Things that you thought about Doom that weren't.

[Koko Ricky]

A friend of mine told me back in the mid 90s that he had a program which would generate extra geometry beyond the boundary of any given Doom map. Sort of like an on-the-fly SLIGE.

[EarthQuake]

scifista42 said:

I really believed this nonsense when I was a kid.

Nonsense or not, that's actually a pretty cool idea for a gameplay mod.

[Hellbent]

GoatLord said:

A friend of mine told me back in the mid 90s that he had a program which would generate extra geometry beyond the boundary of any given Doom map. Sort of like an on-the-fly SLIGE.

When I had beat the last episode of wolf3d I started to have dreams of an episode 7. One day I tried warping to episode 6 level 11 and to my amazement it actually worked! I found myself in a strange level that looked very discombobulated and random. There were no hallways, just a random collection of blocks and doors (not necessarily going anywhere) as far as I could see with enemies scattered about. Unfortunately, but lending to the greater mystery of the level if you tried to explore the level the game would crash, usually almost immediately but every once in a while I could go for about 3 seconds or so before it would crash. I was so intrigued by this bizarre level that I called tech support to find out what to do. The lady on the other end wasn't very helpful saying I shouldn't warp to levels that don't even exist or something like that. That was kind of a buzz kill. Never did find out why that level did exist at all. I suppose it was Wolf3D's lost super secret level.

[Xaser]

That's intriguing -- it sounds like you warped past the end of the level "array" and started reading random data as a map. I wonder how reproducible this is.

[Hellbent]

Xaser said:

That's intriguing -- it sounds like you warped past the end of the level "array" and started reading random data as a map. I wonder how reproducible this is.

Mhmmn, I may buy it again to see, it's only $73.

[bimlanders]

This is a boring one, but I thought that I had to get all the ammo and medikits/stimpacks to achieve 100% for items.

[Optimus]

I have just found about the medikit/medkit controversy. Anyway, I always called it medikit so I guess I was right but maybe medkit is the correct spelling. I am just wondering now and never thought before, what was the meaning of the word "stimpack"? Stimulation pack or something? Like a painkiller?

[printz]

Optimus said:

what was the meaning of the word "stimpack"? Stimulation pack or something? Like a painkiller?

Sssssaaaahhh yeaaaahhhhhh!

[Aldaraia]

When I first encountered the Barons of Hell in E1M8, I was bewildered to see that they were wearing khakis.

And I always thought Cacodemons had two eyes.

[Maes]

NaturalTvventy said:

I believed for a long time that if an inactive monster got activated by being shot by a different monster (infighting), and then the monster killed the perpetrator without ever seeing the player, the monster would go back to being inactive.

That's exactly what's supposed to happen. At least the vanilla doom code doesn't allow "aimlessly wandering" monsters: a monster with a null target goes back to being inactive, however it might be possible for a monster to keep seeking an invalid or no longer existing adversary, by means of pointer screwups, and thus appear to be "wandering aimlessly". The player is the only target that the monsters treat differently.

[printz]

If the player has made a shot in the same area as the monster, the monster WILL proceed to hunt him. Otherwise, it will go back to inactive. It's easiest to test this in E3M8.

[Waffenak]

cousins dad told me there was secret black chainsaw that was able to cut thru any stone wall. trolling since 1994

[rkdoomguy]

Like many others, I thought the Beserk Pack would last until the red haze disappears.

[Xane_MM]

rkdoomguy said:

Like many others, I thought the Beserk Pack would last until the red haze disappears.

I think I had this idea too. I think it would've made more sense for id to make Berserk to worwk this way, as it lasting the whole level while they programmed a whole palette-fade-from-red-to-nothing script that tricks many!

Luckily, sourceports can fix this, but then that would confuse people that were tricked by id...

[Gez]

All powerups that expire blink when they do so. The berserk fades out because it'd be damn annoying if the screen remained tinted until the end of the level.

[Grazza]

Xane123 said:

Luckily, sourceports can fix this, but then that would confuse people that were tricked by id...

I know you struck this out, but I think there was a source port that did this at one point, but I believe that was more in the realm of a complete and utter fuck-up than a deliberate feature.

The manual did make it clear what the durations of the power-ups were, so any confusion on this point is pure user-error.

[Vermil]

Grazza said:

The manual did make it clear what the durations of the power-ups were, so any confusion on this point is pure user-error.

The manuals in the latest releases of Doom (i.e Steam) do incorrectly state that Berserk is time based.

The electronic Doom2 manual that comes with the Steam version of the game. The Berserk is on page 19.

http://cdn.steampowered.com/Manuals/2300/DOOM%20II%20Manual.pdf

The manuals of the original releases of the games do correctly state the Berserk lasts a whole level.

[Xane_MM]

Grazza said:

The manual did make it clear what the durations of the power-ups were, so any confusion on this point is pure user-error.

Good thing they told that then.

Grazza said:

I know you struck this out, but I think there was a source port that did this at one point, but I believe that was more in the realm of a complete and utter fuck-up than a deliberate feature.

The thing I was thinking of was how ZDoom could use Powerups instead of the default Berserk (which is a CustomInventory type), but now that you mention that they said so in the manual, I begin to not mind it fading out; I just wish so many people weren't confused like I was.

@Gez Good point.

(during writing this post, another post appeared, so) @Vermil WHy would they change it to something totally incorrect? That'll comfuse newcomers.

[hex11]

First law of computing: nobody ever reads manual. ;-)

[qoncept]

Grazza said:

The manual did make it clear what the durations of the power-ups were, so any confusion on this point is pure user-error.

Agree with hex. Any confusion is because id's method of communicated the fact by talking to a brick wall. Especially since the main method of distribution was shareware.

I just don't think the way they indicate berserk makes sense. It's effectively the same as invulnerability, light amp and radiation suit, which are time based. The fact that it doesn't flash as it wears off is a pretty minor indicator. I didn't ever notice even though I DO know berserk doesn't wear off.

[Maes]

EarthQuake said:

Nonsense or not, that's actually a pretty cool idea for a gameplay mod.

So would DMCHOSHO, if someone thought about it in 1994 ;-)

[DoomUK]

Vermil said:

The manuals in the latest releases of Doom (i.e Steam) do incorrectly state that Berserk is time based.

The electronic Doom2 manual that comes with the Steam version of the game. The Berserk is on page 19.

http://cdn.steampowered.com/Manuals/2300/DOOM%20II%20Manual.pdf

Berserk Packs heal you, plus act as a super-adrenaline rush, enormously boosting
our muscle power. Since you're already a pretty meaty guy, this enhanced strength
ts you tear ordinary dolts limb from limb, and you can even splatter those demons
without too much trouble. However, you've got to use your Fist attack to get the benefit of the
Berserk attack bonus. When you become Berserk, your screen will briefly turn red.

Duration: Time Based

My memory might be playing tricks on me here, but I'm sure PSX Doom's manual made the same mistake. Someone who owns a copy of PSX Doom would have to clarify it, parted company with mine about 10 years ago.

[Coopersville]

I thought when you killed Demons, the flesh on their faces would rot off and spawn Lost Souls if you spent too much time on one level.

[printz]

You can try that in Dehacked.

[Maes]

This thread starts looking too much like a rehash of Doom misconceptions.

Edit: oh, didn't realize that one got closed.

[Scypek2]

I have some weird memories from the childhood about doom: I remembered pain elemental leaving corpse that lied on the floor for a couple of seconds before disappearing, I also remembered finding a spider mastermind in a secret after pinkys room on MAP08. Also, for a looong time i thought that megaarmor at the start of MAP03 is some kind of a fancy fountain springing from water. I also got tricked by berserk, but differently:
- I thought that I can't switch weapons until the blur disappears
- I noticed that my fist is very strong even when the blur is gone, so... I assumed that my fist is always strong and I started avoiding chainsaws so they would not disable fist.
I also remembered e1m1 first room as having gibs in the center.

[qoncept]

For the most part I remember Doom as it is, but for some reason I always thought Pitfall scrolled left instead of right. And I always thought it was really weird that EVERY side scroller scrolls right except Pitfall.

[Tristan]

Slightly Off-topic
I thought RtCW was an iD software game...turns out they only made the base engine and concept...

[Z86]

kmxexii said:

Darting in with a punch does more damage than just standing and flailing (I still do it though for mobility)

Cyberdemons take damage from barrel explosions (but I've seen so many barrel chains involving Cyberdemons that I don't feel so bad)

Also the swing shot thing

I also believed the first two (even had a home-made map where a Cyber-fight was supposed to be easier with a crapton of barrels surrounding it - I always wondered why it remained so tough even after the barrels went off)

Since I instictively dismiss randomness (see berserk darting), I believed there was some elaborate location based damage present in Doom.

[Phendrena]

Until reading this very thread I had no idea that barrels didn't damage the Cyberdemon and until recently I also thought the berserk power-up lasted until the red haze vanished!! Shocking!!!