ReX

Not quite "no" interest. Some of us did speak out. And for every one of us that did, there are probably a dozen who didn't. Sparky, you know very well that most people who visit these forums are not famous for their encouragement. You probably also know that if you make it they'll take it. Therefore, if you're having fun converting those levels keep doing it. Otherwise, I'm not sure that you will get much satisfaction from waiting for the community to show their appreciation.

WadAuthor aligns upper and lower textures. However, it aligns them both by the same values. I have not figured out a way to align the upper texture independent of the lower. Aligning textures manually is not difficult. It gets to be a pain when you have a long section of sidedefs that you're trying to align. But for short sections it easy, and just requires some basic arithmetic. Say you have four sections of a sidedef that you want to align. To simplify the example, say the four sections are equally long, and the total length is 128. Say your texture is also 128 in length. The first section will have a 0 x-offset (assuming that's where you want your texture to begin). The second section will need to be offset to the left by the length of the first section (i.e., 128/4 = 32). The third section will need to be offset to the left by the sum of the lengths of the first two sections (i.e., 64). Likewise, the fourth section will need to be offset by 96. Apply this technique for any section of sidedefs that you want to align.

The problem with trying to use see-through doors in DooM is that the textures are "Upper" textures -- DooM renders see-through textures (like gates, etc., which have cyan color in them) properly only when they are used as "Main" textures. Otherwise a "tutti-frutti" effect occurs, and of course you cannot see through. One work-around is available if you want to use a gate that opens. It won't work the same way as a door, but it provides a comparable effect. You will need a source-port for this feature. (I am familiar with ZDooM, on which my example is based). Create a line-def set to represent your gate and assign the front and back "Main" textures. I usually use two or more closely-spaced linedefs and give both front and back the desired texture. This gives the gate some depth, and it does not look like a 2-dimensional line. Make the line(s) impassable, and set up a switch to "open" the gate. The switch can be a wall switch (which the player has to use), or it can be a line that the player has to cross. Whichever trigger you use must activate a script, which will then clear the main texture of the gate and make it passable. You can set up a line on the other side that triggers another script, which then replaces the gate texture and makes it impassable again. The problem with this approach is the visual aspect. The script makes the gate disappear, not rise (as is the case with a door). To take care of this issue you could use a wall switch that is set off to the side somewhere. Post here if you need an example of a script.

As Tarin said, JDooM gives you great graphics, and the use of accelerated graphics ports for truer 3-D effects. However, ZDooM is vastly more versatile in terms of gameplay options.

Actually, AndrewB meant that you need to buy those games. The IWADs are not legally available for free. You can buy DooM and DooM2 on auction sites (such as ebay), directly from id software, and occasionally from retail stores. They're real cheap in the stores, and sometimes are packaged together. Some years ago I bought the DooM Trilogy (DooM95, DooM2, Master Levels plus zillions of other levels) for only $10.00 at Best Buy.

The bridge looks very nice. However, you may want to add some detail to the corridor shown in the next screenshot, and to add some shading to the phaser to give it more of a 3-D appearance. Good luck with your mod. I'm a HUGE Star Trek fan, and I'm sure I'll enjoy your finished work. (There was an excellent conversion done in Quake. I forget the name, but I have it archived at home somewhere. I'll post the name if I find it.)

Take it easy, man. All NightFang is saying is that he's not impressed with the screenies. It don't believe it was meant to be a flame, just an opinion. There are some people who look at screen shots for architecture, and there are others who look at them for the action. NightFang just happens to want action. When you post in a public forum you're not always going to get praise. You're guaranteed to get some unflattering comments. Sometimes you need to take the comments as constructive criticism and improve on some aspect of what you're doing. No one doubts that you are busting your ass off on your project. But as NightFang says, that is not the sole criterion for respect. The final product is what usually commands (or prevents) respect. So my suggestion to you is to not take any comments personally. Use the comments as constructive criticism whenever possible. Work hard and as best as you can. Then release your work and hope that there are more people that like it than don't. Personally, I think the screen shots are pretty decent. However, you may want to select just a few to highlight your level. Firstly, because too many shots tend to be repetitive. Secondly, too many pictures cause your page to take forever to load (even on a T1 line). If you're looking for encouragement, then consider it given. I encourage you to make your work the best you can make it. Good Luck, dude.

CDROM.com is probably the best place for your levels, although alternative sites are always welcome. A suggestion about your levels. If you want people to download and play them, then perhaps you ought to pick only the levels you think are good, repackage them, and then make them available. I doubt people want to try all 15 levels to discover for themselves which are good and which aren't. In particular, the first level must be a killer so that the player is drawn into the game and wants to explore further.

Let me see if I understand your problem correctly. You want to use only selected textures from GothixTx.wad. You have tried inserting the texture/patches plus the Texture/PNames lump into your wad, and deleting the textures/patches you don't want. This is so that you have a manageable file size without unnecessary resources. You're unable to get the desired result. In my experience, WinTex does not consistently allow deleting of textures. Some people have managed to get it to work, and others haven't (me, for example). I don't know why this is, but there are 3 possible workarounds. 1. Use WinTex to merge the GothicTx.wad file with your own (as you've already done), then use DeePSea to delete patches and textures you don't want. Create a new file with the Texture/Pnames lump. If you're using the shareware version I believe you cannot make your changes permanent, so simply exit DeepSea. Use WinTex to load up your original file with the merged textures. Delete the patches you don't want, then insert the Texture/Pnames lump. Voila! You should have only the patches and textures you want. 2. This step requires a bit more work, and may not fit your needs. Use WinTex to copy the patches you want from GothixTx.wad into your own wad file. Find some textures in the original DooM2 IWAD that you know you'll not be needing in your maps (my favorite unwanted textures are all the Wolfenstein textures between ZDoor and Zeldoor, and between Wolf1 to Wolf13). Use the Texture Edit feature of WinTex to insert your patches into the appropriate DooM2 textures. Make sure you offset the new patches correctly. 3. Use WinTex to copy only the patches you want (not the textures) from GothixTx.wad into your own wad file. Use DeepSea to create new texture slots and insert the relevant patches. Save the Texture/Pnames lump as in Option 1, above, and follow the same steps (minus the deleting patches, which you've already taken care of). (Btw, I've posted a reply to your merging wads in WadAuthor question.)

Actually, I had the same question a long time ago. WadAuthor does NOT allow a user to merge maps into a single wad. As Fanatic suggests, use WinTex to merge your maps into a single wad file. If you're using zdoom-specific features, do the wad-merge step FIRST, before you've created your maps or converted them to zdoom format. WinTex will screw up the merge if your maps have zdoom- specific features. As an example, I made a set of zdoom maps individually and then unsuccessfully tried to merge them in WinTex. To fix this problem I had to create dummy maps without zdoom features, merge them in WinTex, convert the combined wad file using zwadconv.exe, and cut and paste my zdoom maps into the appropriate dummy maps. A BIG PAIN. Refer to my post: http://www.doomworld.com/forums/editing/messages/10349.shtml Do the following to avoid this hassle: 1. Say you want to create 5 maps that you want to merge into a single wad file. Create 5 dummy maps (e.g., square room with default parameters) in WadAuthor or map editor of your choice. Make sure you re-number the maps so that they are not the same (i.e., so that you don't have five Map01). 2. Merge them into a single wad file using WinTex. 3. Use zwadconv.exe to convert the single wad file into zdoom format. 4. Edit each level of your wad file in native zdoom format. Hope this helps.

What kind of question is that? Of course we're interested. Btw, I couldn't download a copy of aqueous2.zip. My browser is returning a message that it's unable to find the file or directory. I tried getting into the files folder and the ~kelm folder with the same results. I got into the root ftp directory, but couldn't navigate through to your site. Anywhere else that the file is available?

Is there an easy way to be in one map, and see camera views in another map? I realize that a script in another map will only be activated when the player enters that map. I've managed to succeed a part of the way, but I'm having problems. The effect I'm going for is to have a camera spot in, say, Level 12, and be able to activate the camera and see the camera view from, say, Level 10. The best I've been able to get so far, is to have the player activate the script for the camera in Map 12, teleport to Map 12 and see the view, and then .... instead of teleporting back to Map 10 the player stays in Map 12. How can I get the player back seamlessly, so that it appears that he never left the first map? Here are the scripts: Map 10 script is as follows: script 1 (void) { Teleport_NewMap(12, 0); ACS_Execute (1, 12, 0, 0, 0); delay(90); Teleport_NewMap(10, 0); } Map 12 script is as follows: script 1 (void) { ChangeCamera(1, 1, 0); delay(90); ChangeCamera(0, 1, 0); } I tried it with the Teleport_NewMap(10, 0); line in the script for Map12, but no luck. Any help will be appreciated.

Unfortunately, the faked sectors will not work for me. I had already thought about it, but it won't work in this particular case for the following reason. Some of the camera views include sections of the sky; however, the levels in question here use different skies. Also, if I want the camera pointing to a very detailed section of the map, copying that section into another map seems like an awful waste of space. I have tried another approach, which works but is just a little clunky. When the camera switch is activated in Map10, the player is teleported to a tiny (64*64) sector in MAP12 and the camera view is displayed. To deactivate the camera, the player needs to step back away from the switch/camera view. Right behind is a linedef that teleport the player back to the position in Map10 facing the switch. The question I still have is this: Why does the script line to teleport back to Map10 in my original script (see above) not work? Randy? Anyone else?

I have both the demo version and the full Q3A texture wads you put together. Very nice. In fact I'm using them in a 5-level set for ZDooM as we speak. Techno and techno-medieval theme. I also have your QDooM12.wad. I can see you put a lot of work into the sprites; unfortunately the enemy sprites are somewhat rough looking. The weapon sprites are quite cool, however. Thanks for the resources.

My experience with Hexen2 was very different from yours. I enjoyed the game thoroughly, and felt it was waaaay better than Quake (on whose engine H2 was built, as you pointed out). I'm with you on the graphics, which were spectacular. (In fact I enjoyed them so much that I created a 3-level set for DooM2 based on Hexen2 textures. Used your textures in Hex2tex.wad, as a matter of fact. Thanks.) But I don't agree that the enemy models were crap, nor that the game was too short. As for the weapons, 4 weapons are what each of the characters in the original Hexen have, so there is some consistency. I agree that it's heavy on the puzzles, but that is consistent with the original Hexen. (As a result I had to rely heavily on a walkthrough that I downloaded. Ain't cheatin' fun?!!!) But overall, it is probably the best second generation FPS that I've played (Quake, SiN, Requiem, etc. are others I consider 2nd generation).

Actually, all of the above (sprites, textures, music, sounds) can be inserted into your custom wad using WinTex. It is available on cdrom.com and is fairly easy to use once you learn how. If you have questions after you get WinTex post them on this forum.

I know a little about WadAuthor, as it's the editor I've been using for a year and a half. Pros: You start out creating sectors -- no need to create lines, join vertices, assign sector and sidedef attributes, etc. In my opinion this saves some time, as most space in maps is typically occupied by sectors rather than linedefs. Moreover, if you have a need to create a linedef, WadAuthor allows it (albeit after you have created a sector first). Copying/cutting & pasting is relatively easy. Simply select your sectors, things, etc. with your mouse, and copy/cut/paste away. (A word of caution when selecting irregular shaped sectors, or if there are nearby sectors that you do not want to copy -- make sure you have not accidentally included stray vertices in your selection, or WadAuthor will crash when you paste.) Features automatic texture alignment (after you have selected your linedefs). This saves a lot of time and the hassle of figuring out the correct offsets. Sector motifs. WadAuthor allow you to create sector motifs that you can use as defaults when creating maps. For example, if you want to create a base-style map, you can select textures, flats, and other attributes that reflect a base style and save it as a motif. Then, every time you want to create a sector, your default motif will be used. Cons: Very occasionally, Wadauthor will do weird things. In the first map that I ever created, I was building a complex star-shaped structure. WadAuthor created an invisible barrier nearby. It did not show up as a linedef either in the editor or in the map mode of DooM. I read that such lines are sometime created near complicated-shaped sectors, and are not unique to any given editor. (To rectify this problem, create a dummy sector in the vicinity of the invisible line. The barrier disappears.) In the third map that I created, I was building a huge circular area with lava. In the middle was a circular island. When I first created the island (with nothing else on it), I could not stand on the floor of the island -- I sank to the level of the surrounding lava. However, once I created additional sectors (such as a parapet wall around the island) the problem went away. Again, it was probably due to the complex circular area (too many linedefs). In a couple of maps that I have created, sector heights were magically transformed into those of adjacent sectors. Clearly an undesirable aspect of the editor. However, I discovered that this problem generally occurred after a copy/paste operation where the front and back orientation of linedefs got screwed up. This can be a huge pain, and I generally scrap that version of my map and go back to an earlier saved version. Bottom Line: WadAuthor is an excellent editor, with a few idiosyncracies. If you're careful, you can avoid those problems.

The DooMWorld editing forum is an excellent place to learn stuff. Spend some time reading through previous posts (you'll be amazed at how many aspects of editing have already been discussed). If you have an editing question, chances are that it's already been asked on this forum. If you can't find an answer (or are too lazy to read through all the posts), post the question. There are plenty of knowledgeable and helpful folks here. Good luck with your editing endeavors.

A couple of weeks ago, as a prelude to releasing a set of levels, I posted a 2-part message on the "Levels" forum. It was the story-line for the levels [see Paranoia (Part 1) and (Part 2)]. The story is about this demented military scientist that has been convicted of murder, and is plotting his escape and revenge. The story was supposed to set the stage for, and lead up nicely, into the levels. There were no comments to the 2 posts. So here are my questions: 1. Should level-designers bother with elaborate story lines, or with a story at all (even if the story ties in well with the levels)? 2. In DooM you played an essentially good guy, a hero who is on a mission to save mankind. In Paranoia you play an essentially evil guy, who by his own admission has murdered someone. Not that this would make any difference to gameplay, but does playing the role of a bad guy change your attitude? (Sort of like Caleb in Blood, which I thought was a spooky and excellent game. I only played the shareware of Blood 2, and it was not as spooky.)

I have a couple of graphic patches that are 256*256. Using Deep97 I increased the texture height of ZZZFACE8 and ZZZFACE9 from 128 to 256, and saved the TEXTURE/PNAMES wad. I used WinTex to insert the Tex/Pnames lump into an existing wad, and everything appears to be the way I want it (i.e., ZZZFACE8 & 9 are 256*256). The first problem occurs when I try to load my 256*256 patch using WinTex. WinTex essentially refuses. (Yet it has no problems loading a 256*240 patch.) So then I went into a picture editor and split the 256*256 pictures into two 256*128 pictures. WinTex loaded these smaller patches fine, and using the texture editor I inserted them into ZZZFACE8 & 9. Everything looked fine in WinTex. The next problem I faced was when I opened up the wad using my level editor. It shows a part of ZZZFACE8 (overlapping a part of ZZZFACE7), but does not show ZZZFACE9. If I try to select ZZZFACE8 it disappears and ZZZFACE7 is selected instead. In other words, I cannot use the oversized textures. Does DooM (and its editors) have a problem displaying textures with a height greater than 240?

Wonder if there's a way to import the DooM graphics into Castle Master. It'll be like Edge, ZDooM, etc. rolled into one ("true 3D, slopes, and even an extremely powerful scripting language"). Also, I wonder how powerful the editor is. I've gotten so used to WadAuthor I'd be reluctant to switch unless the new editor is easy and powerful. When you say "and most importantly, it was English" I assume you mean the company was from Merry Old (and not that the game was in English). Indeed, most of the big FPS titles have been from American companies, but many of the key developers (programmmers, etc.) have been European. So whattaya waitin' for, mister? Get cracking on starting your own FPS outfit!

Lou Reed! You must be an old timer, Stphrz. Probably like David Bowie too? I'm not a huge fan of punk myself, but I like Lou Reed (Transformer) and Bowie's stuff. Give me Classic Rock anytime! Can't get to have any better taste ['cept Classical, of which I am a huge fan too -- the 3 B's {Bach, Brahms, Beethoven}, Mozart, Mussorgsky {Night on Bald Mountain ROCKS!!}, Copeland, Gershwin, yada, yada, yada]. I cut my Rock 'n Roll teeth on Deep Purple {Space Truckin', YEAH!), Rolling Stones, Emerson Lake & Palmer, Santana, Jimi Hendrix, Cream, Led Zeppelin, Beatles, .... Even got into Motown in a big way with the Temptations, and others. Graduated to blues and jazz (both old-time and newer performers), but still listen to everything that's out there. (So much music, so little time!)

You're not by any chance referring to "Thy Flesh Consumed", are you? Because if you are, it is the 4th episode in Ultimate Doom. Other than this one, I believe that Final DooM, and Master levels are the only "official" id Software add-on releases in the DooM series. Thy Flesh Consumed was free, but the others were sold commercially. In Thy Flesh may have been an add-on, but was not an official release. Check ftp.cdrom.com for add-on levels. If I can locate the wad for you I'll post here.

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.

I tried responding to your comment in response to the Newstuff Chronicles, but DooMWorld didn't recognize my user name. Thanks for your comments on Paranoia. I wasn't sure what you meant by "blatant misalignments", though. I always take a lot of care to align textures (both horizontally as well as vertically). Talking about Quake 2 base maps, my previous release was a 5-level set for DooM2 using Q2 textures, in a base setting. As a matter of fact you had reviewed it for Team Insanity. Is that a coincidence or what?