=========================================================================== Archive Maintainer : - Update to : - Advanced engine needed : None / Made for Vanilla Primary purpose : Single player =========================================================================== Title : URE2020: Unexpected Retro Experience Filename : URE2020.WAD + URE2020.DEH Release date (Initial) : 2020-12-29 Release date (Revised) : 2021-04-13 Author : Zylinderkatze Email Address : [redacted] Other Files By Author : "Should've Stayed Home" (ISOLATION community challenge, entry 48) as well as various partial submissions of the individual maps of URE 2020. Misc. Author Info : Spends too much time on details xD The Long Introduction : It was 1995 and I was a teen. Also, I loved DOOM. That goes without saying. But I like redundancy. Level Editors, BSP builders and tools to replace graphics in DOOM.WAD were all DOS based. So was DOOM itself. Also, it only had three episodes. There was no 3D preview of a map, you had to build the nodes, start the game and check if all textures were aligned the way you wanted them. It was a simpler time. But not in a good way. Nevertheless, the teenage version of me managed to create a whole episode between the years 1995 and 1997, even created a title picture, replaced the "menu skull", help screen.. the works. However, the levels were never published. There was always something to improve about them, it seemed. Stage fright? Quite possibly. Around came 2010, tools had improved, my love for DOOM was unbroken and my determination to finally finish the episode was stronger than ever. Sadly, my PC wasn't stronger than ever- and died. It took the maps and all the editing efforts of 2010 with it in the process. As well as all my determination. Now it's 2020, I'm a lot older, a little wiser- and the tools are even cooler than in 2010. Unfortunately, the levels were still lost.. or so I thought. But then I remembered that I had saved an early beta copy of the maps to a 3.5" floppy disk in 1997.. which I actually managed to find in the depths of my basement.. a 23 year old relic. The disk was readable. There was no excuse left. The Short Introduction : Hey look, URE is done! About time, too. Let's go! Description : The WAD file accompanied by this readme file contains the "heavily, yet sensibly" improved maps from "199X" and also re-integrates all the (reasonable) ideas that were lost in 2010. The plan had always been to eventually replace all three (or, I guess, four) episodes of DOOM eventually- ideas were (and are) plentiful. But first things (and episodes) first. And brackets. The Story : Are you really reading this? What's wrong with you? Well okay. Story. Well.. you see, there's monsters, right? Demons and such. Why are they here? Probably some transdimensional gateway stuff, I guess. This is DOOM after all. More story? Sheesh. Alright. The ominous Retcon Research Laboratories took their self-attributed liberties "in service of the betterment of mankind" a bit too far. Of course: New, instantaneous modes of travel and transportation sound like a great idea. Who wouldn't like to abolish the need for fossil fuels, waiting times and other inconveniences? However, no predictions, projections or risk- evaluation could've forseen what happened when the first stable gateway connection was finally established.. and no place on Earth could be "secluded enough" to prevent the catastrophic consequences. Grab your gun, get on the tactical submarine and head for the first mission objective! (Read the mission descriptions at your own risk, they kind of give the "story" away a bit) E1M1: Oil Rig A repurposed oil rig is extracting what seems to be toxic sludge of some kind. From what you were told, this is an integral ingredient to power the gateway technology. Shut it down. E1M2: Outpost The harbor outpost is the only way to access the canyon that leads further into the facilities of the RRL. Grit your teeth and dig through. E1M3: Command HQ Living quarters for higher presonnel, a storage area.. and rumored access to a working technical translocator to reach the optional goal of shutting down the transmitter? Eclectic. E1M4: Arachnoid Oh no. E1M5: Spaceport (Military Facility) "polish them rockets now and swallow those pills" Some of these structures don't really look all that man-made anymore. Something doesn't feel right. Better hurry and find your way to the next facility. Which your briefing just calls.. E1M6: Fuel Extraction Experiments with short-range translocation technology seem to use a secret, unclassified fueling agent. The information passed to you has more redactions than readable text. You have a bad feeling about this. E1M7: Habit Research Apparently this is a facility "dedicated to the observation and evaluation of the behaviour of different species in a range of environments". Hm. Vague. Better pack extra Shotgun ammo. E1M8: The Gate Finally. Looks like this is what you came here for. Make your way to the gate at all cost. Take no prisoners. Save your cells, though. E1M9: Transmitter So you found the technical translocator to the Transmitter site. But what's this? This is not the Transmitter.. Looks like you arrived some ways away from your mission objective. It seems as though the Transmitter is running at full power, draining the bi-directional translocator pad that would've been closer to it. But that's okay- you came here to shut it down anyways. Kill the transmission beam, find the translocator pad out of here. There is no step three. [End of Episode 1] This WAD replaces: E1M1 - E1M9 SKY1 A few graphics (Map Names, etc. but no textures) Map names & Episode 1 Outro Text (Dehacked file) Additional Credits to : The members of the Doomworld forum that gave me the added boost needed to keep going <3 Honorable Mentions : Tam (for valuable moral and mental support from (in order of appearance) the very beginning- and her "metal AF" music WAD! See "Music in this WAD" for more detail), Rainne (for pointing me towards the Visplane Explorer in Ultimate Doom Builder.. twice), ketmar (not only for pitching k8vavoom!), Senor500 (for kindness and positivity), wrkq (for puns almost as terrible as my own- but also technical support, sympathy and toothpaste), InDOOMnesia (for ongoing patronage), SuperCupcakeTactics (for early interest), kknot5889, 666shooter and Arrowhead12 (for well- wishing and offering to playtest), Doomkid (for being Doomkid- and all it entails), Steve D (for having my back about sound tunnels) roboticmehdi2 (for some.. uh.. vanilla love? ^^), Cubefleet (for calling this thing cool and recognizing my "forklift game" being strong), Horus (for interest in this AND my sanity), Andromeda (for repeated positive remarks), Snikle (for alluding to Mordeth :P), Lila Feuer (for recognizing the inviting glow of a totally inconspicuous door), Rex_Rawhndo (for being stoked about the project AND my mapping future), Egg Boy (for loving.. classic shit like this), Hellbent (for appreciating my "keeping it old- school".. Hint: don't play E1M1 :D), Vic Vos (for well meant and -received criticism ..and appreciation of my miniature "screens"), warman2012 (for holding back the Federal Doom Inspection Board until I was done), Deadwing (for creative insight and tips), Loud Silence (for interest and pointing out when I put the wrong link for one of the betas), Final Verdict (for appreciation of 90s dust, the potential of Oil Rigs and nostalgia- and for being thoughtful and considerate in general), Chip (for appreciating my persistence and voting in favor of "Replax Forte". Maybe next time xD), Armaetus (for admitting that I am VASTLY superior because of my daily updates ^^), bLUEbYTE (for prophetic foresight about this episode.. and maybe even the ones to come!), VGA (for inspiring imaptience and helpful tips), UndeadRyker (for amazing and wholesome comments), NightFright (for interest in the 199X version), HQDefault (for being equally detail-obsessed), Maghster (for suggesting a Doom II version~), MajorRawne (for requesting YouTube playthroughs), Adamast0r (for being part of the inspiration for the 3.5" TITLEPIC I ended up making), Deathclaw886 (for wanting to get their "claws" on this.. I hope the wait was worth it :3), Eris Falling, Lippeth, Pcorf and (again) Doomkid (for being very helpful and supportive in my quest to find appropriate MIDIs for this WAD)! Honorable Mentions II : So many new faces when I put the maps up for (in order of appearance) revision! I'm pleased to have met these fellow Doomers that vastly propelled the revision process.. P41R47 (for having "patiently" waited and then proactively invited several potential testers), Omniarch (for- upon being summoned- having tested extensively; For kindness, as well as creative criticism and pinpoint bug reports), The_SloVinator (for a brief visit), Not Jabba (for a slightly less brief visit with some rather helpful pointers and tips), Arrowhead12 (for a quick run through the first few maps and appreciation of my "doomcute"ness), sanicstudios (for calling E1M1 shit. In a good way! :D), revlis (for déjà-vu on the first map), ..and again, Lippeth, for jumping into the fray and conjuring up a full set of custom music for this WAD. His music is included with this set! There is NO reason not to try it! Music in this WAD : This being the revised "2021 version" of URE2020 (the irony isn't lost on me), things changed! As stated above, Lippeth finished his magic and came up with a full replacement for all 9 maps as well as the intro, intermission and victory music. I think you can call him a hero. I do. Find him here: Also! If you read the initial readme that came with the "end of 2020" version, you might recall that a friend of mine (who "usually" plays real instruments, by hand, like a savage) offered his help- and he is done as well! Find him here: However- to not play any favorites, I will leave the main WAD file as it was: No custom MIDI music aside from "repurposed" music from the original DOOM.WAD (composed by Robert "Bobby" Prince): E1M1: The Imp's Song E1M2: Suspense E1M3: I Sawed the Demons E1M4: Demons on the Prey E1M5: On the Hunt E1M6: Sinister E1M7: Donna to the Rescue E1M8: Nobody Told Me About id E1M9: The Demons from Adrian's Pen Also², as hinted in the Honorable Mentions: Tam (of Doomworld forum fame) has been busy hand- crafting *actual* guitar music for this project since all the way back in late July 2020. Published as their own supplemental WAD (because the files are quite big), you can find them here, you advanced port person, you: TL;DR: URE WADs (published by me) will always only have MIDI music, because of the Vanilla- focussed nature of the project. The tracks in the main WAD are repurposing the original DOOM soundtrack to avoid using "random" MIDIs from different sources. Additionally, there are 2 MIDI packs included: "URE2020L.WAD" with music by Lippeth "URE2020A.WAD" with my friend Amo's music Both authors permitted me to include them in this set, so.. they should be here somewhere. PLEASE ENJOY! =========================================================================== * What is included * New levels : 9 Sounds : No Music : Repurposed, existing DOOM tracks in URE2020.WAD + Music by Nathan "Lippeth" Maxx in URE2020L.WAD + Music by Amaury Bernier in URE2020A.WAD Graphics : Yes (SKY1, TITLEPIC, HELP1, M_SKULL1&2, MAP) Dehacked Patch : Yes (embedded in WAD, standalone as URE2020.DEH) Demos : Yes (first demo, E1M7) Other : "URE20DOS.EXE" - compressed, DOS-specific files -> URE2020.BAT - batch file to start under DOS -> DEHACKED.EXE - for batch file convenience -> DEHACKED.INI - so the EXE doesn't complain Other files required : None besides "URE2020.DEH" (included) * Play Information * Game : Doom Map # : E1M1 - E1M8 & E1M9 Single Player : Designed for Cooperative 2-4 Player : Player starts only Deathmatch 2-4 Player : Player starts and weapons Other game styles : None Difficulty Settings : Yes (made for "HMP" but also balanced for "UV") * Construction * Base : E1M1 is "new from scratch", only taking the original concept of an Oil Rig. E1M2 is about 30% old map geometry from 199X, the rest is new or edited beyond recognition. E1M3 is about 80% the same as it was in 199X. E1M4 has undergone heavy renewal and is about 60% new architecture following original ideas. E1M5 keps most of the original layout but some parts were streamlined and all parts were "cosmetically enhanced" to (my) 2020 standards. E1M6 is an all old skeleton with all new flesh; About 70% are redone or refurbished. E1M7 also underwent some mostly cosmetic fixes, but those span the whole map, so about 50% of the map are "new-ish". E1M8 had a lot of "detailing" done, as well as a completely new final duel area. About 40% of the map are new or at least very retouched. E1M9 is almost completely new- it had undergone a plethora of changes in 2010 which were all lost (see "Long Introduction") but most of the ideas were so "good" that I recreated them with 2020 sensibilities and taste, if you can call it that. That said, the 199X version of the maps were all "new from scratch" so the "TL;DR" would be: All maps are 100% original content from scratch. Build Time : 1000+ hours Editor(s) used : DEU 5.22GCC (in 199X), Ultimate Doom Builder (in 2020), SLADE3, WhackEd4 Known Bugs : If you regularly play maps in DOS Doom (or a port that enforces the save file size limits), you're likely already aware of this: Big maps (such as these) will cause old (or "old-simulating") ports to crash when saving. So.. uh.. don't save? :D Also, as an ongoing theme, the maps barely avoid exceeding the visplane and drawseg limits in some areas. Tested with ChocolateRL, I didn't find any glaring visual bugs anymore though. If you find any problems, let me know! May Not Run With : Engines that weren't tested. Let me know. Tested With : Chocolate Doom (+RL), GZDoom, PrBoom+ * Copyright / Permissions * This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ You are free to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format; and remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially. If you do so, you must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use. If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original. * Where to get the file that this text file describes * The Usual: ftp://archives.gamers.org/pub/idgames/ and mirrors Web sites: https://havenport.de/files/share/URE2020.ZIP FTP sites: -