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Iceykiller

Monster Teleporting

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I know this may seem like a horribly stupid question to most mappers, but I am new to this, so bear with me please :)

I want to know how to achieve that effect when it seems like monsters are teleporting into a room out of seemingly nowhere. Like, you hit a switch, or pass a linedef, and suddenly mosnters start teleporting in.
I tried scrolling floors+locked door+teleporter behind door, but monsters aren't affected by it. And I would do the "little room stuffed with monsters that walk over a line" idea, but how would they see you to start walking? The idea is that you don't know they are there, and you have to be able to see them for them to see you, right?
Can anyone help me :(

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The key is sound, not sight. Tiny shafts or two separate sectors merged into one (and not literally joined together, though), will do the trick. The downside is that you need the player to fire at least one shot before the monsters wake up.

If attempting this with scrolling floors in a boom-compatible map, make sure the linedef action type allows for monster activation (there are several teleport actions already available for this in the original Doom).

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The advantage with the other method (merging two completely separate, non-adjacent sectors) is that you can put the monsters to be teleported as far away from the room as you want, which gives allows you to choose whether or not you want the player to hear the monsters in the background and also gives you much more flexibility in how you size the room with the monsters hidden in it. And you don't have to worry about having to hide the shaft either.

But the shaft idea works perfectly well in most cases, so do that if it's easier for you. :)

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Doombuilder should have a command to merge two separate sectors into one (so they share the same sector number). After this is done, hovering over one sector will highlight both of them, as they are now the same sector. I'd suggest this method because it's more flexible (as mentioned). It's just a matter of finding the right keyboard shortcut or menu command (however Doombuilder does it).

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Iceykiller said:

I tried scrolling floors+locked door+teleporter behind door, but monsters aren't affected by it.

Ensure that all sectors constituting the monster box are set to scroll, in the same dir.

Or rather check whether the door really opens or if the resulting sector heights are enough for the monsters.

Or try using a lowering floor instead of door.

Also, most ports with scripting allow you to spawn monsters directly :)

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ZDoom, which is for Doom but is partly based on the game Hexen, has ACS scripting, which is like programming your map to do something complex (like spawning monsters in various places, then lowering a barrier) whenever someone crosses a linedef or uses a switch or picks something up or kills a monster.

Note that for Boom you'll have to restrain yourself to the sliding-floor monster warp-in method. BTW, you'll find that the classic teleporting tricks from Doom 1 are the best, because that way monsters teleport in randomly.

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There are basically three ways to spawn/teleport monsters:

1) Monster teleports with active monsters; you'll need to use sound canals or merged sectors. The monsters will be active when they teleport, so instead of waiting in place they'll come hunt you.

The easiest way to do this is the following: Create a square sector outside your map. Then, using Doom Builder, in sector mode select a sector somewhere in your map where the player is certain to shoot (thus cause monsters to wake up), and after that select the square sector outside your map. Press the "merge sectors" (not "join sectors") button in the toolbar. Then put the monsters into the new sector, add doors blocking each monster and add multiple teleport lines into the sector. Use either "fast opening door" or "lower ceiling to highest adjacent ceiling" triggers to open the doors as fast as possible.

An example: http://www.akinomori.com/stuff/images/teleport.jpg

Note that you don't really have to use that many teleporting lines, but the more you have the faster the monsters will teleport. Also note that the blocking doors must not be over the monsters' center position, or the monsters won't be alerted by the gun shots.


2) Scrolling floor teleports. This way the monsters don't have to be active when they teleport, so you can use the teleporting monsters for ambushes. Just note that different ports wake up monsters in different ways: For example in prBoom if you once shoot in a room and at a later moment a non-active monster teleports in it will activate right away, while in ZDoom you would have to shoot in the room an other time. Because of that you should flag ambushing monsters deaf when using these teleports.

With scrolling floor teleports you need to be careful that the monster has enough space in the target sector, or that you have constructed a "fail safe" teleport: If the teleport spot is currently blocked by, for example, the player, the monster can't teleport in. That's why a scrolling floor teleport usually has the following elements:
-A line with tag "X" on the back of the sector ("front" is the direction the floor is scrolling to)
-The monsters that you want to teleport
-A door blocking the monsters
-A line that teleports the monsters out of the sector
-A line with action "Teleport to line with same tag", using tag "X" from the first line

With that last line the monsters will teleport back to the "beginning" of the scrolling floor sector in case the teleport spot was originally blocked and the monsters couldn't teleport. Without this teleport sending them to the beginning of the sector the monsters would just get stuck.


3) Alternatively, if you're mapping with a port that supports scripting (ZDoom and derivatives, and some others) you can use scripting for teleporting. However keep in mind that with scripting your map can only be played in the supported ports, so using scripting just so that you can do teleports is a bad idea. In any case, with scripting consult documents of the port of your choice.

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EarthQuake said:

The key is sound, not sight. Tiny shafts or two separate sectors merged into one (and not literally joined together, though), will do the trick. The downside is that you need the player to fire at least one shot before the monsters wake up.


you can use sight as well actually.

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A good way to do this is to have the monsters behind an impassible solid midtexture so the player can't see them, but make sure the monsters are at such an angle that it would be difficult for them to attack the player from behind it.

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kristus said:

you can use sight as well actually.

Heh, I like when it's done this way or merely done with monster closets and no teleporting at all. Reminds me of old-school maps when people had less clue how to map :)

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These are all helpful, thanks a lot.
I think I'll do the merge sectors idea, that seems really easy and makes it to where you can't actually hear the monsters. I'll just place some dummy monsters in the room, so the player has no choice BUT to shoot, and then the monsters will hear! :D
Thanks again!

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One way to make sure the player shoots is to require him to fire at a shootable switch to open a door, lower a wall, or whatever.

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