Jump to content
Search In
  • More options...
Find results that contain...
Find results in...
GzStarWars

DOOM Merging with Vanilla DOOM Compatability

Recommended Posts

Hello, I was experimenting with DOOM pwad to iwad merging with an app called Patcher as well as with XWE.

For some reason when I merge my wads I can get gzDOOM to load off them with no problems, dosdoom and dsdoom on the other hand lock up.

So I was wondering if someone could help me out here.

Let's say I designed a single map and want to replace it in the doom2.wad file, what would I need to do to keep this working with vanilla doom?

thankx!


P.S. I loaded up the FreeDOOM Demo, erased the 1st map, and remapped it a bit, then saved, now that works, but if I make a map separate and try to merge it, nothing happens.

Share this post


Link to post

XWE's merge doesn't seem to work. At least it did nothing when I tried using it. Use the join feature, and then delete the old level yours is supposed to replace.

Note that no engines require you to merge PWADs with the IWAD. Just load the PWAD as an additional file.

The other engines may be hanging because there might be resources or features they do not support in your file.

Share this post


Link to post

I'm perparing this for use with the Nintendo DS which does not have a WAD loader menu.

I tried to delete Map01 from doom two, then merge nulspace into it, but it failed me again.

Also where is this JOIN option?

Share this post


Link to post

In XWE it's in the File menu, right under Merge; it says "Join (add lumps only)". Make sure you have the latest version of XWE (v1.16, or, better yet, the latest beta).

Share this post


Link to post

I updated, but no mention of join or add lumps only.

Also another strange thing is if I load up DOOM2.wad in XWE, replace a few sprites with new gfx...

...it stops booting up on the DS as a main wad.

I wonder how the freedoom team put that wad together in the 1st place.

Share this post


Link to post

Wintex does not seem to allow me to alter the main wad files.

EDIT (forgot about Join, I'll play with that a bit).

Also I've noticed if I clean up the iWAD with XWE, that it kills the file and DSDOOM no longer boots correctly.

On the other hand if I load up the iWad into DOOM Builder, delete map 1 and draw a new one, then DSDOOM will still boot it.

So it seems that XWE may be the problem all together, it is really a shame wintex does not allow one to edit the main wad file.


EDIT:

This is REALLY annoying. So far any time I try to Join files with wintex, it seems like it leaves out textures and stuff so the wad won't load because it is missing textures or patches or something.

On the other hand if I go into Wintex and make new patches which replace the old patch names, then join the new patches.wad into my main iwad...

...it takes and the DS Boots!

So I may not be able to take a megawad and convert it into a self standing iwad, but I can now at least replace textures and probably sprites in the main wad and get it to boot on the DS incase I want to make a game for it or something.

If anyone can think of a faster way to go about this, I'd love to, as wintex is just plain slooooowwwww....

Share this post


Link to post

You can easily extract the entire iwad with deutex, then just replace any resources you like and then rebuild the thing. Final Doom and also Freedoom were made with it.

Share this post


Link to post

GzStarWars said:
Also I've noticed if I clean up the iWAD with XWE, that it kills the file and DSDOOM no longer boots correctly.

On the other hand if I load up the iWad into DOOM Builder, delete map 1 and draw a new one, then DSDOOM will still boot it.

So it seems that XWE may be the problem all together, it is really a shame wintex does not allow one to edit the main wad file.

It's just changing the IWAD header to a PWAD header, which makes sense under most circumstances because you will not be wanting to edit the IWAD but to simply make a PWAD starting off from the IWAD. It's also in compliance with what id requests. There may be other ways, but you can change the header with a hex editor, or with a text editor that does not reformat the text.

This is REALLY annoying. So far any time I try to Join files with wintex, it seems like it leaves out textures and stuff so the wad won't load because it is missing textures or patches or something.

Are you sure both the patches and the new texture entries (in TEXTURE1) are in the wad? Doom Builder likely wouldn't care if the entries are missing in the textures list, because it can make levels for engines that can use patches directly (such as ZDoom), but other tools and engines will either eliminate the unused patches or will have problems.

Share this post


Link to post

You can manually copy the entries from the wad in question and then paste them into the iwad with XWE, deleting the old ones, obviously. This seems to be the best option given that XWE's merge tool doesn't seem to work. But if XWE converts it into a pwad, you're out of luck.

Logic's suggestion is also a good one, but I can't help you with deutex as I've never used it.

Share this post


Link to post

Where can I find this Header or Header File? And if I were to try to fix it using a Hex Editor, what would I be looking for?

Share this post


Link to post

It's just 4 characters at the very beginning of the wad file. If you open the wad with a program like notepad you will see the first thing is says is PWAD (or IWAD). A hex editor like XVI32 will let you easily change the first character from a P to an I after you made the changes in XWE.

Share this post


Link to post

Thank you very much! That was easy enough, but what does it mean when I alter an iWAD in XWE, then go into the Hex editor, change it back to Iwad and save. Try to load up PrBOOM for windows (of which the DS port is based) and it says:

CheckIWAD: IWAD tag doom2.wad not preset.


Also is there a place to go to find out what it takes exactly to build an iWAD from the ground up, such as what they are doing with the FreeDOOM project?


EDIT:

Got merging down I think!

What I have done is taken the FreeDOOM main iWAD, and merged the Quake pWAD into it using
Patcher and Wintex.

http://freedoom.sourceforge.net/

http://home.pacbell.net/jflynn/patcher.zip

http://files.frashii.com/~sp00nz/Doom/files/wintex50.zip


==============

If you would like to do this on your own, you would download Patcher, FreeDOOM, QuakeDOOM, and
extract them all to the same directory.

You would then goto command line and enter the folder that you dumped all the above into.

From here you'll type:

patcher dif qkedoom.wad doom2.wad Quakedif.wad


What this will is create a new copy of the Quake DOOM pWAD that has all duplicate resources that
are already in the DOOM2 iWAD removed.

What you will do next is run Wintex, and in top box you will select the Quakedif.wad, and in the
lower box you will select the DOOM2.wad. You will then hit the JOIN button on the right after
which your DOOM2.WAD file should now be larger.

From here you can rename DOOM2.WAD to doom.wad and pop it into your DS for use with DSDOOM...

...or of course you can use this knowledge to creat your own iWADs for what ever reason.

Share this post


Link to post

GzStarWars said:
CheckIWAD: IWAD tag doom2.wad not preset.

I guess you changed PWAD to iWAD, instead of IWAD. It's case sensitive.

Share this post


Link to post
myk said:

XWE's merge doesn't seem to work. At least it did nothing when I tried using it. Use the join feature, and then delete the old level yours is supposed to replace.

Note that no engines require you to merge PWADs with the IWAD. Just load the PWAD as an additional file.

The other engines may be hanging because there might be resources or features they do not support in your file.


Well thats what i get as well, i click merge, and nothing happens. my map went down the tube when i did this, thankfully i had about 5 backups. So how can i merge stuff without using merge?

Share this post


Link to post

the iron hitman said:
So how can i merge stuff without using merge?

Make sure you've got the latest beta and use "Join (add lumps only)". Assuming you don't have more than 1 TEXTURE lump, all you need to do after joining the wads is, if necessary, move some stuff around so that the different types of resources are bunched up in their own sections, eliminating any repeated markers.

Share this post


Link to post

GzStarWars said:
I have the latest XWE and there is no JOIN feature at all in mine, swear to God!



Make sure you've got the latest beta executable.

the iron hitman said:
well is slumped much better than XWE?

It's nice but it's at an earlier level of development, so it doesn't have as many features.

Share this post


Link to post

I'll try it! Thank you!

I just don't know if it'll work because it says,"join lumps only" as opposed to join textures and patches without lumps which is what I think I need.

Share this post


Link to post

GASP!!!!

It appears to be working!!!

It does seem to leave out the Sounds and Sprites, but I can work around that I'm sure.

Also the file size was not too crazy either, which is more than I can say from my Merges with other programs.

Share this post


Link to post

Here is a simple way to merge an iWad with a pWad:

This example uses plutonia.wad (iWad) and Eternal.wad (pWad), not sure if this will work in all cases but this is what I did to get Eternal III running on my DS.

First Download Patcher and WinWad

Extract all the files from both zips to a working dir, lets call it "C:\Doom\Patcher".

Place the two Wads into the same dir.

Open the command prompt and type:
cd C:\Doom\Patcher
Patcher mer plutonia.wad eternal.wad new.wad

this will merge the two wads, however new .wad is a pWad so will not run on its own even though it has all the files it needs. To fix this we run WinWad.exe and open new.wad. When the .wad has loaded click edit and select "Change IWAD/PWAD". When you have done this you will see that the WAD type changed (in the top box in the window). Go File>Save as to create your new iWad, name it whatever you want, though some engines will insist on it being called the same as the original iWad, in this case plutonia.wad

Hope that helps.

Share this post


Link to post

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×