fun with transfer-heights (boom compatible)

ok, so i've used transfer heights to make some deep water sectors (waist height) but i've got a little interaction going on with them, specifically i'm attempting to open gates to drain the water away and stuff, i've noticed that performing sector raising/lowering on the control sector can raise/lower the height of the water but i'm having trouble, specifically:

1. with the boom general linedefs changing the floor/cieling textures so that the water surface can change to the floor texture when it has drained as it doesnt seem to change, getting it to change the floor with a normal lowering sector doesnt seem to do it

2. applying the transfer-heights to a sector that lowers under the surface of the water

i'll have a bit more of a play this afternoon, i'm well versed in the art of voodoo-doll scripting and have downloaded wackywtr.wad which should help me a bit but any hints on the above points etc would be greatly apprectiated

Isn't it possible to have the fake floor level lowered BELOW the original floor? That way the water would get "hidden" by the real floor. Just a thought.

that was my first thought, but the water level kept going down so that the floor became lower than it actually was, if i could lower it to the actual floor height and perform some texture switching that should do it i think.

And you've tried to have the dummy sector floor level lowered using a "donut" effect?

Julian Hope said:

Isn't it possible to have the fake floor level lowered BELOW the original floor? That way the water would get "hidden" by the real floor. Just a thought.

Boom cannot do this. If you need this you have to use ZDoom. (Legacy also has a similar linedef but it automatically makes the water swimmable.)

My current work-in-progress has this Boom-compatible effect, with "deep-water" nukage rising from floodgates, flooding large parts of the level. Then it lowers again and disappears. This repeats itself. The time interval between floods, the duration, and depth of the flood can be controlled by the player. The effect is complete with the appropriate textures, damage effects, friction, surface lighting, etc. It also has some build-in delays, so that the flood seems to be 'rolling in' instead of merely rising up.

So yeah, this is possible :) Keep in mind that texture/type effect and lighting changes can only be done by player-activated (or voodoo-doll activated) triggers.

Quick basic outline of effect:

Sector A (floor/ceiling 0/128) is the affected sector, with normal flats. Sector C (0/128) is the control sector. A transfer flat height (242) trigger on one of C's linedefs refers back to A. Floor/ceiling textures of C are those intended for surface areas. Since floor/ceiling A = C you won't see C's flats yet. Lighting of A is the in-game lighting, lighting C is for the underwater part.

Sector B is a conveyor belt crisscrossed with the needed triggers, moving a voodoo doll along. B has the intended sector effects, such as damage type and friction. The floor texture of B is the intended surface area of the flood (eg. nukage).

Sector L is another dummy sector, with lighting identical to A. It's flanked by two other sector, one L1 with lighting identical to A, and L2 with the intended lighting level for the nukage surface. You can skip that step if you're dealing with water, but otherwise you would want to change the nukage surface lightlevel to 255 or so and back to normal. A transfer floor lighting (213) trigger on L refers back to the A.

Back to the type of triggers on B.
Trigger 1: change type/texture of A, trigger-type model.
Trigger 2: raise (or lower) floor of C
Trigger 3: raise (or lower) lighting level of L to nearest.

And you're basically done. Trigger 1 changes the flat texture and sector type of A according to the sector properties of B. Trigger 2 actually creates a Deep Water effect. Trigger 3 makes the surface area glow (or revert back to normal).

My advice: start small using just one affected sector. Extending this to encompass an entire level is just a matter of, well, scaling and timing :)

Some well-intended advice: do not make effects the focuspoint of a level. Effects are merely things that happen during gameplay, so don't compromise gameplay just to add some effect.

Graf Zahl said:

Boom cannot do this. If you need this you have to use ZDoom. (Legacy also has a similar linedef but it automatically makes the water swimmable.)

turns out all it takes is the use of the use of the 239 linedef, "copy sector properties to same as surrounding". obviously it's only one-way but works a treat for what i was intending.

also the effects are not the focus of the level, just that the water level moves as the player moves from area to area and only remains waist deep so gameplay is totally not connected to it.

just an update, my technique is a bit dodgy because i'm applying the sector properties before it has finished lowering fully. it works fine in eternity,zdoom and prboom but glboom (224) doesnt apply the effect. they're only small bars that block the way and so i might just leave it as it is and let the gl ports suffer as it's really small...

I'm a little tired to go thru all of these posts to see if someone solved it, but the effect in boom is indeed possible. Though completing this may leave some users temporarily scatterbrained. Treat the waste high water as any other 3d platform.
And with any other platform, its moved with sectors attached to the dummy sector.you may have to experiment with this a bit, cuz i'll be damned to make an example in builder at this hour.
lol
So, say the water is 32 pixels high, in a room with a designated c/f hieght of 128/0.
the water dummy sector is c=32 f=0
the sector attached to the dummy should be something like c=0 f=-32
(if this doesn't work try using c=128 f=-32, play with it a bit)

remember the dummy sector is still tagged with the swimming water tag.

whatever switch triggers the drainage is designated with booms "lower platform" linedef action.
i think this should work.( i normally use legacy)

this really does work flawlessly in legacy, though its easy to think it cannot be done.

Did you even read the previous post? Heh.

pff mordeth wtf do you know about doom stop misleading this n00b

i just said i was too tired to read the posts, i'm more interested in giving a quick solution( or even an alternate solution, since another person's perspective may add more inspiration and/or new ideas). on another note, i'm no noob. i just never post on doomworld cuz it always ends up in a flaming contest or something i don't like involving myself in.
http://www.geocities.com/rasputin1980/atmosphere.html
(the legacy thingy should work in glboom)

jetflock said:

http://www.geocities.com/rasputin1980/atmosphere.html
(the legacy thingy should work in glboom)

Very nice work. You have some real talent.

Better be careful or everyone will ask you to make textures for them.

jetflock said:

http://www.geocities.com/rasputin1980/atmosphere.html

Where can I get those double pistol sprites?