Making an IWAD

[Ral22]

Hi, again. How is it that I can make a normal WAD be recognized as an IWAD? Do I have to get a hold of Randy, or is it something else?

[NeuralStunner]

On the technical side, read this. On the philosophical side, finish up something awesome and I think Randy might consider it.

[Ral22]

If I were to include a "special" version of Zdoom, where I change the configuration to force a recognize of the WAD, that would work, right?
If I put something like:

---

[Doom.Autoload]

[Doom1.Autoload]

["MyWAD".Autoload]

The reason I need it is because my WAD needs to be available to people who don't own DOOM, and I don't want to make them buy it.

[NeuralStunner]

If I were to include a "special" version of Zdoom, were I change the configuration to force a recognize of the WAD, that would work, right?

Nope. At least, not unless the GameInfo lump is fleshed out more to enable such a possibility.

[Ral22]

Hmm... But, Action Doom 2 got away with it when it first came out, even though it wasn't recognized by my other ZDoom. (Basically, the ZDoom included with AD2 recoginzed it.) But, I am aware that current versions of ZDoom recognize it.

[Ceeb]

That's because that was a special version of ZDoom. After awhile, ZDoom was modified to recognize Urban Brawl. Same goes for Harmony.

Basically, don't worry about making an IWAD yet. You should actually do something before you declare you're going to make a whole game.

Also, if your mod replaces all the resources, like a TC, it still doesn't need to be it's own IWAD. See Free Doom.

[Ral22]

Guess I am a bit hasty. Thanks again, everyone. I am very glad I'm getting help from wise people.

I hope to get a [WIP] thread for my partner's and mine WAD soon.

[NeuralStunner]

Oh yeah, custom ZDoom. Not likely unless you are good with C++.

[Graf Zahl]

Nope. At least, not unless the GameInfo lump is fleshed out more to enable such a possibility.

There's currently 172 checks in the source for 'gameinfo.gametype'.

All of these need to be externalized before I would even consider writing something that allows user-defined IWADs to autoload.

[Slasher]

Predicting...

• Created a new branch for gameinfo code externalization

[Graf Zahl]

Nah, I don't think that's necessary. These can be done one by one. BTW, I just got rid of 5 of these checks by finally implementing a proper way to define player classes in a mod.

[Enjay]

Options

load using the -iwad parameter.

call your IWAD DOOM2.WAD (but make sure that you don't install it over the real DOOM2.WAD)

For housekeeping purposes, it is possible to create an absolutely minimal dummy IWAD of only a few KB and then load everything else as a pwad.

[Ceeb]

Or like I said, if you make a PWAD that is completely self-reliant (uses no Doom resources) then your players can use Doom or Free Doom to play it.

[Demolisher]

Nah, I don't think that's necessary. These can be done one by one. BTW, I just got rid of 5 of these checks by finally implementing a proper way to define player classes in a mod.

Did you make an alternative to KEYCONF?

[Graf Zahl]

Yes, player classes can now be set in the GAMEINFO block of MAPINFO. I have always wondered why Grubber did the worst possible thing to set them when he wrote the code but I never got around to do it right.