


                                         -1-


                              The DOOM Honorific Titles
                       Created by Frank Stajano on 1994 05 01

                              DHT5 edition: 1995 05 02




           1. INTRODUCTION............................................2


           2. BRIEF OVERVIEW OF THE AVAILABLE TITLES..................3

           2.1 BASIC TITLES...........................................4
           2.2 ADVANCED TITLES........................................4
           2.3 EPIC TITLES............................................4
           2.4 TECHNO TITLES..........................................4

           3. IF YOU READ NOTHING ELSE................................4


           4. WHAT'S NEW..............................................5

           4.1 WHAT'S NEW FROM DHT4...................................5
           4.2 WHAT'S NEW FROM DHT3 AND EARLIER VERSIONS..............5

           5. HOW DO I COMPETE FOR THE TITLE OF MASTER?...............6


           6. OFFICIAL REFERENCE......................................7

           6.1 WHAT YOU MUST DO _ A SUMMARY...........................7
           6.2 REQUESTING A CHALLENGE.................................8
           6.3 THE AUTHENTICATION DANCE...............................8
           6.4 THE FREE INTERPRETATION................................9
           6.5 FORMAL REQUIREMENTS FOR THE VARIOUS TITLES.............9
            6.5.1 General requirements for all titles ................9
            6.5.2 Basic titles ......................................10
            6.5.3 Advanced titles ...................................10
            6.5.4 Epic titles .......................................11
            6.5.5 Techno titles .....................................12
           6.6 THE APPEAL MECHANISM..................................13
            6.6.1 Basic titles ......................................13
            6.6.2 Advanced titles ...................................13
            6.6.3 Epic and Techno titles ............................14
           6.7 HOW TO PACKAGE THINGS UP..............................14
            6.7.1 The assigned LMPs (1) .............................14
            6.7.2 The substitution LMPs (2) .........................14
            6.7.3 The free interpretation LMP (3) ...................14
            6.7.4 The out-of-base LMP (4) ...........................14
            6.7.5 The multi-mission LMPs (5) ........................14
            6.7.6 The program (6) ...................................15
            6.7.7 The challenge (7) .................................15
            6.7.8 The description (8) ...............................15
            6.7.9 Checklist .........................................15
           6.8 THE COMPLETION MESSAGE................................15


                                         -2-


           7. LEVEL SETS.............................................16

           7.1 LEVEL SETS FOR D1M....................................16
           7.2 LEVEL SETS FOR D1SG...................................16
           7.3 LEVEL SETS FOR HM.....................................16
           7.4 LEVEL SETS FOR D2M....................................16
           7.5 LEVEL SETS FOR  D2SG..................................16
           7.6 BASE FOR D1T..........................................16
           7.7 BASE FOR D2T..........................................17
           7.8 BASE FOR D1I..........................................17
           7.9 BASE FOR D2I..........................................17
           7.10 BASE FOR D1GM........................................17
           7.11 BASE FOR D2GM........................................17

           8. THE DHT REPOSITORY.....................................17

           8.1 THE DHT ARCHIVE MAINTAINER............................18

           9. WHERE TO FIND THE LATEST INFORMATION...................18


           10. A TEMPLATE FOR THE DESCRIPTION FILE...................18


           11. MY POLICY ABOUT VERIFICATIONS.........................19


           12. THE DHT LOG...........................................20

           12.1 NOTES ON THE FORMAT OF THE LOG.......................20

           13. HERETIC...............................................21


           14. THINGS THAT MAY CHANGE IN THE FUTURE..................21

           14.1 REPOSITORY...........................................21
           14.2 LEVEL SETS...........................................22
           14.3 MORE Q&A.............................................22

           15. A FEW TIPS............................................22


           16. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS......................................23


           17. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS.................................24



       1. Introduction
           DOOM is definitely one of the best computer games of all times,
           one of the few that will be remembered and quoted ten or twenty
           years from now. For so many nights, all over the planet, it has
           glued millions of people to their networked computers. As  well
           as being tremendously addictive  and technically excellent,  it
           has an open architecture which has spawned innumerable add-ons,


                                         -3-


           most  notably  the  level  editors  with  which  other   gifted
           designers have produced hundreds of excellent WADs.
           An exciting feature of  the game is the  ability to record  the
           player's input in  a form that  can be replayed  later, like  a
           movie. The file containing the recording,  known as a LMP,  can
           then be sent to other people for viewing.

           The DOOM  Honorific  Titles, based  on  LMP recording  with  an
           authentication mechanism, are the  means by which good  players
           can objectively prove  to the world  that they are  as good  as
           they claim. The DHT system also has the beneficial side  effect
           of promoting the production  of amazing LMPs _  if you want  to
           see  some  superior  DOOM  action,  turn  to  the  ever-growing
           repository of DHT exam files.

           Ok, so  you think  you're good;  how do  you like  the idea  of
           calling yourself, say, a  DOOM 2 Grand  Master? You'll have  to
           fight legions  of  monsters  and record  your  performance  for
           posterity. If you're up to the challenge, you earn your  Title.
           To prove that  the recording was  not a fake,  there is a  PGP-
           based authentication mechanism which marks the LMP as yours and
           allows public verification of the title without having to trust
           a central examining authority. With the DHT scheme, there is no
           need for  a judging  commission: as  soon as  you complete  the
           requested levels, you get your title automatically. Anybody who
           likes can watch  the LMPs and  verify that  you really  deserve
           your title.

           This is the  fifth edition  of the  DHT rules.  I started  this
           system in May 1994 and, so  far (April 1995), have issued  more
           than 440 challenges; the  complete log is  available on my  WWW
           page  and   is   regularly   posted   to   the   Usenet   group
           rec.games.computer.doom.announce. Approximately  10-20% of  the
           challenges turn  into completed  exams. Under  DHT3,  something
           like 40 people reached the status of DOOM Master, and only  one
           of them  ever conquered  a higher  title: I'm  talking of  Phil
           Kime, who  can  proudly call  himself  a DOOM  Tyson.  A  major
           rewrite of  the rules  came with  DHT4 (February  1995),  which
           introduced  many   new  titles   and  better   calibration   of
           difficulties; several  players  conquered higher  titles  under
           these rules.  The current  version, DHT5,  is a  minor  release
           which doesn't change much from DHT4. We've all been having good
           fun and I'm pleased with the  consistently high quality of  the
           LMPs that come  out of this  exercise. Especially  now that  we
           have such a well organised archive,  I encourage you to log  to
           the DHT repository and have a  look at the exciting LMPs  we've
           produced. Some are really  amazing. You'll want  to be part  of
           this elite of decorated players.

       2. Brief overview of the available titles
           All titles, except some of the  Techno ones, are available  for
           both DOOM (D1*) and DOOM II (D2*). The title of Master is  also
           available for Heretic. Note that the following descriptions are
           for purposes of illustration only: the formal requirements  for
           each title are stated in the _Official Reference_ section.


                                         -4-


       2.1 Basic titles
           Master (D1M,  D2M,  HM):  Can do  any  level  from  scratch  on
           UltraViolence (or Black Plague) with 100% kills.
           Speedy Gonzales (D1SG, D2SG): Can do any level from scratch  on
           Hurt Me Plenty under par. No lower threshold on kills.

       2.2 Advanced titles
           Tyson: (D1T, D2T): Like Master,  but only using these  weapons:
           fist, berserk, chainsaw, pistol.
           Incubus:  (D1I,  D2I):  Can  do  any  level  from  scratch   on
           Nightmare. The only  constraint is to  get to  the exit  alive:
           100% kills or similar stuff is not required.
           Grand Master (D1GM,  D2GM): Like Master,  but with the  _-FAST_
           command  line  option  which  makes  monsters  as  fast  as  in
           Nightmare.

       2.3 Epic titles
           Lightning  (D1L,  D2L):   Can  do  9   consecutive  levels   on
           UltraViolence, all under par.
           Schwarzenegger (D1S, D2S): Can do the whole game  consecutively
           on Nightmare, one big LMP for the lot.

       2.4 Techno titles
           LMP Doctor (D1LD, D2LD):  Although using artificial  expedients
           (a.k.a. cheats), has the technical ability to produce a LMP  of
           any (and I mean any) level on Nightmare with 100% kills.
           Hacker (DH):  Can write  a program  that writes  out a  LMP  of
           itself getting  to the  end of  a  particular level  on  Ultra-
           Violence with 100% kills. Trivial solutions, like  prerecording
           the LMP, are obviously excluded.
           Master Hacker (DMH): Can write a program that can impersonate a
           player in a cooperative two player setup and that, if the other
           player is  left  untouched,  can finish  any  level  on  Ultra-
           Violence with 100% kills without ever missing a shot.

       3. If you read nothing else...
           Ok, so you're new to the rules, you just want to figure out how
           it works and you don't want to spend the whole evening  reading
           this stuff. Go straight  to the section _How  do I compete  for
           the title of Master?_. You may skip all the rest if you're  not
           interested right now  _ unless, that  is, if you  are about  to
           mail me  a  question: if  so,  search the  whole  rules  first,
           especially the _Questions and answers_ section. Also,  remember
           the following two things:
           (1) Challenges are issued by me, not by a mail robot, and I  do
           not have time to  do this continuously.  I issue challenges  in
           batches. For the last few months  I've done it at intervals  of
           approximately two weeks. It  may sometimes take longer.  Please
           do not expect same day service.
           (2) Please do not send me your exam file when completed. Upload
           it to  the repository  instead. Send  me the  completion  form,
           though, when  your exam  becomes accessible  by others  on  the
           repository.


                                         -5-


       4. What's new

       4.1 What's new from DHT4
           Not much. The main change is that Joost Schuur, the  maintainer
           of the DOOM ftp site, gave  me the opportunity to run the  dht-
           exams subtree  directly  and,  thanks to  Jeffrey  Makaiwi  who
           volunteered for the post, we now have much better control  over
           what happens  when  you upload  an  exam. This  allowed  me  to
           redesign a minor  aspect of the  rules so as  to eliminate  the
           possibility of race conditions in the redefinition of the  base
           levels for the  advanced titles. So  the two important  changes
           are: we  have a  DHT person  in charge  of the  dht-exams  tree
           (which means that our stuff is all neat and tidy), and we  have
           eliminated an  esoteric problem  which  could lead  to  someone
           posting an  invalid exam  without  realising it.  In  practical
           terms the change is that, to find out what the current base is,
           you no longer consult the latest  log but rather you look up  a
           text file on the repository; this  file is guaranteed to be  up
           to date because it  is updated by Jeff  as he moves your  files
           from _incoming_ to their  final destination. This only  affects
           you if you are running for an advanced title.
           The remaining changes  are just trivia,  like for example  some
           more Q&A, the fact  that the postscript  version now shows  the
           page numbers even when printed on Letter instead of A4, or  the
           fact that you can now substitute  from harder sets if you  feel
           very brave etc.
           The practical things you must remember are:
           . Your exams must be  uploaded to lmps/incoming and not to  the
             general incoming  directory. Failure to do  so may result  in
             them  being thrown  away, although  for the  first couple  of
             weeks the maintainer will be somewhat tolerant.
           . If you  compete for  an advanced  title, the  latest base  is
             defined  by the  file BASES.TXT  on  the repository,  and  no
             longer by the latest log.

       4.2 What's new from DHT3 and earlier versions
           Everything. Everything is  new, except the  spirit. It's  still
           the same competition as it used to be, but I've taken the  time
           to redesign it and I've  completely rewritten both these  rules
           and the helper program (the one that writes out the  challenges
           and the  log). I've  added  lots of  ideas  that I  had  always
           _stored for later_, although I've had  to abandon some of  them
           because  they  required  too  much  preparation  and/or  manual
           maintenance  work,  or   because  they  made   the  rules   too
           complicated. I've also taken into  account the feedback of  the
           many people who sent me their suggestions. I hope that, as many
           players told me about the previous  editions of the DHT,  these
           challenges will renew your interest in non-networked DOOM. I am
           sure that they will encourage the  production of new top  class
           LMPs.
           The new titles supercede the previous ones (DM, DGM, DT, DGAK).
           This means that, from  now on, no more  challenges for the  old
           titles  will  ever  be  issued,  although  old  titles  already
           conquered are  still valid  and old  unfinished challenges  can
           still be finished. You may always  apply for a new title,  even
           if you already have the corresponding old title and even if you


                                         -6-


           applied for the corresponding old title but didn't complete the
           exam.
           The major changes from DHT3 are listed below.
           . Many more titles than there used to be, now covering DOOM  II
             as well. One for Heretic, too.
           . Old titles withdrawn, replaced by similar but different ones.
           . 100% secrets no longer required.
           . Randomly assigned levels are now  chosen from sets, which  do
             not necessarily coincide with episodes.
           . People who complete an exam are mentioned in the log.
           . Format of authentication dance is slightly different.
           . External WADs no longer allowed in free interpretation.
           . Multiplayer LMPs no longer allowed in free interpretation.
           . Tyson  and  other  advanced   titles  now  restricted  to   a
             dynamically expandable list of  _feasible_ levels called  the
             Base.
           . You must always use the latest version of the executable.
           . No title requires other titles as prerequisites.

       5. How do I compete for the title of Master?
           The complete title will be _DOOM 1 Master_, _DOOM 2 Master_  or
           _Heretic Master_ according to which game  you want to play  on.
           Although  D2M  is  harder  than  D1M,  being  a  D2M  does  not
           automatically make you a  D1M. If you want  to do D2M,  though,
           you are not obliged to do D1M first: you may go directly to D2M
           if you feel confident  about your skills or  if you don't  have
           the first game.
           The  prerequisites   are  very   basic:  you   must  have   the
           corresponding registered version,  you must be  a good  player,
           you must know how to record  LMPs (RTFM for this) and you  must
           have mail and ftp access to the Net (it's still ok even if it's
           only through a friend).
           Follow these steps in sequence:
           (1) Send me a mail message like this one:
              To: fms@cam-orl.co.uk
              Subject: Please send me a DHT5 examination form

              Name: (your name and/or nickname, max 25 chars)
              Initials: (your initials, max 3 chars)
              Candidate for: (D1M, D2M or HM)
              Declaration: I already have a copy of the DHT5 rules, and
              I'll read the Official Reference entirely before posting my
              completed exam to the repository.
           (2) Wait for a couple of weeks, maybe more, maybe less. In  the
           meantime practice the game and read the rest of the DHT5 rules.
           In particular give  some attention  to the  section about  _The
           authentication dance_ because you're about to get yours. That's
           the device that proves that you've recorded the LMPs  yourself,
           thus making your title more valuable.
           (3) You eventually get  back a PGP-signed  message from me.  It
           contains the  three levels  and the  authentication dance  that
           have been randomly assigned to you.
           (4) Complete these levels using the latest available version of
           the game engine (consult the latest  DHT log to find out  which
           one it is). For each required level you must produce a separate
           LMP file,  starting with  the  authentication dance.  You  must
           record everything  from  the  start of  the  level  up  to  and


                                         -7-


           including the _kill count_ screen. You must not die during  the
           recording. You may not  cheat in any way,  and this includes  -
           TURBO. You  must play  on UltraViolence,  or Black  Plague  for
           Heretic, and finish with at least 100% kills. The more  secrets
           you get, the  better, but  you're not  obliged to  get 100%  of
           them. If one of the levels is too hard, you may skip it and  do
           three other  levels  instead,  chosen from  the  same  set  (or
           harder)  as  the  one  you  didn't  do  (this  is  the   appeal
           mechanism); see  the section  _Level sets_  to find  out  which
           levels are in which sets.
           (5) Record  your _free  interpretation_ level,  still with  the
           authentication dance but with no other constraint other than to
           play with style. This is the  most important LMP of your  exam.
           People may sometimes not view all of your assigned levels  but,
           if they download your exam file,  you can be sure that  they'll
           look at your free interpretation. This one has got to be better
           and more impressive than all the  others. The level can be  any
           level you like in the same  game as the title you're  competing
           for. External WADs and multiplayer LMPs are not allowed.
           What is _playing with style_? Well, you know, things that  look
           impressive: using  small  weapons  on  huge  monsters,  playing
           without being hit  for a whole  level, playing without  missing
           shots, convincing  the  monsters  to fight  each  other,  doing
           things quickly instead of lurking behind  a corner for half  an
           hour for the best possible shot, performing stunts that require
           extreme accuracy in driving, like  walking on all five  pillars
           in E1M9,  and so  on.  Consider also  using  a level  from  the
           _hardest_ (excluded)  set, completing  the level  with  maximum
           health and armour or deliberately  avoiding use of the  heavier
           weapons.
           (6) Package  everything up  as prescribed  in _How  to  package
           things up_.
           (7) Unzip your exam file in a clean directory and  double-check
           it. Sometimes  one  includes  the wrong  LMP  by  mistake  _  a
           practice LMP with a premature death. Don't do it.
           (8) Upload your exam to the repository. (More info in _The  DHT
           repository_.)
           (9) That's  it:  from now  on  you are  a  D1M, D2M  or  HM  as
           appropriate. Well  done!  Brag  about for  a  while  with  your
           friends, put  the title  in your  .signature and  then, if  you
           still like the idea, come back for another title. :-)
           (10) When your exam is finally  made available for download  on
           the repository (i.e. when the system administrator moves it  to
           the appropriate  directory), send  me the  completion form  you
           received with your  challenge: I'll  include your  name in  the
           next log.

       6. Official Reference
           Pedantic mode is  ON for the  duration of  this whole  section.
           Sorry.

       6.1 What you must do _ a summary
           . Request a challenge, in the prescribed format, for a specific
             title.
           . Patiently wait until you get the challenge.
           . Complete the required levels (or, for the Techno titles,  the
             required program).


                                         -8-


           . Make a fantastic free interpretation LMP.
           . Package things up and double check.
           . Upload your exam to the repository.
           . From now on, assuming your exam is valid, you've earned  your
             title.
           . When  the  exam  is  available  for  download,  send  me  the
             completion form; your name will appear in the next log.

       6.2 Requesting a challenge
           Requests for  a challenge  must respect  the following  format,
           otherwise I reserve the right to reject them. Requests must  be
           sent from an email address capable of receiving an email reply.
           If you think that  the From: line will  be mangled on the  way,
           add this line  at the  end of  your request:  _Please reply  to
           (proper-email@proper-site)_.
              To: fms@cam-orl.co.uk
              Subject: Please send me a DHT5 examination form

              Name: (your name and surname, and/or a nickname if you
              wish, max 25 chars total)
              Initials: (your initials, max 3 chars)
              Candidate for: (one of the many DHT5 titles)
              Declaration: I already have a copy of the DHT5 rules, and
              I'll read the Official Reference entirely before posting my
              completed exam to the repository.

       6.3 The authentication dance
           The authentication  dance is  a sequence  of randomly  assigned
           movements that comes with your  challenge. You must include  it
           in every recording  you make. It  certifies that  your LMP  was
           recorded by  you in  response to  that specific  challenge.  It
           proves that you really did it yourself. If your LMP is  branded
           with your dance, nobody can say that you stole somebody  else's
           LMP that was floating somewhere on the Net.
           The dance is specified as three  sets of three movements,  like
           this:  _FLF-LRR-RFL_.  Every  letter  represents  a   movement,
           according to the following mapping:
           . L: rotate left by 90 degrees
           . R: rotate right by 90 degrees
           . F: fist (or chainsaw where unavoidable)
           To perform the dance: switch to fist; quickly execute the first
           set of three movements; pause  for one second; quickly  execute
           the second set of  movements; pause again;  and then the  third
           set.
           Levels can be classified as either _Instant carnage_ (if you do
           the dance and stop there without fighting, you die, like  E3M3)
           or _Peaceful start_ (you  can do the dance  and stop there  and
           nobody will come after you, like E1M1). Note that some  levels,
           e.g. E2M6, are  normally _Peaceful start_  but become  _Instant
           carnage_ if  you have  an  F in  your  dance. This  is  because
           pressing fire, even if the weapon is the fist, produces a noise
           that non-deaf monsters can hear.
           When recording a _Peaceful start_ level  you must do the  dance
           at the very beginning.  This also helps you  not to forget  it,
           which is good because if you happen to forget it you must throw
           away the recording  and start again.  LMPs without your  dance,
           even if otherwise perfect, do not count for your exam.


                                         -9-


           When recording an _Instant carnage_ do the dance whenever  it's
           most convenient for you, provided it's not at the very end: you
           must kill  at  least two  monsters  after having  danced  (this
           deters all but the most skilled LMP forgers). In this case  you
           must pause for five seconds before dancing so that people  know
           that you're about to  dance and they can  check it (there's  no
           rewind button on LMP playback).
           For titles which  involve an _under  par_ constraint, and  only
           for those (D1SG, D2SG, D1L, D2L), the above instructions  would
           interfere with the  timing; so do  the following instead.  When
           recording a _Peaceful start_,  do the dance immediately;  then,
           without opposing any resistance to monsters, ensure you die  as
           quickly as possible  (monsters, crushers, barrels,  poison...);
           then press space to rematerialise and,  with your new life,  do
           the timed run, the one that counts. When recording an  _Instant
           carnage_ under par, don't do the dance at all _ after  thinking
           a lot about it I decided that, even with elaborate  alternative
           arrangements, it would really just get in the way. This is  the
           only case in which an exam LMP without a dance is valid.

       6.4 The free interpretation
           Every title, except the Hacker ones, also involves producing  a
           free interpretation LMP. You  have complete freedom of  choice,
           so you must make it really good. This one is the LMP that, more
           than all the others, is really going to show that you play with
           style. You choose the level; you choose the difficulty setting;
           you choose what  to do; you're  not even obliged  to reach  the
           exit _    yes, you're  even  allowed to  die  as long  as  what
           precedes your  death  is just  brilliant.  We want  to  see  an
           amazing performance  from you.  Go on:  prove that  you're  the
           best! The only constraints are: use  the same game (DOOM,  DOOM
           II or Heretic) as  the one of the  title you're competing  for,
           use a single player setup, do not use an external WAD. Remember
           that the free interpretation must still have the authentication
           dance like all the other LMPs in your exam.

       6.5 Formal requirements for the various titles

           6.5.1 General requirements for all titles
           You must be a registered user of  the game you want to play  on
           (there are no titles for the shareware versions). All LMPs must
           be recorded  _starting from  scratch_, i.e.  with the  standard
           equipment after -WARP: 100% health,  0% armour, pistol with  50
           bullets and no other weapon. Use of -TURBO, cheat codes,  cheat
           pokes, LMP doctoring or any  other cheat is obviously  strictly
           forbidden, except for the specific  title of LMP Doctor.  Every
           title except the Hacker ones must include a free interpretation
           LMP in addition to  the stuff mentioned  below. Every LMP  must
           include the authentication dance unless otherwise noted.  Every
           LMP must include the end of  level screen with the kill  count,
           and leave the completed score on screen for at least 5  seconds
           before quitting. You may not die during any of your LMPs  (free
           interpretation  excepted).  You  must  always  use  the  latest
           version of the game  engine, even if  you requested your  title
           before it appeared, for all the LMPs in your exam; the DHT  log
           always mentions what the latest version is and you must  ensure
           that, on  the  day  you  upload  your  completed  exam  to  the


                                        -10-


           repository, the then-current log  mentions the same version  as
           the one you're  using as  being the  latest. If  a new  version
           comes out from  id and the  latest log still  mentions the  old
           one, you are strongly encouraged (but obviously not obliged) to
           use the new one. If  an assigned level is  too hard, it may  be
           exchanged according  to the  rules in  _The appeal  mechanism_.
           Titles defined  as _once-only_  may only  be conquered  by  one
           player: once somebody gets that title  and is published in  the
           log, nobody else can get the same title again.

           6.5.2 Basic titles
           Basic titles (D1M,  D2M, HM, D1SG,  D2SG) involve doing  things
           that id  had well  in mind  while designing  the games:  it  is
           reasonable to  assume  that  any  level  in  the  game  can  be
           completed under these requirements.
           The randomly assigned levels are based  on level sets. All  the
           levels in each  game are  classified into  five sets:  Easiest,
           Easy, Medium, Hard, Hardest. The levels are assigned by picking
           one random element from  each of the  three middle sets  (Easy,
           Medium, Hard), all of which have at least seven elements.  This
           means that  levels  from the  Easiest  and Hardest  sets  never
           appear in challenges  for Basic  titles. They  may, of  course,
           appear as  free  interpretations,  but only  if  the  candidate
           chooses them.
           It is  possible  to get  levels  with  the same  _index_  in  a
           challenge (e.g. one may get the third level from each set).
           There  is  no  memory  between  different  challenges:  when  a
           candidate requests  several  challenges for  different  titles,
           some challenges may contain the same level.

           6.5.2.1 DOOM 1 Master, DOOM 2 Master
           You are  assigned  three levels.  Each  one of  these  must  be
           completed on Ultra-Violence with 100% kills or more.

           6.5.2.2 Heretic Master
           You are  assigned  three levels.  Each  one of  these  must  be
           completed on Black  Plague Possesses  Thee with  100% kills  or
           more.

           6.5.2.3 DOOM 1 Speedy Gonzales, DOOM 2 Speedy Gonzales
           You are  assigned  three levels.  Each  one of  these  must  be
           completed on Hurt Me Plenty within the par time that appears on
           the end of level screen. You may exit through the secret  exit,
           where available, if  you so prefer.  You may  be exempted  from
           performing the  authentication dance  in  some cases:  see  the
           relevant section for more details.

           6.5.3 Advanced titles
           The Advanced titles  (D1T, D2T, D1I,  D2I, D1GM, D2GM)  involve
           doing things  that  were  not  necessarily  planned  for  while
           designing the games. What I mean is that the maps have not been
           tuned to  allow,  for  example, completion  of  all  levels  on
           Nightmare, whereas they have been tuned  for doing the same  on
           Ultra-Violence. Taking this into account, the randomly selected
           levels are  chosen  only from  what  is  called The  Base  _  a
           dynamically  expandable  set  of  feasible  levels.  For  every
           advanced title there  is a base,  consisting of  three sets  of


                                        -11-


           levels labelled Easy, Medium, Hard that are considered feasible
           under  the  requirements  for   that  title.  When  issuing   a
           challenge, the  levels are  assigned  by randomly  picking  one
           level from each set.
           As well as  completing the three  assigned levels, a  candidate
           for an advanced title must also augment the corresponding  base
           by one level.  In other words,  the candidate  must complete  a
           level that is not yet in the base using the same constraints as
           for the three  assigned levels. From  then on,  this new  level
           will be added to  the base. To find  out what the current  base
           is, look  in  the DHT  repository.  You'll find  a  text  file,
           BASES.TXT, listing the  current base level  sets for any  given
           advanced title.  This  file  is  updated  by  the  DHT  archive
           maintainer  as  he  moves   new  exams  into  the   appropriate
           directories, so  it never  gets out  of step.  (This is  a  big
           improvement over what happened under  DHT4, where the base  was
           defined by the log and  race conditions were possible.)  Before
           uploading an  advanced exam  you must  always check  the  then-
           current base  on the  repository itself,  to ensure  that  your
           mandatory out-of-base level  actually is out  of base. If  your
           supposedly out-of-base  level  is  already  in  the  base,  the
           archive maintainer will reject your  entry, which is a  helpful
           and friendly move to prevent your exam from being later  marked
           as  CRAP  (see  _My  policy  about  verifications_).  When  you
           complete an  out-of-base level  you have  the right  to  decide
           which set (Easy, Medium, Hard) it  should be added to, and  you
           should say so in your completion form (mentioning it in the TXT
           file is not enough). Failing that,  the level will probably  go
           in the Easy set, just because it has to go somewhere.

           6.5.3.1 DOOM 1 Tyson, DOOM 2 Tyson
           You are  assigned  three levels.  Each  one of  these  must  be
           completed on Ultra-Violence  with 100% or  more kills. You  may
           not use any  weapon other  than fist,  berserk fist,  chainsaw,
           pistol.

           6.5.3.2 DOOM 1 Incubus, DOOM 2 Incubus
           You are  assigned  three levels.  Each  one of  these  must  be
           completed on Nightmare.

           6.5.3.3 DOOM 1 Grand Master, DOOM 2 Grand Master
           You are  assigned  three levels.  Each  one of  these  must  be
           completed on Ultra-Violence with 100% or more kills using the -
           FAST command line  option which makes  monsters as  fast as  in
           Nightmare.

           6.5.4 Epic titles
           The ultimate DOOM challenge. As they say, _These titles are not
           even remotely fair_. They  involve recording multi-level  LMPs,
           where you carry  over your possessions  from one  level to  the
           next, but where a single mistake in one of the later levels may
           mean having to restart the whole game. You are never allowed to
           die during the entire  recording. You may pause  at the end  of
           level screens, but never for more than half a minute  otherwise
           it becomes boring to  watch. There is  no appeal mechanism  for
           any of the Epic titles. All the Epic titles are once-only.


                                        -12-


           6.5.4.1 DOOM 1 Lightning, DOOM 2 Lightning
           You must complete  nine consecutive  levels on  Ultra-Violence,
           all of them  under par.  You choose  which level  to start  on,
           depending on how strong  you feel. For  D1L you obviously  only
           have three choices,  but for  D2L you  have many  more. Do  the
           authentication dance once at the beginning of the mega-LMP, get
           killed and  restart; this  is described  in detail  under  _The
           authentication dance_. On the intermediate end of level screens
           leave your completion time  visible for at  least 5 seconds  so
           that it can be checked easily.

           6.5.4.2 DOOM 1 Schwarzenegger, DOOM 2 Schwarzenegger
           Ready for the toughest of all challenges? You must complete the
           whole game in one big LMP (three separate big LMPs for D1S, one
           per episode) on Nightmare. No  constraints on number of  kills,
           secrets or  completion  time.  Even going  through  the  secret
           levels is optional.  Just get  to the  end of  the game  alive,
           that's enough. This one is also known as _DOOM _ The Movie_...

           6.5.5 Techno titles
           These titles  are  completely  different  in  spirit  from  the
           preceding ones. While the preceding  ones are about _let's  see
           how good a real player can be_, these ones are about _let's see
           what the  theoretical limits  are_.  The rules  are  completely
           different.  Here  LMPs  (or   even  players)  are   constructed
           artificially so that they can  be refined and optimised.  There
           is no appeal mechanism for any of the Techno titles _  besides,
           it would hardly  make sense.  For titles  that involve  writing
           programs you are encouraged to release the source, but you  are
           not obliged to. The executable must however be freely usable by
           anybody without charge.

           6.5.5.1 DOOM 1 LMP Doctor, DOOM 2 LMP Doctor
           You are assigned three levels, two from the _Hard_ and one from
           the _Hardest_ (normally  excluded) Basic set.  For each one  of
           these you must  produce a LMP  on Nightmare with  100% or  more
           kills. The LMP may be produced  in any way you like,  including
           binary editing and all  the cheats you can  think of. The  only
           restriction is  that  the final  product  must be  a  perfectly
           normal LMP, that can be played back on an unmodified version of
           the game. The  free interpretation must  be another  _doctored_
           LMP of  a  level  of  your choice;  I  recommend  that  you  do
           something that people would normally dismiss as impossible. You
           must still perform  the authentication  dance on  all LMPs,  as
           usual. Note that, unlike the other Epic and Techno titles,  LMP
           Doctor is not once-only.

           6.5.5.2 DOOM Hacker
           You must produce a program capable  of getting to the end of  a
           specific level on UV with 100% kills or more. You choose  which
           level, and  which game  (DOOM or  DOOM  II). To  avoid  trivial
           solutions like a program that just  contains a LMP recorded  by
           hand, the program must still be  able to complete the level  if
           any of  the THINGs  in the  level (particularly  monsters)  are
           moved around, as  long as the  new configuration  can still  be
           solved by a human. The program does not have to be able to cope
           with any level: you may work  on the one you find easiest,  but


                                        -13-


           it has to be one of the levels in the original game. Given  the
           WAD of the  level with the  new positions for  the THINGs,  the
           program produces a  LMP which may  then be viewed  on a  normal
           copy of the game, of course when loaded together with the  same
           modified WAD.  No  free interpretation  and  no  authentication
           dance are  required for  this  title. Because  the  programming
           skills involved  are quite  independent  of the  level  chosen,
           there is no D1H/D2H distinction. This is a once-only title.

           6.5.5.3 DOOM Master Hacker
           You must produce a program capable of impersonating a player in
           a cooperative setup.  If the  other player  is left  untouched,
           your program must  be able to  get 100% kills  on any level  on
           Ultra-Violence without ever missing a shot. The point is  that,
           whatever connection method you decide to use (serial / modem  /
           network or even all three), your program must externally behave
           exactly like any  other DOOM node.  Of course at  this point  a
           natural extension is to transform the program into a formidable
           deathmatch opponent: you may  implement this additional bit  in
           any way you like; consider it  as your free interpretation  for
           this  title.   DMH  is   a  once-only   title.  There   is   no
           authentication  dance.  As  for  DH,  there  is  no   D1MH/D2MH
           distinction, and your program is not required to work with both
           games. You may base  your program on that  of an earlier DH  if
           available, giving proper credit of  course. The program is  not
           required to  perform  any graphical  rendering  of what  it  is
           _seeing_ during play, but  it must be  capable to cooperate  in
           the recording of a multiplayer demo so that its subjective view
           of the match can be seen later by playing back the LMP.

       6.6 The appeal mechanism
           To compensate for the fact  that randomly assigned triplets  of
           levels  may  not  all  have  the  same  difficulty,  an  appeal
           mechanism is provided. You are allowed to exchange at most  one
           of your assigned  levels. The exchange  will involve  recording
           more LMPs  than normal  but it  may allow  you to  complete  an
           otherwise too difficult  title. On  the other  hand, if  you're
           feeling brave,  you  may  use  the  appeal  mechanism  for  the
           opposite purpose, to make your exam harder! If you think you're
           that good, well, go ahead!

           6.6.1 Basic titles
           You may exchange at most one of your three assigned levels with
           three other levels of your choice from the same or from  harder
           sets. The three other levels may  come from different sets.  Of
           course none of  the three other  levels may  duplicate a  level
           already in your challenge.

           6.6.2 Advanced titles
           You may exchange at most one of your three assigned levels with
           three other levels  taken from the  same or  from harder  sets,
           without repeating levels already in your challenge. If, between
           the _same_ and  the harder sets,  you can't  find three  unused
           levels, you can't use this rule  for the appeal. Note that  you
           must refer to the current version of the base, which you get by
           looking at  BASES.TXT  on  the repository,  and  which  may  be


                                        -14-


           different from the  base at the  time when  your challenge  was
           issued.
           Alternatively, you  may  exchange at  most  one of  your  three
           assigned levels with one out-of-base level. This, of course, in
           addition to your _normal_ out-of-base level.
           Alternatively, if you  can complete the  three assigned  levels
           but cannot expand  the base, you  may exchange the  unspecified
           out-of-base level  for  all  the  levels  in  the  _hard_  set,
           provided that there are at least four (including your  assigned
           one). If there are  fewer than four levels  in the _hard_  set,
           you are obliged to expand the base.

           6.6.3 Epic and Techno titles
           No appeal.

       6.7 How to package things up
           When you have recorded all the exam material, you must  package
           it up in a ZIP  file as explained below.  The name of the  file
           will be something like D1M-TLH.ZIP,  where the part before  the
           hyphen is the  title you've conquered  and the  part after  the
           hyphen is  your  _handle_ as  specified  in the  challenge  you
           received. Your _handle_ is normally the same as your  initials,
           but if  they  clashed  with  somebody  else's  then  the  third
           character will now probably be a digit. Because the filename is
           eight letters long and the title  may take up to four  letters,
           your _handle_ will never exceed three characters.
           Note that, although in this  document I always write  filenames
           in upper case to make them  stand out, you must use lower  case
           when uploading,  because the  repository has  a case  sensitive
           file system  (unlike  DOS's  FAT) where  upper  case  filenames
           become a nuisance.
           All LMPs for Basic  and Advanced titles  should be named  ExMy-
           UV.LMP, MAPxy-NM.LMP or whatever  is appropriate. LMPs for  the
           Epic titles should be named 9LEVELS.LMP or 32LEVELS.LMP.
           The items that may compose your ZIP file are the following.

           6.7.1 The assigned LMPs (1)
           Those that have been assigned to you in your challenge.

           6.7.2 The substitution LMPs (2)
           Those that you have recorded instead of an assigned or  out-of-
           base LMP you couldn't do (see _The appeal mechanism_).

           6.7.3 The free interpretation LMP (3)
           The one where you  choose everything _  probably the first  one
           that people will watch when unpacking your exam file.

           6.7.4 The out-of-base LMP (4)
           The one that makes you worthy of an Advanced title, by  proving
           that you can do something that no one else has been able to  do
           so far.

           6.7.5 The multi-mission LMPs (5)
           The equivalent of the  assigned LMPs but  for the Epic  titles.
           Sort of assigned, but not quite.


                                        -15-


           6.7.6 The program (6)
           For some Techno titles  only. There must  be an executable  and
           there may be  a source. The  source, if  present, must  contain
           instructions on how to build it.  Package the source tree as  a
           ZIP-in-the-ZIP to keep it together. Package the program and its
           docs as another ZIP-in-the-ZIP.

           6.7.7 The challenge (7)
           The PGP-signed message  you received from  me (you must  retain
           the PGP  delimiters but  you may  delete the  surrounding  mail
           headers), containing your _handle_ and  the things you have  to
           complete. This must go in a file named CHALLENG.TXT.

           6.7.8 The description (8)
           The file which describes your  exam, highlights its good  parts
           and tells us a  bit about you  and how you  play. This must  be
           called something like D1M-TLH.TXT, i.e.  the same as your  exam
           file except that it must end in TXT instead of ZIP. Note  that,
           when uploading, you'll have  to include it  outside of the  ZIP
           file as well.  If you received  the DHT5 rules  in ZIP form,  a
           template for  this  file  was included  as  DESCR.TXT;  if  you
           received them via mail, news or WWW browsing, the same info can
           be found in the section _A template for the description  file_.
           Just fill in the blanks.

           6.7.9 Checklist
           What you must include is:
           For Basic titles: 1, (2 if appropriate), 3, 7, 8.
           For Advanced  titles:  1,  (2 if  appropriate),  3,  4  (unless
           replaced by 2), 7, 8.
           For Epic titles: 3, 5, 7, 8.
           For D1LD, D2LD: 1, 3, 7, 8.
           For DH, DMH: 6, 7, 8.

       6.8 The completion message
           When you complete your  exam, package it  up as prescribed  and
           upload  it  to  the   _lmps/incoming_  directory  on  the   DHT
           repository. When you see  that it has been  moved to the  _dht-
           exams_ tree by the archive maintainer, and not earlier, send me
           a completion message like the one below. I'll insert you in the
           next edition of the log as  someone who conquered a title,  and
           everybody will know and have a chance to pick up your LMPs.

              To: fms@cam-orl.co.uk
              Subject: Completion of DHT title

              Name: (your name)
              Log entry: (copy the relevant two lines from your
              challenge)
              Levels: (all the levels for which there is a LMP in your
              exam, in two-digit format, including assigned ones,
              substitutions, out-of-base and whatever else applies.)
              Additions to the base: (out of base level(s) in two-digit
              format, with indication of  E/M/H to tell where they should
              go in the base, or N/A if not applicable)
              Highlight of FREE: (concise description of your free
              interpretation, 60 chars max.)


                                        -16-


              Declaration: I am proud to announce that my exam file is
              now available for download on the DHT repository. I have
              double-checked it and, to the best of my knowledge, it
              fulfils the DHT requirements to the letter. I know that, if
              the exam I have submitted is later found to be invalid, it
              will be mentioned in the DHT log as CRAP.

           You may wonder what the last sentence of the declaration means.
           Check the section _My policy about verifications_.

       7. Level sets
           These are  the level  sets that  were current  at the  time  of
           writing, just to give  you the flavour  of the situation.  They
           are subject to  redefinition. Consult  the log  for the  latest
           level sets and the repository for the latest bases.

       7.1 Level sets for D1M
           Easiest: E1M1 E1M2
           Easy: E1M3 E1M4 E1M5 E1M6 E1M7 E2M1 E3M1
           Medium: E1M8 E2M2 E2M3 E2M4 E2M5 E2M8 E2M9 E3M5
           Hard: E1M9 E2M6 E2M7 E3M2 E3M3 E3M4 E3M7 E3M8
           Hardest: E3M6 E3M9

       7.2 Level sets for D1SG
           Easiest: E1M1 E1M2 E2M9
           Easy: E1M3 E2M2 E2M5 E3M1 E3M2 E3M5 E3M6
           Medium: E1M4 E1M5 E2M3 E2M4 E3M3 E3M9
           Hard: E1M6 E2M1 E2M6 E2M7 E3M4 E3M7
           Hardest: E1M7 E1M9

       7.3 Level sets for HM
           Easiest: (empty)
           Easy: the levels from Episode 1
           Medium: the levels from Episode 2
           Hard: the levels from Episode 3
           Hardest: (empty)

       7.4 Level sets for D2M
           Easiest:  MAP01 MAP02 MAP32
           Easy:     MAP04 MAP05 MAP06 MAP07 MAP21 MAP31 MAP03
           Medium:MAP09 MAP10 MAP11  MAP12 MAP14 MAP15  MAP17 MAP22  MAP25
           MAP26 MAP30
           Hard:     MAP08 MAP16 MAP18 MAP19 MAP23 MAP27 MAP28 MAP29
           Hardest:  MAP13 MAP20 MAP24

       7.5 Level sets for  D2SG
           Easiest:  MAP01 MAP02 MAP32
           Easy:     MAP04 MAP05 MAP06 MAP07 MAP21 MAP31 MAP03
           Medium:MAP09 MAP10 MAP11  MAP12 MAP14 MAP15  MAP17 MAP22  MAP25
           MAP26 MAP30
           Hard:     MAP08 MAP16 MAP18 MAP19 MAP23 MAP27 MAP28 MAP29
           Hardest:  MAP13 MAP20 MAP24

       7.6 Base for D1T
           Easy: E1M1 E1M2 E2M9
           Medium: E1M4 E1M6 E1M7 E2M2 E3M1
           Hard: E1M3 E1M5 E1M8 E2M4 E3M5


                                        -17-


       7.7 Base for D2T
           Easy: MAP01 MAP02
           Medium: MAP03 MAP05 MAP31
           Hard: MAP04 MAP06

       7.8 Base for D1I
           Easy: E1M1 E1M2 E2M8 E3M6 E3M8
           Medium: E1M4 E1M6 E1M7 E2M1 E2M2 E3M9
           Hard: E1M3 E1M5

       7.9 Base for D2I
           Easy: MAP01 MAP02 MAP03 MAP32
           Medium: MAP04 MAP05 MAP07 MAP31
           Hard: MAP06

       7.10 Base for D1GM
           Easy: E1M1 E1M2 E2M8 E3M1
           Medium: E1M4 E1M6 E2M1 E2M2 E2M9
           Hard: E1M3 E1M5 E1M7 E1M8 E1M9 E3M6 E3M7

       7.11 Base for D2GM
           Easy: MAP01 MAP02 MAP03 MAP32
           Medium: MAP04 MAP05 MAP14 MAP31
           Hard: MAP06 MAP07

       8. The DHT repository
           The DHT repository is a special directory tree on the DOOM  ftp
           site, called  lmps/dht-exams. It  contains the  completed  exam
           files of all the players that have conquered a title. From DHT4
           onwards, every exam file (say, D1M-TLH.ZIP) is also accompanied
           by the description file D1M-TLH.TXT. The repository is mirrored
           by many other ftp sites, so if you want to download you  should
           go to the mirror site nearest  to you. To upload, however,  you
           must go to  the master site,  otherwise your exam  will not  be
           propagated. When uploading your exam (ZIP and TXT), put it into
           the _lmps/incoming_ directory.  IMPORTANT: do not  put it  into
           the main incoming directory (as we used to do under DHT4) or it
           may be  deleted. Remember  to use  lower  case names.  The  DHT
           archive maintainer will move it to dht-exams.
           Since the DHT started in May 1994, the dht-exams directory  has
           followed  the  master  DOOM  ftp  site  in  its  journey,  from
           ocf.unt.edu to  infant2.sphs.indiana.edu  to  ftp.orst.edu  and
           currently to ftp.cdrom.com; as you see, this may change in  the
           future, but  the point  is that  the dht-exams  directory  will
           always be wherever the master DOOM  ftp site is (unless we  are
           thrown out because we use up too much space, but that's another
           story).
           At   the   time   of    writing,   the   DHT   repository    is
           ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/idgames/lmps/dht-exams     and      the
           directory     where     to     upload     your     exams     is
           ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/idgames/lmps/incoming.
           The dht-exams contains  a few  general files,  like the  latest
           version of these rules  and the all-important BASES.TXT,  while
           the actual  exams are  filed away  in subdirectories.  To  take
           advantage  of  whatever  goodies  the  archive  maintainer  has
           prepared for you, read the README file wherever there is one.


                                        -18-


       8.1 The DHT archive maintainer
           As announced elsewhere, the DHT repository is no longer managed
           as part  of the  main  DOOM archive:  it  now has  a  dedicated
           maintainer, who knows these rules very  well and has a  special
           interest in the DHT. Allow me to introduce Jeffrey Makaiwi, the
           first DOOM 2  Grand Master, also  known as  lmps@ftp.cdrom.com.
           His presence there finally  allowed me to  modify the rules  in
           such a  way that  the famous  race conditions  on the  advanced
           titles could be removed. As a free bonus, we gained a  friendly
           administrator who keeps  our exams much  more neatly  organised
           than they used to be.

       9. Where to find the latest information
           The most up to  date information on  the DOOM Honorific  Titles
           can  always  be  obtained  through   the  World  Wide  Web   at
           http://www.cam-orl.co.uk/~fms/dht.html, which I maintain.  This
           page contains the  latest version  of these  rules, the  latest
           copy of the log and a pointer to the current DHT repository.
           Whenever I issue any new challenges I always update the log and
           post  a  PGP-signed  copy  of   it  to  the  Usenet   newsgroup
           rec.games.computer.doom.announce. Articles from this  newsgroup
           are         archived          (and         indexed)          at
           ftp://ftp.mantis.co.uk/pub/doom/rec-articles. If I can log onto
           the DHT repository (not always easy in the past) I also  upload
           the log there, but do not  consider the copy on the  repository
           as necessarily being the most up to date one.

       10. A template for the description file
           You'll find a copy of this  in the file DESCR.TXT, included  in
           your rules package.

              This is a DHT5 exam file. Its place is in the dht-exams
              directory.

              The DOOM Honorific Titles
              Created by Frank Stajano on 1994 05 01

              (your name) hereby conquers the title of (your new DHT
              title).

              Exam file name: (e.g. D2M-TLH.ZIP)
              Title conquered: (e.g. DOOM 2 Master)
              Author: (your name)
              Completion date: (yyyy mm dd)
              Game and version used: (e.g. DOOM II v. 1.8)
              Log entry: (copy the relevant two lines verbatim from your
              challenge)
              Substitutions? (NO, N/A, or something like: YES, MAP16 with
              MAP18, MAP27, MAP28)
              System used: (e.g. 486/66 VLB with Sbpro)
              Controls used: (e.g. keyboard + mouse, with everything
              redefined as follows...)
              Free interpretation: (which mission it is and what makes
              this LMP special)
              Comments: (all you want to say about the levels you
              completed)


                                        -19-


              Author info: (all you want to say about you, your addiction
              to DOOM and maybe your previously conquered titles)

       11. My policy about verifications
           The central idea of the DHT  system has always been that  there
           would never be a commission of judges rating the LMPs. This  is
           probably what sets DHT apart  from most other LMP  competitions
           and also what made it so  successful. You get a challenge.  You
           perform the required  stunts. You package  up the LMPs.  That's
           it. Together  with the  authentication mechanism,  anybody  can
           verify that you really earned your title.
           All the modifications and additions I  made to the system  have
           always respected this  basic principle.  I'm here  just as  the
           entity that issues the challenges,  never as a commission  that
           checks the exams. In fact, I never check anything at all, apart
           from the very low level fact that your initials must not  clash
           with anybody else's on the log. Everything else you say, I take
           it as good. I have done my best to design a system in which the
           public can verify everything by themselves. If someone wants to
           cheat in  any way  they  will easily  fool  me (I  don't  check
           anything, by policy),  but they  will certainly  be spotted  by
           someone else on the Net.
           As a  recognition to  those who  put their  best energies  into
           completing their exam I decided  that, starting with DHT4,  I'd
           announce decorated players in the log. However, in line with my
           policy, I may very well not  even view their exam before  doing
           so: I just trust  what they tell me.  I believe this will  work
           fine and we won't have any  problems; but, as a matter of  safe
           design, having  done  that  I  also  had  to  incorporate  some
           feedback device in the rules  to discourage abuse. This  device
           is the  CRAP list.  If you  spot  an invalid  exam on  the  DHT
           repository, which is to  say one where the  player does not  do
           all the required things for the corresponding title, just write
           to me and tell me: _I believe that file XXX contains an invalid
           exam, because..._.  At that  point I'll  have to  check it  out
           myself (can't  avoid  it  here) and,  if  the  exam  really  is
           invalid, I'll insert a  _CRAP:_ entry in  the DHT log  pointing
           out that that exam is crap and that its author has no right  to
           any DHT title whatsoever, should be  ashamed of himself and  so
           on. Talking frankly, I don't think this will ever happen, but I
           feel that the possibility had to  be formally addressed in  the
           rules.
           This also means that  I should warn you  once more to be  extra
           careful when packaging  your exam. Check  that you've  included
           the correct  LMPs!  Believe me,  when  one competes  against  a
           challenge, the DOOM directory soon fills up with many  versions
           of the same LMP, and it's all too easy to select the wrong  one
           by mistake. Once the exam is on the repository, it's too  late.
           Also, if  you are  in doubt  about  the requirements  for  your
           specific  challenge  and  you   think  that  these  rules   are
           ambiguous, ask  me;  don't risk  it  by posting  a  potentially
           invalid exam in good faith.
           If you want to  mail me about a  supposedly CRAP exam,  though,
           check the latest  log first.  Sometimes you'll  find a  comment
           next  to  the  entry  which  explains  why  something  peculiar
           happened.


                                        -20-


       12. The DHT log
           Every time a challenge  is issued, it is  also recorded in  the
           DHT log. Every time a set of challenges is issued, the  updated
           log   is    posted    to   my    WWW    page   and    to    the
           rec.games.computer.doom.announce   newsgroup.   If   you   have
           requested a challenge and haven't  received it, you can  always
           check the latest log. The  date of the log  is the date of  its
           last section. If  I received your  challenge before that  date,
           you should  be  in the  log  and  you should  have  received  a
           challenge. If you're not  in the log, wait  until the next  log
           (your mail might  have been  delayed) and  then, if  necessary,
           mail me.  If you  are  in the  log  but haven't  received  your
           challenge, wait for a few days and then, if necessary, mail  me
           (I'll resend you a copy of the same challenge); in the meantime
           you can already start recording LMPs for your exam, because all
           the info you need is in the log. You'll only need the challenge
           when you pack everything up.
           Starting with  DHT4, the  log also  contains extra  information
           like announces  of decorated  players and  what is  the  latest
           version of DOOM. Note  that with DHT5 the  bases listed in  the
           log (which are used to issue  the challenges that follow  them)
           are no  longer the  official latest  bases for  the purpose  of
           deciding which  new level  you can  add to  the base  for  your
           advanced title; you  must check  the repository  for that  (see
           _Formal requirements / Advanced titles_).
           Updates to  the base  are particularly  important: if  you  are
           competing for an Advanced title, you must always keep an eye on
           the latest log,  because your out-of-base  LMP must  be out  of
           base with respect to  the latest log, not  with the base as  it
           was when you requested the challenge (otherwise everybody would
           request an advanced  challenge now,  to take  advantage of  the
           fact that the base is still nearly empty).
           There was  a log  before DHT4,  containing all  the  challenges
           issued since the  beginning of the  system, and  that log  will
           still be publicly available on my WWW page. Because the new log
           lists more items it has a different format and I thought it was
           simpler to separate the two so that the new one could be  self-
           consistent. This will make it easier to write automatic filters
           for it.
           The format of the log hasn't changed between DHT4 and DHT5,  so
           any  log  with  the  title  DHT5  will  also  contain  all  the
           challenges from the DHT4 days.
           By the  way,  because  the articles  posted  to  the  .announce
           newsgroup are archived at  ftp://ftp.mantis.co.uk/pub/doom/rec-
           articles, you may retrieve old versions  of the log from  there
           if you wish.

       12.1 Notes on the format of the log
           To conserve space, levels are designated with a two-digit  code
           only, like 23 instead of E2M3  or MAP23. It will be clear  from
           the context what the correct expansion should be.
           For readability and ease of posting, lines in the log file  are
           never longer than 75 characters.
           Blank lines  are ignored,  and so  are  lines starting  with  a
           semicolon. Lines  full  of  hyphens separate  sections  (a  new
           section  is  produced  every  time  I  issue  a  new  batch  of


                                        -21-


           challenges). The  remaining lines  are  identified by  a  four-
           letter code followed by a colon. The codes include:
           . DATE: contains the date of this section.
           . BASE: redefines the base for a given Advanced title.
           . LEVS: redefines the level sets for a given Basic title.
           . VERS: states what the  latest versions of  DOOM, DOOM II  and
             Heretic are.
           . REPO: states what the latest DHT repository is.
           . CHAL: records the fact that I issued a challenge.
           . DONE: announces that a player got  a title and that the  exam
             is now available for download on the repository.
           . CRAP: says that a  published exam has  been discovered to  be
             invalid or even a forgery. Shame on the author!
           Every line  is  partitioned  into  fixed  length  fields  whose
           meaning will probably be easy to guess once you get to see  the
           log. The fields  are informally  defined in  a comment  section
           near the beginning of the log itself.

       13. Heretic
           I was halfway  through compiling  the DHT4  rules when  Heretic
           came out. Because  Heretic is just  DOOM in a  fantasy/medieval
           setting, it makes perfect sense for  people to ask whether  the
           DHT rules offer any challenges for Heretic. The answer is  yes,
           at least  in part.  As you've  seen one  Basic title,  that  of
           Master, is  available  for Heretic  too,  with the  three  sets
           corresponding to  the three  episodes. The  other Basic  title,
           Speedy Gonzales, would have been available as well but there is
           no par time in Heretic so it isn't. I have decided not to offer
           any higher titles for  now, both because  I haven't played  the
           game enough to be able to confidently fine-tune the level  sets
           (I'm still not sure whether I want to buy the full version  for
           this one or not, after having  bought both DOOMs) and  because,
           as you noticed, there is no Nightmare mode (which perhaps  just
           should be taken as  official confirmation of  the fact that  id
           never was serious  about people actually  completing levels  on
           Nightmare  anyway...).  Maybe  I'll  create  appropriate  extra
           Heretic titles later if I get loads of requests.
           The rules for HM are exactly  the same as those for D1M  except
           that the level  sets correspond to  the episodes  and that  you
           must play  on  the  hardest difficulty  setting  (Black  Plague
           Possesses Thee, abbreviated to BP for LMP naming purposes).

       14. Things that may change in the future
            You never know  what is  going to  happen; but,  as a  general
           feeling,  I  don't   think  that  there   will  be  any   major
           modifications to the  DHT rules after  version 4.  We've had  a
           DHT5, the one you're now reading, but it's just a minor update.
           Some things, however, might change, even without requiring  the
           issuing of a new version of these rules.

       14.1 Repository
           The DHT repository will probably not stay at the same ftp  site
           forever. But rest assured that it  will move together with  the
           master DOOM site. The section on _Latest information_  contains
           the relevant pointers.


                                        -22-


       14.2 Level sets
           The most controversial change  in the DHT4  rules has been  the
           introduction of level sets. Previous  versions of DHT used  the
           DOOM  episodes  as  level   sets.  This  innovation  has   been
           introduced primarily to cope with the fact that DOOM II has  no
           episodes, but also to compensate for some anomalies in  triplet
           assignment that  plagued the  earlier rules  and forced  me  to
           introduce extra layers of sub-rules.
           Of course  the problem  with level  sets is  that there  is  no
           partitioning that will look right  to everyone. Although I  did
           my best  to produce  the  present list  of  level sets,  and  I
           believe it is reasonably fair, I do not claim it is perfect and
           I am sure  that many  will disagree  on the  placement of  some
           missions in some sets for some  titles. My overall position  is
           that if I continue  fiddling with it, I'll  never stop; and  so
           I'll be very  reluctant to change  any of these  sets. But,  as
           always, I  will listen  to  any comments  and,  if there  is  a
           general consensus on something I  obviously got wrong, after  a
           stabilisation period  I will  rectify  the mistake  by  issuing
           another pack of level sets. If this ever happens, those who got
           a challenge  before the  change and  who believe  they'd get  a
           better deal after the change will be allowed to request another
           challenge for the same  title and their  old challenge will  be
           invalidated. Those who have completed a challenge issued before
           the change just keep their title without being affected by  the
           change. This has actually already happened in a few cases.
           Let me add once more that  it is unlikely that I'll change  the
           level sets  unless  I get  lots  of complaints  from  different
           people about the same  specific point. My  opinion is that,  as
           long as the rules are generally fair, if they are the same  for
           everybody then minor warts are  tolerable, because they do  not
           favour anyone.

       14.3 More Q&A
           I may add more  questions and answers as  I get more mail  from
           people. But I don't think I'll  issue a new version of the  DHT
           rules just to add more answers:  I'll probably put these in  an
           additional file. Only if  I decide to issue  a new revision  of
           the rules (unlikely, again) will the answers be pulled back  in
           the main file. At any rate, if I produce an external file  with
           more  Q&A,   you'll  find   it   on  WWW   at   http://www.cam-
           orl.co.uk/~fms/dht.html.

       15. A few tips
           Here are a few tips coming  from my personal experience.  Maybe
           some of them will be useful to you.
           . Keep RUN pressed all  the time. You need  the extra speed  to
             have an edge on the monsters.
           . Use the  mouse. You  need  to be  able  to turn  quickly  and
             accurately (although I  must admit that  the best  deathmatch
             player I ever  met, David McCandless,  was to  my surprise  a
             keyboard person).
           . Experiment  with  alternative  controller  arrangements:  the
             default one is not necessarily the  best _ for one thing,  it
             requires you to  look at the  keyboard to  change weapons.  I
             recommend the setup I  invented, with the  right hand on  the
             mouse and the left hand comfortably homing on the A, W, E, R,


                                        -23-


             SPACE keys,  with the  weapons readily  accessible by  touch-
             typing. Look at some DHT exams  you find good and check  what
             sort of controller configuration they use.
           . Concentrate on one specific level at  a time and practice  on
             it enough times that you know  exactly the location of  every
             monster and useful piece of kit. Always practice at the  same
             skill level as the  one you'll be recording  the LMP at,  and
             don't be ashamed of using the cheat keys while practicing  if
             you have  to _  you can  say you're  doing it  _for  research
             purposes_, just  to  study the  level.  Ensure you  know  the
             location of every secret before even thinking of recording  a
             LMP of  it.  Check  iddt, the  DOOM  FAQ  or  Paul  Falstad's
             excellent  _secrets  list_  if   you  think  you're   missing
             something.
           . Plan your way through the level.  This is very important.  No
             hesitation about what to do next.
           . Look at other  people's LMPs  of the  same level.  Sometimes,
             without being  aware  of  it,  we  insist  on  a  sub-optimal
             strategy and seeing  someone else play  may suggest a  better
             idea.
           . Once you  know the  level by  heart and  you know  the  route
             you'll be taking, start practicing the component parts. Every
             level has hard  fights and  rest places,  crucial points  and
             _downhill_ sections. For every crucial point, save your  game
             just before it and practice, practice, practice until you are
             sure you can kill that cyberdemon once you get there with the
             right equipment.
           . Having done that it's  time to put it  all together. At  this
             point you can try the whole  level in one go, and you  should
             be recording  every  attempt,  including  the  authentication
             dance every time. One of these will be the right one!
           . If you think you have outgrown the level, maybe because  it's
             the easiest of your triplet, consider redoing it even better.
             After all  the  stated  requirements are  only  just  minimum
             requirements _ nothing should stop you from doing much better
             if you can.  You might finish  with 200%  health and  armour,
             avoid taking  any damage  during the  level  and so  on.  The
             easier the level is, the more interesting your LMP should  be
             if you don't want those who download your exam to dismiss  it
             as trivial.

       16. Acknowledgements
           First of all I'd like to thank the cool guys at id software for
           producing the best computer  game I ever  played. Of course  if
           DOOM hadn't  been  so addictive  I  would have  never  bothered
           starting up and maintaining  all this. Then  I'd like to  thank
           the hundreds of people appearing in the DHT log, who made  this
           initiative as  successful  as  it  is.  Special  thanks  to  my
           postmasters at  ORL,  Jenny and  Steve,  who _  even  if  their
           interest in DOOM is totally nil _ patiently put up with all the
           wrongly addressed email  I receive because  of this. Thanks  to
           Barry Bloom and Jim Pitts for their wonderful job with the DOOM
           ftp site and for their friendly attitude towards the DHT:  they
           allocated me an entire directory  right from the start.  Thanks
           to  the  new  site  maintainer,  Joost  Schuur,  who  initially
           intended to throw us out completely but later changed his  mind
           and always proved to be open-minded and cooperative. Thanks  to


                                        -24-


           the numerous people  who sent me  their suggestions  on how  to
           improve the rules;  some of their  ideas have  been adopted  in
           this  edition,  but   even  those  that   haven't  were   often
           interesting and inspiring;  I am  probably forgetting  someone,
           but the list should at least include the following players: Pat
           Mahoney, Colin Dickens, Leo  Allen, Scott Adams, Ted  Vessenes,
           Julian Birch, Tim Glauert, Tony Lezard, Andy McFadden,  Phidias
           Bourlas.
           Thanks also to Vesselin Bontchev,  Takayuki Iida and Phil  Kime
           for detailed discussions,  to Steffen Winterfeldt  for the  two
           most fantastic nightmare LMPs I've ever  seen so far (E1M3  and
           MAP07), and finally special thanks  to Jeffrey Makaiwi for  his
           dedicated support, including  detailed review  of several  beta
           copies of the DHT rules, production of a substantial number  of
           initial base  LMPs for  the new  DOOM  II Advanced  titles  and
           lately,  best  of  all,  his  daily  maintenance  of  the   DHT
           repository. Thanks Jeff, I couldn't have done all this  without
           your help!

       17. Questions and answers
           Lots of  people  have  mailed me  with  questions  about  their
           challenge and whether they could do this or that. If you have a
           question, read on: there  is a good chance  that the answer  is
           already in here.

           Q: Do I have to start with a pistol or can I start from a saved
           game?
           A: You have to start with the _standard results after warp_. No
           saved game. A typical line to record your LMPs would be _doom -
           devparm -record exmy-zz -warp x y -skill s_.

           Q: Isn't it a bit wimpy to change one episode with some others?
           Shouldn't real players avoid the appeal mechanism?
           A: No. If one guy gets a very easy triplet and the next gets  a
           very hard  one,  then there  is  an obvious  disparity  in  the
           challenges.  It's true that in theory an aspiring Master should
           be able to do any level; but, given that the examinations are a
           subsampling and someone could get away by doing easier  levels,
           it seems fair to leave a way  out to those that get the  harder
           ones.  I have no control over what the random number  generator
           pours out, and  it is my  policy to always  stick to the  first
           thing that comes out when making a certificate. I never  remake
           a certificate  saying _oh  this one  would  be too  easy,  it's
           almost offensive_ or _oh this one is just plain impossible_. So
           there  needs  to  be  a  backup  system  that  evens  out   the
           difficulties.  Changing  one  of  the  levels  is  a  perfectly
           legitimate thing to do.  It's within the  rules. Of course,  if
           you can do without it, so much the better. If you realise  that
           you got very easy levels, try to do them at your best, possibly
           even surpassing the required specs: people will be inclined  to
           say _oh yes but he  got the easy ones_,  but you can show  them
           that you really are a master by doing them with style.


                                        -25-


           Q: Isn't it unfair  that I got these  very hard episodes  while
           people can call  themselves Master and  they've only done  much
           easier ones? I would be able  to do the ones THEY've done!  Can
           you send me another challenge please?
           A: Sorry, but you can't change the challenge you received.  The
           appeal mechanism has been introduced just for this purpose. The
           rules are the  same for  everybody. In  theory the  owner of  a
           title should  be able  to do  every level  in the  game at  the
           stated conditions. If  someone did it  on the  easier ones,  be
           assured that they didn't choose the levels for their exam: they
           were prepared, like all of us, to do it on any possible  level.
           Feel free to use the allowed substitution if it helps you.

           Q: Can I substitute more than one level?
           A: No.

           Q: Can I do more than one free interpretation?
           A: No. Just  include your best  one. If  you feel  particularly
           creative, try  to conquer  another title  _  that is  the  only
           opportunity you've got to  publish another free  interpretation
           in an exam.

           Q: And what if I want to  do ALL THREE EPISODES instead of  one
           for D1L?
           A: Really? Hmmm, if you're serious we could perhaps talk  about
           it... :-)
           As I said, the rules say  you can't include more than one  free
           interpretation, to force you to produce your best one and maybe
           to encourage you to go for another title. But in this case,  if
           you really want to do something  as exceptional as that,  given
           that the title is also once-only, and given that the spirit  of
           the DHT is to foster the  production of amazing LMPs, I see  no
           problem in extending the rules to allow you to do that. So  the
           general message is: if you've got something really  exceptional
           you want to do, ask  me. Most of the  time, I'll just stick  to
           the letter of the existing rules; but if you convince me,  I'll
           say yes to your proposal.

           Q: Do I have to pick up all the health potions, helmets etc?
           A: No. You  don't have  to finish  with 100%  items. Who  cares
           about this? DOOM is an action game!

           Q: The requirement that used to be _kill every monster at least
           once_ is now just _100% kills or more_. Can I kill that soldier
           twice and not kill the cyberdemon?
           If you stick to the letter of the Official Reference, yes,  now
           you can, and your exam will be valid. But rest assured that, if
           you do, you  won't look particularly  good to  those who  watch
           your exam.

           Q: Do I have to end the level alive on the free interpretation?
           A: No. There is no constraint  whatsoever. Do what you feel  is
           interesting. Obviously you will be  judged by your peers  based
           on what you do and on  how you do it,  but there are no  rules.
           Some of the original  id demos are pretty  amazing even if  the
           guy dies  after all.  Not that  I recommend  it, but  it's  not
           forbidden.


                                        -26-


           Q: Do I have to end the level alive in the other LMPs?
           A: Yes please! :-) Not that anybody asked that, of course;  but
           be extra  careful  when you  package  up your  exam  file.  You
           probably  have  lots  and  lots  of  LMP  files  in  your  doom
           directory, so be  sure to pick  up the right  ones and not  the
           ones where you failed. This is unfortunately quite easy to  do,
           and it happened to  some not-very-careful DM candidates.  After
           zipping up the exam, clean your DOOM dir of all LMPs, unzip  it
           there and view the LMPs again. It pays to be careful. It's much
           better if  YOU  spot it,  rather  than someone  else  who  just
           downloaded your file to see how good you are supposed to be.

           Q: What's this  stupid exam thing?  Who gave you  the right  to
           judge others anyway?
           A: Calm down mate, I am  judging absolutely nobody, as you  can
           see if you  read the rules  carefully. The only  thing I do  is
           running  the  program   that  issues   the  randomly   selected
           challenges and signs them with my PGP public key. Everybody who
           wants to participate  is their own  judge _ they  will know  if
           they've done it or not. I don't certify results in any way, nor
           do I issue scores. Actually, the reason why these titles may be
           considered worthy of trust is exactly because they are based on
           a  well-defined,  non-subjective  procedure  that  anybody  can
           verify.

           Q: The thing I'm good at is  deathmatch. If I beat a Master  at
           deathmatch, do I become one?
           A: No. The only way to  earn a title is  to pass the exam.  You
           earn a  title because  you proved  you  could beat  a  specific
           challenge.  Obviously  it  is  conceivable  that,  after  this,
           someone else once beats you in a deathmatch challenge, but this
           does not prove that he would definitely be up to the same  exam
           challenge as you did. There is some correlation, but  certainly
           not  an  implication.  Thus,  beating  a  decorated  player  at
           deathmatch, while certainly  a good performance,  does not  and
           should not imply that  one gets the  title without passing  the
           exam. And deathmatch  battles are not  consistent for  ratings,
           because the next time the results  might be reversed.   Besides
           there is another marginal point, which  is that the exam  stuff
           has  been  designed  to  be  very  easily  and   unquestionably
           verifiable by  anybody.  One can  only  claim to  be  a  Master
           because they can  show you the  exam file, with  authentication
           dance and all. If  they falsely claimed to  be a Grand  Master,
           you could very well ask to see the exam file and it would  then
           be obvious  that  they're bluffing.  So  the titles  are  worth
           something because  they can  be  authenticated by  anybody  who
           wants to.  You don't  have to  trust any  central authority  or
           committee.  _Proving_ that  you have beaten  a Master would  be
           much more cumbersome.

           Q: I have an old challenge, issued before DHT4, which I haven't
           completed. Can I  change to  a new one  for the  same title?  I
           prefer the new rules.
           A: The short answer is yes.  The long answer is that,  although
           you're not allowed to get more than one challenge for the  same
           title, strictly speaking you cannot  possibly get one for  _the
           same title_ as an old one  because these titles are not  issued


                                        -27-


           any more. The old DM,  for example, is now  D1M. It is not  the
           same title. For  example, it doesn't  require 100% secrets  and
           its triplet is chosen with a different algorithm. Of course  it
           is very similar. I did this precisely so that I could  slightly
           change the requirements for the titles without affecting  those
           who had already conquered them and/or who were still working on
           an old challenge. I spent a lot of time designing and  refining
           new, better rules, and I wanted all the old players to be  able
           to take advantage of them. On the other hand I always  repelled
           the  idea  of  changing  the  requirements  of  a  title  after
           challenges for that title have been issued. All the old  titles
           remain valid. All  the old challenges  remain valid. It's  just
           that I won't issue any more old titles. Because the rules allow
           you to conquer both a DM and a D1M title, they implicitly  also
           allow you to abandon your old  challenge for an equivalent  new
           one.

           Q: What the hell is PGP?
           A:  PGP  stands  for  Pretty  Good  Privacy.  It  is  a  highly
           successful Public Key  Criptography program originally  created
           by Phil Zimmermann. Its main function  is to help you  preserve
           the confidentiality  of your  digital communications.  It  also
           offers several  other functions,  among  which is  the  digital
           signature that  the DHT  system uses.  You  don't need  PGP  to
           produce a DHT exam  file. But you need  PGP, and my public  key
           (available on my WWW page and on the key servers as fms-dht) if
           you want to verify the digital signatures I produce.
           Your challenge  is signed  by me  with PGP.  This certifies  to
           anybody who cares to  verify that you did  not modify a  single
           character of it. You  didn't change the  levels to easier  ones
           and you didn't change the  authentication dance I assigned  you
           to recycle  someone  else's  LMP.  If  you  had  done  so,  the
           signature would  no longer  match the  text.  Thus the  use  of
           digital  signatures  adds  value  to  your  title,  because  it
           certifies that you certainly didn't get the title by  tampering
           with the challenge.
           PGP is a  very interesting program,  both from an  intellectual
           point of view  and, more  importantly, from  a civil  liberties
           point of view. It'll do you good to know more about it. By  the
           way, it's free, and it comes  with an outstanding manual  which
           contains detailed information both on the technicalities and on
           the social issues  involved. The issue  of digital privacy  (or
           lack thereof) is one that  could deeply influence your  future.
           Learning about PGP, and  about why in  some countries (can  you
           guess which ones?) you can go to jail (or much worse) according
           to what you do with it, is a wise move. There are many starting
           points on the Net about PGP.  There is a newsgroup, there is  a
           FAQ and there are numerous independent WWW pages on it. You can
           even follow a  PGP link from  my home page.  But of course  all
           this goes well beyond the scope of the DHT, so I'll stop here.

           Q: Can  I request  any Advanced  challenges even  if I  haven't
           completed the Basic ones yet?
           A: Yes you can (basically because it would cost me more time to
           go and check whether you really are a D1M than to issue the new
           challenge for D1T), but  I don't recommend it.  If you do,  you
           overload me with more  requests than I  would normally have  to


                                        -28-


           process,  and  the  challenge-issuing  activity  will  probably
           become slower. On the other hand I would consider it  perfectly
           acceptable if,  after becoming  a  D1M, you  requested  several
           Advanced titles together, only to decide later which one to  do
           first without having to wait two extra weeks for every title.

           Q: I can't do FTP, so  I can't upload my  exam file to the  DHT
           repository. Can I uuencode it to you so that you do it for me?
           A: No way! For no reason in  the world should you send me  your
           exam file. Neither to have me look at it, nor to have me upload
           it somewhere. If I  want to watch some  LMP action, I  download
           other people's exams from the repository  when I feel like  it,
           but I don't want these exams overflowing my mailbox and waiting
           for a reply.  I WON'T REPLY  AT ALL TO  MESSAGES CONTAINING  AN
           EXAM FILE: I'll junk  them immediately. I  barely keep up  with
           issuing challenges; when I  have some free  time I much  prefer
           playing DOOM myself  rather than  messing about  with more  DHT
           administrative stuff! :-)

           Q: What's the point of having  to use the latest version?  They
           keep changing it, it's a pain! I had just finished a great  LMP
           with the previous one...
           A: Because there have been so many versions of DOOM, it is  now
           impractical to keep all of them online on the hard disk just to
           be able to view the odd  LMP. Most keen players will update  to
           the new version as soon as it  comes out, so this must be  your
           target if you want your exam  to be seen by the most  dedicated
           players.  I've  made  it  a  rule  to  encourage  everyone   to
           standardise on the upgraded version.

           Q: What if the level I'm supposed to do has a bug that makes it
           impossible to complete it, like the famous E3M9 bug in 1.666?
           A: First,  ensure that  it really  is  a showstopper  bug  that
           everybody experiences. Contact help@idsoftware.com and see what
           they say.  If  it  is one,  chances  are  that a  fix  will  be
           available, either as a PWAD or  as a patch for the program.  In
           that case use the fix and mention it in your description  file.
           Describe in clear steps what viewers should do (e.g. load  this
           PWAD, which can be found on this ftp site) to be able to  watch
           your LMP. If  the fix comes  in the form  of a  new version  of
           DOOM, you'll have to rerecord all the LMPs with the new version
           anyway.

           Q: I'm  supposed to  do E1M8.  How  can I  end it  alive?  It's
           impossible, the final room can't be done!
           A: You're right, it can't, we all know that. You always end  up
           dying in the final dark room, if nothing else because the floor
           is poisonous. In  this case of  course the  final room  doesn't
           count, and you should consider the teleporter as the end of the
           level for all practical purposes.

           Q: When I get to  the last mission of  an episode, there is  no
           end screen. How do I know that I've killed all the monsters?
           A: Pay attention. Watch the LMP again with someone else. Listen
           to growls before exiting. I can't offer much better advice, I'm
           afraid, although  to be  honest it's  generally fairly  obvious
           whether you've killed everybody or not.


                                        -29-


           Q: I finally completed my DHT3 exam. Will you mention me in the
           DHT4 log? Or in the DHT3 log? Or anywhere else?
           A: In short, no. You won't be mentioned in the DHT4 log because
           it only lists DHT4 (and newer)  titles. You won't be  mentioned
           in the DHT3 log because it's now sealed forever. You may not be
           mentioned anywhere (although who knows,  I might one day  write
           the simple robot I  have in mind ,  in which case...) But  your
           title is fully valid. Your exam  is present on the  repository,
           so that's  where you  are visible.  That's  how it  has  always
           worked for DHT3 titles.

           Q: What happened to the _100% secrets_ requirement?
           A: I  dropped it  after discovering  that, in  several DOOM  II
           levels, it was impossible to get 100% secrets because at  least
           one secret was in  a sector only  accessible through idclip.  I
           consider this  a design  bug;  but, whether  it  is or  not,  I
           thought it simpler  to drop the  requirement altogether  rather
           than stating an ambiguous requirement like _as many secrets  as
           can possibly be discovered_, especially given the fact that new
           DOOM patches  might  have  changed  the  number  of  accessible
           secrets on a given level.
           Besides it must be said that, if you still have the 100%  kills
           requirement, you must pretty much visit the whole level anyway,
           and if you don't it just makes it harder for you because you're
           not missing any monsters, only goodie caches.

           Q: Aren't  the new  titles easier  than the  corresponding  old
           ones? Especially Tyson and Grand Master?
           A: Yes, they  are _ at  least as far  as the  original DOOM  is
           concerned. The requirements are less stringent and there is the
           Base concept that limits the difficulty of the assigned levels.
           But this was all intentional and part of a laborious design  to
           find a  set  of  rules that  would  allow  competition  on  the
           advanced titles without being excessively dependent on luck  in
           the draw of the triplet.
           Note also that DOOM II levels  are on average much harder  than
           DOOM levels;  thus, even  if the  formal requirements  are  the
           same, the  D2  title  is  normally  much  harder  than  its  D1
           counterpart. At least  for Master, I  believe that D1M  < DM  <
           D2M. This, together with the  variety of titles now  available,
           gives a wide spectrum of choices to potential candidates.  Note
           however that DT and  DGM were on  average probably harder  even
           than their  D2  counterparts,  because  they  didn't  have  the
           mechanism of the Base.

           Q: I read my mail under Unix, but I unzip under DOS, so how can
           I mail  you the  request form?  The file  I've got  has  CRLFs!
           Should I UUencode it?
           A: No,  thanks. I  much prefer  to  receive a  _readable_  mail
           message. If you really can't convert  the file (that should  be
           easy though!) just retype it yourself,  and don't worry if  the
           wording isn't exactly the same as  long as you include all  the
           fields and the declaration.


                                        -30-


           Q: Why do you  call this stuff _official_?  Surely only id  has
           the right to do so!
           A: Sorry if I misled you. My use of the word _official_ was not
           meant to imply that id endorsed the DHT. I have always used  it
           to refer to the  Official Reference as opposed  to the rest  of
           the rules, as if to say _Ok, ok, the rules are huge and  you're
           not supposed to know them all by heart, but the bit that counts
           as a reference  if you want  to know what  is allowed and  what
           isn't, is the one I call Official_.
           I  have  now  deleted  from  the  rules  the  only  potentially
           questionable occurrence of  the word, which  was in the  intro:
           _how do you like the idea of officially calling yourself,  say,
           a DOOM Master?_ There, it meant: _you can say you're a DOOM God
           with your friends as long as you like, but if you say the words
           `DOOM Master' you'll be  referring to a  title that is  awarded
           according to a  strict and non-subjective  criterion, so  other
           people will be much more likely  to recognise it as a  standard
           metric_. It didn't mean _that's the  name awarded to you by  id
           if you do such and such_.  Because someone seemed to  naturally
           follow the second  interpretation, I  thought it  clearer   and
           more appropriate  to  remove _official_  altogether  from  that
           sentence.

           Q: I like the idea of the  Techno titles: can you give me  some
           more info on  how to build  such a  program? Network  protocols
           used by DOOM, sample source code, whatever?
           A: Sorry, I  don't have  any of  that, or  I'd give  it to  you
           immediately. But don't  let this  stop you:  after all,  gifted
           people have reverse-engineered the WAD format with little or no
           input from id, and  that's where the  first level editors  came
           from, now more than a year ago...

           Q: In my first exam I  called myself _Joe H. Bloggs /  Killer_;
           after that  I  requested  another exam  as  _Joe  H.  Bloggs  /
           Wizard_, but you still listed me in the log with the old  name!
           Why?
           A: To maintain the consistency of the log, once you are in it I
           never change  your name.  I perform  low level  checks such  as
           seeing that no one  else has your same  initials. When I  enter
           your second  request,  the  program  tells  me:  _Warning!  The
           initials JHB are already in use by `Joe H. Bloggs /  Killer'!_.
           Now, when I enter the data I can work out that you're the  same
           person, and so I don't change  the initials to JB2; but I  have
           to restore your name to the one  that is already in the log  to
           avoid getting consistency errors every time I parse it.

           Q: What's the story about this race condition that could  occur
           under DHT4?
           A: To be accurate, there were  at least three possible  related
           race conditions.
           The first  one  was between  two  candidates. Assume  that  the
           latest log does not  include level X for  title T. Alice has  a
           challenge for T. She finishes her exam, including level X. Just
           before uploading, she checks  the log on my  WWW site one  last
           time: X is not in  the base, so she's  fine. So she uploads  to
           incoming on the repository. Bob has a challenge for T too,  and
           he does precisely the same. He uploads an exam containing X  to


                                        -31-


           cdrom. Both have done  a legitimate thing.  And still, we  have
           two Advanced exams with the same out-of-base exam. That's  bad,
           but not too  bad. In  fact I  allowed for  that when  designing
           DHT4.
           The second race is between the  candidates and the log.  Assume
           that now I  publish a log.  Because Alice and  Bob haven't  had
           their exam moved to dht-exams yet, they haven't sent me a  DONE
           form. So I  don't even  LIST their exam  in the  log! The  base
           still officially doesn't include X. This too was allowed for.
           The third race, which is the really bad one, is between the log
           and the transfer  from incoming to  dht-exams.Charlie looks  at
           the latest log, sees that X  isn't in, so he happily posts  his
           exam (with X) in incoming. In the meantime I have received  the
           DONE entries for Alice and Bob, so the next log I issue lists X
           as part of the base. I publish this log before receiving a DONE
           from  Charlie.  Now  the   archive  maintainer  finally   moves
           Charlie's exam to dht-exams,  so Charlie at  last mails me  his
           DONE, with X. Poor Charlie, he may even notice that the current
           log makes his entry invalid, but  what the f**k is he  supposed
           to do?  When he  posted the  exam to  incoming, the  entry  was
           valid, and from then on he had no control whatsoever over
           it! This is by far  the worst case of  race. I could live  with
           the other two, but not with this one. I hadn't thought of  that
           while designing the rules.
           Fortunately, the  presence of  a DHT-aware  archive  maintainer
           allowed me to modify the system in such a way that the transfer
           to dht-exams and  the update of  the official base  are now  an
           atomic operation, so none  of these three  races is any  longer
           possible.

           Q: I like this business of recording LMPs. Are you aware of any
           other similar initiatives?
           A: For history,  the first organised  attempt I  can recall  is
           that         of         Chris         `Strunoph'         Norman
           (cbnorman@undergrad.math.uwaterloo.ca),  who  in  January  1994
           started the _LMP Hall of Fame_. The completed collection can be
           found on the main DOOM ftp  site. I don't think he accepts  any
           more LMPs.
           I think that my own DHT, started in May 1994, qualifies as  the
           next  significant  initiative.  The   LMP  Hall  of  Fame   was
           inspirational to me, but I felt it missed something in that you
           could never be  sure that the  LMPs belonged to  those who  had
           sent them. Pondering on this I eventually came up with the idea
           of the authentication dance  and of the PGP-signed  challenges,
           which are the conceptual bases of the DHT.
           Another    initiative    is     that    of    Simon     Widlake
           (swidlake@rl.ac.uk), who in  December 1994 opened  an ftp  site
           (ftp://brains.cc.rl.ac.uk/ftp/pub/DoomLMPS/)          dedicated
           especially to LMPs.  This was originally  prompted by the  fact
           that,  at   some  point,   the  main   DOOM  ftp   site   (then
           infant2.sphs.indiana.edu) closed its doors to LMPs because they
           were short on disk space. Simon proposed a few challenges to be
           met and invited people to  submit their LMPs. This  competition
           is still open  at the  time of  writing and  there are  several
           categories of LMPs, some rather similar to those of the DHT and
           some original. There are also  categories based on improving  a
           minimum time to complete the level, so that unlike what happens


                                        -32-


           in DHT you can definitely say that you're (so far) the best  of
           all those who  entered. The system  is quite open  and you  may
           even suggest new categories if you  have a good idea. For  more
           info, pick up the rules from the site itself or mail Simon.
           The  most  recent  initiative  that  I   am  aware  of  is   an
           International DOOM  LMP  competition,  started  by  Mark  Gundy
           (Mag8@aol.com) of H2H BBS and others. It is different from  the
           DHT in that it has real people as judges. Because it's a  time-
           limited thing, with a beginning, an  end, and some winners,  it
           may not be appropriate to say too much here, as it may be  over
           by the time you read this. But it may be interesting to mention
           that they even arranged for some real-world sponsors to  donate
           real, physical prizes! Mail Mark for details; who knows,  maybe
           even if this one is over he'll organise another one some day...

           Q: Suppose  that someone  finds or  writes  a cheat  that  goes
           undetected in  LMPs. Then  all  those titles  become  basically
           crap, right?
           A: Well, in a sense yes. But in fact no, not at all. There  are
           a number of ways in which cowards could cheat their way through
           the  DHT  system,  from  easy  ones  like  requesting  multiple
           challenges under different names and from different accounts to
           more elaborate ones like hacking the binary data in the LMPs or
           hacking DOOM so that it records in slow motion. The system  has
           been designed to address the basics  of security, but it is  by
           no means  foolproof.  Its  greatest  non-technical  protection,
           however,  comes  from  the  fact  that  everything  is   public
           (including the log of  requests) and that  there is no  judging
           commission. If someone tries to cheat they will easily fool me,
           but they  can't  possibly  fool ALL  the  people  who  will  be
           watching their LMPs. Someone will spot them, and tell the  rest
           of the world on the DOOM newsgroups. If someone tells me,  I'll
           even put the culprits to shame in the log.
           I don't think that getting a title by cheating would be a great
           satisfaction; if,  for  example,  one can  doctor  a  LMP,  the
           greatest  satisfaction,  I  think,  should  come  from   people
           admiring them for how  clever they are  in doctoring the  LMPs,
           not from  silently  pretending  to have  recorded  a  LMP  like
           everybody  else,  without  being  able  to  talk  about   their
           technical prowess...  It  is for  this  precise reason  that  I
           introduced the  Techno titles.  I  would really  admire  anyone
           capable of getting  one of these!  This arrangement allows  the
           skillful  hackers  to  get  the  credit  they  deserve  without
           spoiling  the  fun  for  those  who  prefer  to  play  in   the
           traditional way. I  believe that competing  for a Techno  title
           and becoming  famous  for  it should  be  much  more  fun  than
           attempting to cheat and having to keep very quiet about it.
           But there is something else, which is: if there are people  who
           insist  on  cheating,  why  bothering  excessively  with  these
           losers? Being too  paranoid about  them, and  trying to  devise
           more and more sophisticated ways of making the system secure at
           all costs is  only going  to get in  the way  of us  legitimate
           players, just  like copy  protection does  for software.  Let's
           take the example of id, who left out copy protection from  DOOM
           and only  relied  on  the  honour  system.  Let's  leave  these
           cheating cowards,  incapable of  facing  a cacodemon,  and  who
           probably didn't  even register,  to  their little  tricks;  we,


                                        -33-


           meanwhile, will continue to  play this great  game in the  only
           way that makes sense. Click-clack. Ka-BOOOM! Click-clack.