Return to Daro -- A Love Letter for STRAIN’s 20th Birthday

[scwiba]

Twenty years ago today, a new STRAIN of demons was unleashed on the universe.

 

STRAIN was the first WAD I ever played that wasn’t just a pack of maps; it was a project that genuinely tried to be a proper sequel to Doom II. New weapons, new enemies, and a new story. And, for me, it is that proper sequel. Whenever I think about the Doom series, or tell people about it, STRAIN is just as much a part of it as Final Doom or Doom 64.

 

Quite a while back, Charlie Patterson (who led the STRAIN team) said in an interview that he hoped someday someone would create a followup to STRAIN… and for a long time I’ve hoped for the same thing. Before I knew it, the 20th anniversary was coming up and I figured -- why not now? Why not me?

 

So on this July the 3rd, 2017, I hope you'll join me for a short trip back to Moonbase Daro. Return to Daro is a four-map tribute to my favorite WAD of all time. And maybe, just maybe, a backdoor demo for a larger STRAIN followup. Who knows!

 

Screenshots:

Spoiler

 

Before you download:

Return to Daro is a vanilla WAD, but requires STRAIN.WAD and STRAIN.DEH, which you can find here. Just make sure the WADs are loaded in the correct order: STRAIN.WAD before rtd-rc1.wad. If you don't see the Return to Daro titlescreen, the WADs were applied in the wrong order. And if you find arachnotrons in the first map, you forgot to apply STRAIN.DEH.

 

Download Return to Daro!

 

 

Edited December 10, 2021 by Ryath (aka scwiba)
deleting old attachments to make room

[Alfonzo]

Nice! I have a soft spot for STRAIN (to the point of needing to capitalize the word every time it's written), so naturally I had to give this a go. It plays quite similar to the original what with the same monsters and weapon edits being used, of course, but the level design also has that charm about it; the colourful and eclectic mix of puzzle and high-concept elements. I really enjoyed map03, in particular. It really seems like you had the creative knobs cranked up to 11, there.

 

An inspired piece of work... though I'd have liked to see a little bit more to it. Good stuff.

Edited July 3, 2017 by Alfonzo

[Capellan]

If some other sucker wants to run a full STRAIN 2.0, I'll make a map for it.  A map that as blithely ignores the focus toward puzzle-based play as Industrial Zone did, but a map nonetheless :)

 

[FearTheReaper]

That's something unexpected but I too consider S.T.R.A.I.N. as the most unique and accurate attempts on sequel-like, especially that memorable soundtrack and semi-realistic level design, plot of Doomguy being total psycho on Black Drugs that makes dude from Doom4 comedian and new enemies...

[Jayextee]

6 hours ago, Ryath said:

And if you find arachnotrons in the first map, you forgot to apply STRAIN.DEH.

 

Or you did what I did and dragged the .zip onto ZDoom.exe instead of unpacking the contents and just dragging the .wad and .deh files. Don't be like Jay. ;)

I enjoyed this. Played through on HMP, might have another stab at UV. :)

[scwiba]

5 hours ago, Alfonzo said:

...the colourful and eclectic mix of puzzle and high-concept elements. I really enjoyed map03, in particular. It really seems like you had the creative knobs cranked up to 11, there.

Thanks, Alfonzo! I feel like I've become known as a gimmick map man, and if this WAD proves anything, it's that even when I try to make a bunch of "normal" maps, you can take the man out of the gimmick map, but you can't take the gimmick map out of the man. ...Or something. :D

 

4 hours ago, Capellan said:

If some other sucker wants to run a full STRAIN 2.0, I'll make a map for it.  A map that as blithely ignores the focus toward puzzle-based play as Industrial Zone did, but a map nonetheless :)

 

It's possible I might be that sucker.

[Albertoni]

12 hours ago, Ryath said:

And if you find arachnotrons in the first map, you forgot to apply STRAIN.DEH.

Ah yes, the arachnotron-orgy-in-a-closet. An unforgettable sight.

[40oz]

Awesome set Ryathean! It captures the spirit of STRAIN really well.

 

sorry to be plugging my own project in this thread, but I'm a huge STRAIN nerd myself. So much so that I managed a community project last year that was supposed to be an amalgam of STRAIN and other cyberpunk doom look alikes

 

https://www.doomworld.com/files/file/18564-mutiny-a-doomworld-community-project/

 

Since it only has 16 maps, ive been thinking of starting a "Mutiny Mission Pack" which would be a separate wad using the wad as a resource to fill the remaining 16 mapslots. Its tough to talk about without being shameless but I'd like to know if you guys think that would be a cool thing to pursue.

Edited July 3, 2017 by 40oz

[Gothic]

Great mapset. Since Mutiny's release I've been craving for more cyberpunk maps.

[Lila Feuer]

It's stuff like this that really takes me back. Exploring this new, scary yet awesome world of partial and total conversions for Doom II. Gotta get on STRAIN and this at some point in time.

[scwiba]

On 7/3/2017 at 1:25 PM, 40oz said:

Awesome set Ryathean! It captures the spirit of STRAIN really well.

 

sorry to be plugging my own project in this thread, but I'm a huge STRAIN nerd myself. So much so that I managed a community project last year that was supposed to be an amalgam of STRAIN and other cyberpunk doom look alikes

 

https://www.doomworld.com/files/file/18564-mutiny-a-doomworld-community-project/

 

Since it only has 16 maps, ive been thinking of starting a "Mutiny Mission Pack" which would be a separate wad using the wad as a resource to fill the remaining 16 mapslots. Its tough to talk about without being shameless but I'd like to know if you guys think that would be a cool thing to pursue.

Thanks, 40oz!

 

It would be awesome to see Mutiny fleshed out into a full 32 maps, though I don't know if I'd have time to contribute with all the other projects I have going on.

 

On 7/3/2017 at 1:57 PM, Gothic said:

Great mapset. Since Mutiny's release I've been craving for more cyberpunk maps.

Glad you enjoyed it! Still not quite sure what makes a cyberpunk map a cyberpunk map... but if you liked STRAIN, I'd suggest @years' Nihility. It scratches a lot of the same itches for me that STRAIN does.

 

[Not Jabba]

On 7/3/2017 at 1:25 PM, 40oz said:

Since it only has 16 maps, ive been thinking of starting a "Mutiny Mission Pack" which would be a separate wad using the wad as a resource to fill the remaining 16 mapslots. Its tough to talk about without being shameless but I'd like to know if you guys think that would be a cool thing to pursue.

I remember you mentioning the mission pack at some point, maybe in Mutiny's release thread, and I had thought it was already being worked on with a small team or something. I've definitely been excited for it. I say go for it -- I'm sure there would be enough interest to get it done sooner or later.

[vdgg]

My FDA, continuous. Survived MAP01, MAP02. A death on MAP03, restart, another death later on MAP03. I quit.

 

I loved MAP02. Very mysterious. A strong shock when I saw that arch-vile. You know, STRAIN had less than 10 arch-viles in the whole WAD, and here's one so early!

Another one killed me on MAP03, though, and I didn't see any cover. If you watch my .lmp, I think there's a dumb chaingunner that doesn't react (-skipsec -125), 125 seconds before the demo ends.

I liked a little detail, yellow light alcoves with stimpacks and shells. But then, this is a beautiful WAD. I like everything except the early MAP01 crates. It is a much better looking mapset than the original STRAIN overall.

stdvdgg.zip

[scwiba]

4 hours ago, vdgg said:

My FDA, continuous. Survived MAP01, MAP02. A death on MAP03, restart, another death later on MAP03. I quit.

 

I loved MAP02. Very mysterious. A strong shock when I saw that arch-vile. You know, STRAIN had less than 10 arch-viles in the whole WAD, and here's one so early!

Another one killed me on MAP03, though, and I didn't see any cover. If you watch my .lmp, I think there's a dumb chaingunner that doesn't react (-skipsec -125), 125 seconds before the demo ends.

I liked a little detail, yellow light alcoves with stimpacks and shells. But then, this is a beautiful WAD. I like everything except the early MAP01 crates. It is a much better looking mapset than the original STRAIN overall.

stdvdgg.zip

Judging from that "I quit," I thought you were going to say you hated it. Whew!

 

Yeah, there's a lot of arch-viles in the WAD, relatively speaking, but there's also a lot of ministers (mini-cybers) and demon lords (white barons). I think I was trying to sort of condense 30 maps of STRAIN into just 4 here, plus increasing the difficulty a bit for modern players.

 

That idle chaingunner is a weird thing -- you're the second person who's pointed it out... but it doesn't happen to me, at least when testing in Chocolate.

[vdgg]

I will replay it, I just had enough for the moment. 

[Salt-Man Z]

Just played through this today (UV/GZDoom/continuous) and it was amazing! I honestly think you have a better handle on the STRAIN bestiary than the original team did. Shoutout to the trippy parts of MAP03; that was super cool.

 

I know there are couple folks here with plans to start a ReSTRAIN project at some point. They'll definitely need to get you involved!

[scwiba]

16 hours ago, Salt-Man Z said:

Just played through this today (UV/GZDoom/continuous) and it was amazing! I honestly think you have a better handle on the STRAIN bestiary than the original team did. Shoutout to the trippy parts of MAP03; that was super cool.

 

I know there are couple folks here with plans to start a ReSTRAIN project at some point. They'll definitely need to get you involved!

Geez -- thank you.

 

I didn't know anyone else was thinking about a STRAIN sequel. Do you know who?

[Capellan]

59 minutes ago, Ryath said:

I didn't know anyone else was thinking about a STRAIN sequel. Do you know who?

 

I remember there was discussion about it when the DWMC played STRAIN.  Though quite a bit of it was "that was a bad change and we should correct it" :)

 

[scwiba]

Well, it's official. Return to Daro is up on /idgames! I've updated the links in the OP.

 

And if you're wondering, not much was changed before uploading. I made a few tweaks to decorative objects and brightened the yellow key door in map01 so players are more likely to notice it. Otherwise, the /idgames version is the same as the release candidate you all played.

 

Thanks for all the comments, feedback, and kind words!

[anotak]

i enjoyed this quite a bit (played the RC version bc i didn't realize it was on idgames yet, my bad).

the teleport-back-and-forth-between-realities/timelines section on MAP03 was interesting, it reminds me a lot of the mansion in dishonored 2. i also liked the door thing in map02.

 

i really enjoyed unaligned, killed, and tower as well btw. i think unaligned and killed might be favorite wads right now

really feels like your maps recapture that sense of surprise i used to get playing doom wads as a kid, like this structure you have to explore, a puzzle in a sense, without being an annoying puzzle-game-puzzle

[SoDOOManiac]

For those looking to play oldschool wads in this topic:

I've concocted/found a couple of visual fixes for STRAIN also applicable to this mod.

• Weapon fix pack for STRAIN changing (every item optionally and separately):

1) Initial bullet number from 0 to 10, equal to standard clip pickup, giving the player a proper pistol start, not very different from STRAIN's fist start gameplay-wise though.
2) Fists with their double punches to look more smooth and true to life (in fact just flipping and renaming the sprites to rearrange them).

3) 3 more lifelike pistol animations, 2 with animated slide and 1 just smooth.
4) Chaingunner firing sound to the same as the player's and removing the extra tic for 'target check' that made ID give this enemy the shotgun firing sound. Now the chaingunner fires more smoothly and is a bit more lethal. This is contained in the CPOS-BUL.DEH patch by Myk from Doomworld (see thread).

 

WeaponFixPack4STRAIN_v2.zip

 

• Demon Lord with red blood on the falling/dead body (my version)

 

RED_LORD_4_STRAIN.zip

 

Edited March 20, 2020 by Zodomaniac
Moved download links

[SoDOOManiac]

On 7/7/2017 at 12:39 PM, vdgg said:

My FDA, continuous. Survived MAP01, MAP02. A death on MAP03, restart, another death later on MAP03. I quit.

 

I loved MAP02. Very mysterious. A strong shock when I saw that arch-vile. You know, STRAIN had less than 10 arch-viles in the whole WAD, and here's one so early!

Another one killed me on MAP03, though, and I didn't see any cover. If you watch my .lmp, I think there's a dumb chaingunner that doesn't react (-skipsec -125), 125 seconds before the demo ends.

I liked a little detail, yellow light alcoves with stimpacks and shells. But then, this is a beautiful WAD. I like everything except the early MAP01 crates. It is a much better looking mapset than the original STRAIN overall.

stdvdgg.zip

 

@vdgg, which sourceport did you use? Your demo desyncs in Chocolate Doom.

[vdgg]

@Zodomaniac  PrBoom+, the reason for desync is probably not the port but the WAD version. It was recorded using rtd-rc1.wad, from 2017-07-05 (yyyy-mm-dd). I play it back

 

prboom-plus -file strain rtd-rc1 -deh strain.deh -playdemo stdvdgg

Old WAD attached

rtd-rc1.zip

[SoDOOManiac]

@vdgg the WAD version difference explains it :) thank you, watched)