Options (F5) - Map, Node, Project, Color, Sound, Texture, Check, Zoom

DeePsea Options accessed via F5

DeePsea Options Dialog (press F5)

There are seven different tabbed options available. Each option is discussed in detail following the overview:

1. Project

Select your main editing files projects and settings.

2. Map

Sets the speed of the map scroll, zooming speed, sensitivity range for selecting objects and gap to allow before vertices are close enough to merge.

3. Zoom

Changes the default values for all the zoom commands.

4. Node

Changes the default values for DeePBSP, the nodes builder.

5. Texture

Changes the default values for wall, floor, ceiling textures for the different type of objects and floor and ceiling heights.

6. Check

Changes the default error checking performed (you can also set this in F10 - the error checker).

7. Color

This sets the colors for the map, information boxes and some menu displays.

8. Sound

Sets the basic overall sound control - that is whether to play wave sounds and the option to play a sound when vertexes are selected in all modes other than Vertex mode. In addition you can set the various sounds when editing. Change the sounds listed by just typing in a new value from 0 to 9. Entering 0 disables that particular sound.

9. 3D Mode

Changes the 3D mode options for texture alignment. If you set the alignment command to "noprompt", use this tab to reset back to promp mode.

A detailed breakdown of each option follows below.

Project Options (press F5)

Auto Load Levels

Automatically reloads the last PWADs you were editing.

Auto Start Program

Automatically restart DeeP in Edit mode. Select this to turn off the starting introduction logo (registered only)!

(obsolete Video Fix? - removed but left here for comment since only old drivers have this issue)

Some video drivers do not redraw angled areas of the screen correctly. We have S3 drivers that work ok, but STB Lightspeed and Maxtrox may not. Anyway, turn this on to automatically refresh the map at the end of popup editing functions. If you leave it off, it runs faster and you can selectively clear the map using C or Shift+R.

Allow Duplicates

When a PWAD is loaded allows duplicate lumps to exist. This depends on your DOOM port whether duplicate lump names are properly supported. In general, duplicate lump names are NOT a good idea since it can lead to editing confusion. However, since some ports have decided to implement this questionable practice enabling this supports all forms of legitimate duplicate texture names.

Duplicate Lump Message

If allow Duplicates is turned off, then when a PWAD is loaded, all the duplicate lumps are shown. Normally there should NOT be any Duplicate lump names in a PWAD. You can fix any PWAD with duplicates using the F7/Rename-Ins.. Tool. If this PWAD is someone elses and you do not want to fix it, turn this OFF so you won’t get any more duplicate error messages. Turning this on also eliminates the PLAYPAL message when a PWAD contains a PLAYPAL.

Automatic Side Unpack

If levels have the sidedefs packed to reduce PWAD size, this automatically unpacks them. Packed sidedefs can not be safely edited. Once sidedefs are unpacked and you need to pack them again (File /Pack Options) if that’s what you want to distribute.

Additive Select

Add currently selected objects to all object already selected in the current select list. If you have trouble holding the mouse still and making fast left mouse clicks, this might work better for you. We prefer Additive Select, since it makes it easier to grab stuff from all over the map to combine.

Grid Dashed

Set grid lines to be dashed or solid lines.

Select Box Dashed

Set select box lines to be solid or dashed.

Selected Objects Solid

Sets the highlight to a solid line vs a dashed line. Also see Color option since you can change the color for selected lines versus lines you just hover over. Experiment with the options to see what suits your style.

Vertex Arrows

Places direction arrows in Vertex Mode.

Always Show Vertex

Always show the vertex dot for all edit modes,plus the arrow is show too, if Vertex Arrows is set. Toggled with the semi-colon ( ; ) command.

Display Solid Things

The default displays Things as solid. Uncheck this to have the lines behind the object show. Pressing * toggles this mode.

Display Round Things

The default displays most Things with a ROUND circle (use the Q key to toggle display types). If you prefer a square box (which may help in showing if a thing is too close to a wall), disable this option. Certain things with TIDS or POLYIDS always display as ROUND.

Thing Picture (reminder only)

This is a reminder of how to display a picture, circle, or cross of all Things in any edit mode except Thing mode. When editing, pressing Q toggles through 3 display modes.

Show Object Tip

Shows a short description of the current highlighted object onscreen for quick visual reference.

Show Detailed Scroll

When scrolling the Map optionally shows all map detail. Depending on your system speed, you may prefer to see more detail.

Show Detailed Zoom

When zooming the Map optionally shows all map detail. Depending on your system speed, you may prefer to see more detail.

no IWAD Warning Msg

If you have an IWAD that is not using the HEXEN format, but your project is for PWADS with a BEHAVIOR lump (HEXEN format), turning this on removes all the warning messages. No Specials are reset when this is set. Just remember that if you save a level from a standard IWAD, it will NOT have the correct specials for a port that plays HEXEN format levels.

Expert Mode

Turn this ON to not have confirmations for deleting anything and fewer error messages. Be careful to catch loose fingersJ. Sector creation and merge error messages also do not appear! So be sure you check your work.

Sector Join

This is for LineDef drawing mode only.

If this option is ON, when you draw over an existing LineDef the Sector used by that LineDef is extended to the new area drawn. Press shift+Right Mouse button to override the setting.

When this option is OFF, the opposite is true. Even if you draw over an existing LineDef, new Sectors are always created. To override this setting, press shift+Right Mouse button to join to the existing Sector (Draw over only 1 LineDef).

Drag Overlap Check (drag)

Perform a check to see if any LineDefs are on top of other LineDefs every time LineDefs/Vertices/Sectors are dragged. When enabled and if multiple lines are on top of each other only 1 line is dragged. This makes it easier to separate lines that are on top of each other, but takes extra processing time. Enable this if you create levels with lines of top of each other.

Line Merge (drag & tools)

Perform a check to see if any LineDefs are on top of other LineDefs every time LineDefs/Vertices are dragged or one of the object creation tools are used. If a LineDef is on top of another LineDef, the LineDefs are merged. Disabling this speeds up editing large levels at the risk of missing mistakes you might make.

Line Merge (paste/prefabs)

Perform a check to see if any LineDefs are on top of other LineDefs every time Prefabs (generic or custom) or the Paste commands are used. Disabling this speeds up editing large levels at the risk of missing mistakes you might make.

Vertex Split

Perform a check to see if any vertices are on top of a LineDef every time LineDefs/Vertices are dragged or one of the object creation tools are used. If a vertex is dragged on top of a LineDef, the LineDef is automatically split. Disabling this speeds up editing large levels at the risk of missing mistakes you might make.

Vertex Merge

Perform a check to see if any Vertices occupy the same coordinates when vertices are dragged or one of the object creation tools are used. If they do, the vertexes are merged.

Vertex DEL Join LineDefs

This is for Vertex mode only. If this option is ON, the Del key deletes a vertex and joins the two LineDefs (on each side of the vertex) into one. If no LineDef is connected to the vertex, the vertex is always deleted.

If this option is OFF, the Del key deletes all LineDefs connected to the vertex. Press shift+Del to perform the opposite of this setting. For example, if Join is set, press shift+Del to delete the Vertex and the LineDefs, rather than joining them

Cache Patch Size Limit

This speeds up the display of textures. The value here represents the largest graphic patch to cache. Set this to smaller values if you run out of memory. The first time the textures are displayed there is some delay, subsequent displays use the resident copy. Use the About DeePsea under Help to quickly check your system resources.

Decimal Types

Unselect this box to display the value of Thing Ids, Sector Specials or LineDef types as hexadecimal instead of decimal. This may be easier if experimenting with new DOOM derivatives. You can enter data as hexadecimal at any time by putting an X in front of the value, for example: X001A instead of 26.

Use PWAD Palette

Ignores custom PLAYPAL palettes in a PWAD. This affects all the graphics too. Normally you leave this enabled unless you prefer the stock palette. Some graphic displays with "transparent" areas may look different with or without the PWAD palette – since they have to be mapped to one of the 256 palette colorsJ

Any TX-Texture-Flat-etc

R3Dedit and ZDOOM current support interchangeable selection of Textures, Flats, Pnames or Sprites for walls, floors and ceilings. Tailor to the defaults desired in the Linedef and Sector dialogs (see note below). Increasing the number of choices makes editing a bit slow since a lot more choices are available. To make this more manageable, use the "External Only" option on the Linedef and Sector editing dialogs to select just your custom graphics.

Graphic Notes:

Graphics can be defined in various ways. The methods chosen depend on the port you intend to use. DeePsea and R3Dedit can display a wide range of graphics, but not all ports will support this. It’s up to you to tailor the options to suit the port you intend to use.

1. Additional graphics can be defined for some ports between TX_START and TX_END. These graphics always replace any other graphic with the same name. You can place PNG images as well as regular DOOM format graphics between these markers.

2. For regular DOOM and all ports, Textures are defined in the TEXTURE1 and TEXTURE2 lumps. These texture names may duplicate other names in a WAD as a lump name.

3. Flats are defined between FF_START and FF_END for all the ports. The names may duplicated other names as a lump name.

4. Sprites are defined between SS_START and SS_END for all the ports.

Because of the possible duplication of names, the graphics available in wall vs floor editing may vary. The order of the options in F5 is the search order. It’s recommended to enable the options in sequence, but not required. This is the search order for graphics depending on if Walls or Floors are being edited.

1. Names in TX always take precedence over any other lump or texture with the same name

2. For Textures: If a Flat, Pname or Sprite duplicates a texture name, it will not be included.

3. For Flats: If a Texture duplicates a Flat name, it will not be included. If a Pname or Sprites duplicate a Texture it will not be included if Textures are enabled.

The order of enabling various graphics is important. For Flats it’s possible to get a conflict if Texture and Sprite names are the same name. Thus it is recommend to always enable the preceeding option to avoid selecting a Sprite name that duplicates a Texture name. If you enable only Sprites (and not Textures), then when you do select a Sprite and a Texture name duplicates, the game will show the Texture not the Sprite. This is easy to fix, just convert the Sprite to a Texture using the F7 Tool "Auto Textures From Graphics".

GLnodes (R3Dedit, RISEN3D, DOOMSDAY, PRBOOM, EDGE, JDOOM, ZDOOMGL)

Select this box to add automatic support for any port that uses supports GL nodes to extend the level nodes. DeePsea will automatically tell DeePBSP to build GLnodes. How simple can it getJ

ZDOOM & BOOM Support

Select this box to add addiitonal popup BOOM menu options. This option is required for the extended ZDOOM/BOOM features.

ZDOOM - HEXEN Support

Select this box to process WAD files as ZDOOM in HEXEN mode. This option is required for the extended ZDOOM HEXEN mode features for either DOOM or HERETIC.

Left Mouse Click = OK

This option make clicking the left mouse on an "open" part of a dialog the same as pressing OK. Turn this off if you accidently "miss" the dialog boxes and end up exiting the dialogs. Most dialogs respond to this option, but some do not on purpose (too easy to skip by some).

Dialog Restore Cursor

Disable this option to keep the cursor at the current location when exiting most dialogs or tools. Usually it’s faster to leave this enabled since this returns the cursor at the same location in the level you are editing.

Change SCRIPTS to SCRIPT##

For HEXEN and ZDOOM-HEXEN levels where SCRIPTS have been added, changes them to SCRIPT## when you save the level. ## is the same number as the MAP## it belongs to. Having them as different names makes it easier and less confusing to keep track of them. This also affects how SCRIPTS are handled in the F7 PWAD merge and fixing tools. The default (not enabled) always changes the names back to SCRIPTS.

MouseClick moves Map

With the default ON, press a mouse button to move the MAP when the cursor is at the edge of the screen.

Turn to OFF if you want the screen to move when you reach the map edges.

You can also switch between either mode by pressing Shift+F10. This toggles from one mode to the other.

Cursor Keys Move Map

The cursor keys move the map around.

Delete Sector Things

Turn this ON if you want Sector deletes to also automatically delete Things in a Sector when a Sector is deleted. This takes a bit longer depending on the machine and level size.

Move Sector Things

Turn this ON if you want Sector copies also copy the Things in the Sector(s). This takes a bit longer, depending on the machine and level size.

Drag Sector Things

Turn this ON if you want Sector Dragging or rotating to also move the Things in the Sector(s). This takes a bit longer, depending on the machine and level size. Only Things in the same sector(s) you are dragging or rotating are selected. If you have sectors within sectors, select them ALL to drag all Things! Sectors that are indirectly connected do not have the Things moved. Those are the LineDefs that slant with the Sector when you move.

Things are also moved if you rotate Sectors (using the < > keys).

Note: If LineDefs are incorrectly drawn with incorrect SideDef references (also called sector not closed - see Sector not Closed), Things may not be selected. There are also some cases that may miss a thing due to integer rounding errors.

Smart Draw

Turn this OFF for special occasions. Smartdraw checks for correct SideDef Sector references and attempts to automatically correct them. If you are trying for special effects, you may wish to turn this off, although it's probably easier to just manually force tricks when desired.

Tool Continue

Turn this OFF to end Tool mode after one object (Rectangle/Polygon/etc.) is created. ON keeps the Tool active so you can make more objects of the same type.

Automatic Draw Intersections

Turn this ON to automatically split lines when you draw over them. This may take a while for large levels on slower machines. Most of the references should be correct, but you may have to fix a few since the references are built in pieces and may not fully resolve.

New Intersection Sectors

If Automatic Draw Intersections is enabled, this option assigns a new sector to every new enclosed area created. If not enabled, all the new areas have the same sector number assigned.

Keep Extra Vertex Drawing

Turn this on if you like the comfort of single vertices laying around that you can connect. Start Drawing mode and then just right click. A single vertex is created. Repeat for as many as you like. You can also use Shift+Ins in Vertex mode to create vertices. These extra vertices automatically disappear once you save and build nodes or when you reload the level.

Group Save

Turn this ON to always save grouped PWADs. If Group Save is disabled, the dialog selection always appears when you save a PWAD with extra levels or data. At that time you can temporarily disable the group save. The save dialog box with the Group Save and Build Nodes check options only appears when Group Save is not active and you have a level with extra data or the level has the nodes rebuilt.

The automatic backup option also checks for Group Save The amount of information saved in the .BKP varies according to this setting. If a file has multiple levels and Group Save is active, all the levels are saved. If Group Save is not active, only the current level is saved in the .BKP file to conserve disk space.

Note: All files save with Group Save are saved as PWAD files. If you read in a IWAD (which only selects the levels), wrting the file back out using Group Save creates a PWAD, with only level data!

DECORATE process

The DECORATE lump is processed when this is enabled. Turn this off to not process the DECORATE and use customized OPT files instead.

DECORATE Type replace

If a DoomEdNum duplicates an existing Thing type, enabling this replaces an existing entry (assuming DECORATE process is enabled). Disable this to have all DECORATE items in the DECORATE# section of the Thing menus.

Show Startup Tips

Turn this OFF to end startup tips, although you can also click the startup dialog. ON restarts it, if you turned it off by accident.

Project Buttons

Set Project Name

This selects the type of game you want to edit. Be sure to use the correct Project for the type of game you are editing. See Project - Change Game, read and create

Set MainIWAD File

Enter the location and name of the IWAD file. The maximum length is 127 characters! Note: Although the WAD for the HEXEN addon Deathkings of the Dark Citadel is an IWAD, treat it like a PWAD, DeePsea ignores the name HEXDD.WAD (the WAD name for the addon) as an IWAD!

For example: bC:\DOOM2\DOOM2.WAD for DOOM2.

Additional Lump Entries

The number of additional spaces to reserve for reading in new PWADS with new lump names. The default reserves enough space equal to the size of the IWAD. If you want more space, just put a value here.

Set Texture Group

This step creates a Texture Group file for all the current texture defaults and sets Sector and Lighting default values.

Set Save Path

The default Drive and Directory path chosen when you save files or read file. You can type the name in directly. For the duration of the current edit session, any file read in overrides the default path. The save path always remains the same.

Set Prefab Path

The default Drive and Directory path chosen when you read into the paste buffer using the Import Prefab PWAD command or when you create customer User Prefabs for the Prefab Menu.. You can manually type over the drive:\directory when you read or save, this is the default if no entry is made. For the duration of the current edit session, any file read in overrides the default path.

Set Graphic Path

The default Drive and Directory path chosen when you read graphic files for tools that only expect graphic images. You can type the name in directly.

Set Backup Options

Options to automatically save your level in progress for the amount of time indicated. Once the screen saver starts, no automatic saves are performed. Only external PWADs are automatically saved. The file is saved with the .BKP extension. Set the Group Save option (F5) to save all or part of a file with more than one level.

Each time a .BKP file is created, the bottom status information displays (bkp1) next to the file name with the 1 incrementing for each .BKP file created for the current file.

To use this file for error recovery, copy (or rename this file) using the regular .WAD extension. Backups are performed only at the time intervals shown, not for every change, so they may or may not exist, depending on how long you are editing.

Script Editor Name

Set the path and name of the text editor to use for scripts, MAPINFO, SNDINFO or any other file containing text (default is NOTEPAD).

Graphic Editor Name

Set the path and name of the external graphics editor for manipulating Window’s graphics (default is MSPAINT).

Popup Menu Adjustment

If your desktop does not use the default font size, the popup menus may not track the default cursor locations. Enter values in here to adjust the positioning of each popup entry (Entry Size) and each popup separator (separator). You should not have to do any adjustments once a popup entry has been used. Please let us know for a desktop that requires an adjustment

Preview Lump Line Limit

Set the number of lines to read when previewing text and raw data lumps. The higher the number, the more is displayed and scrollable. More lines may display slower. The maximum displayed size is about 60,000 bytes regardless of line setting.

Map Options (press F5)

Screen Saver

Determines the number of minutes of no activity before the DeePsea screen save activates. 0 is no screensaver.

Map Scroll Delay

Determines the minimum delay between map moves when the cursor touches the edges (or if MouseClick Moves Map is enabled, when the button is pushed at the edge).

Map Scroll Unit (Speed)

Determines the unit size of movement (hence speed) of the map moves when the cursor touches the edges (or if MouseClick Moves Map is enabled, when the button is pushed at the edge). Use the [ ] keys to change the value on the fly.

Object Select Range

Determines the sensitivity to selecting objects near the cursor. A lower value keeps the current object focused, even with slight mouse movements.

Drawing Select Range

A floating point value from 0.0 to 10.0 (default = 1.0). Determines the sensitivity to selecting vertex objects near the cursor. A higher value keeps the current object focused, even with slight mouse movements. For example, a value of 1.5 (or less) is required to draw lines 2 units long and a value of 0.5 (or less) is required to draw lines 1 unit long.

The range value controls the selection of a possible target vertex. If the select range is too high, the vertex already drawn is selected and DeePsea ignores a click for the same vertex. Once you move outside of the range, you can place another vertex.

This value also controls how close to a line you have to be before it selects that line as the target for a new vertex. When a line is selected (as being within range), the vertex created splits that line.

Enter a value of 0.0 to disable.

Vertex Select Range

DeePsea can select Vertexes to drag in any mode. This value helps you establish the range of the effect.

A floating point value from 0.0 to 10.0 (default = 0.5). Determines the sensitivity to selecting Vertex objects near the cursor for the automatic drag Vertex feature, regardless of editing mode. A higher value selects a vertex to drag easier, but then the regular normal objects may be difficult to select for dragging (for example short LineDefs).

Enter a value of 0.0 to disable (see note below)

Thing Select Range

DeePsea can select Things to drag in any mode. This value helps you establish the range of the effect.

A floating point value from 0.0 to 10.0 (default = 2.0). Determines the sensitivity to selecting Thing objects near the cursor for the automatic Drag Thing feature, regardless of editing mode. A higher value selects a Thing to drag easier, but then the regular normal objects may be difficult to select for dragging (for example short LineDefs).

Enter a value of 0.0 to disable (see note below)

Note: Automatic Thing and Vertex Selecting

If any objects are selected (by left clicking on them or drawing a select box around them), only those objects are dragged and NO automatic object drag switching occurs. So left click on the type of object matching the mode you are in and you will "lock" on that object.

If a Vertex is on top of a Thing, a Vertex takes precedence in Vertex mode and a Thing takes precedence in Thing mode. In all other modes a Vertex takes precedence over a Thing.

Vertex Merge Tolerance

A floating point value from 0.0 to 4.0 (default = 0.5). Determines the Doom unit variance allowed before two points are considered to have the same coordinates. Decrease if you are creating very tight areas. It is normally impractical to make it 0, since you have to be EXACTLY on top of a vertex to make it overlap. This allows some leeway to make it easier to merge vertices.

Note: For very tight work, make the tolerance 0.1 to prevent automatic merging when dragging!

Ruler Radius

Set the radius for the ruler. Three rectangles or circles are drawn. Starting with the value given, each inner rectangle is 1/2 the prior size. A size of 0 is no rectangle/circle.

ShowDragLength Limit

When ShowDragLines is enabled (F5 menu), sets the maximum number of lengths to display at one time. Select a number that suits your style and monitor.

Lower Grid

The minimum grid size.

Upper Grid

The maximum grid size.

Xalign Minimum

The minimum valid value for Xalignment. Normally this is -255 since the maximum texture width is 256, thus alignment past this is not required. If you are using textures wider than 256, increase this number.

Xalign Maximum

The maximum valid value for Xalignment. Normally this is 255 since the maximum texture width is 256, thus alignment past this is not required. If you are using textures wider than 256, increase this number.

Yalign Minimum

The maximum valid value for Yalignment. Normally this is -127 or more since the maximum texture height is normally 128. Alignment past the texture height usually makes no sense. The default value is -255 for compatibility with existing levels. We suggest making it -127. There are some special effects that require an exception.

Yalign Maximum

The maximum valid value for Yalignment. Normally this is 127 or less since the maximum texture height is normally 128. Alignment past the texture height usually makes no sense. The default value is 255 for compatibility with existing levels. We suggest making it 127. There are some special effects that do, for example, the bar door, a door made from bars that rises, normally not possible. It also requires a special construction technique! This is demonstrated in the tutorial PWADs included.

Scroll Map Border

The distance from the edge of the active screen sensitive to the Left mouse click for moving the map. The cursor changes shape as you enter/exit the hot border.

Double Speed

Sets the double click speed in Milliseconds (ms).This also determines how long a button has to be held to enter drag or select mode. Increasing this makes selection slower. Experiment to fit your click style. Please adjust your Windows double click speed to be longer than this if you have clicking problems.

GridDash - Dot Every

Sets the graphical line dot interval for drawing the lines of a dashed grid

Grid64 Marksize

Size of the grid 64 marks.

Autofix Sector

Sets the incremental value to use for breaking linedefs up into segments to check for sector values. A larger value is less accurate and a bit faster. Usually 8 should work ok for most levels and systems.

Enable Undo

For most changes, makes a copy of your level at each change so you can Undo the change. Use Ctrl+Z to undo and Ctrl+Y to redo. Normally you would not change this. If you have a HUGE level, limited RAM and who knows what else, you may have to turn the Undo OFF so you have enough memory for other stuff.

Undo Limit

Sets the number of undo levels supported. Range is 1 to 100. A large value will use a lot of memory for large levels.

Paste As Is

When this is enabled (ON) no SideDefs are deleted if no valid Sectors are detected in the paste region. If OFF, when pasting, DeeP attempts to correct all Sector references in Sidedefs to ones detected in the paste region. If no valid sectors are found, the LineDef is flipped (if pointing out) and the 2nd SideDef (if any) is deleted. If this option is ON, all potentially invalid references are not changed and all LineDefs remain 2-sided. You may have to correct these manually.

Paste Floor?

If enabled, a prompt appears when pasting asking for the amount to adjust the Floor and Ceiling heights by. This is handy when pasting the same set of objects to different sectors that have different Floor Heights. The amount entered on the prompt is used to shift the floor and ceiling heights of all the pasted Sectors, thus saving you a lot of tedious work having to adjust the pasted entries.

ZOOM Options (press F5)

Lower Zoom

The lower zoom limit when Z is pressed.

Upper Zoom

The upper zoom limit when Z is pressed.

Lower - Key zoom

The lower zoom limit for - key zooming.

Upper + Key zoom

The upper zoom limit for + key zooming.

Zoom - Factor

Scaling factor used to change the map size when the - zoom key is pressed. A smaller value decreases the size faster.

Zoom + Factor

Scaling factor used to change the map size when the + zoom key is pressed. A larger value increases the size faster.

Number Key Zoom Values

The number keys 0 to 9 zoom to predefined value. You can set your preferred zoom values here.

Node Options (press F5)

This is for DeePBSP only. Optional custom nodebuilders use their own settings - see Node Building

DeePBSP automatically creates extended V4 nodes for levels up to 64k linedefs, 64k sidedefs and 64k vertices. Not all ports support this format, much less levels that have over 32k linedefs. The extended format is required when the stock DOOM nodes format is exhausted.

Type 1 Nodes (default and suggested for most work)

Type 2 Nodes (sometimes better)

Type 3 Nodes (Old is slowest, usually has fewer splits or size as a tradeoff for depth)

HEXEN levels may benefit from Type 3 nodes and most DOOM/ HERETIC levels are OK in any of the modes. Experiment to see what works best for you or for performance on large levels.

Merge Duplicate Vertices

This automatically detects duplicate vertices in the nodebuilder and makes corrections to the nodes. Your original level data is not changed. You may not want this to occur because of special features you are using. Alternately you can also use the F10 - Error Checker to permanently remove duplicate vertices. Duplicate vertices can cause node building problems for GL levels and sometimes regular levels.

Split Factor (1-100)

Vary this value to control area splitting for HEXEN, various ports or to achieve special results.

A value of 16 is the normal default. 16 to 32 improves most levels. For Pentiums the time difference is small, so change the default to 32. The average depth increases, but the number of nodes decreases with higher split factors. A value of 8 can be used on most levels for the fastest response. Use 8 mainly for slower processors.

If there is some problem, try the alternate methods of building nodes, Type1/2/3, as well as controlling the location of the first node line (see below). Changing the angle of LineDefs also can fix problem areas. Try to make vertex points align with other vertices if possible. Close spacing (1 unit apart) is a problem for the DOOM engine (you get a vertical line), although setting the line length to 2 may fix it.

A different nodebuilder using a different formula, may also suit your design (for Hexen polyobjects). Be aware that other node builders are less stable than DeePBSP, so be SURE to have backups!

Splitting the MAP

The default value method evaluates the first node location according to the Node Depth algorithm. Usually you do not need to select any of the splitting options. Occasionally, the algorithm can be helped along by YOU by specifying in which direction the first node should be split. For some levels, this can halve the time of the nodebuild.

The following values are valid:

Auto Split

Let DeePBSP automatically decide which way to split your level (suggested as the first choice when starting to playing around with split options).

Horizontal Split

Force DeePBSP to split your level horizontally

Vertical Split

Force DeePBSP to split your level vertically

There are two advantages to customizing the value for your levels:

1. As a human (or animal) you can see the level and know that some odd shape is misleading the first split. Hence, with your insight you can sometimes improve the node balance which can result in faster play for large levels.

2. For HEXEN, this gives you an easy way to vary the nodebuilder. By varying the location of the first node, it is possible to avoid HEXEN polyobject subsector errors.

To get an idea of how your level stacks up, use the node viewer option under the File menu. This also gives you node statistics by pressing F1 twice.

Suppress Extended Node Messages

Click this if the port supports extended nodes. This tells DeePBSP to issue fewer message and a normal return code when stock limits are exceeded so DeePsea does not ask if you want to see the node log when the node building ends.

Create V3 GL nodes (default is V4)

Instead of DeePBSP V4 nodes, generate V3 nodes. Normally you do not want this since V3 nodes take more space than V4 nodes. It is there just for compatibility.

Force Extended Nodes

Normally DeePBSP automatically switches to the Version4 DeePBSP extended node format as required. This option is primarily used for testing and should normally not be enabled.

Fix GLnodes

Looks for invalid sector references which can cause GL rendering mistakes. This fixes many rendering errors. It automatically adds a 2nd sidedef, but leaves the linedef marked as 1 sided. Make the linedef 2-sided if that is was your intent but you forgot.

Merge Duplicate Vertices

This does not change your level, but the nodes built assume that any vertices that share the same coordinates are the same one. Primarily used to fix level mistakes, however, the levels should be fixed to minimize other rendering issues.

Show NodeBuild

Turn this ON to display the nodebuilding screen.

Turn OFF and not show the progress display.

If you have it turned OFF, there is an additional option when building nodes which bypasses the prompt to see DeePBSP’s logged file output for quicker turnaround.

Special Nodebuilding Options

Ignore 2-sided LineDefs

All 2-sided linedefs with no textures sharing the same sector are ignored. Usually works ok, except for special effects.

Special Sector Tags

Turn this ON if you want Sector tags greater than or equal to 900 to be treated special for making doors with a transparent texture (as in BSP2.x), but this is really not very reliable for making transparent doors, despite what BSP docs state. Example door in DOOM1TUT, DOOM2TUT.WAD or HEXENTUT.WAD is reliable.

Special LineDef Tags

Turn this ON for Doom/Heretic/Strife type levels if you want any LineDef tagged with 900 to 999 to reduce any splitting of the sector the LineDef is connected to (Sidedef1). This is similar to BSP 2.x, (Lee Killough’s implementation), although the results may differ. There are 6 different nodebuilding algorithms. Advanced users can experiment a lot to control special effects, e.g., deep water.

STRIFE note:

Strife uses tags over 900 in their levels. So be careful not to use this without checking it out.

-0- NODES

Writes a –0- length NODES entry. Only for ZDOOM version 2 and later. Temporary option for levels that exceed the limit of 64k SEGS. This will force ZDOOM to automatically build nodes for the level since stock NODES will not work.

-0- REJECT

Writes a –0- length REJECT entry. Only for ZDOOM, R3Dedit or RISEN3D. This can reduce the PWAD size by a huge amount for large levels.

-0- BLOCKMAP

Writes a –0- length BLOCKMAP. Only for ZDOOM, R3Dedit or RISEN3D. The default is to create BLOCKMAPS up to 128kb in size. Most BOOM compatible ports support a BLOCKMAP up to 128kb. The standard DOOM engine cannot have a BLOCKMAP that exceeds 64kb.

Note for HEXEN-ZDOOM PolyObjects

Use the Thing display to determine the sector where a Thing is located and compare it with the output listing. DeePBSP uses the same algorithm, so if the number is wrong and the Thing is a polyobject, the nodebuilder won’t detect it either. So be careful when you make trick areas in Hexen that don’t have the correct sector on purpose.

Normally you can fix a "mistake" by just moving the polyobject over 1 unit so it’s off the line.

Please DO NOT use/share the same sector for multiple PolyObjects. This will defeat the DeePBSP polyobject algorithm.

Suggestions for Nodes

If the SSECTORS lump go over 32,767 entries, then the level will not play correctly (or crash) for stock DOOM. The DeePBSP nodes won't work (you may have to get to the area to notice, since it may load ok). Some of the newer ports supported stock nodes with SSECTORS up to 64k. And some ports support the DeePsea extented nodes which allow for any size level.

R3Dedit and RISEN3D support DeePsea Extended nodes now. ZDOOM may later, but it has it’s own format that is more difficult to use for port authors.

How big is the largest level you can run for stock DOOM or ports that only support the regular DOOM nodes? That's where an explanation is in order since it depends on how the level is constructed. On the one hand, this could be a level with 30,000 linedefs -IF- you don't use too many angled lines.

IOW, although the number of linedefs is a good approximation, it's the number of angled lines that has a BIG influence on the final number.

The cata.wad (before revision) was 11,700 linedefs (small in the context of 30,000) but it has gobs of angled lines (that's just how it was designed). So it ended up creating 20,035 SSECTORS and 33,927 SEGS. By comparison, VRACK2 is 12,441 linedefs, yet has only 8028 SSECTORS and 24,516 SEGS. I think you can see the point.

So the goal to make efficient levels and large levels that play within the limits is to make sure that lines are straight where possible. Eliminate those lines that are off by a few units from perfectly vertical or horizontal. These are found fairly often in levels and are almost always by accident (not realizing that it makes a difference).

Make these slightly off lines straight and you get a level that plays better plus you get more SSECTOR and SEGS breathing room for all the ports.

Summary: The fewer angled lines you have the fewer SSECTORS and SEGS. This is very important since the maximum for DOOM and many ports (except ZDOOM and BOOMSDAY) is 32,767 for both of these. Please ask your port authors to support Deepsesa Extended nodes.

Texture Options (press F5)

Set default wall and floor textures for building different objects and the default Thing. This also sets the default Dup textures to use for the O, shift+O and ctrl+O commands.

BOOM has COLORMAPS and ZDOOM can have custom hexadecimal texture names to define "fog" and other special sector color blending. To help you remember them easier, you can add user defined COLORMAPs to predefine up to 50 custom settings without having to remember them.

Click on "Create/Edit Colormap names" and enter a name on the left and the color you want it to represent on the right. ZDOOM uses a hexadecimal texture name as a color value. In that case, the names and the colors should be the same hexadecimal value.

C_START/C_END COLORMAP entries from PWADs are automatically loaded. The display for user defined COLORMAP entries is unique, so you can recognize them instantly.

Check Options (press F5)

Set default error checking options. As you learn more, you may wish to disable those that you understand better, such as multi-patch textures and x/y alignments.

Shortest Line to Check

Sets the shortest line to check in the error checker (F10). Any LineDef that is less than this length is displayed. Helps catch accidental line merging! Short lines are very difficult to see, but this snags them with little effort. To disable any short line checking, select Check and turn off Check Short Lines.

Note: If working with short LineDefs, we suggest you set the Map Option : Vertex Tolerances to 0.5.

Color Options (press F5)

Lets you set most DeePsea items to a color of your choice. The Toolbar colors are set by our desktop 3D button settings.

Custom Colors

Within colors, lets you change the basic colors shown in Color Options to any color choice. The first 30 colors are used by various display features, not all of which are shown in the list. You can modify the next 34 colors to any colors you want. Then change on of the types shown to your new entry and nothing else will get changed.

Gamma Correction

Adjust for your monitor. Use the Up/Down controls to set (-50 to +50 percent).

DialogFillColor

Background color of Dialogs that show previews, such as Open and the editing texture previews. Experiment and see if you like White better?

DialogFillTextColor

Color of the text printed on Dialogs subject to DialogFillColor. You may need to change this color also if you change the abve to get good text contrast.

Dragging

Color for dragged objects.

Select Box

Color of the select box.

HiLight

Color for automatic hilighting of objects as you move over them

HiLight Active

Color for hilighting of objects that have been selected

InsertVertex

Color of lines inserted.

Vertex Square

Color of Vertex dot.

Grid

Grid color.

Ruler

Ruler color.

2-Sided LineDef

Color of 2-sided LineDefs.

1-Sided LineDef

Color of 1-sided LineDefs.

Secret

Color of secret areas.

Invisible

Color of invisible LineDefs.

Monster Block

Color of LineDefs that block monsters.

Sound Block

Color of LineDefs that block sound.

Tagged Line/Sector

Color of LineDefs/Sectors that are tagged.

Not Normal Line

Color of any LineDef with some type of attribute other than normal.

Bad Tag

Color of LineDefs/Sector with missing tags.

Not Normal Sector

Color of any Sector with some type of attribute other than normal.

Scripts

Color of any LineDef with a HEXEN script type.

Teleports

Color of Teleport LineDefs in LineDef mode.

Sector Heights

Color of Sector Lines that are a different height in Sector mode.

MainMap Browser

Color of browser map background for levels in main file (IWAD). Quick visual cue to indicate that the level is the default level.

MainMap Browser Lines

Color of browser map lines for levels in main file (IWAD).

PWADMap Browser

Color of browser map background for levels in add-on file (PWAD). Quick visual cue to indicate that the level is an added level.

PWADMap Browser Lines

Color of browser map lines for levels in add-on file (PWAD).

BackGround

The screen background color. If you change the background color, be sure to change the color of the LineDefs so they show up (and any others as appropriate). For example if you make the background white, then the 1-sided should be black and the 2-sided darkgray.

BackGround Things

The screen background color when displaying Thing pictures in Thing mode. Switch to any color you like. Normally a lighter color displays better, but each to their own taste.

BackGround ThingLines

Color of 1-sided lines when Things pictures are displayed. If you change the Thing display background, these lines may be invisible unless this color is adjusted.

Info Box

Color of background for information box on the bottom and some help

Info Box Edge Top

Color of edge left and top for Info Box

Info Box Edge Bottom

Color of edge right and bottom Info Box

Browser Background

Background of general full screen browsers

Browser GraphicFill

Graphic background for general full screen browsers

Browser Text Color

Color of lump text in general full screen browsers

Browser Text File Color

Color of lump text from external files in general full screen browsers

Browser Text Background

Background Color of text in general full screen browsers

Browser Select Box

Color of selection box in general full screen browsers

Default Color Settings

DialogFillColor GRAY dialog background

DialogFillTextColor YELLOW dialog text color

SelectColor CYAN selection box

DragColor RED dragging

InsVertexColor YELLOW insert vertexes line

VertexColor LIGHTBLUE vertex

HiLightColor YELLOW hilight objects as they get close

HiLightActiveColor LIGHTBLUE hilight selected

GridColor LIGHTGRAY grid

1-sided LineDef LIGHTGRAY default lines

2-sided LineDef WHITE 2 sided lines

BackGround BLACK background

BackThingColor DARKGRAY background things

BackThingLines BLACK 1-sided lines

SecretColor DARKMAGENTA A secret area

InvisibleColor ORANGE invisible lines

MonsterBlockColor DARKGREEN monster can't pass

SoundBlockColor DARKRED sound can't pass

TypeTagColor LIGHTGREEN linedef has a type + tag#

LineTypeColor LIGHTMAGENT A linedef has a type/no tag

TagBadColor LIGHTRED linedef has no type/wtag

SectorSpecialColor LIGHTCYAN sector is special type

RulerColor LIGHTMAGENTA ruler

MainMap Browser WHITE Open browser map

MainMap BrowserLine DARKGRAY Open browser lines

PWADMap Browser LIGHTBLUE Edit browser map

PWADMap BrowserLine BLACK Edit browser lines

Browser Background BLACK Background of general full screen browsers

Browser GraphicFill GRAY Graphic background for general full screen browsers

Browser Text Color WHITE Color of lump text in general full screen browsers

Browser Text File Color YELLOW Color of lump text from external files in general full screen browsers

Browser Text Background BLACK Background Color of text in general full screen browsers

Browser Select Box YELLOW Selection box color

Note : Certain colors are fixed, for example browsing the map, matching tags and object selection. However, you can change the base color (one of the first 30 entries) and thus affect any color. The only exception are BLACK and WHITE which are always that way in some areas to keep things simpler.

Palette Colors

There are -50 to +50 percent of Gamma Correction available. The correction is for ALL colors. Use this to brighten your display as required. Adjust the colors after Gamma Correction is applied to make the appearance of the menus suitable for your monitor. The RGB values shown are always the ORIGINAL RGB values for the applicable game - without the gamma applied. The colors shown are displayed as mapped by Windows and is not exactly the same as what you will see in the game.

It also changes those not directly set anywhere else. If you get lost, delete DeeP.CHK and start over. When you delete DeeP.CHK, DeePsea reinstalls and recreates all basic files again.

Press F1 when indicated in the square color panel (appears after you press enter/click to change a color) and all the colors are shown at once.

Palette Color Matching

This is used to control color matching when importing graphics with a different palette or when converting textures see palette

Transparent Color

This sets the transparent color for drawing and importing BMP and PCX files. You can also set this in other areas that require this flexibility.

Sound Options (press F5)

Enable Sound Select

Make a Sound when object is selected.

Enable Sound Errors

Make a Sound when an error occurs.

Enable Wave Sounds

Use .WAV sounds rather than the PC speaker. Use your volume for intensity, etc.

There are 12 different sounds you can play. Tune to your taste! Different sounds are used for different types of feedback. Each specific type can have a different (or no) sound attached.

Play Midi

Plays various midi selections in the About DeePsea and Screen Saver dialog. Disable to not play. The shareware start screen is the About DeePsea dialog. Uncheck the box to not play any midi.

3D Mode

These options are for ingame texture alignment using R3Dedit.

Prompt with 3D testing Dialog

Check this if you want the 3D testing dialog to appear again. This lets you change options once again if you set it to noprompt.

Set 3D Mode Testing options

Brings up the Texture Alignment Testing Dialog where you can change settings, but does not start ingame texture alignment.