WadAuthor Progress Update #5

Howdy all. I'll bet y'all forgot I was even alive, didn't you? Alternately, you've probably been cursing my name and performing various voodoo incantations to get me back to work on WadAuthor. Well, I've got a new progress update that explains the rather long-ish interim since my last update, and I hope it will be good news to at least some. Check it out on the WadAuthor web page:

http://www.speakeasy.org/~wc/wauthor/index.html

Honest, the project isn't dead. It's just been on hiatus. That hiatus is now coming to a close, thank God, for I don't know how much longer my sanity will hold together.

very good news! even though i despise the editor myself, this will mean improved mapping efficiency for those who do use it :)

That's sweet ass. Though I don't make levels anymore, WA was always my favorite.

THANK GOD :D

oh, speaking of bug fixes, have you fixed the error that occurs when you modify a level that wasn't originally created in WA? for some reason WA decides to butcher all the sectors, about ~85-90% of the time.

Grogglogobofink said:

oh, speaking of bug fixes, have you fixed the error that occurs when you modify a level that wasn't originally created in WA? for some reason WA decides to butcher all the sectors, about ~85-90% of the time.

I've never found a repeatable case of this, though a handful of people have complained about it. If you have a particular wadfile with which WadAuthor does this, please let me know.

Phileosophos said:

I've never found a repeatable case of this, though a handful of people have complained about it. If you have a particular wadfile with which WadAuthor does this, please let me know.

i know this occurs on my map (and i just tested several times to be sure) just edit the sector height on any sector of wtc911.wad (i used sector 1) to another height (i used 160) and save (and even change it back if you want), and the map is now butchered (and will no longer even run on zdoom in this particular case)

Try changing the properties of the highest numbered sector and see what happens then (as sector 1 is about the worst one to choose).

Welcome back from your (self-inflicted?) coma, John ;)

Hopefully we'll be hearing a lot more from you.

The link to your map is dead. It still points to CDROM.com.

Should probably point here:
http://www.gamers.org/pub/idgames/levels/doom/s-u/

Welcome back.

Nice! I'm looking forward to lump management in WA. In the update you said you'd be finished with your other stuff in late summer/fall. Do you have any sort of an estimate on when the next release will be?

Good to hear from you! I bought the program a few years ago and not had any major problems, but the sector attribute swap/butchering has happened to me when I created maps first in DoomEd then modified with Wadauthor. Might help you out. It has never happened with WA and Deepsea, however.

It's great to hear from you again! I know that many of the WadAuthor fans are really excited. I've looked at WA and it looks like a good editor, kudos to you for all the hard work you've put into it. I'm a Deepsea user but that's okay...I would like to mess around with WA and see what I can do with it. I'll be looking forward to your next version with all the changes and I may even register it at that time. BTW, I hope everything goes well with all your exams!


Cadman - Member TeamTNT

The Ultimate DooMer said:

Try changing the properties of the highest numbered sector and see what happens then (as sector 1 is about the worst one to choose).

heh, it's happened with more than just sector 1 before. i just used sector 1 for testing purposes when i tried to figure out what exactly i do to cause the error. it occurs with any sector.

I think WA is only screwing up when sectors with no references are present in the level, which old editors make all the time. Speaking of which, wtc911.wad is loaded with referenceless sectors...

I thought it was to do with that. In which case, a quick node build with Zennode should fix it. (it should then be ok in WA)

yeah i have an updated copy i ran through deepsea and fixed a few things. i guess i should upload that. fact of the matter, it is an ugly error, and i know the same thing occured when torn modified parts of one of erik alm's levels earlier (which is how i came to realize it happens only when WA is editing a wad made in another editor [deth in his case, doomcad in mine]).

what do you want to do with your PhD?

mewse said:

what do you want to do with your PhD?

Why, what every doctor of philosophy ends up doing, of course, asking the deepest of all questions: "Ya want fries with that?"

wow! WA update!
[me dancing naked under moon]

The Ultimate DooMer said:

Try changing the properties of the highest numbered sector and see what happens then (as sector 1 is about the worst one to choose).

I've tried changing the heights in lots of different sectors in that wtc wad, and it always runs just fine for me. Is there some other wadfile with which the problem occurs more reliably?

I first got my copy of WadAuthor in the book called
3D Game Alchemy
http://cres1.lancs.ac.uk/~esasb1/doom/dpg2/contents.html
I've been using Wadauthor for my Conversions/levels ever since then.

Oh HAPPY DAY! :)

I've been a registered WA user since...uh, since...crikey, I can't remember. Well, since it was "new"; taking a stab, 1995.

I registered DeepSea...*three times*. And I still don't use it as much as I do WadAuthor. The only thing I use DeepSea for is making irregular caverns and maybe some textureing. Now that WadAuthor has better sprit viewing and texture viewing (WHOO-HOO!) I'm a happy camper. Everything after that is just gravey.

Good luck on your interrogation Phileosophos! ;)

I have a couple of suggestions to improove WadAuthor to the point where it kicks Deepsea's butt. First, if you can somehow get a drawing command to work (like in Deepsea) it would make things even easier to make sectors, and also you wouldn't have all that trouble tring to make a pole. I really can't stand all the Linedef ### is not set to impassible errors. Do you think you could make it so Wadauthor sets 1-sided lines to impassible after they're made. Also in order for that to work you would have to make Wadauthor automatically switch the line to passible if the editor makes it a 2-sided line. That's all for my suggestions. Please look into them. If not for this version maybe for (if there is one) Update 6.

Hiya.

Well, if we're gonna toss out ideas... I'd like to see:

--"Randomize" function. Select your Linedef or Sector, plug in the "factor" (each side is 'split' X # times), and "Randomization" (range? 1-100; each 'point' makes the 'lines' more squiggly). POOF! Instant cverns, rivers, irreggular rooms and whathaveyou. For sectors, don't for get the "Height" randomizer! (max height, max depth, max variation).

--"Prefab Viewer". Wouldn't it be cool to have a "Viewer", like the texture viewer, that can "veiw" .wad's? Kinda like DeepSea's initial "Open Wad" thing, but just the viewer part. Anyway, you look at your prefabs, and when youselect one it tells you (via info bar?) what game it's for, and if you want to copy it to the clipboard. Copying it to clipboard allows you to then cloose the Prefab Viewer, and then just paste into the wad you are working on. No need to Open wad, Select All, Copy, Close Wad, Paste. Now just "view prefab, copy" and paste. No fuss, no muss. :)

--While we're on the subject of Prefabs...what about "automatic" builders? Like DeepSeas "Stair Builder", but with more oomph! Stairs, rooms with alcoves, rows of pillars, pools, etc. Better yet, allow a "Automatic Prefab Motif"; in other words, allow the user to choose his "autofab", choose it's parameters (i.e., # pillars, sides, height, radius, etc.) and then save that configuration as a "Motif", just like Door, Sector and Stiar motif's now. :)

It already has a stair builder (and a door builder, but I don't use that).

One idea would be to stop classifying a sector with height >1024 as an error, given that no-one uses DooM 1.2 anymore. (and sectors like this are pretty common nowadays)

pming said:

"Randomize" function, (stuff)

More SLIGE for the challenged:) Maybe. I'm trying out different tools right now. It is fun to play with SLIGE. First impression is that this concept would appear to take the fun (and originality) of level making away. Oh well, we are all different.

"Prefab Viewer". Wouldn't it be cool to have a "Viewer", like the texture viewer, that can "veiw" .wad's? Kinda like DeepSea's initial "Open Wad" thing, but just the viewer part. (and) No need to Open wad, Select All, Copy, Close Wad, Paste. Now just "view prefab, copy" and paste. No fuss, no muss. :)

You got me curious since I seemed to remember something like that. Yup, there is a prefab viewer/copy/paster in deepsea. I found it under EDIT, called import prefab.