MAP09: High-Tech Grave (Memento Mori)

MAP09: High-Tech Grave (spelled Hightech Grave in AUTHORS.TXT and the Infopack) is the ninth map of Memento Mori. It was designed by Thomas Möller, and uses the music track "Slipper" by Mark Klem. In cooperative play, the team of players is divided and separated from one another; Players 2 and 4 must fight through a different portion of the map and meet the other players at a rendezvous point.

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

 * Single-player:


 * Open the door directly in front of you, grab the backpack, and press on the blue wall to the northwest. Open the northern door and take the red key. The access to each teleporter north of the red key is blocked after entering it. While the access to the teleporter northeast of the red key (the blue key route) can be restored in single player, the access to the teleporter northwest of the red key (the yellow key route - there are no secrets) can only be restored in multiplayer. So once you returned from the yellow key route, there is no way to return there, so better loot this area as effective as possible:


 * Save your game and enter the western teleporter to land in a box of shotgun shells and a soul sphere. Press the switch and quickly leave the pad you are on to the south or east; the floor to the north and west will lower. Kill the imp on your platform, the other two imps stand on the lowering floor. Kill them and the two/two/three (on easy/medium/hard skills) mancubi safely from above. Drop down where you find another shell box, a medikit, a stimpack and a blue armor (that you save up for later if possible). Open the red door, kill the demon around the corner, push the switch, kill the chaingunner and hit the next switch. Take the lift up, kill the cacodemon and jump into the sewer; the nukage inside will rise to waist height as you run to the east. Take the branch to the south to encounter two lost souls and pick up a green armor if needed. If possible, save up the radiation suit and soul sphere for later. Return to the sewer, head north and enter the next room where originally were three barons of hell and an imp. They were supposed to teleport away but may failed trying, so kill the present monsters. Note that there is an invisible north-to-south tripwire in the middle of the room, just between the berserk pack (save it up if possible!) and the pillar, so if you enter the room's eastern half, only walk under the northernmost or southernmost lights as the tripwire does not reach from wall to wall. Press the switch on the eastern side of the pillar to lower it, grab the yellow keycard, and carefully walk over the western edge to raise some stairs to the east. Kill two chaingunners upstairs, where you find two bullet boxes to the north and the south. From each bullet box look to the west to find each eight demons, stuck on the walls and ready to die. After wasting them you can grab a shell box at each end of dead demons' line. (The tripwire you hopefully not triggered raises the northern and southern walls, thus releasing all 16 demons that start teleporting right under the lights, next to your position.) If you saved up the items when told to do so and if you have at least 11% (5% on I'm too young to die, better 16% (7% on ITYTD) of health, return to the sewer (run!), grab the radiation suit, return to the yellow key room, get the berserk pack, then the soul sphere next to the radiation suit, after that return to the room where you teleported in to pick the blue armor up. Finally run to the yellow key room and leave it using the teleporter there, having 200% health and 200% armor. (If you are too low on health, you of course have to grab the berserk pack before grabbing the radiation suit.)


 * Open the red door to your south, and take the eastern teleporter. (There is no need to worry about missing secrets or items, you easily can return to this route after completing it. You even can save up the megasphere until every monster is killed to have a good start in the next map.) Press the switch, go upstairs, head east, and face the easternmost opening. Stand a good distance away from it, and do a running jump across the gap. Press the switch, leave the alcove, and backtrack to the blue section you jumped from. With a good, running start, jump across the next westernmost gap, head through the eastern opening, and open the red door. Head east, and run north to the switch. Press it, and head northeast across the stairway you have just created. Take the eastern bend, and press the western switch to raise a staircase to the northeast. Go up, and shoot the gargoyle face to the southwest to open the nearby wall. (Shooting the other will reveal the destination beyond that wall, but this is not needed.) Press the switch inside, head back out, and jump to the blue key. Backtrack to the blue section you came from, dash under the crushers, and open the blue door. Head east across the ring-shaped walkway, go north, and step onto the "teleporter." It is a fake; the room will turn dark, and a compartment will open to your east to reveal the real teleporter and some monsters. Stepping in here will turn the lights on again. Go into the teleporter.


 * Unblock the northeastern teleporter to return to the blue key route: Go through the red door to the south, enter the western door and ascend the stairs in the southwest. If you did so before and you pushed the switch upstairs, it seems that the topmost stair is to high to step on. (See bugs section below.) Simply walk southwest, thus hugging the western wall, stepping on a really narrow stair and climbing atop. If you did not push the switch there, do not push it as it just triggers that bug. Note the lamp in the southwestern corner, illuminating a part of the floor. Enter the lit part of the floor and leave it to the east, thus triggering the teleporter to the blue key route to unblock. As this can repeatedly be done, you can return to the blue key route anytime.


 * Return to the room north of the red key room, open the green door to the north, and run forward; you will be lowered into a tunnel. Go west, and head all the way south. Press the gargoyle face to the north to activate a lift, and take it up. Enter the teleporter, hit the eastern switch, and step back in. Ride the lift back down, and open both the blue and yellow bars at the south. Go up the staircase, open the door, and navigate your way around the perpetually moving platforms to the southern opening. Go east until a wall lowers to the southwest, and hit the switch there. Kill the two (four on hard skills) chaingunners behind the door in the east. Only if you are ready to finish the map, enter that door as there is no way out but exiting the map once the door closes. Press any of the four switches to exit the map.


 * Cooperative multiplayer:


 * Player 3 starts next to player 1, as described above. In order to unblock the teleporter to the yellow key route later, one of them should stay in the room where the first backpack is found, as the blue door to the northwest can only be opened from here. Players 2 and 4 start in the cage north of player 1 and 3. Open the door, follow the path around the corner to open another door. (Entering the lit part of the floor triggers the teleporter to the blue key route to unlock, see single player instructions.) Around the corner is a switch. After either using the switch here or (better) letting player 1 or 3 grabbing the backpack - both actions trigger the same function that should not be done twice (see bugs section below) - some stairs are built near the switch. Descend those and enter the next door to find yourself in the red key room, merging your route with player 1 and 3.


 * Unblock the northwestern teleporter to return to the yellow key route: As described above, player 1 or 3 has to wait where the first backpack is found. One of them can open the blue door from here, enabling player 2 and 4 to access this area. So each member of the team may stay here in order to unblock that teleporter after usage. Enter the room where players 1 and 3 start. (It has a window to the west, where you see the exit switch.) The trigger reaches from the southwestern corner of this room to the southwestern corner of the cage where players 2 and 4 start. Simply walk over this (invisible) line to unblock the teleporter.

Secrets

 * 1) In the room with the toxic pool after the hallway accessible from the western door in the starting area, there is a wall in the southwest with a skull on it. Open this wall to find a secret alcove (sector 44) with a chaingunner, two medikits, a box of shotgun shells and a box of rockets.
 * 2) After taking the northeast teleporter upon grabbing the red keycard, head to the green hallway to the south, and press on the computer panel to the west. You will find a hidden compartment, containing three boxes of shells and a trio of stimpacks. This actually consists of four sectors, including the door sector (sector 101), all marked as secret.
 * 3) See secret #2. (sector 102)
 * 4) See secret #2. (sector 115)
 * 5) See secret #2. (sector 116)
 * 6) Leave secret #2, go east and around the corner to the south. Open the computer panel to reveal a hidden room (sector 114) with a box of shells, a box of bullets, and a quartet of medikits. There is also a pain elemental on hard skill levels. Monsters cannot pass this door, so killing it is no challenge.
 * 7) After flipping the switch to lower the mainframes in the blue computer room, head to the alcove revealed in the northwest, and then open the UAC sign to the south to reveal a compartment (sector 163) containing five rockets and a medikit. This secret can also be accessed from secret #8.
 * 8) After flipping the switch to lower the mainframes in the blue computer room, head downstairs and grab the rocket launcher to make the silver terminals lower, thus releasing twelve spectres. Enter the alcove revealed in the western side and open the wall with triangles on it to the south to find an alcove with eight rockets, two bullet boxes, two medikits and a chainsaw. (sector 160) Press on the computer panel to find an elevator you can take up to secret #7.
 * 9) After running under the crushers, activate the westernmost computer panel in the north to reveal a secret compartment (sector 457) with a cacodemon, a medikit, a backpack, a berserk pack, a box of rockets, and a chainsaw.
 * 10) After running under the crushers and activating the staircase, walk up to and open the blue section of wall (sector 236) surrounded by silver bars. You will access a previously inaccessible compartment containing a megasphere. From here you can safely kill six of the twelve spectres that are released on picking up the rocket launcher mentioned in secret #8. (Of course only if they haven't been released yet.)
 * 11) In the corridor leading to the room with the super shotgun northwest of the blue keycard room, open the brown section of the southern wall right behind the entry door. You will find a secret compartment (sector 255) with six rockets, a box of shells, an energy cell and two stimpacks.
 * 12) In the Toxin Refinery-esque circular bridge area, jump into the toxic pit to the south and press on the wall with a skull on it to reveal an elevator. Take this elevator up and then open the western portion of wall in the southwest to reveal a teleporter. This leads to a secret room (sector 342) with twelve rockets, a berserk pack, a green armor, a backpack, a chaingun, four stimpacks, four boxes of bullets and four boxes of shells.
 * 13) In the room just before the exit, all four computer panels can be opened to reveal secret compartments. Each contains a green armor, a backpack, a medikit, and a box of shells. (sector 509)
 * 14) See secret #13. (sector 511)
 * 15) See secret #13. (sector 514)
 * 16) See secret #13. (sector 47)

Bugs

 * In single-player, if the player does not grab the backpack before going through the lift in the first hallway, and waiting for it to close after doing so, he will become unable to finish the level unless using the idclip cheat, as the lift (sector 10) cannot be activated from its northern side.
 * Grabbing that backpack triggers (Linedef 2224 Action: 38 - W1 Floor Lower to Lowest Floor, Tag 3) the mandatory door in the north of the nukage pit to open as well as some (optional to use) stairs to build. (sectors (from lowermost to topmost) 38, 56, 39, 57, 40 and 58 are lowered to the adjacent sectors 49, 55, 41, 54, 42 and 53.)
 * Players #2 and #4 start in the area on the top of the stairs, so there is a switch for them (Linedef 140; Action: 23 - S1 Floor Lower to Lowest Floor, Tag 3) that has the same function as the trigger (for players #1 and #3) near the backpack.
 * If both, the trigger and the switch are used, the stairs lowers twice, resulting in the topmost (technical) stair (sector 58) having a floor height of 32 instead of 48, while the area on the top of the stairs has a floor height of 64 map units, resulting in the stair being apparently unusable. Since the sectors the stairs' heights are supposed to be aligned with have a width of one map unit, the player standing on the topmost technical (stair) just has to hug the western wall to step on (the nearly invisible from above) sector 53 to reach the area on the top of the stairs.
 * If the stair is "broken" that way, there is (at least in Chocolate Doom) a Hall of mirrors effect visible to the west of the stairs.

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