Making a multi-level WAD. (WARNING: lotsa questions)

I'm new to the map-editing community. Through DOOM Builder, and with a little help from Chocolate DOOM and ZDOOM, I've managed to make and test a few levels that I find satisfactory.

Now, I want to produce a relatively large single-player WAD of, say, 10-12 levels for DOOM II. I don't want to use any music, textures, or Things than the ones that came with Ultimate DOOM or DOOM II. (I'd like to use ones that were in Final DOOM, but that's probably not possible.) I'm willing to download any new kind of editor if necessary, and I can start from scratch if I need to. I've got a lot of questions, so bear with me:

1. First of all, how do I make a WAD with more than one level (but fewer than 32) in the first place?
2. Can I create a WAD that uses textures from both Ultimate DOOM and DOOM II? (I know there's at least one texture in DOOM that doesn't exist in DOOM II, a brown wall with a "Poison" sign on it.) If so, how?
3. How do I add a separate texture, one that's not from any currently existing DOOM WAD, into my own WAD? (with permission, of course)
4. Can I create a WAD that uses music from both Ultimate DOOM and DOOM II?
5. How do I change the background music of a single level?
6. Is it necessary for certain levels to have the same music? (Ex.: in DOOM II, Level 2: Underhalls, and Level 11: Circle Of Death, have the same music. Is this necessary, or can I get around it?)
7. Can I use music from both DOOM and DOOM II in a single DOOM II WAD?
8. How do I change the sky texture of a single level?
9. Is it necessary for certain consecutive levels to have the same sky texture?
10. How do I give a level a name?
11. Can I create a secret level in a WAD that has fewer than 32 levels? If so, does it have to be labeled MAP31 or MAP32?
12. When I'm finished with the product, how do I open a custom WAD using Chocolate DOOM or ZDOOM?

OK, I'll admit it. In these cases, I'm a total n00b. But I'd like to know, I enjoy map editing, and testing said maps. Can someone help out?

Thanks,
colBoh

colBoh said:

1. First of all, how do I make a WAD with more than one level (but fewer than 32) in the first place?

When you first start up Doombuilder type in which map you are going to construct: MAP01, Map02 .... MAP32
When you are ready to save the map do it with 'Save Map Into...'

or

build all your levels as, for example MAP01, and then use XWE to rename the MAPxx lump to the appropriate number and merge them into one map

or

use SlumpEd to copy/paste them all into one map, again renaming each MAPxx first.

colBoh said:

3. How do I add a separate texture, one that's not from any currently existing DOOM WAD, into my own WAD? (with permission, of course)

Using XWE or Slumped, you can import a custom texture.

For ZDoom I suggest you place the texture/s between the TX_START and TX_END markers. Then they can be used on walls or on floors/ceilings


For a lot of your other questions about music, skies and names, check out the ZDoom WIKI
http://zdoom.org/wiki/MAPINFO
http://zdoom.org/wiki/Music_format

colBoh said:
1. First of all, how do I make a WAD with more than one level (but fewer than 32) in the first place?

You either open a PWAD and use the function in the level editor to edit a specific level instead of the default MAP01, such as MAP02, or make the levels separately and then merge them with a WAD tool like XWE or SlumpEd and rename the second level header to MAP02.

2. Can I create a WAD that uses textures from both Ultimate DOOM and DOOM II? (I know there's at least one texture in DOOM that doesn't exist in DOOM II, a brown wall with a "Poison" sign on it.) If so, how?

You can, technically, and some people do it. Others avoid it because it is against the users license agreement that comes with the games, that asks us to use their content only in the immediate games its from. The idgames archive, where most community WADs are stored, does not specifically reject WADs with such content.

3. How do I add a separate texture, one that's not from any currently existing DOOM WAD, into my own WAD? (with permission, of course)

If the level is for vanilla (the original executable or Chocolate Doom), the (one or more) patches that make up the texture are added to a copy of the game's PNAMES lump (a list of wall graphics called "patches") and then you add the texture to TEXTURE1, specifying what patches are used in it and how they are aligned. (DOOM's textures arent just those wall images you can see in the WAD; they are combinations of different graphics.) Some newer engines, like ZDoom, allow you to use patches or other graphics directly on walls or floors. Such a WAD would require the advanced engine, of course (you wouldn't be able to play it with Chocolate Doom.)

4. Can I create a WAD that uses music from both Ultimate DOOM and DOOM II?

The reply is the same as for 2.

5. How do I change the background music of a single level?

Each song has a specific name in the game. D_RUNNIN, for example, is the music for level 1. If you insert a MIDI or MUS lump named that way in your WAD, it will play when the player is in level 1. This is the most basic and universal way to change the music, although there are others (DeHackEd, MAPINFO, etc.)

6. Is it necessary for certain levels to have the same music? (Ex.: in DOOM II, Level 2: Underhalls, and Level 11: Circle Of Death, have the same music. Is this necessary, or can I get around it?)

No, the music lump for level 2 is called D_STALKS, and the one for level 11 is D_STLKS2. (As you can see, the names are very similar, because each lump contains the same song data, "The Healer Stalks".)

7. Can I use music from both DOOM and DOOM II in a single DOOM II WAD?

Technically speaking, you can use any MUS file, or any MIDI file that could be translated to a MUS file. (The limitation of MUS files is that they must be MIDI type 1 and up to 64 KB in size; that's the size of the converted MUS, the MIDI might be a bit bigger.)

8. How do I change the sky texture of a single level?

You can do that only if you use an advanced engine, with MAPINFO or the like. Otherwise, the skies are bound to the episodes. You can change the skies, but all the levels in that episode use the new sky.

9. Is it necessary for certain consecutive levels to have the same sky texture?

See above. In DOOM, II the "episodes" are levels 1-11, 12-20 and 21-32, as far as the skies are concerned.

10. How do I give a level a name?

In the intermission, you replace a file called CWILVxx, where xx equals 00 to 31 (the level minus 1.) To replace the name in the automap, you need to use the previously mentioned DeHackEd. Newer engines have additional ways to assign level names, or (as ZDoom does) may change the intermission name graphic directly by reading the DeHackEd lump or file.

11. Can I create a secret level in a WAD that has fewer than 32 levels? If so, does it have to be labeled MAP31 or MAP32?

Yes, but the level is accessed from level 15, and it must be level 31 (32 is another secret level from 31.) To place the secret level elsewhere or to name it differently than MAP31, you'd need to use advanced features, like MAPINFO.

12. When I'm finished with the product, how do I open a custom WAD using Chocolate DOOM or ZDOOM?

In ZDoom, you can drag the PWAD onto the executable. In Chocolate Doom, you can make a shortcut to the executable, right click it and edit the target field, adding -file mywad.wad after the executable path and name, as long as the WAD is in the same folder as the executable... if it isn't, add the whole path to the file.

myk said:

You can do that only if you use an advanced engine, with MAPINFO or the like. Otherwise, the skies are bound to the episodes. You can change the skies, but all the levels in that episode use the new sky.

How hg.wad does it then? I couldn't see any MAPINFO.

as long as the WAD is in the same folder as the executable... if it isn't, add the whole path to the file. [/B]

I just checked and Chocolate also looks for wads in directory specified by DOOMWADDIR environment variable. It's much more convenient than have 10 copies or wads for every port.

colBoh said:

I don't want to use any music, textures, or Things than the ones that came with Ultimate DOOM or DOOM II. (I'd like to use ones that were in Final DOOM, but that's probably not possible.)

There's nothing wrong with mapping for TNT or Plutonia.wad, apart from map names pretty much all of the Doom2 wad's graphic resources are there.

tempun said:

How hg.wad does it then? I couldn't see any MAPINFO.

By using the MBF Sky Transfer function.

tempun said:
How hg.wad does it then? I couldn't see any MAPINFO.

MBF sky transfers. You could technically make a different sky for every sector on a map.

What is this MAPINFO thing? Is it some kind of text file you can edit with a special program? If so, what program do you recommend?
Also, I'm still unclear as to how you can add and remove textures from a WAD file.

http://www.numerometria.com/Doom/xwe.htm

http://doomnexus.drdteam.org/Tutorial/xwe_textures.html

http://zdoom.org/wiki/MAPINFO