multiple switches in vanilla

probably not useful, but it's worth a looksee.

How the Hell was that done?

Grimm said:

How the Hell was that done?

Black magic! Actually it's just a voodoo doll.

Aha! I thought so! Why do you die, though, and is there any way to fix it?

Because there's no moving floors in vanilla, the only way you can get a voodoo doll to move is to blast it somehow. And Baldy used barrels here to do that - that's why you die.

I guess the only way to to fix it is to make the player temporarily invulnerable - like in this example. So basically, nice trick, but pretty much worthless unfortunately :P

Another possibility is to first give the dummy player a Soulsphere or even Megasphere, then use a single barrel to blast the player across the line.

Or arrange it so the player picks up blue or green armour just before triggering the blast. That should be enough to help the voodoo doll survive a small blast, and means that the player doesn't suddenly get a big health boost from nowhere.

How about a bunch of medikits right in front of the voodoo doll, to heal you instantly after the barrel moves the doll. You'd see a red flash still, and if you had armor, you'd lose some of it.

edit: Like this.

yeah, i thought of that too. you could eliminate the red flash as well if you messed around with inkworks. or you could use berserks instead, since those make the screen flash red already (although of course not that much). or you could use that along with the "keep details" option of inkworks. the only problem there of course is that by modifying the blood splashes it'll look strange at other points.

Grogglogobofink said:

the only problem there of course is that by modifying the blood splashes it'll look strange at other points.

Yes, you don't want to do that. I've played some wads that removed the red-screen, and it really annoyed me - I kept dying when I "hadn't taken any damage".

espi and i have perfected the process. he pushed the player far enough away to make the effect only deal 1 damage (2 in zdoom, apparently due to a rounding error), and i suggested cutting a single linedef in parts rather than having to use multiple ones extending out, thus allowing you to trigger multiple effects without the need for the dummy to move very far. i believe it's now at the point where it's usable, although not without the side effect of either taking a point of damage and seeing a very minor flash, or dealing no damage and seeing a more noticeable flash (by adding a health potion into the dummy sector). this second technique would also still leave you one health short in zdoom with the current damage code (although i'll bug him about it later to see if he'll fix it). anyway, take a look.

Why not use torque like in that mbfedit!.wad?

probably because mbfedit!.wad is for MBF and this is for vanilla doom, which of course does not have torque. obviously this effect can be done in boom-based source ports far more easily.

That latest version is definately usable. Loosing only 1 or 2 health points is perfectly fine I reckon (of course I wouldn't be saying that if I only had 1% health when I pressed the switch :P ). The main point is that it gets rid of the red damage effect.

I actually have a vanilla map which I was doing for D:E at the moment which could use this. There's a point where you walk over a couple of close linedefs which sets off a number of events. This way makes it easier, and means I can start it off with a switch (which is what I wanted to do, but couldn't, to begin with).

cool, it's nice to see i helped someone out on D:E with it :)

It's almost as scripting, you can add as many dolls and w-linedefs as you want.

Sarge's example uses 5 lines in the same spot that end up being activated at the same time. With Boom's moving floors you can make lines be hit at different times, thereby creating a wait time between events.

However, if you use Sarge's example to push a player off a very high ledge the momentum will keep them going over in the direction they were pushed and you can create wait time between events.

Just helpful information. =P

Nanami said:

However, if you use Sarge's example to push a player off a very high ledge the momentum will keep them going over in the direction they were pushed and you can create wait time between events.

er, damn. cool idea, i should have thought of that one =P

However, if you use Sarge's example to push a player off a very high ledge the momentum will keep them going over in the direction they were pushed and you can create wait time between events.

Hell yeah! Damn, I wish I was innovative . . . :(

Nanami said:

However, if you use Sarge's example to push a player off a very high ledge the momentum will keep them going over in the direction they were pushed and you can create wait time between events.

That'd have to be one bloody big chasm to get any signficant time delays :P

Though it would work, but doesn't vanilla doom crash if you have massive height transitions? Or can you have them in a level, it just crashes if you actually see them (and you wouldn't have to see them with this trick)?

The way it works is by lowering a ceiling which blasts a barrell which in turn moves the player. Another way to stagger events, would be to use multiple ceilings at different heights, which would entail having multiple barrells and voodoo dolls. The only problem with this way is that the player is going to start to loose a fair bit of life after a few time delays, so you'd probably have to have the voodoo dolls pick up a health bonus too.

One thing you can stagger easily without doing this is to have monsters teleport in at different times. Just simply have a series of tall floors, each with one linedef as a teleporter, which lower slowly whilst the other events happen. I added this to my D:E map, so monsters only teleport in when everything else has finished, and it works pretty well :P

The Flange Peddler said:
That'd have to be one bloody big chasm to get any signficant time delays :P

Try a set of stairs instead, making it steeper if you want a shorter interval between the effects.

I think crashes can happen when the player falls a long distance while moving fast, but not if falling straight down or moving just a bit while doing so.