Stroller Pack

[Kristian Ronge]

Rather quiet, here. Problems keeping up? ;-)

Made my last (probably?) stroller, for Hell Revealed 2. I felt it was neglected. So, HR2 map 1 in 0:20, PrBoom 2.2.4, I hope you'll like it!

[Grazza]

Heh. Combination of too much work in RL, and bad luck identifying possible maps for strolling. STRAIN map32? What was I thinking? :p

I liked the MM stuff. Some good map knowledge there.

[Kristian Ronge]

Heh, well, yeah, it's not secret MM's my favourite WAD so I've played those maps hundreds of times. Those three maps are very straight-forward though, so no advanced route knowledge is needed... :-)

Funny note I should've mentioned in the mm29 .txt -> Sedlo's COMPET-N UV speed record (mm29-019.lmp) was set using a different last switch, further from the exit, which costs more time. He probably just didn't know about the "invisible" co/op one. Looking at his demo and time though, he still probably wouldn't have made 0:18 in that run.

EDIT: He would've. :-D

[Kristian Ronge]

Continuing the crusade ...

Firstly, I improved Doom 2 map 1 to 0:11, mostly because I wasn't happy with the 0:12 (it can be found in the original zip, then I did two more IWAD maps:

Ultimate Doom E2M4 in 1:35, and Ultimate Doom E1M2 in 0:48. We must've forgotten about E1M2, it wasn't hard at all...

I also got *really* close on E4M3 (got to the blue door) but I won't try it anymore, too frustrating.

Now, if I could just get a hold of Vince's runs then I could pack all the demos up. If Grazza or Vince have any general comments about strolling, then post them here or mail them to me.

[Grazza]

I've done a few more, though only one of any substance:

Ultimate Doom e3m3 in 1:09. Just need a bit of luck to avoid getting blocked, and with a cautious choice of route, the end isn't too difficult either.

STRAIN map21 in 0:06. Completely trivial.

Icarus map24 in 0:33. Just your basic "slam rocket into wall and corpse flies into exit" stuff.

Icarus map27 in 0:20. Like map24, but with a simple switch trick too.

I've added these to the zip. I've also modified the file-names to bring them in line with the conventions Kristian is using. I've avoided using it so far, since the "s" might cause confusion with NM100S demos, but if they are all in a stroller pack, there shouldn't be much scope for that.

General comments about strolling? OK...

It has been fun to do some pioneering work in an under-explored category.

I have been surprised by how many maps are possible stroller-style. Not only that, but the times for stroller demos are much lower than one might expect, given that the stroller's top speed is just over 35% that of the normal Doom marine.

In some ways, Strolling is "true" pacifist playing - your speed will not rescue you from tight situations as readily, and you need to rely more heavily on cunning. Having said that, even in stroller demos, the marine's speed relative to the monsters is a major bonus. Walking briskly away from a homing revenant missile, ambling from side to side to dodge cyber rockets - these are typical of the fun and games that await the ambitious stroller.

I have unsuccessfully tried strolling through quite a number of tougher maps. While this has in some cases been a humbling experience, in many maps I made enough progress to convince myself that stroller demos are quite feasible. Therefore I believe strolling has a rich future beyond this current pack, as long as there are intrepid souls willing to give it a go.

BTW, the set-up I have used when strolling is quite simple: turn off autorun, and otherwise everything as normal (mouse vertical sensitivity = zero). I just had to make sure a finger never slipped onto a strafe key. I checked most of the demos with LMPC, just to make sure, and in each case got the reassuring "Show him the README" message.

Edit: Slight changes in the above text. Also a small change in the text-file (zip reuploaded).

[Kristian Ronge]

Okay, I assembled the pack and put it up! See the first post in this thread! Vince's E1M4 was *hilarious*. :-)

[Grazza]

Nice work. I didn't spot any errors.

My e2m2 should be removed though. I only kept it in my pack because I wasn't sure if Vince would be submitting his at all. Also, I'm not too sure my e2m7 nomo really belongs in there.

I've made a few batch files which might make it easier for people to watch the demos (with prboom, glboom, or eternity). I could send these to you, or add them to the pack myself and upload it to the DSDA webspace. They're just simple files to watch the demos one after the other. One could spruce them up a bit by having them pause and display the text-file comments about each demo before running it, etc.

Shame we didn't nail e1m8, lv15, hr26, and a few other toughies. Still, it leaves more for stroller pack 2. :)

[VinceDSS]

stroller style get s a bit boring after, let's say, 10 mins :P

How about putting up a page (or table in the thread) so that people can submit demos to fill holes or beat actual entries ?

[Kristian Ronge]

Grazza said:
Nice work. I didn't spot any errors.

My e2m2 should be removed though. I only kept it in my pack because I wasn't sure if Vince would be submitting his at all. Also, I'm not too sure my e2m7 nomo really belongs in there.

I've made a few batch files which might make it easier for people to watch the demos.[...]

Feel free to make any adjustments (inclusions/omissions) of your own demos and any .bat files as you see fit. BTW, I included your E2M2 because it displayed a different route, and the nomo because a Strolling demo with a rocket jump is very funny to watch! :-D

Shame we didn't nail e1m8, lv15, hr26, and a few other toughies. Still, it leaves more for stroller pack 2. :)

Exactly! :-)

[Grazza]

OK, I've put it here. I hope I haven't cocked anything up. I made the following changes:

• Added a demo: av01s052.lmp - Alien Vendetta map01 in 0:52.
  
• Removed s2m2-031 (it was just an inferior route, chosen out of ignorance/forgetfulness).
  
• Added three simple batch files to play back all the demos in succession.
  
• Modified the text-file in line with those changes, and to explain about the batch files.
  
• Slightly modified my own pack comments.