+ DOOM MYTHS +

Below are some common myths that have circulated among Doom newsgroups, message
boards or other social media outlets since the 1990s.  The "truths" that follow
are what I've discovered or verified in my own experience with the games.

The information here generally refers to the original, commercially released PC
classic Doom/Doom II games; but much of it also applies to various game-console
and mobile versions of those games.

Common Doom (1993) and Doom II Myths

Doom may look like a 3D game, but it's really just a 2D game
Players and monsters are infinitely tall
Every hidden item/area can affect a player's Secrets-found score
Invincibility protects a player from all harm
A Berserk power-up lasts about 30 seconds
Monsters can telefrag players at any time
The double-barrelled shotgun fires twice as many pellets
You need a rocket launcher to get in that blue box on Mt. Erebus
The invisible rays of the BFG 9000 only hit what the player sees
Revenant missiles are always homing missiles
Most monster types cannot fight with their own kind
When monster respawning is on, they respawn every 8 seconds
Arch-Viles can resurrect any monster type
Spider Masterminds can't be punched, or killed with only punches
Ghost monsters can only be killed by rocket or barrel explosions
It's impossible to use cheats while recording demos
Doom 95 is one specific game, or is a collection of games
Doom/Doom II games are freeware/abandonware

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Myth: The Doom environment is actually 2-dimensional (a horizontal plane).  A
vertical dimension, or "Z dimension", is represented by the game's graphics,
but is an illusion.  A vertical dimension is not a real factor in game physics
or game play.

Truth: Doom is not 3-dimensional to the extent that Quake and similar games
are.  The Doom world is far less complex and much more restrictive.  However,
this does not mean that Doom is a 2-dimensional game.  There are objects and
events, calculations and variables throughout Doom that deal with 3 spatial
dimensions.
Some examples: Projectiles may pass above/below monsters or players; A player
can run across a gap or pit without picking up items on the ground directly
below; A tunnel or doorway that's just tall enough for a Sergeant to pass
through will be too low for a Cyberdemon to pass through; A player standing a
few paces back from the edge of a tall cliff may remain unseen by monsters on
the ground near the base of the cliff, but may be visible to monsters further
away from the base.
The heights of objects and obstacles, projectiles, monsters, players, windows,
crushing ceilings, and so on, all have a real effect on what can happen, and
what you can do, in the Doom environment.

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Myth: Players and monsters are infinitely tall.

Truth: The term "infinitely tall" is occasionally used as a way to describe why
live monsters and players cannot cross paths at any height.  (In the original
Doom games, a player cannot, for example, walk under a flying Cacodemon, even
if there is empty vertical space between them.)
However, monsters and players each have a specific height value, and this is
used to determine things like whether a passage or opening is too low to move
into, or whether a monster or player is struck by a projectile that is sharing
the same horizontal coordinates.

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Myth: Every well-hidden item or area on a map is considered to be a "Secret" by
the game, and is scored as such.

Truth: There are maps in virtually all PC and console Doom/Doom II games where
there are hidden or hard-to-reach items and areas which have no effect on the
player's "secrets found" score.
Conversely, some maps in some Doom games have easily accessed, wide-open areas
that are flagged as secret, and affect the score accordingly.
For more information on secrets in Doom games, see the MaxSec guide.

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Myth: Invincibility/invulnerability (through power-ups or cheat codes) protects
a player from all harm.

Truth: Invincibility/invulnerability will fail to protect a player if another
player teleports into the same coordinates during a multiplayer game.  Also, in
various Doom/Doom II games invincibility is disabled when a player enters
certain areas.  (The most popular example of this is the final chamber of the
last map in Episode 1 of Doom or Ultimate Doom.)
Finally, the normal safeguards against "telefragging" by monsters are disabled
on map 30 of various Doom II-based games (PC Doom II, PC Final Doom, Xbox Doom
II, etc.).  If a monster is "spawned" into/onto a player, or a monster follows
a player through a teleporter on this map, the player can be destroyed.

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Myth: A Berserk power-up (a.k.a. "Berserk Pack", "Berserker Box", etc.) boosts
a player's punching power for 30 seconds (or until the red glow fades from the
screen).

Truth: When a player picks up a Berserk Pack, punching power will remain at an
elevated level until the player leaves the current map.

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Myth: Monsters can always teleport into/onto players.

Truth: The normal safeguards against "telefragging" by monsters are disabled on
map 30 of various Doom II-based games (PC Doom II, PC Final Doom, Xbox Doom II,
etc.).  If a monster is "spawned" into/onto a player, or a monster follows a
player through a teleporter on this map, the player can be destroyed.
Monsters cannot telefrag on any other map in the original Doom/Ultimate Doom or
Doom II games.

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Myth: The double-barrelled super shotgun (in Doom II-based games) fires twice
as many pellets as the single-barrelled regular shotgun.

Truth: The regular shotgun uses one shell to fire 7 pellets, the super shotgun
uses two of the same shells to fire 20 pellets.

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Myth: You cannot jump into the open-topped blue box on the Mt. Erebus level of
Doom/Ultimate Doom; you must use the blast from your rocket launcher to help
propel you into it.

Truth: In the original PC game, and in some console versions, you can get into
the blue box by running off the roof of the nearby building.  This can be done
by using a simultaneous combination of Run-forward and Strafe-sideways.  (This
"strafe-running" maneuver yields a running speed that is slightly higher than
normal, but moves the player character at an odd angle.)
Try strafe-running northeast from the west end of the roof.

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Myth: The invisible rays (or "splash damage") of the BFG 9000 will only affect
targets that are within the player's field of view.

Truth: The player is the actual source of the invisible secondary rays, and the
rays are emitted in the same general compass direction that the original plasma
ball moved.  (For example, if the plasma ball was launched directly north, then
once the ball expires, the rays will flash out from the player's coordinates in
a V-shaped pattern from northwest to northeast.)
This remains true even when the attacking player changes weapons, location, or
heading.  The direction the player is facing when the rays are emitted (or what
the player currently has in view) will not influence ray targeting or damage.
For an example of this effect in action, see the BFG demo on the OddDemos page.

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Myth: Revenant missiles are always homing missiles.

Truth: Yes and no.  This is true in PlayStation Doom, Sega Saturn Doom, and
Doom II for the Game Boy Advance.
In the original PC Doom II games, and in the versions for Xbox, PS3 and Zodiac,
the Revenant can fire 2 missile types; One is homing, the other is not.
Although both missiles look alike (somewhat like flaming "meteors"), a homing
missile leaves a smoking trail, the non-homing missile does not.

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Myth: Most monster types cannot fight with their own kind.

Truth: Fights can break out between two identical monsters of almost any type.
Most same-monster fights occur between bullet/pellet firing enemies, such as
Zombiemen or Sergeants.
Fights can also occur between pairs of Imps, Barons, Cacodemons, etc., but
these tend to happen only where monsters and barrels are in close proximity...
In Doom games, if a monster is hurt by a barrel explosion, it will sometimes
turn and attack anyone who struck the barrel prior to the explosion.  This can
result in fights between monsters who would otherwise ignore one another.

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Myth: When monster respawning is in effect (through the use of a -respawn
parameter, or in games played at "Nightmare!" skill), killed monsters respawn
every 8 seconds (or at some fixed interval).

Truth: The respawn time for any killed monster can actually vary between a few
seconds and several minutes.  Also, a killed monster may not respawn at all if
a solid object is overlapping part of the monster's initial starting position.

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Myth: Arch-Viles (found in Doom II-based games) can resurrect any enemy type,
including Cyberdemons and Spider Masterminds.

Truth: Arch-Viles cannot resurrect Lost Souls, Arch-Viles, Spider Masterminds,
or Cyberdemons.

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Myth: It's impossible to punch a Spider Mastermind, or to kill one using only
your fists.

Truth: Although it can be difficult, it's quite possible to punch a Mastermind.
If the Mastermind is stuck against an object and is unable to pivot, you can
destroy one using only punches.
On occasion a player may even be able to move up against a waiting Mastermind
and actually become the blocking object, preventing it from turning and using
its chaingun.  While a Mastermind remains "paralyzed" this way, it is basically
helpless against any form of attack.

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Myth: Ghost monsters are invincible, or can only be killed by the explosions of
rockets/barrels.

Truth: "Ghosts" (usually monsters in Doom II games that are crushed, and then
resurrected by Arch-Viles) may be hurt or killed by explosions, telefrags,
Arch-Vile attacks, and a variety of melee (biting, clawing, striking) attacks
from other monsters.
Ghosts can, under certain circumstances, be affected by most other weapons and
attacks as well.
For more information see the Doom II Ghost-Monster FAQ.

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Myth: It's impossible to use cheat codes when recording demos in computer-based
Doom games.

Truth: Almost all cheat codes that can be used in standard single-player games
can also be used while recording demos.  However, cheat code information is not
preserved in a demo file during recording, and this will usually cause the demo
to go out of sync during playback.
Also, using the invincibility code "iddqd" can cause demo recording to halt.
(Commercial PC Doom/Doom II games that use QWERTY-mapped keybindings will stop
recording and end the game whenever the Q key is pressed.)

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Myth: Doom 95 is one specific game, or a collection of Doom games.

Truth: Doom 95 has been included in various Doom/Doom II packages and software
bundles, and is often confused with Final Doom.  However, this is not a single,
stand-alone game, nor is it a collection of games.
Essentially Doom 95 is just an early Windows "source port" and "front end",
allowing the original DOS-based PC Doom/Doom II games to be configured and run
with some improvements in a Windows 95-compatible environment.
You can use Doom 95 with any classic PC Doom games that you own: Doom, Ultimate
Doom, Doom II, Final Doom, etc.

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Myth: Doom games are freeware/abandonware.

Truth: The first Episode of Doom has always been available in shareware form.
The full 3-Episode version of Doom, as well as The Ultimate Doom: Thy Flesh
Consumed, Doom II: Hell on Earth, Final Doom (TNT Evilution and The Plutonia
Experiment), and The Master Levels for Doom II are all still commercially sold;
None of these are abandonware or freeware.
In the 1990s Id Software released the source code for the Doom engine, allowing
programmers to create and freely distribute their own "source ports" (such as
PrBoom, ZDoom, JDoom, etc.).  However, Doom source ports are not stand-alone
products, and only function as complete games when combined with the original,
commercially-sold game files.

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