SIGIL - Unofficial 5th Episode for Original DOOM by John Romero

Armenius

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https://www.romerogames.ie/si6il/

Surprised to see no thread for this after the news Romero is working on a new game. SIGIL is a free megawad containing 9 maps to encase an entire episode for the original DOOM to be released some time in February 2019. Buckethead provides the soundtrack.
Synopsis said:
After killing the Spiderdemon at the end of E4M8 (Unto the Cruel), your next stop is Earth — you must save it from hellspawn that is causing unimaginable carnage. But Baphomet glitched the final teleporter with his hidden sigil whose eldritch power brings you to even darker shores of Hell. You fight through this stygian pocket of evil to confront the ultimate harbingers of Satan, then finally return to become Earth’s savior. In summary, rip and tear!
Romero mentions that he wanted the episode to fit with the original DOOM, so there are no new textures or enemies and no source port features. The website currently offers just a single screenshot.

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He is working with Limited Run to offer two physical editions with loads of extras and a badass looking box. Only those who preorder from December 10 through December 24 will be able to get their hands on them. Note that the megawad itself is free to download.

Physical Edition Details said:
The Beast Box of SIGIL includes the following:
  • A beautiful demonic over-sized box, inspired by the id Anthology™ box, individually numbered and signed personally by John Romero and featuring the artwork of Christopher Lovell.
  • A 16GB 3-1/2-inch floppy disk-themed USB that includes the free megawad data and extras.
  • A 2-disc booklet styled case that includes the free megawad data and full soundtrack by Buckethead and behind-the-scenes information on the original game and the megawad’s development.
  • A beautiful 8" x 10" art print signed by the illustrator, Christopher Lovell.
  • A SIGIL-themed coin.
  • A pewter statue of John Romero’s head on a spike.
  • An XL-sized SIGIL T-shirt.
  • 2 stickers: 1 SIGIL and 1 Romero Games.
  • WARNING: This item is limited to TWO per customer.
The Standard Edition of SIGIL includes the following:
  • A beautiful demonic standard-sized “big box” featuring the artwork of Christopher Lovell.
  • A 16GB 3 1/2-inch floppy disk themed USB that includes the free megawad data and extras.
  • A 2-disc jewel case that includes the free megawad data and soundtrack by Buckethead.
  • 2 stickers: 1 SIGIL and 1 Romero Games.
https://limitedrungames.com/products/sigil-beast-box-pc-megawad
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https://limitedrungames.com/products/sigil-standard-edition-box-pc-megawad
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I put in an order for the Beast Box, myself. Love that floppy USB drive.
 
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John Romero put out a tweet yesterday saying the physical copies are finally getting ready to ship. Looks like it was well worth the wait. Everything in the package looks high-quality.

This means the general release of the megaWAD should not be too far away. Next month, maybe?


Screencaps and archive for people who can't see Twitter.

https://archive.fo/JL4JM
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I love everything Doom (it's part of my childhood) but damn, all this excitement for a 9 map wad that can probably be completed in 30 minutes is crazy to me, lol.
 
I live in NC where Limited Runs is shipping from, my copy is right here on my lap. I didn't get the beast box but god I love the art. I wish I bought two copies so I could save one still wrapped but whatever, the floppy USB is in my pc right now copying the files to my zdoom setup!

edit: seems they all say 364.
 

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Annnnd I beat Sigil.

It was a ton of fun. Romero can still bang out DOOM levels. I wish he went the whole distance and made a 3 episode full game but this was good enough. Going right back to the start to look for the secrets.
 
Megawad will be released for free on May 31.

Hell I kicked them them the 7 Euros, the sound track is worth that... Besides the it is good to support John, we might see some bigger better things come down the pipe from him if we kick him a little coin.
 
I re-downloaded GZDoom last night in preparation for this. :) Thanks for posting; I hadn't even heard about it. Very very cool limited boxed sets - congrats to those who got in on those!
 
If you're in a hurry to get the WADs it looks like if you pay Romero $6.66 you get the buckethead album (I love buckethead, anything he records is worth my $6.66 :p) and the game a tad earlier.
 
Looks like my box hasn't even shipped yet. Tracking number still says they just have the shipping information, and that was updated on the 23rd. Have to find out what is going on.
 
Looks like my box hasn't even shipped yet. Tracking number still says they just have the shipping information, and that was updated on the 23rd. Have to find out what is going on.

I was pasting my tracking into google and choosing usps and saw the same thing but it turned out it shipped ups.. are you checking ups?

Just making sure
 
I was pasting my tracking into google and choosing usps and saw the same thing but it turned out it shipped ups.. are you checking ups?

Just making sure
Ja, I'm checking UPS. Checked USPS and the status is the same.
 
Megawad is released (use link in OP). File is only 3.1MB. That would have taken about 30 minutes to download on a 14.4 kbps modem :dead:. Only 1/8 of a second on a 200 Mbps cable modem ;).
 
Megawad is released. File is only 3.1MB. That would have taken about 30 minutes to download on a 14.4 kbps modem :dead:. Only 1/8 of a second on a 200 Mbps cable modem ;).

did he include sigil_shreds.wad though? that one is ~150 megs because you play the game with the buckethead soundtrack. Significantly more fun that way :p.. you'll get that if your box version ever arrives
 
did he include sigil_shreds.wad though? that one is ~150 megs because you play the game with the buckethead soundtrack. Significantly more fun that way :p.. you'll get that if your box version ever arrives
Nope, you have to buy the soundtrack separately to get it. It's €6.66 and is linked under the free download at the top. From the README:

Hello, and welcome to SIGIL, the unofficial episode 5 mod.

SIGIL comes with these files:

SIGIL.txt
SIGIL.wad
SIGIL_COMPAT.wad

If you paid for the fan boxes (Beast Box or Big Box) then you also have these:

SIGIL_SHREDS.wad
SIGIL_SHREDS_COMPAT.wad

You need a version of DOOM to run SIGIL. If you are NOT experienced with the various
flavors of DOOM then you will not need to use the SIGIL_COMPAT.wad and
SIGIL_SHREDS_COMPAT.wad files.

To play SIGIL, you need the DOOM.WAD file from the original DOOM or from
The Ultimate DOOM. If one of these are installed, please note their location.
You can get The Ultimate DOOM from Steam or GOG.com.

If you want the Buckethead music with the free WAD so you can play SIGIL with
Buckethead's absolutely incredible soundtrack, you can buy it
here:
https://www.romerogames.ie/si6il.

If you are looking for the Buckethead MP3 soundtrack, you need to go
to Buckethead's site: https://music.bucketheadpikes.com/album/sigil-soundtrack

SIGIL merch is available here: https://www.romerogames.ie/shop
 
Ah yeah that was included in mine too, didn't realize it.

BTW just a heads up, if you're not used to using GZDoom, my version of it came out of the box with video in hardware acceleration mode, whatever default option that was set to makes the lighting incredibly dark, there were parts of the game I almost couldn't see at all. Under video options hit hardware renderer and change sector light mode to DOOM legacy or something similar. Doesn't look as beautiful but helps you see.
 
Ah yeah that was included in mine too, didn't realize it.

BTW just a heads up, if you're not used to using GZDoom, my version of it came out of the box with video in hardware acceleration mode, whatever default option that was set to makes the lighting incredibly dark, there were parts of the game I almost couldn't see at all. Under video options hit hardware renderer and change sector light mode to DOOM legacy or something similar. Doesn't look as beautiful but helps you see.
I was planning on playing this in Chocolate Doom, myself, unless you need to play it in GZDoom.
 
I was planning on playing this in Chocolate Doom, myself, unless you need to play it in GZDoom.

Fair enough, old school style! I just broke out my 486 machine and dropped in a DX4 100mhz. I'm curious to see if the compat wad will run in either the vanilla engine or BOOM :)
 
I went ahead and kicked over the money for the WAD + soundtrack. Buckethead is good stuff; I'm interested to see what he came up with for this project. Very cool of Romero to do this.

Thanks for the tip on the lighting, Mode13. I fired up The Ultimate DOOM using GZDoom the other day and man was it dark. I thought it'd be as simple as playing with the gamma/brightness sliders, but I'll give what you said a shot and see how it looks.

Now if someone would remaster DOOM 1 and 2 using the DOOM 2016 engine... :eek: DOOM 3 would be way cool too, but I still think it look pretty darn good to this day.
 
Tried running in Chocolate Doom and got an error that said "Planes: No More" or something like that. I don't think it can handle all the geometry in this WAD.
 
Hmm chocolate doom may not have the vanilla doom limits removed. You're probably running above the 128 max visplanes in a vanilla engine, I do remember reading unlocked engines would be needed.

Did you try sigil_compat.wad without luck too? I was hoping that was dumbed down enough for vanilla engines.
 
I recently reran Doom 1 and most of 2 on UV. Started Sigil yesterday. Pretty good so far. Maps are unique, fun and definitely follow a theme. Romero seems to love having you run along walls, almost every map is elevated over damaging floors.
 
I recently reran Doom 1 and most of 2 on UV. Started Sigil yesterday. Pretty good so far. Maps are unique, fun and definitely follow a theme. Romero seems to love having you run along walls, almost every map is elevated over damaging floors.

Romero does have a serious talent for making super confusing levels that you can somehow just intuitively find your way through. I'm one of those guys that likes to run around shooting things and not thinking and I beat sigil.

I must warn though, I uncovered a bug on E5M6 last night by accident. There is a way to break the map accidentally so you can't get the red key. If you get lost before the red key for an hour, you probably need to restart the level.. just a heads up to everyone :p
 
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Romero does have a serious talent for making super confusing levels that you can somehow just intuitively find your way through. I'm one of those guys that likes to run around shooting things and not thinking and I beat sigil.

I must warn though, I uncovered a bug on E5M5 last night by accident. There is a way to break the map accidentally so you can't get the red key. If you get lost before the red key for an hour, you probably need to restart the level.. just a heads up to everyone :p
You sure it's E5M5? I just went through that and there was no red door. Watched a few walkthroughs on YT and no one else had a red door either.
 
You sure it's E5M5? I just went through that and there was no red door. Watched a few walkthroughs on YT and no one else had a red door either.

sorry it's the red key on E5M6. I managed a couple playthroughs to reproduce it. There is a switch and one of those orbs you shoot in the crack in the wall. There's a certain order you can do that stuff and then run to the locked red door before getting the key and the wall never comes up that leads to the red key. I haven't figured out the precise order but I definitely managed to break the level a few times.
 
sorry it's the red key on E5M6. I managed a couple playthroughs to reproduce it. There is a switch and one of those orbs you shoot in the crack in the wall. There's a certain order you can do that stuff and then run to the locked red door before getting the key and the wall never comes up that leads to the red key. I haven't figured out the precise order but I definitely managed to break the level a few times.

It would be interesting to email him and let him know about the bug, see if you get a non-canned reply back.

Just be like "Hey Johnny boy, I'm not complaining about the free Megawad that you sunk hundreds of hours into, but shit's broke." :D

Bet he fixes it unless he already knows about it and there's a technical reason that he couldn't. It's hard to say how many people playtested it before release, so could've gone unnoticed...
 
Hmm chocolate doom may not have the vanilla doom limits removed. You're probably running above the 128 max visplanes in a vanilla engine, I do remember reading unlocked engines would be needed.

Did you try sigil_compat.wad without luck too? I was hoping that was dumbed down enough for vanilla engines.
Ja, I ran sigil_comapt.wad as the readme says. Seems you need a source port that eliminates the limits of the original engine. Was going to give PRBoom+ a try, but I already had GZDoom installed. I was playing around with it in GZDoom using the Vulkan API with HDR and it looked pretty good. I don't understand why people are saying it looks too dark with hardware acceleration because it looks just fine on my monitor.
 
Ja, I ran sigil_comapt.wad as the readme says. Seems you need a source port that eliminates the limits of the original engine. Was going to give PRBoom+ a try, but I already had GZDoom installed. I was playing around with it in GZDoom using the Vulkan API with HDR and it looked pretty good. I don't understand why people are saying it looks too dark with hardware acceleration because it looks just fine on my monitor.

It's not hardware acceleration it's the sector lighting setting under hardware mode. Mine was left on a particular setting that made the game incredibly dark. Maybe your HDR is just making everything brighter :p
 
Got an update on my Beast Box from Limited Run. Apparently they're shipping them out in waves. I got in on it near the tail end of the order window, so I guess I have to wait a while...
 
Finally got a shipping notification on my Beast Box. Will be on my doorstep this Saturday.

This was my first experience with Limited Run Games, and I have to say it wasn't a good one. Am trying one more time with the Psychonauts PS4 limited run, so we'll see how that goes.
 
Can’t seem to complete map 4 using Crispy Doom. At the Bridge After 3 keys, the pillars won’t lower and the door by Caco room won’t open. Can anyone else confirm?

*Edit*

OK I figured it out. Apparently they made changes to this map in v1.2. I had previous played on 1.1.
 
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Couldnt play through this. It was terrible. Only reason it means anything is romeros name it.
 
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