Does anyone ever use the automap's numbers?

[Platinum Shell]

For years I've ignored it (due to a bad experience of using them a few times in my early doomin' days, Doom 95; prone to crashing), but recently I've started re-using them. They can be pretty useful since they go 0-9, but I still wish you could customize them a bit more (like, say you wanted to drop a yellow dot for a yellow door, etc).

Does anyone else use them?

[Da Werecat]

I use them if the map is very big and/or mazy. In other words, when I don't have much choice.

[joepallai]

I use to use them in the larger maps; always thought it was a good but underused feature.

[Necros20]

I've been playing Doom for over a decade and didn't even find out about this feature until recently. :P

[Shadow Hog]

Never used 'em before. Honestly, it's a feature I never remember exists.

[Demon of the Well]

I use them sometimes, mainly for marking the locations of keydoors or otherwise locked doors/barricades in large, nonlinear maps. They're also good for marking the locations of things like initially unneeded medikits or shell cases or the like in maps where resource austerity is a prominent feature, and, if you're organized enough, for maps that feature teleporter mazes.

The automap feature I almost never use is the grid, although once in a great while it can be helpful to determine whether a really long jump can really be made, or the like.

[Death Egg]

The what feature now?

EDIT: You've gotta be shitting me, that would have come in handy for quite a few maps.

[Vaporizer]

.

[joepallai]

The grid feature I've only ever used accidently. I just forget that it's there.

[schwerpunk]

joepallai said:

The grid feature I've only ever used accidently. I just forget that it's there.

I only found out about the grid feature after I got into mapping. I'm not really sure what the grid's purpose is other than to help quadrate a map for diagnostic purpose.

Until I got Chocolate Doom I thought grids and map numbers had to be advanced ZDoom features not available in the original game...

[Walter confetti]

you mean mark spots isn't? Anyway not that much

[Alfonzo]

The marking system would be useful if the numbers were a different colour, or otherwise much "louder". As it is they don't serve their function very well as I always lose sight of where they are, and this is doubly true for maps of a certain size where zooming out can cause of the automap features to condense and blur.

[bcwood16]

I know they exist, but always forget to use them :(

If I remembered, think I would only ever use them on large maps.

Good question though :)

[Blue Shadow]

st.alfonzo said:

The marking system would be useful if the numbers were a different colour, or otherwise much "louder". As it is they don't serve their function very well as I always lose sight of where they are, and this is doubly true for maps of a certain size where zooming out can cause of the automap features to condense and blur.

You can replace them with something else that'd work for you, if you want, in the same way you would replace any graphic in Doom, like the status bar, the title screen, level names in the intermission, etc.

[scifista42]

I know about the marking feature, but never used it to help me to navigate through map. I only (and only once) tested what all keys you can press in automap and that's how I learned about it. Grid is the same case for me. I don't use any automap feature other than switching follow mode on/off and zoom in/out.

[40oz]

Blue Shadow said:

You can replace them with something else that'd work for you, if you want, in the same way you would replace any graphic in Doom, like the status bar, the title screen, level names in the intermission, etc.

What are the lumpnames? I didn't know they were graphics.

I've never really made use of this feature. The only way I could find it being very useful is if I had another person by my side and I had to give them a quick synopsis of the layout of the map using the automap like it were some kind of powerpoint presentation. I don't have much trouble discerning the shapes of rooms from one another so I usually don't have much trouble navigating an automap to the point where I need to label places to remember where to go.

I might have a go at designing a puzzle scenario where using these numbers would be very beneficial. Not sure how I'd go about that yet but the question this thread asks is one that's been sitting in the back of my mind for quite some time.

[Shadow Hog]

IIRC they're the same lumps as the ammo counters.

[40oz]

Oh... well that wouldn't do much more than ruin a status bar.

[Blue Shadow]

40oz said:

What are the lumpnames? I didn't know they were graphics.

AMMNUM0 - AMMNUM9.

Shadow Hog said:

IIRC they're the same lumps as the ammo counters.

The ammo counters use STYSNUM0 - STYSNUM9.

[myk]

Occasionally to mark keyed doors and caches or items I haven't used.

[Dragonsbrethren]

I use them all the time, mostly for marking locked doors (when using vanilla or a port that doesn't color them) or important areas/routes in maze-like levels.

[blackthrones]

Just in Plutonia's Hunted level.