MAP04: Holding Area (Doom 64 TC)

MAP04: Holding Area is the fourth map of Doom 64 TC. It was designed by Randy Estrella with updates by Samuel Villarreal (Kaiser), and uses the music track "".

This level is rather small. It introduces Hell knights, and the first half of the level is a maze filled with zombies, imps, spectres and demons that spring up as the player flips switches and opens up new areas. The music is a sad variety of notes along with some eerie sounds.

Essentials
Lower your crate with a switch and clean the room from zombiemen and spectres. Lower the lift with the switch in the backside of the pillar for a security armor. Enter the corridor, find a supercharge in a niche to the right, and follow the maze to an imp next to a switch which reveals another part of the corridor - including more zombies, demons and spectres, of course.

At the next end of the maze, your first Hell knight awaits you, next to a medikit, fortunately. Press another switch to reveal another part of the maze and opening more connections. To the right of the starting room you will find a brighter area with winding stairs around a pillar. More imps and Hell knights are waiting for you on a floor surrounding a control room with imps which opens its windows when you pass the corner opposite to the entrance. A pole with switches raises and lowers regularly.

Step on the lift platform, go down to a moat with lost souls, and find the blue key here. Now you can enter the last room, fight several lost souls, follow the staircase upwards and meet another Hell knight and zombieman. Then the puzzle with the four switches has to be solved if you want to find another secret level. The normal exit room behind a blue door contains more Hell knights, the teleporter room to the secret run (to the right of the blue door) a few zombies. The secret room has Hell knights too, but also a megasphere and a BFG9000.

Secrets

 * 1) Right at the beginning, turn around and open the wall to enter a cage with a berserk pack. (linedef 1083)
 * 2) Shoot one of the switches on the pillar in the control room to lower a wall keeping you from the chaingun inside the pillar between the winding stairs. (sector 77)
 * 3) In the four switches room, press the orange computer screen behind a barrel to open two niches containing rockets, a supercharge (linedef 993), and some lost souls.
 * 4) Press the four switches on the gallery before the exit in the following order (counted from the left): 3, 1, 2, and 4. A few circular platforms will rise. Use the teleporter to the right of the exit, then run across the platforms to get to the secret room. (sector 132)
 * 5) Getting the BFG9000 there is a secret too. (linedef 993)

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

Player spawns
This level contains four spawn points:
 * 1) facing north. (thing 21)
 * 2) facing south-east. (thing 178)
 * 3) facing north. (thing 179)
 * 4) facing north. (thing 180)

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