Dumb wad error?

[volumetricsteve]

I'm trying to play some well-loved megawads, first on my list is "Swift Death"

I got mine from the texas server here:
https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/megawads/swideath


I fire up zdoom, tried all the different compatibility modes, and with each I get the same error:

'THINGS' not found in
]


Seems like I'm the only one with the problem, so I'm thinking I'm the moron, but this moron doesn't know how to troubleshoot that particular error.

Help?

Edit:

Mr.Google didn't have a lot to offer me on this one, tried and failed.

[ArmouredBlood]

What version of zdoom are you using? Perhaps try prboom instead, though zdoom should be working fine.

[GreyGhost]

Does ZDoom know where to find your IWADs?

[scifista42]

Did you install/unzip ZDoom and/or swideath.wad into Program Files? Try putting it somewhere else, some operating systems restrict read/write access to files in Program Files, and some Doom sourceports can't deal with it.

Also, install/unzip each of your Doom sourceports into its own unique directory, not into an universal directory for all of them where all their binaries can clash with each other - I hope this is obvious, but there have been people who had done it anyway.

[volumetricsteve]

@ArmouredBlood -
version 2.7.1
seems to work instantly in prboom, wtf?


@GreyGhost -
I'd think so, the zdoom executable is in the same directory with my wads - it has no problem finding doom 1 or 2.


@scifista42 -
Negative. No program files here, each doom engine I've tinkered with goes into c:\zdoom or c:\prboom or whatever, and each directory gets its own clean copy of the WADs.


Thanks guys for your help

[GreyGhost]

volumetricsteve said:

version 2.7.1

Try a recent development build and see if that's better behaved. Alternately, direct the error messages and related info to a logfile and post that to the thread. That might give us some clues as to what's going on.

each directory gets its own clean copy of the WADs.

I prefer to set environment variables.

[volumetricsteve]

I'll give that a shot...in the mean time I've got it working in prbroom which is *almost* perfect exact that prboom doesn't seem to allow for a cross-hair, which REALLY dicks with my ability to aim.

I was barely able to beat the first level of swift death and boy, that dude isn't joking. I can see being able to handily beat plutonia experiment doesn't mean a damn thing here. Holy crap. I am impressed with the lunacy that must have fueled this wad.

[Gez]

Error message seem to be about a malformed map (missing THINGS lump). I've downloaded swideath from the same server you said and can't replicate the issue.

[scifista42]

Have you successfully launched and played other custom wads than swideath.wad in ZDoom? If multiple of them didn't work, try reinstalling your ZDoom. How exactly are you trying to launch the wad(s) in ZDoom anyway?

[volumetricsteve]

@Gez -
I thought it seemed like something like that....weird.

@scifista42 -
When I open zdoom, I pull down the console and do "open swideath.wad", that's how I'd been testing my own maps...which seemed to be ok. How else is this generally done?

[scifista42]

I know nothing about the method you've used and if it's correct or not, anyway here are correct alternatives:

Drag and drop swideath.wad onto ZDoom's executable.
or
Launch ZDoom executable from command like with "-file swideath.wad" as a parameter.
or
Associate .wad file suffix with ZDoom, so that all files with .wad suffix will be correctly opened in ZDoom upon double click anywhere on your computer.
or
Download and use a wad launcher program, for example ZDL.

[volumetricsteve]

o_o ok, dragging and dropping fixed it. what the hell?

"open" must be doing something weird at the command line

My next question is...if you drag and drop, how do you load multiple wads? For instance, I'd like to get that doom sprite fix wad working in conjunction with swift death. Any ideas for that?

[scifista42]

Can't you select multiple files and drag-and-drop them all at once? I don't know, I don't drag and drop.

Also don't confuse ZDoom's ingame console with the command line.

[Da Werecat]

volumetricsteve said:

I'll give that a shot...in the mean time I've got it working in prbroom which is *almost* perfect exact that prboom doesn't seem to allow for a cross-hair, which REALLY dicks with my ability to aim.

Development builds have an option to enable crosshair, even freelook is supported in software mode. An option for vertical aiming was also implemented recently (normally it's disabled even when using freelook).

volumetricsteve said:

My next question is...if you drag and drop, how do you load multiple wads?

Highlight multiple wads, then drag-and-drop them. I think you should highlight the wad you want to be loaded before others (and then overwritten) first, but highlighting is a little wonky in Windows, and I don't remember all specifics.

[volumetricsteve]

Ah well, I have 99% of my problem worked out in zdoom.

I configured the zdoom.ini file to load the sprite cleanup project when it it loads doom 2, loading seems fine.

I can jump in an out of swift death with ease now....but, please see the image below:

http://imgur.com/XAvFTWJ


now my keys are Africa-shaped, other than that...everything seems perfect o_o

[gaspe]

volumetricsteve said:

now my keys are Africa-shaped, other than that...everything seems perfect o_o

That's fine, it's the icon that appears when you have both the skull and the card key of the same color.

[volumetricsteve]

gaspe said:

That's fine, it's the icon that appears when you have both the skull and the card key of the same color.

huh....I've never seen that before...or I assumed it was a glitch and forgot about it. Thanks for the help