[WIP][0.1.1] Universal Episode Menu

[FelesNoctis]

A utility package for GZDoom and Zandronum to display multiple MAPINFO-changing mods together.

Full support for GZDoom v4+
Partial support for Zandronum v3.1

Download
Stable: 0.1.1
Experimental: 0.1.1

Usage

• Load as the last file, or as late as you can
• See Current Features below for support list if something is missing, and report it!

Description
Universal Episode Menu's primary purpose is to provide flexible support for all non-replacer mapset menus, as well as mods that may reset the EpisodeMenu list for various reasons. It's secondary purpose is to (eventually) provide a custom episode-selection menu that will avoid GZDoom reverting to the console-styled small text list by introducing (probably zscripted) submenus.

Features

• Layout modifications to allow for 11 episode entries (may be reverted when submenus are introduced)
• Only displays episodes you have installed

• EpisodeMenu support:
  • Wadsmoosh, any configuration (ZDoom) (itch.io)
    Doom Episodes 1-4
    SIGIL
    Doom 2
    Doom 2: Hell on Earth
    Final Doom (Hell on Earth, TNT: Evilution, and The Plutonia Experiment are still exclusive to each other without using Wadsmoosh)
    Doom 2: The Master Levels (with Wadsmoosh)
    Works of the Masters v7 (itch.io)
    Knee-Deep in ZDoom (DRDTeam) (/idgames)
    The Compendium v1.0 (ZDoom)
    The Sentinel's Lexicon v133 (ZDoom) (ModDB)

Future Plans

• Submenus to prevent space overrun and reverting to the small text list
• Custom font, or possibly customized graphics for each item?

Known Issues

• (Zandronum) does not appear to have game filtering, and may display the wrong names for some episodes.
  MAPINFO assigns maps by their internal name (ex: MAP01). With GZDoom's filtering, name corrections can be made based on the primary IWAD. However, in Zandronum, the following episodes will display incorrectly due to shared map filenames:
  • Hell On Earth: TNT: Evilution, The Plutonia Experiment, FreeDOOM Phase 2

Something Missing?
The more submissions the better! Please let me know if you discover a mapset or mod that defines a custom episode list! I'll test and add it as quickly as I can.

[openroadracer]

The first obvious thing to ask is: Will you support FreeDOOM?

[FelesNoctis]

The first obvious thing to ask is: Will you support FreeDOOM?

I'm not too familiar with the Doom community yet, so, in the most respectful way possible, I'm honestly not sure if this is meant as a running joke or fully serious. However, I can hide my ignorance behind a technical explanation!

• FreeDOOM is intended to be a 1-to-1 stand-in replacement of Ultimate Doom/Doom 2. This means that all the map filenames are identical.
• However, due to how the MAPINFO lump specifically works, I don't believe there's a way to distinguish between the standard DOOM maps and FreeDOOM's maps.
• This is because MAPINFO's definitions begin by referencing the filename of the map, then assign details like a graphic and a name.
• That means you get something like this:

  ---

  

• What you're seeing above is freedoom1.wad, freedoom2.wad, Works of the Masters, The Compendium, and Sentinel's Lexicon.
• Note that FreeDOOM 2 is named "Hell on Earth". This is because normally you wouldn't see the episode selection screen with FreeDOOM 2, so they didn't bother to give it a menu graphic, so it defaults to the text string it's been given (the Doom 2 campaign name).

So the answer to your question is essentially two-fold:

1. Technically UEM already supports it inherently on a basic level, but the FreeDOOM team needs to include the graphic M_HELL in freedoom2.wad for it to display properly on the menu.
2. FreeDOOM itself was not designed with engines that use MAPINFO in mind, so it won't ever play nice in GZDoom or Zandronum anyway.

[openroadracer]

The reason why I had to ask about FreeDOOM is simply because it's fully intended to be a complete 1-to-1 equivalent of the id Software DooM .IWADs, so I had to ask if it would be compatible with this mod. Seems like it mostly would be, just that they never bothered renaming the "Hell on Earth" part.

But yeah, FreeDOOM is targeted as being strictly vanilla-compatible, able to be run in the old DOS .EXE. Or at least, that's what they're eventually going to manage. At any rate, I keep the FreeDOOM .IWADs to play around with because the maps are well made, and, well, it's more DooM. More DooM is always a good thing.

[FelesNoctis]

The reason why I had to ask about FreeDOOM is simply because it's fully intended to be a complete 1-to-1 equivalent of the id Software DooM .IWADs, so I had to ask if it would be compatible with this mod. Seems like it mostly would be, just that they never bothered renaming the "Hell on Earth" part.

Ahh, yeah, in which case other than a couple visual issues in the menu, they currently work.

However, looking at the Filter system, I may be able to leverage that to get dual support in for the recognized IWADs. I was planning on breaking the single files into chunks anyway, so this might be the time to start doing so. Hopefully Zandronum cooperates with me.

[FelesNoctis]

At any rate, I keep the FreeDOOM .IWADs to play around with because the maps are well made, and, well, it's more DooM. More DooM is always a good thing.

...looking at the Filter system, I may be able to leverage that to get dual support in for the recognized IWADs...

---

[openroadracer]

---

Well damn. You got it. Nice.

I'll have to download this and give it a shot.

[FelesNoctis]

So doing some more poking around at rebuilding the episode menu, I've come to the conclusion (which I'm sure people around here already knew/guessed) that any attempt to create a submenu system that avoids the small text fallback list, particularly one that dynamically displays episodes based on availability, would require scripting that wouldn't be compatible with anything but modern versions of ZDoom. That and it'd be beyond my current skill level, so probably not something that'd happen any time soon regardless.

However, I still intend on updating for other mapsets that rewrite the EpisodeMenu. If you find any, throw them at me! I need more mapsets to play anyway.

[Doge]

emmmmm i tried with a gameplay mod an it appears me with the vanilla arsenal

[Doge]

emmmmm i tried with a gameplay mod an it appears me with the vanilla arsenal

Ithis is my load order

[FelesNoctis]

emmmmm i tried with a gameplay mod an it appears me with the vanilla arsenal

Ithis is my load order

We figured this one out together on Discord. It wasn't actually an issue with UEM, but because of Knee-Deep in ZDoom. It uses DECORATE to apply a new class to the player and override the starting arsenal, so it was very apparent something was wrong when you'd start with a default pistol with ZScript weapon mods that change that considerably. I helped them with disabling the code necessary to get it working with weapon mods.

Also, v0.1.1 is up, but the only change is prefixing KDiZD to make it easier to recognize as a community mapset.

[mamaluigisbagel]

So does Knee Deep in ZDoom have to be the original, or could it be the Lite version? (which is made to be more compatible with gameplay mods)

[FelesNoctis]

So does Knee Deep in ZDoom have to be the original, or could it be the Lite version? (which is made to be more compatible with gameplay mods)

Ah ha, didn't know there was a Lite version already! That makes things easier.

As long as the first map in the episode is still Z1M1, it should show up in UEM just fine. If it uses something else, I'll have to add it. If it replaces E1M1, then the menu will still say "Knee-Deep in the Dead", but it'll load KDiZD.

[mamaluigisbagel]

Just tested, and it seems to work fine! I was having issues earlier when I tried it, but it had to have been other mods I had since loading KDiZD and this mod alone worked fine.