How to Use Hi-Res Textures in jDOOM
(Continued from page 1.)

“Ok, smarty, but what about the editing process? Shouldn’t I have something in there when doing texture alignment and stuff?”

Ok. Yeah. You have a couple of options. You can use a simple reference patch that has a grid reference at 16, 24, 32, 64, 128, 256, etc. You can use this over-sized patch to create textures. Incidentally, for JDOOM, you can use one patch to create a texture that has a canvas size larger than the patch itself. That is legal to do in this example; since the engine is bypassing the patch anyways; it never has an opportunity to display it incorrectly in-game.

Remember when I mention textures, I really mean entries in the texture1 lump that defines one or more patches that make up what you see on a SideDef (wall) in-game. Your PNG graphics need to be named what the entry in the texture1 lump is defined as to show up in its place when running the map in JDOOM.

Ok. Let’s get on with it, then. Substitute your tool of choice, if it supports what we’re going to do.

NOTE: Some editors may not work or load a PWAD that contains texture1 entries made up of a small reference patch, or in one example above, a zero-length patch (marker). Some editors may even require you to use a patch that is quantized to the DOOM palette. Although note that some PWAD utilities may do that quantizing for you as long as the input format conforms to what it is expecting for a patch (8 bit PCX file or BMP file for example).

The newest version of XWE (see below) now handles “blind” entries and assumes you know what you’re doing; if you actually do put in an 8 bit PCX or BMP, it will quantize it to the DOOM palette; but, if you put in a 24 bit patch (from a PNG file or something), it’ll take that too—it just won’t display it in the preview window. But we’re getting off-track, here. But I’m going to request that you add a small mental bookmark to what I just said I’ll revisit this at the end of the tutorial.

Here are the tools that you’ll need for this example:

1. XWE
   http://www.doomworld.com/xwe
   xwe.zip
2. Doom Builder
   http://www.doombuilder.com
   builder_setup153.exe
3. A Graphic Program capable of saving or exporting graphics in the PNG format (8, 24, and 32 bit variety). Paint Shop Pro is a good choice.
   http://www.jasc.com
4. PakScape v0.11
   ftp://drsleep@server1.thefourwinds.net
   /data/pakscape011.zip
5. WinZip (as an option to PakScape)
   http://www.winzip.com

Start XWE and create a new PWAD. Call it textures.wad.

DOOM requires that all patches go between two markers called PP_START and PP_END. Create those now by using the Entry file menu.

You should now have a screen that looks something like this:

(Click on image for full-screen view.)

I’m now going to choose to use a 256x256 reference patch that is already using the DOOM palette. This will ensure that it will show up in your editor. If you’re feeling brave, for extra credit, you can simply create an entry and place it between the two markers above, and use that null (zero-length) entry to build (the fake) textures with that JDOOM will replace with PNG files later. Just note that when you select these “textures” in Doom Builder, for example, the wall will be completely black, as it can’t even display a valid patch, even though the texture will show up in the textures list. Not real helpful for texture alignment purposes.