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The Top 25 Most Nefarious Secret Sectors of All Time


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Wow, only now i know what that texture in Eternal Doom meant. That's some great attention to detail.

 

Awesome thread btw!

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Interesting list; I'm surprised there wasn't more Eternal Doom maps mentioned here - namely Bob Evans' maps, but it seems he left many secrets unmarked. I can certainly think of at least one sector oddity:

 

On MAP21: Bloody Garden of TNT: Revilution, sector 303 can lose its secret effect because the floor lowers (changes texture) when grabbing the yellow key, which merges the floor with the surrounding sector and makes 100% secrets impossible if this happens. This drove me crazy looking for that last secret in my first playthrough until I caved in and checked what was happening in the editor. This happened when playing in PrBoom+, but it doesn't seem to be an issue in GZDoom.

 

[EDIT] I should mention I don't believe this was the author's intent, it was likely just a bug that slipped through. Either way it was definitely a secret that tripped me up, despite having technically found it.

Edited by valkiriforce

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It's not technically counted as a secret so you don't get any indication if you missed it; but there's a super-secret super-backpack in ZDCMP2; picking it up increases your ammo capacity beyond the normal maximum (800 bullets and cells, 300 shells, 200 rockets, 500 nails, 200 grenades, 500 napalm). It starts out in the void, outside of map geometry, so you have to do special steps to get it teleported to a place you can reach it. These steps involve finding ridiculously small patches of yellow COMPBLUE in three hard-to-notice places, and punching/shooting them. Note that you need mouseaim for any and all of them. You'll hear a computer boop (more like a bwoop in fact) telling you something happened. Find (and hit) all three and the wonder backpack's moved to a place you can actually grab it!

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These sort of things should be a feature for this year's Cacowards. It's really neat.

 

Also, @Gez What! The! Actual! Fuck! How did you find out about that?! That is seriously mindblowing!

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These high-effort, huge research threads could be a page from the Cacowards book (Both this one and @Jimmy's Ships) thank you.

 

@NuMetalManiak Curious little trivia for the Super Sonic Doom one:

When released, it used its own custom ZDoom build (2.0.94f) to actively support all the advanced portals and scripting hacks the mod has. Though SSD is playable on modern ZDoom/GZDoom versions, as far as i know, the specialized build is still the only version that plays it fully supported (Modern ZDoom versions break compatibility in a significant way).

 

More info on that here.

 

Thanks for this massive thread!

 

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  On 11/8/2020 at 9:04 PM, Redneckerz said:

These high-effort, huge research threads could be a page from the Cacowards book (Both this one and @Jimmy's Ships) thank you.

 

@NuMetalManiak Curious little trivia for the Super Sonic Doom one:

When released, it used its own custom ZDoom build (2.0.94f) to actively support all the advanced portals and scripting hacks the mod has. Though SSD is playable on modern ZDoom/GZDoom versions, as far as i know, the specialized build is still the only version that plays it fully supported (Modern ZDoom versions break compatibility in a significant way).

 

More info on that here.

 

Thanks for this massive thread!

 

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I am aware of this. I remember playing it in a modern ZDoom version and one of the end bosses at the midpoint or so was like nearly impossible to hit, while in another, some of the 3d platforms and springs didn't go far enough.

 

  On 11/8/2020 at 7:42 PM, valkiriforce said:

On MAP21: Bloody Garden of TNT: Revilution, sector 303 can lose its secret effect because the floor lowers (changes texture) when grabbing the yellow key, which merges the floor with the surrounding sector and makes 100% secrets impossible if this happens. This drove me crazy looking for that last secret in my first playthrough until I caved in and checked what was happening in the editor. This happened when playing in PrBoom+, but it doesn't seem to be an issue in GZDoom.

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This reminded me of a secret on MAP29 of Requiem (Downer), which has the same issue.

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  On 11/8/2020 at 9:03 PM, Salahmander2 said:

Also, @Gez What! The! Actual! Fuck! How did you find out about that?! That is seriously mindblowing!

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I believe he was the one that set it up. The symbol it appears on is the letters G E Z on top of each other.

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  On 11/8/2020 at 9:19 PM, Eris Falling said:

I believe he was the one that set it up. The symbol it appears on is the letters G E Z on top of each other.

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I was wondering what that symbol on the floor was about, and I was also wondering why that room was devoid of monsters.

Edited by Salahmander2

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Yeah, we were all encouraged to make a "signature room" so this is mine.
 

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Dang! Thanks for the shout out of three of my secrets! I certainly tried to milk the DOOM engine for all it was worth in NEIS. I will never forget in DOOM e2m2 stepping on a random slightly brighter corner of a room, and then having a soul sphere lower, raise, and then be inaccessible forever. I tried to chanel that spirit with NEIS, for better or for worse. I wouldn't have been surprised to see NEIS e1m3 using monsters to lower platforms and e3m7 mini icon of sin over e3m1. E4m2 I totally get :) Thanks for the shout out!!

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I think the chicken secret from the Wayfarer bears some mention here. Really there were quite a few really innovative and different secrets in that wad which probably could have made such a list.

 

Also I cried a bit that the worm I made for tht didn't make it onto this list 😋😭

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  On 11/8/2020 at 7:42 PM, valkiriforce said:

This happened when playing in PrBoom+, but it doesn't seem to be an issue in GZDoom.

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ZDoom changed the way sector property changes work to not affect the "secret" property. I know this because years ago I asked for (and was refused) a compatibility option for this because a few secrets in my upcoming Mordeth award candidate megawad actually rely on the vanilla behaviour. (I'll make my way onto this list yet!)

Edited by Foxpup
typo

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  On 11/9/2020 at 4:24 AM, Fonze said:

I think the chicken secret from the Wayfarer bears some mention here. Really there were quite a few really innovative and different secrets in that wad which probably could have made such a list.

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Yeah; having to morph an enemy into a chicken and then lure them to some tiny tunnel so they can trip something is not exactly the most intuitive secret.

 

Also in Heretic, there's Optional Escort Mission from Unbeliever. You have to protect a monster from stray shots as you guide it from room to room; if it survives to the end the secret exit is opened. (If it was killed before reaching that point, either from enemy fire or from an expeditious player, only the normal exit is available.) REKKR has the kinda the same idea with its secret puppies, but at least they're not shootable so you don't have to worry about getting them killed on the way.

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@Gez Very impressed with that ZDCMP2 secret sequence. I worked on some of your map portions (particularly Hell) and never realised what was going on there! Unfortunately my signature room never made it in when people edited Hell after me, but never mind...

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  On 11/9/2020 at 10:39 AM, Phobus said:

Unfortunately my signature room never made it in when people edited Hell after me, but never mind...

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Don't you still have the fireball fountain above the icon head? I remember originally the fountain was in the middle of the room instead of hidden away on the roof, but it survived.

L06GYRW.png

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I didn't realise it was up there. I thought it'd been moved off to a separate sector to be reintegrated later. Maybe a subsequent revision to the one I played included it...

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I knew there was bound to be some more secrets that even I managed to miss on this list. It's been a while since I played both REKKR and THT, so I forgot about the worms and bunnies. Plus I haven't played ZDCMP2 or Wayfarer.

 

Others I can think of that I missed are the 30-second door in MAP15 of D2TWID and the 5-minute door in E1M9 of 2002ADO (although the hint for this one was easier IMO). And Phobus has that newly-released megawad that uses every single linedef and sector action, so there's the secrets in that too. There's quite a lot of cool ideas for secrets being thrown around.

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  On 11/8/2020 at 7:42 PM, valkiriforce said:

Interesting list; I'm surprised there wasn't more Eternal Doom maps mentioned here - namely Bob Evans' maps, but it seems he left many secrets unmarked. I can certainly think of at least one sector oddity:

 

On MAP21: Bloody Garden of TNT: Revilution, sector 303 can lose its secret effect because the floor lowers (changes texture) when grabbing the yellow key, which merges the floor with the surrounding sector and makes 100% secrets impossible if this happens. This drove me crazy looking for that last secret in my first playthrough until I caved in and checked what was happening in the editor. This happened when playing in PrBoom+, but it doesn't seem to be an issue in GZDoom.

 

[EDIT] I should mention I don't believe this was the author's intent, it was likely just a bug that slipped through. Either way it was definitely a secret that tripped me up, despite having technically found it.

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Yeah these sector oddities sometimes slip through the cracks it seems - from memory I can recall MAYhem 2020 MAP26 and Community Chest 4 MAP29 (if you find the easter egg before triggering the secret in question) have secret sectors that can lose the effect.

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I am disappointed in the lack of mention of Hell to Pay's megasphere on this one level, where if you dont get it in a certain time frame, there is an actual texture taunting you, and the item is displayed in front of you, forever unreachable.

 

Also, no mention of the method to reach the secret level of END2.wad by NaturalTvventy? Then again, his secrets are insane enough to be on the list multiple times just from No End in Sight. Finding all the secrets in E1 of NEIS, and all of the ones in END1 and END2, I really got a look into how his mind works with secrets.

Edited by Devalaous

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Interesting write-up I am glad to see someone was inspired by Jimmy's sector ships post! Some of these seem convoluted just for the sake of being complicated, like the five minute timer or the Doom the Way Id Did long range shotgunner secret.

Edited by Denim Destroyer

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Don't remember which Community Chest was done but, remember the one secret on map 15, which you need a PINKY to open a locked door inside a maze to reach the secret exit?

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  On 11/10/2020 at 1:39 PM, leodoom85 said:

Don't remember which Community Chest was done but, remember the one secret on map 15, which you need a PINKY to open a locked door inside a maze to reach the secret exit?

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Community Chest 3. Never really bothered me, but having to open up all the hidden doors so it can run it's course isn't really intutive.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Haha, thanks (?) for the 25th on Timegate! I never timed it to figure out if the editor info of "5 minutes" was actually correct - just trusted the editor info on it.

 

No mention of this hot mess tho?? ;]

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  On 11/9/2020 at 2:53 PM, NuMetalManiak said:

And Phobus has that newly-released megawad that uses every single linedef and sector action, so there's the secrets in that too. There's quite a lot of cool ideas for secrets being thrown around.

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The Secret exit to MAP32 in 25 Years on Earth could have been here easily.

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2002ADO E2M4's super secret exit requires finding unmarked doors and lots of backtracking. Once all hidden switches are activated the secret exit should be revealed behind the the regular exit room.

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It was a great article. Of course, I disagree with many of them, as I found them legit (so they must be obvious), but still, well done!

 

My picks:

Artifact by Paul Schmitz, you have a chaingun, rocket launcher and plasma rifle on display, each in an alcove. If you pick up the chaingun first (that you already possess), you can get all three weapons and all the secrets. If you choose RL or plasma first (being greedy?), you can only have either rocket launcher or plasma.

 

D2Reload MAP13 soulsphere secret. It's in a tunnel which is briefly accessible when a big portion of nukage is lowering.

 

Armor bonus is your reward in FCFF MAP02. You need to do platforming, and shoot an imp with a rocket. Or the other way round... That was a nasty one.

Ah, of course, also the one from MAP01! It contains nothing. To get it, you need to rocket jump yourself.

 

yakfak's secrets can be really obscure, the secret exit from Dedicated to Francisco Pizarro, my max demo doesn't show it as it is not a sector but an exit. I don't remember if in the end I figured it out or not. Also, Odessa series.

Edited by vdgg

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  On 12/3/2020 at 1:10 AM, pcorf said:

2002ADO E2M4's super secret exit requires finding unmarked doors and lots of backtracking. Once all hidden switches are activated the secret exit should be revealed behind the the regular exit room.

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This was another I had thought of. I put E1M6's secret though because that one has you finding a crate with a switch behind it, and then going someplace you wouldn't think of. Both E1M6 and E2M4 have a boatload of backtracking but I found E2M4's secret exit easier mostly because you backtrack a lot more there so there's a higher chance you'd find something new in a place to backtrack.

  On 12/3/2020 at 1:21 AM, Master O said:

@NuMetalManiak Are you gonna make a "Top 25 Most Nefarious Doomworld Threads" at some point too?

 

:)

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No because I don't revel in forum drama.

  On 12/3/2020 at 1:39 AM, vdgg said:

It was a great article. Of course, I disagree with many of them, as I found them legit (so they must be obvious), but still, well done!

 

My picks:

Artifact by Paul Schmitz, you have a chaingun, rocket launcher and plasma rifle on display, each in an alcove. If you pick up the chaingun first (that you already possess), you can get all three weapons and all the secrets. If you choose RL or plasma first (being greedy?), you can only have either rocket launcher or plasma.

 

D2Reload MAP13 soulsphere secret. It's in a tunnel which is briefly accessible when a big portion of nukage is lowering.

 

Armor bonus is your reward in FCFF MAP02. You need to do platforming, and shoot an imp with a rocket. Or the other way round... That was a nasty one.

Ah, of course, also the one from MAP01! It contains nothing. To get it, you need to rocket jump yourself.

 

yakfak's secrets can be really obscure, the secret exit from Dedicated to Francisco Pizarro, my max demo doesn't show it as it is not a sector but an exit. I don't remember if in the end I figured it out or not. Also, Odessa series.

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Honestly a lot of the D2Reload secrets really do belong here in hindsight. I just had to pick the two nastiest ones overall (MAP24's multi-step BFG still stumps me). MAP13's secret is certainly a nefarious one due to being perma-missable and you'd not think to look for the entrance there. Plus the "monster-only" doors in one of the MAP32 secrets and in MAP14.

 

Actually forgot about The Artifact. Is that the one with that secret room tied to the weapons or something? And yakfak's secrets! In truth, actually getting them once you find them may actually not be as hard, but yakfak is so confusing with his maps regardless. I don't remember that much of the DMP map you mentioned, but Flompster Condo (in 2048 Unleashed) was quite a nasty one too because you really get confused as to where you're going almost all the time (goes for the whole level moreso than the secrets here).

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