Which level editor would you recommend to me?

Hey, everyone, I know this is probably an old question, but I thought of asking anyway. I feel inspired to design Doom maps, but I am not sure what could be the right one for me to start with. I am very used to the Build level editor as I'm designing levels for Duke Nukem 3D, so it would be nice to have a similar level editor that is nice and simple, not too complicated to use, doesn't require a lot of memory space, and which I could solely use without needing other stuff like Node Builders utilities.

GZDoom Builder (don't get confused by its name, it's not for GZDoom-specific mapping only, it's well suited for all and any Doom mapping)

GZDoom Builder is the universal answer nowadays. It's easy-to-use and very powerful at the same time.

Just wanted to add to this rather than creating a new thread.

I got into playing Doom a couple of years ago after I bought a PC from a friend of mine, and he had it installed. I'd not played it since the Super Nintendo version back in the early-mid ninties, but it all came back to me. Went a little further down the rabbit hole and played the most well known WADS, Evilution, Plutonia and NRFL then found out about Doom Builder and now I'm posting here!

I downloaded it from the main site -http://www.doombuilder.com/ but is it worth adding the most recent version from that list on the drdteam.org website?

Wugo Heaving said:

I downloaded it from the main site -http://www.doombuilder.com/ but is it worth adding the most recent version from that list on the drdteam.org website?

Of course, just use GZDB as a main level editor, it offers a preview of 3D Floors and slopes if you're mapping for modern Sourceports, and specific "Things" Position changing and lots of other useful stuff like an easy stairs generator .

GZDoom Builder is a fork of Doom Builder 2 - a separate editor, not "the most recent version" of the original. GZDoom Builder is still actively developed, unlike Doom Builder 2 itself. GZDoom Builder offers some advanced editing features that DB2 doesn't have (not to be confused with engine-related map features like ZDoom's scripts/effects/specials, which are unrelated to the map editor you're using), but I personally find DB2 fine for my needs. I have and occasionally use both editors. :)

Speaking of GZDB, Why didn't anyone bother creating a wiki page demonstrating its features and dfferences between it and db2 ?

^ That's a good question. GZDoom Builder has no doomwiki page, and the Doom Builder 2 doomwiki page mentions GZDoom Builder in such a sloppy way that the reader may believe that GZDoom Builder is hard to set up for classic non-GZDoom mapping (in fact it's as easy as in Doom Builder 2), or that he can't use GZDoom features like 3D floors and slopes in Doom Builder 2 (of course he can use them, they're just not visible in 3D preview mode).

DMGUYDZ64 said:

Speaking of GZDB, Why didn't anyone bother creating a wiki page demonstrating its features and dfferences between it and db2 ?

Is there really a need for that?
GZDoom Builder features are explained in a help file (Refmanual.chm), which is included with each new release.

Kappes Buur said:

GZDoom Builder features are explained in a help file (Refmanual.chm), which is included with each new release.

Soms people (Like me for instance) don't even bother check these files , i thougnt GZDB is GZDoom only level editor first time i heard of till scifista told me it supports default doom format .

Thanks for the insight. I'm not too tech-savvy so this is all useful.

What's that I hear on the wind again^{GZDB should change its naaaame}

Advanced Doom Builder or something like that should work .

Kappes Buur said:

Is there really a need for that?
GZDoom Builder features are explained in a help file (Refmanual.chm), which is included with each new release.

Well, a brief overview of important ones would be nice anyway.

scifista42 said:

Well, a brief overview of important ones would be nice anyway.

What is important to one may not be so important to another. :)

That's what the manual does, it explains all features, common and important.
They can be selected from the extensive sidebar.

I'm actually gonna create that article by myself >:) .

Linguica said:

What's that I hear on the wind again^{GZDB should change its naaaame}

What about EZDoom Builder? That's bound to attract potential new Doom mappers.

T-Rex said:

Hey, everyone, I know this is probably an old question, but I thought of asking anyway. I feel inspired to design Doom maps, but I am not sure what could be the right one for me to start with. I am very used to the Build level editor as I'm designing levels for Duke Nukem 3D, so it would be nice to have a similar level editor that is nice and simple, not too complicated to use, doesn't require a lot of memory space, and which I could solely use without needing other stuff like Node Builders utilities.

There are only three editors that are currently maintained:

• GZDoom Builder (Windows only): the best and most advanced editor available. While it has a lot of fancy bells and whistles to support the advanced editing features offered by the ZDoom and GZDoom source ports, it is also perfectly capable of making maps for other source ports or vanilla; so don't let the name fool you into believing it's only for GZDoom editing. GZDoom Builder is a fork from Doom Builder 2.
  
• SLADE 3 (Win/Lin/Mac): good map editing, though less advanced and less stable at the moment than in GZDB (this part is still in development), it offers comprehensive resource editing that GZDB, as a pure map editor, does not have. Note that you can setup SLADE 3 to open maps in GZDB.
  
• Eureka (Win/Lin/Mac): a more old-school approach; doesn't support the new map format needed for advanced ZDoom/GZDoom editing, but sufficient for making vanilla, limit removing, or Boom maps.

Use of memory space will tend to depend greatly on how many resources you're loading. Eureka is probably the editor with the smallest memory footprint.

About node builders: they're still needed generally (except for some ports, like ZDoom or Doomsday, that can generate nodes when loading the map) but GZDB comes with several pre-packaged so you don't have to seek them out. And the editor will take care of calling the node builder and importing the node lumps automatically so it'll be transparent.

If you do not intend to map for UDMF(ormat), then there is another choice,
which is a now fairly unknown editor named Deepsea .

It is a self contained editor, meaning it is a map editor and a lump editor
with many other utilities in one program. The drawback is that the full
version of the editor costs US$ 34.00. The included utilities, however, are
free to use.

/me spittakes

Deepsea, eh? Tell me, what happens if I press F7??

I would definitely not recommend DeepSea, even the first Doom Builder is more user friendly and can do more, but that's just my opinion of course.

Linguica said:

What's that I hear on the wind again^{GZDB should change its naaaame}

Doom Builder 3!

Linguica said:

Deepsea, eh? Tell me, what happens if I press F7??

You probably mean this facetiously, but others may want to know

F7 --> Manage Lumps, Textures, Sprites & Graphics

:)

Anything but DeepSea. I once tried to use that level editor years ago, but it was so confusing that I gave up on it and deleted it from my hard drive.

Just goes to show that different people have different opinions. Some think Deepsea is crap, others think it's excellent.

No arguing there, it takes a while to get used to the interface and how to use the wealth of different utilities.
But once conquered, it is more than a capable editor. A few mappers still use Deepsea with great success.
I still use it from time to time, but since mapping for UDMF I use GZDoom Builder and Slade3. It took me just
about the same time to get to grips with those two as did learning Deepsea.

The only drawback, as I mentioned already above, is the money. However, I consider it money well spend.

Dave The Daring said:

What about EZDoom Builder? That's bound to attract potential new Doom mappers.

EZDB srands to Enhanced Zdoom Builder ?

I think I'll stick with level editors that are free to download. Maybe one that can be easily loaded on older Windows OSs like Windows 98. Now that I'm considering node builders, I hear of some good ones like Zennode and BSP, but I'd appreciate knowing the ones that are user friendly just like with level editors.

Doomkid said:

Doom Builder 3!

People would think it's for building Doom 3 levels, obviously.

T-Rex said:

Now that I'm considering node builders, I hear of some good ones like Zennode and BSP, but I'd appreciate knowing the ones that are user friendly just like with level editors.

All node builders are the same, as far as user-friendliness goes: they're command line programs. The map editor is supposed to call it automatically and the user doesn't interact directly with it.

T-Rex said:

Anything but DeepSea. I once tried to use that level editor years ago, but it was so confusing that I gave up on it and deleted it from my hard drive.

Not to mention that it has a "linedefs limit" Which requires "Purchasing" the full version of it to remove that limit .

DMGUYDZ64 said:

EZDB srands to Enhanced Zdoom Builder ?

EZ = Easy when pronounced audibly.

Linguica said:

What's that I hear on the wind again^{GZDB should change its naaaame}

CTBEFD, also known as "Currently the best editor for Doom."

Kappes Buur said:

It is a self contained editor, meaning it is a map editor and a lump editor

That is the ONLY feature of Deepsea worth noting.

Which begs the question, why don't other editors such as CTBEFD/GZDB have a built in lump editor? It would streamline the process quite considerably for mappers. I guess working in 'proper PK3' format somewhat eradicates the need for a lump editor?