how do you start

[Guest Lost Souls]

How do you start to make wads?
Please reply!!!!1

[stphrz]

Download Wadauthor from:

http://sunsite.doc.ic.ac.uk/packages/idgames/utils/level_edit/wauthor.zip

In the help section there is a tutorial on how to use the editor, as well as examples on how to build basic simple things like doors, lifts, hallways etc. Read up on everything and play around with it for a little while. It does take a fair amount of time to learn stuff if you are starting from scratch so be patient and don't get discouraged. Others may post replies here recomending other editors and tutorials so be sure to check those out too.

Oh, one more thing, in about fifteen days Wadauthor will stop working, giving you a message that says you have to register. All you have to do is unzip the files into your Wadauthor directory again and you'll be right as rain :) You can do this as many times as you want. Good luck.

[X-DOOM]

Lost Souls

Trust Stphrz,
i'm always working with Wad Author, for me it's the better wad editor of all !
It's easy to edit maps on : Doom/Ultimated, Doom2, Heretic, Hexen and ZDoom.
Let getting creating now !
:)

[ReX]

Another WadAuthor fan here. However, I encourage you to try out other editors as well. To get you started, though, here is a very, very basic primer.

A DooM/DooM2 map consists of space/area elements and things. Space/area elements consist of sectors, linedefs, sidedefs, and vertices. To simplify this concept, think of a square room in DooM with nothing else in it. This room is considered a sector, with the lines that make up the walls being the linedefs, the surface of the walls being the sidedefs, and the corners being the vertices. However, while the room appears square and 2-dimensional in map-view, it appears 3-dimensional while playing DooM. Thus, the square must have the necessary attributes to make it look like a room. The square must therefore be given a floor and a ceiling, each with a height of your choosing (Wadauthor creates default floor heights of 0 and ceiling heights of 128.) In addition to heights, you must specify a graphic for the floor and ceiling (in DooM this type of graphic is called a "flat"). Again, Wadauthor provides a default flat for floor and ceiling. Next, you must specify the graphic for the walls (called a "texture"). Again, Wadauthor .... etc. etc. Additionally, you must specify at least one more attribute, namely lighting (Wadauthor assigns a default value of 160). You can change any of the defaults assigned by your editor.

What you have now is a square room with nothing in it, nor any way of seeing what it looks like in the DooM view. To rectify this situation you must put in a "thing", in this case a special type of thing namely a player start. If it's a single player start you put in Player 1; if it's co-op put in additional players; if it's deathmatch put in the Deathmatch starts.

Now you have a basic map with, say, a Player 1 start. You can now begin to add more things -- enemies, weapons, ammo, health, keys, armor, powerups (e.g., backpack, radiation suit, etc.), and scenery (e.g., electric lamps, torches, etc.) Of course, having one big open room is not going to win you the "Mapper of the Year" award. So you will need to "decorate" the room, create more rooms, connect these rooms (via hallways, doors, stairways, lifts, etc.), perhaps create outdoor areas, and so on.

Within your square room you can begin to decorate. Say you want to create a ceiling light that is recessed into the ceiling. Create another sector (say square-shaped) within your room. If the height of your room ceiling is 128, you can make the height of the light sector 136. You can assign a higher lighting value to this sector (say 192), or you can make the light flicker, etc. You should change the flat of the ceiling (select one of the many ceiling light-type graphics that DooM uses). Finally, because you have created vertical surfaces (known as sidedefs) by recessing the light sector, you need to give them textures. Select from one of DooM's textures and assign it to the "Above" sidedef. You assign it to the Above sidedef because it is above the Main part of that sector, i.e., the part of the sector that you can pass through. Think of yourself in a real room with a recessed light. The walls of the room have a texture (say brick), the vertical surfaces between the ceiling and the light have a texture (say concrete), but there is no vertical surface between the floor and the ceiling light (i.e., the Main sidedef) because it's just air. Therefore it would not make sense to have a texture for a vertical surface that does not exist. That's the same way in DooM (unless you're going for a weird effect, which btw, may be appropriate in DooM).

Next, you can create another square room next to the first. After you have given it the appropriate attributes you could connect the two rooms via a corridor. With a little practice and learning you could create a door in the corridor between the 2 rooms. Then on to stairs, lifts, etc.

Hope this helps. If you have additional questions (which I'm sure you will), post them on these forums and you'll get plenty of help.

[Guest JudgeDooM]

Wow, thx.
I needed an explenation like this (with an encouragement from Maonth) to start editing. I have wadauthor too...now that u desceibed all that, I understand that linedefs and sidedefs crap. I'll start editing this weekend.

[Guest JudgeDooM]

Stphrz said:

Download Wadauthor from:

http://sunsite.doc.ic.ac.uk/packages/idgames/utils/level_edit/wauthor.zip

In the help section there is a tutorial on how to use the editor, as well as examples on how to build basic simple things like doors, lifts, hallways etc. Read up on everything and play around with it for a little while. It does take a fair amount of time to learn stuff if you are starting from scratch so be patient and don't get discouraged. Others may post replies here recomending other editors and tutorials so be sure to check those out too.

Oh, one more thing, in about fifteen days Wadauthor will stop working, giving you a message that says you have to register. All you have to do is unzip the files into your Wadauthor directory again and you'll be right as rain :) You can do this as many times as you want. Good luck.

A shame that there aren't videos like in qoole (Quake Object Oriented Level Editor), it's sooooo simple to edit a map when you look at them.

[Guest JudgeDooM]

X-DOOM said:

Lost Souls

Trust Stphrz,
i'm always working with Wad Author, for me it's the better wad editor of all !
It's easy to edit maps on : Doom/Ultimated, Doom2, Heretic, Hexen and ZDoom.
Let getting creating now !
:)

Ah, enfin qqn qui parle francais. J'en ai trouvé un qui parle italien aussi...parfaitment convivial (coome on dit chez nous)! J'vais aller voir ta homepage.

[X-DOOM]

Salut JudgeDooM !
Tu vien d'quel boutte toé !
Moi cé du Québec. Tu vois surement mon type d'écriture?
À date, je crois qu'il y a en tous 3 francophone sur les forum de DoomWorld.
:)

[Guest JudgeDooM]

C ki l'otre francais?

[X-DOOM]

à vrai dire j,en est aucune idée.
Yé v'nu icitte 1 ou 2 fois mais j'en est pu ré-entendu parlé après.

Faut croire qu'on est les seuls !

[Guest JudgeDooM]

Y en a 1 ki s'appell lau et g parlé avec lui, c le leader de la team apocalypse, tu connais?

[X-DOOM]

Non je ne connais pas mais s'il fais partie d'un team, j'espère que c'est un de Doom. lol :)

[deathbringer]

Wadauthor is tha best!!!!!
-remember though,right click on an empty space and select 'decrease grid'-this lets you make smaller sectors,and trust me-your maps look crappy without em!
-ive somehow got a registerd version of wadauthor,i cant remember how-think i downloaded it of the doom world editig section (thats right,doomworld does warez)

[Guest JudgeDooM]

X-DOOM said:

Non je ne connais pas mais s'il fais partie d'un team, j'espère que c'est un de Doom. lol :)

ouais, c bon, c une team de DooM!