                          = THE DARKENING =
               = Episode 1 : The Nameless Project v1.01=
======================================================================
= The Darkening homepage: http://gallery.uunet.be/jan.van.der.veken/ =
======================================================================

Finally, it's here. After many months of hard work, The Darkening
team proudly presents Episode 1: The Nameless Project, featuring ...

 + 11 single player levels
 + 11 deathmatch levels
 + tweaked for optimal gameplay
 + stunning new graphics

New in version 1.01:

 + fixed a missing flat bug that caused [DM Map 08] to crash.
 + fixed animation sequence FIREBLUA from 2 frames to 3 frames.

=============================== STORY ================================

It has been 3 years since the destruction of the huge demon that
masterminded the invasion of Earth. Your journey back home was almost
as difficult and bloodthirsty as your journey into hell, but you made
it. You had expected to be made a hero; after all, you had saved Earth
and all it's worlds from a fate worse than death. But it was not to be
that way.

Upon your return, you discovered that things had begun to change. The
UAC, deprived of some of it's key personnel, had become more secretive
and shadowy. You could swear that the Mars station's light levels were
lower than you remember them. . . Instead of briefings by the top
brass, troops were given datapads for their missions. Sometimes people
would go missing. . . Some of the other marines decided that they
would leave. Their ship blew up shortly after departure.

Recently, things have gotten worse. All remaining marines have been
confined to quarters for weeks, and contact with Earth has been cut
off for months. Some of your closest friends have started to disappear
Perhaps hell won the fight after all. . .

Then, one night, it is your turn. Your dreams suddenly turn to
nightmares, a Spider Mastermind strafing your body, it's manic
laughter the only thing you can hear ... As the last bullet pierces
your skin, your eyes blink open. Something is wrong. . . it seems even
colder and darker than it did before. . . Suddenly, everything goes
black. Fearing the worst, you reach under your bed for the pistol you
always keep there. Your chaingun and shotgun are in the other room,
but it is too late and too far.

Your sight begins to return to you. But where are you? You are in a
tiny brick room, a silver door the only way out. Tightening your grip
on the pistol, you open it and step through and prepare to discover
the purpose of this ... this Nameless Project.

============================ INSTALLATION ============================

   - Unzip the file darken.exe into your doom2 directory WITH THE 
     OPTION -d !!! 
     example: pkunzip -d darken.zip c:\doom2
   - Go to your doom2 directory and type darken to start.

The Darkening comes with a dehacked patch as well. This patch changes 
the map names that are displayed on the automap as well as the texts 
at the end of map 06 and map 11. The patch is optional, so you don't 
HAVE to load it to be able to play the levels. It is however *nice* to
have, and we feel The Darkening is more complete with it. 

To install this patch you need to run the batch file "exepatch.bat" 
which you can find in the "\darkening" subdirectory.

No original Doom2 files are modified during the install.

============================ LEVEL CREDITS ===========================

[ Map 01 ]

Level name      : Scary
Author          : Jan Van der Veken
Description     : Short but sweet map. This level more or less defined
                  the typical metal 'n' bricks style for this episode.
                  It started off as a regular Doom2 level without new 
                  textures. Later I picked it up again, I radically 
                  changed the texturing and made some structural 
                  changes too. The title? Oh yeah, it's a dark and 
                  _scary_ level. =)
                  
[ Map 02 ]

Level name      : Bloody Hell
Author          : Jan Van der Veken
Description     : Another shorty. Made this one right after Scary.
                  It took me less than 3 days (or should I say
                  nights?) to finish.

[ Map 03 ]

Level name      : Entropia
Author          : John "Gestalt666" Bye
Description     : A tightly packed little stone complex built around 
                  a courtyard...  Just a little 'un.

[ Map 04 ]

Level name      : Relentless
Author          : Travers Dunne
Description     : Started out doing the start room, then came the 
                  fenced area which i thought looked cool. soon all 
                  the gauntlet was drawn up, as well as the exit 
                  room and a few other bits. And i hadnt even started 
                  texturing ANYTHING!

[ Map 05 ]

Level name      : Hand of Doom
Author          : Jan Van der Veken
Description     : One of the larger levels in this episode. The layout
                  is pretty complex and non-linear with some nice
                  architecture. It's pretty tough on a pistol start
                  too. The title comes from a Black Sabbath song.

[ Map 06 ]

Level name      : The Mines of Death
Author          : Nick Baker
Description     : This started out in a similar style to TNP Map 07, 
                  but then I decided to do something a little 
                  different. . . I've always been a fan of mine type 
                  levels, so I let Mark Klem's MKMINES and Iikka 
                  Keranen's two mine levels (Dystopia 3/Requiem) be
                  my main source of influence for most of the level.
                  There are several original ideas too though. Oh, 
                  thanks to Travers for doing up this level a bit!

[ Map 07 ]

Level name      : Dead Simple ][
Author          : Nick Baker
Description     : OK, so the only visual similarity to Dead Simple is
                  the first tiny little room.  It's not what it looks 
                  like that gives it's name, but what you have to do 
                  - kill the Mancubi, then the Arachnotrons.  This 
                  time, though, there are plenty more monsters too, 
                  including some nasty traps.  Thanks once again to 
                  Travers for touching this level up a bit, and to 
                  Daniel, my brother, for suggesting the "Interactive 
                  Box" (you'll know it when you see it).

[ Map 08 ]

Level name      : Discordia
Author          : John "Gestalt666" Bye
Description     : A large metallic base making full use of the 
                  excellent new Darkening textures.  Probably the 
                  schmmmoothest level I've ever made for Doom!

[ Map 09 ]

Level name      : Military Complex
Author          : Jan Van der Veken
Description     : A Dodead/Knee Deep in the Dead style level: my 
                  favorite style... It's very challenging on UV. At 
                  one point there are 8 barons chasing you around ...
                  But it's still possible. Other things to notice:
                  the open roof architecture looks cool and there 
                  are some nice lighting effects. IMO this is the 
                  best of my  Darkening single player maps. Special
                  thanks to Lee Killough. The visplane overflow
                  protection in BSP 2.2 saved my ass on this level.

[ Map 10 ]

Level name      : Under Earth
Author          : Travers Dunne
Description     : Got inspired by, believe it or not, one of the very
                  cool levels in the Quake mission pack Scourge of 
                  Armagon. Funnily enough the part that was closely 
                  related to that inspiration was dropped coz it lead 
                  the level into parts that were really spinning my 
                  head as to what to do.

[ Map 11 ]
 
Level name      : Stone Tyrant
Author          : Adam Windsor
Description     : This place of brick and rock is silent, shadowed.  
                  Your footsteps echo softly as you walk slowly toward
                  a pair of angled doors.  Readying yourself for
                  action, you reach for the switch .....

----------------------------------------------------------------------
[ DM Map 01 ]

Level name      : The Spine of Evil
Author          : Jan Van der Veken
Description     : Actually this is my first deathmatch level ever.
                  I started it as a tech/base style level. Later
                  I decided to experiment a bit and I completely
                  changed the texturing while keeping the lay-out
                  pretty much intact. It is now a hellish/medieval
                  style level. A bit like the original id episode 4
                  levels. Thanks should go to Matt Dixon for giving
                  me useful tips for item placement. Oh, I made
                  a single player version of this level too that
                  might show up in a future release ...

[ DM Map 02 ]

Level name      : Devil's Dungeon
Author          : Jan Van der Veken
Description     : A rather large deathmatch level. Best for 3-4
                  players. The architecture is very detailed.
                  Some structures were heavily inspired by Quake,
                  like the teleporters and the *glowing* lava.
                  Notice how the lava is full brightness, but the
                  walls surrounding it are dark. 

[ DM Map 03 ]

Level name      : Fragmentation/Quake DM
Author          : Travers Dunne
Description     : Large DM level (Almost epic-like), with plenty of 
                  eye candy.

[ DM Map 04 ]

Level name      : Relentless until death
Author          : Travers Dunne
Description     : A small section of Relentess... now go kill.

[ DM Map 05 ]

Level name      : Sulphur
Author          : Jan Van der Veken
Description     : Atmospheric medieval style level. 1 on 1 is very
                  cool on this one, although I think it will also
                  support 3 or 4 players. I took the lava effect
                  a bit further this time and once again I borrowed
                  some Quake elements. 
                  
[ DM Map 06 ]

Level name      : Return to the Realms
Author          : Nick Baker
Description     : What can I say? I took parts from all my Realms of 
                  Pain levels (except, for stylistic reasons, Map 05),
                  fixed them up a bit, added some more stuff, and put 
                  it all together. This is now IMHO one of my best DM 
                  levels.

[DM Map 07]

Level name      : Valley of the Lost
Author          : Travers Dunne/Nick Baker
Description     : I was stuck for inspiration for awhile, so Jan sent
                  me (Nick) Traver's "Lost WADs" with several levels
                  varying from half-finished to barely started. This 
                  level is one of the former - apparently Travers 
                  originally started it as a Duke Nukem 3D level! 
                  Anyway, I fixed it up a bit, mainly just in the 
                  visuals department, and handed it back to him, where
                  he did a bit more work on it.

[ DM Map 08 ]

Level name      : Vertigo
Author          : Jan Van der Veken
Description     : Some kind of evil temple. I got my inspiration from
                  a program I saw on TV where archeologists dug up
                  an ancient Egyptian temple.

[ DM Map 09]

Level name      : Interrogation Central
Author          : Jan Van der Veken
Description     : A dark metallic tech base. I wanted it to look like
                  a hi-tech torture base/prison. I got my inspiration
                  from DaPak and Quake2 this time. No plasma weapons
                  or chainguns here. Just shotguns 'n' explosives =). 
                  One of  my best DM levels I think, and I made it in 
                  only one  night! (I was in the mood, hehe) This is 
                  more or less the style I'd like to use for episode 2
                  of The Darkening.

[ DM Map 10 ]

Level name      : Death awaits 6-feet Under Earth
Author          : Travers Dunne
Description     : Ok, so it isnt a new level (kill me) but I put in 
                  some nicely positioned teleporters to make the level
                  more open, fast and very accessable.

[ DM Map 11]
 
Level name      : Stone Tyrant
Author          : Adam Windsor
Description     : This place of brick and rock is silent, shadowed.  
                  Your footsteps echo softly as you walk slowly toward
                  a pair of angled doors.  Readying yourself for 
                  action, you reach for the switch .....

========================= AUTHOR INFORMATION =========================

Name               : Nick Baker
Nickname           : NiGHTMARE
E-mail             : Nbaker1@compuserve.com
Homepage           : None right now (coming soon?)
Work done on TNP   : Maps 06 and 07, various textures & flats (all
                     those beginning with an "N"), the storyline
Other WADs         : Realms of Pain DM (rlmspain.wad)
                     Gothic DM 2
                     Paradox TC
                     Twice Risen TC
How I got involved : 

 In July 1997, I was e-mailed by M. Scott Harlan, who congratulated 
 me on my newly released Realms of Pain DM episode, and said that he 
 knew a couple of guys who were looking for people to help out a 
 single player project. He offered to put me in touch with them, and 
 I accepted. I agreed to do two levels - Map 06 and Map 07, and a 
 few textures drawn with my (then) limited artistic talents. Inspired 
 by the awesome artwork available in many Doom2 WADs, I've now created
 hundreds of high quality textures, some of which you'll find in the 
 Darkening episode 1, with more to come in future episodes. 

Misc. author info  : I'm English, and most people here have just 
                     moved from Quake to Quake 2 ;)
Editors used       : Deep '97 v9.30, Wintex 4.3
Doom Greetings     : Sir Alien, Rick Clark, Anthony Czerwonka, Matt
                     Dixon, Paul F, M. Scott Harlan, Ingo Kirsch, 
                     Mark Klem, Gaston Lahaut, Chris Martin, Michal 
                     Mesko, Lisa Moore, Rich Nagel, Mike Nigel, Mike 
                     Reid, Malcom Sailor,  Anthony Soto, Dan Twomey
Non-Doom Greetings : Dan Baker, Matt Buzzard, Adam Durly, Chris 
                     Getliffe, Oli Newton, Nick Phillips, John Shanks

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Name               : Jan Van der Veken
Nickname           : BhadTrip
E-mail             : jan.van.der.veken@village.uunet.be
Homepage           : http://gallery.uunet.be/jan.van.der.veken
Work done on TNP   : Level design, moderating, site maintaining,
                     a few textures and flats.
Other WADs         : Dawn of the Dead (Dodead.wad)
                     = a cool episode 1 replacement for Doom I

How I got involved :

 Somewhere in the spring of 1997 I read an article in rgcd.editing
 from a guy called Travers Dunne who eagerly wanted everyone to
 check out his levels. I did and I liked them. He liked my dodead
 too, which I had just released at that time. So he decided we should
 work on a project together. Well here we are =)

Misc. author info  : I live in Belgium. The land of serial killers,
                     great beer and lousy weather. I graduated as an 
                     industrial engineer earlier in 1997 and I now 
                     work as IT manager in a small company.
Editors used       : WinDEU, Yade, DeuTex, Wintex 4.3
Doom Greetings     : + Andre Majorel, my personal wad tester and 
                       author of Yade.
                     + Lee Killough, for fixing some bugs in BSP that
                       I ran into.
                     + Matt Dixon and all the Gothic guys.
                     + David Shaw for allowing us to use his music.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Name               : Travers Dunne
Nickname           : Hobbes
E-mail             : tjdun2@mugc.cc.monash.edu.au
Homepage           : http://www-mugc.cc.monash.edu.au/~tjdun2
Work done on TNP   : Maps 03 and 10, a few textures, converted some of
                     Nick's and Ola's textures to flats
Other WADs         : ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/idgames/levels
                     ../doom2/deathmatch/a-c/afterlfe.zip <--- good
                     ../doom2/deathmatch/s-u/techcntr.zip <--- good
                     ../doom/s-u/t_dunn01.zip <--- good in parts
                     ../doom2/s-u/t_dunn02.zip <--- tad dodgey
                     ../heretic/s-u/t_dunn03.zip <--- great

How I got involved : 

 Me and Jan got together shortly after he released Dawn of the Dead 
 and decided on making a "hellish" set of levels. Well after we put 
 that on hold =) Jan drew up the first level for The Darkening which 
 then defined the theme/style for the rest... Slowly the boat got 
 laiden down in sailors and we were off!

Misc. author info  : 19yr old Australian uni student having a
                     blast with the uni's network
Editors used       : DCK v2.2-f, Wintex 4.3

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Name               : Ola Bjorling
Nickname           : citrus on IRC, otherwise none
E-mail             : ola@techno.org
Homepage           : I'm a web designer, but I dont have one actually 
                     :)
Work done on TNP   : No maps, but a bunch textures. Browse the wad with
                     some nice WAD tool, such as NWT or wintex to see 
                     which ones are mine - all beginning with an O 
                     are, and the statbar, intermission graphics, 
                     titlescreen, credits, ENDOOM acsii art and The
                     Darkening homepage.
                     Will have loads more textures in episode 2.
Other WADs         : None containing any graphics previously released,
                     but I have done these:
                     + Tantrum - single player, 1 map
                     + Talosian Incident - did map 8 with John Bye
                     + Did some graphics for Gothic DM 2 (not out 
                       when writing this)
                     + Doing some graphics for Mordeth episode 2 (as 
                       above)

How I got involved : Honestly, I have no idea :)

Misc. author info  : 18 years old when writing this, studying computer
                     graphics, journalism and sound engineering.
                     From Sweden.
Editors used       : Adobe Photoshop 3.0.5, Metatools KPT Bryce 2,
                     Wintex 4.3, NWTpro
Doom Greetings     : The rest of the crew, Gothic DM 2 crew, id,
                     Gaston Lahaut, all at EFNet #DOOM2, all who I 
                     forgot.
Non-Doom Greetings : Julia

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Name               : John Bye
Nickname           : Gestalt666
E-mail             : gestalt666@easynet.co.uk
Homepage           : Gestalt666 Resource - 
                     http://www.geocities.com/~gestalt666
Work done on TNP   : Level design
Other WADs         : CyberDoom II
                     Cygnus IV
                     Gardens of Delight
                     story, music and levels for The Talosian Incident
                     others I'd rather forget!

How I got involved : 

 Which project is this again?  The Darkening?  Oh, right...
 
Misc. author info  : Another British designer - 20 years old, Doom 
                     fanatic, maintainer of the world's biggest 
                     Deathmatch Database, and president of the 
                     computer games company, The Coven...

Editors used       : DCK 2.2 and DCK3.61
Doom Greetings     : John "Doc Sleep" Anderson, Rich Brennan, Travers
                     Dunne, Ty Halderman, Lee Killough, Patrick 
                     Martin, Malcolm Sailor,  Jan "The Man" Van der 
                     Veken and others too numerous to mention (well, 
                     you did want to download this text file today 
                     didn't you???)

Non-Doom Greetings : Lianna for keeping me insane, everyone else for 
                     leaving me alone long enough to get on with 
                     it ...

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Name               : Adam Windsor
E-mail             : s339890@student.uq.edu.au
Homepage           : Nope
Work done on TNP   : Map 11
Other WADs         : Memento Mori II (MAP15)
		     Requiem  (MAPS 11, 20, 25, 26, 30, 32)
		     TBEAST.WAD
Editors used       : DETH 3.87
Misc. author Info  : 24 yo who still prefers Doom2 to any other 3d 
                     shooter. Babylon 5 and Red Dwarf Fan. Part time 
                     student, full time Mortgagee.

============================ LEGAL STUFF =============================

Authors may NOT use these levels as a base to build additional
levels or the textures/flats/other graphics for your own levels
without written permission. 

You MAY distribute this WAD, provided you include this file, with
no modifications.  You may distribute this file in any electronic
format (BBS, Diskette, CD, etc) as long as you include this file 
intact.

It may NOT be included with any other software product.

NO fee or payment may be charged or accepted for this episode.

Basically: don't rip us off, or you'll go to hell.

========================== TRANSMISSION ENDS==========================
