Zerk Zone

Well, here we go again. After doing Rise of the Triad, I looked around for similar games to map, and decided on Shadow Caster. Special thanks to the SLADE Editor and everyone on the ShadowCaster modding thread at Doomworld. Both sources were instrumental in getting me started on decoding the game data.

Unfortunately, I am not aware of a means to purchase the game at this time beyond searching for used copies on eBay or Amazon. The game is not particularly popular, so it should not be expensive. That said, it can be a bit clunky, so I'm not sure I would recommend it for most players.

Maps

	Level 01 : RuinsA 3840 x 2100, 3.1 MB
	Level 02a : RuinADrn (full) 1984 x 1428, 0.9 MB
	Level 02b : RuinADrn (drained) 2368 x 1428, 2.6 MB
	Level 03 : RuinAWat 2368 x 1340, 1.9 MB
	Level 04 : RuinsB 4096 x 2152, 4.8 MB
	Level 05 : RuinBWat 1408 x 852, 0.3 MB
	Level 06 : RuinBTem 2432 x 1216, 1.0 MB
	Level 07 : Temple 3648 x 2120, 3.5 MB
	Level 11 : CastWine 3136 x 1572, 2.5 MB
	Level 12 : CastThrn 3136 x 2076, 3.6 MB
	Level 13 : CastMoon 2176 x 2004, 1.3 MB
	Level 14 : UndrMine 2688 x 1788, 2.8 MB
	Level 15 : UnderSpi 3904 x 1952, 3.8 MB
	Level 16 : WaterAci 3968 x 2048, 3.4 MB
	Level 17 : WaterCan 2816 x 1656, 1.1 MB
	Level 18 : WaterDra 1792 x 1072, 0.9 MB
	Level 19 : WaterObe 448 x 432, 0.1 MB
	Level 20 : LavaMud 3136 x 2116, 2.5 MB
	Level 21 : LavaMine 3840 x 2152, 3.3 MB
	Level 22 : VesteTst 3648 x 2080, 5.1 MB
	Level 23 : VesteBld 2240 x 1312, 1.2 MB
	Level 24 : Vest2Tst 3456 x 2012, 2.8 MB
	Level 25 : VesteMaz 3968 x 2088, 5.7 MB
	Level 26 : VesteFin 1472 x 1248, 0.8 MB

Combined Download

ShadowCaster.zip (59.2 MB)

Notes

As before, all maps were generated using a Python map generator I wrote. The map generator for Shadow Caster is a bit improved from the ROTT version. I am sure it will improve further for the next game. The map generator decodes all floor/wall/ceiling information, as well as monster/object/item placement. For any other information, manual markup has been added. The manual markup has been kept at a minimum; mostly for area transitions, items dropped by enemies or chests, teleporters, and identifying obelisks. Some potential markup I excluded include identifying traps, marking locked doors, and identifying key puzzles. Some puzzles are identified, but only when they impact something that I already marked, such as a level transition, or the obelisk in LavaMine. Underwater transitions are also not exactly marked, but typically if there is water (or a water-like substince in VesteTst and Vest2Tst), you can dive under. The under water area is always the very next map number.

If anyone would prefer more markup, please let me know and I can create an alternate version of the maps for this purpose.

The maps are identified with their exact filename inside of shadow.lib. Some of the map names are fairly easy to decode, and I could have expanded them to their "full" name, but I chose not to. Other maps, such as WaterObe are a bit more cryptic (Water Obelisk?).

Many maps contain inaccessible regions outside the map, suspected to be used for scripting. In almost all cases, I have blanked out these regions for the purposes of displaying only the portions of the maps intended to be viewed in-game. The only exception is the last level, VesteFin, contains a room where all of Veste's shapeshifting forms "wait" until he changes into each one. I kept this room in order to display all of the forms he uses.

RuinADrn is a bit special, as I actually produced two versions of this map. The first version has the water present, and blanks out any rooms that are inaccessible in this state. The second version reflects how the map appears once the water is drained and the level opens up. RuinAWet is the underwater version of this map. Although technically only a portion of the map is accessible, the whole map is still included.

I have no idea why there is no map 8, 9 or 10. The above maps reflect every .map file inside of shadow.lib. The numbers are based on the number allocated by the in-game automap. As far as I can tell, these maps simple do not exist.

Note that these maps were generated from the CD version. Vest2Tst and VesteMaz are exclusive to this version. In the floppy version, the exit from VesteTst leads directly to VesteFin.