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Sigvatr

(Final Version) contrast.wad - Improved Doom Palette And Color Map

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UPDATE 2

Version 3, which I consider to be the final version, is available here:

http://www.braindamage.vg/doom/contrast3.wad

I will be submitting the release version to the idgames archive soon. Please give me a great review :D

UPDATE (out of date)

There is a new palette for testing at the bottom of this post.

ANYWAY

I have spent almost two years tinkering with this project, which is remarkable in its simplicity. It is a labor of love and attention; something I incrementally made small and almost insignificant changes to until it was finally near perfection. I think I'm ready now to release it to the general public, although I still feel that it will be controversial regardless.

Basically, the original Doom palette (which consist of the files PLAYPAL.lmp and COLORMAP.lmp) was designed... well, a long time ago. Looking at the prerelease versions of Doom indicate that it hasn't changed for a long time, even relevant to the Doom development period. All in all, it wasn't thought out particularly well when you think about it in the long term. This is for a number of reasons:

1) The palette and color map were designed for viewing on CRT monitors and television sets, which have fundamentally different means of functioning from the LCD monitors that we enjoy today. You can't really blame id for this one since the technology wasn't around at the time, but the results are very simple to see today. If you compare a CRT monitor mirroring Doom from an LCD monitor where both have optimal settings, they still look very different. Advances in LCD technology grant these monitors significant contrast and brightness improvements over CRT monitors. This means that while the Doom palette and color map might have looked smooth and clean back in the day, the LCD monitors of today make the game appear choppy and shit.

2) Whoever wrote the algorithm to generate the original color map must have been smoking crack cocaine because it is incredibly inaccurate (trust me, I have stared at it for probably the sum amount of several days over the span of my life). XWE doesn't really offer many advantages either. That leads us to my next point.

3) There are several different schools of thought regarding how color maps should be generated. Before we had fancy 16 and 32-bit graphics, many games that made use of lighting would have a color map generated in advance. The color map is basically an index of offsets from the original palette based on how light/dark you want the pixel to be.

One school of thought says that you should make use of the entire palette for potential offsets when generating the color map (and this is what Doom used, as well as what XWE does too for the most part). This works well sometimes and can be good because it makes a more thorough use of your palette. Palettes that have a wide variety of different colors tend to benefit well from this method.

The problem is that Doom really doesn't have that many distinct color tones. You have a few browns, a few reds, a few greens, etc (DOOM 2 IS ALL BROWN LOL). That is why it benefits more from the other school of color map thought: to restrict the color map offsets to the color tone currently being generated.

When you use the second method, your color map doesn't end up full of artifacts and strange colors, which is what the Doom palette has and what XWE will probably do to your color map.



ANYWAY



I had the theory behind what I wanted to do, but the software out there at the moment really wasn't doing it for me. I had to write my own program in C to generate the PLAYPAL.lmp and then totally fuck with it in XWE any time I wanted to edit the COLORMAP.lmp. My method is sort of a compromise between methodologies one and two, and not even strictly sticking to those methods. Basically any time I wanted to generated a range of colors in the color map (which could be as little as a single color in some cases) I would have to open the palette and "erase" every single color in it that I did not want to be available for the color map generation algorithm to use. Even deciding which colors should be used in this process was a challenge in itself.

So anyway, I fucked around with this project over two years until I finally arrived at a palette and color map that I would prefer to use over the original one. These days I mostly use this wad when I play anything in Doom.

So basically, its a new palette and color map for our modern age. It improves on almost everything I can think of.

- It's less cartoony and more evil looking
- It fixes problems with some colors like red looking like shit
- It doesn't make everything turn gray in the dark
- It doesn't make yellow turn green and other strange color artifacts
- It makes naturally luminous sprites like fireballs and archvile animations look awesome
- It improves visibility
- It makes the game look more detailed
- It makes you hip and cool if you use it

Here's some examples:



I know some people will hate this and others will like it. In fact, I already know that some people do not like it. However, that might also be because they were testing a version from like six months ago and it has improved a lot over time, but whatever.

Feedback definitely appreciated. Keep in mind that I'm not trying to force this on anybody, so if you don't like it then that is fine.

Get it here:

ORIGINAL VERSION: http://www.braindamage.vg/doom/contrast.rar

SHITTY VERSION: http://www.braindamage.vg/doom/contrast2.rar

FINAL VERSION: http://www.braindamage.vg/doom/contrast3.rar

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Awesome. Didn't you use this palette for another WAD a while back, but you got banned before it went very far?

And if I understand correctly, this makes Doom appear as it would've on 1993 monitors?

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Marnetmar said:

Awesome. Didn't you use this palette for another WAD a while back, but you got banned before it went very far?


No, that was a different palette. And a different banning. Probably two bans ago.

Marnetmar said:

And if I understand correctly, this makes Doom appear as it would've on 1993 monitors?


The intent isn't to be a throwback to 1993, just that it would look better.

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My first impression is that this is what Doom would look like if I were partially colorblind. I haven't actually compared the new palette side-by-side with the original though, and the colormap does look much less awful from a glance.

I did start to notice that the colors fade in/out quite nicely in the short time I played, and the vibrant yellows and reds were very distinctive. I'm not sure if I would want to play with this all the time, but it's clear that plenty of work went into it, and I'd rate it subjectively better than most of the lazy palette edits I've seen.

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It's definitely darker, and that's all I'm saying about it until I've done some side-by-side testing with my retro box.

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Oddly enough I spent a fair amount of time this week (too much actually, hehe) attempting the same thing.

My approach was to make some of the dark colors even darker, and to limit lookups to be in the same "range" of colors as the original. Well it was that way in my first attempt, it didn't work that well. My second attempt tried to preserve hues by comparing colors in the HSV space and give more weight to H than S or V -- that didn't work that well either, heh. My third attempt groups colors into a few classes (greyscale, reds, greens, blues) and was the best one, but still not a great result. That's when I gave up, lol.

You can try mine here: http://oblige.sourceforge.net/files/colorful.zip

P.S. this one doesn't have any palette effects (pickup or pain) or an invincibility map. I was gonna do that later if the idea worked out well.

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At first glance all I can think is "Rainy Day Doom", but this is nice and I think after getting used to it I'd enjoy playing with it.

edit: or better, it puts the 'gloom' in 'Doom'

Also, the more I use this palette the more I like it, good job sigvatr

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Can't see shit, captain. Why is this called "contrast.wad" again if most contrast is removed/lessened? People in their twenties with 20/15 visual acuity shouldn't ever claim to design things for "improving visibility".

Colorblind Doom is more like it. Everything has that watery look like some painting, and it just looks like a blue/dark green mess.

Then again you probably know that and named it that way on purpose to get those kind of answers, given your past history, so I don't know why I reply. Whattrollswantyoutobelieve.png and all that.

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Phml said:

Why is this called "contrast.wad" again if most contrast is removed/lessened?


Well if you think about it, it actually is a boost in contrast. When Doom was designed as it was intended to be played (on CRT monitors) dark areas were actually DARK. On LCD monitors, it is pretty easy to discern the darkness these days.

It's called contrast.wad because most of the color modifications involved increasing contrast between tones and luminosities. The reds and yellows aren't actually brighter and bolder, but they look that way compared to the more earthy tones and such.

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I like it.
But I will not map for it :p
But it would make a good enhancement for many Wads or projects.

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Marnetmar said:

Awesome. Didn't you use this palette for another WAD a while back, but you got banned before it went very far?

You know, what happened to that texture pack? It looked pretty interesting. I remember sending in a pretty mediocre map for it, too, with almost no height variations.

This contrast wad is a good idea, and I like the look, but I wouldn't use it all the time myself, as I actually like the fact Doom has that cartoony feel to it. Although I would definitely like an improved colormap for the normal pallete.

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I think it's great, especially on LED screens, easy on the eyes yet still helps to notcie brightness contrast between the sectors. I'm not a great fan of what happened to Demons though - they're salmon colored now. Can't really call them pinkys anymore :(

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Also, looks fine for me on LED screen, especially maps techbase themed. Reminds me something between PSX Doom and Doom 64 in colors scheme.

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I think I'm too used to the original for modifications to seem anything but weird. Its interesting and fun for a change of pace, but I guess my impression is that it seems more greyscale than normal or something. Andrewj's has weird shadows.

The coolest colormap thing I've seen is this. Its simple but much more striking of an effect (referring to cinvert.wad):
http://www.doomworld.com/vb/wads-mods/47802-silly-colormap-hacks-updated/

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I would like to see a new palette based on extended color depth. Recolor all the sprites and textures taking into account that you would rarely need multiple shades of one color. The original Doom had to lighten and darken areas using the same 256 colors. Now we can have a full 8-bit (or 16/24 bit) texture and adjust brightness/hue/saturation using a much wider color spectrum.

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Well done, especially technically. I don't think making a new palette and colormap combination that works effectively without glitches in the game is easy. I wouldn't use it "in general" because I find the original colors pleasing, though, even on an LCD. It removes some of the game's characterizing hues, such as the bright green. Here the slime looks like a grayish green dull liquid instead of an almost glowing substance, and water looks almost as dark as petroleum. But it's clear this palette would fit nicely with your more Gothic artwork style. Although when I tested it I did think of that status bar that appears in some PWADs where the marine wears sunglasses, heh, due to the dim environment. One of the things you say is that it it "improves visibility," yet it makes things generally harder to see unless they're yellow or bright red. Cacodemon hunters will find it convenient!

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Bucket said:

I would like to see a new palette based on extended color depth. Recolor all the sprites and textures taking into account that you would rarely need multiple shades of one color. The original Doom had to lighten and darken areas using the same 256 colors. Now we can have a full 8-bit (or 16/24 bit) texture and adjust brightness/hue/saturation using a much wider color spectrum.

Huh? Even without colormapped lighting you'd still need lots of shades of each color because textures and sprites have shadows and highlights all over them.

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How do the demons and barons look under lower lighting? The original palette they look a little brownish, I'm curious on how they look under this alteration.

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Pretty cool at first glance, only checked it out for a few minutes so dont know if I'll get sick of it quickly, but I plan on having a run through crusades.wad with it

But yeah I wouldn't compare this to CRT era Doom. For example map12 start point, I remember vividly the red building standing out on my first play. With this palette, I can't tell that building is red until I'm nearly touching it. Not saying it is better/worse, just an observer!

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Mr. Chris said:

How do the demons and barons look under lower lighting? The original palette they look a little brownish, I'm curious on how they look under this alteration.


I think this is kinda neat. The Barons and Demons look quite nice with it, as do the rest of the monsters.

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Even though I love games with gritty colors like Silent Hill a lot, I think this desaturation kinda takes out a little of the fun from Doom. Of course this is just a matter of personal taste. The only thing that bothers me about this is that water turns almost complete black.

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I quite like this, it gives Doom a more grim and gloomy feel which is nice for a change.I'm definitely gonna play around with this. As a note unloved looks AWESOME with this wad.

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Cool palette, I took a few screenshots.

Lights in the darkness.


Demon closeup.


Commando details.


Another look at Pinky.


The Icon of Sin.


A Supercharge looking good.

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The palette looks like how my eyes will be able to see before I die.

Sigvatr said:

This isn't Diablo 3 !!!!1

Actually, this reminds me of Diablo 1 and gives me an idea: how about changing the palette for each passing level ever so slightly (almost subliminally) like Diablo does in its dungeons?

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Sigvatr said:

I see the effort this man(?) has put into this map and it frankly and truly makes me sad. The amount of time he has invested in it could have yeilded fruit of superior quality and quantity if he had focused on a more modern game engine.

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printz said:

The palette looks like how my eyes will be able to see before I die.
Actually, this reminds me of Diablo 1 and gives me an idea: how about changing the palette for each passing level ever so slightly (almost subliminally) like Diablo does in its dungeons?


Huh?

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Sigvatr said:

I had the theory behind what I wanted to do, but the software out there at the moment really wasn't doing it for me. I had to write my own program in C to generate the PLAYPAL.lmp[...]

Actually, is there any chance you'll share the source for this? I took a crack at coding a similar tool a while back, but it was crap, and I'd be interested to see how yours works.

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Mithran Denizen said:

Actually, is there any chance you'll share the source for this? I took a crack at coding a similar tool a while back, but it was crap, and I'd be interested to see how yours works.


Really all you need to do is look at the file format for PLAYPAL. Basically, it's the 256 color palette, and then a whole bunch of variations for red/yellow/green coloring effects, etc. I think it might be 21 variations or something?

It's really straight forward, just RGB color bytes.

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