Map editors needed

OK, here's an idea I had but I need people like YOU to help me do it.

Basically, I want to write an article or series of articles that shows the differences between different popular level editors. What this will consist of is basically a tutorial on how to make a basic level, starting from scratch, with lots of pictures and descriptions.

What I need are people who know how to use different editors that would be willing to take screenshots and write descriptions of how to make a basic level in that editor.

Also, I need a way of being able to take screenshots of DOS editors, since they don't have a printscreen utility as far as I know.

/me taps brain cell

ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

okie here's the dealie: if the dos editor will run in a 95/98/me dosbox and you set windows to trap the printscreen key then there's a chance that windolap will capture a screenshot. there's a chance it wont. and then there's always a chance that it will crash. this is in fullscreen mode btw.

so, create a shortcut to the dos editor, select fullscreen, select under windows shortcut keys PrtSc. start the program, hit printscreen, watch the window flicker. after you exit (cant alt+tab then you run into the "this app cannot be restored..." error), load up favorite paint program hit paste and either be rewarded with nothing, garbage, or your screenshot. slow, buggy, some dos proggies due to the way they address the video card windolap cant take a screenshot, and then windolap just likes to crash randomly. also of course some dos editors, namely dck, won't run under windoze period.

if the editor has source code openly available a screenshot function could be coded in. even if the source is not freely avaiable; if the author still maintains the program he/she might be persuaded to add a screenshot function.

edit: how about point a digicam at the screen? ;) =) :D

This program I had (MGI Photosuite) had an option to take a screenshot of a specific window, so all you have to do is attain this program, then minimize the window to take screenies with MGI Photosuite.

bigbadgangsta said:

This program I had (MGI Photosuite) had an option to take a screenshot of a specific window, so all you have to do is attain this program, then minimize the window to take screenies with MGI Photosuite.

but does it work with dos boxes?

Linguica said:
Also, I need a way of being able to take screenshots of DOS editors, since they don't have a printscreen utility as far as I know.

Us a Dos box under windows 95/98. Printscreen should work under a dos box. but sometimes it makes a mess of dos programs when you try to past them. if that's the case you might want to try the other method:

open the editor, when you have what you want, push Alt+enter. There should be a grope of icons across the top of the box; the first one should be a square. This is the 'mark button' click on it and a little white square will appear in the top left hand corner of the dos box. Click and hold down the square, and drag it over the box. When you have highlighted what you want, use Ctrl+C, then just past in you pint program of choice.

Don't get too excited about DOS boxes everyone, for things like DETH and ZETH they don't work. You need to run them in fullscreen or Windows will have a whinge. There are DOS screen capture utilities out there (clicky clicky for some Google'd links), but none of the ones I've used like taking shots of DETH or ZETH.

I'll do one for Wad Author...what size pictures do you want?

Well I don't know much about any others though, and I know it's not what you are looking for, but maybe every person can do a different editor but we stick to a format...it has these features, it can't do this like this editor, stuff like that.

Do you have a basic level to make?, so the same level gets made in each editor. I suppose you need some basics like doors, stairs, lifts, teleport etc.

I can cover Deepsea if required

GooberMan said:

Don't get too excited about DOS boxes everyone, for things like DETH and ZETH they don't work. You need to run them in fullscreen or Windows will have a whinge. There are DOS screen capture utilities out there (clicky clicky for some Google'd links), but none of the ones I've used like taking shots of DETH or ZETH.

Well, get cracking at that level editor you were planning to make then! :P

Rick 'WildMan' Clark had done an excellent, illustrated tutorial on creating slightly more advanced architectural features using WadAuthor. It's on the ZDooM tutorials page.

Ron Allen and Bill McClendon's "The Unofficial Wad Designer's Handbook" is a great overall resource for beginners to editing.

John Bishop's "Getting Started With DooM Editing", while somewhat sparsely illustrated, is another well-written tutorial that covers basic as well as advanced wad-making.

(I used all these when I was learning the ropes.)

DOS have it's own screengrab util. It's a line you have to add to autoexec.bat or config.sys for it to work. Don't remember how. But I can probaly find it again if i dig.

What I need are people who know how to use different editors that would be willing to take screenshots and write descriptions of how to make a basic level in that editor.

I'll do that w/ WadEd over the weekend. I've been meaning to _anyway_ to get a RL friend into editing: I told him to use WadAuthor, but he said that if he uses WadEd he can get more support from me.

Cool.

So, basically, I'll do some very plain HTML (No css or anything, just formatted text and screenshots) over a few pages(Maybe around 5-7, everything from pure beginner basics to editing to the standard found in id's levels) with screenshots (Which BTW are PRTSCRN then alt-tab to Photoshop, which I'll also have running).

I have a couple of questions, though;
1) Should I include demo .WADs of the tutorials?
2)What about my payment? Well, can I ask for a custom title when I get it done? ^_^
[EDIT]
3) Should I do more of the advanced stuff I've found, such as getting WadEd to behave and use custom texture .WADs and Hexen editing (A very hackish trick I've posted elsewhere on this forum today)?
[/EDIT]

Scratch that second one if you like -- I'll do it for the good of the community (TM) - I know there are _other_ people who dig WadEd too.

Oh, things like the basic differences between methods (eg. the vertex-based method of DEU versus the sector-based method in WadAuthor)

you can take screenshots of DOS running in a window, simply prnt screen and then cut out the DOS box in like paint or something. If i wasn't so busy with my current projects i could help. but no one uses my primary editor anyway :P

Whoops, just read Goobermans reply. oh well. but if anyone wants my help just drop a line.

Well, before you go doing anything of the sort, my idea was to have people make one identical basic level in all the different editors so that people could get a pretty good idea of the methods involved in each editor. And I still haven't heard a good solution to taking screenshots in pure DOS so I'd miss out on a lot of editors. I will ask around and try to find a program to do something of the sort.

Ling: Then make a level (Or get one of your happy slav... er, workers to do it) with EVERYTHING found in the Doom/Doom2 IWADs (Which should be just the stock things, no tricks) and then we'll use that as a base. Maybe miss out the tag 666 (Etc.) things -- I'd say they came later, besides, some editors don't work with tag numbers (Off the top of my head, my choice, WadEd - but some of the other older editors may not).

In any case, I wanna do the one for Wad Author.

Uncle Ling wants YOU!
Heh.

ok, so how do u capt a screen from dck? cant run it in windows...

Print Screen.

Open it up in a image editing program.

create a new image and paste