ABSCISSION - Dark, Atmospheric Doom II Megawad [32 Vanilla Maps] Now On IdGames!

[Captain Keen]

18 minutes ago, ebrl said:

There is already a pretty big disclaimer tho?

I mean, multiple people have brought it up, so something is getting lost in translation. I was actually surprised it didn’t work in DOOM Retro which is my preferred port for “vanilla” gameplay, as I was under the impression that it used vanilla settings. This really isn’t that contentious of an issue.

[Doomkid]

For what it's worth, playing this in -complevel 2 isn't enough depending on the port. When it comes to weird-ass vanilla bugs and stuff, if you have any "Do not emulate" options ticked in DSDA-Doom for example, it will break the way the map is meant to function.

 

This is a personal thing but I hate Map33s in general and am happy that 32 is a weird gimmick that can easily be skipped if the port for some reason can't or won't play the vanilla way.

[Clippy]

U do good work Snax I cant wait to play more. Keep focus on the majority who knows how fantastic this set is. Can't please everyone such is life someone will complain about something silly lol. 

 

I'm immensely impressed with how fast you made something so creative unique and I find inspiring and I hope has long standing in the community

 

Kudos🍗

[Rudolph]

58 minutes ago, ebrl said:

There is already a pretty big disclaimer tho?

Well, vanilla can also mean no custom assets involved.

[Doomkid]

This isn't the place to debate what vanilla means. The way Map32 works is now well and truly known, no need to digress further.

[TheShep]

My VODs, will be updating as I finish the wad.

 

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1795797233

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1795797933 (apologies to getting stressed in this one about the strict vanilla compatibility which has been a trending topic in this thread long after I played the map(s) in question, heh)

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1800792060 (more color commentary at times but a lot of issues with ammo starvation, also was still playing on RC1 so maybe some of this had been fixed)

 

Edited April 22, 2023 by TheShep
added 3rd and final vod

[HorseJockey]

I'm three levels in so far and wanted to say that I'm really enjoying these. I'm not ashamed to say that the very first shotgun trap got me. I ran back thinking I could get up onto the starting area only to realise it's too high, thus trapping myself between the wall and the broken walkway. I'm enjoying that the traps aren't difficult just because a ton of baddies are thrown at you. Your OST is awesome as well. I am playing with the mp3 wad and really love the atmosphere it adds. Looking forward to playing more. 

 

Question about compatibility, I have been playing on prboom+ and haven't changed any of the default settings. Does anyone know if this will break things, do I need to change any of those defaults?

Edited April 17, 2023 by HorseJockey

[Snaxalotl]

20 hours ago, HorseJockey said:

I'm three levels in so far and wanted to say that I'm really enjoying these. I'm not ashamed to say that the very first shotgun trap got me. I ran back thinking I could get up onto the starting area only to realise it's too high, thus trapping myself between the wall and the broken walkway. I'm enjoying that the traps aren't difficult just because a ton of baddies are thrown at you. Your OST is awesome as well. I am playing with the mp3 wad and really love the atmosphere it adds. Looking forward to playing more. 

 

Question about compatibility, I have been playing on prboom+ and haven't changed any of the default settings. Does anyone know if this will break things, do I need to change any of those defaults?

Nothing would break, the only maps that really use vanilla quirks are the secret levels. 31 is intended with ghost monsters on but works just fine without it enabled, and 32 uses the intercept overflow bug which can be reenabled in dsda/woof so I'm pretty sure there will also be a setting in prboom+. If not enabled the level can still be exited without any issue.

[Scuba Steve]

I love projects like abscission because it defies conventional mapping techniques. I'm reminded of Doom Zero; made by an outsider and full of unique platforming mechanics and unusual traps.

[FrogInABox]

Found this randomly, and WOW it's really good.
It reminds me of SIGIL a lot, with the atmosphere complementing the fiendish level design, shaky footing, and fiendish traps- but a lot less punishing.
Map 6 is my favorite so far, currently at Map 9.

[Rudolph]

22 hours ago, Scuba Steve said:

I love projects like abscission because it defies conventional mapping techniques.

What do you mean by that?

[bulldawg8879]

I like it quite a bit but its getting a bit too difficult for me. on map 11 now and damn

[Rudolph]

Speaking of MAP11, is there a way out of the deep slime pits once you fall into them?

 

Oh, and on an unrelated topic, the "solution" to MAP15's Plasma Rifle secret is hilarious! :P

Edited April 21, 2023 by Rudolph

[Keyboard_Doomer]

After finishing the wad on TNS here's the full report that turned out be quite long (mostly because of nitpicks)
Featuring:
    - some multiplayer issues mostly discovered by boom_compatible (thanks!)
    - a few softlocks
    - some very nitpicky misalignments that I just happened to notice which you can definitely ignore

 

 

MAP06:
    - crossing lines 950/969 closes the path to the red card area with bars (sectors with tag 17/18) blocking players from progressing
MAP08:
    - crossing line 880 closes access to the red skull area with bars (sectors with tag 20) blocking players from progressing
MAP13:
    - Sectors 197, 632 and 633 are damaging, I assume unintentionally. On the other hand sectors 106 and 153 probably should be made damaging because the big pit the blood flows into is damaging.
    - missing texture on the back side of line 2011
MAP14:
    - a loose archvile could get a player stuck in the northeastern part of the map (next to sector 70)
MAP15:
    - possible to get stuck between lines 633 and 2557 by going into the corner there
    - in multiplayer players can get stuck at the start and in the area with the plasma gun (thing 196) because of line 1268 raising all the tag 12 sectors
MAP16:
    - crossing line 804 lowers sector 117 which makes any players that are in the area with the blue door stuck inside the building
MAP19:
    - HOMs (mostly really tiny ones) in several places because of sector 560:
        -> on the 3 steps (sectors 140, 323 and 559) in the area from both the west and east side (doesn't show up too well on screenshots)
        -> lines 2438 and 2456
        -> on both the west and east side where it touches sector 117
        -> also weird visual effect when looking at line 1291 from certain angles although I'm guessing it's actually because of a missing texture on line 2453
    - a cacodemon (thing 94) is turned towards the wall so it doesn't wake up until you shoot
    - chaingun and clip in sector 128 float after the sector is lowered
    - small misalignments on lines 1605 and 1629 (line 1639 is aligned with the rest of the room)
    - very nitpicky: lines 925 and 927 are not aligned with line 926 after sector 227 is raised
MAP20:
    - from what I can see there's no way to get to the northern area of the map so it's impossible to get 2 soulspheres (things 59 and 109)
MAP21:
    - tutti frutti on line 1970
MAP22:
    - Lift to the red key (thing 76) fails to be raised if the lift is lowered and line 656 pressed at the wrong time. You could just make line 656 a repeatable switch.
    - small misalignment on line 403
MAP23:
    - the yellow door is D1 and can be closed again from the previous area
    - crossing line 1450 closes the path with sector 231 (tag 10) blocking players from progressing
    - After sector 231 is reopened line 590 and 593 end up misaligned because they're not lower unpegged. However, you'll need to readjust the offsets after lower unpegging the lines.
MAP24:
    - players can get stuck in sectors 57/810
MAP25:
    - crossing line 1368 closes the final area with bars (tag 8) blocking players in the previous area from progressing
MAP26:
    - crossing lines 943/1454/1455 closes the bath with bars (tag 6) Blocking players in the previous area from progressing
    - seems like sector 366 is accidentally marked as damaging
    - tutti frutti on line 696 (also looks weird in some source ports that fixed tutti frutti)
MAP27:
    - crossing line 596 closes the start area blocking players from progressing
MAP28:
    - misalignments on lines 1542 and 2523 because they're not lower unpegged
    - a lot of small misalignments if you drop down from the red bridge in the southeastern part of the map
MAP29:
    - sector 126 lowers low into the ground after line 996 is pressed so it's possible to fall into it and get stuck in it (and there are also HOMs inside)
    - also possible to get stuck by falling into sector 136
MAP30:
    - crossing line 3576 closes the start area blocking players from progressing
    - misalignments on the stairs next to the BFG (thing 291), from the other side only on line 3790

And a couple more things:
in MAP25-MAP32 player 2-4 starts are placed only for UV and Nightmare
I didn't really write down in which maps but some tracks are really quiet to the point that I can't even tell there's any music even when I have the music at twice the volume of the in-game sounds.

Edited April 22, 2023 by Keyboard_Doomer

[Rudolph]

I have a question: is it possible to access MAP31 from MAP15 in GZDoom?

 

I am currently missing two secrets right now: the secret exit and the area that, at least according to the automap, is blocked by a wall with a green armor in front of it.

[brick]

31 minutes ago, Rudolph said:

I have a question: is it possible to access MAP31 from MAP15 in GZDoom?

 

I am currently missing two secrets right now: the secret exit and the area that, at least according to the automap, is blocked by a wall with a green armor in front of it.

I don't remember the green armour wall but the secret exit is definitely accessible in GZDoom 4.10.

Spoiler

There's a very narrow ledge in the southeast-most room that goes over the lava from near the blue door and gets you the secret with the berserk. From here, another narrow ledge will take you to where the secret exit is. Access is initially blocked, it just looks like a metal pillar, you'll need to enter the normal exit and have the wall there lower all the way, this will also lower the wall around the secret exit. The hint is that they are both the same texture.

 

Edited April 22, 2023 by brick

[Rudolph]

Thanks! I guess that must be all the official secrets. I still have not figured out how to get to the area on the other side of the lava pit, though.

 

Bug report: In MAP15, there is one Arachnotron that refuses to teleport out of its spawning room.

Edited April 22, 2023 by Rudolph

[Keyboard_Doomer]

Somehow I completely forgot to mention a big one:
In MAP29 if you lower any of the 3 bridges in the south a large HOM on each side is revealed (missing textures on lines 3378, 3381, 3383, 3398, 3401, 3402 and 3405).
 

[Firedust]

Map 15: sector 255 arachnotron closet is broken.

 

Map 32: I am confused. I shoot the first switch and the switch on the back of it is the exit switch? Have I missed a trick?

Map 16: The skull switch in the starting area doesn't change animation upon activation. Same issue with the skull switch behind the red door.

Edited April 30, 2023 by Firedust

[TJG1289]

I finished this last night. Absolutely stellar stuff here! Easily the best Doom II reimagining I've played. I loved going through each map and seeing an area that I could tell was an interpolation of that Doom II map. Maps were a lot tougher than the IWAD too, with many of them having some nasty bite to them. But my favorite part was the atmosphere. I can't think of another WAD that was this foreboding. Despite only using stock textures, the lighting and general map design were able to use them in a way that made these maps unsettling. The ambient soundtrack also helped in this regard. The only other WAD that I've played that unsettled me in this way before was Three's A Crowd, but even that was different. That WAD just felt like Hell had made you its plaything. This WAD's eeriness comes from its unnatural locations. Great stuff!

 

(And even though I played through this is GZDoom and wasn't able to experience them the intended way, those secret maps are pretty cool, especially map 32.)

[Firedust]

I am done! 

Despite this mapset not being THAT much harder than Doom 2 imo (Plutonia is more difficult for sure), Abscission feels hauntingly oppressive and suffocating, courtesy of the impeccable lighting and the spooky droney soundtrack accompanying every level. If anyone has ever wondered what Doom 2 would've felt like had it been a full-on horror experience, this megawad is the answer for sure.

Wilster and Snax collab next? ;)

Or is the race still on?

[DoctorNuriel]

These maps are phenomenal!

[Not Jabba]

3 hours ago, Firedust said:

Wilster and Snax collab next? ;)

Or is the race still on?

Now they each have to make a Doom 3 megawad.

Edited May 2, 2023 by Not Jabba

[LVENdead]

 

Video of the final stretch of Abscission.

 

Wow, what a dark and wild ride this was. It's hard to collect ALL my thoughts given I played this spread out over a few months, but I can say that it was a visceral and very unique experience, and I've played a lot of Doom. The easiest comparison to make is probably to Doom 64, but only in the emotions and tone it evokes - presentation and gameplay are in my opinion miles ahead. To take something as "known" as Doom 2 and put what I'd call a relatively novel spin on it at this point is impressive, and doubly so because it actually nails the execution.

 

There is a lot of wisdom and careful intent in how original aspects of the Doom 2 source maps carry their influence into yours. Between noticeably similar monster arrangements, visual setpieces, traps, or even progressions, you seem to have adroitly carried over and improved what worked, and discarded what didn't. That is to say, some maps bare very little resemblance to their iWad counterparts, and others are much closer to "the Dark World version", and in my experience always for the better. 

 

I did find myself frustrated more frequently in the final stretch of the maps, but I also find this acceptable given Abscission's overall tone and the expectations it had set up to that point, and the fact that you would just naturally expect that kind of escalation toward the climax anyway. I have certainly played far harder wads, but I think these can be more than challenging enough under certain circumstances.

 

Overall, for what SEEMED to start as "Stickney but for Doom 2" this really took on a life of its own and, I'm sorry to say, kind of left Stickney in the dust. What's most impressive is how you seem to be such a very calculated and poised mapper with such a high rate of productivity and how you can express it so naturally in your work. This mapset exudes confidence in its style and execution, and certainly stakes a claim among the most memorable that I've played.

 

It was a pleasure to take a dive into your twisted world and to watch your progress as you developed this WAD, and I'm eager to see what you do next :)

 

-Your old pal

 

 

[Snaxalotl]

I have returned with another lengthy list of fixes, most of which are centered around coop thanks to a very helpful list @Keyboard_Doomer had brought to my attention! With these changes in place the wad is now in RC3.

The bulk of fixes in this release include texture alignments and fixes for coop softlocks. Thanks again for all the feedback :>


 

Edited May 5, 2023 by Snaxalotl

[Snaxalotl]

On 4/30/2023 at 11:03 AM, Firedust said:

Map 15: sector 255 arachnotron closet is broken.

 

Map 32: I am confused. I shoot the first switch and the switch on the back of it is the exit switch? Have I missed a trick?

Map 16: The skull switch in the starting area doesn't change animation upon activation. Same issue with the skull switch behind the red door.

The Arachnotron has been fixed finally.

Map32 uses the intercept overflow bug in vanilla doom. That exit switch only works if the overflow bug doesn't happen to make sure the level is still at least beatable in every sourceport.

And with map16 I wasn't able to replicate the switch not animating.

[EffinghamHuffnagel]

Been working my way through this. Just got to MAP16. In MAP16, the tag 2 switch not animating is a ZDoom issue. ZDoom animates in order, upper switches, then lower switches, then mid-texture ones. That switch has SW1MARB on mid and lower, so it animates the unseen lower before the visible mid. I assume the second switch has the same issue. You just need to remove the lower switch textures. FYI: GZDoom used to have this issue also but fixed it; now animating upper, mid and lower in that order.

[Clippy]

It's good to be back to making vids and especially to come back and finish this mapset! 3 more vids to come

 

super good times!

 

 

[eltiolavara9]

i would like to award this wad the highest honor i can bestow, the "will replay this without gameplay mods or anything"

great use of stock textures and big fan of the ambient music (which imo works much better for long maps, there's only so much metal midis in loop that a man can take)

Edited May 29, 2023 by eltiolavara9
redundancy removed because it was silly

[Alaux]

Well, I've edited this post twice already, I guess I'll rewrite it with shorter summaries.

HOM on Map11:

Spoiler

This door on Map12 can be opened without the yellow key, and I assume it should require said key:

Spoiler

At the beginning of Map13, there's this little bit of sky visible that I assume shouldn't be there. Also, the map's title is missing a colon which other map titles do have from what I've seen:

Spoiler

 

Edited May 30, 2023 by Alaux