User:Ryan W/To-do list

Recurring tasks

 * New articles, categories, and templates must be checked AT LEAST ONCE EVERY 30 DAYS to make sure they are categorized sensibly, since /Special:Recentchanges expires them after 30 days.
 * When an article is deleted, decide whether or not its talk page belongs in /Category:Talk_pages_without_articles. Last checked: 2008.03.18.
 * New demos must have durations on their description pages. Last checked: 2008.03.18.
 * Examine recent changes to articles in Wikipedia:Category:Doom and its subcategories (this doesn't have to be done as often as I first thought, despite the length of the changelogs, because almost all edits are cosmetic or copyediting). Some new articles may have appeared in the interim of course.  Note that I have a habit of not scrupulously importing every factoid and filigree because I assume that our own editing process is more careful on average than theirs, and furthermore there is a lot of material I just can't make myself enthusiastic about (e.g. /Doomguy, lists of weapons and monsters from games I've never played, details of source ports, etc).  Last checked: 2008.03.20.
 * Every once in a great while, flip through my contributions page in Talk: and related spaces, and revisit issues I griped about but didn't get any help on. Last checked: 2007.12.01.
 * In the most extreme cases of overcaffeinated bravado, visit /Special:Specialpages and do whatever cleanup tasks OF MANAGEABLE SIZE look to need doing. ("Of manageable size" means that, to avoid drowning in the ever-increasing size of the site and complexity of the database, you will need to cut back on this as time goes on.  Things like Special:Allmessages are probably getting too large.  Special:Wantedpages is defin{{itely too large.  Therefore, specific tasks should henceforward be noted immediately in "Current pile" below.)  This includes checking the "Things to do" links on /Entryway.  Last examined: 2008.01.10.
 * Every once in a great while, search for "bug" in the rome.ro forums (excepting obviously unrelated categories like Daikatana). Last checked: 2008.03.25.

A few categorization rules of thumb
 * BUGS
 * /Category:Gameplay (or a subcategory) for anything involving Things
 * /Category:Doom_engine for anything involving rendering, LOS/roundoff, or "2.5D vs 3D" physics.
 * DISAMBIG
 * pages should *only* be in /Category:Disambig; extra categories would be redundant and confusing.
 * EDITING
 * Each tutorial should be in one editing category and *maybe* one other category (textures, new features, audio).
 * IMAGES
 * should be in one category for their license (automatic with upload selector!) and one for content. Usually.
 * IRC
 * should never be in any other categories, because of course their *content* is completely random.
 * PEOPLE
 * Add to another category, like /Source_ports or /Speedrun, if indelibly associated with it (e.g. Peo Sjöblom).
 * PORTS
 * may be in /Source_ports even if they are also in one or more well-defined subcategories.
 * TEMPLATES
 * should *never* be in any category other than the template categories. Too confusing.

PWAD categorization axes
 * Total conversion, partial conversion, with new monsters only, or none of the above (omit).
 * Megawad, episode WAD, level WAD, or none of the above (omit).
 * Texture pack, other non-map WAD, or with maps (omit).
 * Joke WAD or not (omit).
 * Member of a series or not (new article is usually written about the *series*, however, above and beyond individual PWADs).
 * The result of a competition (/Category:Events) or not (omit).
 * Editing demo or not (omit).
 * Multiplayer-only or not (omit).
 * Year of release.
 * Name.

Level categorization axes
 * Map title.
 * Author.
 * Slot *if* a multi-map file (AUTOMATIC with {{ map}} template).
 * Secret level or not (omit).
 * Game title *if* a commercial release (AUTOMATIC with navbox).

Waiting for something to happen

 * Can funduke's huge Maximum Doom "report" be easily converted into a Real Database? (Need to find a computer with MS Access on it.)  [ EDIT:  No, I'm not going to bother with this.  I don't believe that I'm quite passionate enough about Maximum Doom to spend Freya knows how many hours addressing formatting concerns alone, when somebody else is already keeping meticulous track of the facts themselves.]
 * If VfD for /How_to_play_Doom_on_Windows_XP is successful, link /How_to_download_and_run_Doom article from /Doom, /Shareware, /Entryway, and somewhere in /Help.
 * Flip through all the text files in your COMPET-N dump for cool additions to /Quotes.
 * Speedrun tactic: circlestrafe during shotgun reload time, to line up multiple humanoids in the "damage cone" (as with SSG, but the advantage gained is too small to justify not taking cover during normal play).
 * Tactic for like anywhere, but esp. against hitscan enemies: USE the vertical auto-aiming! (Similar to, but not as refined as, "slicing the pie" in a tactical shooter.)
 * /BFG_9000: "The last level of Spear of Destiny, the teleporter at the end is a blue BFG sprite." (Can't confirm or deny until I actually manage to finish it, now can I.)

Specific maps I haven't looked at carefully yet

 * E2 database anomalies for Adam Hegyi:
 * e2m3x633.lmp should be called e2m3-633.lmp, unless it somehow violates the rules in a way which escaped both the readme file and the COMPET-N database query.
 * m2m4-059.lmp should be n2m4-059.lmp.
 * e2m4-116 should be e2m4b115 (for "second 1:15 run submitted").
 * e2m5-046 should be e2m5b045 (second entry at 0:45)
 * e2m5s024 is clearly a pacifist record, yet is not listed that way. What did I miss?
 * Why is e2m9-006 not listed as the pacifist record?


 * E3M3 "is one of few maps in Doom where the co-op starting points are separated from one another."
 * Is this a bug? "On E3M5, after you've gotten the BFG, noclip into one of the traps, stand in front of the teleporting linedef and press Use.  This will totally screw up the look of the map, as floors move down to new places!" (from Doomworld forums)
 * E3M5 bug: can pick up blue key without lowering platform.
 * E3M6: Double-check the meaning of "Okay, so y'all think that pressing switches through walls (like E2M2 or E3M6) is hot stuff, huh?"
 * Might be another REJECT "special effect": "I just experienced this on E4M6 Ultra Violence with an imp on the leftmost ledge after you exit the rocky place." (from Doomworld forums)
 * E4M7 "is one of few maps in Doom where the co-op starting points are separated from one another."
 * /Talk:E4M9:_Fear_(Doom)
 * Watch John Romero's "nostalgic walkthrough" (Legacy lmps) of E1
 * http://www.doomworld.com/vb/doom-general/46971-what-is-the-weirdest-bug-you-have-ever-encountered-in-a-doom-wad/
 * If no one else has done this by the time I am ready to work on the MAP01 walkthrough, then I suppose I had better do it myself: /Talk:MAP08:_Tricks_and_Traps_(Doom_II)#Automated_transfer_of_Problem_Report_#9108
 * MAP01 was made U-shaped for a specific reason: http://rome.ro/smf/index.php/topic,1575.msg32402.html#msg32402
 * MAP02: sergeant stuck in wall near entrance to blue key sewer.
 * MAP02: "In terms of bugs, I guess you could call the sergeant stuck in a wall in map02 a bug (note that I am not referring to the sleeping sergeant, which is much more an engine bug than a map bug). This was introduced in 1.9 - it was not there in 1.666. In fact, map02 was changed in 1.9 in a number of other small ways that aren't readily explicable. A likely spechits overflow (the only one in the Doom2 iwad) was removed in the process though." (from Doomworld forums)
 * MAP04: /Image:Doom-2-screenshots-3.jpg is a screenshot of it.
 * MAP05: "Don't forget Map05. The secret area behind the exit accidently has a sector tag of 9 rather than a sector type of 9. This means if you press the switch elsewhere on the map with a tag of 9 (one of the doors in the area with the Blue Armour), you break said secret area and are unable to access it." (from Doomworld forums)
 * Explanation at last for not being able to finish MAP05 without monsters: http://www.doomworld.com/vb/doom-speed-demos/40777-bug-on-map05-doom2-wad/
 * MAP06 crash: "Go to the red key door . . . open it, look at either of the doortrack textures, try "use" on it." (from Doomworld forums)
 * MAP07: Respawning monsters force you to kill the last arachnotron only once or twice...
 * Do pacifist demos of MAP07 really obey pacifist rules?
 * MAP10: "you can squeeze between the 'fence' and the wall just to the right of the exit door." (from Doomworld forums)
 * MAP31, MAP32: carefully list all correspondences between these and Wolfenstein levels, for the benefit of our erstwhile anon user. (Also, see if /Wolfenstein_3D makes adequate mention of the same information.)
 * MAP31: "Demons stuck together on map 31 at Skills 4 and 5." (from Doomworld forums)
 * MAP18: "Frex, Caco and Spectre stuck together on map 18 in the BFG room at Skills 1 and 2" (from Doomworld forums)
 * MAP19: "in some version of Doom II (1.7a IIRC) there is a HOM . . . in the room with the caged Imps up high right before the red key." (from Doomworld forums)
 * MAP19: "I also just found a missing upper texture where two platforms raise by two switches incrementally on map19 The Citadel. Just a small one, tho." (from Doomworld forums)
 * MAP20: "On map20, that teleport that leads to a lowering elevator to the zombie room... it's possible to teleport without activating the elevator, trapping you. I know many who have experienced this one. :)" (from Doomworld forums)
 * MAP21: "Yeah, that map21 visual bug sticks out like a sore thumb nowadays... speaking of which, I remember another bug in the same room. Hit two of the switches, then hit the last two as fast as you can. The stairs won't build properly and you'll be trapped. If you hit the first two switches this fast, it'll actually correct itself if you hit the next two switches normally. Ironically enough, the only way to beat this bug is to use another... finish the level using the yellow bar glide." (from Doomworld forums)
 * MAP21: "doom2@m21 also have nice fat "slimetrail" (if look along linedef#130 in both directions), perhaps for reason of neighboring that incorrect sector#50" (from Doomworld forums)
 * MAP22 reject problem? "behind the red keycard doors there are two chaingunners (in UV, anyway). They don't even recognize your presence unless you actually walk through the doorway, but you can stand right in front of them and they won't do anything but dance in place." (from Doomworld forums)
 * MAP27: "you can squeeze past the long pancase with the blue banner in the middle of it (avoiding the trap) by squeezing through the gap between it and the sludge." (from Doomworld forums)
 * MAP28: "I remember a different one on map28. The pits in the room with the red door (that rise when you get the sphere) don't have monsters in them in the lower skills. If you fall in, you're screwed. :)" (from Doomworld forums)
 * "As for weird visuals: One I remember is on map 21, Nirvana. In the southwest corner of the map, activate the 4 switches and then the nearby barrier/lift. Ride up and walk a few paces east, up to the top of the steps. Turn back around to look west, and strafe right all the way to the north, and back, while looking west the whole time, and you should see an unusual effect in the ceiling" . . . "That map 21 bug is a map error. Sector 50 is 'wrong'. The front side of lines 114 and 134 should have referenced sector 49. Here are a bunch of similar errors I'm aware of ... Map 2 - Lines 327/328 floor. Line 491. Map 14 - Lines 429\430. Map 18 - Lines 451/459. Map 19 - Line 636. Map 22 - Sectors 124, 130 and 133. Map 28 - Ceiling of sector 0 where lines 105/106 etc are. Map 30 - Line 13." (from Doomworld forums)
 * Further reading when Doom II levels are done:
 * rome.ro history pages
 * Leukart FAQ
 * COMPET-N "nostalgic" pages
 * DDQ, DDQ2, etc.
 * Doomworld forums: "How did they manage it that the wall lowers instantly in E1M8 when the barons die in 'Doom done quicker'. There must be something strange going on as well."
 * toastytech.com
 * UDS
 * http://rome.ro/smf/index.php/topic,1493.0.html
 * http://www.doomworld.com/vb/doom-general/43343-doom-strategies/
 * http://www.doomworld.com/vb/doom-general/43570-neglect-of-the-plasma-rifle/
 * http://www.doomworld.com/idgames/?id=12482
 * http://www.doomworld.com/vb/doom-general/46278-id-doom-map-oddities/
 * http://www.doomworld.com/vb/doom-general/46465-wad-crippling-bugs/
 * http://www.doomworld.com/vb/doom-general/37000-rare-doom-i-ii-commercial-add-ons/
 * http://www.doomworld.com/vb/doom-general/46822-e1m3-acid-pit/  [ see if I found every inescapable pit!]


 * Is teeth.wad unplayable in deathmatch?
 * http://www.doomworld.com/vb/doom-general/47075-tnt-map-14-steel-works/
 * Further reading when Final Doom is done:
 * Ledmeister's site (everything, but especially the walkthroughs, bugs, and port comparisons)
 * COMPET-N contest archive


 * "In any map in Hexen that uses lightning, if you happen to exit that map to another one at the presise moment that the lightning strikes, from then on any outside sector will be near fullbright and any sector using a dim lightning effect will be a only little brighter than normal. I imagine it's the same way with ZDoom." (from Doomworld forums)
 * Call formally for a merge of all those small Strife character articles into a new /Strife_minor_characters article. The "Characters" category seemingly is also too vague -- people are putting monsters into it for no easily discerned reason.
 * "I dont want to derail this thread as for being bugs for all maps, but I vaguely remember a later map in the Doom64 TC where you were required to find the 3 keys to open the 3 consecutive colored "jail bar" doors to get to the exit, however the bars were spread apart just enough to walk through them. I dont have the doom64 game to test that with, it may be just a bug in the TC." (from Doomworld forums)
 * In the category of "fanciful", if ever we do finish level articles for allllll the OEM releases, it'll be time to start in on the PWADs, and the first step will be to make sure that each WAD has an article (even if it's a stub) and, for multi-level files, a separate article for each level (even if it's a stub).
 * Boy, if you ever decide to flesh out the Chex Quest articles... that wikipedia page is friggin huge.

Playtesting required

 * http://doom.wikia.com/index.php?title=Partial_invisibility&curid=997&diff=54649&oldid=51502

Current pile (generally LIFO due to wide range of difficulty)
http://doom.wikia.com/wiki/User:Wikia
 * /Category:Characters is getting cluttered with Strife articles; make a subcategory for them.
 * Update /Games maybe: http://www.doomworld.com/vb/doom-general/46869-anyone-got-a-complete-list-of-games-made-with-the-doom-engine/
 * http://doom.wikia.com/index.php?title=Doom_Wiki:Copyrights&diff=56232&oldid=30253 (good lord)
 * Update these MediaWiki messages to some usable status, then post to Central Processing to see if any admins volunteer:
 * Subcategorization Consistency Conundrum 1:
 * http://doom.wikia.com/index.php?title=Crossovers&curid=9326&action=history
 * http://doom.wikia.com/wiki/Talk:Crossovers
 * http://doom.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Crossovers


 * Subcategorization Consistency Conundrum 2:
 * http://doom.wikia.com/index.php?title=Category:Fan_media&action=history
 * http://doom.wikia.com/index.php?title=Category:Fan-made_Doom_games&action=history
 * http://doom.wikia.com/index.php?title=Fan-made_Doom_games&action=history
 * http://doom.wikia.com/index.php?title=Fan-made_Doom_movies&action=history


 * Subcategorization Consistency Conundrum 3:
 * http://doom.wikia.com/wiki/User_talk:Zom-B


 * Demos for splitting /Lost_Soul_charging_backwards into two articles:
 * cacowimp.lmp: about 2:37 (level not completed)
 * skulwobl.lmp: about 2:50 (level not completed). I think these were on skill 1 -- less filler of gunning down imps that way.
 * There is also a /Lost_soul_charging_backwards article that needs to be merged (including the talk page threads).


 * /Doom_Wiki:Policies_and_guidelines: Maybe add section at beginning called "how this is not Wikipedia". In particular: "Contrary to Wikipedia, silence may be interpreted as implicit consensus (especially after several months)."  Some level of systematic revision to this whole stupid page will be needed at some point anyway, as myk has exposed a lot of issues where editing practice doesn't match the current wording.
 * Revisions to weapon articles seem to have died down: try to integrate POV wanking into a new section structure as with monster articles (i.e. combat characteristics vs tactical analysis). Transplant some content from /Berserk_pack to /Fists.  Compare /Chainsaw to /Sound_cutoffs and /Intermission_screen (buzzing noise).  Fix histograms and monster damage calculations based on better knowledge of interlaced RNG calls (and ongoing project which stalled before I could finish the fist, chainsaw, and super shotgun code, as of 2009.05.18).
 * http://egamia.wikia.com/wiki/Doom             <-- This means, capsule descriptions of the Doom canon with links to us.
 * http://egamia.wikia.com/wiki/User_talk:Ryan_W <-- This means, and maybe the same for every other game I've ever heard of.
 * See whether _Masters of Doom_ helps with any of the articles we've tagged with (come to think of it, some of the id articles and /Masters_of_Doom could probably be GREATLY expanded; Wikipedia:Id_Software is enormous compared to ours, even if you throw out the detailed timeline.  I believe the issue in /Talk:Pistol is addressed as well).
 * Cleanup of /Monster_infighting (strategy points noted, but very sloppy -- probably need their own section)...
 * Some interesting discussion about barrel frags: http://www.doomworld.com/vb/doom-general/39047-monsters-vs-same-monsters/
 * Some interesting discussion about PE targeting: http://www.doomworld.com/vb/doom-general/41163-the-pain-elemental-has-clean-hands/
 * Some interesting discussion which may need to be cross-checked for technical vs non-technical points: /Monsters, /Talk:Monsters, /Monster_behavior.
 * /Monster_behavior and /Monster_infighting probably need "Technical" sections for nonlinear arousal phenomena and damage "countdown" discussion, respectively. Even non-deaf monsters are subject to the "flag" method of determining arousal, seemingly, viz. all that infighting in my E1M9 demos.


 * WHEN YOU UNDERSTAND HOW TO COMPUTE ROFs FOR ALL MONSTERS, then you will know enough about calls to the RNG to improve your "shots to kill" tables by SINGLE-STEPPING through a one-on-one fight (aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!) beginning with each of the 256 index values.

Monster articles
Trp Srg SS. Cgn Imp Dmn Spc Cac Kni Bar LSl P.E Mnc Ara Rev Vil Spi Cyb Kee Icn

DSSLOP included in sound list? XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX /User_talk:Ashley_Pomeroy thread info       XXX XXX XXX     XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX Shotgun NOT good choice vs chaingunner      XXX XXX XXX     XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX Plasma gun less effective vs Imp? XXX XXX XXX XXX    XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX "Lancelot effect" w/ imp fireballs          XXX XXX XXX XXX     XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX Doom Bible name anomalies as in /Trooper    XXX XXX XXX XXX         XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX "Technical" section for incomplete Icons    XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX Romero head arousal makes cubes, but how? XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX How do multiple shooters choose targets? XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX What if there are multiple Boss Brains? XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX Romero's head not aroused by damage         XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX Cyberdemon Quote no.1 (see below)           XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX     XXX XXX Cyberdemon Quote no.2 (see below)           XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX     XXX XXX Demons/Spectres V. FAST IN -FAST MODE       XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX         XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX Dropped items remain after resurrection     XXX XXX         XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX     XXX XXX XXX XXX Damage stats for full volley                XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX     XXX XXX Indep. of skill level in UDoom/Doom II? XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX    XXX XXX "Jack in the box" line from bug page        XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX     XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX "xx HP *per second* w/ target in view"      XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX     XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX "V. strong for size b/c Baron 'ancestry'"   XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX     XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX "3xSSG (far more often than not) or 3xrckt" XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX     XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX Alone among all, can attack while moving    XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX     XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX Mancubus Quote (see below)                  XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX     XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX Modified BEXP sprite used when Icon dies    XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX "Phase spc" of bite vuln. is actually small XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX         XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX Can outgun w/ fist due to high pain chance  XXX XXX XXX XXX     XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX Muy invis. in vanilla: *all* textures grainy XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX    XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX Shooter has SSWV frames, but they're unused XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX No monster flag -> divide-by-0 in MAP30 HMP? XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX Resurrection doesn't check Z coord (Plut27) XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX     XXX XXX XXX XXX Fires 1 rocket, but both launchers light up XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX     XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX New BBRN pic per /Image_talk:DOOM0022.png   XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX

Trp Srg SS. Cgn Imp Dmn Spc Cac Kni Bar LSl P.E Mnc Ara Rev Vil Spi Cyb Kee Icn

Basic section structure (see below)         XXX XXX Sound names must be 'chronological'         XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX Sound lists must be COMPLETE                XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX Sprite lists must be COMPLETE               XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX Screen shots must be "256px"                XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX Screen shots go in right margin             XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX No expanded universe crap                   XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX Format of Doom RPG part is OK               XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX Doom RPG b/w "Data" and xref sections       XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX Death in "Data" links to /Types_of_death    XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX Which weapons are effective? XXX XXX No redundant FACTUAL information            XXX XXX Break down attack seq. ROUGHLY by tics/time XXX XXX Note dispersal of hitscan attacks           XXX XXX         XXX                         XXX XXX XXX     XXX     XXX XXX XXX REAL MOVEMENT RATES (time avg)              XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX REAL PROJECTILE SPEEDS viz. TDA's talk pg   XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX ATTACK ROFs (time avg+footnote) MODIFICATIONS WITH -FAST if unusual         XXX XXX XXX XXX                         XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX ROF title fmt consistent with weapons? XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX Damage histograms using spreadsheet         XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX Final cleanup sweep of all 23 articles

"In monster-monster battles, the Cyberdemon is an unstoppable force at close range, inflicting an average damage of 654 points per volley (N seconds). He can sometimes be overborne by a large crowd of intermediately sized monsters (e.g., SCREAM.WAD) or a group of Barons (AMBUSH.WAD), and the rapid-fire ability of the Spider Mastermind generally allows her to defeat a Cyberdemon in one-on-one combat (provided both have sufficient maneuvering room; the Cyberdemon usually wins in MAP20: Gotcha! because the Spider Mastermind is more disoriented by the small platform, and doesn't shoot as often as normal)."

"A Cyberdemon attacking other monsters in an open area should be watched closely, because he fires the remaining rockets in a volley even after the target has died, and rockets fired at long range may miss their mark, especially against airborne enemies. Therefore, rockets can intermittently emerge from the fray at unpredictable angles."

"bloated, hairless humanoid covered in lesions and scar tissue"

Basic section structure: == 00_ [ disambig for monsters that appear in Doom 3] == 00_ [ physical description, manual excerpt (don't revise existing quotes; my copy isn't vanilla)] == Combat characteristics == Tactical analysis == Inspiration and development == Notes == Data == Appearance statistics [ first appearance, total number in each IWAD] == Other games === Doom 64 [ OPTIONAL; should be used only if significant changes were made] === Doom 3 [ almost never; disambig template above should suffice] === Doom RPG [ usually] == See also (i.e. Doom 3 monsters, bugs, and any other related topics) == Sources [ OPTIONAL, but secondary sources should definitely be cited]

OEM walkthroughs
See walkthrough checklist.sxc.

Past issues
This part is (hopefully) organized in roughly the same order as /Entryway. Dates before 2005.10.04 (here and in the pile of paper) are when I added the item to this list, not when I resolved it. The history page of a given article takes precedence over this log, obviously, and NO ENTRY SHOULD BE MADE HERE when it would be completely redundant with the diff, edit summary, or talk page post just created.

Logistics

 * 2005.06.06  Start.
 * 2005.06.08  Got PrBoom 2.2.6 working.  (Gamma level 2 looks most like Doom95 on my monitor.  Note also that trying to push the resolution beyond 640x480 makes the animation a little choppy -- damn NuTrend philistines.)
 * 2005.06.10  "Show 500 diffs/log items" preference seems to work intermittently, but all other settings are forgotten in 15 minutes or so, incl. password cookie.
 * 2005.06.23  The DOS executable that came with _The Depths of Doom_ really is vanilla 1.9!  (715493 bytes.)
 * 2005.06.24  There is nothing wrong with the gamma correction in PrBoom.  ***.****.***.edu's monitor is a piece of shit compared to my Trinitron, that's all.
 * 2005.10.03  Reference works for Mozilla tabs:
 * http://www.doom2.net/~compet-n/database/cn.cgi?main+2005:12
 * file:///home/********/correspondence/wiki/monster%20references/sprite_names/doomsprites3.htm (internal sprite names)
 * http://the-stable.lancs.ac.uk/~esasb1/doom/uds/things.html (Unofficial Doom Specs thing data)
 * http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help:Contents (MediaWiki markup help)
 * http://www.gamers.org/docs/FAQ/doomfaq/index.html (Leukart's FAQ, complete)
 * 2005.10.04  Began this document, pitching most of my handwritten lists into the recycle bin.
 * 2005.10.12  Off-site status log for Wikicities: http://community.livejournal.com/wikia/
 * 2005.10.19  My copy of Doom II is COMPET-N legal!  709,905 bytes.  (File on CD-ROM is "v1.666 (-not- the 8-24-94 and 9-20-94 dated or German ones)", so the patches are doom2p16 and d2_19pat.)
 * 2006.01.15  Raw monster sprite captures (from web page about pencil-and-paper RPG): http://www.paper-dragon.com/doom2020/tocframe.html
 * 2006.01.24  /User:Ryan_W: Flamebait update to bio.  For the record, the other seven games are Pong, Pac-Man, Super Mario Bros., Tetris, Street Fighter II, Counterstrike, and Madden 99.
 * 2006.02.22  /User:Ryan_W: Double-digit number of versions/ports have now been played.  (In roughly chronological order: shareware 1.0, registered 1.2, Mac shareware, Doom95, PrBoom for Windows, vanilla 1.9, Legacy for Linux, Doomsday for Mac OS X, Legacy for Mac OS X, and ZDoom for Windows.)
 * 2006.02.24  Config file: monster_avoid_hazards 0 is necessary for demos involving crushers to stay in sync.
 * 2006.04.13  More evidence that doing wiki work on Cynthia is a bad idea: template formatting is sometimes butchered in my version of Mozilla.
 * 2006.06.11  Finally rearranged key bindings in vanilla by just pasting SETUP.EXE from shareware 1.666 into the real directories and running it.  (I keep forgetting how much abuse DOS programs can take and still work.)  This should make vanilla easier to play (when it's necessary), although at the moment I'm so used to Wolfenstein physics that I may need to finish that first.
 * 2006.06.12  Installed new version of PrBoom (2.4.1).  Copy-pasting the old config file seemed to work okay.  The -complevel parameter for v1.9 demos is 2 now (or 3 for Final Doom), but the really good news is that v1.9 savestates work!
 * 2007.03.05  My Mac: OS 9.2.2, IE 5.1.7(5815).
 * 2007.03.10  bugs.wikia.com username: CAC e-mail address.  Password: usual web form password.
 * 2007.08.22  Installed PrBoom+ v2.4.3.1 on ***.***.***.edu and figured out that -recordfromto did work, it just wasn't listed on the man page (its existence is mentioned in the changelog).
 * From the listserv:


 * /Doom_Wiki:Central_Processing#CSS_stuff: Janizdreg says, "If you notice any new style related issues that haven't occurred before, please report them here so I or some other admin can modify the CSS file accordingly and fix the problem."

Getting music to play in PrBoom

 * 2005.06.09
 * MIDI sound level in XP: 2.5 (on a scale of 0-6)
 * SFX vol. in PrBoom: max.
 * Music vol. in PrBoom: 5 units below max.
 * This gives correct *relative* volume. Now turn speaker knob until SFX are *almost* too loud.  Remember, some MIDIs are louder than others!  Music volume adjustments within game take effect on restart, and using Doom95 resets the PrBoom control panel slider to some arbitrary value.
 * Sound output device: SB Audigy SW Synth
 * 2007.11.27
 * In volume control panel, mute "vol.rec" and "mic" since those seem to produce feedback.
 * Set all sliders to maximum, except the master, which goes at about 60%.
 * Set the volume of the mplayer stream first. Somewhere between -af volume=-20 and -af volume=-5 is good depending on what you're doing in the game and how much taurine you've had that morning.
 * Now set the sfx volume within the game. The preamp might already be hellacious; two or three units above the minimum is often plenty.

Walkthroughs

 * 2006.02.08  Duplicate file names from (inside) zip archives on COMPET-N disc:
 * lv24-036.lmp (one "-" changed to "n", including text of readme file)
 * lv18-024.lmp (one "-" changed to "a")
 * lv18-024.txt (one "-" changed to "a", including readme text itself)
 * 2006.02.08  Secondary sources  _from which route tips were actually used_  should be added to the bibliography in /Levels.  Very general ones could even be added to /Doom_Wiki:Source_material.
 * 2006.02.27  cl_maxdecals 0 in the ZDoom config file prevents bullet holes from appearing on walls.  (Probably corrected in version 2.4.0.)
 * 2007.03.03  When citing demos using /Template:Competnftp, put a space between the text and the first {.  It really does read better that way.
 * 2007.09.12  The background color for those DETH printouts you've been doing is 100% red, 100% green, 70% blue.
 * 2007.09.19  DETH's window size at 1/1 scale is (960,570).
 * 2007.09.19  To "gray out" Fredrik's maps for easier monster placement, use the "levels" dialog box again (lowest slider).
 * 2008.04.14  Did not report crash when pressing the screen shot key in PrBoom+ 2.4.8.1 with DirectX, because it was fixed in 2.4.8.2!
 * 2009.02.02  MediaWiki's max upload size is really 16M now.
 * 2009.02.04  To print out a map, open Layer -> Colors -> Hue-Saturation, adjust Lightness to maximum, and save as BMP.

Source code

 * 2006.11.04  PIT_CheckThing in p_map.c calls damage function (P_DamageMobj) for projectiles and Lost Soul attacks (the Thing being examined is the variable "tmthing"); the damage is 1d8 times the "damage" field in the Thing structure (tmthing->info->damage).
 * 2007.06.01  The "int" type is 32-bit signed (see doomdef.h).
 * 2008.04.24  The fist and chainsaw have a random offset added to their angle, like a bullet does.
 * 2008.04.24  The fact that damage sometimes pulls the target *toward* the attacker is intentional (see P_DamageMobj).
 * 2008.04.25  Projectile attacks don't produce smoke puffs/blood splats when they hit.  (Neither do BFG tracers.)

Games and level walkthroughs

 * 2005.06.22  The Doom64 map names in our articles correspond to the original, not the TC.
 * 2005.10.01  New category system of disambiguation is as follows: (a) Create category "E#M#"/"MAP##"; (b) add Template:map to existing articles with that map number, taking these from /Special:Allpages; (c) change existing links of the form E/MAP, which used to snap right to Doom/Doom II map articles, but now won't anymore; (d) rename articles in step (b) to include the megawad name at the end; (e) make the articles "E#M#"/"MAP##" soft redirects to the categories made in (a).  After doing all this, check PWAD pages and /Category:Level_WADs for single-level PWADs, and add Template:map to them too.  Revise /Doom_Wiki:Policies_and_guidelines to include new map article naming convention "MAP##:_Map_Name_(WAD_Name)" (and mention of Template:map).  Double-check /Special:Wantedpages for broken links due to typos or brain farts in the course of the above revisions (which occupy *an entire page* in /Special:Contributions/Ryan_W).
 * 2006.02.06  Downloaded entire COMPET-N archive (to watch at some point, for the benefit of our walkthroughs).  Dumped PWAD entries, coop entries, net-x entries, and MMH entries (on the grounds that these categories were too new to be terribly optimized, as George Bell used to say).  Also dumped entries from difficulty levels below UV (!), because differing tactics for different styles are too hard to keep straight in my head as it is.  For the benefit of Final Doom, this will likely need to be updated as the database is updated.
 * 2006.02.25  After nosing around in the gamers.org FTP site for a little while, I decided that I should leave /List_of_WADs as it is.  An enormous dump of incomplete information would probably not make anyone happy in the long term... we'll wait until each level's fanatics find the wiki and insist that their favorite work be represented.  :>
 * 2006.04.13  Did not make a serious attempt to remove the first horizontal frame divider in the episode template table... it's just not a big deal.
 * 2006.09.06  Dungeon Doom is categorized correctly since it is *not* listed under "Remakes" in /Source_port, but only in /Fan-made_Doom_games, which can include TCs.
 * 2006.09.15  If /Category:John_Romero_levels et al. are to be subcategories of /Category:Levels, then all such subcategories need to be created.  I don't want to remove /Category:Levels from Template:Map, however, because 99.9 percent of players don't know or care who designed a level unless they're a beta tester, so a flat list is the only way for them to find a walkthrough efficiently.
 * 2006.10.26  Went through the bestiary/hintiary/powerupiary on the official Doom RPG site and made sure we had all the data.
 * 2006.11.03  Downloaded Wad2PDF, but it didn't work on my computer.
 * 2007.02.26  ep1-all.zip (NM speed run incl. secret level) was not really misfiled in the FTP archive; that was just me being slipshod while unpacking everything.
 * 2007.03.17  I said to myself, "The words 'Raven Software' do not need to be included with every mention of Heretic or Hexen."  This turned out only to affect two articles, but we do still have dust bunnies left over from that idiot who went around spraying such mentions all over the encyclopedia.
 * 2007.03.17  Made /Games, /Source_ports, and /Fan-made_Doom_games into disjoint lists again (in view of the recent discussion on notability, this is more required than ever).  Added official Macintosh ports of Heretic and Hexen to /Games.  Assumed that GP2X, GP32, Zodiac, Amiga 1200, Atari Falcon 030, BeOS, QNX, and Windows CE versions were commercial releases even though I didn't search extensively for references.  Removed three redundant commercial releases and four fanon titles from /Source_ports.  Removed "Remakes" section of /Source_ports because the remaining entries could and ought to have been sorted by OS.
 * 2007.04.03  You know what, I don't actually care whether or not Requiem is incorrectly tagged with /Category:Multiplayer_WADs.  Someone else can stew about that until I finish revising the other 200+ walkthrough articles ahead of it in the queue.
 * 2007.05.31  Deus Vult probably does not belong in /Category:Level_WADs.  Where to place the intermediate exits is a design choice, and certainly a speedrun might be played very differently if it had to do four levels of a megawad consecutively rather than one at a time.
 * 2008.04.21  For now, I'm holding off on creating /Category:Commercial_games as a subcategory of /Category:Games.  The latter isn't, like, noticeably chaotic at the moment.
 * 2008.05.28  Over my objections, the "official port and source port differences" discussion appears to have been resolved with a consensus of "put differences in the specific gameplay-related articles, and cross your fingers that people won't burn themselves out maintaining enormous amounts of duplicate information in the port articles."  Fixed all the redirects involving the BFG 3.14 to match.
 * 2009.02.09  Can't remember now what I meant by "Revisit organization of E2 intermission screen screenshots".  I created the animated gif of all eight entry screens in October 2005 or whenever (!!), and it was meant to make radius's individual frames unnecessary.


 * E1M1 : Hangar (Doom)


 * 2006.02.13  #Routes_and_tricks: I decided not to write that the level's linearity makes most maxkills styles' routes nearly the same.  I figured that was the rule rather than the exception.
 * 2006.02.25  Replaced ITYTD/HNTR/HMP walkthrough demos, to eliminate the fancy footwork in the shotgun alcove (getting one secret on the way to the other).
 * 2006.03.14  I guess I can deal with radius's edit moving the "extra Ultimate Doom switch" up to "Other points of interest", even though it involves a secret... after all, I did it myself in E1M9, right?
 * 2006.06.14  Rerecorded UV demo.  No frontal assaults at all now.
 * 2006.11.18  Further revisions to all four walkthrough demos, making them even more cowardly and ponderous.  I hope to God this is the last time.
 * 2007.02.25  When I watched UV max episode runs, it seemed like people took a few more seconds to collect health before exiting this level.  This seems to contradict the existing text under "Routes and tricks", which claims that this level is tightly optimized for speed in all episode runs worth worrying about.  Because said text was undoubtedly written by people who actually worked on DDQ et al., I decided to leave my observation out.


 * E1M2 : Nuclear Plant (Doom)


 * 2006.11.18  Revisions to all four walkthrough demos, making them even more cowardly and ponderous.  I hope to God I don't have to do it again.


 * E1M3 : Toxin Refinery (Doom)


 * 2006.02.16  Calculation of exit health in n1s3-149.lmp:
 * 51% / 36% before entering inviso tower.
 * His health then increased to 151% / 200% due to the powerups.
 * His health at the exit was 114% / 167%.
 * Therefore, he lost (151 - 114) + (200 - 167) = 70% health in all during that part.
 * The security armor would have absorbed 23% of this, and 70 - 23 = 46%, so he would have ended with 5% / 13%.

(This analysis ignores damage taken while still in the tower, which there was. But yeah, I would have been careful too!)
 * 2006.02.24  No, you cannot jump through the window from the supercharge column.
 * 2006.02.25  Replaced UV walkthrough demo to increase the amount of cornerhiding (namely, at the entrance to the second room, the entrance to the passage leading to the donut walkway, and the blue door).
 * 2006.11.18  Further revisions to all four walkthrough demos, making them even more cowardly and ponderous.  Really, I don't need to be around for the day a new player writes in to say these are helpful, just as long as someone eventually does.
 * 2007.09.05  "Shotgun in E1M3 is not always at the top of the lift in the 2nd room."  No, actually, it is still there at the lower difficulty levels.  What is this, like, the third map of the entire saga or something?


 * E1M4 : Command Control (Doom)


 * 2006.09.14  Took out information about Doom novels.  (I don't mind its existence on the wiki, but these walkthrough articles are very long already and should be self-contained.)
 * 2007.03.03  Described yellow door bug, which I found out about from the readme files of UV episode runs (DeePsea didn't catch it, because the tag in question had a legitimate use elsewhere in the level).


 * E1M5 : Phobos Lab (Doom)


 * 2006.03.08  Added screenshot of small HOM (Fraggle calls it a slime trail, which I guess it might be) near rising green column.


 * E1M6 : Central Processing (Doom)


 * 2006.11.19  Major rewrite of walkthrough section.  More detailed maps of the easy and medium difficulty classes would have helped (oh well).
 * 2007.02.24  Revised walkthrough demos (route errors, really, not finesse improvements.  SAVESTATES ARE PRETTY AWESOME).


 * E1M7 : Computer Station (Doom)


 * 2007.03.05  The supercharger secret cannot be opened from the back side (which, now that I look at it again, is so obvious that I refuse to actually mention the idea in the article).


 * E1M8 : Phobos Anomaly (Doom)


 * 2007.02.04  The chaingun ideally does 5250 points of damage per minute, as compared to 3976 for the shotgun (which has a wider dispersal anyway).  This actually comes into play when one tries to attack Barons aggressively.
 * 2007.02.05  The extreme corners of the star room are not always outside the Spectres' melee range -- only at the southern two points.  (Vertex coordinates are noted on my "H" map if I ever need to try to prove this mathematically.)

RESEARCH NEEDED FOR EACH WALKTHROUGH REVISION == 00_ [ MAP##:Level Name is the Nth level of WAD name. It was designed by Author Name and uses the music track "Song Title". The par time is X:XX.] == 00_ [ Other general remarks which could go under "Overview" but are almost always sufficiently brief not to.] ==Walkthrough ===Essentials ===Other points of interest [ OPTIONAL, though normally there are many] ===Secrets ===Bugs ===Demo files ==Areas / screenshots ===Slime trails [ OPTIONAL] ==Speedrunning ===Routes and tricks ===Current records ===Miscellaneous demos [ OPTIONAL; fairly rare in fact] ==Deathmatch ==Statistics ===Map data ===Things ==Technical information [ OPTIONAL; usually used only if there are many special effects] ==Inspiration and development ==Trivia [ OPTIONAL; 99 percent of the time the WAD was designed quite privately and has no historical significance] ==See also [ OPTIONAL] ==Sources [ OPTIONAL; add this only if some unusual non-OR information has been added] ==External links [ OPTIONAL; typically only cites the COMPET-N database page]
 * Basic section structure of article:
 * -nomonsters, 100% secrets demo on UV:
 * Favor a route which minimizes the total distance traveled by the Doomguy.
 * Move briskly, but not so fast that you crash into walls. (For instance, grabbing the yellow key between lifts on E1M3 is appropriate.)
 * Large powerups, such as weapons and soul spheres, should be collected ONLY if they are in the secret area, or near something else you really need (like a key). This is somewhat heuristic and I didn't always understand Fredrik's route planning (for example, he took the computer map on E1M6).  However, within a secret area, err on the side of entering it fully: Fredrik detoured to pick up the chainsaw on E1M7, so I detoured to pick up the plasma gun on E2M5.
 * Use the secret exit if there is one.
 * Your demos will never look as good as Fredrik's because he plays with the mouse, so relax. In any case this is only a problem if someone actually watches them, whereupon it becomes a good problem for the wiki to have.


 * Four 3x100% walkthrough demos (see below), one for each v1.1 difficulty level.
 * Screenshots (if there are a handful already, leave it alone):
 * Use ZDoom at 1024x768 / PrBoom at 640x480, with the viewable area fully zoomed in.
 * Then apply a gamma correction of +1.4 / +1.2 with The GIMP:
 * copy the PNG layer and paste it into a new file
 * change the middle number in Tools/Color Tools/Levels from 1.00 (skip this step if using PrBoom on moe (!)).
 * scale the image to 640x480 (cubic fitting)
 * save as XCF and PNG


 * Revised map with marked spots (and occasionally maze routes and suchlike):
 * In The GIMP, font for marked circles is URW Gothic L, Semi-Bold, 18pt for single letters (16pt for the letter "M" if you insist) and 13pt for double letters
 * color for episode II is 0/35/220 (RGB)
 * dot size is 8.5px
 * path stroke is 3.0px wide with the middle two end/corner styles
 * Always save as XCF (native) as well as PNG, because PNG merges all the layers which makes future revision difficult

 Typing a capital "A" into a text field sometimes causes The GIMP to crash --- SAVE OFTEN.


 * Rebuild reject lump using PERFECT option in RMB, and look for differences from the original. (You made a spreadsheet to avoid doing this by hand.)  Analyze in /Blind_spots_in_Doom_reject_tables.  Optional broad categorization of severity due to User:Goyuken and myself:
 * None (3D sight lines definitely blocked by a ledge or something)
 * Negligible (unphysical behavior only arises in a pathological situation)
 * Very minor (an obvious glitch, but in such a small area that it will never affect the outcome of a run)
 * Minor (can easily be tested, but at game speed nobody will see it)
 * Moderate (usable in real play, *if* the monsters cooperate)
 * Major (exploitable with novice-level footwork to kill somebody before they can retaliate)


 * Check for Things which have no difficulty flags set (DeePsea for some reason doesn't pick this up). (You made a spreadsheet to avoid doing this by hand.)
 * Check for obvious bugs using F10/B in DeePsea.
 * Watch all COMPET-N demos in the eight main categories (or five categories for movies) plus /misc and /built.

GUIDELINES FOR WALKTHROUGH DEMOS
 * So far, I have only completed E1, and I fully expect to relax one or more of these as time goes on. However, for the record...


 * Divide and conquer, divide and conquer, divide and conquer. RNG ergodicity is the key: do not assume any monster is trapped in an attractor until it has passed through the same point at least 256 times.  Know exactly where each monster-blocking linedef, each sound-blocking linedef, each impassable linedef, and each unrealistic REJECT value is, and make sure *all* are wrung dry of health savings.
 * You must either hear or see each monster die. Use IDDQD to determine their routes, yes, but *your* route in the published demo must never depend on anything the Doomguy can't hear or see.
 * NEVER move and fire at the same time, unless jack-in-the-boxing against ONE enemy.
 * Never leave any aroused monster in any place on the map where he can actually attack you, unless you can attack him as well. Probably has to be bent on deliberately circuitous maps like E2M2 and E3M6.
 * Avoid jack-in-the-boxing completely whenever possible, by shooting humanoids at short range and demons/spectres at long range. Use walls to move slowly into firing position before arousing anybody.  This rule, and the previous one, must be modified to include circlestrafing when you start meeting larger monsters with projectile weapons.
 * Avoid frontal assaults (e.g. the supercharger column on E1M3) unless you have absolutely no choice.
 * Get all swag as soon as it is possible to do so without crossing someone's line of fire.
 * Safety factor of two: avoid timing moves in general, but if forced to do one, make sure it is easy enough that your motion takes only half the allotted time.
 * Safety factor of two: at any given time, each of the cumulative bullets/shells/cells collected (including starting bullets) must be at least twice the cumulative number of shots fired (not including misses). Ideal expenditures are calculated using the George Bell method (perfect RNG and ensemble averages, round up).  This rule can be bent at the beginning of a level because there is not always an obvious cache nearby -- E1M3 and E1M7 come to mind.
 * The chaingun is unquestionably better than the shotgun, because a preemptive strike is a much simpler way to avoid damage than is jack-in-the-boxing, as well as being far safer at point-blank range.
 * Safety factor of two: never use rockets when you think any one of the targets will survive a volley of even half that size. Needless to say, don't use them at all when there is even a remote possibility of backfiring.
 * Use melee weapons ONLY when they present some ridiculously clear advantage to offset exposing yourself like that (the hallway of lost souls on MAP09 may be an example).
 * Use the strafe key during jack-in-the-boxing, but never during precision footwork. As a rule of thumb, if you are using the strafe key and the run key at the same time, the novice will not be able to keep up.  ABSOLUTELY NO ST50, EVER.
 * A rule of thumb during openings is that the novice player will get hit 5 times as often as you do. If you find yourself losing more than 20% health, say, one time in four, trash that route and start over.
 * Shoot barrels religiously whenever they might pose a shrapnel hazard to you, but avoid doing so while monsters are aroused and capable of getting around the barrel and reaching you.
 * Look for places to stand which offer lines of sight to confined monsters, but which are nevertheless behind enough obstructions to block a fireball.
 * Use bugs to your advantage if possible. (For instance, a monster stuck on a doortrack is totally immobile until you decide to release him.)
 * -recordfromto is your new best friend. Every shot and "flow" in the demo does not have to be a rope, and the total elapsed time may swell indefinitely, but each action taken by you or a monster MUST be typical and representative.
 * In E2, I allow the player a bit more maneuverability, larger decision trees, and longer movement "macros". Also, occasionally a small amount of probable damage may be preferred to a much larger amount of possible damage (like running across nukage to avoid having to fight a caco nose to nose, when you aren't supposed to be very good at circlestrafing yet).

Expanded universe

 * 2005.08.30  /Doom_novels says that imps are "clearly" breathing fire, not flinging flaming mucus.  I think there's room for debate, but I suppose it's not a big deal.
 * 2006.01.29  Cleaned up /Doom_movie (parts had been written during pre-production, post-production, and post-release, and the seams showed).  Decided that a section for reviews is not really analogous to having PWAD reviews because we can claim to have editors thoroughly versed in PWADs, but not in moviemaking.
 * 2006.02.08  The description at the top of /Category:Expanded_universe makes me think that Doom 2020 (a Cyberpunk 2020 module) is definitely not canonical enough to include in the wiki.
 * 2007.04.13  FINALLY watched the Doom movie, then fixed the problems noted in /Talk:Doom movie (middle section).  A fine-grained comparison to the wikipedia article is probably more trouble than it is worth.  Split "Criticism" section into "differences b/w movie and game" and "other".

Weapons, ammo

 * 2005.06.22  A taxonomy of weapon damage on /Weapons is unnecessary, since the data tables in individual articles are so extensive.
 * 2005.10.01  /Media:Map07-chaingun-tapping.lmp: I don't think this has very clean lines, actually, but since it does make the point at the end, I won't bother trying to supplant it.
 * 2005.10.03  Tightened up all weapon articles (9 in total) and rearranged their layouts so that they would have a uniform format, including complete sprite and sound name listings.  Imp/cacodemon projectiles, plasma, and rockets actually make *no* noise as they pass by -- only when fired and when they hit something.
 * 2006.01.13  If http://www.btinternet.com/~Enjay001/doomsprites3.htm is correct and complete, then id's naming convention for weapon sprites is inconsistent.  Some "HUD" sprites include firing sequences and some do not, the rocket launcher's "missile in flight" sequence includes the explosion, and the BFG plasma ball explosion includes *two* distinct animation sequences with different names.  I think I've improved these tables a great deal, but unless I dig into the meat of DeHackEd in the near future for some reason, the resolution of this inconsistency (if one is necessary) will have to come from another editor.
 * 2006.04.12  TheDarkArchon revised /Rocket_jumping and at least removed the factual errors, so I decided not to spend any time on it yet.
 * 2006.11.05  Used Mathematica to create damage histograms and "shots to kill vs. monster" tables for all weapons, based on the real RNG behavior (to be fair, Hank Leukart certainly never saw the source code).
 * 2007.08.23  Added projectile speed "conversion factors" to some weapon pages, viz. /User_talk:TheDarkArchon#Edits_to_Monsters.
 * 2008.05.25  Fixed damage histograms etc. due to realizations that [ a] pain chance is handled separately for each call to P_DamageMobj and [ b] bullet puffs and blood splats, amongst other things, also involve calls to P_Random (see comments in Mathematica notebooks).  The sky hack bug need not be considered because we're assuming that every hitscan attack connects, except for BFG flash damage which doesn't leave a smoke puff.

Items

 * 2005.06.09  ARTIFACT ITEMS are armor helmets, berserk packs, computer maps, health potions, invisibilities, invulnerabilities, light goggles, megaspheres, and superchargers.  POWERUPS are backpacks, blue armors, green armors, medikits, radiation suits, and stimpacks.  The former group counts toward the item tally and the latter group does not, even in vanilla.
 * 2005.06.28  The issue of how much damage is absorbed by armor is a subtle one (see /Combat_armor), but all sources of damage are treated alike.
 * 2006_04_13  /Computer_map: really, it doesn't look *that* much like a Vectrex, and I'm sure it's a coincidence anyway.
 * 2008.04.27  Decided not to add tables of initial appearance (maps) for non-monster Things.  Powerups and artifacts hardly change between difficulty classes, while weapons should be described in the existing prose form because of the thing about secret vs. non-secret areas (whereas weapons are far rarer than other pickups).

Monsters

 * 2005.09.22  Textual part of /Player does not need to be formatted like other monsters', with tactical considerations all over the place.  That really should be part of a comprehensive deathmatch tutorial, if we ever get that far.
 * 2006.01.26  /Talk:TheDarkArchon: Revised version of /Monsters is still correct, but seems to have been changed based on a misreading.  And if we now have an admin who is willing to do these things and then not admit to it, I'd like to know sooner rather than later.  (ed. note: The next day, this turned out okay.)
 * 2006.02.11  Finally did that partial revert of Ashley Pomeroy's changes to /Trooper.  I changed my mind about the "will engage in infighting with all..." stuff, because it would be pretty much identical for every zombie, and pretty much identical for every demon except knights and barons.
 * 2006.06.14  Finally cleaned up /Trooper (again).  TheDarkArchon had already removed the *most* overwrought crapparano and added more cool geometrical information, so there wasn't actually as much to do as I remembered.  A few new formatting tweaks made sense this time also.
 * 2006.06.16  Finally cleaned up /Sergeant (again).  This was a much more difficult job than /Trooper, with much more potential for controversy (extrapolating my from other large revisions to monster articles), so I also added an extensive explanation to /Talk:Sergeant.
 * 2006.11.05  Decided that non-gameplay screen shots, like the ones at the bottom of /Cacodemon, don't necessarily have to be right-justified or exactly 256px.
 * 2006.11.06  The most fine-grained possible description of monster infighting would be too pedantic/theoretical, or too advanced, or both, for the tactical analyses presented in our monster articles.  You're  * supposed to know *  the thing about hitscan attacks vs. projectile attacks.  Truly unusual cases like the arch-vile will be mentioned though.
 * 2007.06.04  /Talk:Monsters: "A sound has been heard" seems to be treated as a flag that can be set in a given sector and then not cleared, with bizarre consequences and implementation errors that must be seen to be believed.
 * 2007.08.23  Added projectile speed "conversion factors" to some monster pages, viz. /User_talk:TheDarkArchon#Edits_to_Monsters.
 * 2008.05.25  Fixed damage histograms etc. due to realizations that [ a] pain chance is handled separately for each call to P_DamageMobj and [ b] bullet puffs and blood splats, amongst other things, also involve calls to P_Random (see comments in Mathematica notebooks).  The sky hack bug need not be considered because we're assuming that every hitscan attack connects, except for BFG flash damage which doesn't leave a smoke puff.

"Other hazards"

 * 2005.06.23  /Barrel, /Crushing_ceiling seem to work better without quotes from instruction booklet.
 * 2006.11.01  Started writing spreadsheet to convert numbers from m_random.c into probability distributions!  First task was to compute damage taken by an ensemble of players in leaky radiation suits.  Modified /Damaging_floor#Technical_information accordingly, with a link from /Radiation_suit.

/Cheat_code

 * 2005.10.11  /Multiplayer_cheat includes a lot of methods also applicable to single play.  That article should probably be made by someone who is more of a chiphead and has actually tried them, eh?
 * 2006.03.04  In MAP30 of a given IWAD, the -respawn switch apparently does *not* cause telefragging by arbitrary spawning monsters.

Other gameplay topics

 * 2006.09.17  Slogged through EVERY wikipedia article in /Category:Doom, making sure there were no serious omissions on our wiki by comparison (except in categories I knew I didn't have the resources to do a passable job on, like Doom 3 and fanon).

Demos and speedrunning

 * 2005.06.09  /Speedrun: revised introductory text to reflect that DM play was certainly *not* an afterthought in the PWAD community or in the executable's extensive network management code, only in the actual blueprints of the IWADs.
 * 2005.06.16  Footnotes to rules w/r/t specific levels should go on classification pages, not /Speedrun, or the list will become too unwieldy.
 * 2005.06.16  Some NM speed entries for Doom II MAP07 have 0% secrets.  Therefore, it should have an NM100s category.
 * 2005.06.19  A COMPET-N demo can be listed in more than one category if it is submitted in more than one category, but all copies of the file are given the same name, so a lot of times they look mislabeled but aren't.
 * 2005.09.22  Wrote to Adam Hegyi (adam@tre.hu) asking about all the anomalies I noticed while working on these articles.
 * 2005.09.26  COMPET-N categories which distinguish between the two exits on E3M6: Mt. Erebus do not necessarily include the "s" in their file names -- apparently it is sometimes felt that the time ranges of the two groups of submissions cannot conceivably overlap.
 * 2005.09.26  Adam Hegyi is aware of the possibility that Doom II MAP07 can be completed in NM without 100% secrets, but is waiting for a contributor to force his hand before opening a separate NM100S category.
 * 2005.10.02  Wrote to Adam Hegyi with a few more database typos to report.
 * 2006.02.09  I thought about writing in /Speedrun that the word "cheating" isn't always meant mean-spiritedly, since built demos are often useful for exploring new routes or suggesting tricks.  But I couldn't bring myself to do it -- I'm REALLY not a member of the speedrunning community.
 * 2006.02.12  Cross-referencing of readme files by posting date establishes that UV max has never included a requirement for 100% items.  Widlake was just being a wanker.
 * 2006.05.02  Templates analogous to the MediaWiki templates "concat1440", "timedep", and "timedepcolor" can now be used to centralize most of the COMPET-N records in our tables ("current records" tables in walkthrough articles, and large tables in speedrun style articles).
 * 2006.05.11  Data on COMPET-N records can *in principle* be centralized.  I created 7 new templates as prototypes, but finally gave up because they were apparently far too large for the articles to load smoothly.  I guess we'll have to be satisfied with updating two sets of tables in parallel, until something really drastic happens to improve Wikia's backend.
 * 2007.03.09  /Category:Demos says: "Articles on specific demos can be found under the subcategory named for the demo style."  At the moment, there are only two articles about particular LMPs, and they both obey this guideline, so we're all set.
 * 2007.04.07  Wrote to Adam Hegyi about further database anomalies:
 * The length of e1m1-121.lmp is really 1:12.
 * ftp://competn.doom2.net:8002/pub/compet-n/doom/max/e1m1c029.zip is linked from the E1M1 page, but does not exist.
 * If e1m3c041.lmp and e1m5c059.lmp are cheated, then why aren't they listed under "Built"?
 * n1m3-308.zip, n1m3-217.zip, and n1m3-214.zip are all mislabeled: they go to the secret exit.
 * e1m6-057 and e1m8-046 are filed under "max" instead of "speed" in the FTP archive.
 * For a large level, max times and speed times tend to overlap. What would your naming convention be in case of conflict?
 * p1m73008.txt should be called p1m73308.txt.
 * Incorrectly timed demos on levels with no vanilla intermission screen: e1m8-125.lmp (1:32), e1m8-112.lmp (1:15), n1m8-148.lmp (1:52), n1m8-130.lmp (1:29), n1m8-108.lmp (1:07), f1m8-223.lmp (2:22), f1m8-206.lmp (2:04), t1m8-138.lmp (1:37), p1m8-757.lmp (8:00), p1m8-359.lmp (4:03), p1m8-345.lmp (3:46).
 * 2007.07.22  meta:Help:Array suggests another possible method for removing the redundancy in COMPET-N record listings, but I've decided to throw the whole idea into the landfill.  If all the data for one IWAD cannot fit into a single template (and clearly it cannot, as we saw last time, because the strain on the database is too great), then the process of actually entering and updating the data will become too convoluted and people won't want to do it.

Community and history

 * 2005.10.19  Deathz0r has already researched the Codeimp DDoS controversy (or maybe he was there!), so *I* certainly don't need to make a fool of myself trying.
 * 2006.09.16  I think I've bitched enough people out about our inconsistent behavior toward person articles.  I don't know all these people, so if I tried to help write about them, I would probably just be in the way.
 * 2006.11.18  "Unknown thing type at (1088,-560)" error message on E1M6 (the 11th deathmatch start) seems to have been fixed in version 2.3.1 of PrBoom, so perhaps I won't make a fuss over it here.
 * 2006.12.09  Categorized editors by OS and type in parallel, not with 15+ composite subcategories (see discussion in /Category_talk:Macintosh_exe_editors).
 * 2007.12.27  Exhumed the deleted cell phone links in /Source_port.

/Picked_up_a_medikit_that_you_REALLY_need!

 * 2006.11.18  This is fixed non-optionally in PrBoom (though it is not relevant to compatibility, as status messages are purely cosmetic as far as the engine is concerned).  After much hemming and hawing, I decided *not* to write about that fact in this article or in /PrBoom.

/Player_corpses_walking

 * 2006.01.23  The linked demos seem to indicate that there are really several things to discuss:
 * The dead player's "line of sight" keeps rotating around as long as the line of sight to the killer keeps changing direction. (Happens a lot when the player is killed near a monster infight.)
 * Player corpses have some inertia and mass, and can effect certain changes to the level even after they die. (REVENGE.WAD in the Killough link.)
 * Becoming "undead" due to a voodoo doll (somewhat covered in /Voodoo_doll, but all the cases in Killough's demos are not mentioned. In particular, hitting an exit switch before regaining any health removes your pickup ability, while hitting it with 1% health or more restores completely normal behavior.  Also, monsters only attack undead players if they are aroused *before* the player becomes undead; if they see a player who regains some health, they *then* become aroused).
 * The truly weird "walking corpse" thing from that deathmatch demo, where your eyes are actually on the ground and you can't pick up stuff. I personally would like to see this demonstrated on a level with fewer than a zillion bad cross references in it, but oh well.

Other technical stuff

 * 2006.04.11  After a week or two on the PrBoom listservs, I have decided that demo sync bugs should not be submitted unless they are reproducible.
 * 2006.11.03  Almost reported another PrBoom bug: "When I left PrBoom on for ~48 hours straight, the sound cut out and the engine crashed on exit.  DeePsea 11.92f was also running."  The latter seems to have been fixed in v2.4.2, however, and the former is already in the tracker.
 * 2007.02.01  "-videodriver directx" (without the quotes) solves the fruit salad problem, but seems to lower the frame rate somewhat.  I think I can live with the F11 workaround.
 * 2007.03.10  Opened item in wiki bugzilla: /J%C3%84%3Fnis_Legzdi%C3%85%E2%80%A0%C3%85%C2%A1 still shows up on /Special:Lonelypages even though it was deleted in September.
 * 2007.03.16  Searching for images by MIME type does not work.  I reported this at bugs.wikia.com, but I probably wouldn't even notice if it got fixed, so today I'm removing it from my "waiting with bated breath" list above.
 * 2007.04.09  Submitted sourceforge bug about the autorun variable becoming pinned to 1 in the PrBoom+ config file whenever I have used PrBoom in between.
 * 2008.04.14  Regarding the prior comment about "-videodriver directx", the SDL frame rate now seems the slower with my new (old) graphics card.
 * 2009.01.30  Submitted sourceforge bug about temporary palette changes (e.g. berserk haze) not being restored with a saved game in PrBoom+.
 * 2009.07.13  r3194 from the listserv does not fix a problem in the original executables, even though the diff says "original" at the top.  (Shows why I'm not permitted to check in my own patches I suppose.)

Wiki itself, esp. policies and conventions

 * 2005.06.09  LMP submission text file cannot be used, since only files with certain extensions may be uploaded (I think that's a little slipshod, for copyright reasons if nothing else, although I think I see why they did it -- .zip is just too generic and all sorts of drama might ensue).
 * 2005.06.21  Official guideline for demo formats is: vanilla 1.9 not necessary, but should be FAIRLY compatible.  (I think that at least 99 percent of our leaf-node readers will be using Doom95, so Doom95 compatibility is far more important than vanilla compatibility.)
 * 2005.08.21  The "list of common misspellings" is only there for the benefit of the spell checkers, not so admins can bitch the rest of us out for being unmannered, so I suppose it can stay.  It isn't mentioned in /Doom_Wiki:Style.
 * 2006.02.22  I asked myself, "Would 'mark as patrolled' really defeat a vandal?  I mean, they could just pick out a screen name."  But this is moot now anyway since patrolled edits are now disabled by default.
 * 2006.05.30  Previews of redirect pages are formatted incorrectly.  This is a known problem: http://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=2333
 * 2006.09.11  Trailing carriage returns are included with a template.  Unless it is copyright-related or a pickup navbar (i.e. it always goes at the bottom of an article or section), a template should contain no trailing carriage returns.
 * 2006.11.11  Wikia:Talk:Technical_support#Diff_misfeature will have to wait, I think.  It's a pretty mild problem, really, and I suspect the PHP programmers of being a tad too busy for it right now.
 * 2007.03.09  Apparently *nobody* (except the central admins) even has read access to LocalSettings.php, so I can't assess how widespread this paranoid message is at /MediaWiki:Mediawarning.  I guess I'll just have to live with the legalese for now.
 * 2007.04.13  Decided *not* to fix capitalization of templates, as it is not clear that our Strict Capitalization Policy actually applies to them (or indeed anywhere outside the main space, though I know Wikipedia enforces it in the category space).  If someone else feels really strongly about it they'll move one.
 * 2007.05.25  The bug with the filtering menus on /Special:Log seems to be MERELY a wart... you have to get the user and/or article title exactly right, or no results will be displayed.  (Sheesh.)
 * 2007.05.26  Alphabetization within categories is an unresolved issue at this time.  Let it go (for now) please.
 * 2007.05.26  Public domain issue about derivative works (see /Doom_Wiki_talk:Copyrights) is an unresolved issue at this time.  Let it go (for now) please.
 * 2007.05.26  Licensing issues about screenshots, cropped/doctored images, and sprite sheets are an unresolved issue at this time.  Let it go (for now) please.
 * 2007.06.03  Blocking warez ads is an unresolved issue at this time.  Let it go (for now) please.
 * 2007.09.17  central:Forum:What_new_features_would_you_like_to_see_on_Wikia?: Special:Activeusers should be the denominator for the "percentage of sysops", not Special:Listusers.
 * 2007.11.15  Harangued the listserv about ridiculously arbitrary meta keywords in our HTML source, but no one took me seriously, so I suppose the issue will linger permanently.
 * 2008.01.06  Created wikia:Forum:Bug_in_Special:Whatlinkshere to report that links on image description pages don't always show up in /Special:Whatlinkshere.  No responses, however.
 * 2008.01.09  According to central:Terms_of_use#Wikia_content, the editors are responsible for any legal problems caused by their content, *not* Wikia.  That means any editor can be sued by anybody at any time.
 * 2008.01.14  Against my better judgment, I am tabling the licensing debate at /Talk:Doom_RPG.  I think we are riding roughshod over the "identification" argument of Wikipedia:WP:KATWALSH, however, and it frustrates me that I can neither ask id about it nor expect them to explicitly endorse us.
 * 2008.01.18  Deleted /Image:Test.wad after consultation with User:Jasonr (the staff person who uploaded it at the very beginning of the wiki).