Tartar (EE-fork, DOS) - testing build available 20.10.24

[ludicrous_peridot]

Tartar

Tartar is a Doom source port for DOS, author aiming for it to be useful to players running pure (as in non-emulated) DOS or Windows 9X on modern machines for retro gaming.

 

Tartar highlights

• Has better audio compatibility through updated Allegro library from MBF 2.0.4 Maintenance Release and plays 16 bit sound effects (useful if you have SB16 or later)
• Supports additional screen resolutions 640x480 and 1280x1024 with and without upscaling from smaller core rendering resolution and optional aspect ratio correction for non-CRT displays
• Includes numerous quality of life improvements including auto-loading of WAD, DEH and BEX files to include skins, fixes and WAD compatibility packs for specific PWADs
• Offers extended game view size for higher resolutions, new optional "grille" translucency for sprites and textures and new optional "simplified" and more accessible level shading mode
• Contains many bugfixes and PWAD compatibility improvements
• Implements the compulsory blood spat recoloring for "hissies", "bruisers", flemoids, ubermutants and roaches

 

What to play with Tartar

• Original Caverns of Darkness TC for DOS
• Curios from what remains of the cancelled Eternity TC
• Vanilla Doom 2, TNT Evilution and Plutonia Experiment (with animated intermission screens a-la Doom 1 courtesy of Doomworld user @oliacym)
• No Rest for the Living (aka NERVE.WAD), Sigil and Sigil II with proper map names, music tracks assignment, levels and secrets progression and (for NERVE) intermission backdrops courtesy of @oliacym with helper WAD included in the distribution
• Chex Quest without Doom IWAD - and it will end after level 5! (also green slime splashes can be activated by switching on particles)
• Wolfendoom collection by Laz Rojas (MAC versions strongly preferred!) with helper WAD included in the distribution
• Strain TC for DOS - via a compatibility option to change [MBF collisions code] (https://www.doomworld.com/forum/post/2507168)
• Sunlust and maps using uncompressed extended nodes table format
• Eviternity and maps using sprites and textures that are more than 255 pixels tall
• Ancient Aliens and maps with non 9px high fonts, elaborate MUS format music tracks and non power-of-2 wide textures
• Avactor and maps with DeepSea extended node format
• Hydrosphere and maps with higher resolution sky textures, in this case also with proper progression and ending with helper WAD included in the distribution
• The Long Trek Back Home with intermission backdrops by @oliacym with helper WAD included in the distribution
• 2022 A Doom Odyssey with non-episodic linear progression through all maps, proper secrets progression and intermission screens with helper WAD included in the distribution
• Maps with non-Unix line endings in DeHackEd patches, or other DeHackEd patches shenanigans like references to non-existant code pointers (e.g. Rush)
• HACX 1.1 without Doom II IWAD (but make sure Tartar is given a PLAYPAL, e.g. by putting one of InstaDoom filter WAD-s into FILTERS directory AND that text mode startup is on!)
• Also - only if you are desperate enough - The People's Doom as IWAD
• ... and last but not least Doom 1.1 with tiled status bar extravaganza and demo playback

 

Also...

... for some traits "less common among source ports":

• Best effort at loading GENMIDI lump for more accurate music playback with FM sound cards
• Arcade play mode where player is resurrected on the spot without level restarting
• Next/prev music track bindable hotkeys and music tracks randomizer
• Screenshots from virtually anywhere in the game with bindable hotkey
• Cycle through InstaDoom filters (or any other PLAYPAL/COLORMAP providing WAD-s for that matter) without restarting the level
• Voltron assembly features:
  -- drop in SELFIE.WAD and SELFIE.DEH to make selfies in any PWAD and still shoot plasma rifle happily
  -- drop in JUMPWAD.WAD to switch to "pogo stick" mode in any PWAD and jump around by pressing fire (by the way, you can also load Jumpwad as a PWAD with Tartar)
• Send regards to the loved ones with a bindable hotkey, (e.g. while recording a video)

 

What Tartar CANNOT do

Spoiler

While these traits may be more common among source ports these days, this is not what Tartar supports:

• Cannot display PNG sprites and textures
• Cannot load compressed extended format node tables or Hexen format maps
• Cannot play OGG, MP3 or FLAC sounds or music
• Cannot process UMAPINFO or singe lump stand alone EMAPINFO lumps
• Cannot cope with MBF21 and DEHEXTRA features and code pointers in DeHackEd patches
• Cannot run Heretic, Hexen or Strife
• Cannot apply EDF or DECORATE extensions from the mods to the game
• Is not guaranteed to play demos in more recent "Boom" or "MBF" formats

 

TARTAR.EXE is available following the link below:

https://github.com/drivelling-spinel/tartar

 

Playing Doom with TARTAR

Spoiler

• Download TARTAR directory contents from the above link
• For a quick and simple start either
  • put one of the supported WADs (e.g. DOOM.WAD, DOOM1.WAD, DOOM2.WAD, PLUTONIA.WAD or TNT.WAD) into the directory with TARTAR.EXE
  • or put TARTAR.EXE and other files from the directory into your Doom game installation
• Run SETUP.EXE from directory with TARTAR.EXE and follow on-screen instructions to configure sound and music card.
• Run TARTAR.EXE to play
• Also be sure to check EXTRAS for explanation on best way of playing No Rest for the Living Doom II PWAD and for guides on installing extra mods with Tartar.

 

Playing Caverns of Darkness with Tartar

Spoiler

• Download Caverns of Darkness TC distribution and unzip the contents into a separate directory
• Download TARTAR directory contents from the above link and copy everything there to the same directory as COD.
• Copy DOOM2.WAD into the same directory as COD
• Run SETUP.EXE from the COD directory and follow on screen instructions to configure sound and music card.
• Run TARTAR.EXE -file COD CODLEV to play

 

Installing popular fix packs with Tartar

Spoiler

Tartar's WAD autoloading makes it easy to add fix packs to the installation. Suggested WAD-s to try out include:

• Doom Sound Bulb by @SeanTheBermanator
• Hi Res Doom Sound Effects Pack by @perkristian
• Doom 2 Minor Sprite Fixing Project by @revenant100
• DMXOPL by @sneakernets

Follow the below steps to have them installed with Tartar

• Install Tartar
• Drop the desired fix pack WAD into FIXES directory
• Or if Tartar will be used with multiple IWADs drop the WAD into a subdirectory of FIXES that has name matching the name of the IWAD the fix pack is to be loaded with. For example:

C:\GAMES\TARTAR\

C:\GAMES\TARTAR\TARTAR.EXE
...
C:\GAMES\TARTAR\FIXES\
C:\GAMES\TARTAR\FIXES\Doom_Sound_Bulb.wad
C:\GMAES\TARTAR\FIXES\DMXOPL.WAD
C:\GAMES\TARTAR\FIXES\DOOM\
C:\GAMES\TARTAR\FIXES\DOOM\D1SPFX20.WAD
C:\GAMES\TARTAR\FIXES\DOOM2\
C:\GAMES\TARTAR\FIXES\DOOM2\D2SPFX20.WAD

Start Tartar as you would normally do and enjoy improved Doom experience.

 

Note that should you want to play a certain PWAD without any of the fix packs loaded start Tartar with a command similar to the below one:

TARTAR.EXE -noload -file NUTS

 

Playing No Rest for the Living with Tartar

Spoiler

• Install Tartar with DOOM2.WAD IWAD
• Drop NERVE.WAD (e.g. from Doom 3 BFG Edition) into the same directory
• Drop NERVE.WAD (yes, the same name!) from GOODIES\SHIMS directory in the distribution into SHIMS directory where TARTAR is found.
• Drop INTMAPNR.WAD (required step!) found in GOODIES\OLIACYM directory of the distribution and place into the same same directory as TARTAR.EXE. For example:

C:\GAMES\TARTAR\

C:\GAMES\TARTAR\TARTAR.EXE
C:\GAMES\TARTAR\DOOM2.WAD
C:\GAMES\TARTAR\NERVE.WAD
C:\GAMES\TARTAR\INTMAPNR.WAD
...
C:\GAMES\TARTAR\SHIMS\
C:\GAMES\TARTAR\SHIMS\NERVE.WAD

Run TARTAR.EXE -nodemo -file NERVE to play

 

Playing Sigil and SIGIL II with Tartar

Spoiler

• Install Tartar with DOOM.WAD IWAD
• Drop Sigil and Sigil II WAD-s into the same directory
• Drop SIGIL_II.WAD from GOODIES\SHIMS directory in the distribution into SHIMS directory where TARTAR is found. For example:

C:\GAMES\TARTAR\
C:\GAMES\TARTAR\TARTAR.EXE
C:\GAMES\TARTAR\DOOM.WAD
C:\GAMES\TARTAR\SIGIL_v1_21.WAD
C:\GAMES\TARTAR\SIGIL_II_V1_0.WAD
...
C:\GAMES\TARTAR\SHIMS\
C:\GAMES\TARTAR\SHIMS\SIGIL_II.WAD

• To play run
  TARTAR.EXE -file SIGIL_v1_21 SIGIL_II_V1_0
  if your system supports long file names - or -
  TARTAR.EXE -file SIGIL_~1 SIGIL_~2
  if your system does not support long file names
  Note: make sure Sigil is loaded before SIGIL II though as otherwise textures will not be shown correctly

 

Playing cancelled Eternity TC with Tartar

Spoiler

... well, what remains of it anyway.
 

• Install Tartar with DOOM2.WAD IWAD

• Copy all files from GOODIES\TRIBUTE directory of the distribution into the same directory as TARTAR.EXE

• Run TARTAR.EXE -nodemo -file ETC ETCGFX2 ETCSKIN SWMP2021 ETC.DEH

• Note that while this map originally by @Quasar has been populated with the TC denizens, and gives a good idea of the surviving bestiary, some of the scripts may be off in current version of Tartar. Also playing with translucency enabled is advised.

 

Playing classic Wolfendoom with Tartar

Spoiler

• Install Tartar with DOOM2.WAD
• Obtain classic Wolfendoom PWAD-s. The recommended way is by downloading WolfenDOOM Collection for Mac (yes, Mac - WolfenDOOM was developed on Mac in the first place!)
• Optionally get Operation Arctic Wolf SE and Aftermath and its prerequisites from idgames.
• For playing classic Arctic Wolf the following updates may also be of interest: arc_fix.zip, Lrbjskin.zip found here
• Drop shim WAD with the same name as the PWAD to be player from GOODIES\SHIMS directory in the distribution to SHIMS directory where TARTAR is found. For example:

C:\GAMES\TARTAR\
C:\GAMES\TARTAR\TARTAR.EXE
C:\GAMES\TARTAR\DOOM.WAD2
...
C:\GAMES\TARTAR\SHIMS\
C:\GAMES\TARTAR\SHIMS\SOD.WAD
C:\GAMES\TARTAR\SHIMS\ESCAPE.WAD
C:\GAMES\TARTAR\SHIMS\FAUST.WAD
C:\GAMES\TARTAR\SHIMS\FUHRER.WAD
C:\GAMES\TARTAR\SHIMS\CONFRONT.WAD
C:\GAMES\TARTAR\SHIMS\SECRET.WAD
C:\GAMES\TARTAR\SHIMS\TRAIL.WAD

• Run TARTAR to play with both PWAD and DEH patch provided via -file command line argument. For example, if the PWAD-s are in the same directory as TARTAR.EXE:
  TARTAR.EXE -nodemo -file SOD SOD.DEH
  TARTAR.EXE -nodemo -file CONFRONT NOCT.DEH
  TARTAR.EXE -nodemo -file ESCAPE ORIGINAL.DEH
  TARTAR.EXE -nodemo -file 2ND_ENC 2ND_ENC.DEH
  TARTAR.EXE -nodemo -file AFTERMTH
  Note that Tartar will pull the other required WAD-s from the directory where the specified PWAD-s sit, so there's no need to type all of them, as long as they have been copied there.
  
  For original Operation Arctic Wolf:
  TARTAR.EXE -nodemo -file GFX1 ARCTIC1.DEH
  
  For Operation Arctic Wolf Special Edition:
  TARTAR.EXE -nodemo -file ARCTGFX1 ARCTIC1.DEH
  
  Note that for Arctic Wolf there is no need to quit and change the way the game is launched midway though. Tartar will automatically reload the required PWAD/DEH combination based on the level being played.

 

• Optionally add WOLFMIDI.WAD to play with original Wolfenstein music. The music tracks (courtesy of VGMPF) can be found in GOODIES\WOLFMIDI directory of the distribution.
  TARTAR.EXE -nodemo -file HALTEN WOLFMIDI

 

• Optionally Tartar will automatically load B J Blazkowicz skin with Wolfendoom. Obtain it here and put BJ.WAD side by side with the PWAD-s to be played. Then start the game as normal.
  TARTAR.EXE -nodemo -file 2ND_ENC 2ND_ENC.DEH

 

Want more? Try extras!

Spoiler

Tartar offers first class support for some of the excellent mods by Doom community. Here's how to enable Doom 2 intermission screen maps created by @olyacim.

• Install Tartar.
• Drop INTMAPD2.WAD found in GOODIES\OLIACYM directory of the distribution and place into the same same directory as TARTAR.EXE. For example:

C:\GAMES\TARTAR\
C:\GAMES\TARTAR\TARTAR.EXE
C:\GAMES\TARTAR\DOOM2.WAD
C:\GAMES\TARTAR\INTMAPD2.WAD

• Optional place INTMAPPL.WAD (for PLUTONIA.WAD), INTMAPEV.WAD (for TNT.WAD) in the same directory as TARTAR.EXE.
• Run TARTAR.EXE. When running without PWAD-s no additional arguments are required. When running with PWADS, enable the intermission maps by adding -wimaps command line argument.

 

Edited October 18 by ludicrous_peridot : link

[SiFi270]

Is it based on a version of Eternity that still supports FraggleScript? If so, it could be a good way to play DSV 4.

[ludicrous_peridot]

It supports FraggleScript very much indeed. I have not tried DSV 4 with it though.

[TheWolfman00001]

This source port is a godsend. I have always been really interested in a DOS source port and this seems to be right up my alley. I will try it ASAP and get my thoughts out afterwards, in the meantime I hope that this thread gets more steam since I am very sure that there are many out there like myself who would absolutely love this :D

[ludicrous_peridot]

1 minute ago, TheWolfman00001 said:

I have always been really interested in a DOS source port and this seems to be right up my alley.

 

Thanks, @TheWolfman00001. If you are interested in playing Doom in DOS, be sure to also check out MBF 2.0.4 by user @Gerwin from VOGONS message boards as well as its derivatives (Tartar has pulled audio, video and some of system code from that port too). Actually VOGONS has a thread with a considerably comprehensive list of obtainable DOS source ports, that led me to discovery historic DOS betas of Eternity Engine (they were kind of in a plain sight, but still)!

 

Finally, I've only recently found out there was contemporary build of Russian Doom for DOS - something I am keen to explore and have it high on my retro gaming TODO list.

 

Still, please do share your feedback on Tartar if you try it, I'd be much obliged for that, and if you could share the system specs you ran.

[Gibbon]

Well I will check it out on DOSEMU.  I have not used actual DOS since the late 90's but this is great work all the same.  

[Quasar]

Great work. It's unreal seeing all this stuff from the ancient past in motion again.

[OpenRift]

Interesting use case. Does it have any form of -complevel parameter? Or do you have to adjust it all manually?

[ludicrous_peridot]

Tartar doesn't have a complevel parameter. Basically, you are looking at SMMU in terms of compatibility options, plus the early Eternity Engine novelties which have a settings screen of their own.

[AnotherGrunt]

Thanks a lot. Actually, motivated by this accomplishment I wondered, would be still possible to build a little newer version of EE in DOS? 

 

So a little more recent version (3.37.00 'Sekhmet'   -- 01/01/10):

 

So of course, it crashes on linker and tons of unresolved/undefined references. But dir djobj/*.o is full of DOS-executable object files. Shame the DJGPP version has been abandoned in course of development. I believe it would work just perfectly fine.

[ludicrous_peridot]

Can't remember the specifics, but on VOGONS boards there's a long thread where a person was producing experimental builds of more recent EE for DOS. There was some rationale for that - like getting some code from EE work in DOS, so that it could be back-ported, and the the builds were mostly crashing, at least for me. Maybe something that could be of use for you though.

[Gibbon]

On 1/1/2022 at 11:42 PM, AnotherGrunt said:

Thanks a lot. Actually, motivated by this accomplishment I wondered, would be still possible to build a little newer version of EE in DOS? 

 

So a little more recent version (3.37.00 'Sekhmet'   -- 01/01/10):

 

So of course, it crashes on linker and tons of unresolved/undefined references. But dir djobj/*.o is full of DOS-executable object files. Shame the DJGPP version has been abandoned in course of development. I believe it would work just perfectly fine.

Is there source for this?  I checked on Quasar's doomworld thread about that from 2010 but the link is down.  I could take a look at this for you?

[ludicrous_peridot]

I may be regaining my spirits little by little and have recently again been tinkering with the PC I intended to use for retro gaming. So one day browing through the Pictures thread I had an idea that got me started with a 2022 Spring refresh project for Tartar.

 

So far the first "milestone" has been coding in on the fly palette switching via cycling through palette lumps of all loaded wads. Why? To add first-class Instadoom support as the second milestone!

 

One curious side effect of this is that with Instadoom filters auto-loading activated, Tartar will be loading older (pre 1.2) HACX pwads as iwads.

 

 

 

[Woolie Wool]

It's really cool to see a new DOS source port! Any chance compatibility might be updated to support more modern "Boom-compatible" wads like Eviternity, Sunlust, Ancient Aliens, etc.? Also it should be noted that the time display on the automap resets to 0:00 when you load a saved game.

[ReaperAA]

14 hours ago, Woolie Wool said:

It's really cool to see a new DOS source port! Any chance compatibility might be updated to support more modern "Boom-compatible" wads like Eviternity, Sunlust, Ancient Aliens, etc.? Also it should be noted that the time display on the automap resets to 0:00 when you load a saved game.

 

Off topic, but you might want to get in contact with @AnotherGrunt. He created a fork of MBF (MBF.zip) that can run Eviternity (well most of it, as some maps like 32 would not run due to it being too much for DOS). I expect it would perform similarly with running other Boom compatible wads.

 

Make sure to set RAM to atleast 64 MB in DOSBox to make stuff like Eviternity work.

Edited April 20, 2022 by ReaperAA : Link fixed

[Gibbon]

12 minutes ago, ReaperAA said:

 

Off topic, but you might want to get in contact with @AnotherGrunt. He created a fork of MBF that can run Eviternity (well most of it, as some maps like 32 would not run due to it being too much for DOS). I expect it would perform similarly with running other Boom compatible wads.

Your link is broken :)

[ludicrous_peridot]

4 hours ago, Woolie Wool said:

It's really cool to see a new DOS source port! Any chance compatibility might be updated to support more modern "Boom-compatible" wads like Eviternity, Sunlust, Ancient Aliens, etc.? Also it should be noted that the time display on the automap resets to 0:00 when you load a saved game.

 

Hey @Woolie Wool. While having Sunlust in DOS does seem a tempting goal, I must be honest feats like these are not on any immediate TODO lists. Let me share my line of thinking on this topic.

 

From what I gather - and I must admit I have not researched the topic enough and haven't really hacked at anything related, so will be speculating really - the source port / wads compatibility in these cases is not a question of formats, nor even resources but rather:

 - that node builder output included produces something the source port was ever tested with (i.e. what its developer's expected it to be able to render)

 - which source port bugs the the above plus map layout (surfaces, textures, actor placement) triggers: again a question of what "kind of layouts" it was initially expected to be run with and was tested with

From both perspectives Tartar, being a 2001 Eternity Engine make, is in my opinion very much obsolete. Even on Code Duo hardware with plenty or RAM and with maps were rebuilt by a then contemporary or a more compatible modern node builder, I wouldn't expect to the maps to play as intended on the scale of full wad. 

 

So thinking rationally: could source port changes (including minor ones) improve Tartar's compatibility with modern wads? Probably so. Would spending effort on making those changes and on diligent playtesting to claim compatibility be a reasonable thing? I doubt that. Moreover, to make a though experiment of a kind and bring things to an extreme (in a good sense), Tartar being an Eternity Engine make, would it be a reasonable thing for it to absorb enough upstream changes to run Heartlands? I, again, doubt it.

 

Less rationally and more emotionally, Tartar is born of very late 90s and seems like a more appropriate home for those things from back then that would not go away rather than those that have followed since. I was very much surprised recently to learn that Instadoom _was_ meant for things from back then, so am making a small homage to it.

 

The automap issue - thanks for letting me know; let me have a look.

 

 

 

 

 

[ReaperAA]

11 hours ago, Gibbon said:

Your link is broken :)

 

Fixed it.

[Redneckerz]

On 4/19/2022 at 6:53 PM, ReaperAA said:

 

Off topic, but you might want to get in contact with @AnotherGrunt. He created a fork of MBF (MBF.zip) that can run Eviternity (well most of it, as some maps like 32 would not run due to it being too much for DOS). I expect it would perform similarly with running other Boom compatible wads.

 

Make sure to set RAM to atleast 64 MB in DOSBox to make stuff like Eviternity work.

Many thanks for uploading this permanently. This is likely the build from this post (where the link is broken), right?

 

Shame there is barely details.. if it can run Eviternity, it deserves a name change.

 

Id love to know more about this. @AnotherGrunt can you provide some details about your fork?

Edited April 20, 2022 by Redneckerz

[ludicrous_peridot]

This discussion got me curious to try Eviternity myself. The results are actually better than I would have expected, but confirm my expectation that getting modern wads to play on ancient code bases is laboursome.

 

Tartar built from HEAD can actually load the wad with -devparm (due to a very recent change in how the parameter is handled to be able to load TPD as iwad :) ). I was able to -warp into most levels, although some (e.g. 32) got me segfaulted immediately. 

I was able to -warp into more levels than I could ~map into, which is something I am curious to have a look at this spring, as I was running into the same with 3DO Doom conversion wad, that I wanted to eventually load with Tartar.

Demo playback was crazy (demos trying to save the game, what?!) and on some levels I was seeing unknown actor warning, but moving around with idclip after the level has loaded did not get me any segfaults and such.

 

Sharing some vistas.

 

 

Spoiler

 

PS. Was running from Windows 98 which seems to limit DPMI memory to 64Mb. Will also try in DOS at some point as I suspect CWSDPMI does not impose this limitation.

 

And so that I am not taken wrong - I do not shy away from modern wads. On the contrary loading Sigil (compat wad), Romero's E1 replacement levels and NERVE.WAD is what I normally do for every binary release, and NERVE is what I am testing the legacy mapinfo support against (Tartar distro even has the extra lumps for NERVE.WAD for proper map names, music and progression).

 

EDIT:

Still curious about the segfaults, so taking a diversion to experiment with allowing Tartar to load levels with more geometry elements than currently released binary supports. Hopefully will be able to load map31 of Eviternity, but not 29 nor 32 and not sure if actually rendering those bigger maps turns out a bit too much for this diversion...

 

Spoiler

 

EDIT:

 

Yay! Some cleanup ahead to allow running this without -devparm, but so far seems to work, both ~map and -warp way. Have not checked any other maps, really. Have to get back to the insta-selfie-thing...

 

Spoiler

 

Edited April 23, 2022 by ludicrous_peridot : update on map 31

[ludicrous_peridot]

I've started documenting changes done as part of the spring refresh and have added a work in progress build to the distribution under TARTAR22 directory:

https://www.moddb.com/mods/tartar/downloads/tartar-distro

 

The build is still quite lightly tested, however it can load MAP19, MAP24 and MAP31 of Eviternity, progress to MAP33 after Iconic Sin is completed in D2TWWRI, use TPD as an IWAD and apply InstaDoom filters on the fly among other things. 

 

Sharing the bugfix and compatibility hilights from the CHANGES doc:

 

Spoiler

WADS compatibility

Doom 2 PWADs with more than 32 maps are supported

 

WADs with SS_/FF_START but no corresponding S_/F_START lumps are supported

 

Maps with empty REJECT lumps no longer crash the game

 

Maps with more that 32k sides or lines no longer crash the game (e.g. Eviternity Dehydration or Imperator can be loaded)

 

When loading a map that Tartar would not be able to handle it drops to console showing an error message rather than crashing

 

Texture definition checks are now more relaxed and Tartar would log the errors it detects rather than quit immediately; related error messages are now also more friendly

 

New command line argument -nodemo has been added for the player to suppress demo playback if it's found to be choppy or jittery for particular WADs

 

Commander Keen suffering sounds have been restored

 

Eternity TC actors would now be spawned only while in Eternity mode OR with Caverns of Darkness loaded; CoD actors would only be spawned when CoD is loaded with certain actors replacing Eternity TC ones in case the same Doomednum is used for them

 

Gameplay changes and bugfixes

 

Automap shows correct level time, not an arbitrary value like before

 

BEX-style string definitions without a space before equals sign are correctly processed

 

Mnemonically-specified flags (and flags2) for Things (bits and bits2 attributes to be exact) in DEH patches will now be applied

 

WADs found in FILTERS directory will be loaded automatically upon startup with all but PLAYPAL, COLORMAP and TRANMAP stripped from them. These have special treatment and will not override the lumps from WADs players may have loaded explicitly, but will be available for on the fly palette cycling with pal_next. Use pal_list console command to print the list of loaded palette WADs (both player-specified and extras). Players can simply unpack InstaDoom zip into the directory with TARTAR.EXE to see how this feature works

 

"Intelligent" blood recoloring has been adjusted:

Chex player bleeds yellow, not green

Players with Godmode cheat bleed yellow, not red

Roaches bleed green, not red

 

Starting the game with -devparm no longer locks it up at an early stage and allows game to run despite issues detected (up until the stage where it eventually crashes) rather then quit immediately

 

Edited September 19, 2023 by ludicrous_peridot

[ludicrous_peridot]

Updated TARTAR22 binary in the distro with the most recently built version with the following changes: 

• New screen size (past fullscreen) that tries to the most screen estate available in 640x480 and 1280x1024 resolution
• selfie.wad and and selfie.deh from InstaDoom are now autoloaded when found in the same directory as TARTEAR.EXE
• Bindable selfie CCMD (not bound by default, see Extra Keys in options) lets players use the selfie stick; all of other weapons, including the BFG are still available to the players using normal weapon keys
• Bugfixes to dehacked handling 

 

Basically, what remains to be done for the Spring Refresh is documenting changes, testing, and fixing any bugs found/reported.

I may be publishing a DOSBox video demonstrating the above in action if I figure out settings for that soon.

 

EDIT: 

Spoiler

 

Edited May 11, 2022 by ludicrous_peridot : Added another selfie

[ludicrous_peridot]

To my surprise DOSBox built-in capture does not pick up VGA palette changes (sic!) so posted a video devoid of sound, captured by less straightforward means.

  

[Woolie Wool]

Yesterday I was trying out the new TARTAR22 build with various PWADs and getting segmentation faults on pretty much all Boom wads, either on initial startup or when accessing the main menu. I tried:

 

doom2.wad (worked)

mm2.wad (worked)

uacultra.wad (segfault on startup, confirmed works in Boom v2.02 and MBF v2.04, and previous Tartar of Tartar)

earthless_pr.wad (segfault on mainmenu, confirmed works in MBF v2.04 and previous release build of Tartar)

Phobos: Anomaly Reborn (segfault on startup, confirmed worked in previous release build of Tartar)

Several more modern wads that don't work in MBF (all segfaulted on startup)

 

I plan to go through it with a bunch more pwads this evening. Does Tartar produce any sort of dump or error log when it segfaults? Also is it supposed to be using a custom CWSDPMI or anything like that?

[ludicrous_peridot]

Hey @Woolie Wool. First, thanks a lot for taking time to test the new Tartar of Tartar so early.

 

Secondly, Tartar does not produce a dump, but if you could share tartar.cfg, setup.cfg and run at least some of the pwads with -dehout dehout.txt -debugfile and share the resulting text logs I would really appreciate it!

 

As for CWSDPMI I am shipping the one from MBF 2.04 and was under impression there was nothing custom about it. Worth noting is that most of development happens in a Win 98 env, so I am mostly using Windows DPMI service. When not using Windows, I am running a stock DOSBox with a stock CWSDPMI from a ~1y old build of FreeDOS.

 

EDIT: It appears BEX-style string substitution is currently broken, so most of BOOM wads with embedded Dehacked patch will likely crash at load time. Will revert when this gets fixed and after I also look at the other type of crash you've mentioned.

Edited May 12, 2022 by ludicrous_peridot

[Woolie Wool]

I don't have a setup.cfg, I have a tartar.cfg and I've attached it, along with logs for loading Earthless, which does not cause the BEX crash. It appears setting the video mode to 320x200 seems to break TARTAR22 even though it was fine with the earlier version. This crash happens regardless of what wad is loaded, even with the bare iwad.

 

As far as my own environment, I'm playing on an AMD Athlon machine running IBM PC-DOS 7, which is a modified MS-DOS 5 with features from MS-DOS 6 backported and some IBM exclusive utilities. I might try it on my MS-DOS 6.22 boot card, but I don't expect it to be any different because PC-DOS and MS-DOS are almost identical.

LOGS.ZIP

[ludicrous_peridot]

Thanks a lot for your feedback, @Woolie Wool. Will be testing with the wads you've listed above and post a new build once the issues are fixed.

 

EDIT: One thing I've previously noticed and that has in a way bit me already was that Windows 98 was much more forgiving for 32bit DOS applications with memory management issues. I have, for example, loaded uacultra.wad under Windows, but doing the same in DOSBox gives the error you've encountered.

The reason I am loading Windows 98 graphical shell by the way is partly the convenience of the GUI and multitasking, partly more base memory and partly that I've switched to a BT keyboard recently and have tucked away my wired keyboard. I could obviously test with "MSDOS 7" on the same machine but for convenience end up rebooting into Windows 10 for DOSBox, that has strict CWSDPMI behaviour and all the segfaults I am after :)

 

EDIT2: Title screen crash for 320x200 and BEX string processing crash have been fixed in the updated dev build and I could load mm2, earthless_pr, uacultra and par with it.

 

I'm in (something fishy with the screenshot btw, will check that)

Spoiler

 

Edited May 13, 2022 by ludicrous_peridot

[Woolie Wool]

Confirmed those bugs are fixed, but I found two more:

 

* The default 640x400 video mode is now letterboxed on my 4:3 CRT, while it previously displayed correctly (320x200 displays correctly)

* Rush crashes on startup so quickly the debug file doesn't even have anything in it.

[ludicrous_peridot]

@Woolie Wool, will have a look at Rush. If you enable Show FPS option in the video settings, and then load a level (e.g. start a new game) can you post what details are reported for you in the top left corener of the screen? This show show the exact video mode that is being set by Tartar, which I suspect is 640x480. 

 

I've been doing some testing myself and found that zoom (and probably some other) keys in automap did not work and that bmp format screenshots were inconsistent, so was resolving those.

 

EDIT: I think I know which change has caused the letter-boxed mode to be selected, so will revert that with next published build.

 

EDIT2: Rush can be loaded now and non-letterboxed mode is again preferred. Rush in an interesting beast in that it is referencing a CPosRefir codepointer that does not really exist. Not sure if this is in fact a valid name for a codepointer, but don't have time to research at the moment. CPosRefire does exist.

Spoiler

...

Processing pointer at index 205: Scream
 - applied 478e4 from codeptr[32] to states[205]
Processing pointer at index 206: Fall
 - applied 479e4 from codeptr[26] to states[206]
Processing pointer at index 973: NULL
 - applied 0 from codeptr[130] to states[973]
Processing pointer at index 976: NULL
 - applied 0 from codeptr[130] to states[976]
Processing pointer at index 977: NULL
 - applied 0 from codeptr[130] to states[977]
Processing pointer at index 978: NULL
 - applied 0 from codeptr[130] to states[978]
Processing pointer at index 979: CPosRefir
Invalid frame pointer mnemonic 'CPosRefir' at 979
Processing pointer at index 974: NULL
 - applied 0 from codeptr[130] to states[974]
Processing pointer at index 975: NULL
 - applied 0 from codeptr[130] to states[975]

...

 

EDIT3: The build still got some automap configuration file consistency woes (causing e.g. issues with Tab key assignment to automap toggle) I am looking into... should have been looking into, but instead did this:

 

Edited May 14, 2022 by ludicrous_peridot

[Woolie Wool]

Sick, is that UMAPINFO?

On 5/13/2022 at 11:58 AM, ludicrous_peridot said:

EDIT3: The build still got some automap configuration file consistency woes (causing e.g. issues with Tab key assignment to automap toggle) I am looking into... should have been looking into, but instead did this:

 

 

Sick, is that UMAPINFO?

 

One thing that carried over from Ye Olde Eternity's "improvements" is the changing of the A_CPosAttack to play DSPISTOL instead of DSSHOTGN, do you plan to change that back?

 

Also, and this is a more long-term idea, but have you consdered eventually replacing Allegro with the reconstructed DMX from gamesrc-ver-recreation, or with a different sound driver entirely, assuming one exists? I have always thought Allegro was a weakness in all the Boom ports.

 

E: I've been stress-testing with modern wads, and both Avactor (avactor.wad) and Ancient Aliens (aaliens.wad) "crash" (quit to main menu/console) on loading map01. Avactor vomits forth a large number of texture errors and Ancient Aliens gives a midi error.

Edited May 23, 2022 by Woolie Wool