[SUBMISSION] Improved Torches - Heretic Edition

This is my own update to the vainilla Heretic torches and light sources, as well as some new ones based on the original game light sources.

INFO

Name: Heretic Torches
Connection: None
Palette: Heretic
Ambient Sound: Yes - fireflicker sounds
De-/Activatable: Yes - FireBraziers, SerpentTorches and WallTorches
Destroyable: No
Special Effects: dynamic lights added to every single light sources, and the hazardous fires which damage player on touch
Brightmaps: No
Actor modification: Dynamic lights added to original Heretic Chandelier, the only light source without a new version
ACS: No

Summons:

• WallTorch2
• BlueWallTorch
• RedWallTorch
• PurpleWallTorch
• GreenWallTorch
• WallTorchOff
• FireBrazier2
• BlueFireBrazier
• RedFireBrazier
• PurpleFireBrazier
• GreenFireBrazier
• FireBrazierOff
• SerpentTorch2
• BlueSerpentTorch
• RedSerpentTorch
• PurpleSerpentTorch
• GreenSerpentTorch
• SerpentTorchOff
• Fire
• BlueFire
• RedFire
• PurpleFire
• GreenFire
• HazardousFire
• BlueHazardousFire
• RedHazardousFire
• PurpleHazardousFire
• GreenHazardousFire

CREDITS

Code: Skies
Sprites: Raven Sofware
Sprite Edit: Skies, Gothic
Sounds: Solarsnowfall, Tormentor667, Ghastly_dragon (Fire sounds) / Raven Software
Decorate: Skies
GLDEFS: Skies
Idea base: Rifleman's Improved Torches

DESCRIPTION

• Original Heretic light sources (Chandelier, Wall Torch, Fire Brazier, Serpent Torch) updated with dynamic lights
• Wall Torch 2, a version of the Wall Torch with the sprite size reduced to just the torch. Easy to be placed in different spaces and heights, even in tight places
• Fire Braziers, Wall Torches and Serpent Torches in four different colors: blue, red, purple and green, with their respective dynamic lights
• Unlit torches (Fire Brazier, Serpent Torch and Wall Torch holders)
• Fires: damaging and non-damaging flames, with the same sprites as the Fire Brazier flames. Includes ambient fire sound. Available in the same four colors plus the original

PREVIEW: https://imgur.com/a/kl7hRM5 and also attached

CHANGELOG /7/24

• Added the Bright modifier to all Serpent Torches' frames
• Changed the hazardous fire sound's attenuation from NORM to STATIC.
• Removed useless NoDelay modifiers from some frames

CHANGELOG /29/24

• All DECORATE code converted into ZSCRIPT code
• Multiple code improvements, including custom functions and a better use of inheritance to avoid repetition
• All dynamic light bindings moved to the ZSCRIPT code. Only the Vanilla Heretic objects with added lights remain in GLDEFS
• Five new actors: non-damaging fires. Now there are regular Fires and Hazardous Fires, one from each colour

CHANGELOG 4/1/24

• Several code refactors and improvements. This includes the creation of two new classes, FireBrazier2 and SerpentTorch2.
• Vanilla Heretic FireBrazier and SerpentTorch do not receive dynamic lights anymore.
• FireBraziers, SerpentTorches and WallTorches now use the same looping fire sound as the Fires, but with different volume levels according to their flames' size.
• FireBraziers, SerpentTorches and WallTorches can now be Activated and DeActivated. By default, they spawn Activated. Deactivations make them behave as their Off versions.
• Fixed a bug where editor keys where placed outside the Default block, making them illegible for UDB

CHANGELOG 4/11/24

• Improved sprites for red flames (fires and braziers) and purple wall torches. Thanks Gothic.

IMPORTANT: this is not a final version. I still need to fix the other observed issues and improvements.

I've also included a test.wad file with the editor numbers added and a little map to facilitate testing.

Thank you for creating these. I can see these being very useful for maps with specific colour schemes.

Noticed a few things:

- there are some nodelay errors in the console
- the serpent torches are not fullbright
- Subjective but the looping sound on the fire is quite loud. I usually increase the attenuation on props with looping sounds because they can quickly overpower a map's ambience.

Thanks for the feedback. I'll take a look at those things. The errors are probably due to the way the hazardous fires work, as they execute a looping attack on contact, and my Decorate programming is absolutely amateur.

@CAPTAINTOENAIL Can you please be a bit more specific about the errors you saw? I'm not seeing any error messages or warning in either GZDoom console or UDB.

As for the sound attenuation, I changed it to STATIC and I agree it sounds better. I'm updating a new version with the fixes.

Here are the warnings I was seeing. it's not a big deal, you just need to remove nodelay from some lines.

https://imgur.com/40djyRG

Thanks. The warnings were right; the damage worked perfectly without the NoDelay. IDK why, in a previous stage of codewriting, something wasn't working properly without that modifier. It seems it only affects the inmediate frame after Spawn, so it must have been the fireflicker looping sound that needed it. As you can see, I'm clearly improvising here :derp: :derp: but things work so I'm satisfied.

Uploading new version.

Updated. This is supposed to be the final version, except of course for bugfixing and useful suggestions.

If your torches can be turned on and off, then having an "off" prop would be redundant, because you can place them dormant in your map. They should go.
They should have an arg that would let the mapper turn off the ambient sound.
Instead of having damaging and non damaging fire props, they should be merged and have an arg to turn damage on and off.
The red fire from the brazier and the purple fire from the torches didn't look very good, so I tried to improve them:

Interactive props should include a test map to let the mapper know how to use them.

Thanks. Good advice. The Off version of the torches remained from an older version, and I didn't notice they are redundant now. Also thanks for the help with the sprites; I'll be fixing things soon.

About the other suggestions, I'll take them but I'll need some time to figure out how to do it

Any update on this?