
BlakenStone : a sound and graphics patch for Wolfenstein 3-D shareware v1.4

   You know, I never would have considered it "hacking" until I saw the first
object I extracted from the Blake Stone VSWAP file: a message from the 
designers that says "HACKER! HELLO FROM THE GUYS AT JAM!" with a Jam logo
underneath it.  What a cool surprise that was!
   
   Anyway, after a couple of weeks of extracting and inserting, the final 
product is a Wolfenstein 3-D shareware graphics patch that converts your 
game into Blake Stone Aliens of Gold.

   The following text has been adapted from Loren G. Dobert's DOOMenstein 
documentation.  That patch can be found in America Online's software library,
and on various Wolfenstein web sites as DOOMSTEN.ZIP.  I highly recommend it.

And now for something completely legal:

        BLAKE STONE, AND WOLFENSTEIN 3-D ARE COPYRIGHTED BY ID SOFTWARE,
        JAM PRODUCTIONS, APOGEE, AND PROBABLY OTHER PEOPLE.
        THIS PATCH HAS BEEN TESTED WITH A SHAREWARE COPY OF VERSION 1.4
        WOLFENSTEIN 3-D.  IT WORKED WITH NO PROBLEMS.  ANY DIFFICULTIES 
        ENCOUNTERED BY THE USER INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO HARDWARE 
        FAILURE, ERASURE OF ANY DATA, AND PERSONAL TRAUMA ARE SOLELY THE 
        RESPONSIBILITY OF THE USER.  THE USER WILL NOT TRY TO CONTACT APOGEE,
        ID SOFTWARE, OR JAM ABOUT ANY PROBLEMS THIS PATCH MIGHT INCUR ON 
        HIS/HER COMPUTER SYSTEM.  I GIVE NO GUARANTEES AND ACCEPT NO 
        RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY OF THE ABOVE-MENTIONED PROBLEMS.  IF YOU ARE 
        UNSURE ABOUT THIS, THEN ERASE THE VSWAP FILE AND CONTINUE PLAYING 
        PLAIN OLD, BORING WOLF 3-D.  YOU MAY COPY AND DISTRIBUTE THE PATCH 
        AT WILL, AS LONG AS YOU KEEP THE VSWAP FILE INTACT.  IF YOU WANT TO 
        USE SOME OF MY GRAPHICS OR SOUNDS IN A PATCH OF YOUR OWN, PLEASE FEEL 
        FREE, JUST GIVE ME CREDIT.

Well, you get the picture.  Please read the following sections on
BlakenStone:

         I. WHO
        II. WHY
       III. WHEN
        IV. WHAT
         V. The Problems

I. WHO
First of all, the credits:
        id software for creating Wolfenstein
        Jam Productions for creating Blake Stone
        Apogee software for the distribution thing
        Blackadder (Michael Adcock) and Loren G. Dobert for inspiration
        Andy Nonymous for slicing and dicing the ingredients

II. WHY
I wanted to add another graphics patch to my Wolfenstein 3-D collection,
and looked on the Internet for one with Blake Stone, but couldn't find 
anything.  Some Blake Stone walls and objects are present in Blackadder's
Barneystein patch, so I thought it would be possible somehow to create a
full Blake Stone patch.

III. WHEN
I started this about the last week of October, 1995 and finished on 
November 12, 1995.  I added the vending machines on December 26, 1998,
and replaced the landscape/night scene panels with space panels from
MegaWolf 3-D on January 4, 1999.

IV. WHAT
The following programs were used in creating this patch:

Original Graphics & Sounds:        
        Blake Stone Aliens of Gold
                Jam Productions
        Wolfenstein 3-D
                id Software
Graphics Insertion:        
        Wolfedit v2.1
                Bill Kirby
Sound Insertion:        
        Wlfaud v1.1
                Bill Neisius                                                
Graphics Processing:
        CHANGE.COM
                Michael J. Mefford
        MS-DOS Batch
                programming by yours truly
        Paintshop Pro v3.0
                JASC, Inc.
Sound processing:        
        BLASTER Master v6.2
                Gary Maddox
        Sound Impression v3.8
                Dennis J. McMahon
VSWAP inspection:
        PC-Valet Shell Version 89.09.04 
                John A. Junod
Graphics and Sound Extraction:        
        QuickBasic 4.50 
                programming by yours truly

V. The Problems
At first, I tried using Wolfedit v2.1 on the Blake Stone VSWAP file. 
Not a good idea (system hang).  I later tried to use a Wolfenstein 3-D
panel editor that has the same name (no other credits or version numbers,
it might be an earlier version of Bill Kirby's), and I could load the wall
panels, but the colors were WAY off and the panels were off-center.  This 
panel editor did not allow for insertion and extraction of individual panels, 
either.  So I started with nothing except some knowledge of the Wolfenstein 
VSWAP file from using Wolfedit v2.1 and reading its documentation.

V1. Walls
Using QuickBasic programming, I extracted the raw data from the Blake Stone 
VSWAP and inserted it into a Wolfenstein VSWAP, then viewed the results with 
Wolfedit.  The colors were still way off!  Evidently, BS uses a very 
different palette than Wolf, so more work was necessary.  I wrote another
program to extract a wall from the Wolf VSWAP, change the raw data to what I 
thought was a close match to how the colors should look (batch file), and 
re-insert the data.  Some walls were easier than others, some trial and error 
was used.  The biggest problem was matching BS's periwinkle blue, as Wolf's 
closest matches were sky blue, aqua, and teal.  Also, Wolf's medium blue was 
too vivid, no match for the nice navy blues of BS.

V2. The Objects
I used the same methods as above.  To save myself some work, I borrowed 
Blackadder's chair, table, chair with table, potted plants, candy, etc. from 
the Barneystein patch.  Somehow, he got these (and some walls) from Blake
Stone.  I noticed that the BS walls he used in Barneystein did not quite match 
the corresponding walls I extracted from BS.  He either reproduced these by 
hand or somehow captured the images from the game while playing it.

V3. Enemies
Some minor problems occur here, most involving sizing.  I did not want to do
any scaling of the objects, to avoid pixelation.  So I just trimmed some of
the images.  Also used the same coloring process as above.  Here's a 
commentary on them all:
        
        Brown Guards replaced with Bio-Technicians.  Some images needed
        trimming/slimming to fit.  Those that came out too thin were replaced
        with copies of other images.  This one came out pretty good.

        SS Guards replaced with Sector Patrol.  Sizing was perfect, but
        the blue used was too vivid, had no choice here.  When you kill the
        first one, the gun he drops does not match what he carried, but so
        what, right?

        The Dogs replaced with Plasma Spheres.  Easy one.  Dog death sequence 
        has one less frame than the Plasma death sequence, so the falling
        sparkles don't quite make it to the ground now.

        Hans Grsse replaced with the High Security Genetic Guard.  Great fit,
        only one frame needed a little bit of trimming. 

V4. You and your weapons
Not too difficult... 

        The knife I left as is.  I wanted to replace it with the auto charge 
        pistol you get to start the BS game, but the image was much bigger 
        than BJ's knife and arm.

        The pistol replaced with the slow fire protector.

        The machine gun replaced with the rapid assault weapon.

        The chaingun replaced with the plasma discharge unit.  The dual 
        neutron disruptor was another possibility, as it acts more like Wolf's 
        chaingun, but the plasma discharge unit looked better.  A little bit 
        of muzzle flash had to be trimmed to fit.

        Your victory run.  Colored BJ's hair and eyes and eliminated the
        blood and rips on his clothing.  Not Blake Stone, but an incredible
        simulation! :)

V5. Sounds
Experimented with data extraction from the end of the BS VSWAP, and was able
to load it into MASTER Blaster in small chunks as RAW data format.  Edited
as appropriate and saved as VOC files, which WLFAUD could insert into Wolf's
VSWAP.  The secret wall sound and the token pick-up sound were recorded on 
tape and WAV files were made from these tapes, then inserted with WLFAUD. 
These two sound effects replace Wolf's digitized secret wall and slurp. 
I don't know where the sound effects are stored (AUDIOT file ?), or in what
format, but it was easier to record them than to find them.  

I hope you enjoy the patch!

Andy Nonymous 1/4/99



Update 1/22/99 by Brian E. Lowe.

Firstly, many thanks to Andy for his excellent work with the graphics.

This ZIP now contains Gamemaps and Maphead files. I have made one new level
(the first), and the other 9 are the original Wolf3D shareware v1.4 levels. 
The new level works OK on both PC and Acorn/Archimedes machines.

I will probably update the 9 levels at a later date.

My email address is brian@brlowe.globalnet.co.uk
My website URL is http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~brlowe 

My website is called Mr. Lowe's Wolfenstein 3D Page, and it has many Wolf3D 
and Spear of Destiny add-ons to download.  There's also a list of links to 
many other Wolf3D related sites. The main page is for the PC, but there's 
also a page for Acorn/Archimedes fans.

All levels work OK on the PC and Acorn/Archimedes machines.


Update 2/2/99 by Brian E. Lowe.

Secret level completed.


Update 3/13/99 by Brian E. Lowe.

Three more levels completed.  Levels 1 thru 4, plus the secret level, are 
now done.


Update 4/1/99 by Brian E. Lowe.

New VSWAP file sent to me by dla. The dark side of the orange wall now has 
the red patches removed. I decided to issue this as an alternative version 
called BlakeWf2.ZIP.


Update 4/18/99 by Brian E. Lowe.

Two further levels completed (the 5th and the 6th).


Update 5/7/99 by Brian E. Lowe.

Three further levels completed (7th, 8th and Boss).
All levels have now been completed.
  
If you're interested, there's a Wolf3D Fan Club.
Join it if you want. 
It's on http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/thewolfenstein3dfanclub.

There's now a 2nd fan club too (The Wolf3d and Quake Club).
This one is at http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/wolf3dandquakeclub.




  


