Bizarre missing sprite graphics issue

[wildweasel]

[[problem has been addressed; download link removed.]]

I cannot figure out why GasolineGlob and GasolinePuddle (both located in /weapons/flechet.txt) are invisible. The sprites GASOA0 and GASOB0 are defined in Textures.txt and are sourced from sprites located in Hexen.wad (SLADE3 confirms this). I do not believe I have made any typos in the texture definitions, nor in the sprite names in weapons/flechet.txt. The actors are obviously loaded and working, since if I use the Flechette to dump gasoline on the floor and then shoot it with any weapon, it ignites as expected, in Hexen's own fire sprites.

What is causing the gasoline projectiles and resulting puddles to be invisible?

[jpalomo]

isn't BLOD one of the sprite names that is renamed upon loading ZDoom?

[Blue Shadow]

Yes, the BLOD* and GIBS* are both renamed at runtime to BLUD* and POL5* respectively. You need to use the renamed ones in your texture definitions instead.

[wildweasel]

Yes, the BLOD* and GIBS* are both renamed at runtime to BLUD* and POL5* respectively. You need to use the renamed ones in your texture definitions instead.

Except BLOD* and GIBS* exist in the Hexen IWAD. Should I extract them from Hexen.wad and import them into my own PK3 file to make them work in Hexen?

[ChronoSeth]

I don't think you understand... you should be using BLUD* and POL5* as sprite names for the patches.

At least, that's what I would expect is wrong; I haven't had a look at the pk3.

[wildweasel]

I don't think you understand... you should be using BLUD* and POL5* as sprite names for the patches.

At least, that's what I would expect is wrong; I haven't had a look at the pk3.

My point is that I am using sprites that are in the IWAD. If ZDoom renames these, then will referencing the new sprite names even work, if ZDoom is looking for them by a different name?

[NeuralStunner]

If ZDoom's renaming the graphics at the lowest level, that's pretty messed up.

[Blue Shadow]

My point is that I am using sprites that are in the IWAD. If ZDoom renames these, then will referencing the new sprite names even work, if ZDoom is looking for them by a different name?

Yes.

---

Code: Select all

Sprite GASOA0, 30, 8
{
	Offset 15, 5
	Patch GIBSA0, 0, 0 // <---- Change this be POL5A0
	{
		Translation "164:185=246:254"
	}
}

Sprite GASOB0, 19, 16
{
	Offset 9, 8
	Patch BLODC0, 0, 0 // <---- Change this be BLUDC0
	{
		Translation "164:185=246:254"
	}
}

[Gez]

It has been doing that for a long, long while. The reason for renaming things like BLOD and GIBS is so that internally it's always the same sprite that is expected. It avoids having to do conditional game-based state jumps in the [wiki=Classes:Blood]Blood[/wiki] and [wiki=Classes:RealGibs]Gibs[/wiki] actors. For more complex actors, where it wasn't possible to do that, there is still a conditional state jump, see [wiki=Classes:TeleportFog]TeleportFog[/wiki] for an example.

[Graf Zahl]

If ZDoom's renaming the graphics at the lowest level, that's pretty messed up.

At what level would you do it? The sprite's texture name has to be changed for this to work and unfortunately the texture lookup by the TEXTURES lump uses the same namespace.

[Gez]

A way to solve that problem would be aliasing instead of renaming. There would be both a BLODA0 and a BLUDA0 created from the same graphic; unless either one is later overridden by a different graphic of the same name. So when looking for BLUDA0, it'd find it, and when looking for BLODA0, it'd find it as well.

The things to watch out for: not giving the Heretic invulnerability item along with the Hexen invulnerability item when cheating for items in Hexen, and that the minotaur doesn't try to use the wrong death sequence. The latter seems easy to do (Hexen won't have any MNTR L--T frame).

[NeuralStunner]

At what level would you do it? The sprite's texture name has to be changed for this to work and unfortunately the texture lookup by the TEXTURES lump uses the same namespace.

I had thought it only affected the Decorate parser. But mind you I'm 90% or more source ignorant.

[Graf Zahl]

At what level would you do it? The sprite's texture name has to be changed for this to work and unfortunately the texture lookup by the TEXTURES lump uses the same namespace.

I had thought it only affected the Decorate parser. But mind you I'm 90% or more source ignorant.

How could that achieve anything?

Remember, for the Ironlich, for example, the IWAD-internal sprites are still called 'HEADxx' but PWAD replacements need to be called 'LICHxx'. This can't be done solely in the DECORATE parser. This needs renaming of the actual sprites.

[wildweasel]

Okay, so yeah, altering my Textures.txt entries to the "renamed" sprites does fix the issue I'm having. I just hope that nothing changes that will break this in the future.

[Gez]

Be confident that if anything changes and break your mod, it'll also break a lot of other mods and therefore angry bug reports will force a revert or an engine-side fix.