misc08.gifOpening a PWAD (and when maps won't show up!)

 

Open a PWAD File

 

This is how you read in levels (maps), graphics, sounds, etc, that is, anything that the game supports. Levels, graphics and sounds are interactively displayed or played. Use the Group Files command in File to combined multiple PWADs into one grouped PWAD. You can see the files you have loaded in the Edit menu under View Active Files.

 

Browsing Operation

 

Uses the standard Windows file browser dialog that displays a box of file names, directories and drives.

 

If you know the complete path, you can enter it in the file name box. For example, C:\MYWADS\SAMPLE.WAD

 

A preview of any legitimate PWAD level is automatically displayed. If there are multiple levels in the PWAD, control shifts to the lower box. As you scroll this list, each level in the PWAD is displayed. Textures and Flats in PWADS are also automatically displayed. Flats are assumed if the lump size is exactly 4096.

 

Special Note : There are some Flats that have an incorrect size and those will NOT be displayed in preview mode. It is possible that a lump is incorrectly identified as a texture and in that case it is possible that DeePsea may crash as you browse the PWAD.

 

NOTE: There is one combination of Open Level reads that is somewhat confusing.

 

Let's illustrate by example:

 

1. You read a PWAD that has information beyond that that required to make the level, for example, extra textures (could also be sounds, sprites, MAPINFO, you get the idea). In this example, let's assume that it is MAP01.

 

2. You mess around some and then read in another level that is also MAP01. This works just fine.

 

3. Now you decide you want to read the level from step 1 above in again. It doesn't display, instead the level from step 2 sticks around.

 

What's going on? Well, the extra information from step 1 was never replaced by step 2. Now when you did step 3, DeePsea found the extra information first and did not read the PWAD in again.

 

This is normally a benefit, since this mechanism permits you to borrow extra information from other levels easily. In the above example, if you used the group command at step 2, the textures from step 1 are automatically grouped with the new level.

 

If you want to read the step 1 level back in, use the Close All File command (under the File menu) to clear the information.