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  • idgames Maintainer Ty Halderman Passes Away At 69

    The Green Herring

    By The Green Herring

    Late last April, new files stopped appearing on the idgames archive, leading to mounting concern about maintainer Ty Halderman's well-being. The following month, in late May, a visit by a Doomer in Ty's native New Orleans confirmed that he was alive but hospitalized. That same month, Bill Koch (Bloodshedder) and Eric Baker (The Green Herring) were recruited as interim maintainers to keep the idgames archive running. Today on the forums, a close relative confirmed that Ty Halderman died on July 31, surrounded by his family. We have no reason to believe that this information is fabricated.

    As maintainer of the most important part of the Doom community, Ty Halderman was the reason over 20 years of custom levels and mods remain available today. As part of TeamTNT, he contributed to TNT: Evilution from the Final Doom package among other WADs, and was one of the main programmers of the source port Boom, which set a new standard for custom level design that remains today. Needless to say, Ty Halderman was not called an "essential pillar of the community" for nothing. For all of this and more, he received the Espi Award for Lifetime Achievement at the Cacowards just last year. The work he did for this community is immeasurable, and his loss devastating. We at Doomworld offer our condolences to Ty Halderman's family, and would like to thank him for his efforts in keeping the central archive of the Doom community alive. He will be missed by us all.

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    Tolwyn

    I have worked with and known Ty for a long, long time in this Doom community.
    I'm deeply saddened to learn of his passing.

    Fondest memory was when a lot (or some) of the TeamTNT gang met up in New Orleans around Mardi Gras way back in the mid- to late-nineties. I of course could not make it but I stayed up in my home in Washington while refreshing a web site with a web cam over and over again as, in a coordinated effort, they all lined up right in front of the web cam so I could "see the gang."

    Ty and I conversed from time to time over the years in e-mails about cdrom.com and the archive, formatting text files, discussing the good old times, and all the great TeamTNT projects.

    I salute you, Ty. You truly were a Soul Sphere to the community, giving it life and armor against the natural ebbing of great games through time.

    Most sincerely,

    David "Tolwyn" Shaw

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    Breezeep

    To be honest, It's actually a bit strange to see old time members of the forums come back online to pay their respects to TY.

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    kb1

    Oh, goodness. That's a terrible shame. Ty pointed me in the right direction long ago. He was a man with integrity, which is the highest compliment I know to give.

    Rest in peace, Ty.

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    VinceDSS

    Ty was there since the beginning of Doom's modding days, starting with CDRom.com's Idgames folder.
    Without his meticulous archiving, many great mods would have been lost.

    Thank you Ty. RIP.

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    punnyone

    It's because of Ty's TeamTNT.com and classic early megawads in which he helped create like Evilution, Eternal Doom, and Icarus, that I remain a follower of the Doom wad community. Thank you Ty for all you have given to us, you will be truly missed. Rest in peace.

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    Ralphis

    Icarus was the megawad of choice for my brother and me as kids and Ty played a major role in that. It is the megawad that got me hooked on doom editing and possibly the catalyst that kept me involved for nearly 20 years at this point. That's just the personal touch. Others have already touched on the numerous awesome things that Ty did for the community. God speed Ty.

    Give 'em Hell, son.

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    MTX1996

    Well, this certainly sucks. Let's just not forget to put a rocket launcher in his coffin... he may need it.

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    Astral-Doomer

    Rest in peace my good sir. A shame, such a great man died. Cancer kills some of the greatest people on this planet. The spirit of his work will carry on & influence others. RIP Ty.

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    Csonicgo

    And to think the shit that a dedicated group of idiots flung at him in his final years...

    I remember the weird reputation of Ty being a "hardass" to the rules when it came to WAD uploads. Then when I took a look at the REJECTS file, the sheer number of stupid uploads astounded me. This man had the patience of a saint.

    Ty's last years included heavy involvement in removing the trash that had accumulated, which was a lot of work. I'm glad that he was so involved as he was, as his reputation had become more of a distant person who was against the uploader, due to kids who didn't read the rules, and ZDoom mods reaching the >50MB mark, causing debate on file sizes months before the project was finished, when a simple email would have worked!

    My fears of his absence causing a schism on how idgames should be maintained quickly disappeared as respected Doom veterans picked up the torch. I hope the new maintainers carry out their duties the same manner as Ty.

    Uploading files to the idgames archive is a rite of passage, an archaic-feeling process that took time to learn. But the feeling that what you uploaded will always be there (provided you didn't attempt to fool anyone) is empowering - those files will be there, somewhere after you're gone.

    Ty, you never got the joy of approving the uploads of Mordeth Episode 2, Doom Millennium, Void II or Doom Kart. We may never see these WADs in our lifetimes, either. But Doom will live forever, and so will the idgames archive.

    And so will you, Ty Halderman.

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    Tolwyn
    Rez said:

    Is anyone still in touch with Jim Flynn? I'm sure he'd want to know.


    I'm looking for him. I also let Weeds know.

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    Job

    I didn't know Ty on a personal level, although I was aware of his name and contributions to the Doom community. Many others have come here to pay their respects with moving, heartfelt words. As someone who has benefited from the community, that's the least I can do as well. Ultimately, it's always difficult to lose such an exemplary individual, and it always feels too soon.

    My words are not intended as empty platitudes to a man others knew so well, nor as an insult by virtue of hollowness. When I was younger, I had the privilege of enjoying many of the projects he was involved in. In that regard alone, he was a very accomplished contributor to the Doom community. Every day that it thrives, grows and produces more wonderful things serves as a timeless tribute to his memory.

    Rest in peace, Ty. You've earned it.

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    Hekksy

    When I stumbled upon the Doom community the TeamTNT web site was the first that I found, and Ty's name was probably the first community name I ever read. I've never even spoke to Ty but I was well aware of how he truly was an important blessing upon the community. Eternal Doom III is also the first pwad I ever played.

    Rest in Peace Ty.

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    Grul

    RIP, Ty.

    I remember when I uploaded one of my first WADs to /idgames, and he shot me an email shortly thereafter saying I had a blocking bug in my map (which accidentally made it in just when I released it), because he had happened to play right away. I could fix the level before anyone else tried it. I thought that was really decent of him.

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