The Simple Questions Thread

[isaacpop23]

Well that's useful, I'll keep that in mind. But if they can be moved like that, then why not just make them able to be moved like the walls, instead of working off of a separate function?

[Mikk-]

I'm no expert on the engine and its quirks but it's possibly a limitation of the binary map formats. In UDMF however you can move the flats just like wall textures, especially in gzdoom builder's visual mode

[Nevander]

I also managed to find a purpose for using [wiki]Sector_SetFloorPanning[/wiki] even in UDMF. In a start area, the room isn't build so that there is a perfect center 64x64 square, so if I wanted to change texture to something later that is square (non-tiling) it would be off. Once crossing a line later in the map, a wall raises and closes off the map which means you need a way to teleport back in coop. I made a square sector which raises up from this middle spot and then had to use the set panning to offset the texture correctly. Thank god for ACS.

[cambertian]

Did DeHacked ever have its source code released? I'd like to know how it found things like strings within Doom's DOS executable, as I'm trying to make a re-implementation of sorts. (Right now I'm getting a bunch of strings with invalid characters and such.)

[Enjay]

This any use?

https://www.doomworld.com/files/file/14 ... urce-code/

[Reactor]

This one is vaguely Doom-related, yet, it might be useful.

Very simple: How exactly sonic weaponry kills human beings? I mean, what does it look like? They just drop dead like having a heart attack, or sonic waves can do visible physical damage as well (maybe popping people like balloons)? I know very well that sonic weaponry can make buildings, mountains etc. collapse, but I haven't the slightest idea how does it affects living tissue or elastic matter (ropes, rubber etc.)
If you have any ideas or theories, I'd really like to hear them!

[Enjay]

My guess (and it is just a guess): at low levels, ear pain (even damage), pain in the eyes and other sensitive areas, disruption of the senses and possibly feelings of nausea and so on. At high levels, disruption to internal membranes causing organ and blood vessel rupturing and massive internal haemorrhaging. Probably not a lot of immediate external evidence (perhaps bleeding from orifices) but in a video game I'd be tempted to go for something that looks pretty much like the gib deaths in Doom.

[Rachael]

It really depends on the sonic energy. Remember that a sound is really a concussive wave - usually very weak, but at higher strengths you begin to feel it with your body, not to mention hurting your ears. An example is someone popping fireworks right outside your house, or your backyard getting hit by lightning.

Since all sound really is, is an energy wave, use enough energy and counter the initial dispersion after the source (strength = blast / dist^2), a very high-powered sound can indeed shatter glass and kill a person.

What makes things even more interesting is resonance. When you hit a natural frequency of any object, a sound reverberates better. Like when you're in a music venue, you may notice that certain notes ring on for much longer than the artist intends. What happens with resonance is a given target (say, the walls of a house, or perhaps, your head) are the exact frequency of a sound being produced. Since such objects are vibrating at exactly the same frequency as the sound, every time the concussive force from the wave hits the object is able to move in a pattern that supports the sound wave. Think of it as like when you sandwich a ruler between two books and you strike it with your hand and it makes a "boing!" effect - now imagine your hand being so quick that it's able to hit the ruler at the exact same point in its repeated boing cycle - that causes the effect to get much more intense every cycle because of the energy building on it until it actually becomes destructive and rips apart your books (or at the very least destroys your hands).

That is why certain frequencies of sounds annoy the everliving fuck out of you - your body responds to those frequencies by resonance, and if they go on for too long and with too great of intensity such sounds can actually do serious damage. So therefore, a really high powered sound at just the right frequency can really hurt you, or if it's loud enough, even kill you.

If you enjoy reading (and if you managed to read my entire post you probably do) here's an article that actually touches on this very subject: http://www.popsci.com/technology/articl ... ok-excerpt

[Reactor]

Oh my, you surely gave me excellent answers! Thank you, both of you!

Sonic weaponry in games is a pretty virgin territory, as only very few games actually utilize sonic weapons in a way that you witness their exact effect (this is why I am so tempted to make one). In Dune 2000, the Sonic Tank is so powerful, it literally mows down infantry like grass, and the soldiers' given animation was collapsing into a pool of blood (so no actual gibbing, unlike killing them with tank cannons). In Eradicator, the sonic shock tears the enemy apart, let it be a living creature or a machine. As for other games utilizing sonic force for destruction, nothing really interesting is shown.
The fact that sonic force is a form of energy puzzled me a bit, since energy weaponry usually burns enemies to crisp. Just think about lasers, plasma, or any kind of sci-fi Bullshit Rifle. But since sonic force creates no heat build-up, the poor victim could not be reduced to ashes.
I've also read "The Tommyknockers" from Stephen King, where the evil aliens used smoke detectors equipped with powerful auditory amplifier to kill people. The book stated that the sonic amplifier grinds the victim's bones to dust. So as you can see, there are lots of contradictions on the subject. In terms of FPS death, I think gibbing up the target will be most adequate.
And the article is also very interesting, Eruanna you did a fine job digging this up, I really appreciate that!

[Cherno]

My simple question:

Is there anything special to keep in mind when making a monster use a different attack sound? I have successfully changed all of the zombieman's sounds (pain, death, active etc.) but he keeps using his original attack sound. (No, I don't want to just place a sound file with the same name in my pk3).

DECORATE:

Code: Select all

actor Thug1_Pistol : Zombieman
{
  SeeSound "thug/sight"//works
  AttackSound "thug/attack"//doesn't work, keeps using the grunt/attack sound
}

SNDINFO:

Code: Select all

// Zombie man
thug/sight 	thsit1
thug/attack 	pistolf0

[Rachael]

@ Reactor:

You're welcome.

Just remember that no technology available today can store and put out the kind of energy needed to create deadly sonic force in the form of a handheld gun. And a "sonic tank", so to speak, would also be highly unrealistic, because of it's capable of destroying objects what is preventing it from destroying itself?

If someone dies a sonic death, most likely they aren't going to gib, but rather melt. This is due to the sonic vibrations breaking their molecular cohesion, which does not cause explosions, just implosions, causing them to crumble.

[Enjay]

This is due to the sonic vibrations breaking their molecular cohesion, which does not cause explosions, just implosions, causing them to crumble.

Or, given how much water a person is made of, they might look more like they are melting?

@Cherno, according to the Wiki [wiki]A_PosAttack[/wiki] causes grunt/attack to be played anyway so you may have to redefine the missile state for the zombieman too.

[unRyker]

Is there anything special to keep in mind when making a monster use a different attack sound? I have successfully changed all of the zombieman's sounds (pain, death, active etc.) but he keeps using his original attack sound

Not exactly sure if this is the right fix and explanation, but my experience with A_PosAttack (if it's called) is that it will play the pistol sound anyways. There is a workaround on the ZDoom Wiki, just use the generic functions as provided on the wiki and for

Code: Select all

A_PlaySound("grunt/attack")

you will want to replace it with

Code: Select all

A_PlaySound("thug/attack")

instead!

Edit: Ninja'd by Enjay...

[Cherno]

Oh, that means I'll have to edit the code... I was hoping to change it via DECORATE

Thanks anyway.

[Reactor]

@ Reactor:

You're welcome.

Just remember that no technology available today can store and put out the kind of energy needed to create deadly sonic force in the form of a handheld gun. And a "sonic tank", so to speak, would also be highly unrealistic, because of it's capable of destroying objects what is preventing it from destroying itself?

If someone dies a sonic death, most likely they aren't going to gib, but rather melt. This is due to the sonic vibrations breaking their molecular cohesion, which does not cause explosions, just implosions, causing them to crumble.

Yeah, it's quite science fiction for today, all I know is that a sonic device exist in the US (I forgot its abbrevation name) which can be used to quell riots, but those sonic waves of course, won't cause death or damage, but the affected people will feel very nasty.
It's true, I always thought the Sonic Tank is a bit unrealistic, as the oscillator it uses would also vibrate itself apart. Though, it is somewhat justified, as the focal point is seemingly right in front of the tank (so if a unit goes exactly front of the Sonic Tank, it will suffer little to no damage at all). On the pictures, it has a high radar-like emitter instead of a cannon.
Sonic weaponry are nice, since the sonic waves sneer thru everything, and cause damage to all targets in their path, much like railgun slugs do.