Modified or extended versions of maps from IWADS like Plutonia MAP32

[NoWits]

TL;DR - My favourite is IDBEST.wad (see below for a pic of the map). What's yours from somewhere other than Plutonia or Maximum Doom?

 

I've always been a fan of WADs with modified versions of the maps from the original IWADs. Especially those that add extra bits that connect different parts of the map together. I used to (and still do) have recurring dreams of finding extra rooms or hidden passageways in places I know in real life. Maybe that ties into it on a subconscious level or some bollocks like that. Anyhoo, I know this is somewhat of a taboo subject on the old Doomworld because of the IWADs being copyrighted content or whatever. I know at least that modded IWAD maps are purged from idgames, so can be less than easy to find. For this reason, most of the ones I know of are from Maximum Doom (which isn't too difficult to find an archive of online buy an authentic CD copy of, if you're so inclined).

 

It seems most of them are based on E1M1 or MAP01, usually for deathmatch purposes (they're the first map that most people see, and are fun and tight DM levels after all). It's cool running through the old familiar levels you know inside and out and coming across new passageways or unfamiliar twists and takes. Some are, of course, better executed than others.

 

One that immediately springs to mind is SUPER1.wad, better known as the first map of DWANGO1.wad:

Spoiler

There are plenty of others in the same vein - LEV01EXT.wad ("Level 01, The extended version"), the rather crude BILL.wad (MAP01 of DWANGO2), HELLYEAH.wad, FIGHT.wad, MEGA!.wad (MAP07 of DWANGO4), and last but not least MAP01 of #1DWANGO.wad. This last one in particular felt notably cosy to me somehow, not only connecting the two courtyards of MAP01 with an additional room, but its reskin of MAP01 from green 'n' brown American-McGee-base to Episode-1-COMPbase and cuddly major-chord-laden rendition of Head Like A Hole. Anyway... there's also that clinically insane rendition of map01 from gothic99 (which is more a whole new level that just happens to retain a similar shape to map01), plus GO2IT from Plutonia and that one from dwango5 that everyone knows about.

 

It's interesting to see each author's take on the extra bits to be added to the humble MAP01. Some of them differ extravagantly, while some of them are remarkably similar - in particular, several of them feature an extra copy of the 'health bonus room' branching off left from the hallway after the initial triangular stairway ('fun' fact, I played so many of these MAP01 mods back in the day that I forgot the original actual real MAP01 didn't even have that branch in the hallway. Doi!).

 

On the E1M1 side... we of course have the old classic E3M9: Warrens. The id guys already knew of the excitement and wonder that comes from extra bits being revealed in areas where you thought you'd already seen it all. Apart from that, the only examples I know are, once again, from Maximum Doom. There are plenty of e1m1 'remixes' not worth mentioning, where they just change the textures and things (possibly before node editors were invented) - apart from one, E1M1OSKU.wad, where you start from the exit and have to make your way to the entrance. Wacky!

 

Out of the proper Doom 1 remixes, there are at least a couple that are actually for Doom 2 - MAP05 from #1DWANGO, with a few extra rooms and passageways here and there, and the imaginatively named E1M1.wad, with quite the same. Oh yeah, this one doesn't really count but I thought I'd include it for '''''completeness''''' - MAP32 of Doom 2 X-TREME, a conglomerate of all the final levels from Doom 1. A boss battle clipshow, if you will.

 

I'll get these ones out of the way, as they were a curiosity for single-digit-age Nowits but really no more than that... RIP4 and RIP6, which feature Two Clones of E1M1 and E3M1 respectively, again with a hidden passageway connecting the two (the readme indicates these are an anti-screenpeeking measure, as when you're playing deathmatch against your 'buddy' sitting next to you, if either of you glances at the other's screen to see where he is, you won't know which copy of the map they're on! Oh, the thrills that ensue! I suppose people were more easily amused in 1994, but really we shouldn't tease - it must've been jolly good fun at the time).

 

Then there's the more imaginative - the slightly extended E2M9 from GGDEATH!.wad, the very curious MOO.wad and the cyberdemon-laden RALPHII.wad (MAP03 from DWANGO2).

 

I've saved the best for last... as a modified IWAD map lover, when I came across this on the old Maximum Doom CD I thought I'd hit the jackpot. IDBEST.wad, an ingenious conglomeration of E1M1, E1M2, E1M3, E1M4 and E1M5! That's right:

Spoiler

 

Now, with all the nostrilgic ranting out of the way, let's look towards the future (and by future, I mean the past beyond 1995). Anyone have any more modern examples of modified or extended versions of levels from the original DOOM? Perhaps you know of or have made an unholy mergation of all or some of the maps from Episode(s) 2 and/or 3? Maybe you've come across a level in Maximum Doom that's even crazier than the ones I've mentioned above, or some WAD on the internet that extends the infamous Tricks and Traps from the ordinary octagon to a devilish dodeachedron?

 

Whatever your favourite takes are on the IWAD classics, post 'em here!

Edited October 14, 2023 by NoWits

[Grazza]

I suppose Patchwork Empire needs to be mentioned.

[RjY]

• Punisher, the other Casali brother's MAP01 edit
• DMINATOR, episode 1 edited for co-op, one of Opulent's favourite wads iirc.
• MAP20: Hip Deep (Cleimos 2), a remake of most of E1
• Containment Area, SailorScout's remake of E2M2
• Based Refueling, StarTanned's remake of MAP10
• Castle of Evil reproduces part of E1M4

I'll probably think of a load more as soon as I click submit :/

[Maximum Matt]

Maximum Doom must have at least fifty assorted E1M1 reworkings/violations, and nearly as many for Map01.  

For my money, MIC2.wad is the weirdest E1M1 mangling, followed by RAGE1, which is E1M1, Map01 and Map02 jammed together.  Then there's BASE2, that has rooms lifted from E1M6, E2M2, E2M7 and E3M3; WICKED2, which has callbacks to E1M1 and 9, E2M3, E3M3 and 7; then there's stuff like RAMBO2 that remixes the progression for E2M5 and JUMP2, that turns E3M6 into an indoors DM level.  

The corrupting of OG levels is a fascinating part of Max Doom - IIRC, all the maps of Episode I get abused many, many times (in various single level wads as well as in episode replacements), but curiously for E2 and 3, only the boss maps, E2M1, E2M9, and E3M1 show up as being common fodder for re-imaginings.  Also nothing from E4, even though Ultimate Doom was released in April '95 and this collection came out in December.  It seems as though this collection was amassed before the release of UDoom, as in the E1M1 reworkings there is never that switch in the first room that opens to the courtyard.  

And just in general, I always loved the audacity of old-school mappers to decide to chuck three cyberdemons into Hangar for no reason other than they could.  

[Grazza]

This old thread mentions a few wads/levels of this type.

 

There's also Anti-Christ. Can be downloaded via wayback machine. They did attempt to upload this to the idgames archive, but a while before KDIZD blew the doors off for this type of wad, so it was rejected. Info page still exists here, but as far as I can tell the download links from there no longer work.

 

 

Edited October 15, 2023 by Grazza