DOOM 2: REMAKE for GZDoom, with OTEX (30+1 maps)

[sevenyearsgone]

Name: Doom 2: Remake
Filename: D2Re.pk3
Version: 1.0
Maps: 30 maps + 1 secret map.
Author: sevenyearsgone
Map Format: UDMF
For Ports/Ports Tested: GZDOOM 4.14.2
IWAD: DOOM2
Main gameplay focus: Single Player (see notes about COOP below)

SCREENSHOTS: https://drive.proton.me/urls/580WZ7Q91R#cLoCN73hBkyT

DOWNLOAD: https://drive.proton.me/urls/AREFPDBR60#jWN8eDV3srPS

OVERVIEW & ORIGIN:
I saw a WAD that multiple mappers had made out of memory. Having been feeling very nostalgic about DOOM lately, I wanted to make a DOOM2 remake out of memory, but without a strict adherence to what I remember. So I tried to remember as much as I could, but then also changed things as I saw fit (some of the more abstract progression logic and things like this). The maps are therefore more of a spiritual remake, than an attempt at an exact copy with new textures and lighting. You will recognise each map, the ideas are still there, just in a new shell. Mind you, the map order and names are also from memory. I have yet to check how close I got, as I feel like it's part of this "as I remember it" style of mapping, to just go with it.

GRAPHICS & ATMOSPHERE: (important!)
Using the OTEX texture set by ukiro and the DOOM64 OST by Aubrey Hodges, the atmosphere in this remake is darker (not literally, I hate maps where you can't see anything), reflecting the type of DOOM map I like to make. It is VERY important to have Dynamic Lighting (hardware and software) and Shadowmaps on in GZDoom options. If you play without these settings, the maps will look weird and not at all as intended. I don't use a lot of sector lightning to do shadows and such, all decorations have GLDefs and the maps rely on Shadowmaps. Bloom also adds to the experience, but isn't critical like the above-mentioned. Brightness & gamma should also be set to default, too much will wash the graphics and ruin the atmosphere.

I'm sure there are some weird/misaligned textures and other aesthetic issues still, that I will gradually fix.

GAMEPLAY & DIFFICULTY:
I play with mouselook on, autoaim disabled, so there might be some issues I have overlooked for no mouselookers. I tried to take no mouselook into account, but haven't extensively tested it. Jump and crouch are disabled in ZMAPINFO, the maps have not been designed for them.

Every level has been designed for pistol start compatibility, but pistol start isn't forced. Inventory is reset at intermission points (story) twice during the 30 maps. Use IDCLEV to pistol start every level, or play Ultra-DOOM (see below, in Vanilla gameplay section).

More difficult than vanilla DOOM2 for sure, but not super difficult. There are some nasty ambushes, but nothing unfair (also they're arguably not ambushes since it's obvious they're coming). I haven't implemented difficulty settings in the traditional way (removing enemies, adding health etc.), but rather in a more general way, changing what the difficulty settings do. When you press enter on each setting, a message will appear to show you what's different.

MOD COMPATIBILITY:
Enemies, weapons and HUD are all vanilla, so most mods should work. However, there seems to be an incompatibility issue with Brutal DOOM that I don't know much more about. It seems to change something in how items are picked up? ACS scripts that trigger from item pickups don't work, causing softlocks. Other people probably know more about this, I just noticed it while testing and don't really know what to do about it. I know how popular Brutal DOOM is, but won't remake a hundred ACS triggers for it. I recommend Supercharge or Nashgore if you want a gory mod, that is very compatible. I can only guarantee full compatibility with my own mod (see below).

MY GAMEPLAY MOD:
I made a gameplay mod that I meant to release bundled with this Doom 2 Remake, but decided against it for worries that people may not like a gameplay mod shoved in their face like that, or the download being bigger because of a mod they might not want. So instead I will simply put a link to my mod here for those who want to try a new, full gameplay mod that aims to keep the core of DOOM gameplay intact, while modernising some things, adding gore and making the pace a bit faster in general.

Link to the mod post: viewtopic.php?t=80979
Direct mod download: https://drive.proton.me/urls/G969Q44A7M#rsOZUTUZoRf2

VANILLA GAMEPLAY:
I still love DOOM's original mechanics. This WAD has been fully tested in vanilla as well. In fact, if you want a nice DOOM challenge for yourself, try the Ultra-DOOM difficulty setting in this WAD without any mods. It forces "shotgun start" (it removes everything but shotgun and armour through ACS) at the start of every level, unless you die, then pistol. The challenge of course is no saves allowed. Not recommended for first playthrough though, explore the levels first and then try this challenge.

COOP:
This WAD was designed mainly for single player, but there is ACS code in the levels to check if COOP is on. The maps will behave slightly differently then, for example, ambushes that would normally close doors behind you, won't. This way players won't get locked out of the fight. I have tested this WAD with a friend and it works well, but isn't the intended experience. So I recommend playing single player first and then COOP to get both experiences.

Any problems you encounter I would love to hear about, so I can fix them.
Constructive criticism in general will be welcome as well.
For more detailed info, check the D2Re.txt.

[JohnnyTheWolf]

Three maps in. I am enjoying it so far. It reminds me a bit of Abscission, probably because it is a darker reimagining of Doom II with an ambient soundtrack.

Good job!

[Spaceman333]

"MOD COMPATIBILITY: However, there seems to be an incompatibility issue with Brutal DOOM that I don't know much more about. It seems to change something in how items are picked up? ACS scripts that trigger from item pickups don't work, causing softlocks. Other people probably know more about this, I just noticed it while testing and don't really know what to do about it. I know how popular Brutal DOOM is, but won't remake a hundred ACS triggers for it."

Why not just put the typical 3-4 trigger linedefs around the pickup item like most maps do? I really want to play with BD v22 and other mods that may alter pickups, so having this kind of incompatibility sucks.

EDIT: I started playing the map with the DOOM J.A.M. mod and I'm loving it - its like a mix of Doom 64 and Quake within Doom 2 familiar-yet very different maps.



I can see that it has a LOT of scripted things that show text messages when interactions with certain doors or objects happen, so I can see why its not so trivial to decouple the pickup compatibility thing.

The J.A.M mod is pretty awesome too; feel like vanilla Doom, but plays very differently. The super shotgun isn't getting as much use as I normally would use it in vanilla, but it serves a purpose of sudden burst damage when needed - as is the intent. The effects are satisfying too. This is very well done, both the map pack and the separate mod too!

[Spaceman333]

I did a full playthrough all the way to the end - its hard! Losing health is very easy and some levels become very stingy with healing options, offering almost nothing on some levels on UV. With the ambushes the player faces, I feel like the overall balance isn't fair, I feel like I need to deal with many encounters nigh flawlessly to survive some portions of many maps.

The revenants in particular are sometimes pure BS with their homing missiles that can sometimes take out 85hp in a single hit.

Generally I also noticed that my doomguy is quite squishy overall - very easy to die as most things hit fairly hard. Given how fast combat is, how often ambushes occur, how devious they are with monster placement and amount of monsters, it feels many times its unavoidable to take damage, or even worse - some encounters feel like trial and error to try get past them.

I was playing with many addons that give me special abilities and for the first maps until "tricks and traps", I was opting not to use them at all and just let Doom JAM be the star. However, the difficulty ramps up hard after 'Dead Simple' and healing becomes far too scarce on most maps. I ended up utilizing my full arsenal of addons that gave me an edge to win the game - including GunBonsai, Slomo Bullettime, Flashlight++, JP mobility and some HUD extras. With them I was able to have a good time that felt like I evened the odds thrown at me.

Balance aside, the maps themselves are fantastic - amazing scenery, awesome locations, straight forward navigation and mostly clear secrets. I wasn't able to figure out how to properly access Map31, so I noclipped to get to the secret exit (I looked around the map, but couldn't find clues), but other than that one, I was able to discover most secrets fairly well using the automap and visuals.

The final boss is an awesome concept! I love what you did with the blood filling the arena to lift me up high enough to launch the killing blow against the icon of sin. That fight felt way better and more fun than vanilla icon of sin for sure.

[sevenyearsgone]

Hi Spaceman333, thanks a lot for the feedback! Can I ask what difficulty you were playing on (sorry if you wrote that and I missed it) and if you can remember any particular ambushes that felt too crazy? Basically, what I'd like to know if anything felt so frustrating that you were close to quitting the WAD completely at any point? I was fully prepared for having to make some balance adjustments at some point, since I made all the maps myself and tested them as well, it's very difficult to estimate the difficulty after a while anymore.

PS. I'm glad you liked the mod as well, I thought it turned out pretty well, but so far no one else seems to .

[Spaceman333]

Hi Spaceman333, thanks a lot for the feedback! Can I ask what difficulty you were playing on (sorry if you wrote that and I missed it) and if you can remember any particular ambushes that felt too crazy? Basically, what I'd like to know if anything felt so frustrating that you were close to quitting the WAD completely at any point? I was fully prepared for having to make some balance adjustments at some point, since I made all the maps myself and tested them as well, it's very difficult to estimate the difficulty after a while anymore.

PS. I'm glad you liked the mod as well, I thought it turned out pretty well, but so far no one else seems to .

I played on Ultra Violence. From my memory I can atleast recall these:
- The classic sudden row of minigunner ambush in the level where you start at the bottom of a nukage pit and have 4 elevators to 4 different heights (its on the highest level). That was probably the map after Tricks and Traps. It sprung multiple minigunners, pain elementals and tunnels filled with more minigunners. I died like 6 times retrying that section.
- Tricks and Traps itself was tough with the imps in boxes to get the red key - very cramped area and practically required my to first do the other rooms before I'd have necessary weapons and ammo, otherwise I'd die.
- The last mega ambush at the Factory level. Tons of revenants and homing missiles on both sides, combined with two extra archiviles that spawn at the end. No heals other than the one sphere at the start. Jesus Christ.
- Any sudden ambushes or places with revenants in levels past map 10; their homing attacks are a menace. I'd say the revenant itself is to blame and needs a nerf since their homing rockets can hit for crazy huge damage, the missiles track relentlessly, are fired often and cannot be shot down in midair. Usually any ambushes that involved any other monster besides minigunner or revenant were actually fairly doable, but the lack of heals made those levels perhaps too hard.

Btw the atmosphere in most of the maps was superb, the I loved the urban maps in particular. The whole part of crossing the narrow round silo edges in Chasm was amazing with watching all the glowing corpses in those things. You really made Doom II's map feel so much more impactful in the terror aspect of what the demons had done prior to the player's visit to those levels.

[Enjay]

Just finished it. I think you achieved your goals. It's definitely a darker (in tone - thank you for not actually making actually too dark) moodier retelling of Doom2. The maps are recognisable, but satisfyingly different. It almost feels like a hell-warped version of Doom2, like if Doomguy turned up quite some time after the demon invasion and the corruption had gone much further than what we seen in vanilla Doom2.

It is hard and I agree with a lot of what Spaceman333 said, but I didn't find it particularly excessive at any point and it certainly wasn't slaughter map territory (if it was, I wouldn't have played it all, I find that style of gameplay tedious). My hated enemy is the archvile and I could happily have seen fewer of those but, overall, it's a really well put together map set and quite an achievement.

I guess a thing to bear in mind if you were the only play tester is that by the time you have tested it thoroughly, you know where every monster is lurking, when every trap will be sprung, where every health pack is stored and so on. In other words, you will find the map much easier than someone playing it for the first time, and it's worth trying to factor that in - or getting others to playtest and give feedback.

After completing the final map, I just ended up at the console with this message:

Code: Select all

THANKS FOR PLAYING!!! - Unnamed


Unable to open map 'Thanks For Playing!!!'

I've looked at your zmapinfo and, sure enough, that map definition does say next = "Thanks For Playing!!!". So, it might be intended, but it did feel anti-climactic to just be dumped to the console with a simple message like that.

[sevenyearsgone]

Alright, thanks everyone for the feedback so far. I'll keep an eye on the difficulty thing, to see if any changes are necessary (a couple of other people have also said it's very hard). I might edit the OP's difficulty section to say "picking a difficulty one lower than what you're used to might be a good idea", for now. About Tricks and Traps specifically; it is supposed to be a very different experience from the rest of the WAD, because of the nature of the map. So that one might require multiple attempts and experimentation, but it's very short so that shouldn't be a problem, even without saves. It is possible to do the rooms in every and any order, but going to the imp room first is super difficult.

About the message at the end; it is intended, yes. It might be a bit quirky, but I like it. That's the message I want players to see first for playing my WAD all the way to the end. I guess the roll call would be the traditional way to end a WAD, but I don't think that's particularly special either, so I thought I'd just go with this.

[Ron_Dallas]

Just check first map. Why there is multiple messages on door and switches? Also, on what maps is item activated things? I want to check some mods.
First map looks cool. I will continue playing after checking mods.

[sevenyearsgone]

I couldn't tell you from memory which maps have progression-related ACS triggers. I can only guarantee full compatibility with the DOOMJ.A.M mod (link in OP).

[KingMob]

Really excellent work here. Only through The Pit but I am really enjoying this project so far!

[BROS_ETT_311]

MOD COMPATIBILITY:
However, there seems to be an incompatibility issue with Brutal DOOM that I don't know much more about. It seems to change something in how items are picked up? ACS scripts that trigger from item pickups don't work, causing softlocks. Other people probably know more about this, I just noticed it while testing and don't really know what to do about it. I know how popular Brutal DOOM is, but won't remake a hundred ACS triggers for it.

Hey! I might just be able to do something about compatibility here. Are there specific items where this happens? The only thing I can think of is that it may be related to keys, but those have since been reverted. Please, let me know whenever time allows, and if it's a larger issue I can dive deeper into what can be done to support compatibility. BD already has a wad compatibility system (WCS) which can, within reason, allow certain mods to become playable with it (ie. Doom Zero, Ancient Aliens, Bloodstain, Eviternity, and many more).