Mega Doom 2/Mega Doom 2.iso/docs/dmretu/tutv13a.txt

Text File | 1994-10-26 | 49KB | 1,014 lines

        DoomED-The Real Thing Tutorial
                      Version 1.3


             by David Bruni
             CIS 74353,357

                  INDEX
----------------------------------------------
I-----------Introduction
II----------Installation
III---------Getting Started
IV----------Sectors
V-----------LineDefs
VI----------Things
VII---------Platforms
VIII--------DOOM Limits
IX----------Running WAD Files
X-----------Acknowledgments
XI----------Suggested Reading
----------------------------------------------

I. Introduction

Hello fellow DOOM fans and thanks for downloading this tutorial.
I've uploaded this file again because the way I described how to set up
deathmatch starts in the previous version is wrong. I just recently found
this out when I tried to play one of my own levels, that I thought was for
deathmatch, and it didn't work. Sorry for any problems this may have caused
you. I'm also calling this version 1.3 because I've uploaded this file 3 times
because of revisions. The deathmatch starts thing is the main revision. The
rest is minor and shouldn't affect your wad files.You'll notice that the
sections are now better arranged and separated into paragraphs and in a more
readable format. This is thanks to Patrick Murphy, who did a great job. Thanks
Patrick!

This tutorial is designed to help you get started using
DoomED-The Real Thing version 2.60b4, but will work for version 2.60.
I'll show you how to do everything from installing the program and getting
it running. To making elevators and transporters. I'll also talk about
LineDefs and how to set them up. Basically, I'll try to touch on
everything to help launch you on your WAD file making career
with DoomED.

The main revisions that I've made are as follows:

1) Revised the description of setting up deathmatch starts.

2) The rest is mainly cosmetic and shouldn't effect
your wad files.

II. Installation
After downloading DMREAL.ZIP, move it to a temporary
directory. The installation program will ask you
for a permanent directory location. Now unzip the file. After
unzipping DMREAL.ZIP, go to Program Manager. Under FILE, choose
RUN and type in c:\?\setup.exe. Where ? is the sub-directory
that you just unzipped the file in. I'm assuming your drive
letter is C. If it's different, then change it to the drive you
need. After hitting ENTER, you'll be presented with the
Installation Window.

On the drop down menu, pick CONFIGURE. This brings up the Setup
Configuration window. It shows the Source Directory and the
Destination Directory. The default directory is C:\DoomED. You
can accept this or change it to something else. Just make sure
that you don't overwrite an existing sub-directory. Once you
decide on a location, click OK.

Now pick INSTALL from the drop down menu. This brings up the
Install DoomED window. It should point to the sub-directory that
you just made. You can't change anything in this window, so make
sure everything is correct before hitting install. If everything
is correct, then hit "All Right, Install It!" The installation
only takes a few moments. If there were no problems, then you
should see a window that says DoomED was installed. Click OK.
Now you can exit the Setup Window.

You'll need to create a Group Window for DoomED. In Program
Manager, pick FILE. Then pick NEW.  Then pick Program Group.
Click OK. Add your own description. Now you should have a new
group window. Go back to FILE and pick NEW, again. Pick Program
Item. Fill in all the Program Item Properties, then click OK.
You should now be ready to run DoomED. Double click on the
DoomED icon to start. If you get no error messages, go to the
next section.

If the program fails to initialize, then you probably need to
edit the DOOMED.INI file. If you get an error message about a
file called CTL3DV2.DLL not being correctly installed here's
what you need to do. Go back to File Manager and look in your
\windows\system sub-directory. The installation program should
have moved CTL3DV2.DLL into this sub-directory. If it's not
there, then move it there and delete it from your DoomED
directory. If DoomED failed to initialize do this. Call up
Notepad. Open the file called DOOMED.INI. It should be located
in your \windows sub-directory.

Once you've opened the DOOMED.INI file, look at the first line
under [Files]. It should say: DoomWad=C:\Doom\Doom.wad. This is
assuming DOOM is on your C drive in the sub-directory DOOM. If
DOOM is in another location, then put the path to where it's
located.

The next line should say: Things=C:\?\Things.def. Where ? is
the subdirectory where you installed DoomED. Make sure this
points to the correct sub-directory. Under [Directories] the
GAME & EXPORT lines should point to your DOOM directory. Usually
C:\DOOM. If DOOM is in another directory, then change these
lines to point to where DOOM is. Save it and exit. Try
restarting DoomED. It should work correctly.

If not...well...contact me on CompuServe and describe the error
message that you get and I'll see what I can do. These 2 errors
that I've just described are the 2 most common ones. OK we're
ready to make our first map.

III. Getting Started

   Configuration

Double click on your new DoomED icon. Once the program
successfully starts, maximize the window. Now we can setup the
default colors for the editor. On the drop down menu, pick FILE.
Now pick CONFIGURATION. You can change the colors of the editor
thru this dialog box. I prefer a black background with green map
lines. I use red for selected and marked. White for dialogs and
cyan for the grid. The colors are up to you. Pick ones you like
and that show up well because you'll probably be spending a lot
of time in the editor.

   Create Your First Map

Go back to FILE and pick NEW MAP. This brings up a dialog box
that says "This will erase all data and create a new map. Are
you sure?" Click YES. You should now see a big rectangle and a
small square. The big rectangle is a sector and the small square
is a player one start position.

At this point it's *VERY IMPORTANT* that you *DO NOT* try to save
the map for play, yet. You'll need to add at least one more
sector and connect it to the other sector to be able to save the
map. If you do try to save the map without adding another
sector, it will probably crash the program and cause a GPF
(General Protection Fault) in windows, which is BAD. So, we need
to add another sector.

On the toolbar, you'll see an X and a Y, a zoom with 2 arrows
next to it, an ALL, THG, SEC, LIN and VTX buttons. I'll describe
each as we come to them. First we need to click on the SEC
button. This will switch us into Sector mode. Click on the left
pointing arrow on the toolbar. This will zoom out the map. Do
this twice. You'll notice a bunch of small crosses. This is the
grid. The distance between the crosses is 64 units. This is very
handy for making lines at certain lengths and keeping things
square with the grid. The floor and ceiling patterns remain
square with the grid. This is something you'll need to keep in
mind when designing levels.

Now, locate your cursor above the big rectangle, not inside of
it. About one grid line above it. Right click your mouse. This
brings up the New Sector dialog box.  We'll get into what
everything in this dialog box means in a little bit. For now,
click OK. This should have inserted a square into the map
centered on the cursor. This is a Sector.  Complete with lines,
vertices, sidedefs, floor and ceiling heights and wall textures
already assigned. For now, we won't worry about changing
textures or anything. We'll get into that later. All we want to
do is connect the 2 sectors and save the map for play.

To do this, switch to VTX mode by clicking the VTX button on the
toolbar. Your 2 sectors should now have small squares on each
corner. These are the vertices. Go back to the drop down menu
under MAP. Pick Grid Settings. Change it to 8.  This is the
amount in units that the vertices will move when you click and
drag them. A large number is hard to work with and will be
jerky. It's also hard to connect the vertices this way.

   Vertices Must Align

You have to be careful when you're connecting the vertices. You
need to make sure they land on top of each other and not off to
the side of one another. You can zoom in to make it easier by
using the zoom controls on the toolbar or by using the keyboard.
I find the keyboard to be faster. All you have to do is type
ALT+Z (that's pressing the ALT key and the Z key at the same
time) to zoom in and ALT+X to zoom out. Position your cursor
where you want to zoom at, then type the key combinations.

Click on one of the vertices in the new sector you added. This
is *VERY IMPORTANT*. You must maintain the integrity of the
sectors. In other words, the sectors have to stay closed
polygons. Be it squares, rectangles, octagons or similar. You
*CAN'T* turn a square into an "L" shape or straight line. If you
do and try to save the map, it will crash the program and cause
a GPF. Basically, the way you build maps in DoomED, is by
connecting a bunch of squares and rectangles together. Sounds
pretty simple, huh? It is! DoomED is a very easy editor to use.

To connect the 2 sectors together, we just have to connect 2 of
the corners together so you'll end up with what looks like 2
rectangles stacked on top of one another. If you already
clicked on one of the vertices in the new sector, then drag it
on top of one of the vertices in the other sector. Do the same
for the other corner. DoomED will automatically merge the
vertices together. It will also merge the lines together.

Now adjust the vertices until you have what looks like 2
rectangles stacked on top of each other. You should now be able
to successfully save the map without any problems. Under
FILE, pick "Save Single Map for Play". In the dialog box, hit the
save button. This will save the map as E1M1 which is fine for
now. You can accept the name NEW.WAD or change it to something
else. Keep in mind the name can only be 8 characters long, not
including the extension. Hit OK.
Your map is saved now and ready to play. Exit DoomED. Exit
Windows. At the DOS prompt, change to your DOOM directory. Type:
DOOM -FILE ?.WAD. Where ? is either NEW or whatever name you
made the WAD file. Hit ENTER. The startup screen will say
something about DOOM being modified, just hit ENTER. Go thru the
normal procedure in starting DOOM. Pick episode 1. The skill
level doesn't matter. What you should see, once the game starts
is a small room with marble walls and wood floor and ceiling.
Hit ESC to quit DOOM.

     CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!

You've just made your first WAD file. Yes,it's simple, there's nobody to
shoot or anything, but you're well on your way to bigger and better things.

IV.Sectors

   What Is A Sector?

Most of what you'll be doing in DoomED is inserting Sectors with
different floor/ceiling heights. Different wall/floor/ceiling
textures and different brightness settings. What is a Sector? A
Sector can be a room, a stair, a window, an acid pit, an
elevator, etc. When you insert a new Sector, the vertices and
lines are also inserted with it. You don't have to insert them
separately. When you insert a Sector, it all goes in with it.
This makes the map building process go quickly.

   What Can You Do To A Sector?

So, let's go back into the editor and open the map we just made.
Go to FILE and pick "Open Single Map File". Scroll thru the
dialog box until you find your new map. Double click on it to
open it up. Now, switch to SEC mode. Click on one or the other
of the 2 sectors in your map. This will bring up the Sector
dialog box. It tells you the ceiling height and texture. The
floor elevation and texture. The Line Attributes. The Sector
Brightness, and the Platforms. You change the floor and ceiling
textures thru this dialog box. Along with the floor/ceiling heights.
Just click the arrow next to the ceiling or floor textures to bring
up a scrolling dialog box with the available textures.

   Wall, Floor and Ceiling Textures

To find out what each texture looks like and how big it is, go
to the drop down menu and pick RESOURCES. Then pick VIEWER. Pick
either textures or floor/ceiling. Click on any of the texture
names in the dialog box and it will display a picture of it. It
will also tell you the size of the wall panel.

Floor and ceiling patterns are always 64 x 64 square and
oriented square with the grid. If you make a diagonal hallway,
then the floor/ceiling pattern will appear skewed or at an angle
to the walls. On some patterns, this won't matter because
there's no pattern to them.
   Brightness Settings

The brightness settings start at 0, total darkness, to 255, as
bright as it gets. The default is 200. There are about 34 levels
of brightness in DOOM. This means they increment by about 8
points.

   Line Attributes

Thru the Line Attributes, you assign such things as
pulsating sectors, health loss for acid pits or anywhere for
that matter, secret designations, etc. Platforms or Line
Specials are for things like making tripwires, elevators,
crushing ceilings, etc. We'll talk about assigning these things
later.

   Add Another Sector

Let's insert some more Sectors. Switch to SEC mode, if
you're not already. Right click somewhere near your existing
Sectors. Don't get too close, though. You don't want the Sectors
to overlap. After you right clicked, you'll see the New Sector
dialog box.

   Sector Styles

Click where it says STYLE. This brings up the Default Sector
Style dialog box. You can pick one of the predefined styles if
you like. There's 5 available. Most of the time, though, you'll
be changing the textures manually. This is the only drawback
about DoomED. The next release should allow you to make your own
Sector styles without having to change them each time you insert
a Sector. Or so I've heard. Usually, I'll look thru the viewer
and pick wall patterns that look good with the floor/ceiling
combination I've picked. This is your own choice.

   Plan Ahead On Heights

You should decide on your floor/ceiling heights prior to
inserting the Sectors. This way DoomED will automatically set
the correct LineDefs. This is especially true when you have 2
connected Sectors with different floor/ceiling heights. If the
LineDefs aren't set right, things will look weird. Change the
patterns or leave them as is and click OK. Click OK in the next
dialog box, also. Now you've got another Sector inserted.

   Connecting Sectors

Switch to VTX mode, so you can connect the Sectors together.
Remember not to collapse the Sector or try to connect across
Sectors. The Sectors don't have to remain square or rectangular.
You can drag the vertices into all sorts of weird shapes. Just
remember to keep them as closed polygons. The grid setting
always defaults to 16, so change it to 8, if you like. Now
connect the vertices, again, being careful to make sure they land
on top of each other. You should only have to connect 2 of the
vertices.

   Adding Vertices To Existing Lines

You can make new vertices in existing lines. Switch to LIN mode.
Right click on one of the lines. This will break the line and
add a new vertex. To see the new vertex, switch back to VTX
mode. You should see the new vertex. If something goes wrong,
you can drag the new vertex on top of the adjacent one to
eliminate it.

   Create A Door

Make at least 3 connected sectors in a line like a hallway.
We're now going to create a door. It's easy to do because DoomED
does it automatically. The things to watch out for are: (1) Make
sure you have 3 connected Sectors, the door will be the middle
one and (2) Keep the floor/ceiling heights the same, for now.
We'll cover special situations later. For now, we just want to
make a plain old door.

Unless you want to make a thick door, drag the vertices so that
the middle sector is about 16 or 24 wide. You can check the line
length by switching to LIN mode and clicking on the line that will
be the door jamb. You'll see the length in the Line Definition
dialog box. Switch back to SEC mode. Click on the middle Sector.
This brings up the Sector dialog box. Click on the DOOR button.
It will tell you that it's going to convert this Sector into a
door. Click YES.

   Door Sizes

It will then tell you that you may wish to change the door
texture. The default is Bigdoor2 which is 128x128. It's a good
idea to make your door Sectors the same size as the door
texture. You don't have to but if the texture is bigger than
the opening, then the door texture will be chopped off and you
won't see all of the door texture. You can achieve different
effects with this method. It's up to you. So, I would suggest
that if your door Sector isn't 128 wide, drag the vertices over
some. When we created the map, we accepted the default Sector
height of 128. This would make the door texture fit just right.
Most of the Bigdoors are 128x128. Door 1 & 3 are small doors at
64x72.

   Door Textures

If you want to change the door texture to something
different, switch to LIN mode. Click on one of the door lines.
Each door has 2 lines. When you click on the line, it brings up
the LineDef dialog box. Click on the SideDef button. This
expands the window and shows you all the information associated
with the line. I'll go into this in more detail in the next
section. For now, to change the texture, click the arrow where
it says BIGDOOR2. There should only be one texture defined for
the door. Where it says "Above a lower ceiling". Once you've
clicked the arrow, a scrolling dialog box will pop up with all
the available textures. Pick one. It doesn't have to be a door
texture. That's it. Doors are easy to make.

   Add Some Stairs

Stairs are the next thing we'll talk about because they're
Sectors, also. DoomED will make stairs for you automatically. It
will also stitch the wall textures to line up correctly. About
all you have to do is supply a starting height and an ending
height. You'll have to provide a direction that you want the
stair to point. Let's go ahead and make a stair and connect it
to an existing Sector.

Switch to SEC mode. Right click near an existing sector. In the
New Sector dialog box, click the STEPS button. This brings up
the Step Creation dialog box. Change the end height to 64. We
don't want the stair too high. Make sure the direction is
pointing the way you want the stair to go. North is up, south
down, east to the right and west to the left. Click OK. You
should see the stair on the map. It should be outside of the
other Sectors. You don't want it to overlap any Sectors or be
inside any Sectors. This will cause problems. If you've made a
mistake, you can delete the individual sectors one at a time.
Just click on the offending sector and in the Sector dialog box,
click the DELETE button.

Now we need to connect the stair Sector with one of the other
Sectors. To do this, switch to VTX mode. I've found it better
to stretch a Sector other than the stair Sector. This keeps the
steps even and the automatic wall texture stitching won't become
misaligned. Connect the vertices of your stair with one of the
other Sectors. DoomED will automatically adjust the ceiling
heights on the stair if the ceiling height in the Sector dialog
box is not high enough for the editor. This will make the
ceiling look like a stair on the roof.

   Plan Ahead On Stair Ceiling Heights

To avoid this, and make the ceiling one constant height, before
you click the STEPS button, click the STYLE button. Change the
ceiling height to be at least 88 units taller than your final
step. 88 is the number that DoomED uses. Although, the lowest
ceiling that you can pass under is 56. You can also adjust the
length and width on each step before you insert the stair. It's
a good idea not to change the stairs once you insert them.
Otherwise the wall texture can get messed up, SideDefs can get
weird and all sorts of little things. So, if you change your mind
about how you want your stair to look, it's better to delete the
whole stair and start over.
If you want to make a stair that rises in an existing Sector and
is not a stand alone stair, then you have to "wrap" the other
Sectors around the stair. This is tricky because you have to
keep breaking the lines to add more vertices and work your way
up the stair. The DoomED helpfile has some good illustrations
of this technique. I'd suggest starting with a small stair that
has a few steps and working your way up to taller stairs. It
takes a little practice to do this correctly. The bad thing
here is that it's easy to screw up the integrity of the Sectors.
So be careful or you could get another GPF.

   Always Make A Backup Of You WAD

This brings me to another important point. It's a good idea to
keep a running backup copy of your map. Get into the habit of
doing this. It will save you a lot of time and grief. You see,
when the editor crashes, it destroys your WAD file and renders
it useless. Just copy your WAD file to a new name like NEW.BAK
or something. Make a new copy everytime you add to your WAD file
and have play tested the level. You'll thank me for this later
after you've spent 30 or more hours on a level, then have
something go wrong and you loose everything you've made.

   Adding Sectors Within Sectors

The final thing you need to know about Sectors is, Sectors
within Sectors. You make them like any other Sector, only you
right click inside an existing Sector. Let's try it. Locate the
cursor inside an existing Sector. Right click the mouse. In the
New Sector dialog box, you'll see the dot next to where it says
"Sector Within Sector" is now marked. On the right side of the
dialog box you'll see different options for the floor and
ceiling. They can be either raised, flush or lowered. This is
how you make certain acid pits or skylights or lots of other
interesting things. For now, we can accept the defaults and have
a raised floor and a lowered ceiling. If you want to change any
of the walls, you can do so now by clicking the Style button and
changing the textures like I described earlier. Once you get
everything set, click OK.

If you click on the new Sector, you'll notice that the floor is
now 8 and the ceiling is now 120 for the new Sector. Even if you
set the floor and ceiling heights in the STYLE dialog box to
different heights, DoomED will change them. You'll have to go
back and manually change them back to the heights you want.
DoomED though, will set the SideDefs correctly for you.
To delete a Sector within a Sector, you need to switch to VTX
mode. Now, start dropping the vertices of the Sector within a Sector
on top of each other until there's only one vertex left. Save your map,
and the last remaining vertex will be eliminated.
I think that's about it for Sectors. The Line Attributes I'll cover in
the next section. And Platforms I'll cover a little later. I'm
saving them for last to help you become accustomed to the editor
and how it works before tackling Platforms.
V. LineDefs.

   What Are Line Definitions

Line Definitions or LineDefs for short, are merely groups of
information pertaining to all the lines in a level. All lines
have some sort of information associated with them. Some lines
have more information than others. For example: when you make a
hallway by connecting 2 sectors together, the line where the 2
sectors connect will be transparent and you can walk thru it.
But it's still a line.

Call up the map that we've been working on. Switch to LIN mode
by clicking the LIN button on the toolbar. Now pick a line that
is in a hallway or a line that you know you can walk thru. In
the Line Definition dialog box, click the SideDefs>> button.
This will expand the dialog box and show you more information
about the line.

The left side of the dialog box shows you the vertex #'s that
the line goes in between. It gives you the LineDef # and the
length. It lists the Attributes of the line. Which are special
things you can assign the line to do.

   Line Attributes

Most Attributes are self-explanatory. The ones that aren't are:

(1) Two sided. If you've clicked on a line in a hallway or
corridor that is perpendicular to the wall and is transparent
and can be walked thru, then the 2 sided attribute will be set
for this line. So, 2 sided lines are usually found in hallways,
corridors, passageways, windows, stairs, on top of columns that
you can or could stand on, just about anywhere that you can walk
thru a line or see thru it and shoot thru it. This is *VERY
IMPORTANT*. The 2 sided attribute must be set for lines in the
places I just mentioned. If not, then you'll get the Hall of
Mirrors effect (HOM). You can set the Attribute "Nothing can
cross" or "Enemies cannot cross" along with the 2 sided
Attribute. This would be the only 2 sided lines that you
couldn't cross.

(2) Upper and Lower texture not "pegged". These Attributes have
to do with whether or not the door jambs or walls of a corridor
move when the door is opened. A good example of the walls of a
corridor moving as the door opens is in the original DOOM level
E1M3. When the walkway over the acid pit comes up and you open
the secret door, the walls move as the door opens. You can also set
this attribute to help line up textures where you have differences in
floor/ceiling height or around windows. See section XI, Suggested
Reading, for the name of the best file I've found that explains using
this attribute.

(3) Secret (can't map behind) is so that the area behind the
line won't show up on the map when you hit TAB. This is not the
same as the percentage of secrets you get at the end of the
game. You set those in Sector mode by clicking the Secret
Attribute in the Sector dialog box.

   Line Actions

The last thing on the left side of the Line Definition dialog
box is Action. These are all the trick things that DOOM can do.
Like tripwires that open doors or lower columns. Crushing
ceilings. Setting up elevators and key doors. These all
pertain to Platforms, so I'll cover them in the Platform
Section. For now, I'll concentrate on lines.
It's important to understand lines and SideDefs before
attempting to make maps. Or at least have some idea of what they
do. On the right side of the Line Definition dialog box, you'll
see such things as Front SideDef or 1st SideDef, Back SideDef or
2nd SideDef. The Sector # is given along with the height.

   Line Textures

The X/Y texture offset is for fine tuning the texture location
on the walls. DoomED does this automatically on such things as
stairs and walls where there is a floor/ceiling height
difference. Sometimes it's necessary for you to adjust this
manually.

Basically, the X is the horizontal movement. A positive number
moves the texture to the left. A negative number moves it to
the right. The Y number moves the texture vertically or up and
down. A positive number moves it up. A negative number moves it
down. The core of the lines is controlled by the textures you
assign where you see "Main", "Above a lower ceiling" and "Below
a higher floor". Usually, if you set your Sector floor/ceiling
height prior to inserting them, you won't have to change these.
But that's not always the case. It's important to know what each
of these terms means and how to adjust them. Failing to set one
or more of the SideDefs correctly can make the map look weird
when played or give you the HOM effect.

   More On SideDefs

OK. I'm going to attempt to explain SideDefs without the aid of
any illustrations. ASCII art isn't easy to do. First thing you
need to do is switch to LIN mode by clicking the LIN button on
the toolbar. You'll notice that all the lines now have another
line that is perpendicular to them. This is for reference and
doesn't appear in the game. What is does is show you the
direction that you are looking at the line. Or in other words,
the Front or 1st SideDef.

In a big room that has walls that you can't walk thru or
otherwise be on the other side, the 1st SideDef designating line
should point towards the center of the room. This line will
only have a 1st SideDef. A 2nd SideDef is not needed because you
aren't able to view the line from the other side. These lines
will also have the Attribute "Nothing can cross". Lines that
are in hallways or corridors will have a 1st and 2nd SideDef
because you can look at the line from either direction. These
lines will also have the 2 sided Attribute set.

Lines that connect 2 Sectors of different floor/ceiling heights
will have a 1st and 2nd SideDef also. The trick is to set the
portion of the line that can be seen from the different
directions. Which brings me to the fact that all lines have at
least 3 parts. Lines that have a 1st and 2nd SideDef have 6
parts. 3 for each SideDef.

The lines don't have to have a texture defined for each part of
the line. For instance: Pick a 2 sided line in a corridor that
you can walk thru. When you look at the SideDefs, you'll see
that there is no texture defined for this line at all. The
designation for this is "-". The reason for this is because you
can walk thru it.

   SideDef Exceptions

There are special exceptions. Some of the wall textures are
see-thru and walk-thru. I'm sure you've seen the textures that
look like cages or bars. These are MIDBRN1 and MIDGRATE. You can
use these textures and a few others in hallways. As long as you
don't assign the Attributes can't cross, you are able to walk
thru them.

Now pick a line that is a wall that you can't cross. You'll see
that the only texture defined is for "Main". This is because
you don't need an above or below texture. As long as there's no
change in floor/ceiling heights, you won't need to set the
textures for this area. To try and explain the 3 parts of a line
I'll use examples from my house. The 3 parts of the line,
"Main", "Above a lower ceiling" and "Below a higher floor" are
in terms of the plane that the line makes in relation to the
floor. If you look at a door in your house, it's 90 degrees to
the floor or perpendicular. This is the plane that lines in DOOM
are in. So, the "Main" texture would be the actual door itself.
The "Above a lower ceiling" would be the part of the wall above
the door. The "Below a higher floor" would only be set if there
was a step you had to step on to cross thru the door. My front
door is like that. The pavement outside is lower than inside the
house. You have to step up to come in. You can see this on
stairs.

   Direction Indicators

The important thing is to determine the direction that you are
looking at the line to know which SideDef to set. The hallway
that leads out of our living room has a lower ceiling than the
living room and no door or step. If the 1st SideDef is pointing
away from the hallway and into the living room, then the
SideDefs would be: 1st: Nothing for the Main part because you
can walk thru this part, the Above a lower ceiling would have a
texture defined for it because from the living room, you can see
the wall above the hallway. The Below a higher floor would have
no texture because there is no step.

Now, if you walk out of the living room into the hallway and
turn around and look back into the living room, the 2nd SideDef
would not have anything defined because the Main part of the
line you can walk thru, you can't see the wall above the hallway
and there is no step.

   Elevator SideDefs

In the case of elevators, you'll have to set the SideDefs
manually because DoomED doesn't make them automatically. It's
important to remember that when setting the SideDefs on
elevators, that you have to set the SideDefs for the up and down
position. Otherwise, you'll get the HOM effect again.

   Swapping Ends of Lines

In the Line Definition dialog box you'll also notice a button
that has a line with an arrowhead on each end. It's right above
the SideDefs<< button and next to the Close button. This is for
swapping ends of lines. Or rotating them 180 degrees.  This is
very useful in certain situations. But here again, if you swap
ends of lines, it switches the direction that the 1st SideDef
designating line is pointing. Or the direction that you are
looking at a line gets moved to the other side. When you switch
ends of lines, you'll usually have to zoom in and out to get the
screen to redraw. Then you can see that the line was flipped
around. So when you do this, be aware that you'll have to change
the SideDefs manually, to make everything look right.

   Summarizing SideDefs

To summarize SideDefs: Try to set your Sector floor/ceiling
heights prior to inserting them, and stick with these heights.
This way DoomED will assign the SideDefs automatically and
correctly.

Don't change up the SideDefs until you're more familiar with how
they work. DoomED will do a lot of the work for you and is
pretty good about setting the SideDefs. So, let the program do
it's thing and do most of the hard work for you.

Until you become comfortable with Sectors and SideDefs, play
your map after every time you add something new. This way if you
get the HOM effect and can't get rid of it, you can go back into
the editor and just delete this whole Sector instead of trying
to fix it.

VI. Things

Things are one of the easiest operations to do in DoomED. Open
your map and switch to THG mode by clicking the THG button on
the toolbar. The only Thing that should be in your map is a
player 1 start position. It was the small square we talked about
earlier. Once in THG mode, click on the player 1 start position.
This will bring up the Edit A Thing dialog box. What you'll see
in this is a TYPE, which is the actual object.

Objects are monsters, ammo, health, weapons, decorations such as
columns, guys impaled on spears, lights. Mainly, everything that
isn't a wall. If you click the arrow beside TYPE, it will show
you all the available objects you can use. You can preview them
before inserting them by clicking the button on the bottom that
looks like ">>". This is handy because you don't have to call up
the viewer.

   Facing Directions

Where it says Facing, this is the direction that the object will
face in the game. North being up. Under Levels, this determines
which skill level that the objects will appear in. If 1, 2, 3 &
4 all are picked, then the objects, whether they're monsters or
weapons, will appear in every skill level. So, There won't be
any difference between the easy skill level and the hardest
skill level. But that's OK. This is DOOM after all. Deaf is for
making monsters that don't react until they see you. Multi is
for multi-player games by modem or network.

   Starting Positions

To make your level for use in a modem or network deathmatch and
co-op, you have to insert at least 8 starts. In the dialog box, co-op starts
are numbered Start 1, Start 2, etc.Deathmatch starts are called "random
starts". So, you need 4 co-op starts and 4 "random starts" If you want
your map to be used for deathmatchs, make sure you don't put a start
position that the player can't get out of. This is important because during a
deathmatch you don't want to have to ask your opponent to
"Please come open a door for me, I'm stuck and can't get out."
This is embarrassing. So, keep that in mind when inserting
deathmatch starts.

   Teleporter Destination

The only other Thing that has something special about it is
"Teleporter dest". You'll find it in the Edit a Thing dialog box
under TYPE. You use this to make Transporters work. I'll explain
these more in the Platforms section.

   Don't Over Do It

The only other point to keep in mind about Things is, If you
load up a HUGE room with 30 or 40 monsters, 2 Cyber Demons, the
Spider Demon and lots of other objects, chances are the game
will slow down. Or worse. Things will start to disappear or
you'll get the HOM effect. So, don't go overboard on your
monsters. Add a few, then play your level. If everything looks
OK, add some more and test it again. I'll covers this and some
other things to look out for in the DOOM Limits Section.

VII. Platforms

Platforms in DoomED is the term used to describe all the trick
things that DOOM can do. Such as tripwires, crushing ceilings,
key doors, the end level switch, making elevators go up and
down, etc. Basically, what you do is, tag a line with one of the
line specials, such as cross and door(s) open, then you
associate that line with the door sector, for example. There's
about 100 things that you can do, I haven't tried them all. I
will tell you how to setup tripwires, elevators, transporters
and the end level switch. You'll have to experiment some with
all the specials. They're all setup in a similar fashion.

   End Level Switch

The first Platform we'll talk about is the End Level Switch.
You'll probably use one in all your maps. It's really easy to
do. Open your map and switch to LIN mode. Pick a line that you
can use for the switch. In the LineDef dialog box, look on the
bottom of the window where it says ACTION. There's 2 scrolling
dialog boxes. Click on the arrow in the top one. This will open
the dialog box with all the line specials or Platforms listed.
Scroll down until you find the one that says "Switch:End level
go to next level". Click on this to assign it to the line.

I look for a switch in the viewer that will fit the wall I want
the switch to go on. If the wall is bigger than the switch
texture, then the textures will tile on top of each other. You'll
have one switch on top of another. You'll also notice in the
viewer that there are 2 kinds of switches, SW1xx and SW2xx.
These are for the on/off positions. DOOM will automatically
switch textures when you throw the switch or push the button.

   Tripwires

To make a tripwire, that when crossed opens a door(s), you do
this: Create the door(s) you want opened. Go to SEC mode. Pick
the Sector of the door you want opened. This calls up the Sector
dialog box. Click the ADD button. This brings up the Platform
Information dialog box. Under NAME, you can put something like
"Tripwire". This will help you to keep track of the Platforms
that you are creating. Under COMMENTS, it says "undefined", you
can change this to something like "Tripwire:opens door". Click
OK and close this dialog box.

Back in the Sector dialog box, under PLATFORMS, click the arrow.
You should see the Tripwire Platform that we just made. Click on
it to assign it to the Sector. Close this window. Switch to LIN
mode. Pick one of the 2 lines of the door you want opened. In
the LineDef dialog box, under ACTION, it should say "Door-std
door-closes after 5 secs.". Click the arrow next to this and
scroll down until you see "Cross:Open door-stays open". Click on
it to assign it to the door line.

You have to do both lines that make up the door to have it work
correctly. Click the arrow in the bottom box and pick the Tripwire
Platform you created earlier to assign it to the door.
Pick the line that you've chosen to be the Tripwire.
In the LineDef dialog box, under ACTION, click the arrow in the
top box and scroll down until you see "Cross:Open door-stays
open". Click on this to assign it to the line. In the bottom
box, click the arrow and click on the Tripwire Platform you
created earlier. To find out if the Tripwire is associated with
the door, click off the Tripwire, then click on it again. The
Tripwire and door lines should both be selected when you click
on the Tripwire.

   Transporters

To make a Transporter you first need to decide upon a starting
location and an ending location. Where you want to transport to
and from. Most transporter pads are 64 square. They can be just
about any place. They don't even have to look like
Transporters. It's just a line you assign a line special to.

Switch to SEC mode. Click on the Sector that you want to
transport from. Under Platforms in the Sector dialog box, click
ADD. This will call up the Platform Information dialog box. Do
like you did when you set up the Tripwire. Under NAME, put
Transporter, under COMMENTS do the same thing. Click OK. In the
Sector dialog box, under PLATFORM, click the arrow and click on
your Transporter Platform you just created. Click on your
Transporter destination Sector. Do the same thing as you did to
setup the Transporter starting Sector.

Switch into LIN mode by clicking on the LIN button on the
toolbar. Pick the line that you would have to cross to enter the
transporter. Under ACTION in the LineDef dialog box, click the
arrow in the top box. Scroll down until you see "Cross:Teleport
to another platform". Click on this to assign it to the line.
Go to the bottom box and click the arrow next to it. Click on
your Transporter Platform you created earlier.

Close this dialog box and switch to THG mode. Right click in the
center of your Transporter Destination Sector to insert a Thing.

This will bring up the Edit a Thing dialog box. Under TYPE,
scroll down until you see "Teleporter dest" and click on this to
insert it. The only thing left, is to set the facing direction
when you come out of the Transporter. You should check to see
which way the SideDefs for the Transporter line is facing. You
want the 1st SideDef to point at you as you cross the line.
Otherwise, you'll go into the Transporter and have to back over
the line again to transport.

   Elevators

Making Elevators is where you need to have an understanding of
SideDefs and how to assign them. DoomED won't make Elevators
automatically. So, 9 times out of 10, you'll have to set the
SideDefs manually after you've connected the Sectors. The
tricky part is making sure that textures are set for the walls
when the elevator is down and when it's up.

To create an Elevator, you'll need to setup 3 connected Sectors.
The middle sector will act as the actual Elevator. The sector
with the lower ceiling will have a Tripwire in it to bring the
Elevator down. The Sector with the higher ceiling will also
have a Tripwire to make the Elevator go back down.

To make sure we're all on the same page, I'm going to set the
floor/ceiling heights as follow: The Sector that we want to
start from will have a floor height of 0 and a ceiling height of
128. The middle Sector, which is the Elevator, will be set with
a floor height of 128 and a ceiling height of 256. The last
Sector will be the same as the Elevator Sector at 128 and 256.
Click the middle or Elevator Sector. In the Sector dialog box,
under PLATFORM, click ADD. In the Platform Information dialog
box, we'll do the same as for the other Platforms we setup. So,
under NAME, change it to "Elevator". Same thing under COMMENTS.
Click OK.

In the Sector dialog box, under PLATFORMS, click the arrow and
click on your Elevator Platform you just created. Close this
dialog box.  Switch to LIN mode by clicking the LIN button on
the toolbar.  Pick a line in the Sector with the lower ceiling
to act as the Tripwire to bring the Elevator down. In the
LineDef dialog box, under ACTION, click the arrow in the top
box. Scroll down until you see "Cross:Lower elevator-rises after
3 seconds". Click on this to select it.

In the bottom dialog box, click the arrow and click on your
Elevator Platform that you created.  Setup a Tripwire in the
Sector with the higher ceiling the same way to make the Elevator
go back down. Now when you click on either of the Tripwires the
Elevator should be selected, also.  The line that is the front
edge of the Elevator should have it's 1st SideDef pointing
towards you or the Sector with the lower ceiling. Check the
SideDefs. The 1st SideDef should have a texture defined for the
part of the line that says "Below a higher floor". The 2nd
SideDef should have a texture defined for the part of the line
that says "Above a lower ceiling".

The line that is the back or rear of the Elevator, should have
it's 1st SideDef pointing the same way as the front line of the
Elevator.  Towards the Sector with the lower ceiling. The only
texture that should be defined is the 1st SideDef where it says
"Below a higher floor". If you orient your SideDefs this way,
you shouldn't get the HOM effect or the other weird looking
effect that comes from having an incorrect SideDef. You may have
to play around with the SideDefs to get them just right.

VIII. DOOM Limits

I'd like to say a few words about the limitations of what you
can and probably shouldn't do when designing DOOM levels.

   But Wouldn't This Be Fun?

DOOM is not true 3D. You can't have rooms on top of each other.
You can't make a bridge or walkway that you could walk under and
walk on top of. The highest step that you can cross is 24.

   Ceiling Heights

The lowest ceiling you can pass under is 56. The players,
therefore are about 55 tall, along with the imps and guys with
rifles and shotguns. The Baron of Hell is about 70 tall. The
Cyber Demon and the Spider Demon are about 110 tall. Keep this
in mind when using these monsters. If you use them in rooms that
aren't tall enough, you might get undesirable results.

A lot of the wall textures are 128x128, some are smaller. Doors
are the same way. You'll have to browse thru the Viewer to get a
feel for the walls and their sizes and names. You should avoid
making rooms that have a total height that is greater than 512.
You should also try to avoid making rooms that are gigantic in
size and have a lot of monsters in it. This tends to slow down
the game and sometimes overloads the graphics all together and
kicks you out to a DOS prompt. This has happened to me when I
made too many Sectors in one area, then filled it up with imps.
It just wouldn't play. So, don't go overboard. Start out small
and work your way up.

One thing I don't think I mentioned about ceiling textures, is
that there's only 3 sky patterns one for each episode. Keep this
in mind when designing levels.

IX.Running WAD files

Typically, to run a WAD file you type: doom -file ?.wad at the
DOS prompt. Where ? is the name of the WAD file you want to
play. If it's E1M1, then you start the game as always. If it's
E2M1, you can do the same thing then after the game starts, type
IDCLEV 2 1 to warp to the second episode. Or you can warp
directly to the floor you want to get to from the DOS prompt by
typing:doom -devparm -file ?.wad -warp 2 1 -skill 4. The ?.wad
stands for the WAD file name. The -warp 2 1 is the episode and
mission numbers that match the WAD file that you're trying to
run. The skill level is optional. Or the easiest way is to
download the WADRUNNER program by Blackfist. This is a great way
to manage large numbers of WAD files

X. Acknowledgments

First of all, I'd like to give special thanks to my wife, Kathy.
She watched our 2 kids while I worked on this tutorial. I would
also like to thank Geoff Allan, author and creator of DoomED-The
Real Thing editor for DOOM. Thanks also go to the guys at id,
for making DOOM one of the most popular and fun games ever. I'd
also like to thank the many nice people on CompuServe that I've
had the pleasure to talk to. A very special thank you to Patrick Murphy,
76150,703, who took it upon himself to reorganize this tutorial into
a more readable and professional looking format. Thanks Patrick!
I'd also like to thank the SysOps of The Gamer's Forum for naming
my wife and myself SuperGamers of the Month for August 1994.
Thanks guys!! If you'd like to find out more about us, download our
BIO from Lib 15 in The Gamer's Forum. It's called BRUNI.BIO.

Finally, if anyone finds mistakes or omissions, please let me know.
The last thing I want to do is tell everybody how to do something
wrong. Good luck in your WAD making endeavors!

  David Bruni 74353,357
         9/16/94

XI. Suggested Reading

The following is a list of files that you might find useful when designing
Doom levels.

1) Managing Textures and the "Unpegged" Attribute.
                by Scott Amspoker
2) Doom Metrics
                by Scott Amspoker
3) Design 12 FAQ
                by Tom Neff
4) The Unofficial Doom Specs
                by Matt Fell