From clark.net!news.sprintlink.net!nic.hookup.net!swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!not-for-mail Sun Dec 12 21:37:49 1993
From: [email protected] (Paul Brinkley)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action
Subject: I have fully explored DOOM. Film at...well, now.
Date: 12 Dec 1993 06:52:37 -0600
Organization: CS Dept, University of Texas at Austin
Lines: 193
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
NNTP-Posting-Host: libyan.cs.utexas.edu


Yes, folks, it took me a while, but I found every single secret
door (and level) in Episode 1 of DOOM. I would've finished it
sooner, but I decided to start completely over after getting
halfway through, and I stopped to watch my first Anime movie -
_Nazi Sex Machine_, which I'm sure will warp my impression of
Anime features for the rest of my life - and, of course, eating
and sneezing (darn flu).

So, let's see what I can remember! _Major_ spoilers for DOOM...



Of _course_ I did it at Ultra-Violent level. Don't insult me. 🙂

First of all, it's confirmed. No Pulse Rifle or BFG 9000 in
Episode 1, not even behind secret doors. However, I _did_
get plenty of cells; I think I filled all the way up to 100.
(Backpacks are cool.)

Also, there are no Cacodaemons or Flying Flaming Heads. And
I was so looking forward to them, too. (Them Cacodaemons
look suspiciously like the Dreadnought on the cover of TSR's
Manual of the Planes, no?) Well, they didn't have the captains
in white in Wolf3D until episode 2, either, so I guess it's
fair enough. I'll try that game editing tip later and get
me the guns, though, dammit. 🙂

Finally, I found no Berserks, though I did find many Light Visors,
Partial Invisibilities, Radiation Suits, and Computer Area Maps.

"Secrets, by Zarquon, we want secrets!!"

Okay, okay, let's see:

Level 1: Two secret doors. The first is behind those Imps
way up on the ledge, which throw fireballs at you while
you're trying to navigate that path through the acid. Unless,
of course, you shoot them first. 🙂 The second door is just
past that room, on the right, and eventually leads outside to
that (yay!) blue armor.

Level 2: By now, many have said how you can get the chainsaw
by entering the computer area/disco, finding the spot where
the green armor is, and shooting the outside wall. However,
if you go to the opposite side of the computer area, you'll
notice two bright metal strips in the wall which look to be
about a door's width apart. Sure enough, there's a secret
door there, with a backpack behind it. Furthermore, after
you've gotten your chainsaw, search the walls of the passage
back to the computer area, and you'll find another secret door
(should be on your left as you leave). I can't recall any more,
so I'll leave this for now. Besides, level 3 is the biggie...

Level 3: Toxin Refinery! Secret level! Excellent! Yee-ha!
Woo woo woo woo...Okay, seriously now. I did try jumping into
the acid pit at the beginning, and as soon as I reached the far
side, the door there would open. 'Course, I still couldn't
reach it, and I promptly kept swimming around until I died.
There's a better way.
First of all, I wouldn't bother sniping from that half-door;
you use up a lot of health from sergeants blasting you from
just below with their shotguns. But kill and explore everywhere
else, and flip every obvious switch you see. After you do, you
should have on your map a diagonal passageway in the left wing
that leads to a computer room, also "diagonal". The walls don't
go N-S-E-W, but NW-SW-SE-NE, you know. I checked the computer
room for secret doors, and noticed that in two places, my marine
wouldn't grunt when I tried to open it. Then, while I was in map
mode, I was leaving the room and noticed that as I passed a
certain point in the hallway, those two places in the computer
room would turn yellow on the map. A-haaaa...Walking wouldn't
get me to them fast enough, and running in map mode is too much
like a drag race with fishtailing. So I went to the beginning
of the that hallway, waited for those doors to close again, and
ran in default mode to the upper door. Made it! Yay! IMPS!
YIPE!
Okay, I killed 'em. 🙂 Back there is a cave with acid
running around the perimeter. Also present are a rocket launcher
and several rockets; I think this is where you get your first.
Then run down the acid stream (out the opening that you'll
actually fit into) and you come to an alcove with a switch. It
is this switch, I believe, that triggers the bridge across the
infamous acid pit. Also at that alcove is a secret door leading
to your first chain gun, with other supplies, and an elevator
leading to one of the rooms you've already explored, through a
one-way secret door.
Do the running bit again, head for the second secret door in
the computer room, and ease down the dark spiral staircase until
you've killed all the Imps down there. (Sheesh.) Hit the switch
in the side of the pillar and get that pesky Power Charge.
Okay, cross that bridge and open the secret panel, and head
down the hallway. Oh yeah, kill the Imp in your way. Be careful!
There are two places down there which trigger secret doors to
rooms full of nasties (at least on Ultra-Violent); one in the
room at the end of the passageway, and one in the room beyond.
Just be prepared to back up, fast. When you battle your way
to the end, there's a small passage in the back of the last room
which leads to the room with the exit to the Military Base, the
secret level.
Don't leave just yet, though. Go the room opposite that
switch, and bring down the elevator. It takes you up top,
where there's another box of rockets. Keep going a little
further and you come out looking down at the Oval Pit. Look
familiar?
That's all I can remember for level 3. For the life of
me, I can't remember the right wing at all. I'll look at the
level again later; I have a saved game for the end of each
level, revealing the entire map.

Level 9 (Secret): Military Base. Cage o'Imps. Pentagram (yow).
Weapons room, where I can only get the box of shells and the
Chainsaw (darn). I think there's effectively four secret doors,
though it's kinda hard to say, and to leave the level, you must
find two of them. (And since they're in the middle of an acid
trip with Imps, it's a booger.) Someone wanted to know where
the other ones are, so here you go: Go to the room just south
of center, and stand in the upper-right corner. It's an
elevator. Have fun. (There's another elevator on the opposite
side; you'll know what I mean when you see it.)

Level 4: Command Center. You know, I don't recall a single
secret door here. But there _is_ the two rooms at either end
of that acid trench in one room; one leads to a switch and
elevator and a few goodies, which is cool, but the other leads
to a room with a Sergeant, _more_ goodies (another rocket
launcher, for instance), and a switch and elevator to a
Power Charge! That thing is a bitch to get, and when I
studied it for a while, the impression I got was that this
was something for multiple players to get only. But you
_can_ get it.
You see, you pull the switch, and the elevator goes up to
where the Power Charge is. But it _doesn't come down_. Ever.
One shot deal. And the elevator, while close to the switch,
isn't _quite_ close enough. Which makes it look like a
cooperation deal. You can't even flip the switch and run to
the elevator; you'll get hung on the edge or something, and
louse up, even if you try it again and again by backing up
by quick-restoring. (Back up?! Waitaminute...)

Level 5: Phobos Lab, and the music I love so much. Anyhow,
kill everything. Don't fret too much about getting seriously
hurt in that big room on the left; as I posted before, there's
blue armor that you can get afterward by running off one of
those rising platforms, and a series of secret doors in the
middle of the window leading to a Radiation Suit, Chainsaw,
and Power Charge. On the right, in the room with the acid
and the rising pathway connecting two doors, is another secret
door in the lower right (notice the discoloration in the wall),
though you have to jump in the acid to get to it. Take a
chance. If you forget anything, just remember this: once
you're in the computer room, and you're about to press that
red button in the corner behind the outjutting wall, open the
wall on the other side of that outjutting wall, i.e. the same
side of the room that the red button is on, and almost next
to it. Secret room, with Computer Map. The first in the game,
I think.

Level 6: Too many secret doors, panels, traps, and goodies
(_two_ Radiation Suits!) for me to remember. Just get your
Blue Keycard, go into the area where the square rooms with
acid are, and search the far right wall of that area. Secret
door with another map.

Level 7: Whattabitch. I spent most of this level with about
6% health, courtesy of Imps-throwing-fireballs-from-clear-
across-the-level, Zombie Marines shooting at me from above,
Sergeants filling my chin with lead shot from below, and
numerous trapped walls. Talk about having an itchy trigger
finger the whole time...But experiment with that round rising
platform. If you can get on that ledge leading to the room
with the map, you're home free, secret-wise.

Level 8: A breather compared to level 7, but the ending was
beautiful. Thanks, ID; I'll be phoning you shortly. 🙂


Finally, a note on music. Dmxgus.ini worked perfectly. I
must say that the songs for levels 5 and 7, and the ending
theme, were my favorites. Level 5 had me feeling like an
orchestra was following me around, and level 7's theme just
_says_ DOOM. The high-pitched shimmering had me suddenly
darting around, looking for the door that just opened. 🙂
And the ending theme was moving. I think I'll go to sleep
with my earphones on, playing that tune. Aaahhhh...

So what's the best etiquette for ordering? Shall I just
immediately start by saying, "I want DOOM" in a hoarse
whisper, or shall I ask if they have Spectre-in-a-Can?

Paul Brinkley
[email protected]