The best editor out there

I was wondering what the best *FREE* (Win 2000 compatable) editor out there is? I have been using DeePsea lately and it is an awesome editor. I think it is a shame that it needs to be registered to create levels of any size, hell we payed for the actual game, should we have to pay to create levels for it? Anyways, I was just curious what you guys used to create your levels (freeware)? Is it similar to Deep and where can I download it? Don't get me wrong, DeepSea is a great editor and if I had 50 bucks laying around I would register it.

Thanks for the help,
JonPrib

I guess I have to pimp WadAuthor again LOL For me, at least, it's much easier to use then Deepsea, and does not have the linedef restrictions that the sharware version of DeepSea has. It is time limited, but that is easily taken care of by reinstalling the programme. While it does lack some of the features of DeepSea and the node complier leaves a bit to be desired, I use zenode and Wintex to make up the difference.

(Before anyone says anything about warez, to the best of my knowledge, the creator of WadAuthor, Willingston Consulting, is no longer in existance. I have attempted to contact them several times regarding the registration key that I purchased but never recieved, and thier web site is no longer avialable.)

It's all on what you like...


...DCK.

Heh, too late, whatever editor you start with, is impossible to leave.

Maybe you want to try DETH, basically it's like DeepSea. It may lack some of the features that might make DeepSea faster, but it's highly customizable, and will do the job if used along with other editing tools (a good nodebuilder and XWE or WinTex.) Why should also be an option for you, since it uses the DEU interface. WadAuthor is pretty popular but, if I'm not mistaken, not much like DeepSea in functionality.

But deth is dos, and I'm confident he wants a Windows editor. I think WA is his only option if he doesn't want Deepsea, IMO.

I've heard DCK is DOS-only, but DETH runs on Windows.

Epyo said:

Heh, too late, whatever editor you start with, is impossible to leave.

Not true, I started with waded but now I use wadauthor, though reall that's because waded won't run in nt. plus zdoom maps come out a lot better if you edit in zdoom mode instead of editing in doom mode, then convert the map to hexen format, then add in various zdoom crap, but I digress.

I liked waded's methods of drawing stuff better than wauthors tho as far as programs go waded is pretty buggy

Thanks guys...
Right now I am testing out WadAuthor and will get to the others soon. I do have a quick question concerning WadAuthor though (hopefully its not too confusing). While in Linedef or Vertex mode, when you move one of them it doesn't show the linedefs move with the vertex or linedef (it just turns black and shows the single linedef or vertex move, not the connected linedefs). Therefore it is hard for me to make straight lines and make them a certain length. Is this supposed to happen?

Thanks again for you're help!
jonprib

I am still taking suggestions for new Editors as well. I prefer a Windows 2000 compatable editor, but a good Dos one will suffice.

You can manually edit the properties of the linedef by right clicking on the one you wish to alter, and then select "Edit Raw Data".

BlackFyre said:

I guess I have to pimp WadAuthor again LOL For me, at least, it's much easier to use then Deepsea, and does not have the linedef restrictions that the sharware version of DeepSea has. It is time limited, but that is easily taken care of by reinstalling the programme.

I was using WadAuthor for a while but I stopped using it because of the time limit...and now I'm using WinDEU, which just takes longer to create levels with I think. You're saying all you have to do is reinstall the program every 30 days (or whatever it is)? Haha...I should have tried that.
I mean, I don't want to be stingy about it, but making maps already takes so much time that I can't afford to spend money on it as well :)

I was wondering what the best *FREE* (Win 2000 compatable) editor out there is

I am making one :) Stay tuned.
 

Epyo said:

Heh, too late, whatever editor you start with, is impossible to leave.

Exactly!

/me wanders back to DoomCAD 5.1

jonprib01 said:

I was wondering what the best *FREE* (Win 2000 compatable) editor out there is?

Try XWE, which is fully Win2K compatible, FREE, and very easy to use. Note, however, that it lacks documentation. But its author, Csabo, is very good about repying to emails and responding to questions on these forums.

Gherkin said:

I am making one :) Stay tuned.

Sounds interesting :)

heh, free? well that eliminates waduathor and deepsea and leaves me to promote my precious doomcad :P although actually i'd be willing to bet deth/zeth is better, but i can't get it to run on here :/

myk said:

Maybe you want to try DETH, basically it's like DeepSea. It may lack some of the features that might make DeepSea faster, but it's highly customizable, and will do the job if used along with other editing tools (a good nodebuilder and XWE or WinTex.) Why should also be an option for you, since it uses the DEU interface. WadAuthor is pretty popular but, if I'm not mistaken, not much like DeepSea in functionality.

heh, why would being like deepsea be a good thing? i ware-- er, 'downloaded the shareware version' of it and i can tell you all, it wasn't worth the download (despite the fact i have T3)

YES! Just what I wanted, another thread so people could flame eachother's editors.

I use DeePsea! Flame on!

Please note, people, that the man asked for "the best *FREE* (Win 2000 compatable) editor out there". Not what editor you use, not what editor you're convinced is best, not what the problems with the other guy's editors are.

Read his lips: *FREE*. Win 2000 compatible.

The words "the best" and "editor" anywhere in a thread will immediately cause a problem.

Nanami said:

The words "the best" and "editor" anywhere in a thread will immediately cause a problem.

That's because all Doom editors suck. There isn't a single one that's free I consider good. DeePsea may be the best but it costs too much for what it offers.

Agreed.

EdMap. Why has no one mentioned EdMap? I started on that one and I love it like it was my firstborn. I made some nice maps on that editor. It's for DOS, granted, but it is stable 2/3 of the time and fairly easy to use.

That's because all Doom editors suck. There isn't a single one that's free I consider good. DeePsea may be the best but it costs too much for what it offers.

I too think that Deepsea has some good sides, but also sides that can be considered garbage. Ill put some Deepsea-like stuff in my (FREE!) map editor im working on, but then just in my way :)
 

ReX said:

Not what editor you use

jonprib01 said:

, I was just curious what you guys used to create your levels (freeware)?

So nyeh. I use deepsea, I suggest you try why. Why the doom editor.

And to make things easier, here's a link to it.

I'm trying to release a second beta soon. It'll have Tons'O'FixedStuff (TM).

Job said:
EdMap. Why has no one mentioned EdMap? I started on that one and I love it like it was my firstborn. I made some nice maps on that editor. It's for DOS, granted, but it is stable 2/3 of the time and fairly easy to use.

(1) It's for DOS, and will not run in Windows.
(2) It's certainly not stable, in particular v1.41.
(3) It uses conventional memory only (640K), which means being limited to making small levels.
(4) No support for new features whatsoever. Will crash when you try. Version 1.31 has no support for new textures/flats, version 1.41 is too buggy to use.

I started out on Edmap v1.21, quickly on to v1.31, and (much later) moved on to DCK v2.2f and finally to Deep97/sea. Switching from Edmap to DCK was fairly easy (matter of days), since they 'feel' much the same. The learning curve switching to Deep97/sea was much, much steeper, and it tooks weeks of intensive use and some frustration before I was able to build levels at the same speed as i was accustomed to. But, it payed off and is one of the Windows editors that is still supported and does not have annoying limits.

Mordeth
I just downloaded Deep97 v9.79c and it still has the same restrictions as Deepsea (800 line defs). It looks very similar and appears to function just like Deepsea, which is what I am looking for. I know they are made by the same company. Should I download a different version, that doesn't have the "annoying limits"? If so where can I find one?

Thanks,
JonPrib (still taking suggestions)

Graf Zahl said:

That's because all Doom editors suck. There isn't a single one that's free I consider good. DeePsea may be the best but it costs too much for what it offers.

I have to agree with this, I haven't seen a single wad editing program that doesn't have some annoying thing wrong with it.

As for freeware Doom editors for Windows; WinDEU.

jonprib01 said:

I just downloaded Deep97 v9.79c and it still has the same restrictions as Deepsea (800 line defs). It looks very similar and appears to function just like Deepsea, which is what I am looking for. I know they are made by the same company. Should I download a different version, that doesn't have the "annoying limits"? If so where can I find one?

Pay! :P
 

Cyb said:

Not true, I started with waded but now I use wadauthor,

Same here, I find Wadauthor VERY easy to use, for doom2.exe editing at least. I always choose zennode as my default builder however. Wadauthor seems really stable to me.