I still don't understand this concept. The internet resources I consulted are rather vague about it. Is there anyone/anything who/which can explain it to me? Also, what's the advantage of using room-over-room over, say, just a "normal" level configuration akin to an architectural drawing?
Fernando at
Well, let me see how can I explain this to you.
Think about your room and another room exactly below your room. As you know, both rooms are physically in the same x-coordinates and y-coordinates, but have different z-coordinates. Saying, one room above and one room below.
The BUILD engine has the ability to render two sectors on the same x and y coordinates and behave exactly like real-life sectors. That trick is named Room-Over-Room or Sector-Over-Sector.
Room-Over-Room is one of the greatest effects you can give to your map, but also one of the hardest, painfully hardest to handle well and correctly. However, it has it's catches, being these two the essential headaches:
1) One sector can not see the other sector below or above the sector you are in. If they do, the screen will render the infamous Hall Of Mirrors, leaving a corrupted screen.
2) No overlapping sector can share a double-wall red-line. If they do, you can bet for sure your map goes down the drain for good, and it's quite nearly impossible to recover a map from such glitch.
There is a HELP file which can really help you out in such cases. At least it has done that for me and for some of my maps. This file is quite a good faq which can bet you started at basic things and teach you advanced effects.
And two final words which you seem to know already: SAVE OFTEN!
Retodon8 at
Re: Room-Over-Room
That's a good explanation by Fernando, but I don't think it answers what the advantage is.
I'm not sure what you mean with the comparison to an arch. drawing though.
The advantage of having the feature compared to an engine like the original Doom uses is the thing's very definition. :)
Compared to a modern engine like the Unreal Engine however, it's not an advantage.
ROR doesn't allow you to see rooms above eachother at the same time, so it also doesn't allow for level geometry sticking out of walls for instance.
Something like Unreal allows for many rooms above and below eachother, which you can see simultaneously.
The Z isn't really all that different from X and Y in it when it comes to level geometry.
Of course the drawback is that you can't simply create a 2D map of the level anymore (both a map as you'd see in a walkthrough and the actual map the level designer creates).
Devan at
Fernando said at
The BUILD engine has the ability to render two sectors on the same x and y coordinates and behave exactly like real-life sectors. That trick is named Room-Over-Room or Sector-Over-Sector.
Sector-Over-Sector and Room-Over-Room are different effects! You explained SOS. ROR is effect to make transparent water or 3D floors. It renders sector which is in other place. For example, there's a water pool sector. And there's another underwater sector in different place. And if we dive when we are in first sector, we will be teleported to second sector. Now let's talk about water transparency. You are in first sector. Its transparent floor renders second sector starting from its ceiling. And you can see what's underwater.
Fernando at
Oh, but then, you just clarified a difference. Nevertheless my answer was quite right. :)
But was it really neccessary to bump this thread 6 month old just to clear my mistake?
Maren at
Absolutely, our mistakes contribute to other people's nescience ;)