UMAPINFO map names?

[ChopBlock223]

When defining a set of levels in UMAPINFO, can the actual level files be named whatever, like E1M1, or E2L10, or must they conform to Doom 2 naming, such as MAP03 and MAP29? Is this something which will differ between ports?

 

This isn't exactly a very significant matter, but I do think it would be neat to use different name conventions.

[tomas7777]

According to the UMAPINFO specification:

 

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The map names are limited to the format of the currently loaded IWAD, i.e. Doom 2 only supports MAPxx entries and Doom 1 only ExMy entries. The numbers x and y can exceed their original limits, though, so MAP50, E5M6 or even MAP100 or E1M10 are valid map names for their respective game.

 

So this means you should use ExMy for Doom 1 PWADs and MAPxx for Doom 2 PWADs. Also keep in mind that, depending on the source port, it may not be possible to IDCLEV or warp to some maps outside the standard range (E1M1-E4M9 or MAP01-MAP32); you can define MAP100, but then because "100" is 3 digits instead of 2, IDCLEV will go to MAP10 as soon as you type the first 2 digits.

 

9 hours ago, ChopBlock223 said:

Is this something which will differ between ports?

 

From a quick test I did here, it seems that GZDoom supports other names even in UMAPINFO, which makes sense since it also supports them using the port's own MAPINFO. PrBoom+ and Woof both crashed at startup when I added a map named "NOPE" to UMAPINFO. In general, a port that implements UMAPINFO doesn't necessarily support unusual map lump names, but I suppose it may work on advanced ports (relying on that breaks some of UMAPINFO's cross-port compatibility, though).

[tomas7777]

7 hours ago, ChopBlock223 said:

Wonder if this is something which could be proposed as an update to the format somehow, or if I'll be told to take a hike for suggesting trivial crap?

 

From what I can tell, the main reason why this isn't supported yet is because of implementation difficulties, namely on PrBoom+, the port to introduce the standard:

 

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This limit comes from the game using numeric variables 'gameepisode' and 'gamemap' to identify a level. It may later be decided to lift the naming restriction but this cannot be done without some extensive refactoring which simply exceeds the scope of the initial implementation.

 

It could perhaps be proposed, I guess it's more about whether port developers are willing to implement it at the moment or not...

[ChopBlock223]

Bah, seems a needless distinction, but not a hindrance at any rate. Wonder if this is something which could be proposed as an update to the format somehow, or if I'll be told to take a hike for suggesting trivial crap?

 

I guess I can improvise by plain just using the first digit as an episode denominator, and the second as the map number, I doubt I'm reaching more than 10, if that, per episode.