IronEagle Competition 11: Flashback to Hell

[Pegleg]

Hello again and welcome back for another month of the IronEagle Competition, the Ironman challenge that accepts there are competitors of all stripes, and allows participants to choose their level of difficulty. For those of you who are new this month, consider this a hearty welcome! And for those of you who have been here before, consider this a heart welcome back!

 

Last month, competitors travelled through Mayan-themed locales. This month, the locations will be a bit more familiar, with competitors challenging themselves against Flashback to Hell by Stormwalker (aka @Vordakk). This mapset (megawad?) is set several years after the events of Final Doom. Scientists of the UAC have perfected time travel and the decision is made to send you back through time to the beginning of the invasion of Earth, with the goal of reaching the source of evil fueling the invasion and stopping all the destruction before it starts, thus saving untold lives. The levels reimagine some of the levels of Doom 2, leading to a final showdown in Hell. The difficulty follows a reasonable curve, steadily ratcheting up to a finale. The maps are aesthetically pleasing, featuring new textures from a number of other sources, but don't look at the eye candy too much, because these maps can still be quite deadly.

 

Note: Some call this Doom 2: Flashback to Hell. That's fine. I prefer just calling it Flashback to Hell. There are new sound effects and a new soundtrack (by @PRIMEVAL and @Jimmy). Some people either don't like the new sounds or find that they are buggy in ZDoom. If you are in either situation, you can download an alternate version here, which will have all the same maps, but without the new sounds.

 

Flashback to Hell starts at Map 01. Survival is considered to be reaching Map 15. Map 31 is a secret level accessible from Map 15 (as usual) and there is a super-secret Map 32. The secret maps are optional; while you still get credit for survival upon reaching Map 15, you won't get credit for the secret levels, or see the final text after Map 15.

 

The rules are basically unchanged from last month. The only rule change for this month is that freelook, jumping, and crouching are not allowed. Using any of these would break some of the maps. Either demos or streams are permissible.

 

Rules:

The basic rule is that you submit a demo/stream played at a particular difficulty level (HNTR, HMP, or UV) and you play without saving and reloading. Further rules are below.

Spoiler

 

• Submissions (except for streams, as described below) must include a demo from one of the listed available ports.
• The first actual attempt must be submitted, there are no do-overs (with very few possible exceptions which I will address as they arise).
  • You may practice a mapset if you want, but these practice runs should not be submitted as your official entry, and your run would be Category 2, unless there are exceptional circumstances (such as described below).
• A run must be done in a singular sitting with no saves. (With room for breaks. This will be addressed below.)
• If we do a WIP wad, make sure you are using the latest available version to minimize demo desync issues.
• Stream and video runs are accepted if and only if a demo of the same run is provided.
• Secret levels are treated as extra credit.
• Freelook, while usually allowed, is not allowed this month. Jumping and crouching must be disabled, unless explicitly allowed for by the author.

 

Submissions (except for streams, as described below) must include a demo from one of the listed available ports.

The first actual attempt must be submitted, there are no do-overs (with very few possible exceptions which I will address as they arise).

 

Accepted Ports (any of these are acceptable; there is no preference):

PrBoom+

ZDoom

GZDoom

 

Category System:

Category 1: Blind run.

This explains itself. You have no knowledge of the wad and have not played/seen it before.

Category 2: Non-blind.

If you have played the wad before and/or possess any foreknowledge, your run is non-blind. Basically, anything that is not Category 1 is Category 2.

 

I'm happy to be lenient on this, to a degree.

For example, if, during practice, you die in the first 10 seconds of the first map and you see virtually none of the mapset except some part of the first few rooms, I'm happy to say that the playthrough you submit as your run was Category 1.

If, during practice, you die 10 seconds into Map 02 and then and go on to survive the mapset, something like that would still be Category 2.

 

Difficulty System:

You may submit a demo/stream for only one of HNTR, HMP, or UV. Choose only one, because subsequent submittals will be rejected (i.e., if you submit a HMP demo, the HNTR demo you then submit will be rejected). We're not using the 1CC rule set here.

 

Only runs from the same difficulty will be pitted against each other. Each difficulty will be graded separately. 

 

When you submit your run, please the include the following information:

The category (1 or 2)

The difficulty

What map you died on (if you survived, just say so)

How many kills you had on the map you died on

The time elapsed when you survived/died (even if it's only approximate)

 

You may include the port you used, but that isn't necessary. You may include a commentary about the maps or details about them, if you want to (e.g., how you thought the demon rush would do you in on Map X, but it was really the circle of hitscanners on Map Y). If you do include specific information about the map, please put it in a spoiler, so that people that want a completely blind experience won't be tipped off.

 

Breaks:

Everyone gets tired. Sometimes people do better than they expected. Nature calls. Every now and then, there are family emergencies. Needing to take a break shouldn't necessarily end a promising run. However, there are some general ground rules:

Spoiler

 

• You are free to take a quick break when needed.
  • Intermission screens, if applicable, are the best time to do this.
  • Multiple demos cannot be accepted, barring exceptional circumstances.
    • An example would be that you can only record/stream for a certain amount of time, so you are forced to split up long demos/streams.
    • You may split up demos at death exits.
• If you reset the map before going to the tally screen on a death exit, you must either end your run or play the map again.
• If you die going back around, your survival of that map will count, but your run will end there.

 

 

Attempting to max the maps is not necessary to win.

Ranking for this mapset will be determined by:

1. Survival (+2 if you completed Map 31 and Map 32, +1 if you completed Map 31 only, +0 if you quit as soon as you reached either Map 15 or Map 31-or died on either)
2. The map on which you died
3. Total time elapsed
4. Total kill count in the map upon your death

 

If you play Maps 31 and/or 32 after your death, they will not be counted separately.

 

All mods used during play must be merely cosmetic.

If you die, please wait a few seconds before quitting.

 

If you don't know how to record demos and don't want to stream, I recommend getting a launcher (such as the ZDL launcher), which may make your life easier (at least, when it comes to recording demos).

Once you have the launcher set up to find your IWAD's and ports, you can use the field at the bottom entitled "command line parameters" to record your demo with ease.

 

Template for PRBoom+:

Spoiler

-file fth666.wad -complevel 9 -skill <x> -warp 01 -record <IEflashtohell>

 

Template for ZDoom:

Spoiler

-file fth666.wad +compatmode 6 -skill <x> +map map01 -record <IEflashtohell>

 

For either command line, x = 2 for HNTR, x = 3 for HMP, and x = 4 for UV. Also IEflashtohell would be replaced by whatever the name of your demo is.

Obviously, remove the angled brackets.

 

Using the ZDL launcher will allow you to select your skill directly and skip the wad selection and warp by immediately starting you in MAP01 on launch.

This wad uses complevel  or Boom (strict).

 

When recording in ZDoom, double check your compatibility settings. When the compatibility is set from the cmdline, it doesn't always stick, so open the port in an IWAD map and make sure to set it to Doom (strict) to be sure the compatibility settings are correct. ZDoom will remember the settings next time you start it.

 

Happy Dooming!

 

 

 

Previous IronEagle Competitions

 

2018

Scientist 2 (Winners -- UV: leodoom85   HMP: n/a   HNTR: Liberation)

Vanguard (Winners -- UV: Bdubzzz   HMP: n/a   HNTR: Liberation)

Crumpets (Winners -- UV: NoisyVelvet   HMP: n/a   HNTR: Pegleg)

 

2019

Dark Covenant (Winners -- UV: kmc   HMP: n/a   HNTR: Pegleg)

Brood of Hatred (Winners -- UV: Bdubzzz   HMP: Crusader No Regret   HNTR: Pegleg)

Riot Control (Winners -- UV: Bdubzzz   HMP: Walter Confetti   HNTR: Pegleg)

Scimitar (Winners -- UV: Bdubzzz   HMP: Crusader No Regret   HNTR: Pegleg)

Bauhaus (Winners -- UV: vdgg   HMP: Crusader No Regret   HNTR: Pegleg)

Bloody Steel (Winners -- UV: Bdubzzz   HMP: n/a   HNTR: Pegleg)

The Brotherhood of Ruin (Winners -- UV: leodoom85   HMP: n/a   HNTR: Pegleg)

Edited September 2, 2019 by Pegleg
I forgot to add the specific rules.

[Pegleg]

pegleg_ie_flashtohell.zip

 

Category: 2

Difficulty: HNTR

Dead on Map 06.

Kills: 67/102

Time at death: 52:31

Recorded with: PrBoom+ 2.5.1.4

Edited September 2, 2019 by Pegleg
Added PrBoom+.

[Bdubzzz]

Category: 1 - Have seen a random demo of one of these maps (map 13) on the DsD Twitch channel but I'd still call the run blind *shrug*.

Difficulty: UV

Dead on Map 14.

Kills: 146/151

 

dubz-IE-fth.zip

[NaZa]

I don't even want to talk about this. Had great navigation, secrets were very nice and I had no trouble finding them, was in great shape to go far, enter the bullshit a CERTAIN part of MAP09 is, from 131/181 I'm down to 1/51 and even though I manage to survive a bit and kill an additional 13 monsters... it destroyed me.

 

Category: 1

Difficulty: UV

Result: Dead on MAP09

Kills: 142/223

 

ironeagle11_naza.zip

[SleepyVelvet]

Dead: Map06

noisy_fth666.zip

 

UV category 1

That escalated quickly. 

[Suitepee]

https://mega.nz/#!WI4ElI5Z!WfwqBGoZpOWrvgrDSiZhsrH6xjJUGiRimLd6hJ0nEEU

 

UV, category 1 run.

I died on map 14 to the double Archvile trap, although my near-death exploits around the secret megasphere on the previous map didn't help matters. The run lasted a lot longer than I was expecting.

[leodoom85]

Dead at map 11, 93/162, around 2h 10m. What got me was not the archviles in that secret BFG (which did get the kill anyway), it was the GODDAMN trees+stalagmites that, by falling down there, it trapped me.

 

Demo: dwie_fthLD85.zip

[kmc]

Category 1

Died panicking in the last room of MAP14 after falling in lava and then blasting myself with a rocket on a specter - 148/151 kills, total time 111:36

 

Really cool wad, I just wish I kept it together for that last fight.

ieflashtohell-kmc.zip

[mdmenzel]

I suppose my UV "run" qualifies as cat 2 as I had Suite's stream on in the background yesterday morning.  You wouldn't know it by my performance.  Died stupidly on MAP03 by my own rocket hand.

 

Twitch video

 

The compressed lmp is attached to this post.

flashback.zip

Edited September 15, 2019 by mdmenzel