some basics in the DB program...

I have spent around 1-ish weeks Working with the Doom Builder Program and I have yet to figure out how to do a few things that are essential for levels i plan on doing ( I hope to learn enough to make my own Mega wad.. with an enemy pack i found "The ZDoom Monster Resource Wad"..)

and.. I have a few problems i cant figure out for the life of me..

1.) Lowering/Raising Floors-
When i have tried to figure it out on my own, when i try making a small sector using the lineDefs for this catagory, and it only works when i walk off of the platform. is there a simpler way of making these??

2.) Lifts -
I can do the very basic of these ( they are on a wall and the sector that the lift is using is set to 0 Ceiling height and -128 floor height. ) And i can do the floor ones to an extent but it doesnt work 75% of the time. like the floors is there a simple process of making lifts anywhere on a map??

3.) Switches -
these are totally clueless to me, i can not get these things to work for me.. and i havent found any mention of them in any guide. I need some major help in this department, could someone help me with this?

4.) Loading custom graphics -
as i said, I want to use the "The ZDoom Monster Resource Wad" with my levels.. and when I want to add them to a place, i cant figure out how to add them. Is it possible using Doom builder 1.67? and if so, could someone expain this.

5.) Triggering walls to lower and monster teleporters -
For an indea i tried in a map, I wanted to put two walls that would lower quickly once i picked up a keycard, I have -no- idea what to do get this.. oh.. and in another room I wanted to have demons spawn in the room once i have crossed a platform that had goodies on it ( in cludding a keycard) i have the teleport pad and the hdestination all worked out, but how do i trigger the monsters once i walked on the pad??

and there is one last question:

when i make doors or basic lifts, why is it that some times in the test mode, the doors wont open once i am on the other side. And its the same thing with the lift, i try to lower it once i got off of the lift in the lower sector and it doesnt lower. is there a way to correct these??

oh.. and is there a way to place more than one teleporter in a level and not have two teleporters go to the same place?


( this seemed like i am stupid, but i just wanted to know because i couldnt find the answers in the doom builder's illistrated guide..)

and thanks to anyone that answers these questions.

renagade said:

1.) Lowering/Raising Floors-
When i have tried to figure it out on my own, when i try making a small sector using the lineDefs for this catagory, and it only works when i walk off of the platform. is there a simpler way of making these??

The simplest way to make these is to make a small sector inside another sector (in Sectors mode, not Lines mode), then either use the hotkeys to raise/lower the floor or right-click on it and adjust the height. Then go into 3D mode and give the new lines some Lower textures, otherwise the flat in that sector is going to bleed across the rest of the floor (the effect that you described).

2.) Lifts -
I can do the very basic of these ( they are on a wall and the sector that the lift is using is set to 0 Ceiling height and -128 floor height. ) And i can do the floor ones to an extent but it doesnt work 75% of the time. like the floors is there a simple process of making lifts anywhere on a map??

Make a new sector, give it a tag, then raise the floor up to the point where you want the lift to stop. Then right-click the line you want the player to use, give it an action (like #62, Lift Lower Wait Raise) and tag that line the same as you tagged your sector. Make sure all the involved lines have textures so there aren't any HOM's or bleeding flats.

3.) Switches -
these are totally clueless to me, i can not get these things to work for me.. and i havent found any mention of them in any guide. I need some major help in this department, could someone help me with this?

Give a single line a switch texture. When you give that line an action, check that the action is labelled "S1" or "SR" (switch once, or switch repeatable) otherwise the switch won't work.

4.) Loading custom graphics -
as i said, I want to use the "The ZDoom Monster Resource Wad" with my levels.. and when I want to add them to a place, i cant figure out how to add them. Is it possible using Doom builder 1.67? and if so, could someone expain this.

The Monster Resource Wad can be used in your Doom Builder levels by adding it as a resource when starting your map ("Additional Textures and Flats from WAD File:"). From what I can tell, the resource wad doesn't support Doom Builder's things menu, so whenever you want to add a monster from this resource, you'll have to look up its thing number manually (by looking through the Decorate lump inside the monsters.wad file).

when i make doors or basic lifts, why is it that some times in the test mode, the doors wont open once i am on the other side. And its the same thing with the lift, i try to lower it once i got off of the lift in the lower sector and it doesnt lower. is there a way to correct these??

For the first issue there, make sure that both sides of the door have the same action and tag. The second one sounds like you might have selected a Once action instead of a Repeatable action.

Thank you for your help, i thought my maps would be boring because i couldnt find the info i needed.

Just another question, its about the thing numbers and loading up the wad. I loaded up the wad (which i did to see if it would take.) and the wad came with the thing's number, when i went to the things menu.. what do i do with the number?

If you need some demo maps, with DB, I can send you some or make some based on your questions. However, they will be made with DB 1.0, so dont resave them with a newer version of DB or the textures would go out of place.

bah.. I gave up on the monster pak ( it gave me an error and forced me to reinstall DB O_o) but yesh, I would be content if you sent me a demo map on the lowering walls effect, that would be most helpful.