Customisable IDCLEV

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Jimmy
 
 
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Customisable IDCLEV

Post by Jimmy »

In Doom 1, IDCLEV takes the player to [episode][levelnum]. In Doom 2 it takes them to [levelnum]. However, map navigation with this cheat becomes impossible if a levelset under the Doom 2 IWAD uses the ExMy convention for its levels. Of course it's still possible to use map, changemap and nextmap, but if a cheat from the original game becomes completely neutered purely because of the level structure of a mapset (one that is identical to Doom 1, especially), I consider that a problem.

It'd be really nice to have a way of specifying a unique number for each level that this cheat warps to. Perhaps there are a couple of ways to address this:


(1) MAPINFO's levelnum and warptrans do not affect this cheat, so it'd be nice to have something called clevnum that changes the behavior of this cheat.

It'd be nice to allow this number to be as long as needed - some mapsets that specify 10 or more maps per episode will need a three-digit clevnum. Duke Nukem 3D handles this with its DNSCOTTY cheat - the number 101 is used for E1L1, 210 for E2L10, etc.

Presumably if the same number is detected multiple times in a MAPINFO lump, ZDoom would throw up an error. The clevnums specified by the IWAD could be cleared with a clearclev flag.


This method is probably more work than the end result is worth, so here's an alternative:


(2) A MAPINFO (gameinfo block) flag that simply specifies if the cheat gets treated the way it is in Doom 1, or Doom 2.

If it's possible for the game to detect the presence of maps like E1M10, etc, the cheat would be treated as a three-digit number, like 101 for E1M1 again, etc.


Thoughts?
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Graf Zahl
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Re: Customisable IDCLEV

Post by Graf Zahl »

I think the 'map' CCMD is good enough in 99.9% of all imaginable use cases.
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Re: Customisable IDCLEV

Post by Jimmy »

Of course, yes, but do you not find it mildly annoying that clev doesn't work, even if the map format is ExMy in a Doom 2 wad? That's the 0.1% of cases, here.

Major mapsets affected by this include:
- Adventures of Square
- Knee-Deep In ZDoom
- ZPack

One of those is an "IPK3" supported by ZDoom, too - in that case, the cheat flat-out doesn't work.
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Re: Customisable IDCLEV

Post by Graf Zahl »

The cheats are a mere legacy feature. They are there because they had been there forever. Haven't you noticed that all ZDoom exclusive cheats only exist as CCMDs, just like the Quake games?

To be blunt, this looks like quite a bit of work for a merely cosmetic effect. I cannot even remember when I last used IDCLEV in ZDoom.
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Re: Customisable IDCLEV

Post by Kinsie »

Jimmy, ask Zombie about his... experiments in this field. They should help you sidestep, or at least provide an alternative, to this decision.
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Re: Customisable IDCLEV

Post by Voros »

Technically, IDCLEV is a Doom-specific cheat, so I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't work in other games. I know there is an option to enable cheats throughout all the games, but it's disabled by default. The console has map, changemap, etc and they're more flexible if you ask me.
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Re: Customisable IDCLEV

Post by Graf Zahl »

IDCLEV will work in the other games and use the appropriate selection logic, based on native map names.
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Re: Customisable IDCLEV

Post by Jimmy »

Graf Zahl wrote:IDCLEV will work in the other games and use the appropriate selection logic, based on native map names.
So is it problematic to ask of that for PWADs?
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Re: Customisable IDCLEV

Post by Graf Zahl »

Graf Zahl wrote:The cheats are a mere legacy feature.
What part of that statement is unclear?
Legacy feature means in clear English "Won't see any further updates."
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