are the above 3 posts spam? obviously they're worthless but they don't seem to be linking to anything, but maybe they are just planting keywords for a future URL to be pasted here. 

Spam isn't exclusively defined by the presence of links. Useless shit clutting the forum meets the criteria as well. 

I thought goldenboy did a Doom release.

And then I see this thread is 2007. My memory sux or I only read the threads that interest me.

Or both. 

finished first two levels. being waay behind par time. excellent. better than my old Doom wads 

i NEVER beat par times. in ANY doom maps. :P 

They aren't an accurate figure for orientation. Supposedly they were determined by John Romero who played through the maps as quickly as possible and then added 30 seconds to his time. More often than not the par times seem to be closer to speedrun times than regular play.
Naturally, since they are hardcoded in the engine, the nummbers will be even further off when playing custom maps. 

I thought I read somewhere that they were a math thing ... the engine was measuring the distance to the exit or something. Which, of course, makes them useless as benchmarks. 

i was under that impression as well. i mean, i recall some of the stock doom maps had like 30 seconds or something and there were keyed doors and such in the way which required taking long detours to get the keys. 

negje, you are wrong and necros is right :) Par time for the first map in Doom is 30 sec. That means that Romero is able to finish it in 0:00 second. That's impossible, unless you cheat, you can'd do it in 0:00 even if you noclip, you could do it in 3, maybe 2 seconds with noclip.

But par times can easily be beaten, check the screenshot: http://www.abload.de/img/doom0000c2byp.jpg

And I didn't cheat. 

According to the DoomWiki, I'm right: http://doomwiki.org/wiki/Par

Obviously, adding 30 seconds only applied for maps of a suitable size. A small one like E1M1 didn't need it, because it can be finished within that time frame regardless of skill.
Besides, considering how they developed Doom, something as sophisticated as a mathematical calculation for that is out of question. Not that it would be successfully applicable anyway - what about maps where the exit is right next to the starting point? 

I quote from your link: "John Romero generated the par times by completing each level as fast as possible, rounding off the resulting time and adding 30 seconds"

The "key words" are "rounding off". I don't know what's the round interval, but I assume it's 10 seconds (or maybe 5 seconds, but 10 seems more realistic). 

ok, I declare myself officially lost in z1m3
http://i41.tinypic.com/qmyqls.jpg
I believe Ive explored both levels of the map, see no other buttons, no red key. spoiler needed pls, thnks 

I've been lost countless times in these levels. It's probably a good idea to use the automap and place markers at important locations.
Perhaps there are walkthrough videos on Youtube? 

played quite a lot of *Doom* back in late 2005, not much since. are there any other must-play-wads Ive missed in these last 6 years pls? tips somebody? 

having too much fun with double-barrelled in z1m4 

I just went through The Ultimate Torment and Torture again. Played a couple of levels i missed the first time. Damn that thing is the greatest mod ever. 

There were many great maps in the last six years. Look here for a start. 

...looks like a good resource site. will try some of those wads. do any of them use/contain KDiZD stuff/features? played through z1m1-z1m8, liking it A LOT, how do I pls enter the 2 remaining secret levels, which maps lead to them, whats the idclev cheat? 

there are some spoilers on secrets here: http://www.doomworld.com/vb/wads-mods/40401-kdizd-secrets-spoilers-obviously/ 

what a level! z1m10 still to be played.
OT: as for the other wads played so far, I like the two "sinedie.wad" SINE DIE levels, look-wise. gameplay was too nonlinear for my taste, too much path finding and being lost. "ma_val.wad" VALHALLA level also great look-wise + great atmosphere and gameplay 

cool, i will have to give KDITZD another try. A wad I recommend is Deus Vult II.