What is a mega wad

[Jepsi]

I keep hearing the term mega wad and I was wondering what is the meaning of a mega wad?

[nolongeramnion]

megawad means a wad that replaces all 32 maps

 

[Guff dotD]

I've heard the term being used for sets that replace more than 15 maps.

i.e.

Quote

AUGER;ZENITH is a Doom II megawad for limit removing ports...

- doomwiki.org page for AUGER;ZENITH

Edited September 22, 2023 by Guff dotD

[Devalaous]

Its basically a catch-all term for wads big enough to replace half the game, two episodes or more for Doom 1, 15 maps or more for Doom 2. Its why John Romero labelled Sigil as a megawad initially, as there was two sets of nine maps, but since the DM maps were inside the singleplayer maps, it technically was incorrect.

[DoomPlayer00]

Wads that replace majority of the base levels are considered megawads.

 

Widely accepted minimum level count for a wad to be considered a "megawad" is 15 maps.

[Ravendesk]

It is one thousand kilowads.

[Herr Dethnout]

Is a wad with a size in Mega Bytes.

Your Welcome. :v

[Monocled]

5 minutes ago, Herr Dethnout said:

Is a wad with a size in Mega Bytes.

Your Welcome. :v

That would make MyHouse a megawad

[Maribo]

Some more miscellaneous context: 15 maps is the minimum count for a Doom 2 PWAD to get placed in the megawads directory on idgames, rather than one of the alphabetical directories.

Edited September 22, 2023 by Maribo

[Catpho]

The answer is mentioned above (wad >= 15 levels). Usually, the definitions of common community jargon can be found by searching the Doom wiki (e.g. Megawad).

[Cutman 999]

A wad with 32 level replacements. 

 

the end.

Edited September 22, 2023 by Cutman 999

[Cutman 999]

1 hour ago, Guff dotD said:

I've heard the term being used for sets that replace more than 15 maps.

i.e.

- doomwiki.org page for AUGER;ZENITH

I remember romero promoting sigil as a megawad, LMAO.

[BeachThunder]

3 minutes ago, Cutman 999 said:

I remember romero promoting sigil as a megawad, LMAO.

Pfft, what would that guy know about Doom??

[bowserknight]

What is a megawad?

A miserable little pile of maps!

 

No but seriously, I actually also thought megawad means a wad that replaces all 32 maps of Doom 2. Seems like it's more open to interpretation. As the others pointed out already.

[Devalaous]

4 minutes ago, Cutman 999 said:

I remember romero promoting sigil as a megawad, LMAO.

 

53 minutes ago, Devalaous said:

Its why John Romero labelled Sigil as a megawad initially, as there was two sets of nine maps, but since the DM maps were inside the singleplayer maps, it technically was incorrect.

 

*cough*

[Lucius Wooding]

I think it's silly to claim it's 32 maps or bust. I think 15 is an appropriate threshold from a practical standpoint, and I don't like to be elitist if someone wants to label their work a megawad; I'd rather play something of high quality and without filler that's merely episode length than pressure people to pad out their sets. 32 is usually what's expected from the term but many good WADs like BTSX:E1 had fewer than that, as well as including cutscene/hub maps for example. Yet I don't hear many people claiming it isn't a megawad, and if they do then nobody gives a flying fuck. Also its releases are labeled "episodes" which normally represents 5-10 maps, not 20+. Labels like these shouldn't really constrain anything from a creative or presentation standpoint.

 

Also bear in mind that The Ultimate Doom was an IWAD that had 36 maps, more than Doom 2 or either of the Final Doom WADs. Should we then disown anything with 35 or fewer maps?

[Jepsi]

Thanks guys

[bowserknight]

How would you call wads that have only around 10 maps? For example, stardate 20x6? I think it's below 10 actually, but in my opinion, the maps are substantial enough that you could still call it a megawad. Or something like 10x10, which has 11 maps?

 

In my opinion, as long as the wad has a decent amount of maps and it feels like a complete experience (like having an actual final map), it deserves to be called a megawad.

[Catpho]

1 minute ago, bowserknight said:

How would you call wads that have only around 10 maps? For example, stardate 20x6? I think it's below 10 actually, but in my opinion, the maps are substantial enough that you could still call it a megawad. Or something like 10x10, which has 11 maps?

 

In my opinion, as long as the wad has a decent amount of maps and it feels like a complete experience (like having an actual final map), it deserves to be called a megawad.

"Megawad" as a term is not used to describe quality. It merely states the size of the wad. The word you are looking for is episode replacement, or simply "episode".

[LadyMistDragon]

It's weird. Sacrament has 14 maps which means it falls just short of the generally-accepted definition. Personally, that's a case where it might as well be called a megawad. 10 maps does seem just a little too few though.

[VoanHead]

What would the inverse be of a megawad? Like what would you call a pwad that falls short on 10 or under 10 maps, a miniwad?

[spineapple tea]

Y'all are complicating things more than you have to. Call it a WAD if doesn't feel like a megawad, call it a megawad if it does. Hell, just call everything a WAD.

Edited September 22, 2023 by spineapple tea

[baja blast rd.]

A small wad that is too short to be considered a Gigawad. 

[Devalaous]

36 minutes ago, VoanHead said:

What would the inverse be of a megawad? Like what would you call a pwad that falls short on 10 or under 10 maps, a miniwad?

 

 

Ive been calling anything from 2 to 14 maps a miniwad for a long time

[Egg Boy]

Generally I consider anything under 15 maps an episode and anything above a megawad, if you want to get more semantical, I usually call anything under 5 maps a “mini-sode”