148 lines
6.5 KiB
Text
148 lines
6.5 KiB
Text
Marine's Best Friend
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Frequently Asked Questions
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Q: Why don't the friendly dogs retaliate when I shoot them?
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A1. The dog is a close-attack monster (no missiles), and therefore to attack,
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it would need to stop whatever it was doing and return to the player, and
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it might not be able to reach the player before being attacked again by
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another enemy, which is its prime concern. Even if it could reach the
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player, it would only bite the player once, since friendly monsters don't
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turn around and become enemies simply because they are hit once -- they
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instead use tit-for-tat, returning friendly fire once, for each time they
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are hit.
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A2. This is normal behavior for real dogs, according to one dog expert.
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Q: Why do dogs readily go up steep or narrow stairs, but then sometimes won't
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come back down?
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A: According to a canine behavioural expert, this is consistent with the
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typical behaviour of real dogs.
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Q: Why don't I see any new levels with -beta?
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A: You must add -file betalevl to your command-line, to load the levels. The
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levels in betalevl.wad are E1M2, E2M5, and E3M2, exactly as in the Press
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Release Version of Doom. If you only use -beta, you will be enabling the
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beta's features, but without the levels.
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Q: I get errors when I try to load betalevl.wad
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A: betalevl.wad requires Registered Doom I (or Ultimate Doom) as the iwad.
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However, the -beta command-line option, which enables the graphics and
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game changes, does not require Doom I to be used, and it can emulate beta
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features under Doom II.
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Q: When using -beta, why is there no teleporter fog? Or, why does player
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invisibility look like invulnerability? Why are there no palette changes
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when the radsuit is used, and why doesn't it wear off with time?
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A: These behaviors are all consistent with the Press Release version of Doom,
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alternatively called the "beta". See:
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ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/doom/historic/
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Q: Why is -beta a command-line option, and why must demos recorded with -beta
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be played back with -beta?
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A: The betagrph.wad file must be loaded, and several internal data structures
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must be modified, prior to game startup. Allowing -beta to be turned on and
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off during the game would introduce a lot of complications.
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Q: Why is there a separate option for the Classic BFG, but not for all of the
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other -beta features?
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A1. Not enough popular demand, given the complexity. Making individual beta
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features optionable would require storing each one's selection status in
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demos, savegames, etc., and it would require work to add them to the menus.
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Probably only the Classic BFG is in enough demand to make a separate option
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for it.
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A2. The features such as the beta plasma rifle and the beta lost souls, or
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the green nightvision goggles, require a lot of wad data to be loaded,
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which -beta does by loading the betagrph.wad file. The Classic BFG only
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requires two extra fireball sprites, which do not take a lot of memory,
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and thus can be unconditionally tucked away inside the .exe.
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Q: But doesn't the plasma rifle simply need to shoot the alternating fireballs
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instead of blue plasma, making it no more difficult than the BFG?
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A: Actually, no. The plasma rifle sprites in Doom have some blue plasma
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superimposed around the mouth of the plasma rifle. To remove this blue
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plasma, new weapon sprites are needed. New weapon sprites are NOT needed
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for the BFG, however.
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Q: Why can't the Unholy Cathedral beta level (E2M5 in betalevl.wad) be
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finished, and why are some areas inaccessible?
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A: This is consistent with the original Press Release version's levels.
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Wad errors were intentionally not fixed.
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Q: But there are some slime trails and HOM in the original levels, which don't
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show up in betalevl.wad!!!
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A: Blatant rendering errors like HOM and slime trails were fixed. Even if they
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weren't fixed, the slime trails would be hard to reproduce exactly because
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they are inherently nondeterministic.
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The criteria used when making changes were:
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Rendering errors (e.g. HOM, slime trails): Fixed.
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Aesthetic errors (e.g. wall texture choices, texture alignment): Not Fixed.
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Level design errors (e.g. inaccessible areas of map): Not Fixed.
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Q: Why does the beta chaingun lower when I fire it in fullscreen mode?
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A: This is to workaround a problem with the Press Release version's chaingun
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sprites. The sprites were pre-clipped with respect to the status bar, and
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the status bar was always turned on in the Press Release version. With
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the status bar turned on, the -beta chaingun looks like the original. In
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fullscreen mode, however, it must be lowered while it is being fired, or
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else parts of the chaingun will not be updated, and it will look funny.
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Q: Why is the music quality so bad?
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A1: You might have a file named default.cfg in the same directory as MBF.EXE.
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Allegro considers this a music configuration file. Refer to Allegro docs.
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A2: MBF music on AdLib cards is not the same as Doom, because the FM instrument
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definitions are different. You may be able to import .IBK files into
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Allegro to improve the music's quality. See the Allegro docs. Also see
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snddrvr.txt for other alternatives.
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Q: Where do the dogs come from? I don't see any wads!!!
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A: Dog sprites & sounds, like many other things, are embedded inside the .exe.
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However, you can modify them with wads. See mbfedit.txt for details.
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Lee Killough Last Updated 12/22/98
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