The Deathmatch Training Facility









The Doom2 Deathmatch Training Facility is a package I made in early Spring of 1997 to help people across the internet gain skills in Doom2 Deathmatch. By Spring of 1997, I had gained experience in teaching locals how to deathmatch effectively (having locals who suck is a pain in the ass), and I took teaching a step farther by putting the information that people seemed to need into one package, and uploading it to ftp.cdrom.com. I'm currently doing a rewrite on it, improving some things I noticed since the original release, plus adding some material.
 

The zipfile is described this way:
 

Doom2 Deathmatch Training Facility and Documentation:

This zipfile is a package containing documents, recordings, and a Doom2 level (wad). These are intended to help a player develop skill in agility and aim for Doom2 deathmatch, and to increase understanding of the game specifics as they apply to deathmatch.

The main document, Manual.doc, starts with discussion of beginning skills and concepts, and moves through intermediete skill, then to advanced skill. The manual
suggests certian things be practiced in the wad at specific stages of the player's development.

This entire package contains:

Facility.wad --The Deathmatch Training Facility
Manual.doc   --The Manual that accompanies Facility.wad
The BFG FAQ  --A document written primarily by Tony Fabris
keybordr.doc --A discussion for keyboard-only players
begin.lmp    --Demo of beginner skills as in Manual.doc
agility1.lmp --Demo of beginner agility only
weapons1.lmp --Demo of beginner weapons practice only
basicbfg.lmp --Demo of BFG stuff for beginners
intermed.lmp --Demo of intermediate skills as in Manual.doc
advanced.lmp --Demo of advanced concepts as in Manual.doc
facility.txt --The descriptive textfile for the wad

Special Discusions, provided by the respective players
for this release of facility.zip:

AdvMap01.doc --Discussion of advanced Map1 gameplay by DMcon1 Map1 tourney winner Galiu

XolMap11.txt --An Interview with Xoleras on Map 11 strategy
 

Recordings of great players, included for study:

Xol-Hij.lmp  --Xoleras and Hijinks on Map 11

BurnGal4.zip --Burnout and Galiu on Map 1

sc-gr-ka.zip --Scratchy taking on 2 other players at once in a SSG map.

emb-chk.zip  --Embrionic Pete and Chunkk on Map 7
 

Click here to download BahdKo's complete Deathmatch Training Facility zipfile.
 

The main document of the zipfile, manual.doc, has been converted to an HTML format and posted below.
 
 

Doom2 Deathmatch Training Manual

 This is the text and training manual that accompanies "facility.wad", a wad made by _BahdKo_. For details on the wad design itself, see facility.txt

 Topics with two asterisks ** indicate brand new topics, added in the September, 2000 rewrite.

 Contents:

 Introduction
  An Essay: So u wanna be good at Doom2?
                         An Overview of Facility.wad's layout

Section 1: Learning the Basics of Skill
      a. Where single player leaves off
      b. The great effectiveness of Mouse+Keys or correctly-configured
      Trackball +keys as Doom2 controllers
           1. Why use Mouse+Keys?
           2. Choosing a Mouse+Keys Configuration
           3. Notes on long term hand injuries**
           4. Short term hand injury and tension**
           5. Mouse Sensitivity
           6. Mouse Health and Condition
      c. Basic straferunning
      d. Basic circle-strafing
      e. Meet the weapons...again
      f. Basic weapons handling
           1. Basic fast-meduim rate weapons
           2. Beginning of Super-Shotgun technique
           3. Time to start some BFG work
           4. Some basic rocket work
 Section 2: Applying the Basics of Skill
      a. Applied agility at the intermediate level
           1. Straferunning in hallways
           2. The perfect 180 degree flip around
      b. Specific weapons work
           1. Some practice routines for SSG and SG
                (a) Some swingshot details**
           2. Weapons-specific techniques
                (a) SuperShotgun vs. SuperShotgun
                     (1) A note regarding SSGing against keyboarders**
                (b) SuperShotgun around corners
                (c) SuperShotgun vs. BFG
                (d) BFG stuff to practice
                (e) Chaingun stuff
                (f) Rocket stuff
                     (1) How to avoid self-kills and damage
                     (2) Rocket-specific attacks
                          A. Putting a rocket in an open doorway
                          B. Distance silencing
                          C. Strategic use of proxmity damage
                          D. Rocket use in an open area
                (g) SingleShotgun stuff
                     (1) a note about singleshotgun vs chaingun
                (h) Plasma
                (j) Bezerker pack use
      c. Jump Height Differential Factors
      d. Rocket Dodging
      e. "Bumping" for objects
 Section 3: Advanced Topics
      a. Advanced Agility
           1. Near-perfect straferunning
           2. Straferunning and regular running backwards in hallways
           3. Wallrunning
      b. Advanced Weapons Techniques
           1. Doom2's weapon sights are misaligned
           2. Pinpoint chaingun technique
           3. Possible concentration of SSG hit during sudden manuvers
           4. Some BFG considerations
      c. A note on strategy
      d. Use of left and right 3D sound
 Conclusion
 Acknowledgements
 
 

 Introduction:

 So u wanna be good at Deathmatch?

 Since you are reading this, I can assume that you want to be better than you are at Doom2 deathmatch.

 Im not a doom-god in terms of national competition, but I 've come a long way when it comes to increasing my skill. If this were the day and age of BBS's and numerous local players,  I would be called a doomgod by the local crowd. I've played a lot of highly skilled players, and I know from having done it, and from discussing it with these great players, what it takes to get great skills in Doom2.

 The first thing you need to know is that it is work. Anything you want to get good at will typically take work. While Doom2 is a "game", that doesent mean that building  skill in it is always going to be fun.

 It takes humility and perseverance, at least at first, and ideally throughout your entire Deathmatch life. Doom2 skill is tiered, meaning, there is a huge variety of skill levels out there. Right when you think you are well-versed, someone will show up who wins with a margin you had not realized was possible for you at that time.You must not be discouraged by your losses because you are of lesser skill. These games are the most valuable to you, they are the games in which it is easiest to raise your own skill through observation of the superior player's abilities and tactics. A great local player from whom I learned many things, Kreuzin, once said in our BBS teleconference relative to deathmatch, "Learn at the feet of the masters; then, become the master." This is how he began learning his game, and he took it all the way to Deathmatch 95, as one of the competing semi-finalists. That is how I learned as well. Respect and admire the higher-skilled people to whom you lose.

 The third thing is that it takes time. At the point when I first released facility.zip, I had been working hard on my skill for exactly one year, and I was just getting to where, sometimes, I kept the doom-gods' attention on my best maps. In the past I have had great opporatunity in regards to people to play: Back in 1995 and 1996 I had a number of strong players around me to play with relative frequency. Not everyone is as fortunate as I have been in this regard. Those who dont have great players from whom to learn have the harder way to go.
 

 --BahdKo
 
 
 

 This manual serves as a detailed deathmatch "course" that players of different skill levels can jump into at the appropriete places, and learn skills for Doom2 deathmatch. It also serves as a structured approach to using Facility.wad, a wad intended solely for the purpose of providing a place to learn and practice many of the deathmatch skills that are able to be practiced alone. The manual assumes that the player has access to Facility.wad. Of course, no deathmatch wad or other support can take the place of the experience that players gain from real deathmatch, but many skills relative to deathmatch can be learned and practiced in Facility.wad.

 For the purposes of this training program, a way to gauge your own skill as "beginner" is if you do not understand what the following things mean, and their extreme value to Doom2 deathmatch: Straferunning, BFG trace pattern, Deliberate BFG "green ball" detonation on an object and attacking with the traces only, Circle strafing, The application of Mouse+keys or Trackball+keys, Rocket handling without more than a very occational self-frag, Super-Shotgun specific technique, and Silent BFG.

 You can consider yourself intermediate if you understand all but have not mastered some of the things listed above, but add to that list, Wallrunning. There are some little-known topics that will be of interest to intermediate and advanced players that may not be aware of them: The out-of-align sight on the weapons, especially apparrent with the single shotgun at medium or long range, pinpoint chaingun technique, and possible concentration of supershotgun hit during sudden manuvers.

 Advanced players know all about this stuff and may be concentrating on perfecting small areas that they havent yet, and strategy. Advanced players might want to use the training facility as a place to practice some skills, or as a place to blow time on those days when theres noone good around to play, and you're starting to feel like you suck. This training manual is more geared toward intermediete and beginning skilled players, although the LMPs and map-specific discussions included in facility.zip should be of interest.
 

 An Overview of Facility.wad's layout

 All of the player starts are in the Ammo and Health Supply Center. When you exit this area through the door, you enter an alcove that connects the 2 main wings of the building. The South Wing is to the left hand side if you are exiting the Supply Center, and the West Wing is directly in front of you.

 In the South Wing, the first door on the left is the wallrun area. The next door on the left is the BFG area. The walls of the South Wing hallway itself are useful for beginner wallrunners.

 In the West Wing, the first door on the right is the Beginning Agility, Cyberdemon, and Height Differential area (this room is really 3 in 1). The second door on the right is the General Weapons Handling area. After a turn to the left, the next and last door is the Super-Shotgun and Shotgun-specific handling area.
 

 *****Section 1: Leaning the Basics of Skill*****

 This is the "beginner" section of the Deathmatch Training Manual, and uses "begin.lmp" as a reference.
 

 Beginning where Single Player leaves off...

 Single player Doom2 is a good thing. The monsters have character, the weapons have balance, the levels are greatly varied, yet appropriete. Single player Doom2, when played with very limited or no cheat code use and ultimately at the higher difficulty levels, causes players to develop certain skills. These skills include weapon choice based on the number and type of monsters, the value in a carefully planned route through a map, conservation of ammunition, the value in quietly and slowly looking for trouble without firing and making oneself noticed, and using monsters' easy predictability to their demise.

 The skills which make a strong Deathmatcher can be different than single player techniques. The top single player doomgods will tend to be an exception to some of these points, but in general, the skills which are required to make a strong skilled deathmatcher as opposed with single player technique, are:

 The first discussion: AGILITY
 

 Topic #1: The great effectiveness of Mouse+Keys or correctly-configured Trackball+keys as Doom2 controllers, and the HUGE drawbacks of Joystick, Keyboard without mouse, and Mouse without keyboard, as Doom2 deathmatch controllers.

 Why use Mouse+Keys?

 Here's one fair reason: ID Software tells Doom players to use the mouse+keys. Here is a paragraph quoted from page 9 of "The Ultimate Doom's Instruction Manual", published by Id Software Inc.

 "TIP: When you're comfortable playing the game, try using the keyboard and the mouse simultaneously. The mouse provides fine control for aiming your weapon (allowing you to smoothly rotate right and left) while the keyboard permits you to activate the many useful funtions of the game."

 Mouse plus Keyboard control, and the much less common Trackball+keyboard, offer the best possible control means for Doom2. Mouse and trackball both have the strengths of allowing highly accurate aim, precise, fast turning, and ability to adjust running angle during straferunning and preparation for wallrunning (extremely important topics covered later). Keyboard, when re-configured, allows sidestepping to the left or right quickly, fast and extended running in any direction, and rapid and intricate direction changes.

 Keyboard alone, especially the "default" arrow-key and shift-ctrl-alt config, while allowing basic movement, does not allow high-speed or precision aiming. Aiming with keys alone is limited to timing shots while pivoting relatively slowly. Some keyboarders will be able to play competitively against joystick users, beginning skilled mouse+keys players, and some intermediate skilled mouse+keys players on some maps, but any player that wants to gain great skill in deathmatch must not use keyboard alone as his controller.

 Joystick use offers no advantages that I can imagine.

 Keyboard and Joystick users will need to convert to mouse+keys (or possibly trackball+keys, but this is much less common and I will stop referring to it) if they want to learn to be skilled. Converting to mouse+keys from keys alone is difficult, but well worth the time and effort spent. I know this from having gone through the experience, since I was a keyboarder for a year before I switched. Facility.zip inclues a discussion named keyboardr.doc that adresses some of the difficulties and issues with changing from Keyboard to Mouse+Keys.

 Doom2's keyboard configuration is changed through running setup, and choosing that option.
 

 Choosing a Mouse+Keys Configuration

 An exact keyboard configuration will be partly based on preference, partly based on effectiveness. Commonly, right handed people will use their right hand on the mouse, and the left hand for keyboard control, and left handed people may do the opposite. Critical points to consider are:
 

(1) It is critical to agility to have seperate strafe left and strafe right keys defined, as opposed with one key that triggers strafing vs turning.

(2) Keys used for directional control will commonly be placed near the weapon number keys (there are notable exceptions to this, however).

(3) If you want an autorun effect, you can get this by editing the file named default.cfg and setting the field "Joyb_speed" to 31.


Here are some example configurations based on these principles:

 A = speed on, S = strafe left, D = strafe right, space=backwards and use, Rmouse=fire, Lmouse=forward

 A = strafe left, S = forward, D = strafe right, space = backwards and use, Rmouse = fire, autorun in use.

 A = strafe left, S = backwards, D = strafe right, Rmouse=fire, Lmouse = forward, space = use, autorun in use

 A = strafe left, W = forward,S = backward, D = strafe right, Space = use, speed is autorun
 

Repeat all 4 of the above but shift all keys one to the right, replacing A with S, S with D, D with F, and W with E.

 Some other points to consider when making a config:
 


 Mouse Sensitivity

 For the beginning player, I recommend setting a mouse sensitivity which, when you move your mouse from one side to the other on a normally-sized mouse pad, at a moderate rate of speed, the player turns fully around one time to one and a half times. This is for both aiming and motion sickness reasons (which can and does happen, and should eventually stop as the player advances.) I recommend adjusting the sensitivity in your mouse driver software first, setting that up so that the mouse sensitivity adjustment in Doom2 is within a range that adjusts correctly in the options menu. If this is not possible, you can turn up the mouse sensitivity beyond what the options menu can adjust by editing the default.cfg file, making the first "mouse sensitivity" value as high as you need to. There is a lot more involved in setting mouse sensitivity and accelleration for intermediate and advanced players, but that is discussed in the corresponding later sections.

 Notes on long term hand injuries

 As far as long term hand injuries from doom, it is a good thing that so far that I have not known anyone to get Carpal  Tunnel syndrome as a direct consequence of dooming. However, it's possible to get a thumb/wrist injury if certain precautions are not followed in configurations that use a lot of spacebar action. Should you use your thumb on the spacebar, try to make sure you are doing part of the keypress by turning your wrist and arm to the right, not wholly by pressing downward with your thumb. Keeping your left hand elevated above the keyboard makes this easier. This is no bullshit. Early in my dooming, I sustained a serious tendon injury at the junction of my thumb and wrist because of this, and it took a cortizone shot to straighten it back out. Cortizone shots hurt by the way, but it worked wonders. From then on and to this day, each and every time I doom, I stack up two wrist support pads, and I position the pads way back, near my elbow. This give me maximum manuverability in doom while preventing the hand injury from recurring.

 Short-term hand injury and tension

 Short term, its possible to get wrist and hand aches from being too tense in your left hand while dooming, especially if you play for long periods. Beginners can be super tense, especially, which can hinder them as they are trying to learn to move. If you start to feel tired in your left hand while dooming, immedietely take note as to whether or not your hand is tensed up, and if it is, realize that you may be playing that way most of the time and have something to fix.
 

 Mouse Health and Condition

 The last consideration to discuss is the health of the mouse you are using. The rollers inside of mice build up what I call "Mouse Crud." You have to clean this crud off, or your control will have problems. I have seen even one tiny speck of crud make a mouse catch intermittantly. Other things that I have seen affect control adversely are: Dirty mouse balls <G>, a mouse ball with a crumb of something stuck on it, dirty mouse pad, mousepad with a few  crumbs on it, the kind of mouse pad not working well with specific mouseball, worn-out shrunken mouseball, and worn-out mouse. The worn-out mouseball and mouse had the unique symptom that the mouse worked fine turning right but stuck when turning left (If you are interested in why...this was because the side to side roller was on the left hand side of the mouse, and moving the mouse to the left caused the ball to move slightly to the right in the worn-out mouse, making the ball lose contact with the  roller. Moving the mouse the other way, to the right, caused the mouseball to move slightly to the left, up against the roller, and it therefore turned the roller ok). BOTTOM LINE IS: Pay attention to how your mouse is handling, and when you notice problems, fix them.

 And by the way...never use alcohol to clean a mouse ball. It shrinks and ruins it. It works great on the rollers though.

 With this point of Mouse+keys assumed taken as fact, and a mouse+keys configuration chosen, we move on to the next topic:
 

 Topic #2: Basic Straferunning: Theres a lot more to it than just ambling along....

 Being able to move through the map with the maximum speed obtainable is one of the first considerations of a skilled deathmatcher. The first step toward this, in Doom2, is understanding and learning to use straferunning.

 Straferunning is accomplished by activating both a strafe key and a forward/backward key at the same time. For a config that uses A as strafe left and S as forward, pressing them both at the same time and holding them is one of the combinations that creates straferunning. In Doom2, straferunning causes the player to run at a  38.6 degree angle, and most importantly, it is 28 % faster than normal running.

  It also has the value of making vision biased to one side or the other, should the player be anticipating the opponent on a particular side. This can be used to switch back and forth from a forward-left strafe and a forward-right strafe to provide an alternating wide-angle view when looking for an opponent in an open area. It also permits smooth transition into wall-runs (an advanced topic).

 There are 4 directions that you can straferun: angled forward and to the left, forward and to the right, backward and to the left, and backward and to the right. The mouse is used to aim the player at the correct 38 degree angle so that he actually moves in the desired direction, which is not truly forward..
 

 Time for some practice...

 Before beginning this excersize, take a look at "begin.lmp". I demonstrate the following excersize almost right away.

 In the training facility, the first room on the right in the West Wing of the building is the Basic Agility and Circle Strafe area. This room is actually 3 in 1, but we will only be using the agility and circle-strafe section now. You will see from the recording that there are a number of straferuning manuvers practiced here, each done precisely and --without mouse use--. These manuvers are the basics of straferunning, and it is how I learned to do it, and how I have taught others. Do them as precisely as you can, at first with the main concern NOT being your speed, but how accurately you can maintain the pattern. Do not move the mouse while doing them. These patterns serve as a beginning to learning and feeling natural during straferunning -- the actual executions of these patterns will generally not be useful in a real deathmatch. The value in learning them is in learning the basics of the control of straferunning. The beginnings of Super-Shotgun technique also lie here.

 Start with the big white diamond-shape, and move on to the more complex shapes when you feel ready. Note the direction reversals I do in the recording, you need to learn all of these patterns in all directions. The first pattern is simply a precise diamond shape, the second is a sideways 8 shape, and the next shape is a regular 8 shape.

 Note that as long as you dont fire any weapons, the cyberdemons ignore you.
 

 Straferunning effectively inside of corridors is clearly more difficult than moving in an open area. Straferunning backwards through corridors is even harder...so I am leaving these topics as a discussion for intermediate skilled players, which is after the beginning player has had time to feel at-home straferunning in the open.

 Topic #3: Basic Circle Strafing

 Circle strafing is a manuver in which a player moves around a target, more or less in a circular pattern, while facing it at all times. The ability to circle strafe smoothly and accurately is one of the greatest advantages to the mouse+keys config. It is a basic skill to good mouse+keys players.

 Simple circle strafing is seldom used in a deathmatch by an advanced player (but I do see intermediate skilled players doing it sometimes, and its probably a good idea for them). Regardless of this, being able to perform basic circle strafing manuvers come before being able to adapt circle strafing into weapons techniques.

 Pure circle strafing involves pressing a strafe key that steps the player in one direction, and moving the mouse to the side, in the other direction. This creates a generally circular sidestep. An example of this would be a config that has D as its strafe right key, depressing this key while moving the mouse to the left. That particular circlestrafe is counter-clockwise.

 Modified circle strafing is more balanced and useful. Pure circle strafing has a directional problem that it has a strong tendancy to circle outward, away from the would-be target. By using straferunning at the same time as circlestrafing, this tendancy is greatly reduced. Using this modification of circlestrafing along with angling the mouse movement slightly back can create a near-perfect circle-strafe.

 Time for some practice....

 In the begin.lmp demo, right after the basic straferunning, I  go right into basic circlestrafing. I first show pure circlestrafing with its spiraling-out problem, and then the more useful modified circle-strafing that uses straferunning. After you see it done, go on in and give it a try. Note this: you do have to pick up and reposition your mouse during circle-strafing. You will run out of mouse pad otherwise.

 Topic #4: Meet the Weapons.....again

 Theres more than meets the eye in Doom2's weapons....and a skilled deathmatcher knows how to extract every last bit of effectiveness out of each weapon. Each weapon has a strength and a weakness....and combined, achieve a great balance for deathmatch play.

 Heres a rundown of the Doom2 Weapons, as they apply to deathmatch:

 Handgun: a very weak weapon generally.....its strength is it is a close to medium range weapon, and has a moderately fast firing rate. When used accurately, it can unnerve the opponent. It is too weak for battles in which another weapon is available: it is best to trade it off for something else usually.

 Single shotgun: an excellent medium and long range weapon and a fair close range weapon, also has a fairly quick repeat rate.It has no firing lag and no ammo lag. Its weakness is its close range handling: it generally takes 2 or sometimes 3 shots at close range to take down an opponent. Also, if not practiced with at close range, it will prove to be difficult to aim, partly due to the repeat rate.

 Super-Shotgun: An excellent short range weapon, fair midrange, and limited-value  long range weapon. This weapon has beautiful take-down power, one shot kills with it are not uncommon when the correct techniques are learned. This weapon has no firing lag or ammo lag, and is generally the weapon of choice for self-protection in a BFG defense situation, and in many hallway situations. Because of the massive damage it can inflict in one shot, it can badly blind an opponent that isnt quite killed in a first shot. Its weakness is interesting in that it confounds its own strength: it has a slow repeat rate. While the gun is reloading, the player is vulnerable, and because of this weapon's up-close power, there is a lot of opporatunity for a player to end up very close to the opponent during this helpless moment of reload. Correct super-shotgun technique attempts to mimimize this vulnerability.

 Chaingun: a good weapon at all ranges, and possibly the most versitile of the Doom2 weapons.This is also the only weapon that has a technique which renders it capable of extreme precision aim. Other strengths are its fast repeat rate, its laglessness, and it can be used to physically move an opponent around. I have known some great players to use it to deliberately nudge another player into a desired place (acid pits, usually). Another strength is that when used accurately, it is somewhat blinding to the opponent because of the fast repeat rate and the flashing red screen, but the user maintains full visibility during its use. Its weakness is that its damage infliction is light. It is possible for a healthy opponent to simply charge and kill a chaingun user with a close-range weapon before there has been enough time for the chaingun to make a kill.

 Rocket launcher: this is the easiest weapon to kill yourself with, as you already know I'm sure. It has a small amount of firing lag, and ammo lag as the rocket travels relatively slowly to its final resting place. A straferunner can race a rocket in an open area and win, it is that slow. Its firing lag can leave the player vulnerable at medium and close range to SSG attacks. It is generally useless as a point-blank weapon except in situations where you prefer to take the risk of serious damage. Its general use in medium and long range is strategic firing in hallways or across long distances, and sometimes firing it in a pattern around an opponant. It is very powerful in the event of a direct hit, and also useful in that when it impacts an object or wall, it creates a damage area around the impact site that can hurt and kill. It can also be used silently, using distance from your opponent to disguse the firing sound. At times, it can be hard to see coming up until the last minute, when you see the concentric red circles looking you in the face. Its weakness, as mentioned before, is that it is really not useful point-blank, its firing can be too lagged to protect you from SSG attacks, and it can be too slow in the time it takes the rocket to travel on its way.

 Plasma gun: A very powerful, fast-killing, non-self-injuring weapon. Its distance use will depend on the exact situation at hand, as it has a role in all distance ranges. Its strength is its fast killing speed, its rapid fire rate, and the width of the fired shots make it useful to both trap and kill in waves of it. It can be silenced by using distance, like the rocket launcher. Its weaknesses are related to its strengths: The bright, big plasma shots can be blinding to the person firing it at close range The loud, repeating sound the weapon makes will cover up any silent-BFG grunts and sometimes rocket firing sounds that the opponent may be winding up. The large size of the plasma shots make it impact on doorframe edges and nearby walls easily, and there is no damage area around the impact site. While the plasma shots do travel faster than rockets (and faster than you can run), use at medium and long range can leave the player somewhat vulnerable to attacks with the low-lag weapons.

 The BFG

 The true definition of BFG, as generally observed from people who have talked with IDsoftware people, has an obscenity in it...so I can only say (in this publicly released training manual) that is stands for something like Big Freaking Gun.

 The behavior of the BFG makes it intimidating to people who dont understand it. Initially some Doom2 playing groups went as far as to outlaw its use, but these groups became fewer and fewer since there has been education on how this devistating weapon works. Then, with the recent advent of internet-playable Doom2 ports, a new crop of newbies came into the game who once again do not understand the weapon and attempt to insist to others not to use it in game. Once again, education will be the key to these people being able to use the BFG as well as become hard to hit with it.

 I will explain basically how this weapon works...but....I have included the BFG FAQ document within facility.zip. It is a must-read. Much of my knowledge of BFG facts come from this document.

 After the player pulls the trigger on the BFG, there is a loud scream from the weapon and there is a huge firing lag. Then the weapon fires for the first time, and the gigantic green ball travels in a direction, lets say north in this case. The green ball impacts on something. Then, about .4 (four-tenths) of a second after the green ball hits something and detonates, the BFG weapon fires a second time. This second shot is invisible and silent, and is a fanning out pattern of "trace" damage shots, facing in the same direction the original shot was fired (in this case, north again.) Even if the player turns around after he fires the BFG's first shot, the second shot still goes in the direction of the original shot (once again, north in this case). If the guy fired the BFG northward, and then turned around and faced south, the trace shots still go north, shooting behind the player here.

 Read the BFG FAQ, it is a great discussion of the BFG and the Silent BFG. I am ommitting further discussion of the BFG except for practice techniques, and assuming that the BFG FAQ has been read.

 Topic #5: Basic Weapons Handling

 This is all applied stuff, very little discussion here....for this section, we use the General Weapons Handling Area in the Deathmatch Training facility, its in the West Wing,, the second door on the right.

 The first skill to practice: basic fast/medium repeat weapons

 Picking up from where we left off in the Begin.lmp demo, we go to the General Weapons Handling Area, to the pillar in the middle. We use the chaingun, and practice weaving back and forth, and making some half-circles and full-circles with it, while trying to keep as much of your shot on the one pillar as you can. Do it from different distances.

 Then do it with plasma gun.

 Then do it with handgun.

 Then do it with single shotgun.
 

 Second skill to practice: beginning of super-shotgun technique

 We then take the Super-Shotgun, and stand a little way away from the pillar, with the pillar a little to one side. Then, straferun towards it and pivot the mouse a little and shoot it point blank. Then straferun backwards away from it, swerving away from the original direction you fired in. When you do this, you are making an arc shape in your movement. You need to practice and get comfortable with all of this.
 

 Third Skill: Time to start some BFG work

 Practice with the BFG at first by shooting the pillar with the green ball. Try to get a feel for the length of time that passes between the initial firing, and the actual release of the green ball by the weapon. Then, practice shooting the pillar with the green ball while straferunning past it, imagining where and when the traces are hitting. At this point you could also begin playing with the two trapped demons, firing the green BFG ball at the closed doorway or even against a wall, and stepping over in front of one of the demons. When eventually you get some agility going, you will find that you can fire the green ball down one hallway and kill that demon, while straferunning over to the other hallway to kill the second one with the trace hit.

 To begin getting the basics of the all important Silent BFG, practice what it feels like to deliberately push on the pillar, making the "oomph" sound. Then, attempt some silent BFGs by (1) getting close to the pillar (2) firing the BFG (3) quickly pushing on the pillar after you fire it. You will hear the BFG sound cut off when you push on the pillar. Keep in mind that the firing comes -first-, then the pillar push is second.

 If you have the opporatunity, get a friend to come to the training facility, and take turns killing each other with the BFG traces, like you would the demons. Play around with how you can kill someone with your back facing them, by firing the BFG in the correct relative direction and then turning around.
 

 Fourth Skill: Some basic rocket work

 First, stand way back with the rocket launcher and shoot at the pillar while moving around, like with the fast-repeat weapons. (I skip this in the LMP by the way).

 Then, turn around and face the stalls on the other side of that room, and play around with shooting the rockets straight into some of the stalls, ideally without the rockets hitting the walls of the stalls. The white lines on the floor are not intended as boundries for anything, they are there for visual reference.
 

 *****Section 2: Applying the Basics of Skill*****

 This section begins the intermediate skilled section of the Deathmatch training manual, and it uses the intermed.lmp demo for reference.

 Topic #1: Applied Agility at the intermediate Level

 (1) Straferunning in hallways

 Straferunning through hallways is important....and now is the time to start trying it. There will be 2 main difficulties in learning to do this well: getting angled correctly so that you don't drift to the side and crash or scrape into the wall, and getting around corners without crashing into some area around the intersection.

 Time for some practice...

 Use one of the main hallways to practice straferunning straight down it....and make sure to practice this facing both forward-left and forward-right. Then try turning around in the hallway.

 The next best way to practice straferunning in hallways doesent use facility.wad. Load up your favorate deathmatch wads that have hallways and practice moving through them. Map1 and Dwango5 map1 are good for this.

  Learning to straferun without crashing takes a long time and a lot of practice, relatively speaking. It is a very important skill, however, and is well worth the time it takes to learn to do it well.

 (2) The Perfect 180 degree flip around:

 Being able to turn around, 180 degrees, in almost no time at all and with great control, is one of the great advantages that the mouse+keys config has over any other.

 The "flipper TSR cheat" that some keyboarders use does not allow them to aim effectively after a flip (effectively by my standards anyway). It IS technically a cheat....it modifies Doom2 to function in a way in which Doom2 was not designed, and provides one player with a possible advantage over another.

 To practice the perfect 180, go into one of the main hallways, face one direction down it, and try to make one flip and get faced the other way. It will be good to experiment with different "accelleration" settings as well as mouse sensitivity at this time, but keep in mind that you will need to re-adjust overall mouse sensitivity when you change accelleration. Higher accelleration means that the faster you swipe with your mouse, the faster the player turns....the effect of fast turning is amplified, so that you can make one small, fast swipe to get spun around, but still have slow and careful aiming abilities. Some players prefer mouse accelleration be activated, some hate it.

 After practicing turning, practice this: you run forward down the hall a short way, then flip a 180 and at the same time, switch to running backward. This is an important and deadly skill. Once you get good at this, practice doing this but fire a weapon right after you turn.

 Topic #2: Specific weapons work

 (1) Some Practice Routines for SSG and SG

 There are certain practice routines which seem to help people build skill in certain kinds of aiming. They are a lot simpler to show in a recording than to explain, so I show them to you in the intermed.lmp demo, as well as the explanation in this manual.

 I showing you these practice routines when we enter the SSG and Shotgun-Specific Handling Area, this is the third door down the West Wing.

 The first practice routine I show is with the super-shotgun, moving around the 2 spaced pillars, and shooting on the opposite sides of the pillars.

 The second one is straferunning past the pillar, then pivotting hard and SSGing it. This is called a "swing shot." Do this on both sides of the pillar.

 The third one is really the harder of the group: using single shotgun to shoot either side of the single pillar, while keeping rhythm. This is an excellent thing to learn to do. Start with small 2-shot segments at first, as needed, then move up to doing it back and forth on one side, then finally, doing it all the way around the pillar repeatedly. And switching directions, eventually. Learning to do this well will give you good single-shotgun skills...and when you're in someone's face who has a supershotgun, and they just missed...you'll really want to be able to use the weapon to save your ass.

 Some swingshot details:

 A swingshot is when your opponant quickly moves past you, and you pivot around in an instant and fire at them, without a delay between your pivot and your firing. There are actually several kinds of swingshots, and they are executed differently. Advanced players may not feel the difference because they have practiced so hard that they no longer appreciate they differences, they do them correctly and automatically.

 (1)  A "short swingshot" is when you are straferunning angled in one direction, your opponant moves past you on your side you are angled toward, and you pivot rapidly in that same direction. For example, if you are straferunning angled to the left, and your opponant pops around the corner in front of you and darts past you on your left, and you pivot hard to the left and fire the instant after you are turned. The distance of the pivot required to make a short swingshot is the shortest distance of the swingshots.

 (2) A "long swingshot" is when you are straferunning angled in one direction, and your opponant moves past you on the opposite side. This swingshot is executed once again in the direction that follows the opponant's movement, but the distance to be turned is longer.

 (3) A 'reverse swingshot" is typically used as an alternative to making a long swingshot. You are straferunning angled one way, the opponant passes you quickly on your other side, and you pivot hard in the direction you are straferunning in to make your shot at him.
 

 In game, you never think about these differences, and never have time to decide which you are going to do. The opporatunities for swingshots come almost instantly, and your execution is equally as rapid. The opponant buzzes past you and you slam a swingshot virtually automatically, without thinking or being aware that there was a choice.

 It is still beneficial to recognize, while practicing your SSG alone, that these are three seperate manuvers, and practice them as such when using movement past pillars to simulate an opponant's position. In game you don't pay attention to which one you did though, it happens too fast.
 
 

 (2) Specific Weapons Techniques

 SuperShotgun vs. Supershotgun

 SuperShotgun battles are some of the most fierce, and technical, battles in all of Doom2. There are a number of things that are utilized in effective supershotgun duals:
 


 You can practice some of this stuff in the SSG and SG specific handling area, pretending that the pillars are your opponent, but having a moving target that fires back becomes important in this stage of learning. After getting good at hitting still targets, its critical to play other players to continue learning SSG skills. Any of the shotgun series wads are an excellent place to play people to concentrate on SSG skills.
 

 (a) A note about SSGing against keyboarders

 If you are a mouse+keys player who is playing other mouse+keys players while learning your SSG skills, and then you play the stray keyboarder who happens to stumble in boasting of his great SSG skills, you may find that your aim against him feels confusing and different, and hes getting more kills on you than you understand. This is because SSG technique as realized by a Keyboard-only player involves keeping back a medium distance while timing shots carefully, frequently while strafing, and includes limited straferunning if any. This speed and technique difference can not only affect the aim of an intermediete-skilled mouser, but some of the techniques used between mouse+keys players in SSG battles actually aid a slow moving, medium-distanced keyboarder in making his shots on the mouser.

 If you, as an intermediete-skilled mouser, want to maximize your score against a keyboarder on a wide open SSG map, you will find success in modifying/simplifying SSG technique into straferunning in unchanging directions, and always working as hard as possible to stay as close to the keyboarder as you can. Crossing back and forth in front of a mouser makes his aim harder, but you will avoid doing this with a keyboarder because that is what he depends on to make his shots because he cannot actually aim with the keyboard alone any more than you could. He will constantly back away from you to attempt to lengthen the distance to aid his aim, so you will find yourself basically chasing him around the map, sometimes ending up in medium range and the other times ending up close in.
 

 Supershotgun around corners

 The supershotgun is the classic and excellent hallway weapon. In the hallway area of the SSG and SG Specific handling area you can practice all kinds of hallwan manuvers, like moving out very briefly into an intersection, accurately firing where you imagine the opponent to be, then moving back around 2 corners, or moving into an adjacent hallway or room. The reason for this kind of movement is that you are only exposing yourself to potential damage while you are firing, then attempting to shield yourself while the gun reloads.

 Supershotgun Vs. BFG

 A point blank supershotgun blast is one of the best ways to shut down someones BFG for them. If you miss, however, you will likely be a pile of guts a moment later. The key to being able to do this is in practicing close-up work with the supershotgun, while moving around. Don't miss!!

 BFG stuff to practice:

 The BFG room is the last door in the South Wing. there are 2 hallways inside the room. This is so that you can make a silent BFG on the edge of one hall, fire the green ball straight down the first hall, and turn and run down the second hallway. This technique allows you to attack 2 hallways at once, one hallway is covered by the green ball, the other has your traces in it when the green ball detonates. I have deliberately placed these hallways at such a distance that you must straferun accurately to cover both hallways.

 There are 2 pillars in the BFG room, you can use them for a variety of silent BFG and trace-attack practice sessions. You can use one pillar to make a silent BFG on, then attack the other one. And of course, in practice, all BFG's need to be silenced.

 Chaingun stuff:

 Chaingun use in a deathmatch will usually be a modification that barely resembles circle-strafing, but the basics of the technique will still be there. Generally, effective chaingunning will be moving around in irregular and arcing patters all while keeping the target centered on the screen at medium range, using it at long range while not moving around a lot or while moving (whatever the situation calls for), or by chasing a relatively unarmed opponent. The important thing to chaingunning in this way is to keep the opponent centered, all while moving around as required to avoid damage and use the environment to shield yourself from the relatively intermittant SSG or rocket attacks. It will take a smooth, steady mouse hand, and some anticipation of the opponants movements. Because of the chaingun's fairly light damage, it is important to be accurate with it, otherwise it becomes quite ineffective, and leaves you vulnerable to any more powerful weapon.

 Rocket Stuff

 How to avoid self-kills and damage:

 These principles will help players who have problems with this. Advanced players know how to not to kill themselves wont always follow them.

 (1) When manuvering in the presence of any obsticles or hallways that pass near the front of the player, press the fire button one time for each rocket you want to fire. Do not hold the fire key down, or press the fire button rapidly.

 (2) When using the launcher to shoot down a hallway or in any confined area, take a moment to make sure that you are pointed straight, regardless of what is happening around you. Your attempt to avoid getting killed by the opponent wont mean jack if you kill yourself instead, so take the time you need.

 Rocket-Specific Attacks

 There are some attacks that are exceptionally effective when executed with a rocket launcher, so I have devised ways to practice them in the training facility. In the manual.lmp, I demo all of this stuff in the General Weapons Handling Area:

 (1) Putting a rocket safely in an open doorway

 Here's the ideal way to do it: straferunning (usually in a hallway) toward an open doorway with the forward straferun angling you toward the doorway, making a small circlestrafe around the opening and firing straight through the doorway, then completing the semi-circular circle-strafe by pivoting and facing straight down the hall that the doorway opens into, continuing straight backwards to a distance that will clear you of rocket blast should your opponent suddenly run out of the room into the hallway and you pull the trigger on the launcher again.  All of this is executed as one clean, smooth manuver. Leaving out small details in this, such as not making the circlestrafe around the doorway smoothly, or not facing straight down the hall afterwards, takes away from how effective this manuver can be. Just making a swingshot into the doorway can work, and may be appropriete in some situations, but will tend to be less accurate and have less chance of you being able to follow up should the opponant present himself right after your shot. Your chances of hitting the inside of the doorframe with the rocket at close range are also increased, as well as possibly getting hung up in the doorframe.

 The General Weapons Handling Area has short hallways for practicing this along either side of the entrance, as well as stalls in the big room that are decreasing in width so you can practice accurately placing the rockets in smaller and smaller areas. While in an actual deathmatch you may or may not want to try to beam a rocket into a doorway as narrow as the smaller stalls, being able to do it will  make you that much more skilled with the manuver.

 (2) Distance Silencing

 This is a strategic use of the rocket launcher that is most useful when you know the opponent is somewhat confined in an area where he cannot see you, or you hope that he will very soon enter a confined area nearby. You stand far enough back from the area that you are attacking that your firing of the launcher will not be heard by the opponent, and fire some rockets, possibly varying the timing in which you fire. It works best when the rockets hit something in the area where the opponent is expected to enter. You can also use this to cover areas of a map that are simply at a great distance, where you expect the opponent may be.

 (3) Strategic use of proximity damage

 When in a hallway situation, you are expecting that an opponent will attempt to pass quickly through an intersection from a certain hallway, or you believe that he is standing just out of sight around a corner, you can deliberately hit the nearby doorframe or wall, to where the proximity damage causes him damage. Here is a very important fact about proximity damage: it is height-insensitive. If you hit a wall with a rocket that is way above or below the opponent, he still takes proximity damage. Being able to accurately gauge how to fire past nearby corners to hit the walls you want will prove to be the only somewhat hard point of learning to do this.

 (4) A note about rocket use in an open area -- not always effective

 The rocket is the slowest moving weapon in Doom2. For this reason, it can be challenging to hit a skilled player in an open area with it. The key to this will be in firing in such a pattern around him as to confuse and somewhat trap him, or in observing the opponent running in one direction and firing with the exactly correct lead time, so that he and the rocket meet in one big splat. Rockets are generally most effective when you can use the proximity damage as well as the possibility of a direct hit against your opponent.
 

 Single-Shotgun stuff

  Single Shotgun is the most powerful long-distance no-lag weapon. There are a few situations when you will want to trade off your powerful and comfy supershotgun for a single shotgun (but then, it is wise to trade back to it if things are about to suddenly turn close-up). The single shotgun's strength is realized in its fullest when you deliberately place yourself at long range (which makes the other weapons less effective for varying reasons, including chaingun because of its usually splayed bullet pattern), and attack accurately. The pattern of the single shotgun holds its integrity well at long range, making a little horizontal line of shot. You can practice this on the single pillar in either the Basic Agility and Circle-Strafe Area, or on the single pillar in the SSG and Sg Specific Handling Area.

 A note about Single Shotgun Vs. Chaingun

 Single shotgun is the greater long-range weapon...chaingun can be more effective at medium range. It can be hard to keep a long-range battle from turning into a meduim-range one...so this principle is good to keep in mind in such battles.

 Plasma Stuff

 Plasma is used effectively in generally these ways:

 (1) up close, to inflict a relatively quick death.

 (2) meduim range, in repeated waves that trap and kill

 (3) medium-to-long range, in long, trapping waves

 (4) using distance silencing down a long hallway or across an open area into an enclosed area. It is very similar to rocket launcher use in this manner, except there is no proximity damage.

 (5) Brief firing of it around corners (its value in this is limited though, in that the plasma balls impact easily on doorframes and edges of intersecting walls).

 It is next to impossible to practice plasma work outside of a real deathmatch, so...play people and use it.

 Beserker Pack Use

 Bezserker pack use is unusual and limited, but it certianly is worth mentining. One punch from a bezerk back is capable of splatting the opponent. Effective uses of beserker packs are generally against an unarmed opponent, or an opponent that is ambushed in some way (including use of an invisibility during the attack). I have seen use of bezerk most commonly in the opening sequence of Doom2 map7, and sometimes in Doom2 map11.

 (3) Jump Height Differential Factors

 Using a jump down from one height to another, and its corresponding grunt when you land, is a tool that can be used to your advantage. You can:

 (1) use the grunt sound of landing to silence a BFG

 (2) through deliberately jumping off of an elevated surface at the same time as your opponent, therefore landing at the same time, thus disguising your location by letting the sound of his grunt cover yours up.

 The Basic Agility Area has a tall observation deck that is set up so that you can practice height differential stuff here.

 (4) Rocket Dodging

 Being able to sucessfully dodge rockets is important because one hit from one usually has you hitting SPACE to respawn a moment later.

 Avoiding rocket damage will be a combination of knowing when to get clear of an area that is being attacked, of successfully sidestepping and dodging multiple rockets at once, and staying clear of the walls that rockets are impacting on.

 The back of the Basic Agility area is dedicated to rocket dodging. You wake up the cybers and practice dodging what they send your way. It is generally easier to dodge the rockets the farther away you are from them. An important note here: it is harder to dodge the rockets when you have taken one of the provided blur spheres, not easier. If you're having trouble dodging the rockets when you're visible, dont get those blur spheres and think its going to make it easier.

 The goal isnt to kill the cybers. It's to gain skill in dodging their rocket fire.
 

 5. "Bumping" for objects

 Sometimes, when an object is located on an elevated platform and you cant climb up on the platform to get it and you dont seem able to reach it, you can "bump" for it. This means that you run toward the platform and crash into it, directly below the object that you are trying to get.

 Bumping works in different ways from different angles. You can bump using straferunning or using regular running. Certian objects at certian angles seem more likely to be picked up in a straferun-bump, others are gotten more effectively in a regular-run bump.

 One point about bumping is that if you are bumping in one spot for an object and you arent getting it, shifting slightly to the left or right can make the difference and let you get the object. Also, bumping at the corner of a platform seems to sometimes make a difference.

  The most common place that bumping is used is Doom2 map1. That plasma gun can be gotten fairly consistantly in 5 ways, to the best of my knowledge, and those are:
 


 Ive gotten it from the south side of the platform by accident, and heard of others doing it before. It doesent seem consistant enough to use in deathmatch, from what I have seen of it.

 Another place where you can bump for stuff is Map7. Many of the objects on those platforms, before they are lowered, can be bumped for, and that includes the megasphere. One side of the platforms seems easier to bump for stuff from than the other.

 A variation of bumping for an object is on Dwango5 map1. This is the only map where I have seen this apply in quite this fashon. The BFG that is behind the grate can be gotten by standing in front of the grate in the corner, touching the grate, and straferunning angled toward it, more or less pushing into the grate. Theres a couple of angles you can do this from to get it.

 In the training facility, the megaspheres in the supply room are set up so that the first one in each row you can get just by walking up and touching, but the second one you get doing a small bump. These bumps are very easy compared with the plasma gun and the stuff on Map7.
 

 *****Section 3: Advanced Topics*****

 Advanced Agility

 Near-perfect straferunning:

 Advanced players will have worked on their straferunning skills to the point that they dont crash walls, except maybe in lagged connects. Learning to do this takes time and practice, and getting it right when being chased by every weapon imaginable is something to work toward.

 Straferunning and regular running backwards in hallways becomes an issue for a player that is moving toward advanced skill. Being able to do this comes from a knowledge of how the map is laid out, and practice. Straferunning backwards is mostly a manuverability option when having hallway battles, especially where SuperShotgun and BFG are used,  and regular running backwards is a defensive manuver, usually while retreating with a less effective weapon than your opponent has. You cant shoot at someone with your back turned, so it makes sense to run backwards at times.

 Your ability to move backwards quickly and accurately, all over your maps of choice including down hallways and around corners, makes a big difference when playing other people who can't do it well.

 Wallrunning

 Wallrunning is a way that you can take advantage of an odd bug in Doom2. There are some walls, most predictably walls that run north-south, that you can more or less activate the bug on. There are some other walls that will do it that arent north-south pointing, but they are hard to find and identify (theres a diagonal one in Doom2 map18 that will do it, and its not north-south) The effect of the bug is that you move incredibly fast.

 Some facts about wallrunning as it is used in deathmatch:
 

 How to wallrun:

 You position yourself at the bottom of a north-running hallway. Touch the wall with your back, and face up the hall at as close to a 38 degree angle as you can imagine. Then, straferun up the hall with your back touching the wall. If you have the right angle, you will wallrun, and be at the north end of the hall with blazing speed.

 Its possible to get so good at wallrunning that you can jump on a northbound wall and get the wallrun started right when you jump on, and use it as a controlled manuver. This takes practice! This is in the "advanced" section of this manual because of its difficulty to get good enough at it to make it usable in a deathmatch.

 Before using the Wallrun Area in the training facility, if this is your first time wallrunning, you should try this on the wall of the South Wing first. The Wallrun Area itself (second door on the left, after the briefing room) is set up for advanced wallrun practice, after you have basically learned to do it.

 Advanced Weapons Techniques

 Doom2's weapons sights are misaligned

 The weapons in Doom2 fire slightly to the left of where the sight indicates. This is most noticible with the single shotgun, as its pattern holds integrity at long range, where it is most noticible. This is in the advanced section because if you cant control the weapon in the first place, you need to be trying to aim with the sight, and not bothering with this misalignment yet.

 Pinpoint Chaingun Technique

 The Chaingun, in normal use, throws out a splayed pattern of bullets. The first 2 bullets that come out of the chaingun, however, are perfectly aimed. If you tap the fire button while holding the chaingun, you can see this. Tapping the fire button to cause firing in this way will result in pinpoint accuracy with this weapon.

 Possible concentration of SSG hit during sudden manuvers

 This is a subjective observation by a number of deathmatchers, myself included...it appears that SSG shots made while making a sudden manuver tend to concentrate the shot, making it deadlier. This seems to include both swingshots and sudden direction changes. I've tried to test it subjectively, with an assistant, and we had trouble proving anything. All of the people who have observed this phenomenon can't be wrong though...so I think there must be something to it. It may also work when suddenly changing directions from a forward straferun to backwards at the moment you fire, that or the USE key being activated (I dont know which because my config has them both in the same place). However, I have found that trying to make every shot with a mouse flick like this only served to make my aim less accurate...but the backward stuff seems to work too. Its still only a subjective observation.

 Some BFG considerations

 The BFG trace hits can be used in stratigic and amazing ways, when you build enough agility to move quickly enough to cover different areas. If you look over a map and see just how many areas have an area for the BFG green shot to travel down, and an area where you can enter in time for the trace hit to fire, you may see many posibilities for BFG trace attacks. There is also the potential for attacking behind you with traces and at the same time attacking in front with either another weapon or another BFG blast, after timing a BFG shot in the right direction and with the right timing.

 A note on strategy

 When very advanced players deathmatch, frequently the winner is who had the best strategy. Individual strategies on specific maps can be learned by watching recordings of great players, but the ability to think up strategies of your own cant be taught. Strategy frequently includes knowing where the other person respawns, anticipating where he may go from having respawned there, and killing him with this knowledge. It means being unpredictable yourself...and identifying your opponants strategies and any patterns he may make. It can also mean finding ways to attack places that are creative, and finding places to stand where u can see well but are difficult to be seen.

 Use of left and right 3D sound

 Many skilled players I know, including myself, have found the use of surround-sound indispensable. Some sound cards support this, others will need an add-on 3D sound box to effect this, and some are incapable of doing it. It is ideal when combined with headphone use. If the sound card or box you are using is configurable, set it up to have the cleanest left and right orientation possible, although not over exaggurated or else the sound gets confusing. When set up correctly, you can hear respawns, follow where someone has moved in hallway SSG battles, hear when someone moves around or behind you where sometimes you may visually miss it, and even once in a while hear a sound that clues you in and enables you to make a deadly swingshot on the opponant. I wont even play without mine, and my map1 game blows without it.
 

 Conclusion

 Good luck in learning your skills.....this stuff is all of what I tell people who ask me for information and teaching on how to deathmatch well. The more skilled players there are out there, the better...Skilled players and newbies alike are keeping Doom2 and deathmatch alive and kicking.

 Acknowledgements

 SPECIAL THANKS to the great deathmatchers who reviewed this document prior to its release. They are: Chunkk  (Edmond OK), Fraggin ( Washington State ), Fragmare (Columbus OH), Galiu (Montreal, Quebec), Hellian (CA, Doom2 winner of 2 Fragfest 96's), Hoopty (CA), TrueChamp (Annapolis, MD), Xoleras (Tucson, AZ)

 Specifically for material used in this document:

Tony Fabris for researching and writing the BFG FAQ;

S. Widlake for his rec.games.computer.doom.playing newsgroup posting which documented the straferunning speed and angle numbers.

 My own acknowledgements:
 

 Xoleras, for posting recordings of him playing Doom2 to ftp.cdrom.com. Since I was a beginning deathmatcher and brand-new mouser, and to this day, this Doom-God's great skill has inspired me to work hard.

 Kreuzin, a legendary Doom2 player in these parts who made it all the way to Deathmatch 95 as a finalist, and who didnt get his fair crack at the big guys who were there when his controller could not be made to work with the systems that were provided. He played me whenever I asked, and allowed me to record anytime I wanted. Through playing him and studying our demos, I learned many strategic and agility issues that were known by no other locals.

 Galiu, a seasoned and fearsome canadian player who learned his skills beneath the iron fists of Sslasher and Burnout. Galiu has great knowledge and insight in his game.

 Deathlok, for playing me day after day, back when I was just learning...and kicking my ass badly too.


 Some Author Info: My email address (at the time of this document release) is bahdko@erols.com, mail to sherrm@aol.com may be forwarded to me if erols.com doesent work. As of the writing of this, I'm a Doom2 player in South Riding, Virginia.

Email me for a game, anytime.. :)