71 lines
3.4 KiB
Markdown
71 lines
3.4 KiB
Markdown
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# DOS Map Editor for ACK-3D
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Source code and assets for the DOS map editor contained on the CD that was included on the book
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"Amazing 3-D Games Adventure Set" by Lary Myers, published in 1995. The source code has been
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fixed up a little bit and sources/assets for a second, older version of this map editor have been
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removed. A Watcom `makefile` has been added, replacing a build script for Lary's custom `MK.EXE`
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build tool.
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Unlike the version that shipped on the book's CD, this version has been updated so that it does
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not assume that files are all located in the current working directory. Instead the following is
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what happens for path handling:
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* The `medit.dtf` file required by the map editor is assumed to be located in the same directory as `MAPEDIT.EXE`
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* Files specified by the map editor description file are assumed to be located in the same directory as that description file.
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These changes make it possible to do things like place `MAPEDIT.EXE` and `MEDIT.DTF` somewhere on
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your PATH instead of needing to copy them around to all of your project asset directories.
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## Requirements
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To build you will need Watcom C++ and Borland TASM. I used Watcom C++ 10.0a and Borland TASM 4.0,
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but you should be able to build with newer versions (maybe even _slightly_ older versions too).
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You must build `ACKLIB.LIB` prior to building this project. Please check the `/ack_lib` directory
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at the root of this repository first.
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Because the DOS map editor requires it's own `medit.dtf` resource file, you must also build the
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`BPIC.EXE` tool prior to building this project, as the included `makefile` will attempt to build
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this resource file as part of a normal build. Please check the `/bpic` directory at the root of
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this repository first.
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## Building
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Within this directory, run
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```
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> wmake
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```
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This will build using the included `makefile` using a debug build settings.
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To build using a release configuration:
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```
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> wmake target_config=release
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```
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In either case, you should get an output artifact `MAPEDIT.EXE` on successful build.
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## How to Run
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To run the map editor, you must provide it with a text map description file or "configuration file"
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as it is referred to in the book. This file specifies what `.MAP` file to load, in addition to
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what bitmaps to load, what objects are available for placement and a bunch of other things. These
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are very similar to the `.INF` files used by ACK-3D resource files (e.g. `pics.dtf`) but do **NOT**
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confuse the two! They are not the same thing!
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This map editor does **NOT** read ACK-3D resource files like `pics.dtf`. It is only capable of
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producing `.MAP` files that are to be included in resource files. This is very much unlike the
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Windows version of the map editor that was included on the book's CD (which is not included in this
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repository).
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Please read the last section of Chapter 15 in the book for more information on using the DOS map
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editor and what needs to go in configuration files. Unfortunately, the book's description of
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configuration files is very light (only a single page), so you will also want to refer to the
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`/fdemo/assets/fdemo.l01`, `/mall/assets/mall.l01` and `/example/assets/example.med` configuration
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files found in this repository as examples to help you write your own.
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