ecwolf 1.3.2 only 1 level / episode?

[Love2PlayGames]

Hi everyone,

I have the steam version, so its the full game(dido for spear, although didn't played it yet). Ok the thing is when I use ecwolf 1.3.2, I get only to play episode 1. Plus, in the ecwolf menu it tells me its the demo version. Now, if I start the game from steam its the full version.

Can any one help me with this please, that would greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance for any helpful replies.

[Gez]

Have you tried a development build?
If you also have Spear of Destiny installed (even if you haven't played it yet), do you get the IWAD picker? (It should look like ZDoom's, except of course that instead of Doom, Heretic, etc. you'll see options such as Wolfenstein 3D (*.WL6), Spear of Destiny (*.SOD), Mission 2: Return to Danger (*.SD2), and Mission 3: The Ultimate Challenge (*.SD3).)

[Love2PlayGames]

Hi Gez,

First, I forgot to mention that i'm a total newb when it comes to all that.

No, I didn't try the dev build.

Yes, I get the IWAD picker, other wise I think I wouldn't be able to lunch the game, right?

More info on this trouble; I see that the option 'back to Demo' is in the full game, and when I select new game I see all episodes and they are available/playable. So now what i'd like to know is when I finish episode 1, is it normal to start a new game to go to episode 2? All that because I had chaingun with full ammo, full health, 9 lives, so i wanted to continue from there to episode 2.

Also, I ran into another trouble. I though 'hey use cheat to go to episode 2' but the debug mode doesn't work. I've press simultaneously shift+alt+backspace with no luck. But if I press L + I + M, I get those cheats to work, but thats not what I want, I want to go from end of episode 1 to begining of episode 2 with all I had at the end of episode 1.

Again, thanks for your time and much needed help, its very much appreciated.

[Gez]

Yes, I get the IWAD picker, other wise I think I wouldn't be able to lunch the game, right?

If ECWolf only detects one available game, then it automatically select it instead of asking you to choose one. If you hadn't installed Spear of Destiny, you wouldn't see it since there would be only one choice.

But the point here is that it shows the Wolf 3D choice as "Wolfenstein 3D (*.WL6)" and not as "Wolfenstein 3D demo (*.WL1)" or something of the sort.

More info on this trouble; I see that the option 'back to Demo' is in the full game, and when I select new game I see all episodes and they are available/playable. So now what i'd like to know is when I finish episode 1, is it normal to start a new game to go to episode 2? All that because I had chaingun with full ammo, full health, 9 lives, so i wanted to continue from there to episode 2.

Yes, sorry, that is normal. They are separate episodes which have to be started and finished independently. Changing this requires creating a mod (and I'm not sure you could preserve the victory screens this way). There's also the issue that episodes 4, 5, 6 are supposed to be prequels to episodes 1, 2, 3.

"Return to demo" here doesn't mean a demo version, but an automatic demonstration of the gameplay when you're not playing the game. If you start Wolf 3D but do not start a game, and wait a bit, the game will start playing itself, using pre-recorded demo. This is something copied from old arcade games, where it served two purposes: 1. avoid showing always the same image to avoid burning it into the screen -- this was a real problem with old screens. 2. by showing the gameplay, make onlookers want to play the game, which on arcade machine meant they wanted to put some coin in it. The second reason doesn't really apply to a PC game like Wolfenstein 3D, but the first definitely did.

Here's what it looks like in vanilla:

LINK

Looks like the demos desync starting from the third, the player attacks empty space and ignores enemies. Keeping demos in-sync is difficult and requires making sure not to change even the slightest, most insignificant-looking bits of gameplay code, which can be a big problem when you want to, you know, fix bugs. So in ECWolf, it just doesn't play these demos but the menu entry hasn't been changed, so I understand it can be a bit confusing.

[Love2PlayGames]

Hi Gez,

Thats awesome, couldn't be happier with your answer. Its crystal clear and thats how one would help another, so for that, big props to you.

The only thing remained its the debug mode, any thoughts on that? Although it wouldn't me with my previous problem(since I have to start each episode one after another), I want to know how to activate it just in case I need it. I don't even know what to expect, I mean, how it works... at the main menu, while in game but pause the game, or just while in game... then what? a menu per say or just a sound that tell you to enter codes?

Hope you can still help me a bit.

Once again thank you so much for the provided help.

[Blzut3]

The only thing remained its the debug mode, any thoughts on that? Although it wouldn't me with my previous problem(since I have to start each episode one after another), I want to know how to activate it just in case I need it. I don't even know what to expect, I mean, how it works... at the main menu, while in game but pause the game, or just while in game... then what? a menu per say or just a sound that tell you to enter codes?

Is it safe to assume standard US keyboard layout? Can't really think of what could possibly be jamming the key sequence.

The key sequence is entered in game just like L+I+M. It would show a message on screen that debugging keys are available. Then you can use the Tab+whatever combos (use Backspace or ~ if you have something bound to tab).

Looks like the demos desync starting from the third, the player attacks empty space and ignores enemies. Keeping demos in-sync is difficult and requires making sure not to change even the slightest, most insignificant-looking bits of gameplay code, which can be a big problem when you want to, you know, fix bugs. So in ECWolf, it just doesn't play these demos but the menu entry hasn't been changed, so I understand it can be a bit confusing.

Just to add to this: One of Wolf4SDL's features was "plays demos better than vanilla" because of those desyncs. It seems like id didn't really figure out demos until they started using the code for net play in Doom. There's a bit of "hope and pray" in Wolf3D since so much of the engine is not deterministic. Most of which was "fixed" by cutting the frame rate down to 17.5fps when playing back demos.

[Love2PlayGames]

Hello Gez,

I have the standard US keybord along with my native language, wich I can change via windows's language options on the taskbar. I have 2 PC and 2 Laptops and none can't bring up the debug menu.

Thanks for all your help and take care Gez.

[Gumbemanden]

How come the demos don't appear in ECWolf, though?

[Blzut3]

How come the demos don't appear in ECWolf, though?

Two reasons: First as stated above, even vanilla Wolf3D can't play the demos properly. Second: ECWolf, like ZDoom, places an emphasis on fixing bugs and adding new features rather than on vanilla accuracy. Players should generally not notice the alterations (noticeable alterations are usually bugs), but it means that playing back vanilla demos is impossible.

To give one example of such a change. In vanilla wolf3d the way a hitscan hit is determined is if the center of the target's sprite is within some number of pixels from the center of your viewscreen. This means that demo would potentially desync if you use a resolution other than 320x200. Moreover it would mean that multiplayer is pretty much impossible unless everyone is using the exact same resolution, with the exact same view size, and with the exact same aspect ratio. ECWolf changes this to a renderer independent angle based calculation. There are other places where the wolf3d engine used information determined during rendition for physics that have been decoupled.