Shovelware Society #43 - JON31.WAD & DOOMFIRE.WAD (and also QUAKE! if anyone seriously wants to check out E1M3

[LadyMistDragon]

Since I haven't picked the wads in a while, allow me. These have some really neat titles, but no names because that would be too easy (Fred, the first wad I played for this is perhaps the most infamous example, although there was also Ben) And if you haven't played PURPLE25.WAD yet, by all means feel free to get that done and hope you don't have too miserable of a time with it>:)

 

ALCATRA.WAD (DOOM 2) - Soulsphere

BALLOCK.WAD (DOOM 2) - Megasphere

EXDOOM.WAD (DOOM) - Blursphere

LIONSDEN.WAD (DOOM) - Invulnerbility

 

Most of us know the drill by now and if you don't, check the first page!

[HorseJockey]

4 hours ago, staros96 said:

Can someone tell me how to load the WAD through D!Zone Gold? I have mounted + extracted D!Zone Gold from an iso program, and can navigate to the START.BAT through DOSBOX... but the front-end then asks me to navigate to the WAD (I've put PURPLE25.WAD in the DOOM 2 > LEVELS directory), and then asks where I want it extracted.. All I want to do is load the WAD through D!Zone GOLD as this seems the only way... surely there is an easier way than having to manually mount my D: drive through DOSBOX etc. I've tried looking for tuts, can anyone point me in right direction? 

Don't worry about trying to load it through the D!ZONE frontend. Just extract the WAD file and load it up in your source port of choice. I use DoomLauncher or ZDL just to make my life easier when loading it with mods as I like to play with the Universal Rain and snow mod most of the time.

[staros96]

2 minutes ago, HorseJockey said:

Don't worry about trying to load it through the D!ZONE frontend. Just extract the WAD file and load it up in your source port of choice. I use DoomLauncher or ZDL just to make my life easier when loading it with mods as I like to play with the Universal Rain and snow mod most of the time.

will send you a dm - dont want to clutter up lady's lovely thread! :D (But yes, in short - i tried that... odd result). 

[United VirusX]

Gonna have to go with ballock.wad just cuz of the name lol

[staros96]

Won't take up too much of this thread on PURPLE25.WAD since we've moved on... but here's my stream.

 

It was painful, I'm pretty sure I downloaded an earlier version from the creator's website (yes), and the blue key wasn't even present in the map (this part was actually inaccessible).
 

The map layout was chaotic - ambivalent at best, inchoate at worst, it's very unclear as to what the 'designer' intended for the player from the beginning. The theme(s) were non-sensical and lacked a basic linearity I enjoy in my WADs, and the monsters weren't particularly (if it all) challenging. It was boring, despite the chaos of the misaligned textures and constant up/down of random lifts and some inaccessible areas which seemed pointless, utterly frustrating and couldn't wait to finish it... 1/5 

 

Looking forward and onwards to the next one, though! 

[LadyMistDragon]

Never mind the BALLACK has won! Thread will be updated very shortly. Again, let's try to get this done by Sunday!

 

@staros96 caught some of your stream and to be brutally honest, the majority of these maps we play are complete junk in one or more aspects. Most of them have more charm than Deep Purple admittedly, but this isn't even the worst we played so far.

Edited November 21, 2022 by LadyMistDragon

[Walter confetti]

Nevermind the BALLOCK.WAD (Doom 2, MAP01) - Played with Crispy Doom 5.10.1... this is the Sex Pistols

^{(Sorry for the bad pun, guys)}

 

After some really long time, i've decided to give a spin to the shovelware society ride of forgotten D!Zone wads, today we have this level titled BALLOCK, is a nice looking and crafted map for the year... 1994? 1995? Whatever year this came from. IT's a map heavily inspired by knee-deep maps, especially Hangar (the sort of zig-zag catwalk surrounded by nukage) and Nuclear Plant (horseshoe stairs room with a secret outdoor area), some nice rooms and asshole-ish traps, like the teleport trap where you enter into a room filled of monsters that kills you instantly similar to the one in MAP12 of Doom 2 and a classic two-way teleports that leads in 2 different rooms.
Bad parts are some mysteriously missing textures in Crispy Doom (what's going on here?) and two pitch black dark rooms at the end of the map, that's bad especially when you find a reverant in that room! But over this, it's not a completely bad map, just have some things that i don't understand why this happens here.

[staros96]

21 hours ago, LadyMistDragon said:

Never mind the BALLACK has won! Thread will be updated very shortly. Again, let's try to get this done by Sunday!

 

@staros96 caught some of your stream and to be brutally honest, the majority of these maps we play are complete junk in one or more aspects. Most of them have more charm than Deep Purple admittedly, but this isn't even the worst we played so far.

Thanks! Haha that makes sense and I’ve been doing some reading on shovelware as a whole. I also found the WAD on the archive and was surprised to see it actually has a backstory…

anyways, for my own reading, any backstory/txt on this lovely BALLOCK?! Do we know where it comes from? 

[United VirusX]

Played through BALLOCKS or "BALLLOCKS" as the wad is named in the D!Zone iso deff inspired by E1M1 and E1M2 like @Walter confetti noted, the map played well wasn't hard at all deff felt like the wad author tried their best with what they had for map editors back then nothing wrong with map besides the stuck caco and imp and the missing textures.. funnily enough there is a BALLLOC2 wad that fixes the missing textures adds new enemies and fixes the stuck enemies in the map, only thing I didn't like was the teleport into the pitch black room filled with baddies also nope didn't see a readme for the map in the iso for D!Zone sadly @staros96 although I did not check for one for the BALLLOC2 wad.

 

 

 

Edited November 22, 2022 by United VirusX

[LadyMistDragon]

2 hours ago, staros96 said:

 

anyways, for my own reading, any backstory/txt on this lovely BALLOCK?! Do we know where it comes from? 

Wad Archive may have had one, but that's closed down. I think there's another site that's very similar but the name  escapes me at the moment.

[adamastor]

Were these the droids you were looking for?

 

Also found this, by the way.

Edited November 22, 2022 by adamastor

[adamastor]

By the way, I just downloaded BALLLOCK.WAD from the main post and it fails to start on Choco due to a missing door texture, I believe. I loaded it on Crispy just fine, but walking through that sector gives of a huge HOM all over the wall. Just doesn't break Crispy.

 

EDIT: Just downloaded the version of the WAD that I linked above (which is slotted in E2M1) and it loads on Chocolate with no issues.

Edited November 22, 2022 by adamastor

[LadyMistDragon]

BALLOCK.WAD

 

So.....I won't be beating this person too fiercely for the numerous clipping and visual areas because speaking as someone who attempted an actual legtimate map recently, that sort of thing is harder than you'd realize (but also, I think hiding that stuff with UDB isn't so hard). But it's visually bland and plays far more like a Doom 1 map than anything else (a Revenant or two, along with a hidden SS are really the only sigsn that this was made for D2) . How did I guess there was a secret at the beginning? Gee, who knows? I will say that placing two identical teleporters right adjacent to each other was perhaps not the best signposting decision. And generally, the use of shadows is not too bad, but the final room is dark, almost stupidly so. I probably would not have looked too carefully at the outside courtyard had I not been looking at the map anyway. Finally, placing a secret next to a lift was quite strange to say the least. btw, this demo was recorded with the Plutonia IWAD, so you'll have to load that.

 

lmd_pandora_ballock.zip

[HorseJockey]

So my first three attempts at recording this got screwed up, so this isn't a blind playthrough. That being said, I kind of enjoyed this map. The flow through the level, while not very complex, made sense and there isn't really any chance of the player getting lost. I couldn't figure out how to get the armor and health pickups in the outdoors secrete area, wish I had the previous recordings of me trying to figure that out but oh well. There are some missing textures like Walter said, I was using GZDoom and still had that issue. There is also that poor caco stuck in the wall lol. The last two rooms would have been an absolute chore, but I realized that I had "Dark" lighting on, changed that to "Doom Legacy" lighting and those rooms were trivial. I suppose I owe an apology to PURPLE25, but I still prefer dark sectors to rapidly changing light levels. All in all this is serviceable little 90's era map, even with the few missing textures and enemies in walls I would give it a 3/5.

 

 

[adamastor]

Just played through BALLLOCK.WAD. However, I had two slightly different experiences: the first one with the version I downloaded from DW and linked above, which is a Doom map slotted in E2M1, and the second one, which was the original WAD linked in the OP, which definitely looks like a slightly touched-up version of the same WAD for Doom 2 (slotted in map01), with a good amount of missing textures and a hilarious stuck monster.

 

So, without further ado, here's my demo of BALLLOCK.WAD for Doom by Jeff Blank, dated June 21, 1994: BALLLOCK_e2m1_demo.7z.
Recorded in Chocolate 3.0.0 with the -strictdemos argument, so it should play fine on vanilla and just about any port.

Played it on UV and got 88% kills and only 40% secrets.

 

 

 

A breezy and extremely short WAD that serves as a replacement for Deimos Anomaly. Not much to say except point out the abundance of secrets (the most memorable of which was, for me at least, the wall that lowers, giving access to the courtyard (and it's "arena" fight), as well as the final fight on the claustrophobic corridor shrouded in darkness.

 

 

 

 

 

And here's my demo on the version originally posted on the OP (and taken from the D!Zone Gold CD): BALLLOCK_map01_og_demo.7z.

Recorded in ZDoom 2.8.1. So it'll only play with the version as well.

Played this on on skill 4 as well, and got 89% kills (moving up in the world) and 60% secrets this time around.

 

As I mentioned before, this is clearly a "touched-up" version of the same map to fit it in MAP01 of Doom 2. As such, it's combat has got more bite (it has a pretty hot start, and the fight in the damaging floors with the Rev and Imps, which are later joined by a couple of Cacos, is pretty entertaining) but it also fails to load in vanilla/ Choco due to some glaring issues such as missing wall textures, and one of the monsters of the courtyard is stuck, so I punched a Caco to death, without a berserk, possibly for the first time in all my years of dooming.

 

 

 

                                                        

 

So, all in all, it's another solid entry in our dear D!Zone Gold compilation. Great to be back shovelling shovelware with you guys.

Edited November 23, 2022 by adamastor

[RoastDoom]

 

After tilting my way through this map I have to applaud the mapper for some genuinely fun and gruelling fights which put me through the ringer! Not only that but mapper Jeff Blank manages to resist the temptation of packing the map with double figures of soulspheres, megaspheres and megaarmors and more ammunition than a large armory. There's just 1 soulsphere and 1 mega-armor(not counting the secret one at the start of the map), very sensible, and there's just enough ammo to get you through the finish line. Measured and respectable map design right there! 

 

However, on the technical side of things, there's a pretty shocking amount of bugs, including hall-of-mirrors aplenty and monsters stuck in the environment. These things let the map down a bit, but after the last 2 abominations, I have to say I enjoyed BALLLOCK.WAD!

[adamastor]

So, Lady let me pick this week's batch of WADs for our weekly shovelling session. Hope they're all undiscovered gems of DOOM wating to be unveiled.

They're as follows:

 

APHEXIUS.WAD (DOOM)    -     Supercharge

BELOW.WAD (DOOM2)       -     Megasphere

MANIFEST.WAD (DOOM2)  -     Partial Invisibility

SEWERS.WAD (DOOM)       -     Invulnerability

 

As per usual, make sure to react to this post with the powerup matched with the WAD of your choice, and the one with the most voted gets picked.

 

Let's go!

 

 

EDIT: I haven't played any of them, but I did start each one up on Choco, so at least we know that they should all be perfectly playable in vanilla.

Edited November 27, 2022 by adamastor

[staros96]

It's quite short, but I said Never Mind (insert other certain punk band references here; I actually do happen to be a fan.. is our Queen after all :)) 

Anyway, 'nuff of the British pop culture and our obsession with it. 

 

I was at first struck with the challenge of grabbing a weapon more capable of fending off those two chaingunners - a particular challenge given the cheeky placement of the shotgun to take care of them. But it was quite smooth sailing from there for me, although I think this says more about my penchant for the 'easier' difficulties, and can appreciate that the map does put you through your paces as I can see in others' reviews here. I also forgot to go back and open the outside bit!! 

 

I quite liked the authors' use of secrets which were sparing but quite in-line with traditional E1M1 DOOM! I did also have the same hall of mirrors as Roast has already pointed out above, but it happens.

 

Quite enjoyable :) and yes, much better than PURPLE...... although I guess that's a low bar?! 

[LadyMistDragon]

Ok,  APHEXIUS has won. Description will be updated right about now.

[Walter confetti]

The link on OP is still BALLOCK.WAD

Also, is this one the wad of this session? https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom/a-c/aphexius

[adamastor]

7 hours ago, Walter confetti said:

Also, is this one the wad of this session? https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom/a-c/aphexius

Looks like it. I haven't played them both, so I don't know if they're exactly the same or not.

 

Anyway, here's a 7zip with the files as found on D!Zone Gold, seeing as Lady might be too busy to change the OP for now: APHEXIUS.7z.

Edited November 29, 2022 by adamastor

[United VirusX]

4 hours ago, Walter confetti said:

The link on OP is still BALLOCK.WAD

Also, is this one the wad of this session? https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom/a-c/aphexius

Yes it’s the same wad I read the me file that was on the d!zone disk it’s literally the same description 

[adamastor]

"You can't even see the bloody cave, let alone the bloody guns. And anyway, we haven't got a bloody bomb big enough to smash that bloody rock. And that's the bloody truth, sir."

 

Holy shit. That was a whole lotta Shotgunners and Imps.

Anyway, here's my demo of The Aphexius mines for the original DOOM, by Stuart D. Smith (as for the date, it's not mentioned in the read-me, but it was uploaded

to idgames on 08/20/95).

Recorded with Blur-O-Vision(TM) 3.0.0 using the -longtics parameter, on UV. Got 83% kills, and 0 out of 5 secrets (no idea what they could've been): APHEXIUS_demo.7z.

This is a kind of level that is too open-ended for it's own good (at least, considering the lack of sign-posting that afflicts it). It manages to be entertaining in it's excess and some of it's more varied fights, but the fact that it was made for the original DOOM hinders it (as combat variety is somewhat harder to juggle there than it is in DOOM II), and makes it a little more repetitive.

 

 

Visually it's really pretty bland, most of it being comprised of dimly lit caves, which also doesn't help the feeling of repetitiveness. Aesthetically, the only standout for me was the room where the RL lies.

 

And finally, in terms of layout, it's, as I previously mentioned, a little too sandboxy for it's own good, but otherwise I think it's pretty clear to see that Stuart knew what he was doing, and the flow of the level, although grindy, all follows a satisfying fight until reaching the exit switch.

 

Combat-wise, this one packed a lot of goons, at least on UV, and my favourite fights were the two instances where the corridors drop and you're dropped into close-quarters ambushes, and the big one on your way to get the red keycard, on the courtyard.

 

 

 

All in all another solid entry in our D!Zone Gold crusade, and a standout in terms of combat, albeit not for everybody's tastes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PS: A lone Caco sleeping on the job.

 

 

Edited November 29, 2022 by adamastor

[HorseJockey]

This map was an absolute beast of a level. The layout annoyed me at first, and I had to keep looking at the auto map, but this level grew on me the more I played it. I really enjoyed the monster closets that opened up as you traverse back through the level with the keys. I also enjoyed the verticality of the level, with the elevators. That trap at the end with the elevator got on my nerves, it didn't help that I forgot about it and got stuck twice lol. Also the Baron trap with the red key door is just mean. All in all I actually enjoyed this map, the author clearly had a vision. I feel like the caves could have used something to make them a little easier to discern each section from the others, but once I played through I started to get a feel for it. I also thought that the enemies and placement were pretty well done. Right when I started to get sick of Imps and shotgunners the author started to introduce cacos and barons. I thought the secrets were kind of lame, I'm not a big fan of passable walls vs. a hidden door or something like that. I also liked the little key building for the red key, it reminded me of the first level in Golden Eye.

 

Rating: Recommend a playthrough

 

 

[LadyMistDragon]

APHEXIUS.WAD

by Stuart D. Smith

 

DDS1, possibly the best single map played in the course of the Shovelware's Society history, was made by a Don D. Smith. This, unfortunately, goes in a practically complete opposite direction. So maybe the blue blocks which lower nearby elevators are a neat idea and I also like the little security tower located in the starting area as well, but after that, comment is worth little. Imagine slaughter-esque gameplay, gray walls, confusingly laid-out passageways, questionably-placed ammo and an evil trap behind the red doors that basically mandate you either a) traverse through an utterly-broken lowering trap hallway probably ripped from Halls of the Damned or b)wall-hump to find some random plasma rifle along with more rockets to help you out against the Baron clusterfucks behind each red door which slam behind you when you enter, and you'll know exactly what this map's about. While camping is not necessary for the most part and you're provided with enough resources theoretically, it's a tricky balance between constant action and resource placement amidst several rooms you're basically expected to break through to proceed and you end up with something quite painful.

lmd_pandora_aphexius.zip

Edited November 30, 2022 by LadyMistDragon

[adamastor]

That's right. It didn't occur to me that it's the same author. DDS1 still is the most fun we've had in D!Zone Gold.

 

Anyway, just watched your demo through Woof!, and it was a good one. Pretty funny that you just decided to end it then and there.
 

[LadyMistDragon]

1 minute ago, adamastor said:

That's right. It didn't occur to me that it's the same author. DDS1 still is the most fun we've had in D!Zone Gold.

 

 

 

It was a a concidence pun that didn't translate I think. I mean, Smith is as common as something like "Gomez" would be in Spain.:)

Edited November 30, 2022 by LadyMistDragon

[adamastor]

1 minute ago, LadyMistDragon said:

It was a a concidence pun that didn't translate I think. I mean, Smith is as common as something like "Gomez" would be in Spain.:)

My bad. Maybe Don was his dad then.

 

It is a really common surname though.

[RoastDoom]

Alright guys finally got this done and uploaded!

 

 

So I'm not exaggerating when I say that this is probably the best map I've played in this thread so far!

 

The map has nearly everything. First off the combat is top shelf with imps and shotgunners patrolling every passage of the mine and clever ambushes that are sure to catch you off guard, with some nice big spectacle fights thrown in for good measure!  It's even more impressive that this is an Ultimate Doom wad, and despite the very high monster count(600+!) the limited bestiary never became an issue for me. That's testament to the mapper right there!

 

Aesthetically the map is also sound. The Aphexius Mines are big, sprawling and labyrinthine, and it feels very satisfying to spelunk through the shafts and blast away at the underground enemies!

 

There are one or two bugs, the most notable being the hall of mirrors  area near the red key door that you can't get out of once the platform lowers. An unfortunate oversight in an otherwise great map. 

 

I also really liked the fiendish booby-trapped red key doors at the end. Cruel stuff, especially if you're trying to do this saveless!

 

So this is the map to beat for me! Load it up and blast through it posthaste!
 

 

[staros96]

If you like shotgunnin' Imps... this is the WAD for you! An under-appreciated gem, VERY Doom 1!

(Stream: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1670324366)

 

At first, I thought, "mm, could be kinda basic".

 

The elevator shafts were unnecessarily long, which is what struck me at first, but what was clear was the author had taken a fair amount of creative license in trying to re-create the space/atmosphere of a mine, as per the story offered in the txt alongside the WAD. This alone deserves some praise and recognition - far beyond the stingy half-star rating on idgames!?! This was quite impressive for a summer-of-'95 WAD as others have commented, especially given the lack of sophisticated WAD builders out there at the time. 

 

Progressing through the different mineshafts was initially quite fun, with hoards of imps and sergeants quite tactfully placed to offer up quite a lot of damage when unseen around a corner. However, quite a few of the areas were repetitive and lacking in any definitive set pieces which made would make it easy for you to navigate/return to. Instead, I found myself having to check the map quite a few times. That said, the map was helpful in showing secrets - I particularly liked the fake walls stashed with some necessary goodies, this was well-done. 

 

Although I enjoyed the repetitive hordes and killing them was quite satisfying, it became unnecessarily difficult towards the end, and sort of felt like the designer had an idea which he initially executed very well, and then wasn't really sure how to bring it to an end. Although I was quite impressed by heading back up the mineshaft(s) with the key and the walls unveiling even more demons to try and rip your guts out, it did feel like *more* hard work after having done quite a lot of killing already... :D 

 

Why are there two pointless Red-key doors with 4 barons, with no ending or reward to boot? (Unless I didn't find said 'reward'?) It felt like a 'trial and error' set up, with the idea that you either die and try the other door/save and repeat, eventually finding that one of the Red doors gives way to the exit sans-battle. A sort-of probability game. Furthermore, I found the tekroom a bit frustrating: I had expected some goodies here and maybe a secret (or perhaps a key!), but it seems it was just there for decor. It could have been more! 

 

All in all: against a backdrop of other rather annoying shovelware WADs which were either very poorly scaled and/or messy in their design and pretty pointless (*cough* PURPLE25!), APHEXIUS.WAD has been underrated and treated unkindly throughout the passage of time... until now. The half star on idgames is underappreciating the effort put into the map, especially when considering the lack of sophisticated map builders around in 1995 (feel free to correct me here). The author succeeded in his mission to create a deadly mineshaft with seemingly endless tunnels which have been infected by hellish Demons, and you are the person to head in there and tidy it up. I mean, this was pre-Half-Life, right?! It feels slightly ahead of it's time, whilst simultaneously feeling very Doom 1... 

 

I'd love to have given him a 4, but I found the ending unsatisfying for me (heh), and quite difficult.. it sort of assumed you *knew* to keep hold of your ammunition... 3.5. But seriously, the idea and creativity could have edged it up to a 4, just could have been a nicer ending, but perhaps that my preference.  

 

edit: yes i forgot to specifically mention missing textures/texture issues, but meh, it was made in 95 .. .. not a biggie for me :) 

Edited December 4, 2022 by staros96