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                            DEAD SEA SCROLLS 
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Version                 : RC2
Advanced engine needed  : Doom.exe (1.9) or compatible ports
Primary purpose         : Singleplayer / Coop / Deathmatch

------------------   SOFTWARE RENDERER RECOMMENDED  -----------------------

--------------   WILL NOT WORK WITH ANY GAMEPLAY MODS  --------------------

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Title                   : DEAD SEA SCROLLS
Filename                : DSS.wad DSS.deh
Release date            : 17/10/2025 - Version 1.0
Authors                 : BEG | Shapeless Cube | MeatBallDemon
Email Address		: [redacted]

Description             : Dead Sea Scrolls is a vanilla compatible (comp -3) episode replacement for Ultimate Doom.
			  The "story" is a schlocky adventure with the real life mystery of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Abrahamic mythology sprinkled on top.
			  Emphasis is on varied, approachable gameplay with anything from puzzle, stealth, horror, to light slaughter.
		          A lot of effort was placed on creating an atmosphere of adventure and mystery.
		          Difficulty ramps gradually as you progress, and each level is between 20 to 45 minutes.
		          

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                              LEVELS BY BEG
                 ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK BY SHAPELESS CUBE 
		   ADDTIONAL SPRITES BY METABALLDEMON
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Additional sound track version available for download

(SC55) version - recorded on an actual Roland Sound Canvas 55 
OPL3 version - recorded on OPL Studio (Yamaha YM262)

TITLE                       MIDI: "At Monolith's Gate"
INTERMISSION                MIDI: "Knee-Deep in Midi"
E2M1 "A Nightmare?"         MIDI: "Culling"
E2M2 "Escape from Qumran"   MIDI: "Despair"
E2M3 "Yam Hamavet"          MIDI: "Endless Sea"
E2M4 "Kaf Hakela"           MIDI: "Doomed Complex"
E2M5 "In Between"           MIDI: "Dread"
E2M6 "Bnei Beliyal"         MIDI: "Splice"
E2M7 "Dry Bone Prophecy"    MIDI: "NAME"
E2M8 "Tophet"               MIDI: "Exodus"
E2M9 "Dust_2_Dust"          MIDI: "Occluded"
VICTORY                     MIDI: "Swallowed"

DM Levels
E4M1 "Toxic Run"            MIDI: "Alive"
E4M2 "Plasma Struck"        MIDI: "Radiant"
E4M3 "Camping Covenant"     MIDI: "Shattered"
E4M4 "Dust_2_Dust"          MIDI: "Occluded" 
E4M9 "Office Hatred"        MIDI: "Construct"


For Soundtrack and more music from Shapeless Cube
https://www.shapelesscube.com/

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                            C R E D I T S

Mapping, dehacked, sprites                : BEG

Original soundtrack, SFX, title graphic   : Shapeless Cube

Custom weapon sprite, custom enemy sprite : MeatBallDemon

Playtesting and mapping feedback          : 40oz
				            Amit 'Abbabon' Netanel
                                            Alanush
                                            BearInThaWoods
				            Eradrop
				            Joe-Ilya
					    John 'Suitepee'
			                    RobertF
				            UNI

Also thanks to: Simon, Nathan, James, Matej, Luda, TheDogtor and PhaseTw0
Who helped with playtesting early on

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                           WHAT IS INCLUDED?

New levels              : 9 Single player Levels / 5 Deathmatch Levels
Sounds                  : Yes
Music                   : Yes
Graphics                : Yes
Dehacked/BEX Patch      : Yes
Demos                   : Yes
Other                   : No
Other files required    : No (use both DSS.WAD and DSS.DEH
                          for Vanilla/Chocolate Doom)

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                           PLAY INFORMATION

Game                    : Ultimate Doom
Render Mode             : Designed for Software Mode
Map #                   : E2M1|E2M2|E2M3|E2M4|E2M5|E2M6|E2M7|E2M8|E2M9 | DM MAPS E4M1|E4M2|E4M3|E4M4|E4M9
Single Player           : Designed for
Cooperative 2-4 Player  : Designed for, Tested on Zandronum/Odamex 
Recommended COOP config : sv_sharekeys "1" | sv_keepkeys "1" | sv_weaponstay "1" | sv_itemsrespawn "1"
Deathmatch 2-4 Player   : Designed for
Pistol  start           : Designed to support both pistol start and continuous 
Difficulty Settings     : Yes
Freelook                : Not recommended, but you can use it with no technical issues.
Ducking/Jumping         : Not accounted for, you might find yourself stuck and unable to progress.
Changes to Monsters     : IMP - lower health, faster fireball
			  LOST SOUL - lower health
			  MASTERMIND - now fires 5 projectiles
			  CYBERDEMON - fires faster rockets

There are 6 new monsters which I would rather not spoil

Changes to Weapons      : PISTOL - fires faster
                          CHAINGUN - fires faster
                          CHAINSAW - replaced with something new made by MeatBallDemon
			  ROCKET LAUNCHER - rockets are faster


All weapons except have a faster weapon switch
                        
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                               CONSTRUCTION

Base                    : New from scratch
Build Time              : About 17 months
Editor(s) used          : Ultimate Doom Builder, Slade3, Adobe Photoshop, WhackEd4.

Known Bugs              : Saving in pure vanilla will cause crash.

Tested With             : Vanilla Doom v1.9 (DOS), Chocolate Doom, Retro Doom, Crispy Doom, GZDoom, Woof, 
                          DSDA Doom (-complevel 3), Nugget Doom, Eternity, PRBoom+, Nyan Doom, CRL.

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                         PER LEVEL COMMENTARY

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E2M1 - A Nightmare?

This is the 4th map I worked on during this project, the reason it exists is 2 fold:
 1. I needed one more level to be able to a short vanilla comp episode
 2. I had just added the scroll to the previous map I was working on and thought it would be a good idea to introduce the scroll (back then there were just one) early on to intrigue players
A very short map that used a lot of the linedefs tricks I learned while working on this wad. The idea was also to tribute the original E1 of doom by doing it in reverse meaning that the first map ends like the last map in E1. By this point me and Paul already put in the scroll ambient sound (his idea) and we used this trick a few times in this map to give it a dream like quality using sound as well and not just the visuals.

E2M2 - Escape from Qumran

This the first level I worked on after finishing a single map (my first one) and how this project came to be. I was still learning about the doom engine and linedef actions and had all these ideas I wanted to try out. The first thing I was trying to pull off was an underground secret entrance to a compound which you can enter after lowering water. This sparked the entire idea of incorporating the dead sea scrolls stuff which was always fascinating to me and had lived rent free in my head. From there the idea was to slowly expose players to the weapons and enemies putting more weight on each single one. And the puzzles came from wanting non-combat gameplay for the first map. I have play-tested this level with people in the office a lot and it certainly helped with making them clear as much as possible. The name of the level comes from the actual caves the scrolls were found in, and also to strengthen the fact that you are trying to escape the situation realizing a lot of people would try to fight every last monster in the end sequence, which required massive changes to that section.

E2M3 - Yam Hamavet

This is the map I decided I would ramp up the combat elements after such a slow puzzle heavy map, and also because I have yet to learn how to do larger scale combat. It’s on the secret map slot so I could skip around and make this a shorter episode in Vanilla doom. I introduce a few enemies in this one including the first of 5 new custom enemies. The scroll in the big chaingun arena was added later in the project and solved 2 things at once (as all good game design stuff does) it locks the player in the room until it’s cleared enough to lower it and get out, and it also served the new collection mechanic I introduced late in the project which will make it seems like you are collecting scrolls pretty much every level. The elevator fight at the end came about because I wanted the player to ascend back up after going down and also because I loved those elevator segments in old beat em up games. The name of the map is just another name used for “Dead Sea” but literally translates to “Sea of Death”

E2M4 - Kaf Hakela

This is the level where at the end of it I felt like my “mapping style” started coming together, and the track from Shapeless Cube is just awesome. The starting point of this map was that after a few playtesting sessions with seasoned doom folks, I realized most of the mapping I have done so far was are these linear rollercoaster rides (which can also be fun) and I wanted to try my hand at a seemingly more open type of map with a central element. That central element ended up being the first scroll I originally introduced to the WAD and you had to press 3 switches in any order to lower it bit by bit until you can grab it. This map includes 2 tributes to all time Quake multiplayer favorites, see if you can spot them. The ending and the name of the map comes from Jewish belief where when a person who has sinned dies, their soul is shot across the universe as if from a slingshot and spends eternity wondering around before reaching heaven (or any other place) hence the death exit.

E2M5 - In Between

This is the first "narrative driver" I made for RC2 to make this a full episode replacement. I somehow got the idea of this huge cosmic caco floating through space and making whale noises. I immediately asked Paul if he can create a whale sound to fit this and he nailed it on the first go. This is mostly to continue the atmosphere of mystery, but also to keep the "continuity" going and show the travel  to the Bnei Beliyal's base somewhere on the other side of the universe.

E2M6 - Bnei Beliyal

E2M6 is where I continue the E1 and reverse gimmick where the progression is hellish/castles to tech bases and not the other way around. There are a lot of Half-life things happening in this level as well as a quasi stealth section that starts off this map. Somewhere along the way I thought it would be interesting that the first weapon the player picks up after the death exit would be a BFG, and I followed through with that idea. Not sure if I executed on that very well, but at least I tried. The level contains many gimmicks and reveals and somewhat goes in to the story, which I don’t care to expand about here, it’s mostly about a background vibe of a story rather than an actual one.
The ending section changed many times I was trying to use vanilla voodoo closets, but they proved to be too finicky.

E2M7 - Dry Bones Prophecy

This is the very last level I made for the project, meant to have a bit of exposition and transition to the last level.

E2M8 - Tophet

The concept of this level was around the origin of the hell mythos, and how it’s an actual valley that exists in the real world and referred to in the old testament. So the idea was that the entire “escape from hell” trope would happen physically in one map instead of something symbolically portrayed. So the player would actually climb out of hell (or in this case just this fiery valley) and get back to the surface by the end of the level (and the WAD). There is another Quake tribute here and one more custom enemy. The level starts and ends with a bit of slaughter which happened organically.

E2M9 - Dust_2_Dust

In between making e2m4 and e2m6 I felt just like doodling something quickly without over thinking it so I ended up recreating De_Dust2's geometry in 2 hours and had it lying around in my hard drive. When it came time to make a secret level for DSS I knew I wanted to have something fun and out of place like Dust2. The idea is to have the T experience of dust2 attacking different bomb sites and having access to weapons at spawn. I tried to keep the "danger areas" from Dust2 in this using mostly cyberdemons. "Random Person" from Doomworld mentioned they would have liked to have fought larger groups of the custom enemies, and this informed a bit of this level as well.


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                         AUTHOR NOTES

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This project is basically me learning how to map and more specifically how to map for doom, so I set on doing a short episode for Ultimate Doom. 
I decided to keep it vanilla compatible and stick to stock textures, so I don't get lost in the sauce and just learn to appreciate the base resources and functions. 
Somewhere along the way I got enamored with dehacked and some ideas popped up that I had to follow through. So this is me trying to squeeze every bit of fun from Ultimate Doom and have an episode long adventure where you feel like you go through the entirety of Ultimate doom's themes in 8 levels. My idea with the difficulty and gameplay was that new doom players could potentially play this on the lower difficulties and slowly learn different aspects of doom's gameplay, graduating with a lil bit of slaughter right at the end. The weapon changes are meant to encourage rapid weapon switches (hence the fast weapon switch) and trying to make all of the weapons viable and have their place.



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                                CHANGE LOG

17/10/25 - Version 1.0   - Minor map changes, final Bethesda/idgames release
 
9/10/25 - RC2   - WAD is now full episode replacement with 2 new narrative levels and a secret level
                - Custom weapon has a new sprite made by MeatBallDemon
                - One of the new custom enemies in e2m6 has a new sprite made by MeatBallDemon
                - Added UMAPINFO,ZMAPINFO,RMAPINFO,EMAPINFO,MAPINFO Support
                - Added COOP Support
                - 5 New Deathmatch levels
                - Visual and gameplay improvements to all levels
                - 1 new custom enemy
                - Updated TNT space texture with a new custom one
                - Added demos 
27/7/25 - RC1.2 - Fixed misspell in victory text
		  E2M2 - Texture fixes (Thanks UVFastUVFurious AKA Biz)
		  E2M6 - Ammo balancing on UV
		  E2M7 - Tweaking one late encounter
                  E2M8 - Fixed a potential nasty softlock (Thanks Stx-Vile)
		       - Balance final encounter on UV
23/7/25 - RC1.1 - Fixed missing text changes for levels, scroll, new weapon.
                - edited some textures in e2m9 (Thanks DistroyA)
19/7/25 - RC1 - Updated levels, fixed a nasty choco crash on e2m6, added credit screen.
11/7/25 - RC0.83 - Initial release
 
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Additional Art used:

Hung Baron, Pile of bodies from the ID Archive of unused beta graphics
Scroll intermission screen, Victory screen - Created with ChatGPT4 and edited in Photoshop

All the rest was made by BEG, Shapeless Cube and MeatBallDemon or is stock to ultimate doom.
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* Copyright / Permissions *

Authors MAY NOT use the contents of this file as a base for modification or
reuse unless they ask the author directly.

You MAY distribute this file, provided you include this text file, with no
modifications.  You may distribute this file in any electronic format (BBS,
Diskette, CD, etc) as long as you include this file intact.  I have
received permission from the original authors of any modified or included
content in this file to allow further distribution.

* Where to get the file that this text file describes *
idgames Archive
https://www.moddb.com/mods/dead-sea-scrolls
Bethesda Mod browser 

