Trailblazer

Trailblazer

Authors	Maciej Banowski et al.
Port	GZDoom
IWAD	various
Year	2015
Link	ZDoom forums thread

Trailblazer is a gameplay mod for the GZDoom source port, made by a team of modders comprising Maciej Banowski (PillowBlaster), DoomNukem, Zhs2, and KeksDose, and was officially released on the ZDoom forums on January 6, 2015, having first been announced on August 1, 2013. The mod can be run with Doom, Doom II, Heretic, or Hexen as its IWAD and replaces all weapons and items in the game with an expanded arsenal based around 1980s action movie tropes, as well as featuring an inventory and crafting system alongside several other enhancements like Quake-style movement tilt and the ability to dash.

Features[edit]

Overview[edit]

The player takes the role of Malcolm Striker, a cliché 80s action movie hero and chain smoker—voiced by Carlos Sanchez (Cardboard Marty)—in pursuit of his arch-nemesis Vladimir Vladimir.
The mod adds 16 new weapons, which replace the standard arsenal, all of which have fluid animations akin to Smooth Doom. Several of these also have a secondary fire mode or can be dual-wielded if the player picks up a second one of the same kind. Most of the weapons must be reloaded and have a noticeable recoil that causes the aim to steadily veer upwards with every shot as well as pushing the player backwards.
A crafting material called "junk" can occasionally be found throughout the levels, replacing ammo drops and pickups. Picking up junk adds junk points to the HUD. The tinker's toolbelt, one of two default items in the player's inventory, can be used in combination with junk points to upgrade weapons. The number of junk points necessary to upgrade a given weapon is displayed beneath the small weapon icon in the HUD, with both the counter and a gauge behind it that fills up with green showing the progress. After adding the required amount of junk points to a specific weapon, it will transform to an improved version of itself, with added bonuses being briefly displayed on-screen (→ see Weapons).
Another way to enhance the weaponry is by crafting blueprints, which grant separate bonuses from those bestowed through the tinker's toolkit and are found at backpack spawns as well as being dropped by spider masterminds and cyberdemons, using junk points as the crafting material. There are 22 blueprints in total and each one will either add a general perk, craft an item, or improve a specific weapon.
The crafter's toolkit—the other default item in the player's inventory—can be used to turn junk points into ammo for the selected weapon.
Three new powerups are added to the game, which replace the partial invisibility: the blazingsphere, which greatly speeds up the players movement for 30 seconds, including firing and reload speed; the ammo junkie, which for 45 seconds grants infinite ammo and removes the need to reload; and the quad damage, which for 45 seconds quadruples all weapon damage.
The megasphere and soulsphere can both boost health up to 300, with additional pickups capable of boosting the health even further, up to a maximum of 999.
The megasphere is referred to as "cigsphere" in-game, as it bestows 15 cigarette packs besides health and armor.
A cigar box will occasionally replace a megasphere spawn (one in six chance) and will be placed in the inventory when picked up, allowing up to three cigar boxes to be stored. When a cigar box is used, it will gift the player 25 cigarette packs and a megasphere, and activate a blazingsphere, a quad damage, and an ammo junkie, with the effects of all three powerups lasting for 45 seconds. Consuming a cigar box while another is already active will extend the triple powerup effect by 45 seconds rather than resetting the timer.
The player can find "piss" whiskey (named for its poor quality), which has a 50 percent chance of spawning instead of a soulsphere, and consume it when needed to restore health.
Health and armor bonuses are replaced by either cigarette packs or syringes, with cigarettes adding two points of health (Marlores) or armor (Luckies), respectively.
Picking up 100 cigarette packs will initiate a nicotine rush, which will give the player either a quad damage, a blazingsphere, or an ammo junkie powerup, as well as adding 25 junk points.
Exploding barrels can be pushed, and the player is able to drink the radioactive sludge from them, emptying the barrel in the process and giving the player an radioactive aura that will damage all enemies within a small perimeter around them as well as making them immune to damaging floors. The effect lasts for 15 seconds, but every consumed barrel will add another 15 seconds to the timer while also further increasing the damage of the radioactive aura. Emptied barrels can no longer explode, instead simply bursting apart when destroyed, without doing any blast damage.
The player can dash by double pressing any of the directional buttons, with a cooldown period between dashes of 30 tics by default (can be customized in the options). The dash can also be used while in mid-air, significantly increasing jump distance.
A jet pack occasionally spawns alongside the backpacks in Doom/Doom II and the Wings of Wrath powerup in Heretic/Hexen. It allows the player to boost themselves high up into the air by pressing the activate item button, consuming fuel in the process. If the jump button is pressed and held while in the air, hover mode is activated, which consumes less fuel.
The night vision goggles replace the light amplification visor and are stored in the inventory when picked instead of activating automatically; their power lasts for four minutes and 42 seconds and can be toggled on/off.
The radiation suit is replaced by the Hazmat suit, which is stored in the inventory instead of activating automatically. Its protection lasts for four minutes and 42 seconds, also providing a small bit of armor.
If the master exploder blueprint has been crafted, monsters have about a 1.6 percent chance to drop a blastsphere when killed, which will explode once picked up, killing or damaging monsters in its immediate surroundings, but not the player.
If the alchemist's dream blueprint has been crafted, the player can store powerups in the inventory, up to three of each kind, by pressing and holding the use/open button while walking over a powerup.
The flares blueprint allows the player to craft boxes of flares, containing five flares each that when used will be thrown forward and light up the surrounding area. The effect lasts for two minutes and stacks with multiple uses. If use/open is pressed when the flare is activated, it will not be thrown but instead light up the perimeter around the player as if held in one hand. The blueprint for flares can only be found at the spawn points of the night vision goggles.
By default, picking up multiple backpacks increases the player's ammo carrying capacity by 10 percent with each additional pickup (can be turned off in the options →see Blaze-It Stuff menu).
The Blaze-It Stuff menu in the options lets the player customizes various effects of the mod, including adding multipliers for damage taken and handed out, setting the amount of movement tilt (or disabling it completely), simplifying the crafting system (or disabling it completely), or reducing the amount of cigarette butts expended by the protagonist, alongside various other options.

Weapons[edit]

Machete: A powerful melee weapon that replaces the fists. Default damage is comparable with berserk fists but with a wider range. Secondary fire throws the machete at enemies, flying through the air like a boomerang and slashing through enemies; throwing the machete will cause an automatic weapon switch and the weapon cannot be used again until it has returned. Curiously, using the machete does not alert other monsters and while having the machete out, the player will move faster (a tribute to this same behavior for the knife in the Counter-Strike series).
Upgrade (Requires 60 junk points): Gives even more powerful slashes with a greatly extended range. Thrown machete flies for longer and in much wider arc, seeking out enemies and barrels. Damage stacks with berserk.

Spikebombs: Spiky, highly-explosive, manually-detonated steel tubes. They are thrown by pressing secondary fire and then detonated remotely, causing a large, powerful explosion that releases several smaller cluster projectiles that fly in an arch and explode on impact with the ground. They randomly replace rockets and boxes of rockets.
Upgrade (Requires 80 junk points): Vacuum implosion effect—spikebombs suck in surrounding monsters into its epicenter before detonation. Can be turned on/off with the reload button in case instant detonation is preferred.

Sidekick: Fast-shooting and powerful semi-automatic pistol with minimal spread that replaces the regular pistol. Requires reloading, with a magazine capacity of 16 bullets.
Upgrade (Requires 20 junk points): Gives it perfect accuracy, a silencer that keeps shots from waking up other monsters, and adds a laser pointer.

Cradle & grave: A pair of engraved, Western-style revolvers that do low-to-medium damage but have infinite ammo. They must be reloaded after every six shots, though this happens automatically and rather quickly. Nonetheless, this is overall the least powerful weapon the mod provides and functions as a last resort option. They replace the chainsaw but share the same weapon slot with the sidekick (2).
Upgrade (Requires 30 junk points): The revolvers do not need to be reloaded anymore, and the recoil gets nullified.

Leadspitter: Compact submachine gun modeled after the Micro Uzi, with a 30 bullet magazine and a very high fire rate that allows the player to empty a clip in under two seconds. It is not particularly accurate, with a wide circular spread and must be reloaded, though this is done automatically. It is dropped by chaingunners and can be dual-wielded if a second one is picked up.
Upgrade (Requires 60 junk points): Slightly more damage, bigger clips, and better accuracy.

F.M.G.: Assault rifle with a medium fire rate and a 70 bullet magazine that replaces chaingun spawns (as opposed to those dropped by chaingunners →see Leadspitter). The secondary fire allows the player to aim down the sights.
Upgrade (Requires 40 junk points): Gives it a base damage bonus +25%, and a sniper mode. Pressing the punch button while being in sights activates/deactivates sniper mode. While in sniper mode, the F.M.G. gets a +50% base damage bonus but also consumes 10 bullets per shot.

Fleshrend: Sawed-off, double-barreled shotgun with very wide, horizontal spread, making it inaccurate for mid-to-long distances but powerful at short range. It replaces the shotgun and can be dual-wielded if a second one is picked up. It uses separate ammo from the other two shotguns.
(Requires 60 junk points) Upgrade: Gives it a third barrel but without using more ammo.

Chrome justice: Pump-action shotgun with a seven shot magazine and two fire modes. Primary fire shoots a flame shot consisting of seven high-speed fire projectiles that rip through enemies. Secondary fire shoots a volley of 30 pellets in a compact spread. The reload speed is particularly slow for this gun, with a full reload taking 3.75 seconds. If the fire button is held down, only one shell will be reloaded and promptly fired, requiring the player to release the fire button for the full duration of the reload animation to assure a complete refill. This weapon shares its spawn points with the eliminator, with both guns randomly replacing the SSG.
Upgrade (Requires 110 junk points): Changes the weapon into auto justice. Bigger clip capacity (10), and gets a semi-automatic firing mode (tapping makes it fire faster).

Eliminator: Lever action shotgun rifle that is spun around in a flashy way between shots for reloading, possessing a similar spread and rate of fire as the standard shotgun, though with a much higher damage output. It can be dual-wielded and benefits from the uranium shot blueprint. Pressing reload triggers a zoom that is supposed to simulate the squinting of eyes "like Clint Eastwood". This weapon shares its spawn with the chrome justice, with both guns randomly replacing the SSG.
Upgrade (Requires 50 junk points): Damage increase and limited penetration ability.

Patriarch: Automatic grenade launcher that shoots grenades that either detonate on impact (primary fire) or bounce off up to two walls before exploding. It has 12 grenades in its magazine, with a reload taking about three seconds, but has a comparatively high rate of fire. This weapon shares its spawn points with the bitchmaker, with both guns randomly replacing the rocket launcher.
Upgrade (Requires 70 junk points): Gets a new clip and a muzzle break. Higher clip capacity, lower recoil, nullifies projectile spread, higher projectile speed, and higher impact damage.

Bitchmaker: A magnum revolver with tremendous fire power and strong recoil that shoots large fire projectiles that will annihilate most monsters in one shot. Secondary fire allows for fanning of shots, significantly increasing the fire rate. This weapon shares its spawn points with the patriarch, with both guns randomly replacing the rocket launcher.
Upgrade (Requires 70 junk points): Adds a new clip and barrel. Higher clip capacity (eight shots), significantly lowers recoil, even higher projectile speed, higher impact damage, and less spread while fanning (secondary fire).

Skullthrottle: A minigun with a Gatling-style rotating barrel that sprays a huge amount of bullet projectiles at a high rate of fire but produces an extreme amount of recoil, making it hard to keep the gun pointed at the target. It takes about a second for the barrel to spin up before it starts shooting, further limiting its usefulness, though this can be remedied by crafting the throttle instaspin blueprint, which nullifies the spin-up time. It replaces the plasma gun.
Upgrade (Requires 130 junk points): Gives a machine gun into the other hand, which fires instantaneously and has higher accuracy, but generally keeps the same level of DPS.

Paintrain: A railgun crafted from the "paintrain" blueprint that shares its weapon slot with the skullthrottle (6 by default). Sports decent penetration power, and will also fry monsters if they are close enough to the firing path. Secondary fire allows to aim through sights.
Upgrade (Requires 100 junk points): Damage bonus, faster rev-up and a passive ammo regeneration.

Nutcracker: A 33.7mm (1.32 inch) modified, ornamented black powder mini cannon that fires an explosive shell that detonates on impact and launches high-velocity shrapnel projectiles in all directions. The gun has an enormous kick-back, thrusting the player backward and causing the screen to shake. The reload time between shots is about two seconds. This weapon shares its spawn points with the double deuce and the conqueror, with all three guns randomly replacing the BFG.
Upgrade (Requires 250 junk points): Adds an American flag wrapped around its barrel and enables "glory shot" on secondary fire mode. Glory shot causes a time freeze and an excerpt from "Chariots of Fire" by Vangelis to play while the shot is in flight, all the monsters affected by the glory aura explode. It takes 30 seconds to recharge after impact.

Double deuce: A mix of the nutcracker and a super shotgun, this ludicrous mini cannon fires explosive shells that besides the huge impact damage itself summon a storm of high-velocity shrapnel projectiles that fill the air, ricocheting off walls, making it particularly effective in small, crowded rooms. The primary fire shoots one barrel at a time, while the secondary fire allows to launch both barrels together, doubling the damage. This weapon shares its spawn points with the nutcracker and the conqueror, with all three guns randomly replacing the BFG.
Upgrade (Requires 200 junk points): Makes the shrapnel bounce longer and seek out enemies.
Conqueror: A ludicrous assortment of random gun barrels and a main cannon, all slapped together onto a massive chassis. Besides its own ammunition for the central cannon, the conqueror also fires bullets (leadspitter and F.M.G. ammo), grenades (patriarch ammo), and shotgun shells (fleshrend ammo); the secondary fire only uses the central cannon. This weapon shares its spawn points with the nutcracker and the double deuce, with all three guns randomly replacing the BFG, but uses a separate weapon slot (8 by default).
Upgrade (Requires 150 junk points): Adds a minigun (skullthrottle ammo) and unlocks alternative ammo (press the reload button to toggle), which replaces the fleshrend shells with those of the chrome justice/eliminator and the grenades with the bitchmaker shots; pressing the punch button summons a mortar shot from the sky onto the designated target area (a giant red circle with a cross appears on the ground before the player).

Blueprints[edit]

Icon	Name	Description
	Hazmat suit	Creates a hazmat suit. Does not consume the blueprint in the process. Requires 20 junk points.
	Paintrain	Creates the paintrain railgun. Can only be found on skullthrottle spawns, with a 25 percent chance of appearing. Requires 100 junk points.
	Colt burstshot	Makes cradle & grave colts shoot in bursts. Requires 30 junk points.
	Heavy machinegun	Increases the clip capacity of the F.M.G. assault rifle to 150 bullets. Requires 60 junk points.
	Flares	Crafts a box of five flares that can be thrown to illuminate the area around you. Can only be found on spawn points of the night vision goggles. Requires 20 junk points.
	Spontaneous freedom	Leadspitter(s) tend to fire out freedom missiles. Requires 60 junk points.
	Armored measures	Crafts very resilient armor. Does not consume the blueprint in the process. Requires 50 junk points.
	Alchemist's dream	Store powerups in your inventory, up to three by holding use/open button. Requires 200 junk points.
	Alchemist's potency	Claims to extend the duration of all timed powerups; in practice though only extends invulnerability (to 45 sec) and blazingsphere (to 45 sec). Requires 50 junk points.
	Master exploder	The player becomes immune to explosions from their own projectiles. Barrels have occasionally way more powerful explosions. Monsters can drop blastspheres (→see Overview). Requires 120 junk points.
	Tricorne shot	The fleshrend(s) fires even more pellets per shot. Requires 90 junk points.
	Throttle instaspin	The skullthrottle fires instantly. Requires 40 junk points.
	Homing grenades	The patriarch's bouncing grenades home into nearest targets. Requires 60 junk points.
	Keep shooting	Gives the ability to use bitchmaker's secondary fire mode even after clip is depleted (effectively granting infinite ammo as long as the fire button is held down). Provides 25% chance to not consume ammo on both firing modes. Requires 70 junk points.
	Lucky strike	Boosts cigar bonuses, giving a chance to win free health/armor boosts. Requires 80 junk points.
	Uranium shot	The sidekick gets explosive bullets. Requires 50 junk points.
	Blazing booster	Permanent stage one blazing boost, and increases the nicotine gain from cigarette-related items. Requires 150 junk points.
	Kinetic fist	Greatly increases the punching range. Berserk punches explode regardless of hitting anything. Requires 50 junk points.
	Striploader	Makes the chrome justice reload full magazine in one go. Requires 60 junk points.
	Nut force one	Nutcracker fires scattershot consisting of five projectiles (in air raid formation). Also applies to secondary fire. Requires 200 junk points.
	Whiskey	Whiskey on demand. Grants 100 points worth of whiskey per craft. Does not consume the blueprint in the process. Requires 50 junk points.
	Riftbombs	Lets the player toss extremely fast spikebombs that are not affected by gravity and detonate almost instantly (unless the upgraded spikebombs have vacuum implosion turned on). Effect can be toggled via an inventory item. Requires 60 junk points.

External links[edit]