[PLEASE HELP] Very serious graphical problem

[Cacodoomonic]

I have been working on a project (not DOOM but using GZDoom as its engine) for about 4 years and since switching to a brand new laptop, the entire game is completely ruined. When I boot up the game, all the portraits on the wall (a linedef with a texture on it) are misaligned, and split in half so that the bottom is at the top and the top is at the bottom, all sprites with the +flatsprite tag are sitting upright despite supposed to be laying on the floor, flat, all custom actors are appearing in the editor as either red questionmarks or not appearing at all with no title or name only THINGID, and numerous other similar issues. The game still plays as it should otherwise, but these issues are massive because it would take a lifetime to go through the entire game and realign everything manually and also this still would not fix the +flatsprites not working properly (of which I can find no solution) and the missing custom actors in the editor. 

 

Also, in the editor 3D objects and voxels do not appear either. They do not show whatsoever, not even with enhanced rendering on. For example, a 3d table only shows the four legs sticking up out the ground and no table top because it is a 3d sector. The entire game is ruined. Help please.

 

I have no idea what has happened. None of these problems were present when I last worked on this project on my previous laptop. Since opening it on this one, the entire game looks a mess. Help? Please? Why has this happened? How can I fix it?

 

EDIT: I figured out that the texture misalignment was due to not having HARDWARE ACCELERATION on. Once on, this fixed this issue. It also fixed the +flatsprites. HOWEVER, in the editor it still will NOT show 3D sectors or custom actors. Please, if anyone can help me I'm listening. In the configurations, I have this box saying "visplane, 3d floor mode and slope mode not available" also. What the hell is this? I've never had anything like this before.

Edited April 2, 2024 by Cacodoomonic

[The DANDY Company]

Do you need to switch the configuration to GZDoom UDMF format? It’s in Doom format by default. 
 

Andarch

The DANDY Company

[Cacodoomonic]

Hi Dandy, thanks for the response. Yes I did just double check everything. I even started making a new map under GZDOOM DOOM 2 UDMF but all my custom things show up as red question marks. The weird thing is, it started working properly last night so I saved everything then closed down. I've booted up again tonight and it has returned to being a total mess. I do not have any idea what is wrong???

[The DANDY Company]

Do you have external resources like in another wad file or pk3 file? Maybe something needs to be added to the configuration in UDB? That’s all I can think of without trying it myself.
 

Andarch

The DANDY Company

[Cacodoomonic]

All my resources are a single IPK3. I have no idea what changed from last night to tonight. The only thing I changed was I added a single new monster. But that wasn't the issue because I removed it again, and the issue was still there. 

 

EDIT: I just noticed another strange thing. One of the levels has replaced my custom "burning fire" actor with an MBFHelperDog?? What? Where is it getting this dog from??? This isn't in my game.

Edited April 4, 2024 by Cacodoomonic
added new issue

[Dark Pulse]

This sounds like something is getting loaded that shouldn't be, or something that should be getting loaded, isn't. Like if you were doing your development out of a folder, and you no longer have that EXACT folder structure, that will screw stuff up.

 

3D Floor Mode definitely requires you to open the Map as UDMF. If you are not doing that, the feature will not be available.

 

MBFHelperDog is DoomEdNum 888, so if your fire is on that slot, consider moving it off. This might also be a case of where your IPK3 is somehow being loaded first, then something after it. Doom's engine will always let whatever is loaded later take precedence, so if you loaded your stuff, then something else later that took up the same slot, that would win. Load order is EXTREMELY important when working with this engine.

 

Alternatively, make sure DoomEdNums are set up in your MAPINFO.

Edited April 4, 2024 by Dark Pulse

[Cacodoomonic]

15 hours ago, Dark Pulse said:

This sounds like something is getting loaded that shouldn't be, or something that should be getting loaded, isn't. Like if you were doing your development out of a folder, and you no longer have that EXACT folder structure, that will screw stuff up.

 

3D Floor Mode definitely requires you to open the Map as UDMF. If you are not doing that, the feature will not be available.

 

MBFHelperDog is DoomEdNum 888, so if your fire is on that slot, consider moving it off. This might also be a case of where your IPK3 is somehow being loaded first, then something after it. Doom's engine will always let whatever is loaded later take precedence, so if you loaded your stuff, then something else later that took up the same slot, that would win. Load order is EXTREMELY important when working with this engine.

 

Alternatively, make sure DoomEdNums are set up in your MAPINFO.

I've dug through the entire IPK3 and still cannot solve this problem. I even loaded up a previous backup before I added the new monster - a version that worked perfectly fine the night I backed it up. I don't think my game IPK3 is the issue now. This must be something else. 

 

Something is confusing this game and I cannot figure out how to fix it. All my actors have their DOOMED numbers in tact, everything is put together correctly and this all worked fine before. Something is stopping the resources load up now. I don't understand what to do.

[Dark Pulse]

12 minutes ago, Cacodoomonic said:

I've dug through the entire IPK3 and still cannot solve this problem. I even loaded up a previous backup before I added the new monster - a version that worked perfectly fine the night I backed it up. I don't think my game IPK3 is the issue now. This must be something else. 

 

Something is confusing this game and I cannot figure out how to fix it. All my actors have their DOOMED numbers in tact, everything is put together correctly and this all worked fine before. Something is stopping the resources load up now. I don't understand what to do.

What is listed when you open the map in terms of resources? For example, is it trying to load Doom2.wad as well, or just your IPK3?

[Cacodoomonic]

2 minutes ago, Dark Pulse said:

What is listed when you open the map in terms of resources? For example, is it trying to load Doom2.wad as well, or just your IPK3?

Just my IPK3. I did try messing about with it and added GZDOOM also, but that only allowed my Zscript monsters to appear, none of the DECORATE ones. 

[Dark Pulse]

7 minutes ago, Cacodoomonic said:

Just my IPK3. I did try messing about with it and added GZDOOM also, but that only allowed my Zscript monsters to appear, none of the DECORATE ones. 

Try including gzdoom.pk3 as a resource, but exclude it from testing. (There's a little tickbox for that.)

[Cacodoomonic]

7 minutes ago, Dark Pulse said:

Try including gzdoom.pk3 as a resource, but exclude it from testing. (There's a little tickbox for that.)

Just tried as you suggested, kept it out of testing but added it as a resource. Same issue. My Zscript monsters now appear in the editor, but none of the DECORATE stuff does. Everything works in game fine though. I really need the things visible in the editor otherwise I cannot work with any of it.

[Dark Pulse]

8 minutes ago, Cacodoomonic said:

Just tried as you suggested, kept it out of testing but added it as a resource. Same issue. My Zscript monsters now appear in the editor, but none of the DECORATE stuff does. Everything works in game fine though. I really need the things visible in the editor otherwise I cannot work with any of it.

Just to double check, BOTH your DECORATE monsters as well as your ZScript ones all have DoomEdNums definitions in your MAPINFO, right? And they match the classes you're using for your actors?

 

https://zdoom.org/wiki/MAPINFO/Editor_number_definition

 

I know you said that before, but it doesn't make sense that it'd load some of them but not all of them, unless you are doing horrible mistakes like editing maps in UDB and using SLADE to do other editing at the same time (in which case, the reason you're having issues is due to one clobbering the other and that wrecked some changes), or you renamed one set but not the other, or something like that.

Edited April 4, 2024 by Dark Pulse

[Cacodoomonic]

MAPINFO: 

//ZSCRIPT ACTORS
DoomEdNums
{
    2291 = BetaKakos
    3948 = Photokakos
	3950 = RespawnPhotokakos
    3949 = Kakos   
	3309 = WanderKakos
	5559 = Mazzikim
	5558 = RespawnMazzikim
	11001 = Curtain_destroyed
	11002 = Curtain_damaged
	11003 = Curtain_new
	//11004 = LaylaPlaceholder
	//11011 = Layla
}

DECORATE

#Include "ACTORS/MISC.TXT"
//#Include "ACTORS/MONSTERS.TXT"
#Include "ACTORS/ZOMBIES"
#Include "ACTORS/SHEDIM"
#Include "ACTORS/BARMENENSHPIN"
#Include "ACTORS/FLITTERBUG"
#Include "ACTORS/GAZZAM"
#Include "ACTORS/KAKOS"
#Include "ACTORS/EXPLOSIVES.TXT"
#Include "ACTORS/WEAPONS.TXT"
#Include "ACTORS/ITEMS.TXT"
#Include "ACTORS/DECORATION.TXT"
#Include "ACTORS/NPCS.TXT"
#Include "ACTORS/INTERACTIVE.TXT"
#Include "ACTORS/FLASHLIGHT.TXT"
#Include "ACTORS/BREAKABLE.TXT"
#Include "ACTORS/FURNITURE.TXT"
#Include "ACTORS/BLOOD.TXT"
#Include "ACTORS/PUZZLE.TXT"
#Include "ACTORS/GILCHRIST.TXT"
#Include "ACTORS/WEATHER.TXT"
//#Include "ACTORS/WEATHER2.TXT"
#Include "ACTORS/STUFF.TXT"
#Include "ACTORS/GORE.TXT"
#Include "ACTORS/LAYLA.TXT"

All my Zscript monsters are assigned a DoomED number in the MAPinfo, and the all my decorate actors are defined with their numbers in their select decorate files (all located in an ACTOR directory) and included through a single "include" decorate file.

 

None of these things were a problem before, as apart from the one new monster and one new rocket replacement, (the rocket keeps saying it is double defined in loading the map into the editor) everything was fine. 

 

I do have both Slade and UDB open at once, this is true, but I suspected that may be an issue when I started work today so I only opened UDB which still had the issue even without Slade being open. 

 

The zscript monsters never used to appear in my editor ever. I never knew why. They seem to appear only when GZDOOM is included as a resource, despite not being located in there... they are in my IPK3. If I remove GZDOOM as a resource, the zscript monsters disappear as well. 

[Dark Pulse]

9 minutes ago, Cacodoomonic said:

The zscript monsters never used to appear in my editor ever. I never knew why. They seem to appear only when GZDOOM is included as a resource, despite not being located in there... they are in my IPK3. If I remove GZDOOM as a resource, the zscript monsters disappear as well. 

In short, you need to include GZDoom.pk3 in order to use, well, GZDoom features. But since you don't want your map to be reliant on it in a "reference stuff" context, that's why you add it as a resource, but exclude it from testing. (This should also get 3D Floors and other neat GZDoom tricks working, for what it's worth.)

 

Something is definitely overwriting or overruling your config in part though, and I'm genuinely not sure what. DECORATE actors will not show up in the regular categories - they will show up in the User-Defined category, unless you specify a different category via adding //$Category "My New Category" to the definition.

 

And I mentioned this before, but make sure you're opening your map in UDB in the proper mode, which for you, sounds like it should be GZDoom: Doom 2 (UDMF) or something like that. If you open it as, for example, "Doom: Doom 2", that might cause some conflicts.

Edited April 4, 2024 by Dark Pulse

[Cacodoomonic]

Thanks, I did double check everything and discovered 2 strange things. I had a zscript actor with the same name as a decorate actor, and my rocket ammo type was double defined. I removed these issues... and everything has loaded up as it should this time. Could this seriously have been the entire issue? It was confused based on a double defined actor or two?

 

What is strange though, is the one that shared a name was not new... it had been there for many months with no issue. I don't understand it. Either way, it seems to be fixed now. Also, in this process, I learned a solution to a much older problem... how to include zscript monsters in the editor. So extra thank you for this too!

[Dark Pulse]

21 minutes ago, Cacodoomonic said:

Thanks, I did double check everything and discovered 2 strange things. I had a zscript actor with the same name as a decorate actor, and my rocket ammo type was double defined. I removed these issues... and everything has loaded up as it should this time.

Yeah, that one is a big no-no. Never use the same name for both a ZScript Actor and a DECORATE actor. It makes stuff go absolutely ga-ga.

 

The double define would've been generally harmless (but it's still good to fix), but I wouldn't be surprised if the name clash is what was wrecking stuff.

 

Glad you got it working, though! Best of luck with your project!

Edited April 4, 2024 by Dark Pulse

[Cacodoomonic]

Thank so much and for all the amazing help!