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WadC Release Notes

This lists changes made in each release. For a description of all current features, see the Reference.

Table of Contents

Dev

Not yet released.

Language features

  • New built-in packsides: when enabled, the generated sidedefs are de-duplicated and shared amongst linedefs. This allows for larger maps within given engine limits.

    Thanks to Piotr Wieczorek!

3.1

Released 27<sup>th</sup> June 2022.

This version of WadC is dedicated to Kayvan Walker (1983-2022). RIP. Thank you Kayvan, for introducing me to Doom, amongst many other things.

Language features

  • New (experimental) built-in archclip: behaves the same as arch, but stops generating the arch after N units, where N is the seventh parameter supplied

  • Two new built-ins: getx and gety return the cursor’s current X/Y position.

Core program changes

  • Knobs: mark an expression with knob(label,min,val,max) to register a tweakable Knob in the UI, clamped within the range defined by the min and max parameters. Knobs can have their values adjusted in the "Knobs" tab pane in the main WadC GUI. The new value will take effect next time the Wad Language program is Run.

  • Random seed: In Prior WadC versions, the random number generator was re-seeded with the current time each time the Wad Language program was Run. As a result, repeatedly re-running a program which heavily relies upon RNG (such as bsp.wl) will not produce different results. To get the old behaviour, add a line like the following towards the beginning of your program:

    seed(rand(0,13371337))

  • The random seed at Run-time is written to the embedded WADCSRC lump as a comment prior to the program source. This is to help reproducibility.

Distribution and runtime requirements

WadC’s minimum Java version, both as as source and run time dependency, has moved to 16.

WadC now depends upon the [picocli library](http://picocli.info/) for command-line argument handling. picocli is distributed under the terms of the Apache License, Version 2.0.

UI improvements

  • The default font size is now 18 points, up from 12. Your chosen font size is saved and restored as a Preference.

  • A new GUI panel "Knobs" has been added as a Tab-pane in the same area as the messages box. This panel lets you set values for any variables marked as knob in the program text. That value is used next time the program is evaluated.

  • The random seed at Run-time is exposed as a tweakable knob in the Knob UI.

new/modified example programs

  • vanilla_conveyor.wl: simple demonstration of vanilla conveyors

  • brexit.wl: more complex demonstration of vanilla conveyors

Library additions/deletions

  • vanilla_conveyor.h: helper routines for building vanilla "conveyor" triggers, based on a discovery by Mikolah & Linguica on the Doomworld Forums. Experimental.

3.0

Released 20th February 2019.

This version of WadC is dedicated to Lu (1972-2019). RIP.

Core program changes

  • When the external BSP program is invoked, we now instruct it to write out to a temporary filename, and then move that over the final WAD name. This means WadC can be used with node builders which do not support in-place node building (e.g. AJBSP and ZokumBSP).

  • One-sided lines now have their "impassable" flag bit set in PWADs.

UI improvements

The GUI now draws a marker for the cursor’s location and orientation, in orange. It can be toggled with the menus in the same way as drawing things or vertices.

Language features

  • rand(x,y) — returns a random integer between x and y (inclusive). The behaviour of rand is affected by the use of the seed function, in the same way as the choice operator.

  • getorient — returns the cursor’s current orientation as an integer: 0 for North, 1 for East, 2 for South, 3 for West.

  • Various deprecated functions have been removed: landscape and marchingcubes; as well as the functions formerly used for configuring WadC: lastfile, doomexe, doomargs, bspcmd, iwad, twad1, twad2, twad3, togglevertices and togglethings.

  • setthingargs is a renamed setthinghexen which has lost the thing type argument (just use thingtype instead) and has grown three extra parameters: Thing ID, Z-position and Thing Special.

new/modified example programs

  • blockmap.wl: a random dungeon generator example. Room overdraw is avoided using a blocklist.

  • bsp.wl: a simple example of a Binary Space Partition algorithm to subdivide a rectangular space into sub-spaces, e.g. as a random dungeon generator

  • hexen_ex.wl: Added examples of z-height adjusted things

Various deprecated examples in examples/old have been removed.

Library additions/deletions

  • deaf has been deprecated.

  • standard.h:

  • forXY: a two-dimensional for loop

  • assert: test the parameter and die if ≠ 1

  • north/east/south/west constants, for use with getorient

  • lessthan, logical function

  • list.h:

  • renamed from lisp.h

  • add in_list, list_length, list_remove and list_get functions

  • pair.h: a pair data structure

  • blockmap.h: a blockmap data structure, based on pairs in tuples

Development stuff

  • Upgrade the version of maven-assemble-plugin that we rely on. This fixes building WadC with OpenJDK versions ≥ 9.

2.2

Released 13th November 2017.

Core program changes

UI Look and Feel changes

As a side effect of other changes, the UI will possibly look and feel quite different, depending on what platform you are using. On OS X, the menu is now integrated with the OS menu at the top. Several extra keyboard shortcuts have been added.

On Linux, the new UI system (Swing) seemed to have terrible font rendering by default, so WadC will try to enable font smoothing unless you explicitly configure the font settings yourself by defining a _JAVA_OPTIONS environment variable containing a definition of useSystemAAFontSettings, e.g. useSystemAAFontSettings=off.

No more configuration file

WadC no longer uses a wadc.cfg file to store preferences. The various language built-ins for configuration are deprecated and will be removed in the next release.

Preferences are now stored using the Java Preferences API. What this means depends on what platform you are using; if you want to inspect the preferences outside of WadC please consult the Java documentation for more information.

If you want to read in the settings from an old wadc.cfg file, open it in WadC and run it. The resulting preferences will be saved in the new system. You can then delete the wadc.cfg file if you wish.

GUI preferences additions

WadC now features a Preferences GUI window that can be used to browse for and set the Doom engine, BSP tool, etc.

You can also toggle the rendering of things or vertices and enable or disable a new experimental fill-sectors feature from a new View menu. Sectors can be filled using their floor height, ceiling height or light level values.

command-line interface

The command-line tool now reads in WadC’s preferences. This means you can now use it to build WADs that need iwad set correctly, such as those that compose custom textures.

new example programs

  • birds.wl: a complete map for Heretic, developed from scratch for Doomworld’s "Heretic Upstart Mappers Project".

  • laby.wl: a large, machine-generated script that generates a Labyrinth. Thanks to Yoruk for the contribution!

Several existing examples have been promoted out of examples/old into the examples/ folder.

Language features

is_hexenformat

returns 1 if the map format is Hexen, 0 otherwise.

simplex(x,y)

A simplex noise feature. Returns a random value between 0 and 1,000,000 from the X,Y coordinate into a 2D simplex "field".

The behaviour of renderthings and renderverts has changed slightly: they now work with a global preference, rather than being something that is specific to the current program. The language commands are also both deprecated and will be removed in the next release (the preferences will remain)

Library additions/deletions

  • lineflags.h has been renamed lines.h and some line type definitions have been added.

  • basic.h addition: cluster - cluster 9 things together

  • heretic/things.h - various thing definitions have been added or renamed.

  • math.h has gained even and odd.

  • standard.h has gained ifelse and if: wrappers around the ternary operator which are possibly friendlier to use; pradd which behaves like a combination of add and print; useful when refactoring a program.

  • thingflag.h has gained easyonly and mediumonly.

  • sectors.h added with the beginnings of sector type definitions

Removed stuff

A whole load of deprecated (and undocumented) built-ins have been removed.

Bug fixes

  • The generalised sector helper in boom.h now correctly bit-shifts when the map is in Hexen (ZDoom) format.

  • the CLI tool now honours WadC preferences (in particular iwad).

2.1

Released 22nd September 2016.

Version 2.1 of WadC is dedicated to the memory of Professor Seymour Papert (1928-2016), co-inventor of the LOGO programming language.

Core program changes

  • Internationalisation support.

  • Partial french translation adapted from @nekrofage. Thanks!

  • The random seed is printed when you first execute a script. This means if something cool happens, you can make a note of the seed and reproduce it.

  • Stack traces are now divided by newlines rather than space characters.

  • It is now much more convenient to generate maps for the original Doom, Heretic, Hexen and Strife, in addition to Doom II.

  • The GUI now has basic undo/redo support for text editing.

  • The GUI’s default size is now twice as large.

  • You can now write numbers in hexidecimal by prefixing them with '0x'. Only positive numbers are supported at the moment (use mul(-1,0xabc) as a workaround if you must)

Example scripts

  • logo.wl: draws the letters "WadC".

  • The "pipes" stuff in examples/beta continues to evolve and drive WadC development.

  • doom_ex.wl, htic_ex.wl, hexen_ex.wl, strife.wl: very simple test maps that demonstrate Doom #1/Heretic/Hexen/Strife support

  • polyobj.wl: example of Hexen polyobjects (swinging doors, etc.)

  • boom.wl: Examples of Boom generalised linedef and sector types.

  • counter.wl: a binary ripple counter for Boom

  • 2countrev.wl: a modified counter.wl, showing how it might be used as part of a real map.

Documentation

Language features

hexenformat

forces the output map to be in Hexen format (suitable for use with either Hexen or ZDoom)

mapname

sets the map name to be generated. The default is MAP01. New libraries included in this release set sensible defaults for other doom-engine games.

and, or, not

bitwise operators

setthingflags, getthingflags

get and set the flags used for new things

setlineflags, getlineflags

as above, but for lines

thingangle

create a thing with a supplied angle value

Library additions/deletions

  • water.h has been enhanced so that you can manage multiple water-effects in the same map.

  • Some built-ins have been removed from the language and converted into WadC library routines: deaf, easy, hurtmeplenty, ultraviolence and friendly (see thingflags.h)

  • Angle constants have been added to standard.h: angle_east, angle_ne, angle_north, angle_nw, angle_west, angle_sw, angle_south and angle_se.

New libraries
control.h

control sector management (broken out from water.h)

doom.h, heretic.h, hexen.h, strife.h

sensible defaults and thing definitions for Doom (#1), Heretic, Hexen and Strife

thingflags.h

Definitions for common flag values for all four games as well as implementations of deaf, easy, hurtmeplenty, ultraviolence and friendly.

math.h

some mathematic routines (bit shifts and pow so far)

boom.h

Routines for building Boom generalised linedefs and sectors, some constants for use with these routines.

Bug fixes

  • A long-standing bug with splitting lines has been fixed, where one line is drawn in the opposite direction to the first. When this happened you got the misleading error "Sidedef already assigned to sector". Various example maps had contortions to avoid this situation which now works.

  • You can now use popsector more than once. This means you can have an inner sector within an inner sector within an outer one, to an arbitrary depth.

  • water.h can now be used with inner-sectors and the water light level value is honoured.

  • water.h can be used to decorate the very first sector you draw.

  • The control sectors that water.h draws are now properly to the right of the cursor, rather than to the left, so it plays nicely with other control.h users.

  • The GUI is now listed as "WadC" rather than "MainFrame" in various places such as the Mac OS X menu bar.

  • If you use the choice operator before a seed operation, that seed value affected the choice operator when re-running the script.

  • You can freely mix linetype and linetypehexen in Zdoom Hexen-format maps. Previously, some of the argument flags set with linetypehexen were not cleared by linetype.

  • The tech-preview CLI will correctly embed the WadC source in generated WADs, just like the GUI.

  • The GUI code to write-out WadC files when you save has been changed to write UTF-8. Previously it was writing the first byte of UTF-8 only, so any multibyte characters were getting corrupted.

Development stuff

  • The tech-preview CLI has been renamed to WadCCLI.

  • WadC is now built using Maven. This has some implications:

    • The source has all moved around and we have an obscene number of subdirectories. Sigh. There are a few convenience symlinks to make life easier.

    • The program’s version is now embedded as a property rather than being an auto-generated Java class.

  • There’s a very hacky, experimental regression test suite in tests/.

2.0

Released 22nd September 2015.

Core program changes

Distribution and runtime requirements

The WadC binary distribution is now a JAR file. On most platforms, simply double-clicking on the JAR should launch the program. WadC is no longer sensitive to the directory from which it is launched.

WadC now requires Java version 1.8 or newer to run or build. It has been tested only with

  • java version "1.8.0_45"

  • javac 1.8.0_45

Sneak-peek: command-line interface

There is a very early-stages command-line interface now available. To launch it, you need to run

java -cp wadc.jar org.redmars.wadc.WadCC path/to/input.wl

It will attempt to parse, run and write out to path/to/output.wad. Be aware that this is alpha quality, consider this a tech preview :)

configuration file syntax and location

wadc.cfg is no longer written/read from the current working directory. On Windows, it’s found at %USERHOME%/.wadc/wadc.cfg, on UNIX platforms it looks in $HOME/.wadc. Examples

c:\Users\Your Name\.wadc
/Users/Jon/.wadc
/home/you/.wadc

The configuration option doomcmd no longer exists. It has been replaced with

doomexe

path to your preferred doom executable

doomargs

arguments to pass to your preferred doom executable,
separated by whitespace. This should end with ‘-file’.

The reason for this is to allow you to supply a doomexe containing whitespace in the path.

If you have defined any of twad1, twad2 or twad3 in your configuration, they will be added to the doom command line, immediately after your doomargs, and before the path to the WAD you are building.

Embedded WadC code

WadC now writes out the source code for your level to the generated WAD in a WADCSRC lump. Any locally included files are also included, but standard library files (from within the Jar) are not.

If you define any new textures, WadC will write a TEXTURE2 lump. If you add any patches to new textures which are not in your IWAD, A new PNAMES lump will be generated and written. You need to have specified a path to an IWAD file in your configuration for this to work.

Language features

die(foo)

prints foo, then terminates.

cat(a, b)

concatenates a and b

seed(x)

seeds the random-number generator for reproducibility

newtag

generate and return a new unique tag number

texture

begins the definition of a new texture, to combine with addpatch

addpatch

adds a patch to the currently defined texture

deaf

mute has been renamed to deaf.

getbot, getmid, gettop, getfloor, getceil

Accessor functions for the current texture or flat in use

Library additions

list.h

lisp-style lists (broken out from examples/lisp.wl)

water.h

Boom deep water tools

within standard.h:

  • inc and dec, convenient for increment/decrementing a variable

  • fori and i, the for loop but you can read the value of the iterator

New examples

textures.wl

demonstrating the texture features

llevels.wl

test WAD using texture features

water.wl

demonstrating the Boom water helpers

"beta"

directory containing my unfinished stuff

Bug fixes

Fix map view zooming with mouse clicks on non-Windows platforms.

The paths to the file you are editing, the corresponding generated WAD file, your preferred Doom executable and any texture WADs you have defined can now contain spaces or other special characters.

1.2

Released December 2011.

  • First release by Jon Dowland.

  • Doom features:

    • friendly flag - toggle boom friendly monsters

    • impassable flag - toggle impassable 2s lines

    • midtex flag - toggle middle-textures on 2s lines

  • new examples:

    • 1.2_features.wl - demo the new features above

    • entryway.wl - a recreation of Doom 2 MAP01 in WadC, thanks GreyGhost

1.1

Released July 2001.

  • Doom features:

    • auto texturing (!)

    • zdoom/hexen wad format support, slopes etc.

    • "world coordinates" xoff alignment

    • explicit sector assignment

  • UI features:

    • improved mouse editing & preview window

  • language features:

    • eager evaluation of function arguments

    • global variables and objects

    • stacktraces in runtime error messages

    • new math functions: sin/asin

  • distribution features:

    • more examples / useful include files

    • many small enhancements/fixes

1.0: first public release

Released October 2000.

  • UI features:

    • generating code by drawing lines with the mouse (!)

    • zooming & panning

    • map rendering enhancements

  • Doom features:

    • automatic splitting of overlapping lines (!)

    • curves with automatic texture alignment

    • inner sectors

    • thing/line/sector types

    • arches (experimental)

    • tag identifiers

  • language features:

    • include files (with many Doom constants supplied)

    • a random choice operator

  • distribution features:

    • more examples etc.

    • comes with source (GPL)

0.9: initial beta

Dates from around July 1999.

some may have seen this.