OMFG JDOOM OWNS!!

[Graf Zahl]

 Missile:
 -------DRKI E 0 A_Jump(64,4)
 |      DRKI E 8 A_FaceTarget
 |      DRKI F 8 A_FaceTarget
 |      DRKI G 6 A_CustomMissile("DarkNormal", 32, 0, 0)
 |      Goto Missile+7
 -----> DRKI E 8 A_FaceTarget
        DRKI F 8 A_FaceTarget
        DRKI G 6 A_CustomMissile("DarkStrong", 32, 0, 0)
 ------ DRKI E 0 A_Jump(64,4)
 |      DRKI E 8 A_FaceTarget
 |      DRKI F 8 A_FaceTarget
 |      DRKI G 6 A_CustomMissile("DarkNormal", 32, 0, 0)
 |      Goto See
 -----> DRKI E 8 A_FaceTarget
        DRKI F 8 A_FaceTarget
        DRKI G 6 A_CustomMissile("DarkStrong", 32, 0, 0)
        Goto See

A_Jump is a code pointer that advances a certain amount of states based on a random value. In this case A_Jump(64,4) means that it will advance by 4 states with a probability of 64/255. (Yes, that should have been percent so please don't tell me. ;-) )
This monster fires 2 fireballs successively, with a probability of 25% for each one it uses the stronger one.

A_Jump looks like this:

void A_Jump(AActor * self)
{
	if (P_Random()<self->state->misc2())
		self->SetState(self->state+self->state->misc1);
}

[DaniJ]

Now I get it, thanks for clearing that up.

It's interesting to see how Zdoom has implemented this.

In Doomsday 2.0 Skyjake is planning to have a fully scripted system (like Duke/Unreal etc) intergrated with ACS/XG/Infine where you can for example:

(dead basic example)
Attack1:
    if (my_health < 50%){
        State = "missle1"
        Playsound "whatever"
        Spawn whatever X Y Z bit bit bit etc
    } else {
        State = "missle2"
    }

I'm assuming the talk about DoomC on the Zdoom forums is about a similar system.

[Graf Zahl]

DaniJ said:

I'm assuming the talk about DoomC on the Zdoom forums is about a similar system.

You mean DoomScript? Yes, there has been a lot talk but nothing has been done yet.

As for A_Jump: I know perfectly well that it is not a perfect solution. But what are you supposed to do if the crowd wants it *now*, and not in a year when a proper scripting system can be implemented? A_Jump was obviously a quick solution to satisfy the demand for this. ;-)

[DaniJ]

As for A_Jump: I know perfectly well that it is not a perfect solution. But what are you supposed to do if the crowd wants it *now*, and not in a year when a proper scripting system can be implemented? A_Jump was obviously a quick solution to satisfy the demand for this. ;-)

I know what you mean. I wasn't knocking it because I know how much work is involved in doing it the "proper" way and it's a good short term solution. A while back I was even considering doing a similar thing myself in a custom jDoom.dll

[chilvence]

Silly think that makes me proud, but A_Jump was suggested by me ;)

[Mordeth]

A_Jump was taken from MBF. Again, one of Killough's nifty improvements. Except that Killough's implemention is better, because it allows you to jump to a specified frame.

[chilvence]

Oh, I didnt know it was in MBF (never even tried MBF actually, wasnt here at the time)

Ah well, I still suggested it, regardless of what caused it to be implemented ;)

[Kaiser]

MBF/PRboom had a lot of neat extra code pointers like A_Mushroom, and A_LineEffect (which allowed a certain frame to trigger a line type (misc1 = type, misc2 = tag). Although I have never seen these pointers in action.

Both Jdoom's ded and Zdoom's Decorate scripts are great. But when editing objects.ded, you cannot create your own missile attack (which requires a custom .dll) In Zdoom, you can, and thats what makes it stand out the most. The Decorate lump allows the user to do almost ANYTHING, Jdoom's objects.ded just allows the user to add additional frames or edit the frames/code pointers 'eg. Dehacked'


After messing with ded files for a while, I just found them very difficult to work with, especially that wretched XG system.

[Graf Zahl]

Deathman said:

After messing with ded files for a while, I just found them very difficult to work with, especially that wretched XG system.

Wasn't that what I was saying all the time? ;-)

[Kaiser]

/me needs to learn to read the whole thread before replying :\

[DaniJ]

Heh. Maybe I'm just weird but I find XG easy to use and extremely flexible and quite powerfull.

[Graf Zahl]

DaniJ said:

Heh. Maybe I'm just weird but I find XG easy to use and extremely flexible and quite powerfull.

I agree that XG is

- flexible
- quite powerful


But I still think you have to type too much to get the desired effect.
Coding a simple line action in FraggleScript, ACS and even DDF is much shorter (although the lack of tag parameters in FS can be a problem.)

[DaniJ]

I'm really looking forward to when Doomsday has ACS. That combined with XG in the new scripting system will be a great feature set for mod makers.

Skyjake has said he'll add the new functions and language modifications from Zdoom too.

[kalamari22]

My personal opinion on jDoom is that if you want drastically improved graphics, just wait for Doom 3! It really isn't that far off now, and in the mean time I kind of enjoy the "classic" visuals in Doom/2. I do prefer skulltag for playing SP because of how smooth it is however.