W1 Exit Level (when dead)

I`m having some problems with the exit in a map I`m currently making.

At the end of the level, the player is teleported to a location where he cannot move (surrounded by invisible walls). The floor is scrolling/move things, and above is a crusher. After a few seconds, the crusher starts and kills the player. The corpse then proceed to scroll along the floor and over a W1 Exit Level line tag (the invisible walls are lowered from the ceiling, and does not go all the way down, so the corpse can go under).

The thing is, this works fine in Skulltag (and I guess ZDoom and the likes), but it does not work in PrBoom(+). WHY? The corpse scroll over the line, but the level wont end.

ps: I`d rather not upload the map, so I hope my attempt at explaining the problem is good enough ;)

How large is the gap underneath the lowered ceiling? I find it doesn't work if it's 8 pixels, but works if it's 16 or more.

I`s much more than that. The corpse passes under without problems.

edit: 24 units to be exact

What -complevel are you using for PrBoom? Make sure that "Zombie players can exit levels" (or how it's worded) is set to YES in the compatibility options in the menu, or alternatively, force an older than MBF -complevel.

EDIT: this may not work if I'm wrong and "zombie player" refers to genuine voodoo zombies, not moved corpses... But try anyway.

printz said:

What -complevel are you using for PrBoom? Make sure that "Zombie players can exit levels" (or how it's worded) is set to YES in the compatibility options in the menu, or alternatively, force an older than MBF -complevel.

EDIT: this may not work if I'm wrong and "zombie player" refers to genuine voodoo zombies, not moved corpses... But try anyway.

Wow...why did I not think of that =) Problem solved! Thanks.

printz said:

"Zombie players can exit levels" (or how it's worded)

It has been renamed to "Dead players can exit levels" in prboom-plus, as this describes the (rather pointless) actual function of this comp option. I'm pretty sure that Lee Killough just screwed up, and never intended to prevent dead exits.

If you use even a vaguely modern version of prboom-plus, this option will be set to "yes" by default.

Grazza said:

If you use even a vaguely modern version of prboom-plus, this option will be set to "yes" by default.

That is good to know.
I have no clue whatsoever about this complevel-stuff. All I know is that I map for Doom 2 in Boom format, limit removing maps, and I want people to play them. So if "dead exit" is default, then thats good =)

If you describe it as Boom-compatible, then people who know what they are doing will use -complevel 9, which forces this option to "yes", regardless of what is in their config. So yes, short of user error, your map will work OK.

If you want prboom-plus to behave as much like Boom as possible, then in the menus in-game, go to Options - General, and on the second page, set "Default Compatibility Level" to "Boom". It will remember this setting next time you start the program.

May I suggest this is not the best way to force a death-style exit?

I use a Romero-head like the breaks between Scythe episodes.

Of course if the player hits spacebar before the next level starts, they pistol start the map again, so reading the readme is still required, but the behaviour works in all sourceports.

Super Jamie said:

May I suggest this is not the best way to force a death-style exit?

I use a Romero-head like the breaks between Scythe episodes.

Of course if the player hits spacebar before the next level starts, they pistol start the map again, so reading the readme is still required, but the behaviour works in all sourceports.

And what if player has invul?

Then the map ends anyway (because the Romero Head dies) just the ending looks silly to the player.

Try it yourself: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/43343169/doom/exit-map01.wad

Thanks alot, that will most probably come in handy in other maps, but in this particular one the crusher death is a must =)

You will see when its released (not very soon though :/)

Super Jamie said:

Then the map ends anyway (because the Romero Head dies) just the ending looks silly to the player.

This. darkreaver's method is more reliable and thus more preferable in Boom maps.

I disagree. Crushing the player to death looks way worse. Try going into a crush exit with 200/200 health/armor, it takes ages to die.

I experimented with crushers (including voodoo crushers) in my own maps before deciding to use Romero Head exits.

In regards to looking silly with Invulnerability, you can always design your map so the Invuln pickup is >30 seconds away from the exit.

Romero Head also works in Vanilla and doesn't need complevels in the Booms.

I use the slow damage crusher, and it takes like...0,5 seconds to die. It may be worth mentioning that it crushes approx 50 voodoo dolls at the same time too...I guess that has something to do with it heheh

I think the Romero-head trick is more reliable...but it`s useless in this situation. It must be a crusher.

]Crusher deaths aren't slow at all.

Also you don't want to risk the possibility of a player exiting alive while a voodoo doll is dead or the player will play the next level in a permanent zombie state. Don't crush voodoo dolls.

Melon said:

]Crusher deaths aren't slow at all.

Also you don't want to risk the possibility of a player exiting alive while a voodoo doll is dead or the player will play the next level in a permanent zombie state. Don't crush voodoo dolls.

I`ll have a look at the file later tonight.

There is no chance the player can exit alive, so that wont be a problem (I think???) May I send you the map sometime in the near future so that you can have a look?

I dont wanna upload it publically since its for a megawad in progress.

"Ceiling lower to 8 above floor" deals hella damage.

Super Jamie said:

I disagree. Crushing the player to death looks way worse. Try going into a crush exit with 200/200 health/armor, it takes ages to die.

I disagree; the so-called "slow" (actually executioner) crushers are always dramatic.

Super Jamie said:

In regards to looking silly with Invulnerability, you can always design your map so the Invuln pickup is >30 seconds away from the exit.

Simpler and more reliable: have the player telefrag a voodoo doll at the same time as killing the Romero head. That kills the player (with no risk of zombification) even when invulnerable.

Grazza said:

Simpler and more reliable: have the player telefrag a voodoo doll at the same time as killing the Romero head. That kills the player (with no risk of zombification) even when invulnerable.

That's really good! I wonder if you could telefrag a doll and the Romero Head at the same time, negating the need for all the barrels Eric used in Scythe (and that I copied off). I must try this.

Edit: Doesn't seem to work? http://dl.dropbox.com/u/43343169/doom/exit2-map01.wad

Grazza said:

Simpler and more reliable: have the player telefrag a voodoo doll at the same time as killing the Romero head. That kills the player (with no risk of zombification) even when invulnerable.

Well, gorram, the idea's so simple I never thought about it before. I slapped together a test wad and sure enough, you can telefrag both a voodoo doll and a Romero head at once, making for a nice, nearly-seamless death-exit. Only tested it in ZDoom and vanilla ('cause of laziness), but both worked great -- the latter even has the bonus (with its limited sound channels) of not playing the boss brain death sound in lieu of all the explosion noises. Cool. :P

[EDIT] Didn't try it with invuln at first, though I just ran Super Jamie's wad and it works well for me in both Z and vanilla. Player dies, no zombification on spawn.

Hm, maybe it's complevel 9 that breaks it.

I tested it in PrBoom+ and it works fine under complevel 2 but not complevel 9. I guess Boom changed something about telefragging.

For some reason Boom doesn't seem to want to telefrag two things at the same location. If you separate them slightly, it works in Boom (-complevel 9) too. Modified version attached.

Edit: You might want to adjust the angle so you don't see the flying gibs.

exit2-map01_gb.zip