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The Master Levels: Upgrade/QoL Pack (Updated 23/5/24)


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Thanks for creating the thread, as I refrain from creating threads under any circumstances.

 

1 hour ago, Devalaous said:

Figure out Master Levels as an Episode in GZDoom like No Rest for the Living; I have so far only achieved this by renaming all the MAPXX lumps to MLXX. Is there a better option?

 

Ideally, the developers of GZDoom should add native support for the canonical masterlevels.wad file.

 

Unrelated to the topic, whilst I have a nickname which is basically the Castilian translation of Evilution, I would rather people went by my actual name, Pablo. That way, it will be pretty obvious that I go by he / him / his as well.

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I will probably add fixpacks for those additional things, as I already made the CWILV graphics for them. But at the same time, as much I love those extra levels, they arent Master Levels, so I dunno. A long time ago I used to try my hand at building a megawad out of the master levels and the related works, but never could decide on the level ordering as challenge was all over the place (For example, Dante's Gate and Crossing Acheron are much bigger and harder than Virgil, Nessus and even E4M7)

 

The PSX recreation team are also adding these extra levels to PS1 to fill out the Master Levels, to the point of converting Enigma Episode, but I dunno, I think I will just supply the resources for users to add them themselves, easier that way.

 

I don't know if I'll touch Willit's Raven maps, they are pretty bad and don't even have names. From what I remember of them, they weren't even good enough to be featured alongside the works of Dr Sleep, Jim Flynn and Soundblock (Seriously think he just talked his way into id Software, given the quality of his overall work and his habit of lieing). Also its unfortunate that Mustaine has no single player maps outside of megawads, TWM01 is the only extra work one can add. Klie's extra work is all in BF Thud or Lost Episodes, and Enigma Episode has most of Flynn's other works, so the loose levels left to support is Willit's Kick Attack (Would be neat to strip that Kick crap out and play it as a proper Doom 2 level), Flynn's Interdiction Zone and his Titan series, the aforementioned Inferno levels, and the Cabal maps (of which two versions exist: seperate maps, and a cohesive mini episode designed for continuous play).

 

WILV00.png.3db14299ac12d5cea3de8f32d7f0785f.png

I did also make a graphic for Anderson's Recant for the fun of it, which is a seriously fun map, but I think that's WAY outside the scope here xD (Klie has three Heretic levels and Sverre has a Hexen level, if anyone wants to see what they did with the Raven games)

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  • 3 months later...

How do you properly load the master levels merged WAD in Crispy Doom? I can't seem to find any info on how to do that. Do I have to have it merged a certain way?

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On 5/17/2021 at 5:26 AM, OpenRift said:

How do you properly load the master levels merged WAD in Crispy Doom? I can't seem to find any info on how to do that. Do I have to have it merged a certain way?

 

I had a masterlevels.wad built from the Doom 3 mod Doom BFA, and with some tinkering, I could play Crispy with it. My work on this stalled quite a bit since I need to learn more of the port-specific xINFO lump stuff (Doomsday too), so there are some bugs in the dehacked stuff in places, but I definitely did get Master Levels working with Crispy. I'm not used to that port at all though. I tested all the various individual wads with it for sure

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  • 1 year later...
On 1/29/2021 at 9:36 AM, eharper256 said:

Are you going to merge your efforts with JPL's Works of the Masters from last year?

Inspired by this project, I have added the MIDI tracks from the music pack to JPL's repackaging of the official and unofficial master levels. I have tested it, although I haven't done a full playthrough yet. I'll leave it here just in case it is useful. I've left the tracks for the unofficial levels as JPL published them, only the official master levels, menu and intermission screens have the corresponding track added from the music pack.

wotm_music_pack.zip

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This bump reminded me to get back to work on polishing this. I developed carpal tunnel and many other issues thats nipped keyboard stuff in the bud, so I left this uploaded version in a sorry beta state that only really worked well in ZDoom. Noticed some horribly broken stuff today

 

I'll have a new version up 'soon'

 

  • Fixed all patches to work with ZDoom, Eternity, MAPINFO port, UMAPINFO ports and Crispy Doom. Doomsday definitions left out as MAPINFO frequently interferes with them. DMAPINFO included in the 'all in one' version so you can build the PS3 campaign for the Unity Port, instead of playing them one by one.
  • Changed the designations of the maps in Dehacked to match the official Unity Port's 'ML1: Attack' instead of say  'level 1: attack'
  • Reject levels are similarly 'RL1: The D.M.Z.'. UMAPINFO's Label field expands these to 'Master Level 1: Attack' and 'Rejected Level 1: The D.M.Z.'
  • Added stock music variants, will add MIDTWID2 variants as well, for three soundtracks
  • Massive refinement of the 'all in one' campaign; this WILL need you to supply your own MASTERLEVELS.wad to add the patch on top of, either from the PS3 release, crafting one from ports that automate this (Doom 3 BFA is how I got mine), manually constructing one, or by sailing the seven seas
  • Campaign follows the PS3 order directly, including the bug with the secret exit, thus Bad Dream is the ending map
  • To parody id's laziness at that particular era, ive 'patched' the missing secret level with the LEGALLY DISTINCT™ 'Boot Assault', as I feel its the kind of thing they would do instead of actually properly fix the bug :p
  • Second episode of the campaign version is the 7 rejected levels in a rough difficulty order, with TMW01 as the ending map.

I found an early version of one of the rejected master levels that later ended up in TNT inside Tom Mustaine's #1Dwango wad, and I thought about including it. Would bring the level count up to an even 30.

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Sorry to hear about your carpal tunnel. Hope you get better soon.

Replacing the tracks on the extra levels with Mid the Way ID Did sounds like a lovely idea. It would add more variety. I had actually thought about it, but I'm not that familiarised with that MIDI pack nor with those levels to confidently mix and match, so I decided to leave them as they were.

I'd be happy to try someone else's take on it.

Ideally, I think at least Cabal and Inferno series would deserve a fitting music selection, as they are the only maps in the collection that have some sort of thematic continuity. I haven't created a MIDI since my music school days, but I might try if I have time and feel motivated. No promises though ;)

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Soundtrack for the third version, many of which have been picked to fit the mood I perceive for each map:

 

ML1: Attack: 'Dear Onion' (Its the D_RUNNIN of the pack!)
ML2: Canyon: 'SOON'
ML3: The Catwalk: 'In The Red'
ML4: The Combine: 'Score One for the Bolthouse'
ML5: The Fistula: 'Unstop'
ML6: The Garrison: 'Nuisances Unknown'
ML7: Titan Manor: 'Suplex the Stars' (Jim Flynn's maps had a special air about them, and Cammy's midis match that for me)
ML8: Paradox: 'Boston Cream Pie'
ML9: Subspace: 'Aranea Imperatrix'
ML10: Subterra: 'Arch-Vile on Line 2'
ML11: Trapped on Titan: 'Concocting Erinon's Milkshake'
ML12: Virgil's Lead: 'Lair of The Bitchmaker'
ML13: Minos' Judgement: 'Wondering...'
ML14: Bloodsea Keep: 'Whipped & Chained'
ML15: Mephisto's Mausoleum: 'This Is My Boomstick' (The original used D_SHAWN, and this is similar energy)
ML16: Nessus: 'NM100S Pistol Start or Else'
ML17: Geryon: 'M.I.A.'
ML18: Vesperas: 'Where Weeping Willows Grow Wild'
ML19: Black Tower: 'This One's for Daisy' (High energy badass track for a journey up and down a tower full of things for a vengeful madman to fight through)
ML20: The Express Elevator to Hell: 'Garazin' (It is basically a remix of the original TEETH theme)
ML21: Bad Dream: 'Braachsel'
RL1: The D.M.Z: 'Into Retrowave City' (I used Into Sandy's City for the stock soundtrack version, so this remix of it fits here)
RL2: The C.P.U: 'Ring of Gravity' (Unused track computery track given life in a computer map)
RL3: Device One: 'The Medicine Man Creeps'
RL4: The Fury: 'Behold! A God Who Bleeds'
RL5: The Enemy Inside: 'Evil on Parade'
RL6: The Hive: 'Julian's Fragging Again'
RL7: TMW01/Master's Den: 'Five Iron' (You know why)
Bonus: Boot Assault: 'Nukaland' (Once you get what Boot Assault is, it'll click)

 

I used only MIDTWID tracks for this due to it being 'the' midipack for Doom 2 itself; Master Levels being the expansion for Doom 2, and having no new tracks of its own. Kinda like how Deathkings reuses Hexen's music, just reordered.

 

All music is of course credited to @Doomkid and the MIDTWID team.

 

EDIT: The 6 unused tracks are present in the third wad as D_OPENIN, D_EVIL, D_ULTIMA, D_SHOT, D_HERE and D_DATA so people can override my choices easily

Edited by Devalaous

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  • 2 weeks later...

unknown.png

 

unknown.png

 

unknown.png

 

Pics taken from DSDA Doom, utilising the UMAPINFO lump

 

Testing is going well for DSDA Doom. Works near perfectly in GZDoom, Crispy Doom's native support for masterlevels.wad overrides this pack somewhat, but you still get the Rejected Levels in slot 22 onward, and Crispy also cannot give Combine, the Titan levels or the Dr Sleep levels the starry skies. Doomsday needs its own seperate pack, as the MAPINFO lump is partially read by Doomsday, and if there is a MAPINFO AND a a Doomsday Definition in the wad, it'll try to read both, resulting in messy menus. Eternity is a goddamn mess and will not end the campaign at Map 21, so for both Crispy and Eternity, you'll have to treat it as a 29 level campaign with the original Icon of Sin at the end.

 

It is a pain in the ass supporting multiple xINFO standards at once, especially when I have to load up all these different ports and get a headache over the simplest things not working, or finding out im a dunce who forgot a line or character in the code.

 

Doomsday and Eternity also do not support widescreen assets (Eternity has no excuse!) so the titlepic will be squashed.

Edited by Devalaous

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On 9/2/2022 at 12:36 AM, Devalaous said:

LEGALLY DISTINCT™ 'Boot Assault',

What is Boot Assault? I googled it and couldn’t find anything.

Edited by Faceman2000

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You wont get anything on google, because the name is something I made up on the spot, just like TMW01.wad being 'Master's Den' in this. Its a level from one of the Master Level designers that ive renamed.

 

Anyway, im going to put out a beta of the stock music version of the full file on here soon for testing.

 

The stock music version uses the original music tracks for all of Dr Sleep's maps, as well as all of Sverre's maps, EXCEPT for Mephisto's Mausoleum, otherwise youd have three D_SHAWN in a row. The rest have enough coverage that all Doom 2 tracks play at least once, and there's no more than two repeats.

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Master Levels Upgrade Pack Beta (Stock Music version only for testing purposes!)

 

 

masterlevels_fix_S.zip

 

Contains Map 22 to 29, (The reject levels + the new secret level), add on top of masterlevels.wad (whether homemade or extracted from the PS3 version)

 

Please test in ports that utilise xINFO lumps. Doomsday is not supported properly, and Eternity has problems with ending the campaign early. Ive eliminated a crash in DSDA Doom and the starry skies are working in all tested ports so far.

 

Feel free to also critique the music choices

 

I guarantee ive left out a crucial line somewhere like a dunce. The other two versions are based on this wad, so any errors in this will be in the others too.

 

EDIT: There is a DMAPINFO lump in there, but its not really going to work in the Unity port unless you combine this and masterlevels.wad into one wad

 

EDIT2: I called it! the MAPINFO section is missing the definition for TEETH's secret exit, so it likely dumps the player in Wolfenstein. Already fixed in my three builds.

Edited by Devalaous

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quick test in gzdoom and woof, all seems fine

the latter does not show the episode selection menu, because the UMAPINFO lump lacks the episode property for MAP1 and MAP22

 

also, probably dumb question: are we expected to use the OG midipack for crispy by Peter, right?

in the OP you mention "brand new midis" as a feature but your latest revision does not contain any audio files (the previous did, iirc)

it might help to explicitly tell people to load this qol pack alongside (and after) the midi pack

 

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Thats odd. The UMAPINFO, according to the documentation says I should do this:

map MAP01
{
	LevelName = "Attack"
	Label = "Master Level 1"
	LevelPic = "CWILV00"
	Next = "MAP02"
	Music = "D_RUNNIN"
	SkyTexture = "SKY1"
	Episode = clear
	Episode = "M_MASTER", "The Master Levels", "1"
}

and as pictured above, it works in DSDA Doom, unless its also reading the MAPINFO

 

As for the midis, this is the stock music version, I uploaded this one for testing purposes as it has the lightest filesize. I have all three versions open in Slade right now. The other two versions have MIDI packs built in, which results in a whole different set of music definitions

 

EDIT: How in the world? The above episode lines are missing in the Stock version only! ARGH.

 

EDIT2: Fixed the testing version with corrected UMAPINFO lump and also the broken secret exit for the MAPINFO lump. I think I need to get some sleep if im making mistakes like this. Redownload and it should hopefully work better now.

Edited by Devalaous

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yeah there was only one download available, so I've tested that :P

aaannd I completely missed you disclaimer about it being the "stock music version" so please forgive me for the dumb (as expected) question

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Here are the other two versions, similarly only tested in Crispy, Eternity, DSDA, GZDoom and Zandronum, and potentially even more broken, as ive focused my attention on the stock version then copied the changes to the other two versions. I'd appreciate a fresh pair of eyes (and likely smarter ones) testing things out, because im an idiot that forgets entire lines of code :p

 

(Three versions of the same thing, written for 4/5/6 different xINFO standards EACH, is a very error prone project for one pair of eyes)

 

masterlevels_fix.zip This is the Master Levels Midi Pack version

masterlevels_fix_mid.zip This is the version with Doomkid's MIDTWID pack

 

These versions have no DMAPINFO lump, so if anyones brave enough to use these with the Unity port, only the stock version will work atm.

 

Edited by Devalaous

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  • 1 month later...

I'm unable to get the rejected levels running with the master levels, can you be more explicit on how to do this? 

Do I load them separately (-file "WADs\MasterLevels.wad" "WADs\MasterLevelsRejected.wad")? Or do I need to collect them in a single WAD using Slade?

 

Also, is it possible run with the ML interface (https://forum.zdoom.org/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=20795) + the Rejected episode (w/o interface)?

 

Thanks for all your work on this. 

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On 1/29/2021 at 8:36 AM, eharper256 said:

Are you going to merge your efforts with JPL's Works of the Masters from last year?

This would be preferable to having two distinct projects. I don't have the level lists available to compare - how much overlap is there between the two? Thanks

Edited by Timothy

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Work on this has been stalled for the moment due to all the Unity port work going on. The three 'all in one' public test versions are the only things available right now, the individual level patches are still being reworked and due to legal stuff, they are without the original master levels.

 

masterlevels.wad has to be run together with masterlevels_fix.wad or its two variants (aka pick your soundtrack), the fix wad runs on top of masterlevels.wad to add functionality and new levels.

 

Altogether this results in 29 levels, so I have no more room for extra content like the other Cabal levels. The extra levels are strictly the rejected Master Levels and one bonus:

Spoiler

'Boot Assault' is 'Kick Attack' with the custom assets stripped and reverted to a regular Doom 2 level. Its my take on what id would do about the broken secret exit in the PS3 version. Instead of fixing it, the joke is they slapped a Willits level in there to plug the hole. Given his ego, I can definitely imagine it happening

 

I have also been working on porting his pack to the Unity port; while it may feel redundant, the Unity port does not let you play them as a campaign, so this version for the Unity port is basically the rejected levels for the Unity port, with the added bonus of getting to play the Master Levels as a campaign, with Scuba Steve's widescreen art.

 

unknown.png

 

This is how the Unity port version will ship, No Map01 to Map21, but with markers in the wad for where to place them. The star graphics from some of the wads are not needed, as they are already accounted for

 

unknown.png

 

After proper assembly it will look like this.

 

unknown.png

 

I apologise for the continual lack of finishing the 'main version', but it will be done in time. For now, the all in one public test versions in the above posts should be fine. Let me know if theres any issues in it

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  • 6 months later...

I got off my butt and finished the project properly. There is one very painstaking fix still needed, and that is simply to replace 16:9 graphics with 4:3 versions, as I keep forgetting that Eternity and Doomsday are behind the times and don't yet support 16:9 assets.

 

New to this version in particular is the addition of Jim Flynn's Interdiction Zone to pair with Kick Attack/Boot Assault, and prototype versions of System Control and Processing Area, this rounds the wad off to a full 32 levels. Interdiction Zone was in Maximum Doom all this time, so technically it was always distributed with the Master Levels; by including it, all of the designers now have at least three levels represented.

 

One thing I'd like to add is demos, so that DSDA Doom and Woof dont have awkward recordings of Doom 2 levels placed in Master Level, but im really not a demo scene type.

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8 hours ago, Devalaous said:

One thing I'd like to add is demos, so that DSDA Doom and Woof dont have awkward recordings of Doom 2 levels placed in Master Level, but im really not a demo scene type.

 

Just play the demos like id did (read: play the map until you die). It would make for more authentic looking demo-loop :p

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7 hours ago, liPillON said:

Hey @Devalaous I'm trying the "*_midipack" variant and D_DM2TTL seems to be missing

It is credited in "soundtrack.txt" but the actual LUMP is not included in the WAD

 

 

For some reason, Peter never actually made a title screen midi for the pack, despite making one for the intermission, cast call and story screens. The bit your referring to in the text file is actually for the MIDTWID version. (I see I missed crediting someone, I used the TRAKLIST lump in his midipack for crediting)

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uhm, strange..

the wiki does not list it but the actual wad linked here does indeed include a D_DM2TTL lump

it matches the same file used for D_READ_M

 

 

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It must have been updated since I originally downloaded it, as my source file never had a titlescreen lump, oh well (I originally made this in its prototype form right after the midipack released). I'll add it whenever I get around to updating the single level files with un-widescreened graphics, as I'll need to update the 31 midipack files in there anyway. Also need to update the soundtrack readme to credit 'Jakub Majewski (KUBA18i)'.

 

My original midipack download had this as a lump in the files, which also complicated the lack of titlescreen music

Master Levels for Doom II - 25th Anniversary MIDI Pack
By MegaSphere
18 - January - 2021

01_Are We Really Doing This
D_RUNNIN ATTACK.WAD	Attack

02_Guess We Are Then
D_STALKS CANYON.WAD	Canyon

03_Don't Fall Lmao
D_COUNTD CATWALK.WAD	The Catwalk

04_Treasure Hunting
D_BETWEE COMBINE.WAD	The Combine

05_Fist Urethra
D_DOOM	FISTULA.WAD	The Fistula

06_Shepards Tone
D_THE_DA GARRISON.WAD	The Garrison

07_Death by Enriched Bagel (by Willy W)
D_SHAWN	MANOR.WAD	Titan Manor

08_Waltz into Mancubus Fireballs
D_DDTBLU PARADOX.WAD	Paradox

09_Ejipt
D_IN_CIT SUBSPACE.WAD	Subspace

10_Inescapable Pit Time
D_DEAD	SUBTERRA.WAD	Subterra

11_Wank City
D_STLKS2 TTRAP.WAD	Trapped On Titan

12_Locrian Trap MIDI
 D_THEDA2 VIRGIL.WAD	Virgil's Lead

13_Not Club Doom
D_DOOM2	MINOS.WAD	Minos' Judgement

14_Archvile King
D_DDTBL2 BLOODSEA.WAD	Bloodsea Keep

15_Icon Of put this map in the Bin
D_RUNNI2 MEPHISTO.WAD	Mephisto's Maosoleum

16_Slaying at Night
D_DEAD2	NESSUS.WAD	Nessus

17_Catnip Forest (by Bloo)
D_STLKS3 GERYON.WAD	Geryon

18_Invisible Ledge is DUMB
D_ROMERO VESPERAS.WAD	Vesperas

19_Erecting The Black Tower
D_SHAWN2 BLACKTWR.WAD	Black Tower

20_Grinding Teeth
D_MESSAG TEETH.WAD  The Express Elevator To Hell

21_The Tit
D_COUNT2 TEETH.WAD	Bad Dream

22_Arse
D_READ_M Message Text

23_DOODOODOODOO
D_EVIL Ending Screen

00_Palate Cleanser
D_DM2INT Intermission

But yeah, there is always, ALWAYS, some small thing missing or broken in these patches , every time I think I finished. Its a curse, I swear.

 

EDIT: For a quick fix just open the wad in Slade and copy the D_READ_M file and rename the copy to D_DM2TTL

Edited by Devalaous

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Dumb question about using this with the combined version's add-ons: are these for the PS3 version of the Master Levels WAD, the combined version created from the DOOM: BFA Edition source port, or using Blzut3's Master Levels patch?

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Any of them most likely, it adds levels 22 to 32 on top of the existing 21 level wad, however it has been made. As long as all 21 Master Levels are in the correct PS3 order slots, it will work. I even put in the starry skies in the patch to ensure xINFO applies the correct skies

 

Personally I've used the patch with the BFA Edition constructed wad, the official PS3 wad, and a handmade one that I used for the Unity port

 

Edited by Devalaous

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Now that ive finished the soul-crushing part of testing three different full campaign patches and almost-uncountable single level ones, took a while to play the campaign version properly as a sort of 'welcome back' test (My chair broke shortly after I finished this, and ive been PC-less for over a week). I like to think my third option for the soundtrack works really well, despite not being made for these levels. Cammy's track I assigned to Titan Manor in particular worked really well, had a blast playing it to that track

 

On 4/26/2023 at 4:50 PM, ReaperAA said:

 

Just play the demos like id did (read: play the map until you die). It would make for more authentic looking demo-loop :p

 

Unfortunately that wont really work; not only am I a GZDoom main, im a filthy controller user, having grown up on PSX Doom. Not only am I *completely* unfamiliar with the entire systems involved in that kind of thing, my movements wouldn't look very 'id-like' :p

Edited by Devalaous

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