Print a message to the console if GZDoom stuff is being used

Cutmanmike · Post by **Cutmanmike** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 6:33 am

There's been a few wads come out now which require GZDoom to play, but are playable to ZDoom. This is a problem when you don't know which port to use, as you may come to an are with a 3d floor and it's not there.

Could a message be printed to the console if any of these features are used? Anything like "Warning: 3D floors are unsupported in ZDoom." would be okay I guess.

HotWax · Post by **HotWax** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 8:05 am

I second this suggestion, as I ended up playing the beta of Cutty's portal map for about an hour in ZDoom before realizing the reason some of the areas were so damn hard were because they were missing platforms. >_<

Post by **Graf Zahl** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 9:01 am

Should the same be done for Skulltag features? [/sarcasm]

Sorry, guys, but I don't think that it is any port's business to bother with added features by derivatives.

Isle · Post by **Isle** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 9:14 am

thats what the readme is for. if they dont read it and play it in the wrong port its their fault.

Post by **KeksDose** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 9:30 am

If you read the comments for "Sapphire - Orbital Research Station" on IDGames, you notice that one says:"Why can't I play this in JDooM?"

Post by **Graf Zahl** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 10:18 am

Some people are just too stupid...

Cutmanmike · Post by **Cutmanmike** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 11:36 am

Which is why I suggested it

Guess i'll have to make my own warning

Post by **KeksDose** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 11:38 am

Well, what about a HUD Message which says at the start of the map "YOU DIDN'T READ THE DESCRIPTION READ IT NOW OR DIE"? They're stupid enough to believe this! XD

Cutmanmike · Post by **Cutmanmike** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 11:42 am

Well with ghoul 2 I didn't like the idea people could be using a different light mode so if they were using the renderer I forced them to die and have a message saying "please use the doom renderer".

Though I didn't mind by the time got ghoul 3 out, but IMO it's crucial when you have 3d floors because they're a part of the level structure. This is the case with portal, and I know a handful of people are going to complain it's not working in their port so i've gotta do the reverse of what I did for ghoul 2. Only no killing this time.

HotWax · Post by **HotWax** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 1:03 pm

I can see Graf's (and other's) point that a port shouldn't have to worry about you trying to load an incompatible map made for another port, and if we were talking about (for example) ZDoom versus Doom Legacy, I'd agree one hundred percent. However, this is ZDoom versus GZDoom, which supports 100% of ZDoom's features and adds a new rendering mode and, what, a whopping 3 new features? Unlike the former scenario, or the ZDoom versus jDoom scenario given, this can easily happen to somebody grabbing a file off the ZDoom forums and making the (clearly idiotic) assumption that it should run in ZDoom. To make matters worse, the level will run in ZDoom, and depending on the usage of the 3D floors it may not be apparent that the level isn't showing up the way the author intended. In the case of Cutty's portal map, for example, I could still make it through most of the rooms without the platforms, merely by using the portals in unintended ways. It was only after Cutty informed me that I should have used GZDoom that I saw how what had been an empty room was now filled with floating platforms and went "Ooh so that's why this seemed too difficult before."

Finally, probably the best reason why this is a reasonable suggestion in this case is that the programmer of GZDoom is also a main programmer for ZDoom. I see no reason why there can't be a simple warning that says something to the effect of "This wad is attempting to use features only supported with GZDoom's opengl renderer and may not play as the author intended" displayed to the console when the map is entered.

Karate Chris · Post by **Karate Chris** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 1:12 pm

How about if an error message saying something like "Linedef special # is not recogised by ZDoom", "Sector special # is not recogised by ZDoom" or "# is not a recognised ACS command" appears? That sort of thing.

Post by **Graf Zahl** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 2:02 pm

This isn't done intentionally because it would create other problems. There's a lot of maps out there with some invalid data. Would you want them all to break?

As for the ACS commands, all that can be done is output a message 'Unknown P-Code' and I think this is done already.

Post by **Enjay** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 2:38 pm

How about something that works the other way around: something in GZdoom that allows a map author to set something up to recognise GZdoom/Zdoom and thereby print a message warning the player if they are using the wrong port? It could even be a check for a GZdoom specific map thing.

Obviously this wouldn't "fix" older maps, but it would allow authors making maps for GZdoom to opt to tell the player things were wrong but not have a message present for people who have opened the map in the correct exe.

Although I think, on balance, I basically agree with Graf on this one.

Penguinator · Post by **Penguinator** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 2:53 pm

I don't know if this helps, but Phocas Island 2 has a openGL check at the start of it.

Risen · Post by **Risen** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 3:14 pm

Unrelated, but it seems KDIZD could have really used the same sort of thing for Doom/Doom2, despite the clear notice in the text file.

Print a message to the console if GZDoom stuff is being used

Print a message to the console if GZDoom stuff is being used

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