Amiga ACS 1998 #2/amigaacscoverdisc1998-021998.iso/games/doom/adoom/adoom.readme

Text File | 1998-01-22 | 21KB | 583 lines

Short: Amiga port of DOOM v0.8
Author: Peter McGavin  ([e-mail])
Type: game/shoot
Uploader: Peter McGavin  ([e-mail])



                            ADoom  0.8                     22 Jan 1998
                            ----------


This archive contains an Amiga port of DOOM, compiled as directly as
possible from ID Software's Linux DOOM source code.

On 26th Dec 1997 I learnt that ID Software released the source code of
DOOM and made it available by ftp.  So I immediately downloaded it and
tried compiling it with SAS/C 6.58 for the Amiga.  This archive
represents my results after about 15 evenings and 3 days.  Much of
that time was spent tracking down 1 bug.  I am now back to my full
time job and only have time to work on ADoom in spare evenings and
weekends.

Warning: This version of ADoom is still under development and you
might find some bugs.

You can get the original ID Software Linux DOOM source from:

   ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/idgames/idstuff/source/doomsrc.zip

Source code of ADoom, which includes all my changes, is in a separate
archive on Aminet.

ADoom is OS-friendly and multitasks.

ADoom puts up an ASL requester for the ScreenMode.

Sound effects, ECS support and 68040-optimised C2P are included since
version 0.1.  Version 0.4 adds 68020-optimised blitter-assisted C2P
and double-buffering.  Version 0.5 adds music.  Version 0.6 adds
68030-optimised blitter-assisted C2P.

Low detail mode, which can provide a significant speedup on 68030, is
available and working from ADoom version 0.6.

Version 0.7 fixes some serious bugs that caused crashes on 68040+AGA
and 68060 Amigas in version 0.6.

You can use a joystick in the 2nd gameport from v0.2.

AmiTCP network support was added in v0.2, but so far is rather
unstable and slow, even with a direct ethernet connection between 2
fast Amigas.

If disk loading of levels is very slow, try adding more disk buffers
with the AmigaDOS ADDBUFFERS command.  Adding 300 buffers can vastly
increase the level-loading speed.  One person recommended DynamiCache
instead, but I haven't tried that.

Thanks to several people who sent me icons for ADoom.  I put them in
the more_icons subdirectory in this archive.

There several (different) Amiga DOOM ports at "http://www.pluk.com/"
including one called Amiga Doom by Trance that uses GG environment and
AHI, and another called DoomAttack by Georg Steger which is very fast
on 68030s.  This web site is to be replaced by "http://surf.to/adoom/"
at the end of February.



REQUIREMENTS:
-------------

A 68020+ Amiga running at least OS 3.0, with at least about 4 Mb of
fastmem.

Unless you have 68040+, you must have an ECS or AGA Denise chip.
Currently the combination of 68020 or 68030 with OCS doesn't work
because OCS can't do long blits used by the 020/030 C2P routine.

A graphics card, CyberGraphics and 68040+ are strongly recommended.

ADoom also works with AGA or ECS (EHB) using C2P.

--------------------------------------------------------------------
| YOU NEED TO GET A WAD FILE THAT WORKS WITH LINUX DOOM AND PUT IT |
| IN THE SAME DIRECTORY AS ADOOM.                                  |
--------------------------------------------------------------------

Otherwise you get the message:  "Error: W_InitFiles: no files found"

WAD files typically have names like DOOM1.WAD and DOOM2.WAD.

Not all WAD files work.  It seems that some older WAD files are
rejected because they leave out some information that ADoom requires.
I think these same WAD files fail to work in Linux DOOM.

DOOM1.WAD from "http://surf.to/adoom/" works fine, as should the
latest shareware WADs from ID Software's WWW site.  I was told that at
least some Macintosh WADs work too, as does the registered DOOM II
WAD.  One person told me that any "Doom2 PWAD" works, whatever that
is.

A couple of people said they got the 4th episode of Ultimate DOOM to
work by changing the name of the WAD file to doomu.wad.

Many people have asked me which WADs work and which don't, but I'm
afraid the above is about all I know at the moment.

I received many conflicting reports about which WADs work, especially
the original registered DOOM WAD seems to work for some people and not
for others.  See the file UserHints.txt for some examples.

To play third-party WADs with non-standard names, you must have a
*registered* WAD in the same directory as well.  Then you should start
ADoom with the -file option specifying the third-party WAD, e.g:

        ADoom -file Satan666.wad

The -file option doesn't work if you only have a shareware WAD.

I use a stack size of 150000 bytes, but that's probably overkill.
I don't know what the stack requirements really are yet.  It's
probably less than 4096 bytes (because it worked OK from the icon
when I forgot to set the stacksize).

An FPU is neither required nor used (except on 68060).

An MMU is neither required nor used.



HELP, I'M SWAMPED WITH E-MAIL:
------------------------------

Thanks for all your e-mails about ADoom.  I enjoy reading them.

However please note that I received upwards of 40 messages per day for
several days.  Now I'm back to my full-time job, so I only get time to
work on ADoom and catch up on e-mail on my spare evenings and
weekends.  I apologise in advance if you don't receive a reply.



MUSIC:
------

ADoom supports music based on .MUS-player source code sent to me by
Joseph Fenton of MicroCode Solutions.  Music requires an extra file
not included in the archive because of its size.  You should download
ADoom_Instruments.lha from Aminet and unpack the file MIDI_Instruments
into your ADoom program directory.

Music is disabled by default because the MIDI_Instruments file is
distributed separately.  Once you have the MIDI_Instruments file,
enable music with the -music option or MUSIC tooltype.

Joe greatly improved the MIDI_Instruments file over the version
supplied with ADoom 0.5.

Joe says "You might want to give my brother Michael some credit as
well, he wrote the event handling and the Player Interface code; I did
the PlayNote and interrupt audio engine and instruments".

Enabling music adds to the atmosphere, but it also slows the game down
and leaves only 2 channels for sound effects.  Without the music you
get 4 channels for sound effects.

From version 0.6 you can disable all sound effects with -nosfx or the
NOSFX icon tooltype.  That leaves audio channels free so you can use
your own music player in the background.

In version 0.8, the music volume is lowered and clicks and pops
eliminated.



KEYBOARD:
---------

Most keys are mapped the same as on a PC.  However the Amiga doesn't
have F11, F12 and PAUSE keys.  On the Amiga, press '[' for F11, ']'
for F12 and HELP for PAUSE.

Many people complained about the keyboard layout, especially CTRL for
FIRE.  It's possible to customise the keymap in .doomrc --- see
UserHints.txt.  In version 0.6 I changed the Right-Amiga key to send
the same code as CTRL (was the same as Right-Alt in 0.5) and I
disabled the Left-Amiga key so screen-flipping doesn't set things off.
Someone just pointed out this wasn't such a good idea.  AmigaOS uses
Right-Amiga and arrows together for moving the mouse pointer when you
don't have a mouse.



MOUSE:
------

Mouse support was added in version 0.3, but it is disabled by default.
That's because it slows the game down.  To enable the mouse, start
ADoom with the -mouse option, or use the MOUSE icon tooltype.



CD32 JOYPAD:
------------

Gabry ([e-mail]) emailed me some CD32 joypad handling code.  It
is disabled by default because it requires lowlevel.library.  If you
want to try it, use the -joypad option or JOYPAD tooltype.



SAVING THE SCREENMODE:
----------------------

If you don't like the ScreenMode requester every time ADoom runs, you
can save your favourite ScreenMode as an icon tooltype.

First, watch the output of ADoom when it starts up and note the
DisplayID of the ScreenMode you selected.  It will be something like
$40420000.  Now click the ADoom icon once and select "Information..."
from the Icons menu.  Click on NEW and type in:

  SCREENMODE=$40420000

replacing $40420000 with the DisplayID you noted.  Delete any other
SCREENMODE tooltypes.  Finally, click SAVE, and start ADoom again.



MEMORY:
-------

ADoom has a built-in disk caching system that automatically tries to
keep the most important game information in memory, minimising disk
accesses.  ADoom automatically allocates a 6 Mb block of memory for
the cache if it can, otherwise it tries to allocate the biggest block
it can, bigger than 2 Mb, while still leaving 2 Mb of fastmem free.

You can override ADoom's default cache size determination algorithm
with "-heapsize <number>" option or "HEAPSIZE=<number>" icon tooltype,
where <number> is in kilobytes.  If you set the heapsize to less than
about 2000 kb, ADoom might fail to load certain WADs.  The shareware
WAD works with "-heapsize 1000".

Setting the heapsize is useful if you only have a small amount of
memory, or if you want to set aside memory for an enormous cache.  The
smaller the heapsize, the more ADoom will access disk during play.

If you have only 4 Mb of fastmem (or less), try "-heapsize 2000" or
even "-heapsize 1000".



FPS COUNTER:
------------

From version 0.8 you can use the -fps option of FPS icon tooltype to
put a continuously updated frames/second counter in the top-left
corner.  Note that this slows down ADoom slightly.

The official way to measure FPS is to use the shareware doom1.wad,
high detail, 2 steps down from max window size, "Adoom -mmu -forcedemo
-timedemo demo3" after a cleanup reboot and SetPatch, then apply the
formula:

    FPS = (gameticks / realticks) * 35

By this method, speeds in excess of 31 frames per second have been
reported for ADoom version 0.7 on 68060 Amigas with CyberGraphX.

See http://www.balldesi.demon.co.uk/ for the latest speed results of
various Amiga DOOM ports.



ROTATEMAP AND MAPONHU:
----------------------

Cyril Deble <[e-mail]> sent me some patches to
make the automap display on the main 3d view and rotate like in Alien
Breed 3D.

From ADoom version 0.8 you can use two command lines/icon options

 -maponhu : map on headup

 -rotatemap : automap rotate

Cyril warns:

"A small bug accurs when you use a non full screen view with the
automap the border are not refreshed as the border is buffered...  You
have just to change the clipping area of the automap to make it work
ok.

"I don't get too much into the code and i don t have time to do any
further change hope it will be usefull for something...  It's rather
nice for me to include it into ADoom and i have noticed no slowdown
while the map is on the 3D view... My config is 060/AGA



NETWORKING WITH AMITCP:
-----------------------

AmiTCP networking in ADoom is based on the Linux DOOM source code.  It
works between Amigas and Linux PCs using TCP/IP on a fast network.  It
uses TCP/IP on all computers, not IPX.

DOOM on PCs normally uses IPX for networking, which is incompatible
with ADoom's TCP/IP.  I don't know whether there is a TCP/IP driver
for DOOM on Windows95, but I heard there is such a thing for MSDOS
(untested with ADoom).  Another person told me that Win95DOOM can use
TCP/IP.

Several people reported success over serial lines with SLIP or PPP,
although in most cases it was very slow.  I tested it over ethernet
and AmigaLink.  Even then it seemed rather jerky and slow, and it
failed to start up when I tried crossing a gateway between the 2
networks.


To start ADoom across 2 computers called fred and bob, say:

  1:  Make certain both computers are using identical WAD files;

  2:  Make certain you can PING fred from bob and vice versa;

  3:  On bob, enter:    "ADoom -net 1 fred"

  4:  On fred, enter:   "ADoom -net 2 bob"


If there are 3 computers, called fred, bob and sue, say:

  1:  Make certain all 3 computers are using identical WAD files;

  2:  Make certain you can PING between all computers by name;

  3:  On bob, enter:    "ADoom -net 1 fred sue"

  4:  On fred, enter:   "ADoom -net 2 bob sue"

  5:  On sue, enter:    "ADoom -net 3 fred bob"


It's normal for screens to go blank sometimes during the startup phase.

On Linux I used DOOM compiled from the source code available from:

   ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/idgames/idstuff/source/doomsrc.zip


I don't know whether other Linux DOOM implementations are compatible.

So far I have tested up to 3 computers.  The code is pretty untested
and your mileage may vary.

Several people asked me for NULL-modem support between 2 Amigas, or
parallel cable support.  Well it's already there.  You need to get
Miami or AmiTCP installed at both ends and talking to each other over
SLIP, PPP or PLIP.  Then proceed as above.  However it will likely be
unplayably slow unless you have very fast Amigas.  PLIP is very heavy
on CPU-usage.  It should also work over a serial line to a PC running
Linux DOOM, and maybe even to a PC running Win95Doom, which, I'm told,
supports TCP/IP.



CHUNKY TO PLANAR:
-----------------

For native screenmodes on 68040+, ADoom uses a CPU-only C2P routine.
For EHB on 68040+ it also uses a comparison buffer.  I timed it on my
WarpEngine as being faster on average than a routine without a
comparison buffer.  The comparison buffer method is temporary until I
can figure out some sort of list of dirty-bounding-boxes thingy.

From version 0.4, ADoom in native Amiga modes (AGA and ECS)
double-buffers.

From version 0.4, ADoom uses a blitter-assisted C2P routine on
68020/30.  The blitter does the latter half of the C2P conversion in
chipmem while the 3D engine renders the next frame to fastmem.  It
also double-buffers --- a necessity for this approach.  On a 50MHz
68030, C2P CPU-time is 3 times less than in version 0.3.
Unfortunately it looks as if C2P is only a small fraction of total
time anyway, maybe 10..15%.  In version 0.6 I replaced the AGA 68030
C2P that did 2 CPU merges and 2 blitter passes with one based on
Mikael Kalms' routine that does 3 cpu merges and 1 blitter pass.

C2P for ECS (EHB) modes takes longer because there is an extra table
lookup for each pixel.  It converts 8-bit -> 6-bit.

ADoom renders to fastmem and uses WritePixelArray8() on gfx-cards.

Several people asked me to make a version which renders directly to
the CyberGraphX framebuffer, like Trance's AmiDoom and RTGMaster.  I
started doing this, but didn't finish.  To try it with CyberGraphX,
use the -directcgx option or DIRECTCGX icon tooltype, but it will
probably be slower and flicker like hell...  It may also corrupt other
screens if you flip or drag screens.  It needs double buffering to get
rid of the flicker.  I tried to add double-buffering but couldn't get
the interaction with I_ReadScreen() right.



RENDERING:
----------

Version 0.5 uses fast column and span renderers by Aki Laukkanen.  Aki
supplied seperate 68060-optimised routines.  These are selected if you
have a 68060, provided you have SetPatch and 68060.library correctly
installed.



68060:
------

Several people reported extremely poor performance on their 68060
systems.  If that happens to you, try using the FastExec (whatever
that is) "SSP to FastMem" option.  Several 68060 users told me that
made a huge speed difference.  Shaun Falkenberg ([e-mail])
suggests the equivalent option in MCP might be better because it saves
a reboot on cold startup.  OxyPatcher is yet another alternative.

ADoom 0.5 uses 68060-specific fixed-point routines which don't use
64-bit MULS & DIVS on 68060.  You must have SetPatch and 68060.library
correctly installed for these faster routines to be selected.  Version
0.6 uses the FPU for both fixed-point multiplies and divides on 68060.
Version 0.5 used the FPU for fixed-point divides and 32-bit integer
instructions for fixed-point multiplies on 68060.

In version 0.6 I added the -mmu option and MMU icon tooltype to mark
the chunky buffer and chip raster as "imprecise" using the MMU.  I
used Aki Laukkanen's MMU code for this.  This may speed up ADoom on
68040+MMU and 68060+MMU systems slightly, by better scheduling memory
accesses.



LIMITATIONS:
------------

Play-tested for a few hours on an A3000 + WarpEngine + GVP Spectrum +
Cybergraphics running OS3.1 and Enforcer, on which it seems to run
very smoothly.  Many people reported success with earlier versions of
ADoom.  I think I finally fixed all the crash on exit bugs.  I think
the teleport bug is fixed, and hopefully the "PNAMES not found" bug
too, in version 0.8.

Outstanding bugs possibly include problems with -record and -playdemo,
problem using -timedemo without also -forcedemo, network problems and
problems loading the original registered doom.wad.  However bugs are
becoming rarer these days.  Hopefully I didn't introduce too many new
ones in the latest version...



BUGS FIXED:
-----------

0.8

Got rid of the warning message for every sound effect when -nosfx is
used.

Lowered the volume of music and sound effects.  That eliminated the
clicks and pops in music and enabled the full range of the sound
effect volume slider to have effect.

Disabled "S_StartSoundAtVolume: 16bit and not pre-cached - wtf?" msg
in s_sound.c with -nosfx.

Fixed (harmless) missing #endif in d_main.c.

Fixed bug in r_things.c, info.c and info.h.  I wonder if this fixed
the "PNAMES not found" bug.  See amiga_notes.txt.

Applied patch supplied by Aki to DrawColumn_060() in amiga_draw.s to
fix problem with red stairs and random pixels on 68060.

0.7

In 0.6 I accidently introduced a serious bug into the C2P routine used
for 68040+AGA and 68060+AGA.  Fixed this for version 0.7.

In 0.6 I accidently introduced a serious bug in the MMU cleanup
routine when -mmu is used or the MMU icon tooltype is used.  Fixed for
version 0.7.

0.6

Fixed bug in low detail mode and re-enabled it, thanks to a note from
Georg Steger <[e-mail]>, the author of DoomAttack, and some
assembly code from Aki Laukkanen.

The monster-counting bug (also the problem with "Dead Simple") was
caused by SAS/C generating unexpected code for function pointer
comparisons in "if" statements with CODE=NEAR.  See amiga_notes.txt in
the source archive.

Version 0.5 had a bug in the DrawSpan() routines which left bright
dots scattered around the floors and ceilings and red stairs at the
start.  Applied patch supplied by Aki Laukkanen.

Music tones are now PAL/NTSC sensitive.

Fixed the bug which sometimes caused crash on exit when music is
enabled.

0.5

The call to BestModeID() in amiga_video.c had an unterminated taglist.
Fixed.

Whoops it never worked under OS2.1 after all.  For now I've changed it
so ADoom refuses to start on less than OS3.0.  Currently I think
LoadRGB32() is the only V39 function used.  ADoom 0.4 was also calling
BestModeID() and failing to autoopen lowlevel.library.

0.4

Gamma correction tables weren't being used in ECS modes.  Fixed.

Set default task priority to -5 because ADoom is unfriendly to other
tasks otherwise.  Added -taskpriority commandline option and
TASKPRIORITY icon tooltype, so you can set whatever priority you like.

I think I finally fixed the crash on exit bug.  Two commas were
missing in dstrings.c.  I haven't had a crash for a long time now.

0.3

In ADoom versions up to 0.2, setting graphics detail LOW and then
resizing the display resulted in corrupt graphics.  Crashes were
possible.  Indeed, LOW detail didn't work at all.  This appears to be
a bug in the original Linux source.  I can't see how LOW detail is
supposed to work, so for now I've disabled LOW detail in ADoom 0.3.

ADoom exclusively allocates the 2nd gameport for the joystick.  It
seems that many people have something in their startup which
exclusively allocates the gameport, in which case ADoom v0.2 refuses
to run.  BlitzBlanker is one such culprit.  ADoom 0.3 runs with the
joystick disabled if it can't exclusively allocate the gameport.

Added -forcedemo option in v0.3 to override the version check when
playing demos.  The FORCEDEMO icon tooltype does the same thing.
There is a risk something might go wrong if the versions don't match,
but I haven't observed any problems so far.

Early versions of DOOM had a sound pitch change feature.  That is, the
same sound sounds effect could be played at different notes.  I
reproduced this feature in ADoom 0.1 and ADoom 0.2.  However more than
one user told me this feature was removed from recent versions of DOOM
and some effects sound wrong in ADoom.  Therefore I disabled the pitch
change feature in ADoom v0.3.  It is still there and can be enabled
with the -pitchchange option or PITCHCHANGE icon tooltype.

0.2

Early versions of ADoom required the HOME environment variable to be
set.  This confused a lot of people.  Since version 0.2, ADoom saves
its prefs file (.doomrc) in the current directory if HOME is not set.

Early versions of ADoom crashed if there wasn't enough memory
available.  Since version 0.2, ADoom checks the result of the main (up
to 6 Mb) memory allocation.  There are still a few places where small
memory allocations are not checked.



THANKS:
-------

Thanks to John Carmack and ID Software for one of the best games ever!



Peter McGavin.  ([e-mail])