Secret maps vs bonus maps?

[natashanightmare]

What is the doom community's general definition of the difference between a secretmap and a bonusmap in pwads? We all know that secret map= has a hidden alternate exit in another map in the wad. But my understanding of a bonus map is that it has to be reached via commands like warping to it via console. but i have seen maps being called bonus maps but have a exit leading to them in another map in the wad. can map33 be reached from map32 in vanilla/boom wads? (I'm somewhat new to doom so i may be wrong, but i still feel like this is a relevant question :) ) 

[Devalaous]

Bonus maps tend to be where they are due to hardcoded limitations; Doom 2 technically has psuedo-support for Map 33, 34 and 35 due to there being 35 music tracks, and bonus maps take advantage of it by being a hidden map that can only be played via warping. The only way to integrate them into the regular level progression is with various xINFO standards, as they override the original hardcoded 32 maps.

 

These days almost every popular port has some kind of xINFO support, so it would be nice if people started making the bonus maps a little more user-friendly to access; in my quality of life patches, I generally offer two methods to reach them; adding them after Map 32, or adding them as a selectable option on the menu when starting a new game. Not many people I know enjoy command line or typing in cheats, doesn't feel very..'organic'

 

The main difference between 'secret' maps and 'bonus' maps is that secrets are intended to be reached normally and are often designed with continuous play in mind; they will usually be oddball maps with gimmicks, maps that didnt fit in anywhere else, or even crazy difficult challenges. Bonus maps on the other hand are often orphaned maps that were cut, bite-sized challenges, maps intended to be pistol-started, etc, as finishing these levels in the original exe tends to crash the engine

[Celestin]

Another way of handling bonus maps is to put them into a separate file that has to be loaded alongside the main .wad file. Memento Mori 2 is the oldest example of this, the more recent ones are Rowdy Rudy 2 and Ray Mohawk 2.

[natashanightmare]

I just happened to find a secret exit on map 32 on the wad i'm playing now and it sent me to map33, so that is atleast possible in boom

[Devalaous]

12 hours ago, natashanightmare said:

I just happened to find a secret exit on map 32 on the wad i'm playing now and it sent me to map33, so that is atleast possible in boom

 

It is likely using UMAPINFO to define an exit to Map 33, the only way to reach Map 33 in some ports is via Map 2, and thats via support for Doom 2 BFG Edition, which still has the Betray map in it, and the secret exit in Underhalls (which doesn't function in most ports, including BFG Edition itself))

[Faceman2000]

14 hours ago, Devalaous said:

These days almost every popular port has some kind of xINFO support

*Glares at Crispy Doom*

[Devalaous]

15 minutes ago, Faceman2000 said:

*Glares at Crispy Doom*

 

It actually has probably the best support for bonus slots out of the xINFOless ports, it properly reads maps past Map 32, doesn't crash when they are exited, and by editing Plutonia's DEHACKED strings in a BEX patch, you can have Crispy define their map names. You just cant integrate them into a campaign or make them selectable (unless you add a secret exit to Map 2, in which case Map 33 will work). Your also stuck with the default music tracks for the 33, 34 and 35 slots. Map 36 didn't crash in Crispy when I tested it in my Good Morning Phobos patch, I dont recall if it had music though (IDMUS exists anyway)

[LadyMistDragon]

Yeah....my knowledge of bonus maps mainly comes from their placement at the end of a wad for whatever odd reason, particularly when it comes to Rowdy Rudy 2 and Ray Mohawk 2, which each have limit-removing maps at the end that exceeded the project's original vanilla limitations. Or in the case of something like Combat Shock 2, exists as a way to blow off steam or just show what other sort of things a particular mapper is working on.