Help on Completely Custom Wads!

[jeffarooski]

Hello Everyone!

 

My name is Jeff, and I have been wanting to make custom DOOM Wads for a while. I finally took the step to start learning, but I just cannot seem to connect the dots.

 

Let me start by saying, I want to be able to add custom sprites for weapons/monsters, custom game mechanics and all of that.

 

I stem from a programming background in primarily Javascript and PHP, but I am just having a hell of a time with SLADE and all of that.

 

My main question to anyone willing to help me out, is how did you learn? I am looking for some resources to help me at LEAST replace the pistol spite with a custom one, and I can't even seem to do that D: I have tried numerous YouTube tutorials and nothing ever really seems to work.

 

I apologize in advance if I post in the wrong forum, I am brand new to this site and I look forward to joining the community!

[Hitscanning_scumbag]

Hi there, welcome to the disco. 

So, I'm not the person to ask about how I started as I didn't have internet back then and it was a years long journey. 

But! I can tell you what I know now. 

So slade 3 is your best friend, it has a map maker, let's you edit data without re writing the source (I. E decorate, zscript, map info etc), and let's you change the graphics. I would start with that, as it's simplest. 

 

I'm on mobile so I can't reference any specific tutorials at the moment, but what you could do to change the pistol is to make your own.  . Wad or. Pk3 file(it doesn't matter which) and place your custom sprites in there with the correct size and file name. 

So the first file is called "pisga0"  at a size of 57x62

The next sprite is pisba0, followed by pisca0, pisd0, pise0, and pisfa0(pisfa0 is your fire frame, I highly recommend you look the doom and doom 2. Wad files up in slade) so just name your custom sprite pisga0(these are all caps BTW, my phone is broken and it can be tricky to type) and import that into slade through the import file command, check the offsets to make sure they are in the view. Slade has a nice outline for that :) then save and try it out. 

 

Now regarding info, https://zdoom.org/wiki/Main_Page

 

This site is your bread and butter my dude. They usually have any info you need, including tutorials and the like, if for some (completely understandable) reason you can't find what you are looking for (or it doesn't make sense) feel free to ask! Just like ya did here. 

You can also search the forums here and on https://forum.zdoom.org

Finally, if you can't find it on the forums, try searching for something like "decorate zdoom tutorial". 

 

Well, that's everything off the top of my head, once again, welcome! 

 

SORRY for the late response. My dad's cats were harrasing each other 😒

[Doomkid]

Does source port compatibility matter for the mods you want to make? It’s important to know before getting stuck into it.

 

Most players these days use GZDoom to play (or a ZDoom family port) which makes modding much easier. The info zaszthedestroyer provided should be sufficient to get started if you just want ZDoom compatibility.

 

A good number of players still use ports that aren’t compatible DECORATE lumps or MAPINFO lumps. If you want universal compatibility, it’s worth looking into older methods which I can elaborate on if it’s of interest.

 

1 hour ago, jeffarooski said:

I apologize in advance if I post in the wrong forum, I am brand new to this site and I look forward to joining the community!

You’re in the right place! There are loads of tutorials and resources out there and if you’re struggling with any one thing in particular, there are lots of people around willing to give helpful advice.

[Hitscanning_scumbag]

@Doomkid is right, the info I provided is for zdoom, I'm just so used to using it I forget there are alternatives :p

[Gaia74]

first of all, welcome to the community!

 

I learned in a way with the method of the trial and error along with seeing codes of other wads, I highly recommend seeing the wiki as zaszthedestroyer said if you have any doubt about how something works, and as always, you can ask someone, there are lots of people around willing to help you!.

 

So with your question, i recommend check this:

https://zdoom.org/wiki/Sprite

 

[Kappes Buur]

6 hours ago, jeffarooski said:

Hello Everyone!

... , but I am just having a hell of a time with SLADE and all of that.

 

The first thing to learn is that there are two types of editors, a map editor to construct the architecture and subsequent features such as line specials, adding monsters, weapons, decorations, scripting, etc. and a lump editor to edit the constituent parts (lumps) of a map.

 

Map editors are Slade3, GZDoom Builder - Bugfix, Ultimate Doom Builder, Doom Builder X, Eureka, etc.

Lump editors are, really only Slade3, unless you count it's older incarnation LumpED.

 

To learn the features of Slade3 see the Slade3 WIKI.

To learn UDB see the included Reference Manual or read the Doombuilder Guide which was written for the now unmaintained Doombuilder2 but is still relevant.

 

The next step is to differentiate between mapping formats:

vanilla DOOM format (VDF) which targets the DOOM engine features, which are rather restrictive. 

BOOM format (BF) which expands the capabilities if the VDF.

GZDOOM (Doom in Hexen) format (DiHF) which introduces the feature set of ZDOOM, which is different from both, VDF and BF.

That feature set matured over the last 20 years mainly through requests by mappers, such as a whole slew of special lumps.

GZDOOM (Doom in UDMF format) which drives forward the capabilities of the editing features.

 

While a lot of people will say to learn VDF first, I stand by learning UDMF right off the bat, starting with simple maps and progressing from there.

 

And always remember:

• The WIKI is your friend ™
• The WIKI is your friend ™

 

Good luck with your mapping adventure.

 

 

 

Edited February 15, 2020 by Kappes Buur

[jeffarooski]

Hello Everyone! Thank you all so much for this insightful information! After reading a bunch of stuff over, and taking advice from all of you, I fired up a weapons wad to see how they've added a custom weapon for instance, and it is totally getting easier. Still a tad confused on what certain values and what not mean, but I've successfully added in a custom weapon with it's own slot and functionality! So thank you all again for the great help!

 

Here it is! Wheeeeeeee!

I look forward to reading and hearing more from this community! You all rock!