
Note: infant2 no longer has any Doom files. The Doom archive has
temporarily moved to ftp.orst.edu until a more permanent home can be found.
The directory on this temporary site is still pub/doom.



                     How To Use PWAD (new level) Files
                     ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

                          3rd Edition. 22/Nov/94
                          ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^


How to use PWAD files (all example commands have been indented to
distinguish them from the surrounding text):

Place the WAD file in the same directory as your DOOM.EXE and DOOM.WAD file.

Then enter:

  doom -file pwadname.wad

e.g.

  doom -file stones.wad

Then just start a new game on the appropriate episode and/or level.

Some PWADs replace levels that are not level 1 on an episode. For these, you
can start by activating any new game and then just use idclev to get to the
appropriate level; e.g. if a PWAD replaced E2L5, for example, then you could
run Doom with the usual:

  doom -file whatever.wad

then you could start a new game on any episode and once the game has begun,
you would type:

  idclev25

And that would teleport you to the appropriate level.

Alternatively, you could warp straight to the level using a command line;
e.g. for the above example you would use:

  doom -file whatever.wad -devparm -warp 2 5 -skill <skill number>

Where <skill number> is in the range 1 to 5.

Yet another way to use PWADs, and the easiest I think as it saves you
worrying about which level the PWAD is replacing, is to use a PWAD manager
program of some kind. DWM is one. Another is DOOMENU which now allows solo
play. These will let you select a PWAD to play, which skill level, etc. and
will warp you straight to the appropriate level. They will also keep track
of how many times you have played a particular PWAD, and so on. Both of
these programs allow you to supply a short descriptive comment for each
PWAD as well. These programs become more and more useful once your PWAD
collection grows beyond 20 or 30. They also permit multi-player games, etc.

One final thing on WAD manager programs: they usually allow you to keep
your WADs in a separate directory (e.g. DOOM\WADS). You simply specify
where this directory is when first installing the WAD manager. This is how
DOOMENU works.

I use DOOMENU, in case you're wondering. :) It is currently up to version 17
and is a pretty cool program. You can get it from:

  ftp.orst.edu

in the directory:

  pub/doom/misc

and the files are:

  doomen17.zip
  doomen17.txt

Don't forget to enter 'bin' before downloading.


Note 1: all the usual things can be done with PWADs. e.g.

  doom -file stones.wad -devparm -warp 1 1 -skill 4 -respawn -record stdemo

To play this back you'd use:

  doom -file stones.wad -playdemo stdemo -respawn


Note 2: the '.wad' extension IS needed! This is unlike .lmp demos, where the
        '.lmp' extension is not needed.


Note 3: for some reason, I know not what, some PWADs will not allow you to
        save your position when playing them.


Other info:

You must be using the registered version of Doom.

WADs written with one version of Doom (e.g. v1.2) will often not work
properly with another version of Doom (e.g. v1.666), usually because of the
various small differences between the DOOM.EXE files, etc. The usual effect
of this is that the game will freeze up after a short period of play, or
will not load at all. Check the accompanying text file to see what version
of Doom the WAD is intended for.

Some WADs are pretty extensive patches and change many things in Doom, often
using the 'Dehacked' program. These kinds of patches often come with useful
batch files to save you all the bother of figuring out how to run the WAD.
An example is Aliens TC. This is installed by entering "INSTALL" and is
thereafter run by entering "ALIEN".

Have fun! :)

Ian.

The Doom Help Service (DHS).

email to: mapleson@cee.hw.ac.uk

WWW addresses:   

  Home page:     http://www.cee.hw.ac.uk/~mapleson
  DHS:           http://www.cee.hw.ac.uk/~mapleson/doom/doom.html

Ian C. R. Mapleson BSc,
Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering,
Heriot Watt University,
Riccarton Campus,
Edinburgh,
Scotland,
United Kingdom.

