HacX Hurt Me Plenty LMP collection
----------------------------------

(Recorded by S. Woodman - sewoodman@talk21.com)
These demos require HacX version 1.1 - available at:
http://www.sonic.net/~nostromo

- = ð How to play back the LMPs ð = -

Change to your Doom2/HacX directory and type:

DHACX -file hacx.wad -playdemo hx##**** (for the maxkill demos)
DHACX -file hacx.wad -playdemo hh##**** (for the help demos)

where ## = mapnumber and **** = time in mm:ss - e.g.:
for my maxkill map01 recording (10:51), it would be hx011051
for my helpdemo map18 recording (0:22), it would be hh18-022
look at the table for specific LMP times.

The help demos are for those who don't get 100% secrets and just want a way
to do the maps with 100% secrets, like an answer straight from the horse's
mouth, as it were.  Bear in mind that they are only the quickest route to
the exit while getting 100% secrets, so special routes with powerups and
weapons are not shown.

BTW: If you've got the shareware version of HacX and are trying to
     be clever by changing the map number in my LMP for map04 & 5,
     you're in for a disappointment, as map2, 4 and 5 have at least
     one rocketlauncher in the registered version.  Unlucky!!!

- = ð Comments ð = -

I recorded HacX maps in Hurt Me Plenty because I can't handle UV in many
cases.  I am not that great a player, but I've found myself to be pretty
worthy.  HacX is a cool TC, with lots of new levels from great designers.
There are only one or two turkeys in this WAD (14 and 31, to my mind) and
the rest is brilliantly designed.  I started actually making these LMPs just
over a week after I received HacX from Nostromo (I couldn't download it
because it's 12Mb, my connection is slow and disjointed, and what's more,
as I live in the United Kingdom, my internet sessions are metred. :-( )
HacX is, at the least, a kind of training WAD for harder WADs.  It's certainly
made me much more confident. One thing that surprised me was that there are
no players (Compet-N or otherwise) who seem to be doing LMPs for HacX.  Why
not?  Maybe they are, I just might not know about them.  Or maybe they've been
put off by the 12MB download prospect. :-)  They are certainly Compet-N-t
enough to handle it!! ;-))) (excuse the pun) I realise that I unwittingly
graduated from the Kai-Uwe Humpert school of LMP journalism. :-)  I'm still
a keyboarder, even today. (because my mouse is in a very awkward position
in relation to my keyboard; I'm always hitting F-keys when I use it a lot.)

- = ð The LMPs ð = -

Map Name                             Time      H. Time  End Stats (K-I-S)
--- ----                             ----      -------  -----------------
01  GenEmp Corp.                     10:51     4:01     100-069-100
02  Tunnel Town                      12:08     3:50     100-050-100
03  Lava Annexe                       6:08     2:45     100-081-100
04  Alcatraz                          7:24     2:39     100-060-100
05* Cyber Circus                      2:17     1:37     100-057-000
06  Digi-Ota                          9:32     3:19     100-045-100
07# The Great Wall                    9:32     2:24     097-100-100
08  Garden of Delights               12:59     6:28     100-041-100
09  The Hidden Fortress               8:47     2:26     100-100-100
10  Anarchist Dream                  14:50     8:01     100-077-100
11$ Notus Us!                         6:31     1:54     100-028-066
12  Gothik Gauntlet		      -:--     -:--	-----------
13* The Sewers                        9:27     1:25     100-071-000
14$ 'Trode Wars                       5:32     1:45     100-100-066
15@ Twilight of EnKs                  8:02     2:25     100-033-100
16! Protean Cybex                     1:27 :-) 0:02 :-D 100-000-100
17# River of Blood                    4:59     1:23     098-060-100
18  Bizarro                           3:15     0:22 :-) 100-100-100
19  The War Rooms                     4:42     1:27     100-000-100
20* Intruder Alert!                   7:02     2:34     100-100-000
31  Dessicant Room                    4:51     0:58     100-091-100

Key:
* = No secrets on this map
# = 100% kills not possible
$ = 100% secrets not possible
@ = 100% secrets not possible on the help demo, due to a secret
    that requires a monster (a thug, to be precise) to open it from the
    inside.  66% secrets is the maximum here with this help-demo.
! = Recorded in UV, see description

There is no map12 LMP because, to cut a long story short, it is too
damned hard for me... it is not there for the same reason that there
is no map19 demo in Migru's improved MM2 collection.

- = ð Descriptions ð = -

map01: GenEmp Corp.
-------------------
Quite a nice map, it is a little bit bare though... Only one or two
tough bits here - the entrance to the building with all those buzzers
and what-have-yous and the slime pits with all those androids... Very
easy to die and scream blue murder there, especially in UV. :-)
It is also very easy to forget a room in the upper storey and leave with
98 or 99% kills, that happened to me several times.  There are only one
or two areas I think I could really improve.  The start, because I made
quite a few mistakes there, and the slime vats.
It would be nice to get a demo under 10:00, but this map is so long....

map02: Tunnel Town
------------------
Hm! Not so good.  I knew all that ammo and health in map01 was too good
to last :)  But seriously, if you wonder why I berserk so many monsters in
this demo, it is due to ammo shortages throughout the map.  Of course, some
monsters, like buzzers, are too dangerous to berserk, so I shot them
through normal means. The bazooka really comes in handy at that point in the level,
because there really isn't enough ammo to do the whole map.  DMTHA agrees. :-)
(hitpoint/ammo ratio for this map is 2.625, according to DMTHA, but that
figure is quite inaccurate, due to boosted hitpoints for HacX monsters.)
I had some bad luck in the northern area with those secrets, my hands started
twitching and I tried to hit the north switch three times, my hands were
twitching that much!  That is why you see me rather idiotically pressing
the wall in that area.  This is my best time for that map, what luck it was
I didn't miss anyone.  It is also last HacX LMP.

map03: Lava Annexe
------------------
A pretty easy map with a medium tough start.  The corridor with the backpack
and the bit before the keycard with the Cryogun were my favourite death spots in
the whole game. :-) But they're not as tricky, now that I'm better at it.
I enter the backpack room backwards, so I can quickly kill the android
teleporting in behind me and duck round the corner to kill the others
(relatively) safely.  And also to have more health for the next scene, the
keycard/berserk/Cryogun scene. It says you need a red Z-key to get to the cavern
with all the lava in, but I found that a password does just as well. :-)  I
booked to the eastern then the western alcove before the password because
that has a centrophrenoxine, then body armour, and those are extremely cool
power-ups, because you get tons of extra health and armour.  Oh, and I learnt
one other thing here: do NOT pick up a centrophrenoxine (orange soulsphere)
*after* a body armour, as that is just wasting 200% health. :-(  Which is why
I left it after the password area.  I've not managed to get this map in under
6:00, but that would be my next target.

map04: Alcatraz
---------------
Nice map, could have a bit more cover in it though.  It's easy to die in the
final area with all those fireballs flying around.  The one bit that drives
me crazy sometimes is the waiting for the platforms near the secret to go
up and down and up and down... My LMP here is medium good, I'd say.  It's
only my third proper attempt (my best time for this map being 100/100 in
7:15, but that was largely due to good luck. This run I didn't have to hide
near the beginning at all.)

map05: Cyber Circus
-------------------
One of the shorter maps in this pack, as is self-evident from the time.
Under 2:00 would be a real achievement for me.  A.H. could probably do
this in about 0:30. :-)  This is one of my best LMPs, I was doing Map12 and
kept getting quit from it without reason, so I decided to do this for fun...
My first run with advanced skills was 2:21, eleven seconds faster than my
previous record already!

map06: Digi-Ota
---------------
One of the hairiest Dooming experiences I have ever had!  I have died here
in the beginning very often, due to lack of cover.  The best of Steven's maps,
IMO.  I think going to the southwest building first is a good idea, there are
only a couple of androids and three buzzers there and you can get the Uzi
early.  My order for the buildings in the first area is: SW, SE, NW and NE.
The NE building can be the hardest - I have developed a strategy for that
building, which goes like this:  open the door, go in a little way, come out,
shoot the androids inside, get the medikit round the back, shoot the console
south of the pool, walk on the former pool a little way to lower the platform,
dash back and kill the other androids, trip the switch and get out of there.
How's that for a strategy, eh?? :-)  This is my best LMP by far, my nearest
time to this was a 97/80 in 10:02.  Now, as you can see, the time is under
10 minutes.  The beginning I think is only medium good, but you need luck
to do really well there.

map07: The Great Wall
---------------------
Not a particularly easy level, but there is lots of ammo and health here,
so it is not much of a problem.  This LMP has to be the one with the most
monstruct suicides in it.  I got every monstruct on the map (apart from the
first two) to blow themselves up by getting them to fire at me on a corner
and quickly ducking round that corner :-)  This is probably my most stylish
LMP, by far.  Two Phages are meant to teleport to the first area with water
never cross their teleport lines.  Or rather, they do, but it has no effect.
This is some stupid mapdesign error.  I can't figure out why it doesn't work,
but it doesn't.  So maximum kills here is 97%, at this skill.  I had one try
about a minute faster than this one with fewer mistakes.  A pity I didn't
record that one. :-(  But this one is still here because I think it is the
most stylish of that map - all but the first two monstructs blew themselves
up.  In the other one, not so.

map08: Garden of Delights
-------------------------
A map that is just a tad too big, IMO.  Also one with too many secrets (12).
It is extremely easy to forget some monster and leave with 99% kills, this
happened countless tries with me.  This map is very linear, which is a great
help in some ways and a real pain in others (such as the Pointless Lift, as I
have affectionately called it).  The way in which it is a real pain is that
if you forget someone (say, in the big garden in the north) you can't get
back and kill them later.  IMHO this my best LMP for that map; also the first
in which I got 100% kills and didn't cheat.  It's pretty easy on the whole -
the only strategy I can give you is don't overuse the Tazer at the start.
My first try was 99/100 in 14:02, so I knew it wouldn't be a great pain.

BTW: Like with all Map08s out there, there is a weird little Doom2.exe related
     bug in it - just about all the sounds on this map are played full volume,
     except the weaponsfire at close range (I had the volume down to min in
     this LMP) This was just a feature from Doom1's E1M8 that ID forgot to
     remove; something to do with your hearing sharpened for the final
     confrontation.  But in Doom2, it is anything but the final confrontation,
     so it's a bit pointless really. :-)

map09: The Hidden Fortress
--------------------------
This is my best run for that map so far.  Ammo can be tight here, especially
around the final area, but I coped. :-) Be careful around Hong Kong harbour,
it's easy for a buzzer to trap you and for you to die there. :-( Also, beware
of falling into the water; to my knowledge, there's no way out.  I used to
find that area horrible, but now it's not so bad.

map10: Anarchist Dream
----------------------
Who-hoo!!! Under 15 minutes! This fact, along with the facts that I didn't
fall off any ledges, I didn't miss any monsters and I didn't miss any secrets
are what makes this LMP so special.  This was largely due to luck and the
fact that I had been playing that map for three days.  There are also a couple
of things I'd like in that map to make it a little bit less painful: a
backpack and a BFG-alike. The first bit is very hard because there is so
little health around, you have to really hang on to your health here.  But the
rest of it is OK.  What a pair of flukes it was that I had bad luck with one
of the ICE in the maze, that it didn't die with an Cryogun shot and a Tazer shot,
(I missed the Tazer shot, I discovered later) and that another one of the ICE
died with one Cryogun shot.  I made only one real mistake in this LMP, near the
end.  There is a secret in the lava there with the block-bridges, I dropped
down to get on to it, and I went a bit too far and teleported back to the
start of that area, so I returned and dropped down a bit more slowly.  This
time, I landed just on the secret without taking any lava damage.  Another
piece of good luck.  This map's decor is.... interesting. :-)
It is definitely the longest, aside from Map12.
A trick I learned after the maxkill recording:  in the final area, there is
this big thin wall with a narrow catwalk leading to a switch on a platform
with an invisible revenant :-).  I learnt to trip that switch (as it raises
one of the block-bridges) go on to a neighbouring block-bridge and run from
the second to the first, as that lowers the red platform that it is insanely
difficult to leap on to from the catwalk.  I wish I'd learned that earlier...

map11: Notus Us!
----------------
Not an awful lot of ammo here, there are only a few tricky spots.  One is the
first metal lift with the mechamaniac who can easily put you on a torpedo
diet.  Another is the room near the computermap, you have a choice of how to
die there: monstruct or mechamaniac, sir? :-) You can only get 66% secrets on
this map because the cabinet behind the Tazer at the start is defined as secret,
but you cannot get on top of it and there is nothing on there. :-(

map13: The Sewers
-----------------
Very pretty for sewers. :-) Not surprising, as this is an Adelusion.  Also
not surprising is that there can be some ammo problems in the start, as is
also attributed to Adelusion, unfortunately.  This ammo shortage is extremely
frustrating, and makes this map pretty hellish to play.  To my mind, it gets
better as you play it more often and learn specific strategies.  E.g. with
the three monstructs, kill the first with Uzi and let the other two blow
themselves up (hello Map7 :-).  Don't go for the Cryogun, kill the Terminatrix
with the Uzi, or it'll give you the Stone Cold Stunner if you try.  Use the
Cryogun on the mechamaniac, thorn thing and terminatrix.  Kill the mechamaniac
who teleported in when you went past the original area with the Cryogun with one
BFG shot.  Open the right-hand door to the terminatrix room with the
computer map so you can get 100% kills easily (I only learnt about that one
just prior to this recording.)  My first try under 10:00 with 100% kills, and
my third successful overall.

map14: 'Trode Wars
------------------
This is the most horrible map in all of HacX.  The design is terrible, the
texture placement is this side of ruddy awful, a ceiling for a switch is too
low (you get HOM round there, after the first teleporter before the invisible
steps) and also, you can only get 66% secrets here, because the offending
sector (no. 253) is the north pillar in the northeast room with the health
pack.  No. 253 is defined as secret, but it is so low you can only get the
health pack and you can't get inside the secret.... unless you're a cyber-rat.
:-))

But after all that, I still feel like improving my time. Who knows.
Maybe there are some redeeming features here after all.  And it's not too hard
if you don't let the cyberspace monsters (ICE and the D-Man) touch you.  (as
unfortunately happened with a D-Man near the beginning of this LMP :-( )
I dunno, it's bad enough in real space where you've got your health to worry
about without having to worry about your software in cyberspace. :-)
I return to the armour alcove twice because at first I wasn't sure I'd get
credit for it the first time, I barely penetrated inside it.

map15: Twilight of EnKs
-----------------------
A pretty nice map.  As far as cyberspace goes, this is pretty weird.  It is
partly designed by my old mate Nostromo, and the rest of it is by Jeremy
Statz - the man who designed the enormous MM2 map19.  On the whole it is
pretty easy, except for the pyramid with the mechamaniacs, thorn things
and monstructs.  It took me a very long while to work out the spatial
manipulation puzzle at the end. (my first attempt was 20:51...!) The switches
to raise the platforms _always_ (and I mean always) raise by 48 rather than
32 initially, hence confounding my attempts to go up them. :-(

Oh, you can see my way of shaving off around a minute around the yellow
key in this LMP too...

map16: Protean Cybex
--------------------
Would you believe it, this map is actually easier in UV than in any other
skill level.  Because in UV, you have four of those roving mines at the start,
but in everything else apart from NM, you have loads of thugs or androids
infesting the level.  Very speedy reactions are required here - one mistake
with those monstructs and you're wallpaper.  This was pretty frustrating -
it happened to me countless times, especially before I made this LMP.  This
LMP is my best ever for this map.  1:00 is nearly impossible for me, but a
doddle for Adam Hegyi, probably. :-)
BTW, there is a knack for a help demo that fast: the exit is right at the
beginning, and the beginning area is the secret for this map, so you can just
press the end switch really, really, really early. ;-))

map17: River of Blood
---------------------
A pretty nice and dark map.  There are only one or two tough bits near the
start, so it was not too agonising to record. (not that any Marc Pullen
map has given me any pains just yet :-) There is only one problem here:
near the plasmagun there is a mechamaniac in the darkness.  He never wakes
up and he raises out of sight, so you cannot kill him and get 100% kills.
At this skill level, 98% is the maximum.

(I think this thing with the mechamaniac in the dark is a relic from the
original script: every level forward from 23 had G.E.N.I.E. on it behind an
invisible sector.  [except for 30, naturally] This was originally supposed to
be Map24, and you were going to jump into cyberspace to the now Map20.)

map18: Bizarro
--------------
Pretty much my reaction - "Bizarre. O!" The "O!" was when I was killed by
mecha rockets/exploding mines/monstructs/!@#$$%##@@#$%!!!!! It is very chaotic,
so remember Douglas Adams' catchphrase - don't panic! Get out of the centre
area so mechas can't touch you for a little while yet.  (go to the north
platforms first as they've got the blue key on them)  Oh, BTW, a VPO lingers
in this map :,-(( which is why I always appear to be facing the walls when I
come in from the outer platforms.  (I'm hugging the walls because there aren't
any trees around :-)).

This map is quite pretty really, it's just all the monsters that make most
of it, except for the bits on platforms, hellish.  This is my only (and best)
LMP for it.  It is my second successful try, and I shall quit while I am
ahead.  Under 3:00 could be possible, but I'm not doing it.  Nice music
though. :-)

map19: The War Rooms
--------------------
A very dangerous map - you can die quite easily near the start, and it's not
that safe 'till the end.  I killed the monstructs from the inside window to
that big room in the north, because if I entered the room and the bars were
barred behind me, I would die because there's no cover there.  It's not long,
compared to other HacX maps.  My first 100/100 was in 6:00 exactly, so I
knew I'd have a time in the four or five minute range.  The fact that my demo
is so fast is mainly good luck on my part.

map20: Intruder Alert
---------------------
A map of quite a primitive design, also one where ammo can get a bit tight.
The fights in big rooms can get extremely chaotic, and the nastiest bits are
where you have no ammo left to finish off the stragglers.  The black room
with all the phages firing out the walls sucks, because you can't see your
targets... so I used SHOW (like IDDT) to reveal them on the map.  Even then,
it was not easy....  Sometimes I had to leave some monsters behind because
I didn't have enough ammo to kill them and I couldn't go back later to kill
them when I had more ammo. :-( The end is... unusual, to say the least. :-)
There are two bugs on this map:
1) When you play with ZDOOM, the computer hangs when you try to go through
   the first teleporter.  I have no idea why this happens.
2) Another odd little bug with Doom2.exe (which did not crop up on this LMP
   but did on some other runs of mine) is that some D-Men or Buzzers are
   ghosts (ie. they can't be hit but they can still attack you) and they
   are really annoying. As there are no arch-viles here (or in HacX at all)
   I have no idea why that happens either. ? ):-(

Note: If I appear to be running into the wall on the way up to the first
      teleporter, it is because there is an explosive nebula there which
      pushed me off the top when I stood still in previous recordings.

map31: Dessicant Room
---------------------
Yeeurrgh!!! Aside from Map14, the ugliest map in HacX.  Also the one with
the worst ammo problems.  I visited the secret with the berserk first, because
I often died in the rocketlauncher secret area with that terminatrix and the
androids.  My time here is about 20 seconds faster than my first LMP - that
one really sucked, and this one sucks round the beginning because I lose an
almighty amount of health (I think my minimum in that area was 16%) due to
lack of real cover and compulsory ammo-wasting. :-(

----------
That's all, enjoy watching those LMPs.
S. Woodman <sewoodman@talk21.com>
http://www.angelfire.com/indie/metabolist


