DOSBox Won't Merge IWAD With WAD

[NiTROACTiVE]

Hey guys I have a problem I had for some time that I would like help with. I can't seem to merge IWADs with WADs. For example, when I try to merge the IWAD DOOM2.WAD with AV.WAD using the EXE from the Alien Vendetta ZIP file it seems like nothing happens because I get the original Doom 2 title screen along with the original Doom levels. What could be wrong with DOSBox? Could it be my computer or what? My version of DOSBox is 0.74.

[GreyGhost]

AV.exe doesn't merge wads, it's just Doom2.exe patched with the contents of AV.deh. Assuming you've unpacked AV.zip into your Doom2 folder, type av.exe -file av.wad at DOSBox's command prompt and hit Enter.

[myk]

Merging is what people did at the very beginning when they added sprites and flats because they didn't know better. The contents of the PWAD were copied over the originals in a copy of the IWAD. Later, DeuSF and DeuTex started appending only what was necessary to the PWAD. Appending is never necessary unless the PWAD has new sprites (or new flats, but it's better to just make sure the flat markers are FF_START and F_END, where you won't need to append). In addition to vanilla's file adding command, Chocolate Doom has its own new merge command that imitates DeuSF merging in real time.

[NiTROACTiVE]

GreyGhost said:

AV.exe doesn't merge wads, it's just Doom2.exe patched with the contents of AV.deh. Assuming you've unpacked AV.zip into your Doom2 folder, type av.exe -file av.wad at DOSBox's command prompt and hit Enter.

I see what you mean. I tried out that command and it got it to play the WAD the right way.

Also, remember that ZIP file you sent me with all those stuff to install my WAD? Well I got it to work this time. I'm not sure why it would not work before but it might have been some sort of glitch.

[GreyGhost]

Don't know how they managed to sneak a hacked executable into the archive, but that's all it is. A copy of Dehacked.exe and a batch file to patch/restore Doom2.exe and launch the game should have sufficed.

I remember, pleased to hear it's behaving for you now. I'm pretty sure it was our old friend the M_DOOM lump causing that, so it'll probably pay to add an error check or two to the batch file while the wad's in development.

[myk]

GreyGhost said:
A copy of Dehacked.exe and a batch file to patch/restore Doom2.exe and launch the game should have sufficed.

DeHackEd can't modify par times. Some kind of binary patcher would have done the job, but when AV came out and before that, including a DeHackEd patch for plain vanilla PWADs wasn't as common as it is today, mostly because designers felt DeHackEd was already a complication versus the minor and optional changes it made. Otherwise we would have seen included DeHackEd level name patches in classic releases like HR and MM.