Copyright: DoomED Tutorial by David Bruni


Contents
DoomED-The Real Thing Tutorial

Introduction

This tutorial is designed to help you get started using DoomED-The Real Thing v2.60b4. It can also be used for DoomED v2.60. I'll show you how to do everything from installing the program and getting it running. To making elevators and transporters. Basically, I'll try to touch on everything you'll need to start making wad files with DoomED v2.60 & v2.60b4.

Contents

Installation

Getting started

Backing Up Your Work

Menus

Toolbar

Sectors

LineDefs

Things

Platforms or Line Specials

Windows

Eves and Overhangs

Textures and the Tiling Effect

Outside Areas

Columns

Doom Limits

Running Wad Files

Index

Acknowledgments

Suggested Reading

Glossary

Copyrights


Installation

Installing The Program

Create a Group Window

Error Messages


Installing The Program

After downloading DMREAL.ZIP, move it to a temporary
directory. The installation program will ask you
for a permanent directory location. Now unzip the file. After
unzipping DMREAL.ZIP, go to Program Manager. Under FILE, choose
RUN and type in c:\?\setup.exe. Where ? is the sub-directory
that you just unzipped the file in. I'm assuming your drive
letter is C. If it's different, then change it to the drive you
need. After hitting ENTER, you'll be presented with the
Installation Window.

On the drop down menu, pick CONFIGURE. This brings up the Setup
Configuration window. It shows the Source Directory and the
Destination Directory. The default directory is C:\DoomED. You
can accept this or change it to something else. Just make sure
that you don't overwrite an existing sub-directory. Once you
decide on a location, click OK.

Now pick INSTALL from the drop down menu. This brings up the
Install DoomED window. It should point to the sub-directory that
you just made. You can't change anything in this window, so make
sure everything is correct before hitting install. If everything
is correct, then hit "All Right, Install It!" The installation
only takes a few moments. If there were no problems, then you
should see a window that says DoomED was installed. Click OK.
Now you can exit the Setup Window.


Create a Group Window

You'll need to create a Group Window for DoomED. In Program
Manager, pick FILE. Then pick NEW.  Then pick Program Group.
Click OK. Add your own description. Now you should have a new
group window. Go back to FILE and pick NEW, again. Pick Program
Item. Fill in all the Program Item Properties, then click OK.
You should now be ready to run DoomED. Double click on the
DoomED icon to start. If you get no error messages, go to the
next section.


Error Messages

If the program fails to initialize, then you probably need to
edit the DOOMED.INI file. If you get an error message about a
file called CTL3DV2.DLL not being correctly installed here's
what you need to do. Go back to File Manager and look in your
\windows\system sub-directory. The installation program should
have moved CTL3DV2.DLL into this sub-directory. If it's not
there, then move it there and delete it from your DoomED
directory. If DoomED failed to initialize do this. Call up
Notepad. Open the file called DOOMED.INI. It should be located
in your \windows sub-directory.

Once you've opened the DOOMED.INI file, look at the first line
under [Files]. It should say: DoomWad=C:\Doom\Doom.wad. This is
assuming DOOM is on your C drive in the sub-directory DOOM. If
DOOM is in another location, then put the path to where it's
located.

The next line should say: Things=C:\?\Things.def. Where ? is
the subdirectory where you installed DoomED. Make sure this
points to the correct sub-directory. Under [Directories] the
GAME & EXPORT lines should point to your DOOM directory. Usually
C:\DOOM. If DOOM is in another directory, then change these
lines to point to where DOOM is. Save it and exit. Try
restarting DoomED. It should work correctly.

If not...well...contact me on CompuServe and describe the error
message that you get and I'll see what I can do. These 2 errors
that I've just described are the 2 most common ones.


Getting Started

Configuration

Creating Your First Map

Vertices Must Align


Configuration

Double click on your new DoomED icon. Once the program
successfully starts, maximize the window. Now we can setup the
default colors for the editor. On the drop down menu, pick FILE.
Now pick CONFIGURATION. You can change the colors of the editor
thru this dialog box. I prefer a black background with green map
lines. I use red for selected and marked. White for dialogs and
cyan for the grid. The colors are up to you. Pick ones you like
and that show up well because you'll probably be spending a lot
of time in the editor.


Creating Your First Map

Go back to FILE and pick NEW MAP. This brings up a dialog box
that says "This will erase all data and create a new map. Are
you sure?" Click YES. You should now see a big rectangle and a
small square. The big rectangle is a sector and the small square
is a player one start position.

At this point it's *VERY IMPORTANT* that you *DO NOT* try to save
the map for play, yet. You'll need to add at least one more
sector and connect it to the other sector to be able to save the
map. If you do try to save the map without adding another
sector, it will probably crash the program and cause a GPF
in windows, which is BAD. So, we need to add another sector.

On the toolbar, you'll see an X and a Y, a zoom with 2 arrows
next to it, an ALL, THG, SEC, LIN and VTX buttons. I'll describe
each as we come to them. First we need to click on the SEC
button. This will switch us into Sector mode. Click on the left
pointing arrow on the toolbar. This will zoom out the map. Do
this twice. You'll notice a bunch of small crosses. This is the
grid. The distance between the crosses is 64 units. This is very
handy for making lines at certain lengths and keeping things
square with the grid. The floor and ceiling patterns remain
square with the grid. This is something you'll need to keep in
mind when designing levels.

Now, locate your cursor above the big rectangle, not inside of
it. About one grid line above it. Right click your mouse. This
brings up the New Sector dialog box.  We'll get into what
everything in this dialog box means in a little bit. For now,
click OK. This should have inserted a square into the map
centered on the cursor. This is a Sector.  Complete with lines,
vertices, sidedefs, floor and ceiling heights and wall textures
already assigned. For now, we won't worry about changing
textures or anything. We'll get into that later. All we want to
do is connect the 2 sectors and save the map for play.

To do this, switch to VTX mode by clicking the VTX button on the
toolbar. Your 2 sectors should now have small squares on each
corner. These are the vertices. Go back to the drop down menu
under MAP. Pick Grid Settings. Change it to 8.  This is the
amount in units that the vertices will move when you click and
drag them. A large number is hard to work with and will be
jerky. It's also hard to connect the vertices this way.


Vertices Must Align

You have to be careful when you're connecting the vertices. You
need to make sure they land on top of each other and not off to
the side of one another. You can zoom in to make it easier by
using the zoom controls on the toolbar or by using the keyboard.
I find the keyboard to be faster. All you have to do is type
ALT+Z (that's pressing the ALT key and the Z key at the same
time) to zoom in and ALT+X to zoom out. Position your cursor
where you want to zoom at, then type the key combinations.

Click on one of the vertices in the new sector you added. This
is *VERY IMPORTANT*. You must maintain the integrity of the
sectors. In other words, the sectors have to stay closed
polygons. Be it squares, rectangles, octagons or similar. You
*CAN'T* turn a square into an "L" shape or straight line. If you
do and try to save the map, it will crash the program and cause
a GPF. Basically, the way you build maps in DoomED, is by
connecting a bunch of squares and rectangles together. Sounds
pretty simple, huh? It is! DoomED is a very easy editor to use.

To connect the 2 sectors together, we just have to connect 2 of
the corners together so you'll end up with what looks like 2
rectangles stacked on top of one another. If you already
clicked on one of the vertices in the new sector, then drag it
on top of one of the vertices in the other sector. Do the same
for the other corner. DoomED will automatically merge the
vertices together. It will also merge the lines together.

Now adjust the vertices until you have what looks like 2
rectangles stacked on top of each other. You should now be able
to successfully save the map without any problems. Under
FILE, pick "Save Single Map for Play". In the dialog box, hit the
save button. This will save the map as E1M1 which is fine for
now. You can accept the name NEW.WAD or change it to something
else. Keep in mind the name can only be 8 characters long, not
including the extension. Hit OK.

Your map is saved now and ready to play. Exit DoomED. Exit
Windows. At the DOS prompt, change to your DOOM directory. Type:
DOOM -FILE ?.WAD. Where ? is either NEW or whatever name you
made the WAD file. Hit ENTER. The startup screen will say
something about DOOM being modified, just hit ENTER. Go thru the
normal procedure in starting DOOM. Pick episode 1. The skill
level doesn't matter. What you should see, once the game starts
is a small room with marble walls and wood floor and ceiling.
Hit ESC to quit DOOM.

     CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!

You've just made your first WAD file. Yes,it's simple, there's nobody to
shoot or anything, but you're well on your way to bigger and better things.


Backing up your work

This brings me to another important point. It's a good idea to
keep a running backup copy of your map. Get into the habit of
doing this. It will save you a lot of time and grief. You see,
when the editor crashes, it destroys your WAD file and renders
it useless. Just copy your WAD file to a new name like NEW.BAK
or something. Make a new copy everytime you add to your WAD file
and have play tested the level. You'll thank me for this later
after you've spent 30 or more hours on a level, then have
something go wrong and you loose everything you've made.


Menus

DoomED 2.60

DoomED 2.60b4


DoomED 2.60 Menus

FILE

•	Open Map: Opens an existing WAD file.

•	New Map: Creates a new map or WAD file.

•	Save Map: Saves the map but doesn't rebuild the nodes. You can't play the level.

•	Save Map for Play: Saves map and rebuilds nodes. Map is playable.

•	Preferences: Opens a dialog box for setting default colors for the editor.

•	Choose Doom Wad File: Allows you to choose a different Doom wad file other than the one in the doomed.ini file.

•	View Directory: Shows what's in the Doom directory. Not for novices!

•	Queue: I'm not sure what this is for. You'll have to click on Queue again to close this dialog box

•	Exit: Exits the DoomED program.

MAP

•	Choose Map: Let's you pick one of the original Doom levels and extract it from the main Doom.wad file and then you can save it and edit it.

•	Bitmap Tearoff: If this is checked, when you click on a Thing, it will bring up a dialog box showing what the Thing looks like. You'll have to click Bitmap Tearoff again to close this dialog box.

•	Thing Data: Brings up the "Edit a Thing" dialog box.

•	Platforms: Lets you add and edit Platforms. Also tells you if any Platforms are defined.

•	Grid Settings: Allows you to adjust the snap-to grid settings. Editor defaults to 16.

•	Defaults for New Sectors: Allows you to pick one of the 5 pre-defined Sector Styles. Does not allow you to create new ones.

•	Export Map to WMF: Is not implemented.

•	3D Projection: Brings up a dialog box that shows the level in a 3D view. Can cause a GPF on large maps.

RESOURCES

•	Viewer: Brings up a dialog box that allows you to view wall textures, floor textures, sprites and wall panels.

•	Sounds: Lets you play all the sounds in Doom if you have a sound card. I don't know if the Replace or Create WAV file works.

•	Music: Everything is greyed out on my machine. You may need a MIDI program to use this.

HELP

•	Contents: Shows the contents of the help files.

•	Tutorial 1: Building a Map

•	Tutorial 2: Steps

•	Registration: Gives you registration information.

•	About: Tells you about DoomED.

•	Statistics: Shows you everything that is in your WAD file.


DoomED 2.60b4 Menus

FILE

•	Open Single Map File: Opens an existing WAD file.

•	Open ID Map: Lets you open the original Doom.wad file and extract one of the levels and edit it.

•	New Map: Creates a new map or WAD file.

•	Save Single Map File: Saves the map but doesn't rebuild the nodes. You can't play the level.

•	Save Single Map for Play: Saves map and rebuilds nodes. Map is playable.

•	MiniWads: Not implemented.

•	Export Map to WMF: Not implemented.

•	Configuration: Opens a dialog box for setting default colors for the editor.

•	Choose Doom Wad File: Allows you to choose a different Doom wad file other than the one in the doomed.ini file.

•	View Directory: Shows what's in the Doom directory. Not for novices!

•	Queue: I'm not sure what this is for. You'll have to click on Queue again to close this dialog box

•	Exit: Exits the DoomED program.

MAP

•	Grid Settings: Allows you to adjust the snap-to grid settings. Editor defaults to 16.

•	Platforms: Lets you add and edit Platforms. Also tells you if any Platforms are defined.

•	Statistics: Shows you everything that is in your WAD file.

•	3D Projection: Brings up a dialog box that shows the level in a 3D view. Can cause a GPF on large maps.

•	Defaults for New Sectors: Allows you to pick one of the 5 pre-defined Sector Styles. Does not allow you to create new ones.

RESOURCES

•	Viewer: Brings up a dialog box that allows you to view wall textures, floor textures, sprites and wall panels.

•	Sounds: Lets you play all the sounds in Doom if you have a sound card. I don't know if the Replace or Create WAV file works.

•	Music: Everything is greyed out on my machine. You may need a MIDI program to use this.

HELP

•	Contents: Shows the contents of the help files.

•	Tutorial 1: Building a Map

•	Tutorial 2: Steps

•	Tutorial 3: Platforms

•	Registration: Gives you registration information.

•	About: Tells you about DoomED.


Toolbar

X/Y

•	Gives you the X/Y coordinates at the cursor location.

ZOOM

•	<-, Zooms the map down

•	->, Zooms the map up.

ALL

•	Zooms the entire map out to it's extents.

THG

•	Switches the editor into Thing mode.

SEC

•	Switches the editor into Sector mode.

LIN

•	Switches the editor into Line mode.

VTX

•	Switches the editor into Vertex mode.


Sectors

What are Sectors

What you can do to Sectors

Wall, Floor and Ceiling Textures

Sector Attributes

Sector Styles

Plan ahead on heights

Connecting Sectors

Adding Vertices to existing lines

Creating Doors

Door sizes

Door textures

Creating Stairs

Stair ceiling heights

Sectors within Sectors


What are Sectors

Most of what you'll be doing in DoomED is inserting Sectors with
different floor/ceiling heights. Different wall/floor/ceiling
textures and different brightness settings. What is a Sector? A
Sector can be a room, a stair, a window, an acid pit, an
elevator, etc. When you insert a new Sector, the vertices and
lines are also inserted with it. You don't have to insert them
separately. When you insert a Sector, it all goes in with it.
This makes the map building process go quickly.


What you can do to a Sector
What you can do to Sectors

So, let's go back into the editor and open the map we just made.
Go to FILE and pick "Open Single Map File". Scroll thru the
dialog box until you find your new map. Double click on it to
open it up. Now, switch to SEC mode. Click on one or the other
of the 2 sectors in your map. This will bring up the Sector
dialog box. It tells you the ceiling height and texture. The
floor elevation and texture. The Line Attributes. The Sector
Brightness, and the Platforms. You change the floor and ceiling
textures thru this dialog box. Along with the floor/ceiling heights.
Just click the arrow next to the ceiling or floor textures to bring
up a scrolling dialog box with the available textures.


Wall Floor and Ceiling textures
Wall, Floor and Ceiling Textures

To find out what each texture looks like and how big it is, go
to the drop down menu and pick RESOURCES. Then pick
VIEWER. Pick either textures or floor/ceiling. Click on any
of the texture names in the dialog box and it will display a
picture of it. It will also tell you the size of the wall panel.

Floor and ceiling patterns are always 64 x 64 square and
oriented square with the grid. If you make a diagonal hallway,
then the floor/ceiling pattern will appear skewed or at an angle
to the walls. On some patterns, this won't matter because
there's no pattern to them.

The brightness settings start at 0, total darkness, to 255, as
bright as it gets. The default is 200. There are about 34 levels
of brightness in DOOM. This means they increment by about 8
points.


Sector Attributes

Thru the Sector Attributes, you assign such things as
pulsating sectors, health loss for acid pits or anywhere for
that matter, secret designations, etc. Platforms or Line
Specials are for things like making tripwires, elevators,
crushing ceilings, etc. We'll talk about assigning these things
later. The secret percentage that you get at the end of the
game is assigned with the secret designation in the sector
dialog box.


Sector Styles

Click where it says STYLE. This brings up the Default Sector
Style dialog box. You can pick one of the predefined styles if
you like. There's 5 available. Most of the time, though, you'll
be changing the textures manually. Usually, I'll look thru the viewer
and pick wall patterns that look good with the floor/ceiling
combination I've picked. This is your own choice.


Plan ahead on heights

You should decide on your floor/ceiling heights prior to
inserting the Sectors. This way DoomED will automatically set
the correct LineDefs. This is especially true when you have 2
connected Sectors with different floor/ceiling heights. If the
LineDefs aren't set right, things will look weird. Change the
patterns or leave them as is and click OK. Click OK in the next
dialog box, also. Now you've got another Sector inserted.


Connecting Sectors

Switch to VTX mode, so you can connect the Sectors together.
Remember not to collapse the Sector or try to connect across
Sectors. The Sectors don't have to remain square or rectangular.
You can drag the vertices into all sorts of weird shapes. Just
remember to keep them as closed polygons. The grid setting
always defaults to 16, so change it to 8, if you like. Now
connect the vertices, again, being careful to make sure they land
on top of each other. You should only have to connect 2 of the
vertices.


Adding Vertices to existing lines

You can make new vertices in existing lines. Switch to LIN mode.
Right click on one of the lines. This will break the line and
add a new vertex. To see the new vertex, switch back to VTX
mode. You should see the new vertex. If something goes wrong,
you can drag the new vertex on top of the adjacent one to
eliminate it.

There does seem to be a limit to the maximum number of vertices
that you can add to a single sector. It's some where between 20
and 30. Once you reach the limit, the map won't save any longer.
So, instead of adding a lot of vertices to a sector, create another
sector instead.


Creating Doors

Make at least 3 connected sectors in a line like a hallway.
We're now going to create a door. It's easy to do because DoomED
does it automatically. The things to watch out for are: (1) Make
sure you have 3 connected Sectors, the door will be the middle
one and (2) Keep the floor/ceiling heights the same.

Unless you want to make a thick door, drag the vertices so that
the middle sector is about 16 or 24 deep. You can check the line
length by switching to LIN mode and clicking on the line that will
be the door jamb. You'll see the length in the Line Definition
dialog box. Switch back to SEC mode. Click on the middle Sector.
This brings up the Sector dialog box. Click on the DOOR button.
It will tell you that it's going to convert this Sector into a
door. Click YES.


Door sizes

It will then tell you that you may wish to change the door
texture. The default is Bigdoor2 which is 128x128. It's a good
idea to make your door Sectors the same size as the door
texture. You don't have to but if the texture is bigger than
the opening, then the door texture will be chopped off and you
won't see all of the door texture. You can achieve different
effects with this method. It's up to you. So, I would suggest
that if your door Sector isn't 128 wide, drag the vertices over
some. When we created the map, we accepted the default Sector
height of 128. This would make the door texture fit just right.
Most of the Bigdoors are 128x128. Door 1 & 3 are small doors at
64x72.


Door textures

If you want to change the door texture to something
different, switch to LIN mode. Click on one of the door lines.
Each door has 2 lines. When you click on the line, it brings up
the LineDef dialog box. Click on the SideDef button. This
expands the window and shows you all the information associated
with the line. I'll go into this in more detail in the next
section. For now, to change the texture, click the arrow where
it says BIGDOOR2. There should only be one texture defined for
the door. Where it says "Above a lower ceiling". Once you've
clicked the arrow, a scrolling dialog box will pop up with all
the available textures. Pick one. It doesn't have to be a door
texture. That's it. Doors are easy to make.


Creating Stairs

Stairs are the next thing we'll talk about because they're
Sectors, also. DoomED will make stairs for you automatically. It
will also stitch the wall textures to line up correctly. About
all you have to do is supply a starting height and an ending
height. You'll have to provide a direction that you want the
stair to point. Let's go ahead and make a stair and connect it
to an existing Sector.

Switch to SEC mode. Right click near an existing sector. In the
New Sector dialog box, click the STEPS button. This brings up
the Step Creation dialog box. Change the end height to 64. We
don't want the stair too high. Make sure the direction is
pointing the way you want the stair to go. North is up, south
down, east to the right and west to the left. Click OK. You
should see the stair on the map. It should be outside of the
other Sectors. You don't want it to overlap any Sectors or be
inside any Sectors. This will cause problems. If you've made a
mistake, you can delete the individual sectors one at a time.
Just click on the offending sector and in the Sector dialog box,
click the DELETE button.

Now we need to connect the stair Sector with one of the other
Sectors. To do this, switch to VTX mode. I've found it better
to stretch a Sector other than the stair Sector. This keeps the
steps even and the automatic wall texture stitching won't become
misaligned. Connect the vertices of your stair with one of the
other Sectors. DoomED will automatically adjust the ceiling
heights on the stair if the ceiling height in the Sector dialog
box is not high enough for the editor. This will make the
ceiling look like a stair on the roof.


Stair ceiling heights

To avoid this, and make the ceiling one constant height, before
you click the STEPS button, click the STYLE button. Change the
ceiling height to be at least 88 units taller than your final
step. 88 is the number that DoomED uses. Although, the lowest
ceiling that you can pass under is 56. You can also adjust the
length and width on each step before you insert the stair. It's
a good idea not to change the stairs once you insert them.
Otherwise the wall texture can get messed up, SideDefs can get
weird and all sorts of little things. So, if you change your mind
about how you want your stair to look, it's better to delete the
whole stair and start over.

If you want to make a stair that rises in an existing Sector and
is not a stand alone stair, then you have to "wrap" the other
Sectors around the stair. This is tricky because you have to
keep breaking the lines to add more vertices and work your way
up the stair. The DoomED helpfile has some good illustrations
of this technique. I'd suggest starting with a small stair that
has a few steps and working your way up to taller stairs. It
takes a little practice to do this correctly. The bad thing
here is that it's easy to screw up the integrity of the Sectors.
So be careful or you could get another GPF.


Sectors within Sectors

The final thing you need to know about Sectors is, Sectors
within Sectors. You make them like any other Sector, only you
right click inside an existing Sector. Let's try it. Locate the
cursor inside an existing Sector. Right click the mouse. In the
New Sector dialog box, you'll see the dot next to where it says
"Sector Within Sector" is now marked. On the right side of the
dialog box you'll see different options for the floor and
ceiling. They can be either raised, flush or lowered. This is
how you make certain acid pits or skylights or lots of other
interesting things. For now, we can accept the defaults and have
a raised floor and a lowered ceiling. If you want to change any
of the walls, you can do so now by clicking the Style button and
changing the textures like I described earlier. Once you get
everything set, click OK.

If you click on the new Sector, you'll notice that the floor is
now 8 and the ceiling is now 120 for the new Sector. Even if you
set the floor and ceiling heights in the STYLE dialog box to
different heights, DoomED will change them. You'll have to go
back and manually change them back to the heights you want.
DoomED though, will set the SideDefs correctly for you.
To delete a Sector within a Sector, you need to switch to VTX
mode. Now, start dropping the vertices of the Sector within a Sector
on top of each other until there's only one vertex left. Save your map,
and the last remaining vertex will be eliminated.
I think that's about it for Sectors. The Line Attributes I'll cover in
the next section. And Platforms I'll cover a little later. I'm
saving them for last to help you become accustomed to the editor
and how it works before tackling Platforms.

When working with Sectors within Sectors you have to be careful. It's
not hard to do something you shouldn't and crash the program. I know, I did
it. One thing you shouldn't do is try to connect a Sector within a Sector to
another Sector. This will cause problems. If you want connected Sectors within
Sectors, you'll have to use the same procedure as you do to make stairs within
Sectors. And that is to "wrap" the existing Sectors around the stair Sector.
Like I said in the first tutorial, this is tricky and takes a few tries to get
it right.

One thing that you can do is make multiple Sectors within Sectors.
This is how you make structures that look like fountains with short walls and
nukage inside of them. One thing that you need to watch out for when working
with Sectors within Sectors is to make sure that the individual Sector lines
don't cross each other. They should look like squares, or whatever shape
you're using, inside of squares with no crossing lines.

You can achieve different looks by using Sectors within Sectors. Each
Sector can have different floor/ceiling heights. You can have one Sector with
the same floor height but with different ceiling heights. They can each have
different lighting. All sorts of things.

After the Sector within a Sector dialog box comes up and you've picked
one of the options for either flush, raised or lowered, DoomED will use 8
units for the amount that it will set the elevations to. This is in spite of
the fact that you may have changed the floor/ceiling heights in the Style
dialog box. So, if you want different elevations you'll have to change them
manually in the Style dialog box after inserting the Sectors. I would also
suggest that you keep the orientation the same when changing elevations.
What I mean is whether they're raised or lowered. This way you won't have to
change the SideDefs.


LineDefs

What Are LineDefs

Line Attributes

Line Actions

Line Textures

More on SideDefs

SideDef Exceptions

Direction Indicators

Elevator SideDefs

Swapping Ends of Lines

Summarizing SideDefs


What Are LineDefs

Line Definitions or LineDefs for short, are merely groups of
information pertaining to all the lines in a level. All lines
have some sort of information associated with them. Some lines
have more information than others. For example: when you make a
hallway by connecting 2 sectors together, the line where the 2
sectors connect will be transparent and you can walk thru it.
But it's still a line.

Call up the map that we've been working on. Switch to LIN mode
by clicking the LIN button on the toolbar. Now pick a line that
is in a hallway or a line that you know you can walk thru. In
the Line Definition dialog box, click the SideDefs>> button.
This will expand the dialog box and show you more information
about the line.

The left side of the dialog box shows you the vertex #'s that
the line goes in between. It gives you the LineDef # and the
length. It lists the Attributes of the line. Which are special
things you can assign the line to do.


Line Attributes

Most Attributes are self-explanatory. The ones that aren't are:

(1) Two sided. If you've clicked on a line in a hallway or
corridor that is perpendicular to the wall and is transparent
and can be walked thru, then the 2 sided attribute will be set
for this line. So, 2 sided lines are usually found in hallways,
corridors, passageways, windows, stairs, on top of columns that
you can or could stand on, just about anywhere that you can walk
thru a line or see thru it and shoot thru it. This is *VERY
IMPORTANT*. The 2 sided attribute must be set for lines in the
places I just mentioned. If not, then you'll get the HOM
effect. You can set the Attribute "Nothing can cross"
or "Enemies cannot cross" along with the 2 sided
Attribute. This would be the only 2 sided lines that you
couldn't cross.

(2) Upper and Lower texture not "pegged". These Attributes have
to do with whether or not the door jambs or walls of a corridor
move when the door is opened. A good example of the walls of a
corridor moving as the door opens is in the original DOOM level
E1M3. When the walkway over the acid pit comes up and you open
the secret door, the walls move as the door opens. You can also set
this attribute to help line up textures where you have differences in
floor/ceiling height or around windows. See Suggested
Reading, for the name of the best file I've found that explains using
this attribute.

(3) Secret (can't map behind) is so that the area behind the
line won't show up on the map when you hit TAB. This is not the
same as the percentage of secrets you get at the end of the
game. You set those in Sector mode by clicking the Secret
Attribute in the Sector dialog box.


Line Actions

The last thing on the left side of the Line Definition dialog
box is Action. These are all the trick things that DOOM can do.
Like tripwires that open doors or lower columns. Crushing
ceilings. Setting up elevators and key doors. These all
pertain to Platforms, so I'll cover them in the Platform
Section. For now, I'll concentrate on lines.
It's important to understand lines and SideDefs before
attempting to make maps. Or at least have some idea of what they
do. On the right side of the Line Definition dialog box, you'll
see such things as Front SideDef or 1st SideDef, Back SideDef or
2nd SideDef. The Sector # is given along with the height.


Line Textures

The X/Y texture offset is for fine tuning the texture location
on the walls. DoomED does this automatically on such things as
stairs and walls where there is a floor/ceiling height
difference. Sometimes it's necessary for you to adjust this
manually.

Basically, the X is the horizontal movement. A positive number
moves the texture to the left. A negative number moves it to
the right. The Y number moves the texture vertically or up and
down. A positive number moves it up. A negative number moves it
down. The core of the lines is controlled by the textures you
assign where you see "Main", "Above a lower ceiling" and "Below
a higher floor". Usually, if you set your Sector floor/ceiling
height prior to inserting them, you won't have to change these.
But that's not always the case. It's important to know what each
of these terms means and how to adjust them. Failing to set one
or more of the SideDefs correctly can make the map look weird
when played or give you the HOM effect.


More on SideDefs

First thing you need to do is switch to LIN mode by clicking the
LIN button on the toolbar. You'll notice that all the lines now have
another line that is perpendicular to them. This is for reference and
doesn't appear in the game. What is does is show you the
direction that you are looking at the line. Or in other words,
the Front or 1st SideDef.

In a big room that has walls that you can't walk thru or
otherwise be on the other side, the 1st SideDef designating line
should point towards the center of the room. This line will
only have a 1st SideDef. A 2nd SideDef is not needed because you
aren't able to view the line from the other side. These lines
will also have the Attribute "Nothing can cross". Lines that
are in hallways or corridors will have a 1st and 2nd SideDef
because you can look at the line from either direction. These
lines will also have the 2 sided Attribute set.

Lines that connect 2 Sectors of different floor/ceiling heights
will have a 1st and 2nd SideDef also. The trick is to set the
portion of the line that can be seen from the different
directions. Which brings me to the fact that all lines have at
least 3 parts. Lines that have a 1st and 2nd SideDef have 6
parts. 3 for each SideDef.

The lines don't have to have a texture defined for each part of
the line. For instance: Pick a 2 sided line in a corridor that
you can walk thru. When you look at the SideDefs, you'll see
that there is no texture defined for this line at all. The
designation for this is "-". The reason for this is because you
can walk thru it.


SideDef Exceptions

There are special exceptions. Some of the wall textures are
see-thru and walk-thru. I'm sure you've seen the textures that
look like cages or bars. These are MIDBRN1 and MIDGRATE.
You can use these textures and a few others in hallways. As long
as you don't assign the Attributes can't cross, you are able to walk
thru them.

Now pick a line that is a wall that you can't cross. You'll see
that the only texture defined is for "Main". This is because
you don't need an above or below texture. As long as there's no
change in floor/ceiling heights, you won't need to set the
textures for this area. To try and explain the 3 parts of a line
I'll use examples from my house. The 3 parts of the line,
"Main", "Above a lower ceiling" and "Below a higher floor" are
in terms of the plane that the line makes in relation to the
floor. If you look at a door in your house, it's 90 degrees to
the floor or perpendicular. This is the plane that lines in DOOM
are in. So, the "Main" texture would be the actual door itself.
The "Above a lower ceiling" would be the part of the wall above
the door. The "Below a higher floor" would only be set if there
was a step you had to step on to cross thru the door. My front
door is like that. The pavement outside is lower than inside the
house. You have to step up to come in. You can see this on
stairs.


Direction Indicators

The important thing is to determine the direction that you are
looking at the line to know which SideDef to set. The hallway
that leads out of our living room has a lower ceiling than the
living room and no door or step. If the 1st SideDef is pointing
away from the hallway and into the living room, then the
SideDefs would be: 1st: Nothing for the Main part because you
can walk thru this part, the Above a lower ceiling would have a
texture defined for it because from the living room, you can see
the wall above the hallway. The Below a higher floor would have
no texture because there is no step.

Now, if you walk out of the living room into the hallway and
turn around and look back into the living room, the 2nd SideDef
would not have anything defined because the Main part of the
line you can walk thru, you can't see the wall above the hallway
and there is no step.


Elevator SideDefs

In the case of elevators, you'll have to set the SideDefs
manually because DoomED doesn't make them automatically. It's
important to remember that when setting the SideDefs on
elevators, that you have to set the SideDefs for the up and down
position. Otherwise, you'll get the HOM effect again.


Swapping Ends of Lines

In the Line Definition dialog box you'll also notice a button
that has a line with an arrowhead on each end. It's right above
the SideDefs<< button and next to the Close button. This is for
swapping ends of lines. Or rotating them 180 degrees.  This is
very useful in certain situations. But here again, if you swap
ends of lines, it switches the direction that the 1st SideDef
designating line is pointing. Or the direction that you are
looking at a line gets moved to the other side. When you switch
ends of lines, you'll usually have to zoom in and out to get the
screen to redraw. Then you can see that the line was flipped
around. So when you do this, be aware that you'll have to change
the SideDefs manually, to make everything look right.


Summarizing SideDefs

To summarize SideDefs: Try to set your Sector floor/ceiling
heights prior to inserting them, and stick with these heights.
This way DoomED will assign the SideDefs automatically and
correctly.

Don't change up the SideDefs until you're more familiar with how
they work. DoomED will do a lot of the work for you and is
pretty good about setting the SideDefs. So, let the program do
it's thing and do most of the hard work for you.

Until you become comfortable with Sectors and SideDefs, play
your map after every time you add something new. This way if you
get the HOM effect and can't get rid of it, you can go back into
the editor and just delete this whole Sector instead of trying
to fix it.


Things

What are Things

Facing Directions

Starting Positions

Teleporter Destinations

Don't over do it


What are Things

Things are one of the easiest operations to do in DoomED. Open
your map and switch to THG mode by clicking the THG button on
the toolbar. The only Thing that should be in your map is a
player 1 start position. It was the small square we talked about
earlier. Once in THG mode, click on the player 1 start position.
This will bring up the Edit A Thing dialog box. What you'll see
in this is a TYPE, which is the actual object.

Objects are monsters, ammo, health, weapons, decorations such as
columns, guys impaled on spears, lights. Mainly, everything that
isn't a wall. If you click the arrow beside TYPE, it will show
you all the available objects you can use. You can preview them
before inserting them by clicking the button on the bottom that
looks like ">>". This is handy because you don't have to call up
the viewer.


Facing Directions

Where it says Facing, this is the direction that the object will
face in the game. North being up. Under Levels, this determines
which skill level that the objects will appear in. If 1, 2, 3 &
4 all are picked, then the objects, whether they're monsters or
weapons, will appear in every skill level. So, There won't be
any difference between the easy skill level and the hardest
skill level. But that's OK. This is DOOM after all. Deaf is for
making monsters that don't react until they see you. Multi is
for multi-player games by modem or network. If you tag a
thing with multi, it will only appear in a multi player game.


Starting Positions

To make your level for use in a modem or network deathmatch and
co-op, you have to insert at least 8 starts. In the dialog box, co-op starts
are numbered Start 1, Start 2, etc.Deathmatch starts are called "random
starts". So, you need 4 co-op starts and 4 "random starts" If you want
your map to be used for deathmatchs, make sure you don't put a start
position that the player can't get out of. This is important because during a
deathmatch you don't want to have to ask your opponent to
"Please come open a door for me, I'm stuck and can't get out."
This is embarrassing. So, keep that in mind when inserting
deathmatch starts.


Teleporter Destinations

The only other Thing that has something special about it is
"Teleporter dest". You'll find it in the Edit a Thing dialog box
under TYPE. You use this to make Transporters work. I'll explain
these more in the Platforms section.


Dont over do it
Don't over do it

The only other point to keep in mind about Things is, If you
load up a HUGE room with 30 or 40 monsters, 2 Cyber Demons, the
Spider Demon and lots of other objects, chances are the game
will slow down. Or worse. Things will start to disappear or
you'll get the HOM effect. So, don't go overboard on your
monsters. Add a few, then play your level. If everything looks
OK, add some more and test it again. I'll covers this and some
other things to look out for in the DOOM Limits Section.


Platforms or Line Specials

What Are Platforms

End Level Switch

Tripwires

Transporters

Elevators


What Are Platforms

Platforms in DoomED is the term used to describe all the trick
things that DOOM can do. Such as tripwires, crushing ceilings,
key doors, the end level switch, making elevators go up and
down, etc. Basically, what you do is, tag a line with one of the
line specials, such as cross and door(s) open, then you
associate that line with the door sector, for example. There's
about 100 things that you can do, I haven't tried them all. I
will tell you how to setup tripwires, elevators, transporters
and the end level switch. You'll have to experiment some with
all the specials. They're all setup in a similar fashion.


End Level Switch

The first Platform we'll talk about is the End Level Switch.
You'll probably use one in all your maps. It's really easy to
do. Open your map and switch to LIN mode. Pick a line that you
can use for the switch. In the LineDef dialog box, look on the
bottom of the window where it says ACTION. There's 2 scrolling
dialog boxes. Click on the arrow in the top one. This will open
the dialog box with all the line specials or Platforms listed.
Scroll down until you find the one that says "Switch:End level
go to next level". Click on this to assign it to the line.

I look for a switch in the viewer that will fit the wall I want
the switch to go on. If the wall is bigger than the switch
texture, then the textures will tile on top of each other. You'll
have one switch on top of another. You'll also notice in the
viewer that there are 2 kinds of switches, SW1xx and SW2xx.
These are for the on/off positions. DOOM will automatically
switch textures when you throw the switch or push the button.


Tripwires

To make a tripwire, that when crossed opens a door(s), you do
this: Create the door(s) you want opened. Go to SEC mode. Pick
the Sector of the door you want opened. This calls up the Sector
dialog box. Click the ADD button. This brings up the Platform
Information dialog box. Under NAME, you can put something like
"Tripwire". This will help you to keep track of the Platforms
that you are creating. Under COMMENTS, it says "undefined", you
can change this to something like "Tripwire:opens door". Click
OK and close this dialog box.

Back in the Sector dialog box, under PLATFORMS, click the arrow.
You should see the Tripwire Platform that we just made. Click on
it to assign it to the Sector. Close this window. Switch to LIN
mode. Pick one of the 2 lines of the door you want opened. In
the LineDef dialog box, under ACTION, it should say "Door-std
door-closes after 5 secs.". Click the arrow next to this and
scroll down until you see "Cross:Open door-stays open". Click on
it to assign it to the door line.

You have to do both lines that make up the door to have it work
correctly. Click the arrow in the bottom box and pick the Tripwire
Platform you created earlier to assign it to the door.
Pick the line that you've chosen to be the Tripwire.
In the LineDef dialog box, under ACTION, click the arrow in the
top box and scroll down until you see "Cross:Open door-stays
open". Click on this to assign it to the line. In the bottom
box, click the arrow and click on the Tripwire Platform you
created earlier. To find out if the Tripwire is associated with
the door, click off the Tripwire, then click on it again. The
Tripwire and door lines should both be selected when you click
on the Tripwire.


Transporters

To make a Transporter you first need to decide upon a starting
location and an ending location. Where you want to transport to
and from. Most transporter pads are 64 square. They can be just
about any place. They don't even have to look like
Transporters. It's just a line you assign a line special to.

Switch to SEC mode. Click on the Sector that you want to
transport from. Under Platforms in the Sector dialog box, click
ADD. This will call up the Platform Information dialog box. Do
like you did when you set up the Tripwire. Under NAME, put
Transporter, under COMMENTS do the same thing. Click OK. In the
Sector dialog box, under PLATFORM, click the arrow and click on
your Transporter Platform you just created. Click on your
Transporter destination Sector. Do the same thing as you did to
setup the Transporter starting Sector.

Switch into LIN mode by clicking on the LIN button on the
toolbar. Pick the line that you would have to cross to enter the
transporter. Under ACTION in the LineDef dialog box, click the
arrow in the top box. Scroll down until you see "Cross:Teleport
to another platform". Click on this to assign it to the line.
Go to the bottom box and click the arrow next to it. Click on
your Transporter Platform you created earlier.

Close this dialog box and switch to THG mode. Right click in the
center of your Transporter Destination Sector to insert a Thing.

This will bring up the Edit a Thing dialog box. Under TYPE,
scroll down until you see "Teleporter dest" and click on this to
insert it. The only thing left, is to set the facing direction
when you come out of the Transporter. You should check to see
which way the SideDefs for the Transporter line is facing. You
want the 1st SideDef to point at you as you cross the line.
Otherwise, you'll go into the Transporter and have to back over
the line again to transport.


Elevators

Making Elevators is where you need to have an understanding of
SideDefs and how to assign them. DoomED won't make Elevators
automatically. So, 9 times out of 10, you'll have to set the
SideDefs manually after you've connected the Sectors. The
tricky part is making sure that textures are set for the walls
when the elevator is down and when it's up.

To create an Elevator, you'll need to setup 3 connected Sectors.
The middle sector will act as the actual Elevator. The sector
with the lower ceiling will have a Tripwire in it to bring the
Elevator down. The Sector with the higher ceiling will also
have a Tripwire to make the Elevator go back down.

To make sure we're all on the same page, I'm going to set the
floor/ceiling heights as follow: The Sector that we want to
start from will have a floor height of 0 and a ceiling height of
128. The middle Sector, which is the Elevator, will be set with
a floor height of 128 and a ceiling height of 256. The last
Sector will be the same as the Elevator Sector at 128 and 256.
Click the middle or Elevator Sector. In the Sector dialog box,
under PLATFORM, click ADD. In the Platform Information dialog
box, we'll do the same as for the other Platforms we setup. So,
under NAME, change it to "Elevator". Same thing under COMMENTS.
Click OK.

In the Sector dialog box, under PLATFORMS, click the arrow and
click on your Elevator Platform you just created. Close this
dialog box.  Switch to LIN mode by clicking the LIN button on
the toolbar.  Pick a line in the Sector with the lower ceiling
to act as the Tripwire to bring the Elevator down. In the
LineDef dialog box, under ACTION, click the arrow in the top
box. Scroll down until you see "Cross:Lower elevator-rises after
3 seconds". Click on this to select it.

In the bottom dialog box, click the arrow and click on your
Elevator Platform that you created.  Setup a Tripwire in the
Sector with the higher ceiling the same way to make the Elevator
go back down. Now when you click on either of the Tripwires the
Elevator should be selected, also.  The line that is the front
edge of the Elevator should have it's 1st SideDef pointing
towards you or the Sector with the lower ceiling. Check the
SideDefs. The 1st SideDef should have a texture defined for the
part of the line that says "Below a higher floor". The 2nd
SideDef should have a texture defined for the part of the line
that says "Above a lower ceiling".

The line that is the back or rear of the Elevator, should have
it's 1st SideDef pointing the same way as the front line of the
Elevator.  Towards the Sector with the lower ceiling. The only
texture that should be defined is the 1st SideDef where it says
"Below a higher floor". If you orient your SideDefs this way,
you shouldn't get the HOM effect or the other weird looking
effect that comes from having an incorrect SideDef. You may have
to play around with the SideDefs to get them just right.


Windows

Windows in DoomED are easy to make. Windows are nothing more than
Sectors connected to other Sectors, only they have different floor/ceiling
heights. So, to make a simple window, switch to SEC mode by clicking the SEC
button on the toolbar. Insert a Sector with a floor/ceiling height of 0, 128.
This will be the room that you'll look out the window from. Insert another
Sector next to the first Sector. This will be the window. Make the
floor/ceiling height 25, 100. Keep in mind that the lowest floor that you can
cross is 24. So, you won't be able to go through this window.

Switch to VTX mode by clicking the VTX button on the toolbar. Connect
the 2 Sectors together by dragging 2 of the vertices on top of each other.
Remember not to collapse either of the Sectors or connect across Sectors.
This will cause problems and crash the program.

Insert another Sector close to the other 2 Sectors but not
overlapping. Make the floor/ceiling heights 0, 128. Switch back to VTX mode by
clicking the VTX button on the toolbar. Connect the new Sector to the window
Sector by dragging the vertices on top of each other. You should now have a
window. Save your map for play and test it.

About the only thing you need to watch out for is, try to decide on
your floor/ceiling heights prior to inserting the Sectors. This way DoomED
will automatically set the correct SideDefs. Otherwise, you may have to change
the SideDefs manually to achieve the desired results. This will also minimize
the chances of getting the HOM effect.

You can make windows any depth that you want by dragging the vertices
around. A good depth for windows is 16 or 24. This is up to your own
discretion. If everything goes correctly, the SideDefs will be marked as 2
sided. It's important that you DO NOT remove this Attribute. Doing so will
cause the HOM effect.

You can, however, assign a see through texture to 2 sided lines. You would assign
these textures to the "MAIN" part of the line. These textures are: BRNBIGC,
BRNBIGL, BRNBIGR, BRNSMAL1, BRNSMAL2, BRNSMALC, BRNSMALL,
BRNSMALR, these textures are the ones that were used on the Military Base for
the imp cage in the center of the open area. Some more of the see through textures are:
MIDBRN1, MIDGRATE, these are the cage bar textures, MIDVINE1 & MIDVINE2, are
vine textures. All these textures can be used in corridors or in open areas,
provided you don't use the "Nothing can cross" Attribute. This way you can
walk straight through them. As long as a texture is made-up of one patch, you
can use it as a see through texture.

You can use these textures anywhere you have a 2 sided line. Be it on
windows or hallways. You can't, however, use these textures on walls that have
the Attribute "Nothing can cross".


Eves and Overhangs

Eves and overhangs are other things that are easily created with
DoomED. Bear in mind that anytime you have a change in floor/ceiling heights,
you'll have another Sector. With that in mind, let's make an overhang. In all
these examples, the textures assigned to the walls, ceilings and floors, are
really not important. These are just practice WADs to illustrate how to setup
the particular structures.

Insert a Sector with a floor/ceiling height of 0, 128. This will act
as our main room. Off to the side of this Sector, insert another Sector. Make
it's floor/ceiling heights 0, 72. Switch to VTX mode by clicking the VTX
button on the toolbar. Connect both Sectors together by dragging the vertices
on top of one another. Remember to be careful and make sure that the vertices
land on top of each other and not off to the side. If you make a mistake, you
can drag the misplaced vertex on top of one of the adjacent vertices to
eliminate it. This will minimize the chances of getting a "Sector not closed"
error. Usually if I have to do this, I'll immediately "Save the map for play".
This way if there's a problem, you'll find out right away and not spend a lot
of time adding to your map only to have it crash. My normal procedure is to
save the map and test play it after I add any kind of structure. Most WAD
files that I've made, I must have played 50 or 60 times, before deciding that
everything was OK. If you get into the habit of doing this, it will save you
time and grief later on.

You can add and connect as many overhang Sectors to the main room
Sector as you like. If you set all your floor/ceiling heights prior to
inserting the Sectors and stick to them, DoomED will automatically set the
correct SideDefs. Once you connect Sectors with different floor/ceiling
heights, DoomED decides which SideDefs to set for the different parts of the
wall that can be seen. This is one of DoomED's strong points, use it to your
advantage. It will not only save you time, but also minimizes the chance of
errors.

Not everything you build will look right. Eventually, you'll have to
edit the SideDefs manually. This is why you need to understand SideDefs and
how they work. Remember that lines in DOOM are really planes. These planes are
90 degrees to the floor or your line of sight as you play the game. And lines
have 3 parts. For example, if you have a corridor that leads out of a room and
the corridor has a step and a lower ceiling than the room it's going away
from, then the 1st SideDef of the line needs to have a texture assigned to the
step and the part of the wall above the opening. The open part of the
corridor, which is the "Main" part in the SideDef dialog box, doesn't need a
texture. This is assuming that the 1st SideDef is pointing into the larger
room. The 2nd SideDef would have no texture defined for any part of the wall.
This is because the "Main" part is transparent and you can walk through it.
The above and below textures don't need to be assigned a texture because the
2nd SideDef is pointing away from the larger room and down the corridor and
you can't see either parts of the walls looking from this direction. I know
that this can be hard to visualize.

Try drawing your Sectors on a piece of paper as if you where looking
at them from the side. This might help you to visualize which parts of the
wall need to have a texture assigned to them. SideDefs are one of those things
that you either understand completely or not at all. There's not much middle
ground when it comes to SideDefs. Having DoomED set the SideDefs automatically
should help you see which part of the wall needs to have a texture. So, make
some connected Sectors with different floor/ceiling heights, then look at the
SideDefs for the lines. This helped me get the hang of them. Play around with
the SideDefs on practice WADs until you have a good feel for them. It takes
practice to get good at setting them correctly by hand. One day you'll be
using DoomED and it will hit, "So, that's how they work". Keep at it and it
will come to you. It just takes a little time.


Textures and the Tiling Effect

When designing floors, you have to pay particular attention to which
textures you're using and where they are going. The most obvious places are
doors and switches. You might not want 2 switches tiled on top of each other.
And having 2 bigdoors tiled on top of each other just doesn't look right to
me.

To get around this, you have to setup your floor/ceiling heights to
match the size of the textures that you want to use. For example, if you want
to use the texture SW1COMM, but don't want 2 switches on top of each other,
then make your Sector 64 wide by 72 high. This is the same size as the texture
itself. If you want to use this switch in a room with a ceiling height of 128
or higher, then what you need to do is make another separate Sector off to the
side with the correct floor/ceiling heights and connect it to the room with
the higher ceiling. This way you won't get the tiling effect. What you end up
with is a "pocket" in the wall where the switch is.

This is the same way that you make doors with lower ceilings open into
rooms with higher ceilings. In this case, though, you need to make a "dummy"
Sector. What I mean is the corridor with the lower ceiling will need to have
at least 3 connected Sectors with the same floor/ceiling heights before it
opens into the room with the higher ceiling. The corridor Sector that connects
to the higher ceiling room would be the "dummy" Sector. The next Sector in
line would be the door. Then on the "dummy" Sector, you could make it look
like a key door or something by changing the door jambs to the key door
textures.

Some wall textures also don't look right when tiled. Others, the
tiling effect doesn't make much difference. You'll just have to experiment and
judge for yourself whether they look good or not.

The wall textures not only tile on top of each other but also side by
side. For example, if you have a wall who's floor/ceiling heights are 0, 128
and is 512 long, and you want to use the texture SP_DUDE1, which is a guy
hanging on the wall, but you don't want a whole wall of them. What you can do
is break the line of the wall in 2 or more places so you have 3 or more
separate lines. Now, adjust the vertices to change the length of the lines to
fit the texture which is 128 wide. You can look through the VIEWER to find out
how big the wall textures are.

One other thing that has to do with textures but not the tiling
effect, is having the textures scroll horizontally. To get the walls to scroll
you'll have to switch to LIN mode. Pick the line that you want to animate. In
the LineDef dialog box, under ACTION, click the arrow in the top scrolling
dialog box. This shows you all the Line Specials that DOOM can do. Pick the
first one under NORMAL. The one that says "Animated wall- scrolls
horizontally". That 's the only thing you have to do. Keep in mind that if you
animate large areas with tall walls, the game can slow down.


Outside Areas

Outside areas are easy to create. You make them just like inside
areas. The only difference being, you use the sky texture. The sky textures
are really cleverly tiled ceiling patterns. It only appears to be the sky.
It's sort of like an optical illusion. You can see this by making a room with
2 separate Sectors. Make one Sector with the sky texture and the other Sector
with any ceiling pattern. Now, save the map for play and play it.

One of the things that you need to consider when making outside areas
is the corridor that opens into the outside. I'll usually make this corridor
lower than the outside so I can have a door header above the door. Or in
others words, a part of the wall to assign a texture to. Otherwise, it will
look strange.

Normally, I make the ceiling height for an outside area at 128. This
way, the walls are not too tall and you can see more of the sky pattern. Try
different ceiling heights for your outside areas and you can see what I mean.

Sky patterns don't have to be used only outside. You can use them for
skylights or partial open roofs in rooms. There are sky patterns listed with
the wall textures. You can assign them to walls. I wouldn't recommend using
them for a whole wall, though. They'll tile like any other wall pattern. This
can produce undesirable results. So, if you decide to use them for the walls,
I would only use them for one wall panel. I've played WAD files where this
looked good.

Another thing about sky patterns that you need to know is that there
are 3 sky patterns. Even though there is only one listed in the ceiling
patterns. There's one for each episode. DOOM will automatically assign the
correct sky patterns for the separate missions. Episode 1 uses white sky and
white mountains. Episode 2 uses red sky and white mountains. Episode 3 uses
red sky and red mountains. So, to have a red sky and red mountains, you'll
have to save the map as "E3M1" or any mission on episode 3.

By using the sky patterns around a Sector within a Sector, you can
make it appear that a structure is free floating in the air and not connected
to anything. This, of course is another optical illusion. The Sector within
the Sector is really connected to the ceiling which is the sky pattern. But
you can't tell by looking at it.

To achieve this effect, insert a Sector with a floor/ceiling height
of 0, 128. Assign the sky pattern to the ceiling. Now, insert a Sector within
this Sector. Under the options make the ceiling lowered for the Sector within
the Sector. You can make the floor raised if you like. Assign the ceiling of
the Sector within the Sector to any texture except the sky texture. When you
play the level, the Sector within the Sector should appear to be floating in
midair.


Columns

To make a column you can do this. Make a Sector with a floor/ceiling
height of 0, 384. Make a Sector within this Sector. Make the floor/ceiling
heights of this Sector 384, 512. This way, you create a "pocket" in the
ceiling to put some kind of monster, like a Baron of Hell or an Eyeball. You
have to make the "pocket" in the ceiling tall enough for the monster to fit.
Otherwise, things might not work right. Now, you can assign the Platform that
lowers the column when you cross a certain line.

You can create columns that don't go into the ceiling the same way.
Only adjust the floor/ceiling heights of the Sector within the Sector to a
lower height. Then you can put whatever monster on top of the column you
want. Provided that you leave enough room for him to stand. You can also
assign the Attribute "Enemies can't cross" to the lines around the column.
I've read where monsters will walk of the edge of columns and higher floor
areas. But I've never assigned this Attribute in these areas, and haven't
had a problem with this. In fact, I like being able to shoot the monsters and
have them fall off the edge down to the floor. This looks way cool. Here
again, it's up to you.


Doom Limits

I'd like to say a few words about the limitations of what you
can and probably shouldn't do when designing DOOM levels.

DOOM is not true 3D. You can't have rooms on top of each other.
You can't make a bridge or walkway that you could walk under and
walk on top of. The highest step that you can cross is 24.

The lowest ceiling you can pass under is 56. The players,
therefore are about 55 tall, along with the imps and guys with
rifles and shotguns. The Baron of Hell is about 70 tall. The
Cyber Demon and the Spider Demon are about 110 tall. Keep this
in mind when using these monsters. If you use them in rooms that
aren't tall enough, you might get undesirable results.

A lot of the wall textures are 128x128, some are smaller. Doors
are the same way. You'll have to browse thru the Viewer to get a
feel for the walls and their sizes and names. You should avoid
making rooms that have a total height that is greater than 512.
You should also try to avoid making rooms that are gigantic in
size and have a lot of monsters in it. This tends to slow down
the game and sometimes overloads the graphics all together and
kicks you out to a DOS prompt. This has happened to me when I
made too many Sectors in one area, then filled it up with imps.
It just wouldn't play. So, don't go overboard. Start out small
and work your way up.


Running Wad Files

Typically, to run a WAD file you type: doom -file ?.wad at the
DOS prompt. Where ? is the name of the WAD file you want to
play. If it's E1M1, then you start the game as always. If it's
E2M1, you can do the same thing then after the game starts, type
IDCLEV 2 1 to warp to the second episode. Or you can warp
directly to the floor you want to get to from the DOS prompt by
typing:doom -devparm -file ?.wad -warp 2 1 -skill 4. The ?.wad
stands for the WAD file name. The -warp 2 1 is the episode and
mission numbers that match the WAD file that you're trying to
run. The skill level is optional.


Index

A

Acknowledgments

Adding Vertices to existing lines

B

Backing up your work

C

Columns

Configuration

Connecting Sectors

Contents

Copyrights

Create a Group Window

Creating Doors

Creating Stairs

Creating Your First Map

D

Direction Indicators

Dont over do it

Doom Limits

Doomed 2.60 Menus

Doomed 2.60b4 Menus

Door sizes

Door textures

E

Elevator SideDefs

Elevators

End Level Switch

Error Messages

Eves and Overhangs

F

Facing Directions

G

Getting Started

Glossary

I

Index

Installation

Installing The Program

L

Line Actions

Line Attributes

Line Textures

LineDefs

M

Menus

More on SideDefs

O

Outside Areas

P

Plan ahead on heights

Platforms or Line Specials

R

Running Wad Files

S

Sector Attributes

Sector Styles

Sectors within Sectors

Sectors

SideDef Exceptions

Stair ceiling heights

Starting Positions

Suggested Reading

Summarizing SideDefs

Swapping Ends of Lines

T

Teleporter Destinations

Textures and the Tiling Effect

Things

Toolbar

Transporters

Tripwires

V

Vertices Must Align

W

Wall Floor and Ceiling textures

What Are LineDefs

What Are Platforms

What are Sectors

What are Things

What you can do to a Sector

Windows


Acknowledgments

I'd like to thank Geoff Allan, author and creator of DoomED-The Real Thing.

I'd like to give special thanks to my wife, Kathy, for all her help and support.

And of course, thanks to the guys at id software for creating Doom and making this all possible.

Thanks also to WinWare for the program Visual Help, which is what I used to create this tutorial. As you can see, it's a great program and gives you very professional results.

And a very special thank you to all the SysOps in The Gamer's Forum for electing my wife and I as SuperGamer's of the Month.

I'd also like to thank all the friends I've made through CompuServe. This tutorial is dedicated to you.

David Bruni
CIS 74353,357
12/13/94


Suggested Reading

The following is a list of files that you might find useful when designing
Doom levels.

1) Managing Textures and the "Unpegged" Attribute.
                by Scott Amspoker
2) Doom Metrics
                by Scott Amspoker
3) Design 12 FAQ
                by Tom Neff
4) The Unofficial Doom Specs
                by Matt Fell


Glossary

D

Doom

DoomED-The Real Thing

G

GPF

H

HOM

L

LineDefs

S

Sectors

SideDefs

SuperGamer's

T

Things

V

Vertices

Visual Help

W

WAD file

WinWare


Copyrights

DOOM

•	Doom is copyright by id Software.

DoomED-The Real Thing

•	DoomED-The Real Thing is copyright by Geoff Allan.

DoomED-The Real Thing Tutorial

•	DoomED-The Real Thing Tutorial is copyright by me, David Bruni, CIS 74353,357.

What you can do with this Tutorial

You are free to do what you want with this Tutorial except:

SELL IT FOR PROFIT.

COPY IT VERBATIM AND SAY THAT YOU WROTE IT.


Doom

A fast paced 3-D game that has taken the gaming world to new heights.


DoomED-The Real Thing

A Doom level editor, created by Geoff Allan. It allows you to create and edit Doom levels or wad files.


GPF

General Protection Fault. The technical term used to describe a system crash. It's a good idea to exit Windows after a GPF and reboot the computer.


HOM

The Hall Of Mirrors effect. A weird video glitch that usually occurs because of missing textures and other errors.


LineDefs

Lines that makeup the boundaries of Sectors and are used as tripwires or triggers, switches, etc. LineDefs can have one or two SideDefs.


Sectors

The building blocks of Doom levels. Sectors can be rooms, stairs, windows, acid pits, elevators, etc.


SideDefs

SideDefs are the sides of the lines that you can assign textures to.


SuperGamer's

A person or persons who are elected by the SysOps of the forum for their contribution to the forum and the help and support they give other members of the forum.


Things

Things can be monsters, weapons, keys, light decorations, etc.


Vertices

The points where the lines converge. These are the basic building block of a wad file.


Visual Help

Visual Help is a powerful, easy-to-use development environment for creating Windows help files.


WAD file

An external map or level for Doom. You create them with a level editor such as DoomED-The Real Thing.


WinWare

WinWare   P.O. Box 2923    Mission Viejo, CA 92690