Screenshots with or without weapon?

[ryg]

I am ready to publish screenshots of my level (DOOM1). Should I take them with out without a weapon and the doomguy's hand showing. If the answer is without, how would I achieve this with the prboom engine?

[Jayextee]

I generally take weaponless screenshots in older ports by switching from pistol to fist and pressing the key in the brief moment between them when neither is visible.

[Grazza]

An easy way to have no weapon showing is to use a deh patch that sets the player's starting health to zero. You'll find one in this zip. That works best if you are taking fullscreen images - if you have the status bar showing, then you see that the player has zero health. This also means the monsters don't move.

Edited September 5, 2019 by Grazza

[Maximum Matt]

Status bar and BFG or GTFO

[PasokonDeacon]

So far I've been using the method Jayextee mentioned, at least on PrBoom+, but for ZDoom-based ports I disable all HUD/weapon graphics to get a clean view when necessary. The zombie method should work really well!

[Gokuma]

I just guessed you could type spectate in the console and that works (At least in Zandronum).

 

Normally I like to show weapons, but for taking pictures of a map to use within a selection map, I put it in spectate mode.

 

Another method is you could make a pwad with a blank graphic in place of the fist idle frame.

[reflex17]

I like screenshots that are no weapon/no HUD/no monsters, unless the monster(s) serve as focal point/ enhance the theme of the shot.

 

Like a Pinkie on a submarine? that's cool but no./

 

A Disciple in a ruined castle or Trooper in a techbase? now we're talkin'

[DuckReconMajor]

1 hour ago, reflex17 said:

unless the monster(s) serve as focal point/ enhance the theme of the shot.

Yeah that was my thought. If you are focusing on gameplay, show me the action.

 

If it's more about visuals, maybe a slight plus if you show without status bar/hud but it's fine either way.

[Havoc Crow]

For screenshotting, I have a custom binding in ZDoom which removes the weapon, turns off messages, and freezes the action so I can get cool shots from any angle without worrying about monsters.

[Kappes Buur]

To take screenshots in GZDoom without the weapons, bind a key like this in autoexec.cfg,

for example h

 

bind h "wait 2; r_drawplayersprites 0; wait 2; screenshot; wait 2; r_drawplayersprites 1;"

 

Edited September 7, 2019 by Kappes Buur

[ryg]

Thank you all for your input. I figured it out.

I liked DuckReconMajor's point about whether to take screenshots with or without monsters depending on showcasing either details or the action aspect.

My level is huge (over 3 hours) and I have created over 100 screenshots. How many screenshots would you guys think is appropriate and how many are too much? The aim is to interest playtesters.

[Kappes Buur]

1 hour ago, ryg said:

... How many screenshots would you guys think is appropriate and how many are too much? The aim is to interest playtesters.

 

I like to include the monsters in screenshots to show, more or less, the difficulty of the map.

 

Maybe 4 screenshots max in the forum. You can always create an album in imgur showcasing more screnshots.