How do I...

[Guest SoulMuncha]

...make killing a monster do something in the level? I'm guessing I need to give the monster a trigger or something. The effect I'm referring to is like on E2M8 and E3M8 where killing the Cyberdemon\Spiderdemon ends the level, but also on E1M8 where killing both Barons of Hell lowers the walls so you can get out. Is this feature in Doom 1 only?

While I'm about it, how do you combine levels into one wad so that after you finish the first level it moves onto the second one? It's obviously possible without constructing the levels in an editor that allows you to do this immediately since they stuck the best levels from the 10 sector competition in one wad.

[Mordeth]

SoulMuncha said:

...make killing a monster do something in the level? Is this feature in Doom 1 only?

If you played Doom2, you must have noticed the effect of killing the Mancubi on map07 (lowering the raised walls) and the Arachnotrons on the same map (raising floor by 16 units), and the effect of the Commander Keen's on map31.

The Mancubi deaths affect sectors tagged 666, the Arachnotron's 667. These two effects can only be used in map07. The Commander Keen stuff affects sectors tagged 666, and can be used in all Doom2 levels.

You could make a Dehacked patch that replaces the Keen with a monster of your liking. I wouldn't replace it with a Cyberdemon, as the copied monster is NOT prone to rocket splash damage like the original.

The Doom1 effects can only be used in the end-of-episode levels.

To combine different levels, just save them as different map entries (map01, map02, etc) and combine them into one WAD with eg. NWT. Some level editors to this stuff for you automatically; most of them have documentation on how to do this.

[ReX]

Mordeth has pretty much answered your questions, but I'll add a couple of things. Many, if not all, source ports allow you to tag a monster, so that when it dies a specific action is initiated. If you're not willing to use a source port, stick with the limited triggers mentioned by Mordeth.

Besides NWT, there are other utilities that allow you to combine multiple wads. WinTex is one such program, and it's fairly easy to use. Regardless of the program you use, remember to have unique map designations (i.e., Map01, Map02, etc.) for each of your maps.

[Lüt]

In addition to what the guys below said, if you're using ZDoom or any engine that supports ACS scripting or a similar facsimile thereof you can use scripts to identify exactly which creatures need to be killed for certain events to take place in your maps. This basically consists of giving the creatures and ID, telling the script that when all the creatures with this specific ID are killed, a certain event happens. I've never written these scripts so you'll have to find somebody else who knows about this, but it is possible. Of course, it's only of you're using a port like ZDoom; these features aren't available in regular Doom or most Doom ports.

[Astewart41]

Get EDGE, and create a script file (myscript.scr) and insert the following trigger in (Maybe you should check RTS online, but this is how I do it)

start_map MapXX/ EXMX
radiustrigger 0 0 -1
ondeath "(Monster)"
activate_linetype "(Line trigger type, ex. 38 = Lower Floor to Nearest W1") "(Trigger/tag, ex. 666)
end_radiustrigger
end_map

So take for example my project LIL Level 2:

start_map Map02 // Starts Map02
radiustrigger 0 0 -1 // Trigger can take place anywhere where used
ondeath "HELL_KNIGHT" // Can be any monster you like
activate_linetype 38 4 // Activates linetype 38 for door tagged 4.
tip "You may proceed to the castle now" // Displays a message.
end_radiustrigger // Vital: Must have this in or game will crash
end_map // Vital: Must have this in or game will crash

Think of this as a mini-tutorial, any other type of radius trigger is pretty much the same as this, only different flags are set.

I think you should get EDGE because of this very reason, its simplicity to modify DDF and RTS, and I think it's a damn good source port.

Hope that helped more than confused,
Andy

[Zigmund]

If you download the editor called WadEd there is a program that comes with it called "wadcat.exe" . It will combine all your wads and is simple to use.

[Guest SoulMuncha]

Mordeth said:

If you played Doom2, you must have noticed the effect of killing the Mancubi on map07 (lowering the raised walls) and the Arachnotrons on the same map (raising floor by 16 units), and the effect of the Commander Keen's on map31.

The Mancubi deaths affect sectors tagged 666, the Arachnotron's 667. These two effects can only be used in map07. The Commander Keen stuff affects sectors tagged 666, and can be used in all Doom2 levels.

You could make a Dehacked patch that replaces the Keen with a monster of your liking. I wouldn't replace it with a Cyberdemon, as the copied monster is NOT prone to rocket splash damage like the original.

The Doom1 effects can only be used in the end-of-episode levels.

To combine different levels, just save them as different map entries (map01, map02, etc) and combine them into one WAD with eg. NWT. Some level editors to this stuff for you automatically; most of them have documentation on how to do this.

Thanks.

So... when you give a sector tag 666, when all the commander keens on the level have been killed the ceiling in that sector will raise to the next highest ceiling?

[ReX]

SoulMuncha said:

So... when you give a sector tag 666, when all the commander keens on the level have been killed the ceiling in that sector will raise to the next highest ceiling?

That is correct. Also, I'm sure you realize that you can tag multiple sectors with the 666 tag, so you can set up your map so that several areas open up simultaneously.

[Lüt]

Don't those tags only work on Map07 and Map32?

[ReX]

Actually, the Commander Keen scenario with tag 666 works on any level, not just Map32. However, the 666 and 667 sector tags only work for Mancubuses (Mancubi?) and Arachnotrons in Map07. The difference in the way the 666 tags work is that with Commander Keen, the ceiling of the sector rises to the next highest ceiling, but with the Mancubus, the floor lowers to the next nearest floor.

[Lüt]

ReX said:

Mancubuses (Mancubi?)

Mancubuses.

But OK, I guess that settles it. Now that I think about that, I do remember some people using Keen in Map01 to achieve the door effect. I just thought that since 666 meant different things on those two maps, one or the other couldn't be a default for all the maps because there would be some sort of tag conflict.

Nevermind.