Additional Thing Flags

[Andrea Rovenski]

Jaxxoon R said:

And then if you update G/ZDoom.
Those demos won't work.

If you update G/ZDoom the old versions don't just poof out of existence. It takes ten seconds to go download an older version, and you don't need to overwrite your existing installation either. It's a poor excuse.

[Jaxxoon R]

No one is going to download an old version just to watch the demos included in some random map pack. I know I wouldn't.

[VGA]

Yes, people will maintain a library of gzdoom versions to play back their demos. And when they share them, they will include the appropriate gzdoom version in the zip. Riiight.

Please, enough derailing this interesting thread with this inane "use zdoom!!" whining.

[Andrea Rovenski]

Lol, it's hardly a derail, and I have several g/zdoom folders to watch speedrun demos of various g/zdoom wads, and so do many others in the demo community. It's not hard, just stop being lazy :P

[RestlessRodent]

Jaxxoon R said:

A flag to make a monster not count for kills.

Unmark the kill count flags for monsters, can also do this for items. This means you can make anything count for kills (provided it is actually killed) or items (provided they are special and picked up).

[joe-ilya]

The 666/7 tag the mancs/arachnotrons got in MAP07. (also applies to pick ups.

[scifista42]

joe-ilya said:

Key drop flag.

It should also make the monster actually look like he's carrying the respective keycard/skullkey while he's alive, somehow.

[VGA]

scifista42 said:

It should also make the monster actually look like he's carrying the respective keycard/skullkey while he's alive, somehow.

Maybe there can be another flag "alternate pallette", which makes the thing use the PLAYPAL2 lump if it exists.

So the mapper can use both the key drop and the alt pallette flag together. And have a modified pallette to make some monsters look unique.

The flag could also be used to change all of a map's things to something that matches the map texture theme more closely (hellish red enemies in a hell map for example)

[baja blast rd.]

Cyberdemon531 said:

Seems quite silly that all these things are easily doable in G/ZDoom, and yet people still "wish" they were possible, and just refuse to map for an advanced port in which they are accessible.

What VGA said.

And a really important detail: I didn't start this thread after thinking "What custom flags do I wish I could use?" I started it after asking myself "If I could add a limited number of flags to Vanilla/Boom's limited set of flags, which ones would I prioritize?" So what's possible in G/ZDoom already is as irrelevant as possible.

[Gez]

rdwpa said:

And a really important detail: I didn't start this thread after thinking "What custom flags do I wish I could use?" I started it after asking myself "If I could add a limited number of flags to Vanilla/Boom's limited set of flags, which ones would I prioritize?"

So it's a pointless thought exercise like those "what other monsters/weapons/etc. should id have put in doom" threads.

I still think it's relevant to point out when these things already exist, like how MBF does have a friendly monster flag.

[baja blast rd.]

Gez said:

So it's a pointless thought exercise like those "what other monsters/weapons/etc. should id have put in doom" threads.

Yes. If you feel your time was wasted reading this thread, feel free to sue me.

[Da Werecat]

Cyberdemon531 said:

Lol, it's hardly a derail, and I have several g/zdoom folders to watch speedrun demos of various g/zdoom wads, and so do many others in the demo community. It's not hard, just stop being lazy :P

It's not very hard now because not a lot of people record ZDoom demos. Now imagine the entire community switching to ZDoom for all their needs, including demo recording. Just hope that no one will use SVN builds for that, because the situation will quickly change from inconvenient to ridiculous.

In any case, firm standarts are appreciated where competition is involved (like in speedrunning).

[Gez]

rdwpa said:

Yes. If you feel your time was wasted reading this thread, feel free to sue me.

It's not wasted, there are a few good ideas for new features.

[printz]

scifista42 said:

It should also make the monster actually look like he's carrying the respective keycard/skullkey while he's alive, somehow.

Not necessarily. The monster just has to be somewhat unique and easily noticeable in his environment. For example Star Wars Dark Forces has brown officers sometimes dropping keys. They look the same as other officers, but they're easily noticeable (and easy to dispatch).

[baja blast rd.]

[RestlessRodent]

Da Werecat said:

It's not very hard now because not a lot of people record ZDoom demos. Now imagine the entire community switching to ZDoom for all their needs, including demo recording. Just hope that no one will use SVN builds for that, because the situation will quickly change from inconvenient to ridiculous.

In any case, firm standarts are appreciated where competition is involved (like in speedrunning).

Seeing how ZDoom does not seem to care about demo compatibility that would create a huge mess, you might need specialized systems and virtual machines just to play back a demo properly. ZDoom also cannot play back Vanilla Demos so you basically just then voided the entire COMPET-N and most of the DSDA.

There are also potential licensing issues, libraries ZDoom depends on, speed concerns, etc.

Also everyone using just a single port would pretty much remove innovation/competition between other ports and potentially create a dull Doom scene that will just eventually fizzle and die. The variety that the open source ports provide help keep things alive and running because if any ports die, others can pick up the pieces and continue on (recently saw this with Skulltag to Zandronum). This only works however if the ports are open source. ZDaemon carries the highest risk right now since if key developers get hit by busses there might not be any interest and/or skill to continue the port if it remains closed source.

[Deleted_Account]

I would be interested in a flag where when a monster spots you, it changes into a Revenant. Yeah, agitated skeleton flag.

[Andrea Rovenski]

Da Werecat said:

It's not very hard now because not a lot of people record ZDoom demos. Now imagine the entire community switching to ZDoom for all their needs, including demo recording. Just hope that no one will use SVN builds for that, because the situation will quickly change from inconvenient to ridiculous.

In any case, firm standarts are appreciated where competition is involved (like in speedrunning).

Firmly standardize a version of G/ZDoom to use for specific wads then? I don't see the problem here.

[Jaxxoon R]

So then when Windows 13 comes out and the standardized version of G/ZDoom hasn't worked since Windows 11...

[SavageCorona]

Piper Maru said:

I would be interested in a flag where when a monster spots you, it changes into a Revenant. Yeah, agitated skeleton flag.

An animation where it bursts out of the skin would be fantastic

[TheOrganGrinder]

"Pistol Start" or "Continuous Play" flags, for additional granularity in difficulty and gameplay balancing - different weapons, supplies, and enemies are present depending on the player's approach to the level.

[Noiser]

mouldy said:

Doom could really use an "awake" flag for monsters, so that they are automatically alerted to the player without having to fire a shot.

That would be pretty cool. At least the mapper can pretend they are always awaked joining some sectors, I think.

[Gez]

Noiser said:

That would be pretty cool. At least the mapper can pretend they are always awaked joining some sectors, I think.

That's generally done by forcing the player to attack by blocking the way out of the level start with a hit-activated effect (like in The Courtyard, to give an IWAD reference). You can join that start sector where the player will be forced to make a sound with whichever sectors in which you want to have monsters woken from the start.