First on the block is a WAD which I hope most people have at least heard of: Doomsday of UAC by Leo Martin Lim. Better known by its filename of UAC_DEAD, this WAD was one of the first (in)famous third party levels ever made. Although made back in June 1994, it still uses a lot of nice little effects and constructions which wouldn't feel out of place in a level today, although overall it does tend to suffer from Giant Area Syndrome. The level runs on E1M8 of Doom 1 since it was made before Doom 2 came out, and there may be some problems in the Cyberdemon room since it was built using an older version of the Doom EXE. If you've never played this WAD before I strongly urge you to do so now, and share your comments in the, uh, comments.

Hellbent Email Homepage Reply to this post "Re:Dense 13" posted Tuesday Dec 19 20:07:45 2000 Don't worry - it's not cause your dense. I had the same problem. For some reason Zdoom and perhaps other ports have this problem with the map. If you run it with the original doom.exe it will lower and you will be able to get it. Otherwise you'll have to clip to get it. (and remember to take off no clipping after you're on the pillar to pick it up) Let the Legacy Live - -

Dense13 Email Homepage Reply to this post "Old wads" posted Tuesday Dec 19 18:52:45 2000 The Old Stuff Chronicles is a fantastic idea (thanks DW!), I haven't played many old Doom maps, and this will be a great opportunity to 'update' my Doom knowledge. Btw, am I the only one who couldn't get the red key? The sector it's in hasn't moved, what am I doing wrong? Member of Presage

Hellbent Email Homepage Reply to this post "Kirshikinia" posted Monday Dec 18 17:23:07 2000 Top ten among today's maps? Are you serious? There's been way too many maps released for it to reserve a spot in the top 10-- that's just pushing it a little bit much. Let the Legacy Live - -

Kinoshkana Email Homepage Reply to this post "In the immortal words on infirmity, meh" posted Monday Dec 18 14:36:39 2000 Actually, UAC_DEAD is one of the best maps out there for its time period. In terms of current maps? Probably in the top 10 of most people. I know what I'd like the next one to be, though... Return To Phobos. (Man, that episode rocks you harder than a cradle in a hurricane.) who says you can't have fun without Doom?

Lt. Taggart Email Homepage Reply to this post "Suh-weet!!" posted Monday Dec 18 03:46:22 2000 This map is not bad. Good first pick Ling. On a scale of 1 to 10 well I give it a 7.5. Maybe someone will update this map. "Just bring it!" <------ The Rock

Opulent Email Homepage Reply to this post "Hellbent" posted Monday Dec 18 01:30:57 2000 good job on a first time through. was a little long. I didn't know you could cheat during a Zdoom demo.(neat) You're better at Doom than NeedforSpeed. heh I don't want to spoil Ling's new project, but a good place to START on some of the best classics is Ricrob's page on Doom(1). that is all... FPS Demofreak

Hellbent Email Homepage Reply to this post "Re: Opulent" posted Sunday Dec 17 23:58:35 2000 Heh-- sorry the demo was so long and boring at parts. Did you get the allusions to the Indian Jones Movies? I can't wait till Saturday either! I haven't played hardly any of the classics. Let the Legacy Live - -

Opulent Email Homepage Reply to this post "Jason" posted Sunday Dec 17 22:16:57 2000 http://schmolze.net/jacobi/UacDead.zip I liked your Lutz demos. That z-axis mouse control is annoying in Zdoom. Never played zdoom enough to get the knack for controlling it like doom2.exe. uac_dead is cool, I look forward to next Saturday! FPS Demofreak

Hellbent Email Homepage Reply to this post "Oh yeah..." posted Sunday Dec 17 21:49:38 2000 This was the first time I played the map... and I was just amazed that someone came up with the bridge effect and many ofhter effects way back then! I wish I had played it back in '94 - I know I would have enjoyed it immensely back then... oh well - it was still cool to see the roots from which the wads of today were borne from.... Let the Legacy Live - -

Hellbent Email Homepage Reply to this post "Interesting wad" posted Sunday Dec 17 21:38:48 2000 as always - I recorded a demo of my first reaction to the wad - so the author and others can see how different parts of it were reacted to. http://schmolze.net/jacobi/uacdead.zip If anyone plays this demo - let me know - It's long and at one point I spend about 10 minutes running around in a room - but I keep an ongoing commentary so it's sorta interesting.... Recorded in ZDOOM 1.22 Let the Legacy Live - -

stphrz Email Homepage Reply to this post "" posted Sunday Dec 17 16:53:11 2000 I have to say I agree with a lot of what TheProphet had to say. I think this map has a lot to offer even by today's standards. The only thing missing is a lot of (very often, useless) detail. Nowadays we are spoiled. We have source ports with virtually no limits and vastly extended features, fancy editors with automated texture alignment, and a lot of excellent recent 3d games (ie halflife, quake123 yada yada) from which to draw inspiration(and downright rip off :). I'm fortunate enough to own a copy of Doom v1.2 so I am able to play this level on exactly the platform it was designed for. I still think it rocks. Health nuts are going to feel real stupid one day, lying in hospitals dying of nothing...

Con Email Homepage Reply to this post "Linguica:" posted Sunday Dec 17 16:22:46 2000 Absolutely. I understand and agree with the whole purpose entirely. I was just pointing out that a lot of people's opinions on this map seem to be based almost entirely on nostalgia, without bothering to consider the actual quality of the map itself. That's all. I think the Old Stuff Chronicles is an excellent idea, it's just that with a lot of these so-called classics, the reaction of most is based on the initial experience from years ago, carefully ignoring the simple fact that, well, maybe it's not really as good as you remembered it to be. Oh, Pfil is so happy!

Linguica Email Homepage Reply to this post "Con:" posted Sunday Dec 17 15:24:01 2000 As I say in the news item, "The purpose of this new weekly feature will be to highlight old and classic WADs made many years ago, which were the top of the heap back in their day but now have been mostly forgotten. While lots of you oldschoolers will probably remember most of the WADs to be featured in the coming weeks, I'm doing this more as a service to those who have never played them, so today's Doomers can understand their roots." I am not saying that all the old WADs are incredible nowadays, but WADs like UAC_DEAD and all the others I will be doing in the coming weeks are classics nonetheless, and this feature is mostly to bring them to the attention of people who have never played them, and give them a history lesson so to speak on the early days of level making. King Ling

Swedish Fish Email Homepage Reply to this post "DE2 gameplay" posted Sunday Dec 17 13:19:51 2000 "gameplay is nothing else than boring" Hmm, this is the second time I heard something along these lines. I won't speak for the wad as a whole but I remember working on making map4's gameplay as good as I could. Was it too easy? Or? Why was it boring? I'm curious since I think the opposite for most maps (like map12) which is just brillant on all aspects imo. Money back guarantee on all my levels...but since you paid crap to play them...

Risen Email Homepage Reply to this post "A wonderful WAD for its time" posted Sunday Dec 17 11:33:02 2000 A great idea, Ling! I've been around and working with Doom for some time, but I was never a part of the 'community' until Doomworld's opening. I'm looking forward to seeing the good WADs I missed along the way. Of course all it will probably do is stuff my directory of WADs I've been meaning to play even fuller. :) I always felt that UAC_Dead was a little too spacious, and maybe a bit easy as well, but it really pushed the engine and was one of the pioneering levels that brought us to the level of intense complexity and detail we see today. From here, people realized: HEY! Doom can do more than just rooms! It's still got a place on my HD because of that. A classic, for sure. Lead Producer, Twice Risen TC

Jon Email Homepage Reply to this post "heh" posted Sunday Dec 17 10:00:58 2000 curiosity killed the cat (no, not kat), then took originality with it. The world is a darker place jon.alkali.org | caco cyb | /me it up

Con Email Homepage Reply to this post "RE: Review" posted Sunday Dec 17 08:52:01 2000 Well, 'Con' thought that the monsters were badly placed in that they didn't seem to have been located with any real sense of purpose: they were just thrown in wherever there was enough room. As for the difficulty being "fair", I for one thought that it was far, far too easy. Now, of course I understand that this is not so suprising for an old map, but at the same time, most of the levels from episodes 2 and 3 are harder than this. So it's too simple. And, as for your statement that the big areas raised some interesting fights. well, obviously this is a matter of individual taste, but really, how can any fight in a large area be anything except extremely easy? If you've got enough space to move around in, you can kill anything except a spider mastermind with ease. So I don't see the basis for that statement. Just a matter of opinion, I imagine? Oh, Pfil is so happy!

TheProphet Email Homepage Reply to this post "Review" posted Sunday Dec 17 08:12:50 2000 Here is what I thought a about the map: 1. Design: Of course, compared to today's levels, the map lacks a lot of detail. One must take into consideration that more detail wasn't possible in 1994, because of the sidedef limitations of the old DOOM engine. The author of the map used as much sidedefs as were possible (as he also said in the .txt). Take a look at the UAC logo in the outdoor area: This looks VERY nice, especially the 'A' is interesting. I needed a while to figure out how he did that. Not to mention the starting area with the truck and the 3D stuff. With goodies like this Leo Martin Lim shows more phantasy than most of today's author. There are only few maps with so much innovation. 2. Gameplay: Great! The difficulty is absolutely fair without being too simple, and the big areas raised some interesting fights. I don't know what 'Con' doesn't like about the monster placements, either. This may sound strange, but I liked Doomsday of UAC much more than the "The Darkening 2" levels and the "PHOBOS: ANOMOLY REBORN Demo level" I played yesterday. Both of these WADs have a fantastic design, but the gameplay is nothing else than boring. Heros live long, but legends never die

Con Email Homepage Reply to this post "!!!" posted Sunday Dec 17 07:25:38 2000 Are we playing the same thing? Sure in 1994 this was a cut above the rest of the custom maps, but surely nowadays, what reason other than nostalgia can one possibly have for playing it? I mean, what redeeming features does this map have? Taking into account when it was made, this map is ugly (which is forgivable) and boring (which isn't.) Unmarked key doors? I don't care how old it is, that's just stupid. Sub-par monster placement, shoddy ammo balance, huge, spacious, uninteresting rooms...aside from nostalgia, I can see no reason whatsoever for actually wanting to play this level when there are so many thousands of vastly superior ones to be found scattered across the entire length and bredth of the internet. Historical significance = ten, overall quality = nil. Hugely overrated. Oh, Pfil is so happy!

Firebrandt Email Homepage Reply to this post "wow" posted Sunday Dec 17 05:13:38 2000 This must have been one of the first custom levels I ever played. Sure brings back memories.... Meta Infernum.

Maonth Email Homepage Reply to this post "I played this level today..." posted Sunday Dec 17 02:32:23 2000 I played this level today and it totally blew me away! When i think about old 1994 maps, it's always those 1-sectored rooms with ugly wals and 50000000 cybs in the center! But this one..... WOW!!!! What should i get? Quake 3, Solider of Fortune? Unreal Tournament?. Arhhhh heck, ill just go get DooM2!

unfy Email Homepage Reply to this post "re: Ling" posted Sunday Dec 17 00:53:33 2000 yes i played the level today. !!!GREEN!!!

PotFusion Email Homepage Reply to this post "Oh hell yeah" posted Saturday Dec 16 23:44:28 2000 This WAD is timeless... although in newer versions/ports the invisible staircase doesn't work, this was definitely a milestone in creativity, and especially the UAC logo inspired me to bend the 2d engine. -=-

Skarj Email Homepage Reply to this post "Uac_dead" posted Saturday Dec 16 23:03:29 2000 Once the stage started and i realized that the structure i came out of was a flipped truck and trailer, it blew me away (this was quite a while back). The whole level has a feel of emptiness to it and is very realistic. I think a big part of the atmosphere is the music. The e1m8 music is classic and great for setting a mood. skarj dies

[AriocH] Email Homepage Reply to this post "Linguica:" posted Saturday Dec 16 21:51:02 2000 I did ... for my first time. :P Arioch, Arch-Priest of mewse, mewseCult(tm) church, mewseville, Tennessee

Linguica Email Homepage Reply to this post "" posted Saturday Dec 16 21:44:36 2000 Has anyone actually PLAYED the level today? King Ling

Katarhyne Email Homepage Reply to this post "D!Zone" posted Saturday Dec 16 21:35:59 2000 I first played this level one night when I first got D!Zone (at the time I wasn't real big into "that internet thingy") and I was in love, instantly. Ever since, it's been in my .doom directory. And that was...how long ago? 24B-18-22...is that the info you wanted?

Metabolist Email Homepage Reply to this post "uac_dead" posted Saturday Dec 16 17:25:36 2000 I played this level about a year ago (I didn't get an Internet connection till 2 years) and I thought it wasn't bad for 1994, then. I still think that now. :-) One thing that really dates it: it says in the textfile 'I ran out of 2-sided lines' (referring to the cyberdemon area) This was before 1.666 which removed the 2-sided line limit. "I was in the realm of the Essence of Tong" -- The Fall, "Dr. Buck's Letter"

Ebola Email Homepage Reply to this post "UAC_DEAD" posted Saturday Dec 16 16:52:06 2000 Yeah i played it a few years ago and though. Damn this ROCKS. Ni'mRoD - Ixnay on the Hombre

Captain Napalm Email Homepage Reply to this post "Cool idea!" posted Saturday Dec 16 16:52:06 2000 Great idea Ling! Who could forget the clasic Uac_Dead? Cool level. Was this the first level with an invisible bridge? In my day we played Doom without 3D-floors and WE LIKED IT!

Tarin Email Homepage Reply to this post "UAC_DEAD" posted Saturday Dec 16 16:43:40 2000 When I played the levels some years ago I was like "Wow! That's the best stuff I've ever seen!" when I got out of the truck. Great level! ACS || /me it up

cocoon Email Homepage Reply to this post "good idea" posted Saturday Dec 16 16:40:11 2000 I really like this old school wad thing. Great idea! Now you can really show some quality wads/maps

Fredrik Email Homepage Reply to this post "!" posted Saturday Dec 16 16:15:11 2000 hahahhahahahahhahahaahahahahahaaa dumbest post!!!1 i'm the actionbag. lameness has a name.