*** The "ask a miscellaneous editing question" thread ***

[scifista42]

8 hours ago, 94's the best style said:

How to make an explosive projectile not hurt its sender? In this case the player themselves. I was looking at A_Explode's XF_HURTSOURCE flag, but as it's set by default, I don't know how to remove it.

Set A_Explode's 3rd parameter to zero. As in, write something like this:

A_Explode(128,128,0)

 

[Zemini]

Anyone have experience adding monsters from other wads into the doom wad?

 

For instance, I am trying to copy the more complex Death Wyvern (dragon) but I get many decorate errors involving its custom "attacks".  A_DragonInitFlight, A_ImpMsAttack, ect.  What is the trick to this? Thanks.

[scifista42]

Quote

https://zdoom.org/wiki/A_DragonInitFlight said:

This codepointer is restricted to Dragon and derived classes.

That means your custom actor must inherit from Dragon (or from an actor that inherits from Dragon, or from an actor that inherits from an actor that inherits from Dragon, etc.) in order to use A_DragonInitFlight in its states.

[Gez]

Also, unless you want to change their actor code, you do not need to add the Hexen monsters to Doom. The Hexen monsters are already in ZDoom. You just need to provide the sprites, sounds, and give them an editor number through MAPINFO.

[Zemini]

 

1 hour ago, scifista42 said:

That means your custom actor must inherit from Dragon (or from an actor that inherits from Dragon, or from an actor that inherits from an actor that inherits from Dragon, etc.) in order to use A_DragonInitFlight in its states.

So basically copy https://zdoom.org/wiki/Classes:Dragon,  and just have it inherit from dragon by adding actor NewDragon : Dragon 123456?  I think I have all the sounds.  But why wouldn't the default dragon work?

 

 

17 minutes ago, Gez said:

Also, unless you want to change their actor code, you do not need to add the Hexen monsters to Doom. The Hexen monsters are already in ZDoom. You just need to provide the sprites, sounds, and give them an editor number through MAPINFO.

I did that, but I assume you meant decorate?  I tried adding the imp gargoyle from heretic.wad with sprites/sounds and it crashes the game.  Ill have to get the exact error when I get home but i think it involves A_ImpMsAttack.  But right now there are only doom2.wad monsters (and custom ones I added) since the game is using that as it's base.

Thanks

[Gez]

You do not need to have any DECORATE code at all (unless you want to modify the actors). Use ZMAPINFO to give them an editor number. Then place them. That's all.

 

What you will need to copy are the sprites, sounds, and SNDINFO code. Do not copy any of the standard actor classes; they are already in the engine.

[Zemini]

I understand your second part which is done already.  But I don't understand "give them a editor number" in ZMAPINFO. I have a MAPINFO lump though.  Should I be using ZMAPINFO all this time?  Thanks.

[Gez]

https://zdoom.org/wiki/MAPINFO/Editor_number_definition

 

ZMAPINFO mostly means you need to use the new syntax, which hopefully you're already doing.

 

 

[Zemini]

OKay I am getting there.  Next question, how do I know what all the sounds are?  Zdoom.org doens't list which sound lumps every monster uses. Unless I am blind, thanks.

 

After I figure this out, I should be good to go!

Edited January 24, 2018 by Zemini

[Gez]

You'll need to look at the SNDINFO code. For most games, it'll be in gzdoom.pk3, in a filter subdirectory. (filter/game-doomchex for Doom sounds; filter/game-heretic for Heretic sounds, filter/game-strife for Strife sounds) For Hexen, however, while there are some sounds defined in filter/game-hexen, the bulk of the SNDINFO code is in the Hexen IWAD.

 

Note that since the SNDINFO lumps are filtered, that means that you will need to copy the relevant SNDINFO code, too.

 

You'll find the sound lumps in the relevant IWADs.

[Spectre01]

I can't seem to figure out what the deal is with my platforms which lower into lava. They're attached to dummy sectors and are supposed to switch to the lava flat + effect, but it seems to be working half the time. Am I doing something wrong there?

 

Here is the map: Ultimate Doom, e1m8, limit-removing format E1M8_S01_Final.zip

Just clip straight past the main building and the 6 small rocky islands will be there.

[scifista42]

There is a bug in the vanilla code that searches for the texture and effect of the lowest neighboring sector when doing the floor lower to lowest floor (changes texture) action, and PrBoom-plus uses this code in its close-to-vanilla complevels. To make sure the proper texture and effect will be found, redraw the offending sector's surrounding linedefs such that the linedef that neighbors with its actual lowest neighboring sector will have the lowest linedef index of them all.

[Empyre]

I thought it was the sector in front of the activating line that determines what the tagged sector changes to. Maybe I am thinking of a different action special.

[scifista42]

^ That's the case for floor raise actions and generally all floor actions except floor lower to lowest floor.

[DharmaForOne]

When and how can you push a monster off a ledge?

 

I want to make pushing a monster off a ledge a critical step to finish a level. How can I design the sprite placement and floor shape so that a monster can be pushed reliably off a cliff, but still move toward the player after being attacked if it doesn't fall?

 

It's not a modding question but does relate to mechanics of the game so I felt it fit here.

Edited January 26, 2018 by DharmaForOne

[Albertoni]

23 hours ago, DharmaForOne said:

I want to make pushing a monster off a ledge a critical step to finish a level.

Why exactly?

 

Don't get me wrong, but it seems like you've been faced with a problem, found something that might work and are trying to do that; Meanwhile someone with more experience can give you a better way of accomplishing what you want.

[Kappes Buur]

On 1/26/2018 at 9:19 AM, DharmaForOne said:

When and how can you push a monster off a ledge?

 

I want to make pushing a monster off a ledge a critical step to finish a level......

You could try https://zdoom.org/wiki/ThrustThing if you are mapping for G/ZDOOM or offshoots.

[Gez]

How do you want the player to push the monster? By using some sort of map action, with items like Hexen's disc of repulsion, or just by blasting it with weapons?

[DharmaForOne]

17 hours ago, Albertoni said:

Why exactly?

 

Don't get me wrong, but it seems like you've been faced with a problem, found something that might work and are trying to do that; Meanwhile someone with more experience can give you a better way of accomplishing what you want.

Well, you aren't wrong. It's my first try at making a level.

 

So the reason why is this: I am making a 'prison break' style level where there is a large open yard guarded by a strong monster high up on a wall. The exit won't open until the guard is dead. The guard is facing into the yard and away from the player in the push-off situation I"m trying to make. Fighting the guard head-on wlll be a hard fight because the player won't really have the resources. Instead, I want to have the player throw a switch elsewhere in the level that opens all the cells and releases 25 or 50 or whatever weaker monsters. If the guard was pushed into the courtyard, you can then start a fight between him and the inmates.

 

Some weapons, like chaingun and rocket launcher (and fist? Maybe all of them?) give a push when they hit a monster. Ideally, the player would fire one rocket at a distance or a short chaingun spray at close range to do the push. I'm having difficulty getting it to work 100% of the time, though. It seems that the push only happens when the monster is not moving. Specifically, either idle or engaging in an attack. One rocket doesn't seem to be enough. So, one way is to stand at point black range and run into the monster while firing - You block it from regaining forward progress while pushing back with weapon. It's easy for the player to botch the point-black attack, because you have to come at the right angle, not also fall off, not die, etc. I only succeed about 50% of the time in my tests and I don't think someone trying to figure out the challenge would be able to do it.
 

Another way that works is when the monster is standing on a tiny flagpole-like column and can't really move in any direction. With this setup it does fall after one rocket hit from long range. I don't want to do the flagpole setup because it becomes easy to fight head-on.

 

 

[Gez]

By default in unmodified Doom, monsters cannot cross drop-off lines. Unless they die first, then their corpses can fall down. This was changed in Boom to allow to do stuff like putting monsters on coneyor belts and pushing them off in a room. So already you should know you'll have to deal with compatibility settings. Furthermore, how much pushback a monster gets depends on the monster's mass (an underused property), the damage inflicted, and floor friction (that's why you can push cacodemons easily when they're floating high, but they tend to stick around if they're floating at ground level). Depending on, which port you're targeting, you have different options.

 

Lastly, don't forget you might be able to do what you want to accomplish through a roundabout way. For example, instead of having the player physically push the monster (something complicated because of how primitive Doom physics are), you could have a switch that lowers the guard monster's platform.

[Spectre01]

Simple format question here: Does limit-removing in Doom 2 still maintain the 23 Lost Soul limit?

[Zemini]

Anyone know the Ultimate Doom intermissions?  I want to make my own with the animated screens and possibly the bullet splotch.  If I can decipher Ultimate Dooms, I will be able to do my own.  I noticed that the intermission screen has a lot of of parts to its main graphic.

[Gez]

1 hour ago, Spectre01 said:

Simple format question here: Does limit-removing in Doom 2 still maintain the 23 Lost Soul limit?

Refer to your limit-removing port's documentation.

 

It's a question of complevel in PrBoom+ (if a pain elemental spawns a lost soul when it wasn't supposed to succeed, the demo will desync). In ZDoom there's a compatibility setting. Also, the limit is 21, not 23. The pain elemental will fail to spawn a lost soul if there are already more than 20 of them, so if there are exactly 20 it can spawn one more.

 

1 hour ago, Zemini said:

Anyone know the Ultimate Doom intermissions?  I want to make my own with the animated screens and possibly the bullet splotch.  If I can decipher Ultimate Dooms, I will be able to do my own.  I noticed that the intermission screen has a lot of of parts to its main graphic.

It's completely hardcoded. ZDoom is, as far as I know, the only port that allows you to define more.

 

https://zdoom.org/wiki/Intermission_script

 

You can, however, replace the graphics for the existing ones, if so you want. You may be able to create something new this way. It's not done frequently, though, the only example I recall is Chex Quest.

[Zemini]

Before I start doing it, can I use ANIMDEF for a Interpic, Titlepic, ect?  Or does that only work for in game textures/flats?

[Spectre01]

Is it possible to block some bars, tagged as doors, from closing in Doom 1 limit-removing format? I want them to be able to close early on in the map, but then stop them from doing so even if the player walks over a repeatable Open-Wait-Close line.

[Empyre]

16 hours ago, Spectre01 said:

Is it possible to block some bars, tagged as doors, from closing in Doom 1 limit-removing format? I want them to be able to close early on in the map, but then stop them from doing so even if the player walks over a repeatable Open-Wait-Close line.

I would just have it open and stay in the first place.

[scifista42]

It's not possible, all you can do is to use only repeatable open-and-stay and non-repeatable close-and-stay actions.

[Empyre]

Maybe you could use a repeatable lower-ceiling-to-highest-floor to close it, and then change the height of the control sector's floor to make the door no longer able to close.

[scifista42]

There is no repeatable lower-ceiling-to-highest-floor action.

[Spectre01]

Thanks for clearing that up guys; I'll try something else!