DECORATE replacing existing actors

[Enjay]

Is there any reason why Zdoom's handling of DECORATE actors can't be changed to allow you to replace existing actors?

What I mean by this is that if you load a WAD that has a decorate lump that defines an actor with the same name as an existing actor, zdoom will refuse to start and list this as a problem. This happens when using an actor that shares a name with a hard-coded monster or with a monster from another decorate lump.

Where have I come across the problem? Why would it be useful to not do it this way?

If I have made a WAD with a DECORATE lump in it, then notice something I want to modify slightly about one of my DECORATE items, I can't just load a working DECORATE lump on top of the WAD, check the modified item, tweak as necessary and then eventually put the final version into my WAD. Instead, I have to replace the decorate lump in the WAD every time I want to test, or I have to remove the original lump from the WAD and only use the command line one.

Or if I want to add a new actor to a WAD that already has a DECORATE lump with a view to making the actor part of the main decorate lump eventually. I can't just add my new actor to the bottom of the decorate lump and then add it to the command line for testing because all the other actors in the lump will conflict. I have to make a new decorate with only the new actor and load it from the command line. Then, later on, I have to extract the original lump and copy and paste my new actor in. Most of the time, it'd be easier to add my new actor to the bottom of the complete decorate lump that I already have, load it from the command line and then (if it is fine) stick the entire modified lump into the WAD replacing the old one.


Replacing an existing Doom (or any other game) monster. A lot of the time, this is easy. Just use the editnum from an existing monster and the new version will appear. But I have lots of levels where I would really like to easily replace, in one stroke, loads of monsters that are brought into the game using spawnspot. For that, the easiest way would be to define a new actor that uses the same actor name as the original. eg, I have a lot of levels that use Heretic monsters in Doom. Problem is, they drop Heretic ammo and other items. These levels were made up before decorate monsters were possible. It'd be really useful for me to just define a bunch of new monsters with basically the old behaviour, but with no drop items, rather than going back and manually changing all the existing scripts etc.


Now, I'm quite prepared to accept that there is a very good reason that this can't be done (which is why I'm posting here rather than in feature requests - I'm asking for an explanation) and I suspect it simply isn't possible. However, if it could be done, well, it would make my life easier.

24

[Ninja_of_DooM]

If you mean what you think you are then I think it should definitely be a feature for future releases. It could maybe add a new dimension to DECORATE editing.

[Enjay]

To be clear then, what I mean is I would like to be able to use an existing actor name when I define an actor in decorate in order that it would replace the original actor with that name.

24

[Graf Zahl]

I think the limitation is only there as a relic from times when there was no DECORATE. With internal actors only duplicates made no sense.

[Enjay]

So you don't see any technical reason why it could't be changed? That's good. Time for a feature request.

24

http://forum.zdoom.org/viewtopic.php?p=114505

[Ninja_of_DooM]

To be clear then, what I mean is I would like to be able to use an existing actor name when I define an actor in decorate in order that it would replace the original actor with that name.

24

I was right then. I agree.