Uploaded by RL (super_shotgun35@yahoo.com) 5-28-05 NOTE: This WAD was resubmitted to the archives because the previous upload did not include any of the original documentation. =========================================================================== Uploaded (4-20-05) :By Xtife Using Text File From Heroes2 That Was Uploaded Here Awhile Ago And The Original Text File From Heroes. Should Go In /levels/doom2/megawads/ (Credits Go To Smoking Joe For The Template) =========================================================================== Title : Heroes Filename : Heroes.wad Release date : 11/19/1995 Author : AL Email Address : Xtife@rogers.com Other Files By Author : Heroes 2 For Doom2 Misc. Author Info : N/a =========================================================================== * What is included * New levels : 36 Sounds : Yes Music : Yes Graphics : Yes Dehacked/BEX Patch : No Demos : No * Play Information * Game : ULTIMATE DOOM Map # : E1M1-E4M9 Single Player : Yes Cooperative 2-4 Player : Not Tested, Some Levels May Or May Not Have Starts Deathmatch 2-4 Player : Not Tested, Some Levels May Or May Not Have Starts Difficulty Settings : Not Tested, Some Levels May Or May Not Have These * Construction * Base : Other Wads With Permission Build Time : Not Sure Editor(s) used : N/A Known Bugs : N/A May Not Run With... : n/A * 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 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 of any modified or included content in this file to allow further distribution. * Where to get the file that this text file describes * The Usual: ftp://archives.3dgamers.com/pub/idgames/ and mirrors Orignal Text File Below. | | V Welcome to the wonderful world of Heroes.wad. This is a compilation of levels assembled to be a complete replacement for the Ultimate DOOM. What is in this level series represents some of the finest in the way of not only well de- signed play areas but also includes a multitude of replacement sounds as well as music. The purpose for the title Heroes.wad is that this compilation is in honor of all the thousands of DOOM hackers out there who are the real heroes of Doom in that they have kept the game alive long past what would normally be its expiration date. It would be impossible to include in a single wad file all of the truely great work that these people have created, but this collection here has tried to compress as much as humanly possible into a single work some of the finest efforts out there on the pwad frontier. I have also included what text files that I found available as well as the source of the wad files. (I got all of these wads off of a variety of Cd's). Please do not think that all that was done here was simply stringing together a random selection of levels as so many other wad packs have done. I have over 800 hours involved in this project, mostly in reviewing, play-testing, and editing many of the individual wads in this collection. The goal here is to present to the player a fulfilling game experience that is on par with that found in the original Doom levels. I give many thanks to my wife Karon who never followed through on her variety of threats if I don't stop playing "that damn DOOM game." Also thanks to the literally thousands of wad authors out there whose efforts are either directly or indirectly represented in this work. Kudos to the crew at id software for all their hard work at creating perhaps the greatest, most enjoyable time waster there is (next to thinking about sex). My hats off to all the hackers who created all the marvelous tools by which the average player is able to design their own customized Hell. And lastly a great thankyou to Ben Morris who designed without question the greatest level/wad editor available, DCK! Al Some additional notes on game play How this set of levels started out is that as I was browsing through my CD-ROM collection of levels, trying to weed out all the garbage from the few gems that I occasionally would stumble upon, I would copy these levels to my hard drive to make sort of a compact collection of decent levels for my own playing fun. Then I would take a level here and there that I felt had some really decent playing characteristics and would load them one at a time on my map editor, DCK, and align all the possible floor areas, where practical, to the 64 square grid thereby increasing the likelyhood that many of the wall and floor textures will auto align by virtue of being some multiple of 64. Next, I would go into the level and hand align, peg, and unpeg all the remaining textures. Now, the edtiting did not stop here. I would then closely examine the actual choice of wall and ceiling/floor textures and use editorial license if I felt that I could improve upon this interior decorating. This also applied to the sprites as well. (For example, one level was so full of barrels and other objects the save game feature would crash the game, so I thinned out the population of these items in this particular level to prevent this crashing problem.) Another intentional side effect of these editing adjustments was to increase the playing frame rate as the program seems to play faster if it doesn't have to calculate so many fractional portions of walls and ceilings/floors. The next step in editing these wads was to thoroughly play test as well as study them on my map maker. In cases that I felt finding key secrets was too difficult or confusing I would reassign triggers and switches to help in speeding up the game play so the player doesn't get terribly bogged down in perpetual search of mysterious doors, switches and items. One strategy that I did implement in many cases was to have hidden doors with the textures perfectly aligned and thus seamless with the walls. The method that I use to allow for the player to find these doors is to keep these same doors yellow and non-secret when viewing them on the all-map. Now, when I have allowed for deliberate misalignment of textures, don't expect to see anything but red on the all-map. On many of these maps I also took the liberty of adding extra rooms and monsters. Sometimes it seems that I would get a sudden inspiration to do something and I would incorperate it into whatever level that seemed most appropriate at the time. Other cases of adding rooms became necessary when the need for a secret exit was called for. The secret exits are located in levels E1M3, E2M5, E3M6, E4M2. One curious thing that I did was to make three of these secret exits pass right before you as you play, but takes some insight to be able to recognize them for what they really are. No, they aren't hidden or invisible, in fact, they're actual exit door textures and switches. When you play and subsequently find them you will then know what I mean. Only one of the secret exits is hidden behind a totally secret door that opens as a result of your actions elsewhere and also contains a major ammo stash, so it is well worth the search. Fortunately this exit is in a relatively small level so that the time spent searching won't be exhausting. The final thing that I did was to replace all the music for the levels with 18 really kick ass original tunes that I found in a variety of wads, and 9 tracks from DOOM ][. The internal construction of the ultimate DOOM does not allow for the individual replacement of music for the fourth episode as it recycles music from the earlier levels. I also replaced most of the weapon sounds as well as a number of the monster and mechanical sounds such as doors and platforms. I really tried to use sounds that were appropriate for the game and stayed away from Simpsons and 3 Stooges type sound effects. Where I could locate documentation for these various wads, I included them in the SOURCE.TXT file accompanying this set of levels. I must apologize if I failed to give proper credit to anyone, as I was dependent upon the reliability of the files that I had access to. I hope no feelings are hurt. A final note on game play is that where possible I made modifications to the levels to allow for certain floors to lower upon killing all of a particular monster, either a baron, cyberdemon, or spider mastermind. All of these levels have been fully playtested using keyboard controls and starting out with just the pistol and no cheat codes. They are challenging but NOT impossible. I would like to mention a few bragging rights here. In one of my originals there is a totally free standing cross, something that is commonly believed to be impossible with the DOOM engine. In this same room of this level are 4 barons and 8 cybers, yet they can all be easily killed without firing a single shot. (Check out the three small crosses on one of the walls.) Another really cool effect is one that sort of defines a theme story for this set of levels. When you have struggled to finally make it to the final level, E4M8, the ultimate goal of your mission is to locate and find 3 of your marine buddies and return them safely to the docking port to await rescue. Seriously, this is for real and I will leave it up to you to find them and figure a way of getting them to the final exit room. I think that if you try to exit without accompolishing this, you don't have a hope in hell of ever escaping! I modified this particular level with the additional rooms and monsters to create this wild exit endeavour. I hope you enjoy this set of levels and would appreciate any feedback or comments/job offers you might have. You hear that Romero? Happy Dooming - AL