MAP46: The Courtyard (PlayStation Doom)

MAP46: The Courtyard is the forty-sixth level of the Sony PlayStation and Sega Saturn versions of Doom, and the sixteenth level of the Doom II episode. It is based on the original MAP18: The Courtyard with modifications made to adapt to the consoles' limitations. The author of the original map is Sandy Petersen.

Essentials
You start the level in a room with the blue exit door behind you, and a gargoyle switch in front of you. Shoot the switch with any impact weapon to open it and enter an outdoor area with a zombieman and several imps. Head north through the marble brick archway to enter the main courtyard, then head due north until you reach a wooden staircase, but do not go up it yet. Instead, turn left and you will see the yellow skull key in a corner for you to collect.

With the yellow key, climb up the wooden staircase you saw earlier and turn right. To the right of you is a marble and metal structure. Go around it to find the yellow door on the east side of the structure and go through it to find a teleporter. Step into this to be taken to a hexagonal room with a number of cacodemons, plus spectres on Ultra Violence skill level (UV). This room contains a large number of health bonuses, and the blue skull key is hiding among them behind the eastern-most column. Once you have the blue key, go to the western-most column and press the gargoyle switch to raise a staircase leading up to the teleporter which will take you out of this room.

Backtrack to the starting room, watching out for any monsters blocking your path. Once you return to the start, open the blue exit door and step into the sludge pool behind it to finish the level.

Other points of interest
The area outside the starting room has an armor pickup on its west side, and a shotgun sitting on a square platform on the east side. Be warned that the sludge pit south of this area is inescapable if you fall into it.

The courtyard has four trails of health and armor bonuses radiating from a central wooden pillar, and a super shotgun can be found due north of that pillar. Between the trails are walkover lines that will open various alcoves around the courtyard when triggered.
 * The north-east line opens a wall on the west side of the yard, which leads to secret #3. It also opens the central pillar, revealing one or two Hell knights guarding an invulnerability powerup.
 * The south-east line opens an alcove on the west side of the yard, containing several imps (plus a knight on UV). The alcove also contains several rockets and stimpacks.
 * The south-west line opens a wall on the east side of the yard, containing several imps (plus demons on Hurt Me Plenty (HMP) or UV). A rocket launcher can be found inside the alcove they emerge from.
 * The north-west line opens an alcove on the north-east side of the yard, containing a number of cacodemons (plus a knight on UV). This alcove also hides the teleporter leading to secret #4.

Walking through the door in the south-east corner of the courtyard leads you into a teleport trap; you will appear on the opposite side of the room facing a number of enemies. Take the plasma gun next to you to dispatch them.

The door on the east side of the courtyard leads to a marble brick room that appears to only contain a berserk pack. When you approach the pack, a floor will rise to block the door and prevent you leaving. Open the south-east wall to enter a maze-like area containing a number of shotgun guys and demons. Make your way to the north-east corner of the maze to find a teleporter; it will lead to a switch that lowers the floor blocking the entrance door.

There is a "+"-shaped structure in the north-east corner of the courtyard. Shooting the gargoyle switch on the south wall will allow you to enter the structure, which contains cacodemons guarding a box of bullets, a box of shotgun shells and a box of rockets. There is also another invulnerability powerup in the corner north-east of this structure.

Climbing the wooden staircase at the north end of the courtyard opens the small building in front of you, revealing several imps (plus a revenant on HMP/UV). The building also contains two partial invisibility powerups.

From the aforementioned building, go east to a marble and metal structure. Behind the door on the west side you will find a soulsphere, but approaching it lowers the walls on either side to release imps (plus two demons on UV).

Secrets

 * 1) North of the corner where the yellow skull key sits is a dark triangular sector. Step into this sector to be teleported to an otherwise unreachable ledge in the eastern maze area. (sector 65) The ledge holds a medikit and a computer area map.
 * 2) In the south-east corner of the maze area, you will find a gargoyle switch. Press it to reveal an alcove containing a chaingun. (sector 95)
 * 3) After passing through the north-east trail of armor/health bonuses radiating from the central pillar in the courtyard, a door will open on the west side of the yard. Behind it is a spiraling hallway leading to a BFG9000. (sector 16)
 * 4) After passing through the north-west trail of armor/health bonuses radiating from the central pillar in the courtyard, an alcove will open in the north-east corner of the yard. Close to this alcove is a "+"-shaped structure. Press the switch on the north-east side of this structure to lower a teleporter back in the alcove you just opened. Go through it to be taken to a new secret area containing three medikits and two boxes of rockets. (sector 40)

Bugs
In the same vein as Map 44: Suburbs, this level can cause the PlayStation port to crash if too many objects are on screen at once; this is due to the large number of health and armor bonuses in the central courtyard area, along with the large number of monsters that can be lured into the area at once. Collecting as many bonuses as possible before luring out the monsters reduces the risk of a crash. Luring out the monsters in waves, rather than all at once, also reduces the risk.

Comparison of versions
A few changes were made to this level compared to the PC version.

Room design

 * All switches use a gargoyle face on metal wall design (named on PC).
 * The nukage pool outside the starting room and the water pool used to indicate the exit are both replaced with sludge.
 * The hidden teleporter leading to secret #1 is slightly larger to account for the player's increased radius.
 * The corridors on the east side of the level contain a switch guarded by some demons, which lowers a section of wall leading to more corridors when pressed. The hallway leading to this switch is slightly longer on the console version of the level.

Monster placement

 * The mancubus inside the wood pillar in the center of the courtyard is replaced with two Hell knights on Hurt Me Plenty and Ultra Violence skill levels, or one knight on I am a Wimp.

Music
The map uses the following music tracks:

Player spawns
This level contains five spawn points:
 * 1) facing east. (thing 2)
 * 2) facing west. (thing 465)
 * 3) facing east. (thing 466)
 * 4) facing north-west. (thing 467)
 * 5) facing south. (thing 468)

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