Hellmaker Copyright (C) 1996 Paul Davidson. All Rights Reserved.
DOOM is a registered trademark of Id Software.
Disclaimer of Warranty:
THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND WITHOUT WARRANTIES AS TO PERFORMANCE OF MERCHANTABILITY OR ANY OTHER WARRANTIES WHETHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED. BECAUSE OF THE VARIOUS HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE ENVIRONMENTS INTO WHICH THIS PROGRAM MAY BE PUT, NO WARRANTY OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE IS OFFERED. THE USER MUST ASSUME THE ENTIRE RISK OF USING THE PROGRAM. ANY LIABILITY WILL BE LIMITED EXCLUSIVELY TO PRODUCT REPLACEMENT OR REFUND OF PURCHASE PRICE.
Note:
There are two reference manuals for Hellmaker. This manual,The Hellmaker General Reference Manual, contains information that is not directly related to level editing. The companion manual,The Hellmaker Editing Reference Manual, contains detailed descriptions of all the editing functions of Hellmaker. For a quick start, you can look at the online tutorials available within Hellmaker itself, accessible from the Balloon Help Menu.
Contents:
1. Introduction
1.1 Features
1.2 ShareWare policy
1.3 How to Register
1.4 Tutorial
1.5 Reference Material
1.6 Bug Reports
2. Preferences
3. Structures
3.1 The node tree - nodes, segs and subsectors
3.2 The blockmap table
3.3 The reject table
4. Credits
1. Introduction:
Hellmaker 1.0 is the first easy-to-use MacDOOM level editor. Using the powerful features of this program, beginning level designers will be able to easily create that level they've been dreaming about, while advanced level designers will find it hugely reduces the amount of time needed to make a level. With its built-in tutorial, you can get started right away.
1.1 Features:
Macintosh interface!!!
Completely graphical level creation!
No need to remember the number of any object, just point and click!
Automatic sector creation!
Automatic sidedef creation!
Intelligent and customisable defaults for many properties!
Fast and easy texture selector!
Full node tree and blockmap building!
Built-in tutorial!
1.2 ShareWare policy:
Hellmaker is NOT FREE. If you use Hellmaker to make levels, you must register it for a really reasonable $10 registration fee. That's a lot cheaper than taking someone to a movie, and surely you'll have much more fun making DOOM levels! Not to mention the worldwide acclaim when you release your levels for everyone to play!
Now my hard sell: I've got some really cool improvements planned (some are in beta test right now), but I'm not going to release any updates unless I get some registrations. As a teaser, here's some of what's planned for the next three versions:
Version 1.1: (In beta test, released after I get about 15 registrations)
Automatic modification of sectors into doors and lifts!
Select all sidedefs for a sector with a single command.
Cut and paste of properties.
Improvements to the texture selector.
And some other things…
Version 1.2: (Being developed)
Super-Duper Texture Alignment Tools.
DOOM1 <-> DOOM2 conversion. (Texture and Thing substitution)
More improvements to the texture selector.
Reject table generation.
And other things…
Version 1.3:
Cool new mode makes setting ceiling and floor heights easy.
More info about things visible in the map area.
And many other fantastic features!
If you register, you will help to make Hellmaker the best DOOM editor there is, one that will let you create levels in minutes rather than hours, and one that will make PC DOOMheads turn bright green with envy (making them a better target in deathmatches, heh heh).
1.3 How to Register:
Registration fees are handled by Kagi Shareware. Please run the REGISTER program in this directory and fill out the form. Save, copy or print the data from the Register program and send the data and payment to Kagi Shareware. If paying with Credit Card or First Virtual, you can email or fax the data to Kagi Shareware. Their email address is shareware@kagi.com and their fax number is +1 510 652-6589. You can either copy the data from Register and paste into the body of an email message, or you can save the data to a file and attach that file to an email message. If you have a fax modem, just Print the data to the Kagi fax number.
Payments sent via email are processed within 3 to 4 days. You will receive an email acknowledgement when it is processed. Payments sent via fax take up to 10 days and if you provide a correct internet email address you will receive an email acknowledgement.
If you are paying with Cash or USD Check you should print the data using the Register application and send it to the address shown on the form, which is:
Kagi Shareware
1442-A Walnut Street #392-MD
Berkeley, California 94709-1405
USA
You can pay with a wide variety of cash from different countries but at present if you pay via check, it must be a check drawn in US Dollars. Kagi Shareware cannot accept checks in other currencies.
1.4 Tutorial:
For new users of Hellmaker, an online tutorial is available. This is automatically activated the first time a new level editing window is made. The tutorial information occupies the right side of the editing window.
1.5 Reference Material:
To make the most of Hellmaker, you'll need to read some of the other reference and tutorial material that's available. The most important must-read document for the MacDOOM level designer is the "Unofficial DOOM Specifications" by Matt Fell. You'll see it referred to as the UDS in this manual. It contains a plethora of detailed information on all aspects of how DOOM works.
Less comprehensive, but more readable information is presented in a Q&A format in the "DOOM Level Design FAQ" (Frequently Asked Questions), edited by Tom Neff. This document can save many hours of hair-pulling when that level you've worked on for days doesn't do what you intended.
Other useful information can be found in "DOOM Metrics" by Scott Ampoker, which contains information on relating 'DOOM size units' to 'real-world' sizes. Also the file "Managing Textures and the Unpegged Attribute", also by Scott Ampoker gives a good overview on how to use textures effectively.
All of these files can be obtained from
<ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/idgames/docs/editing>
as the following files:
dmspec16.txt - The Unofficial DOOM Specs, version 1.666
design12.txt - The DOOM Level Design FAQ, version 1.2
metrics.zip - DOOM Metrics
textures.zip - Managing Textures and the Unpegged Attribute
Note that the last two files are in .zip format, which will require an unzip program to decompress (Stuffit Expander DOESN'T work, unless you have Expander Enhancer). An good unzip program is Un-Zip, currently available as un-zip-512.hqx from the /cmp directory of your nearest info-mac mirror.
1.6 Support, bug reports, and gushings:
If you wish to receive assistance, you may send email to the address given at the bottom of this document. I am more likely to help people who have registered. Others will probably be ignored (sorry, but I do have a limited amount of time).
If you have any bug reports, try to reproduce the way in which you crashed the program. Then write a short report, giving the exact circumstances under which the program crashed. Please include the version you are running (1.0) and a binhexed copy of the WAD file you were working on, if possible. Then email to the address given at the bottom of this document.
I'm also open to gushings of admiration for the programmer of this wonderful program :-).
2. Preferences
The preferences panel, accessible from the EDIT menu, allows you define a set of default properties and behaviour that are applied when creating a new sidedef or a new sector. In addition, you can specify the inactive group tag number (see the section on GROUP MODE in the Editing Reference Manual).
Default Textures:
The three boxes labelled Wall, Floor and Ceiling allow you to specify the default textures that will be used for newly created sidedefs (walls) and sectors (floors and ceilings).
The default wall texture will be always be used for upper and lower textures in all new sidedefs unless the "Use Previous Selected" box is checked. If this is the case, the textures from the most recently selected sidedef will be used. For the first sidedef added to a linedef, the middle texture is set in the same manner. When a second sidedef is added to a linedef, the middle textures of both sidedefs are always set to "-", i.e. transparent.
The default floor and wall textures will be used for new sectors, unless the "Use Adjacent Flats" box is checked and the new sector has one or more linedefs in common with other sectors. In that case, the floor texture from the adjacent sector with the closest floor height will be used for the new sector's floor texture. Similarly, the ceiling texture from the adjacent sector with the closest ceiling height will be used for the new sector's ceiling texture. If the above applies to more than one adjacent sector, and those sectors have different textures, the texture(s) from the most recently created adjacent sector will be used in the new sector. (Phew! I wonder if anyone will understand that.)
Default Heights:
The two boxes labelled Floor and Ceiling allow you to specify default heights for the floors and ceilings of newly created sectors. These will be used if (a) the new sector has no adjacent sectors, or (b) the boxes marked "Use Adjacent Height" are unchecked.
If there is an adjacent sector, and the box is checked, the new floor or ceiling height will be derived from those of the adjacent sector(s) as follows: if there is only one adjacent sector, its heights will be used. If there is more than one adjacent sector, the new height will be the (a) the highest from the floors/ceilings of the adjacent sectors, or (b) the lowest from the floors/ceilings of the adjacent sectors, or (c) halfway between the highest and lowest floors/ceilings of the adjacent sectors. The choice of (a), (b) or (c) above is determined by the setting immediately below the "Use Adjacent Height" boxes.
Default Light Level:
The box labelled Light Level allows you to specify default light level in a newly created sector. This will be used if (a) the new sector has no adjacent sectors, or (b) the box marked "Use Adjacent Light Level" is unchecked.
If there is an adjacent sector, and the box is checked, the new light level will be derived from that of the adjacent sector(s) as follows: if there is only one adjacent sector, its light level will be used. If there is more than one adjacent sector, the new light level will be the same as (a) the brightest of the adjacent sectors, or (b) the dimmest of the adjacent sectors, or (c) halfway between the brightest and dimmest adjacent sectors. The choice of (a), (b) or (c) above is determined by the setting immediately below the "Use Adjacent Light Level" box.
3. Structures
In addition to the geometry information created by the map editing, two additional data structures are required by DOOM before a level will play properly. These are the node tree (nodes, segs and subsectors) and the blockmap. Also, an optional structure called the reject table may improve DOOM's speed for complicated levels. The sections below provide brief notes on Hellmaker's handling of these structures.
3.1 The node tree - nodes, segs and subsectors:
The node tree is calculated when you ask Hellmaker to save a level. The method used is reasonably fast and effective.
3.2 The blockmap table:
The blockmap is calculated when you ask Hellmaker to save a level. Note that due to limitations in DOOM, a level that occupies a wide area on the map may cause the blockmap table to become too large. If this happens, Hellmaker will issue an error message and the blockmap will not be computed. The only solution to this problem is to make the level smaller.
3.3 The reject table:
The present version of Hellmaker (v1.0) does not compute a reject table. This may affect DOOM's performance for complicated levels. A future version of Hellmaker (probably v1.2) will compute reject tables (I have an algorithm in front of me now, I've just got to find time to code it!).
