I'm a newb >:(

[xParadoXx]

I'm pretty net savvy, but editing sprites seems to be close to impossible for me; Is there not just a simple, easy to use, sprite editor?

I tried XWE but it gave me a couple error messages. When I right click the wad and select "add to texture" (in XWE) the newly created texture file is empty. Maybe it's beyond my comprehension.

One would think that sprite editing wouldn't be so complex.

Any software help, for (apparently) a newb using XP?

[ReX]

Please define what you mean by "sprite editing". Are you:

1. Trying to create new sprite graphics, i.e., drawing a completely new image that will either replace an existing image or be a completely new object in the game?
2. Trying to edit an existing sprite to modify it's graphical appearance?
3. Trying to replace existing sprites with already drawn and available graphics?

As for your XWE errors, it would help for us to know what steps you took in XWE when you were "adding to texture". Incidentally, for the most part sprites, textures (i.e., the images that you can assign to vertical surfaces, such as walls), and flats (i.e., the images that you can assign to horizontal surfaces, such as floors and ceilings) are treated completely differently by the game engine. [Source ports such as ZDooM and GZDooM allow them to be used interchangably when appropriately specified, but you shouldn't concern yourself with this feature just yet.] The point I'm trying to make is that you would not want to "add to texture" if you were planning to insert a graphic for a sprite.

[xParadoXx]

ReX said:

Please define what you mean by "sprite editing". Are you:

1. Trying to create new sprite graphics, i.e., drawing a completely new image that will either replace an existing image or be a completely new object in the game?
2. Trying to edit an existing sprite to modify it's graphical appearance?
3. Trying to replace existing sprites with already drawn and available graphics?[/B]

I am trying to do number 3, replace sprites in the game (or technically "wad") with preexisting pictures.

As for your XWE errors, it would help for us to know what steps you took in XWE when you were "adding to texture". Incidentally, for the most part sprites, textures (i.e., the images that you can assign to vertical surfaces, such as walls), and flats (i.e., the images that you can assign to horizontal surfaces, such as floors and ceilings) are treated completely differently by the game engine. [Source ports such as ZDooM and GZDooM allow them to be used interchangably when appropriately specified, but you shouldn't concern yourself with this feature just yet.] The point I'm trying to make is that you would not want to "add to texture" if you were planning to insert a graphic for a sprite.

I literally just opened up XWE and saw Doom 2.wad, right clicked it, and selected "Add to Texture." I remember reading about textures being diffrent than sprites somewhere, I guess I forgot about that. But yes, help would be nice.

thanks =)

[ReX]

xParadoXx said:

I am trying to do number 3, replace sprites in the game (or technically "wad") with preexisting pictures.

1. Before you replace sprites, make sure you have replacement graphics for all graphic frames for the sprite. For example, if you want to replace the graphics for the torch sprites with a dancing gypsy, you must replace all the torch frames with appropriate gypsy frames. Otherwise you'll have a dancing gypsy that animates to a torch and then animates back to a gypsy.
2. Make sure that you name your replacement sprite graphics the same names as what's in the original DooM2.wad (or DooM.wad, as appropriate). For example, the tall green torch has 4 frames, named as follows - TGRNA0, TGRNB0, TGRNC0, and TGRND0. Your new graphics should have the same names and in the same sequence of animation.
3. Use XWE to open the wad into which you want to insert your new graphics. DO NOT OPEN DOOM2.WAD TO MODIFY IT (see below). Instead, you should either create a new wad or open an existing wad that is other than DooM2.wad, DooM.wad, tnt.wad, or plutonia.wad.
4. From the Menu Bar select Entry|New. A New Entry dialog box will pop up, with the word UNTITLED in the text field. Rename this to SS_START.
5. From the Menu Bar select Entry|Load. Use the browser that pops up to navigate to the folder in which you have your replacement graphics.
6. Select one or more entries, and press the Open button. This will insert the entries into the wad. Make sure that the SS_START entry is at the beginning of the sprite entries. [You can use the CTRL_U to move an entry up, or CTRL_D to move an entry down.]
7. When you are done with inserting all your sprite replacements, do Step 4 again. Only, this time rename UNTITLED with SS_END. Make sure that this entry is at the end of your sprite entries. That's it. You're done.

I literally just opened up XWE and saw Doom 2.wad, right clicked it, and selected "Add to Texture." I remember reading about textures being diffrent than sprites somewhere, I guess I forgot about that. But yes, help would be nice.

1. First rule of editing: Never, ever, modify DooM2.wad (or DooM.wad, tnt.wad, or plutonia.wad for that matter) unless you have a back-up copy of the wad available. FYI, the wads that ship with the games are known as IWADs. There is typically no need to modify these wads (although there is at least one notable exception, which I will not go into at this point).
2. Second rule of editing: Any modifications you want to make should be made to an "external" wad, also known as a PWAD. These are the custom-made wads that are distributed for public use.

[Dr. Zin]

As a heads up: Doom graphics need to be 256 color bitmaps in the Doom palette. GIF, JPG, other BMPs, etc. won't work. Some ports support other formats, but there is no real standard.

[xParadoXx]

haha, I love you, this is so awesome. =)
I've always wanted to edit doom sprites.

[xParadoXx]

One last question,

I read the above about my pictures having to be 265 bitmaps, but for some reason I can't make the outer part of the bitmap transparent, what should I do?

[ReX]

xParadoXx said:

.... for some reason I can't make the outer part of the bitmap transparent, what should I do?

XWE, and some other resource editors, recognize "transparency" in an image when the transparent area has a cyan color. If your image has a different color in the transparent areas you will need to replace that color with cyan. You can use more sophisticated graphics editing programs (such as PhotoShop) to automate the process of color replacement. You can even use the free program that comes with Windows (MS Paint), but you will need to make the color replacement manually.

[Maes]

Actually MS Paint can be pretty powerful for retouching bitmaps and individual sprites, provided they are already in the correct Doom palette. I personally use PSP for the "heavy" jobs including palette conversions and complex/gradient color fillings (swhich is itself, an art), and MS Paint for minor pixel retouchings. I usually save completed sprites as BMP, which gives me better compatibility with both XWE and WinTex.

Also, try NOT to modify Doom2.wad, but load the new sprites in a new PWAD. And remember that if you're trying to get the replacement sprites to work with vanilla or Chocolate Doom, just adding the new sprites to a new PWAD won't work, unfortunately. However it will work with any limit-removing source port.