The very fundamentals of Doom Editing

I realise Doomworld is filled with people asking noobish questions, even registering just to ask how to play Doom. And I do have a couple of basic questions, but I will try to be as clear as possible so that they may sound noobish, but at least not stupid.

I’ve been playing Doom since I was a kid in the 90s, but I just recently got into making my own maps using Doom Builder. I actually posted my very first effort on this forum, a small map called “Nostromo”. The level was playable, but the file was a mess: general confusion, lots of unused textures and, most importantly, most of the doom2.wad original data which, you know, piracy and stuff... I think what happened is that I got too excited about designing my own maps, and I didn’t really pay much attention to the way PWADS are supposed to be created and organised. I also realised some concepts may not be as clear to me as I thought they were.

There’s a lot of information out there that the DOOM community has been compiling and sharing for years; and I think anyone with enough interest to create their own maps should also have the interest to read and learn by themselves. However, this is not always enough, and that’s where my dumb questions come into place:


1.- True or False: a PWAD is a file that can be created/edited and does not contain any or the IWAD’s original data except for the PNAMES and TEXTURE1 lumps.

2.- True or False: If I send my PWAD to a friend, there’s no way he can play it and experience it 100% if he does not have the base resource IWAD. In other words, source ports load most of the resources from IWADS, while PWADS only provide patches and map design.

3.- Now is this a legit PWAD? I mean is it cleanly made? I made it as a test for this thread, it’s only two small rooms with some random stuff (made for Doom2, I’ve tested it in ZDOOM and Zandronum).

Screenshot:


File:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5F8LhIYAH6UQnY2UVBhcTZ6OEE



4.- BONUS (!): Referring to the WAD above, why can’t I get the nukage to do damage? I’ve had the same problem since my very first map, and haven’t been able to find the cause dammit!!

I know these are all fundamental concepts that may seem obvious to many of you, but I just want to make sure I'm starting on the right track from the very beginning! Thank you!!

1. Depends on the contents of the WAD. What seperates a PWAD from an IWAD is that PWADs are not standalone, while IWADs are.
2. True, in a way. PWADs can replace everything in the IWAD though, not just maps or patches.
4. Add a sector damaging tag by selecting the sector and editing its preferences.

I made a few changes

1. Since your map is in UDMF, you do not need TEXTURE1 and PNAMES lumps.

2. Use TX_START and TX_END instead of PP_START and PP_END.
That way you can use the image as a wall texture and/or floor/ceiling flat.

3. Use a script to also affect the light of the small sectors.

4. Use the predefined sector effect 71 for nukage damage.

5. subdivide the switch texture

6. read the ZDoom WIKI

ADDENDUM

PWAD stands for patch wad, a wad that is patched into the IWAD.
You cannot play a pwad without an IWAD

And IWAD stands for Internal Wad. Traditionally all a PWAD did was temporarily overwrite parts of the IWAD (by being loaded second).

With more modern source ports, it's easier to add actual additional content (I.e. not just be in place the old stuff) but generally speaking you always need an IWAD to supply the original content for anything the PWAD doesn't replace.

So either your friend needs to also own Doom2.wad (which most PWADs are based on) or they can use Freedoom.wad as a free alternative. However that will replace all Doom2 assets with Freedoom equivalents, which do have a different look. Functionally the level will be identical though.

Voros said:

2. True, in a way. PWADs can replace everything in the IWAD though, not just maps or patches.

Ok yes, I get this now. Thanks!

Kappes Buur said:

I made a few changes

1. Since your map is in UDMF, you do not need TEXTURE1 and PNAMES lumps.

2. Use TX_START and TX_END instead of PP_START and PP_END.
That way you can use the image as a wall texture and/or floor/ceiling flat.

3. Use a script to also affect the light of the small sectors.

4. Use the predefined sector effect 71 for nukage damage.

5. subdivide the switch texture

6. read the ZDoom WIKI

Well that's such a cleaner and better version of my map! Thank you for the feedback! Sector effect 71 did solve the nukage problem indeed.

Bauul said:

And IWAD stands for Internal Wad. Traditionally all a PWAD did was temporarily overwrite parts of the IWAD (by being loaded second).

With more modern source ports, it's easier to add actual additional content (I.e. not just be in place the old stuff) but generally speaking you always need an IWAD to supply the original content for anything the PWAD doesn't replace.

Clear as day, thank you!