QNX DOOM v1.666 FAQ ******************* Version 1.00 September 12, 1994 Table of Contents ================= 1. What is DOOM? 2. What is QNX? 3. Where can I get DOOM for QNX? 4. QNX DOOM Installation 5. How do I get sound working under QNX? 6. How do I run Multi-Player mode under QNX? 7. It doesn't work! (Machine/OS Requirements, troubleshooting, etc) 7.1. It gives an X error in X_CreateWindow! 7.2. The window is too small! 7.3. Why can't I use the mouse under X? 8. Can I run DOOM on one machine and display it on another? 9. Can you play SGI vs QNX? Console Doom vs. X Doom? 10. Where does it put the configuration file and saved games? 11. How do I get the other levels? 12. How do I register? 13. I need to ask id Software a question. 14. What are the cheat codes? the secret doors? 15. Where is DOOM information on the net? 16. Are there DOOM utilities for QNX? 17. About this FAQ 1. What is DOOM? ================ Basically, Doom is a (violent) 3D arcade game where you run around in a maze and kill things with shotguns and chainsaws. The 3D action is good enough to make some people nauseous, if the animated gore wasn't enough. There is a slim plot, if you care about those things. After you get tired of killing things, you can run it over a network and kill things together with your friends. After you get tired of that, you can kill your friends. See the huge faq file that was included in this archive for more details (dmfaq58.txt). DOOM was originally written for MSDOS on the PC by id Software. It was tremendously successful because: 1) Everybody was amazed you could do that on a PC 2) A playable portion was available as shareware 3) It was user-extensible 4) You could play against other people via network or modem dialup 5) It was an extremely fun game SGI loaned David Taylor of id Software an Indy workstation and he ported it to UNIX and the X Window system. id Software made this source available to us (QNX Software Systems), and we ported the X version to QNX, and also ported the direct console code as well to create both X and console versions of DOOM for QNX. Both versions support both TCP/IP and POSIX message queues across the QNX LAN for multiplayer, networked games. Thanks to the excellent job David Taylor at id Software did on the SGI port, we had the X Window version running on QNX 40 minutes after unpacking the source, and the sound effects working 30 minutes later. Networking, console support, mouse support, and other features took another weekend or two. :-) Many thanks to Dave Taylor and the rest of the team at id for answering the questions we had. A note: We (QNX Software Systems Ltd.) did this for fun. It doesn't generate revenue. Please don't bother our QA group with bug reports. :-) 2. What is QNX? =============== QNX is a realtime, POSIX-certified, microkernel, network-distributed OS for x86-based machines. It has the ability to merge a number of QNX machines on a network into a single, logical machine and also supports multiple, fault tolerant LAN links between nodes. QNX can be scaled down to a small, stand-alone, ROM-based embedded system, or scaled up to a full X Window, TCP/IP, NFS, etc. equipped workstation OS, or scaled out to encompass several hundred nodes on a network acting as a single machine. QNX sees significant use in applications such as process control, factory automation, financial transaction processing, point of sale, medical instrumentation and data communications. It now supports DOOM as well. :-) For technical information, some QNX papers can be ftp'ed from quics.qnx.com:/pub/papers (198.231.78.1) and ftp.cse.ucsc.edu:/pub/qnx (128.114.134.19). Some of the papers are: qnx-paper.ps.Z An Architectural Overview of QNX qnx-embed.ps.Z A Microkernel POSIX OS for Realtime Embedded Systems qnx-pen.ps.Z QNX: Microkernel Technology for Open Systems Handheld Computing newtech.ps.Z QNX Microkernel Technology: A Scalable Approach to Realtime Distributed and Embedded Systems xhib.ps.Z Efficient X Server Connections in a Realtime Message- Passing Environment Additional information can be obtained by sending email to info@qnx.com or by contacting QNX Software Systems at 1-613-591-0931. 3. Where can I get DOOM for QNX? ================================ You can get the QNX version of DOOM via anonymous ftp from Quics (the QNX User's Interactive Conferencing System). The ftp path is: quics.qnx.com:/usr/free/doom/qnxdoom.pax.gz You can also dial into 1-613-591-0934 to download this file. The file(s) will probably appear on other ftp sites as well. Note that this pax file does not contain the DOOM v1.666 shareware wad file. If you don't already have the DOOM wadfile, you can download it as: quics.qnx.com:/usr/free/doom/doom1.wad.gz While connected to our ftp server, you might also want to get copies of the following: /usr/free/archivers/gzip: The archiver needed to unzip the doom files. /updates/beta.audio/Audio: The QNX sound card driver (beta only). /updates/qnx42/mqueue.tar.F: A POSIX realtime message queue manager. Needed for network games if you don't have QNX TCP/IP installed. 4. QNX DOOM Installation ======================== Once you have the qnxdoom.pax.gz and doom1.wad.gz files, create a /usr/doom directory, put the doom files there and execute the commands: gzip -d or use the command xdpyinfo to see. If it is, restart your Xserver in PseudoColor mode (8 bits/pixel). 7.2. The window is too small! The X version supports -2 and -3 options to double and triple the screen size. Note that our X Window product is currently in beta and does not yet support the MIT shared memory extensions. As a result, the display update rate will drop significantly as you enable doubling and tripling. Once we've implemented the MIT shared memory extensions, the performance of DOOM under our X will improve. For the best screen update rate, run the console version (cdoom). 7.3. Why can't I use the mouse under X? To use the mouse with the X version of DOOM you must specify the -grabmouse command line option to DOOM. With this option in effect, X will no longer have control of the mouse, so you'll have to use the keyboard to exit from DOOM (Escape key) and pass mouse control back to X. 8. Can I run DOOM under X on one machine and display it on another? =================================================================== Yes, but you may not want to. Depending on your network speed, it will probably be much slower, and unless you're careful, the console of the originating machine will thunder with gunfire and screams :-). Then again, if you're running with 100 Mbit FDDI or TCNS between your QNX machines, or running a couple processors in a Ziatech STD32 card cage (which uses the backplane bus as the inter-processor LAN), the network between the machines may not slow you down at all. 9. Can you play SGI vs QNX? Console Doom vs. X Doom? ===================================================== Probably - the data format of the packets should be compatible. Both the console and X version implement both TCP/IP and POSIX message queues, so they should be able to inter-operate as well. 10. Where does QNX DOOM put the configuration file and saved games? =================================================================== When you run DOOM it will create a .doom directory in your home directory ($HOME/.doom). You must have a $HOME environment variable set (which is usually created for you by default). The configuration file is called .doomrc. 11. How do I get the other levels? ================================== You first need a registered version of DOOM. Buy the DOS version of DOOM (see below). The QNX DOOM engine is version 1.666, make sure that the commercial version you're buying is also v1.666. The registration magic is inside the new, 10 Mbyte doom.wad file you'll get. Install the new version with Rundos and Dosfsys (or under DOS), and then copy the doom.wad file from your DOS partition into your /usr/doom directory. When the DOOM executable sees the doom.wad file, it will automatically use it instead of the shareware doom1.wad file. Once you've bought the commercial DOOM 2 release, you can copy the doom2.wad file into the /usr/doom directory as well. Having the registered version also enables features like the -file argument to use the incredible variety of homemade wad (PWAD) files. When DOOM runs these wad files, it does so by first loading the registered wad file, and then "overloading" it with the additional components defined by the after-market wad files. 12. How do I register? ====================== It costs $40 to register DOOM. From the README: To register the entire DOOM trilogy call 1-800-IDGAMES. If you live outside of the USA, or if you wish to purchase DOOM with a check or money order please refer to the text file, (ORDER.FRM) located in your DOOM directory. If you don't have an ORDER.FRM, download a DOS shareware version to get one. 13. I need to ask id Software a question. ========================================= Please don't mail them bug reports or ask for help about the QNX version. That's why this FAQ exists. If the answer to your question is not here, post to alt.games.doom and then email me the answer so I can include it in this file. If you want release information, try "finger help@idsoftware.com". If you must ask them a question about the DOS version, their email address is help@idsoftware.com. 14. What are the cheat codes? the secret doors? =============================================== They are all the same as the DOS version. See the manual.txt file in the QNX distribution. 15. Where is DOOM information on the net? ========================================= o WWW sites o Original Unofficial Doom Site (VHhold's DOOM Web Node) o Pherion's DOOM Web Node o Sven's DOOM Web Node o Tim's DOOM Web Node o Piotr's Doom Web Node o DOOM Home Page o finger help@idsoftware.com for the latest on DOOM releases o alt.games.doom, alt.games.doom.newplayers, alt.games.doom.announce, alt.binaries.doom o anonymous ftp. The main ftp site is ftp://infant2.sphs.indiana.edu/pub/doom (also fsp, port 21); infant2 is mirrored at ftp.uwp.edu, ftp.orst.edu, ftp.uni-erlangen.de, and aurora.bld189.jccbi.gov; other sites are ftp.uwp.edu/pub/games/id, ftp.uml.edu/msdos/Games/ID, and wuarchive.wustl.edu/pub/MSDOS_UPLOADS/games/doomstuff o A huge FAQ is available. Excerpted from the FAQ: The "Official" DOOM FAQ is posted every two weeks (or earlier if a new version is released) on the following Usenet groups. (1) comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action (2) comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.announce (3) comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.misc (4) alt.games.doom The "Subject:" line of the post will be "'Official' DOOM FAQ v??.??" where "??.??" is the version number of the FAQ. New releases of the "Official" DOOM FAQ are uploaded to the following Internet FTP sites. (1) ftp.uwp.edu IN /pub/incoming/id IN /pub/msdos/games/id/home-brew/doom (2) infant2.sphs.indiana.edu IN /pub/doom/incoming IN /pub/doom/text (3) wuarchive.wustl.edu IN /pub/MSDOS_UPLOADS/games/doomstuff The file name of the upload will be "doom??.faq" where "??" is the version number of the FAQ. 16. Are there DOOM utilities for QNX? ===================================== Obviously, you can't use any patches for DOS on your QNX executable. You can use people's homemade wad files once you own a registered copy of DOOM. Since a LINUX port of DOOM is now out, many of the wad editors, etc., are being ported to LINUX, so QNX ports will be easy. Look around the ftp sites; some of the utilities may come with code; port them yourself and then announce them! A UNIX port of id's BSP node builder (which is a port of Ron Rossbach's port to DOS) is available via anonymous ftp from ftp.isy.liu.se in /pub/colour/doom/bsp_unix.tar.Z In the same directory there's also wadgc.zip which contains some other UNIX programs for editing DOOM .WAD files. These should probably port to QNX without much effort. A DOOM map editor which has been ported to Linux is DEU 5.21. It was ported by Brad Hawthorne (u9c192@ugrad.cs.ubc.ca) and Sam Lantinga (slouken@cs.ucdavis.edu). Here's part of a posting by Raphael Quinet (eedraq@chapelle.ericsson.se or quinet@montefiore.ulg.ac.be): >I strongly suggest that you get the original (DOS) version of DEU 5.21 too. >Only the original version contains the demo WADs, the tutorial and full docs. >This has been done in order to save downloading time for experienced DEU users >who already have the demos from the original version. > >- The two official sites for distribution of DEU are: > * infant2.sphs.indiana.edu (Indiana, USA) in /pub/doom/deu > * ftp2.montefiore.ulg.ac.be (Belgium) in /pub/doom/deu > * ftp.uwp.edu (Wisconsin, USA) in /pub/games/id/home-brew/doom/deu > * ftp.cdrom.com (California, USA) in /pub/doom/deu > * ftp.iglou.com (Kentucky, USA) in doom/deu > * ftp.uni-erlangen.de (Germany) in /pub/pc/msdos/games/ID/doom-stuff/deu > * nctuccca.edu.tw (Taiwan) in /PC/games/doom/deu > * ftp.luth.se (Sweden) in /pub/msdos/games/doom/deu > There is also an experimental Linux site which distributes the Linux version > of DEU (but you will have to connect to the other sites to get the original > version with docs and demos): > * dewdrop.water.ca.gov (USA) in /pub/doom/deu-linux > >- The names of the files containing the Linux version of DEU are: > * deu521linux.txt - informations about this version of DEU > * deu521linux.src.tgz - the sources of the program > * deu521linux.bin.tgz - the pre-compiled program and libraries > >- If you don't know how to extract the files from a ".tgz" or ".tar.gz" file, > here is how: > gunzip -c deu521linux.src.tgz | tar -xvf - (using standard tar) > or: > tar -xzvf deu521linux.src.tgz (using GNU tar) > If you only want to see what is in the archive before unpacking the files, > just replace "tar -xvf -" by "tar -tvf -". > Of course, this assumes that you have a working UN*X system... 17. About this FAQ ================== This is a frequently-asked questions file for the QNX version of the game DOOM, originally written for DOS by id Software. We (QNX) have put this together as a service since id offers no technical support on this port. Much of the information in this FAQ comes from the excellent SGI faq by John Troyer . Here's a quote from his FAQ: "Some of this information is from the net. Unfortunately I didn't save people's names. If you feel you should be credited for some piece of information, or would like to be listed here in the acknowledgements, just email me and I'll add you. Among many others, thanks to Lan Dang, Sean Langston, Bill Lorton, Robert Teller, Patrick Tufts, and T.J. Kelly and the DOOMWeb guys." You can mail me, Dan Hildebrand, at danh@qnx.com. Corrections and suggestions appreciated. Dan Hildebrand