I'm new and I need your help

[Oli]

Hi everyone,

Good to be in your company, this is my first post and I need your help.

I've been playing around with Doom Builder 2, and I understand doors, switches, importing custom weapons and monsters, so far so good. I Want to make a 5 or 10 level wad.

1st question, naturally I want to use the best Game Configuration/Engine possible, the one with most features and the one that is most supported.

I want to mod for Zdoom (unless another is better?) If I am to go that way is it best to use Doom in Doom format, Doom in Hexen or Doom in UDMF? another perhaps?

This brings me to my next question. I'm watching a tutorial on YouTube and the guy goes into the Action/Edit Action inside Edit Linedef, He's got "exit" there, but mine doesn't...I've got "End" but no "exit" option, different Game Configuration I discovered, but the question is, do they do the same thing?

Cause "Doom in Doom" format has S1, W1 and G1 and Secret level, but "Doom in Hexen" format has no "exit" like I said but under "End" it has End Game, End Normal, End Secret.... Is this essentially the same thing?

Doom in Hexen format also seems to have triggers....Doom in Doom doesn't?

Third question, I've made a switch which seems to end the level, guess what happened next? I went straight into "Underhalls".
So, how do I stop that from happening? Do I need to do some editing somewhere?
I just want it to Literally end, not go to another level in a different game (Doom 2).

Hope that makes sense....

Kind regards,

Oliver

[Edward850]

Oli said:

1st question, naturally I want to use the best Game Configuration/Engine possible, the one with most features and the one that is most supported.

For ZDoom, you want Hexen format or UDMF. Doom in Doom is literally vanilla Doom's original binary format, which doesn't have room for standard extensions, and by design can't contain ACS either (as the script alone determines if its a Hexen format map or not). Hexen and UDMF share the same feature set, although UDMF provides direct access to all map features in the map itself.

Oli said:

This brings me to my next question. I'm watching a tutorial on YouTube and the guy goes into the Action/Edit Action inside Edit Linedef, He's got "exit" there, but mine doesn't...I've got "End" but no "exit" option, different Game Configuration I discovered, but the question is, do they do the same thing?

Cause "Doom in Doom" format has S1, W1 and G1 and Secret level, but "Doom in Hexen" format has no "exit" like I said but under "End" it has End Game, End Normal, End Secret.... Is this essentially the same thing?

Yes. It's the same type of action, only the Hexen/UDMF level ends support position args, so you can assign different exits to spawn you at different starting points the following level. Except for End Game, which ends the game.

Oli said:

Doom in Hexen format also seems to have triggers....Doom in Doom doesn't?

Nope. Doom1/2 never had a use of it, so the map format never needed it, and for compatibility reasons can't be added. Hence Hexen and UDMF.

Oli said:

Third question, I've made a switch which seems to end the level, guess what happened next? I went straight into "Underhalls".
So, how do I stop that from happening? Do I need to do some editing somewhere?
I just want it to Literally end, not go to another level in a different game (Doom 2).

This sounds like you misunderstand something about how you expect maps to chain together, because of-course ending the level will take you to the next one, and in most cases that's Underhalls. Make sure your next map is called MAP02, or your first map correctly defines the next in MAPINFO.
By default, your maps must be MAP01, MAP02, MAP03 and so on, in Doom2 PWADs.

Oli said:

I want to mod for Zdoom (unless another is better?) If I am to go that way is it best to use Doom in Doom format, Doom in Hexen or Doom in UDMF? another perhaps?

There is no best port, that's not how mapping for Doom works. ZDoom has the most functions but fundamentally the worst compatibility (i.e if you make a map for ZDoom, it'll only work on anything in the ZDoom class, and only if they also support all the features needed for the map). Meanwhile the best in terms of user base is Boom, as everybody will have some kind of Boom compatible port, as almost every port supports its features.
Most megawads on Doomworld will tend to be for vanilla, limit removing or Boom.

[Zemini]

It can be pretty complicated starting up and getting the stuff you need.

GZ Doom Builder (not the normal DB)
Slade 3
Doom2.wad (more monsters and textures than Doom.wad)

I use GZDoom as my launcher since I use a lot of dynamic lights and lighting can be very tedious (but it does look better when done by hand imo). Not sure what else is different between Zdoom and GZDoom.

I also edit in UDMF format.

[MinerOfWorlds]

I think gzdoom has the most features.

Use UDMF it's the best format but i think there aren't as many source ports that support it.

Use gzdoom builder it's the best doom builder.

[everennui]

I'll third GZDoom and UDMF.

[Oli]

Guys,

Thanks for the great advice.

I did d/l GZDooM Builder last night and i will use UDMF. Thanks guys.

What about script language below that?

Going back to the levels, Say i make a WAD with MAP01 - MAP05. Once that finishes it'll take me to Doom 2's MAP06....

How do I cut it off at MAP05, and make my WAD end there?

Kind regards,

Oliver

[scifista42]

Oli said:

What about script language below that?

http://zdoom.org/wiki/ACS

Oli said:

How do I cut it off at MAP05, and make my WAD end there?

http://zdoom.org/wiki/MAPINFO/Map_definition - the property "Next" can be used to go to the title screen / end sequence. To put a MAPINFO into a wad, you need a wad content editor such as SLADE3, a mere map editor might not be able to do it.

[Phade102]

Oli said:

Guys,

Thanks for the great advice.

I did d/l GZDooM Builder last night and i will use UDMF. Thanks guys.

What about script language below that?

Going back to the levels, Say i make a WAD with MAP01 - MAP05. Once that finishes it'll take me to Doom 2's MAP06....

How do I cut it off at MAP05, and make my WAD end there?

Kind regards,

Oliver

Gzdoom builder is fantastic. However, keep in mind if you plan on building to use both zdoom and gzdoom ports that some of the gzdoom exclusive features can look rather buggy in zdoom. Just keep that in note when you are looking for playtester feedback.

Also, I wouldn't be too fussed if you cant figure out how to end your wad, it can always just go to map06 and then people will know thats the end of your levels =) Good luck building!

[Quagsire]

To make the game end at MAP05, simply make the exit in that level a game ending one. If you want a custom cluster definition (the intermission before MAP07 in Doom II), here's something to start you off:

map MAP01 "Map Name Here"
{
	sky1 = "RSKY1", 0.0
	music = "D_RUNNIN"
	Cluster = 1
}

clusterdef 1
{
	flat = "RROCK17"
	music = "D_RUNNIN"
	exittext = lookup, "GameFinish"
}

Here's a full breakdown on this lump (MAPINFO):

1. The first line contains the main map info (the level slot and name). These two are very important for custom named maps.

2. The sky1 line defines what sky texture (or skybox) will be used. First off though you need to create TEXTUREx and PNAMES lumps, which contain custom texture data. Afterwards type the name of the patch name. 0.0 defines how fast the sky will spin, if that was confusing you at first. 0.1 is recommended for slow spinning skies.

3. Music is pretty simple to guess: it plays defined music in your level. Just import a music file (or select from vanilla tracks) and type the file name. Example: music = "D_RUNNIN", which plays the MAP01 track.

4. Cluster basically defines the exit text or whatever. You'll need a definition typed out though, as shown above. Take a guess on what each line does.

5. If you wanna know what the final line means, it's using the LANGUAGE lump as a lookup. If you wanna know what I mean by that, just create a language lump and then type something like this:

[enu default]

GameFinish = 
"You have beaten the game!\n" 
"You're pretty good at this!\n"
"Wow amazing!\n"
"\n"
"Now a separate block of text!\n"
"Isn't this cool?\n"
"Neat!";

"\n" basically create a new line so that the text doesn't stretch across the screen. You can also rename "GameFinish" to whatever you want, just make sure exittext uses that name in it's definition.

Sorry if this is all a bit confusing, I'm not too great at giving out easy to understand tutorials.

[MinerOfWorlds]

Oli said:

How do I cut it off at MAP05, and make my WAD end there?

Use the line action "end game" instead of "end normal"

[Oli]

Guy's you've been most excellent. Many, many thanks for the time you've taken to help.

I shall take what I've read here and apply it.

Regards,

Oliver

[Bauul]

Although just to pipe in: 99% of wads don't "end game", they just go to Underhalls.

No-one would be confused if that happened. In fact, if they ended your map and it *didn't* go to Underhalls that'd likely be quite a surprise!

[Soundblock]

Bauul said:

if they ended your map and it *didn't* go to Underhalls that'd likely be quite a surprise!

And a pleasant one at that. Dramaturgical concerns for the win.