Doom64 EX (DOOM64.EXE)

Doom64 EX was one of Samuel Villarreal's passion projects, a source port developed for the express purpose of playing the original Doom 64 on the PC as accurately as possible. It also has its own level editor, allowing fans to make their own PWADs using the same features that the original designers used. As opposed to, you know, painstakingly recreating it all using a source port like GZDoom or Doomsday. The latter was the base of the Doom 64: Absolution TC, a project that Kaiser had a hand in and which is featured as one of Doomworld's Top 10 WADs of 2003.

Two Big Ones

I was gonna leave Icarus up until this next Friday but as long as actual news is happening, I should say something before it gets stale.

On the port side of things, Scoredoom got what I can only assume was an eagerly anticipated 3.0 release. If you haven't heard of Scoredoom before (who are you???) it's a mod that replaces certain enemies in Doom IWADs and PWADs as well as replacing powerups. It's semi-randomized, in that the port generates a random assortment of powerups and monsters for every map, but that map will always have that given setup. Then you play Scoredoom, get scored on various factors, and compete against other players. I'm still pretty young Doomwise so I'm staying away from stuff like this for now, but if I were to mod my gameplay regularly, Scoredoom would be one of my top plays. It's got a host of other features, of course, but I think I've touched on the important bits.

On the WAD side of things, Doom Core made its way to the archives. Doom Core is a 32-map MegaWAD (for Doom II, obviously) totalling much of Valkiriforce's output over the 2010 year. It's been rigorously tested to work in vanilla, so grizzled classic players take notice. I can't speak as to the quality of Doom Core yet but I did spend some time testing the first third of his 1996 style MegaWAD, Reverie, which was pretty damn challenging and fun to play (and also really fucking inventive), so I'll vouch for DCV.WAD, on top of the people already playing it and enjoying it in its development thread.

On the site side of things, the following WADs have been reviewed, I'm just stalling putting them up:

Polygon Base, by Rick Lipsey
A Hidden Mountain Factory, by Grzegorz Werner
99 Ways to Die, by Warren Marshall

The following WADs are on the chopping block:

Army of Darkness Doom (II), by some AoD fans
Dystopia 3: Re-Birth of Anarchy, by Anthony "Adelusion" Czerwonka and Iikka "Fingers" Keranen
The Troopers' Playground, by Matthias Worch

After I finish 1996 out I'll indulge myself in some non-"Best of" fare. Probably play through Doom Core, Raven, some other stuff. All I know is that quadruple threat of Eternal Doom, Requiem, S.T.R.A.I.N., and Hell Revealed, along with The Talosian Incident and Dawn of the Dead feels incredibly daunting. 1997 was one hell of a year, and yet Doom continues to march on...

Risen3D v2.2.10 released!

Risen3D put out a new edition of the Risen3D engine. From the website:

Changes over v220-9 ...

1. Code changes introduced in v220-9 meant that some analysis requirements were not being met. E.g infill flats on bridge near start of Requiem map13 but this is just one example amongst many that have now been fixed. 
2. The analysis code has been further extended to deal with previously ignored map tricks such as scrchhet.wad. Issues with recently released pwads have also been addressed. 
3. Rendering of doom alpha textures (walls and sprites) modified to get rid of fuzzy edges. In the case of sprites this can be changed in the in-game control panel under Textures (as some may prefer the previous way these were drawn). 
4. Rendering problems with recently released pwads have been addressed. 
5. Distortion in the automap fixed. This mainly occurred in fullscreen mode when the monitor's max resolution was not being selected. 
6. The in game console switch 'game-fastmonsters' has been removed as no-one seemed to know it was available. Instead this has now been optioned in the launcher under Options/Games. 
7. Lighting specials now applied with infill flats. 
8. The player weapon is now lit using the floor light level. 
9. Dating errors with pwads can now be fixed in R3D. Beluga, for example, is dated, inside its zip, as January 2012. This meant that saved games could not be used as they would pre-date the pwad. The user is now given the option of changing an incorrect pwad's date, where in advance of the current date, back to the current date. 
10. Various bugs fixed including some that could cause, in rare circumstances, the Risen3D error handler to force an exit. 
11. Resolved problem, when not using fullscreen, with screen save images or the image shown in control panel video with an ATI card.

Eternity Engine Update plus Vaporware Demo

Eternity's "Blue Box"

I haven't really used the Eternity Engine yet, but they just made a major update, extending compatibility and reaching toward Heretic support (and of course Hexen and Strife in the distant future). Cool stuff! In addition, there's apparently an Eternity project titled Vaporware that's been knocking around for some time. The Eternity Engine released a one map demo of the project along with the Engine update. I may take a look after finishing Memento Mori 2. After all, I've dabbled in PrBoom+ to play with Obituary. The least I can do is take a look at another fine Doom engine.