DARK MENU v1.1 - for The Darkening: Episode 2

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Title                   : DARK MENU v1.1 - for The Darkening: Episode 2

                          NOTE: this version fixes the message text so
                          it now works with Boom-derived source ports
                          such as Boom, PRboom, MBF, etc. (darkmfix.wad
                          is no longer required).

Filename                : darkmenu.zip
                          (darkmenu.txt darkmenu.wad) 
Author                  : Sparky of KISS Software
Email Address           : [email protected]
Misc. Author Info       : Electronics Engineer

Description             : A graphics-only addon for The Darkening:
                          Episode 2 - one of the most anticipated Doom
                          releases of all time - because it was made by
                          some of the most talented level designers in
                          the Doom Community. You can get The Darkening
                          Episode 2 from their homepage:
                            http://www.doomworld.com/darkening

                          DarkMenu modifies the menu graphics and
                          message text for use with 'Plain Vanilla'
                          Doom2 and many Source Ports.  It extends the
                          Darkening theme by extensive use of the
                          Darkening text font and The Darkening's
                          orange, high-tech/industrial colour scheme.


Additional Credits to   : - The Darkening2 Crew for such a professional
                            and fun set of levels and textures.
                          - Ola Björling ([email protected]) for:
                            a) the Starlightseed Citysightseeing
                               TrueType Font (starlite.ttf) which was
                               used to create the new graphics for the
                               various menu options.
                            b) the Darkening graphics I used to create
                               the following images: titlepic, credit,
                               consback, endoom, d2ttl, m_butt1,
                               m_skull1, and rankings.
                          - id Software for the original messsage text
                            font, and several images which I just
                            colorized orange and edited slightly - the
                            floppy disk icon, sliders, and load/save
                            game text boxes.
                          - the Source Port authors whose images I
                            'borrowed', colorized and edited:
                            Randy Heit - ZDoom - player box image
                            Simon Howard - SMMU - slider images
                          - TeamTNT for the Color Translation Tables
                            used in darkmfix.wad to correct the font
                            colour problems in the Boom-based sources.
                          - the authors of all the Source Ports I had
                            so much fun with testing DarkMenu (see the
                            list of Source Ports below).
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* Play Information *

Game                    : DOOM II and The Darkening: Episode 2
Episode and Level #     : all - this is a graphics-only addon

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HOW TO USE DARKMENU:
-------------------

DarkMenu will work with 'Plain Vanilla' Doom II v1.9.
Simply load DarkMenu after loading Darkening2.  For example:
  doom2 -file darken2.wad darkmenu.wad

Special treatment was give to DarkMenu to support as many Source Ports
as possible.  Of the 213 entries in DarkMenu, many are unique to a
single Source Port, so you might want to try a few to see which ones
you prefer.  Darkmenu was tested okay with the following Source Ports:

   Boom v2.02                             TeamTNT
   PRboom v2.02                           Florian Schulze & TeamTNT
   MBF (Marine's Best Friend) v2.03       Lee Killough
   SMMU (Smack My Marine Up) v3.21        Simon Howard 'Fraggle'
   ZDoom DOS v1.17c                       Randy Heit
   ZDoom Win32 v1.22                          "
   ZDoom Win32 v1.23 beta6 (NOT beta7)        "
   Legacy DOS v1.28                       Denis Fabrice & Boris Pereira
   Legacy Win32 v1.28 and v1.29pr5              "               "
   glLegacy v1.29pr5                      Denis Fabrice, Boris Pereira
                                            and Thierry Van Elsuwé
   DoomGL v1.0b                           Michaël Ryssen
   glDoom v0.94e                          Bruce Lewis
   WinDoom2 v1.8                          id Software
   DoomATB v1.10                          Andy Bay


DarkMenu was also tested okay with the following ports, bots, and mods,
although The Darkening: Episode 2 does not directly support their
special features:

   DoomBot v4.0                           Sergey Makovkin
   CajunBot v0.98                         Martin Collberg (Yoghurt)
   DoomWars v0.25                                "            "
   RorDoom (Room Over Room) alpha6        Julian Aubourg
   CTFdoom (Capture The Flag) v0.98b10    John Cole


NOTE: ALL of the Source Ports listed above can be obtained from:
      ftp://ftp.doomworld.com/ports/


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* Construction *

Base                    : starlite.ttf; edited images from Doom2,
                          darken2.wad, ZDoom, SMMU; Boom's color tables
Editor(s) used          : PaintShop Pro, New Wad Tools, WinTex, Lumpy
Known Bugs              : see below


* Copyright / Permissions *

Authors MAY NOT use the resources contained in DarkMenu.wad.
I've quoted the sources above, so help yourself to the originals.

I definately don't want to see somebody try to update darkmenu.wad
just because a new Source Port is released with new menu options!

I've released the Darkening Font in .gif format (sparkyd2.gif in
sparkyd2.zip) and included sparkyd2 as a resource within darkmenu.wad,
so feel free to use that to create additional menu options.
For example, Vavoom is a new Source Port early in it's development;
you can use sparkyd2.gif to create the new menus for Vavoom, maybe
call it D2MenVav.wad, and load it AFTER DarkMenu:
    vavoom.exe -file darken2.wad darkmenu.wad d2menvav.wad

Also, feel free to use sparkyd2.gif to create level name graphics for
your new Darkening2 maps.

Please credit the authors of the font graphics:
  Sparky of KISS Software ([email protected])
  Ola Björling ([email protected])


You may distribute this file in any electronic format (BBS, Diskette,
CD, etc) as long as you include this file intact.


* Where to get this WAD *

Well, it's the second release of DarkMenu, three months have passed and
The Darkening Crew still haven't setup an archive for third-party
Darkening2 addons.

WEB:  a good place to start looking would have to be The Darkening
      Crew's homepage:     http://www.doomworld.com/darkening

FTP:  ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/idgames/graphics/darkmenu.zip

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KNOWN BUGS:
----------

Note, most of the following are bugs in the Source Ports and NOT
caused by bugs in Darkening2 or DarkMenu.

- glDoom v0.94e - the "Messages on/off" menu is offset.

- SMMU v3.21 - the load/save game text boxes are offset.
             - the mouse/video sliders don't go all the way to zero
               because I had to compensate for a bug in Legacy.

- CajunBot v0.98 - must start with -warp parameter because the single
                   player levels in darken2.wad don't have any
                   Deathmatch starts (the first DM level is MAP13).

- CTFDoom - I didn't add the extra menu graphics due to low demand;
            there may never be a single Darkening2 CTF map ever made
            for CTFDoom.

- Vavoom v1.0 - I didn't add the extra menu graphics because it had so
                many (uses a different menu system to all other ports)
                and it's only a recently released port in it's early
                stages of development ... maybe later?


The following Source Ports will NOT work with Darkening2 and DarkMenu
(or not recommended):
     Doom95            ZDoomGL v0.3     DosDoom v0.653b
     MidDoom v0.03     PDoom v0.1       DoomPlus v0.6
     IASdoom v0.96     WDMP v0.9        Win32Doom
     WinDoom v1.11     Vavoom v1.0      DeathBot
     ZDoom v1.23b7


WHY SOME PORTS ARE NOT RECOMMENDED:
----------------------------------

I had a lot of fun installing all the Source Ports and testing them
with Darkening2 and DarkMenu.  Most of those on my 'not recommended'
list are there because they are old, incomplete and full of bugs.

  ZDoom v1.23b7   - from this version onwards, ZDoom has changed the
                    way it does the menus and message text (the changes
                    are required to support the different colour
                    palettes of Doom, Heretic and Hexen).  DarkMenu
                    works fine with ZDoom v1.22 and the beta of v1.23
                    up to beta6.
  DosDoom v0.653b - faulty sky.
  MidDoom v0.03   - faulty sky.
  PDoom v0.1      - no high resolution (but without Boom's features).
  Vavoom v1.0     - this port is still very young - not worth greatly
                    increasing the size of DarkMenu for all the new
                    graphics required.
  Doom95          - can only load one pwad at a time.
  DoomPlus v0.6   - mouselook without stretched skies looks rather
                    silly, and there are some faulty menus.
  IASDoom v0.96   - menus not scaled in higher resolutions, no mouse or
                    multiplayer support, faulty music system.
  WDMP v0.9       - crashes during startup (okay with doom2.wad levels)
  Win32Doom       - far too many bugs.
  WinDoom v1.11   - no mouse support.
  DeathBot        - doesn't support -warp hence crashes because MAP01
                    of darken2.wad doesn't contain Deathmatch starts.

Let me know if I've made a setup error and unfairly stuck your
favourite Source Port in the 'not recommended' category.


VERSION HISTORY:
---------------

v1.1 - June 2000
New to this version:
- fixed the message text so it works now with Boom-derived source ports
  such as Boom, PRboom, MBF, etc.  The extra file darkmfix.wad is no
  longer required with these ports.
- added a Darkening2 texture (by Ola Bjorling) to the main screen
  background i.e. the tiled background when the hud is smaller than
  the full screen.  It's also used by Legacy in a window on the exit
  screen and the player skin box.  Note: I didn't replace the
  background textures used on the intermission screens because all the
  required flats are used in several of the Darkening2 maps.
- fixed the number "3" used on the intermission screen score so it's a
  little more readable.
- reduced the size of the text (kills/items/scrt) on the intermission
  screen so it fits properly in both solo and coop game modes.
- added an edited conchars resource for ZDoom v1.23 beta6 due to
  ZDoom changes in handling the menu cursor and menu sliders.

v1.0 - Initial Release - March 2000

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I hope DarkMenu adds to your enjoyment of the fabulous
Darkening: Episode 2.

Cheers

Sparky
KISS Software
9 June 2000