Hiding Ceiling Brightness

[BloodyAcid]

Hi there, I'm making this tutorial on hiding awkward brightness mixups on the ceilings. This trick is for mappers who use Doom in Doom format, rather than UDMF or Doom in Hexen.

Sample:

Of course, a floor light that low makes no sense to have it shine so brightly in the ceiling infront of it. It's also weird to have a noticeable shadow like that above the crate on the ceiling. In other words, this is what you have.

Looks alot cleaner and makes more sense.

Go back to your map, and identify the weird sectors. Go into 3D mode and raise those sectors up up up, and DO NOT texture them. This is really important, as it creates the effect of a smooth ceiling. The surrounding texture "bleeds" and overlaps the missing textures, creating the illusion.

[spoiler="Image (Warning: Big!)][/spoiler]

And that's all there is to it! For basic smooth ceilings like this at least.



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Exception: The method above works only for smooth ceilings. What about a complicated ceiling with borders? This method is slightly convoluted and involves more work than the other method. I'm pretty sure that there are other ways, but this is how I do it.

What if something like this happens? You can't bring your ceiling up since your metal bordering would show through and thus ruin the bleeding effect.

The trick is to create the bleeding still. Go back to editor mode and create a 1px border around the metal like so:

Then, go back to 3D mode and raise everything but the 1px border.



In game:

[spoiler][/spoiler]

Oh no! The light bleeds! Don't worry, go back to sector editing and return the brightness of the 1px sector to normal. It might be weird, but it achieves the desired effect without any trickery.

Here it is again. You might notice the 1px of random darkness, but it's easily covered up by items or corpses. This clean cut example is made for demonstration purposes.

[spoiler][/spoiler]

What about the metal bar? You make another 1px border and raise that too. That tallies the weird darkness to 2px.

Sample wad:

http://www.mediafire.com/?dnlokrbtxzr3kem

I hope this helps a few people. If there are any blatant mistakes, I'll edit and redo parts of this.

[katZune]

nice trick there, but look buggy and there is a easy way but only work with zdoom (doom in doom format), anyways if the map gonna be for the original doom ofc it is a nice trick

[Llewellyn]

This effect breaks in OGL if you can see the fake ceiling I think.

Also, if you use UDMF map type, you can actually SET the ceiling brightness.

[BloodyAcid]

Well, I guess I'll never have that problem from a 100% software player who maps with Doom in Doom format.

[Ænima]

Uhhhhhhhhh.

http://zdoom.org/wiki/Transfer_CeilingLight

[BloodyAcid]

That's found in Doom in Hexen format, not Doom in Doom, which I was talking about.

[Ænima]

Oops. Missed that part. My bad.

[Llewellyn]

Well, I guess I'll never have that problem from a 100% software player who maps with Doom in Doom format.

Compatibility with everyone else? You can't just think about yourself if you're going to be making maps for anyone else to play.
I honestly don't see the point of making maps in Doom in Doom format unless you're going to be traveling back in time and releasing them 10 years in the past.

[Ijon Tichy]

This effect breaks in OGL if you can see the fake ceiling I think.

Also, if you use UDMF map type, you can actually SET the ceiling brightness.

actually slime trails (which is what this is) are simulated with the opengl renderer

[Qent]

This effect breaks in OGL if you can see the fake ceiling I think.

Haha, no. I thought that would happen, but I asked you a year or two ago and you told me what ijon told me. :V

[BloodyAcid]

Well, I guess I'll never have that problem from a 100% software player who maps with Doom in Doom format.

Compatibility with everyone else? You can't just think about yourself if you're going to be making maps for anyone else to play.
I honestly don't see the point of making maps in Doom in Doom format unless you're going to be traveling back in time and releasing them 10 years in the past.

I'm pretty sure that there are a great number of players who play in software. I used Doom in Doom because I personally find it faster than Doom in Hexen, and I don't really use slopes and the other effects. I came from the early tutorials as per the website, and I only heard (as in its usefulness) after I've become quite accustomed to Doom in Doom.

[Llewellyn]

This effect breaks in OGL if you can see the fake ceiling I think.

Also, if you use UDMF map type, you can actually SET the ceiling brightness.

actually slime trails (which is what this is) are simulated with the opengl renderer

MOSTLY simulated.
Since you don't ACTUALLY use the OpenGL renderer, you wouldn't know that they BREAK, ALL, THE, TIME. (Off the top of my head the first example is AV.wad map01)

I'm pretty sure that there are a great number of players who play in software.

And an equal number play in GL (probably, anyone have a count? No?)

I used Doom in Doom because I personally find it faster than Doom in Hexen, and I don't really use slopes and the other effects. I came from the early tutorials as per the website, and I only heard (as in its usefulness) after I've become quite accustomed to Doom in Doom.

UDMF, while different from both Hexen and Doom formats, is MUCH simpler than Doom in Doom or Doom in Hexen, while also containing complex features for users to access. (Also it IS really similar to Doom in Doom, the only real difference while mapping in Doom Builder, is that you have to use a checkbox to check "Walkover" or "Player Presses Use" instead of picking a specific linedef for each.)

[Empyre]

I've been using the Boom format myself, which lets me set the brightness of the ceiling using a method similar to transfer height, except it is brightness that is being transferred instead of height. If you look at my Lave Cave map (EMP04), for example, you'll see that the bright lava is not making the ceiling bright. It is almost as portable as the old Doom2 format. I am, however, considering moving on to Doom in Hexen for any future maps I make. If I ever feel like doing a lot of work, I might upgrade my Boom format maps to Doom in Hexen, just like I already did before, when I upgraded the older maps from Doom2 format to Boom format.

[BloodyAcid]

And an equal number play in GL (probably, anyone have a count? No?)

Compatibility with everyone else? You can't just think about yourself if you're going to be making maps for anyone else to play.

If there are these equal numbers you speak about, then it's not really not compatible with everyone else :) Although mapping with the Hexen changes would benefit everyone, this method to me is the most effective (although it looks troublesome)

I just feel like making maps in Doom in Doom format. That is all.

[Llewellyn]

If there are these equal numbers you speak about, then it's not really not compatible with everyone else :)

Guh? Software supports Hexen and UDMF formats :S?

[BloodyAcid]

If there are these equal numbers you speak about, then it's not really not compatible with everyone else :)

Guh? Software supports Hexen and UDMF formats :S?

Since you don't ACTUALLY use the OpenGL renderer, you wouldn't know that they BREAK, ALL, THE, TIME

I know that Software supports Hexen/UDMF (Aow2 :P) I was saying that if I used Hexen, it would be beneficial to both GL/SW users, instead of my choppy method which would look like crap in GL.

[Qent]

Your method works in GL actually, and as long as you keep it simple, it probably won't break. If you start doing what AV did, then it might.

[Ijon Tichy]

so i saw this thread again and looked at the 'deep water' you were talking about

[Qent]

It breaks a tiny little bit. It looks like that in Chocolate Doom, too. Try looking at it in OGL; that's really broken.

[Llewellyn]

The difference is that you can see the floor (thus it broke) because you looked down.
I don't have to "look down" to see the floor in OGL for it to break. (HOMFEST)