The "How do I..." Thread

[Ryuhi]

yeah it loses the current armor item and only saves the stored excess ones, but it works for my purpose at least. and yeah, definitely wouldn't want to activate it while facing some inaccessible area or something

[ImpieTwo]

I'm not sure I know how to make hubs work. I used a tutorial and got it so that I can travel between maps as much as i like, but the maps are reset every time as if it's my first visit. What am I missing?

I tried using "clusterdef 1" and just "cluster 1". Neither made a difference. The only thing I can think of is that the map format is in Heretic-for-Hexen, and that doesn't necessarily allow for hub systems, even though Hexen's advanced features included this. Is that the case? Do I have to use UDMF? Does Heretic even WORK in UDMF?

Code: Select all

// Episodes
Episode Map01
{
    Name = "Day of the Dracula"
}

// Maps
// E1

clusterdef 1
{
    hub
}

map map01 "Tardy, But Not Dead"
{
	levelnum = 1
	cluster = 1
	sky1 = "Sky1"
	music = "BGMSKOOL"
	NoIntermission
}

map map02 "Sunder Down Under"
{
	levelnum = 2
	cluster = 1
	sky1 = "Sky1"
	music = "BGMGHUL"
	NoIntermission
}

map map03 "A Barlow in the Belfry"
{
	levelnum = 3
	cluster = 1
	sky1 = "Sky1"
	music = "BGMVAMP"
	NoIntermission
}

map map04 "Wrong Turn at Albequerque"
{
	levelnum = 4
	cluster = 1
	sky1 = "Sky1"
	music = "BGMTIME"
	NoIntermission
}

[Chl]

With a wallsprite, is there a way to rotate the sprite without rotating the actor?

[Nevander]

I'm not sure I know how to make hubs work.

I think you need an actual separate map and give that the hub property and this hub map would also be part of cluster 1.

[Enjay]

Hubs work just fine in Heretic for Hexen mode and UDMF is not necessary. After all, Hexen mode was where HUBs were first introduced. The [wiki]hub[/wiki] page of the Wiki is brief but it does say:

To define a hub, at least two maps need to be in a single cluster, which needs to have the hub keyword in its cluster definition.

and the [wiki]Cluster_definition[/wiki] page says:

hub
Indicates that this cluster is a hub. When leaving a hub, the game will remember the contents of the level when the player left it and restore the level to that state when the player returns to it. Moving to a different cluster will cause the game to forget the state of the levels in this hub in order to save memory. Each level a player visits in a hub uses memory (about 20k for a typical level), so it's probably a good idea not to have too many levels in a single hub. Just how many is "too many" is arbitrary. Unless you use very large levels, you could probably use 50 levels in a hub, and only about 1 meg would be required to keep track of the state of each level.

[Rip and Tear]

I would recommend looking at the MAPINFO lump in gzdoom.pk3 as an example of a proper implementation.

[ImpieTwo]

I would recommend looking at the MAPINFO lump in gzdoom.pk3 as an example of a proper implementation.

Maybe that should be an example on the wiki article Enjay mentioned then. My post is as far as I got with what the article described. Never thought to break open gzdoom itself and look inside, so I'll keep that in mind for the future (thanks!). I'll test it in this mod in the meantime and see if something else isn't broken...

EDIT: Nope, seems to work now. I guess the problem was the two "cluster 1" arguments, with the second overwriting the first.

Maybe you can explain what's happening with the other mod I'm struggling with. It replaces monsters, weapons, and classes in Hexen, but it somehow breaks the hub system so the same thing occurs: namely it doesn't retain the information on each map, so when I come back everything's been reset. I can't begin to imagine what I did that made this happen, but it must be MAPINFO related...

[DoomKrakken]

I remember you just add the Hub keyword to the map's MAPINFO definition...

Anyway, you may want to look into RETURN scripts... for one thing. I don't think that will solve everything, though.

[cortlong50]

MAP MAKERS,

in your opinion what do you think is the best way to make wide open areas fun to fight in?

[cortlong50]

also can anyone explain to me how the hell i make portals. ive read the wiki, downloaded the sample levels...and i cannot figure it out. especially when it says "Mark them both with special 57:Sector_SetPortal" all that shows in mine is "unknown" in UDMF format.

[mustycheese]

Is it possible to do this to have an animated patch stop on a certain frame:

texture title1
pic title1 tics 18
pic title2 tics 18
...
pic title5 tics -1

I need this for a menu background and I don't want to use a hacky titlemap if I don't absolutely have to.

[ZZYZX]

also can anyone explain to me how the hell i make portals. ive read the wiki, downloaded the sample levels...and i cannot figure it out. especially when it says "Mark them both with special 57:Sector_SetPortal" all that shows in mine is "unknown" in UDMF format.

You make two sectors of identical shape and special 57 should be on the same (relatively to the sector) linedef in both sectors.
(actually, the portal linedef has nothing to do with the actual portal sectors and can be located anywhere as long as the coordinates match, but for beginners it's easier to understand like this)

[Graf Zahl]

Is it possible to do this to have an animated patch stop on a certain frame:

texture title1
pic title1 tics 18
pic title2 tics 18
...
pic title5 tics -1

I need this for a menu background and I don't want to use a hacky titlemap if I don't absolutely have to.

No. Animations do not work like that. They are constantly cycling so you'd never be able to start your title with the proper image.

[Nash]

MAP MAKERS,

in your opinion what do you think is the best way to make wide open areas fun to fight in?

Don't put hitscanners, be sure to add ample amounts of cover for the player (pillars, walls, whatever).

[cortlong50]

MAP MAKERS,

in your opinion what do you think is the best way to make wide open areas fun to fight in?

Don't put hitscanners, be sure to add ample amounts of cover for the player (pillars, walls, whatever).

thanks nash!
definitely gonna go through and remove the hitscanners.

hows bumi coming?