ACE Engine v2 - DOS Doom II [vanilla++?]

[Sneezy McGlassFace]

I'm super excited about this project. And I hope there will be some tools for mappers to make use of these features.

[user76828904]

21 hours ago, kgsws said:

And, of course, it works on 3D floors ...

After I saw this image, I'm dreaming about a System Shock TC made in ACE engine.

[kgsws]

17 hours ago, Sneezy McGlassFace said:

I'm super excited about this project. And I hope there will be some tools for mappers to make use of these features.

Everything is compatible with ZDoom so far. But i will have to make a documentation as most features are only a small subset of original.

That means: WADs for ACE Engine will work in ZDoom, wads for ZDoom will not work in ACE Engine.

 

10 minutes ago, user76828904 said:

After I saw this image, I'm dreaming about a System Shock TC made in ACE engine.

I am dreaming of Half Life 1 total conversion.

 

 

This is a hack, but now we can have masked 3D floor textures - wire meshes, like Half Life often uses.

It looks much better when it's moving ...

Oh and that railing on the second bridge is made using 3D mid textures.

[user76828904]

1 hour ago, kgsws said:

I am dreaming of Half Life 1 total conversion.

Why not both?

[kgsws]

Long time no updates, so ...

I have done a bunch of bugfixing, added (Hexen) sight check code with (acceptable) 3D floor handling,

 

Added new WIPE animations - "melt" is not the only option now, here are two examples:

(well, these are slightly faster than in those animated GIFs)

 

And here's a first preview of custom damage types:

Edited October 23, 2022 by kgsws

[forgettable pyromaniac]

19 minutes ago, kgsws said:

Spoiler

 

 

That screen rip down the middle looks sick omg

Also the damage types are lookin sick. Instantly getting ideas to make a flamethrower now.

[Muusi]

All I've seen here is literally unbelievable! I think the Cacowards needs a unique award for an achievement such as this. 

[kgsws]

I have made more progress again. Custom states in DECORATE are working. Custom damage types are completed.

 

However, today i made technical explanation video for 3D floors.

This is the same way i have implemented 3D Floor rendering in ZDoom way ago. Though, implementation in ACE Engine is much cleaner ...

 

[Rykzeon]

On 10/24/2022 at 5:41 AM, kgsws said:

 

(well, these are slightly faster than in those animated GIFs)

Is the engine plays a sound when the melt screen function is called? 👀
Lets say, a door open sound.

[kgsws]

I have started with Hexen map specials. Currently only Door_Raise and Door_Close are working. Then i have recalled the lighttag argument in those specials.

Doom light system is kinda stupid though. Basically, light is only used in steps of 16. Which kinda ruins gradual change effect from doors.

Well, i had to update light calculations ...

Oh, and that unlit ceiling portion is an invisible 3D floor.

 

 

Now i can continue with other line specials.

By the way, line specials can be used in DECORATE (ZDoom allows this) so there will be scripting! It won't be ACS, but DECORATE scripting.

[Dexiaz]

Ok, John Carmack, I've got you! Don't hide anymore.

 

20 hours ago, kgsws said:

It won't be ACS, but DECORATE scripting

 

*Insert joke about ZScript*

[Gez]

On samedi 5 novembre 2022 at 7:02 PM, Dexiaz said:

*Insert joke about ZScript*

It probably would be a bad idea to try to run a ZScript VM on a 80486 machine... :D

[user76828904]

@Gez Do you think 8 MB of RAM aren't enough?

[Gez]

Processing speed, too. (Plus, 64-bit floating point numbers.)

[kgsws]

15 hours ago, Gez said:

It probably would be a bad idea to try to run a ZScript VM on a 80486 machine... :D

Oh yea :D I'll pass on that.

6 hours ago, Gez said:

Processing speed, too. (Plus, 64-bit floating point numbers.)

(or secretly threat those as 16.16 fixed point)

 

 

Update: I was adding ZDoom special actions for Hexen map format. I have no intention of adding every single one, but i have quite a few working.

 

FloorAndCeiling_LowerByValue / FloorAndCeiling_RaiseByValue (used on 3D floor)

 

Plat_UpWaitDownStay (regular floor with 3D floor light effects)

 

These are not the only ones i have working but there's not much more to show, except teleport maybe ...

[Gez]

7 hours ago, kgsws said:

FloorAndCeiling_LowerByValue / FloorAndCeiling_RaiseByValue (used on 3D floor)

This gif loop is perfectly timed to make it look like shooting the "up" switch gives you one ammo instead of consuming one. :D

[user76828904]

5 hours ago, Gez said:

This gif loop is perfectly timed to make it look like shooting the "up" switch gives you one ammo instead of consuming one. :D

I think it could be a nice mechanic for shootable switches.

[Rykzeon]

On 11/13/2022 at 8:08 AM, kgsws said:

Plat_UpWaitDownStay (regular floor with 3D floor light effects)

 

These are not the only ones i have working but there's not much more to show, except teleport maybe ...

Quake in Doom?

[taufan99]

3 hours ago, Rykz said:

Quake in Doom?

Oh, come on there, don't get my expectations far too high above the skies! 👀

[kgsws]

12 hours ago, Rykz said:

Quake in Doom?

That would be more like this:

This is Plat_DownWaitUpStayLip on center shaft, connected to 3D floor planes with Sector_SetLink.

Those are ZDoom specials so this works in ZDoom and ACE Engine at the same time.

 

Anyway, what's left:

Activating specials by thing death or pickup. (kill boss to open door, etc ...)

A few more action specials that are not related to sector movement (like Thing_Activate, ThrustThing ... and more)

LOCKDEFS - for locked doors in Hexen map format

Polyobjects - both moving and rotating (i already have working parts in Doom-in-Doom video)

A few decorate base classes like SwitchableDecoration (perfect for DECORATE scripting), FakeInventory and RandomSpawner.

 

What am i considering but have not decided yet:
Bouncing projectiles.

Colored lighting.

Sector fog. (adding fog and colored lighting is kinda connected and yet not quite the same - fog needs extra code for lines)

What do you think, should i consider adding any of those in V2? It would add some delay to release date.

[Dexiaz]

22 hours ago, kgsws said:

It would add some delay to release date.

 

Uh, I'm eager to start working on my Boiled Doom, so I don't want any more delays :(

 

BUT if we're talking about making the bright future for the whole Doom community...I'll wait more. And I suppose the best thing (which is not implemented yet) is COLORED lighting. Damn, even PSX or Doom64 can handle this (and it's kind of vanilla engine).

Edited November 15, 2022 by Dexiaz

[LuciferSam86]

On 11/14/2022 at 8:33 PM, kgsws said:

- SNIP! -

What am i considering but have not decided yet:
Bouncing projectiles.

Colored lighting.

Sector fog. (adding fog and colored lighting is kinda connected and yet not quite the same - fog needs extra code for lines)

What do you think, should i consider adding any of those in V2? It would add some delay to release date.

IMHO, Those are great QoL for modders. But, at least for me, those could be out even on a future release like 2.1 .

[RastaManGames]

It this stuff gonna get their own source-port with its own unique map format - count me in as one of the first mappers who gonna try out this dish!

[Rykzeon]

On 11/15/2022 at 2:33 AM, kgsws said:

Bouncing projectiles.

Bouncing Lost Souls

[kgsws]

13 hours ago, RastaManGames said:

It this stuff gonna get their own source-port with its own unique map format - count me in as one of the first mappers who gonna try out this dish!

Everything is ZDoom compatible. There is no new map format.

 

On 11/15/2022 at 6:44 PM, Dexiaz said:

And I suppose the best thing (which is not implemented yet) is COLORED lighting.

Well, ZDoom colored light is kinda poor. You are limited to RGB with desaturation. Results do not translate well to limited palette.

It is possible to make good looking colored light using custom colormap, like Duke3D did, but that is not supported in ZDoom.

 

But anyway ...

It is not yet complete. Rendering works as intended, but colormap calculations take ages on old hardware. I will have to add support for pre-calculated tables supplied in WAD file.

ACE Engine will be able to generate those for you, but you will have to include those in your WAD file manually. Unless you don't care about long level loading old hardware ...

This is already required for translucency tables .. well, again, if you care about loading speed.

All these tables have to be regenerated any time you change game palette.

Also, you have to define all possible light and fog combinations in map if you wish to change it using Sector_SetColor / Sector_SetFade later. On-the-fly calculations are not supported.

(magenta color in example above is hidden in map and so the switch works)

 

And the fog is a different beast. There are fog boundaries that need special handling.

Also, for now i am not gonna handle fog boundaries across 3D floors ...

 

 

Finally, here's a bonus clip from previous coding:

Just connect crusher to 3D floor. (also, notice different light level above the rock)

Edited November 17, 2022 by kgsws

[kgsws]

So, for a few days i worked on different, Doom related project, that is connected to ACE Engine. Let's just say that i am not developing ACE stuff in DOS emulators.

Anyway. I still have a few more updates for ACE Engine.

 

Switchable Decoration is now a thing.

As in ZDoom, with custom animations for Thing_Activate and Thing_Deactivate.

(yeah, i also sometimes play with the sprites)

 

And i have added support for line specials in DECORATE. Now, combine this with Switchable Decoration ...

You get DECORATE scripting! And it is ZDoom compatible.

[kgsws]

More "scripting" stuff.

 

 

 

OK. I will continue with ACE Engine now ...

Polyobjects are next, then a few functions here and there, and V2 is ready.

[DannyMan]

1 hour ago, kgsws said:

More "scripting" stuff.

 

 

 

OK. I will continue with ACE Engine now ...

Polyobjects are next, then a few functions here and there, and V2 is ready.

 

Muy bueno

[Dexiaz]

GODLIKE.

 

As always, @kgsws!

[The Dommo]

4 hours ago, kgsws said:

More "scripting" stuff.

 

 

 

OK. I will continue with ACE Engine now ...

Polyobjects are next, then a few functions here and there, and V2 is ready.

that spinning light would look great in map01 of d64d2!

also, loving this!