Using Custom Textures

Q. How can I add more textures to DooM2? I want to put the hell-sky from Ultimate DooM into DooM2.

A. You will need a resource editing utility such as XWE or Deep Sea. You can use the utility to insert the new graphic (known as a patch) into your PWAD (your own wad file, not the DooM.wad or DooM2.wad files). If you replace an existing patch with a patch of the same size (dimensions) then you will not need to edit the TEXTURE lump. As you are planning to replace one DooM sky with another one, you will not need to edit the TEXTURE lump.

IMPORTANT: Do not edit your IWAD (doom.wad or doom2.wad). Instead, always work with a PWAD. Better yet, if you don't have the original install disks or CD, make a copy of the IWAD before messing with stuff in an editor.

Here are the steps for inserting a replacement graphic into a new PWAD using XWE:

1. In DooM2, RSKY1 is the name of the patch for the first sky, RSKY2 is the name for the second, and RSKY3 is the name for the third. Using Windows Explorer (or the relevant file browser of your operating system) rename your DooM sky (the Hell sky from Ultimate DooM is named SKY3) to whichever sky you want to replace in DooM2. E.g., if you want your new sky to be in the first part of DooM2 (i.e., Maps 01-12) you will rename SKY3 to RSKY1.
2. In XWE, start by bringing down the File menu and selecting New.
3. At the prompt, provide the file name and location to save to.
4. Bring down the Entry menu and select Load.
5. Browse to the location of your sky graphic and select the graphic file.
6. [Once the graphic is in your PWAD you can rename it as many times as you wish. Simply select the entry (e.g., RSKY1), bring down the Entry menu, and select Rename. Then rename the entry to, say, RSKY2.]
7. Close or Exit XWE.

A. This is actually very simple in XWE. Just follow these steps:

1. In XWE, start by bringing down the File menu and selecting New.
2. At the prompt, provide the file name and location to save to.
3. The Filter Toolbar has several entries; double-click on the PATCHES button. NOTE: If you cannot see a filter bar, select View from your Menu Bar and check the Filter Toolbar entry. [If, for some reason you remove your Menu Bar press the F11 key to retrieve the Menu Bar.]
4. Double-clicking the Patches button will bring up an 'Open' dialog box, will allow you to browse to the folder that has your texture graphics, and let you import all your textures (as long as they are in one folder).
5. Select your graphic files, then press the 'Open' button.
6. XWE creates the PP_START/PP_END entries, creates PNAMES and TEXTURE1 lumps from the IWAD (e.g. DooM2.wad), and adds them to the PNAMES and TEXTURE1 lumps.
7. Close or Exit XWE.

A. There are two ways to do this. Each method has advantages and disadvantages.

METHOD 1

1. Open XWE and open the wad from which you wish to copy your textures.
2. Select the patches (they will be between P_START and P_END markers) you want to copy.
3. From the Menu bar select Entry, then Save As.
4. An Export window pops up. Browse to the appropriate folder into which you wish to save the patches, and press Save [In the File name: field you will see "filename will be ignored". This is because you have multiple selections that you want to save.]
5. Close the first wad and open the wad into which you wish to copy your patches. Go to the last entry in your existing list of patch names (i.e., the one right before the P_END entry)
6. From the Menu bar select Entry, then Load. This will load all your patches into your wad in the correct location.
7. You will need to edit the TEXTURE1 lump to insert your new patches into textures. [Remember that what you insert into a wad are patches from which you must create textures.] I am not sure if there is a way to merge a texture lump from one wad into a texture lump from another wad, but this would be the easiest way to automatically get your new textures. Perhaps you could save the TEXTURE1 lump from your second wad as TEXTURE2 and import it into your first wad. I don't know if this will work, so ask around.]
ALTERNATIVE: If you want to automatically create textures for all your patches, instead of Step 6 from the list above, double-click on the Patches button on the Filter Toolbar at the bottom of your screen in XWE. Browse to the folder into which you had saved your patches, make your selection, and press Open. All your patches will be loaded into your wad, and the TEXTURE1 lump will be modified to include textures for all patches. You will still need to go into the TEXTURE1 lump and duplicate multi-patch textures that appear in your second wad.

1. Open XWE and open the wad from which you wish to copy your textures.
2. Select the patches you want to copy.
3. From the Menu bar select Edit, then Copy.
4. Close the first wad and open the wad into which you wish to copy your patches. Go to the last entry in your existing list of patch names.
5. From the Menu bar select Edit, then Paste. This will load all your patches into your wad in the correct location.
6. You will need to edit the TEXTURE1 lump to insert your new patches into textures.