Creating monster behavior

[888mikem888]

Im a massive noob at Doom editing, I was wondering, how do you create a monster? I mean like creating the behavior giving it its sprites, projectiles, what it dropson death, and how to add it to the doom wad. What programs am I going to need? Im not 100% sure if someone els has already started a thread like this but any help would be realy appreciated

[Gez]

Basically, you need to use a content definition language.

[Kappes Buur]

888mikem888 said:

I mean like creating the behavior[/B]

something in the way of DECORATE


giving it its sprites, projectiles, what it dropson death,

sprites are created by using a graphics program such as
Paint.net, Paint Shop Pro, Gimp, Photoshop
http://forum.zdoom.org/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=20793&start=0&hilit=tutorial

and how to add it to the doom wad.

Never ever do anything to the IWAD doom.wad or doom2.wad.
To build the map use something like Doombuilder2.
To bring everything into the map use SLADE3 or XWE.

Then to play your map use a sourceport such as ZDoom or GZDoom, although there are other sourceports with similar features. You'll just have to try them all to find the one you really like.

[888mikem888]

Ok, awesome. I have the sprites already, I just needed to know how monsters are made from scratch. Thanks for the help guys. I realy appreciate it :)

[888mikem888]

Oh yes, is there any other program I can use other than DeHacked? It wont work on my computer

[Gez]

For what purpose do you want to use dehacked?

[Kappes Buur]

Ugghh, why do you want to take three steps backwards using DeHackEd when you could use the far more flexible DECORATE. It does not take long to learn if you have a look at some of the examples from the Realm667 Beastiary in conjunction with the ZDoom WIKI DECORATE.

However, if you absolutely must use DeHackEd, then use
http://www.teamhellspawn.com/exl/files/whacked2_setup.exe

[GreyGhost]

Maybe he's aiming for vanilla compatibility?

@888mikem888 - Here's a newer version of WhackEd, if you don't mind using beta software.

[888mikem888]

No, sorry, Im kind of stupid when it comes to this stuff, I want to use DECORATE but figuring out how to use it seems like jiberish to me. (Yes I guess you could say Im retarded) I want to use DECORATE but making the scripts is confusing to me. I took the scrpit from the zombie man and change some things from there (The test monster Im triing to make is kind of weak) But changing its projectiles (In this case its machine gun) and its sounds when it spots me or dies is messing me up. Im using ZDoom and WXE.

[GreyGhost]

It's a bit like learning another language, the words look familiar but you keep tripping over the syntax and getting frustrated. Copy/paste your script into this thread, some passerby's bound to spot the errors and explain where you've gone wrong.

[888mikem888]

Ok heres the thing. The monster I want to create is a normal human guard with a machine gun. I have the sprites all ready in a seperate folder. Im a missive noob at this so Im changing the Zombieman's script. Here's the Zombieman's script, what changes should I make to it to change its projectiles to machine gun and linking it to new sprites and sounds.

actor ZombieMan 3004
{
spawnid 4
obituary "%o was killed by a zombieman."
health 20
radius 20
height 56
mass 100
speed 8
painchance 200
seesound "grunt/sight"
attacksound "grunt/attack"
painsound "grunt/pain"
deathsound "grunt/death"
activesound "grunt/active"
dropitem "Clip" 256
MONSTER
+FLOORCLIP
states
{
Spawn:
POSS AB 10 A_Look
loop
See:
POSS AABBCCDD 4 A_Chase
loop
Missile:
POSS E 10 A_FaceTarget
POSS F 8 A_PosAttack
POSS E 8
goto See
Pain:
POSS G 3
POSS G 3 A_Pain
goto See
Death:
POSS H 5
POSS I 5 A_Scream
POSS J 5 A_NoBlocking
POSS K 5
POSS L -1
stop
XDeath:
POSS M 5
POSS N 5 A_XScream
POSS O 5 A_NoBlocking
POSS PQRST 5
POSS U -1
stop
Raise:
POSS KJIH 5
goto See
}
}

[GreyGhost]

For the machinegun, you could borrow and adapt the SS Guard's attack...

Missile:
    POSS E 10 A_FaceTarget
    POSS F 4 bright A_CPosAttack
    POSS E 6 A_FaceTarget
    POSS F 4 bright A_CPosAttack
    POSS E 1 A_CPosRefire
    goto Missile+1

Linking to new sprites and sounds raises a few questions. Do the sprites adhere to Doom's naming convention (you can read up on that here)? How many frames of animation does your "human guard" have and how are they sequenced? For comparison, the "former human" has 21 frames - 4 for walking, 2 for attacking, 1 for pain, 5 for death and 9 for gibbing - any differences will have to be accounted for in the actor states. How many sounds are there?

[888mikem888]

Well the sprites have all the angles, 4 walking,2 attacking 5 death sprites, 9 gibb sprites, 1 pain sprite, and 3 sounds, alert, pain, and death (And I supose the gibbing sound)

Maybe the SS guard's script would be better to build off. Heres the thing, The machine gun guard wasn only one of the few I wanted to do. The others I wanted to do was a shotgun guard, a pistol guard, and a flame thrower guard. Im leaving the flame thrower guard for he absolute last because I have to come up with flame projectiles and things like that. The more I think about it, the more it kind of makes sence. Im wondering now though, how do you set up the script so that it links to its sprites and sounds? I know I could just take the old former human and change its sprites and give it a new script via WXE but I want to learn how to do this from scratch

[Gez]

888mikem888 said:

Im a missive noob at this so Im changing the Zombieman's script.

Read this.

GreyGhost said:

Do the sprites adhere to Doom's naming convention (you can read up on that here)?

Or here.