viDOOM is a Free Software DOOM editor. It supports the following id produced games:
Note that in accordance with id software's wishes you are only allowed to generate edited levels for the game if you have a full, registered version of the game.
viDOOM is fully configurable through config files, so it can be expanded to accommodate the BOOM and ZDOOM extensions. Well, once I've found out the slight difference in format of WAD file that seems to accompany them too.
Good question. Anyone who has ever used them will know there are a number of very good DOOM editors available (links to lots of them can be found at Doomworld and all good FTP servers).
However, I always felt a bit clumsy using them, and in true hacker fashion I decided writing one I could use would be easier then reading the instructions for the others. Hence viDOOM.
I reasonably like the way viDOOM works, so I release it on the off chance other people may too.
As with most Free Software viDOOM is primarily distributed as source code. The source is fairly ANSI C compliant, and therefore the core of viDOOM should compile on all operating systems. The current distribution includes the hardware dependent routines for the following platforms:
If defined in the environment, the value of VIDOOM_DIR will be made the current directory as soon as viDOOM starts. This is important as the following initialisation files are expected to be in the current directory when viDOOM starts.
Note:
How this environment is set will differ from system. Basically
viDOOM just calls the C library getenv() function. So,.
for instance in a Unix type system this could be:
% setenv VIDOOM_DIR $HOME/viDOOM
or
% export VIDOOM_DIR $HOME/viDOOM
Whereas in DOS/DJGPP version this could be:
C:\> set VIDOOM_DIR=C:\viDOOM
On starting viDOOM will look for a file in the current directory called vidoom.ini. This file tells viDOOM what version of DOOM it is expected to be editing, the configuration for that version of DOOM and the editor configuration. The general format of the INI file is:
[Section]
identifier=value
Blank lines and lines starting with a comment character (#) are ignored. The following sections and identifiers are explained below.
After reading VIDOOM.INI, then a defined config file is also read.
Controls for the version of DOOM
Global editor configuration
| ask_middle_on_2sided | When creating a new sector and the sector has a two-sided boundary asks whether a middle texture should be asked for. Allowable values yes and no |
| auto_block_linedefs | When linedef flags are altered and this
is set to yes, linedefs that were
2-sided and are now 1-sided have the impassible flags
automatically set. Likewise linedefs that were 1-sided and are now 2-sided have the impassible flag automatically cleared. If set to no no action is taken when these events happen. |
| bright | Describes a gamma value applied to any textures, flats and sprites read in from the DOOM WAD files. Allowable values are any floating point number. |
| clear_on_menu | If set to yes then once the pop-up menu has been used to modify the selected objects they are automatically unselected. |
| clear_on_move | If set to yes then once the selected objects have been moved they are automatically unselected. |
| default_light_level default_floor_height default_ceiling_height |
Describes the default light, floor and ceiling height for created sectors. Note that if a sector is created within another sector, the values for that sector, rather than these defaults, are used. |
| default_edit_mode | Defines the default edit mode when loading a new map into the editor. Possible values are: |
| default_scale | The starting scale used in the editor. |
| grid | Use this to say whether the grid will be shown on screen while editing. Allowable values are yes and no. |
| grid_lock | Use this to say whether inserted and moved object in the editor will be snapped on a grid. Allowable values are yes and no. |
| grid_size | Describes the size of the grid used by the above items. Allowable values are integer values greater than two. |
| hover_select | When editing object in a DOOM level this
alters the way that viDOOM works if the right mouse
button is used over an unselected object. The allowable
values, and their affects are:
|
| insert_select | When inserting new objects in a DOOM
level this alters the way that viDOOM selects the objects
after creation. The allowable values, and their affects
are:
|
| linedef_select | Defines who many pixels around a LINEDEF the bounding box stretches when selecting a line. |
| merge_linedef | If you overlay vertexes on top of each
other you can merge vertexes. Once these vertexes are
merged checks are made to see whether linedefs share
these vertexes, and hence overlap. This option controls
what happens when these overlapping linedefs are found.
The possible values are:
|
| new_2sided_select | When linedefs have there flags set so
that a new left sidedef is added to it controls how the
altered linedefs are selected. Possible values are:
|
| sector_move | Defines which linedefs are actually
moved when moving a sector. Possible values are:
|
| show_full_linedef_info | If set to yes then in the linedef edit display the linedef type will be shown as the full linedef name as defined in the config file. If set to no then linedef type will be displayed as a hex value and it's class. |
| tag_highlight | If set to yes then the tag highlighting mode is enabled by default in sector and linedef modes. |
| vertex_radius | Describes the size of the box around a VERTEX which is used to select the VERTEX while editing. Recommended values are any integer greater than four. |
| width height |
Describes the size of the display used by viDOOM. viDOOM expects a resolution of at least 640x480. |
Main menu configuration
This defines how the Check LINEDEF function in the editor (see editing for details) operates. Note that part of the configuration for this command also occurs in the config file. This is required as texture names can be different in different versions of DOOM. The following options are definable within the INI file:
Node Builder configuration - used to build nodes for maps automatically when saving.
| always_view_output | Normally viDOOM will only show the output from the build command if it fails for some reason. Setting this to yes means any output from the node builder will be displayed regardless. |
| command | Defines the command used to execute the
node builder. e.g. command=c:\bsp\bsp.exe |
| ignore | If set, then any saved filename that
includes this string will not be passed through the node
builder. This is useful so that structures for merging
into other maps (see editing
for details) need not be put through the node building
process. e.g. if set to ignore=str Then saving a map named MAP01.WAD will be passed through the node builder, whereas WALL_STRUCT.WAD would not be. Another important use for this is to leave a back door where you can save a WAD without it being passed through the node builder if anything goes wrong with trying to build the map. |
| infile | Defines the format for the infile
parameter to the node builder. Any occurrence of the '%'
character will be replaced with the full path of the map
being saved. e.g. infile=% |
| outfile | Defines the format for the outfile
parameter to the node builder. Any occurrence of the '%'
character will be replaced with the full path of the map
being saved. e.g. outfile=-o % Note that if your node builder does not allow the input and output file to be the same then it is permissible to put extra characters after the % that will get tacked onto the end of the name, e.g. outfile=-o %_NEW |
| in_before_out | Defines the order of the the arguments
to the node builder. If set to yes then
the node builder is invoked as: command infile outfile If set to no then the command is built as: command outfile infile |
| use | If set to yes then the node builder described above is used on any maps being saved. If set to no then the map is saved and the nodes must be built outside of viDOOM. |
GUI configuration. All the values in this section are an RGB triplet defined as an hex number, i.e. 0xRRGGBB. The following values can be set from the INI file.
| gui_hi | The brightest colour used to draw the 3D looking interface. |
| gui_mid | The medium colour used to draw the 3D looking interface. |
| gui_lo | The darkest colour used to draw the 3D looking interface. |
| gui_text | The colour of text. |
| gui_textshadow | The colour of the shadow behind text. This is only really used by viDOOM's own portable GUI routines. If set to the same value as text then no shadows are drawn. |
| gui_bold | The colour of bold text (used for titles) |
One of these sections appears for each possible setting of the game variable in the [Game] section. These are:
| iwad | Defines the path to the IWAD for this game. |
| pwad_dir | Defines the default load/save directory for editing PWAD files. |
| level_style | Defines the level naming convention for
the game. Allowable values are:
|
| preload | Lists a number of PWAD files to preload on startup. PWAD files are separated by ; and the full path is expected. |
| vidoom_config | Defines the config
file for this version of DOOM. This defines the
values used for defining things, linedefs, sectors and so
on. viDOOM is currently supplied with doom.cfg and doom2.cfg. It is planned to soon include a zdoom.cfg so that ZDOOM/BOOM special features can be added to levels. |
There is two config files supplied with viDOOM, doom.cfg and doom2.cfg. Each file is comprised of sections followed by the data expected in each section. Each section is defined by a line like:
%SECTION_NAME
While the data lines are on individual lines with the pipe (|) character used to separate fields, e.g.
Field 1|Field 2
Blank lines and lines starting with a comment character (#) are ignored. The following sections are defined:
| %INCLUDE_FILES | Defines any other config files to include before processing this one. Simply type the filenames to be included on individual lines. |
| %THING_CLASSES | Defines the classes to group THINGs into
in the editor picklists. Each line is in the form
"Class Name|Colour". Note that colour is
defined as an hexadecimal number with the most
significant byte for RED, the middle byte for BLUE and
the least significant byte for GREEN. e.g. Monster|0xff0000 |
| %LINEDEF_CLASSES | Defines the classes to group LINEDEF types into in the editor picklists. Each line is a class name. |
| %SECTOR_CLASSES | Defines the classes to group SECTOR types into in the editor picklists. Each line is a class name. |
| %THING_TYPES | Defines the names and IDs of the THINGs
supported by DOOM. Each line is in the form
"Class|Name|ID|Radius|Sprite Name". e.g. Monster|Former Human|3004|20|POSSA1 |
| %THING_FLAGS | Defines the flags used when defining
THINGs. Each line is in the form "Bit
Number|Name|Shorthand Name". e.g. 0|Skill 1 and 2|Sk 1/2 |
| %LINEDEF_TYPES | Defines the names and IDs of the LINEDEF
types supported by DOOM. Each line is in the form
"Class|ID|Name", e.g. Special|48|Scrolling wall Note: Please note that the text for the LINEDEF types in the supplied config files is taken directly from the Unofficial Doom Specs (see the thanks page for details). |
| %LINEDEF_FLAGS | Defines the flags used when defining
LINEDEFs. Each line is in the form "Bit
Number|Name|Shorthand Character". e.g. 0|Impassible|I |
| %LINEDEF_FLAGS_EXTRA | Configuration so that viDOOM knows which
bits control certain functions. If more that one line
appears in this section then the last one is used. The
form of the line is "Bit number controlling
2-sided|Bit controlling Impassible|Bit controlling lower
unpegged|Bit controlling upper unpegged". e.g. 2|0|3|4 |
| %LINEDEF_DEFAULTS | This section must not appear before
%LINEDEF_FLAGS_EXTRA and defines the bit patterns for
various linedef styles. These are used in the editor so
that defining a type of LINEDEF can be quickly done when
creating them. The format of each line is
"Name|Flags value", e.g. 2-sided wall|0x47 |
| %SECTOR_TYPES | Defines the names and IDs for the
different sector types. Each line is in the form
"Class|ID|Long name|Short name". e.g. Damage/Lights|4|Lose -10/20% health & blink lights 0.5 sec|-10/20% & 0.5 blink |
| %SECTOR_STYLES | Defines styles for painting sectors
quickly. The form of each line is
"Mode|Name|Upper|Middle|Lower|Floor|Ceiling".
e.g. 0x19|Quarry|SP_ROCK1|SP_ROCK1|SP_ROCK1|RROCK09|F_SKY1 The mode is a bit significant number where the bits have the following meaning:
If neither bits 2, 3 or 4 are set it is assumed that lower/upper unpegged will be cleared on painting those textures. |
| %EMPTY_TEXTURE_NAME | Simply defines the empty texture name
used by DOOM. This will generally just be the -
character, e.g. %EMPTY_TEXTURE_NAME |
| %NORMAL_TYPES | Defines the values that define the
normal linedefs and sectors. The form of the single line
of data is "Id for normal linedef|Id for normal
sector". In all current versions of Doom this is
zero, e.g. %NORMAL_TYPES |
| %LINEDEF_CHECK_DEFAULT | Provides an optional default texture to
use when a texture is requested when checking linedefs.
If this value is defined to be the same as
EMPTY_TEXTURE_NAME then the user is prompted for a
texture to use, otherwise this texture is used instead,
e.g. %LINEDEF_CHECK_DEFAULT See editing for details on the check linedef operation. |
$Id: overview.htm,v 1.9 2000/08/13 00:35:59 dosuser Exp dosuser $