Marine's Best Friend
Frequently Asked Questions

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Q: Why don't the friendly dogs retaliate when I shoot them?

A1. The dog is a close-attack monster (no missiles), and therefore to attack,
    it would need to stop whatever it was doing and return to the player, and
    it might not be able to reach the player before being attacked again by
    another enemy, which is its prime concern. Even if it could reach the
    player, it would only bite the player once, since friendly monsters don't
    turn around and become enemies simply because they are hit once -- they
    instead use tit-for-tat, returning friendly fire once, for each time they
    are hit.

A2. This is normal behavior for real dogs, according to one dog expert.

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Q: Why do dogs readily go up steep or narrow stairs, but then sometimes won't
   come back down?

A: According to a canine behavioural expert, this is consistent with the
   typical behaviour of real dogs.

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Q: Why don't I see any new levels with -beta?

A: You must add -file betalevl to your command-line, to load the levels. The
   levels in betalevl.wad are E1M2, E2M5, and E3M2, exactly as in the Press
   Release Version of Doom. If you only use -beta, you will be enabling the
   beta's features, but without the levels.

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Q: I get errors when I try to load betalevl.wad

A: betalevl.wad requires Registered Doom I (or Ultimate Doom) as the iwad.
   However, the -beta command-line option, which enables the graphics and
   game changes, does not require Doom I to be used, and it can emulate beta
   features under Doom II.

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Q: When using -beta, why is there no teleporter fog?  Or, why does player
   invisibility look like invulnerability?  Why are there no palette changes
   when the radsuit is used, and why doesn't it wear off with time?

A: These behaviors are all consistent with the Press Release version of Doom,
   alternatively called the "beta". See:

   ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/doom/historic/

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Q: Why is -beta a command-line option, and why must demos recorded with -beta
   be played back with -beta?

A: The betagrph.wad file must be loaded, and several internal data structures
   must be modified, prior to game startup. Allowing -beta to be turned on and
   off during the game would introduce a lot of complications.

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Q: Why is there a separate option for the Classic BFG, but not for all of the
   other -beta features?

A1. Not enough popular demand, given the complexity. Making individual beta
    features optionable would require storing each one's selection status in
    demos, savegames, etc., and it would require work to add them to the menus.
    Probably only the Classic BFG is in enough demand to make a separate option
    for it.

A2. The features such as the beta plasma rifle and the beta lost souls, or
    the green nightvision goggles, require a lot of wad data to be loaded,
    which -beta does by loading the betagrph.wad file. The Classic BFG only
    requires two extra fireball sprites, which do not take a lot of memory,
    and thus can be unconditionally tucked away inside the .exe.

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Q: But doesn't the plasma rifle simply need to shoot the alternating fireballs
   instead of blue plasma, making it no more difficult than the BFG?

A: Actually, no. The plasma rifle sprites in Doom have some blue plasma
   superimposed around the mouth of the plasma rifle. To remove this blue
   plasma, new weapon sprites are needed. New weapon sprites are NOT needed
   for the BFG, however.

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Q: Why can't the Unholy Cathedral beta level (E2M5 in betalevl.wad) be
   finished, and why are some areas inaccessible?

A: This is consistent with the original Press Release version's levels.
   Wad errors were intentionally not fixed.

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Q: But there are some slime trails and HOM in the original levels, which don't
   show up in betalevl.wad!!!

A: Blatant rendering errors like HOM and slime trails were fixed. Even if they
   weren't fixed, the slime trails would be hard to reproduce exactly because
   they are inherently nondeterministic.

   The criteria used when making changes were:

   Rendering errors (e.g. HOM, slime trails): Fixed. 

   Aesthetic errors (e.g. wall texture choices, texture alignment): Not Fixed.

   Level design errors (e.g. inaccessible areas of map): Not Fixed.

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Q: Why does the beta chaingun lower when I fire it in fullscreen mode?

A: This is to workaround a problem with the Press Release version's chaingun
   sprites. The sprites were pre-clipped with respect to the status bar, and
   the status bar was always turned on in the Press Release version. With 
   the status bar turned on, the -beta chaingun looks like the original. In
   fullscreen mode, however, it must be lowered while it is being fired, or
   else parts of the chaingun will not be updated, and it will look funny.

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Q: Why is the music quality so bad?

A1: You might have a file named default.cfg in the same directory as MBF.EXE.
    Allegro considers this a music configuration file. Refer to Allegro docs.

A2: MBF music on AdLib cards is not the same as Doom, because the FM instrument
    definitions are different. You may be able to import .IBK files into
    Allegro to improve the music's quality. See the Allegro docs. Also see
    snddrvr.txt for other alternatives.

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Q: Where do the dogs come from? I don't see any wads!!!

A: Dog sprites & sounds, like many other things, are embedded inside the .exe.
   However, you can modify them with wads. See mbfedit.txt for details.

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Lee Killough                                            Last Updated 12/22/98