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- .------------------------------------------.
- |:> DoomGate! v3.3 - (c) 1995 Jani Halme <:|
- `------------------------------------------'
-
- Introduction
- ------------
-
- When I saw id Software's DeathManager, I thought that from now on, there's
- no need for any more DOOM frontends. Well, I took my PC to my friend's place
- along with two of my other friends and we started deathmatching. As everyone
- of us had PWADs which all replaced MAP01, I really got pissed off for retyping
- the WAD names all over again to keep the levels from overlapping each other.
- Then I got the idea of a new version of DoomGate!. However, I liked the
- concept of DeathManager so I dumped the v1.6 code and rewrote the whole thing
- over. After days of tweaking and testing, I managed to create this program and
- I hope you'll like it. If you have bug reports, ideas or anything you think I
- might be interested [like money or PC hardware ;)], please send them to me:
-
- Email: jahalme@freenet.hut.fi
- [The easiest and the most efficient way to reach me]
-
- Mail: Jani Halme
- Hiidenvainiontie 15
- 21290 Rusko
- Finland
- [Well, if you really want to wait... ;) ]
-
- Tel: +358-21-432 2537 (GMT+2)
- [No calls at night, no lame calls and speak finnish/english]
-
- ... or leave me a private message to one these excellent BBS:s in Finland:
-
- Genius BBBS: Node1 +358 21 420 5419
- Node2 +358 21 420 5183
- Metropoli PCB +358 0 615 00029 (9 nodes under this number)
- Bitstream +358 21 438 3244
- Underground UBBS +358 39 537 4311 (5 nodes under this number)
-
-
-
- How to use it
- -------------
-
- DoomGate! is not actually intendend to be used with single-player games.
- That's why there's no support for savegames, etc. It is at it's best when
- playing multiplayer games using multiple different PWAD-files.
-
- For this version 3.3 I used Ralph Brown's SPAWNO-system, which greatly
- increases the available memory when running Doom/Doom2/Heretic. It seems
- to work flawlessly so I guess it will be used also in future versions.
-
- The program uses two kinds of parameters: On/off parameters and text field
- parameters.
- The On/Off parameters can be toggled using spacebar. Note that some buttons
- are linked together so, that you cannot have, for example a two- and a four-
- player game simultaneously. :)
- Editing the text fields is done with enter. After you have typed the value
- in, press enter to accept it. After that, the program checks if the value is
- appropriate. If you type a filename that doesn't exist, it is not accepted.
-
- If you need some advanced command line options for Doom/Doom2/Heretic,
- you can type them after the command that runs DoomGate!, like this:
-
- DG -devparm -record mydemo
-
- DoomGate! passes all the parameters on to Doom/Doom2/Heretic along with the
- ones selected from DoomGate! itself.
-
- Each time you exit from DoomGate! either by running Doom/Doom2/Heretic or
- exiting to DOS, DoomGate! saves the current settings to a file called DG.CFG.
- If your attempt to call your friend failed, this way you don't have to retype
- all the parameters again. If you have any problems starting DoomGate!, delete
- the DG.CFG and try again.
-
-
-
- Options
- -------
-
- If you are not quite sure what all the parameters do, please check your
- Doom/Doom2/Heretic documentation for more details.
-
- Main window:
-
- Deathmatch 2 / Lets you choose the type of multiplayer game
- Deathmatch / to be played (Can be also used with single
- Co-operative player launch).
-
- IPX Network / The link method you want use for connecting
- Modem / to your opponent(s).
- Serial cable
-
- Options The connection options window
-
- No monsters Removes all monsters. Great for deathmatching!
- Respawn You must be nuts! (Respawns monsters in a few
- seconds after they have been killed.)
- PWADs If you have PWADs selected, you can disable/
- enable all of them here
-
- 2/3/4 players The amount of players in the game. Note that
- you can only play 3 and 4 player games in a
- network.
-
- Skill The game skill level. 1 is the easiest and 5
- is the hardest.
- Warp Lets you start the game from any level.
- Turbo Makes your character REALLY fast! :)
- Timer Exits the level after a specified amount
- of minutes.
- Fast enemies Makes your enemies faster, like in nightmare
- mode
-
- F1 Single player launch
- F2 DoomGate! setup
- F3 PWAD selector
- F10 Multiplayer launch
-
-
- DoomGate setup:
-
- Doom / The game to be played. ;)
- Doom 2 /
- Heretic
-
- Game path The directory where the game is.
- (Each game has it's own)
- PWAD path The directory where your PWADs are
- (Each game had it's own)
- Alt IPX If you want to use an alternate IPXSETUP,
- type it here and enable it
- Alt SER If you want to use an alternate SERSETUP,
- type it here and enable it
- Beep signals If your ears can't stand the beeping... ;)
- Auto enter Autimatically bypasses the modification
- warning when PWADs are being loaded. Note that
- this works only with single-player launch,
- because SERSETUP/IPXSETUP clears the keybuffer.
- Batch run If you are having difficulties with running
- Doom/Doom2/Heretic, enable this option and
- run DoomGate! using the batch file DGATE.BAT.
-
-
-
- Connection options:
-
- IPX socket If you want to play multiple games on single
- network, you can change socket here. A value
- of 0 means the official Doom socket.
- Serial port The port where your modem or serial cable is
- connected
- Phone If you are calling someone, enter the phone
- number here or select it from the phonebook.
-
- Already connected / Lets you choose the way of connecting to
- Wait for call / your opponent with modem.
- Dial opponent
-
- F4 Choose a phone number from phonebook
-
-
- Phonebook:
-
- Pick up an opponent from the list using cursor keys and press enter. The
- phone number will be transferred into the Phone-field in Connection options.
- If you need to edit your phonebook, use your favourite text (ASCII) editor
- to edit the file MODEM.NUM. The format is the same as in DeathManager:
-
- Name1
- Number1
- <empty line>
- Name1
- Number2
- <empty line>
- ...
-
-
-
- PWAD selector:
-
- Adding PWADs is possible using two different methods:
-
- 1. Press enter on a slot and type the filename of the PWAD.
- You don't have to type the entire pathname. You can even omit
- the .WAD -extension. DoomGate! adds them all if they are
- needed. If the PWAD is found, the filename appears into the
- slot in uppercase.
- 2. Press insert while on a slot and choose a wad from the list.
- The list consists of all files with the extension .WAD in
- your PWAD path. The descriptions are stored in a file
- called DESCRIPT.ION in the same directory (It's of the same
- format as 4DOS's DESCRIPT.ION, so all 4DOS users can describe
- their PWADs with the internal DESCRIBE-command also). You can
- edit the descriptions by pressing F7.
-
-
-
- Weird stuff and thanks
- ----------------------
-
- And some thanks go to:
-
- Riku Salkia - For fragging me so many times, and for giving me
- Timo Järvensivu - all those nice ideas to include in this new
- Antti Lehto - version. :)
-
- Tapio Pahikkala - For creating some nice maps to roam around
-
- Ralph Brown - For the great SPAWNO, which is used in DoomGate!.
-
- id Software - For creating the best game ever!
-
- Hank Leukart - For doing a great job with Doom FAQ.
-
- Zerious Development - For creating the best map editor: DCK!
-
- [ And sorry for these messy docs and bad english. ;) Hopefully you got the
- main point, however. And if these docs were unreadable, surely you will
- know how to use DoomGate! as soon as you start it. ]
-
- Oh yes, and in case you find bugs, here's some excuses:
-
- 1. Weird...
- 2. I've never heard about that before.
- 3. Well, it DID work yesterday...
- 4. Oh c'mon, it needs only a bit of trimming.
- 5. How is this possible?
- 6. Hmm, I guess it's a hardware problem...
- 7. It's almost ready.
- 8. I can't test EVERYHING.
- 9. I thought I fixed that already...
- 10. It must be some unfortunate coincidence
-
- Hehe. ;) But really, please report them so I can fix them as soon as possible.
-
- - THE END -
-