Alien Vendetta

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Alien Vendetta (av.wad) is a 2001 megawad that contains 32 new and hard levels. It is one of the few PWADs that are allowed to be used in Compet-n speedruns, and one of the Top 100 WADs of All Time. In a 2019 article on the history of Doom mapping, Alien Vendetta was called "the most influential PWAD of all time".[1]

There have been two separate releases of Alien Vendetta. The second release, made in December 2002 when it was selected for usage on Compet-n, made various changes to almost all of the levels; the biggest change is the replacement of MAP25: Valley of Echoes with another map, MAP24: Clandestine Complex, as well as the relocation of the former MAP24: Demonic Hordes to MAP25.

On August 1, 2016, the expansion Alien Vendetta: Black Label (avbl_v1.wad) was released on the megawad's website, coinciding with a revamp of the site's design. The wad features two new levels that replace MAP01 and MAP02, designed to then-modern level design standards by Brad Spencer (Vorpal). It must be loaded alongside Alien Vendetta to play. Then in September 2016, the original 2001 version was re-released on the website as well.

Only one map has original music, the rest being a medley of existing songs. In 2021, a Doomworld community project created the Alien Vendetta MIDI Pack with custom songs, which was released on the 20th anniversary of Alien Vendetta's original release.

Content[edit]

Black Label title screen

Built-in demos[edit]

This WAD's 2001 release features three built-in demos. All require Doom II v1.9 to view them. The demo levels are:

Demo Level Skill Tics Length
DEMO1 MAP09: Castle Gardens 4 795 0:22.71
DEMO2 MAP14: Overwhelming Odds 4 1099 0:31.40
DEMO3 MAP28: Whispering Shadows 4 1778 0:50.80

The 2002 release also features three demos for Doom II v1.9. This time two of them are multiplayer demos. The demo levels are:

Demo Level Skill Tics Length
DEMO1 MAP07: Showdown 2-player deathmatch 7935 3:46.71
DEMO2 MAP20: Misri Halek 4 4022 1:54.91
DEMO3 MAP22: Rubicon 4; 2-player coop 2268 1:04.80

Speedrunning[edit]

IWADs
PWADs

In 2018, Ancalagon became the first to complete the D2all UV max of this mapset. The run took 4 hours and 13 minutes.

Current Compet-n records[edit]

The Compet-n episode records for Alien Vendetta are:

Run Time Player Date File Notes
UV max episode, MAP01-MAP10 58:45 Revved 2011-07-05 5845av01.zip

The data was last verified in its entirety on June 21, 2020.

Files[edit]

Alien Vendetta is contained in a zip file called av.zip. It is 9,041,333 bytes in size and contains 6 files:

Size Name
1,816,944 AVMOVFIX.WAD
709,905 AV.EXE
7,403 AV.DEH
55,068 AV.TXT
23,819,412 AV.WAD
7,660 CHANGES.TXT

It has the following hashes:

Hash type Hash code
MD5 fc30a2deb2fbd2f12514126a925ae3c7
SHA-1 83bc929c9d8f017a540d996e6ecda8bb3108d7fe
CRC-32 be64917d

The old archive is contained in a zip file called av-extracted.zip. It is 8,119,470 bytes in size and contains 2 files:

Size Name
23,822,384 AV.WAD
53,052 AV.TXT

It has the following hashes:

Hash type Hash code
MD5 db2441538f3f9bce9d15abcdcc062cd0
SHA-1 6a687a569b6708e95c888b35ab457ccdb4b2d2e6
CRC-32 851d6bd9

The Black Label expansion is contained in a zip file called avbl_v1.zip. It is 508,072 bytes in size and contains 2 files:

Size Name
5,409 avbl_v1.txt
1,433,627 avbl_v1.wad

It has the following hashes:

Hash type Hash code
MD5 76f2d28532d2bdf3da3435e4d5e9e2d9
SHA-1 4b5b0d3d36bacd9abb7b04e2f9c583dd93298d17
CRC-32 bbff2628

Compatibility note[edit]

To play AV with PrBoom, the complevel should be 2 (Doom v1.9).

To play it on versions of ZDoom older than 2.3.0, or ZDoom-derived ports with an old codebase, you have to set the compatibility options to "find shortest textures like Doom" (rather than like Boom) for MAP07: Showdown and to "self-referencing sectors don't block shots" for MAP15: Bulls on Parade. The current versions of ZDoom and GZDoom apply the appropriate compatibility options automatically.

Gallery[edit]

  • Credits screen

  • Intermission screen

  • MAP03 starting area

  • MAP03 starting area (aerial shot)

  • MAP04 central slime pool

  • MAP07 starting area (aerial shot)

  • MAP20, an egyptian-themed level

See also[edit]

Trivia[edit]

  • The release package of Alien Vendetta contains a separate executable, called AV.EXE. It consists of a DOOM2.EXE version 1.9-based executable merged with a DeHacked patch called AV.DEH, and a hex edit to include new par times (utilizing an array), which is not possible using DeHacked.
  • The project was originally developed as "Alien Vindicta" in 1996, with a storyline involving the revenge of the Icon of the Sin.[2]

External links[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ↑ Not Jabba (10 December 2019). "Roots: The evolution of Doom level design." Doomworld. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  2. ↑ Anders Johnsen (2 March 2022). Why is it called Alien Vendetta anyway?. Doomworld forums. Retrieved 2 March 2022.
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