Using WadAuthor with ZDoom
By Richard Clark

My editor of choice for ZDoom editing is WadAuthor and I thought I would pass along some tips in case you also use WadAuthor and want to get it up and running with ZDoom. The following information is to set up WadAuthor to run in ZDoom native mode, which is based upon the Hexen feature set. However, using ZDoom in it's native mode also means you have the Doom2 world, the Boom extensions and all the other cool stuff Randy has added to this port. I really recommend spending the time learning to use ZDoom in its native mode and you'll find a whole new Doom world.

The first thing to do is to set up an IWAD to use with the game. In the ZDoom package locate a utility called zwadconv.exe, which is used to convert a wad over to the ZDoom format. You will need to convert your Doom2 iwad to ZDoom format:

zwadconv doom2.wad zdiwhack.wad

Be sure that you don't overwrite your existing Doom2 iwad.

The next step is to open the zdoom.wcf file that is included in the ZDoom package in notepad and change the IWAD line:

[WadGame]
Name=ZDoom (Hex)
IWAD=zdiwhack.wad
NewMap=MAP01
Directory=c:\doom2\zdoom
Run=zdoom.exe -file $_Wadfile -warp $_Wadmap

Change the bold line to point to your new IWAD like I have done in the example above. Save the wcf file and if you haven't done so already, copy it to your WadAuthor folder.

In addition to the wcf file, I also copied the ZDoom ACS include files to my WadAuthor folder. These files are:

- zcommon.acs
- zdefs.acs
- zspecial.acs
- zwvars.acs

These are the function names and variables that is used in the ZDoom version of ACS. ZDoom uses the ACC compiler which is included with WadAuthor. There is also a version in the ZDoom package as well.

You are now ready to start editing ZDoom maps. Start WadAuthor and load the zdoom.wcf file from the File-Select Configuration File menu item and you are ready to go.

If you have tried to run ZDoom from within WadAuthor you may have had a problem getting ZDoom to run. You can get around this problem by simply add the following lines to your WadAuthor ini file:

[DEBUG]
NoWARun=1

Happy editing!

Sources

ZDoom reference by Randy Heit. Thanks to Randy for letting me know about the nowarun in the ini file.

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