The MDR News Feed

Since MacDoom Review was last published in June, much has happened. If you think MDR was lying down on the job all of this time, you're sorely mistaken.

The MDR News Feed has been online and, for the most part, faithfully maintained. Find it at:

http://www.wolfenet.com/~reeltime/mdr/mdrnewsfeed.html

This column, then, serves as a summary of the most important news events reported on the online News Feed between issues, plus some late-breaking items that may not have been posted on the Web during the MDR production cycle.

New Tools

The DOOMinator. Paul Davidson, author of the shareware Hellmaker editor, has cracked the DeHackEd barrier. Using his new DOOMinator tool, you can apply DeHackEd patches to the MacDoom v1.0.3 engine.
http://www.ozemail.com.au/~pmd/doominator.html

Doom II Keys. Those of you MacDoom fans who bitched out Lion Entertainment last year for not including full keyboard customizability can relax. The freeware hack by Scott Kevill lets you change MacDoom's keyboard controls to your heart's content.
http://www.curtin.edu.au/~scott/d2keys/

MacKali. Reports of sluggish behavior with MacDoom notwithstanding, MacKali is a shareware program for logging into an IPX-based gaming server. It's $20 shareware; until you register, you only get 15 minutes of uninterrupted gameplay.
ftp://ftp.kali.net/pub/kali/kmac10b3.cpt

Tool Updates

WADenizer 2.0. Ron Midthun has improved his WADenizer patching tool. It now includes support for batch processing, copying miscellaneous WAD elements such as title screens, and it can handle sprite patches with unusual naming schemes. Midthun also recently offered up several new utilities, including Sound Extractor (pulls sounds out of Doom and Hexen WADs), WAVtoWAD (converts Windows WAV format sounds into individual WAD patches), and WAD Compositor (drag-and-drop tool that lets you combine elements from several smaller WADs -- say, a dozen sounds made with WAVtoWAD, or a combination of sounds, levels, and graphics -- into a single WAD file).
http://msn.fullfeed.com/~rmidthun/WADWorks.html

Hellmaker 1.1 beta. Paul Davidson released a beta version of his second generation shareware WAD editor. Included are Hexen level editing support and a new texture selector.
http://www.ozemail.com.au/~pmd/hellmaker.html

MacBSP. An update to Thomas Hart's premier standalone node builder for Mac now supports drag-and-drop of PWADs. There is also a MacHexBSP, for building nodes on -- you guessed it! -- Hexen WADs. Hart plans to port a similar tool for Quake at some point, if feasible.
http://www.netzone.com/~tomh/macbsp.html

DEIMOS 0.4.1. Now with improved memory management, rudimentary Hexen WAD support, and a "semi-finalized" plug-in specification, this tool supports editing of sounds and sprites with additional plug-ins promised for editing other WAD elements.
http://www.io.org/~mikado/deimos.html

Mac Doom Utility (MDU). Formerly known as IWAD<->PWAD, MDU is a Swiss Army knife among MacDoom tools. It changes too quickly to track effectively, but newer features include the ability to make some DeHackEd style hacks, create and edit demos, and alter saved games. You can also view and print Doom and Hexen maps. More features appear sometimes daily when its author, Keith Miller, is on a roll.
http://www.localnet.com/~dsleath/mdu/

WADs etc.

The Macintosh Team (TMT). A group led by Clint Sago recently released the first Mac-made 32-level replacement for Doom II, Realm of Chaos. MDR regulars Rob Berkowitz and Steve Duff are among the level designers. 
http://www.smartlink.net/~sid/Download.html

Army of Darkness-Total Conversion (AOD-TC). Though a bit buggy on Macs (despite changes to the WADenizer 2.0 that allow it to patch properly), this is a must-download for hard core Sam Raimi fans. Adds some Hexen sprites, as well as some original new ones. The levels are, perhaps, a bit too much like the movies, rendering gameplay a bit sluggish in spots and too overwhelming in others. Still, some cool sounds and graphics.
http://sch-www.uia.ac.be/u/maes/aoddoom.html

Other games

Final Doom. id Software is finalizing Final Doom, a standalone sequel to Doom II containing two 32-level IWADs. For an extensive preview of the Mac beta, read the archives of the MDR News Feed online. Suffice it to say that this game rocks, and it should be available in time for the holidays. The latest estimated release date is late November.

Deathkings of the Dark Citadel. An add-on collection of expert levels for Hexen, the Mac version is also expected in November. It contains some new, very tough single player/cooperative adventures plus some deathmatch levels. 

Master Levels of Doom. This 20-level PC collection of Doom II levels originally profiled in MDR#6 is finally getting a Mac release from id. Expect it soon. Last time MDR heard anything, it was going to include the 3,000 WAD Maximum Doom collection as well.

Duke Nukem 3D. Originally slated for early December release, to the best of our knowledge this Mac port of an Apogee 3D Realms division game has not even been assigned yet. The latest information is that MacDuke will be released in the second quarter of 1997 as an "Atomic Edition," which will bundle with it the PC Plutonia Pak collection of add-ons.

Manse. Ambrosia Software, the premier maker of Macintosh shareware, is hard at work on its first major 3D shoot-'em-up. (I don't count Avara: it might be nifty, but it ain't Doom.) Manse promises to combine the best elements of Doom with mystery and suspense games like the 7th Guest.