using custom keys

Hello everyone;
I'd like to ask you if it's possible to use custom keys such as green key or purple one in a normal doom wad - classic doom not in hexen format which requires acs script - even if it means modifying the editor sys file?

I think the best you could do is modify the sprites and most likely create a .deh with the modified pickup strings.

No can change the look of a blue key so it looks like a green key; you can change the text so it'll call it a green key; but it'll still be a blue key. It'll open doors that require a blue key, and if you use some OpenGL mod that gives dynamic lights to items, it'll get a blue glow because it's a blue key.

If you go for Boom compatibility, you have many more options without having to resort to a different map format or losing too much of a potential audience.

Boom allows you to set up doors that check for a specific key (of the six keys that exist). So you could for instance, have a door that requires a red keycard, but will not accept a red skull key.

Additionally, you can have doors that require any of the six keys, all three of each color, or all six keys.

This makes for some pretty interesting game flow if used correctly. And best of all, these locked door configurations are available in any source port supporting Boom's generalized linedefs. With some sprite replacements and a little bit of .bex string editing, you can essentially have 6 unique keys.

Gez said:

and if you use some OpenGL mod that gives dynamic lights to items, it'll get a blue glow because it's a blue key.

That may be true for GZDoom because you don't get dlights in it without a manually written definition.

But Doomsday and Risen3d both have systems that automatically calculate and place dlights on full bright mobj states, without need to write a definition. The default mobj dlights you see when you run Dday don't come from a ded for instance; it's the engine looking at the sprite for every full bright state and auto calculating a dlight for it. This allows Dday to have dlights with mods that change sprite graphics.

Definitions in Dday and Risen3d, overrule the auto placed dlights of course.

EDIT: Ok, Risen3D may not have such a system. It comes with a ded that manually places dlights on every mobj, something I always knew. But what I didn't know is that it refuses to run without it, even aborting when the ded is replaced by a mostly blank one of the same name...

Maybe I'm missing something here, but new keys work very well for me with GZDoom.

but how can you open doors with them I edited doom 2 sys file and added new strings then i went to the editor and voila it showed the new actions ex:
12033 DR opens wait close(green)
but when i run the tester nothing happened as if DB didn't recognize it...so what shall I do?

Well, and this is strictly my own personal opinion without any reflection upon any other mapper intended,
mapping for vanilla engines is like using a Volkswagon Beetle to win a Formula 1 Grand Prix.

If one is happy and contented mapping for vanilla DOOM, so be it.
But, with the same effort it would take trying to learn how to wrangle something new into a vanilla map
with DEHACKED, one could have learned mapping for ZDOOM, GZDOOM, ETERNITY etc. And those newer
engines are so much more flexible in constructing complex architecture, adding new monsters, weapons
or fonts, or use scripting to design gameflow never seen before.

Like in your case, trying to include new keys in your map.

If you want, have a look at my map . It's for GZDoom.

saifi said:

but how can you open doors with them I edited doom 2 sys file and added new strings then i went to the editor and voila it showed the new actions ex:
12033 DR opens wait close(green)
but when i run the tester nothing happened as if DB didn't recognize it...so what shall I do?

I don't know what this SYS file thing is (my best guess is that it's a Doom Builder data file), but the only way you can change a key's color in vanilla Doom is like gez said. To the engine, the key will remain its original color, and you simply create the illusion that it's a different color, by modifying the sprites (for the key itself, and its matching door trim texture) along with making a DeHackEd patch that changes the message strings associated with that key color. It's not hard to do, but you can't add new key types this way, you're still stuck with 3 key colors total, although they can be any color and appearance you like.

I think you can have 6 key colors in vanilla. Text messages are different for doors and switches (you need ... to open this door VS you need ... to activate this object). Edit these strings with DEHACKED, and voila! You now have 3 keys for doors and 3 for switches: all of a different color. Of course you still will be limited to 3 keys per map but you now can have yellow, red and blue keys on MAP01, and then pink, orange and green keys on MAP02.