Rain in Boom format maps on GZDoom.

[VanaheimRanger]

I know there is a zscript lmp in Eviternity that handles this.  I would like to do it in a few maps in a project I am working on.  How would I go about implementing it?

[Kappes Buur]

For BOOM format:

Rain can only be simulated via an animated sequence of rain textures, a la ARMADOSIA map30. It is not very convincing though.

 

For GZDoom DIHF or UDMF:

Producing believable rain is no problem. See how Jimmy used the DECORATE Rain Spawner from REALM667 in his pwad Mercury Rain (Actor 13000) 

Edited September 4, 2020 by Kappes Buur

[VanaheimRanger]

3 hours ago, Kappes Buur said:

For BOOM format:

Rain can only be simulated via an animated sequence of rain textures, a la ARMADOSIA map30. It is not very convincing though.

 

For GZDoom DIHF or UDMF:

Producing believable rain is no problem. See how Jimmy used the DECORATE Rain Spawner from REALM667 in his pwad Mercury Rain (Actor 13000) 

So, how did Eviternity do it with zscript?

[Doomkid]

So is the idea that the rain simply won't show up if you play on a non-GZDoom source port? If so you can use the decorate solution Kappes Buur just linked to, ports that don't support decorate will simply ignore it, it won't result in crashes or anything like that.

[Bauul]

GZDoom supports auto-running scripts. The way Eviternity handles it is a single giant script that automatically runs at the start of every map (because obviously you can't put the script inside a Boom format map), and checks to see what map is currently being run. If it's one of the first episodes, it then goes through and spawns rain spawners against any sky texture.

 

If you crack open Eviternity.wad there should be lump called "source" (or something like that, I'm working from memory). View that in a text editor, and it's the uncompiled ACS.

 

Edited September 4, 2020 by Bauul

[VanaheimRanger]

4 hours ago, Doomkid said:

So is the idea that the rain simply won't show up if you play on a non-GZDoom source port? If so you can use the decorate solution Kappes Buur just linked to, ports that don't support decorate will simply ignore it, it won't result in crashes or anything like that.

Yes, but I can't place the spawner thing in boom configuration :\

 

4 hours ago, Bauul said:

GZDoom supports auto-running scripts. The way Eviternity handles it is a single giant script that automatically runs at the start of every map (because obviously you can't put the script inside a Boom format map), and checks to see what map is currently being run. If it's one of the first episodes, it then goes through and spawns rain spawners against any sky texture.

 

If you crack open Eviternity.wad there should be lump called "source" (or something like that, I'm working from memory). View that in a text editor, and it's the uncompiled ACS.

 

This is cool, would it also be possible to use this feature to do fog in maps?

[Kappes Buur]

2 hours ago, guitardz said:

*Yes, but I can't place the spawner thing in boom configuration :\

 

This is cool, would it also be possible to use this feature to do fog in maps?

 

I gotta ask:

Why are you so intend on cramming features into a BOOM format map

when that format does not support those features?

Edited September 4, 2020 by Kappes Buur

[VanaheimRanger]

28 minutes ago, Kappes Buur said:

 

I gotta ask:

Why are you so intend on cramming features into a BOOM format map

when that format does not support those features?

Because, it's cool!

 

But, seriously, I already made 4 maps in boom format then thought, rain would be cool, and I know it's possible because Eviternity did it.  I guess I could convert the maps to UDMF but then I would have to go change all my generalized line actions.  And I'd prefer not to start messing with a things that already work.

 

Unless there is a way to actually convert the maps without just copy/pasting them into a new UDMF map.

Edited September 4, 2020 by guitardz

[Bauul]

3 hours ago, guitardz said:

This is cool, would it also be possible to use this feature to do fog in maps?

 

Yep, you can use this method to run any kind of script in a Boom map.  Whether its spawning weather effects (like fog sprites) or changing sector values like Fade (for that ambient fog effect), it works fine, as long as its calling a function that exists in the Doom map format in the first place (you couldn't, for example, change the Fade Intensity independent of the sector brightness, as that's a UDMF feature). 

 

In Eviternity for example, I used the method to spawn the teleporter particle effects that GZDoom players see.

 

The crux of the method is ZDoom's LOADACS lump.  The ZDoom Wiki has a whole page dedicated to the process of loading scripts in Doom format maps here.

Edited September 4, 2020 by Bauul

[VanaheimRanger]

6 minutes ago, Bauul said:

 

Yep, you can use this method to run any kind of script in a Boom map.  Whether its spawning weather effects (like fog sprites) or changing sector values like Fade (for that ambient fog effect), it works fine, as long as its calling a function that exists in the Doom map format in the first place (you couldn't, for example, change the Fade Intensity independent of the sector brightness, as that's a UDMF feature). 

 

In Eviternity for example, I used the method to spawn the teleporter particle effects that GZDoom players see.

 

The crux of the method is ZDoom's LOADACS lump.  The ZDoom Wiki has a whole page dedicated to the process of loading scripts in Doom format maps here.

Neat.  I will literally only use this for rain effects (Assuiming I can figure out how it works).  But it's awesome that so much is possible.

[boris]

The weather effects don't have anything to do with ACS, it's ZScript. They were taken from JOM5 and were originally created by @Gutawer.

[VanaheimRanger]

I took @Kappes Buur's advice and just converted everything to UDMF.  It took forever to find all the linedefs and sector specials but it was very much worth the effort for better looking (and sounding) rain.

Edited September 9, 2020 by guitardz