Doom mods for a newcomer

[Cosmic79]

I recently stumbled upon a Doom mod called myhouse.wad which was unexpectedly good. Even though it's not a conventional Doom experience, it made me more interested about revisiting some of the classic shooters I was too young to experience and have, for the most part, skipped entirely. I don't know why I haven't done this before, but it's better late than never I guess.

 

From classic or so-called "boomer-shooters" I have only played the original Doom, so I don't have a lot of experience with the vanilla games. Before getting into the series, I'd like to know if there are any mods that I should try out as well. I'd also like to know if there are more unconventional mods like myhouse.wad that I should try out.

 

Thank you in advance.

[Biodegradable]

1 minute ago, Cosmic79 said:

I don't have a lot of experience with the vanilla games.

 

I'd finish what you started and move on to Doom 2 at the very least before you dive into the deep end of community-made WADs, personally. If you'd rather just jump head-first into it all though, start off with the award-winning stuff curated in the Cacowards section. Alternatively, you can tell us more about the kind of content you want to play and the community will throw plenty of suggestions your way in terms of theme or gameplay style.

[RataUnderground]

Remember: There is nothing wrong with playing on low difficulties. The cacowards list is usually a display of advanced content made by veterans, and the high difficulties are usually well above what is tolerable for a novice player. Don't let that discourage you.

[Cosmic79]

Thanks, I'll check the cacowards section out.

 

To be more specific, I'd like to play mods that aren't total overhauls, just cool maps based on regular doom gameplay. Or unconventional mods that aren't centered around shooting/moving, like myhouse.wad.

 

Is there anything I should know beforehand before I play the vanilla Doom 2? Is it the same deal as Doom 1?

[Vladguy]

1 hour ago, Cosmic79 said:

Is there anything I should know beforehand before I play the vanilla Doom 2? Is it the same deal as Doom 1?

Basically, yeah. Except with extra content, including the Super Shotgun.

The map designs are more open though, so take note of that.

[Azuris]

4 hours ago, Cosmic79 said:

Thanks, I'll check the cacowards section out.

 

To be more specific, I'd like to play mods that aren't total overhauls, just cool maps based on regular doom gameplay. Or unconventional mods that aren't centered around shooting/moving, like myhouse.wad.

 

Is there anything I should know beforehand before I play the vanilla Doom 2? Is it the same deal as Doom 1?

 

Another Tipp, many put in the Description if Difficulties are implemented.

So take those that have done it, as you'll have more Fun with Maps that are made for everyone, as those that are done for some very advanced Players.

 

Also, test out Plutonia -> it has a different Playstyle as the original ID Wads and it can ne very dividing

I personally absolutly dislike its trial and Error Approach, others love it

But often People mimik it and put it in the Description, so you know beforehead if you dislike it or not :)

 

 

[Rudolph]

I would call myhouse.wad a mapset rather than a mod.

 

As far as mods are concerned, I would recommend big-fixing/quality-of-life improvement ones, like Night Fright's Fullscreen Status Bar, Jaxoon R's Sound Caulking and one of the many blood color correction mods that you can easily find out there. As for gameplay mods, these days, I mostly swear by Final Doomer+, although bear in mind that this one is not compatible with the Fullscreen Status Bar.

[Biodegradable]

22 hours ago, Cosmic79 said:

To be more specific, I'd like to play mods that aren't total overhauls, just cool maps based on regular doom gameplay.

 

Thanks to the community's creative output, that description is still a little vague! How about themes? You looking explore Aztec temples? Cyberpunk cities? Egyptian tombs? Tell us more!

Edited June 11, 2023 by Biodegradable

[thomasthetankengine]

play a few classic doom mods if you havent already. people have been modding doom since 1994, so there's lots of classic doom wads to be found!
a few of my personal favourites are ultimate simpsons doom, batman doom and sonic 2 bots on mobius. however you may have to use a classic source port like chocolate doom or crispy doom instead of a more modern port like gzdoom for these classic wads to run properly.
you can also see doomkid's videos on classic doom wads
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEdyOuXHlm0 (part 1)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FrMGdgGZYI (part 2)

[DeafPixel]

Adding on to what others have said, I highly reccomend playing through at least some of Plutonia on Hurt me Plenty or Ultra Violence after Doom II, because its difficulty and level design tropes inspired a lot of modern mapsets and playing it will make you better equipped for the community's design preferences

[Cosmic79]

1 hour ago, Biodegradable said:

 

Thanks to the community's creative output, that description is still a little vague! How about themes? You looking explore Aztec temples? Cyberpunk cities? Egyptian tombs? Tell us more!

 

First of all, thanks for the recommendations. As for the setting, I'm more interested on contemporary/futuristic settings with cleaner visuals that are less grim compared to the original Doom's theme. Diabolus Ex is basically the theme I'm looking for.

 

I started with the vanilla doom 2 before getting into the mods to see how the original game plays and it's been a fun ride so far. It's nothing like the more modern shooters I'm accustomed with (you don't even have to reload your weapons!) but I like it. It plays like the original Doom, which is nice.

 

Not to bring too many topics on a single thread, but what lighting mode do you use for Doom 2 on GZDoom? I'm more inclined towards the Bright/Legacy settings because they are brighter, but is this how the original game looked like? Should I go with "Doom", instead?

[Gez]

23 hours ago, Cosmic79 said:

Is there anything I should know beforehand before I play the vanilla Doom 2? Is it the same deal as Doom 1?

Mostly, the main difference is that instead of three (or four, in Ultimate Doom) short episodes of 8 levels (+1 secret), it's a single long 30 maps (+2 secret) campaign. Also there's new enemies, a new weapon, a new powerup, and so on; but if you've played through MyHouse you've probably met them (as well as several custom stuff that aren't part of the original games).

 

On samedi 10 juin 2023 at 11:59 AM, Cosmic79 said:

Or unconventional mods that aren't centered around shooting/moving, like myhouse.wad.

For unconventional mods, I'd recommend Jumpwad (a sort of movement puzzle), The Given (a puzzle, about as close as you can get to Myst in Doom really) or Moonlight (like The Given, but more complex, you'll need a notebook to solve this one, because you kind of have to decipher a made-up language).

 

1 hour ago, Cosmic79 said:

Not to bring too many topics on a single thread, but what lighting mode do you use for Doom 2 on GZDoom? I'm more inclined towards the Bright/Legacy settings because they are brighter, but is this how the original game looked like? Should I go with "Doom", instead?

The names are a bit confusing (long story short, for a long time it was not really possible to faithfully replicate the look of software in OpenGL, and as technology evolved, new lighting modes were added that provided a closer approximation) but you should go with "vanilla" or "software" if you want a more accurate look. The "Doom" mode was written before shaders were widely available.

 

Also "Legacy" is aimed to replicate the look of another source port (an old version of Doom Legacy, this was needed to play a particular mod made for this port IIRC) and "Build" is made to replicate the look of the Build engine games (like Duke Nukem 3D), so those modes do not try to be close to what Doom is meant to look like.

[DoomPlayer00]

I recommend beating Doom 2 before checking out community content. The game familiarizes you with the vanilla gameplay and introduces you to the expanded enemy roster who you'll be fighting on pretty much every Doom wad.

 

Then, if you enjoyed regular gameplay of Doom, check out:

• Memento Mori 1 / 2: Older wads from the 90's but they're beginner friendly (at least in my opinion) and the difficulty's close to Doom 2's.
• Back To Saturn X (Both episodes). My personal favorites of all time when it comes to mapsets, difficulty flows a little (some maps are very easy, some are hard. Secret maps are very difficult.)
• Escalation Titan. 6-map wad. Very easy but still fairly enjoyable.

 

Cacowards has all kinds of content from mapsets to gameplay mods:

https://www.doomworld.com/10years/bestwads/

 

Community mapping projects often include fun twists to Doom's gameplay or tend to center around certain themes or rulesets that mappers have to follow:

https://doomwiki.org/wiki/Community_project

 

If you're looking for something that modifies gameplay I recommend:

• Supercharge

Includes new monsters and weapons and removes features like damage rolls from Doom. Gameplay is much more fluid and demons are more aggressive. Thread includes links to addons as well as mapsets using the mod.

 

• Metadoom

A gameplay mod that includes stuff from every Doom and mashes them together into a randomizer.

 

• Skulldash

You run around in maps collecting coins under a time limit.

 

This thread mentions some surreal stuff similar to myHouse.wad:

 

Edited June 11, 2023 by DoomPlayer00
Added more text to comment

[ItsPower303]

I'm a newcomer too but I've just been playing random popular megawads on a low difficulty and that's working out just fine for me. I recommend Doom the way id did if you want to play something on ultra violence though as it's pretty tame, fun, and pretty vanilla flavoured.

[erzboesewicht]

A good "oldie" with (partly) unconventional and not too hard gameplay is Eternal Doom (not to be confused with Doom Eternal!). It's a mix of futuristic and medieval maps, with lots of mysteries and puzzles, some a little bit similar to MyHouse's style, but more abstract, with less lore and horror elements. It has even a MyHouse-styled map: MAP31 Monster Mansion (of course not a clone of the 2023 wad, but the MyHouse style was a very popular map theme in the 90s) which has even some architectonic similarities to the brutalist part of MyHouse and lots of Doomcute and very nice and unconventional puzzles and interactive elements.

 

Of course also Grove by BPRD has to be mentioned, another old but unconventional adventure-style wad, MyHouse made me remember this one a bit, even if I never finished it :(

 

A bit harder (but easy on HNTR) but also really cool is Finely Crafted Fetish Film, one of my favourites, with a mix of unconventional combat-oriented and puzzle maps. The last map is ... a thing :)

 

Last year I started a thread about really unconventional Doom maps/wads, some are a lot of fun!