Before roasting this file, please continue reading. I'll cut to the chase :) and leave the gibberish for last. That way it gives you the opportunity to try out everything without wading through a bunch of pointless text. Dude, you should have these files in whatever directory you just unzipped to:  README.1ST (obvious, eh?)  BALL.BAT and NOBALL.BAT (batch files for installing)  BBALL.EXE (a self-extracting archive; explained below)  Other stuff like FILE_ID.DIZ and ME.TOO (more text files) BBALL.EXE, BALL.BAT and NOBALL.BAT are all related and are used to install the new frames and sounds over the current ones in DOOM.WAD. Don't worry, the batch programs were made somewhat intelligently (they back up you current graphics & sounds before writing over anything) but they can't cover EVERY mistake, so read the messages that come up when you run the batch files. Copy these files over to your DOOM directory: BBALL.EXE, BALL.BAT and NOBALL.BAT. That's really all that is needed. The rest is just text and other junk. ÖÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ· ŗ INSTALLATION ŗ ÓÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄĽ NOTE: This patch only works with the REGISTERED version of DOOM. I cannot say whether it *would* work on the SHAREWARE version, but I advise against attempting it. ID also politely recommends that you do not modify the SHAREWARE version. Since there is no cacodemons that appear in the SHAREWARE version (that I'm aware of), this patch would be of no use anyway.  To install the patch into your DOOM.WAD follow these steps: ž Make sure the BBALL.EXE, BALL.BAT & NOBALL.BAT files are in your DOOM directory. ž IMPORTANT! It is HIGHLY recommended to make a backup of your DOOM.WAD before continuing just to be safe. It ARJs (ZIPs) down to about 4.5M. This safeguards against any loss of data (perhaps hours of work spent by yourself making your own patches, etc) and insures that it can be recovered easily. ž Type BALL to run the batch file. Read the messages that come up and answer the necessary questions (duh). A directory called ADX_BALL will be made. It will contain the files that are extracted from the BBALL.EXE. This directory will then hold the back up frames from your DOOM.WAD so that you can uninstall the balls later and put the old frames back in. ž Dude, now go deflate some way cķķl basketballs.. ÖÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ· ŗ UN-INSTALLATION ŗ ÓÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄĽ  To remove the floating basketballs, dude check it out: ž If you haven't deleted the ADX_BALL directory from your DOOM directory: - You *are* in your DOOM directory, right? - Check to see if the NOBALL.BAT file is there. If not, you'll have to extract it from the ZIP again. - Type NOBALL to run the batch file and answer to any questions that come up. The files that were stored in the ADX_BALL will be placed over the current frames in your DOOM.WAD, which hopefully, should be the way you had it before you installed these basketballs. ž If you HAVE deleted ADX_BALL directory, or the files within: - If you made a backup of your DOOM.WAD before making any changes as recommended above, then relax. Self-explanatory fix. Just un-archive your DOOM.[ARJ,ZOO,ZIP,BAK,etc.] onto the current DOOM.WAD. Just make sure you REALLY want to do this. Any other recent changes to DOOM.WAD not recently backed up will be overwritten!!! - "I didn't make a backup as recommended, but I REALLY wanted those graphics back!" Well dude unless you have some form of file recovery (SMARTCAN,UNDELETE,etc) it's not going to happen. But if you still have those other patches lying around with those way-cool graphics you wanted back, then hey! you're in business. Just run their installation programs again.   INCOMPREHENSIBLE SECTION   If you scoped-out the ADX_BALL directory and saw a bunch of strange file names and wondered what they were, then read on. The 36 graphic frames that reside in the archives are actually in GIF format, but the names sure don't look familiar. That's because I used a cryptic naming convention that is patterned (somewhat) after the IBM 4680 naming scheme. Why? I figured no one in their right mind would use this scheme for naming GIFs (or ANY file) which means little (or NO) possibility of overwritting anyone's existing GIFs (or other files). Kinda tells you how whacked out I am, huh? After I decided to have the archives create its own directory (ADX_BALL) the naming convention explained above really wasn't necessary, but I left it in just for the hell of it.   HALL OF FAME   Special thanks goes to Mike Oswald and Alan Carney, whose help definately made this project entertaining; Dan 'I need a faster processor & more memory!' Dibble my Pascal 4 Windows programming dude, for just being himself. I have dubbed them my 'quality assurance' team, although quality is subject to the end users' opinion. :-"   TRADEMARKS and junk   The Spalding logo is trademark of well, Spalding. DOOM and the orginal cacodemon graphics are copyrights of ID software. 4680 OS is copyrighted by and a trademark of IBM--(I)'ll (B)uy (M)ore  =DISCLAIMER=  (if you could call it that): ž I don't care what the heck you do with these graphics or sounds as long as you do not claim that you created this patch and anything contained therein. If you'd like to see more, drop me a line telling me what you think. I'm sorta busy working on a major ACCESS 2.0 project but I'll be happy to chat, e-mail, smoke signal, telegram, fax, etc. ž All graphics and sounds are to be considered FREEWARE and may be distributed wherever there exists human, or former human :) races as long as this ZIP remains intact and is not sold to anyone for any amount. ž In no event shall I be liable for any damages whatsoever (including, without limitation, damages for loss of profits, business interruption, loss of information, or other pecuniary loss) arising out of the use or inability to use these patch files. ž Most of all, have fun! I enjoyed creating this patch. DMAUD and DMGRAPH were written by Bill Neisius. I didn't see any copyright notices on either of his programs, but if there ARE, then please don't kill me. Send me a line on Rusty & Eddie's BBS (their number should accompany this ZIP file somewhere). My name on there is Miles Dyson. :)   HOW IT WAS MADE   I include this section just because I think it's kinda neat to see how people create stuff. The need to replace the cacodemons in DOOM became imperative one night in the early part of July, so after thinking of some weird waves to go along with the basketballs the project started rolling. Many products were used, mainly Imagine 3.0 (Amiga) and Adobe Photoshop 2.5 (PC). The drawings took about 2 weeks to complete (mostly because I worked on it at a leisurely pace). Digging up a good deflation sound was futile, so I just digitized an air-compressor de-pressurizing. The "To the hoop, y'all" WAV came from a rap by Curtis Blow called: __They're Playing Basketball__. I created everything, (except the rap) from making the basketball wire-frame object and ray-tracing it in Imagine to hand painting the faces on the firing frames of the basketball in Photoshop. A plethora of sound and graphic programs were also used for minor graphic adjustments, digitizing, etc. I made a small program called YESNO.EXE at first using Borland C++ 3.1 in about 4 seconds for use as a 'Type y or n' prompt in the batch files. Then I remembered that DOS came with CHOICE so I ditched that program!! The self-extracting .EXE files were created using ARJ. And that's about it! I wish I had a Compuserve acct or an Internet address so people could (if they wanted to) send comments, suggestions, kudos, pizza, gripes, vulgarities, etc, but all I have right now is Rusty and Eddie's BBS as my only telecom residence. Call them at one of the numbers listed on the ME.TOO file that came with this ZIP. Hear from you later... Jeff Tallent (Miles Dyson on Rusty & Eddie's) August 21, 1994