(ZDoom) 3D Floors Tutorial

[@DavidXNewton]

Thanks for these tutorials, they're easy to follow and really show off the features of ZDoom - I'm amazed at what's possible in ZDoom now, rememebering 1995 when we had to use DoomEd and do spatial mathematics in our heads to work out what a room would look like with all the floor and ceiling heights :)

[@Chubzdoomer]

What I would actually recommend doing is going to the website with the revisions, clicking "GZDoomBuilder" in the lower-left, and downloading one of the GZDoom Builder revisions. GZDoom Builder is essentially Doom Builder 2 with all kinds of fancy GZDoom features such as a GZDoom Visual Mode that allows you to see 3D floors, dynamic lights, colored sectors, and more! You should also consider using GZDoom rather than ZDoom if you aren't already, because it's better in virtually every way.

[@RationalFunction]

Ultimate Doom Builder exists now. Please edit your comment to reflect that. Yes ik this comment is from 9y ago.

[@404waffles]

You sound like Mr. Mackey from South Park.

[@Chubzdoomer]

Mmkay.

[@auproductions8000]

for me kinda like Dr.Phil

[@lethalbroccoli01]

404waffles - Dr. Phil

[@tranceemerson8325]

@@lethalbroccoli01 Dr. Chubz

[@jamarcadolfo5049]

Nahh more like bigmacdavis

[@silentzorah]

Looks simple as hell, like false sector heights (deep water). I'm gonna have to give this a try.

[@Will-sq2ls]

Came here researching 3d floors. Was pleasantly surprised to hear a voice that clearly knows a thing or two about DooM editing that also has a southern accent. Dirty souf y'all. :D

[@JcDizon]

Wow, thanks for the tutorial. For over 10 years, I have been putting a bridge thing and one of the step textures to create a bridge but they don't look like a real bridge people can walk over but this feature is gonna change everything in my maps.

[@jaygorazox1472]

Years later and still the best tutorial around, thank you!

[@j0ltgaming]

Your explanations are super easy to follow, thank you for making these!

[@KomradeMooseknuckle]

I think this is one of the coolest Doom Builder videos I've seen. I had no clue the engine was capable of so much.

[@d_valroth]

It may seem unlikely that a 13-year-old tutorial for an ever evolving engine could be useful today, but I had no idea line action 181 existed or that it did the very thing I'd been brute forcing with polymesh sectors and vertex z heights. Honestly, I don't even know why I clicked since I know how 3D sectors work, but so glad I did. :)

[@TontonMayonnaise]

Hey mate ! I know this tutorial is 5 years old ... But it helps me a lot ! I'm learning slade 3 and GZbuilder to create a total conversion of Doom. And such tutos add a lot of interest on a map. Thanks again !

[@FightingIrishFan11]

Excellent tutorial. Things have changed quite a lot from when I first started mapping back in the late 90s. I've decided to get back into it after a lengthy hiatus. I love the 3D floors and slopes. There's so much more you can do now. Thanks for all of your tutorials. I've got a lot of catching up to do.

[@Chubzdoomer]

I'm the man now, dog! In all seriousness though, glad to hear it helped. Once you learn how to use both 3D floors and slopes, it's crazy what you can pull off. You can even make a 3D floor "swimmable" and essentially have mid-air swimming pools, underwater swimming pools (enclosed within other, solid 3D floors) and more!

[@johneygd]

Now just imagine supermario 64 crossed with a zdoom engine😁😁

[@ZetaPrime77]

I just go my wisdom teeth taken out and all these tutorials have made the recovery process go a lot smoother

[@corny3072]

Omg you can do so much stuff in doom with the simplicity of the 3d floors! You can make benches and put little supports under them or you could make statues! It could be totally possible to make a half-life type doom map! Wow. Amazing.

[@Chubzdoomer]

@MrThembones Make sure that after you've replaced your original DB2 files with those of the latest revision, you visit the "PLUGINS" folder in your Doom Builder 2 directory and read the "GZDoomEditing" text file that is included. If you don't follow those instructions to the tee, your Visual Mode will still be the classic one.

[@koopanique]

I never thought it was this easy. For all these years I have made bridges because I was too frightened by 3d floor. I'm so unsmart Fortunately you made this video. I am thankful to you

[@Chubzdoomer]

Oh, I see. That is actually best done with 3D floors. There is a very useful feature in which you can specify 3D floors to be "swimmable" rather than solid. After that, of course, it's just a matter of positioning the swimmable 3D floors (and non-swimmable, solid ones) in the right places to create whatever you want. Heck, with that method you can even create pools/oceans in mid air!

[@goldensox]

This is one of the best tutorials I've ever seen for anything doom! Congratulations man if all tutorials were as good as this one many more people would be enjoying building their own doom levels!

[@Vynzent]

I constantly come and re-watch this, it's just do damn helpful. Thanks much for making this.

[@Chubzdoomer]

Yes. Assign a line a "Door Generic" action, then use the "Lock" property to specify which key(s) is required.

[@datanon3059]

Mind blowingly simple when it's explained properly. Thank you.

[@Chubzdoomer]

@TheDooganator667 The best way to accomplish this is to create a script that tells a 3D floor (that is shaped like a door and has a door texture) to raise until it is high enough to look like a door that has opened, then after a short delay, lowers back down to the floor to its original position. You can even play a door sound at that position, too, so that it seems even more like a door. It's a wild way to do it, but with 3D floors you can't create doors like you normally would.

[@Chubzdoomer]

@RomanceOfHelenTrent There's actually a menu of line actions that you can go to and browse for what you'd like. That's more efficient because the action numbers DO tend to change from one configuration to the next. If you want a basic door, for example, you would use the "Door Generic" action under the "Door" section in the list of line actions. When you right-click the line to assign it an action, click the button that brings up the list and browse through it for what you'd like.

[@Chubzdoomer]

@MrSunrise2010 The only way to change the name of the map is to download a WAD editor like XWE or Slade, then import a "MAPINFO" lump file containing the information for your custom map(s) including the name, par time, and so forth. This is one of the next tutorials I plan on doing when I get around to it because it revolves around programs other than Doom Builder.

[@Chubzdoomer]

No prob! Although this is a bit late, you should also consider checking out GZDoom Builder. It's a version of Doom Builder that specifically supports GZDoom features like dynamic lights, 3D models, of course slopes and 3D floors, and more. I've been using it over these past few weeks and haven't considered returning to Doom Builder even once. It's absolutely amazing, although you need to create maps in UDMF format (which is better than Hexen format) to get the most out of it.

[@Chubzdoomer]

No problem. Once you learn how to use some of the advanced features like this, then how to script, the sky's the limit. It's pretty insane just what you can do with it!

[@Chubzdoomer]

@TheHelpfulTuts Just download the r416 version of Doom Builder 2 from the SVN website and copy the new files over the old ones. All that does is renew your version of Doom Builder 2, keeping your configurations, etc. in place. Your WAD files are completely separate from Doom Builder and are not affected in any way.

[@Brandon_519]

Think I got it..Thanks a lot for these tutorials. I have never created a doom wad in my life and you are helping a ton

[@Chubzdoomer]

As for polyobjects: I've gotten several requests for a tutorial on those over the past few weeks, so I would like to do a tutorial on them as soon as possible. If I get time this weekend, I'll see if I can produce one.

[@Chubzdoomer]

@IMMAPLUTO Make sure you visit the Plugins folder inside your Doom Builder 2 directory and read the "GZDoomEditing" text file that is included. Follow the instructions in that text file to the tee, as it shows you how to set everything up and advises you on how you should re-bind your keys for the two separate Visual modes, too.

[@Chubzdoomer]

Try grabbing one of the latest GZDoom revisions from the video description and testing it with that. As long as you follow the steps in the video, it should work just fine.

[@Chubzdoomer]

Make sure that after you've replaced your original DB2 files with those of the latest revision, you visit the "PLUGINS" folder in your Doom Builder 2 directory and read the "GZDoomEditing" text file that is included. If you don't follow those instructions to the tee, your Visual Mode will still be the classic one -- aka the one that doesn't show 3D floors and such.

[@Chubzdoomer]

(Just in case you haven't already done this.) Make sure that after you've replaced your original DB2 files with those of the latest revision, you visit the "PLUGINS" folder in your Doom Builder 2 directory and read the "GZDoomEditing" text file that is included. If you don't follow those instructions to the tee, your Visual Mode will still be the classic one -- aka the one that doesn't show 3D floors and such.

[@Chubzdoomer]

@corny3072 Yeah, exactly! You can actually make tables, too, with legs and space underneath rather than blocks coming out of the ground. The possibilities are pretty amazing.

[@Chubzdoomer]

I didn't create Doom Builder, just the tutorials, but I appreciate it!

[@Pur3knight56]

Thank you Chubz! You're very right when you say the only limit now is our imagination... Thanks again for all your great tutorials! :)

[@Chubzdoomer]

@Shadowtechnique Yeah, it's the same thing. GZDoom works exactly the same way as ZDoom, but it just has support for a few extra features ZDoom doesn't (like 3D floors that are sloped).

[@Chubzdoomer]

The Readme file is in the Doom Builder 2 revision version's Plugins folder. Look in the directory where it's installed and you should see it.

[@Compwhiz128]

Its because of tutorials like this that I realize how early I got into the scheme of doom editing, using only Dmapedit, and not realizing that there were other editors to hack graphics, and executables, then to find out of source ports that had far more functionality. This was back in 2001 too >:O I started hacking too early...

[@NURDVEVO]

Hi there are you still doing doom stuff? i hope you still use this channel.

[@Chubzdoomer]

@Vojife Make sure you go to your "Plugins" folder in the Doom Builder 2 directory and follow the instructions in the "GZDoomEditing" text file. Otherwise, you're in vanilla Visual Mode, which doesn't show slopes or 3D floors.

[@Chubzdoomer]

@kerelwtf You can't use multiple doors in the sense of doing doors like you normally would, but you can get around it with clever usage of moving 3D floors! You can create "doors" that are basically 3D floors in the shape of doors that move up, then come back down just like a door normally would. There are probably a few other techniques that you could use to get around this, too, but that's one of the first that comes to mind. See my "3D Moving Platforms" tutorial to learn how to move them.

[@Chubzdoomer]

@jr2nd Make sure you go to your "Plugins" folder in the Doom Builder 2 directory and follow the instructions in the "GZDoomEditing" text file.

[@Chubzdoomer]

In Hexen format, all you have to do is give a line the Translucent Line action (208) and specify the Transparency Amount, which ranges from 0 to 255 (transparent to opaque). The downside to this is that unlike in UDMF format, it takes up the line's action slot meaning it can't be used for anything else. You can get around that via scripting or using the Set Line ID field and having one line set another's translucency, but overall it's just much clunkier than in UDMF format.

[@Chubzdoomer]

@Shadowtechnique You're exactly right, because I suffered from this problem, too! Apparently the r1429 version only does proper alignment if you use UDMF rather than Hexen format. I'm using r1416 myself!

[@Chubzdoomer]

Your best bet is really to switch over to GZDoom since it has native support for 3D floors (even without the need for a "revision" version) and also supports 3D slopes, which aren't possible with any of the ZDoom revisions.

[@KokoRicky]

Chubz, thanks so damned much. I just got into editing and am very interested in GZDoom editing. Now I feel confident enough to map for it! Thanks!

[@Chubzdoomer]

@Conker10382 LOL! Hey man, it's no problem. It was just as exciting for me to learn this for the first time, too, and I just love showing others how to do this cool stuff!

[@TheBillzar820]

Thanks for the tutorial chubz, ive started making a deathmatch wad (currently testing with some friends) and im finding that most of the work has really paid off some even wanted to know how to do it! :) Again thanks for the heads up on this tutorial chubz

[@Chubzdoomer]

The best way to do deep water under a 3D floor is to have a 3D floor under a 3D floor. That probably doesn't make sense at first, but make the one on the bottom "Swimmable" rather than "Solid" and give it a little translucency (a value below 255 but higher than 0, preferably somewhere in the middle) to make it look like water. You'll need to give it color, too. If done correctly, you'll be able to swim inside the bottom one and the top 3D floor will be just a typical solid platform.

[@tom97560]

chubz can u make a tutorial on how to use silent teleports as elevator effect? (ive played in maps that u enter elevator and it silent teleports u to another place in the map making it look like you've gone up/down)

[@Chubzdoomer]

@KillaCamCorte Anytime you pair 3D floors with teleports, you must use the "Teleport (Z-Height)" Thing rather than a regular Teleport thing. Check your messages - I've sent an example WAD showing 3D floors paired with teleports just to give you an example of how it's done!

[@captainpollutiontv]

Thanks for this tutorial!

[@Chubzdoomer]

@TheBraggle No problem! I hope that everyone can update their ZDoom and Doom Builder 2 versions without running into any problems. That's really the only thing I'm worried about! Everything else should probably be a piece of cake because this technique is just so easy to use.

[@arthercasillas2755]

When you cant see the floor of your sector like chubz you have to reach outside for the triangle and raise the floor just a bit this will reflect on the tagged sector.

[@SorcererOfSoup]

fucking thank you

[@Necrodogged]

Concise, to-the-point, and informative. Good tutorial :>

[@tonywtyt]

Back in the day these kinds of sectors were a "no-no" and depressing, because multiple stories are cool : ) But, I think the Build Engine for Duke Nukem (with Mapster) would allow it, so this was something that tugged me in the direction of modding for Duke Nukem with Mapster. I said it once, and I'll say it again... You such a great job!

[@Chubzdoomer]

@TheHelpfulTuts Alternatively, of course, you could keep the same Doom Builder version and just map in UDMF format rather than Hexen format. That's just another option, though.

[@Chubzdoomer]

@MRAXWEDBAF It's located in your C:\Program Files\Doom Builder 2\Plugins folder.

[@Chubzdoomer]

@firebad0 Yes, you can find Skulltag revisions at the same website.

[@Chubzdoomer]

@tourettesguy169 Make sure you go to your "Plugins" folder in the Doom Builder 2 directory and follow the instructions in the "GZDoomEditing" text file. Otherwise, you're in vanilla Visual Mode, which doesn't show slopes or 3D floors! Let me know if this fixes it for you.

[@Chubzdoomer]

@jr2nd Nope, as far as I know you can just keep stacking them over and over. You can even have a 3D floor over top of a 3D slope, then a 3D slope over top of that 3D floor!

[@pauld1429]

@shindogking10 That is because the revision is for an older version of doom builder 2. The newest official build is a later version. I haven't checked at the DRD team's site lately, but I don't think there is a fully working gzdoom plugin for the newest release of doombuilder 2 quite yet.

[@SkrekkLich]

THANKS!!!! I searched the web like an idiot...just found the readme myself ... should have checked yt 10 minutes earlier xD ... thank you Chubz!!! This tutorial is 1 year old....today it's also possible to get the latest GZDoom Builder, which is based on the latest revision of DB 2 i think, and comes with the GZDoom Visual Mode...I also compiled the latest Doom Builder 2 revision and wondered why it didn't work...dammmmnnn xD Thanks again Chubz :)

[@SuperLeosid]

Thanks a lot buddy! This is one hell of a thing which always troubled me. But now that it's solved, I'm currently making a megawad and will soon publish it. :D

[@Chubzdoomer]

@SecretFinder52 Unfortunately, not that I'm aware of. :-( That's one thing I haven't pulled off (or spent much time trying) yet is a door-over-door effect.

[@brucew.2805]

Thanks for the tip. Building maps can be very difficult. Requires a lot of time.

[@arthercasillas2755]

With this knowledge my entire prison and sewers maps need to be done the way I envisioned...Just when I thought I was done.......

[@Chubzdoomer]

@MRAXWEDBAF It sounds like you are using software mode rather than OpenGL. When you start Skulltag and the dialog box pops up, choose "Hardware (OpenGL)" rather than "Software (Doom)" in the Video Settings. You can change this in the Options menu, too, under Video Settings, but you must restart Skulltag in order for it to apply when using that method.

[@Chubzdoomer]

@RomanceOfHelenTrent Absolutely! Bridges, roofs, you name it!

[@5daysastranger]

I'm using GZDoom Builder (doom in hexen format) and i do what you say in your video and it gives me an "only in opengl"message.I have tried it also with UDMF format but still,i cant get it to work.When i go below the map in visual mode i can't even see the back side of the floor!!

[@Chubzdoomer]

Rather than using the Doom Builder 2 method, I would now actually recommend searching for GZDoom Builder and using it instead. It has built-in 3D Floor support and more and is better than Doom Builder in just about every way. It's basically just a modified Doom Builder 2.

[@nukima11]

Thank you. I can make some really complex maps with this technique.

[@madkvideo]

Just tried with r1630 and it didn't work. When i get under the floor in 3d visual mode, it highlights the ceiling.

[@Chubzdoomer]

Make sure you go to your "Plugins" folder in the Doom Builder 2 directory and follow the instructions in the "GZDoomEditing" text file. Otherwise, you're in vanilla Visual Mode, which doesn't show slopes or 3D floors! Let me know if this fixes it for you.

[@Chubzdoomer]

Have you tried modifying the dummy sector's floor/ceiling heights? Those correspond with the 3D floor itself, so try editing it there instead.

[@XaneMyers]

Basically, GZDoom Builder is like Dom Builder 2's GZDoom Visual Mode plugin, plus the ability of viewing Dynamic Lights in the editor, which can be useful for me.

[@Chubzdoomer]

Make sure all of these things are true: 1. You're using one of the ZDoom/Skulltag configurations for your map. 2. You're using one of the latest (G)ZDoom or Skulltag revisions. 3. You're using one of the latest Doom Builder 2 revisions (required for seeing the slopes in Visual Mode).

[@tourettesguy169]

@Chubzdoomer oh its working now, thanks a bunch :) and also i was wondering if you could do a tutorial on how to put rain SFX in a map, because im trying to make a rain forest type of map

[@rainbowsparkle30009]

got it. game config > modes > gzdoom editing apply > and align apply

[@dripnx6381]

imagine the genius doom wads this trick would make

[@Chubzdoomer]

@SADXhacker Yes, but only in GZDoom and perhaps Skulltag. ZDoom does not support 3D floor slopes at this time. :-( That's the one thing it lacks!

[@Chubzdoomer]

@XVoIR Wow, I thought mine worked fine until I tested it again. You're right, my offsets aren't changing in GZDoom Visual Mode! I can't believe I didn't catch this until now. Have you found a solution yet? Until it's corrected in a later version or I find a fix, what I'm going to do is enable the regular Visual Mode and map it to the "Q" key (since it's just to the left of "W") and switch over to it whenever I need to align textures. This sucks!

[@Chubzdoomer]

Use ESDF rather than WASD. E and D and forward and backwards, S and F are strafe left and right.

[@kerelwtf]

can you put multiple doors above eachother in this way? great tutorial! grtz

[@Chubzdoomer]

I've heard everything from Bill Clinton to Forrest Gump to Dr. Phil, but never Mr. Mackey (at least not to my knowledge). I do, however, take that as a compliment because Mr. Mackey is awesome. M'kay?

[@Zettha]

Amzing tutorial! Thank you

[@ghostface9577]

I don't speak English, but what a good tutorial

[@Chubzdoomer]

GZDoom Builder is its own program, so there's no need to replace any files.

[@Chubzdoomer]

In Hexen or UDMF format? (UDMF is best, as it allows you to specify the alpha value/translucency within the line's properties -- no scripting required.)

[@Chubzdoomer]

@TheHelpfulTuts What kind of texture error do you receive? I'm not sure I understand exactly what it's doing. In regards to the texture movement/alignment: The latest version of Doom Builder from the SVN website unfortunately does this if you map in the "Hexen" format rather than UDMF. I personally recommend that you go to the SVN website and use the r416 version. That version does not reset the texture alignments in "Hexen" format mode, so if you download it instead the problem is solved!

[@Chubzdoomer]

@PSXDooMERR There's nothing wrong with oldschool Doom at all. I've created several oldschool maps myself (Solitude, C1M1, and so forth). I don't think there's anything wrong with ports like ZDoom either, though. Breathing new life into an old classic is never a bad thing.

[@pauld1429]

Actually sorry, yes there is currently an updated one that is functional. You can obtain it on the DRD Team forum in the SVN builds section

[@noddynod4434]

Hi Chubzdoomer, would you recommend the "ultimate doom builder"?

[@Chubzdoomer]

Yeah, that's the version I've used over the last few months. It's basically the most modern version of Doom Builder from what I understand.

[@MaxStasis231]

BTW My format is ZDoom (Doom in Hexen Format) and I'm using Doom Builder 2 with the latest version. Hope that helps

[@T0XICMASCULINITY]

Chubz, can you please give me a hand with something? Is it possible to create 2 3d floors, raise one to be the roof above the first one, then draw a door, and pull the geometry downwards fron the roof piece to create the door like normal? Whenever I try to create a door on a second story, I pull downwards from the 3d roof above, but instead of just lowering the door sector I selected, it lowers the entire 3d floor/roof. I'm pretty sure I could pull it upwards from the floor to create the door which would make the door go down instead of up when activated, but I was hoping I could still have it go upwards like normal, and that I was just doing it wrong or something. I spent almost 5 hours trying to different things out, but I just cant figure it out.

[@Chubzdoomer]

Sadly, there's no real easy way to do a door between two 3D floors. The only method I can think of would be to have a THIRD 3D floor that exists between the two and acts as the door, and is told to raise when the player "activates" it. This would require scripting, however, and you'd also run into numerous problems with that approach (like playing a sound, allowing the door to close, and so forth). As a result, I recommend avoiding that approach all-together if at all possible. Don't get too crazy with 3D floors--instead, try to stick to using them for decorations or very basic "room over room" situations. If you need to create a more elaborate floorplan complete with doors, switches, etc. it'd probably be best to do a "fake room over room" effect via a silent teleport or some other trick.

[@T0XICMASCULINITY]

@@Chubzdoomer Alright, thank you for the help and advice. That was basically the same answer to my last question that dealt with 3d floors, which is good cause it tells me that what you said is really the only way to approach the 3d floor situation. I'm not trying to create a door on a 3d floor necessarily, I was just curious if it could be done so I could plan ahead accordingly. I just couldn't move on from it until you verified how you would deal with it. Thanks again, I appreciate your help a lot. Back to designing.

[@Chubzdoomer]

@GTAfan421 Yes! I've just uploaded a new tutorial showing how to do so. Enjoy!

[@Vojife]

Hi. I did it exactly like you in the video, it works in game, but I can't edit the 3D floor heights in visual mode, which is very handy...

[@SkrekkLich]

Damn good tutorial!!! Love it! I am new to gzdoom and didn't even know what a 3D Floor is. But why do I have to choose Hexen format? ZDoom Format because of the technique(Slopes and 3D Floor) I think?

[@Conker10382]

Dear Chubz, Our relationship up to this point has been strictly professional. But I've never seen you in this light. I find myself utterly attracted to you. Your DoomBuilder skills bring out the beauty inside. I know this is all so sudden, but...will you marry me? LMAO. In all seriousness, this is simply amazing. Thanks for all the knowledge you impart! You had me at "3D Floors".