Cobra Utilities for Doom & Doom II

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DOOMUTIL Version 1.04 David Poole, Jr. PO Box 747 Pacolet, SC. 29372 david.poole@swcbbs.com DOOMUTIL 1.04 User's Guide Page 1 Table Of Contents Introduction and Background................................2 Disclaimer:..............................................2 Warning:.................................................3 Using DOOMUTIL.............................................4 Command Line Parameters..................................4 Interactive Use..........................................4 Invoking Menu Selections................................4 Editing Information.....................................5 Hot Keys................................................6 Menu Selections............................................7 Main Menu................................................7 Begin Doom With Current Configuration...................7 Modify Current Game Configuration.......................7 Modify Serial Server Configuration......................8 Modify Network Server Configuration.....................8 WAD File Functions......................................8 Miscellaneous Functions.................................8 WAD File Functions.......................................9 WAD Functions Menu.......................................9 Selection Menu..........................................9 Force Refresh of WAD list...............................9 Rescan Selected WAD files..............................10 Backup selected WAD file(s)............................10 Restore selected WAD file(s)...........................10 List WAD files.........................................10 Build new WAD from selected PWADs......................10 Episode/Mission MENU...................................11 WAD THING MENU.........................................11 WAD SECTOR MENU........................................11 Selection Menu..........................................11 Select wad files for modification......................11 Select All wad files...................................13 Deselect All wad files.................................14 Invert wad file selection..............................14 Change Sorting Order...................................14 Save Selection To File.................................15 Load Selection From File...............................15 Episode/Mission MENU....................................15 Modify Episode & Level for PWADs.......................15 Globally Modify Episode & Level for PWADs..............16 Incrementally Modify Episode & Level for PWADs.........16 WAD THING MENU..........................................16 Invert selected WAD(s) things Death Match Status.......16 Remove selected WAD(s) THINGs Death Match Status.......16 Randomize selected WAD(s) THINGs with computer seed....16 Replace one thing with another.........................17 WAD SECTOR MENU.........................................17 Highlight (Dim Secret, Pulse Trigger) SECTORs..........17 Maximize Brightness of SECTORs.........................18 Remove Damaging SECTORs................................18 Miscellaneous Functions.................................18 Access Dialing Directory...............................18 David Poole, Jr. 94/7/31 17:01 DOOMUTIL 1.04 User's Guide Page 2 Enable Speaker.........................................18 Disable Speaker........................................18 Edit Program Configuration.............................18 Edit MODEM.CFG.........................................19 Run ID's Setup.........................................20 Register DOOMUTIL......................................20 Files created by DOOMUTIL.................................21 Uses of DOOMUTIL..........................................23 Using DOOMUTIL to automate multi-player sessions........23 Using DOOMUTIL to add life to memorized missions........23 Using DOOMUTIL to assist in using external WAD files....24 Evaluating new WADs....................................24 Developing new composite WADs..........................24 Registering DOOMUTIL......................................26 David Poole, Jr. 94/7/31 17:01 DOOMUTIL 1.04 User's Guide Page 3 Introduction and Background. DOOMUTIL is a utility to originally designed to facilitate using ID's DOOM when playing multi-player mode. The setup program that is supplied with DOOM requires too much effort on the part of the user, especially when playing via modem. DOOMUTIL was created to alleviate this problem. Initially, DOOMUTIL was used to create batch files, which could then be repeatedly invoked using a menu system or command history utility. As my co-players and I discovered external WAD files, DOOMUTIL was expanded to support these as well, from both a player and a developer's stand point. As DOOMUTIL grew in functionality, it was decided to share the program with the rest of the DOOMing world. I hope that you will enjoy using this program. I've enjoyed writing it. If you enjoy it, please register it by following the instructions in the registration section of this document. Please note that this program and documentation, for the purposes of multi-player mode, are slanted towards competitive, versus cooperative play. While cooperative play is interesting, it's not much more interesting than single player mode, in my opinion. Getting another player on the grid (any TRON movie fans out there?) and taking turns blowing each other's brains out added much life to a game that was about to get old (after four months...). You are also encouraged to send any comments, criticisms, or complaints regarding this program. I have other ideas to be added, and based on user support and feedback, these may be implemented and released. Since this is the first release of the program, there are likely to be problems encountered that were not encountered (or noticed) by any of the initial testers of the program. Please feel free to bring these to my attention. Disclaimer: IN NO EVENT SHALL DAVID POOLE, JR. BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER (INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF PROFITS, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, LOSS OF INFORMATION, OR OTHER PECUNIARY LOSS) ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THIS PROGRAM. This program can make modifications to files used by DOOM if so instructed by the user. ID Software does David Poole, Jr. 94/7/31 17:01 DOOMUTIL 1.04 User's Guide Page 4 not provide technical support for DOOM if DOOM has been modified. It is advisable to make a backup of DOOM and any WAD files you've obtained for use with DOOM, before using DOOMUTIL. Warning: DOOMUTIL creates files with the extension of .WBU to minimize the amount of time and space required to recover WAD files from randomization and other modifications. Deletion of these .WBU files will require you to obtain the WAD files from their original source if you wish to have them in their original state. David Poole, Jr. 94/7/31 17:01 DOOMUTIL 1.04 User's Guide Page 5 Using DOOMUTIL. DOOMUTIL is an interactive program. However, there are some command line parameters that speed use of the program. Command Line Parameters. RUN Causes DOOMUTIL to invoke DOOM with the parameters selected by the user via the menu system. After DOOM terminates, DOOMUTIL terminates. RESUME Effectively like the RUN parameter, with the exception that the last saved game (if any) is automatically loaded. This is handy if you're playing multi- player via modem, and the other player forgets to disable their call-waiting. After DOOM terminates, DOOMUTIL terminates. Interactive Use. All interaction with the program is done through three simple interfaces: a menuing system, a field editing system, and a hot key system. Familiarity with each of these is very helpful. Invoking Menu Selections. Desired menu functions can be selected by one of three methods. The first and fastest method is to press the key that corresponds to the highlighted character in the text describing the functions. Pressing the highlighted key invokes the function immediately. Pressing the ESCAPE key will exit the menu. The second method is to use the mouse. Move the mouse cursor to the desired option and press the left mouse button. Pressing the right mouse button, while the cursor is within the border surrounding the menu, will act as an ESCAPE key press, and exit the menu. The third method is to use the up and down arrow keys. The Home and End keys can be used to move quickly to the top or bottom of the menu list. Once the desired function is highlighted, press the Enter key to invoke it. David Poole, Jr. 94/7/31 17:01 DOOMUTIL 1.04 User's Guide Page 6 Editing Information. Information that cannot be specified through the use of the menuing system is communicated through the use of a field editing system. For the purpose of this section, an editing session is the duration of the field editor's continual usage. For example, an editing session begins when the user selects "Modify Current Game Configuration" from the Main Menu, and the session ends when either Control & Enter, or Escape is pressed, to save or discard changes, respectively. Movement from field to field is performed with the up and down arrow, Page Up, Page Down, and Enter keys. If invalid input is made in a field, then the editor will not allow the cursor to leave the current field. To save the changes made for the current editing session, press the Control and Enter keys simultaneously. To abandon the changes made for the current editing system, press the Escape key. The insert key toggles between character insert and character overwrite mode. The backspace key deletes the character to the left of the cursor, and places the cursor in that position. The delete key deletes the character under the cursor. The tab key is used to advance the cursor to the next word in a given field. The shift tab key combination advances the cursor to the previous word. The Home key moves the cursor to the first character of the field. The End key moves the cursor to the last character of a the field. F2 erases the current contents of the field. Shift F2 erases the contents of all fields. F3 undoes any changes made to the current field, restoring the field to it's status at the beginning of the editing session. Shift F3 restores all fields to their original status. Control F3 restores the field to it's contents when the cursor last entered the selected field. F1 can be used during editing to display a brief summary of these keys. David Poole, Jr. 94/7/31 17:01 DOOMUTIL 1.04 User's Guide Page 7 In addition, some fields allow browsing or other special functions. When the cursor enters one of these fields, a message is displayed at the bottom of the current window to inform the user of these possibilities. Hot Keys In addition to the menuing and editing system, there are "Hot Keys" within DOOMUTIL. These keys can invoke specific functions when pressed. They are available any time DOOMUTIL is waiting for keyboard input. ALT-B Begins DOOM with the current configuration. Note that if you are editing the current configuration, and have not yet saved it via the CNTL-ENTER key sequence, ALT-B will invoke the last saved configuration. Naturally, this holds true for all factors that affect game play, such as Modem Server Configuration, Network Server Configuration, or Wad file functions. The best time to use this function is when you are at a menu, but you're not limited in this respect. ALT-C Modify Current Game Configuration. Allows quick access to the Edit Current Game Configuration screen. ALT-D Launch DOS Shell. This invokes the system shell specified by the COMSPEC environment variable, which, in most cases, is COMMAND.COM. In this case, returning to DOOMUTIL is performed by entering "EXIT" at the command line. ALT-M Launch WAD editor. This allows you to invoke the wad modification utility specified in the program configuration screen. ALT-X Exit DOOMUTIL immediately. Note that any changes not saved (as discussed with the ALT- B text) are not saved for the next DOOMUTIL session. ALT-Z Exit DOOMUTIL immediately, invoking the work command as specified in the program configuration. David Poole, Jr. 94/7/31 17:01 DOOMUTIL 1.04 User's Guide Page 8 Menu Selections Main Menu Begin Doom With Current Configuration This begins DOOM with the current configuration, as specified in the Modify Current Game Configuration. Selected WADs are automatically loaded. Modify Current Game Configuration This allows the user to specify various aspects regarding the playing of DOOM. Single player, serial or network play, episode, mission, skill, presence of monsters, monster respawning, deathmatch, and the game to load (if any) are specified here. Selection of a single player, modem, direct connect (null modem), or network game is performed with this screen. If any legitimate changes are made to the value in the episode field, the mission field is automatically changed to the first mission for the given episode. The mission field can be changed to allow skipping the earlier levels. This is handy if you're playing deathmatch, and want to skip to where some of the bigger toys are. Note that the game slot menu allows entry of values from 0 to 6, inclusive. Specifying a 0 in this field indicates that a new game is to be initiated. A 1 selects the game saved in the first slot, etc. Placing a "?" in the game slot field instructs DOOMUTIL to find the most recently saved game and use it, if any. While the cursor is in this field, the F10 key can be used to browse the saved games. While browsing the saved games, the episode, mission, skill level, and frag summary (if a network game) is displayed. If a saved game is selected, using the F9 key in this field allows the user to display the statistics of each of the players in the saved mission. If a loaded game is specified, the episode, mission, and skill level are updated to reflect the loaded game. David Poole, Jr. 94/7/31 17:01 DOOMUTIL 1.04 User's Guide Page 9 Modify Serial Server Configuration This allows specification of the modem communication port, the direct connection serial port (for use with null modems), the number to dial, and the serial driver to use for MODOOMing. Modify Network Server Configuration. This screen allows selection of the network socket, network driver, and number of players for a network game when a saved game is not being loaded. For the network driver, IPXSETUP could be specified. If this method is used, then you must make sure the network software is loaded before DOOMUTIL is invoked. However, a much simpler way to play via the network is to create a batch file that loads the network software, then the IPX driver, and finally, terminates he network software. For example, my NETDOOM.BAT for running under Lantastic follows: LSL NE2000 IPXODI IPXSETUP %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7 %8 %9 IPXODI U NE2000 U LSL U I've used both methods for playing DOOM over the network; I personally prefer the NETDOOM.BAT method. The NETDOOM.BAT method poses problems, however, when selecting external WAD files, all of the parameters can not be accessed through the parameter list. WAD File Functions This allows selection of WAD file modification functions, described in the WAD File Functions menu section. Miscellaneous Functions This allows selection of various functions that didn't really have a place anywhere else. These functions are elaborated upon in the Miscellaneous Functions menu section. David Poole, Jr. 94/7/31 17:01 DOOMUTIL 1.04 User's Guide Page 10 WAD File Functions These functions allow modification of the WAD files (both DOOM and others) for various reasons. Currently, the only thing that DOOMUTIL modifies regarding the WAD files are SECTORS and THINGS. SECTORS are basically contiguous areas of floor that are of the same height, although these areas can be divided for various reasons. THINGS are various items in DOOM, such as barrels, keys, player starting locations, enemies, etc. When modifying a WAD file, DOOMUTIL will create an archive file for each WAD file that it modifies, if the archive does not already exist. These files will have the extension of WBU (Wad Back Up). NEVER ERASE A .WBU FILE UNLESS YOU HAVE RESTORED THE CORRESPONDING WAD FILE TO IT'S ORIGINAL STATUS. Doing so will result in a WAD file that is not in its state as shipped, and your only recourse is to reinstall the WAD file from its original source. Note that DOOMUTIL looks for files with the extension of ".BAK" to denote that a given WAD file is a user modified file. In this case, DOOMUTIL will not allow certain modifications, as restoring the file could be catastrophic. The archive files are typically a fraction of the size of the original file, so time (as well as disk space) is saved for restoring large files (like DOOM.WAD) to their original status, versus extraction from an archived source. When modifying wad files for multiple player usage, it's important that all players involved restore the desired WAD files to their original status, then make the same modifications in the same sequence. Failure to do so will generally result in consistency failures after DOOM starts. WAD Functions Menu Selection Menu Allows selection of WAD files for use or modification. This is detailed below. Force Refresh of WAD list. In the event that the WAD list becomes invalid (unlikely, unless WAD files are added or deleted from the DOOM directory while shelled out of DOOMUTIL), this option must be used to recreate the WAD file David Poole, Jr. 94/7/31 17:01 DOOMUTIL 1.04 User's Guide Page 11 list. The previous selection status for WAD files is discarded. You are asked to confirm this option, as information DOOMUTIL maintains about the WAD file that's not part of the WAD file (times used, last used) will be lost if you perform this option. If you do not confirm rebuilding the list, then DOOMUTIL will rescan ALL files the files in the list for updated information, as if you had selected all of the WAD files and used the Rescan Selected WAD files option. If you add or remove WAD files from your directory, it's best to exit DOOMUTIL and start over. In this manner, DOOMUTIL's times used and last time used information is maintained. Rescan Selected WAD files. This causes DOOMUTIL to update it's database of information for each of the WAD files that are selected. You can perform this option if you've modified any of the WAD files since the last time DOOMUTIL scanned it. The last time of use, and the number of times used for each WAD scanned will be retained. Backup selected WAD file(s). Creates a .WBU file for each of the corresponding WAD files, if the file does not already exist. Only the THINGS & SECTORS portion of the WAD are backed up. Restore selected WAD file(s). If a selected WAD file has been modified, then the modifications are removed with this option. Only the THINGS & SECTORS portion of the WAD are restored. List WAD files. This creates a file with the extension "LST" for each WAD file, containing a dump of the various objects encountered in the WAD file. Not that this is useful to your average bear, but during the development of these functions, this information can sometimes be handy, so I left the option in due to laziness on my part. You may or may not find the information useful, depending on your own level of dementedness and curiosity. Build new WAD from selected PWADs. This function allows you to combine all of the selected WAD (PWAD or IWAD) files into a new PWAD file. All directory entries from each selected WAD David Poole, Jr. 94/7/31 17:01 DOOMUTIL 1.04 User's Guide Page 12 file are copied into the new WAD file specified by the user. Note that no checking is performed for duplication of directory entries. This is handy for linking sound or texture WADs with custom levels. It's also handy for creation of one WAD file when you desire to play more wad files than will fit on the command line due to the 128 character limit imposed by MS/DOS. This function will not allow you to overwrite an existing file. After the wad file has been created, the WAD file list will be rebuilt. Episode/Mission MENU Allows modification of episodes and missions for selected WAD files. This is detailed below. WAD THING MENU Allows modification of THINGs in selected WAD files. This is detailed below. WAD SECTOR MENU Allows modification of SECTORs in selected WAD files. This is detailed below. Selection Menu Select wad files for modification. This allows selection of individual WAD files for manipulation. Selecting the individual WAD files is done as follows: The Up and Down arrow keys allow moving from WAD to WAD. Moving the mouse cursor to a WAD moves the highlight bar to the corresponding entry. Pressing the Space bar, or left mouse button while the mouse cursor is on an entry toggles the selection status of the highlighted WAD file. Pressing Enter, or the right mouse button while the mouse cursor is within the selection window border exits the selection system, saving the selections you've made. David Poole, Jr. 94/7/31 17:01 DOOMUTIL 1.04 User's Guide Page 13 Pressing Escape, or the middle mouse button (if present) while the mouse cursor is within the selection window border exits the selection system, discarding selections in changes that you've made. Page Up, Page Down, Home, and End effect scrolling through the listing (if it requires more than one page). Mouse users can scroll the display by moving the cursor to either the top or bottom border of the window. Pressing the left mouse button will scroll the display by one line. Pressing the right mouse button will scroll the display by one page. Pressing the middle mouse button, if present, will scroll the display to the respective end of the list. Pressing [F10] invokes the configured WAD viewer/editor on the highlighted WAD, if one has been configured. See the program configuration section for details. Pressing [ALT-F10] will perform the same operation, and automatically launch DOOM with the current selected WADs. THIS IS VERY HANDY FOR WAD DEVELOPERS. Pressing [F9] displays detailed information regarding the WAD file. Pressing [F8] displays a summary of the episodes and missions selected. Using this summary, you can determine if you have selected WAD files that conflict; i.e., two WADs contain maps or songs for E1M1, or the selected WADs are not contiguous, i.e., you've selected a WAD for E1M1 & E1M3, but none for E1M2. Pressing [F3] displays the current sorting scheme. Pressing [F2] displays the color scheme, outlined below. WADs displayed with a red or brown background have been modified, and need to be restored in order to be used in a multi-player game. Wad files with yellow text have been selected. For each WAD in the list that contains missions, the first episode and mission encountered for the wad is displayed, followed by the number of missions found in the WAD. Finally, if there are 4 death match starts for each mission, there will be a "DM", indicating David Poole, Jr. 94/7/31 17:01 DOOMUTIL 1.04 User's Guide Page 14 that the level is suitable for death match play[1]. This will prevent rude interruptions in your death matches when a new level is loaded where the developer overlooked this important THING. If an exclamation mark is displayed, then DOOMUTIL has found something about the WAD that may cause problems with playing multiple player sessions. These factors are: No exit, not enough (or too many) player starts, or not enough death match starts FOR EACH MISSION in the given WAD file. For each WAD in the list that contains music as opposed to sound, the episode and mission for which the music is assigned to is specified. The message "SONG" to the right of the episode and mission indicate that this WAD contains music as opposed to a missions. If a WAD does not contain missions or music, then no level or episode information is specified. Text describing what was found is displayed. Selected WADs are used when DOOM is invoked. If the Auto Build WAD file feature is not enabled (described under Program Configuration), it's possible to select more WAD files than will fit on the command line. This is due to the wonderful 128-character limit on command lines that the folks at Microsoft have imposed on us. In this event, all of the selected WADs will not be loaded by DOOM. NOTE: During the selection process, the currently displayed selection is considered to be current, whether or not the user has used ENTER to confirm the selection. This means that the hot key functions will work with the currently displayed selection as opposed to the last confirmed selection. If DOOMUTIL is terminated via the ALT-X or ALT-Z sequence, the current selection is stored in the configuration file, as opposed to the last confirmed selection. Select All wad files. Automatically selects all of the WAD files for manipulation. 1 It amazed me that this had to be included. During development and playing, er, testing DOOMUTIL with selected WADs, I was astounded at the number of WADs I had that could not be played with Death Match. Is it just me, or is something wrong here? David Poole, Jr. 94/7/31 17:01 DOOMUTIL 1.04 User's Guide Page 15 Deselect All wad files. Automatically de-selects all of the WAD files for manipulation. Invert wad file selection. This reverses the order of the selection status of each WAD file you have installed in your configured DOOM directory. Change Sorting Order Allows selection of the sort method of the listed WAD files. There are three levels of sorting that may be specified. Files that are considered equal for the purposes of the first level of sorting are submitted to a second test. Files considered equal for the second test are submitted to a third test. In this manner, you can usually arrange the WAD file listing to suit your needs, which may change, depending on what you're doing with DOOMUTIL. Sorting options are: Name: The listing is sorted alphabetically according to file name. Episode & Mission: The listing is sorted according to the first episode and mission in each file. If a WAD file is found that contains a level, and another contains a song, and they are for the same episode and mission, they will appear together, with the WAD containing the level appearing before the WAD containing the music. Times Used: The listing is sorted according to the number of times each WAD has been used. The most frequently used WADs are displayed first. Last Used: The listing is sorted according to the most recently used files, which appear first. Modification Date: The most recently modified files appear first. Note that if you modify a WAD outside of DOOMUTIL, DOOMUTIL will not be aware of the updated file date. To make DOOMUTIL aware of the changed file date, you can either: <1> Select the WAD, and use the Force Refresh of Selected WAD files option of the WAD Functions menu, or <2> Use the Force Refresh of all WADs, and press a key other than F10 at the warning. Selection Status: Selected WADs are listed first. Note that the list is not sorted during the selection David Poole, Jr. 94/7/31 17:01 DOOMUTIL 1.04 User's Guide Page 16 process. To resort the list, exit the selection process and reenter it. User Modifying: WADs that are being modified by the user appear first. NOTE: DOOMUTIL considers a WAD to be one that is being modified by the user if a file with the same name as the .WAD file exists, with an extension of .BAK. Save Selection To File. This allows the user to save the names of the currently selected WADs to disk for later use with the Load Selection From File option. In this manner, multiple selections can be maintained easily. When this option is selected, the user is given the chance to enter a file name to save the selection under. During entry of the name, pressing the [F10] key browses all files in the DOOM directory with an extension of .SEL. An extension of .SEL is automatically assigned to the specified file name if one does not exist. Load Selection From File. This allows the user to restore a selection saved previously with the Save Selection To File option. When this option is selected, the user is given the chance to enter a file name to load the selection from. During entry of the name, pressing the [F10] key browses all files in the DOOM directory with an extension of .SEL. An extension of .SEL is automatically assigned to the specified file name if one does not exist. Episode/Mission MENU Modify Episode & Level for PWADs. This allows changing the episode and mission for individual WAD files, so that custom scenarios can be created. If a given WAD file contains more than one mission, then the episode and mission numbers are sequentially assigned. This affects both missions and music. NOTE: Episode and Mission number for a WAD file are not backed up! Changes made to the episode and mission number are permanent. David Poole, Jr. 94/7/31 17:01 DOOMUTIL 1.04 User's Guide Page 17 Globally Modify Episode & Level for PWADs. This works as Modify Episode & Level for WADs, with the exception that the specified episode and mission is used for the first episode and mission for all of the selected WAD files. NOTE: Episode and Mission number for a WAD file are not backed up! Changes made to the episode and mission number are permanent. Incrementally Modify Episode & Level for PWADs. This works as Globally Modify Episode & Level for WADs, with the exception that the specified episode and mission is used for the first episode and mission, and incremented for the remainder of the selected WAD files. This allows you to select specified WAD files, and quickly create a sequential list of missions for play. NOTE: Episode and Mission number for a WAD file are not backed up! Changes made to the episode and mission number are permanent. WAD THING MENU Invert selected WAD(s) things Death Match Status. This modification causes THINGs that appear in death match mode ONLY to appear in normal play, and THINGS that appear in normal play to appear only in DEATHMATCH. This is handy for newcomers to the deathmatch arena to learn the location of the weapons. The status of the key cards, skull keys, and teleport exits are not modified. Remove selected WAD(s) THINGs Death Match Status. This causes all THINGS that appear only in DEATHMATCH mode to appear in normal play. Typically, this provides extra ammunition, weapons, and health. Randomize selected WAD(s) THINGs with computer seed. This allows for randomization of THINGS in the selected WADs. This makes playing a WAD a little more enjoyable, after you've learned the exact location of everything in a particular WAD the way it's shipped. The only THINGs that are changed are the locations of the non-boss enemies, ammo, health, weapons, death- David Poole, Jr. 94/7/31 17:01 DOOMUTIL 1.04 User's Guide Page 18 match player starts, "passable furniture" (this includes barrels), and artifacts (super charges, armor, spheres of invisibility/invulnerability). There are some drawbacks to this. Some THINGs are place into locations that can not be accessed, such as super charges place in areas that are inaccessible, as well as death match starts where a player is trapped in a room that is sealed until the other player activates the trigger event. Also, I've noticed occasions where E1M8 could not be finished, as something is being moved that prevents the walls in the baron area from being opened when the baron(s) are killed. Still working on this one. Another problem exists when using randomized THINGs in a scenario. DOOMUTIL doesn't know the width of the various THINGs that it's moving around, so it's possible (actually, highly likely) that a wide enemy such as a Cacodemon will be placed where something small (such as shot gun shells) were. This means that the enemy is significantly handicapped, since it's usually stuck to the wall. The only time such an enemy is a threat is when you walk close enough to it to physically (virtually?) touch it. This problem will be addressed in a future version, if user support warrants it. However, this is still useful, especially when all players have the weapon locations memorized. This is also useful when one of the players is a relative newcomer with respect to another. Since the weapons and deathmatch starts are in varying places, each player has a closer to equal chance. Replace one thing with another. Non-functional at this time. This feature, if and when implemented, will allow users to change various THINGs for other THINGs. This will allow in changing the ratio of weapons/monsters/ammo/health/etc. for the particular scenario. WAD SECTOR MENU Highlight (Dim Secret, Pulse Trigger) SECTORs This option travels through the SECTORS in a WAD file, maximizing the brightness of each sector, so that no areas are dark. Then, any sector that is found to be David Poole, Jr. 94/7/31 17:01 DOOMUTIL 1.04 User's Guide Page 19 considered a secret is dimmed to half-brightness. SECTORs found that trigger events are set to flashing. Note that there are some SECTORs that appear to be modified internally at run-time, such as the room containing the blue key in E1M3, that change when an event is triggered. Maximize Brightness of SECTORs. This maximizes the brightness of all SECTORs in the WAD file. Read the "Highlight (Dim Secret, Pulse Trigger) SECTORs" section for information regarding events that may alter brightness. Remove Damaging SECTORs. This removes the aspect of areas that cause damage when you stand in them, such as areas with "slime". Miscellaneous Functions Access Dialing Directory This allows the user to maintain a list of frequently dial numbers for quick use when playing DOOM via modem. Enable Speaker. Use this to enable the various beeps that the DOOMUTIL makes from time to time. Disable Speaker. Use this to disable the various beeps that the DOOMUTIL makes from time to time. Edit Program Configuration. This allows for configuration various aspects of DOOMUTIL. The text editor entry is used when the Edit Modem Configuration command is invoked. The WAD editor entry is used when the Launch WAD Editor function is invoked. The Path To Doom entry is used to specify the location of DOOM. By using this, you can place DOOMUTIL anywhere in your path, and invoke DOOM without changing directories to it. David Poole, Jr. 94/7/31 17:01 DOOMUTIL 1.04 User's Guide Page 20 The Swap to EMS/XMS fields tell DOOMUTIL where to swap itself when it's shelling an external program, such as DOOM, the WAD editor/viewer, etc. If neither of these contains a Y, then a temporary file will be created on disk to store the information. If you have plenty of available EMS or XMS, you may wish to use this, as program swapping is much faster with one of these options enabled. The Enable BEEPS field enables or disables the annoying beeps that occurs frequently in the program. The Boss Mode informs DOOMUTIL to invoke the command specified by the next field, Boss Command, when one of the following conditions occurs: Exiting DOOM (press <F10><y>, and you're out of DOOM quickly), exiting DOOMUTIL, or using one of the boss hot-keys (ALT-Z, any F11 or F12 combination). The Auto Build PWAD name field allows you to specify a WAD file that will be created immediately before DOOM is invoked. By using this feature, you decrease the length of the command line that must be passed to DOOM or the appropriate multi-player driver. If you are only playing one or two PWAD files, then this is not usually a problem, but when you add many levels, sounds, music, and graphics, then this may be necessary. The built PWAD (the "target") will only be created under the following circumstances: (1) One or more of the selected PWADs have a newer modification date than the target PWAD, (2) The target does not exist, or (3) The WAD selection has changed. If you have the memory, specifying a RAM disk as the destination of the target will greatly speed the creation process, although the target will have to be recreated after each system boot. The View WAD Command field allows you to specify the command to be used to view a WAD file while selecting WADs in the WAD selection function. You must supply a "%s" (omit the quotes, and the "s" must be lowercase) in the command line. For example, I use DEU to view my wad files, so my command is "deu -file %s.wad" (again, quotes are to be omitted). Edit MODEM.CFG This invokes the user specified editor on the MODEM.CFG file. The editor is specified in the program configuration option of the miscellaneous functions menu. David Poole, Jr. 94/7/31 17:01 DOOMUTIL 1.04 User's Guide Page 21 Run ID's Setup. No matter what, there are still times when you have to run this thing. That's why this function is here. Register DOOMUTIL This is described in detail in the section for DOOMUTIL registration at the end of this document. David Poole, Jr. 94/7/31 17:01 DOOMUTIL 1.04 User's Guide Page 22 Files created by DOOMUTIL. DOOMUTIL creates and uses files for various functions. These files, and the functions that create or use them are described below. .WBU Wad Backup File. These files contain the directory entries for the THINGs & SECTORs found in the corresponding .WAD file, if 1 or more levels exist. These files are created when ever you select WAD files that contain levels, and either select the BACKUP function, or select a function that modifies the THINGs & SECTORs in a WAD. These files are typically a small percentage of the size of the entire WAD file, and allow DOOMUTIL to quickly restore a WAD file to it's original status. Due to the dynamics of user modified WAD files, WAD backup files are not created for these files. This is not a problem, as DOOMUTIL will not allow modification of THINGs & SECTORs in a user wad, anyway. These files are stored in the same directory with the WAD files. .BAK Backup of WAD file. DOOMUTIL checks for the existence of a file with the extension of .BAK for each .WAD file that it finds. The existence of such a file informs DOOMUTIL this is a WAD file that is being modified by the user. DOOMUTIL will also create a .BAK file when building a composite WAD from selected WAD files, if the user specified name of the target already exists. This allows recovery in the event of a mistake when building a composite WAD. These files are stored in the same directory with the WAD files. .LST Listing of WAD file. When List Selected WADs is invoked, the output for each WAD file is created in a file name with the name of the WAD, and an extension of .LST. These files are stored in the same directory with the WAD files. .SEL WAD File selection. These files are used to store the names for selection sets. This allows the user to save and restore selection sets at will. David Poole, Jr. 94/7/31 17:01 DOOMUTIL 1.04 User's Guide Page 23 .CFG Configuration file for DOOMUTIL. Unless DOOMUTIL is renamed, or copied, the only file that will be created is DOOMUTIL.CFG. If DOOMUTIL is renamed, then DOOMUTIL will use the path and new name of the program. By copying DOOMUTIL to other directories, or to other names, then multiple configurations for DOOMUTIL can be maintained. This file will always exist in the directory in which DOOMUTIL is located. David Poole, Jr. 94/7/31 17:01 DOOMUTIL 1.04 User's Guide Page 24 Uses of DOOMUTIL. If you're just going to play out-of-the-box DOOM, then there is not much of a reason to use DOOMUTIL. DOOMUTIL doesn't have much to offer the casual DOOM player, but then again, I don't know too many casual DOOM players. DOOMUTIL is meant for the serious player, who wants a quick and easy way to make the most of DOOM. Using DOOMUTIL to automate multi-player sessions. This is why DOOMUTIL was originally written. I was tired of having to constantly select the options with SETUP supplied with DOOM. This was especially cumbersome in the beginning of my MODOOMing days, since I was having to fight both the modem configuration and the SETUP program simultaneously. That's why there is three separate configuration menus with DOOMUTIL. Once you have the serial and network configuration selected, there's no reason you should ever have to modify it again. Unless you change the communications port for your modem or null modem, the number of players in a new network game, or network or serial drivers, you don't have to modify these parameters once they are set. Selection of single player, modem play, direct connect, or network play is done along with the selection of the episode, mission, skill, monsters, and death match is all in one convenient location. My fellow doomers & I have developed a quick method of communication of the game parameters. Reading off the value for the episode, mission, skill, monsters, respawn, and deathmatch fields is quick: "Hey Ted, let's 1-1-4-Y-N-Y", and we're on the way. Using DOOMUTIL to add life to memorized missions. After you've played a mission a few times, it looses it's excitement, as you've learned where everything is. Using the randomization feature of the WAD file functions breathes a little life into tired old missions. By randomizing the THINGs in a WAD file, you change the location of all of the enemies (except for the bosses), ammunition, weapons, health, and the like. Keys are left in their original position, as are "furniture" that can not be circumnavigated, such as pillars. David Poole, Jr. 94/7/31 17:01 DOOMUTIL 1.04 User's Guide Page 25 This is also handy for death match games. Randomization of weapons means that neither player knows the initial locations before hand. This helps to cut down on the "guard the weapons" problem encountered when one player dies and the other(s) guard the weapons that he or she needs. JUST MAKE SURE THAT ALL PLAYERS ARE USING THE SAME WAD FILES, OR CONSISTENCY FAILURES WILL OCCUR. Using DOOMUTIL to assist in using external WAD files. DOOMUTIL's handling of external WAD files makes evaluating new WAD files in either single or multiple player easier. It's also handy for the developer who is using resources from multiple WAD files that are being changed frequently. Evaluating new WADs. DOOMUTIL makes it easy to track which WAD files have been evaluated. Upon receipt of new WAD files, copy them into your DOOM directory and invoke DOOMUTIL. When you select the WAD functions menu, DOOMUTIL will scan the new WAD files for the information it maintains. Then, using the Set Sort Order function of the WAD functions menu, set the first level of sorting to sort by times used. The WADs that have not been loaded into DOOM by you will appear at the bottom of the list. Developing new composite WADs. If you're developing multiple WADs with the goal of building them into a single composite WAD for distribution, DOOMUTIL can automate the testing (and building) process. During development and testing of each of your component WADs, use the Set Sort Order function of the WAD functions menu and set the first level of sorting to either Sort By Modification Time or Sort By User Modifying. This will move the WADs you're developing towards the top of the list. Using the Auto Build WAD File option described in the program configuration option will cause DOOMUTIL to create a composite WAD on the fly when you invoke DOOMUTIL. This composite WAD is persistent, in that it will not be recreated unless the time and date of one of the component files changes, or you modify the selected set of WADs. Then, from the WAD selection screen, highlight the WAD you're modifying, and use either the F10 or ALT-F10 key sequence described in the WAD selection section David Poole, Jr. 94/7/31 17:01 DOOMUTIL 1.04 User's Guide Page 26 when the WAD you wish to edit is highlighted (and selected). If you use F10, then you can launch DOOM with the modified files using the <ALT-B> sequence. If you use ALT-F10, then DOOM is automatically invoked when the editor/view terminates. This allows for extremely quick testing of your WAD files, regardless of how many individual WAD files are being developed. Since DOOMUTIL stuffs a carriage return into the keyboard buffer before launching DOOM in single player mode when using external WAD files, modifying and testing either single or composite WADs is extremely fast (of course, depending on the speed of your machine)[2]. 2 I use DEU to create and modify my levels. I've also created some custom sounds and textures for use with these levels. While it's possible to use DEU to build all of these into one WAD for testing, it's much easier to allow DOOMUTIL to do this, using the Auto Build WAD function described in the Program Configuration section. Using a RAM drive as the destination of the auto-built WAD, I use the ALT-F10 sequence from the WAD selection menu. When I have to rebuild my nodes, reject, and blockmap entries due to modifications (which is lengthy), I type q, press Enter, type q, and press Enter again, then go for a soda or whatever. When DEU finishes building the information, it interprets the commands stuffed into the keyboard buffer, and exits. Upon return to DOOMUTIL, a new composite WAD is built for me, and DOOM is invoked for this WAD. If I am away for too long, DOOM's ready for testing upon my return. It doesn't get much easier, at least in my opinion. David Poole, Jr. 94/7/31 17:01 DOOMUTIL 1.04 User's Guide Page 27 Registering DOOMUTIL To register DOOMUTIL, select the Miscellaneous Functions from the Main Menu, and then select the Register DOOMUTIL function. Enter your name in the first field, leaving the other fields blank. Save your changes with the Control-Enter key sequence as described in the Editor documentation. This will produce a file called "DOOMUTIL.FRM" in the current directory, or in the configured DOOM directory if one exists. Copy the DOOMUTIL.FRM file to your printer using whatever method you use to print text files. Mail the printout along with a check or money order for $15 in US funds to: David Poole, Jr. PO Box 747 Pacolet, SC 29372 When the funds have cleared, I will mail to you a serial number and registration key. Upon receipt of these, you must re-enter the information supplied exactly as it as printed. After performing this task, your copy of DOOMUTIL will be registered. Thank you for using DOOMUTIL! David Poole, Jr. 94/7/31 17:01