Marine's Best Friend Options This file describes in detail many of MBF's new options. Refer to mbfedit.txt for the OPTIONS lump, which allows wads to set these options. 1. Command-line Options 2. General Options 3. Doom Compatibility Options 4. Enemies Options ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Command-line Options -noload supresses the loading of the .wad and .deh/.bex files listed on the second page of the General menu. -beta enables emulation of the "Press Release" version of Doom, also called the beta version. It automatically loads betagrph.wad, which must be in the same directory as mbf.exe. You may additionally use -file betalevl.wad to see the 3 Press Release levels: E1M2, E2M5, E3M2 (this option requires Doom 1). -dogs Temporarily overrides the number of single-player helper dogs. -recordfrom records a demo starting from a saved game. It is the same as -loadgame -record . -loadgame -playdemo plays back the demo starting from the saved game. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. General Options These options are listed in the Options / General setup screen. * Hires This option enables 640x400 resolution. Using it requires a VBE2.0 driver that supports 640x400x8bpp, such as SciTech's (UNIVBE). * Page-flipping This option enables page-flipping (sometimes called double-buffering). In 320x200 mode, this option enables triple buffering, which is the graphics mode that the original Doom under DOS used. In 640x400 mode, this option enables hardware page-flipping between two halves of a 640x800 virtual screen, and may improve performance. * Wait For Vertical Retrace If set to YES, this tells MBF to wait before performing page flips or blitting, to avoid breaks in the screen. * Enable Translucency If this option is YES, translucency is enabled. When set to NO, all translucency is disabled. * Translucency Percentage Controls the default translucency filter's foreground/background percentage (Does not affect in-wad translucency maps which use linedef 260 to apply them.) Warning: changing the translucency percentage may take several seconds or even a minute on slow machines. * PCX Instead of BMP for Screenshots When set to YES, screenshots generate .PCX files. When set to NO, screenshots generate .BMP files. * Flash Disk Icon During Disk IO This enables the Doom disk icon in the lower-right corner of the screen, which flashes during disk IO. * Flashing HOM Indicator When this option is set to YES, the HOM cheat causes HOM to show up in flashing red. When this option is set to NO, HOM is displayed as solid red. * Sound Card * Music Card Allegro numbers for the sound cards used for SFX and Music, respectively. -1 means autodetect, 0 means disabled, >0 is card-specific. Read snddrvr.txt or consult the Allegro documentation for more details. * Autodetect Number of Voices Whether the number of voices divided between SFX and music should be detected by a special algorithm which consults the Allegro SFX and music driver code. * Number of Sound Channels Number of distinct sound channels in Doom. This is the maximum number of sounds Doom keeps track of at a time, whether or not a sound card is able to play them all at once or not. This does not control the sound's mixer, for example -- it simply limits how many distinct sounds Doom keeps track of. * Enable v1.1 Pitch Effects Whether the variable-pitch effect which was inside the original Doom source, and which could be heard in v1.1 of Doom, should be enabled. This option merely enables id's own variable-pitch effects -- it does not claim to be very realistic, or claim that the variable-pitch effects are consistent. * Enable Mouse * Enable Joystick * Keyboard LEDs Always Off Self-explanatory. * Files Preloaded At Game Startup A list of up to 2 .wad and 2 .deh/.bex files to be loaded at game startup. Intended only to be used for permanent game hacks, or long-term playing of the same wad. Can be suppressed by using the -noload command-line option. These .wad and .deh/.bex files are added last relative to all other .wad or .deh/.bex files, so if there is a conflict among .wad file lumps, or among .deh/.bex behaviors, these files win. * Maximum Number of Player Corpses The maximum number of player corpses which are kept around to see during multiplayer games. * Game Speed, Percentage of Normal The speed of the game can be increased or decreased by changing this option, the primary purpose of which is to fine-tune the game's responsiveness on a slow system. (Note: Not to sound apologetic, but it is well-known that some may want to use this option to cheat at demos. No attempt is made to detect or flag demo cheating, and demo cheating isn't considered reason enough to disallow this option, which has other purposes. Demos must be recorded and submitted with the honors system, in the author's opinion, but that almost goes w/o saying.) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. Doom Compatibility Options Doom Compatibility options are options whose main purpose is to provide 100% compatibility with some aspect of Doom. When these options are set to YES, then MBF behaves the way Doom does for some aspect of the game. Most of these options are set to NO by default. What follows is a list of the options and a brief description of each: * Any monster can telefrag on MAP30 When this option is set to YES, any monster can telefrag other monsters or players on MAP30. When this option is set to NO, only Boss Spawners can telefrag, and they can do this on all levels, not just MAP30. * Some objects never hang over tall ledges When this option is set to YES, most objects in Doom's universe without the DROPOFF mobj flag set (which includes most non-floating objects except for for players and corpses), cannot be pushed over tall ledges, no matter what forces are applied to them, and regardless of whether it's voluntary. When this option is set to NO, non-floating monsters (with the exception of dogs in some cases) cannot voluntarily jump off of tall ledges, but they can be pushed off of tall ledges by outside forces, such as gunfire, conveyors, or wind. Setting this option to NO allows objects to be pushed off ledges by outside forces. * Objects don't fall under their own weight When this option is set to YES, non-sentient objects that fall under gravity stay seated at the highest height among all floors they contact. When this option is set to NO, non-sentient objects that fall under gravity will tend to fall off of ledges if their center of mass is off of it, as if by torque, and will roll down stairs and ledges. * Monsters randomly walk off of moving lifts When this option is set to YES, monsters pay no special attention to lifts, and may randomly walk on or off of them at any time. When this option is set to NO, monsters stay on lifts if their targets are on them. This allows monsters to more intelligently follow their targets on lifts, instead of randomly leaving them behind. (This option might seem to go better with the Enemies setup screen than Doom compatibility, but I consider this option a nit, and I would probably never set it to YES myself. Lee) * Monsters get stuck on doortracks When this option is set to YES, monsters can get stuck trying to move at a doortrack, just as in Doom. When this option is set to NO, monsters are able to break free of doortracks, and their motions behave as though nothing special had happened. * Monsters don't give up pursuit of targets When this option is set to YES, monsters do not give up pursuit of targets in favor of closer targets, simply because their current targets have gone out of sight (unless the target is a player and this is a multiplayer game). When this option is set to NO, monsters will choose a visible target if their current target is out of view. However, if they cannot immediately see a closer target, they will always continue to pursue their original target. * Arch-Vile resurrects invincible ghosts When this option is set to YES, Arch-Viles are able to create nearly invincible ghost monsters if they resurrect what's left of one under a crusher or a door. When this option is set to NO, all resurrections will be performed correctly and will avoid creating no-clipping monsters. * Pain Elemental limited to 20 lost souls When this option is set to YES, Pain Elementals will stop spawning Lost Souls when there are 20 or more already in the level. * Lost souls get stuck behind walls When this option is set to YES, Lost Souls will be allowed to sometimes get trapped behind walls. When this option is set to NO, special measures are taken to make sure Lost Souls are not stuck behind walls. * Blazing doors make double closing sounds When this option is set to YES, blazing doors make a sound twice during closing. When this option is set to NO, blazing doors make only one such sound during closing. * Tagged doors don't trigger special lighting When this option is set to YES, DR door linedefs with non-zero tags do not create any special lighting effects. When this option is set to NO, a Boom lighting effect is enabled, in which opening and closing DR door linedefs with non-zero tags, causes all tagged sectors' lighting to increase as the door opens, and to decrease when it closes. * God mode isn't absolute When this option is set to YES, the iddqd cheat does not stop telefragging or "Down to 11%" exit sectors from hurting the player. When this option is set to NO, God mode is absolute, and protects the player from all harm. * Powerup cheats are not infinite duration When this option is set to YES, idbehold* powerup cheats behave as they do in Doom, wearing off in time (except idbeholda, idbeholds). When this option is set to NO, the cheats are infinite-duration and must be used again to toggle them off. * Zombie players can exit levels When this option is set to YES, zombie players can exit levels. (Zombie players are players with 0% health, but who are allowed to still play the game because a "voodoo doll", or extra player start, keeps them alive.) When a zombie player exits a level, they are unable to play the game anymore. When this option is set to NO, zombie players are prevented from exiting levels (except exits triggered by boss deaths, which are impractical to stop and which end the level anyway). * Sky is unaffected by invulnerability When this option is set to YES, sky textures are always drawn using the fullbright colormap, and are immune from the white invulnerability colormap. When this option is set to NO, sky textures will use a fixed colormap such as invulnerability when it's active, but otherwise use fullbright. * Use exactly Doom's stairbuilding method When this option is set to YES, stairs will be built using exactly Doom's method. When this option is set to NO, Boom's method, which to some is more intuitive, is used. * Use exactly Doom's floor motion behavior When this option is set to YES, floor motion clipping will be performed just as in Doom, with respect to target heights and objects coming in contact with the moving floors. When this option is set to NO, floor motion will use Boom's method, which is simpler to understand, uses a faster algorithm, and usually makes more sense. * Use exactly Doom's linedef trigger model This is a very obscure catch-all option, and should only need to be set to YES in the most unusual cases. When this option is set to YES, linedef and sector properties will be treated as in Doom with respect to the triggering of Doom linedef effects. The order in which linedefs are processed, whether a linedef is really "two-sided", and whether to use a true maximum/minimum sector or texture height instead of an arbitrary formula that's usually the maximum/minimum height, but sometimes isn't, are all governed by this flag. When this option is set to NO, Boom's method, which is more consistent and easy to understand, is used. * Linedef effects work with sector tag = 0 When this option is set to YES, linedefs which activate sectors sharing the same sector tag work for all tags, including 0. When this option is set to NO, these linedefs are ignored when sector tag = 0, which sometimes self- corrects wad author's mistakes. * Use Doom's main menu ordering When this option is set to YES, Doom's main menu ordering is preserved, which reads New Game / Options / Load Game / Save Game / [Read This!] / Quit Game. When this option is set to NO, a different ordering is used: New Game / Load Game / Save Game / Options / [Read This!] / Quit Game. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4. Enemies Options The Enemies setup screen deals with enemy bot behavior. * Monster infighting when provoked When this option is set to YES, monsters will fight their own kind to the death if provoked, just as in Doom. When this option is set to NO, monsters stay more focused on their real enemies, and so it is harder for a player to trick them into infighting. * Remember previous enemy When this option is set to YES, monsters remember past enemies, and are able to return to them after becoming distracted on a new target. When this option is set to NO, monsters must be able to see a new target immediately after killing their current target, or they will fall asleep (this often happened in Doom -- if a player was able to start infighting, they were often able to put a monster to sleep by staying out of its view while it finished off the other monster). * Monster backing out When this option is set to YES, monsters are able to back away from enemies sometimes. (However, as of this writing, they only do so when it leads to an "offensive" advantage over their opponent -- it is never used for retreating from danger.) When this option is set to NO, monsters are not allowed to back out. * Climb Steep Stairs When this option is set to YES, monsters may climb stairs just like players can, as long as they don't move up more than 24 units. When this option is set to NO, Doom clipping logic is used, which prevents monsters from walking up steps that cause too big of a dropoff across its entire body (hence the dependence on the monster's radius). Setting this option to YES also allows monsters to more easily recover from hanging off tall ledges if they are pushed off partway by gunfire or other forces. * Intelligently avoid hazards When this option is set to YES, monsters intelligently avoid hazards such as crushing ceilings. When this option is set to NO, monsters are unintelligent when it comes to avoiding hazards. * Affected by friction When this option is set to YES, monsters are affected by friction (ice, sludge), similar to how the player is affected. When this option is set to NO, monsters are immune from any friction-modifying influences such as ice or sludge (as in Boom). * Rescue dying friends When this option is set to YES, monsters will attempt to rescue friends within their line of sight who are under attack and who are dying. When this option is set to NO, everyone is on their own. * Number of single-player helper dogs This option allows anywhere from 0 to 3 player starts to be filled with friendly dogs in single-player games. These might be considered co-op bots, although they cannot pick up items or operate keyed doors or the like. * Distance friends stay away This option sets a "comfort distance", which is the distance friends of the player try to stay away from the player, to avoid getting in your feet. Under reasonable circumstances, such as on a crowded lift, or if the friend is attacking an enemy that's close by, this distance constraint will sometimes be violated. * Allow dogs to jump down If this option is set to YES, dogs will jump down from taller ledges towards their owner. If this option is set to NO, dogs cannot jump down from ledges taller than 24 (unless deh-modified, perhaps). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lee Killough Last Updated 12/21/1998