4-Ever Doomed/4-everdoomedcypresssoftware1994.iso/utils/d1_d2/wadview/doomview.doc

Text File | 1994-10-23 | 11KB | 262 lines

            Mr. Skibone (but you can call me DJ SKI) presents
                               DoomView 2.5
                  (formerly DoomEdit(formerly DoomView))

                            October 23rd, 1994


I love writing doc files about as much as I like documenting my own code,
so this little doc file ain't pretty but I'm putting in some little tidbits
of information that may be useful.

The program itself it pretty self-explanatory, so I'm not going to take up
five pages writing long-winded explanations of the subtle uses of the up
and down arrow keys.

But here is a thing or two you may find interesting:


*************************
** Running the program **
*************************

DoomView 2.5 is a program that will let you take any Doom WAD or PWAD,
registered or shareware (sorry, couldn't find a way to make it exclude the
shareware WADs), view any of the graphics and export them to BMP.  Just
type

DVIEW250 <wadfilename>

where <wadfilename> is the name of the WAD you'd like to view.  Got that?
Really confusing, right?  Well, to make this doc file real
professional-like, here's an example:

DVIEW250 SKIBONE.WAD

That will allow you to view all of the graphics in SKIBONE.WAD

If you don't include a WAD filename, it will look in the current directory
for DOOM2.WAD or DOOM.WAD (in that order).  If it doesn't find either one,
back to DOS you go.

This program should work on any current or future(??) version:
Doom 1 : .99, 1.1, 1.2, 1.666
Doom 2 : 1.666
even the SGI and NeXT WADs.

The program assumes you are trying to view a Doom WAD file.  If you try to
be cute and use this on a spreadsheet or something else, well.....it's your
hard drive.  Nothing will be damaged but a reboot will probably be in order.

If you use this on a PWAD that doesn't have any graphics, the program will
gracefully boot you out without a wimper (or an explanation).


This archive should include:
DVIEW250.EXE - The main executable
COLOR.PAL    - Palette file
FILE_ID.DIZ  - For lazy sysops
DOOMVIEW.DOC - This fascinating piece of literature
DOOMINFO.REV - Revision History of DoomView (A horrible glimpse into the
               mind of a DOOMented DJ)


*******************
** Program Start **
*******************

When the program starts, it searches through the WAD file looking for any
picture files.  If you use a huge WAD like the registered Doom WAD itself,
your hard drive will become quite active.  Don't worry, that's just the
nature of the program.  I know I hate it when some program access my hard
drive constantly for more than five seconds - I get paranoid.
"Aaaauuughhh, it's a virus!!" No, no, no.  It just has to load a little bit
of every WAD entry first to determine if it's a picture.  In the Doom II
WAD, there are just under 3000 entries, so it obviously takes a while.  On
a slow 386, it might take two minutes or more to look through the Doom II
WAD.  (But Doom II would gag on a slow 386 also.)



**************************
** T - Toggle 5x3 tiles **
**************************

What can I say?  It was easy.  It looks cool.  Nuff said.



****************************
** Export current picture **
****************************

"Oooo, a cute little bunny rabbit.  I'd like to snatch this picture and use
it with my cornball screen saver!"

No problem.  While viewing a picture, hitting X (for Xport? ;) ), will
export the current picture to a BMP file.



****************
** Export All **
****************

The F8 key will start "Export All".  It will first make sure you actually
want to do this - hit "Y" to continue, and then it will start.  During
exporting, hit any key to cancel this gigantic task.

The Export All command will go through EVERY picture in the WAD file and
export it to BMP.  That may be fairly harmless on a PWAD, but that's 2328
pictures on Doom II, and (if I remember correctly) 1597 pictures on
registered Doom v1.1 or 1567 on registered Doom v1.2 (the status bar was
changed from multiple pictures to one and a few other changes I can't
recall at the moment).  When the exporting is done, it will return you to the
first picture (a garbage picture on a registered Doom/Doom II WAD - see
Strange Features section).  It will take about 3 minutes on a 486/66 and
will amount to over 9 megabytes of BMP files on your hard drive.  Now
you're probably thinking - "14+ megabytes just for the pictures?  That's
almost as big as the DOOM2.WAD itself!  Why so big?" Well, the DOOM2.WAD
only needs the palette data once.  The palette is included in every BMP
exported.  That plus some additional BMP info accounts for 1078 bytes per
file.  1078 bytes times 1600 files equals over 1.6 of basically redundant
data.  But don't blame me - you're the one who hit the F8 key!  :)

Why the F8 key, you ask??  I just wanted to make something you probably
wouldn't hit by accident.  Even though it still asks you if you want to
proceed, I wanted to add that extra layer of protection.  Actually, it's
three layers of protection, since you can cancel the "Export All" at any
time while it's running.


*******************
** id Trickery?? **
*******************

When the program was almost done, I decided to go for the "Export All" on
the Doom II WAD.  It cruised along for awhile, then crashed.  Crashing is
frowned upon.  It crashed every time while trying to export the Arch-Vile
pictures.  A quick look at the WAD file showed picture names like VILEG1,
VILEH1, VILEI1, etc.  After they got to Z (LOTS of Arch-Vile frames), they
continued on their ASCII way to use the characters [, \, and ].  This is a
DOS filename no-no.  So for those few pictures, I have replaced the [, \,
and ] with 1, 2, and 3, respectively.  So no more crashing when you're
filling your hard drive up with 2300 Doom II pictures.  Was this a harmless
instance of blindly following ASCII conventions??  Or was it an evil id
plot to throw a monkey wrench into the works of Doom utility programs?!?!
Enquiring minds want to know!  ;)


******************
** Registration **
******************

This program is MAIL-ME-WARE.  If you like it, drop a line to
[e-mail]
and lavish me with praise.  Mail me an Internet tip (I'm an
InterKnucklehead.) Mail me some wild and wooly FTP site information.  Mail
me a recommendation for BBS software.  Or tell me my program is as
worthless as a Microsoft operating system.
HEY!  Even better - get up close and personal.  Feed Ma Bell's pockets and
call Bitstream of the Eschaton - where a line is always open and a slow
system means I'm playing Doom (so don't bug me!  ;)  )
Assembly source code (barely documented) is available to anyone who asks
nicely for it.


***********************************
** Strange features (minor bugs) **
***********************************

id's WAD files are very organized - level information, sound files,
sprites/wall/creature/object graphics, then floor/ceiling graphics bringing
up the rear.  Most PWAD files follow this same organization.  DoomView 2.0
expected this.  But people are mixing and matching various Doom utilities
when making their PWADs to the point where the PWAD entries are all over
the place.  Because of this, DoomView 2.5 checks every single entry to see
if its a graphic or a floor.  Checking for graphics is foolproof.  But
there is no information to double check in a floor/ceiling graphic.  The
only thing I can do is look for an entry with a length of 4096.
Unfortunately, both Doom I and II have one or two non-graphic entries that
are 4096 in length.  These show up on the list that DoomView 2.5 brings up
as the first item or two.  View them and you get garbage.  Bummer.  But it
was the only way I know of to make this program compatible with EVERY
single PWAD that is out there.


******************
** Program bugs **
******************

NONE!  Never!  NO! NO! NO! NO!
But if this program crashes (chokes on your WAD??), give the Bitstream a
call and tell me what happened and the WAD file you were viewing at the
time.  Go ahead and upload the offending WAD if I don't have it already.
HA!  The Bitstream of the Eschaton has eeeeeeeeevery Doom WAD file and
add-on!  Silly me!
Or send me e-mail cursing me out in five different languages to:

[e-mail]

Yah-hey!  Da info'mayshun supadupahighway!


***********************
** Greets and Grunts **
***********************

id Software: Thank you for completely overrunning my BBS and taking up
almost a year of my life (and counting.)  I'm sure I'll still be playing
Doom II PWADs by the time Quake rolls into town.  Now if only you'd let me
borrow one of dem Ferraris.....

GT Interactive: The business opportunity of the decade.  I don't know what
you normally market but every time people see your name from now on, they
could have said "id trusted these guys to distribute Doom II.  I see this
name as a mark of quality" Maybe not quite that simple.  But instead, you
pissed off myself and thousands of other people world-wide.  We purchased
Doom II from you from one reason and one reason only - to get it EARLY.
And you screwed up on that one simple task.  If theres a good reason, no
one has heard it.  No one cares.  Welcome to your company's single largest
bad customer relations stunt.  No one will forget your name or your shoddy
work.


*****************************
** Copyright / Permissions **
*****************************

You may distribute this utility in any electronic format (BBS, Diskette,
CD, etc) as long as you include the following files with NO modifications:
DVIEW250.EXE - The main executable
COLOR.PAL    - Palette file
FILE_ID.DIZ  - For lazy sysops
DOOMVIEW.DOC - This fascinating piece of literature
DOOMINFO.REV - Revision History of DoomView (A horrible glimpse into the
               mind of a DOOMented DJ)


******************
** And then.... **
******************

Yikes, this little doc file got big.  Well, most people stopped reading
about 140 lines ago, but if you've got that kind of extra-strength
attention span then do the 100-meter mosey on down to....


╔═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║                   Bitstream of the Eschaton                   ║
║                        Sysop : DJ SKI                         ║
║            [phone] - Hayes OPTIMA 28800 v.FC            ║
║            [phone] - USR 28800 v.Everything             ║
╠═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╣
║   *********************************************************   ║
║   *   Your main source for Doom WAD files and utilities   *   ║
║   *********************************************************   ║
║                                                               ║
║                   Demos - Games - OS/2 files                  ║
║                                                               ║
╚═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝