              ---->  ABANDONED RAILROAD Help and Info File  <----
            * Storyline, Level Info, Other Useless Bullshit, etc. *

                        Abandoned Railroad: {storyline}

        You thought after the demonic invasions of both Mars and Earth (as
well as elsewhere...) you could go out West to the edge of the Rocky
Mountains and just absorb the scenery the way it was meant to be absorbed:
ALONE.  The only weapons you brought with you are your pistol (which you feel
naked without) and that old 12-gauge Shotgun that has seen you through so much
trouble.  As you were hiking along you discover a gravel road, so you follow
it for a few miles...
        It doesn't take a very keen eye to see that tunnel up ahead.  Tunnel?
For a gravel road?  Oh, this must be one of the many abandoned logging
railroads that went bust over two centuries ago.  Nothing to worry about...
Might as well go into the tunnel, there's nothing to fear here -- not that
your shotgun can't handle!  Just as you enter the tunnel, your foot steps on
something mushy!  Whew! It's something dead all right!  Fresh enough that the
vultures haven't found it yet, but it's too big to be a dead dog?  As you
turn your flashlight down on it and the light catches it - HORROR!  For a
brief moment you think you found a dead person.  Fortunately, your eyes adjust
to the dim light of the flashlight ("I know I should have brought along that
2nd energy cell for the flashlight!" you mumble.) and you breath a sigh of
relief -- it's NOT a dead human at all, just something you've grown used to
seeing in the last 2 years!  It's not even remotely human...  It's one of
those demonic humanoid things you fought on Mar's moons! (a dead imp, for all
of you taxidermists out there!)  But here, in the middle of nowhere?  This
isn't even a road anymore, and it quit being a railroad CENTURIES ago!  The
tracks are long gone, ripped up in years past and there's no one LIVING
within 50 miles.  Certainly not this stupid sucker, probably the last thing
to go through it's head was the correct definition of "Grizzly Bear"!  You
smile with grim humor...
        "I guess if I'm getting back in touch with nature, I might as well
get back in touch with the DEATH side of it--like I have a choice.  If one
lousy imp [that's what intel called them] can get torn to pieces by a bear,
and there's no pieces of bear laying around--I think it's safe to assume I've
already got enough firepower on me to waste whatever hellspawn is in this
area."
        A nagging feeling tells you that your conclusion is ALL WRONG, but
you press on deeper into the tunnel -- believing you'll get an easy answer at
the other end.  The tunnel proves just long enough for your flashlight to go
completely dead. (Cellcharge=0)  As you step out of the tunnel, you set your
shotgun down carefully and RIP the tiny atomic battery off your flashlight
and smash it to the ground.  Nothing like potential trouble to make you
irritable...  After calming down to your "normal" self (pumped-up ready for
battle...) you toss the flashlight next to the tunnel exit, because you don't
want to be carrying any useless items with you in a hot desert.
        As you bend over to pick up your shotgun, a "clack" (sound of rock
hitting rock) echos from around the bend.  Your mind tells you it was just a
loose rock that fell because of gravity, but your combat senses tell you
otherwise.
        "Only one way to find out..."

        {Scenery, Special Game Mechanics, and Level Design}

        A lot of time and effort was put into the details of this level,
roughly 5-10 times as long as it took to make up that storyline above (which
my level kind of inspired out of me by playing it too much.)  Even and
especially where I placed the items.  Monsters, on the other hand, I just
threw in until I thought there were too many.  I DID place a few important
monsters in very important places -- like make one president!  No, I mean,
important *strategic* targets (and nice items) are guarded by bigger monsters.
I finally had to eliminate 1/3 of the items, monsters, and scenery just to
get this wad to run at a reasonable speed (with no jerky motion of skipped
frames)-- BUT all of the important stuff is still there.  (And there's PLENTY
of monsters still left to kill you!)

        But the MAIN reason I designed this level was for the SCENIC
WIDE-OPEN, GOES-ON-FOR-MILES, OUTDOORS feel which most levels for DOOM and
DOOM ][ totally lack.  Some are bad enough to give me a slight feeling of
claustrophobia -- dark narrow hallways DEEP underground with monsters
attacking on every possible side!
        I put as much detail as I could into the old covered railroad bridge
--it's patterned after "snowshed" bridges used by railroads in the 1800's
in the high mountains-- (mostly underneath it) so that it would
look believable even though it's about 4 times larger than it should be.
The station building is actually modeled after an HO model-train station I
own.  The inside is left open both for manueverability sake as well as
simplicity.  The "Nuclear River" waterfall is one of the nicest touches on
this level -- it looks cool and doubles as a nice sniper spot as well!
(ESPECIALLY for the monsters I placed there on the harder skill settings ;)
The "tunnels" on the ends of the level (beginnings and end) as well as the
river fading off into the horizon have been drastically shortened using a
painting technique known as "foreshortening".  Unfortunately, the level grew
over the maximum size for maps in DOOM ][; and I had to REALLY compress the
level down to fit within the DOOM ][ limitations!  For a while, before I
found out about the map size limitation, my level was OVER 18,000 units (DEU
2 editor units) across -- and I was only about HALF the way finished!  The
"bridge" or remains of a bridge or something vaguely resembling the idea of
"bridge" was only supposed to be the middle of my level.  So I "compressed"
some of the scenery.  I made the tunnel you CAN walk through (if you've got
-NOMONSTERS on ;) a lot shorter than I wanted to.  I even made the entry
tunnel and exit tunnel (oops metioned how to exit...) very short by making
the walls converge to a tiny "SKY-LIT" room.  Turn on NO CLIPPING and
light-amp. visor to see what I mean.  The river itself was supposed to go on
far enough that the player couldn't SEE it anymore - this I changed to a
river that gets narrower and narrower to appear far away.
        After I was done, I took a level that was 18,000 units wide and
14,000 units tall that was only HALF done and shrunk it down to 14,000 units
wide and 12,000 units tall!  It's still a long walk from beginning to end,
even if you're NOT being shot at while you're doing it!
        I think the MAXIMUM size of a DOOM level is -8191 x to +8191 x and
probably the same for the y coordinate. (In case you would-be "designers" out
there want to use my level as a "base"!)  My unfinished level crashed my
computer when it was larger than that.
        Go ahead and rag me about the stupid bridge.  You can't walk across
it even!  (That's why the "monsters" put the teleports in!!!)  DOOM doesn't
allow one "room" -the bridge to be on top of another -the ground, so I
compromised to do the best I could.  The "bridge" is actually an extention
DOWNWARD of the sky with wall textures on it.  In my first design of this WAD,
there was no "bridge" at all, just the 3 big support columns where a bridge
"used to be."  I consider this fake bridge to be a considerable improvement,
especially the SHADOWS under the bridge!

        This particular level (and MANY others) ADDS more monsters to the
"playing field" if in a multiplayer game.  It is quite simply, another skill
level--like NIGHTMARE! is a skill level.


               {Super Special Tricks for this level (and others)}

        On a HUGE level like this, it would be NICE to move FASTER than the
normal "RUN" (forward key + shift key) just to cover those long distances
quicker.  There IS the -TURBO 255 command to make you go 255% times normal
speed, but that's cheating!  You can, however, RUN sideways and go about 40%
faster than the NORMAL "RUN"ing speed!  Unfortunately, (for me at least) this
only works when running forward and to the right OR backwards to the left!
The key combination to do that is: (for standard keyboard controls)
        UP ARROW + SHIFT + ALT + RIGHT ARROW = RUN to forward right
        DOWN ARROW + SHIFT + ALT + LEFT ARROW = RUN to backwards left
I wouldn't have the FOGGIEST idea if that works on anything other than a
keyboard.
        There is a WEIRD speedup for the player at the south-east corner of
the map, it ONLY works (I only got it to work) when running NORTH (FORWARD)
using the above key combination while hugging the edge of the map that you
can reach without using NO CLIPPING.  I found I could run really fast that
one place, I don't know about elsewhere.
        Some "rooms" (or sectors as the map editors call them) are places
where the monsters don't seem to be as "aggressive" --they attack less-- than
normal.  It is a result of running the Reject Map Builder (v.2.0) on the
level.
        The Bridge on my level is just full of ledges and crazy ambush spots
(for you Deathmatch players out there!).  A few of the spots contain nice
items!
        The TOP of the waterfall CAN be reached by going to the bottom of it.
There is a teleport to take you to the top.
        There is a dark cave on a far cliff of the level that cannot be
reached except as a DEATHMATCH starting location.  Also, there is 2 ledges in
the level that cannot be reached (either one MIGHT have a monster on it.)
NEITHER ledge is considered a SECRET and has nothing you should need on them.
        Two "fake tunnels" cannot be entered because they're only there for
scenery purposes.  Also where the river converges in the distance cannot be
reached.
        I tried to design this level as a go-anywhere level, but I may have
left something out.  Watch the demos for HOW to get to most nooks and
crannies on the level.
        There is a Special Place on the level where the monsters supposedly
came from.  It's a "sensible" explaination if you can't figure it out...

              {DOOM HuMoR}

        A fool with a BFG is just a crazy fool.
        A fool with a Rocket Launcher quickly kills himself.
        A fool with a Double-Barrel shotgun doesn't HAVE to know how to aim.
-- Which is the reasons why you should probably run from ALL of them if
you're playing a DEATHMATCH game with them!!!

        ALWAYS remember: this ain't no AMTRAK!
