The DWIronman League dies to: Death Tormention III

June, 2024

> The yearly standings

> The Ironman Discord Server

Standard Leaderboard

1. [2] E4M8: Asbadagba
2. [1] E4M8: joe-ilya
3. [1] E4M8: dt_
4. [1] E4M8: Beginner
5. [2] E4M8: Hitherto
6. [1] E4M5: Bertt91
7. [1] E4M5: NaZa
8. [1] E4M5: Anima Zero
9. [1] E4M4: Suitepee
10. [2] E4M4: Vince Vega
11. [1] E4M4: Horus
12. [1] E4M4: ByRntStarOEI
13. [1] E4M3: Andromeda
14. [1] E4M3: purple_ruberoid
15. [1] E4M9: Pseudonaut
16. [1] E4M2: Doomy__Doom
17. [1] E4M2: Detour.Inc
18. [1] E4M2: ArchvileHunter
19. [1] E4M2: LadyMistDragon
20. [1] E4M2: PBeGood
21. [1] E4M2: Austinado
22. [1] E4M1: SCF
23. [1] E4M1: SleepyVelvet
24. [1] E4M1: Li'l devil
25. [1] E4M1: Pegleg

Prepared Leaderboard

1. ...

What is the Doomworld Ironman League?

The DWIronman League is a monthly competition in which participants aim to survive for as many levels as possible in the given map set, preferably in one sitting. Click the spoiler tag at the bottom of the post for a detailed list of rules. Players of all levels of ability are welcome. It could change the way you play Doom!

In June 2024 the DWIronman League dies to Death Tormention 3 (-complevel 9*) by @pcorf and @Kristian Nebula, starting from E4. I'm of firm belief that the League should arguably play at least one (Ultimate) Doom feature every year, because that's a different challenge to the regular Doom II sets. Usually this pick would be Hadron E2 or Draft Excluder, but it's been barely over a year since the last cannonball feature, so there's that. Dawn of the Dead was also in the running but warning about the death teleporter on M3 and being prepared for the cyber surprise on M7, it's really not difficult. Such, I settled on this; a set I've not played before, but which looks promising and also quite tasty from the two-minute dabbles I've had on a few maps. Besides, it's PCorf. Have fun! I can't say whether this one would be hard or easy. Next month we might be looking at a one-off in terms of how the competition is structured, anyway, so I wanted something a bit more traditional before that.

Essential Info

• The Ultimate Doom (doom.wad); regular Doom won't suffice, as we're playing an Episode 4 replacement.
• Compatibility level 9, or "Boom (strict)" for ZDoom derivative ports. Read below.
• 8 (+1) maps starting from E4M1.
• Time estimate (total, if survival): 2.5 - 4 hours
• If you stumble upon a secret exit on E4M9, DO NOT USE IT. It is a secret level (M10) only accesible through ZDoom.
• SOFTLOCKS AND DISCLAIMERS:
  • On E4M2, do not jump into the red-stone lava pits behind one of the exit doors in the map. They're inescapable.
  • On E4M9, despite the arrow pointing to a marble face with green torches at one point, unless you're well prepared, DO NOT PRESS IT.  There's a more secret way of handling the potential encounter. Normally I wouldn't warn about that, but it will more than likely kill everyone who didn't stumble upon a secret prior to that. Especially considering it's metres away from the actual exit.
  • On E4M8, if you go into the super dark, blackened, areas (first seen during a downward venture through red rocks), you die immediately.
• *From what I've read, the version in Death Tormention: Complete Pack is the final version + the sky on M8 displays properly. Each map also loads on prB+, so I reckon it's compatible. However, as the demos are recorded both in cl3 and cl9, and considering a few instances where that led to confusion and map breakage (Ironeagle's Whitemare comes to mind), it's best if we assume cl9. Nothing should break; the demo thread on this forum uses cl9.

> Download Death Tormention: The Complete Trilogy (playing only E4!)

prboom-plus.exe -iwad doom.wad -file dtpack.wad -complevel 9 -skill 4 -record demo_name.lmp -warp 4 1

Rules:

Previous threads:

I am ready for pcorf and Nebula maps. Their techniques are very inspiring.

Edit: Launch line has Doom2.wad and not Doom.wad

3 minutes ago, ClumsyCryptid said:

Edit: Launch line has Doom2.wad and not Doom.wad

Was bound to happen sooner or later; thanks! Amended.

Category: 1

Dead on: M2

Map entered at: 10:27

Time of Death: 19:08 (8:41)

Kills: 99/102

Died to an inescapable pit while looking for secrets, one of the most infuriating ways to lose an ironman. It may have actually been a blessing in disguise though, as the titular "death tormention" seems to refer to IRL death from boredom by playing an Ultimate Doom wad in 2024. Yawn.

avhunter-DTPACK.zip

Category: 1

Dead on: MAP01

Kills: 72/90

DWIL_24-06_DTPACK_SCF.zip

The appeal of Ultimate Doom wads continues to elude me. I try to play them in good faith and I'm rewarded by having to chaingun a baron on the first level. It makes me play sloppy because the prospect of 1-2 hours of that makes an early death seem preferable. At least the single map I saw looked nice.

Oh what the hell, I'm only getting worse and worse at ironman. I died almost as soon as I started, and this is the second time in a row that it happened (see my SiD attempt). I hate this. If the same thing happens next month as well, I'll probably just ragequit for good. -_-

Oh and of course E4M1 is shotgunner hell from the start, as expected. I like shotgunners, but why do so many mappers make them the most common enemy, come on.

Cat 1, Woof!, kills 15/90.

lildevil_dtpack.zip

10 hours ago, Archvile Hunter said:

Died to an inescapable pit while looking for secrets

Added to OP, sorry it happened to you. Also added a disclaimer for a horrible "secret" around the end of E4M9. I have no idea who looked at that and said "yea, that'll make for a good fight," when it's more secret than the intended way of handling the fight, let alone the exit is literally 32 units away from the door you come through. I managed to pull through - my 99% blind run is still ongoing - but man, that was a huge leap and just plain unfair.

Double post! I died on E4M5. Category 2 on pure technicality, as the first few minutes of the opener and the first two areas of M5 are what I had scouted prior to selecting.

dwironman_jun24_naza.zip

Now, I feel the need to say something. This was, in hindsight, not a good pick. It's a UDoom WAD, but it also has quite long levels and there's more barons than you'd expect. I feel as so far this year is not as disbalanced as 2020 was, and that it was at least more blind-friendly (other than M9) than the other pcorf WAD I chose that year, but it could still be handled better. Thus, apologies are in order for that particular mishap. 

However, I need to also point the attention to the fact that the community can get involved. On the server, there's a channel for suggesting future Ironman sets to have a pool to fall back into and to reduce the likelihood of this happening. Sadly, not a single message was sent there during the 17 months the server was up (the perms were well set, I checked). There are people who might be disappointed with the sets being chosen and thus those people stopped participating; they, sadly, never raised their concerns or suggestions outloud (or to me personally), when they have had (and still have) the chance to do so. I too want the challenge to become more consistent with its picks, but I also want to be in the position to choose what the community finds good. It's not easy trying to find sets that won't kill everybody by the halfway point or sets everyone would survive.

In my defense, I've played maybe 20 sets total outside of Ironman before 2023 (some of which are inelligible due to sheer length), and honestly, it becomes a problem to find the balance between length, blind-friendliness and playability overall. @Li'l devil rose a point in the server that I should play the sets in full before choosing them. While I could do that, that would be very detrimental to the spirit of Ironman, as my already a-bit-larger head start would get far, far larger. Even now, a glance at the table suggests I generally do better at sets I choose, when in some cases - like ICAR2015 and MAP12 of CC3 - I hadn't played them outside of a 2 minute sprint through [a single (!) map of] the set. The last thing I'd want is this competition being brought into disrepute because of myself.

I also want to remind people they can get even more directly involved by being a guest-host. While they're usually made on the basis of me asking people, if you have a pick in mind that you see people potentially making it quite far through on a blind playthrough, do DM me. And lastly, if people would prefer me to step down and they'd feel that would improve the quality of the League in the long run, I'd be happy to do so from 2025 onwards. Maybe fresh blood, and someone who's better at following the new WADs coming out, would help liven the competition up. I'd still keep participating on a monthly basis.

I for one appreciate the effort all the hosts have been putting into DWIL. I dont expect every map set to be up my alley, and while it's disappointing when boredom or fatigue ends a run before the actual challenge does, it happens. In hindsight, I shouldn't have played this one on the same day where I put an hour into this month's IronEagle entry (which had its own issues).

Vetting potential wads beforehand would be good in theory, but I completely understand that it would put the host in an awkward position. More recommendations from other participants seems like the ideal solution, although there's the added challenge that I (and probably many others) almost exclusively play with pistol starts, so continuous play may be a completely different experience. Just because you remember enjoying something in a casual setting doesn't mean it's suitable for the ironman format.

If length preventing is some wads from being used, I don't think it'd be a problem to only use the first X maps and count it as a survival if you complete those. Even if most players wouldn't even get that far, it's more approachable when you know you're not in for a potential 3 hour haul.

6 hours ago, NaZa said:

a point in the server that I should play the sets in full before choosing them. While I could do that, that would be very detrimental to the spirit of Ironman, as my already a-bit-larger head start would get far, far larger.

There's probably no easy way to combine making quality selections with blind runs. Some options to turn over in the brain:

1) The chair can do a C1 run prior to selecting the wad, and then inspect it in detail. The whole thing runs on trust anyway, so we'll just have to believe that the chair won't mysteriously pick only wads they've done in really well. The chair will essentially be playing ahead of everyone by a month.

2) Change Standard categories to 1-Blind, 2-Non-blind old memory, 3-Non-blind recent memory. Chair has to play in C3 and has a penalty or something on the points table. Existing C3 is barely if ever seen anyway.

3) Build a library of inspected wads ahead of time (half a year ahead or something) and be able to submit C2s without sacrificing selection quality.

4) Accept that terrible picks are part of the charm

As a stopgap, if you have a wad or two in mind that you really don't want to spoil for yourself for coming months, I'm open to sacrificing my own Standard runs to inspect them. I'll still get to do my private C1/2 run, even if I can't submit it, that's what I'm here for moreso than the point table. And the actual month will get a prepared, I guess.

Maybe on Discord we should create a channel to discuss potential picks. Say, someone brings up a wad and asks if it's a good idea to run it, then someone who already played it or familiar with it confirms whether it's a good pick or not, and if it is, then it can be picked for ironman somewhere later down the line.

Category: 1
Dead on: E4M2
Time: 10:26
Kills: 35/102

dwiron_24-06_dd.zip

Commentary:

Category: 1

Dead on: E4M2

Kills:?

Time: has to be around 14:30, exited E4M1 at....11:18?

Too many Barons, too cramped and basically up a creek

lmd_tormentofiron.zip

1 hour ago, Doomy__Doom said:

1) The chair can do a C1 run prior to selecting the wad, and then inspect it in detail. 

That's... a really good workaround, actually. My primary port outside Ironman is ZDoom so I usually never tap into prB+. This is a genuinely good idea and I might attempt to incorporate that for the future. After the run, if the chair doesn't get far, they can inspect the later maps to see whether it's viable as a whole, which deals with the consistency of the set.

Thank you for this.

1 hour ago, Li'l devil said:

Maybe on Discord we should create a channel to discuss potential picks. Say, someone brings up a wad and asks if it's a good idea to run it, then someone who already played it or familiar with it confirms whether it's a good pick or not, and if it is, then it can be picked for ironman somewhere later down the line.

Well, that's what I envisioned the #suggestions channel to be, someone suggests a WAD and we discuss it. Sadly that didn't happen.

Category 1 demo. Died on E4M8 and my thoughts on this are "What the fuck is this?"

https://youtu.be/dQYQGgyFtBg

Category 1 run. Died on E4M4 to a shotgunner with 14/332 monsters killed.

Crossposting from Discord, but with more context.

Category: Prepared (*)
Died on E4M3 to a Baron.

(*) Notes: I suffered total system failure two days ago while doing my Cat 1 run. Motherboard threw a faulty PROCHOT Ext error, crashed my CPU down to 0.050mhz then blue screened, failed to boot to my drive and then refused to turn on. Discovered that my GPU also fried from the Mobo's failure. CPU is fine and healthy, strangely the only component that my old motherboard didn't take down with it. Lots of stress trying to cobble the computer back together.. New parts installed and nothing was working, figured out that I forgot to plug the PCI-E cable into the PSU thinking it was already connected. Computer runs smoothly now, but I need to reinstall/hook-up the drives that are not connected at the moment.

Hopefully my computer is stable going forward. I hope next month I don't run into the same sudden system failure crash and have to redo the above all over.

IMClumsydtpack-PREP.zip

DEAD: E4M1

Category: 1 (blind)

Kills: 63/90

ToD: 6:30

Port: DSDA-Doom 0.27.2

Demo: noisy_DTPACK_ironman.zip

e4m8

cat 2-

time: don't ask (3+ hr)

played this 7 years ago, forget quite a lot, including what killed me.

dtp4-IM2406-hth.zip

Died on E4M5 with 56 kills or so.  Roughly an hour and 40+ minutes of play.  Goddamn ninja Baron!

DWIronman_DTorm_AnimaZero.zip

DEAD: E4M3

Category: 1 (blind, unprepared)

Kills: 17/193 (could't find 3 enemies on E4M2, if that is important)

ToD: 44:25

Port: DSDA-Doom 0.26.2

Demo: DSDA-Doom_2024.06.08_dtpack.zip
 

cat 2
dead on e4m8
dead at 122:38
7/153 kills
e4m8 entered at 121:42

beat e4m9

ironman_2024_06_asbadagba.zip

Cat 1

Dead on E4M4

Dead at 69:30

185/332 kills

0horus_ironman_2024_06.zip

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/idturra0ka00dft0y0fb9/dtdthoho.lmp?rlkey=ka13x6mp61w094vomj6f4vugf&st=hx1i3f5m&dl=1

Cat 1

Entered m8 at about three hours, felt like about 10.  Pretty wad, just felt really long

If you go into the black areas on map 8, first seen on the downward redrock staircase, you die immediately.  I'm not even going to spoiler that

please use forum attachment feature instead of 3rd party sites.

On 6/4/2024 at 11:00 AM, NaZa said:

Double post! I died on E4M5. Category 2 on pure technicality, as the first few minutes of the opener and the first two areas of M5 are what I had scouted prior to selecting.

 

dwironman_jun24_naza.zip

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Jesus Christ the amount of holding down LMB in this set is crazy. There's no armor either. I had so much luck on a few maps, I had a rocket face-plant into a teleporting enemy, I had a double cyberdemon tango on E4M9, and I made it through with luck. It tore me down, though, and I started M5 a bit iffy with time considering I have two midterms on Thursday. Thus I started playing badly and, well, lost my marbles pretty quickly.

 

The biggest hint is the automap, as no secret wall is tagged secret, so you can easily find all the secrets. That's a huge help and it helped me a lot.

 

Now, I feel the need to say something. This was, in hindsight, not a good pick. It's a UDoom WAD, but it also has quite long levels and there's more barons than you'd expect. I feel as so far this year is not as disbalanced as 2020 was, and that it was at least more blind-friendly (other than M9) than the other pcorf WAD I chose that year, but it could still be handled better. Thus, apologies are in order for that particular mishap.

Hmm, I always thought some inconsistency is an essential part of the DWI, just like when you casually play WADs of different authors, even id Software had very inconsistent style and difficulty (compare Doom E1/2/3 with E4)... Different hosts, different WAD authors, different complevels (which also adds some variety) -- this is expected and welcome, I'd be tired of playing same style WADs again and again :D

(so I strongly believe there's nothing for you to apologize for)

Specifically, from @pcorf's works, I UV-Maxed 2002: ADO and Whispers of Satan and would also name them, hmm, strange, weird, I don't know, but overall I had mixed/complicated emotions from these two. Just like I had the same from some of the DWI picks that I played. Still, this didn't affect my overall experience with the DWIL etc etc :>

After reading your post, I became curious now whether my ultra-hard submissions (Criticality & Miasma for March'21, DVII for April this year) with no survivors hurt overall DWIronman experience in your opinion. I'm fine with any answer, just wanted to know how it does look like to you guys :D

Category: 1

Dead on: E4M3

Kills: 23/193

Time on E4M2 exit: 26:58

Where's the ammo?

im_andromeda_dtpack_e4.zip

Category: 1

Death: Map02

Kills: 21/102

Where's the health? And progression?

pbe_dt3.lmp.zip

cat 1

death map 02

kills 14/102

I'm used to doing practiced speedruns, but this is fun too. 

IronmanDT3.zip