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On April 30th, 1995, Doom was re-released was the Ultimate Doom, containing a brand new fourth episode, Thy Flesh Consumed. An infamous episode among players and the Doom community at large.
If you're like me, you might have always found episode 4 to be a little bit of a chore to get through. Always dreaded coming to play in a run, or just plain skipping it. And why not? Its extremely inconsistent difficulty curve has you stating out at what could arguably be considered the two hardest levels in all of classic Doom, and then kind of weaves you in and out of relatively easier levels, ending on debatably the two easiest levels in the episode. Not only is that troublesome enough for how it breaks the flow of the episode, especially in comparison to the more sensibly-scaled previous episodes, but those initial two levels are quite the hurdle to overcome. And they ask you to do the first from a pistol start. Most players who survive that start the next level with barely any ammo or health.
This is a very simple mod, currently only for ZDoom-based source ports. It's just a MAPINFO lump (and a corresponding LANGUAGE that adds support for Italian, French, and whatever pbt is) that does exactly what it says it does. It re-orders the levels of Episode 4 to try and follow a more sensible difficulty curve. I'll explain the new level order and my reasoning for it down below.
Currently, this release should be considered a v1. I've ran into a small problem where the automap will still display the old map designation (e.g. Hell Beneath is still listed as E4M1), and I need to figure out a way to make that not happen, preferably without loading the wad up with the entirety of episode 4's maps just to rename them. Still, as it is currently, it's perfectly playable and functional. That's just a simple interface bug that does not impact gameplay. I am also planning on adding Zandronum support once I get a firmer grasp of the old MAPINFO syntax.
As a bonus to make up for it, this minimod also inserts the par times from the Doom Classic port, something that was absent from most of the PC releases. If I got any of them wrong, do let me know.
I have no doubt that almost anyone here could have done this if they wanted to, however unless I missed it somewhere I've not seen such a thing. This isn't meant to be taken as a major project, nor do I expect this to be allowed in speedruns or anything. This is just a small quality-of-life enhancement for the original Doom to make playing through Thy Flesh Consumed a bit more fun. I'll admit, I actually kind of like TFC, but yeah someone must have fallen asleep when they organized the levels.
Now as promised, I will explain the new ordering and my reasoning for it. Obviously, since this is meant to follow a difficulty curve, it will be a little subjective. If enough people support a level being in a different place, I will probably change it.
THE NEW ORDER
E4M4: Unruly Evil is now E4M1.
Spoiler: Explanation
Out of all of them, this one will probably result in the most controversy. In all respects this level is pretty simple and straightforward. Moreso in the original lineup when you enter this level with all guns. However, being moved to the start of the episode now means it must be pistol started, and it's a bit trickier as a result. Three spectres in a tight space right at the starting gate, for instance.
I admit this one took a lot of thought. It was between this or And Hell Followed as the first level. While I genuinely do believe AHF is the easier level, even from a pistol start, the map is significantly larger and more complex. A very constant pattern across the official classic Doom games is the first level of any episode or campaign is always small and straightforward (the only exception I ever found was No Rest for the Living. Otherwise even Plutonia's MAP01 is simpler and smaller than the rest of its set). This goes especially true for Doom 1. To break that pattern, I felt, would make it feel extremely out of place. After all, for as difficult as Hell Beneath is, it still follows this formula. There's at best 3 to 4 rooms total, depending on how you count.
And given that the goal of this is to try and line episode 4 up to be less of a standout headache, I ultimately decided that in this one case, congruency was more important than difficulty.
On the plus side, even if it is harder from a pistol start, it's nowhere near as difficult as Hell Beneath is. ...At least in my opinion.
E4M7: And Hell Followed is now E4M2.
Spoiler: Explanation
Fairly simple. If it wasn't E4M1 it was going to be E4M2. Almost universally considered the easiest level in all of Thy Flesh Consumed, I don't think anyone is going to take issue with it being this early (if anything they'll take issue with it being not early enough).
E4M5: They Will Repent is now E4M3.
Spoiler: Explanation
As far as enemy count and force goes, this level is actually probably easier than even And Hell Followed. However, navigationally it's much harder, and I feel that makes up for it. It's almost labyrinthine. That being said, compared to the levels that follow which have much tougher enemy encounters, I don't think it trounces those.
Truth be told my reasoning for putting it here was because I didn't think there was really any other place for it. This was the last one I figured out.
E4M3: Sever the Wicked is now E4M4.
Spoiler: Explanation
Okay. This one I think people will disagree on me with. But I will defend it. Just hear me out.
Yes, the rest of this level is not much of a problem. Though I would argue some of the combat encounters it asks you to deal with, it's done so in a tight, more confined space. So it's not much different than They Will Repent above.
However. My logic for putting this after TWR is the very beginning of the level. You are instantly dropped into a cluster of monsters and getting attacked from all sides by shotgun blasts, lost souls, imp fireballs, pinkies that roam the ground level... Compared to TWR, I think that alone makes this level more difficult.
E4M6: Against Thee Wickedly is now E4M5.
Spoiler: Explanation
Of all the levels that are not Hell Beneath or Perfect Hatred, I found this one to be the hardest. Lots of lava running with few radsuits (and the ones that are there are in the lava itself), combat in really tight corridors, some of which are against tougher enemies, a legitimate cyberdemon fight in really cramped space (or trying to snipe at it from a weird angle), tricky maneuvering across narrow platforms, etc...
E4M1: Hell Beneath is now E4M6.
Spoiler: Explanation
Surprising no one, the oft-considered second-hardest level in Classic Doom comes in near the end. And while it is true that a good portion of that difficulty comes from it being a pistol start, I will defend its placement here as even with weapons it's still quite difficult. Fighting very tanky enemies in quarters so cramped the entire level is barely bigger than a house. This includes 5 Barons, and combined with the tight space the doors-with-legs suddenly get a lot meaner.
E4M2: Perfect Hatred is now E4M7.
Spoiler: Explanation
Do I really need to explain this?
E4M8: Unto the Cruel is still E4M8.
Spoiler: Explanation
Unfortunately, there was no way around this. As easy as this level genuinely is, unfortunately there really isn't anything else in TFC that can be considered a boss map. I would have loved to put this honestly probably after And Hell Followed, but just like with how achieving congruency forced me to make Unruly Evil M1 instead of AHF, congruency once again forced me to put the only boss map in the boss map location. And this minimod does not do anything to change the levels themselves, so I couldn't make E4M8 harder (I honestly wouldn't know how to make it harder even if I did try to alter the map).
E4M9: Fear is still E4M9.
Spoiler: Explanation
For a while I actually did try to put this level in the main ordering and make Hell Beneath the secret level, but it felt way too weird and strange. Fear isn't particularly difficult, but level flow is just bizarre. It's kind of like Fortress of Mystery in that regard. So for such a weird level, it kind of had to stay as the secret.
Last edited by Dr. Shotgun on Mon Sep 25, 2017 5:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Outtagum wrote:This is neat little add-on. Can I ask, will this mess up the map order of E4 replacement WADs? I'd like to add it to my autoload.
Some will, some won't. If it's just levels, this will overwrite that. Something like DTWID's Lost Episodes. However, if the mod has a "clearepisodes" in its own MAPINFO (so basically replacing the existing episodes with custom titles) then it won't cause conflict. An example would be No End in Sight.
If there's a way around this, I would love to know. Anyone who has a suggestion, I am open to them. Wide compatibility is my goal with future versions.
JohnnyTheWolf wrote:Excellent idea!
Just a small correction, though: 'schizophrenic' does not actually mean what you think it means. I would use 'inconsistent' instead.
I've seen the term "schizophrenic difficulty" applied to instances like episode 4, but just to avoid any needless confusion I have changed that.