DEUS VULT II: The First Edition ============================================================================= = Version 2008-02-25c = ============================================================================= -------------- C O N T E N T: -------------- 1. INTRODUCTION 2. INSTALLATION 2.1 Quick and Easy Install 2.2 Differing Versions of DVII 2.3 Compatibility 3. STORYLINE 4. GAMEPLAY 4.1 Single Player 4.2 Cooperative 4.3 No Deathmatch 5. DEMO RECORDING 5.1 Single Player Demo Recording 5.2 Cooperative Demo Recording 5.3 Demo Recording with PrBoom-Plus 2.4.8.3-Beta 5.4 Demo Recording with ZDoom 2.2.0 5.4.1: ZDoom 2.2.0 Single Player Demo-recording 5.4.2: ZDoom 2.2.0 Co-op Demo-recording 6. NOVELTIES 6.1 New Weapons 6.1.1 Dual Pistols 6.1.2 Sauron's Gauntlets 6.2 New Monsters 6.2.1 Hell Cleric 6.2.2 Flying Balrog 7. LEVEL INFORMATION 8. BUGS 9. AUTHOR INFORMATION 9.1 Self-Input 9.2 Favorite Games 9.3 Random Thoughts on Mapping 10. CREDIT 10.1 Acknowledgements 10.2 Special Thanks 10.3 Doomers and their projects that influenced DVII 11. LEGAL STUFF 11.1 Original Resources 11.2 Modified Resources 11.3 Borrowed Resources 11.4 Usage of Resources 12. QUICK OVERVIEW ----------------- [1] INTRODUCTION ----------------- A Doom2 modification made by a Doomer. The first edition of the sequel to the original Deus Vult. Heavily emphasizes co-op play and demo recording. Offers a wide variety of gameplay spanning nine levels, including gun n' run maps, slaughterfests, and tight survival maps. From small techbases to hellish cathedrals, Deus Vult II's levels are diverse in architecture as they are in gameplay, and offer a little bit of everything for the entire family. ----------------- [2] INSTALLATION ----------------- 2.1 Quick and Easy Install 2.2 Differing Versions of DVII 2.3 Compatibility You need a sourceport to run Deus Vult II, the two main sourceports to use for this mod are either PrBoom-Plus or ZDoom. To download PrBoom-Plus, visit http://sourceforge.net/projects/prboom-plus To download ZDoom, visit http://zdoom.org/ To download GZDoom, visit http://grafzahl.drdteam.org/ Furthermore, you need Doom2.wad to run DVII properly. Doom2.wad is a file found in your Doom2 directory after installing a licensed copy of Doom2 into your computer. The sourceport will need to run Doom2.wad in conjunction with DVII-1i.wad or DVII-1u.wad to execute this mod. If you have any questions regarding installation, feel free to email DVII's author at BusyBeaverHP@GMail.com [2.1 Quick and Easy Install] -------------------------------- 1) Download the sourceport zDoom at http://www.Zdoom.org (or GZDoom at http://grafzahl.drdteam.org). It is recommended that you run DVII with the provided sourceports in DVII-1i.zip / DVII-1u.zip. 2) Extract the desired sourceport to a new folder, and place 'DOOM2.WAD' in that newly created folder. 4) Drag "DVII-1i.wad" or "DVII-1U.wad" into the same location of the zDoom folder. 5) Drop and Drag the "DVII-1i.wad" or "DVII-1U.wad" onto the "Zdoom.exe" or "gzdoom.exe" file. 6) The game will then automatically start with Deus Vult II. Enjoy! Note: DOOM2.WAD is found in your DOOM2 Directory. If you do not have it, you may purchase it from either http://www.idsoftware.com or http://www.steampowered.com. For more information, visit http://www.doomworld.com. [2.2 Differing Versions of DVII] -------------------------------- There are two versions of DVII: First Edition floating around the net, differing only in terms of music distribution. Demo playback and levelwise, they are all identical. The breakdown of the specific differences in each version... DVII-1i.wad: The Idgames Archive Edition of DVII, music for Map12 and Map22 are different from DVII-1u. The MP3 files that are present in DVII are free SPC music files converted to MP3s. The music in this version meet the conditions of files uploaded to the Idgames Archive. DVII-1u.wad: The Ultimate Edition of DVII, this version has the ideal soundtracks for Map12 and Map22 in MP3s. It makes a HUGE difference in terms of ingame atmosphere. This is the best and preferred version of DVII in the author's eyes. DVII-1u.wad can be obtained by specifically emailing the author (BusyBeaverHP@GMail.com) requesting a copy of such, or downloaded wherever available. [2.3 Compatibility] ------------------- DVII uses Boom-Compatible features in its maps. DVII has been proven to run on PrBoom-Plus 2.4.8.3-Beta, GZDoom 1.1.10 and ZDoom 2.2.0. I can't account for DVII on any other versions of those ports, or any other ports for that matter. ZDoom 2.2.0 runs DVII with MP3s, and shows no bugs, if you are playing DVII for the first time, THIS is the port to use. GZDoom 1.1.10 basically runs DVII as solidly as ZDoom 2.2.0, but with accelerated hardware, you can get smoother framerates out of this port than say, ZDoom.(depending on the circumstances). This is a great port to run Deus Vult II in as well. PrBoom-Plus 2.4.8.3-Beta will run DVII without crashing, thanks to Entryway's last minute advice, this is the port of choice for demo-recording. If newer ports of PrBoom-Plus runs DVII with less bugs and slimetrails than 2.4.8.3-Beta, then let those ports replace PrBoom-Plus 2.4.8.3-Beta as the DVII demo-recording sourceport. ---------------- [3] STORYLINE ---------------- After saving Mars from Hell's demonic invasion, you and your buddies went back to Earth and found it overrun with the same hellspawns. Most of humanity including your family and friends are safely evacuated to distant reaches of space while the world's military fights the demons on Earth. With nobody to save and a planet full of baddies, the only assignment for your platoon is to clean house! You will fight through rivers, dams, valleys, mountains, hills, outposts, and even your backyard... you will do as you have done on Mars... kick some demonic butt... then, you will take the fight off Earth and bring it into their own backyard... it's time! RAWRGGGH!!! ------------ [4] GAMEPLAY ------------ 4.1 Single Player 4.2 Cooperative 4.3 No Deathmatch Deus Vult II's gameplay focuses on subjecting the player to a variety of combat scenarios across different environments. In order to survive, the player must fight or evade enemies and reach the exit point of each map. If you are playing Doom on a sourceport with additional options that promote ingame behaviors that were not part of original Doom, like jumping, freelook, finite actor heights, etc... that may affect DVII's gameplay negatively, and may even get your player to become stuck. If you don't care about the stuff related to ingame behavior as mentioned above, just follow this one rule for Pete's sake: NO JUMPING OR CROUCHING! Thanks to ZDoom's powerful Mapinfo, you don't need to worry about compatability problems. We decided to leave infinitely tall actors alone regarding this, as some people do not want this limitation. [4.1 Single Player] ------------------- Deus Vult II's single player gameplay have been adjusted and balanced to be completable from pistol start up to the Ultra-Violence skill setting. When played as a series of level, the start of many DVII levels will prove laughably easy as the player accumulate extra health, ammo, and weaponry from the previous level(s). If the player wants to challenge himself, begin all maps from pistol start. Description of DVII difficulty settings: I'M TOO YOUNG TO DIE: Skill 1 is for newcomers to Doom. If you can read this, Brent and Jonathan, choose this skill on your first time through DVII. HEY, NOT TOO ROUGH: Skill 2 and lower are for newbies and novice Doomers. Play on this skill setting when you want to scrutinize the architecture of the levels without getting a rocket in the face. HURT ME PLENTY: Skill 3 is calibrated for veteran Doomers who wants challenging, but non-frustrating play through DVII. The enemy lineup on this skill level is far more resistant than Skill 2, so you need to have decent First Person Shooter experience before starting out the game on HMP. ULTRA VIOLENCE: On skill 4, most of DVII will be about the same difficulty as Alien Vendetta's third episode on UV. It will be hard, and veteran Doomers looking for a death challenge will be pleased with the later levels. DVII isn't unfair on UV, but be warned now and again that some of the later Hell areas will pit you against insane opposition as you've never seen the likes. NIGHTMARE: DVII have not been tested on skill 5. Nightmare-Speed looks favorable on some maps but has yet to be demonstrated. As far as Nightmare-Max goes, it probably won't be fair, in fact, I'm sure you'll die trying, play it at your own risk. The general difficulty progression for all skill levels (except Nightmare) increases gently with every level... then Hell is introduced. The Hell levels are hard, probably exponentially harder than the previous levels in terms of fireight intensity. The DVII difficulty slope turns into an asymptote the moment you reach the first hell maps. Basically, the Hell levels on HURT ME PLENTY and ULTRA VIOLENCE will stop most players dead. Have fun! There are two exits for each level. A conventional exit and a suicide exit. The suicide exit will allow for a faster speedrun, but you'll have to find it first, and convince one of the monsters to let you under! Happy hunting! All levels can be exitable without dying from pistol start on Skill 4 in single-player mode. [4.2 Cooperative] ----------------- In addition to a single-player, cooperative is an imperative for DVII. Not only for two player, but three and four player cooperative as well. The DVII levels contain mechanisms that allows for supplementation of ammo exclusively into player 3 and 4 should they be present in co-op, without interfering with the 2-player coop ammo/health balance. In other words, DVII's two-player co-op is gameplay-balanced to a fine bpoint, but should there be a 3rd or 4th player present, they will gain health and ammo bonuses right from the start without having to touch any ingame items. On Skill 4 (Ultra-Violence) and Skill 5 (Nightmare), Cooperative Mode will feature monsters that would otherwise not be present in single player. Beware. All levels can be exitable without either players dying with pistol start on Skill 4 in two-player cooperative. [4.3 No Deathmatch] ------------------- All levels of DVII are geared towards single and cooperative play. However, there are some source ports like Legacy that support X>4 player cooperative by spawning the extra players into Deathmatch Starts. In which case, the Deathmatch Starts can accomodate the extra players in such ports. There are four deathmatch starts per level, but no other DM provision. ------------------ [5] DEMO RECORDING ------------------ 5.1 Single Player Demo Recording 5.2 Cooperative Demo Recording 5.3 Demo Recording with PrBoom-Plus 2.4.8.3-Beta 5.4 Demo Recording with ZDoom 2.2.0 5.4.1: ZDoom 2.2.0 Single Player Demo-recording 5.4.2: ZDoom 2.2.0 Co-op Demo-recording 5.4.3: ZDoom compat and dmflags breakdown Both PrBoom-Plus and ZDoom are acceptable as official demo recording ports for DVII. The following sections will define the conditions accompanying official DVII demo-recording... [5.1 Single Player Demo Recording] ---------------------------------- Both PrBoom-Plus and ZDoom are acceptable as official demo recording ports for DVII's single player demo recording, provided they follow the conditions set by 5.3 & 5.4 and their corresponding subsections. The Automap cheat (IDDT) is acceptable in DVII single player demo-recording. [5.2 Cooperative Demo Recording] -------------------------------- Both PrBoom-Plus and ZDoom are acceptable as official demo recording ports for DVII's cooperative player demo recording, provided they follow the conditions set by 5.3 & 5.4 and their corresponding subsections. [5.3 Demo Recording with PrBoom-Plus 2.4.8.3-Beta] --------------------------------------------- If you plan on recording demos for DVII with PrBoom-Plus, make sure the following is in the .cfg: ...Without the brackets. "Otherwise pain and suffering lie ahead. (This is the complevel that emulates Boom 2.02. The complevels aren't a minor thing - they make a massive difference to how things behave in-game.)" - Graham Burgess [Grazza] Command Line for launching PrBoom-Plus with single player conditions: prboom-plus complevel 9 -file -skill # -record -longtic On -file , the should be replaced with DVII-1i, or DVII-1u, depending on the version that you have, but without the <> brackets. On -skill #, set this to the skill for recording. 1 = I'm Too Young To Die 2 = Hey Not Too Rough 3 = Hurt me plenty 4 = Ultra Violence 5 = Nightmare On -record , the should be replaced with whatever name you want your demo to be, and there should be no <> brackets. On -longtic, this command is optional, but it does make your mouse movement less problematic in PrBoom-Plus 2.4.8.3-Beta. In Vanilla Doom, if you were recording, the way the tics were saved to the demo file changed the accuracy of the mouse turning: small mouse movements didn't do anything and normal movements were more jumpy. Longtic allievates this problem. [5.4 Demo Recording with ZDoom 2.2.0] ------------------------------------- ZDoom is a great sourceport and is perfectly acceptable as a demo-recording port for DVII. There are, however, many behaviors in ZDoom that deviate from original Doom behavior, such as the option to jump, crouch, or even set actors to be finitely tall. Such things should be minimized through adjusting compatibility and dmflags. Basically, any option in ZDoom that promote behaviors which were not originally in Boom 2.02 should be disabled when it comes to DVII demo recording. The following subsections 5.4.1 and 5.4.2 define the official parameters of ZDoom demo recording in single and cooperative mode. 5.4.1: ZDoom 2.2.0 Single Player Demo-recording ----------------------------------------------- Mike's Input on ZDoom 2.2.0 single player demo recording for DVII: With the exception of infinitely tall actors, all compatability options are maintained by a mapinfo lump. So you only need to worry about this option. The rest are taken care of. When recording demos in singleplayer, use this command line: --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- zdoom.exe -file +compatflags 16501 +dmflags 267059200 +dmflags2 32768 -skill # -record --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- The dmflags and dmflags2 will set zdoom to run with the gameplay settings to as close as possible to boom. There is no mouselook, jumping, or crouching. On -file , the should be replaced with DVII-1i, or DVII-1u, depending on the version that you have, but without the <> brackets. On -skill #, set this to the skill for recording. 1 = I'm Too Young To Die 2 = Hey Not Too Rough 3 = Hurt me plenty 4 = Ultra Violence 5 = Nightmare (insane kudos to anybody who pulls a run of map20 or map21 on NM) Skill is 4 is the ideal level for demo recording. On -record , the should be replaced with whatever name you want your demo to be, and there should be no <> brackets. 5.4.2: ZDoom 2.2.0 Co-op Demo-recording ---------------------------------------- Mike's Input on ZDoom 2.2.0 co-op demo recording for DVII: Unfortunately, it is simply impractical to play PrBoom online, therefore the Coop demos are performed only on ZDoom 2.2.0 (unless theres a team of lan coop demo recorders). The variables required for coop demo recording: compatflags 16501 dmflags 267059200 dmflags2 32768 teamplay true teamdamage 1 These settings enable Friendlyfire, and as stated in the previous section, there is no mouselook, jumping, or crouching. Command Line for launching ZDoom with co-op conditions: --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- zdoom.exe -file +compatflags 16501 +dmflags 267059200 +dmflags2 32768 +teamplay true +teamdamage 1 -host # -skill # -record --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- On -file , the should be replaced with DVII-1i, or DVII-1u, depending on the version that you have, but without the <> brackets. On -host #, set the # to the number of people who will be playing (including the host). On -skill #, set this to the skill for recording. 1 = I'm Too Young To Die 2 = Hey Not Too Rough 3 = Hurt me plenty 4 = Ultra Violence 5 = Nightmare Skill 4 is the idela level for demo recording. On -record , the should be replaced with whatever name you want your demo to be, and there should be no <> brackets. 5.4.3: ZDoom compatability flags breakdown ---------------------------------------- Ideally, the flags should always be set as: compatflags 16501 ------------------ Find Shortest Textures Like Doom: Yes Use Buggier Stair Building: No Limit Pain Elementals' Lost Souls: Yes Don't Let Others Hear Your Pickups: No Actors Are Infinitely Tall: Yes Criplle Sound For Silent BFG Trick: Yes Enable Wall Running: Yes Spawn Item Drops On The Floor: No All Special Lines Can Block Use : No Disable Boom Door LighT Effect: No Raven Scrollers use Original Speed: No Use Original Sound Target Handling: No DEH HealtH Settings LIke Doom2.exe: No Self Ref. Sectors Don't BLock Shots: No Monsters Get Stuck Over Dropoffs: Yes Boom Scrollers Are Additive: No Interpolate Monster Movement: Yes Again, these flags (except infinitely tall actors) are managed by the MAPINFO, so it is recommended that these settings be left alone. As far as dmflags go, just make sure crouch, jumping, and whatever else deviates from boom 2.02 behavior is disabled. ------------- [6] NOVELTIES ------------- 6.1 New Weapons 6.1.1 Dual Pistols 6.1.2 Sauron's Gauntlets 6.2 New Monsters 6.2.1 Hell Cleric 6.2.2 Flying Balrog With respect to Doom2, Deus Vult II feature novel gameplay elements such as new weapons and monsters. [6.1] New Weapons ----------------- Deus Vult II feature two new weapons that are fun to use, but at the same time, appropriate to the gameplay balance. The Dual Pistols give a more powerful, dynamic start to the level. While Sauron's Gaunlets represent the ultimate melee weapon, giving the player a third melee option that's fun to use as it is deadly. 6.1.1: Dual Pistols ------------------- With the inummerable odds stacked against you and your platoon, you need all the firepower you can get. One pistol gets you by, two of them will double your chances of surviving what's around the next corner... The Dual Pistols are your default weapons when starting out the game on all difficulties. The Dual Pistols discharge two bullets per firing command (given that your ammo count is greater than 1), has faster response time than the single Doom2 pistol and firing rate is approximately 3 times as fast... effectively giving this default weapon approximately as much stopping power as the shotgun. It should be noted that the shotgun generally inflicts a higher rate of damage than the Dual Pistols, and the chaingun's rate of fire is still faster. Nonetheless, the Dual Pistols are excellent for stunning individual enemies in their track with their constant barrage of hot lead. 6.1.2: Sauron's Gauntlets ------------------------- An artifact of the Dark Lord himself. Through his terrible powers, Sauron poured his cruelty, his malice, and his will to dominate all life into these gauntlets. Many have said that Sauron's gauntlets were destroyed when the Dark Lord fell in his last battle, but legends of old persisted that evil lives on... that this artifact is guarded in hell, awaiting its master's return... Sauron's Gauntlets are melee weapons that strike the enemy continuously with death rays at close range. All but the strongest bestiaries can be taken down under the power of this amazing artifact without much resistance. [6.2] New Monsters ------------------ DVII feature two new bestiaries: The Hell Cleric and the Flying Balrog. The Hell Cleric is added as a fodder and anti-melee unit. DVII called for an in-between monster that's tougher than an imp, but not as resistant as a revenant or hell knight... a bestiary that saps the player's health quickly but can be killed with a single supershotgun blast. Hence the Cleric was introduced into DVII. The Flying Balrog, or Red Baron, is added as a flying sub-boss unit. DVII called for an extremely dangerous unit that can be killed with a single, precise BFG blast, hence the Flying Balrog was added. 6.2.1 Hell Cleric ----------------- Hit Point = 200 Speed = 12 Reaction Time = 5 Pain Chance = 5/255 Height = 64 Mass = 200 Created from the lost souls of the strongest warriors entering damnation of Hell, the Hell Cleric is a warrior spirit entrapped in casings of armor. Wielding maces, second to none in hand-to-hand combat, ruthless as they are fast, these stealthy warriors are the Praetorian Guards of the Devil. The Hell Cleric is silent as he does not generate alert sounds when on the prowl. The cleric's reaction time, movement, and especially melee speed, is lightning quick. Even with a beserk, the player does not have a favorable chance in melee against these warriors; their rate of attack is ungodly fast. The Hell Cleric's pain chance is less than 2%, making him unlikely to flinch upon taking damage. The Hell Cleric has a favorable chance of killing a revenant in single-combat. Quite a feat considering that the revenant possess 150% more hitpoints than this armored lost soul. The Hell Cleric's weakness is his low hit point, which gives him a good chance of being killed with a single super shotgun blast and an almost 100% chance of being killed with a single direct rocket hit. Despite his quick melee, his ranged triple fireball attack is easy to dodge from afar as they move rather slowly. 6.2.2 Flying Balrog ------------------- Hit Point = 1500 Speed = 8 Reaction Time = 5 Pain Chance = 30/255 Height = unknown Mass = 400 Lord of shadow and flames, originating from the unknown depths of ancient Hell. Shrouded by embers and darkness, the Balrog takes the physical form of a fiery death satyr. Rumor whispers that the Balrog is the avatar of the Devil himself. Whatever this creature may be, death and destruction follow in its wake. The Flying Balrog is a deadly creature that can destroy a healthy player in full armor with a single volley of fireballs. Quick to attack upon sight of target, this agressive creature wastes no time incinerating its victim. A pair of Flying Balrogs can bring a cyberdemon down with impunity. Slow moving, the Balrog's sluggish pace allows you some time to take cover and snipe him. Possessing 1.5 times the health of a Baron of Hell, the Flying Balrog can take serious punishment yet can still be killed by a single close-ranged BFG blast. --------------------- [7] LEVEL INFORMATION --------------------- Map01 Level Name : Entryway Pass Author : Huy Pham Editor Used : Doom Builder 1.68, Deepsea 11.82, XWE Finished : December 30, 2007 Inspiration : Hoover.wad AV Map04 - Seclusion Doom2 Map23 - Barrels O' Fun Scythe's Episode 1 Hellcore Map04 - Brickyard Byelomorye Dam from Goldeneye 007 (N64) Description : A road pass ascending into a fjord. rest areas include several infested facilities. Time to clean house, move out! Author's Comment : A speedmap, done in fifteen hours over three days. One of the smaller Scythe-scaled maps of DVII. Dense in weaker monsters, barrel chain reactions, infighting, and plenty of health and ammo, this map is built for fast-paced carnage. This level's monster lineup was inspired by AV Map04. Having only weaker fodder to mow down, the gameplay is fast moving with plenty of opportunities for massacres. If you're looking for a Scythe E1-like level, you'll love this map. Tester Input [Mike] : I love small scythe-like maps like this. They play so well and take virtually no time at all to play. I liked the dam with a bunch of zombie men on it. Just watch out for those barrels in the blue room. They are stacked by 5, so they are extremely lethal. Fun Facts : The SS Nightmare is a direct copy from AV Map03, I wanted DVII to have symbolic link to Alien Vendetta, so there it is! The road fight leading to the Photon Decay Detection Unit building is inspired by the Highway of Death in the 1991 Gulf War. The Blue Key Room is a tribute to Ander Johnsen's AV Map26's circular slaughterpool. Map02 Level Name : Mutagen Author : Huy Pham Editor Used : Doom Builder 1.68, Deepsea 11.82, XWE Finished : Summer 2004 Inspirations : Vrack3.wad AV Map31 - Killer Colors AV Map03 - Cargo Depot Description : A Research Facility in the middle of a reservoir. Author's Comment : Right after the original DV was finished, I played scythe's first episode and thought about its unbelievable gameplay flow. I sketched out some Originally designed to be a four-minute scythe-ish speedmap, Mutagen accumulated some extra details and compartments over the years that makes it less of a speedrun than a classical ten-minute map. Though you can exit in less than two minutes if you know your route. The architecture of Mutagen is highly centralized. with gameplay pathways that weave in and out of the main building but never too far from the centroid of the level. Tester Input [Mike] : This map has been through at least five iterations that were fully acceptable maps. But Huy is a picky bastard. Thanks to that, the level flows unbelievably well, the monsters placement is solid, and even after playing it for what must be the two hundredth time, I'm still not sick of it. A fairly easy map, but it's a fun one. Fun Facts : The Blue Area is a tribute to AV Map31 - Killer Colors. The descending elevator at the end of the level is a tribute to Hell Revealed's Map31 - The Descent. The SS Nightmare can fit snugly into the lake. It has been tried. Map03 Level Name : Crouching Demon, Hidden Archvile Author : Huy Pham Editor Used : Doom Builder 1.68, Deepsea 11.82, XWE Finished : February 2008 Inspiration : Grove.wad HR Map26 - The Afterlife Scythe II Map04 - The Cellar Ninja Gaiden Sigma Description : The foothills of Mt. Fuji have been overrun by the demonic forces, you know what to do... ready? Author's Comment : Ya know, I haven't seen an Asian-themed map for Doom, so I'm going to make one... because damnit, Deus Vult II needs an Asian level! I read up on Edo Architecture and found in practice that its design simplicity suited the Doom engine perfectly, with its orthogonal wood and panel design. All I had to do was find the suitable wood and leather textures, modify it, and out came this Asian graphic set for DVII. Another huge influence that was the basis for this map is B.P.R.D's Grove.wad, the forest that covered Grove was a brilliant idea on B.P.R.D's part: with some sprite replacement and Dehacked work, creating a deciduous forest is possible in Doom. I carried this forest idea over to DVII and based Map03 on it. Ammo and health are generous in this level; foraging in the woods should give the player more stuff than he'll ever need. Instead of having monster closets, the monsters now "ambush" the player by jumping out from the thickets, and it worked quite well... In some of the darker areas of the forests, it can be downright creepy. The Chessboards are gameplay motifs first seen in Naggay Hiv's HR26. The player can now participate in Wizard's Chess in the forest with monsters =) Like Grove.wad, this map will lag the hell out of underpowered CPUs due to the number of tree sprites present, and even the the Dual Core systems will buckle under the thousand-odd trees in the forest. Strangely enough, when tested under GZDoom 1.1.10, this map ran smoother than it did in ZDoom 2.2.0. Even PrBoom-Plus 2.4.8.3-Beta was able to handle mass amounts of sprite and maintain maximum framerates. Note that I was using a Core 2 Duo processor when testing this map out. In any case, try out the different ports and see which ones give you the smoothest play for this map! Tester Input [Mike] : This map beckons the usage of GZDoom. It is the only practical way to get a good Framerate. This is the first Asian themed map I've ever seen in Doom. The jungle here is full of traps. Grabbing that seemingly innocent power up or clip of ammo may be dangerous, so be on the lookout when forging for supplies. You require two of the three keys to exit this place, the yellow on a Go-Board, and the others on separate chess boards. If you feel you are a mighty chess player at this point, you could also challenge the master himself. If you are clever, you may be able to get out of a fight or two. The chess board with the Red Key and the Blue Armor in particular is skippable, If you run towards the edge of the invisable wall where the key/armor is, you can get it. I would say theres about a 1/20 chance though, and thats if you know how. So don't be surprised if you never get it. I love the yin yang in the structure. The white part has a brightness of 255, and the black 0. So as you kill monsters warping through, some are very bright, and others completely dark. If your getting blood-thirsty, you could also dive into the valley. There is plenty of killing to be done down there. Also, bruce lee owns your face. Fun Facts : In case you can't tell what each type of monster represent on the Chessboard, here is the cheat sheet... Imp - White Pawn Demon - Black Pawn Hell Knight - Knight Revenant - Bishop Chaingunner - Rook Baron of Hell - Queen SkullKey - White King Blue Armor - Black King Cacodemon - Bobby Fischer Pawn Archvile - Bobby Fischer King I considered the idea of making the Archvile represent the Queen on the Chessboard, but seeing how two of these Archies would fuck up the difficulty curve, that and having to hear Mike curse my name from several states away, I settled for Barons as Queens... EDIT: Actually that was an old paragraph entry... The newly added Bobby Fischer secret now has Archies on the board, not too hard to beat with adequate cover if you ask me. The Chessboard at the northernmost area of the level containing the blue key, carries the Chess Opening Sicilian Dragon: Yugoslav Attack. A razor sharp yet dynamically balanced line of the Sicilian Defense that encourages agressive play on both sides. The Sicilian has always been my black response to the Kingside opening, and the Yugoslav attack has always been my favorite line in Chess... Karpov-Korchnoi 1974. The formation on the Go Board was an actual game of Go played by Brent Cleary (a non-Doomer friend of mine) versus myself. We agreed not to put our stones on the edge of the board because it would affect Doom's gameplay negatively. After a couple of moves, we stopped and tested our Go game formation in the ZDoom engine... He was the Bull Demon, I was the imp... The layout of the level was modeled after a biological cell, with the phospholipid bilayer being the the double-rock barrier. Notice the cytoplasm swirling around the cell! Map12 Level Name : Minas Morgul Author : Huy Pham Editor Used : Doom Builder 1.68, Deepsea 11.82, XWE Finished : February 2008 Inspiration : The Lord of the Rings (Movie) AV Map18 - Toxic Touch AV Map29 - Fire Walk with Me AV Map31 - Killer Colours Grove.wad Alhambra Granada Dome of the Rock Description : The greenish shroud of death and decay emanates from a lair nestled deep within the valleys of Morgul. Go and shut down this source of poison. Author's Comment : The latest DVII map before the First Edition release. The Minas Morgul scene from the Return of the is one of the most awesome scene from the Lord of the Rings--or in any movie for that matters. With its ethereal green glow and sharp, sinister corrupted Numenorean architecture, I knew since Christmas of 2003 that Minas Morgul had to be translated into a Doom mod. I'm satisfied with the faithfulness of the entrance of Minas Morgul is to its movie counterpart. The secret stairways is somewhat implied with the green crystal cave leading up to the BFG. The interior of Minas Morgul was never explicitly shown in the movie, it was only through the Return of the King scene with the Witch King donning his battle helmet were some interior features of the evil fortress revealed. In that brief scene, I saw some torches and metal barricades. Piecing together a glimpse from ROTK and the overall mordor architecture, I was able to improvise an interior of Minas Morgul to fit its exterior. As DVII's first real slaughtermap, The gameplay is inspired by Andy Johnsen's AV Map18, with the huge firefights coupled with a large excess of health and ammo, giving the player enough resources to play agressively through this level. With the green theme comes the BFG, but since this level is early in the megawad, I didn't want to murder the player with ultra-tough challenges. Instead, they'll be treated to several fights in which hordes of weaker enemies get dominated by splash damage weapons. Tester Input [Mike] : This map is pretty much an intermission. It looks as though it could be one hell of a slaughter fest, but it isn't. Huy resisted. :P This map is fairly simple and short. It shows that 800 monsters can be dealt with in a very short amount of time. The only part to watch out for is the start. You MUST get that SSG before the specrtres overrun you. Most players should be able to handle this map with relative ease. Fun Facts : MSN Messenger transcript between Mike and Belial. 2008-02-16: [19:54] Belial: is it just me or does map12s gameplay seem really rushed and subpar in quality :P [19:55] Mike: it's pretty much set up the the way he wants it [19:55] Mike: so I dunno [19:55] Mike: I don't think it needs a huge fight [19:55] Belial: the hk horde at the exit seemed kind of ridiculous to me [19:56] Mike: I plow in, get the invuln, and just kill 'em all [19:57] Mike: but yeah i get that rushed feeling as well [19:57] Mike: I like the map though [19:57] Belial: still feels weird, i wouldve expected stuff to pop in around the central room, like maybe cybers or archies in the cages with some support [19:58] Mike: I was thinking maybe he could at least make an extra fight as a secret Map13 Level Name : Eagle's Nest Author : Huy Pham Editor Used : Doom Builder 1.68, Deepsea 11.82, XWE Finished : Summer 2004 Inspiration : Jurassic Park 2's High Ptera Contra's Jungle & Waterfall Level AV Map20 - Mishri Halek AV Map23 - Blood Sacrifice HR Map26 - The Afterlife Action DooM Map02 Description : A trail up a mountainside with castle on top. Beware of hell-possessed wildlife that awaits you eagerly along the way! Author's Comment : My second creation in the DVII series. I like climbing great heights in the Cascade Range of the Pacific Northwest, and wanted to express it in this map, I would've had forests made of tree sprites covering the surrounding backdrop, but this idea would sink framerates to unplayable. Vegetation is influenced by Scuba Steve's Action DooM Map02, which had a pretty awesome Contra retro feel to it. Actually, the first open area of AD Map02 was the inspiration for this map's sheer cliffs as well. The green halo for the map was pretty much a spur of the moment invention, which links the mountain section with a ghoulish hall of the dead... The map is geared towards tight-quarter, conserve ammo gameplay, but prepare for a slight slaughterfest upon entering the green halo. There are also two huge, completely optional secret fights if you want HR-styled slugfests. You could pretty much finish the level without killing even half the monsters present. I thought this map was loads of fun for cooperative, and teaches a lesson or two about itchy trigger fingers! And thanks to Richie and Mike, who supplied me with countless demos of Eagle's Nest that helped with the gameplay tweaks. Tester Input [Mike] : Climbing a mountain. Honestly I didn't think something like this was feasible with Doom's limitations. It's fun to scale this mountain, but if you fall it can be a little frustrating. If you make it to the top before you fall off, theres an elevator at the bottom to make the trip less aggravating. But be warned, in cooperative, there is an archvile on the loose. If he catches you while your on that lift, theres no running. Nothing to fear in the singleplayer though. Those revenant fireballs are nowhere near fast enough to catch you on that lift. For me the biggest pain in this level was that pesky cyberdemon in the tower. If your sneaky though, you can manage to get the barons in front of him to waste most of his health away, (I once managed to get them to kill it!) then just pick him off with the single barrel shotgun at a safe distance. Other than that, this map is pretty easy and linear. Most mistakes are forgiven here. However if you have more bloodlust, there are two secrets to satisfy you: The Hell Knight siege on the cliff side, and the (literally) copied and pasted.. well.. thats all I'll say for now. Fun Facts : This map was supposed to be scrapped, but with Derek Braun's and Mike's insistence, it stays. Mike: This map is great, so go die in a fire huy! An area from the original DV is stashed away somewhere deep within the level... It's really obnoxious once you find it... heheheh. Map19 Level Name : Stargate Author : Huy Pham Editor Used : Doom Builder 1.68, Deepsea 11.82, XWE Finished : Summer 2006 Inspiration : Vrack3.wad Scythe Map19 - AD Equinox Map04 Equinox Map09 Stargate (Movie) Description : A complex space station with an Egyptian Stargate. Author's Comment : My third creation in the DVII series. This map is probably my greatest effort in DVII in terms of time spent mapping and modifying textures. Not sure whether DV or Stargate took more of my time, probably the first option. I'm 99% satisfied with how this map turned out. The starting point was derived from Vrack2. Some architectural motifs such as the Medikit alcoves in the green zone, or lift system, were taken from Scythe Map19 (or just the tech of Scythe's E2 in general). Many of the decorations like the DVII logo, was derived from Vrack3, same goes for the the highly partitioned yet densely connected layout of this map. To help the player navigate the level, color coding and distinct sector names were incorporated into the map. Also added were several landmarks to orient the player. Still no guarantee that you won't get lost though! Stargate's layout is nonlinear, but the gameplay pathways are fairly straightforward. Co-op is an adventure here, especially near the end when all hell breaks loose! Tester Input [Mike] : This map is more or less the Vrack4 that wasn't. The detail is simply top notch. Fairly linear and straight forward. When dealing with that cyberdemon by the red section, I like to get those barons to do my dirty work. If you can maniplate them right, you can get the cyberdemon cornered, and, well, gang raped. Other than that there really isn't much else to say about this map. It's fantastic. Fun Facts : Fredrik Johansson, creator of Vrack3 approved of my efforts, and remarked that [stargate] looks like what he would have done had he constructed Vrack4. The blue biological tanks pays homage to Equinox Map04's ending bio laboratory. The yellow swirly laser installation pays homage to the seven-star Burj Al Arab Hotel in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. I wanna stay there someday, if I could afford it! Map20 Level Name : Desert Temple Author : Huy Pham Editor Used : Doom Builder 1.68, Deepsea 11.82, XWE Finished : December 2007 Inspiration : AV Map05 - Crimson Tide AV Map11 - Nemesis Av Map20 - Mishri Halek Scythe II Map08 - Grave Robbers Chord3.wad ChordG.wad Doom Raider - Crypt of the Vile The Acropolis of Athens The Getty Center Lawrence of Arabia (the movie), The Mummy (the movie) Description : An Egyptian Temple on a desert plateau. Author's Comment : My sixth creation in the DVII series. My answer to all three of the mentioned AV maps rolled into one level... with Chord gameplay! The layout of Desert Temple takes after AV Map05, with the atrium, upper balcony, and various rooms laid out in similar manner to said map. The mountain climb, Egyptian theme, and manner of lighting, was inspired by Av Map20, the greatest Egyptian map ever made, 'nuff said. The presentation of Desert Temple (starting area, clifface climb, temple at the top) was inspired by AV Map11. I thought the Stargate level needed a definite follow-up, so I made this map. Malcolm Sailor's Chord series had a huge influence on this map's gameplay. I wanted the player to count their bullets in this round. A slight departure from the rest of DVII that encourages Rambo-styled firefights. Tester Input [Mike] : This map focuses on tight gameplay. The intention of the author is to play from a pistol start, as you are given just enough ammo to get by, although it isn't as unfair as chord at times. ..The only problem is that coming from map19 will make this map a sinch, since you'll have plenty of ammo.. When you reach the temple, you have to decide what you value more: Bullets, or shells. If the latter, open the mancubus secret. You'll exhaust pretty much all your ammo, but you'll have more shells in the end. The tomb with the Imps and Hell Knights.. I have no desire to go down there. Only doing a UV-MAX would get me to. Maybe in ZDoom, where melee is just plain easy to do.. but in Boom, not a chance in hell. Converve ammo whenever possible, and only grab that coffin medkit if you're feeling brave. As awesome as this map plays, I didn't find it much of an answer to AV Map05. Not only does it play completely different, I can't find any resemeblemce. I don't stop and think about AV even once when playing this map. Fun Facts : The map was constructed and completed in less than fourty hours. The drawing of a man and woman dancing is only half mine, the other half is co-drawn by a friend. The boat behind the entry stargate pays homage to Equinox Map01's semi-hidden entrypoint. The two barons of hell near the end pays homage the two barons of hell near the start of ChordG! There is an unofficial secret with a dirty message somewhere within the level... Map21 Level Name : The Unholy Cathedral Author : Huy Pham Editor Used : Doom Builder 1.68, Deepsea 11.82, XWE Finished : Summer 2007 Inspiration : The Paris Cathedral (Notre Dame) AV Map29 - Fire Walk with Me Chord3.wad HR Map28 - Top Hell Scythe2 Map27 - The Afterlife II The Suzzallo Library of UW-Seattle Description : A demonic cathedral embedded into the clifface of Hell. Dark, with gloomy red flames and monumental altars. Guarded by hordes of demons in their elements. Blacken Nine of Sixteen Red Pentagrams on the floor to access the main pipe organ, and prepare for one hell of a fight. Author's Comment : My fourth creation in the DVII series. After the completion of the first cathedral in the original Deus Vult, I thought about the creation of an even more complex cathedral. Before I began construction, I went on vacation in France and toured the Notre Dame Cathedral during Summer 2005, and was able to obtain a tour guide's blueprint of the cathedral itself. Summer 2006, after completing Map13 (Stargate) I immediately went to work on DVII's Cathedral. Custom sprites and textures were made specifically for this map, including candles and flamewalls. I looked at architecture books and found church stuff that aided my design. Construction included architectural features that you would typically see in a real church, including aisles, apses, nave, ambulatory, chapels, cloister, and crypts. The map layout is geared towards nonlinear gameplay, with multiple entries, connections, and optional routes. The architecture of the level allows for mixture of tight-quarters as well as open combat. You can pretty much create your own route here, making for some really creative firefights. You could choose roughly three gameplay paths from the beginning and branch out from there: Easy Path: Easy compared to the other two paths. Grab the shotty, go up, and meet increasingly difficult lineups of monsters. Tough Path: Made to play like Malcolm Sailor's Chord series, the library will introduce close quarter fights with tight health and ammo provisions. Don't worry about finding the enemy; they're hunting you. Slaughter Path: Remember the Revenant Curve? Introducing The Mancubus Curve. Good luck! There are plenty of shortcuts here; even the main lobby fight can be accessed right away and can be avoidable if you know what to do. The ways that this map can be played is very much open to the player's decision. Despite not being a slaughtermap (for the most part), the Unholy Cathedral carries some psychotically heavy resistance near the end, notably the main altar fight and the fishmouth. Hope you enjoy those fights as much as I enjoyed making them! Tester Input [Mike] : More complex and demanding of your hardware than even map05 of the original Deus Vult. Thank god I got a new PC last year. You can take pretty much any route as you like, so long as you touch nine of the sixteen pentagrams. I prefer the easy path. Grab the shotgun, (and rocket launcher if your sneaky enough) and by the end of that route you'll have plenty of provisions take on the library with little trouble. Only two of three keys are requird, and only one of which you get a say in. Grabbing the yellow key means you get to deal with a mancubus curve, and potentially the tower of babel. After touching six pentagrams, the snake mouth will open. A fairly easy and straight forward fight, but don't fuck around with those balrogs. They will cut through 200/200 like a laser-cut knife through hot butter. Once the fight is over, the blue key appears. The main hallway fight is really intense. It all comes down to grabbing the invulns at the right time. This fight eats DVmap03 alive. If you go through the trouble of touching all sixteen pentagrams, you'll find a nice treat at the end. Fun Facts : At 51 thousand sidedefs, this map is more complex than Map05 of the original DV. The School of Athens painting was chosen as the player's entrance to this Unholy Cathedral, representing the philosophers' inquiry into evil. Jacques-Louis David's Oath of Horatii painting was chosen for the Shotgun chapel, as the morally complex story behind the Horatii is fit for the oasis of ambiguous good in the (mostly evil) Unholy Cathedral. The Archvile placement on the first floor of the East Library was inspired by the Archvile placement near the starting area of Chord3. DISCLAIMER: The crosses that are not upside down has nothing to do with Christianity; they're crucifixes of Hell. Don't send fundamentalist hate mail in my direction because of this, thank you. The crosses that are upside-down reinforces the unholy theme of the Cathedral. Once again, avoid the urge to send me hate mail, thanks. The highest point reachable (when jumping is disabled) in the cathedral is not the Tower of Babel, rather, it is the secret pentagram in the Machiavelli Library. Layout: The Olympic Torch, need I say more? Despite being red and hellish. There is no fluid lava in this level... you can check everywhere, this map is dry as a bone! Map22 Level Name : You shall Not Pass! Author : Huy Pham Editor Used : Doom Builder 1.68, Deepsea 11.82, XWE Finished : January 2008 Inspiration : Scythe Map28 - Run From It 1Monster Map24 - The One God Doom2 Map29 - The Living End HR Map24 - Post Mortem HR2 Map29 - Hell's Cauldron The Lord of the Rings (Movie) Description : You have plunged into the hallowed depths of the Mines of Khazad Doom and awakened the ancient evil only known as The Balrogs. Evil has awakened... Run... Author's Comment : A long speedrunning map. Difficulty on UV is murder, and you have Mike to thank for this. My cousin attempted mapping back in 2004 and one of his first maps involved replicating the Balrog chase from the Fellowship of the Ring. I wasn't impressed by the quality of the map, as it was a bunch of steep angled staircases with hundreds of imps. Nonetheless, I saw potential in this idea of a Balrog chase, so I made DVII Map22. The Balrog chase from the Fellowship of the Ring is among the most jawdropping scene from that movie. First it was buildup of this unworldly, demonic light emanating from one end of Moria, then it was the trek across deteriorating staircases and platforms while dodging orcish attacks, then it was the Balrogs rising out of the flames and challenging Gandalf... You shall not pass! It's time Balrog Chase gets translated into Doom. DVII Map22 is a speedrunning map along the lines of Erik Alm's Scythe Map28 and Ichor's 1Monster Map24. As much as I like speedrunning, those maps have a strict time limit that result in the player being killed after a set amount of time has elapsed, which restricts the gameplay option for the player. I also didn't like the idea of being killed by some invisible force, one second you're fine, the next some invisible crusher squashes you without given warning; it would have been nice to see some sign that you're about to die. In DVII Map22, the signal that the player is running out of time and about to die is expressed by hordes of Balrogs hurling fireballs. The Balrogs acts as a dynamic death timer, zeroing in on the player's position and forcing him to progress or die. This Balrog "timer" is dynamic in the sense that if you dodge well or smart enough to lure the Balrog away from your intended path, you can buy yourself extra time in the chase. In co-op, the team can buy extra time by having one player stay back and distract the Balrogs, while the point person progress with less time pressure, thereby incurring less mishaps. In terms of fight choreography, this map feature some of the sharpest, tightest fight in DVII. On UV, the megasphere area with the bull demons and archies is a good demonstration of dynamic pressure working against you in a fight, with the bull demons forcing the player to take cover inside the cave (since being outside and exposed to the Balrogs is not a good idea), the player sees a powerup and out comes two archviles, putting another wave of pressure on the player, all of awhile the Balrogs slowly moves in... and I didn't even have to resort to hordes of revenants this time around :) The problem with most large underground hell maps, including the original DV Map02, is that the large surface area of the maps makes the ceiling, even very high ceilings, appear flat and warehouse-like. That architectural problem is solved in this map by throwing in silhouettes of gothic-like definition of the ceiling. The cave surfaces are represented by a bunch of decrepit rock formation that seems broken in... The sheets of fingered rocks defined the extent of the ceiling's height, while the darkness above suggests that the ceiling continues to rise into infinity. I took my favorite element of DV Map02, the cavern ascention to the BFG, and made it into a whole level, as seen here. You will have the opportunity to use Sauron's Gauntlet in this map, and this is where this new weapon really shines... In fact, it's probably a lifesaver in a few fights. Have fun! Tester Input [Mike] : As far as underground hell-holes go, this is the best looking one I've ever seen. Though I find that the starting area is kind of bland. Sure, you see it for a very small amount of time, but thats besides the point. If there was a huge fight with imps and pinky demons coming out of the columns, it would be nice. The premise of this map is that you have 24 Balrogs chasing you down, and you must navigate this hellish cavern to escape their wrath. First time players have no chance of survival, and I don't think casual doomers will have the will to keep trying. This map just doesn't target those kind of players. What makes this map either challenging or downright punishing comes down to your decision between speed or killing everything. Many of the enemies can be skipped. The only real option for speed running is to avoid as many monsters as you can. The only ones I highly recommend you don't skip are the two archviles guarding the box of rockets. Those guys will chase your ass down. If you have atleast 150 health, another viable option is to ignore the megasphere, and plow through the pinky demons with your plasma rifle. The trade off is that you don't need the rockets, therefore you can save time by not dealing with three mancubuses. All in all, this is a good map, but it has limited replay-ability. I may produce a speed demo down the road, but a UV-Max just won't happen from the likes of me. It took anima over 200 tries to produce a demo that he was satisified with. It took me less than 50 tries before I.. well.. check out the fun facts. :) But seriously, before I asked for the difficulty to be increased, this map was just plain too fucking easy. I'm happier that it's brutal and devasting, and not a tame tiger. So yes, those twenty-eight more monsters ARE necessary, Huy. Fun Facts : Many parts of this level, including the starting pillared hallway, were created while looking at screen captures from the Fellowship of the Ring Extended DVD edition. "uhg fuck this, I don't care anymore. this map is FUCKING STUPID, and I'm not trying anymore. YES, I give up, FUCK THIS SHIT" omg your rude Mike, who was the one that requested twenty-eight more monsters than was necessary? I rest my case. Map22 is also known as The DVII Exam, it's going to test your Dooming skills to its limit... Mike: Not to mention your sanity. Map23 Level Name : Hell's Vendetta Author : Huy Pham Editor Used : Doom Builder 1.68, Deepsea 11.82, XWE Finished : December 2007 Inspiration : HR Map18 - Hard Attack HR Map28 - Top Hell HR2 Map32 - Playground Scythe Map26 - Fear AV Map32 - No Guts, No Glory St. Peter's Basilica St. Paul's Cathedral Description : A basilica filled with baddies. Pack your BFG. Author's Comment : My fifth creation in the DVII series. One day, Mike whined, bitched, and moaned that DVII doesn't have a real "slaughtermap" like the original DV, so I shutted him up with this megaslaughter arena. With over 2700 monsters on UV packed into an area one-third the size of the original DV, this map is borderline Nuts. Despite the monster count, Hell's Vendetta isn't a joke, it's serious business. The map is balanced through rigorous testing, stuff removed, stuff added, playtest, playtest, playtest. Because of DVII's gametesters' hard-on for this map, ahem, Belial, the playtesting put into this map is excellent. As a result, the map appears overwhelmingly difficult at first, but with keen attention, you can exploit the more subtle weaknesses in the enemy lineup to perform some incredible runs with massive carnage. The layout is oversized and simplistic to direct mass amounts of monsters at the player, no matter where they are on the map. Can't run, can't hide. The biggest drawback to most slaughtermaps is that once intensity of the fight peaks, mopping up is a real chore. Hell's Vendetta is no exception, but I tried to minimize mopping by having most of the enemies mobile so they can seek you out, making it faster to UV-Max. If you are gutsy enough, you can perform a "circle around the world" run that wakes up a significant amount of monsters from all wings and have them tear each other apart. It's difficult but can be done, and once you complete the circle, you can be pretty creative with the routes from there on out. A last note to point out in this level is that on skill 3 or above, if you played too defensively and tried to ward off the main arena's monsters using all 400 rockets from the red key area (East Cleric wing) before triggering the Cleric army issuing from the Red Morgul, it will render the fight against that Cleric army impossible, and the only way you can exit the level under this circumstance is the death exit sector in the lava lake... try setting up this scenario yourself if you think I'm wrong. This odd scenario has happened before with one of the later testers (after Hell Vendetta's been finalized), so I need to address it. Tester Input [Mike] : Big (or at least wide open) and the hallways are all symmetrical. The three fights for getting the keys are pretty interesting though. I love the cyberdemon corridor fight, and the use of clerics in this map. Somewhat non-linear. You can go anyway you wish, just don't provoke more than you can swallow. Heh, I only mentioned once that there wasn't a slaughter map once.. I'd say roughly 12 hours later is when Huy sent me the next build with a layout of the map set down. This guy does more actions per minute in Doom Builder than most people do in Starcraft. Fun Facts : Hell's Vendetta was created and finished in less than twenty-four hours over the period of five days. More time and effort was spent playtesting this level than constructing it. The western cyberdemon wing with the yellow key was designed so it somewhat resembles a Starcraft Scourge on the automap. The central exit structure pays tribute to the Baldacchino of St. Peter's Basilica, belonging to the works of my favorite architect, Gianlorenzo Bernini. In case you haven't figured out the theme behind each of the wings' grouping of mural villains... Six O'clock Left - Starcraft Six O'clock Right - First Person Shooters Nine O'clock Lower - Star Wars Sith Lords Nine O'clock Upper - Star Wars Miscellany Twelve O'clock Left - Nintendo / Rareware Twelve O'Clock Right - Nintendo Three O'Clock Upper - Tolkien Mythology Three O'Clock Under - Lord of the Rings Central Area - Warcraft III My favorite megawads include Hell Revealed and Alien Vendetta, um, you figure it out :) Map31 Level Name : The Manliest Fight EVER Author : Huy Pham Editor Used : Doom Builder 1.68, Deepsea 11.82, XWE Finished : February 20th, 2008 Inspiration : HR Map19 - Everything Dies AV Map07 - Stronghold HR2 Map32 - Playground Description : The combined forces of Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris, Che Guevara, and even Crambo are challenging you to a fight... get ready for the manliest brawl yet! Author's Comment : A speedmapping job. Created, tested, and finished in six hours during one day. The level's theme is all about manliness, why with the pillbox-like buildings, rock walls, #MS NIGHTMARE, and four of the toughest dudes evAR. You start off in What appears to be gladiatorial arena that eventually opens up to a beachfront complete with the #MS NIGHTMARE cargo ship floating in the distance. The level architecture, when viewed from the beachfront, looks like a Normandy-beach styled bunker, which just makes the level's manly theme all the manlier. Like HR Map19, the physical level doesn't have any provisions, and you're given all the health and ammunition at the start, play wisely! It's hard, you'll die. You might succeed... iono. Cooperative mode in this level is a complete success, I'd even go as far to say that this is one of the best co-op maps in DVII, and that's saying A LOT! Tester Input [Mike] : What we have here is pretty standard slaughter map, with 4 badasses in it. It plays fairly well, and if you know how to get the invuln it will be fun. As far as creativity goes, there is only the process by which you get the invuln (pressing 4 switches) and the fact that you start the map fully loaded on ammo and health, but there isn't a scrap laying around on the map. The best way to play this is with a friend, as the symmetrical nature of this map beckons for it (much like map23). Fun Facts : I created this map while waiting for Mike to revise the DVII textfile. What a wait eh? -------- [8] BUGS -------- All Maps from DVII have been tested in ZDoom 2.2.0 with virtually zero bugs, so if you are a non-demo recorder, ZDoom 2.2.0 is the source port for DVII, and even if you are one... ZDoom is the port of choice for playing DVII when you're not recording. There was originally a laundry list of DVII bugs related to PrBoom-Plus 2.4.8.1, but since Entryway's introduction of his latest PrBoom-Plus 2.4.8.3-Test, that list is effectively eliminated. PrBoom-Plus is now the God of Demo-Recording. ---------------------- [9] AUTHOR INFORMATION ---------------------- 9.1 Self-Input 9.2 Favorite Games 9.3 Random Thoughts on Mapping Some stuff about me that's more or less irrelevant to DVII, but should be written down for all the hardcore Doom geeks who are still reading this textfile ;) [9.1 Self Input] ---------------- Doomworld Account : Doom Marine NewDoom Account : Doom Marine ZDoom.org Account : Doom Marine FreeChess Account : Tetranode Mod DB Account : Tetranode Wikipedia Account : Tetranode AIM Account : BusyBeaverHP ICQ Account : BusyBeaverHP, ICQ# 482557955 GMail/GTalk Account : BusyBeaverHP@Gmail.com Contact Email : BusyBeaverHP@Gmail.com Roughly 1800 hours of my life have been poured into this project. I don't think I have a soul anymore... True when written in Winter 2008, some stuff about me: Activities : School, Skiing, Snowboarding, Singing Interests : Family, friends, kendo, architecture, chess, computers, (outside of Doom) mathematics, drawing, music, engineering, physics, the humanities, meteorology, astronomy, anthropology, biology, neuroscience, genetics, snowboarding, skiing, volunteering... Favorite Music : If the song is good, I'll listen! ... Actually, I'll listen anyways! ... No wait, as long as it doesn't hurt my ears! Bocelli, Brightman, Groban... classical music! Favorite TV Shows : I don't watch TV anymore, lame huh? ... But I do like South Park, The Chappelle Show, Jon Stewart, National Geographic, the Discovery Channel, PBS, and the Science Channel Favorite Movies : A Beautiful Mind, Austin Powers, Crash, Gladiator, Goldeneye 007, Idiocracy, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Starship Troopers, Surf Ninjas, Y Tu Mama Tambien, Adam Sandler movies, and those awesome Star Wars and Lord of the Rings trilogies Favorite Books : CARD - Ender's Game FISCHER - Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess GOLEMAN - Social Intelligence KIDDER - Mountains Beyond Mountains KRISHNAMURTI - Think on these Things LAO-TZU - Tao Te Ching LEE - Tao of Jeet Kune Do MUSASHI - The Book of Five Rings ROBBINS - The Overachievers SEIRAWAN - Winning Chess Brilliances SEIRAWAN - Winning Chess Endings SEIRAWAN - Winning Chess Tactics TOLKIEN - The Lord of the Rings TOLKIEN - The Silmarillion Favorite Quotes : "Courage is the mastery of fear, not the absence of fear." - Mark Twain "Intelligence is sexier than a miniskirt." - Josh Oakley "Don't anticipate. Be cool." - Rod Nobuto Omoto "How far that little candle throws its beams! So shines a good deed in a naughty world." - William Shakespeare "Some people see things as they are and say why. I dream things that never were and say why not?" - RFK "Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure... than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat." - Theodore Roosevelt "Every act of conscious learning requires the willingness to suffer an injury to one’s self-esteem. That is why young children, before they are aware of their own self-importance, learn so easily; and why older persons, especially if vain or important, cannot learn at all." - Thomas Szasz "You probably wouldn't worry about what people think of you if you could know how seldom they do." - Olin Miller "Speak properly, and in as few words as you can, but always plainly; for the end of speech is not ostentation, but to be understood." - William Penn "Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." - Leonardo Da Vinci WORK INFO Employer : WebbSki Position : Snowboarding Instructor Time Period : February 2007 - Present Employer : Amgen Position : Amgen Scholar, Pharmaceutical Chemist Jr. Time Period : June 2007 - August 2007 Description : Multi-Drug Resistance (MDR), Cellular Efflux, Blood-Brain Barrier, Genetics, Enaminone Anticonvulsants... Employer : Tukwila Elementary / Cascade View Elementary Position : Chess, 3rd Grade, & Math Tutor Time Period : February 2002 - June 2003 Employer : King County Parks Recreation Position : Lifeguard Time Period : June 2001 - January 2003 - UW-Seattle student to apply for Neurobiology in Autumn '08 - Pre-Medical academic track - Amgen Biotechnology Scholar, Summer 2007 - Snowboarding Instructor - Inactive Chess Player [USCF provisional = 1860] - Blood Donor - Choir Tenor As of Winter '08, I live on the UW campus, attend classes during weekday, work during the weekend up in Snoqualmie Pass teaching 'lil kids snowboarding. FREEDOM OF INFORMATION (BASED ON HACKER ETHIC) IN THE CONTEXT OF DOOM I believe that access to anything (i.e. tools and information) that furthers the intellectual development of the individual should be completely unrestricted. Furthermore, I believe that unlimited access to such things can free the individual's intellectual abilities from many socio-economic constraints; a talented programmer in India can explore his/her potential just as well as any programmer in the Western world, provided the resources that Freedom of Information brings. Freedom of information in the context of Doom Modification, it is a virtue to be generous with your work and their resources. If you created something like a texture or map, allow it to be used in future projects. Try not to go around and limit others from using what you've made, after your work is done, leave it be, move on, don't clutch onto your work and render it dead with copyrights and self-important permission to do this and that, don't make it hard on others because of ego; let it grow by giving it away so others can develop it... after all, John Carmack was generous enough to give away Doom's source code, from which we are able to evolve Doom as a nonprofit community through many sourceports and projects that kept Doom fresh through the test of time and made it all the more beautiful in the end. [9.2 Favorite Games] -------------------- ...'Cause you know, DV and DVII's ideas gotta come from somewhere: NES: ---- - Contra - Duck Hunt - Jackal - Legend of Kage - Life Force - Super Mario 3 - Wild Gunmen A huge fan of co-op games, I got my early start from my dad, who played Contra and Jackal with me since I was five years old. Single player is nice, but having a buddy to beat the game with you cranks up the fun factor exponentially. Co-op is the gameplay foundation of DVII. SNES: ----- - Donkey Kong Country 1, 2, & 3 - Jurassic Park 2: The Chaos Continue - Killer Instinct - Kirby's Dream Course - Super BomberMan - Super Street Fighter II - Super Mario World - Super Mario World II: Yoshi's Island - Tetris Attack Donkey Kong Country's art direction had a huge influence on how I color my stuff, like having a dominant color for every area, and that probably carried over to DV and DVII. Props to Rareware! N64: ---- - Banjo Kazooie - Conker's Bad Fur Day - Goldeneye 007 - Legend of Zelda 64: Ocarina of Time - Mario Kart 64 - Mario Party 3 - Perfect Dark - Starfox 64 - Super Mario 64 - Super Smash Bros. - Turok: Dinosaur Hunter - Turok II: Seeds of Evil Banjo Kazooie's art direction is phenomenal, I couldn't get enough of that Click Clock Wood level at the end. Rareware during the N64 era is totally on fire! Next to Age of Empires and Doom, I've probably played Goldeneye more than any other games. Got the invincibility cheat run down to 1:25. Oh, and racked 2003 kills on Starfox 64, top that! WII: ---- - Mario Party 8 - Super Mario Galaxy - Trauma Center: New Blood Basically, the Wii is an excellent social gaming console. X360: ----- - Halo 3 I highly respect the Halo series for its implementation of co-op. PC: --- - Age of Empires - Age of Empires II - Chessmaster 10th Edition - Desktop Tower Defense - Doom - FEAR Combat (the multiplayer component of FEAR only) - Fritz 7 - Half-Life 2 - Quake 4 - Sim City 2000 and 3000 - Starcraft - Warcraft III - Wolfenstein 3D I've played Doom since '95, but only since 2003 have I played it seriously and started mapping. Miscellaneous: -------------- - Checkers - Chess - Guesstures - Monopoly - Risk Picked up my first pawn when I was 16, won my first four rated games with classical tournament time control. A year after that, age 17, got awarded a WA state all-star medal for an undefeated season. The same year, won a silver medal at the Washington High School State Team Championship... undefeated in that tournament with a 4.5/5.0 score. Currently inactive in Chess with a USCF provisional rating of 1860(P9). Chess had a huge influence on my thought process, and this carried over to creating DVII. The order and method of building an attack and defense in Chess affected the way many of the DVII maps were laid out. Certain concepts in Chess like balanced position, Zwischenzug, Zugzwang, interposition, space control, pressure, discovered attack, and forced combination were considered and applied when choreographing DVII fights. Furthermore, the chess games that I played in the past were very much part of my thought when I constructed DVII's maps. Recalling the Ruy Lopez, Maroczy's Bind, King's Indian, Sicilian Dragon, Queen's Gambit Declined, and the Hedgehog Defense, I constructed Doom Maps with Chess in mind. Many of the maps' layouts are pervaded by dynamically balanced designs that is learned through studying dynamic balance in Chess. Map20 of DVII is a strong example of the Chess influence, with the natural, non-teleport monsters traps that simply springs from the map's sneaky layout. The Beserk trap on the uppermost level of Map20 is a reflection of a forced combination, with low health, the player is compelled to pick up the stimpack, entering the trap full of imps, grabbing the beserk as a counterattack, and then confronting the counter-counterattacking hell knight. In the yellow key complex, the two barons of hell were placed like two rooks on open files, firing down the corridor and putting pressure on the player's position and enducing him to make a mistake. The final archvile after taking the blue armor was placed in a way that parallels the black fianchettoed bishop in the Sicilian Dragon Yugoslav Attack opening, firing down the most crucial control point in the room. The intense analytical process bred from studying and playing Chess built a strong foundation for Doom Mapping. Each monster is a Chess Piece waiting to be placed in the correct position on the mapping board. As a Chess player engage in deep thought before executing a complex maneuver over the board, a Doom Mapper (should) ponder deeply about how a firefight will unfold in his level, as this will lead to better map layout, and ultimately, better gameplay. Wanna get better at choreographing Doom monster fights? Play Chess, play lots of Chess... RIP Bobby Fischer. [9.3 Random thoughts on mapping] -------------------------------- + Make sure to communicate ideas explicitly with the player, for example, when expressing a laboratory, make sure computers, lasers, and biological tanks are present. Like writing and other media of communication, better to show it than to declare it on your textfile! + A dominant color theme will turn an otherwise good looking map beautiful. + The music has got to match the environment, it shows good taste and once again reinforces the communication of the level's theme to the player. Example: AV Map30: Point Dreadful. + If one's eyes were nuanced enough to see the subtle tone and shading of Fredrik's tech, one would recognize that Vrack3's art direction is genius. + WTF is green marble doing with redrock? They need to stop designing levels like that. There is no Christmas theme in hell. RED or BLACK marble goes with REDROCK. + In Hell, you cannot run out of black and red. + With black textures and flats, you can get away with many mapping crimes, like flat ceilings for example. If you don't believe me, check out the Minas Morgul map. + The secret to making a good hell map? Absorbing Alien Vendetta's Map29, remember its lighting, monster placement, and most importantly, its shape. + Yes, the looks of the level do affect gameplay, because the ingame atmosphere is a part of gameplay... how much a part of the gameplay is the atmosphere? How much do you feel it should be? + Windows are multipliers of details. + Altitude, whether at the top of a mountain or under the basement of a tomb, is a good indicator of level progression. Use it liberally. + Skyboxes? No no, fully-scaled, 360-degree backgrounds are better! + Why would I want to go through rooms connected by a bunch of hallways? I don't get it. + There is a difference between level progression and leading the player through a maze. Level progression happens when you tell a story with architecture, leading the player through a maze is when the story gets boring with nonsense... I hope you can tell a good story. + It's not so hard to close off the levels with four walls that has nothing behind them, but the mapper who has done so has missed his chance of showing the player a beautiful vista that reinforces the atmosphere of the level. + Easy it is to make a level difficult, but could I trick someone else into playing it? + I don't care what anyone else thinks, the default Doom/Doom2 pistol isn't fun to use in the slightest bit, not even if had a different look, not even when it had a different sound, not in ANY fight, not under any circumstance. + Having the player start off with the default Doom/Doom2 pistol and asking them to kill enemies with it... pisses me off. + Good traps must not only surprise the player, they must be logical as well. Don't just trap the player, trap him in with a tomb and a skeleton to boot. + The best placement of the exploding barrel, ever, is located at the start of Ander Johnsen's AV Map02: Rusty Rage. [I'd have to agree with Mike on this] + Enemies popping out of walls and coffins are far scarier, thus more effective, than teleporting peeps. + Cyberdemons are only scary when you don't give the player enough ammo and space to deal with them. Not enough space is scarier though. + You can beat an archvile to death with your bare fist, all the funner with beserk. + The megasphere isn't there for you to grab like supermarket grocery, it belongs to the monsters and they want it back. Did I mention that the monsters have sharp claws and hurl fireballs? + Finding a secret gives me that same feeling when I find an extra coin in the phone booth. + What makes or break gameplay? Movement of the player. When the player feels good moving about in his virtual environment without even fighting the enemies, that builds a foundation towards good gameplay. A strong example of this concept in action is Super Mario 64, where the player's movement feels good no matter where they are or what they're doing; Mario could be romping around the castle courtyard doing triple jumps and that in itself is already entertaining. + Proportions in a level is very important to player's movement and enemy contact. If a given space is too big, enemy contact will feel loose and sloppy; the baron of hell can be rendered harmless as a lampost with too much open spaces. If a given space is too cramped, the player's movement is restricted, and he will continually bump into things, making player movement an exercise in frustration rather than smooth play. Like all aspects of map design, moderation here is key. Good examples of level proportions include John Romero's maps, Anders Johnsen's maps, Kim Malde's maps, Erik Alm's maps, Kama Sutra, vrack3, and even ChordG. + The above statement still holds true in the face of some supposedly open maps, like Epic Map05, where extremely large open areas are moderated by islands of fights in smaller spaces. + PV = nRT... where P = Pressure of Opposition V = Area of a given space n = Number of monsters R = Mean monster movement speed T = Average area controlled per monsters + One of the biggest violators of player movement are 8-unit posts that sticks out the wall... or even eight-unit posts... Period. Get rid of them; they are hurting gameplay. + If details get in the way of player's movement, put them on the ceiling, like vrack2b. + Spending lots of time detailing that chapel room is nice, but that won't determine the optimal number of revenants to insert into that area. + What is dynamic space? A room, hallway, area, etc. that drastically alters the general vector and elevation of the player's movement. + What is beautiful space? A room, hallway, area, etc. in which the player feels good moving about. + What is beautiful dynamic space? Good map design. + Exhaustive playtesting is the only theoretically sound way to ensure that your map is fun. Game Law. + A bad gametester will tell you that "your map stinks." + A good gametester will tell you that "your map stinks, and here's why..." + A good gametester will never deem your map flawless. + Belial's, Brian's, and Mike's bitchings are worth their weight in mapping gold. + If your testers tell you that a particular fight isn't fun, quit being defensive and remove the perpetrating monster(s). + If your testers tell you that a particular fight is too easy, you know what to do... + There is no fucking way I can vertically align those fucking BRIK_06J textures in the fucking Suzzallo Library, Belial... JUST BE QUIET ALREADY! =p + Listen to your gametesters, they are the canaries to your mapping mine shaft. ----------- [10] CREDIT ----------- 10.1 Acknowledgements 10.2 Special Thanks 10.3 List of Doomers who influenced DVII Like all game mods, Deus Vult II wasn't made by some gaming wizard with a magical wave of his wand. Rather, it was hours of labor build upon the ideas and works of past programmers, artists, and gamers alike. There's Id Sofware, Pascal vd Heiden, Jack Vermeulen, creators of Adobe Photoshop, the Doomworld community, and even my parents... if I were to include everyone who directly and indirectly contributed to DVII in such a trend, the list would be too exhaustive to read. Instead of giving credit to everyone and their village, the following sections mention those whom I feel is relevant to accredit within the context of the Dooming Community. [10.1 Acknowledgements] ----------------------- B.P.R.D - creator of DVII's bio-tank textures Csabo - Creator of XWE Andrey Budko - Programmer of PrBoom+ Fredrik Johansson - Creator of Vrack3.wad - Creator of the level Stargate's soundtrack - Creator of the level Stargate's wall & computer textures Graf Zahl - Programmer of GZDoom Id Software - Created Doom/Doom2 Jack Vermeulen [Deep] - Creator of DeepSea Kristus - Creator of some tech textures Nanami - Creator of the Flying Balrog Sprite Pascal vd Heiden [CodeImp] - Creator of Doom Builder Randy Heit - Programmer of ZDoom Simon O'Callaghan - Creator of many Egyptian Textures found in Desert Temple [10.2 Special Thanks] --------------------- + MIKE ESSLER / MIKE REINER for: 01) Years of DVII testing 02) Countless hours of co-op testing 03) Archiving numerous builds of DVII 04) Sparking creation of Hell's Vendetta 05) Not leaking DVII betas to the public :p 06) Being a good sport and putting up with my jest in Map20 :D 07) Being a good sport and putting up with me :D 08) Coming up with the idea for Sauron's Gauntlet 09) Being DVII's technical support 10) Organizing the release content of DVII-1i.zip/DVII-1u.zip Mike is essentially the backbone of DVII. His technical knowledge allowed me to test DVII under some ridiculous situations, like bypassing my university's firewall. Between the hundreds of hours of voicechat and thousands of instant messages and scores of emails, DVII became a continually evolving project open to rigorous inspection. Mike pretty much reported back the tiniest error on the map, the gameplay sticking points, glitches, and many other anomalies that would have went unnoticed without a second opinion. Due to many of his ideas and suggestions, like Sauron's Gaunlets and Hell's Vendetta, DVII underwent drastic changes... in the most wonderful way. Mike is a notorious archivist, having scores of old DVII builds burned away on DVDs. I have instructed Mike during the development of DVII to release the latest build in the event of my death. Thankfully that protocol has never been necessary ^_^. Mike also served as a frequent middleman between the rest of the testers and I, relaying back the issues brought up by Belial and Anima while I was in class or at work. Mike was the creator of batch files, installation instructions, demo recording instructions and file organization structure of DVII-1i.zip/DVII-1u.zip. I don't know how many times the words "bastard," "asshole," "faggot," and various obscenities were exchanged during the countless hours of conversation between Mike and I, but one thing is certain: in DVII, the Mapper and Tester communicated until we know each other's eating and sleeping habits. This comfortable working relationship allowed for open rapport and report on the project in depth. Because of Mike's excellent communication, DVII isn't a basement laboratory experiment by some mad scientist, it is a mod subjected to thousands of trials with brutally candid feedback; if something sucks, even a just little, I'll hear it no sooner than a thunderclap, and I'm certain it will show in the gameplay. Hats off to the main tester! + RICHIE "RAGNEW" AGNEW for: 1) Early DVII testing 2) My cheering section :) Richie was the main tester for the original Deus Vult, and when DVII was first conceived in 2004, he tested the hell out of it. Richie's early DVII testing gave several of the earlier maps like Mutagen and Eagle's Nest a good polishing. I'd also like to thank him for his constant encouragement and enthusiasm that drove my effort. Honestly, many of the earlier maps for DVII was just to impress Richie and only Richie... and for this, he is a huge part of DVII! + DEREK BRAUN for: 1) Early DVII testing 2) Earlier contributions to DVII (including a map that never was) Derek was once a mapper for DVII, but later on became a cooperative tester for many of DVII's map, especially Stargate. Derek is a cool guy, he's pretty laid back, and was the one who introduced me to the Doom megawad Kama Sutra, to which we frequently co-oped in the past. To his doing, Kama Sutra's gameplay elements were eventually picked up and merged into DVII. Derek, I hope you make good HL2 maps, because I'm hopping aboard soon! + PRZEMYSłAW "BELIAL" WODA for: 1) Playtesting the near-final version of DVII 2) Pointing out improvements in Map23, especially the cleric fight 3) Bug-catching 4) Crazy-ass dooming skills, I mean, who the hell UV-max DV Map04 in less than 11 minutes? 5) Advocation of extreme difficulty increase in many maps 5) Providing UV-Max demos for DVII One of the testers who jumped onto the DVII playtesting bandwagon in December of 2007. Belial probably understand the DVII maps better than I understand it myself. Ripping into the secrets faster than I could hide them, Belial's playtesting of DVII was brief but provided potent insight into the gameplay dynamic of the maps he touched upon. Hell's Vendetta gameplay would probably be loose as a goose if it weren't for Belial's grievances on how easy the earlier versions were in terms of enemy count and health distribution. Looking at Belial's demos, I'd have to say his Dooming skills are insanely good, no... Godlike. Belial literally tears into the hell levels like a child into Christmas gift wrap. In his UV-MAXes, his ingame movements are extremely quick and precise, and takes the viewer on a first-rate rampage through the most violent parts of DVII. Maps that were supposed to take hours to complete were taken apart in a matter of fifteen minutes by Belial. To simply put, Belial is my current Doom God. Thanks to Belial's testing of DVII, the later maps on UV will get really nasty with extra hot sauce :) + BRIAN "ANIMA ZERO" NESSER for: 1) Playtesting the near-final version of DVII 2) Bug-catching 3) Difficulty Moderation in many maps 4) Providing UV-Max Demos for DVII 5) Passing The DVII Exam One of the testers who jumped onto the DVII playtesting bandwagon in December of 2007. Anima served as the moderator of DVII's difficulty alongside Belial. Anima's grievances on the eight cyberdemons on the West wing of Hell's Vendetta led to toning down on that particular part of the map, which currently unleashes six (instead of eight) cybers on the player's ass. A nice contribution, since DVII's extreme difficulty called for normalization at times. Anima also discovered some neat shortcuts for many of the maps, including the acid-plunge teleport leap of faith for Eagle's Nest. Anima's runs improved as he recorded more and more demos for DVII, with his ultimate achievement resulting in a sub-six minute UV-Max for the insanely difficult Map22, which earned him the honor of being the first Doomer to pass The DVII Exam! + FREDRIK JOHANSSON for: 1) Creating Vrack3 MIDI soundtrack 2) Creating Vrack3, a huge influence to my Stargate Map 3) Creating those wonderful tech textures, without Vrack3, Stargate would probably not exist. Way to pioneer new Doom themes, Fredrik! Fredrik was not directly involved in the development or testing of DVII, but his works have influenced many of the design concepts of my mod that he HAS to be mentioned in my list of personal thank yous. Fredrik's Vrack3 was the basis for Stargate, and many of Vrack3's complex conveyor belt-based triggers were studied and applied to DVII's maps. Vrack3's design proportions were also scrutinized down to the last unit as well. In fact, when I was developing stargate, I'd have Vrack3 opened side-by-side in Doom Builder just to compare corridor widths. Fredrik's textures from Vrack3 also aided DVII's tech levels in a huge way, as its architecture benefitted from motifs such as laser grids, railings, metals, computers, and many other installations that would have been nonexistent without Fredrik's discoveries. + HUBERT VU for: 1) DVII cooperative testing 2) Coming up with the idea for the Balrog Chase 3) Initiated the usage of Boom Triggers in DVII My tricky cousin deserves credit for trying to break DVII's cooperative mode, to which this prick suceeded by using the most cheesy and perverse gameplay tactics. When encountering a trap, Hubert basically tries to weasel his way out of the fight by standing inside closing doors, whizzing past teleporting enemies, and finding cheap, impenetrable alcoves for cover. Many times over, his cheapo tactics would result in permanently barricaded areas that prevented any legitimate progression and ultimately break cooperative mode. His tricky style of play is a blessing in disguise, as it exposed many game-breaking moments in cooperative DVII that were eventually fixed. The Balrog Chase was originally his idea as well, but I being his older (and wiser) cousin made sure that it was executed correctly, as seen in Map22. Actually, Hubert isn't as bad as the above passages suggest. He's actually quite brilliant in pushing the extrema of the levels' gameplay mechanic, a potential speedrunner who doesn't play enough Doom... It was Hubert who first suggested the usage of Boom triggers back in 2005, and ran me through it, I was impressed enough and applied them to DVII from that point on. Who knows what DVII would've been like without Hubert... The Balrog Chase would've likely been non-existent, and DVII would still be using vanilla-Doom compatible triggers... heh. + ANDREY "ENTRYWAY" BUDKO for: 1) Creating the PrBoom sourceport 2) Last minute help with DVII compatibility with sourceport 3) Last minute Tech support Andrey came in at the last minute and helped me include a stellar version of PrBoom-Plus 2.4.8.3-Test as part of the DVII release. His last minute tech support ensured that DVII received the highest degree of compatibility. The UV-Max demos will live forever thanks to him and PrBoom+ :) [10.3 Doomers and their projects that influenced DVII] ------------------------------------------------------ Adolf "Gusta" Vojta - Kama Sutra Alexander "Eternal" S. (AKA Deadall) - Epic.wad Anders Johnsen - Alien Vendetta Anthony Soto - AV Map06: Hillside Siege B.P.R.D - Equinox - Fritter.wad - Grove.wad - Nuts2.wad - Nuts3.wad Brad "Vorpal" Spencer - Hellcore Daniel "Tormentor667" Gimmer - City of the Damned - Ultimate Torment and Torture Devon "Darkfyre" West - Hellcore Epsi - Ruma Erik Alm - One Bloody Night Episode 1 - Scythe - Scythe II Fredrik Johansson - Vrack2b.wad - Vrack3.wad Haggay Niv - Hell Revealed Ichor - 1Monster Map24: The One God Jakub "Method" Razak - Kama Sutra Jonas Feragen - Hell Revealed II Kim "Mutator" Malde - Alien Vendetta Kristian Aro - Brotherhood of Ruin Lee Szymanski - AV Map06: Hillside Siege Malcolm Sailor - ChordG.wad - Chord3.wad Martin Aalen Hunsager - Alien Vendetta Mattias Berggren - Alien Vendetta Michael Reed - Hoover Dam Robert "Fusion" Babor - Hellcore Roger Ritenour - Phobos Russell Pearson - Doom Raider: Crypt of the Vile Ryathaen - 1Monster Map22: Triad of the Minds Stephen "Scuba Steve" Browning - Action DooM TeamTNT - The Plutonia Experiment Yonatan Donner - Hell Revealed ---------------- [11] LEGAL STUFF ---------------- 11.1 Original Resources 11.2 Modified Resources 11.3 Borrowed Resources 11.4 Usage of Resources A follower of Hacker Ethics, I'm not too big on protection of resources, paperwork, and those uncool things, but I do believe in acknowledgement and lots of them. The following sections describe the sources of my resources. [11.1 Original Resources] ------------------------- Original Resources pertain to stuff that I made from scratch, or contributed enough effort into modifying the resource(s) to call my own. - CANDLE SPRITES: are made by me in Adobe Photoshop CS2 9.0! I always thought the default black candles look like some sort of tech light, and wasn't very convincing. And for my hell theme, red candles were called for, so I made large red candles that can't be mistaken for anything else but candles, even when seen from far away. Anyways, if you PLAN on using this candle for your mod, it would make me happy if you GIVE ME CREDIT for it... I hope my red candle will replace that little black Doom candle in the future! - STARGATE: Made from scrap SHAWN0 metal that got melted into a donut mold. Seriously though, you'll have to see the stargate yourself. I wouldn't have made it if I didn't enjoy looking at it :) Made with Adobe Photoshop - The following illustrations are hidden away ingame inside easter egg secrets are 100% original and is my work (with exception where applies), they include... CITRIC ACID CYCLE DIAGRAM: After my biotechnology research in Howard Summer 2007 University of Washington DC, I Adobe Illustrator prepared to transition from the field of architecture into molecular sciences, this diagram was one of my "practice" model for remembering and understanding the citric acid cycle, one of the major metabolic pathways of the cells of aerobic organism. EXPLODED CELL PHONE DIAGRAM: My final project for ARCH-210. The bottom Winter 2007 part of the phone was totally made up and Mechanical Pencil looked nothing like the real thing; I temporarily lost my cell phone and had to improvise something fast. It was drawn with a mechanical pencil and ruler, hardcore eh? KENDOKA ILLUSTRATION: My last project related to architecture, The Kendoka Spring 2007 was inspired by a similar illustration on Mechanical Pencil Wikipedia by Ningyou. It also conveyed a nonverbal Adobe Illustrator message on how I feel about the UW's architecture Adobe Photoshop program after being subjected through the stupid and tedious prerequisites! Get back! GET BACK!!! The Kendoka is first seen in the the dojo of Map03, and reappear as a high resolution mural in the secret of Eagle's Nest as well. CACTUS ILLUSTRATION: ARCH-210 project. I like it, drawn from scratch, Winter 2007 prickly, green, fits the limited Doom Pallette, Colored Pencils 'nuff said. SOME BLOCK STRUCTURE ILLUSTRATION: Part of a project that involves Spring 2007 embodying an idea through a structure. Mechanical Pencil My idea was Prometheus' Torch. Drawn Adobe Photoshop by hand and colored in Photoshop. DANCING COUPLE DRAWING: This drawing was created by myself and a friend of Spring 2007 mine. I was responsible for the man, and her for Mechanical Pencil the woman. We implemented many of our features into the subjects we were drawing. Notice that in the earlier drafts, the man's hand is all over the woman. I had loads of fun making this one ;) MASTER CHIEF MEETS MARIO DRAWING: Made for co-tournament of Super Smash Fall 2007 Melee and Halo3. Imitates Michaelangelo Permanent Markers with the Finger of God and Adam. Was extremely popular with the crowd. This drawing is mostly mine; the hands of Mario and Master Chief was drawn by the same friend who helped me with the Dancing Couple drawing. She was also responsible for coloring the posters as well, which explains the blonde hair on Mario; she doesn't play video games much. Mario's hair is brown, Ingrid! - The SUZZALLO LIBRARY PHOTOS: Found in the secret basement of the Unholy Fall 2006 Cathedral, I took those and darn it, they are 35mm B&W Film mine! My professor thought I did a pretty good job with the photos and gave me an A for his 400-level Architecture Class. - VARIOUS BANNERS: In the Unholy Cathedral, stuff like the leatherized portrait of Dante Alighieri, are originals from me, some of which are in-game, some of which are in the texture resource. - PLANET HELL: The planet you see inside the stargate exit of Map20 is a Modification of a satellite photograph of the Jovian moon, Io. I modified its surface, color content, and shading to the point that it resembles a boiling, roiling Mars. - INTERPIC, TITLESCREEN, CREDIT, DVII AVATAR, and so forth. This list isn't all-inclusive; I probably made a bunch more stuff in DVII and forgot to claim them as mine... in which case, meh. [11.2 Modified Resources] ------------------------- Modified Resources includes recolored textures, sprites, online images made into grahics, and so forth. - The Eye of Sauron - The Sauron Statue - The Witch King Statue - The Angel Statue - The classical paintings in the cathedral - BioLab textures from Equinox - The gazillion textures that got resized - The bajillion textures that got recolored into Red, Green, Blue, and Yellow This list isn't all-inclusive, because I'm a scatterbrain. [11.3 Borrowed Resources] ------------------------- - Afterglow's Textures - Alien Vendetta Textures - Blood Textures - B.P.R.D's Textures - Doom Raider: Crypt of the Vile's Textures - Duke Nukem Textures - Equinox Textures - Fredrik Johansson's Textures from Vrack3 - Hexen Textures & Sprites - Quake Textures - Quake III Textures - Renaissance Paintings - Witchaven Textures & Sprites This list isn't all-inclusive, since I tend to borrow stuff and forget their source(s). [11.4 Usage of Resources] ------------------------- "Authors MAY use the contents of this file as a base for modification or reuse. Permissions have been obtained from original authors for any of their resources modified or included in this file." ...What this essentially means is that you already have full permission to take DVII's resources apart unrestrictively without asking. I support your endeavor and both the text and I give you full consent to use DVII's resources in your project to the fullest extent. Share DVII's resources, modify them if you want, and give credit when they're due. Don't make a profit out of them, be nice, you know the basics. DVII doubles as a handy resource pack for your own usage :) ------------------- [12] QUICK OVERVIEW ------------------- Primary purpose : Single + co-op play Title : Deus Vult II Filename : DVII.wad Author : Huy Pham Email Address : BusyBeaverHP@GMail.com * What is included * New levels : Yes Sounds : Yes Music : Yes Graphics : Yes Dehacked/BEX Patch : Yes, exists as a lump inside DVII.WAD * Additional Requirements * Other files required : Doom2.wad Other executables req. : A Sourceport Sourceport Requirements : 32768 Limit-Removal, Boom-Compatible * Play Information * Game : Doom II Recommended Sourceports : ZDoom 2.2.0, GZDoom 1.1.0, PrBoom-Plus 2.4.8.3-Beta Single Player : Yes Cooperative 2-4 Player : As important as single-player Deathmatch 2-4 Player : NOT designed for; starts only Other game styles : None Difficulty Settings : Adjustable for Skills 1, 2, 3, & 4 Map01 : Entryway Pass Map02 : Mutagen Map03 : Crouchin Demon, Hidden Archvile Map12 : Minas Morgul Map13 : Eagle's Nest Map19 : Stargate Map20 : Desert Temple Map21 : The Unholy Cathedral Map22 : You Shall Not Pass! Map23 : Hell's Vendetta Map31 : The Manliest Fight Ever * Copyright / Permissions * Authors MAY use the contents of this file as a base for modification or reuse. Permissions have been obtained from original authors for any of their resources modified or included in this file. You MAY distribute this file, provided you include this text file, with no modifications. You may play with yourself as long as you want. You may distribute this file in any electronic format (BBS, Diskette, CD, etc) as long as you include this file intact. I have received permission from the original authors to poke my special place, repeatedly. I have received permission from the original authors of any modified or included content in this file to allow further distribution. Textfile co-created by Huy Pham & Mike Essler * Where to get the file that this text file describes * The Usual: ftp://archives.3dgamers.com/pub/idgames/ and mirrors