DarkDoomZ v1.10 [idgames]

[Caligari87]

Thanks again for the kind words, Sid Josh (that's gonna take some getting used to!).

Also, new point release to version 1.5!.

• Custom Fog is probably the biggest change, allowing custom light fading with distance. The fog type is the same one from the OpenGL options page, and will remain even if you don't load this mod. The fog density will override the lightlevel fade and any fog defined in the map (except for the colors).
• Updated base ZScript version requirement to 3.4. Keep your GZDoom updated!
• Click sounds for toggling the flashlight. I probably included way too many subtle random sound variants, but I tend to whole-ass such things.
• Re-licensed to Zlib instead of MIT.

Probably a few other minor changes here and there, but nothing important.

[Gideon020]

I like using the Red light, it makes things creepier.

[SHayden]

Oh my god...yes!!! I like this mod so much now I can make myself some lo-fi horror ambience combining this with other mods.
Thank you for this

[killbotvii]

On certain maps there is extreme lag when the flashlight is on. A good and quick example is when you play RTC-3057, which is an old ZDoom map from 2003 or 2004. Turn on the flashlight and the framerate drops to deep below 1 FPS. It returns back to normal the moment you turn it off.

[Caligari87]

Yes, I'm aware. In short, the more linedefs on a map, the worse the light performance (not just for my mod but for any mod that uses dynamic lights). You can try using the simple light quality and / or a dimmer light preset. If that doesn't work then you're out of luck.

Longer explanation: This is because spotlights, despite their appearance, behave like normal dynamic lights; they must generate a list of all linedefs in their radius and check if they affect those linedefs, every tic. The problem is more pronounced because I'm using a larger light radius to simulate a longer beam, ergo an exponentially larger number of linedefs need to be checked. Unfortunately, this is not fixable on my end. The only solution is for the engine to only check linedefs within the spotlight cone instead of the whole radius.

[killbotvii]

That makes a lot of sense. What a frustrating engine limitation.

[Accensus]

I noticed an issue while playing with Unloved. Entering another map in a hub while your flashlight is on will remember the flashlight's state, and when returning to the same level, you'll have the flashlight turned on, even if you turned it off prior to returning, leading to you being able to stack flashlights. Also the only way to remove the old flashlight is via console.

EDIT: Turning off the flashlight before travelling to a different map prevents the issue (as long as you don't have any flashlights on either maps).

[Caligari87]

Strange. Hub behavior is something I'm less familiar with, so I'll take a wiki-walk and see what I can figure out. Thanks for the report.

EDIT: I think this is because the map serializes objects when moving around a hub, and the spotlight actors themselves are separate actors not directly attached to the player. So when you return to the level, the dynamic lights (and their pointers to you) are still present in addition to new dynamic lights spawned by the flashlight. Will follow this thread and see where it goes.

[killbotvii]

Perhaps I'm out of my field here, but wouldn't introducing a function that, upon area transition, deletes all spotlights and then spawns in a fresh one fix this issue?

[Caligari87]

That's my plan, yes. It's the actual implementation I'm unclear on, but I'll figure it out.

[Accensus]

One approach may be to implement a PlayerEntered event handler that checks for returning players, then compares the pointer from the event with the respective pointer on the spotlight. The spotlight is found via an iterator of all DarkDoomZ spotlights on the map. That should keep it multiplayer compatible without nuking other players' flashlights by accident.

Keep in mind it's been some time since I ZScripted anything like this, so it all sounds good in my mind, but it might be a bit more complicated than that.

[elCreyo]

Should I set sector light mode to standard before using this mod? Does it even matter?

[Caligari87]

It doesn't matter, so just up to your personal preference. Sector light mode it only changes the way the light levels are rendered for your display, not the actual sector values.

Also since I'm here: There's been some fixes and updates on my development version of DarkDoomZ and it's high time I push a new (possibly final?) stable release. Hopefully expect something within the next few days or so.

[Caligari87]

Hopefully expect something within the next few days or so.

More like a few months, whoops

Anyway, DarkDoomZ v1.6 has been released, for anyone who likes to stick to stable versions instead of the the git master. Not much has changed except a few under-the-hood things and one new setting, Minimum Lightlevel, for when you want to be able to see at least a little something.

Release Notes and Download

[DarkPh4]

Thank you Caligari87 for the new update, I have really enjoyed this mod.
I didn't find anything posted yet relate to this bug, but every map that has blinking lights, like e1m2 at the labyrinth-like big room in ultimate doom or the trap room at the end of e1m2 (map of chaos ultimate doom), they appear fully illuminated.
Sorry for my english, I'm not a native english speaker