Mars 3D

To do: I was able to find some prerelease screenshots by going to the game's official website via the Wayback Machine. A developer who goes by "Nieh" revealed a few cheat codes (which look like they're meant for a Chinese character set but are written out in Latin characters). Another developer wrote a small blog on how the engine they used (T3DFX) evolved over time.

Mars 3D is what happens when a team of Taiwanese programmers reverse-engineer Doom's code (with an added serving of DOS PowerSlave) and make a game where you save a post-apocalypse Earth by killing the Predator. Also, vertical aiming sucks and the only weapon with autoaim is your basic Uzi Wuz.

Unused Graphics#

To do: See if these have any associated code.

Image	ID	Description
	MIS3	A missile in flight.
	BAT1	A blue device with two metal prongs and a brown grip. Name indicates that it’s a battery.
	BAT2	What looks like a car battery from the future, with a blue glowy rectangle window on the side. Two versions exist, one with no animation and one where the glow fluctuates (3 frames of animation).
	BAT3	Nominally, it’s a battery, but it looks like an office phone on top of a tiny metal desk with a tan box underneath and metal antenna on the side.Two versions exist, one with no animation and one where the lights on the tan box and “keypad” blink (3 frames of animation).
	CDR1	A compact disc spinning around (8 frames of animation). Presumably a small ammo pickup for the disc launcher.
	MIS2	A wooden-tan box with a grey handle on the side. Name indicates it’s a large ammo pickup for the homing missile launcher. A duplicate version of it exists.
	BOB1	Non-blinking versions of the grenade ammo pickups, and the homing missile launcher ammo pickup.
	BOB2
	MIS1
	STN1	A glowing red uncut gem that fluctuates in brightness (4 frames of animation). A duplicate version of it exists.
	STN2	A glowing blue hunk of crystal that fluctuates in brightness (4 frames of animation). A duplicate version of it exists.
	CAND	A PC tower, monitor, keyboard, and mouse.
	COL1	Seaweed.
	COL2
	COL3	Tin cans slightly embedded in the ground.
	COL4
	COL6
	ARTF	An item of unclear purpose. Looks like it could be an early version of the jetpack, but the rockets resemble the homing missile launcher’s projectiles.
	BALM	A duplicate of the homing missile launcher’s projectile.
	BAL2	A red, spinning star with 4 points that curve leftward, resembling what we’ll call a Manji, for the benefit of the doubt. Explodes into a red version of Doom’s plasma gun projectile impact.
	DFK1	What appear to be pieces of armor that you could pick up and use, much like in Doom. DFK1 appears to be some sort of riot shield, DFK2 is a vest (presumably bulletproof) with six-pack abs molded into it, DKF3 is a large grey helmet that somewhat resemble’s Mega Man’s helmet without the circles on the side and additional eye protection (which has a fluctuating green glow with 4 frames of animation, making it the only animated sprite among the DFK crew), and DFK4 is a white hazmat suit with a gas mask.
	DFK2
	DFK3
	DFK4
	RGLA	A set of high-tech goggles with glowing red eyes (5 frames of animation). Possibly meant to function like Doom’s Light Amplification Visor (except red, presumably).
	STNH	A simplified depiction of an atom, with a green nucleus and three yellow rings of electrons orbiting it (3 frames of animation). Name implies it was some sort of health pickup, like Duke Nukem 3D’s Atomic Health.
	MEC1	A full set of sprites for an unused enemy! Looks like one of the green tank top guys piloting a knockoff eggmobile with twin launchers on the sides and a rather freudian metal hook on the bottom. There’s nowhere near enough room for the green tank top guy’s body to fit, though, so it just looks like he’s only a head.
	MEC3	Another full set of sprites for an unused enemy, this time it’s a green tank top guy piloting some sort of one-man submersible device. Similarly to MEC1, there’s no way his whole body would fit in there realistically.
	RANM	Unused NPC. RANM is a woman in a black crop top and tan pants (the name implies she’s a resistance member, since the sprites for the resistance member at the end of “Level 1: Resistance” are called RAPP).
	LEMM	LEMM is a woman in a blue jacket-skirt combo with a white undershirt.
	LEPP	LEPP is a man in a brown vest with a white undershirt, a brown tie, and brown pants with a dark gray belt.
	PLOC	PLOC is a police officer in a dark gray uniform with a brown belt, tan hat brim, and golden epaulettes.
	PEOP	PEOP is a man in a white sleeveless shirt and brown overalls.

Sprite Name Oddities#

• The sprites for the flying drone enemies introduced in "Level 3: Base City" are named HEAD, same as Doom’s Cacodemon.
• The sprites for the buff ninja dudes in E2L8 are named SARG, same as Doom’s Demon (aka Pinky).

Unused Textures#

To do: check to see what only gets used in the deathmatch levels.

Textures#

Patches#

Flats#

Deathmatch-Only Maps#

To do: Get footage of an actual multiplayer match, both to see whether or not enemies spawn and to see if the player sprites are recolored at all (all the blood and gibs are represented with the desaturated red while the pants are regular red.

Surprisingly, Mars 3D has roughly one and a half times as many levels as seen in the main campaign. While not accessible normally, you can select them from the multiplayer setup executable. This (alongside the general design of some maps) implies these were made with deathmatch in mind. There are still enemies placed in some maps, however.

Deathmatch-Only Monsters#

There are two fully-functional enemies exclusive to these maps.

MOUS#

Resembles an oversized version of Doom’s Imp, except with no shoulder spikes, a long tail, and a knockoff Predator face. Can only do melee attacks.

SARG#

Uses the sprites for Heretic’s Golem, except less pale. Dressed in a black ninja hood & black pants (yes, it’s shirtless). What can be seen of the face is orangeish-red.

The Maps Proper#

Note: since these seemingly lack official names, they will be referred to by their internal map name. Also of note is that the wall texturing seems simple, even placeholder at times.

To do: Write summary for E2M9 and beyond, flesh out summary for E2M1 and check what all's different from E1M4. Generate map images using OMGIFOL.

E2M1#

An early version of “Level 4: Conspiracy”.

E2M2#

Some sort of explosive barrel shipping/storage facility, filled with multiple instances of the truck seen in “Level 3: Base City”. Players Player 1 starts out in the back of a unique truck not seen elsewhere in a loading bay to the south, with Player 2 on the other side of the room. Player 3 starts just south of a large pool of water surrounded by a railing in the northwest, while Player 4 starts out in northeast of the map near the right end of a large non-functional conveyor belt. Inside, you can find instances of the otherwise-unseen “MOUS” enemy. Dotted around the map are big screens labeled “B.B.S.” (Bulletin Board Service) displaying the cover art for Mars 3D and some other fantasy game that doesn’t resemble 3D Hero. To the east, there’s a small administrative area with stairs to a door above the room that’s blocked off by a gate because this is still Doom’s map format and room-over-room isn’t a thing., and slightly to the east of that there’s an open vent that takes you to a secret room with a computery-looking thing in the middle. In the center of the map, there’s a small nukage river with a waterfall into a big circular nukage pool. For some reason, the waterfall linedef is tagged as a walk-over secret exit. You can also end the level by using one of the walls in the circular pool, and also the little bit of wall jutting out where the circular pool meets the nukage river.

E2M3#

Some sort of ruined village, split into a large chunk to the northwest and a small chunk to the southeast. Players 1 and 3 start out in buildings located in the large chunk, while 2 and 4 start out in buildings located in the small chunk. The path between the large and small chunks is bisected by a body of water that flows underground. Following this river to the west leads to a well in the large chunk that can be jumped in and out of. Following the river to the right ends in a staircase that leads to an isolated chunk with only one building and a few walls. Accessible from here and the small chunk is a sort of temple-ish room with dramatic lighting. The exit is at the west end of the large chunk surrounded by a small pool.

Notably, this map would be further refined into E2M4 of 3D Hero.

E2M4#

A map seemingly designed off some kind of open-air electronics store. Player 1 starts at the east entrance of the building, with Player 3 at an exit on the other side. Player 4 starts near a side entrance to the building that lets out where Player 1 is. Strangely, Player 2 starts behind an inaccessible building parallel to the east entrance. The outside area has concrete walls to the east and left, while north and south are blocked by chainlink fencing that looks out into tarmac that stretches out into the horizon… at least, that’s what the intent seems to be. The “horizon” is actually just the sky texture applied to the sector walls. Because of how they’re set up, they don’t even rotate along with the real sky, so it looks like someone put up a wallpaper of a starry sky surrounding an empty tarmac rectangle. Inside there are 32 “stalls”, with 18 on the outer perimeter and 14 on the inside. To the north and south of the building are two side entrances (with 5 stalls to their west and 4 to their east). Note that Player 4’s side entrance is separate and positioned to the southeast of the building. Stalls are packed with computer paraphernalia, namely PC towers (with included monitors) and software. Notably, a few of the textures very clearly depict popular PC games and software of the mid-to-late-’90s (Doom II, Final Doom, Hexen, Windows 95, Warcraft II, et al.).Near the east entrance is a computer screen, presumably meant to represent an ATM. Flanking the stairs of the east entrance is two smaller stairways. These lead nowhere, since (as previously stated) room-over-room isn’t possible in this map format, but its inclusion regardless suggest this map is based on a real-life shopping plaza. Near the southern side entrance is a small sideroom with boxes lining the walls (the shape of this room causes it to encroach upon the floor space of the nearby stall, ironically making it less believable that there’s enough space for merchandise on either side of the room to fit.The western exit lets out into a small outback area. You can’t actually enter from here, since the exit is a sheer dropoff instead of a staircase. South of the west entrance is a small bathroom with two toilets, two sinks, two mirrors, and a large window overlooking the small outback area (no, you can’t see any of the toilets from here. North of the west exit is the level exit itself, behind a wall of 7 barrels.

E2M5#

What looks like E1M4: Command Control from Doom 1, remade from memory and tweaked for deathmatch. Notably, the whole map’s been rotated 90 degrees to the left. Player 1 starts in the middle of Command Control’s starting courtyard, overlooked by Player 2 on the northeastern ledge (southeastern in the original). Player 3 starts in the area just before Command Control’s blue key door, while Player 4 starts where Command Control’s blue key proper is located. A small path entered from Command Control’s starting hallway is added, which lets out to… the exact same room. The ambush at the lift to the north (west here) in the original is missing. There are no barrels in the room with the river. The supply cache at the end of said river doesn’t have a lift that takes you up to the ledge with a Soulsphere… mostly because the ledge itself is gone.The blue key rotunda has its ceiling raised way up removes the circular “ambush” area in the middle and replaces it with some blocking walls, which have items on top of them since the ceiling’s been raised (requiring the Jetpack to grab).The mappers really didn’t want anyone strafing across the pool to the south (northwest here) to where the yellow key door is, so they surrounded the ledge with midtexture bars, moved it further away from the other side of the pool, and added another wall near the northwest of the room (northeast in the original) for good measure. The computer room with the dropdown structure (shaped like a swastika pre-1.4) instead has immovable stone walls in a distinctly non-swastika shape. The exit is in the same location as the original.

E2M6#

A car park filled with trucks, separated into two halves, with “1F” to the west and “2F” to the east. Player 1 starts in the middle of 2F out in the open, while Player 2 starts in the southeast corner of 2F near a room with a weapon behind some barrels. Player 3 starts out the middle of 1F out in the open, while Player 4 starts in the northeast corner of 1F behind a truck. A stairway between floors is located between Player 1 and Player 3’s starting points. Another way to travel between them is a lift accessed from the southeast of 1F that connects to a small stretch of tarmac to the southeast of 2F… said lift being entirely too small to transport any trucks between the floors. For that matter, there’s no actual way in or out of the car park, so it’s more of a big concrete box with trucks in it than anything. The exit is in a room located at the northwest corner of 1F.

E2M7#

Very clearly designed for deathmatch. Comprised of 4 concentric circular areas around a center room. Player 1 starts at the north end of the furthest ring, while Player 2 starts at the south end. Player 3 starts at the west end, and Player 4 starts at the east end. Area 1 is a central room that has a fountain surrounded by grass. The first ring out from there (Area 2) is an enclosed concrete donut (with the ceiling inside higher than the sky in the previous area), with four openings to Area 1 on the inside in cardinal directions, and openings to Area 3 in both cardinal and ordinal directions (North and south have doors, for some reason). Area 3 is also an open-air ring of grass. The ring after that (Area 4) is yet another concrete donut (complete with a ceiling higher than the previous area’s sky), except filled with water. This water is swimmable, but there’s not much here. There’s openings to both Areas 3 and 5 in the cardinal directions. The north and south entrances have stone bridges (with stairs in case you fall in the water) but there are dividing walls (which you can swim under) at the furthest western and eastern points (these extend to the entrances, which have doors again). Area 5 is one last ring of grass, but with 8 extrusions in the ground which roughly line up with the times on an analog clock (12/3/6/9 are the openings to Area 4, 1/4/7/10 have a lower ceiling, and 2/5/8/11 have a raised mound of stone). The exit is just south of Player 2.

This map would also be used in 3D Hero as E1M9… except the map is surrounded by 4 copies of itself connected via tunnels in the walls and there’s no underwater section.

E2M8#

Yet another “just for deathmatch” map, centered around a weird circular pillar of prefabricated building exterior. Primarily notable for its use of the otherwise-unused “SARG” enemy. Player 1 starts at the far northwest of the map, with Player 2 starts at the far southeast. Player 3 starts at the far southwest, and Player 4 starts at the far northeast. 8 paths radiate from the central pillar, all leading to a massive hallway with 4 structures. The cardinal directions bring you to their furthest points before letting you out, and the ordinal directions lead to sidepaths going down both their corresponding directions (NE goes north and east, etc.).The structures are big rusty metal squares with half being empty and the other half being broken up by walls at 4 45-degree angle walls radiating from the middle (with an opening going through their middle).The exit is at the furthest point south.

E2M9#

A deathmatch map with rooms that spell out "MARS" when read clockwise.

E3M1#

A remake of E1M9: Military Base from Doom 1.

E3M2#

A remake of E1M1: The Slipgate Complex from Quake 1.

E3M3#

A deathmatch map that bears a passing resemblance to a microphone when viewed from above.

E3M4#

A dockyard filled with shipping containers which use textures exclusive to this map.

Version Differences#

To do: Investigate further

English translation (1997)#

• Translated intermission story screens, menu stuff, and status bar
• Also has 4 additional STCFN0xx graphics (Exclamation point, comma, period, colon)
• Changed patches: END-01, WALL9-27
• Has what appear to be four sprites of the unused player character from 3D Hero buried in the files

English translation (2018)#

• Translated intermission story screens, menu stuff, and status bar
• Changed patches: END-01, EXIT2-05, EXIT2-06, FIRE-01, FIRE-02, ROD-20, ROD-21, SORRY, TEL-01, TEL-02, WALL4-13, WALL4-14, WALLC-06, WALLE-15
• Changed sprite: BAR1A0
• The english lines for the green tank top guy and the blue soldier guy have been redone, plus the grunts when using the melee attack. Now, instead of being a Taiwanese guy with minimal english skills doing an impression of someone else doing an Arnold Schwarzenegger impression, you get a generic edgy 2000’s protagonist voice.