EnigmA Amiga Run 1998 April/EnigmA AMIGA RUN 26 (1998)(G.R. Edizioni)(IT)[!][issue 1998-04].iso/earcd/giochi/adoom/adoom.readme

Text File | 1998-03-15 | 45KB | 1,206 lines

Short: Amiga port of DOOM v1.2
Author: Peter McGavin  ([e-mail])
Type: game/shoot
Uploader: Peter McGavin  ([e-mail])



                            ADoom  1.2                     12 Mar 1998
                            ----------


This archive contains an Amiga port of DOOM, compiled as directly as
possible from ID Software's Linux DOOM source code.

On 26th Dec 1997 I learnt that ID Software released the source code of
DOOM and made it available by ftp.  So I immediately downloaded it and
tried compiling it with SAS/C 6.58 for the Amiga.  This archive
represents my results after about 30 evenings and 6 days.  I used
source code sent to me by Aki Laukkanen, Arto Huusko, Joseph Fenton,
Cyril Deble and others.  I am now back to my full time job and only
have time to work on ADoom in spare evenings and weekends.

You can get the original ID Software Linux DOOM source from:

   ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/idgames/idstuff/source/doomsrc.zip

Source code of ADoom, which includes all my changes, is in a separate
archive on Aminet.

ADoom is OS-friendly and multitasks.

ADoom puts up an ASL requester for the ScreenMode.

Sound effects, ECS support and 68040-optimised C2P are included since
version 0.1.  Version 0.4 adds 68020-optimised blitter-assisted C2P
and double-buffering.  Version 0.5 adds music.  Version 0.6 adds
68030-optimised blitter-assisted C2P.

From version 1.0 you can run ADoom in higher display resolutions than
320x200.  For examples, 320x256, 640x480 and 1024x768 all work.  This
is an enhancement which is not available in the original PC DOOM.  Low
detail mode (2x1), which can provide a significant speedup on 68030,
is available and working from ADoom version 0.6.

From version 1.0, ADoom supports many features of DeHackEd, a PC
utility which can patch many of DOOM's internal tables according to a
.DEH format configuration file.  ADoom can read .DEH format files and
patch the same internal tables.

You can use a joystick in the 2nd gameport from v0.2.

AmiTCP network support was added in v0.2, but so far is rather
unstable and slow, even with a direct ethernet connection between 2
fast Amigas.  Experimental support for a raw protocol over a
null-modem cable and for ethernet IPX were added in v0.9.

Thanks to several people who sent me icons for ADoom.  I put them in
the more_icons subdirectory in this archive.



REQUIREMENTS:
-------------

A 68020+ Amiga running at least OS 3.0, with at least about 4 Mb of
fastmem.

ADoom works with gfx-cards, or with AGA or ECS (EHB) using C2P.

Unless you have 68040+, you should have an ECS or AGA Agnus chip or a
gfx-card.  Theoretically the combination of 68020 or 68030 with OCS
won't work because OCS Agnus can't do long blits used by the 020/030
C2P routine.  On the other hand, two different people wrote to me that
ADoom worked just fine for them with 68020/30 + OCS --- weird.

A Zorro3 (or faster) graphics card, CyberGraphics, at least 8 Mb
fastmem and a 68040+ are recommended.

A 68040+ and ethernet are recommended for networking.

I use a stack size of 150000 bytes, but that's probably overkill.  I
don't know what the stack requirements really are yet.  It's almost
certainly less than 4096 bytes (because it worked OK from the icon
when I forgot to set the stacksize).

An FPU is neither required nor used (except on 68060).

An MMU is neither required nor used (except -mmu option on 68040/68060).

--------------------------------------------------------------------
| YOU NEED TO GET A MAIN WAD FILE THAT WORKS WITH LINUX DOOM AND   |
| PUT IT IN THE SAME DIRECTORY AS ADOOM.                           |
--------------------------------------------------------------------

Otherwise you get the message:  "Error: W_InitFiles: no files found"



THE MAIN WAD FILE:
------------------

The main WAD file contains all the episode and level maps, graphics,
sound effects and music for a version of DOOM.  ADoom by itself is
just a file parser and 3D texture-mapping engine.  A main WAD file has
one of the following names:

        DOOM2.WAD
        DOOMU.WAD
        DOOM.WAD
        DOOM1.WAD
        PLUTONIA.WAD
        TNT.WAD
        DOOM2F.WAD

ADoom loads the first one it finds in the program directory from the
above list.

If your main WAD file is in a different directory to ADoom, you can
set the DOOMWADDIR environment variable to the directory containing
your main WAD file.  E.g,

        setenv DOOMWADDIR work:games/adoom/plutonia/

The main WAD file can be either shareware or registered.

Not all main WAD files work.  It seems that some older WAD files are
rejected because they leave out some information that ADoom requires.
In particular, early registered DOOM main WADs do not work.  I think
these same WAD files fail to work in Linux DOOM.

It is possible to upgrade at least some old main WAD files using
freely available patches from ftp://ftp.idsoftware.com/idstuff/doom/.
You need a PC to apply the patches.  (Well it would probably work in
PC-Task, but the upgrade procedure is slow on a Pentium.)  I'm told
that early registered DOOM WADs can be upgraded to Ultimate DOOM,
which works in ADoom.

DOOM1.WAD from "http://surf.to/adoom/" works fine, as should the
latest shareware WADs from ID Software's WWW site.  I was told that at
least some Macintosh WADs work too, as does the registered DOOM II
WAD.  Playstation WADs do not work, neither do WADs from DOOM
derivatives such as Hexen and Heretic.

Be careful if you rename your main WAD file.  DOOM behaves differently
depending on the filename and expects the main WAD file to have
different contents.  If DOOM can't find what it is looking for in the
WAD file, it will fail.

On the other hand, several people said they got the 4th episode of
Ultimate DOOM to work by changing the name of the WAD file to
DOOMU.WAD.



PATCH WADS:
-----------

There are literally thousands of third-party WADs in the public
domain.  They are mostly "patch" WADs, or PWADs, so called because
they patch parts of a main WAD.  Patch WADs can change specific
levels, graphics and sounds in the game.  For example, they can turn
the rocket launcher into a chicken launcher, turn enemies into Star
Wars storm troopers, rearrange a level to resemble a scene from
Aliens, change the music to a xmas jingle, and so on.  Patch WADs
require a separate *registered* main WAD to work.

To use a patch WAD, you must have a *registered* main WAD in the
program directory as well.  Then you should start ADoom with the -file
option specifying the patch WAD, e.g:

        ADoom -file Satan666.wad

The -file option doesn't work if you only have a shareware main WAD.

Many patch WADs are designed for use with a particular main WAD, such
as DOOM2.WAD.  In that case they will not work with any other main
WAD.

Do not use -file for the main WAD file, only for patch WAD files.

If a patch WAD is in a different directory, you can give the full
path to the patch WAD, e.g,

        ADoom -file work:games/patchwads/patch1.wad

If you want to apply several patch WADs at once, put them all after a
single -file argument, e.g,

        ADoom -file patch1.wad patch2.wad patch3.wad

A few third-party patch WADs don't work with -file.  Instead they are
used with a PC utility such as DEUSF.EXE to modify a main WAD file on
disk.  For these it is necessary to patch the main WAD file on a PC,
then transfer the modified main WAD to the Amiga, then run ADoom
without -file.  An example is h2h-xmas.zip.

Many people have asked me which WADs work and which don't, but I'm
afraid the above is about all I know at the moment.



HELP, I'M SWAMPED WITH E-MAIL:
------------------------------

Thanks for all your e-mails about ADoom.  I enjoy reading them.

However please note that I received upwards of 40 messages per day for
several days.  Now I'm back to my full-time job, so I only get time to
work on ADoom and catch up on e-mail on my spare evenings and
weekends.  I apologise in advance if you don't receive a reply.

Yes I know the Descent source is out.  At least 14 people told me.
Sorry I don't have time to port it right now.  There are a couple of
ports done by other people already...

And no, ADoom wouldn't be any faster if it used the FPU, because DOOM
doesn't do any floating-point arithmetic...



SPEEDING UP DISK LOADING:
-------------------------

Several people reported ADoom taking 10 minutes or more to load the
WAD file at the start of the game.  Really it should only take 10 or
20 seconds or so.  If you find it's too slow, try adding more disk
buffers with the AmigaDOS ADDBUFFERS command.  Adding 300 buffers can
vastly increase the disk-loading speed.

One person recommended DynamiCache instead, but I haven't tried that.

There are more hints on this topic in the UserHints.txt file.



RESOLUTION:
-----------

ADoom works by default in 320x200 resolution.  From version 1.0 you
can select higher resolutions with the -width and -height options
or the WIDTH and HEIGHT icon tooltypes.  For example, the
command-line:

    ADoom -width 640 -height 480

runs ADoom in 640x480 resolution.  When the ScreenMode requester comes
up, you should then select a 640x480 mode.  640x480 is highly
detailed, but runs only slowly unless you have a 68060.

You should always choose a width that is a multiple of 64 (AGA) or 32
(ECS or gfx-card).

In any resolution you can flip between high-detail (1x1) and
low-detail (2x1) modes during play in the Options Menu or by pressing
F5.

The maximum resolution supported is 1600x1280, which shows incredible
detail but runs like molasses even on a 68060.

Note that 640x400 in ADoom is different to 640x400 in MacDOOM and
ShapeShifter.  ADoom in 640x400 uses 1x1 (or 2x1 in low detail)
pixels.  MacDOOM in ShapeShifter uses 2x2 pixels.



MUSIC:
------

ADoom supports music based on .MUS-player source code sent to me by
Joseph Fenton <[e-mail]> of MicroCode Solutions.  Music
requires an extra file not included in the archive because of its
size.  You should download ADoom_Instr.lha from Aminet and unpack the
file MIDI_Instruments into your ADoom program directory.

Music is disabled by default because the MIDI_Instruments file is
distributed separately.  From version 1.2 you must also have
ADoom_SndSrvr in the program directory for music.  Once you have the
MIDI_Instruments and ADoom_SndSrvr files, enable music with the -music
option or MUSIC tooltype.

Joe greatly improved the MIDI_Instruments file over the version
supplied with ADoom 0.5.

Joe says "You might want to give my brother Michael some credit as
well, he wrote the event handling and the Player Interface code; I did
the PlayNote and interrupt audio engine and instruments".

Enabling music adds to the atmosphere, but it also slows the game down
and leaves only 2 channels for sound effects.  Without the music you
get 4 channels for sound effects.

From version 0.6 you can disable all sound effects with -nosfx or the
NOSFX icon tooltype.  That leaves audio channels free so you can use
your own music player in the background.

For version 1.2, Joe Fenton completely rewrote the music and sound
effects code.  The new version in ADoom_SndSrvr supports up to 16
simultaneous sounds and does proper stereo panning for both music and
sound effects.  You must have the file ADoom_SndSrvr in your ADoom
program directory, otherwise ADoom uses the old built-in sound effects
code and no music.  ADoom loads ADoom_SndSrvr when it finds it.  You
shouldn't run ADoom_SndSrvr yourself.  You still need MIDI_Instruments
and -music for music.  ADoom_SndSrvr is designed to be replaceable
with versions supporting AHI or real MIDI.  It is also designed to be
used with PPC ports of ADoom.

Here's what Joe Fenton says about the new ADoom_SndSrvr:

"The sound server is a bit slower, but gives you
table looked up volume (for perfect volume control),
full stereo panning, 16 stereo sound effects and
16 channel stereo music.  The SoundServer is
completely independent of the program so it
should be easy to make different servers for 16b
sound cards, MIDI, etc.

"The initial server is Amiga audio; I will probably do an
AHI server, a Toccata server, and a MIDI server.  If I had
GMPlay or knew how to program it, I could do a GMPlay
server too."



KEYBOARD:
---------

Most keys are mapped the same as on a PC.  However the Amiga doesn't
have F11, F12 and PAUSE keys.  On the Amiga, press '[' or DEL for F11,
']' for F12 and HELP for PAUSE.

Many people complained about the keyboard layout, especially CTRL for
FIRE.  It's possible to customise the keymap in .doomrc --- see
UserHints.txt.

In version 0.6 I changed the Right-Amiga key to send the same code as
CTRL (was the same as Right-Alt in 0.5) and I disabled the Left-Amiga
key so screen-flipping doesn't set things off.  Someone just pointed
out this wasn't such a good idea.  AmigaOS uses Right-Amiga and arrows
together for moving the mouse pointer when you don't have a mouse.

From version 1.0 ADoom is sensitive to international keyboards.  I am
unable to test this, however.

From version 1.0, you can use the numeric keypad for controlling your
player by default.  The keypad keys 4,5,6 & 8 control movement and
direction.  The keypad keys 1,3,7 & 9 can be used for strafe.  (These
controls can be overridden in .doomrc.)

From version 1.2, '<' and '>' can be used for strafe as well as ','
and '.'.  Hopefully that fixes the problem with run and strafe at the
same time.  Also, you no longer need SHIFT-numeric to change weapons
on French keyboards.  And DEL can now be used for F11 (gamma
correction).

So many people complained about the new keyboard setup from version
1.0 that in version 1.2 I put in a switch to select the old way.  If
you use -rawkey or the RAWKEY tooltype, the keyboard works the way it
did from version 0.6 to version 0.9.



MOUSE:
------

Mouse support was added in version 0.3, but it is disabled by default.
That's because it slows the game down.  To enable the mouse, start
ADoom with the -mouse option, or use the MOUSE icon tooltype.



CD32 JOYPAD:
------------

Gabry ([e-mail]) emailed me some CD32 joypad handling code.  It
is disabled by default because it requires lowlevel.library.  If you
want to try it, use the -joypad option or JOYPAD tooltype.



SEGA CONTROLLER:
----------------

From version 0.9, I added Joe Fenton's SEGA controller code.  To
enable it, use the -sega3 or -sega6 options or SEGA3 or SEGA6
tooltype.  I have not been able to test this code.  The rest of
this section was written by Joseph Fenton <[e-mail]>:

There are two new flags:
-sega3  look for a 3 button Sega controller.
-sega6  look for a 6 button Sega controller; you MUST use this
on a Sega 6 button controller or it won't work correctly.

The button mapping is as follows:
Start = Space (Action)
A      = Strafe Right
B      = Fire
C      = Strafe Left
On the 6 button controller you also get
Mode = Esc (Menu)
X      = Return (Enter/Show last message)
Y      = Shift (Fast/Run)
Z       = Tab (Map on/off)

A Sega Genesis controller may be use on the Amiga as long
as you swap lines 5 & 7, and put a 470 ohm resistor
between lines 5 & 7.

The controller plug pinout is:
     1   2   3   4   5
        6   7   8   9

The best way to switch the lines is to open up the
controller and change them on the circuit card.
Note: doing this will make the controller incompatible
with SEGA equipment; if you make the changes, you
are on your own; I will not be held responsible for any
damage incurred by performing the above procedure.
If you aren't comfortable doing your own conversion
and don't know anyone who can help, DON'T TRY IT!
Get yourself a CD32 joypad.  This is ONLY for people
who know what they are doing and want the range of
controllers available for SEGA equipment.



SAVING THE SCREENMODE:
----------------------

If you don't like the ScreenMode requester every time ADoom runs, you
can save your favourite ScreenMode as an icon tooltype.

First, watch the output of ADoom when it starts up and note the
DisplayID of the ScreenMode you selected.  It will be something like
$40420000.  Now click the ADoom icon once and select "Information..."
from the Icons menu.  Click on NEW and type in:

  SCREENMODE=$40420000

replacing $40420000 with the DisplayID you noted.  Delete any other
SCREENMODE tooltypes.  Finally, click SAVE, and start ADoom again.

Alternatively, use -screenmode <screenmode> on the command line, e.g,

  ADoom -screenmode $40420000



MEMORY:
-------

ADoom has a built-in disk caching system that automatically tries to
keep the most important game information in memory, minimising disk
accesses.  ADoom automatically allocates a 6 Mb block of memory for
the cache if it can, otherwise it tries to allocate the biggest block
it can, bigger than 2 Mb, while still leaving 2 Mb of fastmem free.

You can override ADoom's default cache size determination algorithm
with "-heapsize <number>" option or "HEAPSIZE=<number>" icon tooltype,
where <number> is in kilobytes.  If you set the heapsize to less than
about 2000 kb, ADoom might fail to load certain WADs.  The shareware
WAD works with "-heapsize 2000", except for the teleporter at the end
of the last level.

Setting the heapsize is useful if you only have a small amount of
memory, or if you want to set aside memory for an enormous cache.  The
smaller the heapsize, the more ADoom will access disk during play.

If you have only 4 Mb of fastmem (or less), try "-heapsize 2000" or
even "-heapsize 1000".



FPS COUNTER:
------------

From version 0.8 you can use the -fps option of FPS icon tooltype to
put a continuously updated frames/second counter in the top-left
corner.  From version 0.9 it is in the top-right corner.  Note that
this slows down ADoom slightly.

The official way to measure FPS is to use the shareware doom1.wad,
high detail, 2 steps down from max window size, "Adoom -mmu -forcedemo
-timedemo demo3" after a clean reboot and SetPatch, then apply the
formula:

    FPS = (gameticks / realticks) * 35

By this method, speeds in excess of 31 frames per second have been
reported for ADoom version 0.7 on 68060 Amigas with CyberGraphX.

See http://www.balldesi.demon.co.uk/ for the latest speed results of
various Amiga DOOM ports.

There was a bug that caused a crash on exit if you used -fps and your
system font was bigger than topaz8.  This is fixed in version 1.2.



ROTATEMAP AND MAPONHU:
----------------------

Cyril Deble <[e-mail]> sent me some patches to
make the automap display on the main 3d view and rotate like in Alien
Breed 3D.

From ADoom version 0.8 you can use two command lines/icon options

 -maponhu : map on headup

 -rotatemap : automap rotate

Cyril warns:

"A small bug accurs when you use a non full screen view with the
automap the border are not refreshed as the border is buffered...  You
have just to change the clipping area of the automap to make it work
ok.

"I don't get too much into the code and i don t have time to do any
further change hope it will be usefull for something...  It's rather
nice for me to include it into ADoom and i have noticed no slowdown
while the map is on the 3D view... My config is 060/AGA

The bug which didn't rotate "markers" with the map should be fixed in
version 0.9.

From version 1.2 you can toggle through various map types by pressing
'z' while the map is displayed.



DEHACKED:
---------

DeHackEd is a PC utility which patches DOOM's internal tables
according to a .DEH format configuration file.  It can, for examples,
change the attributes of barrels so they float and chase you, make
corpses explode when you shoot them, change the speed and fire-rate of
projectiles, make all enemies look alike, and so on.

Patch WADs (used with -file) differ from .DEH files, in that patch
WADs patch a registered WAD file, whereas .DEH files patch the DOOM
program itself.

Cyril Deble <[e-mail]> sent me some source code
for parsing .DEH format files which I included in ADoom.  Once you
have a .DEH format file, usage is:

    ADoom -deh <deh-format-file>

.DEH patches are applied to the ADoom program in memory, not
permanently on disk.  There are many .DEH format files in the public
domain.  I put some samples in the deh subdirectory.

Please note that not all features of DeHackEd are supported in ADoom.
Version 1.2 implements some new features that were not in 1.1.
(Sorry, Cyril didn't tell me what they are...)

Only ASCII (i.e, human readable) .DEH files work.  It may be possible
to convert binary .DEH files to ASCII form with DeHackEd on a PC.



NETWORKING:
-----------

ADoom 0.9 supports 3 different network protocols: TCP/IP, IPX and raw
null-modem.

Unfortunately ADoom generates a vast amount of network traffic and
loads both the network and the CPU.  I recommend at least a 68040 for
networking.  A fast connection, such as ethernet, helps a lot too.
One slow machine in the network game slows everyone down.

The problem getting past the first level of DOOM2 in network mode
unless you specify -deathmatch is fixed in 1.2.



TCP/IP:
-------

AmiTCP networking in ADoom is based on the Linux DOOM source code.  It
works between Amigas and also with Linux PCs using TCP/IP on a fast
network.  You need either AmiTCP or Miami on your Amiga for it to
work.  Make sure you are using a recent version of AmiTCP or Miami.
Fast Amigas and a fast connection help a lot too.  It's best over
ethernet and OK over AmigaLink.  It works over a serial line with SLIP
or PPP too, but people with 68030s reported unplayably poor
performance.

TCP/IP does not work to PCs running MSDOS or Win95, unless perhaps you
can find a PC version of DOOM compiled from the Linux source code
which supports TCP/IP.  Several people told me Win95Doom TCP/IP does
not work with ADoom.

To start ADoom across 2 computers called fred and bob, say:

  1:  Make certain both computers are using identical WAD files;

  2:  Make certain you can PING fred from bob and vice versa;

  3:  On bob, enter:    "ADoom -net 1 fred"

  4:  On fred, enter:   "ADoom -net 2 bob"


If there are 3 computers, called fred, bob and sue, say:

  1:  Make certain all 3 computers are using identical WAD files;

  2:  Make certain you can PING between all computers by name;

  3:  On bob, enter:    "ADoom -net 1 fred sue"

  4:  On fred, enter:   "ADoom -net 2 bob sue"

  5:  On sue, enter:    "ADoom -net 3 fred bob"


It's normal for screens to go blank sometimes during the startup phase.

On Linux I used DOOM compiled from the source code available from:

   ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/idgames/idstuff/source/doomsrc.zip


I don't know whether other Linux DOOM implementations are compatible.

So far I have tested up to 3 computers.  The code is pretty untested
and your mileage may vary.



IPX:
----

IPX is the ethernet protocol used by MSDOS versions of DOOM.  ADoom
uses G.J.Peltenburg's amipx.library version 1.1 or higher for IPX.
You can get this library from Aminet.  After several evenings of
struggling with the library and with checksums and
big-endian/little-endian problems and with version number problems,
the protocol finally seems to work, sort of...

Unfortunately I did not foresee another problem.  The PC version of
the DOOM program I've tried so far does not exactly match Linux DOOM,
even when using exactly the same WAD file.  In my experience, the game
often gets out of sync (consistency failure) or quits unexpectedly.
So far I've only used DOOM2 version 1.666 on the PC.  Perhaps version
1.9 would work better, because that's the PC version recommended for
net-play with MacDOOM.

Between 2 fast Amigas, ADoom with IPX works reasonably well using
a2065.device.  Hopefully it also works using ariadne.device and other
Sana2 ethernet devices.

First you should install G.J.Peltenburg's amipx.library version 1.1 or
higher (from Aminet) and configure your Network number, Node, Device
driver, Unit number and Frame Type in amipx_prefs.  I use the Frame
Type "Ethernet 802.2" and just set everything else to 0.

Note that you need amipx.library at least version 1.1.  Version 1.0
doesn't work.  (Well, v1.0 might work with ariadne.device...)

The syntax for starting ADoom with IPX is:

  ADoom -netipx <number-of-nodes>

For example:

  ADoom -netipx 2

ADoom automatically waits until the number of nodes specified are
found on the local ethernet, then starts the game.  You should all
specify the same number of nodes and you should all use the same WAD
files and other options.

So far I have tested up to 2 Amigas and 1 PC all at once.  The code is
pretty untested and your mileage may vary.

If you try IPX between an Amiga and a PC, there are 2 more options you
MUST know about.

The -pcchecksum option tells ADoom to calculate net packet checksums
the same way the PC version does.  By default, ADoom calculates net
packet checksums the same way Linux DOOM does, which is different.
(Linux DOOM just sets the net packet checksum to 0.)  If you don't use
-pcchecksum, the PC will reject and ignore (nearly) all game packets.

The -forceversion <number> option fools a PC into thinking you are
running a particular version of DOOM.  I use -forceversion 106 with
DOOM2 version 1.666, for example.  The default is -forceversion 110
for version 1.10.  PC DOOM rejects any DOOM program that identifies
itself as a different version number.  Sorry I don't know an easy way
of working out what number you need after -forceversion to impersonate
a particular version of PC DOOM.  Try -forceversion 109 with DOOM2
version 1.9, perhaps.

I'm very interested to know your experiences with ADoom between PCs
and Amigas using IPX.

I'm told ADoom works with MacDOOM over IPX too, by the way.

Thanks to G.J.Peltenburg for sending me the freely available IPX
support source code from ID Software's ftp site, after modifying it
for his amipx.library.



DIRECT NULL-MODEM:
------------------

So many people requested a raw null-modem protocol that I sat down and
implemented it for version 0.9.  Well it was mainly an exercise to
prepare myself for IPX.

It only works between 2 Amigas with the serial ports connected by a
null-modem cable.  It uses 7-wire CTS/RTS handshaking, so a simple
3-conductor cable won't work.  I'm pretty sure null-modem won't work
between an Amiga and a PC, because I made no attempt to match the
protocol.  In other words, it requires 2 Amigas.

I suppose it would work between 2 Amigas over a telephone line with
modems.  You would need to manually dial and make the connection
first.  Then you would need to shutdown the connection program before
starting ADoom.  The Hayes modem command at&d0 might be useful for
leaving the modem on-line between shutting down the connection program
and starting ADoom.

The ADoom syntax is:

  ADoom -netserial <node-number> <serialdevice> <unit> <speed>

For example, you could enter:

  ADoom -netserial 1 serial.device 0 38400

on one Amiga and

  ADoom -netserial 2 serial.device 0 38400

on the other.  One of the Amigas is always node 1 and the other one
is always node 2.

It is not necessary to use serial.device.  In fact artser.device or
8n1.device, if you have them, probably work more reliably or at higher
speeds than serial.device.

I think you should use the highest speed that both Amigas cope with.
My experience is that 38400 is about the limit for 68030 Amigas.  My
68040 WarpEngine works OK with artser.device at 57600.  If you set the
speed too high, ADoom will probably behave erratically or lock-up
after a while.  If you set the speed too low, I suspect the game will
run only very slowly.

The game tends to slow right down when there are lots of active
monsters anyway.  Try -deathmatch -nomonsters perhaps.

I recommend you start ADoom on node 2 first.  That's because node 2 is
the "listener" during the setup phase.  If you start ADoom on node 1
first, ADoom on node 2 is likely to open serial.device while node 1 is
part way through sending a setup packet.  That could lead to
synchronisation problems and possible lockups.



CONSISTENCY FAILURE:
--------------------

Several people reported their net games ended unexpectedly with a
message like: "Error: consistency failure (24805 should be 24806)"

What's going on is that DOOM calculates a kind of checksum of the
game's status --- player and monster positions and that kind of thing
--- and sends it to all the other players in every net packet.  If all
the programs and WADs are identical, then they all calculate exactly
the same checksum.  However, if someone is using a slightly different
WAD version or an incompatible version of DOOM, then a monster might
be one more pixel to the left, say, and the result is "consistency
failure".

The test is very precise.  All net nodes must run compatible versions
of DOOM and all must use exactly the same WAD file and game options.
To be compatible, 2 versions of DOOM must provide exactly the same
features.  Furthermore, they must use exactly the same random number
generator and they must round arithmetic calculations exactly the same
way.

I have to be careful adding new features to ADoom.  For example, I
can't use the random number generator for anything new, nor can I add
any new features that might change player and monster positions.  If I
optimise anything, I can't make any approximations.  Otherwise ADoom
definitely won't work with PC DOOM any more.  Please keep this in mind
if you send me source code for inclusion in ADoom.

(The ideal solution would be to compile DOOM for all different
platforms, MSDOS, Win95, Mac, Linux, Amiga, PSX,... from a single
source.  Then new features can be added simultaneously on all
platforms.  Now there's a job for someone...)

I suspect "consistency failure" might also happen if you get network
errors, such as serial line overruns.  Try lowering your serial line
speed, and make sure hardware handshaking is working properly.  Also,
if you all specify -pcchecksum things might be more reliable.  That's
because the default Linux net packet checksum isn't really a checksum
at all.  It's always 0.  So any errors in the net packet are not
detected unless you all use -pcchecksum.  (The net packet checksum is
different to the consistency checksum.)



MISCELLANEOUS NEW OPTIONS:
--------------------------

Several new options were added in version 0.9.  Each has a
corresponding tooltype.

  -cpu <cpu-type>         force use of routines optimised for, e.g, 68060

  -rtg                    forces single-buffering and WritePixelArray8()

  -native                 forces use of C2P routine (crashes if not planar)

  -ehb                    forces use of 6-bitplane extra-half-brite code

  -mousepointer           leaves the mouse pointer on

  -forceversion <number>  send different version number to other net node(s)

  -pcchecksum             calculate net packet checksums the PC way (not Linux)



CHUNKY TO PLANAR:
-----------------

For native screenmodes on 68040+, ADoom uses a CPU-only C2P routine.
For EHB on 68040+ it also uses a comparison buffer.  I timed it on my
WarpEngine as being faster on average than a routine without a
comparison buffer.  The comparison buffer method is temporary until I
can figure out some sort of list of dirty-bounding-boxes thingy.

From version 0.4, ADoom in native Amiga modes (AGA and ECS)
double-buffers.

From version 0.4, ADoom uses a blitter-assisted C2P routine on
68020/30.  The blitter does the latter half of the C2P conversion in
chipmem while the 3D engine renders the next frame to fastmem.  It
also double-buffers --- a necessity for this approach.  On a 50MHz
68030, C2P CPU-time is 3 times less than in version 0.3.
Unfortunately it looks as if C2P is only a small fraction of total
time anyway, maybe 10..15%.  In version 0.6 I replaced the AGA 68030
C2P that did 2 CPU merges and 2 blitter passes with one based on
Mikael Kalms' routine that does 3 cpu merges and 1 blitter pass.

C2P for ECS (EHB) modes takes longer because there is an extra table
lookup for each pixel.  It converts 8-bit -> 6-bit.

ADoom renders to fastmem and uses WriteChunkyPixels() or
WritePixelArray8() on gfx-cards.

Several people asked me to make a version which renders directly to
the CyberGraphX framebuffer, like Trance's AmiDoom and RTGMaster.  I
started doing this, but didn't finish.  I did some more work on it for
ADoom version 1.0, but it's still not working properly.  To try it
with CyberGraphX, use the -directcgx option or DIRECTCGX icon
tooltype.  Note that the DIRECTCGX tooltype wasn't recognised before
version 1.2.

Double-buffering with -directcgx works properly now and eliminates the
flicker.  However I'm having major problems reading anything back from
a CyberGraphX Window.  ReadPixelArray8() from the non-displayed part
of the Window seems to return junk.  Is there a bug in
cybergraphics.library?  Similarly LockBitMapTags() followed by
memcpy() from the base address seems to return junk.  Is the GVP
Spectrum 28/24 frame-buffer write-only?  Anyway, the symptom with
ADoom -directcgx is that the screen wipe at the start of each level
makes a mess, but everything else seems to work.  Another problem is
that the 320x200 framebuffer on some gfx-cards is interlaced instead
of a plain rectangular array.  On these cards DIRECTCGX causes the
display to look like several tiled windows.



RENDERING:
----------

Version 0.5 uses fast column and span renderers by Aki Laukkanen.  Aki
supplied seperate 68060-optimised routines.  These are selected if you
have a 68060, provided you have SetPatch and 68060.library correctly
installed.



PICASSO96:
----------

I developed ADoom using CyberGraphX and I have not tested ADoom with
Picasso96 graphics libraries.  On the other hand, many users reported
ADoom works just fine with Picasso96.  A couple of people reported
problems with the P96 1.34a update.  See UserHints.txt.



ZORRO-2 GFX-CARDS:
------------------

ADoom works with Zorro-2 graphics cards, but you will likely find that
performance is slightly worse than in AGA modes.  That's because the
memory transfer speed of Zorro-2 is slower than 32-bit chipmem ---
believe it or not.

With a fast-enough CPU, ADoom uses the all the memory transfer
bandwidth in both cases.  That's in spite of converting chunky to
planar at the same time in the case of AGA.  That's also in spite of
FAQs still arguing that planar is 8 times slower than chunky for
texture-mapping.  So choose an AGA mode for better performance.  Or,
better still, get a Zorro-3 (or faster) gfx-card, and the right buster
chip for it.



GRAFFITI:
---------

In version 1.2 I added some code to support Graffiti adaptors using
graffiti.library, but it probably doesn't work  :(

If you want to try it anyway, use -graffiti for 320x256, or -graffiti2
for 640x256 (AGA only).

It would be nice if someone could look at amiga_video.c in the source
code archive and tell me why it doesn't work.  Perhaps the Window
ADoom opens for IDCMP screws it up?

Why is graffiti.library so slow, anyway?  C2P in the same resolution
is nearly 3 times faster on my WarpEngine.

I used Graffiti programming information downloaded from:

    http://www.fh-zwickau.de/~jod/graffiti.html



68060:
------

Several people reported extremely poor performance on their 68060
systems, although that was mostly with ADoom versions before 0.5.  If
that happens to you, try using the FastExec (whatever that is) "SSP to
FastMem" option.  Several 68060 users told me that made a huge speed
difference.  Shaun Falkenberg ([e-mail]) suggests the
equivalent option in MCP might be better because it saves a reboot on
cold startup.  OxyPatcher is yet another alternative.

ADoom 0.5 uses 68060-specific fixed-point routines which don't use
64-bit MULS & DIVS on 68060.  You must have SetPatch and 68060.library
correctly installed for these faster routines to be selected.  Version
0.6 uses the FPU for both fixed-point multiplies and divides on 68060.
Version 0.5 used the FPU for fixed-point divides and 32-bit integer
instructions for fixed-point multiplies on 68060.

In version 0.6 I added the -mmu option and MMU icon tooltype to mark
the chunky buffer and chip raster as "imprecise" using the MMU.  I
used Aki Laukkanen's MMU code for this.  This may speed up ADoom on
68040+MMU and 68060+MMU systems slightly, by better scheduling memory
accesses.



LIMITATIONS:
------------

Play-tested for a few hours on an A3000 + WarpEngine + GVP Spectrum +
Cybergraphics running OS3.1 and Enforcer, on which it seems to run
very smoothly.  Many people reported success with earlier versions of
ADoom.  I think I finally fixed all the crash on exit bugs.  I think
the teleport bug is fixed.

Outstanding bugs possibly include problems with -record and -playdemo,
problem using -timedemo without also -forcedemo, network problems and
problems loading the original registered doom.wad.  A couple of people
reported crashes on exit with the -fps option in version 0.9.  However
bugs are becoming rarer these days.  Hopefully I didn't introduce too
many new ones in the latest version...

Someone told me the mysterious "PNAMES not found" bug, reported by
about half a dozen people, is still present in version 0.9, so it's
probably still there in version 1.2 too.  On the other hand, I can't
reproduce this problem.  I wonder if it might be a symptom of a
corrupt WAD file.



WORLD WIDE WEB SITES:
---------------------

There is no official ADoom Web page.  Sorry, but I just haven't got
time to support one.  However I'm quite happy for anyone to make ADoom
available from their page.

There are several web pages specialising in DOOM for the Amiga.  Some
good ones are:

    http://adoom.ml.org/     has about 6 other Amiga DOOM ports

    http://surf.to/adoom/    fast mirror of http://adoom.ml.org/

    http://homepages.which.net/~bartlett/    the Amiga DOOM Bible

    http://hem2.passagen.se/sids/adoom/    an ADoom-only page

    http://www.balldesi.demon.co.uk/    for the latest speed benchmarks

    http://www.boehme.demon.co.uk/aliens.html    some tested 3rd party WADs

    http://fiction.pb.owl.de/~frank/    for a PPC port of ADoom

and Aminet, of course.



BUGS FIXED:
-----------

1.2

ADoom 1.0 and 1.1 crashed displaying the Hell Knight in the DOOM2
finale.  Fixed.

Applied bug fixes from Cyril Deble for various bugs in rotatemap,
maponhu and dehacked.

DIRECTCGX and DEH weren't recognised as tooltypes.  Fixed.

First sky column was often corrupt.  Fixed.

Explicitly set topaz8 font.  The -fps option crashed before if a
larger font was used and text overflowed the bitmap.

Translate keys '<' to ',' and '>' to '.' so SHIFT and strafe work at
the same time.  Numeric keys '1'..'9' and '0' are translated directly
from the raw keycode instead of using MapRawKey() so you don't need
SHIFT to change weapons on French keyboards.  The DEL key is now the
same as F11 (change gamma) instead of KEY_BACKSPACE.

Fixed problem with cooperative network games beyond the first level.

Messages sent in network play with 't' were always translated using a
French keymap.  Fixed.

IDCLEVnn cheat didn't work with commercial WADs.  Fixed.

1.1

ADoom couldn't open keymap.library on OS3.0 Amigas.  Fixed.

Restored MAXVISSPRITES, MAXDRAWSEGS and MAXVISPLANES to their original
values.  They took up too much memory and often caused structures to be
allocated in chipmem, slowing the game down.

1.0

ADoom should now be sensitive to international keyboards.

Bug with palette colour index 0 not being set in v0.9 fixed.

EHB modes on 68020/68030 flickered badly when the display flashed in
v0.9.  Fixed.

ADoom now precalculates all 14 possible EHB palettes for the gamma
level whenever the gamma level changes, so there is no stall when the
palette changes in the game (except when you change the gamma level).

ScreenModeRequester defaults to a more intelligent ScreenMode.

0.9

Made it possible to CTRL/C out of network synchronisation wait loop.

Applied patches to am_map.c supplied by Cyril Deble to fix bugs map
markers and boundaries with -rotatemap and -maponhu.

Fixed some serious memory allocation/deallocation bugs in w_wad.c.
See amiga_notes.txt.

The TURBO tooltype corresponding to the -turbo option (whatever that
is) isn't a flag, it takes an argument.  ADoom was treating it as a
flag.  Fixed.

0.8

Got rid of the warning message for every sound effect when -nosfx is
used.

Lowered the volume of music and sound effects.  That eliminated the
clicks and pops in music and enabled the full range of the sound
effect volume slider to have effect.

Fixed (harmless) missing #endif in d_main.c.

Fixed bug in r_things.c, info.c and info.h.  I wonder if this fixed
the "PNAMES not found" bug.  See amiga_notes.txt.

Applied patch supplied by Aki to DrawColumn_060() in amiga_draw.s to
fix problem with red stairs and random pixels on 68060.

0.7

In 0.6 I accidently introduced a serious bug into the C2P routine used
for 68040+AGA and 68060+AGA.  Fixed this for version 0.7.

In 0.6 I accidently introduced a serious bug in the MMU cleanup
routine when -mmu is used or the MMU icon tooltype is used.  Fixed for
version 0.7.

0.6

Fixed bug in low detail mode and re-enabled it, thanks to a note from
Georg Steger <[e-mail]>, the author of DoomAttack, and some
assembly code from Aki Laukkanen.

The monster-counting bug (also the problem with "Dead Simple") was
caused by SAS/C generating unexpected code for function pointer
comparisons in "if" statements with CODE=NEAR.  See amiga_notes.txt in
the source archive.

Version 0.5 had a bug in the DrawSpan() routines which left bright
dots scattered around the floors and ceilings and red stairs at the
start.  Applied patch supplied by Aki Laukkanen.

Music tones are now PAL/NTSC sensitive.

Fixed the bug which sometimes caused crash on exit when music is
enabled.

0.5

The call to BestModeID() in amiga_video.c had an unterminated taglist.
Fixed.

Whoops it never worked under OS2.1 after all.  For now I've changed it
so ADoom refuses to start on less than OS3.0.  Currently I think
LoadRGB32() is the only V39 function used.  ADoom 0.4 was also calling
BestModeID() and failing to autoopen lowlevel.library.

0.4

Gamma correction tables weren't being used in ECS modes.  Fixed.

Set default task priority to -5 because ADoom is unfriendly to other
tasks otherwise.  Added -taskpriority commandline option and
TASKPRIORITY icon tooltype, so you can set whatever priority you like.

I think I finally fixed the crash on exit bug.  Two commas were
missing in dstrings.c.  I haven't had a crash for a long time now.

0.3

In ADoom versions up to 0.2, setting graphics detail LOW and then
resizing the display resulted in corrupt graphics.  Crashes were
possible.  Indeed, LOW detail didn't work at all.  This appears to be
a bug in the original Linux source.  I can't see how LOW detail is
supposed to work, so for now I've disabled LOW detail in ADoom 0.3.

ADoom exclusively allocates the 2nd gameport for the joystick.  It
seems that many people have something in their startup which
exclusively allocates the gameport, in which case ADoom v0.2 refuses
to run.  BlitzBlanker is one such culprit.  ADoom 0.3 runs with the
joystick disabled if it can't exclusively allocate the gameport.

Added -forcedemo option in v0.3 to override the version check when
playing demos.  The FORCEDEMO icon tooltype does the same thing.
There is a risk something might go wrong if the versions don't match,
but I haven't observed any problems so far.

Early versions of DOOM had a sound pitch change feature.  That is, the
same sound sounds effect could be played at different notes.  I
reproduced this feature in ADoom 0.1 and ADoom 0.2.  However more than
one user told me this feature was removed from recent versions of DOOM
and some effects sound wrong in ADoom.  Therefore I disabled the pitch
change feature in ADoom v0.3.  It is still there and can be enabled
with the -changepitch option or CHANGEPITCH icon tooltype.

0.2

Early versions of ADoom required the HOME environment variable to be
set.  This confused a lot of people.  Since version 0.2, ADoom saves
its prefs file (.doomrc) in the current directory if HOME is not set.

Early versions of ADoom crashed if there wasn't enough memory
available.  Since version 0.2, ADoom checks the result of the main (up
to 6 Mb) memory allocation.  There are still a few places where small
memory allocations are not checked.



THANKS:
-------

Thanks to John Carmack and ID Software for one of the best games ever!



Peter McGavin.  ([e-mail])