skinspec.txt

The source code of Doom legacy for windows

 ---------------------
 D O O M   L E G A C Y
 ---------------------
 S K I N S   S P E C S
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                               Written by: Denis Fabrice
                               Last updated 25-Aug-1998

--------
CONTENTS
--------

[0] First note
[1] Overview
[2] Implementation
[3] Example
[4] Technical blurb
    [4-1] Skins and sprites in pwad.
    [4-2] Same resource name on different pwads.
[5] Tools


--------------
[0] FIRST NOTE
--------------

  If you have problems creating Skins wads for Doom Legacy,
  and can't find the answer to your questions in this documentation

  mail to: [e-mail]



------------
[1] OVERVIEW
------------

Let's first have an overview of what defines a Skin:

  S_SKIN:
  -------
  Each skin in a pwad is identified by a 'skin marker': this is
  a resource by the name 'S_SKIN'. The resource contains data in
  the form of a text file, which describes what is replaced by
  the skin, and gives the name of the skin.

  Skin sprites:
  -------------
  A skin is basically a sprite replacement for the player avatar.
  ALL the frames of the player sprite must be replaced : this
  includes the normal run, attack, hurt sequences, as well as the
  'normal' death, and the 'explode' death sequences.

  Skin face:
  ----------
  Though the status bar face is viewable only by the player who
  uses the skin, it may be replaced in order to be consistent
  with the player character appearance. As soon as we ran some
  tests with a 'Leprechaun' skin, and saw the marine's head in
  the status bar.. we added support for replacing the status bar
  face. Like the sprites, _ALL_ the face graphics need to be
  replaced, if some are not defined, the game will quit.

  Skin sounds:
  ------------
  To make it more fun, a skin can have a set of up to 10 sounds
  replaced, these are called the 'skin sounds'. Skin sounds are
  replacements of a set of the original Doom sounds, which are
  given out only by the skin that defines them. All the sounds
  need not be replaced.


------------------
[2] IMPLEMENTATION
------------------

Now on to implementations:


  S_SKIN resource format:
  -----------------------

  The content of S_SKIN is just a simple ASCII text file.

  If you put more than one skin into a wad file, there are effectively
  multiple resources of the same 'S_SKIN' name. If this is a problem
  you can add any characters after the 'S_SKIN' letters, so that
  your wad editor doesn't complain. Example: S_SKIN1, S_SKIN2, ...
  Legacy will search only for the first 6 letters.

  Format of the text file:

   // comments start with '//'

   name = <skin name>        <- give the name of your skin max 16 chars
                                NO SPACES!

   sprite = XXXX             <- identify the sprites to use for this skin
                                4 characters, optional.

   face   = XXX              <- identify the status bar face graphics to
                                use for this skin. MUST be 3 characters

   dsouch   = dsXXXXXX       <- replace one of the 10 customisable sounds
   dsplpain =                   with a new sound. The new sound name MUST
   dspdiehi =                   start with letters 'DS'
   dsoof    =
   dsslop   =
   dspunch  =
   dsradio  =
   dspldeth =
   dsjump   =
   dsouch   =



-----------
[3] EXAMPLE
-----------

An example is better than 1000 words, so here we go.

Here's a sample of a text file that you could have into the 'S_SKIN'
resource:

----------------------------------

// Terminator skin by xxx mail me [e-mail]
name = terminator
sprite = TERM
face = TER
dsouch =   dstmouch
dsplpain=dstmpain
dsslop   = dstmexpl

----------------------------------

As you see each line looks like: <property> = <value>

Let's study each line one by one:

// Terminator skin by xxx mail me [e-mail]

    This is just a comment line. Comments start with '//'.
    Use comments to put author information. The comments
    are not displayed anywhere into the game, but they may
    be useful if someone hacks your wad, he/she'll know
    where it comes from and who did it.


name = terminator

    This tells that the skin name is 'terminator'.

    The skin name is displayed in the multiplayer->setup menu.

    It is used by the 'skin' command, in the console. You would
    type 'skin terminator' at the console to change the skin
    manually, of course it's easier to use the multiplayer menu.

    The skin name must be UNIQUE : if there are two skins in
    a wad with the same name, whatever different may be the
    graphics, only the first skin will be used.

    The skin name is also displayed in the TEAMPLAY Rankings,
    when using 'teamskins'. Since each team is identified by
    a skin in 'teamskin' mode, the rankings would show like this:

                    107   LEPRECHAUNS TEAM
                     98   TERMINATOR TEAM

    As you see, the name of the skin is used as the name of the
    team.

    If you don't specify the name of the skin, it receives a
    name like 'SKIN 1', 'SKIN 2', etc.. not fun.

    ATTENTION: the name can't have spaces in it... for example
    a name like 'blues brothers' will make Legacy quit with
    a message like "unknown 'brothers' keyword". We should fix
    that later.


sprite = TERM

    Tells the name of the sprite to use for the skin. Sprites in
    Doom uses only 4 letters, the original player graphics sprite
    is 'PLAY'. The line above tells Legacy to look for TERMA1
    instead of PLAYA1, TERMA2A8 instead of PLAYA2A8 etc...

    It is not needed to rename the player sprites like this.
    It is usually simpler to put all the sprites _JUST AFTER_
    the S_SKIN resource. Example:

    S_SKIN
    TERMA1
    TERMA2A8
    TERMA3A7
    TERMA4A6

    etc...

    Note that if you put the sprites just after S_SKIN, the sprite
    name doesn't matter, Legacy looks for the first sprite name,
    and continue to collect all the frames with the same sprite
    name, until the name has changed, or the end of the wadfile.

    You will want to rename the skin sprites only if your wad
    editor requests that all resources have a _unique_ name.

    Since you can use any name for the sprites, even without
    using the 'sprite = xxxx' statement, you will probably need
    this only if you really can't get the sprites ordered just
    after the S_SKIN resource.

    Note: _ALL_ the frames of the player sprites must be replaced.


face = TER

    All the status bar face graphics resources in Doom wad have
    the name start with 'STF' : STFST01, STFGOD0, STFDEAD, etc...

    This lines simply tells _3 LETTERS_ to use in place of 'STF'.

    So in this example Legacy will look for 'TERGOD0' instead of
    'STFGOD0', 'TERST01' instead of 'STFST01', etc...

    Attention : the STPB0-STPB3 resources are no more used.

                the STFB1,STFB2,STFB3 resources of the original
                Doom are no more used. Doom Legacy only uses
                STFB0, and remaps the green color to the color
                of the player, just like for the sprites.

    Note 1: contrary to the sprites renaming, you MUST use this
            line in order to change the status bar face graphics.

    Note 2: remember you must replace _ALL_ the status bar face
            graphics, that is: provide a replacement for all
            the resources that start with 'STF'.



dsouch =   dstmouch
dsplpain=dstmpain
dsslop   = dstmexpl

    These lines tells new sounds to use for that skin in particular,
    in place of the game's original sounds.

    Up to 10 sounds can be replaced, the sounds are related to the
    player actions:

    DSOOF
    DSNOWAY
    DSPLPAIN
    DSPLDETH
    DSPDIEHI
    DSSLOP
    DSPUNCH
    DSRADIO
    DSJUMP     <- jump sound                      (Doom Legacy sound)
    DSOUCH     <- hurt sound when hitting ceiling (Doom Legacy sound)

    For each sound to replace, use a line like:

      <original sound resource name> = <new sound resource name>

    Any of the 10 sounds can be replaced, or all.

    The sounds that are not replaced will sound just like the original.

    Note: the replacement sounds doesn't have to be new sounds, you can
          use any sound from the game. For example, if you create an
          imp skin, you could replace the player sounds with the imp
          sounds.


-------------------
[4] TECHNICAL BLURB
-------------------


 [4-1] Skins and sprites in pwad
 -------------------------------
   If you have a wad with skins _AND_ other sprite replacements,
   make sure you use S_START, S_END sprite section markers so
   that the skin sprites are not replacing the default player
   sprites, in case you use 'PLAY' for the skin sprites. If the
   PLAYxxxx skin sprites are _outside_ of the sprite section
   markers, they will not be mistaken as the default player
   sprites.


 [4-2] Same resource name on different pwads
 -------------------------------------------
   To make it clear : Legacy will add skins _WAD PER WAD_. Which
   means it doesn't bother at all if there are resources with the
   same name in different pwads.

   In fact, Legacy doesn't even bother if you put several markers
   with the same name in a pwad (multiple 'S_SKIN' for example).

   We added support for 'S_SKINxx' where xx can be any character,
   just because some wad utilities don't like multiple resources
   of the same name.

   You could for example use the same sprite name for several
   skins into _one_ pwad, since they are delimited by skin
   markers (S_SKIN).



---------
[5] TOOLS
---------

That's it. Creating skins is very easy, provided you have the tools.

We recommend NWT 'New Wad Tools' version 1.3, by Denis M鰈ler. This
program allows to insert new resources, rename it, insert raw data
into resources (which is how we insert text files into Doom wad
resources).

Another common wad utility is 'WinTex' version 4.0, by Olivier Montanuy.
This is similar to NWT, but it will run under Windows only.

If you have questions regarding the WAD tools in particular, please
consult the Doom editing newsgroups, or ask questions on the Doom
Legacy forum (http://legacy.newdoom.com).

Have fun!