D&D Scenes Series, Part 1

This post is the first in a series where I reveal how I create my screenshots for the games I run on grind4e.blogspot.com. These posts won't be a full technical "how to set up" all the software, but I'll update this post if there's any big setup things I missed.

In today's installment, we'll do some software installs and begin to create a 3D scene for the chamber shown below. It comes from an upcoming adventure, "Vault of the Wyrm Prince" which will be published at Dungeon Oracle. If you want to be completely spoiler free, don't read further.

This chamber is awash with a searing light; a cyclone of flame slowly revolves in the center of the room. Floating within the flames are a multitude of charred skeletons, tossed about slowly as though through water. Four pedestals fashioned as a dragon’s claw stand in the chamber, atop which rest stone skull-shaped basins, each containing a faintly glowing liquid. Set into alcoves are six statues of dragonspawn brandishing shields.

Gather the following

• Hexen + Heretic Collection. Cost = $10 on Steam.
• Doombuilder 2. Cost = Free.
• Doomsday Engine. Cost = Free.

Heretic/Hexen

These games will always be in my library. Classic "DooM meets D&D". And the expansion, Hexen: Deathkings of the Dark Citadel is a seriously wonderful fourthcore-style video game. I would advise playing through these games just to get an idea of what kinds of architecture look cool when creating your own scenes. Many of the scenes are screenshot-able in their own right without you even having to mess around with creating your own levels.

• Install Hexen + Heretic Collection. 
• After installation, locate the files: heretic.wad, hexen.wad, hexdd.wad.

Doomsday Frontend

Doomsday Frontend (aka Doomsday) is an excellent free front-end that allows you to play Doom, Doom2, Heretic, Hexen, etc. It supports large resolutions and a bunch of other graphics tweaks to make the games (and your screenshots) look fantastic.

• Install Doomsday Engine. 
• Copy the hexen.wad, hexdd.wad, heretic.wad files into the ...\Documents\Doomsday Frontend\addons folder. 
• If you have hexen.wad, you can play the original Hexen. If you also have hexdd.wad, you can play the excellent sequel, "Hexen: Deathkings of the Dark Citadel".
• You can also use the wads: doom.wad (for Doom), doom2.wad (Doom2), heretic.wad (Heretic), etc.
• Try out the games, make sure they work. Have fun with them. Heck, play them all the way through. Hexen: DotDC is a fantastic fourthcore style game.
• Test out the screenshot capability. Press F12 to capture the screen, which will create a *.tga image file in the ...\Documents\Doomsday Frontend\runtime folder. Use Gimp2 to open up this kind of file for converting to other types (.jpg, for example).

Doombuilder2

Doombuilder2 is the software that allows you to create your own dungeons.

• Install Doombuilder2.
• Make a copy of hexdd.wad and rename it (in the same folder). I'll call mine "Vault.wad".
• Run Doombuilder. Do a File->Open, and open up Vault.wad.



Choose Map41.

• You'll see a dialogue that asks you to open a map. Choose "Map41". That's the first map for the game.

You might be wondering why I'm not creating a file from scratch, and using hexdd.wad as a template. When I first taught myself, my "from scratch" maps didn't work; they didn't run in Doomsday. However, when I copied hexdd.wad and starting playing around with it, it DID work. I could make offshoot rooms from the existing ones, and it make development much more fun. If you can start with an empty wad file and make it work, more power to you. Even if you do, looking at the how the maps are laid out in hexdd.wad (and hexen.wad) can give you invaluable info on how to structure your own maps. 

Your first room

The first level of Hexen: Deathkings of the Dark Citadel

When you first load up MAP41, you might see something similar to what's on the right. This is the first level of Hexen: Deathkings. In fact, when you play this, your starting point is somewhere in the northwest area.

If you wanted, you could easily just start branching a new hallway of one of these, but instead I'll just wipe out the entire map and start new.

• Use the mouse wheel to zoom in and out. Arrow keys move you to different parts of the map. Zoom out so you can see the entire map.
• Press T. The words Things Mode should appear lower left.
• Use your mouse to select the entire area. That will highlight all THINGS (monsters, treasures, torches, etc).
• Press Delete to delete all things.
• If you get stuck, the C key clears out your selection and try again.
• Press S. The words Sectors Mode should appear lower left.
• Again, select the entire map with the mouse. This will highlight all SECTORS (rooms, walls, chambers, stairs, etc).

An empty map.

• Press Delete to delete all sectors.
• You now have an empty map. Congrats!
• If you can't see grid, Zoom in so you can see it.
• If you press [ or ], you can change the size of the squares. For our chamber, I find that 64mp is equivalent to the 1-inch, 5-foot squares. Set it to 64mp.
• Press S to go to sectors mode, if you're not already.
• Let's create a simple room of 10 squares by 8 squares. To do this, put your mouse in the middle and press the Insert key.

You first basic rectangular room!

• Move the mouse up and you will see a line with a number inside (the length of the line). Make the length 8*64 = 512 and click the mouse, then the second length 640, the third 512 and the fourth 640 again.
• You should have something like what you see to the right. That's your new chamber.
• Next, put your mouse in the middle of the chamber and press CTRL-W. This will place a camera in your room.
• Now press W to enter camera mode. Use ESDF (instead of WASD) to look around and move around. Use the mouse to look around as well. It might look similar to what you see below, but your own default textures will be different than mine.
• Press W again to return to normal mode.

What your basic first room looks like in "W" visual mode.
Looks like I somehow got bookshelves as my default wall textures, dirt for the floor and sky for the ceiling.

Coming Soon
So we didn't quite make the chamber yet, but it's a basic start. In future posts, I'd like to show you how to:

• Change textures for floor and ceilings
• Change room dimensions
• Work with lighting
• Add items to the room
• Add your own textures that aren't in standard Hexen.

Feel free to beat up on the instructions and comment below if anything was difficult to follow or downright impossible. Thanks!