ending level questions

okay.. i would like to know:

in E2M8 of doom 1, when you defeat the cyber demon, it ends the level.. is there a way i can trigger this in a map?

Scripting. Though that particular action is hard-coded into the game.

*(#*! I Was gonna use that as the level where "dead simple" was.. have a classic boss level that was like E2M8._.;

You can kind of do this, yes. You can use dehacked to attach the Commander Keen code pointer to another monster's death sequence. For an example of this, see Kaiser's conversion of the PSX level Redemption Denied. His dehacked patch there is as follows:

Patch File for DeHackEd v3.0

# Note: Use the pound sign ('#') to start comment lines.

Doom version = 19
Patch format = 6


Text 21 20
level 30: icon of sinRedemption Denied   

Pointer 347 (Frame 631)
Codep Frame = 774

The last two lines are the relevant ones. They have the effect of attaching the code pointer to the Spider Mastermind's death sequence (so that when all masterminds are dead, sectors with tag 666 open like a door).

You could do the same for the Cyberdemon. I believe in that case it would be as follows:

Patch File for DeHackEd v3.0

# Note: Use the pound sign ('#') to start comment lines.

Doom version = 19
Patch format = 6

Pointer 347 (Frame 700)
Codep Frame = 774

Edit: yeah, just tested that in Doom2 map32 - the exit opens up once the cyber is dead. (The code pointer works on all maps.)

One more thing - if you actually want the level to end when a cyber is dead, then you can use this:

Patch File for DeHackEd v3.0

# Note: Use the pound sign ('#') to start comment lines.

Doom version = 19
Patch format = 6

Pointer 347 (Frame 700)
Codep Frame = 783

Of course, that means that if you have a multi-level wad, then any other maps that feature cybers will also exit when any of them are dead, which might not be what you want. It's probably preferable just to have the exit open up when all cybers are dead in that case (using the method from my previous post), on those maps where you want this to happen.

ah.. thank you for showing me why i shouldnt do that..

i get that scripting is nessacary to do this.. but im making my levels in DOOM II format and i dont know how to get to that action in the menus.. is there a way to do it in the DOOM II format instead of ZDOOM?

If you're referring to the dehacked solutions I mentioned, then this isn't scripting, and will work with Doom2.exe or any port with dehacked support (i.e. most of them).

The traditional way to include a dehacked patch with your wad is to save it as a plain text document (copy/paste the code I gave into, e.g., Notepad) with the .deh extension. For instance, your zip file would include mywad.wad and mywad.deh. Port users would load both these files, while Doom2.exe users would apply the deh using dehacked.exe.

The newer way is to include the dehacked patch inside the wad as a lump, giving it the name DEHACKED.LMP. Just put it inside the wad using, e.g., XWE. This won't be understood by Doom2.exe, but most modern ports will be OK.

ah.. okay ._. do you happen to have a link to "dehacked" V3.0 as it seems it will be needed

http://www.doomworld.com/idgames/index.php?id=3197

It's only needed if you want to play it with Doom2.exe, or if you want to generate a patch yourself.

BTW, note that dehacked patches don't work at all with Doom95.

If you're a dehacked newb, you may find something useful on my page. I've got some dehacked tutorials - including setting the thing up. Click the Homepage link at the bottom of this post.

The site hasn't been updated for ages, but the dehacked info should still be good.

Errr.. is there a Dehacked Version that doesnt run with DOS?? im running XP and it wont load for me.

There is Whacked but it won't make a patch that you can use to alter the vanilla Doom exe. It should be OK with any BOOM derivative port though. http://www.teamhellspawn.com/exl/?page=whacked2

However, you should be able to get dehacked to run under XP. I can on 4 different machines - pro and home. My guess is that you haven't set it up right and is is quitting with an error message and that XP is closing the window before you get a chance to see it (I hate it when Windows does that with DOS programs).

If you still want to get dehacked running, try starting a command-line session (start-run-cmd), navigate to your dehacked directory and run it from the cmd window. That way, any error messages will stay on screen. The most obvious and likely problems I can think of is that dehacked.ini is not set up to correctly point to your original doom2.exe or doom2.wad There is a section on setting up dehacked, including the ini, on my site. Click the dehacked button and then pick the "How to get Dehacked working" link.

If you are using Zdoom, its pretty easy. Just place a monster, and in it's thing action select END_LEVEL. It might be called something else in editors other than Doom Builder. When this mosnter dies, it will start that action. With other ports, i'm not so sure.