How do you make new Flat entries?

I've got a load of new walls for my maps, but I don't want to replace the original flats in doom (like ZZWOLF1, etc). I want to make my own entries, such as MYWALL01, MYWALL02, etc.

Any guides on how to do this? I'm using Wintex, but also would want to update myself to XWE

Just place 64x64 bitmaps between the F_START and F_END markers of your PWAD and you are done.

Tormentor667 said:

Just place 64x64 bitmaps between the F_START and F_END markers of your PWAD and you are done.

is this with XWE? I havn't got a clue how this works... i'm so used to standard wintex (and i never managed to make fresh new flat entries for that either).

Can you elaborate? Is there any primary reading I can undertake?

For normal flats, put the 64x64 pixel image between FF_START and F_END (or FF_END) markers. If you're using XWE use the option "save as doom flat" on it once you've inserted it (because flats aren't aligned, like other images are.) In XWE use the Load option under the Entry menu to place the flat in the wad. You probably already know about this, but also make sure the flat uses the DOOM palette. XWE will try to convert it anyway, but it won't look good in general like that.

I'll elaborate on my knowledge of textures:

I've always copied and pasted the textures I wanted to replace from the doom2 wad file (normally the wolfenstein ones), using wintex, and then copied them into a new wad that i make.

That's what i'm used to, but it's limited; i can't find any real documentation or tutorials on XWE or wintex that help me understand the concepts you speak of; sorry for sounding like a dumb newbie, but i am desperate to understand this knowledge.

Let's say I want to make a new texture wad with XWE - where do I start? I want to make a series of 128*128 textures, 30 of them - what's the procueedure?

For Wintex just load your new patches in the patches section, the go to edit textures and select "New Texture". Thats all there is to it.

For XWE - if you are using ZDoom, place them between TX_START and TX_END markers, for other sourceports, load them as patches, right click them later and "Add them to PNAMES" and "Add them to TEXTURES" lumps :) Very simple!

Frederick the Great said:
Let's say I want to make a new texture wad with XWE - where do I start? I want to make a series of 128*128 textures, 30 of them - what's the procueedure?

A flat (for the floor or ceiling) is just a 64x64 picture lumped between the markers mentioned above. Other textures (for walls, or skies) are made of images of various sizes, and sometimes of more than one image, going between PP_START and PP_END are referenced in PNAMES (a list of every image that makes up the textures) and in TEXTURE1. TEXTURE1 is a list of each texture (the pictures which you place one walls) and each entry in it specifies the patches used, plus the positions of the patches (coordinates.) The textures are made up of multiple patches (images) to save up on memory usage and file size (something that concerned the designers back in '93.)

So for flat names you can choose whatever you want, but put them between the markers. Similarly, you can make up your own patch (each actual image lump that will form part of any texture) names, but each such patch must be listed in PNAMES. Then entries must be created on TEXTURE1 for each texture, adding what flats are used and the coordinates or alignment of each in the "texture" (the resulting image.)

PNAMES and TEXTURE1 must also include all the info from DOOM II (at least initially, eventually what matters is what is used in the maps), so what you do is copy these two lumps from your IWAD into your PWAD. Once there you can edit them by selsecting them, and changing the info displayed to the right.

You'll see that in XWE the menus above always change with the type of lump you're dealing with, sometimes identified automatically, sometimes as long as the lump is between certain markers. Check also doom2.wad (or any PWAD with new resources, that might teach you or hint at stuff that's not in the IWADs, like stuff that's specific to certain engines) for how things are arranged; you'll see all the patches, sprites and flats are between specific markers.

I'd suggest starting by adding a single flat and testing it in a map. Then add a texture, add its names to the PNAMES list, and create a texture entry in TEXTURE1 that says it uses the patch you just added, keeping the width and height of the patch. note that you can always make your textures of a single graphic, not needing to bother with the alignment as long as you give the texture entry the same size as the patch. Eventually once you become familiar with these entries you might want to use multi-patch textures (it'll be useful for switches, for example.)

DeePsea has a BMP to Textures tool. The tool allows you to select multiple BMP images, click a button and all the BMPs are put into your WAD as doom graphics and at the same time it automatically makes PNAMEs and TEXTURE1 entries for each one and copies those lumps to the WAD too.

Here's a quick video I made a year or more ago of me doing just that with about 2000 BMP images. You can't really read what's going on due to video compression, but the principle of what is happening should be obvious.

http://www.zen64060.zen.co.uk/bmp2tex.wmv

myk said:

A flat (for the floor or ceiling) ... entries you might want to use multi-patch textures (it'll be useful for switches, for example.)

Shit... still lost.

Are there any tutorials that cover the very basics of everything to do with this? Let's say i've got an image that i want to make into a wall that i can use in doom, what's the proceedure? Tell me the exact produeedure and i'll have it

Well, I'm no XWE expert, but I seem to have managed to work it out in a few seconds.

Start XWE and either pick file/new or open a WAD file.

pick entry/load and select your graphic file This should put the graphic into your WAD.

Right click on the newly added lump and select "Add to patch names" (a new lump PNAMES should appear).

Right click again and select "Add to texture" (a new lump TEXTURE1 should appear).

Quit.

That seemed to work for me. I'm not that familiar with XWE so it may not be the recommended method, but I was able to load the WAD into DeePsea, apply the texture to a wall and see it in game. Whether it's possible to do this with multiple files at the same time or not, I don't know, but 30 new textures is not really a big deal anyway.

I simply can't figure this out... a friend just tried to direct me on wintex and it fucked up.

Frederick the Great said:

I simply can't figure this out... a friend just tried to direct me on wintex and it fucked up.

I'm not sure I can make it much simpler. I'll try.

1 Start XWE.

2 Click the "File" menu.

3 Click "New". A standard dialogue will appear. Type a filename for your new WAD.

4 Click "Save". You now have an empty WAD file.

5 Click the "Entry" menu.

6 Click "Load". A standard dialogue will appear. Navigate to your BMP file and select it.

7 Click "Open". You have now placed your graphic into your WAD.

8 Click on the new entry that has appeared in your lump list in XWE. You should see a preview of your graphic in the main window.

9 Right click on the lump name for your graphic in the lump list. A menu should appear.

10 Click "Add to patch names". A new entry called PNAMES will appear in your lump list.

11 Right click on your graphic lump again.

12 This time click "Add to texture". Another new entry called TEXTURE1 will appear.

13 Exit XWE.

That's it. You should now have a new WAD with your graphic in it and added to the PNAMES and TEXTURE1 lumps.

Email the images to me and ill put them in a wad for you and email them back
Make sure theyre in a zip
battysausage@hotmail.co.uk

Hope i help ;)

- sausage -

Enjay said:

I'm not sure I can make it much simpler. I'll try. ... That's it. You should now have a new WAD with your graphic in it and added to the PNAMES and TEXTURE1 lumps.

Got it - it works! Thanks; what about making floors? Is it the same proceedure? Can one easily make 128 size floors that will work with Zdoom?

Thanks Sausage for the offer, but i've got it sorted :)

Frederick the Great said:

Can one easily make 128 size floors that will work with Zdoom?

You're editing for Zdoom? It's even easier then. No need to create the PNAMES or TEXTURE1 lumps. Create markers in your WAD called TX_START and TX_END (as Tormentor667 said) and put your graphics between them. No additional steps required. Provided your editor supports this format (modern editors do) your graphics should show up and be available to be put on either the floor or a wall.

If, for some reason, you need to go with the old-style TEXTURES for walls and FLATS for floors, flats need to be treated slightly differently. The following worked for me. Like I said, I'm not really a regular XWE user, so this may not be the best method, but it worked.

In XWE with your WAD loaded, click the "Entry" menu and pick "New". Type the name FF_START and then repeat this to create an entry called FF_END after it. Now, highlight FF_START and click Entry/Load as before. Find the file you want to insert and press save. It should appear as a name between your FF markers. Now, highlight the new entry and go to the image menu. Click "Save as Doom flat" and you're done.

There is a problem, however. What I just described is the method for old style Doom flats. Originally they were all 64x64. Zdoom can accept larger images (128x128, 256x256...) and you can import them using that method but Zdoom will automatically scale them down to 64x64 in game to create a hi-res floor. To show them at 128x128, you'd then have to scale them up again with a script or linedef. If you want to use a 128x128 graphic on the floor, the best bet is to import it as a texture or use the TX method. Zdoom can put any graphic format on a wall or a floor (so flats are not limited to floors and textures are not limited to walls, and TX's were intended to be put anywhere) so it really doesn't matter about including the image as a floor - provided your editing program supports the "any graphic anywhere" feature of Zdoom.

If your editor does support the feature, I'd go with the TX method. Just use the method described above for making FF markers to make TX_START and TX_END entries instead. Then load all your images between the markers, with no additional steps - no creating PNAMES, TEXTURE1 or saving as a Doom flat - and you should be good to go.


Oh, and finally, just to clear up what the title of your thread seems to indicate may be a confusion. FLATS are the (traditionally) 64x64 images used in Doom for the floors/ceiling. TEXTURES are intended to be used on walls. A TEXTURE is made up of a graphic or graphics known as PATCHES. The TEXTURE definition lists which PATCHES are used in a TEXTURE and their relative positions within the TEXTURE (think about the old doom multi-patch textures). PATCHES must be listed in the PNAMES lump before they can be used in a texture. PNAMES is essentially a database of graphics (known as PATCHES) available to be used in a TEXTURE. TXs are a new system. They are specific to Zdoom and its derivatives. They do away with the need to have a PNAMES and TEXTURE1 lump and do not have to be saved as a special format, like FLATS do.

Using the TX_START & End really was easier for Zdoom, and they just appeared; my limit in size is 256 right?

How do I make floors though? The images i put in only appear for the walls (in doombuilder), i can't seem to use them for the floor (if that's what supposed to happen). Am I supposed to do something different for floors in Zdoom?

Oh and how do I make a sky with this tool? I presume I can have a much larger sky...

Pretty sure you can go bigger than 256x256. In fact I know you can.

As for floors, if your TXs are appearing and available for the walls, then the very same graphics should be able to be applied to the floors too. Zdoom certainly has no problem using such graphics on the floor. If they are not showing up in DB, then it sounds like it could be something to do with DB - possibly the way you have it set up.

I don't use DB, so I don't know, but maybe there is somewhere to enable TX graphics to appear in the lists of available graphics for floors. I know DeePsea allows you to choose which graphic types will be available in the various dialogues for floors and lines (I usually have TEXTURES, FLATS and TXs enabled for both locations all the time). Perhaps DB also has a similar option somewhere that is not currently enabled on your system?

AWESOME! The levels i'll be able to make now with these new skilz!!!

Ok how do i make a sky now? Can I have multiple skies like in Duke Nukem?

In zdoom, you make a skybox,
If you were to look at the screenshots below (This is a map i made a while back for a project)

http://www.technicaldarkness.1.vg/images/doomtut.PNG
http://www.technicaldarkness.1.vg/images/DOOM0013.png

Hope this helps you at all

Im always happy to help "when i am not busy =P"
- sausage -

Sorry for double post,

To see flats and walls mixed together in DoomBuilder
Use this step by step guide...

1. Press F5

2.Click on the tickbox which says - "Mix Textures and Flats resources"

3.Click "OK"

That should be easy enough :)

I Hope you become a good mapper :)

- sausage -

Frederick the Great said:

Can I have multiple skies like in Duke Nukem?

You mean different skies in different areas of the same map, or different skies for different maps?

Both are possible by a number of different methods for the following sky types - traditional "texture skies", constructed sky boxes and even full wrap-around modern game quake/unreal-style skyboxes (the last type is only available in GZDoom).

sausage said:

In zdoom, you make a skybox,
If you were to look at the screenshots below (This is a map i made a while back for a project)
http://www.technicaldarkness.1.vg/images/doomtut.PNG
http://www.technicaldarkness.1.vg/images/DOOM0013.png

Such an amazing trick! Thank you so much for this help!

How do I change the actual sky that's being shown in Zdoom? I don't want to have that horrid brown sky with my skybox; i want to put in my own sky. How do I do that? Do i have to give the image I upload a certain name or value?

Add an image straight into XWE And name it "Sky1"
I think that is all that is needed, :D
If not, then i am sorry as i am posting from a Friends computer,
I hope this works out "Freddie" (lol) And i want to be a maptester for you ;) To see if i have taught you anything.. .. ..

- Help in hand - From Sausage -

Rest assured dear Sausage, you shall be among our play testers when we finally put all these tricks together ;)

YeeHaa, Hey, Freddie, Do you use msn messenger?If so, add me,

battysausage@hotmail.co.uk

- sausage -

Just added you.

You should be considering a MAPINFO lump for your project. This allows you to set the name for your map at the intermission screen and the automap, set the music and many other things - like par times, outside fog, gravity etc etc. It also allows you to pick any texture you like and set it as the sky. There is nothing wrong with replacing the default sky, but there is also no need because you can specify any texture as a sky in your MAPINFO lump.

With a well set up MAPINFO, you can also choose to have the game end after your last level and set up text screens (like the one before map07) for your maps - after any of the maps.


http://www.zdoom.org/wiki/index.php?title=MAPINFO