Port and editor? [Hexen]

Hello everyone! Recently I got hit into gaming nostalgia, spent hours playing one of my favorite game of the old: Hexen. Back then I used to make maps for Doom and Heretic, I made several attempts to make maps for Hexen too but I couldn't get into ASC scripting. I went on and made several maps for DN3D, then Quake and Unreal, and lately several maps for a game using Unreal engine 2.5 on a commercial basis. Now that I have gained more knowledge and skill I thought it would be fun to revisit Hexen mapping and put knowledge into good use (or just simply waste some time). So here are two "newbie" questions for the community:

1) ZDoom or Doomsday?

Which one is better suited for Hexen? Mind you that I don't plan to make any kind of mod or conversion, just a number of levels put together, perhaps some new textures and may be new monsters (just sprites, no 3D models, I like old feeling). Briefly looking into feature list I've found that ZDoom has expanded ACS functionality while Doomsday have some other scripting methods (XG?).

2) Doom Builder? Or some other editor?

I've checked for map editors around, tried several and from what it seems Doom Builder would be best choice for me, it's quite intuitive and 3D mode made me feel like I was making maps in BUILD (I even redefined hotkeys to simulate BUILD layout). Is it a good choice for Hexen? Back then when I did maps for Heretic I used WadAuthor, although I hardly remember it by now, many years have passed.

I understand that these questions may have been asked numerous times already, I'm sorry. I just wanted to get a brief information on current state of ports/editors and perhaps some suggestions from community veterans. Thank you.

p.s. Not sure if this is a right forum though...

1) I'd choose for ZDoom, since I think it's more flexible, versatile and has got several features. For instance, you could add new monsters with DECORATE, in order to keep the original ones, instead of replacing them.
2) I use WadAuthor, but it has got some limits, although it's simple but good for me. Since you are going to learn how to use it or another editor again, I suggest that you use Doom Builder, since it is more powerful, but yet simple. :) It's just me, who is lazy to learn to use a better editor. =P

Regarding your first question, one option is to make it so it doesn't require a specific port - then the user can choose how they want to play it.

If a port has some features that really help you to create what you want to create, then it makes sense to use them. Otherwise, don't use them just for the sake of using them, and at the cost of restricting the player's options (and in practice thus limiting your audience).

Thanks for replies.

So I suppose there are no means to add new monsters into the game without modifying engine code or using port-specific features, right? Not that it's absolutely vital to have new monsters in what I'm planning to make, it would be very neat expanding two into "bad and mean" versions, specifically Heresiarch boss and Dark Bishop.

One thing for sure: I'm not planning a showcase for some port-specific features, all I want is to try to make a decent quality single-player map pack (4-5 maps) with solid architecture and style for Hexen.


Few screens from Heretic map I was doing lately which I'll be converting to Hexen.

Screenshot 1
Screenshot 2
Screenshot 3
Screenshot 4
Map view

Very nice screens..I myself am not as good at Heretic editing as I am with DooM. I know that sounds weird but, thats how it is with me...

Very nice screenshots indeed! :) Keep up working on it! ;)

Nice Screens. Cool. Nice structures and lighting.

I would like to play that in Heretic. If you are going to release in Hexen save a copy and release in Heretic as well.

Well after some time spent testing and trying I've decided to stick with ZDoom for a number of reasons. First of all there are sloped floors/ceilings, I loved them in DN3D and sure will find a good use here as well (arcs and such). Secondly ZDoom have extended ASC support, some of the new functionality might prove useful later. And third is the ability to add new monsters/items without going through big problems.

Doomsday keep crashing on my test map with polyobjects while ZDoom and original Hexen works perfectly. No matter what I tried I can't just run my maps in Doomsday for as long as I have polybojects. While Doomsday is good on it's own right I feel ZDoom is better suited for mapping and basic modifications I'm hoping to implement.

Please send a copy of your map to the Doomsday team so that we can take a look at it. Most likely there is a mapping error here which ZDoom is detecting and forgiving whilst Doomsday is not.

You can send the map here: danij@dengine.net

I've figured what I was doing wrong, sorry, that was my mistake. However I've encountered weird bug: in Doomsday you can walk through polyobjects. At first I thought I did something wrong again but when I tried original Hexen maps this was almost everywhere. Deng 1.9.0-beta5 & jHexen 1.3.0-beta5.

Send the map anyway please, any crash needs to be fixed.

Broken mobj vs polyobject collision detection is a known bug in 1.9.0-beta5, it will be fixed before the final 1.9.0 release.

Very nice use of curves in your architecture Treewyrm, especially in that first screenshot of the outside area.

heh, first I only looked at the map overview and thought I was looking at a blueprint of a USS Enterprise ship. Screenshosts look good!

@ CodeImp: please, could you help me with my problem? How can I solve it?! (Read my messages in the "My big map has a big problem, something to do with the blockmap I think" forum: http://www.doomworld.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=40113)

I would reply if I knew the answer or think I have a suggestion, but I have no clue, sorry.

That's bad! :| I hope you can help me finding a solution... :P I can send you the .WAD, if it can help you to solve my problem. Please, let me know.