MAP25: Nightmare Complex (Community Chest 4)

MAP25: Nightmare Complex is the twenty-fifth level of Community Chest 4. It was designed by Kim Bach (Torn) and uses "Fate of the Damned," a music track composed by Mike Cody for .

Essentials
Nightmare Complex is a level that works on the concept of "suspense". It looks like it could have fit nicely into The Shores of Hell - until the nasty surprises that it hides, interspersed with moments of complete calm, culminate in a finale harder than any of 's encounters (if you choose to stick around). The only respite is that there are less traps and encounters in this level than you probably expect, but even that is cold comfort for your first run.

Start and Yellow Key

You begin in a small chamber. Shoot the satyr panel in front of you to open it up. Grab the shotgun and box of shells, then open the door ahead. In this hall with a baron of Hell face panel at the end, your first opposition is up to six imps and a mancubus. You should go for the super shotgun in the northeast corner, but once you pick it up pull back - doing so releases four revenants (two on Hey, not too rough and below).

From this hall, take the south door. Head up a first curved flight of steps to a landing with a yellow skull switch. Kill the two revenants here. Head east to collect the rocket launcher, then into a red chamber with four cacodemons (two on Hey, not too rough and below)and an arch-vile. head up onto the arch-vile's perch and step on the wooden pedestal to release bars blocking the way forward in the level.

Backtrack to the landing with the yellow skull switch and continue up another flight of steps. Kill the Hell knight waiting at the top, then take the wooden door to the south. This next corridor has no enemies. Go through another door to the south to a U-shaped corridor. Here, there are three mancubi (two on Hey, not too rough and below) and three spectres. The other end of the corridor is a lowering platform that takes you into a large exterior courtyard with a pack of nine imps (five on Hey, not too rough and below) lying in wait.

Go to the north end of the courtyard and collect the yellow key. This triggers a large ambush, consisting of up to 14 cacodemons (eight on Hey, not too rough and below) appearing and ten revenants (five on Hey, not too rough and below) approaching from the courtyard's entrance. See if you can cause monster infighting, if not just stick to rockets and plasma.

Red Key

Backtrack to the landing with the yellow skull switch. use it and it will open, revealing a chamber with two arch-viles (one on Hey, not too rough and below). Flip the switch in this chamber, then backtrack to the hall just after the starting area. Part of the floor in the east near the baron face has sunken in... revealing a cyberdemon. There is no way you're dueling a cyberdemon in this space, so just duck around it, head down the steps and open the door at the end.

The next area is semi-outdoor, with two ledges separated by a lava chasm. You need to fight two arachnotrons on the near side (one on Hey, not too rough and below) and three mancubi on the far side (two on Hey, not too rough and below). Kill them quickly before the cyberdemon from the previous area moves in. Equip your super shotgun or plasma gun, then head through the door in the north of the near side.

As you enter, you are suddenly teleported to an isolated area with two mancubi. Kill them and go through the teleporter behind them. Head out to a red-floored circular area, then go all the way east. This leads to a checkered-floor room with two mancubi. Kill them and open the door in the south to a small room with a baron of Hell waiting in ambush. Use the pentagram on the west wall. Through the window, you will see an invisible bridge, marked by candles, rising out of the lava.

Backtrack to the red-floored circular area and use the eye switch on the west wall to lower it. Head south back out to the near-side ledge of the lava chasm area (Hopefully, the cyberdemon still hasn't come for you yet.) Cross the lava using the invisible bridge and open the door at the end. Go through the next (empty) room, then flip the switch in the next (also empty) one to lower it. Head down the steps (and kill up to 11 imps) to head into a library area. When you enter it, kill the two arachnotrons waiting inside.

The red key screams "trap", but picking up only locks you into the room by lowering some bars at the staircase. On the other hand, flip the switch behind the red key and two doors in the north and south of the library area open, releasing up to 24 demons into a rather confined space.

Finale

From either door in the library area, follow the corridor around and ride the platform up. This takes you to a large green courtyard. At first, your only opposition is a small group of imps - way too quiet for this large place. The central pillar has a switch. Flip it, and the real battle begins - a spiderdemon, a cyberdemon, up to four arch-viles, up to four revenants, and up to three Hell knights and a baron of Hell. This calls for another "gotcha" moment, although this one is much harder to execute. Get the spiderdemon and cyberdemon to clean house for you, before you get them to fight each other and take out the severely weakened victor.

In the east of the green courtyard, stairs have formed. Head up to the raised structure in the east of the courtyard. Kill the two pain elementals lying in ambush at the top, then flip the large skull switch they were guarding. On Ultra-Violence and above, six arachnotrons will teleport into the courtyard.

From here, backtrack to the library area. The bars have lowered, allowing you to head back up... but a real shocker of a trap has opened at the steps leading into the library - a cyberdemon closet. Unless you want 100% kills, you probably should just get out of the library as soon as possible and return to the lava chasm area.

Back at the lava chasm area, you will find that the first cyberdemon you encountered is waiting at the other end. Six revenants have also teleported onto the pillars on the sides of the lava chasm. Take them out, then put a pillar between you and the cyberdemon as you return fire and put it out of commission for good.

Cross the invisible bridge and take the red door in the northwest. This next C-shaped corridor contains three encounters, the first two of a single arch-vile, then one of two arch-viles (three encounters of a single arch-vile on Hey, not too rough and below). Take the teleporter at the end of this corridor to be teleported to the final stretch of the level.

The final stretch is a rocky cavern. As you proceed forward, your first opposition is a group of nine imps. Heading further in, you will reach an open blood-filled cavern with five (four on Hey, not too rough and below) arachnotrons. Be careful when entering, as one is in an ambush position to the left of the entrance (it guards a soulsphere and a backpack). Continue further to a cave where 14 imps and a baron of Hell form the next horde. As you proceed into the cave, look right (south) for windows into a lava-filled area with an arch-vile inside. Further in, you will start to pull 14 cacodemons from the exit area - still no big deal.

Ending the level is a large chamber that seems to quiet. The exit niche is dead ahead in the south. As you approach it, bars lower. Head back into the chamber, and you will find that two cyberdemons have been released from nearby traps. Ten revenants (20 on Ultra-Violence and above) will also teleport into the center of the chamber. Unless you want 100% kills, no need to waste time fighting. Make a beeline for the western trap, which has the switch raising the bars to the exit. Dodge around the monsters and run into the exit niche to end the level.

Secrets

 * 1) In the room after the starting point, there are four faceted indented walls with lanterns on them. One of them, to the right of the medikit, doesn't have a lantern on the lower half; press on it to find a partial invisibility. (sector 94)
 * 2) Open the door to the left when you enter the next room from the starting point. Go past the imps and demons to the northern room and spot a skull switch in this room. Press it to reveal Hell knights and a baron of Hell. Go back to the room with imps and to the east, the armor should be accessible. (sector 56)
 * 3) In the red room past the rocket launcher, go on the right set of stairs and press the red lion head wall for a passage, taking you to a room with various supplies including a chainsaw. (sector 318)
 * 4) In the library area with the red key, the northwest bookshelf has a switch on its right side. Press it to lower the shelf and head up the stairs for a BFG9000 and some energy cells. (sector 609)
 * 5) The same switch that reveals Secret #4 also reveals this secret. The southeastern shelf lowers revealing a computer area map. (sector 647)
 * 6) In the large marble hall east of the library, the northwest wall is indented a bit. Press it to open a teleporter. Take it to find health and armor bonuses, ammo, and an invulnerability. (sector 391)

Current records
The records for this map at the Doomed Speed Demos Archive are:

Miscellaneous demos
''This information was last verified in its entirety on January 23, 2018.

Player spawns
This level contains four spawn points:
 * 1) facing east. (thing 123)
 * 2) facing south. (thing 124)
 * 3) facing east. (thing 130)
 * 4) facing west. (thing 131)

Things
This level contains the following numbers of things per skill level:

Technical information
"Hybrid" textures using zero-height sectors

In a decorative area in the southwest of the map, green stone walls with crucified bodies and discoloration at the bottom due to blood can be seen. This was executed without use of custom textures. However, such a texture does not exist in the default selection: and  are green stone walls with crucified bodies, but no discoloration due to blood at the bottom;  is a green stone wall with discoloration due to blood at the bottom, but no crucified bodies.

The secret is that the pillar is not composed of one-sided linedefs, but is instead the sides of a square sector that has its ceiling and floor at the same level. Hence, the side of the pillar consists of both the upper texture and the lower texture of a sidedef. The lower texture is assigned as for the blood discoloration; the upper texture is assigned as  for the crucified body. The level of the ceiling and floor is chosen so that the essential visual elements of each texture (the blood and the body respectively) are not cut off.