DCK 3.62 - Doomworld /idgames database frontend

Title:	DCK 3.62
Filename:	utils/level_edit/dck362.zip
Size:	583.51 KB
Date:	03/13/97
Author:	Ben Morris
Description:	DCK can edit all five id/Raven games: - Doom: Knee Deep in the Dead - Doom 2: Hell on earth - Heretic - The Ultimate Doom - Hexen: Beyond Heretic DCK will never support Strife.
Credits:
Base:
Build time:
Editor(s) used:
Bugs:
Rating:	(12 votes)

Download mirrors:

/idgames protocol:

idgames://7757

Reviews:

Glaice	My editor series of choice before Doom Builder existed. I used both 2.2f and 3.62.	x
Anonymous	Pure awful, gives me errors on startup but it ounds like the best doom leveleditor out there. 3/5	x
Anonymous	This and 2.2f were my level editors of choice in the mid/late 90s before Doom Builder was around, namely because of line drawing based instead of vertex based drawing.	x
Anonymous	Indeed it was, I used to use it until Doom Builder came along. 5/5 for ease of use.	x
Anonymous	DCK was the best until Doombuilder. 5 stars.	x
Anonymous	DUde thats what DOSbox is for http://dosbox.source forge.net/news.php?s how_news=1	x
Anonymous	INCREDIBLY good, but sadly DOS only :( *****	x

View dck362.txt

-----------------------------------
                                   DCK 3.62
                        Release notes and Readme file
                   e-mail me (Ben Morris) regarding DCK at:
                            dck-help@islandnet.com
                     -----------------------------------

---------------
Introduction
---------------

Don't forget to check out READTHIS.DOC - it contains fairly important
information about DCK and Hexen Editing.

DCK can edit all five id/Raven games:

- Doom: Knee Deep in the Dead
        - Doom 2: Hell on earth
        - Heretic
        - The Ultimate Doom
        - Hexen: Beyond Heretic

DCK will never support Strife.

--------------------------------
Changes since the last release
--------------------------------

06-16-96    Release 3.62

Bugs fixed:

- The item edit line wouldn't let you backspace; fixed.
- Changed the way the line dialog would ask you if you want to add a
  second side: now, if you click the Side button while editing a bunch
  of lines with _no_ second sides, will the dialog ask you.
- HEXEN.GD used "Gold Key" instead of "Castle Key"; fixed.

Features added:

- You can use 'F' to find a new ID for Line_SetIdentification and for
  PolyObject linespecials AND items.

05-28-96    Release 3.61

Bugs Fixed:

- Some of the arguments for Hexen linespecials did not show up; fixed.
- If a tool was run and it changed the directory, DCK screwed up; fixed.
- Putting a for() loop in a Hexen script crashed DCK sometimes. The ACC
  compiler doesn't support for() loops at all, actually, contrary to the
  information I received from Raven. Placing a for() loop in a script
  will now generate an "unrecognised token" error.
- I placed an Earthquake special in SPECIALS.ACS. It is exactly the same
  as Radius_Quake.
- There is no Find+Mark Items feature, contrary to previous versions of
  DCK.HLP.
- The unregistered version of DCK had problems with the Item Filter
  feature; fixed.
- Changing a line to one-sided did not update the screen immediately;
  fixed.
- Some Hexen Items were checked for collision detection with other items
  when they should not have been; fixed.

New Things:

- I have added Consistency Checker features that check for:
    - A Hexen PolyObject Anchor that does not have any matching
      PolyObject StartSpots;
    - A Hexen PolyObject Anchor that has the same PolyID as another
      Anchor.

Other Stuff:

- I stopped making big version changes for small bug fixes -- wow!

05-18-96    Release 3.6

Bugs Fixed:

- I don't quite understand how this happened, but deleting lines did NOT
  decrement the count of valid lines. "What?!" -- that's what I said! I have
  no idea how this bug got in there or why I just noticed it now: after
  deleting the four lines that made up the only room in a new level, moving
  the mouse cursor around highlighted 0-length lines _all over the level_.
  Anyway, it's fixed, but I still don't get it.

05-03-96    Release 3.5

Bugs Fixed:

- DCK used to hang sometimes when the Consistency Checker was searching
  for "Sectors Not Closed." haha .. the reason for this was that DCK
  couldn't handle Sectors in memory that weren't referenced by any
  linedefs (ie: leftover Sector definitions.) Duh; fixed.

Changes:

- You can now enter a number for a linespecial easily (in Doom/Heretic) by
  typing the number and pressing ENTER twice. This didn't work before, but
  it should have :)
- Due to some changes recently, DCK had problems working in very high
  zoom settings. Fixed.
- I've removed the "Auto-Detect video card" selection: it caused more
  problems than it solved.
- The consistency checker kept tellin' everyone that lines had a type, but
  no tag -- fact is, it was WRONG. WRONG. I have fixed its insubordinate
  bee-hind.

04-18-96    Release 3.4

Bugs Fixed:

- Creating a secret door in any game but Hexen set the Door Lines' type
  to -1, which would cause DCK to crash when the lines were edited; fixed.
- Switching to a game that had already been used in the current DCK session
  told you that a bunch of Motif textures were invalid; fixed.
- Some people experienced a crash when moving into the PolyID field of
  PO_xxx Items in Hexen; fixed.

Other Stuff:

- The "Load File" dialog box now starts in the directory that the loaded
  .WAD is located in; if there is no loaded WAD (untitled), it starts in
  the current game's directory.
- I've made the texture names on the status bar stand out a bit more.
  They're also coloured in the background instead of the foreground, a la
  2.x.

04-05-96    Release 3.3

Bugs Fixed:

- Due to the recent (3.0) conversion to C++, DCK would sometimes crash
  when the 'new' operator returned NULL because there was no memory left.
  Now, DCK saves your work to _CRASH.WAD (as usual) and tells you there's
  no memory left ...

- ... BUT, if the low memory situation was preventing you from running
  DCK, read on! Borland's PowerPack documentation says that the DPMI
  server will use virtual memory (temporary hard drive storage) if no real
  memory is available. This is correct, but ONLY if the MAKESWAP utility
  is run first. This _minor piece of information_ was left out of the
  documentation, and I've only just been told about it by the _third_ tech
  support person I've queried regarding the problem.

IF you don't experience any crashes or "out of memory" problems, you
  don't need to worry about MAKESWAP.

If you DO have problems, simply run the MAKESWAP utility in DCK's
  directory. I've written a replacement for Borland's utility that
  not only performs the same function but also modifies DCK.BAT in order
  to tell DCK to use the swapfile.

MAKESWAP creates a permanent swapfile of specified size in megabytes on
  your hard disk -- the default size is 4 megabytes. You can delete the
  swapfile (DCK.SWP) if you're not using DCK, but you will have to re-run
  MAKESWAP if you want to use DCK again. If you buy more memory, you can
  probably delete the swapfile permanently. Hard drive space may be at a
  premium on your system, but it's far easier to come by than RAM.

- The "Snap Objects to Grid" command (Ctrl+V) did not work correctly;
  fixed.

- Editing a linedef, picking a special and then editing another linedef
  would crash DCK; fixed. What a dumb bug -- thanks to all the people who
  convinced me it wasn't some low memory thing =)

Other Stuff:

- I've neglected to mention the full capabilities of DCK's cut and paste
  operation for some time now (about a year!) --
      - If you cut or copy outside sectors to the clipboard, and then
        paste them inside an existing sector, DCK will convert all the
        appropriate one-sided lines from the original outside sectors
        into two-sided lines whose second sides now reference the sector
        they were pasted into.
      - Vice-versa: cut or copy inside sectors, and paste them outside --
        DCK will convert the appropriate two-sided lines into one-sided
        lines.
  This is really really useful in some situations. Next time you need to
  move outside sectors inside, or vice-versa, try it. Remember, you must
  be in Sector mode when you CUT/COPY and PASTE.

- The clipboard's behavior has also been changed. If you cut or copy
  lines to the clipboard, DCK will always switch to line mode to paste
  the lines. This is basically unchanged from previous versions except
  that the editor automatically switches modes now.

The difference arises when you cut or copy sectors: if you paste the
  Sectors you copied while in Line mode, DCK will always switch to Sector
  mode to paste copied Sectors. It was too easy to forget that you wanted
  to cut/copy/paste entire Sectors, and the undesirable results of pasting
  Sectors in Line Mode weren't immediately apparent, causing many
  irritating problems.

So, the rule stands clear now: if you want to copy/paste Lines while
  maintaining their sides' sector references (eg: one-sided pillars), you
  must copy the Lines while in Line mode. And if you want to create new
  Sectors by copying existing Sectors and pasting them elsewhere on the
  map, you must copy the parts of the map in Sector mode. I think this
  arrangement makes the most sense.

03/18/96    Release 3.2

Bugs Fixed:

- All the game parameters (when you run your map) are now written to a
  response file by DCK (I should have done this ages ago...) -- all the
  settings work properly now.
- Deleting a line to join sectors sometimes deleted other lines as well,
  or crashed the system. This was just a symptom of an insidious problem
  that I only just slew.. um, slaye.. um.. "got rid of."
- The palette was still screwed up after running a tool. It is now fixed.

Other stuff:

- You can now register DCK online via Compuserve. Type GO SWREG and enter
  id number 10392.
- If you have questions about DCK, please email me at the following new
  address:
                            dck-help@islandnet.com

03/07/96    Release 3.1

Bugs Fixed:

- The .GD files still didn't use ZenNode properly.. sigh. Fixed.
- Sometimes, a level would not run properly due to the misuse
  of ZenNode; fixed.
- If you included a texture file in the Textures list that had levels
  in it, DCK would incorrectly run THAT wad instead of your wad when you
  pressed F9; fixed.
- After running a Tool from the Tools menu, the main menu bar disappeared;
  fixed. Also, the palette was screwed up; fixed.
- Some of the game data arrays weren't as big as were needed, and memory
  was being overwritten. This is a bug that's been there since
  2.2 -- jeez.

Features Added:

+ This has been here for the last couple releases, but I forgot to mention
  it: While you're dragging anything except Items, hold down Ctrl to have
  the reference cross "snap" to the line that the cursor is over. This is
  great for creating connected regions.

02/28/96    Release 3.0a

Bugs Fixed:

- Create Outside Region bug fixed.
- Editing linedefs in non-hexen maps crashed DCK. duhh; fixed.
- Editing multiple linedefs in non-hexen maps didn't set up the
  dialog box properly and resulted in wacky linedefs; fixed.
- Rotating and Scaling lines/sectors would ask you if you wanted
  to join vertices after you'd finished -- fine, but DCK would join
  vertices to themselves; fixed.
- The motif editor treated the wall/flat textures as fields (you
  could move into them, which served no purpose); fixed.
- The "Create Door" menu would sometimes appear partially offscreen;
  fixed.
- The Popup Help would sometimes obscure the dialog box it was
  helping you with, which _didn't_ help; fixed.
- The Polygon tool didn't work! -- oops; fixed.
- Marking lines/items and switching to sector mode left the same
  numbered objects marked; fixed.
- Adding to / removing a file from the list in the Textures dialog
  didn't update the displayed list; fixed.

Stuff Changed:

* Changed the background colour of dialog box fields to something darker.
  Now DCK doesn't look so much like Windows 95, and is probably easier on
  the pink eyes that doomers are all born with :)
* The tag of a line is now displayed regardless of the line's special.

Features Added (by popular request):

+ Added v2-style line grid -- use the 'G' key to toggle between no
  grid, dot grid and line grid.
+ Created a hybrid between the v2-style selection mechanism (Categories
  and Items) and the new v3-style (Search Item List.) Chock eet awwwt.
+ Hold down Ctrl and left-click once to quickly create the last kind of
  Item you edited in Item Mode.

02/20/96    Release 3.0

- DCK and HCK combined.
- Many little bugs fixed.
- Mirror feature - use the Object menu.
- "Tips" feature added on startup. You can't get rid of it unless you
  register :)
- "Replace Textures" (Alt+R) feature works again.
- Because I'm such a dissident, DCK now calls THINGs "Items."
- Full Screen Mode - press 'F' to toggle, or use the Edit Menu.
- Built-in version of DEACC by Luc Cluitmans.
- Line-length display while dragging is more intelligent.
- Hexen: The "create door" dialog box created doors that were activated by
  _crossing_ the door lines. Useful? no.  Fixed? yes.
- Hexen: The ';' search key now searches for Items with the same TID
  as a Line, and Lines with the same TID as a Items.
- Hexen: The Auto-Tag utility (Ctrl+T) now tags Items to Lines, and
  vice-versa.
- Hexen: No more compiler problems - the file ACC.DLL is a loadable
  version of the script compiler, which is run right inside DCK now.
- There's a customizable TOOLS menu, just like Windows programs.
- Hexen: The Consistency Checker (Alt+C) now checks for Lines that require
  TIDs but don't have them.
- Hexen: The Consistency Checker now checks for a Player 1 Start that has
  a blank arg0 parameter (which is required if you just -warp to a
  level in Hexen.)
- Hexen: Player Starts now have an editable arg0 parameter.
- The status bars are about 25% smaller, so you get more map space.
- Hexen: Item and Line Properties dialog boxes now have a "Clear" button
  that sets all the unused special args to 0.

12/07/95   Beta 3

- There were STILL problems with the "find Hexen" feature.  This has been
  fixed.
- The "Create Door" feature never set the Repeatable flag, even if the
  checkbox was set.  Fixed.
- Saving a new map didn't prompt for a filename - DCK just saved the map
  as MAP01 in UNTITLED.WAD.  DCK now prompts for a filename.
- The save status window was a little messed up.
- A couple minor interface changes.
- Editing multiple THINGs with different TIDs set all the TIDs to the
  first selected THING's TID.  Fixed.
- Creating a new THING set its TID to that of the last thing edited. It
  is now set to 0.
- Deleting sectors didn't work.
- The auto-tag-set function didn't work properly.
- The Sector number is now displayed on the Sector info status bar.
- Deleting a line to join two sectors didn't work properly.
- The beta testers didn't work properly.
- I'm joking!

12/06/95   Beta 2

- If your copy of Hexen wasn't in C:\HEXEN, DCK would crash when it
  first loaded, after scanning and finding Hexen.  It was work-around-
  able, but what a dumb bug!  This is fixed.

Now, on to the good stuff:

---------------------
What's new for 3.0?
---------------------

New Features:

- Hexen support, of course! DCK contains lots of Hexen-specific
  enhancements:
     - Pop-up choices for Arguments, where available - for example, you
       can pop up a list of THINGS to spawn for the Thing_Spawn...
       specials;
     - Built-in version of the ACS script compiler;
     - Edit your map's script right from DCK, using your favorite DOS
       editor;
     - Fully supports THINGS that take Arguments;
     - Highlights the relationship between THING TIDs and Lines whose
       Specials reference those TIDs.

- No more built-in nodebuilder, so you can use whichever you prefer.

- "Drag-and-align" texture alignment.  Besides having a really crafty
  name, this feature is very useful: DCK displays the texture you
  want to align and allows you to drag a crosshair to exactly the
  point that you want DOOM to start displaying the texture.

- Integrated vertex and line modes!  No more switching back and forth
  in order to make structural changes.  This is a BIG timesaver.

- A totally new user interface.  It looks and acts a lot more like
  Windows, and is much easier on the mouse hand.
   - More responsive dialog box controls, drag-scrolling listboxes,
     and so on.  Buttons actually push DOWN now - incredible!
   - PopUp help in dialog boxes.  If you like, DCK will display a
     description of the field you're editing in a Pop-Up window beside
     the dialog box.  You can turn this on and off in File|Configure.
   - A nicer-looking, proportional font.
   - More configuration options.
   - A much quicker method of finding what you're looking for in lists
     of items, specials and so on: type a couple abbreviated words and
     DCK displays all the items that contain those words.  You'll see
     what a difference this makes when you're looking for that bloody
     green thing, but you can't remember what its proper name is!
   - A real mouse cursor instead of that awful green thing.

- A full-screen texture browser with multiple zoom levels: view
  textures from 256x128 all the way down to 32x32.  The new browser
  will optionally display names only (with one picture at the bottom),
  so you can view most of the textures available for picking without
  having to page-down the list.

- More informative status bars contain all the information for Hexen
  objects.

- Small features like:
   - Shift-key flag toggling.  In line mode and thing mode, you can
     turn on and off any of the object flags just by hitting a
     Shift-key combination.
   - Ctrl+Left and Ctrl+Right rotate THING objects.
   - Horizontal and Vertical mirroring.

- You guessed it: And even More!

All the good old features of previous releases:

- Graphical THING display: shows graphics of the Things in the game,
  right on the map!
- Rectangle and Polygon tools.
- A fast wall and floor/ceiling texture browser.
- Runs the game right from within the editor, so you can test your
  levels out and get right back to editing!
- Seamless support for custom textures.
- Automatic texture-alignment tools.
- A clipboard with Cut, Copy and Paste - even between levels!
- Full drag and drop functions.
- An easy-to-use and thorough map "error checker."
- An UNDO feature.
- A powerful, built-in WAD management tool.
- Motifs: named sets of wall and floor/ceiling textures for "coloring"
  areas of your map quickly and easily.

Future plans?:

- There WILL be a much-nicer-looking help system sometime soon, with
  hypertext links and other cool stuff.

- This is a maybe, but a texture-creation facility has always been on
  my to-do list.  If I find the time..!

- Project files.  Hexen maps have script functionality, so you have to
  have some way of telling DCK which script goes with the map you're
  editing.  Project files also allow you to specify multiple sequences
  of "level-building" - for example, you could have a sequence that
  builds the BSP at a draft level and runs the map so you can check out
  your texture alignments quickly, and a sequence that builds the entire
  10-level PWAD you're working on and zips it up for distribution.
  These are simple descriptions, because projects are totally
  configurable.  Kind of nifty.

Bugs fixed:

- Deleting multiple sectors in one operation never worked before.
- The crashing bug has been fixed -- i hope.

----------------------------------
What's in the registered version
----------------------------------

- The WAD manager.
- Graphical Item display.
- Item Display Filter (for example, to display only those
  items that appear on skills 1 and 2.)
- A feature to find the selected object's associated-
  by-sector-tag objects.
- No more welcome windows.

- A printed manual!

----------------------
Where can i get it?!
----------------------

DCK is available at the following locations.  It should be under the
filename "DCKnn.ZIP" (where nn is the version, eg: 30 for 3.0)

FTP -
  Always at:
   ftp.cdrom.com                /pub/doom2/utils/level_edit/
   ftp.islandnet.com (T1 link)  /bmorris/

WWW -
   http://www.islandnet.com/~bmorris/
   (Registered users can find updates here.)

Other -
   Compuserve                   ACTION forum, browse for DCK*.ZIP

mong