Cobra Utilities for Doom & Doom II

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- DOOM MASTER version 2.00 (c) 1994, Simply Silly Software documentation Doom Master 2.00 documentation (c) 1994, Simply Silly Software WHAT IS DOOM MASTER? ──────────────────── A Long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away... EVIL DEAMONS TOOK OVER A MOONBASE AND TRANSPORTED IT TO HELL! AND IT'S YOUR JOB TO GET IT BACK. And Doom/Master (called DM cause we are too lazy to write it out everytime) is there to help you. DM is an add-on program for use with ID Software's Incredible DOOM 1.2 (shareware or registered version) that is meant to replace SETUP.EXE, (the rather tame game launcher/menu system supplied by ID.) Originally, DM 1.0 was created for use by a few friends of mine, but then, after searching for a better substitute, we decided we have the best, and wanted to share it with you. Currently, DM 2.0 is far from just a simple program shell. It is a powerful replacement for not only SETUP.EXE, but also the DOOM serial driver SERSETUP.EXE! Remember something, this program is what it is today because of the people, just like you who offered suggestions, hints, hate-mail, etc and we hope you will. And don't worry, this is not the last revision of DM, or DMSERDRV. In fact, we have several new ideas planned for the next week or two, so stay tuned. Enjoy.... Joseph M. Wilcox Simply Silly Software WHAT'S NEW TO DOOM/MASTER ───────────────────────── Doom/Master 2.0 is a complete upgrade from DM 1.0! We have made the following improvements/corrections... ■ Ok, ok.. people quit yell at me about the rewriting of MODEM.CFG! It's fixed. ■ DM 2.0 can now configure the following from right inside the shell.. - All serial parameters - All network parameter - All DOOM parameters except keyboard, Joystick, mouse control. (including Soundcard, Serial Driver, chat macro's, etc) ■ Terminal mode rewritten to use only the standard communication parameters DMSERDRV and SERSETUP (ie: no compress/protocol). Doom Master 2.00 documentation (c) 1994, Simply Silly Software WHAT'S NEW TO DOOM/MASTER cont. ─────────────────────────────── ■ Terminal mode also fixed so it will work with strange UART port and IRQ settings. ■ BIG Bug in Network mode fixed. ■ DM 2.0 was re-designed to be compatible with aftermarket serial drivers other than SERSETUP and DMSERDRV. ■ And of course.... FULL CDROM audio support has been added. DOOM/MASTER IS SHAREWARE? ───────────────────────── That's right, DM is not free, it shareware. But, what is shareware... it's where you get to try out great new software before you buy it. Did you ever go in to an Electronic Boutique or WaldenSoftware and buy a game with a great cover and awesome screen shots for $60.00 bucks, only to get home and see it's junk? That's RETAIL... Shareware is where you go out, and download a cool game or utility, and try it out. If you don't like it, your out a buck for the phone call. But if you do like, you are expected to register it. I mean come on. DM is almost free. We believe that software, does not have to be expensive to be good. Many man hours went in to creating DM, DMSERDRV and DMQKCFG, so please help support our cause. See the next section on Registration for more information (hey I rhymed.) REGISTRATION INFORMATION! ───────────────────────── As we said above, DM is shareware. You are granted a 10 day trail period. If, after 10 days you think we wrote a piece of junk, delete it. But it you find yourself using it, (and you will, it's more addicting then JOLT cola) then you must register it. But we made it easy for you. All you need to do is print out the file REGISTER.ME, fill it out, write out a check, and send them to us here at Simply Silly Software. We even made it cheap. Doom/Master 2.0 cost only $5.00 -- Less than the price of a movie ticket -- Slightly more than the price of a cheeseburger at Burger King -- and you get the best shell around. page 1 Doom Master 2.00 documentation (c) 1994, Simply Silly Software Now it is time to get technical. Doom/Master, DMSERDRV, DMQKCFG, and Simply Software have NO CONNECTION WHAT SO EVER WITH ID SOFTWARE! DOOM is a trademark of ID Software. DOOM, and Doom/Master are 2 separate pieces of software. What does this mean.. well, it means you must register both DOOM and Doom/Master separately. To register DOOM, please contact ID Software. WARRANTEE INFORMATION ───────────────────── Face it, there is none, neither expressed nor implied. This software is offered as is. We have gone to great lengths to test it, and can not be held responsible for damages, injuries, loss of employment or divorce, (due to the addicting nature of DOOM). We are sorry to have to bring up such depressing news, but hey, we have to cover our butts. INSTALLING AND RUNNING DOOM/MASTER 2.0 ────────────────────────────────────── To install Doom/Master, either UNZIP DM200.ZIP in to your DOOM subdirectory (the directory where your DOOM files are located) or copy all of the files there. Overwrite anything that you are prompted for (by either PKUNZIP or DOS). All of the files in this archive are the latest version. That's it. Now instead of executing SETUP.EXE (or MODOOM, or whatever) from dos, simply type "DM" and that's it. You will now be using the best shell around. A note to power users. If you type "DM /q" the opening message will be skipping (and you won't have to press a key.) DM'S MAIN MENU ────────────── Once you have loaded DM, and pressed a key at the opening screen, you will be at the DM Main Menu. It is the most important menu in the program because it takes you everywhere. The main menu is divided in to 2 sections, Menu and Options. In the "Menu" you can select different modules of DM to use, or play DOOM. In the "Options" section, you configure the game you are about to play. page 2 Doom Master 2.00 documentation (c) 1994, Simply Silly Software DM'S MAIN MENU cont. ──────────────────── It's a good time to talk about Point-and-Click. DM was designed to be used with a mouse. But, if you insist on using keyboard, there are some things to know. <TAB> and <SHIFT-TAB> will scroll through your menu choices, and <ESC> will usually abort the current window. For the rest of this documentation, we will, for the most part, use only Point- and-Click. To select a menu item, or change an option, simply move the mouse pointer over it, and click the left button. It's that simple. MENU: The menu section, is like your gateway to DM. It's from here you will access most of the functions of DM, as well as play DOOM. There are 8 menu items that you can choose from. Let's look at them in detail. "Just play Doom" : If you select this menu item, you will be launched in to a single player game of DOOM. All of the options set over in the "Options" section will still pertain to the game you will play. "Dial & play via modem" : If you want to play a 2 players game over the modem, and you want to call your friend, you would select this item. When you do, you will be transferred to the DM phone directory where you can place your call. "Answer and play via modem" : You would select this item if your friend was going to call you. When selected, DM will wait for the incoming call and answer it. "Play via null-modem or if already connected" : Boy, what a big title... This option was removed from version 1.00! It seems that for some reason, SERSETUP will NOT accept the from DM 1.0! But, since we do not expect you to ever use SERSETUP again, we have re-enabled it. If you have connected in DM- Terminal, then you would want to select this item to play. "Play via network" : No you network users, we have not forgotten about you. Select this item for network play. "Enter Terminal Mode" : When you select this option, you will be transferred in to a Dumb Terminal. Here you can connect, and chat via modem before playing. "Configure Doom" : In version 1.00, this was 1 meager screen, with like 4 options... boy have we expanded it. This item now allows you to configure everything SETUP.EXE will allow you to configure, except for the Keyboard, Joystick and Mouse controls. page 3 Doom Master 2.00 documentation (c) 1994, Simply Silly Software DM'S MAIN MENU continued yet again! ──────────────────────────────────── "CDROM Control Panel" : My baby.... this option was added by me, for ME! See, when I play DOOM, I prefer nice digital CD sound for my soundtrack instead of the cheezey Midi or whatever. So, now CDROM owners can play great soundtracks while playing DOOM (yet another good reason to buy a CDROM). If you press <ALT-X> from the main menu, you will exit back to dos (so will <ESC>). Now, on the right side of the screen, are the DOOM play options. It's here where you control your game. You can select Skill, Episode, Map, etc, etc. Let's get a full rundown... "Skill" : These options select what skill level you are going to play at. We have fixed the ID bug where you would actually play the Skill level 1 lower than the one you select (yes, true NIGHTMARE level). "Episode" : Which episode do you wish to start at. Note to shareware users, you can select Shores of Hell, or Inferno, but it will not play them. If you want those episodes, register DOOM. "Level" : Yes, you can select what level to start at, including the 3 secret levels (level 9 for each episode). "Load Savegame" : Duh... think about it. "No Monsters" : This is a cool switch to turn off the monsters. It's really comes in handy in deathmatch. "Respawn" : With version 1.2, ID introduced Respawning. This feature resurrects all killed deamons after a given waiting period. Normally, it is only turned on during Nightmare, but you can turn it on (or off) in any level. "Deathmatch" : Come on, this is the real reason we all bought DOOM 1.2 to begin with. Turn this on, and you and your friend go Head to Head. An interesting side note, if you turn it on in a 1 player game, you start at the alternate startup location. Try it for a kick sometime. Now, noticed I mentioned nothing about the 3 random switches. If you turn these on, their respected options will be randomized when you launch DOOM. If you are playing DOOM via modem, then the person who answers the phone usually will control where you go, but just for safety sake, both people should turn the same random's on. <Call DOOM about network users here> page 4 Doom Master 2.00 documentation (c) 1994, Simply Silly Software DM'S MAIN MENU continued (and is getting too damn long) ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────── The last important feature is of the Options side, is <F2>! Press the F2 key will cause all of the options (including Modem and Doom Configuration) to be written to disk. This way, you do not have to keep resetting it each and every time. DIAL & PLAY VIA MODEM ───────────────────── In the main menu, 3 of the items, "Answer & play via modem", "Play via null-modem or if already connected" and "Play via network" are simple to use. Only "Play via network" prompts you for anything, and then it's only for # of players. But the rest of the items are more in depth. So we will start with Dial and Play. When you click on "Dial and play via modem" from the main menu, you will be transferred to the DM Dialing Directory. This is your phone book. Use the cursor keys, or click on the # you wish to dial. If you need to add a player, press <ALT-A>. If you want to revise someone already in the phonebook, press <ALT-R>, if you wish to delete a player, press <ALT-D> and if you wish to manually dial a number just once, press <ALT-M>. Each of these hotkeys will bring up a new little window, where you enter the information. That's it. Now, you are one your way to playing DOOM. TERMINAL MODE ───────────── DM is complete with a Dumb Terminal. Here, you can connect, and chat online with the other player. DM-Terminal supports all comports and baud rates supported by SERSETUP, DMSERDRV and DM it'self. If you press the <HOME> key, you will get a listing of command that can be used from the terminal. If you press <ALT-C> the screen will clear. If you press <ALT-E> echo will be toggled on/off. When echo is on, eveything written to the modem is also written to you. Sometimes the modem automatically echoes everything back (like when it's in command mode) and then you get double characters. But usually it does not. Pressing <ALT-L> toggle CR/LF on/off. When on, and you press <ENTER> you move down to the next line. When off, you just move to the beginning of the current line. page 5 Doom Master 2.00 documentation (c) 1994, Simply Silly Software TERMINAL MODE cont. ─────────────────── Press <ALT-H> will drop DTR, and send the modem's Hangup string out to the modem (thus hanging the modem up). Press <ALT-D> will invoke you DM-Dialing Directory (see last section for info on that). Now, the tricky part. If you press <ALT-X> to exit DM- Terminal, the modem will hangup. So, if you want to be able to use the "Already Connect" menu item, you need to "switch" out back to the main menu. You do this by pressing <CTRL-ENTER> (yes, if you press it from the main menu you come back in to DM-Terminal). This allows you to toggle back and forth between modems. CONFIGURE DOOM ────────────── Ok, I hope you have all night. This might take a while. There are 36 separate options in the configuration menu. They are broken down in to 5 separate pages. On the bottom of each page, there are 6 menu boxes. They are "Save Setup", "Don't Save", "Import Setting from MODEM.CFG", "Quick Config", "Next Page", and "Last Page". If you click on the "Save Setup" option, your settings will be written to disk, and you will be returned to the main menu. Conversely, if you click on "Don't Save" you just return to the main menu. If you click on "Import Settings from MODEM.CFG" your MODEM.CFG file will be re-loaded. This is really just left over from version 1.0! But, the "Quick Config" option is quite different. This is the internal version of DMQKCFG.EXE and can be used to configure your modem (more on it later). Ok, here is a listing of the options and what they do... "Init String" : This is the command string that is sent to your modem to get it in to the right communication modem. In this string you MUST turn off Flow Control, Compression and Error-Correction Protocol. "Hangup String" : This command string is sent when you hangup your modem. "Dial String" : The original SERSETUP did not allow for anything but Touch-Tone dialing.. DM and DMSERDRV do. If you need pulse dialing, or need to dial an extension to get an outside line, enter it here. page 6 Doom Master 2.00 documentation (c) 1994, Simply Silly Software CONFIGURE DOOM ────────────── "Com Port" : This is the com port you will use to communicate via modem with. "Baud Rate" : This is the baud rate you are going to connect at. Remember, SERSETUP cannot support baud rates above 9600 (that's why we wrote DMSERDRV.) "Force 8250" : If you are playing DOOM via modem between a very fast machine with a 16550 uart chip, and a slow machine (with or without a 16550), you may want to turn this option on the faster machine. It disables the FIFO (First In/First Out) buffer on the 16550 uart chip. "UART Port" : This is the system port address of for your com port. Most people will want to leave this value at 0 (autodetect) but if you have a strange uart chip or card, you can change it here. "IRQ to Use" : The communication system need an IRQ free in your computer. If you have a soundcard or scsi driver, you know how vital IRQ's are. You can select any irq in the valid range. Again, most user will want to leave this "0" so it autodetects. "Network Socket" : This is for all you network players. You know what it does. "Doom ISR" : Doom uses a system interrupt to communicate with the serial driver. Usually it tries to grab a vector in the range of 60h - 66h. If you are having a interrupt conflict (very rare) then you can use this option to get around it. AGAIN... MOST USER WANT TO LEAVE THIS "0" for autodetect. Next, comes the SoundCard configuration. This screen is quite self-explanitory, with perhaps the exception of "No. of Sound Channels". "No of Sound Channel" is used to tell DOOM how many digital sounds it can mix at once. Most newer soundboard can handle the max (4 channels), but if you are running on a slower machine, lowering the # of channels may speed up your game. Next, comes your chat macros. When in multiplayer modem, you can send messages to the other players. In this screen, you can setup those macros. Last, is the misc. screen (every program has one). Here you setup all of the stuff we either added at the last minute or forgot about when we created the other screens.. The options are page 7 Doom Master 2.00 documentation (c) 1994, Simply Silly Software CONFIGURE DOOM cont. (told you it was long) ─────────────────────────────────────────── "Music Volume" : Allows you to turn the background music volume up and down. Do not enter a value over 15. If you are going to play a CD in the background, then set this to 0. "SFX Volume" : Allows you to turn the Special Effect's volume up and down. Do not enter a value over 15. "Gamma Correction Level" : Some monitors are not as bright as others. If your display is dim, or you are having trouble seeing things, raise this value. It's max is 4. "Serial Extratics Level" : This is really an undocumented command. In fact, I had to call the programmer who wrote the engine to find out what it does. When Extratrics is > 0, DOOM query's the serial driver only a fraction of the time. For example, if you ExtraTics = 2, then DOOM calls the serial driver only 1/2 the time. Why would you want to do this.. well if you are playing a faster machine to a slower machine, then this will help speed things up (at the cost of the nice sharp control DOOM has). Try it out for kicks. "Show Messages" : If this is toggled on, then all messages (like "Extra Clip Added", etc) will be displayed. If off, they wont. One bad part. If it's off, you cannot see what you are trying when you send a message. The last option, is "Serial Driver to use". Type in the name of the serial driver you wish to use to play DOOM with. Now, I know someone will find a serial driver that DM 2.0 does not work with, that's why we took the time to write our own. It is our suggestion, that you just use DMSERDRV! You don't have to, but we suggest it. CDROM CONTROL PANEL ─────────────────── Boy will I take a beating here. Before I even start, let me say this is the first time I have EVER tried to write code to control a CDROM, and it ain't easy. But, what we have works... to a point. Let's talk about what does work.. There are 4 control buttons on this menu. They are... [ <<- ] : Go back 1 track [ >> ] or [ ││ ] : Play or Pause the CD [ ->> ] : Go ahead 1 track [ ██ ] : Stop the disc page 8 Doom Master 2.00 documentation (c) 1994, Simply Silly Software CDROM CONTROL PANEL cont. ───────────────────────── There are 3 other buttons, they are... [Eject] : Open the CDROM drive [Close] : Close the CDROM drive [MAIN MENU] : Return to the main menu. This control panel works just like a CD player at home (almost). To start the disk playing, click on the play button. To stop it, click on the stop button. Now, this is where things go to hell. First, off, you can only "fast forward" and "rewind" if the CD is playing. Second, The track indicator at the bottom does not always display the right # of tracks. I ask you to be patient. I'm working on it as fast as I can. If someone has some nice CDROM audio code I can have, I would be happy to give credit and a free copy of DM to. But hey, it works under OS/2!!!! DMQKCFG ─────── As promised, I will talk about the Doom Modem Quick Config utility (both embedded in DM, and separate as DMQKCFG). This was created to take the hassle out of configuring your modem. We scouted bbs's and online systems and collect 130 different modem init strings, they are reported to work. We then packaged them up and have put it here for you. All you need is your comport and baud rate. If however, you have a modem that is not on the list, please get in contact with us. If you have the init string, we would like to add it to the list. If you, I'm sure we can help you get it configured. SOME TIPS FOR WORKING WITH THE MODEM ──────────────────────────────────── Ok, here are some good ideas, tips, suggestions, fixes, etc that we ran across while creating this package. ■ Do not use a memory manager with DOOM if you are going to play via modem. Memory managers such a QEMM, or EMM386 slow down the DPMI switching process and make DOOM run slower. And Multitasking is out of the question except for the fastest machines equipped with 16550 uarts. page 9 Doom Master 2.00 documentation (c) 1994, Simply Silly Software SOME TIPS FOR WORKING WITH THE MODEM ──────────────────────────────────── ■ Even if you are playing via null-serial, you really never need to go beyond 16.8k! If you do, it's overkill. In fact, in some cases we found DOOM to actually SLOW DOWN when running at high baud rates. This is due to the interrupt routine (which is in what's called REAL MODE) needing to constantly be attended to. If you have a problem with null-modem support, switch to a lower baud rate. ■ Buy a 16550 uart serial port. They are cheap, and really help communications. ■ Make sure Flow Control, compression and error correction protocols are all turned off. ■ If you are playing from a fast machine (like a 486dx2-66) to a slow machine (like a 386-dx40) a faster baud rate will help, but really only with 16550 uarts. Otherwise it can slow you down. Also, try the Setting Extratics to "2." FUN THINGS TO TRY ───────────────── ■ Register this program. ■ Play deathmatch, episode 2, map 8, no monsters.. nothing but rocket launchers... a blast ■ In ID's SETUP.EXE... press F5 then type out "WARP"! ■ Play with the No weapons rule (except chainsaw). Yea, look in his eyes as you loop his head off. ■ If Nightmare is too tough, try Ultra-Violence with respawn turned on. ■ Go out on dates Friday night (then come home later and play DOOM till dawn.) ■ I really suggest if you don't have a CDROM drive, get one (Email me for how to buy Mitisumi FX-0001 Double Speed... 250ms access, 300kb transfer rate for only $159.00 + shipping) and use the CDROM option. Get the sound tracks to movies like Army of Darkness (Great the ASH sounds swapped in) or Bram Stroker's Dracula. page 10 Doom Master 2.00 documentation (c) 1994, Simply Silly Software THINGS ON THE DRAWING BOARD ─────────────────────────── This is not the last release of DM, or DMSERDRV. We are working on the following ideas that may (or may not) occur in later version.... ■ A Item and Monster Randomizer is being added to DMSERDRV the automatically syncs both players wad files (and then returns them to normal after they finish playing). ■ A Full line of editors built right in to DM. ■ The ability to randomly start anywhere within a map. ■ Random level jumping while playing DOOM. ■ And Much MUCH M O R E ! ! ! CONTACTING SIMPLY SILLY SOFTWARE ──────────────────────────────── If you want to drop us a line, report a bug, make a suggestion or just chat, you have several choices. First, you can send snail-mail to SIMPLY SILLY SOFTWARE PO BOX 360 LAKE KATRINE, NY 12449 The second, and best way, is through email. Our EMAIL address is "SILLYSFT@AOL.COM" E-Mail is usually returned within a day, many time within an hour of being sent. And we will always take the time to stop and read your comments. WHAT IS SIMPLY SILLY SOFTWARE ───────────────────────────── Joe Wilcox started Simply Silly Software as a shareware company to distribute utilities and trainers that he wrote. It was meant to be a small, hometown company that was more for fun than anything else. But it's starting to take off. Simply Silly Software has just double in size, when Joe got together with a long time friend and fellow trainer writer Dave (Network) and Network Trainers joined Simply Silly Software in trying to bring the best trainer, and-on and utilities to the computer world. We are still small, only 2 of us, and we like it that way. So you can always expect personal service for Simply Silly Software. page 11 Doom Master 2.00 documentation (c) 1994, Simply Silly Software ABOUT THE AUTHOR ──────────────── Joe Wilcox has an associates degree in computer science, and has since given up that field of study to pursue a theater degree. He is fluent in C, 80x86 assembly, Pascal and basic. It is currently working for Good Advice Press updating the PC version of "The Banker's Secret". THANKS GO OUT TO ──────────────── This program would never of been possible without the great support of the following people... Lou, Andy, Rob [Cisco], Mike D. for help in testing and ideas John and Sean at Id Software Russel Gilbert for the help with the serial code The directors of the Naked Gun series... Bruce Campbell (Ash/Brisco) The geeky guy from SpellCasting 101-301, George Romero (EMail me if you see this please!!!) Dogulas Adams, George Lucas and Wendle Schere for making a profound impact on my life! This program Dedicated to Holly, for putting up with me. page 12