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Soundblock

Sloped sectors

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I've for the first time felt the urge to make a sloped sector in Doom. Only for mountain backdrop purposes, but still. Some of the nice lighting tricks you can pull off, posted earlier might also have nudged me in the slanted sector direction. I'm still a bit skeptical about their application in the playable space, but that's all in the fun of experimentation I suppose.

Is there an ABC one should be aware of when embarking on this journey in Doom editing? Some questions come to mind:

- Are they a GZDoom Builder only feature, or can I also make them in Doom Builder?
- What formats support angles? Hopefully not just UDMF, I haven't gone over to that yet, though if conversions of existing maps prove successful I suppose I might one day.
- Where do I specify I don't know what # specials to set, or how to control the angle of these sectors. Any help in this critical area would be very much appreciated.

These'll be my first slanted sectors since working with the Build engine, so I'm a bit antsy. Hoping for good pointers. If you need a custom fitted spot texture for your map or something in return, lemme know.

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-In DB2 too, of course. They're just linedef actions like any other. (or things, in case of "slope things")
-ZDoom has slopes available in all 3 map formats. So, among the default editor configurations, slopes are available in "ZDoom : Doom in Doom format", "ZDoom : Doom in Hexen format", and "ZDoom : Doom in UDMF format". (and a couple more ones which you probably won't need)
-The linedef actions should be under category "Plane", namely "Plane->Align(Slope)". There are also "slope things" to set sloped angle or copy it from another sectors.
-Everything is documented here.

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Soundblock said:

- Are they a GZDoom Builder only feature, or can I also make them in Doom Builder?

In general, you don't need specific editor support to use a feature (unless the feature is something really fundamental, like the map format).

You can set up slopes in Doom Builder, however you will not be able to preview them in DB's 3D mode. The sectors will remain flat there and you'll have to test the level in ZDoom to actually see what the sloped sector looks like in situation.

GZDB on the other hand will display slopes in 3D preview modes.

Soundblock said:

- What formats support angles? Hopefully not just UDMF, I haven't gone over to that yet, though if conversions of existing maps prove successful I suppose I might one day.

All of them. Of course, your options are more limited in Doom map format.

Soundblock said:

- Where do I specify I don't know what # specials to set, or how to control the angle of these sectors. Any help in this critical area would be very much appreciated.

This page is the general reference, at least for Hexen format and UDMF. In Doom format it's more complicated. First, things cannot have arguments in Doom format, so none of the slope things are usable. Secondly, line specials aren't parameterized so instead you have to make do with presets as defined in XLAT.

By default, the following line types are provided:

340 = 0,		Plane_Align (1, 0)	// Slope front floor
341 = 0,		Plane_Align (0, 1)	// Slope front ceiling
342 = 0,		Plane_Align (1, 1)	// Slope front floor and ceiling
343 = 0,		Plane_Align (2, 0)	// Slope back floor
344 = 0,		Plane_Align (0, 2)	// Slope back ceiling
345 = 0,		Plane_Align (2, 2)	// Slope back floor and ceiling
346 = 0,		Plane_Align (2, 1)	// Slope b.f. and f.c.
347 = 0,		Plane_Align (1, 2)	// Slope f.f. and b.c.
Since only Plane_Align is covered, you cannot use Plane_Copy -- unless you want to define your own map translator of course.

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Soundblock said:

I've for the first time felt the urge to make a sloped sector in Doom.


If you should go with the G/ZDoom_DiH or G/ZDoom_UDMF formats, then do not forget about the Slope things,
which are extremely effective for mountainous backdrops or terrain.

http://zdoom.org/wiki/Slope

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Kappes Buur said:

G/ZDoom_UDMF formats, then do not forget about the Slope things


I'm under the impression that I don't need the Vertex Height Things in UDMF? Triangular sectors seem to give access directly to the vertex when editing in 3D mode. Will I have problems later by not placing a Thing on the vertex?

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Vertex height things are indeed superfluous in UDMF, as vertex height properties give the exact same functionality.

There are other types of slope things, though. Vavoom slopes, line slopes, sector tilt, and slope copy things.

But in UDMF you can also set a sector's plane equations directly.

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