[ZScript] Rendering actor through walls?

[hfc2x]

Exactly what it says in the title. Is it possible to make a monster/pickup/whatever actor to render through walls disregarding player's view? And if so, is there a way to toggle this during runtime?

[Nash]

What you're asking is not a ZScript feature but a renderer feature usually known as custom depth, meaning the OpenGL renderer and/or the software renderers have to add support for it first. I'll let Graf Zahl or dpJudas or Rachael answer whether that is possible to do with the renderers. :D

[Rachael]

Currently this is not possible, and it would be a bit complicated to selectively render such actors in the GL renderer since the Z-buffer would have to be cleared and such actors would need to be rendered in an additional transparency pass.

Your best bet is to find the actor's angle from the player and then render them as part of the HUD, which is extremely hacky but it works.

[Nash]

Your best bet is to find the actor's angle from the player and then render them as part of the HUD, which is extremely hacky but it works.

The downside to this hack however, like the old ACS HudMessageOnActor solutions, is that this method will look completely wrong in VR headsets. :(

[hfc2x]

Okay, I think being hacky would have to suffice in this instance if it's an unsupported feature.

this method will look completely wrong in VR headsets.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Rachael]

The downside to this hack however, like the old ACS HudMessageOnActor solutions, is that this method will look completely wrong in VR headsets.

True and I agree - but seeing a distant object occluding a wall right in front of you isn't going to look wholly right, either.