Doom Palette 0
Doom palette 0, with each color numbered
A PLAYPAL is really a collection of palettes used for various purposes. It has a total of fourteen palettes, each 768 bytes. Each palette has 256 colors of three unsigned bytes each (0-255); one for each of red, green and blue. Furthermore, the COLORMAP resource also affects the display of colors on screen.
The palettes each have a specific function:
| Palette number | Use |
| 0 | Normal |
| 1 | Unused.
11% red tint, RGB(252 2 3). |
| 2-8 | Progressively more red (8 is most red). Used to show pain when the player is hurt, and reddens the screen when the player picks up a berserk pack.
Each of these palettes tints the screen red progressively by 11%, so the highest pain palette makes the screen 88% red, by RGB(255 0 0). |
| 9 | Unused. 12% RGB(215 185 68) tint. |
| 10-12 | Progressively more yellow. Used very briefly as the player picks up items.
25%, 37.5%, 50% of RGB(215 185 68) |
| 13 | Green tint, used when the radiation suit is being worn
12.5% of RGB(3 253 3) |
An examination of the Doom source code reveals that the unused palettes (1 and 9) were likely intended to be the first levels of the red and yellow tinting effects. Because of the logic used in the palette code, they are never used.
Tools which can be used to manipulate the PLAYPAL include Inkworks and DeePsea.
Hexen
In Hexen, the engine uses an extended PLAYPAL lump containing 28 palettes, of which the additional palettes are used for several new effects.
| Palette number | Use |
| 0 | Normal |
| 1-8 | Progressively more red. Used to show pain when the player is hurt. |
| 9-12 | Progressively more yellow. Used briefly as the player picks up items. |
| 13-20 | Progressively more green, used when a player is poisoned or hit with projectiles from the Quietus or Serpent Staff. |
| 21 | Light blue tint, used when the player has been frozen. |
| 22-24 | Progressively more white. Used briefly when the Cleric fires the Wraithverge. |
| 25-27 | Progressively more orange/red. Used briefly when the Mage fires the Bloodscourge. |
See also
Source
- This information is from the Unofficial Doom Specs.