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pritch

Massively important contemporary Doom issue

How do Doom's switches perform their actions?  

31 members have voted

  1. 1. How do Doom's switches perform their actions?

    • Via radio signal
      2
    • Via internal mechanics
      21
    • Some other method (put below)
      8


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So here we have it, a huge issue to resolve. Do the switches in Doom use radio to perform the desired action, or are they mehanical (cables, wires, gears etc.)?

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They use magic :P

seriously, I think they use wires, like a elevator button, or a doorbell.

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i can't vouch for internal mechanics because in some cases the wiring would be too much of a bitch to be terribly believable.

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Via internal mechanics, I think. :)
Well, radio siginals, nah, I don't like that idea. :P
But I think some of the switchs in the homemade maps use magic, heh.

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It uses the same kind of mechanical devices as what was in that recent Honda commercial.

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Hmmmm. when you push the buttion. A electric segnal flow thoght wires. The wire led to a grear system. The gears rase the door.

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Fredrik said:

Shapeless supernatural black magic.

Shapeless' natural fake magic?

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C++ code. (Correct me if it's some other language, I have very little understanding of the Doom code.)

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I imagine they run a function to tell Doom what to do, and read the ID to tell where to apply it.

And Doom was written in C. Some ports have moved it to C++ though.

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Nanami said:

I imagine they run a function to tell Doom what to do, and read the ID to tell where to apply it.

And Doom was written in C. Some ports have moved it to C++ though.


Bah, cleverbitch.

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Invisible, winged, slave-dog-men with cast iron chains attached to their flaming collars, utilizing the strength of a million souls running through their cursed veins to drag doors open from a chamber deep within the bowels of hell.

Or a complex system of hydraulic pistons.

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They work via lindef/sector tags. :P

No, seriously, I think it's compruter programmin'.

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That depends on the switch.

Most of the switches are probably common cabling (even a lot of those in hell). Still, I guess that switch in the start of E3M1 operates via nerves (though that isn't that different from cabling when you think of it).

The switch in the end of map11, the one that turns off the powerfield around Earth, is a bit of both worlds. The control mechanism and the shutdown switch itself is of electronic nature, but the apparatus they control is obviosly of necromantic nature (it feeds off the lifeforce of all those tortured bodies it is composed of).

The daemonic hordes are no stranger to Earthen technology. In fact the "abduction" of Deimos was done so the daemons could study Earth technology undisturbed and combine it with their own arcane technology. The construction of the first prototype cyberdemon (a race that would later become numerous) was the foremost fruit of this venture.

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What about how the switches themselves are operated?

In most cases this is evident (a button or a lever), but what about these:

SW_SKIN (the eye)
SW_BLUE, SW_MARB, SW_GSTON, SW_HOT, SW_PANEL (the skull)
SW_GARG, SW_LION, SW_SATYR (the cast-iron faces

The most logical explanation for the skull switch is that the skull itself is a button. After all it is set in a depression and might be movable. The red glowing eyes might just be ordinary electrical lights or diodes indicating the switch's setting. A bit of a weird design but explainable. The switch might be as large as it is to better facilitate operation by demonic users who have lots of strength, but clumsy hands.

The iron face switches may be explained in the same fashion albeit another question arises there. Is the entire face a button? (that would greatly increase accidental offsetting) or is only a limited part of the face an actual button? I would believe in the limited part. Perhaps it is the old "stick your hand in the mouth" or perhaps it is the nose that is depressable.

Regarding the eye switch most fanfics seem to state that it is operated like a normal button, usually describing the protagonist's revulsion at manipulating what to the very touch seems like a human eyeball. Other suggestions might involve it's use as an actual visual sensor. A keylocked eyeball switch might for example be operated by presenting a properly coloured crystal skull for it which would cause it to close itself in compliance and activate whatever mechanism it was meant for.

The same could be imagined for the skull and face switches as their "eyes" might actually be eyes. Still the light often emitting from these would suggest otherwise. They could also be Half-Life style iris analysers, but that seems to be disproved by our protagonist's ability to operate them (one would believe that they would be coded only accept eyes of demonic nature). Also it would clearly handicap revenants who have no eyeballs to speak of and pain elementals whose eyeballs are far too big (cacodemons would be pleased though).

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Ed said:

Invisible, winged, slave-dog-men with cast iron chains attached to their flaming collars, utilizing the strength of a million souls running through their cursed veins to drag doors open from a chamber deep within the bowels of hell.


Yet another target for the Impse people.

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For the tech base stuff, complex hydraulic/electronic stuff. For Hell, black magic. What always gets me is why anyone would have a switch coming out of the ceiling, or way, way, way up high on a wall, in a depression too deep for you to hit it.

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You can hear a hit switch anywhere on the level so they must have some loud honking internal machinery :P

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I'm with the king, I think they're mechanical.

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fraggle said:

Linedef tags aint no magic.

You try and get people to show a little imagination... :P

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The 'Earth' switches such as those in UAC bases are electronic in nature whereas the Hellspawn swiches work by diabolical mechanical means.

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