MAP05: Tech Center (Doom 64)

MAP05: Tech Center is the fifth map of Doom 64. This map is complex and can be confusing to novice players. It can also contain a lot of enemies if played on the "Watch Me Die" difficulty. The Tech Center consists of exploring the diverse sectors of the complex, and computer stations in order to find switches and keys. It uses the music track "Hellistatic" by Aubrey Hodges.

Walkthrough
Follow the corridor with the Megaarmor down, frough some Spectres, into a storage room with crates and Lost souls. Follow the wall to your left behind some crates, lower an obstructed one for a Combat armor, and press the switch it reveals to get the Shells in the corner.

Now take the opposite staircase with the lamp in the corner. Find a Chaingun and some ammo in the T end room with Nightmare imps. Press teh switch to open a door in a third stairway opposite the blue door. You see three barrels in a yellow room. Two Hell knights hide behind the side walls of the entrance, a third in a hidden niche to the right which you can open and find boxes of bullets inside. The left wall leads to an outdoor area with spectres, Hell knights and Lost souls. Follow it around, use the lift up to some Nightmare imps, and press the switch in one of the central rooms with more imps. Run down into the niche to grab a Shotgun. A room to the left contains another Hell knight and zombies.

Looking towards the blue door, the wall to the right of the corridor is a yellow door, the wall to the left leads down to the yellow key, guarded by Hell knights. Get the key and open the yellow door. Get on the platform and press the switch where the Hell knight stood, using the right part as lift. The area with the caged Supercharge looks similar to the first secret level MAP29: Outpost Omega.

Go into the area opposite from the one where the yellow key was found, the bars have disappeared now. A room with a Nightmare imp has a door to a junction. First take the opposite room, then follow the short corridor to the next. The niche opposite to the computer screen contains a Berserk pack. On to the next room with a zombie and Hell knight. Take the armor bonuses and continue to the right until you find a switch to press. Back to the room to the left and find another switch. This opens a hallway from the right room with several zombies as well as crushing ceilings. You will end in a kind of display room above a staircase - defeat the Hell knight as well as some Cacodemons, then turn right and press the switch. Now you can get the red key in the yellow door room.

A niche in the previous starting room has opened and reveals some Lost souls. There are some too in the room behind the red door, with a Nightmare imp. The blue key is under a Crushing ceiling but can be grabbed with good timing through a broken fence - which opens niches with more Lost souls. Finally, the blue door... A few imps are everything waiting here? Press the switch to the left, which makes a Teleporter in the opposite corner available. You land in a room with Rockets, the opposite room across the junction has a Hell knight and a switch to open the third room with Cacodemons, a Rocket launcher and even more Rockets - and the switch to open the exit area, guarded by Hell knights.

Secrets

 * 1) From the start you see a blue Megaarmor. Open the wall to the left in this corner, below a vent, and follow the staircase up to the armor.
 * 2) When inside the room with the yellow key door, and you've gone up the main platform, stand where there is a square light on the floor. Shoot the flickering vent in front of you and stay where you are. After about 2 seconds the square you are standing on will lift. Turn to the right and shoot that vent. Once that vent has been shot the bars hiding the soul sphere will lower, but be quick otherwise you will have to do this process over again.

Bugs

 * For some unexplained reason, it is impossible to get 100% kills in this map in the difficulty "Watch me die" it may be a monster that did not spawn in, or a bug itself with Doom 64 EX. This bug is not present in the original N64 port, as the player can achieve 100% kills on this difficulty.
 * It is in fact possible when working your way to the switch that unlocks the Red key, to cause one of the two Cacodemons to not spawn in, either through being in their spawn position, or some other means.

Trivia

 * The initial area is similar to the initial point of Doom II's map: MAP08: Tricks and Traps.
 * The fencing that separates the central rooms in the upper part of the outdoor area leading to the switch is, apparently, transparent; it takes split-second fast strafe-running as one of the doors closes (the bottom part rising up) to dash through to the other side.