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1994-03-23
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351 lines
A L F R E D - THE AUTOMATIC LMP FILE RECORDER AND DEVELOPER v1.2
INSTRUCTION MANUAL
03/12/94
================
[1] INTRODUCTION
================
The Automatic Lmp File REcorder and Developer (ALFRED) is a very handy
utility to simplfy the recording, viewing and storing of the many .LMPs one
may collect over time. It automatically looks for the chosen .LMP file in the
seven .LMP directories, and will act accordingly for .LMPs that were made with
RANDOOM .W or PWAD .wad files.
The program was simple enough to be written in the DOS batch language, which
has one major advantage- practically ANYONE can change the way it works to
suit whatever needs they want. If you don't like the way it works, FIX IT
YOURSELF!
Please read ALL of this document, since some things mentioned early in this
document may only be explained in later sections (RanDOOM & PWAD .LMPs).
============
[2] FEATURES
============
ALFRED has been designed to record and play many different types of .LMPs
quickly and efficiently. ALFRED can currently do the following:
- Record regular .LMPs from any episode, map, and skill through
user-friendly prompts.
- Play .LMPs from other directories, which avoids cluttering up your
DOOM directory with .LMPs.
- Display introductory text files before the .LMP is played. Very
handy for remembering what each .LMP is about.
- Play and record .LMPs made with a RanDOOM configuration. All you need
to provide is the weight file and the character seed, and ALFRED
will take care of the rest.
- Creates (from a Blank template) or edits introductory text files and
RanDOOM weight files using the MS-DOS editor.
- Play and record .LMPs made with different PWAD files.
As with most programmers, however, I have the nasty habit of always
adding "just one more" feature. There's always room for improvment, and in
the future I plan to add the following:
- Recording Multiplayer .LMPs (if possible).
- Automatic compression and uncompression of .LMPs using .zip files.
- Slideshow feature.
- Full screen, frame-by-frame .LMP editor, allowing you to pause,
rewind and fast-forward an .LMP -- NOT! (Still, I wonder if that could
be done in a batch file? Hmmm...)
Programming Gurus please note: ALFRED was originally just a 5 line batch file
designed just to play an .LMP, but as you can see things sorta got out of
hand. Since the program is a batch file, you've been given the chance to see
how much my code looks like pasta. Please, no comments. I already know you
can do better. I am in no way a professional programmer, and if I was, I'd
be working for ID software.
==============================
[3] ALFRED'S FILE ORGANIZATION
==============================
Because of the large amount of .LMP files one can collect over time, ALFRED
has been designed to group them into seven separate directories (in the LMP
directory), named as follows:
HALL : Hall of Fame .LMPs
LEVELS : .LMPs of every level
MISC : Strange and/or weird miscellaneous .LMPs
MULTIPLR : Multiplayer .LMPs (none found yet - sorry!)
NITEMARE : NIGHTMARE! .LMPs
PWAD : PWAD .LMPs and their respective .wad pwad files.
RANDOOM : RanDOOM .LMPs with their respective .W weight files.
(NOTE: whenever I mention 'the seven directories' later on in the document,
I am referring to those above)
ALFRED will ONLY look for .LMPs in these seven directories. If you want
ALFRED to play your old .LMPs you will either have to copy them into any of
these directories, or modify the LMP.BAT to make ALFRED look elsewhere. When
recording an .LMP with ALFRED, you will be asked what directory you wish the
.LMP to be stored in. Once the .LMP is recorded, it will be moved to the
chosen directory. NOTE: RanDOOM and PWAD .LMPs will automatically be stored
in their respective directories.
Right now ALFRED, called LMP.BAT ('ALFRED' is too long to type, ok?), is
configured to run in your DOOM directory, and assumes to have the LMP
directory (and its seven subdirectories) in the DOOM directory as well. Once
again, being a batch file, ALFRED can be edited and changed to look elsewhere.
==========================
[4] PARAMETER DESCRIPTIONS
==========================
ALFRED has several parameters, some of which must be executed in order.
The general usage is as follows:
LMP [r|w|t|p] lmpfile [pwadfile|seed]
Please note:
- No extensions (.lmp, .w, .txt, .wad) are necessary.
- typing LMP LIST will get a directory of all the .LMP files
in the seven directories.
Descriptions:
lmpfile : Could be either lmpfile.lmp, lmpfile.w or lmpfile.txt
r : Record an .LMP. If a 3rd parameter is given, it is assumed to be
a pwad file. If the pwad file is not in the WADS directory,
ALFRED will ask if the 3rd parameter was intended to be the seed
of a RanDOOM .LMP.
w : Create/edit RanDOOM .W file as lmpfile.w from a template. It looks
for and saves these files in the LMP\RANDOOM directory.
t : Create/edit introductory text file as lmpfile.txt. ALFRED will
check the seven directories for a corresponding lmpfile.lmp, and
if it does not find any, ALFRED will ask where to put it.
p : Plays DOOM according to a RanDOOM .W file lmpfile.w and a
random seed (no .LMPs played or recorded).
pwadfile: If ALFRED discovers a second parameter (or third parameter when
recording) as pwadfile, it will first check to see if pwadfile.wad
exists in the WADS directory. If it could not find pwadfile.wad,
then ALFRED will ask if it was intended to be a RanDOOM seed.
seed : If playing or recording a RanDOOM .LMP, then a seed must be
provided as the 3rd parameter.
============
[5] EXAMPLES
============
The best way to explain how to use ALFRED is by examples. Listed below is
just about all the possible ways of using ALFRED:
lmp Typing 'lmp' without parameters will get a
help screen.
lmp list Displays a list of all .LMPs in any of the seven
directories (HALL, LEVELS, MISC, MULTIPLR, NITEMARE,
PWAD, RANDOOM)
lmp lmpfile Searches for lmpfile.lmp in the seven directories
and plays it. NOTE: For RanDOOM lmps, you must
provide a seed as a second parameter.
lmp lmpfile pwadfile Plays lmpfile.lmp with pwadfile.wad. If lmpfile and
pwadfile have the same name, then no second parameter
need be given.
lmp lmpfile c Plays lmpfile.lmp from the LMP\RANDOOM directory with
seed 'c'. NOTE: you must also have lmpfile.w and
lmpfile.txt in the LMP\RANDOOM directory in order to
view it.
lmp r lmpfile Records a DOOM session under lmpfile.lmp, and
will prompt for directory, episode, level and
skill.
lmp r lmpfile pwadfile Records lmpfile.lmp using pwadfile.wad as a PWAD
file. Since it is a PWAD .LMP, it will be placed in
the LMP\PWAD directory automatically.
lmp r lmpfile c Records a DOOM session under lmpfile.lmp as
a RanDOOM .LMP, with seed 'c'. Will prompt for
episode, level and skill. NOTE: you must have
created a lmpfile.w weight file beforehand in the
\LMP\RANDOOM directory.
lmp w wfile Creates a new RanDOOM .w file, using a basic template,
or edits an already existing .w file (automatically
located in the LMP\RANDOOM directory). This option
uses the MS-DOS editor.
lmp t txtfile Creates a new .LMP intro text file, using a basic
template, or edits an already existing one. The user
will be asked which of the seven directories for it
to be put in. This option uses the MS-DOS editor.
lmp p wfile c Plays DOOM with the RanDOOM weight file wfile.w, with
seed 'c'. The seed is optional, although it really
should always be included.
===========================================
[6] PWAD LMPS: RECORDING THE FUTURE OF DOOM
===========================================
At the last moment I decided to make a small addition to implement the
recording and playing of PWAD .LMPs. Unfortunately, at this point the
ALFRED batch file was beginning to look a bit like the ALFRED PATCH file, so
deciding how to implement it wasn't easy.
To begin with, I decided that I would not restrict the user's freedom by
making him put all his wads in a special directory. Rather, at the beginning
of LMP.BAT I put the command
SET WADPATH=LMP\PWAD
Here you may put the directory path where your pwad files are stored. If you
had C:\DOOM\WADS as your wadfile directory, then you would put
SET WADPATH=WADS
Right now it is set to look in the LMP\PWAD directory since there are
some dandy .LMPs there ready for viewing which need their respective pwads.
Take note that throughout this document I will refer to this user-specified
pwad directory as the WADS directory.
To play a PWAD .LMP file you must have the following:
1) Knowledge of what pwad file was used to record your .LMP,
2) Have your pwad file in the WADS directory,
3) Have you .LMP in the LMP\PWAD directory.
Once these are set you may view it by typing:
LMP lmpfile pwadfile
If your pwadfile has the same name as your lmpfile, then it isn't necessary
to include the second parameter.
Recording is similar:
LMP r lmpfile pwadfile
Unlike playing however, you MUST specify the pwad file to use, EVEN if
it has the same name.
Before the pwad option was made, ALFRED used the third parameter as a seed for
RanDOOM. This hasn't changed, except that now ALFRED will first look to see if
the third parameter is intended to be a pwad file. If it cannot find the pwad
file in the WADS directory, ALFRED will then ask if the third parameter was
intended to be a RanDOOM seed.
PLEASE NOTE: I have recently noticed that some pwad .wad files do not record
correctly. My guess is that the editor that was used to change the pwad file
did not save it correctly. It seems the problem is when I use VERDA, but not
DEU 4.31. Here's how I came to this conclusion:
I edited E2L4 with VERDA, and changed only one item at the beginning into a
chainsaw. When recording, everything worked normally. However, when replaying
the level, it seems that the monsters were all blind, and didn't notice me
until I shot. I tried exactly the same thing with DEU 4.31 and the .LMP
recorded and played correctly.
All pwad .LMPs included with this package have been tested and
work correctly.
======================================================
[7] RANDOOM LMPS: A NEW BEGINNING IN VISUAL EXCITEMENT
======================================================
(NOTE: Please refer to the RanDOOM manual for familiarity of the program.
The following section assumes you've used RanDOOM before).
ALFRED has the ability to play and record .LMP files that are made with
RanDOOM. These .LMPs have been surprisingly the most exciting .LMPs seen yet!
Because RanDOOM has the ability to randomize by a seed, it is possible to
'save' a randomized .WAD file for future use. All that is needed is both the
seed and the .W weight file.
With this in mind, it is possible to create an .LMP file with a RanDOOM
configuration, although it would be tedious to re-create the exact same
environment every time you wished to view the .LMP. Fortunately, ALFRED
helps out tremendously by automatically executing the proper parameters
required to view the .LMP and then reseting the .WAD file back to normal
once the film has been viewed.
To view an .LMP file, you will need the to have the following 3 files
inside the LMP\RANDOOM\ directory:
1) The actual .LMP file to be viewed.
2) The .W weight file.
3) An .LMP introductory .TXT file showing which
seed to use.
ALFRED will know if there are any problems, and will tell you how to go
about fixing them. It also has an option to edit either the .W or .TXT
file, and will ALWAYS automatically put everything in the LMP\RANDOOM
directory.
ALFRED will record RanDOOM with the -M3 parameter, as opposed to the old
-M2 parameter. When recording a RanDOOM .LMP, ALFRED will ask you whether
you want RanDOOM to (1) change ALL the levels of the game, or (2) change
only the level being recorded. It's much more convenient to choose just one
level, since it takes MUCH less time to process when you view the .LMP. Make
sure you keep note of what level it is, however, since ALFRED will ask you
for it when you want to see the .LMP.
NOTE: Options (1) and (2) will give different randoom setups for the same
level, EVEN if the same seed is used.
If you create or edit the weight file with the 'LMP w lmpfile' command, the
batch file will load up the MS-DOS editor with a template of a standard .w
file which has been saved with under the filename you specified. This makes
it easy to change or modify small parameters without having to start from
scratch or copy or move files around. This also applies to the 'LMP t'
command for .LMP introductory text files. If you don't like the MS-DOS
editor and want to use another one, just change the batch file accordingly.
===============
[8] FINAL WORDS
===============
If all this still sounds kinda tricky or tedious to you, don't worry. After
the first few tries you'll be recording RanDOOM .LMPs in a flash. No kidding,
I tried it on my younger brother, and even he managed to figure it out.
Since ALFRED could be classifed as being a Third Party Doom Utility, I guess
I should mention that id Software had nothing to do with the creation of
ALFRED, so please don't bug them about any related queries.
And since it's a batch file which you could edit yourself, don't bug me
either. Actually, I'm only kidding. If you have any problems or suggestions,
don't hesitate to contact me.
I would also like to say that neither me nor ALFRED are to be held
responsible for any sort of data loss. You could still flame me if it does
happen though, just so I can fix it in the next version.
Thanks to all you who helped me out during the development of ALFRED,
especially Scott Coleman for letting me use RanDOOM with ALFRED, and John
Van Essen, who provided both fresh ideas and criticisms toward ALFRED.
Finally, a VERY BIG THANK YOU to the folks at id Software for making DOOM
not only the most playable action game out for the PC, but also the most
re-playble.
I hope ALFRED helps you out a bit, and I am looking forward to seeing your
new ALFRED influenced .LMPs.
- Michael Houston
mp_hous@pavo.concordia.ca