MAP03: Recycling Plant (Threshold of Pain)

MAP03: Recycling Plant is the third level of Threshold of Pain. It was designed by John Gourley (scalliano) and uses the music track "Retribution Dawns," composed by Aubrey Hodges for the Sony PlayStation port of Doom. The par time defined in MAPINFO is 25:00.

Blue keycard
Take the shotgun and open the door in front of you, then take the super shotgun and armor in the next room and go forward to a barred doorway. There are doors either side of the bars - go through the door on the right to reach an area with fenced walkways, then turn left and head for the door in the north wall. Go through this door and kill the zombies and imps ahead, then go round the corner to confront one or two mancubi. Once they are dead, go through the door next to them.

You will enter a room with five columns surrounded by nukage. Dispatch the pain elemental on your left along with the other enemies, then step across the nukage and press the switch on the north face of the central column to open the door in the west wall. Step through the door before it closes and turn right to kill another mancubus, then go through the door behind it to reach a large outdoor area with a fountain. Watch out for enemies firing at you from a distance in the darkness, including Hell knights and a plasma zombie on hard skill levels.

Go to the fountain then turn right and head forward to a fenced walkway, then follow it round to a door leading to an octagonal area guarded by three or four mancubi. When all the mancubi have been killed, three or four Lords of Heresy will appear - once they are dead, the metal column in the middle of this area will open to reveal the blue keycard.

Red keycard
After collecting the blue key, leave the area through the south door and kill two plasma zombies on your right. Climb the steps and go through the door on your left, where some imps and nightmare imps are guarding a walkway leading to a switch. Go to the switch and press it, then go back through the door and turn left to go through another door. Behind it is a bridge guarded by a pain elemental and two nightmare spectres, plus two cacodemons on hard skill levels. After killing the enemies, cross the bridge and open the door at the end to return to the room with five columns.

Turn left and go through the south door to return to where you faced the first mancubus. The north-east wall has opened to reveal an arch-vile, joined by a demon and two barons of Hell on hard skill levels - kill these enemies before heading south through the door back to the fenced walkway. Go through the south-east door to confront two chaingunners and two plasma zombies. Killing the zombie at the top of the steps will open a wall to the south, revealing two shotgun guys guarding a backpack.

Climb the steps and slay the imps and nightmare imps that appear in front of you, then follow the walkway round to another switch which you should press. Go back to the fenced walkway and go through the east door, which leads to an oval walkway surrounding a structure containing the red keycard. Head south around the walkway, taking the chaingun on the way and watching out for cacodemons rising from the nukage, until you reach the east side. Take the rocket launcher and two boxes of rockets then press the switch behind them.

Go to the north or south sides of the walkway to find that bars have lowered, allowing you to jump up two pillars that were raised by the switches on the upper ledges. After jumping to the second pillar, jump into the central structure to collect the red keycard.

Yellow keycard
Go back to the fenced walkway and head through the south door (the only door you have not yet used) to find an L-shaped corridor with arachnotrons at either end - kill both enemies then head through the door at the east end of the corridor. Kill the nightmare spectres blocking the staircase, then climb to the top of the stairs and two Lords of Heresy will appear in front of you. Once they are slain, press the switch by the south window and take the radiation shielding suit next to it, which will help shortly.

Return to the L-shaped corridor and follow it round to another door at the south end. Go through the door to find a large nukage pool with one or two mancubi on guard, as well as several enemies to the south - two cacodemons and two nightmare cacodemons were also released when you pressed the earlier switch. Dispatch these enemies then go to the north-eastern corner of the nukage pool to find the yellow keycard in a small alcove, guarded by an arch-vile.

Exit
Leave the nukage and return to the L-shaped corridor, watching out for two cacodemons that have been revealed on your left along with health bonuses and two backpacks. Go back to the starting area where you found the barred doorway and go through the west door with yellow key markings. Take the plasma gun on the plinth along with the other supplies, then press the switch next to the door to open the bars. Go through the bars and turn left to kill a pain elemental, then head through the door behind it.

Kill the two revenants waiting behind the door, then turn right and go down the stairs to kill some zombies. Go through another door and go left or right along either passage, killing shotgun guys and plasma zombies blocking your way before heading west across a long bridge. At the other end, kill the enemies on guard then head through the wide silver door to enter an outdoor area. Ready a powerful weapon, then head round the column in front of you to find a cyberdemon on guard.

Keep strafing to avoid the cyberdemon's rockets and grab the ammunition by the column if you need it. Once the cyberdemon is dead, the exit door in the west wall will open - go through it and kill the cacodemon blocking the exit switch, which you can press to finish the level.

Other points of interest
As you enter the north-west outdoor area with the fountain, you will see some crates on your left. A small box on the west side of the stack will allow you to climb on top of the crates, leading to armor and a rocket launcher. A backpack can also be found at ground level.

A chaingun and two boxes of bullets can be found in the north-west outdoor area, behind some crates south-east of the fountain.

From the raised walkway north-east of the red key area, you can go through a door in the east wall to find a passage guarded by several imps and an arch-vile. Follow the passage to the end to find a flesh growth hiding a backpack and a computer area map.

There are five octagonal columns in the nukage pool with the yellow key. Items are hidden by the north face of each column, including two backpacks, a box of bullets, armor and a berserk pack.

After passing through the barred doorway by the start, go through a door to the north to find supplies including armor and a backpack.

Secrets

 * 1) Get on to the raised area south-east of the walkway around the red key and approach the switch in the north wall. Take the radiation shielding suit then turn left to see a gap in the fence, which you can step through to drop into the nukage below. Follow the nukage past a teleporter to a crawlspace - crouch to go through it and reach an enclosed area with a megasphere. (sector 51) Use the teleporter you passed earlier to return to the path.
 * 2) After killing the first mancubus, go through the north door to a room with five columns surrounded by nukage. Press the switch on the central column, then quickly press a skull switch hidden in the north-west column. Go through the south-west door then straight forward through a second door before it closes - you will enter a secret room with a soulsphere. (sector 188)
 * 3) Approach the door to the blue key area but do not go through it yet. Instead, turn right and walk through a gap in the fence to drop to the water below. Go forward until you see a crawlspace on the left, then crouch to get into it and find several health bonuses. At the other end of the crawlspace you will enter an enclosed area with a partial invisibility powerup. (sector 223) Use the teleporter next to it to return to the door you encountered earlier.
 * 4) After collecting the blue key, leave the area through the south door then head west through another door. As you pass through this door you will hear a lift lower behind you; turn round to see that part of the floor has lowered to reveal a crawlspace. Crouch to get into this crawlspace before the floor rises again to find a backpack and a berserk pack. (sector 315)
 * 5) From secret #4, go back to the passage where the floor lowered and go through the blue key door in the south wall. Follow the ledge round to a switch, then take the radiation shielding suit and turn right to see a gap in the fence which you can step through to drop into the nukage. Follow the nukage all the way round to reach a nook with a minigun and a box of bullets. (sector 142) Use the teleporter you passed on the way to return to the path.
 * 6) After collecting the blue key, your route will take you back to the room where you encountered the first mancubus. Part of the east wall will have opened to reveal an arch-vile, joined by a demon and two barons of Hell on hard skill levels. Kill these enemies then enter the chamber they emerged from to find items including a chainsaw and a megaarmor. (sector 420)

Current records
The records for the map at the Doom Speed Demo Archive are:

The (absence of) data was last verified in its entirety on February 21, 2022.

Things
This level contains the following numbers of things per skill level, not including monsters spawned via scripts: