How to edit Iwads?

[Vajjer'sDoomThings]

Recently i've been wanting to make a thing that just changes the textures and levels and stuff in Doom 2, but whenever I try to do it in slade, it tells me I cant save Iwads. Is there any other programs I could use to fix this issue? 

[Nihlith]

You don't want to do that. Technically you can change your settings in Slade to edit your Iwad but it'll ruin it's compatibility with other wads. There are tons of ways to replace things in the Iwad, namely loading it with pwads that replace things in the game. Way better. 

[Kappes Buur]

Technically you could convert an IWAD into a PWAD for your own use by simply replacing the I with a P in a hex editor and Save As ... to, for example, DOOM2_PWAD.wad. That way you would preserve your original IWAD.

 

There were many pwads made, in the early days of DOOM, by mappers just starting out with the then editors, by modifying sectors in some way or another, or modifying the monster count or whatever. But thoses maps simply reveal that whoever does this nowadays lacks imagination, and besides it is illegal to publish such a map.

 

If you cannot be bothered to make your own pwad, but want to, nevertheless, gain experience to use a modern map editor, a much better alternative would be to have OBSIDIAN generate a single map or map set and modify that to your heart's content without legal ramifications.