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__ __ ___ __ __ ____ __ | ||\ | ||___\ \ \ / / || | | | || \ | | ____ \ \ / / || | | | | \ \ | ||____\ \ \ / / || | | | |___\ | | |______ \ \/ / || | |____ |_________| |_________\ \__/ _||_ |_______\ User's Manual for Devil 1.02 Last Updated 4/18/95 This document is a modified and updated version of Boris' original BUILDLEV.DOC, REFMAN.ODC, and DEVIL.DOC from DEVIL version 1.01. Quite a bit of new info has been added, but if you look carefully, you can still find many of Boris' original words. In addition, be aware that any references to "I", "me", or such, could be a reference to Boris, Achim, or myself. Please accept my apologies for any sleep you might have lost worrying about it. Updated and Expanded by Chris Kotchey (CMKotchey@aol.com) Originally compiled by Boris Postler (ub0u@rz.uni-karlsruhe.de) DEVIL developed by Achim Stremplat (ubdb@rz.uni-karlsruhe.de) This article is (C) Copyright 1995 by Chris Kotchey and Boris Postler. All rights reserved. You are welcome to make copies and redistribute this article, as long as it is kept in its original form. DEVIL is (C) Copyright 1995 by Achim Stremplat. All rights reserved. All specific names included herein are trademarks: Descent, Interplay Productions, Parallax Software, Pentium, Intel, Id Software, Doom, OS/2, Microsoft Windows. Any trademarks not mentioned here are hypothetically acknowledged. I hope nobody wants to sue me but I may forget some of them. Disclaimers ~~~~~~~~~~~ Parallax Software cannot and will not provide support for DEVIL. Parallax Software will not provide support for ANY file that has been modified or created by DEVIL. DEVIL will not allow you to modify the shareware version of DESCENT. (It may be allowed but we'll ask Parallax first.) The author of DEVIL will not provide support or be liable for damage caused by the use of DEVIL. It is illegal to distribute the registered version of the DESCENT.HOG file in any form, original or modified. The author of DEVIL reserve the right to add or remove any functionality of the DEVIL software. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- [*]. Introduction [*1] The Pulldown Menus [*2] Keystrokes [*3] Using Object Properties [A]. Moving and Looking Around [A1] Using the Mouse [A2] Using the Keyboard [B]. The Modes [B1] Cube [B2] Side [B3] Wall [B4] Point [B5] Thing [B6] Internal [C]. Selecting and Tagging [D]. Object Location and Orientation [D1] Cubes [D2] Sides [D3] Walls [D4] Points [D5] Things [E]. Macros - Introduction [F]. Adding/Deleting Objects [F1] Cubes [F2] Sides [F3] Walls [F4] Points [F5] Things [G]. Macros - Advanced [H]. Object Properties [H1] Cubes [H2] Sides [H3] Walls [H4] Points [H5] Things [I]. Special Things [I1] Reactor [I2] Exit [I3] Light [I4] Bitmap Manipulation [I5] "Direct" Editing [J]. Samples [J1] The Tutorial Levels [J2] The Demo Level [K]. Hints and Tips ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part [*]. Introduction First, a guided tour of what you'll see in DEVIL: +----------------------------------------------+-------------------+ | Pull-Down Menus | Tag Information | +----------------------------------------------+-------------------+ | | | | Main Editing Window | Object Property | | | Information | | | | | | | | | | | +-------------------+ | | Current | | | Object Indicators | | +-------------------+ | | Mode Selectors | | +-------------------+ | | Coordinates/ | | | Orientation | | +---------+---------+ | | Move/ | Texture | | | Modify | Display | +----------------------------------------------+ Arrows | | | Input Area | | | +----------------------------------------------+---------+---------+ To the left is a big Window: this is where your level is shown. The upper line consists of pull-down menus. To the right there are several displays: in the lower right the texture of the current side is shown. The arrows are for mouse-controlling. Below the arrows is an indication of whether you are in Modify or Move mode. Above that are the different editing modes: cubes, sides (a side is a cube-side with no adjacent cube), walls (a wall is a cube-side with an adjacent cube), points, things and internal. In the upper right corner the actual editing-mode is displayed and below that the properties and attributes of cubes/sides/walls/... (and so on). --[*1]------ The Pulldown Menus The pulldown menus are activated by pressing '[ALT]+highlighted letter' (for mouse-users now and for ever: just click on the one you want). The following is a list of the different menus and menu items, which will be helpful later as a reference, but won't make much sense the first time you read this document. Their full descriptions and explanations will be found throughout this document. * File - Load Level: To load a level for editing - Save Level: To save the current level - Play Level: To play the current level as it exists - Level Info: Displays statistics about the current level - Quit: To exit DEVIL * Move - Beam: Repositions point of view to current object - Align to...: Reorients point of view along and towards the selected axis. * Edit - Insert: Inserts an object or macro. - Special Insert: A special version of Insert. - Delete: Deletes currently tagged (selected) objects - Delete All: Delete all tagged objects in every mode. This is useful if you've inserted a macro the wrong way because it deletes all things, walls, and cubes. You are asked to confirm this decision. - Enlarge/Shrink: Zooms current view in or out - Grid On/Off: Toggles use of the grid for object positioning. If the grid is turned on, all moved points/things are snapped to the grid. The grid size is changed with 'g' and 'G'. - Set Exit: This allows you to set the exit side at the end of the exit corridor. The exit corridor starts with the exit door and ends with the exit side (it's the corridor DESCENT steers your glider through at the end). - Fit Bitmap: See description in section titled "Bitmap Manipulation". - Align Bitmaps: See description in section titled "Bitmap Manipulation". - Light Shading: See description in section titled "Light". - Make Room: Removes all common sides between tagged cubes to create a single room out of them. A common side is found if all four points are within "ConnD" from the "Internal" menu. - Recalculate Textures: See description in section titled "Bitmap Manipulation". * Macros - Make Macro: Creates a macro out of currently tagged cubes - Save Macro: Save the current macro to a file - Choose Macro: Loads a macro from a file for use - Insert Scaled: Inserts the cubes and walls of the current macro just as in 'Edit->Insert', but scale it with a given factor. - Insert Scaled, Fast: Insert current macro like in 'Edit->Special Insert', but scale it with a given factor. * Select - Tag: Tag current object (depending on current mode) - Tag All: Tag all objects of current mode (or untag all currently tagged objects) - Tag Special: Only used in two modes: * In point mode, tags all corners of the current point * In side mode, you can lock this side. This means the texture of this side is not calculated anymore if the shape of the side changes. - Tag Box: If box is off, draw 3D tag box on the last position. If box wasn't drawn before you do this, the tag box is inserted at the last loaded starting place as a cube with (30 * gridsize) as the size (direction of the starting place). If tag box is already on, tag all objects of current mode that lie within the box. (Cubes and sides are only tagged if they are completely within the box). - New Tag Box: If box is off, init the tag box (45 * gridsize) for your nose with size = (30 * gridsize) aligned on your current direction. - Use Cube Tag: In Side or Point mode, tags all sides/points of the tagged cubes (other tags in this mode are cleared). - Use Side Tag: In Point mode, tags all points of the tagged sides (other tags in this mode are cleared). - Choose Cube/Thing/Wall: Will prompt for the number of the desired object (depending on the current mode). - Goto Wall: Set the current cube and side to the cube and side with the current wall. - Next/Previous Cube/Thing/Side/Wall/Point: Changes current object (depending on the current mode) to the next, or previous object (as determined by their numeric sequencing). - Change to Sidecube: If the current cube has a neighbor cube at the current side, select this neighbor cube as the current cube. * Drawing - Each menu item toggles whether objects of that type are currently displayed on the screen. ('Drawing->X-tagged' is for turning on/off the extra lines in tag mode) * Info - Credits: Displays DEVIL credits and product information - Help Page: Displays a list of keyboard shortcuts --[*2]------ Keystrokes These hotkeys are available in every mode: [F1] activate help, cursor scrolls, any other key exits [CONTROL] + [SHIFT] + s/l save/load level [SHIFT] + [ESCAPE] end DEVIL (you're crazy! :) [SHIFT] + a/y increases/decreases sight NUMLOCK * / increase/decrease moving factor of yourself or of objects depending of the current mode (move/modify) NUMLOCK +/- increase/decrease zooming NUMLOCK 9/7 increase/decrease rotation angle [ALT] + g switch grid ON/OFF [SHIFT] + g increase grid size g decrease grid size [SHIFT] + m make macro [CONTROL] + m save macro m choose macro [CONTROL] + c/s/w/t/i/p changes mode [SHIFT] + c/s/w/t/p previous cube/side/wall/thing/point c/s/w/t/p next cube/side/wall/thing/point [CONTROL] + [SHIFT] + c/s/w/p/t enter number of current cube ... [SPACE] tag untagged object or untag tagged object [SHIFT] + [SPACE] tag all objects if none are tagged or untag all objects if one is tagged [CONTROL] + key command only for current object, ignore tagged objects [SHIFT] + key no side-effects [SHIFT] + [DELETE] delete all tagged objects (be careful with this one!) [END] insert exit wall in current side cursor up/down move in substructure-menu [RETURN] edit substructure f fit bitmap of current side (f also exits the bitmap-fitting) --[*3]------ Object Properties In the Object Properties menu on the right side, you see a "*" before the current entry. You can move this with 'cursor up' and 'cursor down' and change the entry with 'return', or simply click with the mouse. Sometimes when you select an item, the current menu is replaced by a list of possible choices. You can select an item from this list with 'space' or 'return' or the left mouse button. The old value is marked with a "#". You can scroll up and down with 'page up' and 'page down' or the right mouse button in the upper or lower half of the list, go to the top of the list with 'home' and to the end with 'end'. If you go to the line with the topic, you can enter a number which is not available on the list. If it is possible to select more than one item in a list, 'space' marks the item and 'return' ends the selection and changes the entry. With 'Esc' you can end the selection without changing the entry. If not explicitly stated, the change is done with all tagged objects. You can avoid this by pressing 'ctrl' when selecting the item. Some menu entries have side effects when changed. This means that DEVIL changes more than just the entry you've selected (see explanation of Walls). You can suppress side effects by pressing 'shift' when selecting the entry you would like to change You can also combine 'shift'+'ctrl' to change only the current object without tagged objects and without side effects. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part [A]. Moving and Looking Around The first thing about DEVIL you'll need to learn is how to move around and look at the object that you care about. It's a little tricky at first, but it gets easier the more you use it. On the lower right-hand side of the screen is a grid containing (usually) 7 "buttons" arranged like this: +----------+----------+----------+ | / | A | 7 | | L | I | / | +----------+----------+----------+ | | I | | | <- | V | -> | +----------+----------+----------+ | | | Move | +--------------------------------+ The bottom-most button starts out with the word "Move", and can be toggled between "Move" and "Modify". "Move" means you are going to move yourself, and "Modify" means you are going to modify an object in the window. Your current position and orientation are displayed as two sets of three numbers on the lower right-hand portion of the screen and look something like this: 0.5,0.0,-160.5 0.000,0.000,1.000 The first set of three numbers is your current position as given by your X, Y, and Z coordinates. So, if your position is {0,0,100}, you are currently "located" at point 100 on the positive Z-axis. The second set of three numbers is your current orientation. Each value in your orientation can be considered as the degree to which you are looking in that direction, with 1.000 indicating you are looking straight down the positive axis (with higher numbers going away from you, and -1.000 indicating you are looking straight down the negative axis (with smaller numbers going away from you). A new feature of v1.02 is a small wire-frame that lies to the right of the location/orientation numbers. This can help you determine your current viewing orientation. The Red axis is the positive X-axis. The White axis is the positive Y-axis. The Yellow axis is the positive Z-axis. (Thanks Achim! - This is proof that he listens to suggestions!) In your default orientation (where you are when you load the NEW.rdl level file), you are at orientation {0.000,0.000,1.000} (looking up the Z-axis). When you begin in this default orientation, the X-axis runs from left to right, the Y-axis runs bottom to top, and the Z-axis runs into the display. After starting in your default orientation, there is no visible indication (other than the level structure you see in the main viewing area), what your "rotational" orientation is. --[A1]------ Using the Mouse With the bottom-most buttons set to "Move", your movement and view is altered in the following ways, depending on which mouse button you use when you click on each of the six arrow buttons: Arrow Icon Left Button (1) Right Button (2) ---------------- -------------------- ------------------ Up Tilt nose DOWN Slide Up (view rotates up) (view slides down) Down Tilt nose UP Slide Down (view rotates down) (view slides up) Left Turn nose RIGHT Slide Left (view rotates left) (view slides right) Right Turn nose LEFT Slide Right (view rotates right) (view slides left) Up/Right Spin CLOCKWISE (view Slide Forward spins counter-wise) (view "grows") Down/Left Spin COUNTER-C-WISE Slide Backward (view spins clockwise) (view "backs away") --[A2]------ Using the Keyboard On the keyboard, the movement commands are: (you have to switch the NUMLOCK ON): A/Y (perhaps Z ?) forwards/backwards (sorry, german keyboard) 1/3 banking 2/4/6/8 turn around [SHIFT]+2/4/6/8 gliding IMPORTANT: when I refer to NUMLOCK ON or OFF, I assume that you change the Move/Modify-mode ONLY with your NUM-key. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part [B]. The Modes There are 6 different "modes" in DEVIL. Each mode is used to add objects of different types, and to change the properties of different types of objects. Each of the 6 modes is described separately. You change modes by pressing [CONTROL] and the first letter of the mode that wish to be in. Side mode would be '[C]+S', '[C]+P' for point-mode, and so on. You will notice that every time you change the mode the display in the upper right corner will change to display your current editing possibilities. Some actions act different in different modes, e.g. INSERT in cube- mode inserts a macro, in thing-mode a thing and in point-mode .... NO! Not a point. You can't insert points :). Each mode has a different set of attributes and properties. You change the properties using the cursor-keys and [RETURN]. (Ok, ok: for mouse-users: just move the little arrow to the property you want to change and press a mouse-button.) Then you got either another menu (e.g. of different robots) or you have to enter a number. --[B1]------ Cube Mode Cube Mode allows you to change the properties of a cube as a whole, and to add or delete entire cubes. Some properties include the room type, average cube lighting, and average point lighting. For experienced WAD-builders: cubes are sth. like sectors (not quite right: while it was possible to divide a sector in parts that are not connected, this is not allowed with cubes). A cube has always eight corners but you may arange these points (almost) as you want. You have to keep in mind: * Cubes need to be convex. Well, what does that mean? That means, you can draw a line from every point inside the cube to every other point and this line DOES NOT LEAVE THE CUBE. This is important for DESCENT. Let me show you some examples: ________ __________ ___ ___ | | \ / \ \ / / | | \ / \ \/ / YES:| | CLOSE THING: \ / NO: \ / | | \ / \ / |________| \/ \/ Luckily, DEVIL handles this thing automatically, so you won't have to be bothered. * Take a normal cube and push one corner inwards. This will not only make the cube 'lesser convex' but it will also bent the adjacent sides of the cube (try it for yourself). DESCENT has problems with highly bent walls (e.g. the laserbolts won't collide with the wall) but DEVIL won't allow such walls and will refuse to move a point further. You don't have to think about wether or not this cube is allowed be- cause DEVIL does it for you (thanks, Achim!). I just mentioned these problems so that you can understand why DEVIL refuses to execute a command. A "standard cube" is 20x20x20 in size. The level "new.rdl" is an example of such a cube. --[B2]------ Side Mode Side Mode allows you to change the properties of one particular side of a cube. Some properties include the texture(s) of the side, and the average point lighting. A side has allways a texture, a wall may have a texture. Textures in DESCENT are a bit more 'powerful' than in DOOM (they are not only textures). E.g. the lava-texture behaves like lava, this is only because of the texture. --[B3]------ Wall Mode Wall Mode allows you to change the properties of one particular wall, and to add or delete walls. Walls are sides that are shared by two cubes and can otherwise be called doors (which open and close) or switches (which cause other things to happen). Some properties of walls include the wall type, the open/close behavior, the key required, the objects it "activates" (if it's a switch), the hit points (how much does it have to be shot to destroy it), and the texture(s). --[B4]------ Point Mode Point Mode allows you to change the properties of a particular point. Some properties of a point include the X, Y, and Z co- ordinates, and the lighting. --[B5]------ Thing Mode Things are everything else in the game that makes it fun. Thing Mode allows you to change the properties of a thing. There are several types of things: items (like power-ups and weapons), robots (the bad guys), hostages (the innocent victims), the start location(s), and the reactor. Different things have different properties, so I won't mention them yet. --[B6]------ Internal Mode Internal Mode allows you to change different behaviours of the DEVIL editor itself, such as how far to move something each time you click, how much to rotate an object, how much you can see, and so on. The properties that can be modified are: Property Description ------------- ----------------------------------------------- Zoom Your magnification factor (this is NOT the same as sliding foward/backward). ZoomS The factor the zoom factor (Zoom) is multiplied/ divided by when you press '-' (shrink) or '+' (enlarge). Visib. How far into the distance you can see VisiS. The factor the visibility (Visib.) is multiplied/divided by when you press '[S]+a' (see more) or '[S]+z' (see less). Movef. How far you move when you move PMovef. How far a point is moved when you move them MoveS The factor Movef and PMovef is multiplied/divided by when you press '*' (multiply) or '/' (divide). Angel (We'll forgive Achim's spelling mistake) Rotation angle when you turn yourself. PAngel Rotation angle for objects AngelS The multiply/divide factor for Angel and PAngel when you press '7' (divide) or '9' (multiply). Grid Size of the grid. When "on", the grid forces points to exist on an angular grid. GridS Factor for changing the size of the grid when 'g' (multiply) or 'G' (divide) are pressed. ConnD. The maximum distance for two points when you try to connect them using 'Del' in side mode, or when you use "make room" feature. UConn. The maximum distance for two points when you try to connect them with while inserting a macro and when using 'Shift+Del' in side mode. clickangle The angle of the clicking beam: as you increase it, it will be easier to hit something; if you decrease it, you have a better chance to hit one of two things near together. (Note: be careful...this is the cosine of the angle from your mouse point). thingsize Size of the symbol for the things in the edit window. door bend How much the middle of the "X" representing a wall (door) is bent away from the side it occupies. xpos Current position on X-axis ypos Current position on Y-axis zpos Current position on Z-axis map angle With "Drawing->Lines" turned off, this value controls the number of lines that are actually drawn. All lines between two sides are drawn when the angle between the two sides is larger than this angle. This is the cosine of the angle. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part [C]. Selecting and Tagging DEVIL uses colors to illustrate the current cube, side, point, wall, and/or thing that is selected, as well as the cubes, sides, etc., that are tagged. In DEVIL, and object can be the "current" object (of which there can only be one), and can be one of several "tagged" (selected) objects. The current cube, wall, or thing is displayed in green. The current point is shown by a 3-dimensional red "X". The current side is shown as a 4-sided polygon (typically a square) with one side yellow, one side purple, and two red sides. The yellow line indicates the "top" of the side (as far as textures are concerned) and the purple side indicates the "left" of the side (as seen while standing within the current cube). Choosing the current cube can be done in several ways: - Using the mouse, click the right mouse button (2) on a corner of the desired cube. - Press 'c' to set the next cube (in numerical order) as the current cube. (or choose "Next Cube" from the pulldown) - Press 'C' ('[S]+c') to set the previous cube (in numerical order) as the current cube. (or choose "Previous Cube" from the pulldown) - Press '[C]+c' and type in the number of the cube you wish to make current. (or choose "Choose Cube" from the pulldown) Once the current cube has been chosen, the desired cube side can be made the current side in several ways: - Press 's' to set the next cube side (in numerical order) as the current cube side. - Press 'S' ('[S]+s') to set the previous cube side (in numerical order) as the current cube side. With the current side chosen, the desired point can be made the current in several ways: - Press 'p' to set the next point (in numerical order) as the current point on the current side. - Press 'P' ('[S]+p') to set the previous point (in numerical order) as the current point on the current side. A handy feature exists to make current a cube that is next to your current cube. With one side selected as current, pressing the '0' (zero) key will make the cube that is adjacent to the current cube via the current side the new current cube. Choosing the current wall can be done in several ways: - Using the mouse, click the right mouse button (2) on the 'X' that denotes the side of the wall you are interested in while holding down the [C] (control) key. - Press 'w' to set the next wall (in numerical order) as the current wall. - Press 'W' ('[S]+w') to set the previous wall (in numerical order) as the current wall. Choosing the current thing can be done in several ways: - Using the mouse, click the lef mouse button (1) on the thing you are interested in while holding down the [C] (control) key. - Press 't' to set the next thing (in numerical order) as the current thing. - Press 'T' ('[S]+t') to set the previous thing (in numerical order) as the current thing. An object that is tagged is shown in blue. (Note that it may be difficult to determine if a current object is also tagged because only one color can be used at a time!) For many of the operations in DEVIL, only those objects that are tagged will be affected by the chosen operation. The type of object tagged is the same as the current mode. Thus, only cubes can be tagged while in cube mode, and so on. There are many ways to tag objects, and some (as many as I've figured out how to use) are listed here: - The current object is tagged/untagged by pressing the spacebar. - '[S]+space' either untags all currently tagged objects, or tags all items of the specified type if none are tagged. - A 3-D "tag box" can be activated with 'B'. A red 3D box will appear in the level and there is another move mode for changing the position and size of this box. Pressing 'b' will then tag all objects within the red box. This method is not very useful (even Achim agrees), mainly because it's difficult to tell what is inside the box. - A similar 2-D tag box is available by clicking with the left mouse button while holding down the shift key. A 2D box can then be drawn. All objects within this 2D box (extending forward and backward to infinity) will be tagged. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part [D]. Object Location and Orientation If you want to move something else instead yourself you have to switch the NUMLOCK OFF (or click on the button below the arrows). Or, click on the "Move/Modify" button until the setting is "Modify". This allows you to move/rotate objects instead of yourself. You can only modify tagged objects. Therefore, you need to determine what you are going to modify ahead of time, and tag all those objects you are going to alter. The objects moved/ modified also depend on the current mode. NOTE: Normal objects are moved relative to your point of view but things with orientation (starts, robots, and the reactor) are steered (just like you would fly them). --[D1]------ Cubes With the desired cube(s) tagged while in cube mode, the following modifications apply (mouse clicks are described): Arrow Icon Left Button (1) Right Button (2) ---------------- -------------------- ------------------ Up Nothing. Slide tagged cubes UP (with respect to current view). Down Nothing. Slide tagged cubes DOWN (with respect to current view). Left Rotates (banks) tagged Slide tagged cubes cubes with respect to LEFT (with respect the current side. to current view) Right Rotates (banks) tagged Slide tagged cubes cubes with respect to RIGHT (with respect the current side. to current view). Up/Right Rotates (banks) tagged Slide tagged cubes cubes with respect to AWAY (with respect the current side. to current view) Down/Left Rotates (banks) tagged Slide tagged cubes cubes with respect to NEARER (with respect the current side. to current view) When modifying cubes, the tagged cubes are moved/rotated as a single unit. THE CURRENT CUBE IS ALSO CONSIDERED TO BE TAGGED! When using the keyboard, however, the 1/3 keys rotates the cubes with the current cube. The 4/6 keys do not include the current cube in the rotation (unless, of course, it is also tagged). --[D2]------ Sides With the desired cube side(s) tagged while in side mode, the following modifications apply (mouse clicks described): Arrow Icon Left Button (1) Right Button (2) ---------------- -------------------- ------------------ Up Nothing. Slide tagged sides UP (with respect to current view). Down Nothing. Slide tagged sides DOWN (with respect to current view). Left Nothing. Slide tagged sides LEFT (with respect to current view) Right Nothing. Slide tagged sides RIGHT (with respect to current view). Up/Right Nothing. Slide tagged sides AWAY (with respect to current view) Down/Left Nothing. Slide tagged sides NEARER (with respect to current view) When modifying sides, ONLY tagged sides are affected. --[D3]------ Walls Wall location/orientation cannot be altered. --[D4]------ Points With the desired point(s) tagged while in side mode, the following modifications apply (mouse clicks described): Arrow Icon Left Button (1) Right Button (2) ---------------- -------------------- ------------------ Up Nothing. Slide tagged points UP (with respect to current view). Down Nothing. Slide tagged points DOWN (with respect to current view). Left Nothing. Slide tagged points LEFT (with respect to current view) Right Nothing. Slide tagged points RIGHT (with respect to current view). Up/Right Nothing. Slide tagged points AWAY (with respect to current view) Down/Left Nothing. Slide tagged points NEARER (with respect to current view) When modifying points, ONLY tagged points are affected. --[D5]------ Things Things are represented by a special symbol in the viewing window that indicates it's orientation. In addition, different things have different symbols. Things like the start points, and the reactor are displayed like a folded piece of paper that forms sort of a 3-D triangle. The "fold" is the "up" direction, and the thin point is the "front" of the thing. (Try it out, you'll see what I'm talking about). Things are moved just like changing your own orientation. In other words, things are modified with respect to their own orientation. See "Moving and Looking Around" for the appropriate mouse commands and keystrokes. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part [E]. Macros - Intro Macros are the basis for creating new levels. In simple words, a macro is a collection of cubes, sides, walls, and points that are grouped together so they can be inserted and/or modified as a single unit. Macros are grouped into one of 5 categories to help you find the right one you're looking for. The categories, with the default macros (the ones that came with DEVIL) are as follows: - Others - Single Cubes CUBE1.RMC (StandardCube) - Corridors LONGCORR.RMC (LongCorridor) - Intersections - Rooms BIGBALL.RMC (BigBall) DOME.RMC (Dome from Level 7) When a macro is created, one of the sides was the current side. When you insert a macro (i.e. when you add cubes and such to your level), the macro is inserted into your level with your current side occupying the same space as what was the current side of the macro. (The orientation and alignment of the macro will be discussed in "Macros - Part 2") The following steps will illustrate how macros are chosen and used to add cubes to a level: * Select the existing cube to which you want to add more cubes. * Select a side on the cube that is not attached to anything. This is where the new cubes will be added. * From the Macros pulldown, select "Choose Macro", or simply type "m". This will display the list of macro groups on the right-hand side of the screen. * Using the arrow keys or the mouse, select the "Corridors" group with the enter key or the mouse button. Then, select the "Long Corridor" macro (LONGCORR.RMC). * While in cube mode, and with the desired side set as current, press 'Insert'. This inserts the new cubes from the macro and aligns the current side with what was the current side within the macro. At this point, the new cubes are added, but the the new cubes are not connected with the original cube. The cubes can be connected by either deleting the side that is common between the cubes, or by pressing '[S]+Insert' instead of simply 'Insert'. This has the added affect of deleting the connecting side for you. ("Macros - Part 2" explains why you might not want it to connect them for you right away) * Note that the new cubes are tagged automatically. This allows you to delete all the inserted cubes easily if you made a mistake. When you are satisfied with the new cubes, press '[S]+space' to untag the cubes. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part [F]. Adding/Deleting Objects --[F1]------ Cubes See "Macros - Intro" and "Macros - Part 2" for insertion instructions. To delete cube(s), simply go into cube mode, tag all cubes you wish to delete, and press the Delete key. If two cubes are connected, and one of the cubes is deleted, the "open" side of the remaining cube is automatically "filled in" with the rock001 texture. In cube mode, the following pulldown menus have special meaning: 'edit->insert': Insert the current macro on the current side. The macro is inserted in a way that the point which was the current point when creating this macro lays on the current point. After inserting the macro all objects of the macro are tagged. 'edit->insert special': Insert the current macro like in 'edit->insert' but also connect the side from the macro with the side of the level. The shape of the side of the macro is changed if they don't fit together and if DEVIL can find the points belonging together. 'edit->delete': Delete all tagged cubes. On the sides where they have neighbour cubes is a standard-side inserted. If there's a wall in the cube, the cube is not deleted. 'edit->enlarge': Make the current cube bigger. The center of the cube is calculated and then the distance of all points to this center is multiplied with the zoom factor (ZoomS. in 'internal'-menu). 'edit->shrink': Make the current cube smaller. Same as enlarge but with dividing instead of multiplying. 'macros->insert scaled': Insert the current macro like in 'edit->insert', but scale it with a given factor. 'macros->insert fast,scaled': Insert the current macro like in 'edit->fast insert', but scale it with a given factor. --[F2]------ Sides A given side can only be added or deleted if it is shared by two adjoining cubes. Deleting a side effectively connects the two cubes (thus allowing you to fly from one to the other), while inserting a side divides the cubes into two "rooms". To insert a side, simply press 'Insert' with the current side set to the location where the side is to be added, while in side mode. To delete a side, tag the desired side while in side mode with one of the two cubes selected as current. Then, set the other cube to current, and set the same side you just tagged as current. Press '[S]+Delete'. A quick way to join many cubes into a single room by deleting all adjoining sides is to tag all desired cubes, and then press F3 (or select "Make Room" from the "Edit" pulldown) to create a single "room" out of the tagged cubes. In side mode, the following pulldown menus have special meaning: 'edit->insert special': If the current side is a connection between two cubes, you insert a side in both sides of the cubes, therefore you kill the connection. You don't double the points this way, so if you move the point belonging to one of the both cubes you still also change the other cube (you can avoid this with 'fast insert' or with inserting points). You can't do this with sides with walls. 'edit->insert': Like 'insert special' but the cubes are seperated completely, so you can move one of the cubes independent from the other one. 'edit->delete': Delete all tagged sides&the current side, therefore make connections between the side which is tagged and an opposite side which DEVIL tries to find. If DEVIL doesn't find this side, try to make the connection more obvious (the distance between the points smaller, the maximum distance is ConnD. in the internal menue). 'edit->special delete': Connect the side which is tagged with the current side. DEVIL tries to find the corresponding points. If the connection is ambiguous, try to make the connection more obvious (the distance between the points smaller, the maximum distance is UConn.). 'edit->enlarge': Make the current side bigger. The center of the side is calculated and then the distance of all points to this center is multiplied with the zoom factor (ZoomS.). 'edit->shrink': Make the current side smaller. Same as enlarge but with dividing instead of multiplying. --[F3]------ Walls Walls are inserted into empty sides that connect two cubes. To insert a wall, set the desired side as the current side, and press 'Insert' while in wall mode. (The existing side must have been deleted prior to inserting the wall). To delete a wall, simply tag the walls you wish to be deleted, and, while in wall mode, press 'Delete'. Deleting one side of a wall deletes both sides (i.e. you only have to tag one of the two "X's" that make up the wall). In wall mode, the following pulldown menus have special meaning: 'edit->insert': Insert a standard wall at the current side. 'edit->delete': Delete all tagged walls. --[F4]------ Points As far as I can determine, points cannot be inserted or deleted except by inserting or deleting the cubes that define the points. In point mode, the following pulldown menus have special meaning: 'edit->insert': If you do this with a point which is involved in more than one cube, all sides of the current cube depending on this point are inserted, so you can move this point independent from the other cubes. --[F5]------ Things To insert a thing, set the cube into which you wish the thing to be placed as current, and, while in thing mode, press 'Insert'. To delete a thing, tag the desired thing and, while in thing mode, press 'Delete'. In thing mode, the following pulldown menus have special meaning: 'edit->insert': Insert the standard item. 'edit->delete': Delete all tagged items. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part [G]. Macros - Part 2 A few words should be said about the alignment of cubes when you are inserting with a macro. When you make a macro, DEVIL remembers the side and point that are "current". When you insert a macro, DEVIL takes the current point and side and tries to mend these with the point and the side of the macro. DEVIL will therefore turn the cube in the macro to match the two points and sides. A side effect of this "feature" is that the macro that you inserted may appear rotated 90 or 180 degrees from the position that you think you wanted. To remedy this situation, you can do one of two things: - Use the normal insert feature (i.e. just pressing 'Insert', and not '[S]+Insert') to insert the macro. Then, with all the inserted cubes tagged, use the Modify arrows to rotate the cubes to their desired orientation. You can then manually delete the side between your new and existing cubes. - Simply delete the macro you just inserted (all the cubes of the macro will still be tagged), change the current point to a different corner of the current side, and re-insert the macro. To create a macro, tag all cubes that you wish to become a part of your new macro. Then, set the current point and current side to the location where you would like to define as the attachment side. To make the macro, press 'M', or select "Make Macro" from the "Macros" pulldown. This creates the macro, but DOES NOT SAVE IT. Once you've made your macro, you have two options: Use your macro as you wish by inserting in cube mode, or save your macro for future use. To save your macro, press '[C]+m', or select "Save Macro" from the "Macros" pulldown. You will be prompted for the filename into which the macro will be saved, along with a short text description to help you remember what the macro is. Then, select the macro group under which the macro will be catagorized. When inserting macros, two other features are available: - Insert Scaled allows you to scale your macro up or down to let you insert big or little versions of your saved macro. - Insert Fast, Scaled automatically deletes the connecting side along with allowing you to scale the size of your macro. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part [H]. Object Properties --[H1]------ Cube Properties With a cube selected (or several cubes tagged), there are a variety of properties that can be altered. These properties are listed in the upper right-hand portion of the screen. To alter a property, click on the desired property to see a list of available choices. Some cube properties are: * Cube Type - Normal: A normal cube. - Fuel Center: An energy station ("value" has no further meaning). - Repair Center: doesn't work - Producer: A materialization center produces 3 robots and can be triggered via a switch 3 times. When the cube is changed to producer you'll have to enter the kind of robot(s) this producer shall produce. You can mark more then one type (with [SPACE]) and press [RETURN] when you're done. DESCENT will choose one of the given robot-types when a robot appears. - Reactor: You must set the cube containing the reactor to this type. DEVIL will warn you if you try to save a level with a reactor that is not in a reactor cube. * Cube Lighting: The light in the inner cube. Robots and other things (items, other players, etc.) are affected by this. * Average Point Lighting: The average of the light in the corners of this cube. If you change this value, the light of all corners of this cube is changed to the given values. * Value * Producer Data (for Producers...what type of robots it makes) --[H2]------ Side Properties With a side selected (or several sides tagged), there are a variety of properties that can be altered. These properties are listed in the upper right-hand portion of the screen. To alter a property, click on the desired property to see a list of available choices. Some side properties are: * Textures * Origin for T2: You can turn the second texture around 0, 90, 180, or 270 degrees on the first texture. * Average Point Lighting: The average of the light in the corners of this side. If you change this value, the light of all corners of this side is changed to the given values. Each side has two textures: texture 1 is the 'main' texture, texture 2 overlays the first texture. Texture 2 is used for lights, monitors, doors, signs,... The complete texture (1+2) is shown in the lower right corner. The orientation of the texture is shown by the two blue lines on the current side and on the image of the textures. You can change the orientation of the second texture (e.g. to level monitors). You can also change the orientation of the whole side using 'fit bitmap' (in the pulldown-menu or hotkey 'f'). Texture changing is easy: just switch to side-mode and choose texture 1 or 2. Texture 2 is used for signs, monitors or lights. It will lay on top of texture 1 (and you can change it's alignment on top of texture 1). Some textures (like lava) are special. These are handled automatically by DESCENT (it's a GREAT game). Change some textures and notice that when you change texture 1, texture 2 (the lights) will remain the same. You may want to change the orientation of the second texture: do that with 'change orientation'. --[H3]------ Wall Properties With a wall selected (or several walls), there are a variety of properties that can be altered. These properties are listed in the upper right-hand portion of the screen. To alter a property, click on the desired property to see a list of available choices. A wall may have max. two functions (or none): door and switch. Some wall properties are: * Wall Type - Blow Door: standard jail door - Normal Door - Only Texture: like "floating stars" in energy stations - Only Switch: nothing visible, but triggers something - Shoot Through: but cannot fly through...like windows, grates, ventilators, etc. * Open/Close Behaviour - stay open, laser: once opened, this door stays open - stay open, switch: can only be opened with switches or at the end of the level - open/close w. laser: standard door, closes after a few seconds - open/close w. switch: same as with laser, only with switch * Key Requirements * Switch Behaviour (i.e. what does it "activate") - no switch (default) - alternate/normal exit: when this switch is activated, the computer will attempt to steer the ship to the exit-wall (ends level) If set to "alternate exit", the next level loaded will be the secret level specified in your .MSN file. If set to "normal exit", the next level loaded will be the next level in your .MSN file. - producer/doors: Causes all currently tagged producers/doors to be activated by this switch. - Switches: Displays how many producers/doors are triggered by the switch. Triggered objects are displayed in Red. * Hit Points (for Blow Doors...how hard it is to blow it up. A typical blow door..such as the jail door in Level 1...has 100 hit points) * Animation * Textures The doortype defines the animation sequence. This is only needed for doors. Since it works with side effects (see below) there may be some minor problems (well, I've had some but maybe I'm just a bit clumsy). Concerning switches: when you want to trigger an event (start producing robots or open door(s)), first insert the switch-wall. Then tag all objects you want to trigger (cubes for producers and doors for doors). Then go again to the switch and change the switch to the event. It will show how many objects are affected. If you want to add another object, you have to tag all previous objects as well; if you want to trigger the event with another switch just do the same procedure again ... and again ... and again ... Some properties, such as the Wall Type, affect both sides of the wall. Some properties, such as the Hit Points, must be set for each side of the wall. (For example, you can create a Blow Door that is very easy to destroy from one side, but very difficult from the other). A wall has two sides and so it has two doors and switches (one for each side). Therefore you can trigger different events depending on your flight-direction (remember the first time you entered the Big Boss room in Level 7?). When you want to trigger an event by flying through a corridor from the left to the right, you should set the switch to the left side (see demo level for examples). IMPORTANT: Doors that are opened with switches can't be opened with laserbolts (normaly). So if you got a door of the type 'open/close with switch' it may happen that the player is trapped without the possibility to trigger the switch again. So be sure to make the other side of such a door 'open/close w. laser'. You have to press the [SHIFT] key to prevent the side effect (if you don't, DEVIL will change both sides). The alternate exit-switch is only of use when you're in a level which has an alternate exit (this is e.g. level 10 for secret level 1). When you use it in level 1 it will just end the level and go to level 2. An exit-corridor isn't needed for this kind of exit because DESCENT doesn't steer the ship after passing the alternate exit: the level just ends. --[H4]------ Point Properties With a point selected (or several points), there are a variety of properties that can be altered. These properties are listed in the upper right-hand portion of the screen. To alter a property, click on the desired property to see a list of available choices. Some point properties are: * Position If the grid is switched ON, all points will lay on the grid. If you try to move a point but can't, the moving factor is below the gridsize. * The coordinates of the point on the texture that is present on the current side. (These are the txt-x and txt-y properties, which are typically altered when the Fit Bitmap feature is used to place the shape of the side on the bitmap). * Lighting: The amount of light present at the given point. --[H5]------ Thing Properties With a thing selected (or several things), there are a variety of properties that can be altered. These properties are listed in the upper right-hand portion of the screen. To alter a property, click on the desired property to see a list of available choices. Some thing properties are: * Thing Type - Robot - Item - Start & Co-op Starts - Reactor - Hostage * Robot "Drop" Behaviour - Nothing: robot destroyed -> no item - Default: robot destroyed -> "random item" (depends on type of robot, mostly energy boost and shield) (Which item and how many is probably defined in the .POF files). - Robot: Yes, a destroyed robot can drop more robots..and it can drop many of them! - Item: You can customize what a robot drops, and how many items it drops. * Robot Beahviour (Hide, Sit Still, etc.) * Player Number (to which player does the thing pertain) An Item consists of an effect and a graphic which may differ. So you can make an energy boost and disguise it as mega-missile. The default for an energy boost is, of course, energy boost. When you choose 'drop item' you can select the item out of a list. The drop number is the number of this thing the robot drops when destroyed. It may vary between 0 and 127. (DESCENT will become a bit slow when 127 items are on screen). Ever destroyed a class 1 drone and recieved 127 mega-missiles? :) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part [I]. Special Things --[I1]------ Reactor The reactor is your goal. When you destroy it, you have 50 seconds to leave the level through the defined exit(s), or you parish along with everything else. In Descent, there are two ways (that I have figured out) that the reactor can be defined. * The most common type of reactor is simply the Reactor thing, which looks a bit like the old MCP in the movie "Tron". Such a reactor is inserted as any other thing, but has the additional requirement of needing to be placed within a cube that is defined as a reactor cube. (Apart from all the techie stuff within the game that defines this need, it allows the reactor cube(s) to be seen in red on your Automap). * As learned through Level 7, a "Big Boss 1" robot can take on the characteristics of a reactor. (That is, when you destroy a Big Boss 1 robot, the destruction countdown starts and all specially marked exit doors will open). I have tried to find out if the same rule applies to "Big Boss 2", but I have never survived long enough to kill one! :-) --[I2]------ Exit Defining the exit and exit door(s) is a little bit more complicated than other things in DEVIL. * First, there are exit doors. These are walls that are defined with the "open at end" attribute. These doors will not open until after the reactor has been destroyed. * Second, there are the exit switches. When you pass through these switches, the computer takes control of your ship and steers it through the last corridor until the real exit is reached (see next bullet). These switches can be defined to activate the normal exit (which takes you to the next level in the mission), or the alternate exit (which takes you to one of the "secret" levels). * Third, one side in the level must be defined as the exit side. The exit side is defined as a side that is not adjacent to any other cube, and is typically placed at the end of a long corridor that connects one of the exit doors with the exit side. Thus, a typical exit consists of 'stay open, switch', 'open at end', and the switch 'normal exit'. The exit-side is the only side that is a wall (not quite right but it should do). Therefore you should bend the corridor so that the exit wall can't be seen from the beginning of the exit-corridor (because of HOM-effects). I've not done so because it's only a stylistic fault and won't do any harm. The exit wall has no texture and should therefore be invisible from the point of the door (DESCENT won't crash but it looks better). This can be made by curves in the exit-corridor or by just setting the light level very low. IMPORTANT: DESCENT seems to need an exit (we aren't 100% sure). When you load a level without exit it will crash sometimes/sometimes not, depending of the time, your age and the current moon-phase. This freaked us a lot but we thinks we have sorted it out by now. The exit-corridor should also have a certain minimal length (try around 10 cubes at least) and it shouldn't have sharp corners (no 90° turns). --[I3]------ Light There are two different kinds of light: cube-light and point-light. Point light is only available on sides, NOT on walls, and it can be edited in the following modes: * Point-mode: change the light level of the corner of the current side * Side-mode : change the light level of all 4 corners * Cube-mode : change the light level of all corners in the cube Now we have a problem. Imagine a cube with 6 adjacent cubes (on each side of the cube). Such a cube has only walls and no sides and there- fore no light level. But 'lo! Parallax has made something called 'cube light'. This sets the light level in the cube. It is only available in cube-mode. So it is possible to make a big, dark room (point-light set to 0) with a floating reactor in the middle in bright light. Looks GREAT! The light value is entered as a percentage of the maximum amount (100%). The menu option "Edit->Light Shading" can be used to make a corridor with a very light start cube and a pitch-dark end cube. Just tag cubes so they're forming a corridor, then set the light of the start side which is the side in the startcube opposite of the next tagged cube and the light of the endside. Then use 'Edit->Light shading'. DEVIL will then shade each corner seperately from start to end side. The inner cube light is also shaded. The following algorithm is used to set the lights: (0) 'current side'=start side, 'light'=start light, 'light add' =difference between start and end light divided through the number of cubes. (1) set the light on the 'current side' in each corner to the corresponding 'light'. (2) add 'light add' to 'light'. Set the inner cube light to the average of all eight corners. (3) set light at the opposite side of the 'current side' to 'light'. (4) search side with next cube. 'current side' is the side of the next cube which corresponds to the found side. (5) if this is not the end cube jump to (1). --[I4]------ Bitmap Manipulation * Fit bitmap. ('Edit->Fit bitmap') With this function you can move the textures on the sides. Just move/turn around with the normal move/turn keys/buttons (incr.&decr. of rotation angle&moving factor work also). In 'Move'-mode you will move the shape, in 'Modify'-mode you can stretch and turn the shape. The following keys have special functions: - 'g': Recalculate the shape of the side. - 'G': Fit the bitmap on the side. The bitmap will be stretched so it fits on the side. Useful if you want to make large doors/signs. - 'f': Leave fit bitmap-mode and save changes. - 'F': Leave fit bitmap-mode and store changes to all tagged sides. - 'Esc': Leave fit bitmap-mode and discard changes. * Align bitmaps. ('Edit->Align bitmaps') This feature you can use to align bitmaps so all bitmaps fit together. To do this, tag all sides you want to align, and then go with the current side on one of these sides. Then make 'Edit->Align Bitmaps'. DEVIL will take the current side and align all tagged sides in the neighbour cubes (but only one per cube) which have a line with the current side common and untag them. Then it goes on with the aligned sides and repeats this as often as there are tagged sides in the neighbour cubes with common lines. * Recalculate textures. ('Edit->Recalculate Textures') Just recalculates the shape of the side in texture-space. This you need only if you've locked several sides and now want to recalculate their shape in texture-space. Normally this is done automatically by DEVIL. --[I5]------ "Direct" Editing This is for pro's only. You can choose this mode via the pulldown menus (Drawing -> Data). Then the hex-code of the current object is displayed on the right of the screen. You may edit them directly by mouse-clicking on the hex-code and entering new values. [PAGE UP] and [PAGE DOWN] scrolls up and down. The coloured numbers are known, the black ones ain't (they're set to zilch by DEVIL). So if you know what a certain address stands for, e-mail us. We will ask Parallax about the unknown bytes but I think if there are many people asking, things will go faster for us ;-) We've just seen that Parallax has published the Specs so don't bother them just now, read the Specs first and ask afterwards. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part [J]. Samples --[J1]------ The Tutorial Levels DEVIL comes with three "tutorial" levels (TUT1, TUT2, and TUT3) that illustrate the development of a level through several steps, with level TUT3 being the final product. TUT1 doesn't contain much that is interesting. The level consists of two corridors that form a "T". The exit-side is defined at the top of the upward sweeping corridor, and the start point is defined at the left-most cube of the horizontal corridor (as you are oriented when you first enter DEVIL). Note that the icon representing your starting position shows that when you start the level, you will be facing the left wall, not down the main corridor! TUT2 adds two doors (walls). The door at the end of the horizontal corridor will be defined with red-key access, and will hide the reactor behind it. The door blocking the vertical corridor will be defined as an "open at end" door, and will give you access to the exit after the reactor has been destroyed. This door will also be defined as the "normal exit" switch. TUT3 is the final product, with the exit door fully defined, the reactor placed a reactor cube, and a red key placed in the middle of the horizontal corridor. Note also that the icon representing the reactor has it positioned up-side down! --[J2]------ The Demo Level I'll just describe what you see when you fly through this level. First, there is a two-sided (means two different events, depending on your direction) switch for the producers. Then there is an energy-station (note: try to achieve a high 'wall-density' in energy-stations because when you turn you see that the flecks in the air are just 2D). Next, another two-sided switch for two secret doors. The door to the left is 'open/close w. switch' (means: it will close after some time), the other is 'not normally opened' and will stay open when opened once via switch. First type is great for secret doors with goodies behind, second is for traps with robots (remember Level 6?). Then you'll pass a door and enter a BIG BALL (my first real macro :). This room may be a bit slow on some machines (mine for example). There will be another enemy and the reactor. Notice the mind-wheeling effect corridor <-> ball? ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part [K]. Hints and Tips Here are just some tips what you should try (or not try): - don't make the exit-corridor too short/straight (see "Exit") - insert the reactor in standard cubes so that they won't float (or steer them to the floor in a bigger room) - default texture for doors is rock001; you don't see it a lot but change the texture to match adjacent textures - ceiling (lights) and floor (tiles) should remain the same through the whole level - monitors and signs should be orientated in the same way - Make a lot of macros. Building rooms, corridors, etc., can be easy but time consuming. Build up a stock of macros, then piece them together to create your level(s). - Make sure nothing is "out of bounds" (outside the cubes) - Keep your brains with you...don't put a red key behind a red door, for example. - when you make a macro for public use, try to end it with a standard cube (reference point and side) - thank PARALLAX every day - be happy :)