Uploaded July 2020 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Pwad: Eternal DooM
Pwad name: eternal.wad
Maps: 20 - Silures, by Bob Evans
Author: vdgg
Comments:
Heh, I didn't complete it on my first Eternal walkthrough, even AFTER watching the demos. You have to find a few obscure switches (I didn't realize you can press a tree), I know the mapper gave *hints* to his secrets, but they were not clear enough for me. Also, you will likely meet all mid-tier monsters equipped with the shotgun and chaingun: rocket launcher and SSG are hidden near the start, plasma weapons are hidden else-where.
Still, for building demos, I think this is easier than Couleur's maps. Once you learn where to go and what switch does what, you have no problems with wandering monsters or random surprises.
Existing UV Max demos are excellent, Migru's Max may be his best demo ever, and TimeOfDeath showed his usual more aggresive approach and provided an instructive text file. I made a few
modifications to his route, some are "TAS-only" (berserk faster than SSG when you can manipulate damage and have no fear of being scratched by monsters, so I go for the secret berserk first), some I would use in a normal run: getting BFG ASAP is beneficial, I think, even if at a cost of 2 arch-viles resurrecting an imp army.
Just a few "highlights": there are plenty good-looking moments, just my favourites + some miscellaneous commentary:
1:12 - 1:16 I like these 3 SSG shots while zig-zaging in straight lines.
1:42 A big, big mistake. When busy punching, I completely miss an imp! I realized that after building about 3:30 minutes of the demo... (*) Luckily I figured it is quite accessible later, I kill the imp at 6:16.
2:53 - 2:58 Again, I like punching the demons at full speed, plus 2 rockets kill 7 lost souls. This may look like nothing special, but it wasn't trivial at all.
3:22 The megasphere fight looks awesome. And a hell knight and a chaingunner kill each other... Not much of a time-saver, their health was low and I had chaigun ready for the survivor.
3:44 This slime area is weird! The ceiling is fake, it is really very high. I have to wait for caco lowering, much time probably lost here (I bet 20 tics at very least), but this area with no caco in sight was very annoying.
4:44 - 4:48 Killing two arch-viles so fast you may not notice the first one :)
6:43 The red key outside area is a very good looking one. I actually knew there was a caco fight other than "caco heaven" in the WAD, but I forgot it was in Silures. The combat, I take it slow. The fastest is to use rockets first or wait, BFG last. But I don't care, the mancubi are released after 30 seconds, so I had nothing to do anyway.
The end: nice, BTW the third demo (I think) in which the chaigun is the last weapon used...
(*) I often use the partial, unfinished runs as "games" to be loaded and finish them non-assisted with -recordfromto, to see if everything is under control. This time I should've done this more often...
Download this Doom replay from here: dsdarchive.com/files/demos/eternal/1164/et20x744.zip
Pwad: Eternal DooM
Pwad name: eternal.wad
Maps: 20 - Silures, by Bob Evans
Author: vdgg
Comments:
Heh, I didn't complete it on my first Eternal walkthrough, even AFTER watching the demos. You have to find a few obscure switches (I didn't realize you can press a tree), I know the mapper gave *hints* to his secrets, but they were not clear enough for me. Also, you will likely meet all mid-tier monsters equipped with the shotgun and chaingun: rocket launcher and SSG are hidden near the start, plasma weapons are hidden else-where.
Still, for building demos, I think this is easier than Couleur's maps. Once you learn where to go and what switch does what, you have no problems with wandering monsters or random surprises.
Existing UV Max demos are excellent, Migru's Max may be his best demo ever, and TimeOfDeath showed his usual more aggresive approach and provided an instructive text file. I made a few
modifications to his route, some are "TAS-only" (berserk faster than SSG when you can manipulate damage and have no fear of being scratched by monsters, so I go for the secret berserk first), some I would use in a normal run: getting BFG ASAP is beneficial, I think, even if at a cost of 2 arch-viles resurrecting an imp army.
Just a few "highlights": there are plenty good-looking moments, just my favourites + some miscellaneous commentary:
1:12 - 1:16 I like these 3 SSG shots while zig-zaging in straight lines.
1:42 A big, big mistake. When busy punching, I completely miss an imp! I realized that after building about 3:30 minutes of the demo... (*) Luckily I figured it is quite accessible later, I kill the imp at 6:16.
2:53 - 2:58 Again, I like punching the demons at full speed, plus 2 rockets kill 7 lost souls. This may look like nothing special, but it wasn't trivial at all.
3:22 The megasphere fight looks awesome. And a hell knight and a chaingunner kill each other... Not much of a time-saver, their health was low and I had chaigun ready for the survivor.
3:44 This slime area is weird! The ceiling is fake, it is really very high. I have to wait for caco lowering, much time probably lost here (I bet 20 tics at very least), but this area with no caco in sight was very annoying.
4:44 - 4:48 Killing two arch-viles so fast you may not notice the first one :)
6:43 The red key outside area is a very good looking one. I actually knew there was a caco fight other than "caco heaven" in the WAD, but I forgot it was in Silures. The combat, I take it slow. The fastest is to use rockets first or wait, BFG last. But I don't care, the mancubi are released after 30 seconds, so I had nothing to do anyway.
The end: nice, BTW the third demo (I think) in which the chaigun is the last weapon used...
(*) I often use the partial, unfinished runs as "games" to be loaded and finish them non-assisted with -recordfromto, to see if everything is under control. This time I should've done this more often...
Download this Doom replay from here: dsdarchive.com/files/demos/eternal/1164/et20x744.zip
![[TAS] Doom: Eagles 1 - Map 4 UV-Speed in 3:01 by Dimon12321
I waked up early, on the 1st of January, completely bored, with no alcohol in my blood. I turned on 24/7 Doom Speedrunning stream and saw ELMLEs D2All speedrun of this wad. For some reason, only map 4 caught my attention. Even though its boring since all you do is making laps around the mountain, trying to climb to the top of it, I became intrigued how much time could be saved, so I completed it in one breath.
Nothing interesting, Im just running and sometimes shooting imps that somehow manage to block my way. Also, the last lava cross was extremely unlucky because I needed just 1 more tic to step on the ground, so I had to waste some time to let the damaging period start over. I made the top arachnotron kill me just for entertainment.
Lets consider this as my most boring TAS. I regret not using -turbo 255 here. That would make sense.
Music: Plutonia MIDI Pack - Map 18 (Fire Hive by Jimmy)
https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/music/plutmidi [TAS] Doom: Eagles 1 - Map 4 UV-Speed in 3:01 by Dimon12321](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/6m4ht6XRrUU/mqdefault.jpg)

![[TAS] Doom: REKKR - E1M3 UV-Max in 2:15
UV-Max route for this map turned out quite unordinary. During the map analysis and planning, I found that its better to run across the whole map, grab a new weapon, Soul Launcher, and complete the map using its full potential. Fortunately, the map involves some back-tracking.
Its possible to take a secret map by revealing a blue key behind a secret, open a door with it, it takes to a special part of the map where you solve a puzzle... 2 puzzles in order to open the secret exit. Episode UV-Max requires beating secret maps, so you will see one more map. Its quite easy.
Sometimes speed orientation may be harmful because I sometimes ignore grabbing former humans souls. They disappear when their animation is over. Hope it wont provoke the lack of soul ammo.
When Soul Launcher is not available, soul bow is better at killing individual enemies while steel launcher is better at killing weak couples (4+ monsters per a shot), but once you have it, theres little point in using any of those.
Soul Launcher is basically a faster Soul Bow. You shoot 1 projectile per 12 tics (ReFire state). If you let the fire button go, it takes 12 tics for it to reach its Ready state. With a bit of manipulations, we deal ~2.5 times more damage per minute than we do with Soul Bow. [TAS] Doom: REKKR - E1M3 UV-Max in 2:15](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/6nMpkpPkocI/mqdefault.jpg)
![[TAS] Doom: E1M3s - UV-Speed in 0:27 by Dimon12321
This is a tool-assisted speedrun that completes E1M3 using the secret exit quickly. It was recorded frame-by-frame in XDRE 2.20.
I wasnt making Doom TASes for a month, so I took something simple to refresh my XDRE skills. Even though its an official game and every modern TAS must squeeze everying out and be super-jittery, I still put smoothness and watchability on the first place. Undoubtly, the time can be improved.
Most moments of the map was nothing, but RNG manipulations to make monsters leave the way.
The hallway and the room with the yellow key was sluggish because the section is turned at 45 degrees, resulting in square hitboxes blocking much more space.
I have doubts its possible to make monsters NOT to occupy the narrow hallway on my way back, but who knows what magic can RNG do with them.
Fence glide was discovered by Looper, I can assume. It was used in Light_Speeds Episode 1 UV-Fast TAS. [TAS] Doom: E1M3s - UV-Speed in 0:27 by Dimon12321](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/6vN98YQ4gTI/mqdefault.jpg)

![[TAS] Doom: Eternal 3 - Map 25 UV-Max in 6:41 by vdgg
Pwad: Eternal DooM
Pwad name: eternal.wad
Maps: 25 - Beginners End, by Jim Flynn
Author: vdgg
Comments:
I have mixed feelings about this one.
The time seems all right and I am satisfied with most of my time-saving tactics used. However, the aesthetic part suffers in a few occasions. There are no sharper turns than TR9/TL9 in the whole demo, I even smoothed sharp turns caused by berserk punch, something I never did before, but the movement seems strange, not stylish enough for me.
This is the easiest one out of three Jim Flynn maps, yet it is still extremely complex. I had to repeat a few bits (not very long, fortunately) due to forgetting about a vital switch. I counted that the player has pressed thirty switches only up to the YK door, not including shootable switches, walls to be pushed or linedefs to be crossed.
The most interesting part of the demo for me is the ultra-gimmicky security room, in which I refused to press one non-vital switch. I managed to escape the room despite the DONT EVEN THINK ABOUT IT! sign on the glass door, running through the basement that was still burning in flames. But despite this security breach, one pressing switch through wall trick (2:07) discovered by
TimeOfDeath and one switch from below while running (4:12), I have to say the mapper has been very meticulous as everything else works fine (linedef actions are so complex that something *should* be broken but it is hard to find bugs).
Oh yes, if you press the stair-raising switch (0:52 in the demo) and run like hell to the ground floor, youll get trapped there forever, but it is unlikely in a normal run.
On the whole, this map is a strike of a genius, I call it the best Flynn creation ever, there are even two visually impressive areas (the bank lobby and the outside towers), something odd in his generally very ugly maps. This map may not have the greatest replay value, but undoubtedly is a golden mine of ideas for other level designers. Usage of stairbuilding actions is not to be surpassed by anyone else and did you notice that there is hardly a normal, not spectacular, room in the whole level?
Back to the demo. As for the cyber vs spider battle, I noticed that the spider always wins by a big margin, so I tried shooting it first in order to even the odds. This didnt work as at the blue key the battle was not finished yet with the cyber having 2700 HP left and the spider having 1600 HP left which seemed too much. Shooting the spider first is also not recommended in non assisted runs, as you may get the mastermind stuck its usual way and you will deal with the very healthy cyber afterwards.
So I changed my strategy there and I had a long chain of miraculous coincidences and you may see the result which I love watching over and over again :)
The techtowers/mega-staircase section seems strangely approached, but I believe it to be optimal if my understanding of this section and of Doom mechanics is correct. At 5:45 I kill a heavy weapon dude with rocket splash damage to prevent him from triggering lowering one of the lifts too early. Then, between 5:50 and 5:56, there is a long 6 second pause. Lowering the lift too early causes it land too high in its lowest point to step on it. Everything is counted to the very last tic and using another lift, closer to the skull switch, is just a few tics slower.
Download this Doom replay from here: https://www.dsdarchive.com/files/demos/eternal/1191/et25x641.zip [TAS] Doom: Eternal 3 - Map 25 UV-Max in 6:41 by vdgg](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/7Fi3wSOXHnY/mqdefault.jpg)
![[TAS] Doom: Bourgeois Megawad - Map 1 UV-Pacifist in 0:09.49
Decay moved Bourgeois Megawad to the list of active WADs. I decided to join the party. I havent been making TAS movies for 4 weeks, so I had to choose some simple WAD to refresh my skills.
I had to perform a 32-unit glide twice and do some manipulations to keep enemies shut up. I didnt even have to attack anybody. However, its questionable if its faster to grab the BFG and take down the imps.
The maps were built primarily for deathmatches, so no wonder why they are easy to speedrun. They arent big, not overcrowded with monsters and provide powerful weapons. [TAS] Doom: Bourgeois Megawad - Map 1 UV-Pacifist in 0:09.49](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/7JapSKcgPcc/mqdefault.jpg)
![[TAS] TMNT 2: Battle Nexus - Episode 6-6 in 0:34 (Regular fighting)
You fight on a small arena surrounded with barriers. There are 2 tactics to choose:
1) Destroy a barrier and push Shredder of the cliff
2) Fight him
Of course, the first tactic is much faster, although it takes effort to execute because Shredder dashes back to the center of the arena, if you take too much time to knock him away.
The second tactic is complicated. Like Traximus, Shredder goes into the pain state only once in-between attacks.
He can do the following actions:
1) Swings his sword twice and shoots 3 fireballs at you
2) Catches and throws you
3) Does a massive blow-up of multiple fireballs (if he performs 2+ dashes on his way to the arena center or if you stay far away from him)
The whole fight is about doing a combo (or 2 hits + 1 strong hit) and dodging his attack. Unlike with Traximus, you have to let Shredder do his swings, although his second swing doesn’t have a big hitbox.
Maybe Leonardo would be more profitable here because his dash move cannot knock Shredder down once he has gone into the pain state. Anyway, I didnt go for the fastest time here. Its just a showcase video. Its 25 seconds slower than the cliff tactic. [TAS] TMNT 2: Battle Nexus - Episode 6-6 in 0:34 (Regular fighting)](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/7KfKniu1kXg/mqdefault.jpg)
![[TAS] Freedoom 0.9 Map 30 - UV Max in 4:33 by Dimon12321
Basically, this is the last version of Freedoom where Map 30 is built like real final map instead of traditional Doom 2-like map where you teleport straight to the room with the Icon of Sin. When I first played this map, it was so confusing for me I had to enter IDCLIP just to finally get to the darn room with the final boss.
Yeah, the map is kinda long and boring if you dont know where to go. You have to go twice through a long way to the room with a maze and 2 portals at the end, and also, go once through a copy of the loud lifting room with a lift occupied by a mancubus. The map also has a teleport that leads to secret places, depending on from which side you step it.
That fake section with a loud lifting room and a lift also features a tiny room with a spider mastermind, but the secret with the BFG provides a switch that activates crushers.
Nevertheless, the dev team didnt reject this legacy. The map, except the final boss part, now occupies E3M7 slot in Freedoom: Phase 1.
The music is great, by the way! It is called Paranoia. Too bad its removed, like most of Picklehammers MIDIs. Only 3 of 11 tracks reached Freedoom 0.13.0.
This TAS is my contribution to Freedoom speedrunning thread on Doomworld: https://www.doomworld.com/forum/topic/115275-freedoom-speedruns/?do=findComment&comment=2394917 [TAS] Freedoom 0.9 Map 30 - UV Max in 4:33 by Dimon12321](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/87dM8OCMnEw/mqdefault.jpg)

