Map linedefs all destroyed... Help!

Hello folks. If you would care to take the time to give me some suggestions, I would greatly appreciate it.

I had a 3 level wad in progress (skulltag - doom in hexen format), and one day, the maps decide to do this stupid crap where the linedefs are messed up and the things are deleted. Yes, it is like when you load a map (say, skulltag - doom in hexen format in Skulltag - doom in doom format). So, I AM loading it in the right format. That is not the problem.

Maybe I messed something up in XWE.. All I really touched recently was the music, which is can do easily with no screw ups, and then I loaded my maps and they are a mess of linedefs, so I really couldn't tell you what I did there. I know that all of the lumps are in order (THINGS, LINDEFS, SIDEDEFS, etc)

I have read other threads and the most likely fix is backup files. Well..... heres the thing..... I don't have any.... I have the worst luck and yeah, it is my fault but I deleted them all just prior because they take up lots of space. ugh..... Is there ANYTHING I can do? I worked for weeks straight on these maps! I recovered some as temp files but I don't know what else to do....


EDIT

I am throwing something out here but if all fails I am wondering if a system restore to yesterday could work - I have a checkpoint and the wad is on my desktop.

As I understand it, system restore doesn't touch user data files so you're probably out of luck there. A couple of quick questions - where did you place the music and does each map have a BEHAVIOR lump.

If all else fails, upload the maps and post a link - someone might be able to fix them.

Yes, I already tried it :P - just wanted to see if it would affect wads, and I didn't really expect it to. anyways, for simplicity..

Map01 - (Skulltag - Doom in Doom format) No scripts or behaviour lumps
Map02 - (Skulltag - Doom in Hexen format) (not finished) Behaviour and script lumps are there. However, note that I did not really use any scripts yet in the map.
Map 03 - (skulltag- Doom in Hexen format) This map was hardly started. There is only a behaviour lump there.

I don't think any of my maps have any scripting action going on, I was going to add it after I complete all of the level structure and things.

edit : The last music I put in was the intermission music D_DM2INT as I understand it. I copied it from my doom2.wad and pasted it. Then I clicked replace and replaced it with another midi song.

Provided you haven't changed the names or order of the map lumps, Map01 should be OK unless there's a foreign object in amongst the lumps. Same applies with the other maps which will also go crazy if the BEHAVIOR lump is missing.

When working on maps that are in different formats it's probably best practice to keep them in separate wads until they're ready for compilation.

I'm positive that I didn't change the lump names or their positions. I went on a hunt for foreign objects and found only 1. I found some no name file that had the same icon as PP_start and PP_end. I deleted it and it did not affect my map.

Yeah, I'm pretty stuck. Hopefully somebody will know what to do with it if I uploaded it.

I'd appreciate the help if anyone could quickly check the wad and see if it is fixable or if there is an obvious bug somewhere.

This is my wad - it's kind of big because of the mp3 music in two maps.


http://www.megaupload.com/?d=CNJSPSTN

Is there a better place to upload it on this forum?

Looks like the directory structure's messed up. TITLEPIC is listed as a 1.26MB graphic yet plays as a midi file, so I suspect that's where the trouble starts. I'll have a poke around with a Hex editor and see if I can make sense of it.

Megaupload is OK - I've seen worse - though you could consider registering here.

Thanks a lot GreyGhost, you truly are a gift to this forum and many doombuilder fans with issues. You seem to have resolved lots of problems in other threads. Yeah, megaupload is fine most of the time, I was actually just wondering if there would be a better topic to post a defective map under so a few more people could take a peek at it if you couldn't find the problem.

I had a quick look at it in a hex editor and I too thigh that the directory is fucked up. You could try to fix it by hand, but it's probably a very tedious work. It should be easy for sidedefs and sectors since they contain strings you can use to orient yourself.

Maybe you're lucky and all offsets are shifted by the same value. Then you could use the offset difference from the sidedefs or sectors lumps (since they are easy to find because of the strings they contain).

Doint that will require quite a bit understanding of the data format though, which are all explained in the unofficial Doom specs or on http://doom.wikia.com

They were offset. While I've managed to recover Map01 it looks like part of Map02 and all of Map03 now only exist as directory entries. If HXCpr0n has a slightly larger backup of the wad (about 48k) recovering the others might be feasible.

I should buy a lottery ticket before my luck runs out.

HXCpr0n said:

Thanks a lot GreyGhost, you truly are a gift to this forum and many doombuilder fans with issues.

Tone it down - you're making me blush! :D

Thank you so much GreyGhost. I don't know how you do it but you are simply a miracle worker! My sincerest gratitude :) I really hope it didn't take you too long to fix, or else I would just feel bad.

So, I suppose what you're getting at regarding the other maps is that I need a backup copy of the wad with those maps in it. I could try to get one with a file recovery program I guess. (note, Map 03 wasn't even started, I don't care about it at all.) But Map 02 is in Hexen format so I guess that it a different challenge.

You're welcome, it took about an hour once I'd settled down to the task. Fortunately the map lumps were all together, otherwise it would have been a nightmare.

Unfortunately I couldn't find a SECTOR lump for Map02 and if the lump offset remains constant it's somewhere beyond the end-of-file marker, which is why we need a backup - if one exists. File recovery utilities are a bit hit-and-miss if not used almost immediately after loosing a file but it's worth a try. The change in map format's just a minor complication.

Ok, well, my program recovered it as a temp file (it's 7mb). I don't know how much use it will be, and I honestly don't know how to covert it into a playable wad.

If it doesn't work, then just don't worry about it, I'll restart it from scratch.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=BQY5IXV2

Looks like I've run out of miracles for now - couldn't identify any recoverable data in that file. Hopefully Map02's still fairly fresh in your mind and won't take long to re-construct. Good luck with the rest of your project.

Thanks a lot anyways. If you are a doomer I will be sure to give you and boris shout when it's done.

The reason it messes up my maps is because XWE keeps crashing. It just did it again and I'm not sure how to load the backup files

XWE's backup files have to be renamed before they can read. The backup format is "filename.wad.number.bak" with the most recent backup having the highest number.

If XWE's constantly crashing I'd suggest you try SLumpEd and/or the beta of Slade 3, they may prove to be more stable. Alternately, backup your wads to a separate folder before working on them in XWE.

I look forward to seeing the finished wad so don't let flaky software get you down.

Alright then. Thanks again. I think I'll try SLumpEd, many people say they prefer it over XWE. Anyways, I'm going to go for a 5-6 level dark7ish sort of feel, hopefully it'll turn out well.

By the way, if you try SLADE3, you'll be able to report any issue you meet to the developers (SlayeR and well, I guess, me). XWE and SLumpEd are no longer supported, so any bug you encounter when using them will remain there to bug you forever.