MAP18: The Courtyard (Doom II)

MAP18: The Courtyard is the eighteenth map of Doom II. It was designed by Sandy Petersen and uses the music track "Waiting For Romero To Play". The par time is 2:30.

Essentials
To get out of the first room, you must shoot the door; you can also use your fists or the chainsaw to open it. Behind the door is a zombieman and some imps. Shoot them, collect the shotgun and all the shells, and proceed through the archway into the courtyard. When you get into the courtyard, RUN all the way straight to the staircase across from you (don't climb it). Facing the staircase, go through the opening to the left of it. Over here, collect the yellow skull key. Now go back and up the stairs (before the demons trap you), and up here, go all the way right, then left, and left again to the yellow key door. Open it.

In here, take the teleporter before the cacodemons come and get you. When you teleport into this room, kill the cacodemons in front of you. Now drop down to the floor below you. Down here are lots of health bonuses. The blue skull key is scattered down here too. Pick it up. Also down here are a few pillars. One of them has a switch. Press it, and to the north of you a staircase has risen to a teleporter. Take it.

You'll be teleported in the yellow door room. Now go right, down into the floor below you, and RUN all the way straight to the opening across from you, before you get caught in a huge enemy mess. Back in this same room, go right, through the opening, and back into the starting room. In here, open the exit door (locked with the blue key) and step in the water to finish the level.

Other points of interest
There is a nukage river near the beginning of this map, which has several pillars marked "Poison" in it. Be careful around it because if you fall into the nukage, you can't get back out.

Secrets

 * 1) In the northwest corner of the courtyard is a triangular area of grass between a couple buildings (for easier identification, the area where you grab the yellow key). Step into the northern corner of the triangle (the "non-illuminated" portion of it) to be teleported an otherwise unreachable ledge in the maze area. (sector 76)
 * 2) Inside the maze area are two blue-walled skull switches. The one in the southeast corner of the maze has a secret alcove containing a chaingun behind it. (sector 74)
 * 3) After passing through the northeast trail of armor/health bonuses radiating from the central pillar in the courtyard, a door opens on the west side of the yard. Behind it is a spiraling hallway leading to a BFG9000. (sector 17)
 * 4) After passing through the northwest trail of armor/health bonuses radiating from the central pillar in the courtyard, an alcove opens in the northeast corner of the yard. Close to this alcove is a "+"-shaped structure. Press the switch on the back side of this structure to lower a teleporter back in the alcove you just opened. Go through to be taken to a new secret area. (sector 36)

Bugs
Sector 15 is a hidden aperture, with ceiling and floor heights set to 144 (the floor later drops to 16). Bordering it on the sides are two linedefs (451 and 459) that are set as two sided. The front sidedefs of both linedefs are part of sector 15, but the back sidedefs are each defining unique sectors (16 and 38) which are set to floor heights of 0 and ceiling heights of 192. As these sectors only have one sidedef each and no associated middle texture, they open to the outside map. One provides a view of an adjacent room, while the other provides a Hall of mirrors shimmering effect.

Bugs in older versions
This map used to have unclosed sectors inside the building housing two invisibilities.

Design oddities
In the outside area near the shotgun, the outer walls are so low and close to the play area that you can see the sky wrap. The top of the sky is displayed below the buildings.

The sky problem area also contains a spot where the ground has a triangular sector, which means that the wall is extremely thin at one end.

The pit near the start area has different textures for the lower texture. Some of them have a green nukage border at the bottom, others do not.

The door at the beginning of the level is triggered by shooting/punching/chainsawing it, but the "trigger" for the door remains active even after it is opened. The door in question uses the "GR Door Open Stay" linedef type, and Doom II does not include a non-repeatable version of this trigger. Therefore, if you stay inside the room and shoot at the imps outside, every gunshot towards (and through) the door sets off the "switch flipped" sound effect.

Routes and tricks
The invulnerability inside the central pillar can be bumped from the eastern side.

Current Compet-n records
The Compet-n records for the map are:

The data was last verified in its entirety on July 5, 2020.

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

The data was last verified in its entirety on January 27, 2023.

Player spawns
This level contains five spawn points:
 * 1) facing east. (thing 4)
 * 2) facing west. (thing 468)
 * 3) facing east. (thing 469)
 * 4) facing north-west. (thing 470)
 * 5) facing south. (thing 471)

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

Trivia

 * The main theme for this level's background music is reminiscent to the verse riff of 's "".