[ARROWS] Custom automap arrows

[m8f]

I am not very fond of GZDoom/ZDoom original automap arrow. It is hard to see where is the front and where is the back. So I drew some different arrows:

• minimalistic triangle
• pentagram with one longer corner for occult/hell themed mods
• rocket for tech/space themed mods
• pacman for arcade themed mods
• corner - even better visible direction

All of them allow to see direction more clearly when zoomed out than original automap arrow:


You are free to include them in your mods in original or modified form (CC BY 4.0), or load them separately.

Download

Corner arrow is included in Hellscape Navigator. Check it out for more navigation aid!

[eharper256]

I'm sorta surprised no-one ever commented on this. It's pretty useful, especially with the generic triangle, because I have the same issue as you with that arrow, even if it was like that in the original game, the larger resolution of modern PC's makes it hard to see these days. So thanks m8. XD

[Hexereticdoom]

Pretty good alternative arrows, specially I love the Pacman and Corner ones! By the way, this last one reminds me the Asteroids arcade game spaceship, hehe...

You know something? I think I'm gonna include the Corner Arrow by default in next updates of two of my most important mods...

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Yeah, the Doom and Heretic ones I mean!

[Ani]

I've been struggling to find something that could help me add this to my mod, thank you! I now wonder, can you change color of these arrows like say you want the triangle arrow to be green much like in Doom 64?

[m8f]

To add special arrows to your project, see https://zdoom.org/wiki/MAPINFO/GameInfo_definition for MapArrow property.

Arrow color is defined by GZDoom settings: https://zdoom.org/wiki/Set_custom_colors: am_yourcolor (can be configured through options menu).

[Enjay]

Map arrows are fun little details to change - and reasonably easy to do as well. For several years now, I've been using this one that I made:


And, yes, it was inspired by the Asteroids ship (though not an exact copy).

[Professor Hastig]

Cool stuff here!

What I find a bit strange is that this is such a completely underused feature of GZDoom - it has been available for a long time but I do not remember even a single larger map set using its custom arrow.

[DELTAtheDboi005]

How does one even make arrows? I genuinely have no clue how...

[m8f]

Basically, map description is simply a list list of lines, each of one is described by two points. Each points has two coordinates. The first coordinate is forward/backward, the second is left/right. Point (0, 0) is the center of the arrow, point (1, 0) is the front point.

You can take a piece of grid paper, mark the center as 0, 0, and mark each square as 0.125 or 0.25. Draw a shape, then write down the coordinates of the shape lines.

[DELTAtheDboi005]

Oh! that's handy. Might try that for my mod.