Porting a GZDoom ipk3 to another engine?

[ZepBladez]

I have an ipk3 mod that I'd love to play in multiplayer, but GZDoom being peer to peer can cause frequent desyncs and other issues. I've heard other engines such as Zandronum have much better netcode, how would I go about converting or playing the mod to an engine with better multiplayer support?

The original mod is https://strawberryoctii.itch.io/memoirs-of-magic made in a modified version of GZDoom 3.2.5

[drfrag]

Zandronum is based on an ancient GZDoom, it's better to convert it to UZDoom 5.0 if needed which has better netcode too.

[ZepBladez]

Zandronum is based on an ancient GZDoom, it's better to convert it to UZDoom 5.0 if needed which has better netcode too.

I have UZDoom 5.0 but I haven't done much testing with it in multiplayer, does it still have sync issues and the inability to load saves while in multiplayer?

[Enjay]

As drfrag said, Zandronum is based off an old version of GZDoom so it is highly likely that there will be things in the ipk3 that aren't supported by Zandronum. UZDoom is a continuation of GZDoom, so it's far more likely to work, and if there is anything that doesn't, it could well be something that the UZDoom team wants to fix engine-side.

What ipk3 are we talking about? Someone might know the answers already if you give a few more details.


If you do run into problems, I'm sure that people will be happy to help.

[ZepBladez]

As drfrag said, Zandronum is based off an old version of GZDoom so it is highly likely that there will be things in the ipk3 that aren't supported by Zandronum. UZDoom is a continuation of GZDoom, so it's far more likely to work, and if there is anything that doesn't, it could well be something that the UZDoom team wants to fix engine-side.

I'm willing to put in the effort to make changes so that it works in a different engine, the main issue I have with GZDoom is how tedious it can be to have to close and reopen the game every time you want to load a save or when a sync issue happens. If UZDoom has a resync feature or the ability to load saves mid-session then I'd love to port it over to that.

What ipk3 are we talking about? Someone might know the answers already if you give a few more details.

I posted a link to the specific game I'm talking about in the first message, it's Memoirs of Magic.

[m8f]

Switching to UZDoom may be a good idea, but first, just in case, make sure that desyncs aren't caused by your ipk3 itself. Check this page out, if you haven't already: https://zdoom.org/w/index.php?title=Cre ... ly_ZScript

[ZepBladez]

Switching to UZDoom may be a good idea, but first, just in case, make sure that desyncs aren't caused my your ipk3 itself. Check this page out, if you haven't already: https://zdoom.org/w/index.php?title=Cre ... ly_ZScript

I appreciate the guide, thanks! I'm working on putting it in UZDoom 5.0 right now and aside from some minor UI issues it seems to be working great. However I've yet to get an answer as to whether or not I can load a save while in multiplayer in UZDoom as no matter what that seemed to cause an instant desync on any game I've played in GZDoom. Was I just unlucky or does that not normally happen in G/UZDoom?

[Enjay]

I posted a link to the specific game I'm talking about in the first message, it's Memoirs of Magic.

So you did. My bad.

As expected, it falls over immediately when trying it with Zandronum.
Like you found, it started up with no major issues in UZDoom 5.0. However, I have the developer cvar set to "2" and that did flag up an error that you might want to look at. With developer at "1" or "2" the following message gets spammed repeatedly to the console:

Code: Select all

ACS: 'StrengthDebuffCounter': Unknown actor class.

So, there is obviously an ACS script running that is looking for an actor that can't be found. The message goes away when developer is at "0" (the default) so you might not be concerned about it - but it might be trying to do something important that is failing. I'm just letting you know that it's a thing.

As for the load game issue, sorry, I can't comment. The closest I get to a multiplayer game these days is using the built-in bots.

[ZepBladez]

I posted a link to the specific game I'm talking about in the first message, it's Memoirs of Magic.

So you did. My bad.

As expected, it falls over immediately when trying it with Zandronum.
Like you found, it started up with no major issues in UZDoom 5.0. However, I have the developer cvar set to "2" and that did flag up an error that you might want to look at. With developer at "1" or "2" the following message gets spammed repeatedly to the console:

Code: Select all

ACS: 'StrengthDebuffCounter': Unknown actor class.

So, there is obviously an ACS script running that is looking for an actor that can't be found. The message goes away when developer is at "0" (the default) so you might not be concerned about it - but it might be trying to do something important that is failing. I'm just letting you know that it's a thing.

As for the load game issue, sorry, I can't comment. The closest I get to a multiplayer game these days is using the built-in bots.

Okay yeah that makes sense why that's happening. "StrengthDebuffCounter" isn't ever used by the game as it's a scrapped mechanic. That's an easy fix! Now I just gotta figure out how all the UZDoom menu stuff is handled. All the in-game UI seems to be the exact same but for some reason all the settings and save menus are using the wrong fonts and colors.

Even if UZDoom can't load saves mid game if the netcode is at least more stable that could make a big difference, and considering how easy it seems like it's going to be to just plop this into UZDoom I might settle for that

[Enjay]

On the font thing, it could be because the version of GZDoom that the game is based on is a version from before the more modern unicode font was added and the menus were changed to use that. Previously (if I remember correctly) those menus used to use the regular smallfont. They don't any more.

[ZepBladez]

On the font thing, it could be because the version of GZDoom that the game is based on is a version from before the more modern unicode font was added and the menus were changed to use that. Previously (if I remember correctly) those menus used to use the regular smallfont. They don't any more.

Ooh that's a good piece of info thank you! Any idea where I could look to change the other fonts back to? I've changed a bunch of values in both uzdoom.pk3 and the mod's ipk3 but I've yet to find what defines the font and color for the console, options menus, and save/load menus.

[drfrag]

You can't do it but LZDoom still uses the old fonts however using the classic UI not all languages work xD. The modern UI was added in GZDoom 4.0. And hi.