EE v3.31 public beta 4 now available

I released EE v3.31b4 last night, but Doomworld still hasn't picked up the news, so I went ahead and posted this here too for maximum coverage.

You know where to get it ;)

http://www.doomworld.com/eternity

Downloaded it last night, but I haven't had time to try it out yet. The new (scripting) features look great, but it's a bit overwhelming at first glance... I need to spend much, much more time on this! :)

Those examples/tutorials promised on the site would be very useful!

I've spend a few hours replacing my TC's dehacked patch with a from-scratch EDF file. This is so much easier than I had previously thought! Apart from a few beginner's mistakes, I had no problems whatsoever. So far I've done new sounds, replacing things (objects, monsters), using several new Action codepointers (Spawn in particular) and creating all-new monsters. All of this using compressed frame format only, which I find much much more convenient to use than the normal frame format.

Can't wait for generalised custom monster attacks to be implemented!!

I did have to adjust several unchanged objects (via thingdelta) because their default height (ie. 16) allows them to be walked over. It would be better to change that default height to 25, so that levels which use blocking sprites (eg. head-on-a-stick) to bar entry can still be played as intended.

Also, I tried the SetFlags codepointer but couldn't get it to add the translucency flag to a rocket explosion?

 frame S_ROCKETx { "spr.|fr.|true|tic|SetFlags|S_ROCKETy|*|*|*|1|TRANSLUCENT" } 

[EDIT] Just one more question: can I use the Heretic codepointer stuff in Doom..? Maybe I just should try and see what happens ;)

[EDIT2] I'm noticing some other yet undocumented codepointers such as MissileAttack and FogSpawn. What's up with those?

You have to use the proper prefixes for special misc/args values, like this:

frame S_ROCKETx { cmp = "MISL|*|*|*|SetFlags|@next|*|*|*|1|flags:TRANSLUCENT" }

The flags: is the important part that you are missing.

As stated in the EDF documentation, misc and args fields interpret their string values as integers via the C function "strtol" when no prefix is present. This means your value TRANSLUCENT alone is interpreted as the number zero, since it is not a number. You can Logical-OR with zero all you want, it'll never set any bits ;)

Bad thing heights with 3D clipping activated will be fixed soon. This is an outstanding problem on our FIXME/TODO list.

If you look at the default EDF files, you will notice they declare that certain things, frames, and sounds in the files are not "standardized or documented" and should not be used. This either means that they may change (like with Heretic stuff), or that they may disappear (Eternity TC stuff is mostly being phased out).

This includes codepointers used in frames.edf that are NOT documented in the Eternity Engine Definitive Codepointer Reference (codeptrs.html). However, you will notice that all the Heretic codepointers are documented.

Heretic codepointers can easily be used in DOOM; HOWEVER, you must make certain to provide resources for every sprite and sound used by the codepointer. Otherwise, you'll end up with missing sprite error messages/invisible enemies, or you'll be hearing the pistol sound going off constantly.