WAD: Sunlust
Map: 21
Skill: 4
Category: UV-Max
Exe: Dsda-Doom 0.29.4
Time: 3:53

Author: 	Kinetic
Demo Date:	March 8th, 2026
Attempts:       258
Practice:	40+ min
Grind:		2 hr 36 min
Goal:           3:59
Satisfaction:   :D

- complevel 9

Comments: 

I decided I wanted to start increasing my majority ownership in the sunlust UV-Max table. It's just the greatest wad ever. I chose this one first since the music is absolutely amazing, but this is one of the longer times I've spent practicing an IL. The way the map works is that depending on certain switches and doors you open, certain ammo types/weapons become inaccessible. Of course, I also had to learn how and why the BFG was completely inaccessible no matter what. I guess the map logic is so numerous in possibilities and scenarios that ribbiks and danne and the other testers didn't bother to check if the BFG would spawn in given the particular voodoo logic they gave for it (teleporting onto the 3-manc platform where the YC is locks it, I guess the idea was getting plasma makes bfg inaccessible. But if you look in UDB, they never put a teleport destination in for the BFG to spawn into the playable area.)

I had to study the map in UDB and do some testing to decide the route I wanted to take, since it's a very complex map in terms of options and attempting to figure out what is the optimal route. Probably about 25% or 33% through the grind, I accidentally grabbed the BC without triggering its trap, and that actually gave me the idea to adjust the route to purposefully grab the BC and trip the trap later. Makes that part a bit more consistent and stable I think. I have no doubt this overall route for the map has some flaws, but there is basically just enough cell and rocket ammo in this route to get you to the end, and it's good enough to yield a sub 4 minute max.

This map is so awesome, so it was actually a bit disappointing that this ended up being the attempt that won. I had a bunch of other attempts with really smooth gameplay that looked great, but they ended up in random chokes or trolls. I had one run that died at the ending that might have been a 3:4X or something. I also had a couple close runs, like a 4:02 and a 4:01 and a 4:00. The map plays super smooth, very nice for running. The specters and archvile at the BC are very pesky though, definitely the most dangerous part of the map.