The DWmegawad Club plays: Ad Mortem & Wormwood 1/EU/3

dobu gabu maru · October 1, 2022

What is the DWmegawad Club?

This is a place where we settle down, have a cup of tea (or drink of your choice) and take a month to play through a megawad on our own, together! Any keen observations, criticisms, or frustrated ranting about it goes here in the discussion. As long as you want to say something about what you've played, feel free to speak your mind.

Can I join?

Sure. The only rule is that you have to play at least some of the levels in our monthly megawad to contribute, but you're generally encouraged to finish the whole thing, even if you've played it before.

What levels am I allowed to post about?

Whatever day of the month it is, is the upper limit for the map you can post on. So if it’s the 6th, you may discuss up to MAP06.

Do I have to post an entry every day?

Nope, not at all. This is only for our more enthusiastic members. As long as you play through it with us you’re part of the club.

When do we vote on the next month’s megawad?

Voting begins on the 25th of the current month. Remember to add one “+++” before your vote to make it easier to count. For example:

+++ Ultimate Doom

Note that you can vote for up to three separate nominations in a single month, and every wad must contain at least three maps each. The winning nomination must receive at least four votes for a thread to be made. Ties will be decided by RNG.

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>>>DOWNLOAD AD MORTEM HERE<<<

>>>DOWNLOAD WORMWOODS HERE<<<

Close the curtain and lock the doors—the spooky season has arrived! To celebrate, we’re diving into… four terrifying mapsets?! That’s right—I’ve been spooked into breaking club rules to tie together Ribbiks and Grain of Salt’s esoteric Wormwood trilogy (skill 3 [HMP] is strongly recommended for these!). But before that, we’ll be jumping into 4chan’s /vr/y own Ad Mortem, an MBF21 series of maps utilizing new textures, skins, and weapons! It’s recommended that you use DSDA-Source or Woof! as a source port, and to avoid playing in GZDoom and PrBoom+UM.

As we have quite a few wads to juggle, here are the dates we’re going to be playing:

Ad Mortem: Oct 1st - Oct 18th (the secret maps get their own days)

Wormwood: Oct 19th - Oct 20th

Wormwood EU: Oct 21st - Oct 27th

Wormwood 3: Oct 28th - 30th

Author & Maplist for Ad Mortem:

MAP01 - “Catacombover” by Sitri

MAP02 - “Caco’s Keep” by Anon

MAP03 - “Beneath Bloodstone” by Wolpertinger

MAP04 - “Pumpkin Delight” by EnragedEggplant

MAP05 - “The Imps in the Walls” by ASO3000

MAP06 - “Darkwood” by A2Rob

MAP07 - “Shadow over Silverspring” by Bartekmil

MAP08 - “The Torture Garden” by Velcrosasquatch

MAP09 - “Norwitch Lane” by LunchLunch

MAP10 - “King Boner’s House of Fisting” by Punch you in the face man

MAP11 - “The Other Dario” by Washing Machine Enthusiasts

MAP12 - “Checkmate” by LunchLunch

MAP13 - “Devil Garden” by Anon

MAP14 - “Autumn Mausolemn” by Anon

MAP15 - “The Monster Mash” by Anon

MAP31 - “Pumpkination” by ViolentBeetle

MAP32 - “Tricks n’ Treats” by NepNep

MAP16 - “Ungle Reggie’s Candy Factory” by African Equus-Sapien

Author & Maplist for Wormwood:

MAP01 - “Copse” by Grain of Salt

MAP02 - “Revenge of Demon House” by Ribbiks

Author & Maplist for Wormwood: Expanded Universe:

MAP01 - “Nevermind, There Was a Backdoor” by Ribbiks

MAP02 - “Mu” by Grain of Salt

MAP03 - “I’m Rubber You’re Glue” by Ribbiks

MAP04 - “Stabbed, With a Sword” by Ribbiks

MAP31 - “Journal Entry I: Killing Time” by Ribbiks

MAP32 - “Journal Entry II: Thus We Spameth” by Ribbiks

MAP33 - “Journal Entry III: Business As Usual” by Ribbiks

Author & Maplist for Wormwood 3:

MAP01 - “Life?” by Ribbiks

MAP02 - “Vampire Killer” by Grain of Salt

MAP03 - “The Horror” by Ribbiks

BONUS CONTENT

DSDA: Wormwood | Wormwood EU | Wormwood 3

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OLD THREADS

Spoiler

The DWmegawad Club Metathread

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

Edited April 23, 2023 by dobu gabu maru

NiGHTS108 · October 1, 2022

WOOOOO HELL YEAH DOBU YOU THE BEST FOR THIS ONE

RHhe82 · October 1, 2022

MAP01: Catacombover. DSDA v0.24, UV, PS. 140/140 K, 7/7 S, 20/22 I. Completion time 28:40.

It's halloween time for Jeffrey Catacombs! I like the visuals we're greeted with, it looks distinct from the stock/cc4tex/otex Doom I've grown accustomed to. The first level evokes memories from a Build engine game called Blood (much like the another wad, I don't know if it's been covered by the club, Preacher, which even used Blood sfx). Also I get a little Hexen feeling here because of obvious reasons: familiar texture, and dehacked version of Afrits.

Gameplay-wise my first impression isn't all that great, the start of the map is easily the hardest part because of tight resources. After a while situation gets better. For some reason I seem to take a lot of damage, I don't know if the monsters are fine-tuned somehow, or am I just playing poorly...? Most likely latter.

Upon reaching the exit I had found only 3/7 secrets and 123/140 kills. At the very beginning there was a gravestone you could press, it did something but I could never figure out what until much searching that apparently one of the other graves had opened, revealing a backpack I could have used earlier. The rest? Would this be a time to un-learn all secrets and kills mentality... FOMO is strong, especially since there seems to be at least one fight left to experience.

I succumbed to my habits and went back... Two of the secrets was found very soon as I discovered I could step on a ledge near the beginning and reach the elusive shotgun rock. I'm not sure why that counts as two, is it a mistake made in UDB when splitting a secret-tagged sector...) Anyway, that triggered the rest of the fight, and... well, I gotta say, that the spawned stuff dipped on the side of goofy. Hopefully we don't get to see them again.

The final secret wasn't that hard to find, either, I should have tried to reach a balcony in the catacombs when the bridge first raised.

Edit: The other new monsters were fine: the stripped revenant was funny (punching it produced comedic effect that didn’t break immersion for me), and the hell knight replacements (I guess? The ones that looked like Doom 64 monsters) were okay too.

Edited October 1, 2022 by RHhe82
A word on custom monsters

ViolentBeetle · October 1, 2022

One thing about Ad Mortem: Secret exit to MAP31 is actually on MAP07.

MAP16 is the super-super-secret map that comes after MAP32, and is followed by MAP08

Update: I now realize it probably won't matter since they all have their own day, but who knows?

Edited October 1, 2022 by ViolentBeetle

finnks13 · October 1, 2022

I've not played Ad Mortem before, or anything by most of the named authors (the exceptions being A2Rob and lunchluch) so this should prove to be interesting. I'm playing with DSDA-Doom v0.24.3, complevel 21, pistol starts, UV. I'll try for 100% kills, but I don't care much unless I've obviously missed a secret fight.

MAP01 - Catacombover by Sitri:

14:40/5 Deaths
An interesting opener in that it's both quite lengthy and not completely trivial. My deaths mainly came from the new custom stuff, and there's tons of new stuff to talk about! To start, all the weapons you get in Map01 (except from the rocket launcher which is a shame) have gotten a visual makeover, including smooth animations that feel quite out of place, but seem unchanged in function. I did think that the pistol was burst fire at first, but that's just because of the sound change. The map debuts five new enemies than will feature in Ad Mortem and I feel like this might be a bit much to get used to at first.

The enemies themselves are all suitably spooky and decent additions to the roster, there's a skeleton that throws bones at you and has about as much health as a pinky that killed me twice in the graveyard. There's also black gargoyles that fly around and throw a small fireball at you - they didn't annoy me immediately like their counterparts in 1k3, but there's still time :P There's the satyrs that throw fireballs in twos and take two SSG shots to kill, and the exit room features an armoured skeleton that has as much health as a baron and throws a very deadly homing missile at you. The secret fight features the silliest enemy in the map - the rocket with legs that functions pretty much as you'd expect from the name.

I'm not hugely fond of the map itself, the atmosphere's certainly there and I really like the graveyard you begin the map in but I just didn't particularly enjoy how it played. This map loves teleporting enemies in behind you, and it does it in pretty much every ambush and while this caught me off guard and killed me a couple of times at first, it becomes very played out very quickly. I did prefer the red key section to the blue key section, but that might be because I did it first and the teleporting behind you trick hadn't started to annoy me yet. I did like the revenant swarm in the cave, after getting the SSG - it's very tense and you can get cornered easily if you're not quick on the trigger. Overall, this is an odd opener and it promises quite a lot from the get-go with all the new tricks and I suppose we'll see if the rest of the set lives up to that.

cannonball · October 1, 2022

MAP01 - “Catacombover” by Sitri

After being spoiled last month, this is quite a culture shock to play something that is combat wise more primitive. In the end I think most of the intrigue comes from the custom content rather than the map itself. The new monsters fit well into this setting and offer some interest. However the armoured revenant looks potentially problematic given the projectiles have the character more akin to the Vore from Quake and are more deadly than your standard mid-tier.

In the end I guess this was okay, it had a few unsavoury habits of trying to prevent players from running from fights that tend to be the norm from mappers who are still finding their feet. However I do appreciate the lack of kid gloves and you are handed the rocket launcher and SSG early on.

brick · October 1, 2022

I think there's a newer version of Ad Mortem, at least I found it linked in a post in the DW thread, not sure how official it is, I think it attempts to make the wad ZDoom-compatible (not sure how successfully).

Either way I'm looking forward to this month's wads!

RHhe82 · October 1, 2022

MAP02: Caco's Keep. UV, PS. 111/111 K, 2/2 S, 47/49 I. Completion time 14:19

Considerably easier than the first map, only now I realized that this is indeed a community project, which actually is a welcome change of pace to last month's consistently good team or solo efforts. I like the general architecture here, even if detail-wise Caco's Keep feels slightly half-baked at times, old-schoolly decent at others. We don't see custom monsters here apart from a couple of bats, so bonus points for not having the rockets-with-legs in the map. I wish we'd get SSG sooner. Then I was silly for not remembering I found the secret plasma gun. I guess more bonus points for not making me endure ammo starvation -- at the end I was just blasting off rockets while I didn't fire my plasma rifle even once. So, enough ammo, and I believe Caco's Keep was more generous with health, too. Either that, or the map really was easier.

NiGHTS108 · October 2, 2022

YAY HALLOWEEN :DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

- PLAY INFO -

Spoiler

- GZDoom 4.8.2 source port for Wormwood trilogy and DSDA-Doom for Ad Mortem (I tried GZ, didn't go well)
- Complevel 21 and Boom (strict) compatibility respectively
- Ultra-Violence difficulty
- Pistol start every map
- Saves are allowed
- I've watched MtPain talk about Wormwood I, but know nothing about any other wad
- I try to get 100% kills sometimes
- Using mods Autoautosave and IDCLEVer (Improves GZ autosaves and auto-forces pistol starts) and a few other mods that don't change gameplay (Doom II Minor Sprite Fixing Project, widescreen huds, DSDA-Doom hud in GZDoom)

- Ad Mortem -

MAP01: Catacombover

By Sitri

Kills: 87%

Items: 50%

Secrets: 28%

Time: 8:05

Pretty decent opener to start off this very spooky DWMC month. Catacombover is quite basic but also introduces some cool enemies, weapons, (Which look and sound GREAT) and a pretty neat cave/temple aesthetic. There's not too much to say here, this map seems to put emphasis on the cute details like the red skull on a bookshelf, secret behind a waterfall, and the furniture in the bedroom of the house, as well as the monster introductions. If I'm not mistaken there's, what, 4 enemies introduced here? Mostly in the main building. There's a Silver Revenant who throws non-homing bones and is only about half as strong (Who has a very pleasant surprise if you kill him with berserk!), a Gargoyle who dies easily, flies and shoots weak projectiles, a faster Hell Knight that fires projectiles quickly, and one homing rocket wielding guy at the end that I feel is about to be this wad's menace to society. The beautiful and amazing SSG definitely holds the combat together here, to create as a whole a pretty solid opener.

Grade: B

Difficulty: C

(Kinda weird that's my most negative review since the 17th of last month, Arrival is very good.)

brick · October 2, 2022

Here we go! Starting with Ad Mortem. The usual for me: playing on HNTR, blind, continuous, with saves, and yes, using GZDoom. I know the recommendation is to not use this port, but it's been a year since the wad's release and the GZDoom release notes since show many improvements to MBF21 implementation, and the only way the implementation gets better is if someone tests it! Needless to say I will not count any problems this causes against the wad, since I'm blatantly ignoring instructions it's my own fault if anything breaks.

MAP01 - “Catacombover” by Sitri

The wad goes all-in pretty quickly. All the non-cell weapons are already, some of the regular heavies already makes an appearance (including an archvile surprise), and I think most of the new cast are also here. There's the Heretic-gargoyle-like which could be annoying in large numbers but die quickly. There's something that looks very different but seems to behave like a Hell Knight that fires dual-projectiles quickly. The spooky skeleton fits the theme well, I think they're a bit weaker than the revenant but their non-homing bones seem to travel quicker. The kamikazes look so incredibly goofy, though I like their introduction since they're not very threatening so you can learn how to deal with them. I'm not sure how dangerous that thing guarding the exit really is, it was quite easy to kill by popping in and out, but I think in larger spaces or with more enemies it'd be a very different situation. Having all of them thrown at me so early in the wad felt odd but I like that they all make a very benign first appearance so you can gauge their weaknesses and their health without too many distractions. The map itself is not super-memorable but I like the mansion on one side and the catacombs on the other, and the custom assets do create a very nice spooky atmosphere. The custom colormaps work really well and actually look better than Truecolor mode. I'm not sure what the preferred way to experience the music is (and would love to hear from anyone who was involved) but I found it tinny with the Microsoft default, it sounded much netter on a Sound Canvas. So far all the MBF21 features seem to work flawlessly on GZDoom 4.8.2, I did some side-by-sides with DSDA-Doom and saw no noticeable differences. I'm enjoying myself so far, it's a promising start.

Pseudonaut · October 2, 2022

Map01 (3 deaths I think):
Stopped recording after the second death, tried again with saves. Maybe I should just record videos...

Anyway, this was a cute map. Combat leaves something to be desired. There's a secret ambush that killed me immediately, but it was funny, so it's ok.

Demo:

am01FDA.zip

Map02 (lots of deaths, rewind was used once)
Not the greatest combat here either. I was tired of it right away and wanted to see if I could use a fun speedrunny route to cause chaos and clean up later. I still hadn't seen most of the map, so many deaths resulted. It's a very easy map when played as seemingly intended, but I stubbornly refused to do so much of the time. There isn't much of a risk-reward dynamic here; every risk I took yielded no reward.

cannonball · October 2, 2022

MAP02 - “Caco’s Keep” by Anon

Probably easier than map01, though I found the map to be a little more entertaining as well. Not much else to say here really, the map marches along without many complaints, though the excess use of scrolling walls looks more silly than creepy in the red key room.

Edited October 2, 2022 by cannonball

finnks13 · October 2, 2022

MAP02 - Caco's Keep by Anon:

7:02/0 Deaths
Much easier than the first map, Caco's Keep has some cool looking areas and I prefer it to Map01 but it's still not great. You're well stocked on ammo and health, and the ambushes are quite varied but aren't particularly deadly. I found a secret plasma gun, which disappointed me by not having a cool animation (I'm not sure why you'd spend the effort in making smooth animations for just half the weapons) though I do like the purple projectiles it spews. I forgot to talk about the palette yesterday - it's very nice, I think it's based on PalPlus with dark purples over the dark blues and the purple adds a surprising amount to the atmosphere and I like how dark it is, as brighter purples are often used when they are included in a custom palette.

I like the visual design of the map, it's a large castle and quite nicely detailed, with a couple of spooky moments such as when you drop down after the red door, and the wall collapsing into blood - which is also my favourite fight in the level. Two archviles appear from behind the blood, and you're in rather close quarters and without an SSG so careful rocket usage is demanded. It's the toughest part of the map, which otherwise passes like a blur.

Monsieur E · October 2, 2022

Alright, new month, new wads to play this; starting with Ad Mortem. Playing on dsda-doom this time, UV, and pistol starting. Let's begin!

Map01- Catacombover by Sitri
90% kills

It took me a bit to setup dsda's mouse sensitivity in a way closest to how I feel on GZDoom but now I think I managed to get one similar enough. Anyways onto the map! Catacombover shows off its season appropriate colors from the moment it begins, literally showing off the new palette. You're infront of a spooky looking mansion and behind you lies a path guarded by specters and a new skeleton monster, the skellington leading to a creepy shack. In terms of weaponry, all of your weapons have new sprites which look really good, but their smooth animations definitely feels weird. In general, I'd say despite my approval of the new sprites individually, they do feel unnatural compared to the other doom monsters. Onto the new enemies, all of them are pretty cool, with the exclusion of the revenant which fires the cyberdemon rocket that is homing, that one is pretty evil.

Back to the level itself, it's a good opener, helping lay the stage down for the mapset but the combat itself is nothing to write home about. If there's something I didn't like entirely, it felt that the map lasted longer than it should have, my final in game time was around 18 minutes. I think the purple key section in particular could've been trimmed a bit. Otherwise, this was a fine level.

Map02- Caco's Keep by Anon
98% kills

This one is more accessible than the first map I think, it passes by quicker and I would say it's more straightforward. The combat is fun again, I managed to get the plasma rifle which looks really good with the new palette. Visually, I liked the cohesion with the castle aesthetic and I liked the cool skeleton prop which seems to light up when you get near it. Not much else to say, largely solid map.

brick · October 3, 2022

MAP02 - “Caco’s Keep” by Anon
A pretty nice looking keep, this felt a bit easier and quicker-playing than the previous map. Both have a habit of teleporting enemies behind you but this hasn't bothered me so far. The secret plasma gun will come in handy but I didn't need to use it yet. The laughing skeleton decoration made me genuinely jump with surprise. The "stay out" trick was clever and quite atmospheric. I think the trickiest fight is after getting the purple (blue?) key and both skellies teleport in, but there's enough space to hide. The first archvile is easy as there's plenty of hiding space, but it's quite fun. I cheesed the titular caco swarm by running back behind the door, which makes it trivially easy to deal with them. The music track is not very spooky but is good jaunty tune. Fun map.

NiGHTS108 · October 3, 2022

MAP02: Caco's Keep

Kills: 105%

Items: 30%

Secrets: 0%

Time: 7:35

Caco's Keep is another small, pleasant and spooky romp that leaves little impression but I did find quite entertaining. It is a little easier than the last map, you don't need to worry about ammo at all pretty much, just gotta keep two eyes open for any sudden ambushes. (Namely two Arch-Viles that got me good.) The name isn't lying, there are quite the amount of Caco's in the keep in question, especially at the end which can get menacing quickly if you're not careful. There are some other nice details, like this pretty cool Wormhole type thing where you walk to the end of a corridor and turn back to access a different part of the fortress, and I happen to have an unironic enjoyment of the MIDI. I don't have much to say, it's just sweet.

Grade: B+

Difficulty: C-

RHhe82 · October 3, 2022

MAP03: Beneath Bloodstone. DSDA v0.24, UV, PS. 60/60 K, 4/4 S, 19/19 I. Completion time 19:11.

I once again like the visual theme, but I suffered from ammo starvation for most of the level. It's strange how I seem to suffer from more damage than usual. I mean, that must be my imagination, but still. Near the end I felt I need the secret berserk pack to survive (I didn't after all, but I had something like 11% health with 10+ enemies still left), and most of my playing time went to searching for a way up to the ledge. Legit, I couldn't find it. With Ultimate Doom Builder, I couldn't find it. No, I needed to help of Youtube. The solution wasn't La-Mulana level 200 IQ puzzle, but fu<great scott!>ng Master Levels -sort of BS.

But, if I had more ammo, and berserk pack was otherwise obtainable (like, with a secret switch perched on top of the furnace, or whatever the machine was, or something), Beneath Bloodstone is a solid level set in a dark underworld/mine of sorts. I like how blackness is a perfectly functioning ceiling flat for just this sort of set piece.

Moravectomascb · October 3, 2022

WTF? Ad Mortem isnt playable with one new gzdoom and one older make it unplayable. Newer will not make sound of pistol, chaningun and fist and it have infinite ammo and one version, when I go to one place, it will quit me from game with error. :(

e:WITH the newest its ok. :o

Edited October 3, 2022 by Moravectomascb

cannonball · October 3, 2022

1 hour ago, Moravectomascb said:

WTF? Ad Mortem isnt playable with one new gzdoom and one older make it unplayable. Newer will not make sound of pistol, chaningun and fist and it have infinite ammo and one version, when I go to one place, it will quit me from game with error. :(

e:WITH the newest its ok. :o

As the op states, Ad Mortem is strongly advised to be played in either DSDA-Doom or Woof, which fully support MBF21 features. That said I know that Graf was working on getting GZdoom sorted to fully support this format.

cannonball · October 3, 2022

MAP03 - “Beneath Bloodstone” by Wolpertinger

The visuals were pretty solid, but the gameplay was a real downer here. It starts off mundane, but becomes increasingly irritating as it becomes blatantly obvious that there is insufficient ammo to kill everything without secrets. I left with 40% of the monsters still alive, heck even the final pinkies were partially spared because again the ammo given in the final room is good enough for 2/3 of them (Even with every pellet hitting).

A freely available berserk pack would have vanquished most of my gripes about this level, but alas it was in a secret that I didn't have the patience to find whilst being spammed with lost souls and bits of ribcage.

NiGHTS108 · October 3, 2022

MAP03: Beneath Bloodstone

By Wolpertinger

Kills: 86%

Items: 57%

Secrets: 25%

Time: 6:56

Beneath Bloodstone was kinda just okay. These maps are getting easier, once again if you stay calm there shouldn't be any serious danger here outside of these Imp Hell Knight things which I think I'll just call Imp Knights from now on which could possibly ambush you. The layout here is pretty small and there's a few predictable small scale ambushes, most of the combat is pretty flat and uninteresting as it's mostly composed of hordes of demons on completely flat ground that you have more than enough ammo to deal with. I do like some of the doomcute details like the book at a desk and the main area looks pretty nice. The visuals here are hit or miss but when it's good it's good. That is all.

Grade: C+

Difficulty: D-

MacGuffin · October 3, 2022

On 10/1/2022 at 4:21 PM, brick said:

I think there's a newer version of Ad Mortem, at least I found it linked in a post in the DW thread, not sure how official it is, I think it attempts to make the wad ZDoom-compatible (not sure how successfully).

Either way I'm looking forward to this month's wads!

Just wanted to clear some things up: this is indeed the most up-to-date version of Ad Mortem and I strongly advise everyone to use this link instead of the one in the OP. Apologies for the confusion.

Enjoy the WAD, guys.

finnks13 · October 3, 2022

MAP03 - Beneath Bloodstone by Wolpertinger:

6:47/1 Death
Once again my favourite part about this map is it's visuals - the mineshaft in the deep darkness we explore looks great. I definitely have a weakness for the red on black aesthetic, but I think the courtyard with the red stalactites looks absolutely stunning. The gameplay however? It's not great. Ammo starvation is the name of the game here, and I don't mind this if I'm given a berserk pack (or even a chainsaw) to deal with enemies, but this map gives you nothing of the sort. Despite taking a lot of care with my shots, I ran out of ammo multiple times - and finding the plasma gun secret right at the end of the level made me more annoyed than pleased, because why would you hide something so essential behind a random wall?! If the intent behind the ammo deprivation was to increase the fear factor, it doesn't really work and turns the map into a more irritating experience than was necessary.

I do like the two skeleton horde fights, one appears in the stalactite room and one after the red key. They're fun enemies to fight, their high speed and relatively low threat allows them to be spammed a lot more than their rocket launcher wielding counterparts when the player only has crap weapons to their name. I'm also having a lot of trouble dealing with the Satyrs, their windup before throwing projectiles seems rather low and I keep forgetting that I need to continue dodging after the first one - I suppose I just need to get used to them.

~~~
Only just seen the updated version of the wad, so if the newest version of this map has more ammo then I'm very sorry Wolpertinger :P

LadyMistDragon · October 3, 2022

UV-pistol-starts, no demos because I'd rather not bother)

Map 01: Catacombover

by Sitri

Antemortum opens up dressed to impress! With a title screen clearly inspired by Castlevania and a status bar taken from the popular wad Preacher, it's clear AdMortum means to embrace the Halloween aesthetic in all its forms. It would take too much time to describe the custom enemies but safe to say the gargoyles that pour into the bedroom with the dead pinkie and the red key are really kind of nasty.

And that's another thing that wads from the /vr/ boards seem to have: or character and lots of it! Mainly consisting of a mansion and tombs, but filled with all sorts of cool little detail that's not just something like a disembowled man on a stake in a techbase or some other vanilla textures. Secrets in such a map are quite easy to find, although I had no idea what the odd tombstone opened and didn't really care to investigate too much. But it feels a lot less as if you're slapping against random walls. Also, hilarious double-pun.

Some encounters are downright sadistic. While it's cool to see skeletons fight against each other, keep in mind powerups here never come for free, and you'll surely be killed by the lack of warning you get in these obvious traps. I would go on about how the political leanings of some of these dudes influences their design, but that's neither here nor there. Let's just say I wish the 'tolerant Doomworld' was a little bit more into this sort of less-streamlined, more imaginatively thematic (like DBP used to be and still kind of wishes it was after 50) and predictable encounters. Since it's only something like lunchlunch's first map in 10X10 project where I see encounters like these. But their obnxiousness guarantees they aren't for everyone.

Edited October 4, 2022 by LadyMistDragon

General Roasterock · October 4, 2022

I probably should've been more considerate of the fact that this is the MEGAWAD club, and not the "playing thirty two maps in any order" club, and I apologize on that, but I hope that the theme is worth the unique circumstance. I don't have any experience with Ad Mortem outside of watching miscellaneous stream footage, but I am obsessed with the Wormwoods to the point where it is impossible for me to pass up the opportunity to promote their atmosphere and technology. I'm a bit behind being out of town and only having access to a laptop to play on, so I'll be making up for that soon. Of course, pistol start, going for UV-Max at whim for maps that feel like they're worth it, but ultimately I'm experiencing the entirety of these levels as best I can.

Map 01: Catacombover

There’s a whole lot of difficulty in designing a map with more than a linear navigation. There are a lot more options to consider, a lot more playstyles that might be affected with a wider assortment of possibility in progression combinations. After trying to go for the Blue Skull first, I don’t feel this map fully achieved the balance necessary for that. Perhaps I’m simply handicapped straight to hell for having to play these first maps on a laptop with a mouse, but this is a rough first map for people that have to get used to the new weapons and monsters. You’re either met with running into the outdoor grove with encircling Skellingtons with only bullet weapons, or rummaging around inside the house looking for a gun to appropriately take on a Pain Elemental. The grove itself leads to an incredibly dark stretch of mines, which is the first time I’ve had to mess with my gamma settings in a while.

The guns on their own are a highlight so far. They’re all dripping with aesthetic, helping to assist in the gothic environments with how they look and sound. It feels good to use the tommy gun, or the SSG, they’re incredibly smooth, which is a feat for MBF21 content. The monsters have all had some setting purpose as well. I loved the introduction to the Gargoyles, being backlit by the purple sky, flying through the windows of the house after you open the way to the Red Skull. It's like something out of a cheesy 70s horror film, bleeding with character. The Blue Skull path introduces them too, albeit in a much weaker way, secluded in a dark cave, which I feel is another point against the ability of this map to fully make use of its layout. The introduction of King Boner the Stiff was pretty wild too, unleashing what is essentially a mini Cyberdemon right in front of the player by the exit. His rockets turn hard, and it’s really hard to get around them on the second story of the house. His destructive potential makes me nervous.

There’s a good chunk of map to like here, but it’s rough, constrained, and occasionally a bit clumsy.

brick · October 4, 2022

MAP03 - “Beneath Bloodstone” by Wolpertinger
This is actually a pretty short map but I spent a lot of time trying to get the secrets; eventually I had to give up on the Berserk, I just couldn't figure it out even after looking in an editor. The giant underground cavern is quite cool with the stalactites and the big tanks of blood. Another fun map with cool visuals.

MAP04 - “Pumpkin Delight” by EnragedEggplant
The pumpkin decorations absolutely killed me, they're fantastic, as are the sector art pumpkin patches. I don't know what I expected the music to be to accompany this, but it certainly wasn't a Robbie Williams song that uses a Gloria Gaynor bridge. Another very short map, the combat's nothing special but the little touches are adorable, the Halloween atmosphere is more on the side of "spooky cute" and I love it.

7 hours ago, MacGuffin said:

Just wanted to clear some things up: this is indeed the most up-to-date version of Ad Mortem and I strongly advise everyone to use this link instead of the one in the OP. Apologies for the confusion.

Enjoy the WAD, guys.

If you're involved with the bugfixed versions then thank you and everyone else involved for continuing to make the experience as seamless as possible for us, this is the version that I've been using. I do want to point out that the ZMAPINFO in v4.2 is a bit broken - all references (including music) still point to a MAP16 but all the corresponding lumps have been renamed to MAP33 (which, judging by the txt in older versions, was the original intent anyway), which breaks the last level. It was very easily to fix though, and the UMAPINFO seems perfectly fine. Otherwise the wad seems to work flawless in the latest GZDoom.

And needless to say, I'm definitely enjoying the wad :D

RHhe82 · October 4, 2022

14 minutes ago, brick said:

but I spent a lot of time trying to get the secrets; eventually I had to give up on the Berserk, I just couldn't figure it out even after looking in an editor.

Indeed. I looked it up from a UV-MAX video on Youtube to discover the way to this secret. It goes like this:

Spoiler

You stand on the pumping machine, and drop down there against the wall. There’s a very, very thin ledge you can’t (at least I couldn’t) see. Walk there to reach the berserk platform.

Edited October 4, 2022 by RHhe82

Pseudonaut · October 4, 2022

Map03 (1 rewind, too lazy to count deaths):
I'm guessing you're supposed to know where the secrets are before pistol-starting this one? I didn't enjoy it at all. Not that I can't appreciate ammo starvation as a source of difficulty, but it was only annoying here IMO.

Map04 (A couple of deaths not included in video):
I accidentally loaded this in complevel 2 and wondered why my weapons weren't doing anything. No deaths otherwise. It's easier than the previous map, and I also enjoyed it a lot more. I really like the doomcute pumpkins as well.

The above videos were recorded on an outdated version of the wad, so I took the time to play the maps again in the most recent version. Map02 went more smoothly, but only because I played cautiously (boringly); it seems not to have changed much. With map03, I'm not sure if slightly more ammo was added or if it just played a bit better because I had foreknowledge (still didn't know where two of the secrets were). Basically, my opinions on the maps haven't changed since playing the update.

Here's a max demo for map04:

am04-244.zip

RHhe82 · October 4, 2022

MAP04: Pumpkin Delight. Played on DSDA v0.24, UV, PS. 55/55 K, 2/2 S, 8/8 I. Completion time 7:34.

I downloaded the updated version at this point. Guess I need to replay first three maps so my DoomLauncher application would have full stats D:

Anyway, Pumpkin Delight is a... well, it's a decent map. I would say a bit on the basic (or speedmappy?) side, if not for the delightful (pun intended) sector decoration pumpkins along with adorable cacopumpkins. I take it that the knight with skull missiles has its missiles always homing? Because this time one of them managed to piss me off a bit.

Another annoyance: the pit in the revenant ambush room with SSG. I don't mind the pit lowering once, but it does it on repeat after you've raised it and cleared the room.

My favourite ambush was, of course, the (undamaging) nukage pit onslaught with the Sigil Eyes and the purple key. That was fun.

cannonball · October 4, 2022

MAP04 - “Pumpkin Delight” by EnragedEggplant

Heh, given the musical choices put into wads ranging from heavy metal to Italo disco, I was not expecting a midi version of a track by Robbie Williams......

This map is short but gets decent mileage out of the monsters used. The purple key fight is decently designed and good fun. This is no award winner, but will leave the player satisfied, the doomcute is a nice touch too.

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