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funeraldoom

Running a wad with added resources

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Hi, I'm quite new to using doombuilder.

However, I have already begun a big work. I am using various resources, mainly textures from other other wads (of course I will credit the original authors). My problem is that when I run the wad outside doombuilder all these textures are missing. I have been told that Doombuilder doesn't copy resources from the resource folder into my WAD...

So, how exactly do I run the WAD with the included resources, or copy them into my WAD directly?

Below are some screen shots, of course I will spend the next few months putting much more detail into this.

http://img403.imageshack.us/f/88498663.jpg/
http://img706.imageshack.us/f/28439046.jpg/
http://img266.imageshack.us/f/20432483.jpg/
http://img137.imageshack.us/f/16684015.jpg/
http://img560.imageshack.us/f/47467826.jpg/


The theme is called The Secret in the Tomb... based on the short horror story by Robert Bloch.

I am concentrating on creating a very claustrophobic atmosphere... a mix of intensity with small pockets of relaxation. Tons of death traps. It is a descent from a crypt in a graveyard into the deep under the Earth....

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funeraldoom said:

So, how exactly do I run the WAD with the included resources, or copy them into my WAD directly?

You have several options -

  • Drag'n'drop your wad and the resource wads together onto your preferred source port. Not supported by all ports.
  • Use a game launcher like ZDL or LaunchTool. My preferred solution when there's several wads involved.
  • Run the game from a command prompt (using the -file option to load the PWADs).
  • Use a wad editor (Slade3 or XWE) to add the necessary resources to your wad.
Adding resources to your wad is the obvious course of action if other people are to play it, otherwise you're expecting them to have access to the same set of resource wads.

Nice screenshots.

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Thanks for the reply. I found ZDL useful as it supports gzdoom, where LaunchTool doesn't seem to.

You're right about adding resources... so I got Slade3 and I'm now trying to work out how to use it. Any help with how to add resources from other WADS to mine using this progragm would be appreciated.

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Different wads use differeny ways of defining their custom resources. In vanilla Doom, there are lumps called TEXTURE1 and PNAMES, where PNAMES lists all the patches (graphics) and assigns them a number, and where TEXTURE1 contructs the patches into usable game textures, using references to patches listed in PNAMES.

Some source ports, like ZDoom have other ways to make patches into usable textures, so how easy it is depends on which methods used. Most resource wads, however, use TEXTURE1 and PNAMES. Unfortunately there is no easy way of merging two resource wads that use this, and in most cases has to be redone or modified manually.

You can probably find a lot of threads on Doomworld dealing with TEXTUREX/PNAMES. You should also open up your resource wads and see which methods they use.

funeraldoom said:

(of course I will credit the original authors)

Often this isn't enough; you need to make sure they permit using their resources. If they don't say anything about it, assume "no" or ask. If you got your stuff from Realm667 or something, then you can ignore me here. :)

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Use XWE and merge wads. Problem solved.

You do have a limit on textures though and flats doing this. Too many will make the flats looks garbled and too many textures will overlap each other in what I call Fubrtext.

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Alphawolf said:

too many textures will overlap each other in what I call Fubrtext.

What you most likely have is a TEXTURE1 lump using the wrong PNAMES lump.

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Alphawolf said:

How do I tag the PNAMES to the specific TEXTUREs?

You have to do it the other way round. The textures are based on the last PNAMES lump that's read, so first make sure you only have one and that it's the one you need most, then make whatever repairs are necessary to the texture lump.

funeraldoom said:

All the links to that XWE program are broken... is there anywhere else I can get it? I hope it really is that simple ha...

Csabo's main mirror disappeared when Geocities shut down, however the backup and Mirror #2 download links still work.

Wow, I just lost all my work.... by merging it with another wad, the other wad replaced my work.

Been there - done that. Keeping backups (and backups of backups if you're paranoid) is your best insurance against disasters like that.

Please tell me how (for future reference using XWE) how to merge the wads without it over writing my work ha.

Use the File menu's Merge function (first make sure the insertion point isn't in the middle of a set of map lumps or somewhere equally awkward, since the merged content will appear directly below the currently selected lump) then close/re-open the wad.

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Its merging, except it starts the WAD on the first map of the resource WAD, instead of my WAD... is this because both are called 'map01'?

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Okay... there is clearly a hell of a lot I don't know when it comes to creating my own wad... I haven't even been able to work out how to end a level. Is there somewhere I can be linked to which can tell me all the steps, and all I the information I require to create one entirely.

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funeraldoom said:

It starts the WAD on the first map of the resource WAD, instead of my WAD... is this because both are called 'map01'?

It is. You need to delete the resources you're not using from that wad, when it comes to deleting maps bear in mind that Doom-format maps have 11 lumps* (a zero-byte map marker followed by 10 lumps, THINGS through to BLOCKMAP) which are all deleted - some lazy souls only delete the map markers then wonder why their wads are bloated.

I haven't even been able to work out how to end a level. Is there somewhere I can be linked to which can tell me all the steps, and all I the information I require to create one entirely.

For that you'll need either an Exit switch [linedef action 11] or walkover [linedef action 52]. While it's a bit old and written for an earlier version of Doom Builder I still recommend Dr. Sleep's Illustrated Guide as a starting point, there's also a bunch of video tutorials on YouTube.


*In Hexen maps there's a twelfth BEHAVIOUR lump and ZDoom in Hexen-format maps have a thirteenth SCRIPTS lump.

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funeraldoom said:

Wow, I just lost all my work.... by merging it with another wad, the other wad replaced my work.


Find what was added and delete them using a wad editor. Personally for me I would say that the best is 'Slade', only downfall is that it does not have the merge wad option.

It is very important to back up your wad at least twice, and have two copies of it. I put one in a file I call 'Doom Resources' (containing all my other doom material), and a copy in my documents.

Are you are making maps are you using Doom Builder 2? I highly recommend this as it is a very simple editor. When you start doom builder 2 and create a map make sure you do it in Hexen format (it will say 'Doom in Hexen format').

Here is a link to the official doom builder 2 tutorial. Follow all of it through and do as he does and you'll soon get to grips with it:

Doom Builder 2 Video Tutorial

Follow that and you'll do fine.

If you want any help on any extra features and wad editing, you'll find plenty of help here.

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Cheers for your help mate I appreciate it... yes I have been using doombuilder2. I was hooked after playing Deus Vult II wad, after not playing doom since the 90's.

Some tips on short cut keys would be nice, I swear the way I am doing things is the long way.

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funeraldoom said:

Some tips on short cut keys would be nice, I swear the way I am doing things is the long way.

Doom Builder's shortcut keys can be re-configured in Preferences/Controls, don't go overboard and make a note of what's changed in case of unexpected consequences - like the wrong action being called.

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funeraldoom said:

Cheers for your help mate I appreciate it... yes I have been using doombuilder2. I was hooked after playing Deus Vult II wad, after not playing doom since the 90's.

Some tips on short cut keys would be nice, I swear the way I am doing things is the long way.


There are a few:

W = Visual Mode
S = Sectors Mode
L = Line defs Mode
V = Vertices Mode
E = Edit selection mode

What I find real handy is the copy and paste for textures. Just hold 'Ctrl' and 'c' when over a texture to copy it, then all you have to do is go to the wall that you want to copy it to and click your 'middle mouse button'. It pastes it as quick as anything and saves time manually going into the line defs options to select the texture.

I've made 5 maps for my megawad and I could have saved a hell of a lot of time doing that, it should save you some time.

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At the moment I am making one gigantic map... would it be more practical to break the wad up into say... 4 maps? If I decide to do that, how do I link one map to the other? (at the end of one, lead to the next).

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If your map's becoming unmanageably large but you still want it to play as a single map, the most practical solution would be to turn it into a hub of interconnected maps. That will allow the player to backtrack as necessary to complete objectives though they're a bit more difficult to set up than a set of sequential maps.

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I found a cool site Realm667.com for custom monsters... but Im having trouble putting them into doombuilder after I merg it with my wad using XWE... what am I doing wrong? I basically can't see them in the 'Things' Menu.

Also, how exactly do I link a map to another map, so that the player goes to that second map upon completing the first.

Thanks in advance

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If all's gone well there should be a "Decorate" category in the Things menu with the custom monsters inside it, though monsters that haven't been assigned an editor number in their DECORATE scripts won't appear.

Maps have to be numbered sequentially - in the order you want them to be played (several ports also allow you use a MAPINFO lump to set/alter the order of play).

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What string exactly do I use in the DECORATES lump for the monster to assign a number? I can see lots of stuff in there... but nothing for input..

is it just editor number = 300 or something?

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