E1M1: Hangar (Doom)

E1M1: Hangar is the first map of Knee-Deep in the Dead in Doom. It was designed by John Romero and uses the music track "At Doom's Gate".

Difficulty: Very easy

Walkthrough

 * Letters in italics refer to marked spots on the map. Sector numbers in boldface are secrets which count toward the end-of-level tally.

Essentials
From the start point, turn right. Go forward, turn right again, and open the door. You emerge into a computer room, where there is another passage, which will lead you to the zig-zag room. Go through the darker door and through the exit door. Press the exit switch.

Other points of interest
To the left of the start room is a platform with green armor on a pedestal (K). If you play on Ultra-Violence or Nightmare!, watch out for the sergeants that guard it; there are two by the armor and one behind each of the pillars by the staircase. They can cause quite a bit of damage due to their awkward positions, but on the positive side killing them gives you an early shotgun.

In the southeast of the zig-zag room there is a platform with an Imp (or two in higher difficulties). The platform can come in handy (see down secrets #2 and #3).

[Added in Ultimate Doom] In the alcove leading to the green armor, there are two pillars. The north pillar has a switch (E) which opens up a door to the courtyard (F) with the blue armor and, in multiplayer mode, a rocket launcher. As a player walks through this door, another large door will open up, making it possible to get to the courtyard from the computer room. These new doors were likely added to improve gameplay in deathmatch mode since they provide two extra ways to reach the rocket launcher. To register secret #1, however, it is still necessary to activate and walk through (from either side) the differently-colored wall described below.

Secrets

 * 1) In the corridor at the end of the zig-zag room, a portion of the west wall is colored differently and has a corpse lying next to it (G). Activate the wall to gain access to the courtyard with the blue armor (sector 68).
 * 2) After having entered the dark room with the exit door, return to the zig-zag room. The platform with the Imp(s) has now been lowered, yielding access to a secret room (H) containing a shotgun (sector 69).
 * 3) [Added in version 1.2]  After opening secret #2, walk toward the north end of the zig-zag room. As you cross the shadow line (I), a lift will lower in the shotgun alcove (J), visible from where you are standing. Run and you can catch it before it goes up. At the end of the hallway is a fake see-through wall, the first such wall in the game (sector 70).
 * 4) Secret exit [ Xbox only ] :  In secret #1, head to the very east of the courtyard, and then follow the northern wall until it begins to bend northwest. Press on this section of the wall to be taken to the Xbox-exclusive secret level, E1M10: Sewers.

Bugs
Slime trails may be visible in the following locations (see screen shots below):
 * Viewing the zig-zag room from the north entrance.
 * Looking toward the Imp platform from the south end of the zig-zag walkway.
 * Entering the hidden area behind the Imp platform, then immediately turning to face the right-hand wall.
 * Standing slightly northwest of the exit door, looking east.

There are 7 known anomalies in this level's REJECT table.

Demo files

 * [[Media:e1m1secr.lmp|No monsters, 100% secrets walkthrough]] (file info)
 * [[Media:e1m1wik1.lmp|100% kills, items, and secrets on ITYTD]] (file info)
 * [[Media:e1m1wik2.lmp|100% kills, items, and secrets on HNTR]] (file info)
 * [[Media:e1m1wik3.lmp|100% kills, items, and secrets on HMP]] (file info)
 * [[Media:e1m1wik4.lmp|100% kills, items, and secrets on UV]] (file info)

Routes and tricks
For a straight speedrun, the simplest path through the map is also the fastest one, and there are no tricks. However, the route through the outdoor area is often used in episode runs since this gives a blue armor (which helps surviving E1M3: Toxin Refinery) and an easy shotgun (needed for E1M2: Nuclear Plant). This takes 3 extra seconds, and is typically avoided in TAS episode runs, wherein a shotgun is instead obtained by taking down a sergeant in the zig-zag room on the fly.

Whereas Doom Done Quick uses the route through the courtyard, Doom Done Quicker uses the TAS route, which Adam Hegyi managed to play in 0:09. According to the text file, it "is an incredibly hard run due to the timeloss inevitable in getting a shotgun and the fact that 0:09 is a borderline time here in any case".

Although 0:09 is human-optimal for UV speed, a built demo in 0:08 has been created by Jonathan Rimmer. The same time has been reached by Juho "ocelot" Ruohonen in no monsters mode. In both cases, strafe 50 is essential.

Because E1M1 is small and sparsely populated, speed records can often be set in pacifist style. (This is more difficult with fast monsters, of course.)

When recording in a style which requires 100% kills, some players use the route through the courtyard because it arouses many of the surrounding monsters sooner, encouraging infighting.

When recording in a style which requires 100% secrets, it is useful to leave one or two enemies alive in the computer room. With luck, you can open secret #2, return to the zig-zag room, then step into the shotgun alcove just as a monster walks out of the computer room and triggers the elevator leading to secret #3, saving you several seconds.

There is another good way to easily speedrun this extremely easy level. From the beginning, immediately get to the switch exclusive to The Ultimate Doom, press it, then run outside to the megaarmor courtyard. Immediately run through the tunnel, open the two doors, the exit door, and then press the switch. My fastest record was 7 seconds. Usually, I do speedruns on I'm too young to die due to the very easy thing placement, even though I am an Ultra-Violence fan. Unfortunately, if you're playing the original Doom (version without Thy Flesh Consumed), the switch to quickly get to the megaarmor is not present. You will need to go the official way.

Current records
The Compet-N records for the map are:

Deathmatch
The Hangar level is recommended for multiplayer deathmatch mode for a few key reasons. Given that the Hangar level is the first level of the game, it is one of the more widely played and more people are familiar with it. It also has a good array of weapons in deathmatch mode and is small enough to work well with 4 or fewer players.

Things
es:E1M1: Hangar (Doom)

Inspiration and development
In the Doom Bible, the original design document for Doom written by Tom Hall in 1992, the first level of Episode 1 of the game was supposed to be a spaceship hangar called Hangar 2. It is described as fallen to disuse, and now serving as a storage for used up equipment and junk. In one of the rooms the soldiers play cards in their free time. Unlike E1M1 in the released game, this hangar was supposed to be carved into the wall of a canyon. The Doom v0.4 alpha version featured an initial level based on the concept of Hangar 2 as described in the Doom Bible. It was, however, later redesigned to become E2M7:Spawning Vats in the released game.

E1M1 showcased the new capabilities of the Doom engine, such as different height levels that can be reached with the help of stairs or lifts, windows through which you can see outdoor areas and the sky, non-orthogonal walls and environment hazards like the nukage pools.

Trivia

 * The music for this level is inspired by the chorus riff of "No Remorse" by Metallica: However, songs such as "Hooked" by D.R.I. and "Master of Puppets" (also Metallica) have also been suggested as inspiration.


 * Whenever a map editor for a major first-person shooter is released, someone usually recreates E1M1 as both a tribute to Doom and a demo of the editor's capabilities. Games for which E1M1 has been recreated include Quake, Duke Nukem 3D, Half-Life, Unreal Tournament 2004, Unreal Tournament 3, and Doom 3.


 * The revised version of this map in Ultimate Doom contains 666 sidedefs.


 * In the Doom95 launcher for Ultimate Doom, the title of this level is misspelled "Hanger". "Hanger", however, is used as a level name in TNT Evilution.


 * In the Sony PlayStation and Sega Saturn ports of Doom, a heavy weapon dude replaces a sergeant that was located in the central computer room, behind the structure in the middle of the room. This is the first time a Doom II monster is found in an Ultimate Doom level. A pain elemental also populates the curving room marking Secret #3.


 * In the first of the Doom novels, titled Knee Deep in the Dead after episode, the protagonist first encounters an imp in what is recognizably E1M1 from the description. He even discovers Secret 2 and obtains the shotgun.