r1942 My Sonic grenades not working

[Enjay]

In my Burghead mod, I have some "sonic grenades". These work by, when they "die", using A_CustomMissile to spawn an item that sits there spitting out invisible ripping projectiles in all directions for a while. These projectiles do no damage but, because they rip, they force enemies into their pain state. However, the grenades now have two problems:

1) Most of the time, when they die, the yellow projectile spawning actor appears briefly and then vanishes. Previously it would hang around for the required period of time.

2) Sometimes the projectile spawning actor does stay around but it no longer has the desired effect. Checking with IDDT, IDDT, it is still spewing out the ripping actors, but when an enemy walks through them, the enemy does not get forced into its pain state.

It was something that used to work perfectly (which can be tested by going back to older versions of Zdoom and GZdoom) and was something that I sought advice about on the forum when I made them so I hope that it is not the DECORATE but something elsewhere that can be fixed. I bet it's the DECORATE though.

Anyway, I have extracted the offending actor. Just load the zip and "give all" or "give NJArtiSonicGrenade" (you can carry up to 50). They are an inventory item so use them as you would a Hexen/Heretic item.

http://files.drdteam.org/index.php/file ... sonicg.zip

[and can people please delete attachments that they no longer need. The board attachment limit has been reached again. ]

[Enjay]

Hmmm, it seems that

1) may be due to the items being projectiles and entering their death states when they spawn on the floor. I guess that is clumsy DECORATE work but, dammit, I didn't notice because it worked.

2) is due to this http://forum.zdoom.org/viewtopic.php?f= ... 1&p=465715 and, as was noted in that thread, +FORCEPAIN does not restore the desired behaviour of putting enemies into their pain state. Giving the projectiles a damage value of 1 does but it also means they are fekkin lethal which is most definitely not desired behaviour.

[The Ultimate DooMer]

And trying to counter the 1 damage with HealThing(1) doesn't work either, as the script can't keep up with the damage being done. The only two ways I can think of are editing FORCEPAIN as in the other thread, or adding a version of APROP_DamageFactor that takes a custom damage type. (then it can be set to 0 for that damage type after the mob has been hit for the first time)

[randi]

Fixed.

[Enjay]

Fixed.

Thank you.

I notice, however that only #2 is fixed. I take it that #1 will have to be fixed from my side (ie modified DECORATE)?

[edit] Another minor point - not sure if it matters or not - these projectiles did not previously cause the player to enter a pain state but now you hear your own pain sound when you get close to them. [/edit]

[randi]

I don't know anything about that. You are probably right.

[Enjay]

It seems that it is down to the +MISSILE flag in the PROJECTILE flag combo. I guess it's fair enough for me to have to fix that given that Zdoom is probably doing what it is meant to (ie making the projectiles enter their death state when they hit the floor). It's just a shame that I didn't spot this clumsy bit of decorate before hand.

Also, in case you missed my edit of the above post (done whilst you were posting) I've also noticed this

"Another minor point - not sure if it matters or not - these projectiles did not previously cause the player to enter a pain state but now you hear your own pain sound when you get close to them."

As I mentioned, I'm not sure if that is indicative of something that should be addressed or not. It doesn't strike me as a huge issue either way.

[Graf Zahl]

[edit] Another minor point - not sure if it matters or not - these projectiles did not previously cause the player to enter a pain state but now you hear your own pain sound when you get close to them. [/edit]

Anything else would have been a bug in the damage code.

[Enjay]

Heh, cross posting-tastic.

Fair enough then. It doesn't really matter one way or the other for my use and I guess that custom damage types could be used to remove it if need be.

[randi]

Considering that you're spewing garbage everywhere, it's a surprise it didn't.

[Xaser]

That post sounds strangely vicious when taken out of context.

At any rate, at least this clears up the question I'd had for a long while about zero-damage projectiles and pain states. Funny hos these silly questions can persist for years when someone keeps forgetting to ask them.

Also, nice avatar, Randy.