Nomad's Doom Toolbox V2.0: Readme =========================== IMPORTANT: The program exe, NDT2, will create its own INI file. INI files from the old versions of Doom Toolbox will not work, as much of the data that was stored there has changed. How to use: You should have seen a message when you started the program for the first time. This means there was no configuration file found and Doomtoolbox created a new one. The file is mostly blank, however; you need to fill it out by clicking the various setup buttons. ******************* * The Main Screen * ******************* This is where you fill out the command you want Doom Toolbox to execute. On this screen are: Source Ports: This box is originally empty. To fill it out, click the "setup" button to the right of the box to go to the Port Setup screen. You can add as many ports as you like. It's possible that not all ports may work by being run from Doomtoolbox. I've personally run ZDoom, Doom Legacy, and Skulltag using this program. You must enable at least one port to use the "test" button. IWADs: This box is empty as well. To fill it out, click the "setup" button to the right of the box to go to the IWAD Setup screen. IWADs are the main game files... doom.wad, doom2.wad, etc. You can add as many IWADs as you like. You do not need to have an IWAD selected to run a test, but your source port may either choose one based on its own settings or ask you to choose one at runtime. Custom Files: New in Version 2.0 is the Custom File List system. First select "enable" to turn on the list and the add/remove buttons. You can add PWADs and Dehacked Patches by clicking the "add" buttons, and you can remove files by selecting one and clicking "remove." You will only see the file name on the list, not its path (although Doom Toolbox does remember the path). Misc. Options: Set miscellaneous options here. Choose which level to warp to by changing the number in the "warp" box, or turn "warp" off to start at the title screen instead. You can also set no monsters, music or sound here. "OpenGL Mode" and "No CD Music" are provided, but they only work for certain ports (Doom Legacy, for instance). Other ports, such as ZDoom, will simply ignore it if you check these boxes. The box at the bottom of this area is for additional parameters. Type anything else you want to add to the string here. If your wad is a deathmatch wad, for instance, you may want to type "-deathmatch" in this box. Also, click "Exit when testing" to cause the program to close when you launch the game. Quick Launcher: This area stores a list of programs you would like to run quickly. Click the setup button to go to the Program Setup screen. "Launch" will be disabled until you setup at least one program. The parameters box below the program buttons is for any commands you want to pass to your program. Note: If the test button, tool button or program launcher button do not work, it simply means it could not find your program, directory, etc. Be sure you set them up correctly. *************************** * Port/IWAD/Program Setup * *************************** These three screens are pretty much identical except that they change different parts of the program... Add button: Choose this to add your port/iwad/program to the list. The add/change window will appear. Change button: Pick the port/iwad/program whose information you wish to change and then click this button. The add/change window will appear. Remove button: Pick the port/iwad/program you wish to remove and then click this button. This will remove the item from the list. Done button: Return to the main screen. This button does not save your changes! Your changes are saved as soon as you add, change or remove a list item. ******************************** * Add Port/IWAD/Program Screen * ******************************** This screen performs two functions: adding and changing. Depending on what button you clicked to get here, this screen will be passed different instructions. If you are adding a port/iwad/program, the lines should be blank; if you are changing one, the existing entry should be displayed on those lines. Browse Button: Search for your file here. The result will appear in the "path" box. Doom Toolbox will then "guess" the entry's name and put it in the name box. Change the name to what you would like to see on the list (ex.: loading "legacy.exe" causes Doom Toolbox to guess "legacy"; you may want to change this by adding the version number, etc.). NOTE: For IWADs, the full path will not be saved, only the file name. Doom Toolbox assumes that there are copies of each IWAD in the same folders as the source ports. ************* * Changelog * ************* In Version 2.0 * Version 2.0 totally redesigns the main form, setup methods and INI variables. Among the visual changes are the dropdown lists and the "custom files" list system. You can now add as many ports, IWADs, files and programs to their respective lists as you want. * The saving and loading schemes feature is present in 2.0. I never released 1.3 to the internet, so this will be new for most of you. Note that schemes you saved using Version 1.3 cannot be used with this program; and it will tell you so if you try to load one. * Doom Toolbox is no longer bound to the folder C:\. I had to include this out of sheer "duh," but it took me awhile (and a little bit of help) to find out how to do this. Doom Toolbox can now be extracted to any folder you like, and it will create its INI there. It can also find its help file provided that you put it in the same folder. In Version 1.3: * Fixed a couple of annoying bugs that would cause the setup screen to crash, update the status bar incorrectly at startup, etc... I won't go into depth on them. * Added the schemes feature! Try saving NDT Scheme files (.dts) for each of your wad setups; for instance, if you have one wad that uses ZDoom/Doom2 with no monsters, and another that uses Legacy/Heretic with no sound, save separate schemes for each one. Scheme files will NOT save info about Port/IWAD configurations themselves; instead they save info about "port 1, iwad 2," etc... so if you change these things you may want to change your scheme file accordingly. To save a scheme, press F3. To load one, press F4. You can also find these commands on the program menu. * I noticed that multiple PWAD and patch support wasn't really working; Doomtoolbox would fail to add the directory to subsequent files in the list. This, I have fixed. I also updated the browse boxes so you can select multiple files. At test time, be sure your file names are separated with ", "... this is explained more in the PWAD section of this file. * Browse boxes for PWADs and patches, as well as on the setup screen, now "remember" what directory to start browsing in. If you were to change Port 1 now, it would start browsing in the directory you gave it for Port 1. * I figured out a way to disable the maximize button and the sizable window border while still letting you minimize. No reason to be resizing the NDT window, now is there... In Version 1.2: * Added the status bar at the bottom of the screen. Whenever you change something or exit the setup screen, this bar will be refreshed. * After the first time you use the setup screen, it will remember what tab you were on when you exited. This is slightly buggy, however, because you need to use it twice for it to work. I'm working on this... * Added the menu bar with two menus. "Program" will contain a test button that responds to F2 (assuming you have at least one port set up), a setup submenu that allows you to load any setup tab (and responds to F3-F7, but is also subject to the above mentioned bug), and an exit button. "Help" has a link to this help file and also responds to F1, and has a link to the about window as well. * Most objects have tooltiptext now (that is, text which appears if you hover your cursor over them). It changes sometimes when you set options; this is now part of the error-checking procedure. Just about EVERYTHING has a tooltiptext; have fun finding them all. * Try clicking the Nomad-Skin image on the about screen a few times. * Fixed a bug: your port would fail to load any custom files you add if the directory it's in contains spaces (such as "program files"). This is fixed. * A similar bug exists with the use of Zennode and Add_FS. This is also fixed. * Sometimes Zennode will fail to save your wad correctly, and instead save it to the C:\ directory. This is a Zennode bug, I'm told, and is fixed by always providing it with an output file (the wad it ends up with). This is now written into Zennode's command; its command will look sort of like "yourwad.wad -o yourwad.wad." This should ensure that your wad gets saved correctly. * Included NDTv11to12.exe with the zip. Run this utility to convert your INI file from the old version of Doom Toolbox. If you do not, you may get runtime errors. In Version 1.1: * Changed multiple setup screens to a single setup screen run by a tab strip. Everything you set up on this screen is saved when you click OK. * Deleted multiple setup buttons on main screen; the setup button is now above help and to the left of about. * Included browse boxes on the setup screen to find programs and wads directly. "Directory" boxes are no longer needed, as the program now figures that part out by itself. It will also "guess" the name of your port, iwad, or program when you select it and put its "guess" into the "name" box. You can still change it. * Included browse boxes for PWADs and DEHs on the main screen. You can still use multiple files by typing their names into the box after you select the first one using browse. The PWAD and DEH areas are now considerably smaller, and thus so is the main screen. The need for setup options for PWADs and DEHs is now gone. * Included an error-checking procedure which goes over all the radio buttons on the main screen and makes sure that none of the disabled ones are selected. This occurs when the program starts up, and also when you leave the setup screen. * Fixed a few window-changing bugs from early versions of the program. * Early versions of the program may have had sizable windows; this is now fixed as well. You can minimize the program window, but you can no longer maximize or resize it.