A Beginner's Guide To Doomsday ------------------------------ by Jaakko Keränen 09/23/2003 http://www.doomsdayhq.com/ http://deng.sourceforge.net/ CONTENTS: 1. What do you need? 2. Automatical installation 2.1 Installing into a new folder 2.2 Upgrading an old version 3. Manual installation 3.1 Step 1: Unpack the distribution package 3.2 Step 2: Copy the WAD files 3.3 Step 3: Run glBSP on the WAD files 3.4 Step 4: Create a shortcut for KickStart 4. Starting a game 4.1 Starting with KickStart 4.2 Starting with the Simple Launchers 4.3 Starting with batch files or from the DOS Prompt 4.4 jDoom: Options for overriding game detection 5. Loading WADs 5.1 Loading in KickStart 5.2 Loading in the console 5.3 Loading with command line options ======================================================================== 1. WHAT DO YOU NEED? * One of the distribution packages: File name Contains -------------------------------------------------------------------- deng-inst-(version).exe Installer, jDoom, jHeretic, jHexen deng-(version).zip jDoom, jHeretic, jHexen The packages can be downloaded from http://sourceforge.net/projects/deng/, http://www.doomsdayhq.com/, ftp://jfiles@server1.thefourwinds.net/ or from the mirror site http://www.jbserver.com/~jdoom/. * 3D models are distributed in separate packages called model packs. Each model pack contains a set of 3D models, which will be used to represent objects in the game world. Without a model pack, objects will be represented by the original 2D graphics ("sprites"). Downloading one or more model pack is optional. The packages have the following file names: jdoom_mpack.exe jheretic_mpack.exe jhexen_mpack.exe * Windows 98 (or newer). * DirectX 8.0 (or newer). * A display adapter with 3D hardware acceleration. * A copy of the original shareware/registered Doom, Doom II, Final Doom, shareware/registered Heretic, Hexen or Hexen: Deathkings of the Dark Citadel, depending on what you're going to play. ======================================================================== 2. AUTOMATICAL INSTALLATION The distribution packages have included a special installation wizard since Doomsday 1.7.3. ........................................................................ 2.1 Installing into a new folder Execute the distribution package deng-inst-(ver).exe. Type the path of the folder into the edit box or choose an existing folder using the Browse button. Example: C:\Games\Doomsday. There is a button with a folder icon on the left side of the edit box. Click the button. After the files have been extracted, a WAD Files dialog will appear. The dialog lists a number of WAD files from supported games (Doom, Heretic, Hexen). Locate the WAD files you have on your hard drive. I recommend keeping the glBSP option checked because running it will fix many glitches in the maps. Note that the installation wizard can only create shortcuts for the WAD files you locate using this dialog. The shortcut creation dialog will allow you to select a Start Menu program group and gives you the option to automatically create shortcuts for the KickStart launcher. The fast launch shortcuts will be created in the selected Start Menu program group. They allow you to immediately launch the game using a specific WAD and renderer. If you have downloaded any model packs, you may now install them in any order you like. They use the same installation wizard as the main distribution package. ........................................................................ 2.2 Upgrading an old version The Upgrade button is available if you have installed a version of Doomsday in the past using the wizard. Clicking the button will make the installer extract the new files into the folder where you have the older version installed. The WAD files dialog will then appear. If you have already located all of your WAD files in the past, you don't need to enter them again in the dialog. Click Continue when you're done. If there is no need to create new shortcuts, just bypass the shortcut creation dialog by clicking Continue. ======================================================================== 3. MANUAL INSTALLATION This is the procedure to follow when installing Doomsday 1.7.2 or an older version. ........................................................................ 3.1 Step 1: Unpack the distribution package Run the distribution EXE file. A window appears asking you where the files should be extracted. The default folder is C:\Doomsday. You might want to change it something like C:\Games\Doomsday or C:\Program Files\Doomsday. Click the Install button to begin the installation. When the files have been extracted, you can run the EXE file of the model pack, for instance jdoom_mpack.exe. Be sure to extract the model files in the same directory as you extracted the distribution. The default is C:\Doomsday here, as well. The model pack is not required; you don't have to install it at all, or you might install it at some later point in time. Even if you're only going to play one of the games, for example jDoom, it's recommended that you install the files into a folder named Doomsday (or something similar), not jDoom because if you later decide to install jHeretic or jHexen they should be installed into the same folder with jDoom. It's possible to install them into separate folders but then you've got multiple copies of the same files on your hard drive. (Assuming you care about a few MBs or the names of your folders.) ........................................................................ 3.2 Step 2: Copy the WAD files The only thing you need from the original Doom, Heretic, Hexen, etc. is an IWAD file. It is the large (over 10 MBs) WAD file you can find in the folder where you've got the original game installed. It contains all the game maps, sprites, sounds, graphics and other data. The names of the various IWADs are listed below: Game DLL Original Game IWAD Files ---------------------------------------------------------------------- jDoom Shareware Doom DOOM1.WAD jDoom Registered Doom DOOM.WAD jDoom Doom II DOOM2.WAD jDoom Final Doom TNT.WAD and PLUTONIA.WAD jHeretic Heretic HERETIC.WAD jHexen Hexen HEXEN.WAD jHexen Hexen: Deathkings HEXDD.WAD (HEXEN.WAD needed as well) Let's assume that in Step 1 you extracted the files to C:\Doomsday. I recommend that you copy (or move if you don't play the original game any more) the IWAD files you need into the appropriate Data subfolder, in jDoom's case C:\Doomsday\Data\jDoom. If you don't do this you'll need to specify the IWAD to use when launching the game. NOTE! Make sure you're using the latest version of the original game. See this F.A.Q. entry for more information: http://www.doomsdayhq.com/faq.php?topic=10#question5 ........................................................................ 3.3 Step 3: Run glBSP on the WAD files glBSP (by Andrew Apted) is a program that calculates map data in a way which is more accurate and more useful for 3D rendering than the data found in the original WAD files. Running glBSP will greatly reduce the number of graphics errors like stray pixels and missing floors, ceilings and walls. In most cases all graphics errors can be fixed by running glBSP. The Doomsday KickStart launcher can automatically check for the existance of data files produced by glBSP and build them if necessary, so you can skip this step if you make sure the option "Check if glBSP needs to be run" is checked on KickStart's "Other" tab. Open the DOS Prompt and change to the folder where you extracted the files in Step 1. All the distributions include a text mode version of glBSP, so all you need to do is give the following commands (for all IWAD files you copied in Step 2): glbsp data\jdoom\doom.wad glbsp data\jdoom\doom2.wad (...etc...) glbsp data\jhexen\hexdd.wad If you didn't copy the IWADs to the Data folder, you must naturally give the full path to glBSP, for example: glbsp d:\games\heretic\heretic.wad NOTE! If you have glBSP version 2.00, you need to use the "-fresh" option when you run glBSP. Otherwise the generated data may contain errors. For the latest version go to http://glbsp.sourceforge.net/. ........................................................................ 3.4 Step 4: Create a shortcut for KickStart The main launcher for games running on the Doomsday Engine is called Doomsday KickStart. It can be found in the folder where you extracted the files in Step 1 (Kicks.exe). To have a convenient way to start the game create a Windows shortcut for Kicks.exe. NOTE! If KickStart fails to run, displaying an error message about missing OCX or DLL files, get the "KickStart Full Install" from http://www.doomsdayhq.com/download_util.php. ======================================================================== 4. STARTING A GAME ........................................................................ 4.1 Starting with KickStart Doomsday KickStart is the easiest way to start playing jDoom, jHeretic or jHexen. Select the profile you want from the list and click Play. To find more information about KickStart, go to: http://modelyard.newdoom.com/ ........................................................................ 4.2 Starting with the Simple Launchers The Simple Launchers are small EXE files found in the folder where you installed the game (jDoom.exe, jHeretic.exe, jHexen.exe). They can only be run in the root Doomsday folder, which is C:\Doomsday by default. They just change to the correct runtime folder (e.g. Run\jDoom) and execute Doomsday.exe with the appropriate command line options ("-gl", "-game", "-userdir", "-basedir"; see Doc\CmdLine.txt). The simple launchers have one command line option of their own: "-d3d". It'll make the game use the Direct3D renderer instead of the OpenGL one, which is used otherwise. ........................................................................ 4.3 Starting with batch files or from the DOS Prompt If everything else fails you can always start the game from the DOS Prompt. For an example batch file see Doc\Example.bat. For information about the handling of file names on the command line see Doc\Readme.txt. For a list of command line options see Doc\CmdLine.txt. ........................................................................ 4.4 jDoom: Options for overriding game detection If you've got multiple IWADs in your Data\jDoom folder and you start the game from a batch file or from the DOS Prompt you can use the following command line options to make jDoom use the IWAD you want: Option Game ---------------------------------------------------------------------- "-sdoom" Shareware Doom (DOOM1.WAD) "-doom" (same as "-ultimate") Registered or Ultimate Doom (DOOM.WAD) "-doom2" Doom II (DOOM2.WAD) "-tnt" Final Doom (TNT.WAD) "-plutonia" Final Doom (PLUTONIA.WAD) If you don't use one of these options and you don't specify an IWAD with the "-iwad" command line option, jDoom will use the first IWAD it comes across. The folders searched are Data\jDoom, Data, the root Doomsday folder and Run\jDoom. ======================================================================== 5. LOADING WADS There are two kinds of WAD files: IWADs and PWADs. IWADs are usually large and contain all kinds of data like maps, sprites, sounds and graphics. PWADs (Patch WADs) are smaller and in addition to new data they may contain data that will replace some parts of an IWAD, for instance a single map. Both IWADs and PWADs consist of one or more named blocks of data called lumps. KickStart won't start a game unless an IWAD file is listed and checked in the WAD Files list. ........................................................................ 5.1 Loading in KickStart Click the Add and Remove buttons under the WAD Files list to add and remove WAD files. All the checked files will be loaded when you start the game. ........................................................................ 5.2 Loading in the console It's possible to load WAD files at runtime in the console. When you've got the game running, open the console with the Tilde key. To load the WAD file COOL.WAD from the runtime folder (e.g. Run\jDoom), use the following command: load cool.wad You can also give the full path of the file: load d:\games\doom\super.wad The command listfiles will print a list of all the currently loaded data files. You can unload files that have been loaded at runtime with the unload command, for example: unload cool.wad ........................................................................ 5.3 Loading with command line options If you have the file COOL.WAD in the runtime folder (e.g. Run\jDoom), you can use the command line option -file cool.wad to load COOL.WAD at startup. Note that you can only use the "-file" option once, so if you want to load multiple files you need to do the following: -file file1.wad file2.wad file3.wad For detailed information about the handling of file names on the command line see Doc\Readme.txt.