What mods are you playing right now?

So, what mods have you been blasting your way through? DOOM, DOOM II...heck, even DOOM³--post it here!

I've been playing:

Valhalla
Link: http://www.doomworld.com/idgames/index.php?id=16255
Requirements: DOOM2.WAD, ZDoom

Architecturally impressive, with a detailed, grungy, industrial theme. Looks aside, however, I didn't find it terribly memorable, as I'm...well, having a hard time remembering it!


Redux E2M4
Link: http://www.prodigal-game.com/doomwads.html
Requirements: DOOM2.WAD, GZDoom

An attempt at both a more realistic interpretation of the original DOOM's E2M4: Deimos Lab, as well as to push GZDoom features to their limits, with lots of 3D floors, live video feeds of other rooms, light sourcing effects, and more. E2M4 is one of my all-time favorite DOOM levels, and the author of the map felt similarly, as he was quite drawn in by how creepy the original map was. However, strangely, I never felt very scared playing this map, and I feel it missed the mark in that regard. This is partly due to the author's unusual decision to turn Deimos Lab's Hell-themed sections into a hydroponics bay, which takes the horror elements of the original map and replaces them with something dull and scientific. Furthermore, the attempts at making the map more realistic doesn't really jell with the original map's layout, so you have unusual design decisions, like having a monitoring room, desk and all, that's only accessible by swimming through a river of green sludge. I feel sorry for the UAC personnel that had to do that every day! This also ran rather terribly on my computer, but maybe that's GZDoom's fault.

Having 3D floors did add some interesting new strategy to DOOM's gameplay, though. And while it may not have been very scary, it still created an immersive atmosphere. Some sections (the garden area) looked absolutely great, to boot.


Unloved
Link: http://www.doomworld.com/idgames/index.php?id=16060
Requirements: DOOM2.WAD, GZDoom

Love it. A 5-level hub that borrows liberally from Silent Hill (going so far as to lift some of its soundtrack), resulting in a dark, creepy, unsettling game. You're alone in your house, and come upon portals that lead to bizarre, twisted otherworlds. The whole mapset is fraught with tension, with things hiding in the shadows, waiting for you at every turn...or is it just your imagination? Lack of strict linearity helps the gameplay along even further. However, there are some drawbacks. The game goes from tense and slow-paced, to stupidly hard slaughterfests without warning at a few points, and at least one puzzle solution is incredibly obscure (I'm still stuck!). Regardless, if you like DOOM levels that give you chills, you should definitely consider Unloved.


Threshold of Pain
Link: http://files.drdteam.org/index.php/files/get/P_GwxhZinX/scl-top.zip
Requirements: DOOM2.WAD, ZDoom-compatible source port

A 12-level collection of new maps that aim to recreate the atmosphere of the PlayStation DOOM games. It's all here: the music, the sound effects, the fiery skies, the overuse of colored lighting. However, it doesn't stay strictly faithful to its inspirations, adding new enemies and weapons to the mix, and encouraging jumping and crouching--things that can be seen as good or bad, depending. Admittedly, the first half of the mapset is actually rather poor, with a selection of under-detailed techbase maps that nobody would bother to play without the PSX hook to draw them in. However, once you finally get into the Hell-themed segments, things really start to pick up. The maps get a lot larger, more creative, nicer-looking, and quite a bit tougher (and one pays subtle homage to the Hell segment in DOOM³, which is pretty cool). If you're a fan of the PlayStation DOOM ports, or even DOOM 64, this is pretty much a must-play. Just be prepared to struggle through a dull opening.
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DOOM 3 - Winners Don't Use Duct Tape

I should replay NRFTL sometime. I only beat it once, on one of the lower skills.

Also played Skulltag's Invasion mode for the first time. Interesting idea in principle, with nonstop action and some fun arenas to toy around with ("Inferno," the one that's basically a miniaturized version of Mt. Erebus from the original DOOM, is especially neat), but having basically no penalty for death makes it lose some of its luster. The Chrono Trigger MIDI that plays during the final boss fight is also inexcusably amateurish.
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DOOM 3 - Winners Don't Use Duct Tape

Nope, newest version: 0.98d. Maybe they'll change it back later.

Etude in Blood
Link: http://www.doomworld.com/idgames/index.php?id=16293
Requirements: DOOM2.WAD, ZDoom-compatible port

I hate to be so down on a mapper's first effort, but this was lousy. Everything was textured similarly, you had to dive down to find underwater tunnels, and it was very symmetrical, so finding your way around was extremely tedious. A tip for any would-be ZDoom mappers: be careful with the swimmable water. You spend almost this entire map halfway, or fully submerged in water (actually blood, which makes your view a pleasant, blinding red), and it makes things slow. You're just aching to reach that full-on DOOMGuy sprint, but he just won't go because you're swimming or wading all the time. Or how about the unbridled joy of having to shoot monsters that are hiding underwater, that you can't even see because you're above the surface? Or maybe you enjoy having to hold the Jump/Swim Up button for extended periods to tread water so you can shoot enemies waiting for you on the shore? And you can't imagine my elation when an Arch-Vile shows up while I'm sloshing around in speed-reducing liquid.

I suppose it's my own fault for trying a map where the description is "Activate 17 skulls to gain access to main gate." Yep, it's a massive switch hunt. I can't help it. I guess I'm just a sucker for a newbie mapper, as I know I wouldn't want people to ignore my first upload. At least he had some neat effects, like the intro flyover and the 3D floors and stuff. I certainly wouldn't know how to do that.
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DOOM 3 - Winners Don't Use Duct Tape

I've never played Scythe, believe it or not. Heck, I just basically started playing Memento Mori for the first time. I actually tried it about a decade ago, but I was far more interested in Icarus and didn't make much progress, so now I'm trying it again. Apparently, it's, like, the greatest DOOM II WAD of greating great greatness of all great time, so I suppose I should give it another shot.


From a Hideous Road of Corpses and Misery to Satan's Secret Oddities
Link: http://www.doomworld.com/idgames/index.php?id=16287
Requirements: DOOM2.WAD, ZDoom-compatible port

A title so long, it can't even fit all the way on the automap.

Another level that attempts to recreate the atmosphere of the PSX/N64 DOOM games (translation: he used Aubrey Hodges' music and sound effects), with a sprinkling of DOOM³ (translation: really dark and gray). I haven't beat it just yet. It starts out promisingly enough, with you skulking around in cramped hallways filled with smothering darkness. Going outside is no better, as it's night time and still suffocatingly black, as silhouettes of Cacodemons assault you. This does a fine job of setting a mood, but moodiness can only take you so far.

This level, much like the previous one I reviewed, suffers from too much symmetry. Basically one side of every room is mirrored on its opposite side: if there's a hallway to the left of you, there's pretty much guaranteed to be one to the right; if there's a staircase and switch over here, there's bound to be one on the opposite side. It's okay--nay, encouraged--to have irregularities in the symmetry of rooms, folks.

Despite several people trying to go for that PSX/N64 DOOM vibe, it never seems to stop them from using Arch-Viles, and this map is full of them (and, naturally, usually in rooms filled with corpses). Only a few rooms in, and I'd already encountered about five. Seeing as you have nothing but a regular shotgun and chaingun at your disposal, this is tedious. I suppose some of them can be avoided, as there's a trial-and-error switch puzzle where certain switches seem to spawn in certain monsters. Of course, all the switches look the same, so you basically just have to flip them and hope for the best. Great, huh? (This switch room also seems to have several improperly-tagged sectors, with bits of floor that scroll/push for no reason.)

More warnings to would-be ZDoom mappers: be careful with the slopes and COLORED LIGHTING. This mapper enjoys detailing walls with the use of slopes. The problem with this is, the hallways are rather cramped. You'll dive to the side to avoid an enemy fireball, only to collide with one of these sloping walls, which, if you're "lucky," will cause you to slide down said slope, right back into enemy fire. Awesome! And the colored lighting. Ugh. Entire rooms and hallways bathed in dark red or green light. I suppose it's festive for the holidays, but I feel physically ill having to look at it.

I still haven't gotten very far into this map (I got picked off by yet another Arch-Vile), but it doesn't seem to be holding up too well so far.

(Sorry for all the posts in this thread. Once I get into playing DOOM mods, I tend to just keep downloading them.)
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DOOM 3 - Winners Don't Use Duct Tape

I actually almost never play DOOM II WADs on UV. They seem hard enough already. DOOM 1 WADs are fine in UV, though, since they can't just tear you up with Revenants and Arch-Viles on a whim.

Though I never finished it, I did enjoy the bit of Alien Vendetta I played. I'll have to go back to it when I'm not playing a thousand other WADs. And I still need to play STRAIN some time, too.

As for that, uhh... The level with the really long name that I was talking about in my last post, finally did beat it. It actually gets easier and less Arch-Vile spammy as it goes on, which is strange. It still uses WAY too much colored lighting, though (one whole segment of the map is bathed in bright red everywhere you go), and kind of forgets what texture theme/setting it was going for after a while. Ultimately, it's an obviously flawed map, but not unbearable. There's still some hectic moments of shooting, and it's not strictly linear, which is always nice.


Gulph
Link: http://www.doomworld.com/idgames/index.php?id=4079
Requirements: DOOM2.WAD (source port is recommended to work around sprite installation)

An old "my house" WAD from 1994... No, don't get scared off so soon. This is probably one of the best ones I've played. This is a BIG house, with lots of hallways and multiple floors (pulled off with a primitive, but effective room-over-room teleporter effect) to explore and fight your way through. And fighting you will do, as the hallways are cramped and packed with baddies, with more entering the fray, via teleportation or doors popping open, and causing a ruckus as you progress; they'll also often pop up from in front of and behind you at once, causing some chaotic moments where you're madly fighting through the small, noisy hallways.

There are a few issues, as the author enjoys employing darkness as a trap. There's still lit areas nearby to act as reference points, so you're never totally lost, but it might get annoying, having to deal with enemy swarms in the inky blackness. Navigation is also a bit perplexing, both just because the house is large, and because it's not always obvious what triggers the next area to open up, so some running around and experimenting is in order.

On the plus side, this is one of the few house WADs that actually bother to have new, house-like textures. They're still fairly simple to look at, but it goes a long way to enhance the environment and "sell" the house theme. You can even shoot out windows with bullet and shell weapons, which is neat. The fact that this WAD is so old makes this even more impressive.

So, if you're crazy enough to desire to play a house map, this is definitely one to look into. Heck, if I weren't so lazy, I'd spruce this up for a Boom re-release, so the room-over-room effects would be more convincing.
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DOOM 3 - Winners Don't Use Duct Tape

Wow, that level's backwards in all sorts of ways. I guess I should play on UV after all!
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DOOM 3 - Winners Don't Use Duct Tape

Wow, a Boom megaWAD? I don't think I've ever played one of those before. I always feel sort of bad for Boom. It's my favorite engine to edit for, and basically sets the standard for source port features, but it seems to be overlooked in favor of ZDoom and other, newer ports. I'll have to give this one a try.

About halfway through my first play of Memento Mori. Although I still feel it's outclassed by Icarus and Eternal Doom, it's still a lot of fun, and I'm plugging away at it at a rather rapid pace. Surprisingly, I've actually come across two parts where I became permanently stuck (a secret teleporter in The Mansion, and the room with the invulnerability sphere in Karmacoma), and even stumbled across some HOM. I guess even the mapping legends can make mistakes.
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DOOM 3 - Winners Don't Use Duct Tape

Beat Memento Mori. Funny how the difficulty makes a notable jump in the last levels, especially considering how the rest of the mapset was surprisingly easy. I groan every time I see one of the Casali Brothers credited to a map.

Also, it's amazing how breakable MAP29 is. You can easily get the red key through a solid wall (and you see another red key later, but I'm not sure if it's obtainable). You can fall into that Cacodemon pit early on and be unable to get out (if the wall around it actually lowers to allow you in, that is. Sometimes it just lowers a little, and sometimes it lowers all the way). Switches will make staircases inexplicably vanish. You can fall and permanently get stuck inside the pits around the yellow key door that house Arachnotrons, if you take them out with rocket splash damage (or, if you're playing a port that allows it, just aiming down). Then there's the fake deep water/blood section, where a wall was supposed to come up and lock me out of the area, but something went horribly wrong and basically the whole area rose up to the ceiling instead, causing massive slowdown and trapping me inside a sea of HOM effect. Bizarre.
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DOOM 3 - Winners Don't Use Duct Tape

Haven't played DOOM for the last few days, but I was working through Vile Flesh most recently. Boy, this sucker sure does have some hard-to-get secrets. I like the overall style so far, though, like classic DOOM tech base maps, but generally much more detailed.
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DOOM 3 - Winners Don't Use Duct Tape

I like how Vile Flesh actually bothered to include a new soundtrack (I think all the best levelsets have custom music), and some of the songs are quite good (Map 14, for example). I'm about halfway through the mapset so far, and while I haven't died, as far as I can recall, there's been some tough spots. A few of them were a bit annoying, but I'm happy that the difficulty stems more from the terrain and monster placement instead of ridiculous spam.
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DOOM 3 - Winners Don't Use Duct Tape