Text File
Doom/Doom ][/Heretic
DEATHMATCH TRAINER
by Time Traveler
xjinkim@fullerton.edu
Quick Contents
Quick Intro
Philosophy of Success
Level layouts
Final Thoughts
Keyboard, or Mouse?
Where to Contact me
How to Run This and Other Quick References
(For you Doom neo-phytes who want a quick edge against equal buddies)
***********
QUICK INTRO
***********
Do you always find yourself at the business end of a sawed-off, double
barreled nightmare? Do you see BLOOD RED more than any other color? Are you
really good at mimicking your own death cry? If so, YOU NEED THE DEATHMATCH
TRAINER!
What the HECK is a Deathmatch Trainer, you may ask? Well, I'll get right
to the point. This series of levels is designed to train you to fight more
effectively, transforming you from a Doom Chump to a Doom Champ. You'll never
again be the butt of everyone's Doom humor. You'll swap lead with the best of
them. Heck, you will BE the best, hopefully. At the very least, you're gonna
make 'em work for every frag they nab by slagging your sorry ass.
If you already consider yourself a Doom champion, then you should be able
to navigate the series of levels with relative ease. None of the levels is
designed to be overly tricky (the aim is improving your manual dexterity skills
as they relate to Doom, I won't be responsible for low I.Q.'s!) but they may
require a bit of judgement. Traps are also pretty much nonexistent, since
surprise isn't my main goal. I'll let your buddies worry about surprising you
when it's Time to play deathmatch.
Two more quick notes. I have a general preference of keyboard only with
the original Doom keyboard layout and my text may somewhat reflect my bias, but
keep in mind the general strategies apply to all forms of control, even, gulp,
joystick.
The strategies here work best with Doom and Doom 2, and quite a bit with
Heretic because of the latter's obvious pedigree. The strategies may also be
applied to other games (Rise of the Triad the most obvious) but they don't
work quite as well since the game is on a different engine and has its own
quirks.
*********************
PHILOSOPHY OF SUCCESS
*********************
So what IS my philosophy? I feel that there are several keys to
successful fragging.
1. Strafe! Slide! Dodge!
2. NEVER stop running!
3. Be accurate and don't waste shots!
Let me explain in more detail, or skip this.
1. An interesting thing to do is play "tag" with the CyberDemon in E2M8
of Doom. You fire a volley, he fires a volley. You hit him, he
doesn't come close. No, I don't mean firing rockets around a corner
and hoping for the best. I mean facing down that badboy mano-a-mano,
the old fashioned way, exchanging rockets at close ranges. If you
don't dodge side by side, you're a sitting duck for a sucker punch to
the face. I enjoy dodging between each of the missiles as they're
coming at me, firing back each Time I weave. Of course, I'm not
perfect and an occasional missile catches me and I have to use my head
as a blast shield, but damn, it's fun.
2. A perfect example of this credo is probably level 7 of Doom 2 in
deathmatch mode. You can't afford to sit around and wait for people
to come by. You have to keep moving. If you don't, some guy who's
found all the cool gear by seeking it is gonna pop off 7 BFG's in a
row at you. I don't care how good you are, if the guy chasing you
is at least moderate, he's likely to work you pretty well.
3. This one's kind of a mixed bag. On one hand, you can't afford to
spray more bullets into the wall than into your opponents, but I do
enjoy showing off or intimidating others by keeping the plasma gun
constantly going. Although it's not THAT big of a threat, it still
sounds pretty impressive and gets annoying very quickly. A bit of
psychological warfare, if you will. Being able to keep shooting your
opponent accurately will help to improve your kill ratio. PLus, you
will have more ammo on-hand to kill others. This is especially true
with the "bullet" weapons and a lesser extent to the "moving" weapons.
You can almost outrun a rocket. You can't outrun a shotgun to the
back.
4. All keys should be within a short keystroke away, regardless of what
you're using. Although this isn't exactly part of my "philosophy,"
I thought I'd mention it because I have seen people who take their
fingers away from the vicinity of a necessary key (like the "STRAFE
ON" key) and end up paying for it later when they have to hunt for the
key and just get killed. If you're into the habit of taking your
fingers away from "key" keys, then break your habit and get used to
using more of your fingers. That's what your digits are there for.
Not including the arrow keys, there are four major keys to use in
the game; strafe, use, fire, and run. I use the left side of the
keyboard for my controls, using the thumb for the spacebar(use), index
finger for alt(strafe), ring finger for leftshift(run), and pinkie for
ctrl(fire). Switching weapons is a quick keystroke and my left hand
immediately falls back into the "fighting" position. It may feel
awkward at first (how ever you may adopt your keys), but it'll pay
off in the long run. Just like touch-typing, it may seem like a step
backwards at first.
I place the greatest emphasis on 1 and 2, possibly favoring 1 by a little.
3 is also important, but I've broken this "cardinal rule" on more than enough
occasions. SomeTimes its hard to resist going ape-shit and shooting up
everyone and everything. My level layouts will reflect my preferences.
Understand that these are my general philosophies, but there are other factors
which may change your kill ratio, like level familiarity, the mix of players,
and even a quantity of that "killer instinct" that some people have. These
are factors which are beyond my control.
*************
LEVEL LAYOUTS
*************
I recommend printing this part of the document out and reading the various
sections as you progress through the levels. That way you can constantly refer
to this section without undue complication or distraction (like saving,
quitting, and dropping to DOS to read).
Each map has to be traversed twice, once in "easy" mode and once in "hard"
mode. There are no difficulty settings, except for Nightmare, of course. I
did not gear this trainer for nightmare and did not bother testing it in that
mode.
Remember that these maps are meant as "training," and are not merely an
exercise in frustration. If you really can't seem to pass a certain point,
use God Mode to reach the end of the level, but please refrain from picking up
extra weapons. "Cheating" is not something I can keep track of, but you're
only doing yourself a disservice by taking advantage of the weapons cheat.
Keep in mind that the levels generally get more difficult so you probably won't
have an easier Time by going on without "passing" the level.
Optimally I'd like it if the game would "reset" the weapons so you start
with nothing at each level, but it's not up to me. For you real hard-core
trainees, kill yourself at the start of each level so you start fresh with what
I "give" you.
As if you can't tell, these levels weren't designed for multiple players.
One player only, please. Besides, you don't want your buds to know that you're
training behind their backs. >:)
Maps 1 and 2: Dodging
These two maps will test your ability to dodge incoming fire from enemies at
medium/close range. Refrain from firing as the ceiling will kill the baddies
after a certain number of "crushes." Just MOVE to start the ceiling; to stop
the crush just start crossing the "bridge."
For the curious, it takes 7 crushes to kill the bad guys in level 1 and 9 to
kill them in level 2.
Maps 3 and 4: Stick and Move
In these levels the objective is to keep moving while the monsters finish each
other off. Do NOT hit the Switch on the RED WALL as this will allow the
monsters to chase after you, unless this is what you REALLY want. Hit the
switch only after there are no more monsters that can kill each other and then
you can hit the exit switch in the middle. It's possible to release the
monsters and still make it in Time to escape the level, but this is not
recommended and not really the goal of these two levels. Basically avoid
interfering with their fighting until only one group remains.
Level 3 is a cakewalk. Just dodge the slow moving projectiles. Level 4, on
the other hand, has a few of those nasty "homing" shots, so you better keep
moving just in case.
Maps 5 and 6: RUN!!!!!!!
This is a very simple level. Very simple indeed. As soon as you begin to
move, a crushing ceiling where you were standing will begin to ignite barrels.
All you have to do is keep running until you get to the other end of the level.
Simple enough? I hope so. Oh yeah, the ceiling may crush you, too. >:)
Here's some hints on how to pass these levels easiest. To read the hints, just
remove all capitalization (use an editor or something) from the following text:
Level 5: YUiITtAINiSAsSFPOpFIoAFsAFAsAibAlAeSGtSoGUKpKaLYsVsHR
GCCeNTvBNeIDGfRKIiCvVJeHNJjGDuMsLtGFbHHySKwOFaJLkSiHTnIOgFGS
Level 6: FHtGXCoJTpSCaCZsCJsWIYWeXGvOWQeXSHsICiVxDVJiFXtBLiPHsXS
FBbMHeDCsBDStTSCtVBoNGJrGTuDVCnNGDaVJnOIGdDsStDSrADNaJIIfDeX
NBoJTnFNYyRBNaYRDnCVdRDCnBTRoDCtBTEtDDoDESrDGoHUtRRDaCHtYTReCFH
Map 7 and 8: I'm Getting Dizzy
Now that your skills in dodging side to side, running in circles, and just
plain running have been tested, it's now Time to practice on your aim a
little bit. These two levels will require the most user participation to do
correctly. What you need to do as a player is, well, START SPINNING. Just
Hold down the run key (to make shooting more difficult) and try to kill the
enemy while spinning. I realize that you could get pretty dizzy (and people
watching may turn away soon enough) but the quicker you kill the bad guy, the
sooner you can stop spinning like an idiot. The shotgun or super shotgun are
both good choices.
If you getting sick from spinning, you might try rotating side to side, moving
the barrel of the shotgun to the left and right of the bad guy and shooting him
when you get aim.
I realize that there are inherent difficulties with mouse/trackball users with
these levels, but do the best you can. Try to shoot the bad guy while spinning
with the mouse, making sure you can spin quickly yet slowly enough to get an
accurate him on the target. Or just forget this part and go on.
If you somehow should run out of shells, I recommend just blasting with your
pistol. If you still don't have ammo and the barrels somehow didn't kill you,
well, there's always the "rambo" mode and a nice rocket or three into the wall
to start over.
Levels 9 and 10: Stick and Move ][
It's Time to test your recently hone skills and go up against a real enemy in
a real fighting situation. It's a one on one duel and you're outnumbered. In
both of these levels you will face monsters with some heavy duty firepower
against your measly shotgun. Just like levels 3 and 4, you need to do quite
a bit of dodging to avoid getting hit. It takes some brains as well as brawn
to avoid taking some serious hits to the back and face. Just remember, their
missiles can't cut quick corners and may collide with some solid things.
Level 11: Guerilla Warfare
It's dark. It's cold. It's a maze. It's full of dudes with shotguns and
imps. Your mission? Use the map often as reference. The maze isn't overly
complicated as far as layout, but it's difficult to maneuver around due to the
low light levels. Try not to use Gamma Correction excessively, as this may
allow you to have too much of an edge. You're not SUPPOSED to see well. I
will use candles to mark different branches in the road. Branches in the maze
won't be very long so you won't realize you're stuck after 15 minutes of play.
You'll know rather quickly. Also, ultimately get from the south end of the
map to the northernmost point. That's it. No secrets. No tricks.
Level 12: Total Recall
Well, not quite. But lots of pillars to hide behind. Believe you me. You'll
need them when you see what's shakin'.
Level 13: Graduation
Ok.... So you've actually spent Time getting this far. Your task is again
quite simple. Flip each switch until you can't flip no more.
CONGRATULATIONS!
And don't be too sore with the ending. >:)
**************
FINAL THOUGHTS
**************
Ok, now that you're through with this damn set of levels, now what? Is the
local Doom expert STILL creaming you? Or maybe you've cut his advantage from
6 to 1 to 3 to 1. At least it's an improvement. There are certain things
that can only be accomplished by individual effort that no amount of training
can help achieve. Maybe you'll ALWAYS be worse than the local expert. But
maybe you'll eventually cut him to 1.5 to 1. Or maybe your multi-player net
game skills have improved and your frag count is now the third, second, or
maybe even the highest. Heck, it's happened. Although in the long run I've
yet to "lose" a multiplayer war, I've lost individual level "battles."
Practice is the final key, though. There's no way you can perfect Doom skills
playing the game 30 minutes a week versus someone who plays the game 3 hours
a week or even 3 hours a day. At my peak I can honestly say I've played Doom
for stretches of up to 7 hours, off and on in a multiplayer game. But that's
not a common occurrence. But the point is, it takes repetitive activity to
increase the killer instinct.
I don't mean that if you want to beat the local guru you have to make Doom your
life's priority (although some may already have made that claim), but rather,
make sure you make what Doom Time you have, "quality" Time. Don't just put on
God Mode with all the weapons and walk around blasting everyone with rockets.
That's not learning. That's taking a step back. You should make it a point
to arm yourself with the lowly shotgun and take out your enemies one at a Time
instead of blowing them to hamburger dozens at a Time with the BFG. But above
all, have fun with the damn thing. Hell, it IS only a GAME.
*******************
KEYBOARD, OR MOUSE?
*******************
What an interesting issue. I'm a keyboard man myself, but I've asked an
esteemed deathmatch buddy of mine to argue his side of the story.
The Mouse:
Doom Controls: The Final Battle.
The controls that you choose may or may not make a difference in how well you
play the game. My preference is keyboard and mouse controls with customized
keys. I chose this because of the greater flexibility made available to me, as
well as getting myself a lot more dexterity over 99% of the players I've
encountered. I can base this on flat out wins. In 1993, I was undefeated,
playing just under 40 different people one on one. In 1994, I was still
undefeated, playing over 200 more different people, sometimes even 2 people
against myself. Only two people could come close to beating me one on one. One
used the Keyboard/Mouse combination, and was always only a couple frags behind
me. While the other, was using only the keyboard and only playing one quick game
to 10 frags, the score was 10-9 with myself winning with only about 15% health
left. A tie you could say, but as in real life, I was still standing, while the
oppenent was left in a messy puddle.
The setup I use is a standard 101 key keyboard and a Logitech Trackman (older
square style). The keys I setup are:
Z=Turn left
X=Forward
C=Backward
V=Turn right
ALT=Speed
The other keys used are for weapons change only, and are non-changeable.
For the Trackman, I used:
Left Button=Fire
Middle Button=Move forward/Use (open doors/switches)
Right Button=Strafe On/Off
I used this keyboard configuration so that all 5 fingers of my left hand were
always on a key ready to do something. The left hand would control major
movements, while the Right hand would control straffing with the ball, as well
as firing, and minor movements. Since the release of Rise Of The Triad, I've had
to re-configure my keyboard slightly, due to the fact that Triad uses the Z key
for sending messages, so I just moved up a row, which I found to be more
comfortable overall, and wished I had done this a few years ago.
I feel that using the keyboard does require more skill, in that to track a
target more accuratly, you have to learn lighter keystrokes to make minor
movements, while with the Mouse and Keyboard, one hand can be made to think hard
keypresses only, and the other hand can be made to think light movement only.
With a 3 button mouse, I don't personally think you're losing any extra control
over keyboard only play, since, you have 3 buttons taking over 4 keys on the
keyboard, as well as the ball itself. The brain has alot more undertanding when
it knows that it has to hit a key and hit it a certain way only. If you have to
hit it light or heavy though, that's surely going to take more time and practice
to achieve what the Trackball/keyboard player already has. Although, there is
one drawback on the trackball, especially with the Logitech's, in that when
you're playing an intense game, you're fingers are going to sweat. Your sweat
gets all over the ball with natural oils from your skin, and you may lose a
little movement there. My solution was to keep a kleenex (tm) handy next to the
trackball, and wipe it every 15 minutes or when errors start happening. You have
time to do this when you're waiting for a target, and you know where they're
coming from, which happens all the time, and you'll see what I mean, just listen
for doors and grunt noises and remember where the places are that those noises
can be made. Everything done and said, you'll have to try each control/combo out
for yourself and see which is more comfortable for yourself. After seeing one
person use the keyboard well, I understand now that someone can use keyboard
only and be good at it, but that's one out of many combo control users that are
good players. Just remember, there is always someone out there that can beat
you. If you don't keep playing and practicing, you'll find him/her all that much
sooner.
Written by: The Swampman (¡)
*******************
WHERE TO CONTACT ME
*******************
First of all, you can see that my e-mail address is at the very top of this
text. If you don't have e-mail, well, tough. You can try some local Orange
County WWIV BBS's (Northwest Orange County, California). I should be around.
I've been a regular for about 8 years now. I haven't met any other Time
Travelers yet, but I know they're out there. (Wesley Crusher of ST:TNG fame
is trying to register to my knowledge)
Other works by Time Traveler:
HUNTER.WAD - Doom level - As usual, the first is never the best.
PENTGRAM.WAD - Doom level - a learning process. Pretty good. Pretty evil.
CRATER.WAD - Doom level - my best wad, but it's still a compromise
PREDATOR.WAD - Predator sound effects. Collaborated with two friends.
DMFMJ20.WAD - Full Metal Jacket sound effects. Assembled from the original
sound effects by another author, but it wasn't in pwad form.
And Now...
DM2TRAIN.WAD - Multiple level trainer for Doom ][
Soon for release:
(uh huh.. yeah.. I bet..)
Original music for Doom ][
CRATER-2.WAD - updated for Doom ][
***************
How To Run This
***************
(Experts need not apply)
At the command line, type;
DOOM2 -FILE DM2TRAIN.WAD
Make sure the DM2TRAIN.WAD file is in the same directory as Doom 2.
Cheat Codes:
IDDQD - God Mode: Toggles invulnerability on and off.
IDKFA - Happy Ammo Code: All weapons, full ammo, all keys, armor.
IDFA - Happy Ammo 2: All weapons, full ammo, armor, but no keys.
IDCLIP - No Clipping: Toggles walk through walls.
IDCLEV## - Change Level: The "##" following the code indicates a two digit
number for the level you want to go to, between 01 and 32.
There are other cheat codes, but these are the "core" ones.
