Tricks of the DOOM Programming Gurus

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---------------------------------------------------------------------- DCK v2.x User's Guide (c) Copyright 1994-95 Zerius Development All Rights Reserved ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Notice of Copyright: DCK is a trademark of Ben Morris and Zerius Development. DOOM and DOOM 2 are trademarks of id Software. Heretic is a trademark of Raven Software and id Software. Table of contents Introduction ........................................................3 About this Documentation ............................................3 Interface ...........................................................3 DCK's Menu System ...................................................4 The Map Display .....................................................4 Dialog Boxes ........................................................5 Creating maps with DCK ..............................................7 Working with Files ..................................................7 Drawing Tools .......................................................8 The Region Tool ....................................................8 Regions that don't touch existing lines ..........................9 Regions that touch existing lines ................................9 Splitting Sectors ................................................9 The Rectangle Tool ................................................10 The Polygon Tool ..................................................10 Marking and Editing objects ........................................12 Using the Texture Browser .........................................12 Editing Lines .....................................................13 Editing Sectors ...................................................13 Editing Things ....................................................14 Creating Things ....................................................15 Drag-and-Drop ......................................................15 Deleting Objects ...................................................16 Automated Tag Features .............................................17 The Vertex Tool ....................................................17 Automatic Door, Lift and Stair Tools ...............................18 The Door Tool .....................................................18 The Lift Tool .....................................................18 The Stair Tool ....................................................19 Texture Alignment ..................................................20 The Format Painter .................................................21 Other Features .....................................................22 Motifs .............................................................22 The Map Checker and Debugger .......................................22 The WAD Manager ....................................................24 Reference: Editing Commands ........................................26 Page 2 DCK User's Guide Introduction Welcome to DCK - one of the easiest and most powerful map editors for DOOM, DOOM 2 and Heretic. DCK is based on the idea that, while it can't do everything for you, DCK can automate the simple and often-done tasks involved in creating a doom level. DCK affords you complete control over the design of your maps, but retains a level of usability that makes it very quick and intuitive to learn. Getting started with DCK is simple: If your copy came on a disk or a CD-ROM, run the install program in the DCK directory and follow the instructions. After doing so, run the batch file "DCK.BAT" and select the video driver for your system. The first time you run DCK, it will do several things: 1. You must tell DCK what kind of Video Card you have installed on your system. This information should be readily available in your computer's manual. DCK supports about 18 different video cards, including the VESA standard - if you don't see your card listed, load the VESA driver that came with it and select that option from the video card menu. 2. DCK will search your system for any of the three games that it recognizes by default. If it can't find any of them (for shame!), you won't be able to run DCK - it requires data from at least one of the games. About this Documentation This User's Guide explains how to use DCK; it does not explain the proper structure of DOOM levels. This knowledge is generally not required when using DCK, because its automated tools take care of a lot of the tasks involved in maintaining the proper structure required by DOOM. Invariably, however, this information will be useful in the future. I suggest reading the DOOM Specs by Matt Fell (msfell@aol.com), which explain in great detail all the rules and many nuances of designing DOOM levels. Interface DCK's interface is similar to that of many modern "GUIs", or Graphical User Interfaces, such as Windows. The layout of DCK's screen remains Page 3 largely the same no matter what you're doing at the time. The screen is separated into three distinct parts, presented here in top-down order: The Menu Bar: This bar, at the top of the screen, contains the titles of several submenus. Submenus are organized by the subject of the features they activate so, for example, the "File" menu facilitates loading and saving files. The Map Display: Between the Menu Bar and the Status Bar, the map display takes up most of the screen. As the name implies, it's where the map you're working on is displayed. The Status Bar: At the bottom of the screen, the status bar displays information about DCK's status- such as which features are turned on, about the map you're editing, and details about the area of the map the mouse cursor is in. DCK's interface is centered around the mouse: Most of DCK's features can be activated by a click or two and moving the mouse around. DCK's Menu System The menu system can be used with the mouse or the keyboard. Move the mouse to the menu you want to activate and hold down the left mouse button. Move around the mouse to access each different menu, and release the button to activate the highlighted feature. Press ESC to activate the menu from the map editor and ESC again to deactivate it. Use the cursor keys to navigate the menu, and ENTER to choose the highlighted selection. Any other keys will activate the item with the same hotkey, which is displayed in red. The Map Display This is where most of the work in DCK is done. DCK always displays the map lines, but makes bright only the parts of the map which can be edited with the current tool: - With the Line tool, you can edit each line and change its textures and attributes, such as settings for "Blocks Sound", and "Impassable." Press "L" or choose "Line Mode" from the edit menu to change to this tool. - The Vertex tool allows you to add and delete vertices, and drag existing vertices to new locations. Press "V" or choose "Vertex Mode" from the edit menu to select this tool. Page 4 DCK User's Guide - With the Sector editor, you can change sectors' floor and ceiling textures, and set their floor and ceiling heights. Press "S" or choose "Sector Mode" from the edit menu to change to this tool. - The Thing tool allows you to place new Things and move existing ones around. You can also edit things' settings, such as the settings for which skill levels the thing appears on, and settings for making monster things deaf. Press "T" or choose "Thing Mode" from the edit menu to select the tool. In addition to the four main tools, there are three other tools that you can use to add to the map quickly. These tools are discussed under "Drawing Tools", page . 8 Except the vertex editor, each tool allows you to edit the settings of more than one object at a time using "marked" objects. This is explained in detail under "Marking and Editing Objects", page . 12 The mouse plays an important role in each mode: each mouse action's results vary depending on which tool you're using at the time. For example, double-clicking in vertex mode adds a vertex to the closest line, and double-clicking with the thing tool adds a thing at the current mouse position. Moving the mouse around in any of the modes, DCK will highlight the object that is closest to the cursor and display information about it on the bottom status bar. You can edit this information by clicking and releasing the right mouse button. Dialog Boxes Throughout DCK, Dialog Boxes are displayed which you must enter information into in order to proceed. You can navigate them with the following keys: To do this... Press this key Move to the next field Tab Move to the previous field Shift+Tab Toggle a checkbox or radio field Spacebar Text: Move around Left and Right arrow Text: Previous and next word Ctrl+Left and Ctrl+Right 5 Page Text: Start and end of text Home and End Text: Delete cursor letter Del (Delete) Text: Delete previous letter Backspace Save the Dialog Box and proceed F10 or "OK" Cancel the Dialog Box ESC or "Cancel" Some of the fields in a dialog box may be blank - this usually happens when you're editing multiple objects and they don't share the same data for a particular field. For example, if you were editing several "Thing" objects, each of different types, the Thing Edit dialog box would display a blank "Thing Type:" field. If you set any field to be blank, DCK will ignore the field and not make any changes to the data represented therein. Page 6 DCK User's Guide Creating maps with DCK Creating maps is quick and easy using DCK's powerful drawing tools. With the tools, creating new areas on your map is as easy as a few mouse clicks and moves. You can easily: - make a pit of monsters that rises when the player walks over a line - create a hidden staircase that rises with the flick of a switch - make a walkway in a pit of lava that starts to sink as soon as the player steps onto it Areas that you create with the tools look the same as the areas around them - so it's easy to make additions to the map without having to make sure the appearance is consistent. And once you get into seriously detailing your map, DCK's editing tools make the job quick and easy. It's a simple feat to: - change the texture on a set of walls with a few keystrokes - add dimension to your map with architecturally detailed areas - make nasty monster arrangements sure to surprise the player Working with Files When you load an existing map or create a new one, you must choose the game that the map is to be used with. On loading a map, DCK examines the map's tag and searches its list of games for a matching tag. If it finds that the tag is valid in more than one game, it displays a menu of the possible choices for you to select from. If the map tag is unique to one game, DCK loads the map without any prompting. For example, DOOM 2 uses map tags in the format "MAPxx", whereas DOOM 1 and Heretic (the other two games that DCK recognizes as of 2.2) use the format "ExMx". If you load a map with a "MAPxx" tag, DCK knows it's for DOOM 2 and switches to that game. Creating a new map requires that you choose a game before editing the map. Page 7 Drawing Tools DCK features three drawing tools, each suited for a certain job: The Region tool, the Rectangle tool, and the Polygon tool. The Region Tool The region tool is accessed by pressing "L", and doubles as the line edit mode. Using the tool, you draw a series of lines - the entire series is called a region. The region can be of any shape and size - for example a square, a diamond or the outline of the Taj Mahal. When you're done drawing, DCK analyzes what you've drawn and turns the region into play space, by creating the game objects (such as vertices, linedefs and sidedefs) that are needed by DOOM in order for the map to run properly. Since DCK is not an artificial intelligence (yet!), there are a few limitations to the region tool, and rules that you should follow in order to get the results you want. These rules are explained in detail further down. The region tool looks to the mouse for instructions: 1. Double-click the left mouse button to start a new region. 2. Click the left mouse button once to finish the line you're drawing and start a new one. 3. Click the right mouse button once to complete the region. The start- and end-points of the region (that is, where you start and finish drawing) are very important when DCK is deciding what to do with the new area. For example, if you start and finish on an existing line, DCK assumes you want to create a new area connected to the line, and makes sure that the line can be passed through by the player. Note: You can't start and end the region in different ways; that is, if you start on a line, you must finish on the same line, and if you start by not touching any lines, you must finish on the first point of the region. The only points of the region that can touch existing lines are the start- and end-points. All points drawn between the start- and end- points must not touch anything! Page 8 DCK User's Guide Regions that don't touch existing lines When you create a region that doesn't touch any existing lines: If the new region is outside of any existing sectors, the area lines will be one-sided; the player cannot pass from the new area into "blank space." The area will be decorated with the currently selected Motif (see page .) 22 If the new region is inside an existing sector, the area lines will be two-sided; the player can move into the new area from the surrounding sector. Regions that touch existing lines When you create a region that touches an existing line, DCK splits the line (the contact line) at the start- and end-points of the region. If the new region is outside of any existing sectors, the area lines will be one-sided; the player cannot pass from the new area into "blank space." The contact line will be made passable, so the player can move into the new area from the contact line's sector. If the new region is inside an existing sector, the area lines will be two-sided; the player can move into the new area from the surrounding sector. The contact line will remain "as-is" - if it was originally impassable, it will stay impassable. Note: All regions created inside an existing sector take on the appearance and floor and ceiling heights of that sector. Likewise, regions that touch existing sectors (but are essentially "outside" of any sector) will take on that sector's attributes. Splitting Sectors Using the region tool, you can split a sector into two parts by drawing a single line from one wall in the sector to another. For example: to split a square sector in two, double-click on, say, the leftmost line of the sector. Then, move the "X" to the rightmost line and click the right button once. At this point, DCK will ask you whether you'd like to split the sector or create a simple two-sided line; select "Sector Split", and DCK splits the sector along the line you drew. Of course, splitting sectors works with sectors of all shapes and sizes - not just square sectors. Page 9 The Rectangle Tool Press "R" to access the rectangle tool, or select the rectangle icon from the mouse toolbox. The advantages of the rectangle tool are many: It can overlap as many lines from as many sectors as you wish, and will always produce a valid new area. For example, you can use it to create a window between two sectors simply by drawing a box between the two that touches their lines - an operation that would require many more clicks and movements with the region tool. The disadvantage is that the rectangle tool can only draw four- sided boxes. Although the tool is very useful in this respect - when you NEED a rectangle - maps drawn entirely in 90 degree angles tend to be a little boring. The other two tools - region and polygon - are much more suited to creating abstract areas. Using the rectangle tool is simple: Hold down the left mouse button, drag out the rectangle that you want, and release the button. If the rectangle overlaps any existing lines, DCK will make them passable so that the player may move into the new area. Make sure none of the rectangle lines cross any existing lines. In addition, the following actions can be taken while you're drawing the rectangle: - Hold down the right mouse button to move the origin of the rectangle. The Polygon Tool Press "N" to access the polygon tool, or select the polygon icon from the mouse toolbox. The polygon tool is used in the same way as the rectangle tool, but it can create a shape with from three to 64 sides. The tool also splits and combines any lines it overlaps. The following actions can be taken while you're drawing a polygon: - Hold down the right mouse button to move the origin of the polygon. - Hold down the CTRL key to constrain the polygon to a circle instead of an oval. - Press 'Q' to decrease the number of sides in the polygon. - Press 'W' to increase the number of sides in the polygon. Page 10 DCK User's Guide - Press 'A' to rotate the polygon to the left. - Press 'E' to rotate the polygon to the right. 11 Page Marking and Editing objects Except vertices, each type of object has a series of attributes that you can modify to give it a different appearance and function. A line that borders two sectors, for example, can be set to be impassable so that the player cannot move across it. This is useful for those lines where you've set up a middle "bar" texture, which can normally be walked straight through. In addition to editing a single object, DCK allows you to change an entire set of objects by first marking the objects you want to change and then editing them all together. Marking objects is simple: move the mouse cursor over the object you want to mark and click the left mouse button once. Marked objects are outlined in Red. You can unmark all the objects by pressing "C", for "Clear Marks." DCK includes a box mark and unmark mode, where all the objects in an enclosing box are affected. To mark all the objects in a box, hold down the left mouse button and drag out the box. To unmark, hold down the right mouse button until the toolbox disappears and drag out the box. To edit the marked objects, press ENTER or click and release the right mouse button. A different edit screen will appear depending on the type of object you've selected. Using the Texture Browser DCK includes a browser that displays multiple textures, including floor and ceiling textures, for you to choose from. The browser also allows you to search the list of textures. You can access it directly by selecting the "Textures" menu item and pressing the "Browser" button. Or, you can press F2 in one of the dialog box fields that gives you access to the browser - such as the sidedef textures in the line edit box, or the floor and ceiling textures in the sector edit box. To search for a texture using part of its name, press Alt+F and enter the string to search for. Press / to search forward again, or \ to search backwards. If you pressed F2 to access the browser, press ENTER to choose the highlighted texture or ESC to cancel the selection and keep the original texture. Alternately, double-click the mouse on the texture you want to use, or click the right mouse button to keep the original. Page 12 DCK User's Guide Editing Lines The main parts to the line edit dialog box are, top-down, the line's type, its attributes (flags) and its sidedef(s). The Line Type consists of three fields: a text field where you can type in a partial linetype or the type's number (if you've memorized it); A list of line type categories, split into sections like "door open", "door close", "teleporters", and so on; And the line types contained in the highlighted category. The Line's attributes are a series of checkboxes reflecting the flags that DOOM interprets for each line. You can set and unset these attributes freely: The "Two-Sided" and "Impassable" settings must be heeded according to the rules of the DOOM engine, which are discussed earlier in this book. The Line's two sides are the most complicated part of the dialog box: Only one is displayed at a time, to make room for the textures on each side. The three texture fields can be used to type in a texture's name directly, or you can press F2 to access the texture browser and pick one from there. The other three fields are the X and Y offsets of the texture, and the side's sector reference. If the line has no second side, DCK will give you the option of adding a second side by pressing a button. Conversely, you can delete the line's second side by pressing the Delete button after selecting side two. In either case, DCK will set or unset the Impassable and Two-Sided attributes to reflect the change. Editing Sectors Each sector has settings for its type, its floor and ceiling textures and heights, and its light level and sector tag. The line type is fairly simple: choose the type you want from the list, or select the "Normal" type if you want a plain sector. Scroll through the floor and ceiling texture lists to select a texture, or use Alt+F and the search keys (/ and \) to find a texture using a partial name. Or, use the texture browser by pressing F2. The light value can be from 0 to 255. The sector tag associates the sector with all lines having the same tag. When one of those lines is activated, its type is "applied" to the sector and the sector is modified according to the type. This relationship is discussed in detail earlier in the book. Page 13 Editing Things There are three parts to the edit thing dialog box: The thing type, the angle it faces, and its attributes. The thing type consists of three fields: The type string, where you can type in a partial name, such as "Player 1"; The thing type category list, which breaks the lower thing type list into distinct sections; and the type list itself, which contains all the thing types in the highlighted category. The thing's angle is a set of radio buttons; that is, only one can be selected (of course.) For monsters, this angle is only relevant until the monster is activated, at which time it starts moving around and its direction becomes unpredictable. If none of the buttons is set, it means that the multiple objects you're editing do not all face in the same direction. The thing's attributes consist of settings for when the object appears (that is, for which skill levels), if the object only appears in netgames and, for monsters, the "Deaf" setting, which means the monster will not respond to sound. Page 14 DCK User's Guide Creating Things Not a general term, "Things" means the objects in the game like the Player Starts, Weapons and Monsters. Creating a new Thing is simple: Double-click the left mouse button to create a Thing at the cursor. As an alternative, you can copy an existing Thing or series of Things by "double-click and dragging" the objects to a new location. The Thing Origin is useful for automatically setting the direction of new and dragged Things: Press 'O' to toggle it on and off. When it's on, Things that are created or dragged are automatically angled to point at the origin. This is useful, for example, to set an arrangement of monsters to point at a door so that when the player enters the room, they go kill 'em. The Thing Origin is only active when it's on-screen; if you move the map so that it is no longer visible, it is not used. You can tell DCK to display only those things with certain flags set by pressing the "D" key, or by selecting "Thing Display Mask" from the Object menu. When you select either the first time, DCK displays a dialog box of all the Thing Flags. Initially, the values are set to "Don't care" (displayed as a patterned checkbox), which means that DCK will not look at the value of that flag when deciding whether or not to display a Thing. If a particular flag is On, only those things whose corresponding flag is On will be displayed, and likewise with the Off setting. When you press "D" again, DCK turns off the mask and displays all the Things. Drag-and-Drop One of DCK's most useful features is its drag-and-drop function. You can use it to move any number of objects to a new location quickly - no muss, no fuss, and your money back guaranteed. Start dragging by highlighting an object and holding down the left mouse button. While holding down the button, move the mouse until the objects are in the desired position; then release the button to drop them. If any objects are marked, they will also be moved. If you're using Snap to Grid, the highlighted object is the only object that is snapped: the rest of the objects remain at their original distances from the highlighted object. Page 15 Other things to know about: - You can press ESC at any time to abort the drag operation. - All of DCK's basic features can still be used during dragging: for example, zooming in and out, moving the map around, changing the grid size and snap to grid, and so on. - The coordinates at the top, right of the screen are displayed in Red when the objects are dragged back to their original positions. - When you're dragging "Things", press Home or End to toggle between copying the things and moving them. - When you're dragging other kinds of objects, DCK displays the lengths of the lines that are stretched by the operation with color-coded boxes and numbers on the status bar. - If you decide you liked the objects where they were before you dragged them, press Alt+Backspace to reverse the operation. Deleting Objects Although deleting objects is a fairly straightforward procedure, there are a few things you should know about how DCK handles it. Deleting vertices automatically joins the lines they separate. This can be a little surprising when you delete a series of vertices, expecting the lines that they connect to be deleted also - the result is not usually the desired one. If you want to delete lines, the best way is to do it from line mode, where DCK does not attempt to join anything. Deleting lines is the best way to to remove entire chunks of your map. From line edit mode, simply mark all the lines that you want to remove and press DEL. If there are any leftover vertices (ie: vertices that are no longer connected to any lines), they will also be removed. Deleting sectors: DCK examines each line that references the sector sector, and makes a decision based on what kind of line each is: - If the line is a one-sided line, DCK deletes it. - If the line has two sides, DCK removes the side that references the deleted sector and reverses the direction of the line if necessary. Again, the best way to delete entire parts of your map is by deleting all the lines in the area you want to remove. Deleting Page 16 DCK User's Guide vertices and sectors are specialized functions and should be used for specific cases. Automated Tag Features This tool allows you to visually set a "tag" relationship between a set of sectors or lines and an opposite object. Using the tool is straightforward: Mark the objects you want to tag, activate the auto- tag feature and select the opposite object. If the opposite object already has a tag, DCK will give you a menu choice: You can use the existing tag, or DCK can set a new one. Activating the auto-tag can be done in several ways: 1. Choose it from the "Object" menu. 2. Activate it from the keyboard with Ctrl+T. 3. Select it from the mouse toolbox - it's the "Tags" icon. The Vertex Tool With the vertex tool, you can split existing lines by adding vertices to them at any point, you can join two lines separated by a vertex, and you can drag around existing vertices to make small changes to the structure of your map. To select the vertex tool, press "V", or choose "Vertex Mode" from the Edit menu. Alternately, select the vertex icon from the mouse toolbox. Using the tool to add a vertex is simple: Double-click the left mouse button to add a vertex to the closest line at the cursor position. DCK will split the line by creating a new one that at the new vertex and ends at the original line's endpoint. Press the Del (Delete) key to delete the vertex "under" the cursor and join the two lines it separates. If the vertex is connected to more than two lines, the results may be unpredictable - DCK searches for the first two lines that the vertex separates and merges them into one line. Page 17 Automatic Door, Lift and Stair Tools These tools automate creating some simple map structures. They don't create new areas; they work by changing existing areas into the type of object you select (a door, a lift, or a staircase.) The Door Tool The Door Tool turns an existing sector into a Door by setting its floor and ceiling heights to floor height of the neighboring sector with the lowest floor. Activate it by marking all the sectors you want to turn into doors (first switching to Sector mode), and pressing Ctrl+D or choosing "Create Door..." from the Object menu. DCK will display a menu of available door types for you to choose from. One-Sided lines in the door sector take on the "Door Trak" motif texture. Two-Sided lines take on one of the door textures - lines shorter than 65 take the Small door texture, and lines longer than 64 take the Large door texture. The exception is the Secret door type, whose sides take on one of the surrounding textures. Finally, the two-sided lines are made to face out of the door sector, and their line types are set to the type you chose from the menu. In addition, the Secret door type sets the Secret flag on all two-sided lines. The Lift Tool The Lift Tool turns an existing sector into a Lift by setting its floor and ceiling heights to that of the highest neighboring sector's. Activate the tool by marking all the sectors you want to turn into lifts (first switching to Sector mode), and pressing Ctrl+L or choosing "Create Lift..." from the Object menu. Two-sided lines that border the sector are set to have a platform line type based on how the player can use the line: If the user can walk over the line INTO the lift sector, the line type is set to "Walk-Repeatable Platform." If the player cannot walk over the line (ie: the lift sector's floor is higher than the neighboring sector's floor), the line receives the "Use-Repeatable Platform" type - meaning the player has to press the use button to activate the line. Page 18 DCK User's Guide The Stair Tool The Stair Tool is the most complicated of the three, but its flexibility makes it very useful. To create stairs, you must select two lines, which will become the sides of the stairs. That is, the stairs run between the lines and along their length. After selecting two lines (from Line mode), press Ctrl+Z or choose "Create Stairs..." from the Object menu. DCK will display a dialog box to enter information about the stairs in. This dialog box contains a simple "preview" of the direction of the steps; the green circle indicates the first step, and the red circle indicates the last. The fields in the dialog box are: 1. Number of stairs: Enter the number of stairs you want to create. 2. Step height: Enter the height of each step. If you want to create a descending staircase, enter a negative value (like "- 8".) 3. First stair floor: Enter the height of the first step. DCK automatically sets this when you press Ctrl+Z, and you can change it to another value if you wish. If you change the "last stair floor" field, this field is automatically updated based on the number of steps and the step height. 4. First stair ceiling: Enter the height of the first step's ceiling. 5. Last stair floor: Enter the height of the last step's floor. DCK automatically calculates this when you press Ctrl+Z, or when you change the "first stair floor", "number of stairs", or "step height" fields. 6. Last stair ceiling: Enter the height of the last step's ceiling. If the "Stair Ceiling" checkbox is not set, this field is ignored and all stairs have the height of the first stair's ceiling. Options for the stair tool are in checkboxes: 7. Reverse direction: Check this box to flip the direction of the steps. 8. Stair ceiling: Check this to stair the ceiling as well as the floor. If unchecked, the stairs will all have the same ceiling height as the first stair. 9. Hidden: Check this box to make the staircase "hidden", so that it can be made to rise from the floor. In this case, DCK sets Page 19 all the stair floor heights to the same as the first step's floor. After you've entered all the options, press F10 or click on OK to create the stairs. DCK will split each of the lines you've chosen with as many steps as you've specified, and create the step sectors with incremental floor and (optionally) ceiling heights. Notes: - Make sure that the lines you've selected form part of a whole sector. DCK creates the step sectors in between and along the lengths of the lines, which become the sides of the staircase. - The lines should have nothing in between them when you start the stairs. This does not include "Things", but other objects such as protruding lines will make the staircase wonky. - If the staircase isn't exactly what you wanted, press Alt+Backspace to delete what you've done and try again. Texture Alignment Proper texture alignment is a tricky issue, and DCK's automated feature will not handle every situation. However, for common scenarios, it does the job quickly and easily. Activating it can be done one of two ways: - Select "Align Textures" from the Object menu. - s Ctrl+W. Pres For example, suppose you had a circular room painted with a texture (from DOOM 1) such as "SKINSYMB", which does not repeat very well. Where each line ends and a new line begins, there will likely be a visible seam where the first line's texture ends and the second line's texture starts. This effect can be nullified by setting the lines' sides' "Texture X Offset", so that the room's walls form a seamless pattern of textures. In simple cases such as this, the sector alignment tool will probably do the job. Simply switch to sector mode, move into the sector you want to align, and activate the aligner - DCK does the rest. In those cases where the lines you want to align do not reside in a single sector - the sides of a staircase is the perfect example, because each step is an individual sector - alignment from Line mode is the only way to go. Switch to line mode, and mark the series of lines that you want to align. Then, activate the aligner. You can have multiple series of marked lines, and DCK will begin a new alignment for each. Page 20 DCK User's Guide In either case, DCK will prompt you as to which type of alignment you'd like to perform: Horizontal, Vertical, or Both. The Format Painter Most often used with sectors, the format painter is useful for ensuring consistency in appearance where it's needed. It works like this: Mark the objects you want to change, activate the format painter, and select the object you want to copy . Activating the from format painter can be done one of several ways: - Choose it from the "Miscellaneous" menu. - Activate it from the keyboard with Ctrl+P. - Select it from the mouse toolbox - it's the paint can icon. After selecting the object to copy from, DCK will give you a menu of combinations to copy, based on common sitauations. At this time, you can select one of the combinations or press ESC to abort the format painter operation. Page 21 Other Features DCK also includes other useful features, such as the ability to run DOOM from within itself, and the ability to combine single levels and virtually any data from your disk into a single WADfile. It also includes one of the most powerful and comprehensive map checkers at the time of writing. This section also discusses Motifs, DCK's method of managing the appearance of areas on the map. Motifs A Motif is a series of settings for things like wall, ceiling and floor textures, which DCK uses to decorate new areas and redecorate existing areas on the map. Access the Motif Designer with Alt+M, or choose "Select Motif" from the Edit Menu. Each game has its own set of Motifs. The current Motif is displayed on the main status bar, next to the current Zoom setting. You can "apply" the current motif to a series of sectors or lines by pressing Ctrl+E or selecting "Apply Motif" from the Object menu. On lines, DCK sets their textures to those in the motif. On sectors, all the lines that reference the sector get the wall textures in the Motif and, in addition, the sector gets the Motif's floor and ceiling textures and light level. The Map Checker and Debugger Over time, little errors may creep into your map. Most of them won't cause any big problems, but it's always nice to know that they're easily found and fixed - with DCK's error checker, most are. After activating it, the checker runs through every object in the map and checks it against a series of rules that have been set up to detect flaws in the map's structure: Deviations from the rules set down by the DOOM engine's limitations, situations that may have undesired effects, and so on. A list of all the errors the map checker catches can be found at the end of this section. Those objects that DCK finds as problematic are added to a list of errors, which is displayed when all the checks are complete. From this list, most of the errors can be "zoomed in on" and fixed with a couple keystrokes. However, some errors (such as the "Sector not Page 22 DCK User's Guide Closed" error) cannot be fixed automatically because of their complex nature. To activate the checker, choose it from the Miscellaneous menu or press Alt+C. The dialog box that is subsequently displayed is a list of options for the checker: it will only perform the kinds of checks that are selected here. The checker displays the list of errors, from which you can: Get help on the current error by pressing F1. This option displays a detailed description of the error, explaining how it is fixed or how to fix it manually. Jump to the object in error by pressing 'G'. DCK will switch to the appropriate edit tool and zoom in and center on the object. This option is not always available; for example, the error "Too few player starts" is a general error and cannot be zoomed in on. Fix the error by pressing 'F'. If the error is a simple one, such as a line missing a texture, DCK will fix it and change the error list to reflect the fixed object. If you want to get information on what automatically fixing a particular error does, press F1. Some errors can't be fixed because of their complex nature, such as: "Sector is not closed" and "Too few DEATHMATCH starts." Here is a complete list of the errors that DCK's map checker can pinpoint: Line Checks Linedef is 2S but has no second sidedef. Linedef is NOT 2S but has a second sidedef. Linedef's vertex references are the same. Linedef has no first sidedef. Linedef has a line type but no sector tag. Linedef has a sector tag but no line type. Linedef's tag is not shared by a sector. Side Checks Sidedef n is missing upper/lower textures. Page 23 Sidedef n is missing a full texture. Sidedef n's full tex not "transparent-able." Sidedef n has a bad texture. Sidedef n's transparent full texture is too high. Sector Checks Sector is not closed (ends at vertex n.) Sector's tag is not shared by a linedef. Sector's floor texture is invalid. Sector's ceiling texture is invalid. Thing Checks Thing is not in a sector. Thing is too high for its sector. Thing collides with other things. Thing collides with a line. Unknown thing. Miscellaneous Checks No player 1 start. Too few player starts. Too few deathmatch starts. Missing an exit line. Tele-line's tagged sector has no Tele-exit. Vertex n is at the same point as vertex n. The WAD Manager Accessible from the File menu or by pressing Alt+W, DCK's WAD manager allows you to edit and view .WAD files much like you'd do with a DOS directory navigator. With it, you can: - Add entries to a WAD file from data in other WAD files or from raw files anywhere on your system. Page 24 DCK User's Guide - Rename existing entries in WAD files. - Delete existing entries from WAD files. The WAD manager works with a "Source List" and a "Destination List." The Source list is the list of files in the current directory, or the list of entries in a WAD file. The Destination list is the directory of the final WAD file, which is what is manipulated and saved at the end of the session. Navigate the source list with the arrow keys, and change to a new source location with ENTER. If you press ENTER while the source list is highlighting a WAD file, the contents of the file will be displayed for you to browse and add to the destination, if you wish. Build up the destination list by copying data items (files or WAD entries) from the source list into the destination. You can load an existing WAD into the destination by pressing Alt+L, and save the destination list to a WAD file with Alt+S. To view an entry in either of the lists, press ENTER. If the entry is a map, it will be displayed. Otherwise, DCK will give you the choice of displaying the entry as a "binary dump" or as a game picture. To add the highlighted source entry into the destination list, press P or click on the "Put" button. DCK will, by default, save the data as its original name - if it's a file, the filename without the extension; if it's a WAD entry, it will use the name from the .WAD. If the entry you're placing in the destination already exists, and the "Replace Entries" checkbox is not set, DCK will ask you if you'd like to overwrite the existing entry, rename the new one, or not save it at all. To save an entry from either the destination list or the source list to a raw file, press X. 25 Page Reference: Editing Commands The following lists of commands are for your reference. Please note the conventions used in the table: 'Ctrl+Key' means hold down the Ctrl key and press the key afterward; for example, Ctrl+N means hold down the Ctrl key and press 'N' at the same time. The same applies for 'Alt'. System Commands (File and Menu) Save the current map Alt+S Edit a different map Alt+E Configure DCK Alt+N File Manager Alt+W Exit DCK Alt+X Playtest the current map F9 Menu system ESC Changing the size and position of the map display Move the Map around Arrow keys Center the map Ctrl+G Zoom in or out on the cursor + (in), - (out) Zoom presets 1 through 9 Fast Zoom Z Toggles, Grid and Marking Commands Fine Mode Toggle ` (beside the '1' key) Auto-Join Mode Toggle J Crosshair Cursor Toggle * Grid Display Toggle G Change the Grid size [ and ] Snap to Grid P Mark the object under the cursor Left Mouse Click Clear all marks C Page 26 DCK User's Guide Clipboard and Delete Commands Copy marked objects to the Clipboard Ctrl+Insert Cut to the Clipboard Ctrl+Delete Paste from the Clipboard Insert Delete marked objects Delete Editing Commands: All Edit Modes Scale (resize) marked objects Ctrl+A Rotate marked objects Ctrl+O Align objects horizontally Ctrl+X Align objects vertically Ctrl+Y Snap objects to the grid Ctrl+V Format Painter Ctrl+P Editing Commands: Thing Edit Mode Create a new Thing Double Left-Click Copy marked Things Double Left-Click+Drag Toggle Thing Origin O Toggle Thing Graphics T Adjust Thing Display D Editing Commands: Vertex Edit Mode Split a Line with a new Vertex Double Left-Click Join lines separated by a vertex Del Editing Commands: Line Edit Mode Split lines Ctrl+C Apply the current motif to lines Ctrl+E Flip lines Ctrl+F Flip side references Ctrl+R 27 Page Add required textures Ctrl+I Remove unrequired textures Ctrl+U Normalize lines (remove tags/types) Ctrl+N Automatic tag-set Ctrl+T Align Textures Ctrl+W Create Stairs from two lines Ctrl+Z Edit first side Alt+1 Edit second side Alt+2 Search and Replace textures Alt+R Editing Commands: Sector Edit Mode Create door Ctrl+D Create lift Ctrl+L Apply current motif to sectors Ctrl+E Raise/lower sectors Ctrl+H Normalize sectors (remove tags) Ctrl+N Automatic tag-set Ctrl+T Align textures Ctrl+W Page 28 DCK User's Guide