Transparent Flats/Portals in Zdoom

[pcorf]

I am working on an experimental set of Zdoom levels.

In some levels of kdizd there are some transparent floors where you can see a room below. The floors look a bit like Glass Windows. The same thing goes with ceilings as well. Well I got this effect working properly in this experimental map.

In the room you are located in.
Zdoom / Portals / Thing No 9077 Upper Sector tagged 1, floor height -4, floor texture SHAWN2, transperancy 48

The room below you (elswhere in the map)
Zdoom / Portals / Thing No 9078 Lower Sector tagged 1, ceiling height -4, ceiling texture SHAWN2, transparency 48

In the staring room, the effect only works if you step on to that specific sector. When you step off it you get a HOM effect. Problem is I cannot look at KZIZD because its compressed into a PK3 file so I had to figure out this effect myself to only a little bit of success. My aim is that you are able to see into this window looking at the room below from all areas of the room to give out a fake 3D effect.

[esselfortium]

Unfortunately, ZDoom's stacked sectors are terribly unreliable, and are prone to HOM if you breathe in their general direction. It's most likely just that it doesn't like part of your surrounding area.

Eternity Engine's anchored portals, on the other hand, are everything stacked sectors wish they could be. You can do essentially anything without having to worry about HOM, as long as your anchor line and portal line are lined up properly with each other. Like stacked sectors, though, they're visual-only.

However, Eternity's work-in-progress linked portals will allow for full 3D structures that function exactly like normal areas of the map, where players and monsters can see through them, walk through them, shoot through them, they appear in the correct place on the automap, etc...they're pretty incredible; I've seen them ingame personally. :)

[Graf Zahl]

pcorf said:

Problem is I cannot look at KZIZD because its compressed into a PK3 file so I had to figure out this effect myself to only a little bit of success.

What's so hard about extracting the levels if your editor of choice can't load it directly?

Anyway, there's 2 things to observe with stacked sectors:

1. There shouldn't be any one sided walls in the relative line of sight on the other side of the portal.

2. When looking into an upper stacked sector its floor shouldn't have any height variations and when looking into a lower stacked sector there shouldn't be any ceiling height variations.

That said, even KDiZD's stacks suffer from occasional HOMs. The proper implementation of the effect just never was done fully.

[Mordeth]

esselfortium said:
However, Eternity's work-in-progress linked portals

True, and it's indeed awesome. But they don't allow for transparant flats between the different stacks.

[esselfortium]

Mordeth said:

True, and it's indeed awesome. But they don't allow for transparant flats between the different stacks.

This is a planned feature though, if I remember right.

[Scientist]

pcorf said:

Problem is I cannot look at KZIZD because its compressed into a PK3 file so I had to figure out this effect myself to only a little bit of success.

Check out this demo map:
http://cyb.vect.org/zdoom/stacktest.cab
Indeed you need to limit the players movements or the effect gets messed up.

@ esselfortium, I just listened to some of your music. Great stuff! I left you a message on your myspace ;-).

[Quasar]

esselfortium said:

This is a planned feature though, if I remember right.

You are correct. I won't put a timetable on it though. Right now the chance of it being in the next official release is slim to none :P