Doom colector's edition help

Hey Ryan, it's me Aaron Pepin. I use Doom collector's edition. I don't know how to use the dehacked program I downloaded (I used the recommended site from the doom wiki for the dehacked program). I can't make my own 32-level games from scratch and I can't use my own sprites, sounds, music, or textures. I also use doom builder downloaded from code imp. I want to make my own monsters and create different damages for them. But all I can do is make levels. My levels are pretty awesome too, but I want to make them more awesome! Can you help? I don't know much of the vocabulary also, like pWAD, megawad, patch, it's all too confusing! (Also, what do you use to make levels? If you do make wads?)

I'm afraid I know very little about DeHackEd.  Most of what I do know comes from Enjay's reference documents, which include a series of worked examples to teach you how to do things.  How much you can edit also depends on which port you have in mind, EDGE for instance allowing you more freedom than, say, Doom95.

Many editors cannot handle graphics or sound patches, and AFAICT most editors do not allow group saves, at least in their shareware forms.  Since you ask, my editor of choice is DeePsea, though I still use it mostly for bugfixes and wiki research, and have not had the nerve to release any of my own levels to the world at large (yet... the one I'm working on now might be good enough).  I have never used Doom Builder, but I would think that a 2.9MB manual is cause for optimism!

Your remarks about vocabulary are reminding me of yet another David Cook line — the game is big, but eventually you'll bring it under control.  :>    Ryan W 03:16, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

Thanks, I will probebly somehow send in some WADS or something

Well...

Technically this isn't warez. It says it's abandonware, but I downloaded it and it's just the shareware version. It could be classified as spamming though, so you were right to revert an anon adding it. :-) oTHErONE _(Contribs) 08:17, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

I was at home, so I couldn't download it to check.  But it was advertised as warez (unregistered shareware cannot become "abandonware" because you didn't have to pay for it in the first place), which may be sufficient to cause trouble, so I removed it.    Ryan W 18:51, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

It's worth noting that the same site does have the full (warez) version of Doom 2. So it probably isn't somewhere that we really want to be linking to. Fraggle 21:58, 20 February 2007 (UTC)

Sysop

There you go! Fredrik 18:31, 20 February 2007 (UTC)

Thank you... I think.   :>     Whoa, new buttons — I didn't even have to log out and back in.    Ryan W 20:11, 20 February 2007 (UTC)

Congratulations! I hereby present you with this cake as celebration of you finally becoming a sysop! Fraggle 20:38, 20 February 2007 (UTC)

* L *  Very chuffed.  I assume this means you agree with Fredrik's "mop and bucket" evaluation.    Ryan W 21:27, 20 February 2007 (UTC)

Congrats. You certainly deserve it. -- TheDarkArchon 13:32, 21 February 2007 (UTC)

Uh...

Hey Ryan, why exactly did you make this edit? I don't think capitalisation matters with templates... oTHErONE _(Contribs) 10:33, 23 February 2007 (UTC)

When you edit a template or a MediaWiki message string, the change doesn't show up in other articles (which include it) until those articles are themselves edited.  So, to test my change to Template:Delete, I edited Ben "jassteX" Talbot in a way that altered the source code without actually affecting the article.  You can also, for example, add or remove blank lines at the very end.

I confess that "prod" may or may not be standard notation; I used it because I saw Jdowland using it.  :>    Ryan W 11:27, 23 February 2007 (UTC)

Oh, ok. oTHErONE _(Contribs) 12:28, 23 February 2007 (UTC)

Just a note, the m:Job queue (status shown on Special:Statistics) is a system in MediaWiki that queues up modifications to templates (specifically to categories and images in templates), as well as images, MediaWiki: messages, and a few other things, and then goes through and m:null edits them all (that is, saves without any changes, which in most cases forces the page to update itself). This should make the manual null edit requirements almost totally deprecated (some exceptions include images or categories in templates that are both both transcluded and redirected). --Splarka (talk) 08:02, 25 February 2007 (UTC)

Hey, that's good news!  I had heard about the job queue, but for some reason didn't think it included the main space.  Also, I see here that the upgrade to MediaWiki 1.6 was more recent than this edit and this edit, so Jdowland's behavior was completely valid — it was just a case of me not keeping up with the news at central (and, realistically, I might not have remembered it anyway because so many refinements have accumulated by the time a new version is actually rolled out).  Thank you for the information, as always.    Ryan W 09:02, 25 February 2007 (UTC)

Welcome ^_^... just so you know though, you usually don't have to change anything to do a purge. What I do if something isn't changing after something is edited that should have changed it: action=purge it like this, then reload my browser cache (ctrl+R), then null edit, then actual edit, then I bug a tech. --Splarka (talk) 11:50, 25 February 2007 (UTC)

Hey Ryan

What the exactly did this guy do to Entryway? I know it was vandalism, but I can't seem to get a diff on it without it timing out... oTHErONE _(Contribs) 03:48, 1 March 2007 (UTC)

Diffs are sometimes hard to load when there are large changes, I'm told.  Try viewing the old version by itself.    Ryan W 04:02, 1 March 2007 (UTC)

Thanks. (Jeez, some admin should really consider semi-protecting Entryway...) oTHErONE _(Contribs) 04:19, 1 March 2007 (UTC)

Hi Ryan

Thanks to our comments on the Discussion page. I renamed the article to the name that you suggested and also merged to Songs which sample Doom sound effects. Sorry but i think that Doom Wiki have the same laws of English Wikipedia, talking of the fair-use. Thanks for your suggestions, i'm noob here ;P--Marctc 00:11, 20 March 2007 (UTC)

Apologies for not responding sooner...  If you read the policy page, you'll see that our fair use guidelines are pretty heuristic and vague, so no, they aren't much like Wikipedia's.  Even if we decided to adopt their rules, however (which might kill the project unless we could find external hosting), fair use has been hotly debated there over the last few months, so I'm not sure the Wikipedia users themselves know exactly what the policy is yet.    Ryan W 22:56, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

Heretic, Hexen

Ryan

I tend to think that for

Hexen Hexen : Death Kings of the Dark Citadel

the only way to do a proper walkthough is links from each Hub rather than from each level. Level based => It is too confusing. In most cases you need to revisit a level several times as more parts of the level has opened up. Strictly speaking the secret levels of each Hub are not necessary to complete the level but they should be there.

I have played many times over on maximum difficulty for each character class. I know all the secrets.

If you apply the CDROM sound patch to DKofDC, it adds 5 DeathMatch levels + 1 transit level which allows you to access all 5 DM levels.

Heretic, Hexen & DKofDC show several signs of lack of polish by Raven:

Heretic: (i) Map E2M2 - lacks the Serpents with the Green balls outside the Green door. All other key doors have a Serpents with the apporopriate ball colour. It is the only one that lacks this. (ii) Map E5M8 - DeathMatch teleports dont work.

Hexen: Clerics "Amulet of Warding" is positioned off the map in Darkmere

Hexen DKofDC: (i) Extra cleric piece of Wrathverge in Catacombs (lacks symmetry with Fighter, Mage) (ii) Final mirror in Blight to next Hub is 1-way (iii) Dynamic red cloud missing from teleports in Market Place

IDLover 00:26, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

Hi IDLover, welcome to the wiki.  I personally don't have any big plans for those articles, and I don't know that anyone else does, so you're welcome to expand or change them as time and desire allows.  My edits were meant only as a very small first/second step toward further organization.

Having said that, is it possible that we could someday have this amount of information about each map?  If so, a single article for the entire hub would be unbelievably long and no one would plow through it.  I could understand combining all the "Essentials" sections into a single article (that's what I've been calling them anyway; see here and here for the reasoning that led to that section structure) because, as you say, it might make the overall route a lot clearer.  There must be a better way to handle the other parts than just stacking them on top of each other, however — think of the poor dialup users.    Ryan W 02:31, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

Ryan: You're right, but I meant just the walkthrough, not merging articles on each level into a hub article. It is similar to discussing the United States as country and discussing each State like Arizona. You have to distinguish between what is at Federal level with what is at State level. It is just that unlike Doom, Doom 2, Heretic where you can do a walkthrough for each level, for Hexen and DKofDC, a walkthrough makes sense at hub level.

For instance on 1st Hub of Hexen You visit The Guardian of Ice 1) First time to flick central switch so that Guardian of Fire/Ice doors on Seven Portals opens up. 2) Second time to place Fire Mask and get Fire Key, get Steel Key 3) Third time (if you wish to visit Bright Crucible) to take portals to secret areas of Guardian of Fire/Ice

So I am saying

  - discuss things pertinent to the hub at hub level (walkthrough, hub objectives)
  - discuss things pertinent to each map at map level (items on map, map overview, monsters, secrets)

IDLover 11:54, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

I agree.  I ought also to say that I am far from an authority on Hexen (not sure I've actually played it since 1999), so I am not really certain of the best way to write walkthroughs.  My comments above should be taken as, at most, an arithmetic perspective.    Ryan W 16:42, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

Hi Ryan

after years I did a google search, since I had a discussion about games like doom

My name is anthe and I just read your small article in doom wiki. I just wanted to add that the abbreviation 'AAK' a) is still active (so it s not occasionally imho) b) comes not only from Andreas Anthe Kren but is older than the 'Anthe' nick, my first girlfriend was named 'Alexandra Aichner' :).

Of course I know about the minor importance of all this but one thing hasnt changed in me: I am a perfectionist :).

greez

you can answer me if you like: <andreas.kren.ing@wizardsoftware.at>

*L*   Wow, an avalanche of celebrities!

I replied with an e-mail, which said:

Your post to the Doom Wiki was quite a surprise, and a pleasant one.  I don't know you, but I have
admired your work for years, at least since I saw FDUVDEMO and learned that non-Tyson films were
worth my time.  :>

I've attempted to revise the article to reflect the information you provided.  I can't guarantee its
permanence, however, as the knowledge base is open-content, and therefore no part of it is really
"mine" -- we're just borrowing it from future generations, who need it much more than we do.

Ryan W 03:26, 6 April 2007 (UTC)

Master Levels article names

If one were to create articles for each of the Master Levels for Doom II, what would the recommended article names be? For example, if one were to create an article for Bloodsea Keep (BLOODSEA.WAD,) would the best title for it be "MAP07: Bloodsea Keep (Master Levels)" (the level occupies MAP07,) or "Bloodsea Keep (Master Levels)"? Mind you, I haven't obtained the Master Levels yet, but an answer would be appreciated for those who want to make articles for 'em. Thanks in advance! TheGreenHerring 19:25, 2 April 2007 (UTC)

That's an excellent question.  I like your first idea, because it is consistent with all of our other articles about OEM maps.  The unusual case would be the umbrella article for TEETH.WAD, because it is a commercially released PWAD with more than one but less than nine maps.  On the other hand, the readme file could be interpreted to mean that The Express Elevator to Hell is also the name of the WAD, in which case we could call it "The Express Elevator to Hell (Master Levels)".  Or maybe we wouldn't write an umbrella article because it would contain no information not already present in Master Levels for Doom II.

As you say, however, it may be a while before a decision is needed.  Also, obviously, my opinions can be overruled by consensus (again).    Ryan W 04:29, 6 April 2007 (UTC)

That's really sad that, you stay up on this untill after midnight blasting someone who was only trying to help

Doom is a game you play on the P.C., not a scientific way of your sad boring life or the topic of an essay This comment was added by TheGuyWhoHatesBloodshedder&Ryan.W

ChexQuest image

Hello, this is "PlantPerson" from wikipedia responding to your question regarding the "chexQuest" image I posted to wikipedia. I apologize for the slow response, it has been a while since I logged into wikipedia. The image is simply a photograph which I took of the game's CD. I thought that since it was my photo, I had the right to release it into public domain. I always have trouble with the permissions for images, they confuse me. Do you think the license needs to change?

Pony vandalism

Please ban this pony. Ducon 19:04, 10 May 2007 (UTC)

Thanks; looks like someone else already did it.    Ryan W 17:24, 11 May 2007 (UTC)

More vandalism

Ryan, have a look at [1] and the 2nd entry by Paul Butterfield. IDLover 20:47, 10 May 2007 (UTC)

I saw that, but I decided to leave its adjudication to more expert researchers.  It certainly looks fake, but with gamers, you can never be 100 percent sure.    Ryan W 17:33, 11 May 2007 (UTC)

I have spent 20 minutes googling "Camille Espanol". I can find references to such people, but not those with a gamer or Doom connection. The only connection is here. Nothing on the web or usenet. In contrast '"Dr Sleep" Doom' or '"Orin Flaherty" Doom' turns up web and usenet links. So I am almost 100% certain it is fake. It is not praising Doom, it is talking about a gamers talents. In contrast all the other quotes are about Doom. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 194.202.213.254 (talk • contribs) .

Hunh.  In that case it is probably okay to remove it (keep in mind, however, that authenticity and subject matter are two distinct issues, and we don't yet have a policy about the latter).  At the moment I am only going to block the second contributor since that edit was much more obnoxious.    Ryan W 20:43, 13 May 2007 (UTC)

Monster disambiguation

Hi Ryan, sorry to nag you but you're a very reliable mod here. :> I am inclined to revert this Move [2] but as a peon I can't delete the page that replaced it first in order to do so.

I understand there is a general rule that classic Doom monsters get articles named after them, as there is a primary focus on classic Doom; conflicting Doom 3 monster articles (or Doom-related monsters in any game, theoretically) should have titles ending followed with "(Doom 3)". All of the corresponding articles have been consistent with this rule which is why I find the recent change should be reverted.

Thanks :) Zack 00:02, 18 December 2007 (UTC)

Done Bloodshedder 01:51, 18 December 2007 (UTC)

Thank you, Bloodshedder.  To be fair, while Zaximus is correct that vanilla takes precedence in our article content, the policy page doesn't actually say that this extends to article/category titles.  If it were me, I would ask the community's opinion first, simply because of the sheer number of edits involved (imagine having four or five articles for each of id's maps, which differ slightly among console ports).  On the other hand, User:Chex guy doesn't seem to have noticed our capitalization convention [3], or double-check his markup before saving [4], so maybe he didn't see the article count on the front page either.    Ryan W 15:57, 18 December 2007 (UTC)