ReX

Yes you can view custom flats in WadAuthor, but not in the texture window. You'll need to view them in the flats window (i.e., select the Sector tab). Unfortunately I don't have an answer to your second question. I, too noticed that WadAuthor will not align custom textures that are outside of the standard DooM textures. I did a 3-level set based on Hexen II textures, which were all outside the main texture set and it was a huge pain in the butt to manually align the textures. Since then, when using custom textures I redefine the standard DooM textures with the custom textures (i.e., usually by replacing the original patch.)

You will need software such as CuteFTP. Get it at the site listed in one of the posts below. Then follow these steps (From my post on July 20): After you've installed CuteFTP on your computer, open up your FTP Site Manager window in CuteFTP. Open up the Anonymous FTP Sites folder (or create one if necessary), click on the Add Site button and type in ftp.cdrom.com. Click on the Connect button (make sure your internet connection is on). You will be taken to the ftp.cdrom.com site. In the right window, select Pub, then Doom2, then Incoming. In your left window, go to the directory where your files to be uploaded are stored. Simply drag the file from your directory to the Incoming directory of CDROM.com. Remember to always upload a text file with your zip file, or Ty Halderman (the site manager) will reject your zip file.

Actually I've heard that Descent II is spectacular. I played Descent, but at that time I was a keyboarder and had a very hard time moving in "true" 3D space. In short, I sucked at Descent. As a result I never tried Descent II. I've been using a mouse for a couple of years now, and maybe I'll give it a shot. Btw, I have Heretic II, and because I was so used to the first person perspective, I had a lot of learning to do to get used to a third person perspective. But Heretic II is also an excellent game that hardly anyone mentions. Blood II is another cool sequel, but it runs really slowly, even with graphics acceleration.

You're right in that you can't use WinTex as a level editor for an existing map that uses ZDooM features. However, using WinTex as a graphics editor is an entirely different thing. It does not depend on the source port you use. For instance, I am currently using WadAuthor to edit some ZDooM levels. These levels include custom graphics, sprites, and sounds. I used WinTex to insert these into my levels and to edit the graphis. But I continue to use WadAuthor for the level editing.

You bet I do. It started with Duke3D, Dark Forces, Heretic, Hexen, Blood. Then the next generation of games came out -- Quake, Hexen II. Bought and played them all (although there were some shitty games that I only tried the shareware for -- SiN, Requiem). Then came Quake II, Unreal, and Jedi Knight. All excellent games, which I own. I just haven't moved on to the next generation of games (Quake3A and Unreal Tournament), mainly because these are primarily multiplayer games and because I've really had my hands full with DooM editing during the past year. I play these games because they provide a different game play experience from DooM. Of course I still enjoy DooM, but then who doesn't?

Use Wintex to edit graphics patches, textures, etc. in your wad file. It is called Wintex.zip and you can find it at: ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/doom2/utils/graphics_edit/deutex/ It takes a little learning, but give it a shot and then if you have any questions post them on this forum.

You can also use a ZDooM front end (such as ZDLaunch), which is Windows-based. It's fairly straightforward to use, but it has a few bugs that the author is trying to work out. You can get it at: http://www.ltsp.com/users/jcuenco/zdlaunch/downloads.html

I am trying to get an exploding barrel effect. I've created a barrel-like sector, and am trying to set it up so that it explodes when struck by a projectile and disappears. I have succeeded in writing the script to make the barrel disappear (lower floor instantly and change barrel-top flat to that of surrounding floor). I have surrounded the barrel with map spots (tag 12). The script includes the following line: Thing_Projectile(12, T_ROCKET, 0, 10, 0); When I try to compile the script I get this inexplicable error message: **** ERROR **** Line 5 in file "$.acs" ... Error #48: Identifier has not been declared. Identifier: t_rocket Host byte order: LITTLE endian Tarin has used the exact same line in his acsstuff.wad, and the explosion works just fine. Isn't T_ROCKET a valid identifier? ADDENDUM: I went into the reference section at ZDooM.notgod.com and got the thing ID number for rockets (# 127). I replaced T_ROCKET with 127, and it works just the way I want it. Then I realized that perhaps the T_ROCKET needed to be in quotes. I made the change, it compiles fine, but when I play the level there is no explosion. Plus, Tarin's script did not use quotes and his explosion effect is just fine. Weirdness.

I know a lot of folks in the forum are not going to like me saying this, but I am a great fan of Duke3d. I'd love to play a DooM version of Duke -- I've played many Duke versions of DooM, including one where the authors replaced all the thing sprites (enemies, weapons, powerups, etc.) and did an excellent job. You can contact me at gurkha_boy@yahoo.com Btw, in the DooM version that you have, I wonder if the movie is showing in the theater?

I addition to Wild Man's excellent tutorials (which I have used extensively), and X-DooM's tutorials (which I haven't yet tried), I suggest a couple of things: 1. Open up any level that you know uses scripting (Wild Man, Tarin, and others have produced some wonderfully scripted maps). Use an appropriate editor in the native mode for the port for which the level was created (e.g., ZDooM). See what effect the author was going for, then open up the script and see what the author wrote. Then try to duplicate or modify the script to get your own effect. 2. Get a copy of Tarin's acsstuff.wad (in acsstuff.zip) for ZDooM. It has very cool effects, some simple some extremely complex. Open it up in your favorite editor and examine it thoroughly -- you'll learn a lot. You can get the file at: http://www.paci-fist.net/doom/dload.php3

Quark's reply to Question 1 on pegging/unpegging ought to have given you enough information. I just wanted to add something to his reply on Question 2. If I understand your question correctly, you want to know HOW to set the difficulty settings within the context of an editor. I'll use the example of WadAuthor, and I imagine other editors work the same way. As Quark pointed out, diificulty settings can be varied by inserting or removing things. The primary things that affect difficulty settings are enemies, weapons/ammo, health, armor, and various powerups. So, if you want to create difficulty setting 1 (I'm too young to die), for example, you'll have fewer enemies and/or more of the other things I listed. As you create the higher difficulty settings you'll reverse the order -- more enemies, fewer other things. Remember, however, that you want the level to be balanced with the right amount of challenge at all difficulty levels. Now, to answer your question -- when you decide to insert one of the things I listed, you will open the Things window in WadAuthor and select the thing to insert. You decide that at Levels 1&2 you want to use an imp, but Levels 3-5 you want to use a demon. Select imp, then look on the right side of the window to a panel called Attributes. There you will see check-boxes for the difficulty levels. Check off the boxes for Levels 1 & 2. Click on the OK button at the bottom and exit the window. Open the Things window again and this time select demon. Uncheck the boxes for L1&L2, and check the boxes for L3-L5. That's it -- you now have difficulty settings.

At least one editor allows sort-of automatic texture alignment. In WadAuthor, simply select the lines you want aligned (they have to be contiguous), right-click your mouse, and select Align Linedef Textures. Voila! Otherwise, do as Tarin suggests, and calculate the offset value. A simple rule of thumb is to offset the texture by the sum of the lengths of the linedefs that are to the left of the linedef you want aligned. Say you have a wall that is 128 wide, that is split into 4 equal segments. The texture you wish to use is 128 wide. The first line segment (L1) will have no x-offset (i.e., = 0), the second (L2) will have an x-offset value of 32, the third (L3) will have a value of 64, and the fourth (L4) will have a value of 96. If the line segments are not equal, then do the following: first segment x = 0, second segment x = length of L1, third segment x = L1+L2, fourth segment x = L1+L2+L3. It gets a little more complicated if for some reason you want the first line segment (L1) to have a x-offset. In that case, figure out what your x-offset for L1 is. For L2, add the length of L1 to the offset for L1. This is the x-offset for L2. For L3, add the length of L1 and L2, and then add the x-offset for L2. This is the x-offset for L3. Etc., etc., ad nauseum. Hope this helps.

What I was hoping to do was use the sector merge feature to reduce the number of sectors and the file size. In an earlier post, Fen Boi said that he had used sector merging to "cut the number of sectors from 180+ to nearer 70 and the file size from 114kb to 85kb". For instance, in one of my levels there are a number of offices with identical furniture (desks, chairs, filing cabinets, book cases, computers, etc.) If I can assign the same sector number to the identical items then the file size could be significantly reduced. Anyhow, thanks to all of you for your input. It seems that changing the linedef sector reference is the way to go in WadAuthor.

Does WadAuthor allow sector merging? I was completely unaware of the concept of sector merging, especially as a way to reduce file size. Thanks to the 10-sector contest I've finally heard of this feature. Unfortunately, WadAuthor (which I use) does not seem to allow this. I have checked the help files, and tried all the menu options. I am working on several levels with sectors that have identical features/linedefs. Using sector merging would help to reduce the file sizes of these wads. Btw, I'm using WadAuthor in native ZDooM editing mode.

You will need to use features of a source port (such as ZDooM). Colored lighting is not a specific feature of editors, hence using WadAuthor for Doom2.exe (plain vanilla DooM) will not allow you to create colored lighting. If, however, you are using a source port you will need to check the features of the port you are using. In ZDoom you can write a script such as the following: script 1 OPEN { Sector_SetColor (1,32,0,224); } The first number in the brackets is your sector tag, in this case 1. The next three numbers represent your color (refer to the RGB color table in Wild Man's excellent tutorials). The numbers in this case represent a shade of blue. Check out WM's tutorials for further details.

Ha! The Sparkmeister is back in business. Excellent!

You will need software such as CuteFTP. Get it at the site listed in one of the posts below. Then follow these steps (From my post on July 20): After you've installed CuteFTP on your computer, open up your FTP Site Manager window in CuteFTP. Open up the Anonymous FTP Sites folder (or create one if necessary), click on the Add Site button and type in ftp.cdrom.com. Click on the Connect button (make sure your internet connection is on). You will be taken to the ftp.cdrom.com site. In the right window, select Pub, then Doom2, then Incoming. In your left window, go to the directory where your files to be uploaded are stored. Simply drag the file from your directory to the Incoming directory of CDROM.com. Remember to always upload a text file with your zip file, or Ty Halderman (the site manager) will reject your zip file.

Fanatic, I tried what you suggested, but the textures never disappeared. Then I noticed I had a PNames entry that contained the names of the original patches. I deleted the P_Start, P_End, PNames, and Texture1 entries, and that solved the problem. I merged the new graphics wad with my map wad and it ran without a hitch. Thanks for your help.

I am trying to run a map in WadAuthor (using the ZDooM configuration), but I get the following error message: 6 errors in R_InitTextures The map consists of a single room with a player start and a dormant baron. The wad file contains new sprites and sounds (for which I used WinTex to merge the map wad with a graphics wad). I suspect that the merged graphics may be causing the problem, but I don't know how to fix it. Well, I went back into WinTex and discovered the problem, but I still can't fix it. There are six textures (as listed in Texture1) for which I had previously deleted the patches. I have been trying to delete the texture names, but I can't. I go into Edit Textures and cut the textures from there, but the list of texture names in Texture1 does not change. Then, when I go back into Edit Textures I find the 6 texture entries are still there. How do I delete texture names/entries from a wad file? Thanks.

"Gargantuan task" is right. Assembling links for the numerous DooM-related pages and wads out there is a massive job. Just give it a little time and patience; building this sort of library will take both time and patience. Good luck.

Perhaps you can be a little more specific. Are you able to create the sectors for doors and lifts, but are just not able to activate them? Or are you having a problem creating the sectors in the first place? As zyvgjc says, the best place to start is by reading some tutorials. (Read my previous post in response to your "designing levels(help)" question.) But to get you started, here are a few pointers. A door is a sector whose ceiling is at the same height as the floor. In other words, if you have 2 rooms that are connected by a door, and the floor height of your rooms is 0, then the floor height and ceiling height of your door should be 0. (There are variations here, such as if you use a riser (or step) that is slightly higher than the adjacent floors, but we'll keep the example simple.) Thus, when the door is shut the bottom of the door is touching the floor, and when it is open the bottom of the door is close to the ceiling. A simple switching mechanism (e.g., pushing on the door, or a nearby wall switch, etc.) raises the door to about the height of the nearby rooms, allowing you to pass through. Start by creating two rooms (sectors) next to each other, separated by a distance of, say, 32. Set the floor height of each room at 0, and the ceiling height at 128. Next, create a third sector between the first 2 sectors, and give it a thickness of 16 and width of, say, 128. This is the door sector, so give it a floor height of 0, and a ceiling height of 0. Connect this sector to the 2 other sectors (i.e., join each of the 128-wide lines (called "linedefs") to corresponding 128-wide lines in the walls of the adjacent rooms. Remember to use the "join linedefs" command or selection in your editor. If you simply move one line so that it is over the other you will not have connected the sectors, and things won't work.) You now have a sector that's 128 wide, 0 high, and 32 thick that blocks passage between the two rooms. Next, give the your door the necessary textures. Remember, because your door reaches from the ceiling to the floor, you must give your door _upper_ (or "above) textures. The face of the door (or any vertical surface) is called a sidedef. When you have a sector whose ceiling is below that of the surrounding sectors, you must give the visible sidedefs of that sector _upper_ textures. Otherwise you will have horrible visual effects, that could even slow down the game. In this case select, say BIGDOOR2, which has a width of 128 and a height of 128. Make sure you give the texture to the correct sidedef (i.e., whichever sides face the 2 rooms. To simplify matters, always ensure that the fronts of your linedefs face the respective rooms). Finally, on the sides that you've given the textures, select the appropriate command/selection from your editor to operate your door. (If you're using WadAuthor as your editor, things are simplified. Create your 2 rooms, create a third sector to be your doorway and connect it to the 2 rooms, select the doorway sector by right- clicking your mouse on it, and select "Convert Sector to Door". It automatically sets the floor/ceiling height, sidedef textures, and properties of the sidedef to operate the door.) A lift is simply a raised floor that is temporarily lowered by a switch. Create a room with floor height=0, ceiling height=128. In the middle of the room, create a 64*64 sector with floor height =64, and ceiling height=128. Give the 4 sidedefs that face the room _lower_ or "below" textures and select the appropriate command/selection from your editor to operate your lift. I didn't expect to be so long-winded, but I hope this helps. Definitely check out those tutorials, as many of them provide illustrated examples.

I have three areas in which I want to execute a delayed damage script (i.e., damage starts occurring a few seconds after entering the area). Two of the areas have only a single entry/exit door, while the third area has three entry/exit doors. I want the delayed damage to reset itself after the player exits any of these areas. That is, after the player leaves one of these areas and re-enters it later, the damage again should begin only after a few seconds. So far I can only get it so that the delayed damage occurs the first time the player enters the area. The next time the player enters that area the damage begins right away. Here is my script: script 15 (void) { delay(const:35*10); Sector_SetDamage(20,3,0); } I have tried it by adding one or both of the following commands: restart; delay(const:35*10); at the end of the script, but that does not work. I would appreciate any help. Thanks.

Tarin, I take my hat off to you. When I thought about the problem, the logic was so obscure that I thought no one would respond to my question. But you found an answer, and I'm very grateful. I'm constantly amazed at how much you and others in the DooM community know, and are willing to share with those of us who are learning. Thanks again. (Btw, when I first implemented your script it didn't solve my problem, and the script continued to behave as before. Then I realized that in the "else" statement you probably meant sector 20, instead of sector 0. I changed that, and Voila! it worked beautifully.)

If you have not already done so, download the following files: ACC 1.13 (acc113.zip) WadAuthor Configuration files (zdoom-wauthor.zip) from Randy Heit's ZDooM site: http://zdoom.notgod.com/download.shtml Unzip these files into your WadAuthor directory. Reconfigure WadAuthor to read the zdoom.wcf wad configuration file (i.e., start with a fresh install of WadAuthor and follow the prompts). If you want to run a map from within WadAuthor in ZDooM, edit your Wauthor.ini file to add the following statement: [DEBUG] NoWARun=1 Convert Doom2.wad into ZDooM format using zwadconv.exe, which is found in utils050999.zip (available from the site listed above). (These are the basic steps to edit/create ZDooM maps in WadAuthor. If you follow them you should have no problems. Otherwise ask Wild Man for more specific details.)

First, you need an editor to create your own levels. Go to: ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/doom2/utils/level_edit/ and download some editors. (WadAuthor, DeePSea, DCK, WinDEU, etc.) Second, read the basics. A good source is: ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/doom2/docs/editing/handbk21.zip Third, experiment with your editors. Decide which features you like. Everybody has their favorite(s), so you will get different advice from different authors. [Probably the reason people have favorites is that they have figured the editors out, and are comfortable with them.] Fourth, use your editors to open up wad files done by others, including the original DooM2.wad. Figure out how things work in the DooM world, and try and copy them. Try out different tricks. Once you're familiar with the basics (creating and connecting rooms, doors, stairs, lifts, teleporters, etc.), get into the more creative and challenging aspects. There is no magic to creating levels. It just requires some imagination and a lot of work. Good luck.