Using multiple resources in your map?

I'm wondering if/why it's taboo to have multiple resources used in your map building? I'm working on a 6 map project utilizing four different resources for texturing...map 01 is already done and I'm very happy with the turn out...I'm not going to change my mind about all of the resources used, but I know it's a pain to load up four resources for a wad...I guess I'm wondering if I should keep it how it is? Or is there a way to combine them all together in one resource pack?

What do you mean exactly? Are you saying the wads you are working on is going to require the player to download multiple third party resources then put it in their skin folder in order to play your wad? If so then yeah that's totally inconvenient and you ought to have a really damn amazing and unique experience on offer to encourage people to do it.

If you mean with Slade though, nah no biggie. If you actually attach the resources into your wad by using Slade 3 then all the resources are included with the wad. Of course, the download size would increase with it.

I'm someone who is guilty of grabbing lots of Realm 667 content from textures to monsters. As I improve in mapping I gradually realize I don't need so many custom resources, it's really a matter of how effectively you can manage stock resources. Just adding several pillars from large to small to break up the texture pattern repetitiveness can do wonders.

Send us some screenshots of your best looking rooms and we can judge from there.

The only people I know who don't mind loading a million wads up to play a single pack are particular Zandronum server admins, but everyone else hates having to do it. Using Slade you can merge all the resources you're using into your wad and even discard the unused textures afterward. Using a single external wad is fine, but anything beyond that just gets cumbersome.

SkwisgaarScampini said:

I'm wondering if/why it's taboo to have multiple resources used in your map building?

What if nobody has the texture packs alrerady on their drive? You expect them to hunt those down just to play your map(s)?

Even if the texture packs had been downloaded already, they still would have to be searched for on the harddrive.

The right thing to do would be for you either load all used textures into your pwad or provide one texture pack with everything needed for your pwad.

If you are going to consolidate the textures into your pwad you could make things easier for yourself by using TexSpy (Scans for used texture names in maps) and then TEXtract (Extracts textures from texture packs) by MTrop.

There's also the fact that different resource packs do not necessarily play well with each others. ZDoom can load several texture packs and make them all work, but in most Doom ports only one TEXTURE1, one TEXTURE2, and one PNAMES will be read...

I'll have to figure out how to clump all of them together in slade then...ill post some screenshots tonight when I'm home

I usually use stuff from Realm667, as they have a lot of unique monsters or textures to utilize. I try not to have as much resources though.

Gez said:

There's also the fact that different resource packs do not necessarily play well with each others. ZDoom can load several texture packs and make them all work, but in most Doom ports only one TEXTURE1, one TEXTURE2, and one PNAMES will be read...

This can be rectified by making a custom TEXTURE1/PNAMES with entries for all custom textures in all texture packs intended to be loaded with the map wad, and putting this TEXTURE1/PNAMES into the map wad. It will work in vanilla and all ports too, provided that the map wad is loaded last (after the texture packs) when being launched.