=========================================================================== Archive Maintainer : Update to : Advanced engine needed : ZDoom (GZDoom/Skulltag recommended) Primary purpose : Solo play =========================================================================== Title : DOOM: Threshold Of Pain - Special Edition Filename : scl_tops.wad Release date : 18th May 2014 Author : John Gourley AKA scalliano Email Address : scalliano@hotmail.com Other Files By Author : The 667 Shuffle, Jaguar Doom TC, 32x Doom TC Misc. Author Info : Also makes music under the alias "JG" Description : Threshold of Pain is a ZDoom episode which attempts to recreate the look and feel of Midway's famous PSX conversion of Doom whilst maintaining the core elements of the PC versions and a level of difficulty PC players would expect. PSX Doom fans will know that ToP gets its name from the final level of PSX Ultimate Doom. Like many others, my first proper Doom experience was on the Playstation, so when fenderc01 released the PSX TC last year I was excited to get to play these levels again, only this time with PC controls! Whilst he did an amazing job, I found it to be way too easy, even on UV setting. This was not fender's fault, merely a testament to the compromises Midway had to make in bringing such a game to a console. ToP attempts to redress the balance whilst maintaining the brooding atmosphere that Midway brought to the game. It is NOT a PSX TC - many features which were missing from the Playstation remain, so expect to encounter the Archvile! In light of the soon-to-be-released Threshold II, this "Special Edition" features graphical enhancements only made possible by recent advances in the GZDoom engine that Threshold II uses, all with the goal of giving the game a more accurate PSX look and feel, and also to aid consistency between the two mods. Also features a swathe of bugfixes that never made the cut the first time around! New features include: Tons of coloured lighting, but nothing too garish. The infamous PSX burning sky, given a ZDoom makeover. PSX/N64 audio. New Weapons - the Minigun and the Unmaker. The PSX Final Doom SSG. A new powerup - the Doomsphere. New monsters - the nightmare class monsters from PSX Doom and Doom64, a handful from the Realm667 Bestiary and ZDCMP, plus a new final boss... A few other PSX/N64-style gameplay tweaks. The Story : After saving humanity from the threat of extinction more times than you could remember and establishing yourself as the only one to call upon when the UAC screwed things up again, it was only a matter of time before things got personal. The UAC's newest and best-equipped facility, stationed in a secluded mountain range on Triton, Neptune's primary satellite, had only gone operational six months ago. The new UAC bigwigs had declared that all security issues had been addressed so that the dimensional portal research could be recommenced, and that nothing would go wrong this time. The facility was only accessible from the air and was heavily guarded by marines with the heaviest artillery the UAC could provide, so they could at least give the impression that they had it all under control. Last night all transmissions from Triton ceased. The breifing was all too familiar to you now. The final few broadcasts were of the sounds you'd become accustomed to; screams, growls, tearing of flesh, gunfire, more screams, and so on. Only this time, there was something else. Just before the end of the last broadcast, there was a voice. It did not sound human, but you could hear it clearly. It was calling your name. Seems like they want you dead. As if you didn't know that already. And you're not the type to back down from a challenge ... Marine Command has sent you up there to clear out the facility. You're being dropped into the surrounding mountains to secure the perimeter and get inside. Once inside ... you know the rest ... Additional Credits to : Id Software for the Doom 1 textures Midway for the PSX Doom textures Universal Studios for the title screen and menu Aubrey Hodges for the PSX/N64 audio Kaiser for sussing out how to get at the PSX resources in the first place fenderc01 for the original fire sky and making the PSX TC a reality Raz for the PSX Final Doom-style SSG lafoxxx for his remastered PSX audio SkullTag for the Minigun and the Doomsphere Eriance for the Doomsphere sprites AgentSpork, Carnevil and Ghastly Dragon for the Hectebus Vader and Bouncy for the Lord of Heresy Ixnatifual for his modified DECORATE code for the Lord of Heresy Nanami, Keksdose, Espi (RIP) and Ebola for the Afrit Vader, Ghastly_dragon and Keksdose for the Bruiser Demon Chris Neilson, DoomKn1ght and lafoxxx for the Nightmare Spectre Captain Toenail for the purple fireball sprites Tormentor667, CaptainToenail, Ghastly_dragon, Bouncy and Dreadopp for the Plasma Zombie Tormentor667 for the UTnT cloud textures Bouncy and Graf Zahl for the Chainsaw Zombie and Nightmare Cacodemon Eriance and Ghastly_dragon for the Guardian Cube Xim, TheDarkArchon and Scuba Steve for the Unmaker Xim for the Unmaker Zombie ItsNatureToDie for the centred Unmaker sprites NiGHTMARE for the other (non-PSX) textures JoeyTD and HellCatX for the Doomguy death sprites Kaiser and Agent Spork for the Doom64-style monster-fade code Dutch Devil for the sprite set used by the Protodemon (DECORATE code and projectile sprites by myself) JG/CyberJG based on the Unmaker Marine by Xim, the Source Guardian by Tormentor667 and Moloch by ProjectAngel (DECORATE code and sprite edits by myself) Ed The Bat for his assistance in abandoning the old KEYCONF format for the new weapons CaptainToenail, Gez, Super Jamie, Vermil and ALMN for their bug spotting. =========================================================================== * What is included * New levels : 12 New Sounds : Yes New Music : Yes (see below) New Graphics : Yes Dehacked/BEX Patch : No Demos : No Other : No Other files required : No * Play Information * Game : DOOM2 Map # : Map01 through MAP12 Single Player : Designed for Cooperative 2-4 Player : No Deathmatch 2-4 Player : No Other game styles : No Difficulty Settings : Yes * Construction * Base : New from scratch Build Time : Just over a year, on and off Editor(s) used : Doom Builder, Deutex, XWE, PSP5 Known Bugs : None (yet) May Not Run With : Anything that isn't ZDoom or GZDoom. Tested With : ZDoom 2.3.1.1480, GZDoom 1.2.1.309 * Copyright / Permissions * Authors MAY use the contents of this file as a base for modification or reuse. Permissions have been obtained from original authors for any of their resources modified or included in this file. You MAY distribute this file, provided you include this text 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. I have received permission from the original authors of any modified or included content in this file to allow further distribution. * Where to get the file that this text file describes * The Usual: ftp://archives.3dgamers.com/pub/idgames/ and mirrors Web sites: FTP sites: KNOWN ISSUES Coloured lighting is crap in software mode, but hey, what can you do? There are a few texture alignment errors in software mode. I'm at a loss as to what's causing them as they show up fine in GZDoom... Wad file structure is a bit haphazard (I've kind of been adding stuff as I go), but it works :)