

                     A Beginner's Guide To Doomsday
                     ------------------------------

                            by Jaakko Kernen
                        <skyjake@doomsdayhq.com>
                               03/16/2003

                       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: Decompress the distribution
       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 archives. Downloading one or
  more model pack is optional.

  jdoom_mpack.exe
  jheretic_mpack.exe
  jhexen_mpack.exe

* Windows 95 (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 archives 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 archive.

........................................................................
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: Decompress the distribution

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.
      Patches can be found by searching the internet for "doom patch"
      or something similar. Also check http://www.idsoftware.com/.

........................................................................
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

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.

You can create new profiles by right-clicking the profile list.

Note that only the "Game" and "Definitions" tabs are profile-specific.
The "Graphics" and "Other" tabs are common to all profiles.

If you want to see the command line KickStart uses to start the game,
right-click the Play button.

........................................................................
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.
