Can see (and shoot) ambush monsters underground

[LeeAurich]

I've previously used GZDoom to playtest all my maps, they worked perfectly there.

I've switched to PRBoom and now when I play my maps, my ambush monsters that are waiting on small platforms underground are visible through the floor, and I can even shoot and kill them through the floor (where I'm standing in the screenshot, I can target and kill them.) Sorry the screenshot is a little dark, but you should be able to see the monsters through the floor.

 

My method for these lifts has always been to create a 2x2 sector with the monster sitting in the middle, with the sector sitting 160+ units below the ground. When triggered, the sector instantly rises to the floor to create an ambush.

I need this map to work in PRBoom. How do I modify my ambush lift traps to work properly? Is there a universal method that will work across all engines?

[Aurelius]

Sprites clip through illusio pits if they're too narrow to completely encompass the sprite. You can fix this by making them wider (you'll have experiment with the size of the pit, since the sprite dimensions don't always match perfectly with their hitbox). However, since you're working with insta-pop traps, you can just make the pits extremely deep (>1000 map units) so that you can't practically target the monsters from any angle before they appear. I would still make the pits wider though.

[Nine Inch Heels]

3 minutes ago, LeeAurich said:

I might have to do that. I was hoping to keep it as vanilla as possible so it would work universally.

to be fair, it already wasn't very vanilla in your setup right there to begin with, because of how some ports won't allow you to play without infinitely tall actors, especially vanilla ones...

 

having said that, the teleport sound isn't necessarily that "loud", so if the distance allows it, you might get away with a vanilla compatible setup... alternatively, you can put the shotties in "alcoves" which you open later on...

Edited May 20, 2021 by Nine Inch Heels

[LeeAurich]

Is there any danger of being able to see that the pit is there if it's too wide? or falling in?

[Nine Inch Heels]

What Aurelius said, though I would just want to add that you can lower any insta-pop to a default of -30,000 to be perfectly safe... Even if a sprite bleeds through, the distance should make them very, very small on screen...

[Nine Inch Heels]

Just now, LeeAurich said:

Is there any danger of being able to see that the pit is there if it's too wide? or falling in?

If the pit is an illusio-pit it can be as wide as you want to, however, if there's a chance to skip the respective trigger, it also comes with the chance to fall in, if the pit happens to be wider than the monster it houses... if it is exactly as wide, you can't fall in in PrB+ etc, due to infinitely tall actors... so you'd still get blocked from below...

[LeeAurich]

1 minute ago, Nine Inch Heels said:

If the pit is an illusio-pit it can be as wide as you want to, however, if there's a chance to skip the respective trigger, it also comes with the chance to fall in, if the pit happens to be wider than the monster it houses... if it is exactly as wide, you can't fall in in PrB+ etc, due to infinitely tall actors... so you'd still get blocked from below...

Does that mean if it's in a hallway you walk down before the trap triggers, the monster can block you from passing over the top of the hole?

[Nine Inch Heels]

1 minute ago, LeeAurich said:

Does that mean if it's in a hallway you walk down before the trap triggers, the monster can block you from passing over the top of the hole?

yup

[LeeAurich]

Damn, I'm going to have to rethink my traps. I like creating levels where you have to backtrack and monsters repopulate, but don't like the randomness, or the giveaway sound of teleporting them in.

[Aurelius]

8 hours ago, LeeAurich said:

Damn, I'm going to have to rethink my traps. I like creating levels where you have to backtrack and monsters repopulate, but don't like the randomness, or the giveaway sound of teleporting them in.

 

Boom has the option for silent teleporting, which basically does the same as an insta-pop, without the sound of the pop :P

Edited May 20, 2021 by Aurelius

[Nine Inch Heels]

Boom has silent teleports you could use instead... they teleport from one linedef to another

[LeeAurich]

I might have to do that. I was hoping to keep it as vanilla as possible so it would work universally.

[LeeAurich]

2 minutes ago, Nine Inch Heels said:

to be fair, it already wasn't very vanilla in your setup right there to begin with, because of how some ports won't allow you to play without infinitely tall actors, especially vanilla ones...

 

having said that, the teleport sound isn't necessarily that "loud", so if the distance allows it, you might get away with a vanilla compatible setup... alternatively, you can put the shotties in "alcoves" which you open later on...

True, GZDoom had infinite height disabled on monsters which is why it worked for me previously, so that's not vanilla.

 

I'll experiment with different ways to redo to the traps and see what works best. Thanks for the help!

[magicsofa]

1 hour ago, LeeAurich said:

Damn, I'm going to have to rethink my traps. I like creating levels where you have to backtrack and monsters repopulate, but don't like the randomness, or the giveaway sound of teleporting them in.

What about closets that are triggered from far off? This also gives you a chance to place some collectibles for the player and to modify the previous layout a little, maybe even connect areas that were previously separate..