UweGirlich

uwe@half-empty.de

v2.1.3, 3/12/1998 This document describes the LMP file format. It is the result of ``recording'' a game in DOOM, DOOM ][, HERETIC, HEXEN and STRIFE. This documentation covers all these games in all known versions. The LMP file format appears first with the game DOOM on December 10th, 1993 and remains relatively unchanged in all its successors. I explain in this document the different flavors of LMP files from: DOOM DOOM 0.99, 1.1, 1.2 DOOM 1.4beta DOOM 1.5beta DOOM 1.6beta, DOOM 1.666 DOOM 1.7a DOOM 1.8 DOOM 1.9 DOOM 1.10 Ultimate DOOM Ultimate DOOM 1.9 DOOM II DOOM ][ 1.666 DOOM ][ 1.7, 1.7a DOOM ][ 1.8 DOOM ][ 1.9 HERETIC HERETIC 1.0, 1.2, 1.3 HEXEN HEXEN beta HEXEN 1.0 HEXEN 1.1 STRIFE STRIFE 1.0, 1.1 The LMP files created with games which appear on one line are not distinguishable. To create a LMP file start the game with the command line switch -record foo (and -warp, -skill etc.) and play as usual. If you press q the record (and the game) stops. In old DOOM (< 1.4), HERETIC and HEXEN this happens at the end of a level too. You will find a file foo.lmp in the current directory. To play it back start the game with the command line switch -playdemo foo. A LMP file records all player actions. The monster movements, respawn positions etc. are totally deterministic. The messages during a multiplayer game (chat mode) do not appear in the LMP. It's a pity but the conversations in STRIFE, which form an important part of the game aren't recorded. You can only record sequences without these talks. In fact only the conversation start action will be recorded. If you play a LMP back, you can now choose the answers for yourself (and hope that the original player used the same answers). A LMP file consists of a header, a data area and a quit byte. The header contains the skill, episode, start map, number of players etc. The data area is divided in game tics. For each player there are 4 (DOOM and DOOM ][) or 6 (HERETIC, HEXEN and STRIFE) movement bytes per game tic. Each LMP should end with a quit byte (0x80). The duration of a gametic is round 1/35s. With time measurements with 4dos: timer ^ doom -playdemo name ^ timer of many different LMP's and linear curve fitting I found the slightly different frequency 35.003Hz. So it is not wrong to speak of 35Hz but it is not totally correct. The easiest way to check the length of the header is to start the games with the -record option. Then you have to press ``q'' during the startup sequence. In the moment, when the screen switches from text mode to graphics mode, the game stops and you receive the shortest LMP file. It consists only of the header and the quit game byte. The LMP header format is a subject of change. address type contents range 0x0000 byte skill 0-4 0x0001 byte episode 1-3/4 0x0002 byte map 1-9 0x0003 byte green/green player 0: inactive, 1: active 0x0004 byte indigo/yellow player 0: inactive, 1: active 0x0005 byte brown/red player 0: inactive, 1: active 0x0006 byte red/blue player 0: inactive, 1: active address type contents range 0x0000 byte version look in the table below 0x0001 byte skill 0-4 0x0002 byte episode 1-4 0x0003 byte map 1-32 0x0004 byte multiplayer rule 0: Cooperative, 1: DeathMatch, 2: AltDeath 0x0005 byte respawn 0: off, !=0: on, argv - number of -respawn 0x0006 byte fast 0: off, !=0: on, argv - number of -fast 0x0007 byte nomonsters 0: off, !=0: on, argv - number of -nomonsters 0x0008 byte recording player 0-3 0x0009 byte green player 0: inactive, 1: active 0x000A byte indigo player 0: inactive, 1: active 0x000B byte brown player 0: inactive, 1: active 0x000C byte red player 0: inactive, 1: active dec hex game(s) 104 0x68 DOOM 1.4beta 105 0x69 DOOM 1.5beta 106 0x6A DOOM 1.6beta, DOOM 1.666 and DOOM ][ 1.666 107 0x6B DOOM ][ 1.7 and DOOM ][ 1.7a 108 0x6C DOOM 1.8 and DOOM ][ 1.8 109 0x6D (Ultimate) DOOM 1.9 and DOOM ][ 1.9 110 0x6E Published DOOM source Now it is very easy to change an existing LMP from one format to the other. The movement algorithm didn't changed from DOOM 1.2 to DOOM 1.666. This is only true if the map also didn't changed. So you can't recycle LMP's of E1M4. It is very interesting, that DOOM 1.666 LMP's, recorded even with the -turbo option work with DOOM 1.2. address type contents range 0x0000 byte skill 0-4 0x0001 byte episode 1 0x0002 byte map 1-40 0x0003 byte blue player 0: inactive, 1: active 0x0004 byte blue player's class 0-2 0x0005 byte red player 0: inactive, 1: active 0x0006 byte red player's class 0-2 0x0007 byte yellow player 0: inactive, 1: active 0x0008 byte yellow player's class 0-2 0x0009 byte green player 0: inactive, 1: active 0x000A byte green player's class 0-2 address type contents range 0x0000 byte skill 0-4 0x0001 byte episode 1 0x0002 byte map 1-40 0x0003 byte blue player 0: inactive, 1: active 0x0004 byte blue player's class 0-2 0x0005 byte red player 0: inactive, 1: active 0x0006 byte red player's class 0-2 0x0007 byte yellow player 0: inactive, 1: active 0x0008 byte yellow player's class 0-2 0x0009 byte green player 0: inactive, 1: active 0x000A byte green player's class 0-2 0x000B byte jade player 0: inactive, 1: active 0x000C byte jade player's class 0-2 0x000D byte white player 0: inactive, 1: active 0x000E byte white player's class 0-2 0x000F byte hazel player 0: inactive, 1: active 0x0010 byte hazel player's class 0-2 0x0011 byte purple player 0: inactive, 1: active 0x0012 byte purple player's class 0-2 address type contents range 0x0000 byte version 101 (version 1.0) 0x0001 byte skill 0-4 0x0002 byte map 32-?? 0x0003 byte multiplayer rule 0: Cooperative, 1: DeathMatch, 2: AltDeath 0x0004 byte respawn 0: off, !=0: on, argv - number of -respawn 0x0005 byte fast 0: off, !=0: on, argv - number of -fast 0x0006 byte nomonsters 0: off, !=0: on, argv - number of -nomonsters 0x0007 byte recording player 0-7 0x0008 byte brown player 0: inactive, 1: active 0x0009 byte red player 0: inactive, 1: active 0x000A byte redbrown player 0: inactive, 1: active 0x000B byte grey player 0: inactive, 1: active 0x000C byte dark green player 0: inactive, 1: active 0x000D byte gold player 0: inactive, 1: active 0x000E byte bright green player 0: inactive, 1: active 0x000F byte super-hero blue player 0: inactive, 1: active This formula for the number of game tics (NGT) follows from the section . section: filelength-headerlength-1 NGT = --------------------------------------- bytes per gametic * number of players The NGT stored in a LMP can also be found out with the -timedemo option. At the replay end, the game shows the number of game tics and time tics. This game tic number corresponds with NGT only in newer versions of DOOM (>=1.4), in DOOM ][ and STRIFE. Older versions of DOOM report the wrong number (NGT+1). In HERETIC and HEXEN the -timedemo option doesn't work at all. With -timedemo the game plays all scenes in the LMP file back but without any synchronizing. So you can calculate the frames per second also with: NGT fps = --------- * 35 time tics This has nothing to do with your frame rate during the game. This frame rate can be computed with the formula (from the DOOM FAQ v6.666 [9-2-1], thanks to Hank Leukart (ap641@cleveland.freenet.edu)) 70 fps = -------- dots + 1 The dots are displayed in DOOM and DOOM ][ with the -devparm option in the lower left edge and in HEXEN with the TICKER cheat code (4 level demo: RRETTENMUND) in the upper left edge of the screen. In STRIFE the TIC cheat code toggles these dots. There are only 35 screens per second (each game tic), so one dot is always displayed. With every additional dot, the game shows how many vertical sync impulses (1/70s) were necessary to compute a whole screen. The game is not slower but you don't see each screen: the game becomes jerky. In a 2, 3 or 4 player game the game tics are stored alternately, ie for a 2 player game: game tic 1 of player 0 game tic 1 of player 1 game tic 2 of player 0 game tic 2 of player 1 game tic 3 of player 0 game tic 3 of player 1 . . . The problem with multiplayer records is the last game tic. It is indeed possible, to end a LMP file not with the actions of the last player. So the formula with the filelength in the section is sometimes not correct. This parameter speeds up all moves (forward, backward, strafe sideways) but not the turn. Due to the value sets described in the section all move bytes can be multiplied by 2.55 (or 255%) until they don't fit in a short int. This is exactly what can happen. All normal move bytes are multiplied by the turbo value in percent. So you can play with -turbo 200 a normal game but your speed is the same as the shift key is always pressed. If you now press the shift key, you are running like hell. The -turbo parameter isn't stored in the LMP but the game shows in the message line, if a player plays with -turbo (ie ``green is turbo''). The game concludes this from very large move bytes. There are 3 different kinds of game tics in all the described games: DOOM, DOOM II ----------------------------------------- | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | | go | strafe | turn | use | ----------------------------------------- HERETIC, HEXEN ------------------------------------------------------------- | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | | go | strafe | turn | use | vertical|artifacts| ------------------------------------------------------------- STRIFE ------------------------------------------------------------- | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | | go | strafe | turn | use | special |artifacts| ------------------------------------------------------------- The go byte contains a signed number (-127 ... 127), where positive numbers describe a forward and negative numbers a backward move. The possible range of the values in the go byte varies a lot: keyboard/gamepad/joystick mouse speed off speed on old DOOM (<1.4) -25 +25 -50 +50 -50 .. +50 new DOOM (>=1.4) -25 +25 -50 +50 -50 .. +50 *turbo/100 DOOM ][ -25 +25 -50 +50 -50 .. +50 *turbo/100 HERETIC -25 +25 -50 +50 -50 .. +50 HEXEN fighter -29 +29 -60 +60 -60 .. +60 HEXEN fighter (boots) -44 +43 -90 +90 -90 .. +90 HEXEN cleric -25 +25 -50 +50 -50 .. +50 HEXEN cleric (boots) -38 +37 -75 +75 -75 .. +75 HEXEN mage -21 +21 -45 +45 -45 .. +45 HEXEN mage (boots) -32 +31 -68 +67 -68 .. +67 STRIFE -25 +25 -50 +50 -50 .. +50 *turbo/100 The strafe byte contains a signed number (-127 ... 127), where positive numbers describe a right and negative numbers a left move. The possible range of the values in the strafe byte varies a lot: keyboard/gamepad/joystick mouse speed off speed on (strafe on + turn) old DOOM (<1.4) -24 +24 -40 +40 -50 .. +50 new DOOM (>=1.4) -24 +24 -40 +40 -50 .. +50 *turbo/100 DOOM ][ -24 +24 -40 +40 -50 .. +50 *turbo/100 HERETIC -24 +24 -40 +40 -50 .. +50 HEXEN fighter -27 +27 -59 +59 -60 .. +60 HEXEN fighter (boots) -41 +40 -89 +88 -90 .. +90 HEXEN cleric -24 +24 -40 +40 -50 .. +50 HEXEN cleric (boots) -36 +36 -60 +60 -75 .. +75 HEXEN mage -21 +21 -37 +37 -45 .. +45 HEXEN mage (boots) -32 +31 -56 +55 -68 .. +67 STRIFE -24 +24 -40 +40 -50 .. +50 *turbo/100 The turn byte contains a signed number (-127 ... 127), where positive numbers describe a left and negative numbers a right turn. The possible range of the values in the turn byte varies a lot: keyboard/gamepad/joystick mouse DOOM mouse spinner speed off speed on start turn start turn old DOOM (<1.4) -2 +1 -3 +2 -2 +1 -5 +5 -127 .. +127 +128 HERETIC -2 +1 -3 +2 -2 +1 -5 +5 -127 .. +127 +128 HEXEN -2 +1 -3 +2 -2 +1 -5 +5 -127 .. +127 +128 new DOOM (>=1.4) -1 +1 -2 +3 -1 +1 -5 +5 -127 .. +127 +128 DOOM ][ -1 +1 -2 +3 -1 +1 -5 +5 -127 .. +127 +128 STRIFE -1 +1 -2 +3 -1 +1 -5 +5 -127 .. +127 +128 Therefore a right turn is in old DOOM, HERETIC and HEXEN faster and in new DOOM, DOOM ][ and STRIFE slower than a left turn. The turn angle is 360 --- * turn_byte degree 256 With the DOOM cheat code IDMYPOS you can check your current viewing direction. During recording the games use only one byte out of a long for the viewing angle: (0x40) N (0x80) W + E (0x00) S (0xC0) The turn byte is the increment of the viewing angle. In the use byte are coded the fire weapon, the press button/open door and the change weapon actions: -------------------------------------------- | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | | SA=0 | 0 | Weapon | WB | UB | FB | -------------------------------------------- The Fire Bit (FB) is 1 during a shot. The Use Bit (UB) indicates the use of anything (press a button, open a door etc.). The Weapon Bit (WB) is 1 if the player changes manually his weapon. The weapon number is stored in the following bits. The internal weapon numbers are beginning with 0; not with 1 as is the status bar: Code := 4 + 8* (Weapon-1) The codes for the different games are in the tables. no hex name 1 0x04 Fist/Chainsaw 2 0x0C Pistol 3 0x14 Shotgun 4 0x1C Chaingun 5 0x24 Rocket Launcher 6 0x2C Plasma Rifle 7 0x34 BFG 9000 8 0x3C Chainsaw no hex name 1 0x04 Fist/Chainsaw 2 0x0C Pistol 3 0x14 Shotgun/Super Shotgun 4 0x1C Chaingun 5 0x24 Rocket Launcher 6 0x2C Plasma Rifle 7 0x34 BFG 9000 8 0x3C Chainsaw no hex name 1 0x04 Staff/Gauntlets 2 0x0C Elvenwand 3 0x14 Ethereal Crossbow 4 0x1C Dragon Claw 5 0x24 Hellstaff 6 0x2C Phoenix Rod 7 0x34 Mace 8 0x3C Gauntlets no hex name 1 0x04 Spiked Gauntlets 2 0x0C Timon's Axe 3 0x14 Hammer of Retribution 4 0x1C Quietus no hex name 1 0x04 Mace of Contrition 2 0x0C Serpent 3 0x14 Firestorm 4 0x1C Justifier no hex name 1 0x04 Sapphire Wand 2 0x0C Frost Shards 3 0x14 Arc of Death 4 0x1C Bloodscourge no hex name 1 0x04 Punch Dagger 2 0x0C Crossbow 3 0x14 Pulse Rifle 4 0x1C Missile Launcher 5 0x24 Grenade Launcher 6 0x2C Flame Thrower 7 0x34 Blaster 8 0x3C Sigil 9 0x44 Punch Dagger The bits can be composed. So you can with a use byte of 0x03 fire and use at the same time. If the Special Actions (SA) bit is 1, the meaning of the other bits changes totally: In the bits 0 and 1 is now coded the Special Action itself. ----------------- |1|x|x|x|x|x|0|1| stands for pause/unpause ----------------- and ----------------- |1|x|x| SLN |1|0| stands for save game in slot SLN (0<=SLN<=7). ----------------- The x-bits aren't important at all. The games themselves let them 0 but do not analyze them afterwards. The games save a game state even during the replay of a LMP. So make sure you have no important game states in your directory if you plan to play back a unknown LMP file. You can remove the ``Save Game'' commands with LMPC, the Little Movie Processing Centre. Get the current version from my Demo Specs page. This byte appears in HERETIC and HEXEN LMP files only. The Look an Fly byte is divided in 2 parts: ----------------- |7|6|5|4|3|2|1|0| | fly | look | ----------------- Both parts contain a signed 4-bit number, where positive numbers describe a upwards and negative numbers a downwards move. game speed off speed on center/drop HERETIC -3, +3 -5, +5 +8 HEXEN -1, +1 -2, +2 +8 The pure ``drop'' (landing) code (0x80) could be ambiguous (the quit byte is 0x80). Moreover it is always good to look forward after landing. Therefore creates a ``drop'' always a ``look forward''. This results in the code 0x88. This byte appears in HERETIC and HEXEN LMP files only. The cursor movements in the inventory isn't recorded. Only the use of an artifact is recorded. The ``Use artifacts'' byte contains simply the number of the artifact equivalent to the HERETIC ``gimme''-cheat. no code letter name 1 0x01 a ring of invincibility 2 0x02 b shadowsphere 3 0x03 c quartz flask 4 0x04 d chaos device 5 0x05 e tome of power 6 0x06 f torch 7 0x07 g time bomb of the ancients 8 0x08 h morph ovum 9 0x09 i wings of wrath 10 0x0A j mystic urn A similar cheat code for HEXEN isn't known. no code letter name 1 0x01 a icon of the defender 2 0x02 b quartz flask 3 0x03 c mystic urn 4 0x04 d clerical healing 5 0x05 e dark servant 6 0x06 f torch 7 0x07 g porkalator 8 0x08 h wings of wrath 9 0x09 i chaos device 10 0x0A j flechette 11 0x0B k banishment device 12 0x0C l boots of speed 13 0x0D m krater of might 14 0x0E n dragonskin bracers 15 0x0F o disc of repulsion - 0x21 panic button (use all you have) The HEXEN-specific ``Jump'' is coded in the Use artifact byte. dec hex name 128 0x80 jump A jump can be combined (with ``binary or'') with the use of an artifact. This byte appears in STRIFE LMP files only. bit no hex meaning 0 0x01 look up 1 0x02 look down 2 0x04 run 3 0x08 use inventory (see section ) 4 0x10 drop inventory (see section ) 5 0x20 jump 6 0x40 unknown 7 0x80 use health Note bit 2. STRIFE is the only game with a special run code. It seems senseless, because the go/strafe/turn-values are already ``run-changed''. The cursor movements in the inventory isn't recorded. Only the use of an artifact is recorded. If bit 3 or 4 is 1 the next byte in the STRIFE game tic byte becomes important. This byte appears in STRIFE LMP files only. This byte describes the artifact to use or to drop. 1 byte can hold up to 255 artifacts. code name 0x74 toughness 0x75 accuracy 0x76 full health 0x7B teleportor beacon 0x7C metal armor 0x7D leather armor 0xA1 med patch 0xA2 medical kit 0xA3 coin 0xA7 shadow armor 0xA8 environmental suit 0xB7 offering chalice If there are no actions at all, all 4 (or 6) bytes contain 0x00. This is a wait tic. The end of the LMP is coded in the go byte of an incomplete game tic. Because there is no go value of -128 (0x80), the game can't make a mistake. 1.0, 30 August, 1994 first public release many thanks to Steffen Winterfeldt (wfeldt@itp.uni-leipzig.de) for his reverse engineering work 1.10, 24 October, 1994 general release for DOOM corresponds now to the LMP compiler lmpc 2.1 1.20, 16 January, 1995 included information about DOOM ][ and HERETIC first HTML version thanks to Frans P. de Vries (fpv@xymph.iaf.nl), who corrected some orthographical bugs 1.21, 22 February, 1995 weapon names for HERETIC artifact names for registered HERETIC 1.22, 8 October, 1995 correct multiplayer colors included first information about HEXEN (taken from the 4-level-beta) 1.23, 9 October, 1995 artifact names for HEXEN 1.24, 10 October, 1995 go/strafe ranges reorganized (``boots of speed'' included) 1.25, 25 October, 1995 first Linuxdoc-SGML version, text and ps-versions are available too 1.26, 20 November, 1995 some small mistakes in the movement byte table corrected, thanks to Rob McCartney (argon@netcom.com) for his bug report 2.0.0, 21 November, 1995, uploaded to ftp.cdrom.com and announced in rec.games.comp.doom.announce new 3 part version number rearrangements of the tables 2.1.0, 10 March, 1996, uploaded to ftp.cdrom.com and announced in rec.games.comp.doom.announce STRIFE information included rearrangements of the tables strafe table corrected 2.1.1, 7 April, 1996 HEXEN 1.1 information included HEXEN panic button described 2.1.2, 20 April, 1996 STRIFE 1.1 information included (player colors) table of all covered game versions 2.1.3, 12 March, 1998 PlanetQuake is the new home. SGML-Tools 1.0.5 used.