The Thing you can’t Defeat - Ultimate Doom WAD for GZDOOM - [8 maps]

[YourOpinionsAreWRONG]

The Thing you can't defeat.

 

***WAD IS NOW UNDER 15MB***

 

Big thanks to @RastaManGames who was AWESOME enough to recompress those massive MP3 files for me!!!

 

 

This is an experimental WAD for Ultimate Doom that I’ve been working on for the last couple of months. I would say it’s quite unconventional so if you’re wanting the classic Doom experience this may not be the WAD for you.

 

I’m being quite vague because I think this WAD is best experienced by knowing as little about it as possible, however, I’m aware this may not be enough to convince some of you so I have written a little bit more about this WAD in the box below.

 

Spoiler

 

The Doomguy has dementia. The Thing you can’t Defeat lets you replay the first episode of Ultimate Doom as it slowly morphs into a confusing and demented nightmare. 

This WAD was HEAVILY inspired by the WAD “Doom but somethings not right” and the album “Everywhere at the end of time” by The Caretaker.

 

 

A few important notes before playing.

 

• This WAD is for the first episode Knee Deep in the Dead and will start off nearly identically to how Knee Deep normally starts, so if you think you might be playing the wrong episode, you’re not, this is intentional.
• This WAD is only compatible with GZDOOM! I may look into ways to make it compatible with other source ports like PRBOOM+ in the future, but for now, it’s only available on GZDOOM.
• I would recommend playing as vanilla as possible (aside from the fact that it’s GZDOOM of course), basically no mods like Brutal Doom and not using mouselook, jumping, crouching ect...

 

A huge thanks to William Dinsdale for providing the music!

 

The Thing you can't defeat.

 

IWAD - Ultimate Doom

Tested on GZDOOM

Starts at E1M1

Does NOT require Freelook, Jumping, or Crouching

Map difficulty implemented!

Edited July 25, 2022 by YourOpinionsAreWRONG

[RastaManGames]

What with the file size, dude? It is ~350 Mb... Did you included an entire uncompressed music album made by The Caretaker himself?

 

P.S.: Dude, I was joking about this...

Spoiler

 

Edited July 25, 2022 by RastaManGames

[YourOpinionsAreWRONG]

12 minutes ago, RastaManGames said:

What with the file size, dude? It is ~350 Mb... Did you included an entire uncompressed music album made by The Caretaker himself?

Lol. There are about 11 mp3 tracks on this WAD, that'll be why. I'll be honest, I didn't really consider how big they'll be in comparison to the WAD.

 

Guess I'll add that to the list of things I should've been aware of before posting.

[RastaManGames]

Always find a ways to optimize your map/mod.
I mean, there is two silent & uncompressed *.wav files that is ~50 Mb.

Look what I've done just using "AIMP Converter" and *.ogg output format with maximum compression:

Spoiler

And no. Quality is not harmed at all. Almost.

~15 Mb is a way prettier to download than ~350 Mb.

I can send you compressed *.wad file, if you need so.

Edited July 25, 2022 by RastaManGames

[YourOpinionsAreWRONG]

17 minutes ago, RastaManGames said:

Always find a ways to optimize your map/mod.
I mean, there is two silent & uncompressed *.wav files that is ~50 Mb.

Look what I've done just using "AIMP Converter" and *.ogg output format with maximum compression:

  Reveal hidden contents

And no. Quality is not harmed at all. Almost.

~15 Mb is a way prettier to download than ~350 Mb.

I can send you compressed *.wad file, if you need so.

You know what, that would actually be really helpful. I'll message you if you don't mind. Thank you very much!!!

[YoshizinGordin]

This WAD Looks Good, Homever, I'm Not Going To Wait 3 Hours To Play It.

[YourOpinionsAreWRONG]

THE AUDIO IS NOW FIXED!!!

 

The WAD is now under 15md. Thanks @RastaManGames

[RED77]

"Everywhere at the end of time" inspired. Yeap, I see it.
You know, my dad dies with dementia, so this kind of stuff always terrifies and facinates me at the same time. 

 

Cool work.

[RastaManGames]

D_E1M9 actually made me cry.

 

Also that hit hard:

Spoiler

 

Edited July 26, 2022 by RastaManGames

[kalensar]

Thanks for halloween coming early. LOL. That was trippy and I dang near turned it off at e1m6, but I persevered until the end..... That ending was completely unexpected and confusing me for a minute. 

 

Anyways, BRAVO. 

[SirPootis]

Very very good. Like kalensar said, wasn't expecting the ending but damn was it an impactful one.

 

Excellent work.

Edited July 26, 2022 by SirPootis

[Philnemba]

Wow its rare for a Doom wad to give me some sort of dread feelings & I think you nailed it good for the theme you were going for with this 👍👍

[PRO-RC]

Played this wad yesterday, was going to comment but I had no clue what to say that didn't spoil the ending. now that I have the words:

 

This wad has a very clever use of E1M8 that I loved to "Death".   

 

Also that original Wad size was nutty, glad it got fixed before I saw it.

[Scileboi]

They say all your memories return one last time before it all ends. Great ending. Great wad.

[RastaManGames]

7 minutes ago, Scileboi said:

They say all your memories return one last time before it all ends.

Terminal lucidity as is...

[gabirupee]

Damn dude, i entered the wad without knowing what it was about.. I've never felt so scared on doom, i still didn't finish because this one really creeped me out, but i will try. Great work!!

Edited July 26, 2022 by gabirupee

[LadyMistDragon]

Was E1M8 deliberately meant to be an empty space? I think I see why in retrospect, but um, fuck. Disappeared from this mortal coil we have. There's only one doomguy and they seemingly have gone into oblivion.

 

Hard to say, but y'know E1M6 was one of the most maddeningly confusing messes in recent memory. Good thing I eventually found the way forward somehow. I did expect something on the surreal side of things, but not to this intensity. Those remixes really started to become gloomy, culminating in something that had no basis in the original music for Doom whatsoever (is that from the caretaker too, or something from aubrey hodges? who knows?)

Edited July 27, 2022 by LadyMistDragon

[Brwok]

Liked the ambience in this one, did give me a good spook!

[PinkFlamingo]

Amazing wad. Legitimately scary.

[Scuba Steve]

Love the concept, but I wonder if the ending with e1m8 is a little too abstract? I wasn't originally sure if what I was experiencing was intentional. I had to open the map in an editor to confirm my suspicions.

[Mercury Spade]

Gave your map set a try and I gotta say you did some solid work with portals in it. Though I am sorry to say that I used mods, I jumped, mouse looked, and crouched. However, it was my first run through it.

 

Edited July 28, 2022 by Mercury Spade

[YeOldeFellerNoob]

Never has any mod or game make me feel as uncomfortable as this. And it is a fucking DOOM mod. This mod somehow made almost jump by seeing a monster closet. I don't know how you did this, but you did a fucking fantastic job with this.

[BouncyTEM]

This was a fantastic experience. I very much see the influences you had for making it, and I'm grateful for having experienced it blind. Great work.

 

Loved the music, especially later on.

Edited July 28, 2022 by BouncyTEM

[Lampenpam]

Ok so I first forgot you said it uses Ultimate Doom and I was walking through Doom 2 thinking you are going for a much slower approach. It's probably because I don't have the early Doom 2 maps as memorized as some other Veteran but  I was watching the design on early maps very intensely. I asked myself questions like:    

Things are about to get different now, right? 

Was that secret  really always here?     

Was this visual detail always exactly like that?    

Heh, I see you added a spelling error to 'The Gauntlet'   

Was Focus really the 4th map or was it the 5th? 

 

I wonder how much further I would have played if I didn't remember reading that you have to use Ultimate Doom and I was already halfway through map04. Well, then I felt kinda stupid. Also because I never noticed that Gantlet was actually always spelled like that. I should have played it enough to notice it. 

 

Anyway, when I played through the actual mod next, I was almost a little disappointed that you didn't go for a similar slower start. I'd even say it would be perfectly fine to let E1M1 exactly how it is, and on E1M2 only change things where the player might not exactly tell if he is just misremembering things or if this are already the first of the changes to the map. So I kinda hoped for much more subtly changes, almost unnoticeable before starting the in-your-face changes and what's basically just creepy pasta content.    

Then again, I might just go too much by how Everything The End of Time chose to represent Dementia: Starting very slowly. I mean for almost an entire hour it could even be a normal music album.    

But I did like how you displayed dementia too. It was more like the world, instead of the player, forgetting what it is. Forgetting what texture or layout belongs here. Not what I exactly expected at first but fitting nonetheless.        

 

I must say I found the ending too abrupt though. Again, I might be sticking too much to Everything The End of Time, but this album shows better how you might have a brief glimpse of an almost forgotten memory pop up again. In your wad I think it would have been better if it wasn't after a level transition. Imagine you walk through the completely corrupted areas, and suddenly after a door you find yourself in the rooms of an original map again, almost completely intact and the music being the original soundtrack just more quite and sounding like it's 'further away'. Imo it would have fitted the dementia representation better than the happy-end theme in this wad. It was imo to positive and the end also too sudden, being a bit anticlimactic. Why not instead end things with then having everything disappear? I know, it's not a happy version of this abstract ending, but when I think of dementia, I think of how sad it is to have your precious memories helplessly fall apart until you have nothing left. So I would have liked to see the world completely disappear, not just blank textures, just black. Everything's gone. Maybe your weapons too (if you know how to) until it's all a black void and the brain entirely emptied. Then do the map8 crash.  

 

--

 

Ok, that sounds like a lot of criticism but I did have a good time. It certain was a creative and unique experience. And my ideas probably come from too much inspiration of the music album... but maybe also how I walked through Doom 2 like a dumbass questioning my own memory. I mean that alone gave me an unique way to play through 4 maps of Doom 2 despite nothing being different at all! I kinda feel like I did kinda experience how a very early dementia patient may feel like, and kinda expected the same experience at first when I then played the actual mod.   

Well, feel free to get inspired by my ideas if you want to. Or not. Your mod is perfectly fine as it is, so thanks listening to my two cents about it.    

 

And sorry for the wall of text ^^' I had more to say than I thought. 

 

 

 

Edited July 29, 2022 by Lampenpam

[DynamiteKaitorn]

Congrats!

Out of all the DooM maps I've played, this is the first one I straight up quit playing because I was FREAKING OUT massively!

Despite it just being DooM 1 textures, the fact that even the Automap isn't reliable and the constant teleporting around really screws with your head massively.

Quite possibly one of the scariest wads that I legit am too frightened to finish. XD

(And I removed the audio ahead of time since EATEOT is an album that scares me so I played with my own music to try to help me calm down).

 

Guess the title is accurate: I really couldn't defeat it... >w<

Edited July 28, 2022 by DynamiteKaitorn

[myolden]

This was a phenomenal experience to say the least. Great concept and great execution. I loved the detail of e1m8 being what it was. 

[Shanoa]

That was quite the experience, while I didn't feel a sense of dread I gotta admit the soundtrack did a fantastic job at creeping you out as you progressed. That ending though, I was like "damn".

 

Fantastic idea, thank you for the WAD.

Edited July 29, 2022 by Shanoa

[Lizardcommando]

This is one of the most bizarre Doom wads I have ever played. The fucked up music really added to the atmosphere. I bet this is the kind of nightmares Doomguy sees when he is put back into the coffin at the end of Doom Eternal.

 

Now, I feel really stupid for asking this buuuut...

 

Spoiler

Was E1M8 supposed to crash on purpose? (No player 1 start). My instincts are pointing to yes lol.

 

Edited July 29, 2022 by Lizardcommando

[BluePineapple72]

This was a really cool experience! I like how light the author's touch was here; you didn't go overboard on any of the things you used. I also appreciate that you didn't have any monsters or jumpscares in the latter parts. You kept it reserved and allowed the atomosphere of the maps do what they needed to do. Really liked E1M8

 

Great wad!

[YourOpinionsAreWRONG]

Wow, those are a lot of comments!!! haha.

 

Thank you everyone for your kind words, I couldn't ask for a better response! I basically spent all my free time for the last two months making this WAD so I'm glad it was worth it. Right now I'm in that state where I'm wondering what the hell to do with my free time, though I'm sure I'll find something else soon. I've actually had an idea for a secret level for this WAD, though I'm two minds if I want to implement it. I guess I'll see how I feel in the future.

Spoiler

 

For those wondering, yes, E1M8 was intentional. Although, I did come across it by accident.

 

I was testing out the WAD and I accidentally deleted the player start on, I believe, E1M3, and obviously that screen came up and when It did I was like; "Hey! There might be something to this." So I decided to have that end screen as the final level, which worked out really well because I had already decided to merge E1M4 and E1M5 together so there was already a blank level. It all just fell into place!