaker, which was kinda cool to see. The final boss was a repurposed Overlord; I found his attack to be fun to fight, with homing missiles coming out of his sides, making up-close circle strafing hazardous. Credits seemed to be missing some things here, but who am I to judge?

The aesthetics of this map set were a mixed bag for me. On one hand, almost everything felt like a bunch of 90 degree angles, but on the other hand the coloring was beautifly done. Lotta cool atmospheres here, while being of relatively simple detailing. But don't get me wrong, some of the later maps had some really cool-looking spots, detail-wise, which combined with the excellent coloring of this wad, made for some really cool areas to explore.

The gameplay was fun for the most part, though there were one or two maps that would start you off with lots of ammo, then starve you near the end. That kinda irked me because usually the beginning of a map sets the tone for the rest of it in many ways, including what to expect as far as pickups go. But that's a minor thing. The encounters were mostly easy, with a few surprises here and there that kept me on my toes. All-in-all it was a fun map set that every Doomer will have fun with! Try it out today!

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Speedrunning news and videos

DoomWorld member Revved put out a small collection of demos for "Rebirth" and they're pretty cool! Included is a D2ALL UV Max in 1:52:45, as well as an E1 UV Max at 23:47 and a MAP30 UV Max at 1:03. Really great times and really cool demos to watch! Congrats on making these things, Revved, and great job!

Find the demos on the Rebirth demos thread here: https://www.doomworld.com/vb/doom-speed-demos/55578-rebirth-demos-complevel-2/2/

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I'd like to again mention the awesome collection of Perdition's Gate demos released by 4shockblast because there is so much material there and so many are just fantastic runs! With over 334 demos totalling over 20 hours of gameplay, there is enough here to keep any Doomer entertained for weeks! From what I've watched so far, these demos are just fantastic and some are pretty mind-blowing. I highly recommend that everyone watch these things! BINGE MORE!

Check out these awesome demos here:

https://www.doomworld.com/vb/doom-speed-demos/87341-perditions-gate-demo-pack-released/

Awesome job on these demos to all involved!

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NEWS from around the Web

Looking towards the DoomWorld forums gives us a few gems this week!

"Membrane" is a GzDoom TC from SuperDon. This demo comes fully packaged with both GzDoom and an executable.

This pk3 is an absolute beauty, barring a few texture misalignments. But they are very minor. The architecture is really well done.

"Membrane" also uses custom 3D models for many things, from enemies to pickups; pushable crates to solid 3D objects. They look really good and match the mood of it. The guns were fun to use and there appears to be special skills that the player will receive as they play (the demo has the player receiving a "tentacle" which can be used to clear out brush, attack and affect enemies in different ways, and as a hookshot. In a way, this kinda reminds me of Metroid.

As stated, many things look new; well they sound new, too. The sounds are also nicely made, though I found it comical that the aliens say "there he is" and "blast him," though the player character is female. Other than that, the sounds are nice and clear and fit well.

Being a demo, this only contains a first level. Being only the first level, it's very easy. But it is enough to show a great promise of something awesome to come. This is an absolute must-play! Find it on its DW thread here:

https://www.doomworld.com/vb/wads-mods/87510-demo-membrane-a-standalone-game-in-gzdoom/

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FranckFRAG released a new, 3-map wad for Doom 2 called "HB_JC."

These maps are vanilla-compatible.

Each map is teeny tiny and requires tricks to beat, such as gliding, AV/rocket jumps, and a couple other things. The first one was pretty easy to figure out, but the next two were more tricky. All three had 1-2 monsters, all of which were your best friend, while still managing to be tough little devils.

I can't recommend this enough to any serious Doomer! Find its thread here: https://www.doomworld.com/vb/wads-mods/87595-hb-jc-wad/

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Wildweasel's "'(File)Size Matters' 64K Competition" thread on the zDoom forums has finally wrapped up and judging is now underway. With all the great entries to this contest, I wonder who the winner will be. All I know is it's some stiff competition and regardless of who wins, all participants did a great job! Good luck to all who submitted entries!

Check the thread out here: http://forum.zdoom.org/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=50859

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"Journey Into Fear" on the Zand forums has steadily been receiving updates as madcat brings it together.

This mod is Diablo-themed and so far I love it! So far there are three maps finished; they are beautifully crafted and fun to explore. Add in some Diablo 2-esk mechanics and you got yourself a fun time. Get on over to the Zand forums and download this awesome mod right now! Find it here:

https://zandronum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=58&t=6437

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New article up on the Rock, Paper, Shotgun website; "How Brutal Doom’s Gore Works" is an interesting read into the mechanics of Brutal Doom. Give it a read!

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2016/04/29/brutal-doom-gore/

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2 new reviews have been posted over at One Man Doom! As the pattern from the last few reviews suggests, Christian Hansen is the author being focused on at this time. However, with John Romero's recent new release, KMX E XII has wisely made a review for "Phobos Mission Control."

Up first is "The Aqueous Rise and Fall" by Christian Hansen. This map is a MAP13 replacement for the Plutonia iWad. Read KMX's great review here:

http://onemandoom.blogspot.com/2016/04/the-aqueous-rise-and-fall-aqueouswad.html

Second for the week is John Romero's "Phobos Mission Control," which is an E1M4 replacement for the Ultimate Doom iWad. KMX does great justice to such a well-designed map with his beautiful, in-depth review. I highly recommend reading KMX's thoughts on this map! Do it here:

http://onemandoom.blogspot.com/2016/04/phobos-mission-control-e1m4bwad.html

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Over on Wads In Progress, looks like Phobos Echoes from Zemini has received an update! It's a GzDoom map set that uses custom weapons and monsters and it doesn't look half bad either. I recommend it! Check it out here: http://wadsinprogress.info/?a=listwads&wad=1797

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Doom 3/4 news

No new news in the world of Doom 3/4 this week, so we leave you with this news from last week!

Doom Wad Station got it's website ramped up this week with the addition of the Doom 4 page as well as some nice changes to the look and feel of the website. Enjoy and rejoice in the coming of Doom 4

In case you were wondering about System Requirements for Doom 4

Doom video game system requirements ( minimum )

OS: Windows 7, Windows 8.1, Windows 10 (64-bit versions only)
Processor: Intel Core i5-2400 or better / AMD FX-8320 or better
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 (2GB or better / AMD Radeon HD 7870 (2GB or better
DirectX: Version 11
Network: Broadband Internet connection
Storage: 22 GB available space
Additional Notes: Open GL 4.5. Latest Graphics Drivers.

I found this little tidbit on Moddb that makes it seem that we might have a new update to Doom Reborn next week.

Check it out here.

I also found this tidy little bit that made me happy because I'm a huge fan of the Phantasm series of movies so I definitely have to give this one a go.

Phantasm Mod for Doom 3

Naturally, that will be available on Doom Wad Station as soon as I get the file uploaded. You'll be able to find it here. I have no doubt it will be available by the time you read this.

One more thing - if you would like to replay Doom 3 but with all the graphical stuff updated, there is a mod you can download here.

Redux is a large-scale modification that attempts to modernize Doom 3 with a massive overhaul of the graphical, sound and UI aspects of the game along with bug fixes, restored content and new features while keeping the gameplay and visual style intact. Here's a temporay list of the mod's features as it was highly requested:

No gameplay changes.
600+ High Resolution textures with proper normal and specular maps.
Complete lighting overhaul trought a custom version of Sikkmod.
Improved sound design for weapons, audio logs, cutscenes and monsters.
Native support of all common Widescreen resolutions up to 4K.
High resolution UI, fonts and loading screens. Uses a modified version of 6th venom's mainmenu.
Restored cut content. (Dialogs and textures along with hundred of sounds from the E3 2002 alpha)
Adds a bunch of graphical options which you couldn't configure in the vanilla options menu like textures resolution, FXAA, anisotropic filtering, motion blur, Field of View, screen blood and an improved version of the Sikkmod's frost effect.

the Doom Reborn team is looking for good people to help set it free. Check out their site here: http://www.doomreborngame.com/

That about wraps it up for this week. Once again, Vinny and I would like to thank YOU, the people who keep the community alive, for visiting this tiny corner of the internet and getting your news from Doom Wad Station. Mucho appreciado!

See you next week, same Doom time, Same Doom channel. If you have news - a wad, a new site, a youtube video you want to share, just email me and we'll get it into TWID.