DieHard Wolfers

[Executor]

This is an omnibus thread for all of my conversions of other mods to ECWolf as well as random bits and pieces that don't qualify as a proper mod. All mods are compatible with the current 1.3.2 release of ECWolf unless otherwise specified.

To install:

STEAM WOLF3D
1. Install Wolfenstein 3D from Steam to your DEFAULT Steam directory.
2. Unzip ECWolf, either 1.3.2 or a recent dev build, into a folder of your choice.
3. Unzip the pk3 belonging to the mod of your choice into your ECWolf folder.
4. Either drag and drop the pk3 onto ecwolf.exe, or open the command prompt and type "ecwolf --file modname.pk3" and hit enter. ECWolf should auto-detect Steam Wolfenstein 3D and launch immediately.

ORIGINAL RETAIL/REGISTERED WOLF3D
1. Install Wolfenstein 3D from diskettes or CD (or piracy, whatever) into a folder of your choice.
2. Run Blzut3's patcher to ensure your copy is the most up to date variant of v1.4. This is a MUST for Apogee-distributed versions, they will not work otherwise!
3. Unzip ECWolf as above, but into the same folder as your Wolfenstein data files.
3. Unzip the pk3 belonging to the mod of your choice into your ECWolf folder.
4. Either drag and drop the pk3 onto ecwolf.exe, or open the command prompt and type "ecwolf --file modname.pk3" and hit enter.

ECWolf Classics Collection
These are old, renowned mods from the golden age of Wolfenstein modding around the turn of the millennium, given a fresh coat of ECWolf paint and occasionally some minor interface and quality-of-life improvements while remaining faithful to the original designs. So far I have:


Second Encounter (Id Software/MacPlay Entertainment, 1994)
The campaign of the "Mac Family" of Wolfenstein 3D variants, ported to ECWolf based on Sam Feichter's early attempt and Andy_Nonymous' Macenstein mod. This uses PC graphics, sounds, and features like ceiling colors--it is not a conversion of Mac Wolfenstein, just of its levels. Resources from Spear of Destiny and Coffee Break were used to fill in assets not present in PC Wolfenstein.


Assassinate Hitler (Gary Ragland, 1998)
One of the first seamless level sets, made by Gary Ragland in 1998 using only a hex editor, that helped to kickstart the late '90s/early '00s Wolf3D renaissance. 20 mostly great levels from one of the earliest mapping masters. This port fixes some minor mapping bugs, removes the episode screen, adds some hastily-guesstimated par times, and generally sands off the rough hex editor edges.


Project Totengraeber (B.J. Rowan, 2000)
The Big Kahuna of the early renaissance-period mods, and my personal favorite mod of all time. Everyone knows it, everyone's played it (you have, haven't you?), now you get to play it again with widescreen, modern controls, proper HUD graphics for the extra keys, colored locked door keyholes to help you keep track of the extra keys, and none of that nonsense where the ambient sounds cut out all the other audio.


Countdown to Diaster (Gary Ragland, 2002)
My favorite of Gary Ragland's projects, Countdown to Disaster had 15 of Ragland's most ambitious and extensive level designs yet. This port cleans up the HUD, adds unique markers for the bronze and iron keys, and colored key doors to aid navigation.

Contemporary conversions
Conversions of more recent mods, using the same philosophy as the ECWolf Classics Collection, but generally even more conservative since modern mods tend to be more polished.


Wolfenstein Overdrive (Thomas Weiling, 2015)
Wolfenstein Overdrive is a huge 48-level map set by Thomas Weiling that takes everything over the top--wild psychedelic colors, huge numbers of guards, extreme difficulty. If you're looking for subtlety, look elsewhere, because Wolfenstein Overdrive is an endless sequence of eye-popping textures and hyperviolent fights. Levels 2, 4, 12, 32, and 36 are standouts.


Passage to Hollenteufel (Barry Christian, 2016)
Barry Christian's big comeback to the Wolf3D scene, Passage to Hollenteufel has 31 masterfully designed and very difficult levels in the classic Wolf3D spirit. It appears to be by far the biggest sensation in the Wolf3D community this year, and not without reason. This port uses the improved four-key status bar I created while porting Countdown to Disaster, with unique graphics for the bronze and crimson key indicators. Requires a dev build dated July 15, 2016 or later!

Odds and ends
Various mini-mods and tweaks to enhance the gameplay experience.

Silence hitwall sounds
This is a pk3 that overrides the hitwall definition in SNDINFO to silence all hitwall sounds. It should be compatible with any ECWolf mod, though it's not necessary with Operation Serpent, which includes this feature already.

Seven-digit score display
Expands the score display to seven digits. Unnecessary with any of my mods because they already do this, but nice for using with the vanilla game.

Color-coded locked doors
Colors the keyholes of locked doors according to the key required to open them. Not compatible with most level sets as it modifies the xlat lump. Supports Wolf3D, Spear, and the Lost Episodes.

I am willing to take requests to convert mods, but keep in mind that ECWolf cannot convert all possible mods, and particularly exotic or idiosyncratic features make it less likely that the mod is portable.

I cannot port any of the following:

* Temporary Insanity (relies on bugs and exploits unique to the DOS engine)
* All This and Wolf 3D (level 69 is un-portable)
* Tekkoudan
* Spear Resurrection
* End of Destiny
* Project Weltuntergang or any other mod with the motorcycle
* Trench Warfare
* Unsung
* Castle Totenkopf SDL
* Operation Eisenfaust: Origins or Legacy
* Batman vs. Bane or Batman: No Man's Land

[Barry]

Thanks for posting this and thanks again for converting Passage to Hollenteufel to ECWolf!

In terms of future conversions, I think one mod that needs it is Chemical Warfare, especially being that to my knowledge it never got an SDL conversion.

[MrWolfForever]

Add Deadly Sleep and Map Making Melee to that (also never got SDL conversion).

It would also be nice to have S2000 since you've already done AH and C2D.

[Chris]

Was the "guard angles" problem ever fixed in ECWolf?

http://diehardwolfers.areyep.com/viewtopic.php?p=98722#98722

[MrWolfForever]

If it hasn't been it should be ASAP.

Do SDL ports of Dos classics generally include the guard angles fix?

[Executor]

MrWolfForever wrote:

Add Deadly Sleep and Map Making Melee to that (also never got SDL conversion).

It would also be nice to have S2000 since you've already done AH and C2D.

Schabbs 2000's striped ceilings cannot be done in ECWolf, not without parallax skies, but I could simply replace them with a solid color since they're hideously ugly anyway.

Chris wrote:

Was the "guard angles" problem ever fixed in ECWolf?

http://diehardwolfers.areyep.com/viewtopic.php?p=98722#98722

I have no idea, I didn't even know of this Wolf4SDL bug until now. I asked Blzut3 on AIM and got this:

Blzut3 wrote:

00:41:17) Blzut3: I'd have to double check to see if it actually is any different between 320x200 and any other resolution
(00:42:00) Blzut3: but Wolf3D's sprite rotation calculation is different from Doom's and I don't intend on switching that algorithm
(00:42:26) Blzut3: both methods of calculating sprite rotations have different scenarios when they look better
(00:42:49) Blzut3: It is kind of funny though since there's some threads on Doomworld asking the opposite question

[Tricob]

MrWolfForever wrote:

Do SDL ports of Dos classics generally include the guard angles fix?

No SDL port I know of has this fix, but others should feel free to post exceptions to this.

It's generally an obscure bugfix at this point in time. But I'm hoping the fix will make its way into more SDL ports as time goes on.

[MrWolfForever]

How much does not doing the fix affect gameplay versus the original Dos gameplay?

Also for S2000, I'd say just axe the striped ceiling on Floor 9 if it's necessary. Such a tiny thing shouldn't hold up a port of a great classic.

[Chris]

@Executor and Blzut3: Thanks for that. I thought it was worse in ECWolf because it always used resf, but I managed to even see a differece in Wolf4SDL at 640x400 vs. 320x200, comparing the angle numbers of guards in E5L1 while standing in a wall to watch them move and turn. I think Ripper just missed a /scaleFactor somewhere when adding higher resolutions, maybe. Worst case scenario I guess is I can just grab the source and recompile it (which I did before to get it to run in Slackware Puppy).

[MrWolfForever]

How much does the guard angle problem in SDL potentially change the gameplay compared to pure Dos?

[Tricob]

It doesn't affect the gameplay at all. It just affects the visuals. Seeing it does kind of throw me off a bit though, and it seems I'm not the only one.

[Blzut3]

It's a purely cosmetic issue so not at all.

Edit: Tricob beat me to posting (dinner interrupted my one sentence response ). I have noticed the "issue," but I and I'm sure many others probably never experimented enough to notice any changes as the resolution changes. I personally probably would never have noticed unless the angle difference started showing guards moon walking. If it's a resolution scaling issue (haven't been able to investigate yet) then it should be easy to fix.

[Tricob]

It shows up in the DOS version, too; I've seen it myself. But it's tough to spawn if the enemies aren't "deaf guard statues" or you're cheating.

[Executor]

Added a tweak to silence hitwall sounds to the OP.

[LkMax]

Nice work as always, Executor.

Executor wrote:

I cannot port any of the following:

(...)
* Spear Resurrection
* End of Destiny
(...)

Is it because scripiting in ECWolf still can't support these mods, or is it because it would involve too much work?
Are MCS & Areyep still in the modding scene, would they be interested in the port? (I'm new to this forum so sorry if that has an obvious answer).

[Executor]

Spear Resurrection and End of Destiny both have a lot of things that ECWolf just can't do, like the Artifacts of Displacement and Invulnerability in Spear Resurrection and way too many things for me to even remember in End of Destiny. If I could convince Blzut3 to hurry up and add teleporters, I could probably do a fully playable if somewhat compromised port of Spear Resurrection, but End of Destiny is a long, long way from being doable.

I could also do ATAW3D if I simply left out level 69 but I doubt people would accept that because that's the part of the mod that everyone remembers. Without it, what's the point?

I hope someone enhances the Spear Resurrection SDL port with two-button strafe and an option to disable the mouse Y axis so I can play it using my ECWolf controls. My classic Wolf3D control skills have atrophied and it's nowhere near as fun as being able to strafe and turn at the same time without using the Alt key.

[MrWolfForever]

ATAW3D without Floor 69 just isn't itself. If anything, I think there would be more demand for you to port JUST Floor 69 as a single level (but I understand you can't do that) as opposed to porting all the other levels!

[ronwolf1705]

I think that demand would mostly come from you there's a lot more to the mod than just Floor 69.

[LkMax]

Executor wrote:

Spear Resurrection and End of Destiny both have a lot of things that ECWolf just can't do, like the Artifacts of Displacement and Invulnerability in Spear Resurrection and way too many things for me to even remember in End of Destiny. If I could convince Blzut3 to hurry up and add teleporters, I could probably do a fully playable if somewhat compromised port of Spear Resurrection, but End of Destiny is a long, long way from being doable.

I could also do ATAW3D if I simply left out level 69 but I doubt people would accept that because that's the part of the mod that everyone remembers. Without it, what's the point?

I hope someone enhances the Spear Resurrection SDL port with two-button strafe and an option to disable the mouse Y axis so I can play it using my ECWolf controls. My classic Wolf3D control skills have atrophied and it's nowhere near as fun as being able to strafe and turn at the same time without using the Alt key.

Umm, I see, thought that could be the reason.
Besides the control and other QoL stuff, the automap feature also comes in hand sometimes.

[LkMax]

Sorry for the double post, but for a little bump:
How about the Diehard Wolfers Lost Episodes Community set?
It needs to be on ECwolf so I can play it with my WIP texture set. hehe

[Executor]

I actually have a mostly complete port of it, but I started on two bonus maps and never got around to finishing them. Maybe I should just toss it out there witbout the new maps.

[AlumiuN]

Executor wrote:

I actually have a mostly complete port of it, but I started on two bonus maps and never got around to finishing them. Maybe I should just toss it out there witbout the new maps.

If you are interested in finishing them (and they don't require anything ECWolf specific) I could probably expand the WolfSDL version of the set with them.

[Executor]

Wolfenstein Overdrive by Thomas Weiling has been added to the contemporary conversions list in the OP.

[Executor]

AlumiuN wrote:

Executor wrote:

I actually have a mostly complete port of it, but I started on two bonus maps and never got around to finishing them. Maybe I should just toss it out there witbout the new maps.

If you are interested in finishing them (and they don't require anything ECWolf specific) I could probably expand the WolfSDL version of the set with them.

I am, though my planned Floor 23 does have things that would at least require code changes to fit in the Wolf4SDL version, because I'm going to have a door open and release the Devil Incarnate after you kill the robot, and there will be duplicates of Hans the Axe and Quarkblitz--Hans the Axe won't drop any key, while Prof. Quarkblitz will drop the silver key (this map has you fighting all five bosses). When it's done I'll provide you with the coordinates on map23 of any door(s) triggered by the robot's death, as well as the texture for the trigger-operated door, and the tile numbers for the trigger doors and duplicate bosses.

Also while the title of map23 is "Atlantis' Agony at June 5th 8498, 13 PM Gregorian Earthtime", the version for Wolf4SDL will just bear the title "Atlantis' Agony" because I don't think Wolf4SDL would like a title that long.

[AlumiuN]

Executor wrote:

AlumiuN wrote:

Executor wrote:

I actually have a mostly complete port of it, but I started on two bonus maps and never got around to finishing them. Maybe I should just toss it out there witbout the new maps.

If you are interested in finishing them (and they don't require anything ECWolf specific) I could probably expand the WolfSDL version of the set with them.

I am, though my planned Floor 23 does have things that would at least require code changes to fit in the Wolf4SDL version, because I'm going to have a door open and release the Devil Incarnate after you kill the robot, and there will be duplicates of Hans the Axe and Quarkblitz--Hans the Axe won't drop any key, while Prof. Quarkblitz will drop the silver key (this map has you fighting all five bosses). When it's done I'll provide you with the coordinates on map23 of any door(s) triggered by the robot's death, as well as the texture for the trigger-operated door, and the tile numbers for the trigger doors and duplicate bosses.

It's probably easier for me to add a new set of objects to accommodate this rather than have them be hard-coded; does ECWolf allow this easily?

Executor wrote:

Also while the title of map23 is "Atlantis' Agony at June 5th 8498, 13 PM Gregorian Earthtime", the version for Wolf4SDL will just bear the title "Atlantis' Agony" because I don't think Wolf4SDL would like a title that long.

Wolf4SDL would deal with it fine; I'd be lucky to find a map editor that was OK with it being that long, though.

Also I approve of the choice of name.

[AstroCreep]

Glad you're keepin this up. I ran out of ideas for conversions a long time ago lol

[Executor]

AlumiuN wrote:

Executor wrote:

AlumiuN wrote:

Executor wrote:

I actually have a mostly complete port of it, but I started on two bonus maps and never got around to finishing them. Maybe I should just toss it out there witbout the new maps.

If you are interested in finishing them (and they don't require anything ECWolf specific) I could probably expand the WolfSDL version of the set with them.

I am, though my planned Floor 23 does have things that would at least require code changes to fit in the Wolf4SDL version, because I'm going to have a door open and release the Devil Incarnate after you kill the robot, and there will be duplicates of Hans the Axe and Quarkblitz--Hans the Axe won't drop any key, while Prof. Quarkblitz will drop the silver key (this map has you fighting all five bosses). When it's done I'll provide you with the coordinates on map23 of any door(s) triggered by the robot's death, as well as the texture for the trigger-operated door, and the tile numbers for the trigger doors and duplicate bosses.

It's probably easier for me to add a new set of objects to accommodate this rather than have them be hard-coded; does ECWolf allow this easily?

I can put as many actors as I like into the game. The alternate versions of The Axe and Prof. Quarkblitz were going to get different tile numbers because ECWolf does not (yet) support per-map substitutions.

There is one thing that might be a problem--an ECWolf map with triggers has four planes, not three. Will you be able to import a map with four planes and let the editor automatically cut off plane 4?

[LkMax]

AlumiuN wrote:

I am, though my planned Floor 23 does have things that would at least require code changes to fit in the Wolf4SDL version, because I'm going to have a door open and release the Devil Incarnate after you kill the robot, and there will be duplicates of Hans the Axe and Quarkblitz--Hans the Axe won't drop any key, while Prof. Quarkblitz will drop the silver key (this map has you fighting all five bosses).

Sounds fun, I can wait longer for the ECWolf version.

[AlumiuN]

Executor wrote:

AlumiuN wrote:

Executor wrote:

AlumiuN wrote:

Executor wrote:

I actually have a mostly complete port of it, but I started on two bonus maps and never got around to finishing them. Maybe I should just toss it out there witbout the new maps.

If you are interested in finishing them (and they don't require anything ECWolf specific) I could probably expand the WolfSDL version of the set with them.

I am, though my planned Floor 23 does have things that would at least require code changes to fit in the Wolf4SDL version, because I'm going to have a door open and release the Devil Incarnate after you kill the robot, and there will be duplicates of Hans the Axe and Quarkblitz--Hans the Axe won't drop any key, while Prof. Quarkblitz will drop the silver key (this map has you fighting all five bosses). When it's done I'll provide you with the coordinates on map23 of any door(s) triggered by the robot's death, as well as the texture for the trigger-operated door, and the tile numbers for the trigger doors and duplicate bosses.

It's probably easier for me to add a new set of objects to accommodate this rather than have them be hard-coded; does ECWolf allow this easily?

I can put as many actors as I like into the game. The alternate versions of The Axe and Prof. Quarkblitz were going to get different tile numbers because ECWolf does not (yet) support per-map substitutions.

There is one thing that might be a problem--an ECWolf map with triggers has four planes, not three. Will you be able to import a map with four planes and let the editor automatically cut off plane 4?

I'll have to use WDC, but as long as you tell me where the triggers are supposed to go and what they're supposed to do it shouldn't be too hard.

[AstroCreep]

Wolfenstein Overdrive port links seem to be dead. Anybody got a copy, or any chance the link could be fixed?