DOOM 2 - WAD files

[Pushwall]

This topic will be a list of Mod WAD files (PWADS) that work with Doom 2 and how to do it. Right now there are two ways to run Doom 2 on your Zodiac. You can either purchase Doom 2 from Tapwave or download the ZDoomZ emulator which can run both Doom and Doom 2 (you either need the shareware or registered PC version of Doom or the registered PC version of Doom 2). This topic at this time will mainly deal with the Doom 2 Mods that are compatible with the Tapwave version of Doom 2 and how to get them to run. However, the very last section of this topic has a brief introductory to ZDoomZ and how to run the Doom 2 Mods. If you are only concerned about ZDoomZ, then go to the bottom of this topic now and skip this middle section.

When you want to run a Doom 2 Mod using Tapwave's Doom 2, you've got to rename your original DOOM2.WAD file to something else, and then rename the "workable merged Doom 2 mod WAD file" to DOOM2.WAD each time you want to use it. (Instructions on how to get the workable merged Doom 2 mod WAD file are shown below.) That's how it works for the downloadable version of Doom 2 that you buy off of Tapwave's website. It is a bit more complicated if you want to run these Mods with the retail version of Doom2 that physically comes on an MMC card. But for everyone who has asked the question.....YES, you can run these Mods with the Doom 2 version that comes on an MMC card!!! (See the special section below on how to do this.)

!!IMPORTANT INTRODUCTORY INFO!!:

Here is an updated list of WAD files that work with Tapwave's Doom2. Many of these were fully tested by Alucard69 over at ZodiacGamer and I include his comments here (denoted with '#"); all others by me (denoted with '+'). Thank you Alucard69 for all your time and hard work testing these out. If you want to read Alucard69’s thread over at ZodiacGamer, go here. There are lots of good comments by Alucard69 and Drumaster on Doom2 WADs.

Important!!----> To get these WAD files to work with Tapwave’s Doom2, you have to merge them with the DOOM2.WAD by using a WAD file merging utility like WinTex. (Please note: To get this version of WinTex to run, you will also need the files vbrun300.dll and threed.vbx if you don't already have them.) A HUGE thank you to Drumaster for passing along the info on how to do this (and for your great Mods!). Without your help, we'd still just be playing plain vanilla Doom 2!

Can't get WinTex to work for you? There are a couple of other merge utilities you can use. Patcher is very good at merging WAD files (among other things). Patcher does not have a GUI interface so you have to type in its commands using a DOS command line, but once you get used to the syntax it is very easy to use. Another utility, XWE (eXtendable Wad Editor), is not only a WAD editor but has a merge function too. Thanks enterman for the tip! I've tested both these utilities and the results vary on successful merging of the WAD files on the list into the DOOM2.WAD. You just have to test each merge utility and use what is best for you. My personal favorite is Patcher (I like it even better than WinTex for file merging) since it seems to create merged DOOM2.WAD files that are quite a bit smaller than the ones created with WinTex or XWE. Instructions on how to use Patcher are in a separate section below.

HERE'S THE MOD LIST:

**Excellent Mods by Drumaster:
Please note--the menus and status bar for these Mods were designed for the hi-res GP32 version, so the menus and status bar may look a little off when used with the lo-res Doom 2 version for the Zodiac. But these Mods are VERY fun and playable!
+ Doom 64 - 25 new levels with new graphics and sounds. I haven't had a chance to play much of this one yet, but it does look very cool! BTW, this one is based on the original Doom 64 Mod that right now doesn't work with the Zodiac's version of Doom 2.
+ Duke Nukem GP - excellent one-level Mod; avoid the inside theatre area with the seating...this area can cause an error; otherwise the level plays great, and you can play the other Doom 2 levels with Duke characters, weapons, and sounds.
+ Heretic - 16 new levels with Heretic-style graphics and sounds. Nice! This one is based on the original Herian Mod listed below.
+ Quake 2 - 10 new levels with Quake-style graphics plus new sounds. This one is based on the original Quake Doom Mod listed below.
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**Other Mod Files:
# Aliens Total Conversion
# Alien Vendetta - 32 new levels with nice new architecture.
+ Army of Darkness - first level is sorta boring with very little enemies; a write-up on this MOD says the other levels have better action.
# Batman Doom - 32 new levels with new sounds, music, graphics, and enemies!
# Biowar - also called "Operation BIOWAR"; 19 new levels with new sounds, graphics, and music.
+ Blake Stone - graphics look similar to the old Apogee game.
# Blood Runners
+ Descent into Hell - music does not work from normal WAD or from music add-on WAD.
# Doom2 to the Extreme
+ Doom2 to the Extreme Gold Add-On
# Doom Nemesis
+ Doom PA - known also as "PA High"; this one sometimes crashes at the start of the level near the entry doors to the school, but other times you can play without a problem...use at your own risk!
# Dragon Ball Z – I’ll try to find a link to this later.
+ Duum 2 Super - very strange cartoony characters in this one!
# Earth - 10 new levels.
+ Eternal I, II, & III - 32 new levels with new graphics and sounds.
+ Fallout - changes in graphics only (very nice!), no new levels.
+ Fistful of Doom - great graphics and sounds, you'd swear you were in the Wild West!
# Goldeneye - see comments by Alucard69 at the bottom of this list on how to get this to work.
+ Hellraiser - this total conversion (30 replacement levels) has new graphics, weapons, sounds and music; but the graphics are VERY pixelated and this makes it not fun to play IMO; download the "Doom 95 Full Version".
+ Herian - 32 new levels with new sounds, graphics, and monsters. This one has nice Hexen-style graphics. (Drumaster has an alternate version of this Mod listed above.)
+ Hexenheretic - great graphics and surprises in this one; I keep getting beat on the first level so I can't say whether there is more than one level.
# Icarus - 32 new levels, with new graphics and music.
# Insanity
# Insanity 2
# Memento Mori
# Memento Mori 2
# Mordeth - Hexen-style 6-level add-on, with new sounds, music, graphics, and monsters.
# Mortal Kombat: Subzero Mod: gots some kool music!
# New Breed - actually plays but you have to use cheat idclip to get through things you would have to jump over.
# Obituary - 19 new levels with new sounds, graphics, and 3 new enemies.
# Osiris - Cool mod that has a lot of new sound effects and level designs. kick ass!
+ Otakon - works for the most part; you play as a female warrior, and her head is sometimes on display at bottom and sometimes normal Doom marine head displays; gameplay is tough since it requires very good movement (or maybe I just suck!); graphics and sounds are nice.
# Perdition's Gate - new special effects and detailed, difficult levels.
# QuakeDoom - really nice Mod with new Quake graphics, sounds, and enemies. (Drumaster has an alternate version of this Mod listed above.)
# Raven - new add-on levels.
# Requiem - 32 new levels with new music and textures.
+ Silly War - changes in graphics and sounds only, no new levels.
+ Sirens - only the graphics WAD works, the levels WAD does not; so now you can play through the Doom2 levels with naked Sirens attacking you!
# Star Trek - Cool Mod that uses mission impossible music.j
+ The Talosian Incident - 20 new levels with new music and graphics.
+ Tick Doom - changes in graphics and sounds only, no new levels.
# Twilight Warrior - it works but doesn't work, some of the weapons are kinda messed up, like the sniper looking weapon shoots like the BFG 9000 from Doom 2, but it fast paced and fun also get ready to use the idclip cheat here also.
# Wolfendoom - LOTS of Wolfensten episodes; the ones tested so far that work are Original, Astrostein 1, Astrostein 2, Nocturnal Missions, and Spear of Destiny.
# Zombie Mod - Total Conversion is fun, but hard.

Alucard69 says this about getting Goldeneye to work: "On Goldeneye you need to get the pack that has the support for all launchers and unzip them in there correct folders and now all you need is the wad merged from folder ogold64 and lev wad from ge64levs. Try merging those with your Z Doom 2 wad and tell me what you got because it is coming out to be like 17MB? well try that and tell me if the enemies sound different, the maps design and textures are from goldeneye 64 ok!"

!!Yes you can cheat!! And Alucard69 found how to get into the cheat mode console:
you press the joystick in (like a button) and all the face buttons red,blue,yellow, green at the same time and bam a keyboard pops up. The codes I have tried that I know work are
God Mode: IDDQD
Walk Trough walls: IDCLIP
All weapons and items, keys: IDKFA
Go to specific level: IDCLEV(and the # of level you want to go to in that episode)
Go to Wolfenstein secret level: IDCLEV32

How to run these Mods with MMC card version of Doom 2:
There are two ways you can do this. I have tested both methods and they both worked fine for me. You can either run a copy of Doom 2 from internal memory (if you've got a Zodiac 2 with lots of extra internal memory), or you can run a copy of Doom 2 from another SD card. In either case, you have to replace the original DOOM2.WAD file with one of the newly created Mod files above that has been merged and named to DOOM2.WAD. BTW, you will need a good file manager utility to follow these instructions, such as FileZ, FileMan, Uni Commander, MegaCom, etc.

From internal memory.....
1) Copy the Doom_II.prc file from the Palm/Launcher directory of your MMC card to the internal RAM of your Zodiac (this is where all your normal Zodiac programs/files are located such as Address Book, To Do List, Inkstorm, etc.).
2) Create a PALM/Programs/Doom-Doom directory on your internal memory card (there should already be a DCIM and PALM directory created there).
3) Copy all the files from the Palm/Programs/Doom-Doom directory on your MMC card to the same directory on your internal memory card (which you created in Step 2 above).
4) Replace the DOOM2.WAD file that is in the PALM/Programs/Doom-Doom directory on your internal memory card with one of the newly created Mod files from the list above that has been merged and named to DOOM2.WAD.
5) Run Doom 2 by executing the Doom_II.prc that's in internal memory. This should be the Doom 2 icon that's in the Games category of your Zodiac menu NOT the one that's on the Doom 2 MMC card. Important note: Be sure that the Doom 2 MMC card is also in your Zodiac for authentication or Doom 2 won't run.

From another SD card.....
1) Create a PALM/Launcher directory on your SD card.
2) Copy the Doom_II.prc file from the Palm/Launcher directory of your MMC card to the PALM/Launcher directory of your SD card.
3) Create a PALM/Programs/Doom-Doom directory on your SD card.
4) Copy all the files from the Palm/Programs/Doom-Doom directory on your MMC card to the same directory on your SD card (which you created in Step 3 above).
5) Replace the DOOM2.WAD file that is in the PALM/Programs/Doom-Doom directory of your SD card with one of the newly created Mod files from the list above that has been merged and named to DOOM2.WAD.
6) Run Doom 2 by executing the Doom_II.prc that's on your SD card. This should be the Doom 2 icon that's in the SD card category of your Zodiac menu NOT the one that's on the Doom 2 MMC card. Important note: Be sure that the Doom 2 MMC card is also in your Zodiac for authentication or Doom 2 won't run.

Doom 2 should now run using the Mod file. Easy, huh?!!!

PATCHER - How to use to merge WAD files:
Yes, there's another program to merge WAD files I found that works but it doesn't have a GUI interface. You have to use a DOS command line to make it work. It's called Patcher and you can find it on this page. The resulting merged WAD files are much smaller than those created using the WinTex utility. Here's some brief instructions on how I got it to work:

1) Unzip the Patcher files to an empty directory.
2) Install the Patcher utility to another empty subdirectory (under the directory with the unzipped Patcher files....for my convenience I called the subdirectory MERGEDIR). I did this with the command: INSTALL MERGEDIR
3) Copy the PWAD file(s) and original DOOM2.WAD file to the MERGEDIR directory.
4) Change to the MERGEDIR directory.
5) Issue the Patcher MER command to merge a PWAD file into the DOOM2.WAD file (read the MER.TXT file for syntax and parameters). Here's the example of the command I used to merge the HEXENHER.WAD file into the DOOM2.WAD file:
PATCHER MER DOOM2.WAD HEXENHER.WAD DOOM2B.WAD
6) The DOOM2B.WAD file is the final merged WAD file. Rename this file to DOOM2.WAD and copy it onto your Zodiac to use with Doom 2.

ZDOOMZ - HOW TO RUN DOOM 2 MODS USING THIS EXCELLENT EMULATOR:
ZDoomZ is an excellent emulator by Yoyo that runs both the PC versions of Doom and Doom 2 along with the Mod files in hi-res mode. Instructions on how to install it are at Yoyo's website, or you can download the easy install version by Nerys. There are installation instructions for the easy install version by GreekGod in this thread.

Unlike the procedure for getting mods to work with the Tapwave version of Doom 2 (mentioned above), with ZDoomZ you don't always have to merge the Mods with the DOOM2.WAD or DOOM.WAD file if there is ONLY one PWAD (Mod) file. For example, say you have a Doom 2 Mod that has a file called ETERNAL.WAD. Put the ETERNAL.WAD in the ZDoomZ subdirectory. Then when you run ZDoomZ, make sure the PWAD Active box is checked, then select DOOM2 as the IWAD file and select ETERNAL as the PWAD file, and run the launcher. Very slick and easy!

If your Mod has multiple WAD files, then merge them into one file using the Patcher utility (instructions on how to use the utility are shown above). Once you have one merged PWAD file, then you can easily select and run it with ZDoomZ.

A note of caution however....I have found that sometimes for the Mod to work with ZDoomZ that the merged PWAD file does need to be merged with the DOOM2.WAD file (or DOOM.WAD file) for the PWAD file to run with ZDoomZ. You just have to test the Mod out and see whether you need that final merge step or not.

I have tested several Mods listed above with ZDoomZ and so far they all seem to work except GoldenEye. I suspect that more Mods are compatible with ZDoomZ than with Tapwave's Doom 2, since I have gotten a couple Mods to run with ZDoomZ that I couldn't get to run with Tapwave's Doom 2. Plus you can run the Mods in hi-res mode which you can't do with Tapwave's Doom 2. I imagine another list will have to be made with the Mods that are compatible with ZDoomZ. For now, try the Mods listed above with ZDoomZ or any others that you might find on the Internet. Please let me know of any incompatibilities with ZDoomZ or Tapwave's Doom 2.

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More updates/corrections as I get them. Thanks again, Alucard69 & Drumaster!!

[David]

Pushwall,

Have you played with these long enough to determine if they are actually played of the SD card or copied to your RAM in order to run the game?
_________________
"If your Bible is falling to pieces, your life probably isn't..."

[Pushwall]

On my Zodiac2, I've been testing these WADS to run off my SD card. I haven't tried installing any of them to internal RAM.

[nerys]

what about the aliens mod. anyone know where to get that. used to have it along time ago. (had floating face huggers in it !!)

what about the barney and simpsons mods ?

Chris Taylor
http://www.zodiacreview.com/

[Guest]

[David]

Yea, but how many will work with the Zodiac version of Doom II?
_________________
"If your Bible is falling to pieces, your life probably isn't..."

[Pushwall]

DoomWadStation is a VERY nice site for WAD files to be sure!

I tried those WADs and I couldn't get them to work with the Zodiac version of Doom2 (I'll call it Zod-Doom2). It appears that Zod-Doom2 doesn't support WAD files that run with ZDoom or Doom2 Ver. 1.9. I wish there was some type of conversion utility to fix this. I also wish there were a utility that showed what version of Doom2 that Zod-Doom2 supports. It sure would make it easier finding compatible WAD files.

[Pushwall]

Duke Nukem and Quake on the Zodiac!!!!!!!

I happened to get some very good info from Drumaster over on the discussion boards of GP32Xtreme. He has made some excellent PWADs for DOOM2 which work with the GP32. Check out the DOOM2 PWAD files on his site here. I found all PWADs on his site, except for Hacx, work with Zodiac's DOOM2! The ones that work....Duke Nukem GP, Quake GP, Half-Life, Eternal Doom III, The Simpsons, Western, and Star Wars. All (except for The Simpsons and Star Wars) you just rename the WAD files to DOOM2.WAD and put them on your Zodiac where your original DOOM2. WAD was (be sure and backup your Zodiac DOOM2.WAD first!). For The Simpsons and Star Wars to work, you have to merge their WAD files into the Zodiac DOOM2.WAD file using the WinTex utility that is on Drumaster's site.

These conversions look and sound excellent. I was amazed to fire up Duke Nukem and find myself on the first level of Duke Nukem 3D with the same graphics and aliens. Fantastic stuff!!

[Scott]

Pushwall, so it looks like some WAD files (e.g. - Hellraiser) have more pixelated graphics than the standard Doom II WAD. Do any of them have better graphics than the standard WAD?

Scott

[Pushwall]

Duke Nukem GP, Quake GP, and Western all look to me to be much better than the original WAD. I'll post a few pics for you to see.