============================ Instant DOOM Levels Sams Publishing ============================ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Using DOOM-IT to play game levels from the CD-ROM ------------------------------------------------------------------------ If you're tired of playing DOOM and DOOM II by the same old rules and want something to spice it up a little, you're in luck. With a program called DOOM-IT you can access features of DOOM and DOOM II not available through the normal setup program. With the use of these features you can change nearly every aspect of the game to your preference. DOOM-IT also simplifies some of the basic setup procedures by allowing you to save your modem, serial, and network game settings. All this, and an easy-to-use interface, makes DOOM-IT a must for any DOOM or DOOM II player. DESCRIPTION DOOM-IT is an alternate setup program for DOOM and DOOM II. When using DOOM-IT to start single or multiplayer games, one can take full advantage of command-line parameters. These parameters enable you to load multiple WAD files, record a game, start from any level, turn on development mode, and much more. The 5.4 version of DOOM-IT provides complete support up to DOOM v1.666 and DOOM II v1.7a. INSTALLATION AND REQUIREMENTS Installation of DOOM-IT from the CD-ROM is simple and painless. Simply UnZip all files within DOOMIT.ZIP into any directory on your hard disk. DOOM-IT requires about 175KB of disk space and 200KB of conventional memory. The memory requirement increases for each WAD file DOOM-IT reads (about 18 bytes each). All of this memory will be freed once the program exits to run DOOM. To start the program, type DOOMIT at the DOS prompt and press Enter. You must use the DOOMIT batch file for DOOM-IT to work correctly. You cannot run DMLOAD.EXE. CONFIGURATION NOTE: You must select DOOM 1 or DOOM 2 from the initial menu before accessing the menu bar. This is done so DOOM and DOOM II will have separate settings. When you run DOOM-IT for the first time you need to configure the program to work with your hardware. Before you run a Network, Serial, or Modem game, you need to specify the PORT and COM settings. To access the hardware configuration menu, press the Alt key from the main menu. This will bring up a menu bar located near the top of the screen. Use the arrow keys to highlight the word CONFIG, then select one of the three connection types. (More information on each of these is given later on.) The next step in configuring DOOM-IT is to make sure the path statements correctly point to the appropriate directories on your hard disk. They tell DOOM-IT where to find the DOOM, WAD, and DeHackEd files. (DeHackEd is a helpful utility that will be discussed forthwith.) To modify these settings, choose PATH from the menu bar then select one of the three file locations to modify. To play the game levels on the Instant Doom Levels disc, select Path + WADS from the menu bar, and enter the appropriate path: For DOOM: D:\WADS\DOOM1\PLAY For DOOM II: D:\WADS\DOOM2\PLAY Note: If your CD-ROM is not drive D, substitute the correct letter in the path you enter; for example, if your CD-ROM is drive G, the correct WADS path for DOOM II would be G:\WADS\DOOM2\PLAY.) NETWORK SETUP When you are playing a network game, you and all the other players must have an identical port number chosen. To configure DOOM-IT with a port number, choose the network category under CONFIG on the menu bar. By selecting different port numbers, more than one multiplayer game can be played over the same network. The default port number is set to 0, which should work in most cases. SERIAL SETUP Before you start a serial game, you must specify which COM port the serial cable is plugged into. To change this setting, choose the serial category under CONFIG on the menu bar. Most computers only have an external COM 1 or COM 2 port for serial connections. On the same serial-configuration menu, you are given the option to choose a baud rate. If you use this feature, it will override the setting in your MODEM.CFG file that DOOM normally reads from. If you don't want to override the baud rate setting, choose Default. The final option on the serial-configuration menu determines whether or not to set the UART to 8250. If you have a faster I/O card and it's not working properly at the higher speed, you might try using this option to use the slower setting. MODEM SETUP Before starting a modem game, you must specify which COM port your modem is connected to. To do this, choose the modem category under CONFIG on the menu bar. Most external modems can only use COM1 or COM2. Most internal modems can be setup to use COM ports 1 through 4. As with the serial setup described previously, you can specify a baud rate for the modem which overrides the settings in your MODEM.CFG file. You can also set the UART to 8250 if you are having problems at the higher speed. Once you have your modem configured correctly you can provide the phone number to dial in one of two ways. You may use the built in phone book (which is discussed later on) or you may type in the phone number manually each time. If you choose to be the dialer when starting a modem game, then you will be given the option. USING WADS WAD files are an easy way to add your own levels, graphics, or sounds to DOOM and DOOM II. When loaded, they temporarily replace some of the information usually found in the main WAD file (DOOM.WAD or DOOM2.WAD). If you tell DOOM-IT that you want to load WAD files, then you will be presented with a list of all files with a .WAD extension in the WAD directory you configured DOOM-IT for. You can select up to nine different files to load at one time. To select more than one WAD, highlight each file and press the space bar to mark it. You will then see an asterisk character next to the file. Once you have your WADs marked, you can press the Enter key to continue. If you chose to load a WAD containing a new level, the program will ask if you want to warp directly to that level. Doing this will skip the process of choosing an episode or level number and instead use the WAD's level. If you have marked more than one WAD level to load, the program will warp you to the one that occurs earliest in the game. There are a couple of other features you can use from the WAD-selection menu. If you wish to change the episode or level number of a WAD level, then highlight the file and press F1. You will then be prompted to enter in the new information. TIP: It is also possible to scan through a large list of WAD files by pressing a key from A through Z to jump to the first WAD in the list beginning with that letter. This is very helpful if you have a hundred or more WADs to look through. USING DEHACKED PATCHES There is a great utility for DOOM called DeHackEd that was created by a fellow named Greg Lewis. This excellent program enables a person to modify the DOOM or DOOM II executable file. By doing this, you can alter every last detail about DOOM, such as the speed of weapons, the behavior of monsters, and the amount of health or armor the player starts with. Episode 4, Mission 2, Room 1, "DeHackEd v2.2," discusses the DeHackEd utility in detail. To load a patch file created with the DeHackEd utility, press P from the final setup menu. This will bring up a list of all files with a .DEH extension in the directory specified in your DEHACKED.INI file. Make sure the DeHackEd directory path for which you configure DOOM-IT contains both the DEHACKED.EXE and DEHACKED.INI files. DOOM-IT reads the DEHACKED.INI file to determine where your patch files are located. Because DeHackEd patch files permanently change the information in the DOOM or DOOM II executable file, I recommend making a backup of these settings. This way you can restore the original settings within DOOM-IT by simply loading a default patch file. To make a patch file called DEFAULT.DEH, type the following at the DOS prompt: DEHACKED -SAVE DEFAULT.DEH This should be done before making any alterations to your original executable files. DEFINING DEFAULTS If you find yourself choosing the same settings over and over for a single or multiplayer game, you can automate the process by defining a set of custom defaults. This way you can load the settings you want with the press of a button rather than going through every menu each time you play. DOOM-IT enables you to customize five sets of defaults. To edit these settings, select the Defaults category under MISC on the menu bar. Choose one of the five available slots and press Enter. You now have the option to give your settings a menu title. Once you have chosen a title, press Enter again. You are now presented with a screen showing nearly all of the game options. Customize the settings to your liking and press Enter a final time. The settings will be saved permanently for future use. To load these defaults, press D from the game-selection menu. When the list appears, highlight the desired settings and press Enter. The only thing left to do to is select a game type and decide whether or not to use WADs. PHONE BOOK The built-in phone book enables you to store the name and phone number of up to 10 different people. To add a name to the phone book, choose the Edit category under PBook on the menu bar. After you have done this, you are able to pick one of 10 slots to modify. Highlight a slot and press Enter. Type the person's name and press Enter again. Now type his or her phone number and press Enter a final time to go back to the original menu. RECORDING DEMOS To keep those great frag feasts for posterity, DOOM-IT enables you to record and play back your single or multiplayer games. If you choose to record your game, you will be prompted to enter in a filename to save the demo into. When typing in the filename, use no more than eight characters and leave off the file extension. DOOM will use .LMP as the file extension automatically. For example, if you provide DOOM-IT, the name DEMO1 for recording, DOOM will save it as DEMO1.LMP. If you are using DOOM v1.666 or DOOM II, you can record multiplayer games. You can also specify the maximum size you want DOOM to reserve for the recording. This is done by using the -MAXDEMO parameter followed by the number of kilobytes to reserve. Since DOOM-IT v5.4 doesn't directly address the MAXDEMO feature, you must add it manually to the ADD PARAM list under MISC on the menu bar. If you enter -MAXDEMO 1024, for example, DOOM will reserve 1MB for the recording. When recording multiplayer games, make sure all players choose the Record option and specify the same MAXDEMO size. The recording of your game begins right when you start DOOM. To end the recording, press Q or exit the game. Once you have recorded your demo, you can play it back within DOOM-IT by selecting the PLAY DEMO category under MISC on the menu bar. If you recorded the demo from a WAD level, you must load that same WAD again for the demo to play back correctly. After doing this, you will be prompted to enter in the demo filename. Type it in the same way as before, leaving off the file extension. MOUSE INTERFACE DOOM-IT provides an interface for using a mouse in addition to the keyboard. You can use the right and left buttons of any Microsoft-compatible mouse to perform the same functions as the keyboard. In general the left mouse button is used to make menu selections and the right mouse button is used to back up a menu (the same as pressing the ESC key). On a single-list menu, use the left mouse button to make your selection. After doing this, the program will take you to the next menu. On a multi-list menu (such as the modem config menu), use the left mouse button to change the settings in each box. Then click the left mouse button on the parenthesis box in the upper-left corner of the menu. On the WAD selection menu, use the left mouse button to mark or unmark each file you want to load. You can also use the left mouse button to click the up and down arrows to scroll through the WAD file list. On menus that require a yes or no answer, click the left mouse button on the word YES or NO to specify your answer. ID SETUP If needed, you can run the SETUP.EXE program that comes with DOOM or DOOM II within DOOM-IT. To do this, choose the ID SETUP category under MISC on the menu bar. This option is given just in case you need to change your hardware settings at the last minute. Make sure you exit the setup program and return to DOOM-IT before starting DOOM. RESPONSE FILES Since DOOM-IT uses command-line parameters to pass the settings you choose to DOOM, the size of the parameter list must not exceed the DOS limit of 128 characters. One way around this limit is to use a response file. A response file is a feature available in DOOM v1.666 and DOOM II that enables the command-line parameters to be written to a text file, which is then passed to DOOM. CUSTOM PARAMETERS DOOM-IT enables you to define your own parameters if needed. This might be necessary if you have an alternate SERSETUP or IPXSETUP file that can accept non-standard parameters, or if you want to use parameters not addressed by DOOM-IT. To define them, you need to select the ADD PARAM category under MISC on the menu bar. You can type up to about 50 characters of your own parameter text. These parameters will always be added to the settings you choose when starting a game. OTHER PARAMETERS There are other parameters DOOM accepts that are not necessary to directly address in DOOM-IT. Many of these are listed in the following table. If you wish to use any of these, you may add them to the custom parameter list. DOOM Version Parameter Description -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.2 -config Specifies an alternate config file. 1.2 -devparm Is needed to allow certain parameters. With -devparm enabled, you can press F1 during the game to save the screen as a PCX file. 1.2 -recordfrom <#> This is only available in DOOM v1.2. It enables you to record a game from a saved game (Example: -recordfrom 1 demo). 1.666 -irq Sets the IRQ for a COM port. 1.666 -port Sets the COM I/O port that SERSETUP uses for your modem (Example: -port 0x3f8). A more complete description of many of these parameters can be found in the README file that comes with DOOM or DOOM II. -end-