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FrontEnd - Miscellaneous window

Misc Doom screen
Click on the icons to jump to their descriptions.

Free space

The 'free space' box allows you to entry the amount of memory you wish to leave, once Doom has initialise. Doom will grab the rest of the memory.

Fix palette problems

Some machines were known to have problems with their palette. Turning this option on forces the use of legal RISC OS calls to set the palette up.

Don't set filetype

When a WAD file is dragged to the FrontEnd, its type is usually set to the correct DoomWAD type. Under certain circumstances, this can result in a delay whilst this change is conveyed to the filing system (if it is remote) or directory displays are updated. Selecting this option stops this happening.

Fast startup

When the game is initialising, it remains in the desktop and continues to allow other applications to run. This means that initialisation is slower than it might be, but does allow other applications to continue running. Enabling this option will force the game to take over the machine and so initialise more quickly.

Cached startup

Selecting this option will cause Doom to store the information it needs on startup in a temporary file. Usually this will make initialisation about four times faster, but at the expense of approximately 400k per IWAD/PWAD combination. The cached files can be deleted by choosing the 'Clean cache' option from the main menu.

Escape up menus

The game menus are usually toggled on and off using the Escape key, but it was found that some people prefered Escape to backtrack up the menu structure, in a similar way to Backspace. Selecting the 'Escape up menus' will make Escape act like the Backspace key.

Merge ungrouped

Certain PWADs do not conform exactly to the specifications. Technically, they contain lumps which are not between marker groups, and this means that utilities such as DeuSF were previously needed to use them. By selecting 'Merge ungrouped', these PWADs should work correctly. Because this merge takes time, it is recommended that you only turn it on when you really need to. PWADs which require this switch will usually appear to have walls from the original game, rather than those from the PWAD.

Ultimate fix

Some PWADs that were designed for the registered version of DOOM will not work correctly on the commercial version of DOOM (also known as Ultimate DOOM). Technically this is because the PNAMES lump has been included in the PWAD, but the TEXTURES2 lump has not. Turning on the 'Ultimate fix' will fix these problems. PWADs which require this switch will appear to have horizontal stripes along walls, with a strange sprites in their top left corner. This is sometimes known as the 'tutti-frutti' effect.

No startup warnings

Seriously broken PWADs may give you a warning as they initialise. These warnings may become annoying if you know the PWAD to work correctly, so selecting this option will disable the warnings and all PWADs will start without messages.

Kill messages

If you are just starting out with Doom, you may find it useful to learn what all the monsters are called. Selecting this option will tell you whenever a monster (or a player) has been killed. This is quite interesting when you play co-operative multiplayer games as you can tell who has killed what - and more importantly, who killed you!

Secret messages

On some levels it is very difficult to tell when you have actually reached a secret area. Because of this it was possible to end a level and discover that you had completed half the secrets without even realising. Selecting this option will tell you when you enter a secret area.

Secret count

It is useful to know how many secrets have been completed on a level. Selecting this option will make this available on the automap display.

Monster count

You can select this option to provide a similar display to 'Secret count', but for the number of monsters remaining.

No scaled status bar

Normally Doom will scale the status bar such that it fills the same proportion of the screen as it would have at 320x200. Selecting this option will make the status bar the same physical size as it was at 320x200, and thus allow you to see much more of the display.

Open text window

When you play the game in the desktop, there is a scrolling text window which displays details of what has happened in the game as a suppliment to the display at the top of the main game. By selecting this option, the text display window will be opened on startup, giving more information on what is happening on startup.

Dim in menus

Normally menus will be displayed on top of the normal game display. Selecting this option will cause the background to be 'dimmed' when a menu is displayed.

A5000 zone

On an A5000 you can choose a different area for the 'Zone' to live in (because these machines do not have Dynamic Areas). Under almost all circumstances you will want to use the Sprite area.

Others

You may enter any other switches you care to into the 'Others' box, but remember that invalid switches are silently ignored.

Ok

When you have completed the changes to the miscellaneous options you should click the 'Ok' button to confirm them.

Cancel

Clicking the Cancel button will discard any changes you may have made. Free space to leave when starting Fix some palette problems Don't set the filetype of PWADs Don't multitask during start up. Cache data on start up so that next time is faster. Display messages about things killed. Display count of monsters on map screen. Don't scale the status bar to be proportional to resolution. Dim the background when menus are open. Escape moves up the menu structure (like delete) Merge lumps from PWADs from outside the group bounds. Apply a minor texture fix for Ultimate Doom based PWADs. Don't ever ask questions on starting a PWAD. Display messages about secrets. Display the number of secrets found on the map screen. Open the text display window immediately on startup. Allows selection of the area to use for memory on an A5000. Other options not described here. Cancel changes. Confirm changes.

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This page is maintained by Justin Fletcher (gerph@gerph.org).
Last modified on 19 January, 2013.
This site is copyright . The accuracy of anything on this site is entirely limited by his belief system and memory at the time of publication - neither of which should be relied on. The opinions are entirely his, except where he's changed his mind. Quotations are copyright their respective authors and whereever possible attributions have been included.