Messages

1

Editing A&A / Re: Doom Builder and In-Game offsets missmatch

« on: February 07, 2014, 12:07:26 PM »

Strange, I thought this was fixed already.  The textures in Doom Builder are flipped left to right from what they should be.  I'll check my files later tonight and see if I need to upload a new version of the editor.

There is also a second problem of Doom Builder using a different up/down position.  Your pictures also show this.  It was driving me crazy trying to find an appropriate fix, so I put it on hold.  One of the side of effects of building our own engine was that we didn't do it exactly like Doom.

Yes, I noticed the vertical missalignment today.

As for .LIT files, yes, I'm going to put out a fix for that here this weekend.  Maybe I'll just make a tool/option in/with Doom Builder to do it  or just generate them correctly when loading the level (I prefer the latter).

Using the template blank .LIT makes all level lightning to be plain, so no effects are applied at all. This solves any problem. About sector glowing, I can just place Sector Glowing Thing Markers.

And this reminds me a problem I got yesterday, that I forgot.
In Q1M1, to finish the level you need to go to that room with the runes and scrolls, press a button and then the exit "door" gets oppened.

But I noticed something strange here: the button to open the exit cavern, has an action number #40, that is Raise Ceiling to Highest Ceiling.
But here comes the big problem: this linedef DOESN'T have any sector tag linked, and the sector that is the Cavern Door doesn't have a sector tag either.
It is like if you create a remote door and switch in Doom without any sector tag, the engine doesn't know what door open.

Again, the only explanation I could deduct is that the switch-door action is handled from a script in S30.SRP with a SlideCeiling() function, called from a WallPressed event.
That is the only explanation. Which leads me to the next problem: without having into account the Initialize event, all other events I have no idea how they really work, or how/when they are called.

For example, for the event WallPressed event, it is supposed that the code into this event will be called when a specific wall is pressed. But, how do I specify which wall number calls this event?

2

Editing A&A / Doom Builder and In-Game offsets missmatch

« on: February 06, 2014, 05:33:54 PM »

In Doom Builder 2 I got this:



But A&A gives me this:




Textures get shifted 6 or 7 units to the right left when in game.
It never minds for just walls, but for details like libraries and other similar things, it can get a bit annoying to manually trying to match them all with those 6 or 7 units shifting problem.

Any way to fix this? Thanks.


In addition, in the second image (the A&A screen) you can see that due to the lack of .LIT changes, there are some parts of the room that look darker than the original ones, making the map to look awful.
I don't mind using a blank .LIT, but I'm not sure if every light effect can be achieved without .LIT.

3

Editing A&A / Re: Map editing questions

« on: February 06, 2014, 05:10:15 PM »

I have been messing with the AAScriptCompiler and the map scripts (S30.src and S30.srp).
They seem pretty simple to understand without a manual. I managed to compile simple scripts without any error.
But all my attempts to make it work in the game, were unsuccessful. I created a script that upon initializing the map Q1M1 gives 1000 experience to the player.

The script was like this:

Code: [Select]

Initialize:
        0:
                // Script run when the level is loaded
                GivePlayerXP(1000)
                End()

        200: // Script numbers 200 and above ONLY happen for this player.  All other scripts happen for all players.
                End()

        255: // Last possible script number
                End()
The script compiles without errors or warnings, but I don't get any experience when the map loads. I would say that the script is not even run at all and that I'm missing something.

There is a tool to make .LIT but it's a two step process built into some DOS tools.  I should just go ahead and make a fix to the Classic version that ignores the files and creates them on the fly.  The tool is really not needed.  When first built, I thought there would be some customization of the .LIT files, but in the end, it didn't happen.

But when you are talking about the Classic version, you mean the Game Classic Version, or the .LIT tool Classic version?

Yokai, would you like me to put out 'unstable' version that you can download?

That would be nice, unless the unstability means kidnapping my cat or stealing my girlfriend.

4

General Discussion / Re: [Suggestion] Slopes and 3D Floors

« on: February 06, 2014, 04:44:34 PM »

Yes, it would be cool.  Got on the "love to have list"

Do you give more love to Slopes and 3D floors or to OpenGL?

5

Announcements / Re: Spam from support@amuletsandarmor.com?

« on: February 06, 2014, 04:41:00 PM »

Is everyone getting emails with spam from support@amuletsandarmor.com?

I don't.

6

General Discussion / Re: Do you use spells that seem useless?

« on: February 05, 2014, 02:39:05 PM »

Confusion spell works perfect.

I use it a lot and it makes the enemy to randomly look somewhere else. The problem is that it may randomly look almost to the same place it was looking before, so it may seem that it didn't work.

7

General Discussion / Do you use spells that seem useless?

« on: February 05, 2014, 03:37:08 AM »

That.

Some spells, either Arcane, Mage or Priest, seem useless or so specific that the rarelly will be used.

Have you found any of those "rarely" used spells more than "rarely"? Which one? Why?


Actually, I'm playing as a priest. There is a spell that I use a bit: Pull.

As a melee class, there are some combat situations where trying to defeat several enemies at the same time is impossible. Or there is an enemy that is firing at me from an unnacesible place for me.
In such cases, I use the Pull spell to "attrack" the enemy towards me and then kill him. I find Pull spell very useful.

Other spells that I find very useful and I use all the time are the spells Holy Water and Holy Bread, that create water and bread to drink and eat. Instead of carrying with me an extra load of food and water, I just create them when I need, so I can carry more useful things either to use or to sell.

In addition, I find the Life Water (creates a +10 HP potion) quite useful. It may seem a spell that is underpowered and useless, because it costs 20 mana to create a +10HP potion, while I can heal that same amount with just Rejuvinate Spell with less mana. Well, actually, they are different things. I use the Life Water spell when I start the map (and if I am out of these potions) to create some potions. During the quest, sometimes my mana gets really tight after hard battles, so I need mana for something else that is not healing, for example, protecting myself, curing poison, enchanting my weapon, etc... So here is where those potions are very handy, I can heal quite a bit without spending my mana. And also, I don't need to carry a lot of other potions because I can create my own when I need. Of course I carry 3 high healing potions for very harsh situations

8

Editing A&A / Re: Map editing questions

« on: February 04, 2014, 04:41:22 AM »

The .GEN file is the generator file.  It is something we didn't really use that much and probably should be canned.  Only lines that start without a ; are used and we tended to duplicate the same dumb file with wrong coordinates.  In short, leave it blank for now.

That makes pretty much sense now.

The .LIT file is a complex lighting file that is used to allow lighting to spread throughout a level.  For example, the light from outside sectors bleed into nearby sectors.  If a door sector opens up, the light from the other side also bleeds into the room on the other side.  We did this by using another tool that read in all the sectors, determined a weighted average of connecting sectors, and then outputting a mathematical representation of those sectors in the .LIT file.

For now, you can work around the problem by using the .LIT file in the TemplateMap directory that you downloaded with the A&A Doom Builder files.  It is a blank .LIT file that has no math and, thus, will not do any of the light bleeding.  In the future, I plan to get rid of the .LIT file and just have it computed when the level loads.

Yes, that was what I guessed.
Anyway, without being able to change .LIT files I cannot edit the old maps because some sectors appear with different light level, or when a door opens, my newly created sectors don't get the "light bleeding" effect, and thus, it looks awful.

Isn't there any tool or way to modify those files?

9

Editing A&A / Re: [MAPPING] Unspecified Thing Numbers

« on: February 04, 2014, 04:32:14 AM »

For 1500, it should be noted that you set the height of the door for the open position by leaving that sector open to that size.  Then it will be started in the close position, opens to the map save position, and back.

Are you sure about this? Because I tested with the door completely open and mid-open in the editor and in both cases in-game opens completely.

For 1518, I think the attribute/value on it tells what the next level is and 0 is not a level.  Thus, you could make levels that link to more than one level (and back).

Ah that. Thanks for the info.

10

Editing A&A / Map editing questions

« on: February 03, 2014, 07:09:15 AM »

I reach a point in map editing where I got stuck.

Maps are made up of 4 files:

- a .GEN file containing the map music and I think the sky or some pic defined.
- a .I file that seems some kind of script that spawns objects. At this point, the coordinates defined in this file doesn't make any sense because the object spawned in Q1M1 from this file are far outside any playable or accesible area, just in the infinite area of the Doom Builder rid.
- a .MAP file, that is the map itself
- a .LIT file, that I suppose is a compiled script that defines the map sector's lights.

And here I'm stuck again.
I have build up and modified some parts of the map. The map structure works well, texture alignment works well, and everything works well, EXCEPT the sector lighting.
Let me explain: in Doom Builder (DB from now on) I create new sectors to add detail. Those new sectors have a light level of 255. But when testing the map in game, my new sectors have the 255 light level as spected, but the old sectors that I didnt' modified, have a different light level.
Also, some sectors have a glowing effect, but there is not thing marker in the sector.
I can't see any thing marker changing this light level or the behavior of the light in those sectors, so the only explanation is that the sectors' light level is changed through a script, probably in that .LIT file. But again, the sectors with modified light doesn't have any sector tag. And that is bugging me because any Doom game needs a sector tag to change that sector's properties. And the only explanation is that the script in .LIT files uses corrdinates system instead of sector tags, which is in fact a terrible way to do things, IMO.

It never minds, I can manage to do it anyway, but here comes another problem: this .LIT file is compiled, encrypted or something, so I cannot read, nor understand how it works, and of course, modify it.

So basically I need some way to modify those .LIT files with a normal editor. I discard an HEX editor because I don't want to mess with that kind of things.
So I need a compiler/decompiler.

Any help? Thanks.

11

General Discussion / [Suggestion] Slopes and 3D Floors

« on: February 03, 2014, 05:47:29 AM »

Since our A&A Hero likes skateboarding, don't you think that giving him slopes and 3D Floors would be a good present?

Just asking. 

12

Editing A&A / Re: Community Project: A&A Map Revamping!?

« on: February 03, 2014, 05:34:59 AM »

Reporting in: Q1M1 initial forest area revamped.
it is a shame that the engine doesn't support slopes to make those cliffs less blocky.
Screenshots here:

http://i.imgur.com/5YZjeG7.png
http://i.imgur.com/6an5906.png
http://i.imgur.com/uLTzfvC.png
http://i.imgur.com/QgEi0rl.png
http://i.imgur.com/XZdyu3C.png

Next, I will start with the houses and the areas surounding the houses.

The limit is very high.  For the moment, assume 32000 of each.

Thanks for the info.
Did those limits were the same for the original A&A or they are the Windows Version limits? <= Just curiosity.

13

Editing A&A / Re: Community Project: A&A Map Revamping!?

« on: February 02, 2014, 01:57:19 PM »

Does anyone knows the sectors, linedefs and sidedefs limit before a stack overflow happens?

It is not likely I will reach the limit, but just in case it is a low limit, because I will add a lot of detail.

14

Editing A&A / Re: Peewee's Mod Fork

« on: February 02, 2014, 01:37:51 PM »

Are you modifying the game source code or does A&A has some kind of scripting language?

15

Announcements / Re: A&A OpenGL Development

« on: February 02, 2014, 11:45:54 AM »

I agree.  I don't like the blurry edges of objects either.  I talked about this subject on the blog here:  http://amuletsandarmordev.wordpress.com/2013/09/20/questioning-high-res-and-3d-acceleration/

In general, I think I'm finding a group of settings that are going to be agreeable to all.  But, yes, there is no reason why other settings cannot be put in there to control the fuzz factor.

Reading your I want to see less walls post, I find it really troublesome.

Why not leave OpenGL for later on? Other than graphical effects, what other features could OpenGL give to us in this game?

I think that a scripting language implementation would be a way better thing to work on now, increasing the game editing possibilities a lot.
Or even give the game the chance read the .map .lit and etc... files of each map from inside a WAD or PK3.

Just saying my opinion.