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NogoodZero

What's the best program to use for creating DOOM levels?

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Doombuilder is king now. it's preference now for even oldbie mappers, and for newbies DB2 is the best place to start.

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Mr. Chris said:

Doom Builder.

Doom Builder is easy to use (even I learned how to use it)...also,XWE.

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Mr. Chris said:

That's more of a WAD editor, not map editor.

This doesn't mean it isn't used to make doom levels.Read the OP's question.

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killer2 said:

This doesn't mean it isn't used to make doom levels.Read the OP's question.


I did read it tho XWE is a very awkward map editor in terms of making them from scratch.

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Mr. Chris said:

I did read it tho XWE is a very awkward map editor in terms of making them from scratch.

Ahem,I didn't mean that.Maps use monsters and textures.XWE makes those (or,I think so,I never used it),so it indirectly creates the maps in which those textures/monsters are used.

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killer2 said:

XWE makes those (or,I think so,I never used it)

Two simple tips to avoid foot-in-mouth type of accidents:
a) read the rest of the thread before posting
b) post about something you know

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Mr. Chris said:

I did read it tho XWE is a very awkward map editor in terms of making them from scratch.

Also, it's kind of buggy regarding nodes at times. There doesn't seem to be a system to it, it just randomly decides to screw up the nodes for my maps sometimes.

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Don't forget about SLade 2 (SLade Map Editor, not SLade 3, that's a WAD editor).

Direct download here: http://slade.mancubus.net/files/slade_200b1.zip


Wauthor is also used here and there. It's pretty old, but you may found it usefull:
http://www.doomworld.com/idgames/?id=11183


There are also other options that are maybe more esoteric or strange, for example, YadeX, built mainly for Linux platforms.
You can also search for "xwadtools", a package for linux too, containing various tools, and among them a map editor called "TkWadCad", now pretty outdated and a bit complex to use if it's the first time you map.
You can also take a look at "WadC", something like a programming language for building Doom Maps.


I recomment you Slade 2 or DoomBuilder.

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Csonicgo said:

Doombuilder is king now. it's preference now for even oldbie mappers, and for newbies DB2 is the best place to start.


Welll ... I'm still using good ol' WinDEU 5.24. It's possible that Doombuilder is better, but I can still make anything I want to make in WinDEU. After 15 years (!) of using it I know the program inside out, bugs and quirks included, so for these rare occasions that I still work on Doom maps, I prefer to stay inside my comfort zone instead of learning a new tool.

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A good reason to start with DB2 is that this is at the moment the only level editor that supports all map formats. Another good reason is that it has an architecture that supports plugins, so there are already a few third-party addons to DB2 that can be quite useful.

Karnizero said:

(SLade Map Editor, not SLade 3, that's a WAD editor).


Slade 3 will have an integrated map editor eventually, though. But there's no ETA on when, and it could take a while before it's finalized enough to truly compete with DB2.

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I'd like to refine the OP's question (ie. hijack the thread ;-) to ask which the recommended map editor for a Linux environment is. AFAIk the only options are yadex, Slade2 and Doombuilder 1 via wine, correct? Or did anyone get DB2 running via wine yet?

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antares said:

I'd like to refine the OP's question (ie. hijack the thread ;-) to ask which the recommended map editor for a Linux environment is. AFAIk the only options are yadex, Slade2 and Doombuilder 1 via wine, correct? Or did anyone get DB2 running via wine yet?


WadC runs on Linux, but otherwise you are pretty much correct.

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For PCs, Doom Builder is probably the only choice. I can't imagine why would someone want to switch to something else, and I wonder why it took so long until somebody made an application that's both free and with a sane UI, like Doom Builder.

Note that when a Doom map editor appears for Mac OSX, my life will change.

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Doom builder 2 supports all the map formats, so I would have to go with that. It's frequently updated and has some neat plugins too. Check around the forums for the GZdoom visual mode plugin once you are comfortable with slopes and 3-d floors and it will help you out.

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antares said:

I'd like to refine the OP's question (ie. hijack the thread ;-) to ask which the recommended map editor for a Linux environment is. AFAIk the only options are yadex, Slade2 and Doombuilder 1 via wine, correct? Or did anyone get DB2 running via wine yet?


I use Linux too, but for all my Doom editing I run a VirtualBox instance of Windows XP. Both WinDEU and WinTex run fine in VirtualBox, and I guess DB2 would too. The actual wads are on the Linux filesystem and are shared with Samba so that VirtualBox can access them. My buildscripts are all on Linux too.

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Best editor depends on how many features you can tolerate.
On Linux I use Yadex, but I modified it with some patches to fix some of the irritating bugs, like the way it would mess up adjacent sector numbers when deleting some lines. The patches were submitted to yadex, on their developers mail, and you would have to search for them.
They have a patch page, but I do not know if my patches made it there.
They have talked about another update but I do not know the status.
Other patches on the patch page are very useful, like a 3d preview.
Bug me on the FreeDoom forum, or email me directly, if you want the patches directly from me.

Must run through a node builder after editing with yadex.
I use zennode, although bsp from xwadtools I hear is decent.
Getting xwadtools for Linux is also a good idea as that is a package of every useful tool imaginable and I think it has an older level editor too.

I have not been able to get Slade to compile, or binaries to run yet, but that may be because I do not run exactly what their developers run.

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janvknn said:

Both WinDEU and WinTex run fine in VirtualBox, and I guess DB2 would too.

DB2 uses 3d acceleration hardware even for 2d drawing, so you're pretty much out of luck there.

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boris said:

DB2 uses 3d acceleration hardware even for 2d drawing, so you're pretty much out of luck there.


Oh that sucks ... another reason to stick to my trusty ol' WinDEU then :D

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printz said:

For PCs, Doom Builder is probably the only choice. I can't imagine why would someone want to switch to something else, and I wonder why it took so long until somebody made an application that's both free and with a sane UI, like Doom Builder.

Note that when a Doom map editor appears for Mac OSX, my life will change.



Why DB would be the best map editor? All depends on what the user is looking for and his preferences.

I prefer SLade2 and "i can't imagine why would someone to switch to something else".

That's like "Linux vs Wind0ws".

boris said:

DB2 uses 3d acceleration hardware even for 2d drawing, so you're pretty much out of luck there.


You want to mean DirectX / Direct3D.

Becuase I can run plenty of Window$ games that have 3D Accelerated graphics via OpenGL just with Wine, and they run fine.

Not this "luck" with Direct3D games.

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boris said:

DB2 uses 3d acceleration hardware even for 2d drawing, so you're pretty much out of luck there.

Heh, where's the 3d in that??

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