Dragonsbrethren
Senior Member
Posts: 1457
Registered: 03-09 |
When the team at Williams Entertainment ported the classic Doom games to the PlayStation, they created what many of us considered the definitive versions of Doom. While it may have run in a slightly lower resolution, the port took full advantage of the hardware it was running on and was easily superior to every other console version available at the time. Its visuals were darkened, colored light and translucency effects were added, it had a new set of sounds and creepy ambient music by Aubrey Hodges, making it one of the most atmospheric games available on the console, in stark contrast to the brighter PC version.
With the recent release of version 2.0 of the PSX TC, which adds the full set of levels from the PSX version of Final Doom, there has been some talk of porting even more official levels to the TC. PSX Doom: The Lost Levels is a community project that will do just that, attempting to make authentic conversions of maps from all of the classic Doom games.
This will be released as an add-on for the TC and not integrated as a part of it. Level progression is undecided at this time; it can either override the existing progression, adding the new conversions seamlessly, or it can be a standalone episode. If you have a preference, please make it known in the thread.
Converting Maps
This is a little guide for converting a map to PSX style. First up, your final map's format must be ZDoom's Doom in Hexen or UDMF. See the ZDoom wiki for information on these formats and conversion tools if you're not familiar with them. Use whichever you're most comfortable working with, neither has any major advantage over the other for this project and the TC uses both formats. You'll need an editor capable of loading png graphics from .pk3 files to use the PSX resources.
As Gez put it, this is sort of a "Doom the Way Williams Did", and we're aiming for authenticity. Unfortunately, since we can't target the original engine, we can't be 100% certain our conversions would have run on it. None-the-less, below is a quick list of things that you'll want to ensure your map complies with, to give it the feeling that it could've been an official map.
Nuxius has written an excellent guide on some of the less known PSX engine limitations. Be sure to read this:
http://www.doomworld.com/vb/showthr...807#post1128807
Texturing
I hope your editor of choice has a find and replace option. The PSX version has plenty of textures which are equivalent to the PC textures (or more specifically, patches in most cases), however all of them use different names. All maps should use PSX textures exclusively, as many of them have added grit or other changes compared to the PC textures. In the event that the PSX version has no equivalent texture, turn to the existing maps for inspiration on how to retexture your map. Keep in mind that the E4, Doom 2, and Final Doom maps rarely had significant texture changes, compared to the original Doom maps ported from the Jaguar version.
Level Geometry, Sector Heights and Exploits
Try to keep wall architecture simple. If an area seems to be using an excessive amount of vertices and you can cut some without changing the overall shape of the wall, do so.
Don't hesitate to remove windows looking into complicated areas.
The PSX renderer would only tile a wall texture once - walls taller than 256 units would have their texture stretched instead, which is something the devs tried to avoid. In areas where the height of the surrounding walls could not be brought bellow 256, zero height sectors were utilized to split the wall into two halves, bypassing the issue.
Likely as a result of the wall tiling issue, extreme sector heights were often toned down for the PSX version. See The Crusher (MAP06/MAP36) as an example of this. The PSX seems to use heights in the 300s at maximum. The PSX renderer could not exceed 512 without having to utilize a non-zero height surrounding sector, and that's something that was never done in the original games.
Excessive floor height variation was also toned down; this usually applies to staircases. If the map you're converting uses a lot of 8 tall stairs, merge two of them together into a 16 tall stair.
Nuxius posted an excellent comparison image which shows a number of changes made to Unto The Cruel for the PSX version:
http://img585.imageshack.us/img585/7986/psxe4m8.png
Red areas are sector mergers/height changes, pink are simplified walls, and blue are zero height sectors inserted to avoid the wall tiling issue.
Self-referencing sector tricks were removed; chances are the PSX engine wasn't capable of reproducing them. Either remove these entirely, replace them with something else (an invisible bridge replaced by a visible bridge, for example) if they're vital to the level's gameplay.
Try to avoid areas where a taller sector can be seen from a lower sky sector. You can sometimes see the taller sector through the sky of the lower sector. An example of this can be seen in MAP08. Open the door leading to the exit teleporter, then step back into the large open area. You can see the walls of the exit area through the sky of the open area. (A similar quirk in its renderer was used to make the "3D" architecture in Doom 64 believable.)
Monsters
The PSX had limited RAM, and a consequence of this is that the monster variety was often reduced in Doom 2 and Final Doom maps. Try to limit the number of unique monster types in the maps, for example a map which original used barons, hell knights, revenants, and mancubi might only use hell knights and revenants in the PSX version.
On the other hand, some Doom 2 monsters were added to the Ultimate Doom maps on skill 4, and you have access to the nightmare spectre (actor 3000), which originally reused the demon's frames and as such took up no additional space in RAM.
No arch-viles, unfortunately. They've been replaced by a bloody chain sprite, so be sure to replace their actor with something more fitting in your conversions if necessary.
Nuxius posted a handy monster value chart in his post about PSX limitations:
Demon/Spectre/Nightmare Spectre - 4 points
Imp - 2.5 points
Trooper - 2 points
Sergeant - 2 points
Chaingunner - 3.5 points
Lost Soul - 1 point
Cacodemon - 3 points
Pain Elemental - 3.5 points
Arachnotron - 6 points
Hell Knight - 4 points
Baron of Hell - 4 points
Revenant - 8 points
Mancubus - 6.5 points
Cyberdemon - 12 points
Spiderdemon - 22 points
Don't exceed more than 26 points in your map. If you have a large number of detail sprites, you might want to drop your total lower.
Lighting
PSX light values are significantly darker than the PC version. This is because the PSX renderer handles lighting differently, and lower values are much brighter than their PC software renderer equivalents. Look at the existing PSX maps and compare them with their PC counterparts for examples of the values you should be using. In general, sectors are about 1/2 to 3/4 as bright in the PSX version, although these values sometimes need adjustments based on the light color being used.
For colored lighting, the TC includes an ACS library which corresponds to the PSX version's LIGHTS lump. Kaiser made an html page showing these lights, which I've fixed up and uploaded to my webspace here:
PSX Color Chart
Simply add 1000 to the light # listed there, use it as a sector tag and that sector will automatically be colored. For sectors which already have tags, you will need to write your own script to color them. Alternatively, you can add the color directly to the sector properties if you're using UDMF. In either case, be sure to only use colors that were available in the LIGHTS lump.
Sector light fade effects need to be done in ACS. Here is an example script from MAP03:
code:
script 501 open {
while (1) {
Light_Fade (17,0,140);
Light_Fade (2135,0,140);
delay(140);
Light_Fade (17,200,140);
Light_Fade (2135,200,140);
delay(140);
}
}
Reverb
In order to add reverb to the interior areas of your map, add two 9048 - Sound Environment things to your map. Tag one 1515 and the other one 1516. Set 1515's argument 1 to the number of the reverb you wish to use. An ACS library in the TC will take over from there and apply reverb to any sector which isn't open to the sky. If you wish to have reverb in a sector open to the sky or to have interior areas without reverb, you'll need to do a little more work. fenderc01 sums up the differences between reverb effects and how to change the reverb of individual areas better than I could hope to:
fenderc01 sums this up much better than I can:
There are 3 different effects that are used in the PSX version, depending on which level you are on. I used 3 different effects in GZDoom that closely resemble those from the PSX version. I used 14 0 (Alley), 5 0 (Stone Room), and 7 0 (Concert Hall). Alley has the shortest reverb and is typically used for smaller or close quarters levels. Concert Hall has the longest reverb and is typically used for large or wide-open levels. Stone Room is somewhere in the middle. I can't say for sure if these rules apply the all levels, but it seems to be a good guideline to follow.
Also, like I mentioned before, there are areas with a ceiling that do not have reverb and areas with a sky that do have reverb. For areas that need to be isolated, close off the entire area using linedef action number 121 (Line Identification) and set flag 1 (Sound boundary). Add a sound environment thing to the closed off area if applicable.
Here is a list of maps from the original PSX Doom using each reverb effect:
Alley: 3, 5, 8, 11, 23, 26, 28, 35, 39, 49, 52, 53
Stone Room: 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 13-16, 18, 19, 21, 22, 24, 25, 27, 30, 32-34, 38, 40-42, 44-48, 50, 51, 54, 55
Concert Hall: 1, 2, 12, 17, 20, 29, 31, 36, 56-59
None: 37, 43
Bugs
Small map bugs were occasionally fixed in the PSX version. Things like stuck monsters, missing textures, etc.
Use Your Best Judgment
Lastly, there's no hard written rule here, but these maps are targeting a platform from 1995, which was in some ways more limiting than the PCs the games original ran on. If something seems like it would've been too complex, don't be afraid to make alterations.
Map List
Claimed maps have the mappers name in parenthesis, bold maps are completed, italics may not be included.
Ultimate Doom
Forsaken Keep [Hell Keep PC] - (NoneeLlama)
Slough of Despair - (NoneeLlama)
Dis - (BaronOfStuff)
Warrens - (NoneeLlama)
They Will Repent - (fenderc01)
Against Thee Wickedly - (Nuxius)
And Hell Followed - (Avoozl)
Fear - (fenderc01)
Sewers
Doom 2
Downtown
Industrial Zone
Gotcha! - (DeXiaZ)
The Chasm - (fenderc01)
The Spirit World - (Nuxius)
The Living End - (Dragonsbrethren)
Icon of Sin - (BaronOfStuff)
The Castle [Wolfenstein] - (BaronOfStuff)
The Escape [Grosse] - (BaronOfStuff)
Betray
Master Levels
Titan Manor [MANOR.WAD]
Trapped on Titan [TTRAP.WAD]
The Garrison [GARRISON.WAD]
Black Tower [BLACKTWR.WAD]
Bloodsea Keep [BLOODSEA.WAD] - (Dragonsbrethren)
Mephisto's Maosoleum [MEPHISTO.WAD]
The Express Elevator to Hell [TEETH.WAD MAP31]
Bad Dream [TEETH.WAD MAP32]
TNT
Power Control - (Dragonsbrethren)
Hanger
Open Season - (Avoozl)
Prison
Metal
Stronghold
Redemption - (Marnetmar)
Storage Facility
Steel Works
Dead Zone [secret exit to Pharaoh]
Mill
Shipping/Respawning
Central Processing
Administration Center
Habitat
Baron's Den - (Avoozl)
Mount Pain
River Styx
Last Call - (BaronOfStuff)
Pharaoh [secret exit to Caribbean]
Caribbean - (Avoozl)
Plutonia
Well of Souls - (Dragonsbrethren)
Caged - (Dragonsbrethren)
Caughtyard
Realm
Abattoire
Hunted
Speed
The Crypt
Genesis
The Twilight [secret exit to Cyberden]
The Omen
Compound
Neurosphere
NME
Slayer
Impossible Mission
Tombstone
The Final Frontier
The Temple of Darkness
Bunker
Anti-Christ
The Sewers
Odyssey of Noises - (Nuxius)
The Gateway of Hell - (BaronOfStuff)
Cyberden - (BaronOfStuff)
Go 2 It - (BaronOfStuff)
Last edited by Dragonsbrethren on 05-22-13 at 02:53
|
11-28-12 00:08 
