Need help with changing level names

[flubbernugget]

using doom builder 2, is there anyway to change the name of a map so it isn't the name that came with the original DooM 2 wad? I use skulltag to play DooM, if that has anything to do with it. Thanks

[Kappes Buur]

Codeimp said about Doombuilder 2:
Things I will NOT add or change
WAD resource management tools.

No, you cannot use Doombuilder for that.
But you could set this up in XWE, by using the MAPINFO lump.
http://zdoom.org/wiki/MAPINFO

Open up skulltag.pk3, it is chockful of mapinfo examples.

[flubbernugget]

I don't see a MAPINFO lump, just GENMIDI and DMXGUC










also, sorry i didn't reply for a while.

[Torn]

If you are making a wad for vanilla or nonzdoom, then you can use Doom Word.

[Gez]

If your map is for Skulltag (since that's what you use), you can create a MAPINFO lump in the pwad. What's this story about GENMIDI and DMXGUS? Those are lumps you should find in the IWAD, they have no reason to be found in your map wad and they have also no reason to be found in the skulltag.PK3 in which you were told you could find examples.

[NoWits]

You must create your own file in the WAD file called MAPINFO. Then add this:

defaultmap
evenlighting

map map01 "Map Name Ere"

map map02 "Second Map Name Ere"

map map03 "Etc."

Then save it.. and play the game.

Or, if you're not using ZDoom, you could use Dehacked, although it is a leeeeetle more difficult.

[Gez]

smoothlighting looks better than evenlighting.

[Reisal]

Torn said:

If you are making a wad for vanilla or nonzdoom, then you can use Doom Word.

Using that would require one to also reduce the output BMP to Doom's 256 color palette which I have to do when using the Vista friendly version.

[flubbernugget]

Thanks a lot! I'm new to doom mapping so this is a big help.

[NoWits]

Gez said:

smoothlighting looks better than evenlighting.

Eh? What's smoothlighting?

[esselfortium]

Gez said:

smoothlighting looks better than evenlighting.

Eh. I prefer evenlighting because it gives you more direct control. The lack of contrast around edges can be easily compensated for with the texturing and lighting in the map itself. It's also more slope-friendly, as you don't end up with an obvious "this is where the wall stops and the sloped ceiling begins!" cutoff point from the wall being lit differently.

[Gez]

Nixot said:

Eh? What's smoothlighting?

It's a method of fake contrast. So that the edges between angles stand out more, Doom and its little brothers cheat by increasing the brightness (compared to the sector's brightness level) for some walls, and decreasing it for others. But it only does that for walls that are aligned to the grid. Don't remember the exact formula but it's something like "+16 for walls parallel to the X-axis and -16 for those parallel to the Y-axis", or the reverse. Every other wall uses sector brightness level.

Smoothlighting is a generalisation of that. Instead of being +16/+0/-16, it calculates an adjustment between +16 and -16 through trigonometry. As a result, curved walls have more visible volume than with even lighting, but look much more natural than with the normal fake contrast.

Here's an example using the cliff walls in Heretic E5M1 to demonstrate:
Even lighting, looking flat
Smooth lighting, looking curvaceous

Note that the original engine can only manage brightness level differences in increments of 16 since it used pregenerated color maps. ZDoom, however, calculates the color on the fly and so can manage increments of 1. That's what allows smoothlighting to be smooth.

esselfortium said:

Eh. I prefer evenlighting because it gives you more direct control. The lack of contrast around edges can be easily compensated for with the texturing and lighting in the map itself. It's also more slope-friendly, as you don't end up with an obvious "this is where the wall stops and the sloped ceiling begins!" cutoff point from the wall being lit differently.

When making super-detailed maps, yeah. But then I'd argue that you can disable fake contrast on a per-linedef basis when mapping anyway.

But when playing the classic Id/Raven levels or pwads which have about the same amount of detail or less, fake contrast is good to have, and smoothlighting looks better than the default fake contrast method.