Thunder is an editor created by Terry Evans and Steve Larsen. This review is of the public beta, available at the Thunder website. This is my early review of it, I will follow up after I have some more experience with the editor.

After I d/l'd Thunder, I unzipped it and installed it. The installation was very clean, and easy (as all Win95 installation's should be). I opened up the help.doc and the readme.txt to get the info on setting it up.

I figured it would be pretty simple. For the most part, it was. Thunder uses project files instead of one settings files. You can have multiple project files for different map styles and users. For example, you can set up projects for CTF, Team Fortress, QuakeWorld, and Regular Quake maps, each one loading different entities and wads. This is a very nice system, and it makes it easier, IMO, to work with multiple wad files and different entity lists (ex: CTF/TF). You tell Thunder where you installed Thunder, where to find Quake, paths to: QBSP/Light/Vis, your entity files, and your Objects directory (kinda weird entity stuff. There are two blanks below, labeled Textures and Wads. It took me awhile messing around with these before I figured out the proper settings for them. Textures is the names of the wads you want to use, multiple wads separated by ; (ex: metal.wad;wizard.wad;)

After installation, I started messing around with Thunder, loading various maps, and making simple ones. Thunder loaded some maps ok, but recently, has been crashing upon loading maps. Here's the full scoop. I was working on a dm map w/ Thunder. I had about 1/3 of it made, when I used the build option in Thunder to make the .map a .bsp. Well, After it qbsp'd and light'd it the window didn't show any more progress, and Quake wasn't loading. So I clicked on the X to close it, got a Win95 "Try to close this window w/o Win95 shutting it down for ya" message, but I clicked on the Yes close it button. Soon the window was gone, but to my dismay, so was Thunder. I restarted Thunder, and then tried to open my map. Thunder crashed. Hmmmm. I haven't been able to get Thunder to open the map file since, even though WorldCraft and BSP load it fine. I have also had some problems loading other maps since then. Enough of this crash stuff. I'm getting sick of talking about it. I'm gonna re-d/l Thunder and reinstall, and that ought to eliminate these problems. I hope.

Anyway, I don't want to sound like I hate Thunder. In fact, it is probably my favorite editor right now, except that I can't load my dm map (or any other map) without crashing. Thunder makes cylinders, wedges, and pyramids easily, however, I'm not sure how you change the number of sides. As far as I know, you can't. Thunder features vertex manipulation, a feature I think no editor should be without. Thunder also implements easy rotation, and shearing of brushes. It is easy to select textures, you just press t on your keyboard, and select your texture. Most commands can be done easily on the keyboard, and this works well for me, since I usually have one hand on the mouse, and the other resting on the keyboard anyway. Well, I guess this is enough of an review for now, or at least all that I am capable of writing without being unfair to you and Thunder. So here's my rating.

Thunder is one of the best editors out there right now, both in functionality and ease of use. If you are looking for an editor for the first time, d/l Thunder and try it out. If you're looking for a new editor, do the same. IMO, if the crashes can be eliminated, this will be in the number 1 or 2 spot easily, assuming other editors continue as they are now. Thunder gives WorldCraft and BSP a run for their money, and it's about time.