Mods

NEW WAYS TO DIE

Traditionally, Doom mods were considered anything that changed anything about the game. Sound replacements, graphics replacements (things, textures and weapons), and even level replacements all fell under the banner of "modifications". This blog overwhelmingly sticks to reviews of original mapsets with whatever gameplay modifications are baked in, but in this feature - "New Ways to Die" - I'm shining the spotlight on mods that alter Doom's gameplay, whether they include original levels or are meant to be played on top of existing levels.

There are two tables. The first, "Gameplay Mods", consists of works that can be played on top of existing mapsets. "Built-In Mods" come with their own map packs and aren't explicitly designed to work with others. They're sortable via several columns. The most significant, for compatibility reasons, is the target port. "Classic" mods achieve their effects via DeHackEd and will work in any port that supports it, which is pretty much all the popular ones. Boom's extended format (BEX) is a step beyond DeHackEd; it won't work in vanilla, but it works in a lot more ports than DECORATE, which is the realm of Zternivoom. I've thrown all BEX and MBF stuff under BooMBF, for what is the current cross-port standard of supported "advanced" features. As for the rest, if it has an X in the column, you can expect the following, to varying degrees:

W marks mods featuring weapon behavior that differs from the originals (not just re-skins).
E marks mods featuring enemy behavior that differs from the originals (again, not just re-skins).

I am shying away from looking at levels that feature only new graphics, cool as they are. Sprite artists are fantastic people and so are those that make new textures, but I want to highlight things that change the way Doom engine games actually play, if ever so slightly.

GAMEPLAY MODS

Filename	Title	Date	Game	Engine	W	E
13ZD-RGR.WAD	The Ranger	2011	Hexen	ZDoom	X
EWPACK.WAD	Extreme Weapon Pack	2013	Doom / Doom II	ZDoom	X
FD_ZD_v0.2.4B.WAD	Fractal Doom	2013	Doom / Doom II	ZDoom	X	X
INSTADM.ZIP	Instadoom	2015	Doom / Doom II	Vanilla	X
PIRATES!.WAD	Pirate Doom	2013	Doom II	GZDoom	X	X
QUAKE-DIH1.PK3	Quake: Descent Into Heresy	2015	Heretic	ZDoom	X	X
RDND15.PK3	Random Deaths and Decoration	2015	Doom / Doom II	ZDoom
RO_PB_2.5.PK3	Russian Overkill	2012	Doom / Doom II	GZDoom	X
RSLCHAOS.PK3	Chaos, Uprising	2014	Heretic	ZDoom	X	X
SAMSARA*.PK3	Samsara	2013	Any	GZDoom	X
SMOOTHD*.PK3	Smooth Doom	2014	Doom / Doom II	GZDoom	X
SPRFIX19.WAD	Doom 2 Minor Spritefixing Project	2016	Doom / Doom II	Vanilla
ZP_ZEROT.WAD	Zero Tolerance	2008	Doom / Doom II	ZDoom	X	X

BUILT-IN MODS

Filename	Title	Date	Game	Engine	W	E
AA_E1.WAD	Alpha Accident: Terra Nova	2016	Doom	Vanilla	X	X
AALIENS.WAD	Ancient Aliens	2016	Doom II	Boom		X
ALIENSCM.PK3	Aliens: Colonial Marines TC	2011	Doom / Doom II	GZDoom	X	X
ALITCWAD.WAD	Aliens TC	1994	Doom	Vanilla	X	X
ALK-EP1.WAD	Alkylation Episode 1	2011	Doom II	ZDoom	X	X
ALLHELL.WAD	All Hell is Breaking Loose	1996	Doom II	Vanilla	X	X
ANUBIS.WAD	I, Anubis	1995	Doom II	Vanilla	X	X
APOSTATE.WAD	Heretic: Call of the Apostate	2011	Heretic	ZDoom		X
BASTION.WAD	Heretic: Dark Deity's Bastion	2011	Heretic	ZDoom		X
BATMAN.WAD	Batman Doom	1999	Doom II	Vanilla	X	X
BRFINAL.WAD	Beyond Reality	2012	Doom II	ZDoom	X	X
CH133.WAD	Chosen	2003	Doom II	ZDoom	X	X
CR_59.7Z	Star Wars: Chibi Rebellion	2011	Doom II	ZDoom	X	X
CYBER110.WAD	Cyberdreams	1998	Doom II	Vanilla	X
DMF.WAD	Doom Must Fall	1995	Doom	Vanilla	X	X
DISRPAIR.PK3	Secret Doom: Disrepair	2014	Doom II	GZDoom	X	X
DTS-T.PK3	Dimension Time Space-Traveller	2012	Doom	ZDoom		X
ECHELON.WAD	Echelon	2016	Doom II	ZDoom		X
ENCRYPT*.WAD	Encrypter	2013	Heretic	ZDoom		X
FLYMAPS1.WAD	Lord of the Flies	1996	Doom II	Vanilla		X
GD.WAD	Going Down	2014	Doom II	BooMBF		X
GE5-PD.PK3	Prime Directive	2015	Doom II	GZDoom	X	X
GOLDENS.PK3	Doom: The Golden Souls	2014	Doom II	GZDoom	X	X
HA.WAD	Hell Awakened...	2011	Doom II	ZDoom		X
HACX.WAD	HACX: Twitch'n Kill	1997	Doom	Vanilla	X	X
HGARDEN.PK3	Hanging Gardens	2011	Doom II	GZDoom		X
HOSTAGE3.WAD	Hostage Rescue 3	1998	Doom II	Vanilla	X	X
HYENA.WAD	Codename: HYENA Kiler Machine	1998	Doom	Vanilla	X	X
INQSTR.WAD	The Inquisitor	2012	Doom II	GZDoom	X	X
INQSTR2E.WAD	The Inquisitor 2	2013	Doom II	GZDoom	X	X
INQSTR3E.WAD	The Inquisitor 3	2016	Doom II	GZDoom	X	X
JENESIS.WAD	Jenesis	2011	Doom II	BooMBF		X
KZDOOM1.WAD	KZDoom1	1999	Doom II	ZDoom	X	X
LABOUAC.WAD	LaboUAC	2014	Doom II	GZDoom	X	X
LMTEMPLE.WAD	Temple of the Lizard Men	2009	Doom II	GZDoom	X	X
LMTMPL2.PK3	Temple of the Lizard Men 2	2010	Doom II	GZDoom	X	X
LMTMPL3.PK3	Temple of the Lizard Men 3	2013	Doom II	GZDoom	X	X
LOSTEPIS.WAD	Doom: The Lost Episode	2009	Doom	ZDoom	X	X
LUNATIC.WAD	Lunatic	2011	Doom II	BooMBF		X
MA-PUT.PK3	Putrefier	2012	Doom	GZDoom		X
MAYHEMM.WAD	Mayhem Mansion	2016	Doom / Doom II	ZDoom	X	X
MOC11.WAD	Masters of Chaos	2012	Heretic	ZDoom	X	X
MOHU1.WAD	Monster Hunter Ltd Part 1	2014	Doom II	Boom		X
MORDETH.WAD	Mordeth (Episode 1)	1997	Doom II	Vanilla		X
NIHILITY.WAD	Nihility: Infinite Teeth	2016	Doom	Vanilla	X	X
NJGTB4TS.PK3	Gene-Tech: Before the Storm	2014	Doom / Doom II	GZDoom	X	X
NJWLGZD.WAD	Waterlab GZD	2017	Doom II	GZDoom		X
OBTIC.WAD	Obituary	1995	Doom II	Vanilla	X	X
OSIRIS.WAD	Osiris	1996	Doom II	Vanilla	X	X
PHOBOS-G.PK3	Phobos Directive, The	2011	Doom	GZDoom	X	X
PIRATES!.WAD	Pirate Doom	2013	Doom II	GZDoom	X	X
PLCSKORN.WAD	Pallace Skorn	2011	Doom II	BooMBF	X	X
RAINBOW.PK3	Void and Rainbow	2016	Doom II	GZDoom	X	X
REELISM-X2.1_.PK7	Reelism	2012	Doom II	GZDoom	X	X
RESURGE.WAD	Resurgence	2014	Doom II	BooMBF		X
RF1024.WAD	rf 1024	2016	Doom II	Zternity	X	X
ROTT_TC_FULL	Return of the Triad	2011	Doom / Doom II	ZDoom	X	X
SCMAIN.ZIP	Soulcrusher	2013	Doom II	GZDoom	X	X
SERAPH.WAD	The Lost Seraphim	2001	Doom II	ZDoom	X	X
SHADOWO*.WAD	Shadow of the Wool Ball	2016	Doom / Doom II	ZDoom	X	X
SIHR2FIX.WAD	Survive in Hell	2012	Doom	BooMBF		X
SKULDASH.PK3	Skulldash	2015	Doom II	Zandronum	X	X
SPACWARS.WAD	Doomed Space Wars	2015	Doom II	GZDoom		X
SPAWN.WAD	Spawn	2011	Doom II	GZDoom	X	X
SPIREC.WAD	Spire Complex	2011	Doom II	BooMBF		X
SQUARE1.PK3	The Adventures of Square	2014	The Adventures of Square	ZDoom	X	X
STRAIN.WAD	STRAIN	1997	Doom II	Vanilla	X	X
STRANGE*.PK3	Strange Aeons	2016	Doom / Doom II	ZDoom	X	X
T-MAYA.WAD	Mayan Mishap	2014	Doom II	BooMBF	X	X
TEITENGA.WAD	Assault on Tei Tenga	1999	Doom II	ZDoom		X
THEREFINERY.PK3	Refinery, The	2012	Doom	GZDoom		X
TITAN.WAD	Titan	2004	Doom II	ZDoom		X
TTP.WAD	Troopers' Playground, The	1996	Doom II	Vanilla		X
TWZONE2.WAD	Twilight Zone II	1999	Doom II	BooMBF	X	X
UACULTRA.WAD	UAC Ultra	2010	Doom II	BooMBF		X
UNHINGED.WAD	Unhinged	2012	Doom II	ZDoom		X
UNLOVED.PK3	Unloved	2010	Doom II	GZDoom		X
VALIANT.WAD	Valiant	2015	Doom II	BooMBF	X	X
VAPRDEMO.WAD	Vaporware Demo	2011	Doom II	Eternity		X
VG.WAD	Voodoo Guns	2011	Doom II	GLBooMBF	X	X
VOID.WAD	Void	2003	Doom II	ZDoom	X	X
WINTER'S_FURY.PK3	Winter's Fury	2012	Doom II	GZDoom	X	X
XA-DWIRE.WAD	dead.wire	2015	Doom II	GZDoom	X	X
ZDCMP2.PK3	ZDoom Community Map Project: Take 2	2012	Doom II	ZDoom	X	X
ZENDYN_X.WAD	Zen Dynamics	2006	Doom II	ZDoom	X	X