BOOM - Most Efficient Method for Reversed Lifts

[NEANDERTHAL]

What's the cleanest way to make a lift that raises, waits, and then lowers instead of the other way around?

[baja blast rd.]

I did this in a map before. I used a looping voodoo doll but by having 'Teleport to Line with Same Tag' or whatever it is called at the end of the conveyor, sending the doll back to the beginning. The doll should be initially blocked by a small sector under cyclical action (in non-nerd speak, a lift or door :P). In general with that sort of loop, you should test the timing by (a) spamming use and making sure that doesn't 'break' anything by adding a new 'cycle'; (b) more obvious, but making sure the timing doesn't suck so bad that the doll ends up looping twice before the lift/door blocking it closes again. 

[Kappes Buur]

'Scripting' via a voodoo doll is just about the only way to go in BOOM.

 

While Urthar's method works, it is not easyly customizable. A straight path allows for the timing to be adjusted more precisely, for example

 

 

by adjusting the length of the linedef for scrolling speed and adjusting the spacing of the trigger linedefs.

 

Addendum:

The only drawback that I see is that the switch must not be activated in rapid succession, which would add an additional cycle.

 

Addendum2:

 

 

In the first run-through the scroll speed is too fast.

In the second run-through the scroll speed is just about right.

 

conveyor_boom.7z

Edited August 28, 2019 by Kappes Buur

[Nine Inch Heels]

On 8/28/2019 at 3:12 PM, Kappes Buur said:

by adjusting the length of the linedef for scrolling speed and adjusting the spacing of the trigger linedefs.

Quick addendum to your few addendums:

Boom action 252/253 linedefs at a length of 32 map units (with North, East, South, West orientation) are the only way to make sure that anything timed will function exactly the same way across several sourceports, including GZDoom. Having said that, it is a really bad habit to start changing the timings of anything by changing the length of the "motor" that runs the conveyor, doubly so if you want/need a high degree of precision.

 

When using any "motor" that isn't 32 map units in length, the disparity in speed (between PrBoom+ and [G]ZDoom) will increase the further away from the 32mu sweetspot you get.

When using a 32mu action 252/253 linedef, the doll will scroll at 35mu/sec, or 1mu/tic. When using ceilings to time activations, a slow raising ceiling will also rise at 35mu/sec (1mu/tic), so it's really easy to "translate" conveyor length into a ceiling timer, if the mapper requires timers that are around a minute or more. It does come in handy because it makes conveyor based timers a lot more "wieldy", which helps especially in larger maps, because you can keep the conveyor with vertical timers closer to the actual playspace, which also makes debugging a much easier task, if the need arises.

 

Also: @Urthar that is not how you want to build a looping conveyor ever! These Rube Goldberg carousels are unreliable as all hell, and it's a real shame these contraptions are still being used in modern WADs, never mind that they're being suggested to mappers who don't know any better. I don't know who told you to build a looping conveyor like that, but it sure wasn't somebody who knew what they were doing.

Edited September 14, 2019 by Nine Inch Heels

[Urthar]

I don't know, but this is what I tried with a looping voodoo doll conveyor belt.

 

[Urthar]

9 hours ago, Nine Inch Heels said:

Also: @Urthar that is not how you want to build a looping conveyor ever! These Rube Goldberg carousels are unreliable as all hell, and it's a real shame these contraptions are still being used in modern WADs, never mind that they're being suggested to mappers who don't know any better. I don't know who told you to build a looping conveyor like that, but it sure wasn't somebody who knew what they were doing.

 

I just made it up by myself, it seemed to mostly work in DotB. Looking back, I don't why it didn't occur to me to try a teleporting line mechanism. Oh well, too late now :)

[Kappes Buur]

15 hours ago, Nine Inch Heels said:

Quick addendum to your few addendums:

Boom action 252/253 linedefs at a length of 32 map units ....

 

I'm glad my little example pwad was of help. :)