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Archive Maintainer      : Sigvatr
Primary purpose         : No levels included
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Title                   : PalPlus
Filename                : pal_plus.zip
Release date            : Friday, June 24, 2011
Author                  : Sigvatr
Email Address           : [email protected]

Description             : PalPlus is a patch WAD for all versions of Doom,
                         including vanilla. Its intended function is
                         specifically to improve visibility on modern LCD
                         monitors and generally to simply make Doom look
                         much better.

                         PalPlus works by increasing the contrast of
                         luminance and color saturation in Doom's PLAYPAL
                         lump and remapping the COLORMAP lump based on the
                         former under the constraints of exclusive palette
                         index selection.

                         The original Doom palette has remain constant
                         since the very first alpha versions of the game
                         and was not altered in any further releases or
                         versions. The palette was created for the
                         atypical CRT monitors and television sets of the
                         early nineties which featured far less power and
                         flexibility than modern LCD monitors, and
                         specifically reduced contrast and sharpness. As
                         LCD monitors became the norm, the original Doom
                         palette began to show its age.

                         There are several different schools of thought
                         regarding how color maps should be generated. The
                         first, which was used in the original Doom, was
                         to make all 256 colors in the palette available
                         to the color map generation algorithm. This
                         method works best with palettes that have a wide
                         range of color tones. However, Doom's palette
                         features relatively few distinct tones, most of
                         which are browns and reds.

                         The second method, which was utilized in the
                         creation of PalPlus, restricts the color map
                         generation algorithm to close relatives of the
                         color tone currently being generated in the color
                         map. When used in combination with the improved
                         palette, lightness-based color shifts will
                         ideally appear simultaneously smoother and more
                         distinct to the human eye while displaying less
                         artifacts and abrupt color cutoffs.

                         The creation of PalPlus required tools which did
                         not exist, and software written in C99 were
                         specifically created for the development of this
                         project. The partially finished product was
                         extensively tweaked using the color map
                         generation tool in XWE gradually over a period of
                         over two years and went into testing sporadically
                         during that period until it was deemed ready for
                         release.

                         Depending on the user and system, PalPlus may or
                         may not make Doom look better to the observer.
                         Extensive testing has shown that there are people
                         who like it and those who don't. If you don't
                         like it, then that's fine.

                         If you do enjoy using PalPlus, then consider
                         playing some of your favorite WADs with it, as it
                         makes playing them a new experience.

                         Keep in mind that some WADs feature their own
                         PLAYPAL or COLORMAP lumps which may override
                         those contained in PalPlus, or vice-versa. The
                         order in which they are specified in the command
                         line is important and pal_plus.wad should be
                         specified at the end for best results. The end
                         results when used in combination with WADs that
                         use incompatible palettes are unknown.

Additional Credits to   : Special thanks to the following people for their
                         extensive testing and feedback: Hamish McLeod,
                         Marnetmar, Mithran Denizen, Khorus,
                         GreyGhost, andrewj, DuckReconMajor, Phml,
                         gemini09, TrueDude, ellmo, GBT3, gggmork, Bucket,
                         myk, esselfortium, Mr. Chris, Vorpal, skaman86,
                         BlueEagle, xvertigox, hervoheebo, printz,
                         DeathevokatioN, Katamori, Sodaholic, GeckoYamori,
                         Xeros612, Average and Cyanosis.
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* What is included *

New levels              : None
Sounds                  : No
Music                   : No
Graphics                : No
Dehacked/BEX Patch      : No
Demos                   : No
Other                   : Yes
Other files required    : None


* Play Information *

Game                    : Doom
Single Player           : Yes
Cooperative 2-4 Player  : Yes
Deathmatch 2-4 Player   : Yes
Other game styles       : None
Difficulty Settings     : Not implemented


* Construction *

Base                    : New from scratch
Build Time              : Over two years
Editor(s) used          : Photoshop, XWE and some specifically written
                         software


* Copyright / Permissions *

Authors MAY use the contents of this file as a base for modification or
reuse.  Permissions have been obtained from original authors for any of
their resources modified or included in this file.

You MAY distribute this file, provided you include this text file, with no
modifications.  You may distribute this file in any electronic format (BBS,
Diskette, CD, etc) as long as you include this file intact.  I have
received permission from the original authors of any modified or included
content in this file to allow further distribution.

* Where to get the file that this text file describes *

The Usual: ftp://archives.3dgamers.com/pub/idgames/ and mirrors

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