So what the heck is this WADenizer thingee, anyway?
It is a freeware program to convert annoying PC Wads into well-behaved MacDoom WADs.
What is a WAD?
A WAD is an add-on file for Doom or Doom II. By using WADs, you can change just about any aspect of Doom, such as the maps, graphics and sounds. Most WADs are created on MS-DOS PCs, and there are small differences between the file structures that can cause problems.
So what does the WADenizer actually do?
The main function is to expand sprites and flats. Sprites are weapon, item and monster graphics; flats are floor and ceiling tiles. Due to a quirk in Doom, if a WAD contains one sprite, it must contain all the sprites. This means lugging a 3+ megabyte file if you change only 1 picture, not very efficient. To solve this, DMADDS11 and later DeUSF were created. These add the missing pictures to a sprite/flat WAD so it can be played. This way, if you want to have a rocket launcher which launches chickens (CHOOK.WAD), you can download the 200K version instead of the 4.2 megabyte expanded version.
The WADenizer also has a lot of other nice features, see the feature listing.
How will know the WADenizer is needed?
Look in the readme for the WAD. If you see a reference to DeUSF then the WADenizer should be able to run it. If you find references to DMGRAPH or lots of files with the letters .GIF and .WAV, those files will not be usable.
Is this a port of DeUSF?
Definitely not, this is a 100% Macintosh program. It should be able to handle anything DeUSF uses. DeUSF has lots of other features, most importantly the ability to compress the file, which the WADenizer does not.
Feature Listing
1) Expands sprite and flat files
2) Converts demos to 1.9 so they run on MacDoom.
3) Allows user to pull WADs apart, separating sprites, textures, and maps.
4) Eliminates music and PC speaker sound effects, these are not usable by MacDoom.
5) Converts Doom I maps to Doom II. Although you do need to load the included Doom1-2.WAD when you load the converted WAD into Doom II or it will crash.
6) Converts the file type so when you double-click it, it starts Doom.
7) Drag-Drop is supported, just drop a file on WADenizer and WADenize it!
How to use it
Required setup
In order to expand sprites and flats, a copy of the DOOM2.WAD that came with Doom II must be located. If you do not have Doom II, the DOOM.WAD from Ultimate Doom should work as well. Shareware Doom might work, but you can't load the WAD into Shareware so what would be the point? Use DOOM2.WAD if you have both versions, this way files will work with either product.
Once you have decided what Doom WAD to use, make an alias of it, rename the alias "Doom IWAD" and put it in the same folder as the WADenizer. Why IWAD? That is Doom's internal code for the main WAD file, so I used it.
If WADenizer cannot find the Doom WAD, it will give you a warning at startup. If you get this warning, sprite and flat expansion will not take place.
Menu Operation
When the program starts, a very small menu bar appears. The Menu Bar has only the Apple and File Menus. The File Menu has two options. Open opens a file and Quit exits the program.
Selecting open will open the Mac standard gimme-a-file box.
When you open the file, one of two things will happen:
1) You'll get a message box saying the file was not a Doom WAD
2) A dialog box full of check boxes appears
While the file is open, no other operations are possible.
Main Dialog Box
At the top of the box will be the filename, followed by several checkboxes. Most likely, some of the checkboxes will be dimmed and unusable. This is because the WADenizer did not find that type of information in the WAD. The checkboxes indicate what information is to be written:
1) Copy Maps
If you check this, map information will be written to the new file
2) Convert Maps to Doom II
Only appears if a Doom I map was found. If you check this, any maps written out will be written in Doom II format. You will need to load both the saved WAD and DOOM1-2.WAD into Doom II or you will get an error saying Texture Not Found in some weird Doom error language.
Episode 1 is Maps 1-9, Episode 2 is Maps 10-18, etc. If you convert and a demo is found, the demo will be converted also.
3) Copy Sprites
If checked, sprites will be copied to the new file. If sprites are copied and the Doom IWAD was set correctly, sprite expansion takes place automatically.
4) Copy Sounds
If checked, sounds will be copied. This does not include music, which is unusable, but does include everything else.
5) Copy Demo
Some WADs come with a demo showing (and spoiling) features. These demos would frequently crash MacDoom, causing a reboot and a steady stream of profanity in many cases.
After the WADenizer converts them, they will no longer crash so you don't need to sit there waiting to hit enter.
6) Copy Textures
If this is checked, the wall, floor, and ceiling textures will be copied. As are sprites, flats will be expanded automatically if the Doom IWAD is set up correctly. Be warned that copying maps without textures could cause Doom to crash.
Making the new file
There are also two buttons, Cancel and Make. Cancel will make the box go away, close the file, and give you back control over your Mac. Make will bring up the Mac standard what-file-to-save-as box. If you enter a filename, it will write a Mac-friendly version of the opened WAD file to the specified location. Creating the file takes only a few seconds. When finished, you'll see a new file with the WAD icon on it.
Questions/Quirks
When I load the converted WAD into Doom, it says something about invalid filename?
WADenizer is an original Mac program, it allows any filename. Doom II is a converted MS-DOS program, it does not. In order for MacDoom to load your new file, the name must be in PC format. 1-8 Uppercase letters, a period, and the letters "WAD". i.e. XXXXXX.WAD. This is a limitation of Doom itself.
Doom complains it can't find the WAD
You tried running Doom when the WADenizer was still running. The two programs are fighting over who has the DOOM IWAD, and WADenizer was first so it won. Do not run Doom while the WADenizer is still running.
The demo is dull. Our hero runs around shooting at empty space
Demos only contain movement info, there is nothing about the map in the file. This means that a demo frequently consists of our hero valiantly running around the entry room unable to find the door and shooting at the empty air. Oh well, at least it doesn't crash anymore. There isn't anything I can do about this, you should probably remove the demo.
I can't save the WADenized file with the same filename. It lets me select it, asks me if I'm sure, then says it can't save the file. Why?
Saving to the same file requires a more complex save routine, I plan to put one in WADenizer 1.1, but that will take a while.
Future Plans
These are subject to change without notice
This version of the WADenizer 1.0.1 is a beta version. It is stable enough for release, but may have some hidden quirks. There have been cases where a WADenized file did not work in Doom, but a later WADenized version worked. I am trying to determine why.
1) Protected save mode. When saving to an existing file, most Mac programs save a temporary file and switch them. This allows you to safely write over a file and recover if something goes wrong. It will also allow saving to the original file, which sets the stage for:
2) "Batch" mode. Suppose you wanted to WADenize 50 WADs. You could drag-drop all 50 onto WADenizer and it will ask you if you want batch mode. If you say yes, it automatically checks all boxes and saves to the same filename. No further user input is required (or possible).
3) Move patches from DOOM1-2.WAD into the created WAD automatically. This will make the new WAD standalone
4) Ability to compress sprites/flats. DeUSF exands in a way that is easy to reverse, I plan to copy that method so you can upload a WADenized version.
4) Once WADenizer is finished, I hope to start on a program to edit graphics and sounds.
Technical Info
WADenizer was written by me, Ron Midthun. My email address is kallisti@msn.fullfeed.com.
You can send me bug reports and enhancement ideas, but I do have a day job so I may be slow in responding.
WADenizer is not PowerPC native, I didn't see any point in it since it spends all of its time in disk oparations.
WADenizer was written using CodeWarrior 8, lots of Mountain Dew, and lots of books by Apple, Dave Mark and Dan Parks Sydow. This is my first Mac program ever, so I needed lots of good information.
I used the Unofficial Doom Specs 1.666 by Matt Fell. This contains almost everything you ever wanted to know about WADs.
The map converter only changes the name ExMy to MAPzz, where zz=(x-1)*9+y
The Demo converter generally changes the first byte of the demo LMP to 109. Thats all that was needed to keep your machine from crashing, ONE LOUSY BYTE.
There is an older demo version which doesn't contain all the info. For these, I set respawn=no, fast=no, nomonsters=no, view=player1 and mode=deathmatch if player 2 exists, otherwise normal. This is about the best I can do, and frankly, I have never actually found one of these older demos.
DOOM1-2.WAD was taken from the PC side of the Total Ruin CD-ROM. The original readme file is part of the WADenizer release package.
Acknowledgements
First one goes to Matt Fell, whose Unofficial Doom Specs is essentially the root of every WAD ever made.
Next goes to Mike Trent. Without his encouragement, knowledge, and help, this program probably would never have been written.
paolo@netcom.com - creator of DOOM1-2.WAD
David Kramer of MDR had lots of good suggestions.
Eric Harnisch and Austin Katt for help testing out the WADenizer and getting me to play Doom in the first place. I never knew shooting things could be such fun!
(sort of) Legal Stuff
WADenizer is FreeWare. Although I retain copyright, I give everyone permission to distribute anywhere as long as you don't charge for it. I give permission for it to appear in CD-ROM and Magazine collections, although I would like a copy of any such CD. The WADenizer and this document must both be included and not modified. It would be rude not to include DOOM1-2.WAD, but I will not require it.
I do not guarantee that WADenizer will do anything, and am not responsible for anything WADenizer does. Uploading WADs made with WADenizer could represent a copyright violation, if this bothers you, then don't upload. I am not reponsible for any copyright infringement using the WADenizer.
