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The 1st Gamer

Best Place to Get Started

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I'm interested in playing around with making maps in Doom, however I don't really know where to start. Could anyone offer suggestions on what tools to use, what doom games I should have, and what good starting strategies are? Thanks. :)

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For map making: Doom Builder 2/GZDoom Builder
For non-mapping-related wad editing: SLADE 3

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For DeHackEd work: WhackEd4

:P

Tutorials for Doom Builder can be found here and here. If there's anything that's giving you trouble, don't forget to search the Editing forum: you'd be surprised how many people stumble into the same problems as you.

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The other posts here answered your questions as to where to start, and what tools to use.

For your other questions:

The 1st Gamer said:

what doom games I should have


Any you want! As for what's standard, depends on what you're going for. Final Doom iWads seem to me, at least, to be used much less frequently. Most people will automatically assume Doom 2 iWad if it has that layout of maps.

The 1st Gamer said:

and what good starting strategies are? Thanks. :)


Make what you like. That's the best place to start. I'd recommend starting simple, don't go all out on your first map (my first couple maps were extremely basic) Learn what makes you tick and chances are that if you put out something you like, some others will as well.

That said, what got me into making levels was just using Doom Builder and avoiding script at all costs, focusing on vanilla-style designs so I didn't spend too much time on so many tiny details that I lost motivation. Script gets complicated sometimes, because it can do so much. Once you get a couple maps that are fun to you under your belt, you're ready to venture out into the worlds of scripting and slade 3.

As scifista said, slade 3 is awesome for that extra stuff DoomBuilder doesn't do. And scripting allows for just about anything you can imagine, from the ability to form a real body of water you can swim in, to drowning in said body of water, to even more crazy stuff like making your own monsters and items! For that last part, you will need Slade 3. The general scripting rules seem to me to be basically (if not exactly) the same between the ACS in DoomBuilder and the decorate files you need to make/copy and alter in Slade 3, so that's not as bad of a learning curve as it may seem.

Of course you're only limited by your imagination with all these tools at your disposal, so try to keep it simple at first. Stick to what you like for your first couple maps. And don't forget to work on detailing the sections you make. A little goes a long way, and sometimes spending an hour on one object to make it look really cool can give you a motivation boost.

Hope this helps :)

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I've actually started updating the old tutorial chapters from Tricks of the Doom Gurus to use GZDB instead of whatever old-ass editor it used so I can post them all here. I still think they're an excellent starter set of tutorials for someone who has zero prior experience.

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The 1st Gamer said:

I'm interested in playing around with making maps in Doom, however I don't really know where to start. Could anyone offer suggestions on what tools to use, what doom games I should have, and what good starting strategies are? Thanks. :)

Tools to use: GZDB and SLADE 3 should cover most needs. You can also take a look at Eureka for an alternative map editor. GZDB only runs on Windows, the other two also work on Linux and Mac OS. SLADE 3 does feature an integrated map editor.

Games to have: I suggest getting Doom Classic Complete and Heretic + Hexen Collection from Steam. That way you get Ultimate Doom, Doom II, Final Doom, the Master Levels, Heretic, Hexen, and Death Kings of the Dark Citadel, all for just $25. You can complete that by getting Strife Veteran Edition. There are a number of free games you can also get, notably Freedoom and Hacx; and more if you use ZDoom.

Getting Doom 64 can be interesting as well as you can play it on the PC with Doom64 EX, but it can be difficult to find a legit copy and extract the ROM.

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