Is it possible to create a wad using various levels from others?

[RPo]

I am just wondering because I wanted to build a WAD that has the level progression of Final Doom for Playstation, since I used to play that alot when I was younger but wanted do it with the functionality of the PC.

[EarthQuake]

Welcome to Doomworld. I'm not quite sure what you're wanting to pull off here.

Are you questioning the legal aspects or are you asking if you can/how to do it? If it's the former, you can take copyrighted material and do whatever you want with it as long as you do not release it to the public.

If it's the latter, then it depends on the levels and the wads they are contained within. Some wads only have map data in them, so you can easily rip them out with a wad/lump manipulator (like XWE) and stick them into one wad, renaming the map lumps as you go along (MAP01, MAP02, etc). However, some maps use other resources found in their wad, like music or textures. Then it gets complicated.

If it's something else, please clarify. We'll be happy to help answer your questions.

[Graf Zahl]

And don't forget that certain map actions (e.g. MAP07's Mancubus and Arachnotron specials) are limited to specific map numbers. If you want to toss these around you may have to consider using a source port that allows it.

[RPo]

EarthQuake said:

Welcome to Doomworld. I'm not quite sure what you're wanting to pull off here.

Are you questioning the legal aspects or are you asking if you can/how to do it? If it's the former, you can take copyrighted material and do whatever you want with it as long as you do not release it to the public.

If it's the latter, then it depends on the levels and the wads they are contained within. Some wads only have map data in them, so you can easily rip them out with a wad/lump manipulator (like XWE) and stick them into one wad, renaming the map lumps as you go along (MAP01, MAP02, etc). However, some maps use other resources found in their wad, like music or textures. Then it gets complicated.

If it's something else, please clarify. We'll be happy to help answer your questions.

What i'm trying to do is make a WAD that is similiar in level progresion as the Playstation Final Doom, which used parts of Master Levels and the expansions that made up the PC Final Doom (ML, TNT, Plutonia).

The Playstation Final Doom was a single grouping (i.e. no seperate WADs) but broke into Episodes like Doom 1 (Thy Flesh Consumed and etc.), except it didnt have as many levels as they did and had them in different ordering

It was like:

Episode 1 - Master Levels
01. Attack.WAD from Master Levels
02. Virgil.WAD from Master Levels
03. Canyon.WAD from Master Levels
04. Combine.WAD from Master Levels
05. Catwalk.WAD from Master Levels
06. Fistula.WAD from Master Levels
07. Geryon.WAD from Master Levels
08. Minos.WAD from Master Levels
09. Nessus.WAD from Master Levels
10. Paradox.WAD from Master Levels
11. Subspace.WAD from Master Levels
12. Subterra.WAD from Master Levels
13. Vesperas.WAD from Master Levels

Episode 2 - TNT
14. System Control - Level 1 of TNT
15. Human Barbeque - Level 2 of TNT
16. Wormhole - Level 4 of TNT
17. Crater - Level 12 of TNT
18. Nukage Processing - Level 13 of TNT
19. Deepest Reaches - Level 16 of TNT
20. Processing Area - Level 17 of TNT
21. Lunar Mining Project - Level 23 of TNT
22. Quarry - Level 24 of TNT
23. Ballistyx - Level 26 of TNT
24. Heck - Level 28 of TNT

Episode 3 - Plutonia
25. Congo - Level 1 of Plutonia
26. Aztec - Level 3 of Plutonia
27. Ghost Town - Level 5 of Plutonia
28. Baron's Lair - Level 6 of Plutonia
29. The Death Domain - Level 20 of Plutonia
30. Onslaught - Level 10 of Plutonia


So I basically want to make a single WAD that's broken into 3 episodes that use those particular levels from those various PC WADs

[Grazza]

The answer is no.

At least, if you do, then it must be only for your own amusement - you could not make it publicly available.

[RPo]

Grazza said:

The answer is no.

At least, if you do, then it must be only for your own amusement - you could not make it publicly available.

Yeah, that was my intention. I know I cannot give out material I didn't make, especially material from a commercial product.

This is mostly spurred on from nostalgia - I want a single Final Doom wad with all the levels I remember. Playing the full Plutonia is so disorienting. Also to take advantage of the new frontends for Doom and the fact the PC levels are harder.

[myk]

If you do that for personal use, all you need to do is split those levels into three wads, each starting at level 1, and play each wad separately. You could also use an advanced engine to stitch them together into actual episodes, but why bother with that detail and embellishment if it's not something you can release to the public?

EarthQuake mentioned the tools and the means to do this, above. The best way to go is to start with the base IWAD (Plutonia or TNT) delete the levels that don't apply, and rename the others. With the Master levels, open each and rename the level to the appropriate episode level, then you can open the first one and start importing the others with XWE. The only possible issue would be if any use custom resources, where you'd have to include TEXTURE1 and PNAMES (one each) with the info for the combined resources. I seem to recall they don't have new graphics, but I could be wrong. If they don't, the process should be easy.

You might also have to rename music lumps lumps within Plutonia and TNT, and certainly any name level lumps (cwilv).

[RPo]

[QUOTE]myk said:
[B]If you do that for personal use, all you need to do is split those levels into three wads, each starting at level 1, and play each wad separately. You could also use an advanced engine to stitch them together into actual episodes, but why bother with that detail and embellishment if it's not something you can release to the public?
/QUOTE]


Sounds easy enough. Thanks for the info.

But, out of curiousity, what would be an engine I could use to do that stitching? I figure I could give myself something to do and then burn that .WAD I make to a disc and keep it for all time.

I was also of thinking of inserting the endings to each chapter as they were in the PS game.

[myk]

RPo said:
But, out of curiousity, what would be an engine I could use to do that stitching? I figure I could give myself something to do and then burn that .WAD I make to a disc and keep it for all time.

Something with MapInfo support (such as ZDoom or Eternity), or, I believe, something with customizable definition files (such as EDGE). The biggest hurdle would be merging the textures from both Plutonia and TNT (they have to read all their multi patch textures from one TEXTURE1 lump). Maybe DeePSea could be of help here. In this stitched up case the levels would be numbered like in the PS (01-30).

I was also of thinking of inserting the endings to each chapter as they were in the PS game.

Yeah that should be possible, too.

[RPo]

Thanks again. I got the programs and i'm starting to edit the WADs.

It's not as easy as it seems, but i'll learn through trial and error I guess.

Edit: Where might I be able to find an editor named WADCat?

[Use]

You mean WadCAD? That's the closest editor I know to that name, but it's very old and not used anymore.

[myk]

This seems to be it. It's rather old, though, and I doubt it will do the more complex things (like merging the TEXTURE1 lists).