Crossing Acheron

From DoomWiki.org

This level occupies the map slot E1M3. For other maps which occupy this slot, see Category:E1M3.
This level occupies the map slot MAP03. For other maps which occupy this slot, see Category:MAP03.

Crossing Acheron is a single-level PWAD designed by John "Dr. Sleep" Anderson, part of his Inferno series. As part of their 10 Years of Doom feature, Doomworld named it one of the ten best WADs of 1994.

At least four versions of the map are known to exist:

  • Version 0.0 (ACHERON.WAD), released June 10, 1994.
  • Version 1.666 (ACHERON6.WAD), released September 23, 1994.
  • Version 2.0 (ACHERON2.WAD), released October 12, 1994.
  • Version 2.2 (ACHRON22.WAD), released July 5, 1995.

The first two WADs replace E1M3; the other two replace MAP03. The level also appeared in Maximum Doom as ACHERON2.WAD, as MAP15 of R.WAD, as MAP15 of RALPHII.WAD, as E2M7 of RALPHNEW.WAD, and as MAP25 of WADPAK4.WAD.

Walkthrough[edit]

Map of Crossing Acheron v2.2
Letters in italics refer to marked spots on the map. Sector, thing, and linedef numbers in boldface are secrets which count toward the end-of-level tally.

Essentials[edit]

Go forward to the marble benches in the church room, get up on one of the left ones and jump through one of the windows. Go right and onto the second teleporter on the right, go right, right again, straight, before going to the teleport at the end push the button to the right to rise a bridge to the red door, go through the teleporter, make a 180° turn and take the yellow key, then go back to the windows that you dropped through at the start. Go up the lift, open the door, step towards the lights to lower and reveal a teleporter, step onto the teleporter, open the symbols to the left, then go to the church room and open the wooden door. Turn right and open the marble icon, go across the pillar and into the farther wall to rise the bridge with the red key on it, take the key, get out of the room, then get to the other side of the room and open the door. Take the chaingun to get into the underground teleporter, step onto the teleporter, make a 180° turn, turn left and go upstairs, open the marble icon and step onto the teleporter behind it.

Other points of interest[edit]

Secrets[edit]

Version ?:

  1. Entering the red door room to get the yellow key is counted as a secret.
  2. When you grab the red key, go to your left. Open the fake wall (sector 220), then open another fake wall (sector 218) to the left.
  3. Follow the corridor and go up a lift. (sector 268)
  4. In the tunnel with nukage at its beginning, open the wall (sector 163) after the demon and chaingunner trap. You will be teleported far away.
  5. Open the back wall (sector 63) on the platform with the barrel. Follow the teleporters to get plenty of goodies.

Version 2.2:

  1. At the south end of the main passage (with all the teleporter pads) is a lift up to a room (visible from the start room) which contains several monsters including (on hard skill levels) an arch-vile. The middle part of the south-western wall is an unmarked secret door leading to a teleporter that leads (via a room south of the start) to a room with a chainsaw and a partial invisibility. (sector 63)
  2. The red door (leading to the yellow key) counts as a secret. (sector 82) This is the only secret sector in versions 0.0 (where the colors of the keys and doors are reversed), 1.666, and 2.0.
  3. The red key is on a lift which lowers into a room with a berserk. The west end of this room has an unmarked secret door leading to a room with two short green pillars (which mark a lift with a partial invisibility). In the north wall of this room is an unmarked secret door, leading to a lift to a room overlooking a room with a rocket launcher. Both the sector after the second secret door and the lift count as secrets. (sector 233)
  4. See #3. (sector 268)
  5. From the nukage pool north of the exit, take the passage leading out to the north-east. Turn a corner, go through one door, and continue to the end. There is a secret door here leading to a teleporter that takes you to the north-east part of the level. (sector 163)

Bugs[edit]

Demo files[edit]

Areas / screenshots[edit]

  • The start

  • The church

  • Secret #3 is behind the ugly one on the left

  • A secret room (not tagged as secret) reachable from secret #5

  • The yellow key room (and secret #1)

  • Teleporters are hidden

  • The same room from uplift

  • The end

Speedrunning[edit]

Routes and tricks[edit]

Current records[edit]

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

Run Time Player Date File Notes
UV speed 0:29.77 Percy T 2020-11-28 e1m3uv2977.zip
NM speed
UV max 3:14.86 Chris Ratcliff (Ryback) 2001-08-09 acheron-314.zip
NM 100S
UV -fast
UV -respawn
UV Tyson 15:05.63 Odan 2020-07-28 Acheron_Tyson_Run.zip
UV pacifist 0:29.83 Percy T 2020-11-29 e1m3p2983.zip
NoMo 100S 0:30.49 PowerSlaveAlfons 2020-11-23 acherono030.zip

The records for v2.2 of the map are:

Run Time Player Date File Notes
UV speed
NM speed 1:16.83 Serge Marudov (Never_Again) 2009-11-23 achronnm_na.zip
UV max 6:41.34 Serge Marudov (Never_Again) 2009-11-23 achronuv_na.zip
NM 100S
UV -fast
UV -respawn
UV Tyson
UV pacifist

The data was last verified in its entirety on December 6, 2021.

Deathmatch[edit]

Player spawns[edit]

Version 2.2 of this level contains five spawn points:

  1. facing north. (thing 25)
  2. facing south-west. (thing 38)
  3. facing west. (thing 39)
  4. facing south. (thing 40)
  5. facing west. (thing 292)

Statistics[edit]

Map data[edit]

Original v1.666 v2.0 v2.2
Things 259 295 308 355
Vertexes 800 975 1004 1163
Linedefs 914 1144 1199 1290
Sidedefs 1307 1625 1701 1851
Sectors 207 271 286 305

Things[edit]

Crossing Acheron contains the following numbers of things per skill level:

Version 0.0
Monsters 1-2 3 4-5
Zombieman 4 6 6
Shotgun guy 13 19 19
Imp 19 23 23
Demon 3 13 13
Spectre 3 4 4
Lost soul 3 8 10
Cacodemon 0 2 4
Baron of Hell 1 3 4
Powerups 1-2 3 4-5
Armor 1
Armor bonus 8
Backpack 1
Berserk 1
Computer area map 1
Health bonus 7 7 7
Medikit 8
Megaarmor 2
Partial invisibility 1 1 2
Radiation shielding suit 2
Stimpack 2
Supercharge 2
Weapons 1-2 3 4-5
Chainsaw 1
Shotgun 2
Chaingun 1
Rocket launcher 1
Plasma rifle 1
BFG9000 0 0 1
Ammunition 1-2 3 4-5
Box of bullets 2 3 3
4 shotgun shells 2
Box of shotgun shells 4 5 5
Box of rockets 2
Energy cell 2
Energy cell pack 1 1 2
Keys 1-2 3 4-5
Red skull key 1
Yellow skull key 1
Version 1.666
Monsters 1-2 3 4-5
Zombieman 4 6 6
Shotgun guy 19 25 25
Imp 22 26 26
Demon 3 13 13
Spectre 5
Lost soul 3 8 10
Cacodemon 1 3 5
Baron of Hell 1 3 4
Powerups 1-2 3 4-5
Armor 1
Armor bonus 8
Backpack 1
Berserk 2
Computer area map 1
Health bonus 6
Medikit 6
Megaarmor 2
Partial invisibility 1 1 2
Radiation shielding suit 2
Stimpack 1
Supercharge 2
Weapons 1-2 3 4-5
Chainsaw 1
Shotgun 2
Chaingun 1
Rocket launcher 1
Plasma gun 1
BFG9000 0 0 1
Ammunition 1-2 3 4-5
Box of bullets 2 3 3
4 shotgun shells 2
Box of shotgun shells 4 8 8
Box of rockets 2
Energy cell 3
Energy cell pack 1 1 2
Keys 1-2 3 4-5
Red skull key 1
Yellow skull key 1
Version 2.0
Monsters 1-2 3 4-5
Zombieman 3 4 4
Shotgun guy 17 21 21
Heavy weapon dude 6 8 8
Imp 21 23 23
Demon 4 13 13
Spectre 6
Lost soul 2 6 7
Cacodemon 1 3 3
Pain elemental 0 1 1
Hell knight 0 1 1
Baron of Hell 0 1 1
Revenant 3 5 5
Mancubus 0 0 1
Arch-vile 0 0 1
Powerups 1-2 3 4-5
Armor 1
Armor bonus 1
Backpack 2
Berserk 2
Computer area map 1
Health bonus 6
Medikit 6
Megaarmor 2
Megasphere 1 1 2
Partial invisibility 2 2 3
Radiation shielding suit 2
Stimpack 1
Supercharge 2
Weapons 1-2 3 4-5
Chainsaw 1
Shotgun 0
Super shotgun 2
Chaingun 1
Rocket launcher 2
Plasma gun 1
Ammunition 1-2 3 4-5
Box of bullets 2 3 3
4 shotgun shells 3
Box of shotgun shells 9 10 10
Box of rockets 3 3 4
Energy cell 2
Energy cell pack 1 1 2
Keys 1-2 3 4-5
Red skull key 1
Yellow skull key 1
Version 2.2
Monsters 1-2 3 4-5
Zombieman 3 4 4
Shotgun guy 22 25 25
Heavy weapon dude 6 10 10
Imp 33 41 40
Demon 4 14 14
Spectre 6 5 5
Lost soul 2 6 7
Cacodemon 2 5 6
Pain elemental 0 1 1
Hell knight 0 5 6
Baron of Hell 0 2 2
Revenant 3 5 5
Mancubus 0 0 1
Arch-vile 0 0 1
Powerups 1-2 3 4-5
Armor 1
Armor bonus 1
Backpack 2
Berserk 2
Computer area map 1
Health bonus 6
Medikit 8
Megaarmor 2
Megasphere 0 1 1
Partial invisibility 3 3 4
Radiation shielding suit 2
Stimpack 1
Supercharge 2
Weapons 1-2 3 4-5
Chainsaw 1
Shotgun 0
Super shotgun 2
Chaingun 1
Rocket launcher 2
Plasma gun 1
BFG9000 0 1 1
Ammunition 1-2 3 4-5
Box of bullets 2 3 3
4 shotgun shells 3 4 4
Box of shotgun shells 9 10 10
Box of rockets 3 3 4
Energy cell 3
Energy cell pack 1 1 2
Keys 1-2 3 4-5
Red skull key 1
Yellow skull key 1

Technical information[edit]

An alternate release of version 2.0, labeled 2.0a, occurred on December 5, 1994. The two WADs are identical apart from the ENDOOM lump.

Inspiration and development[edit]

Crossing Acheron is the sequel to Dante's Gate. Although released singly, both were originally conceived as part of a full episode replacement. E1M3 was chosen over E1M2 as the map slot because E1M3's stock music better fit the overall theme.

At the time, Dr. Sleep said that the original release of Dante's Gate was too easy, and he wanted Crossing Acheron to have a faster pace (in addition to his customary emphasis on texture placement and atmosphere). Subsequent revisions added new areas and monsters, increasing the difficulty further.

Trivia[edit]

Acheron is a river in Hell, according to Dante's story (and the Greek spiritual traditions preceding it). Dr. Sleep tried to create a river as an architectural feature in this map, but could not come up with a convincing one.

See also[edit]

Sources[edit]

External links[edit]

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