DOOM Honorific Title Exam File
DOOM Master (original rules)

Andy McFadden (ATM)
Issued 07-Jul-94, completed 02-Feb-95



Exam file name: DM-ATM.ZIP
Title conquered: DOOM Master
Author: Andy McFadden (fadden@netcom.com)
Completion date: 1995 02 15
Game and version used: DOOM v1.9
Log entry (from DHT3 log):
  1: 940707  ---------anon103----------  atm   DM    9 6 6          FRRR - LLLF
Substitutions? No
System used: 486DX-2/66 VLB, no sound card
Controls used: Keyboard+mouse
	D=fwd C=back S=s-left R=s-right W=t-left R=t-right A=run Spc=operate
	(I was a joystick player, but after watching a few LMPs and reading
	Frank Stajano's suggestions for controls, I switch to kbd+mouse.)
Free interpretation: All of E1 (see Comments below)
Comments:

  I was given what are, arguably, the hardest levels in each episode (though
  E3M9 is pretty hard too).

  --- E1M9 - Military level

	I begin with an aggressive opening and plow through the various
	nasties in the center area.  I do my little dance, whip out the
	shotgun, and go to work.

	Overall it's pretty damn good.  I took a fair beating after opening
	the red door (wanted to hit that #$%&! barrel), let a pinky chew on
	me once a short while later, and kinda hosed the chainsaw work on one
	of the invisible beasts near the end, but other than that it's
	cleanly executed and smartly done.

	The best part: 100% kills / 100% items / 100% secrets, with the
	stuff off all 6 pillars, in 7:32.  This one is kind of fun to watch
	by hitting Tab and doing IDDT twice.

	[ I did this level about an hour before I learned a patch for v1.9
	  was available.  I changed the first byte from 0x6c to 0x6d and,
	  thankfully, it plays just fine under v1.9. ]

  --- E2M6 - Halls of the Damned

	This one went pretty well.  I placed a premium on speed rather than
	ammo, so except in places where it was particularly artistic I used
	whichever weapon I thought would get the job done quickest.

	One thing I've always enjoyed is chain-sawing cacodaemons.  I cut up a
	big fluffy one in the dark area without getting scratched.

	I let a spectre chew on me in the dark area, and had a bad experience
	with a cacodaemon in the yellow key room, but other than that it went
	rather smoothly.  The value of a sound card (which I lack) was made
	apparent when I opened the door out to where the exit is, and found a
	pinky waiting on the other side.

	Final values were 100% kills / 96% items / 100% secrets, all done
	in 14:29, which is pretty good for a level with a 6:00 par.  I really
	wanted to get it under 15 minutes, since, at the time the challenge
	was originally issued, DOOM had a 15-minute limit on game recording.

  --- E3M6 - Mt. Erebus

	This is one of two levels in the "hardest" category of the DHT4 rules,
	but it really isn't all that hard so long as you take things in the
	right order and hit the bad guys right when they appear.

	I started out with the traditional opening (run around left side of
	building, become invulnerable, load up).  And worked my way through.
	The lack of a sound card was hell (nothing resembling a pun intended);
	I spent some amount of time looking for monsters who weren't there
	or staring at a dead monster to make sure he had really died.  Since
	this level is fairly open, and has people attacking you from different
	directions, the effects were more pronounced than on the earlier two
	levels.

	Anyway, enough with the excuses.  I maintained a fair ammo supply
	and excellent health throughout, the only exceptions being getting
	knocked hard after delaying too long on the chainsaw grab (which
	caused me delay for a bit to pick up health & new armor), and
	squandering rockets on Cacodaemons who were too far away.  I didn't
	bother with the blue armor or soul spheres (though I grabbed one
	after everybody was dead because, well, when it's 5am and there's a
	soul sphere in front of you, you might as well grab it).

	The cacodaemons that pop out of the southernmost enclosure had a
	little fun with me; half went into the building, and half stayed
	out, but one of them headed south and just kept on going.  Keeping
	out of the crossfire was something of a challenge, especially since
	I couldn't hear the door opening behind me.

	Final stats were 100% / 87% / 100% in 14:28.  Not a spectacular
	LMP, but all I really wanted to show was that I could get through
	the level without a strain.  (Part of me wanted to do it to
	perfection because of how it's categorized under DHT4, but after
	nine months I mostly just wanted to get it *done*. :-) )

  --- Free Interpretation - "Episode 1: The Aftermath"

	"After torching a couple thousand bad guys and laying waste to hell,
	Our Hero has a touch of nostalgia, and goes back to visit the Deimos
	base.  Empty-handed, he cruises the empty halls, reminiscing on days
	past.

	At his journey's end, he discovers that the walls leading to the exit
	teleporter have jammed and won't let him free.  Despondent, he passes
	the time by punching barrels, which turns out to be not a very bright
	thing to do..."

	After wasting hordes of bad guys in the three previous levels, I
	decided to something a bit more pacifistic. :-)  This is an LMP of
	all of episode 1, with "-skill 4 -nomonsters".

	I finished every level in less than half par, except E1M1 (where I
	spent several seconds on the authentication dance; it's pretty easy
	to finish in under 15), and E1M6 (which is difficult to do quickly
	because the room with the red key holds you captive for a little
	while).  Only hiccup in an otherwise very direct run is in E1M7, when
	I reflexively open a door that I bump into.

	Mostly I just wanted to do something different and fun.  The entire
	demo runs in a little under 9 minutes.

Author info:
	DOOM and DOOM2 are the only games I own for the IBM PC; I'd own more
	but I don't own an IBM PC.

	The challenge was issued a while back.  I had strange control
	problems on my (ex-) girlfriend's machine, possibly because of a
	conflict between the joystick and mouse that only seemed to happen
	when game recording was on, so I wasn't able to record a decent
	game.

	So it sat for a while.  I changed jobs, started playing a little at
	work since the machine there didn't have the same control problems,
	and was all set to start recording when I (and most of the rest of
	the company) got laid off.

	So it sat for a while longer.  I found a new job at a startup, ended
	up working 80+ hours a week, and didn't have much access to a decent
	PC.  Then, a little while ago, I got a pretty good one in my cube
	(though without a sound card), so after finishing the shareware
	version of Heretic I started in on the DHT stuff again.

	About the same time I picked it up, the DHT4 rules came out.  I
	thought about asking for a new title, but decided there was more
	honor in completing one of the original titles with difficult levels
	and harder requirements, so I stuck with it... and here they are.

