I was working on a level lately and began building a dock complex for my British garrison. I created a lagoon then got the idea that a water gate might be a nice addition. Of course using the fort gate works and with a bit of elevation adjustment you can get a nice looking water gate that will fit a fishing boat through. But what about the big boys, like the frigate or monitor?

While these big ships can sail through the fort gate, it looks ridiculous since the models pass through one another totally destroying the illusion. I had no suitable existing unit. I thought about it while doing a bit of eye candy and an idea hit me on how the illusion could be created using just triggers. I threw down a few wall segments and set up 11 simple triggers and before long I had a working water gate, complete with sound, that opens and closes just like a giant door. It's also big enough to fit the warships through. The three above pictures show the gate in action as a fishing boat passes through it. Of course when the gate is closed, it is as secure as having a wall segment there. If you want to see the gate in action, try this animated gif [GIF, (577.99 KB)]. Here's how it's done.

Setting Up The Map

The picture above shows how the lock looks in the editor. I placed one wall connector and five of the straightwall5 units. I arranged the wall segments carefully in an arc with a common pivot point dead centre in the wall connector. I then placed a cinematic block for a trigger unit. I numbered the wall segments as they're identified in the triggers below.

I've placed a water door in my level and it really does look good. The sound definitely gives it the final touch. The only thing you have to be careful about is the terrain around the connector, since when the walls are spawned, they tend to flatten the terrain around them. Notice in the top three shots around the wall connector how it gets a bit messed up? I'll have to dress it with some underbrush or something. Still, not bad for a first go! Also make sure the water is just the right depth around your lock both to allow your ship to pass, as well as allow enough wall to stick out of the water to look good. If you place the wall segments carefully and evenly spaced apart, the illusion is really convincing! Using this concept you can arrange the wall segments to give the appearance of a sliding door that moves sideways. Many other uses like secret passages or doors can also be made.

Download Demo Map

If you doubt whether just five wall segments gives a realistic illusion, I urge you to download the test map and see for yourself. (126KB, includes a wav sound file)

http://ftp.mts.net/~tbarak/Doom3/LockTestMap.zip

Triggers

You can use this trigger list or take it from the test map:

Trigger 1 - active
Condition
always
Effect
change unit type (wall 4 to cinematic block)
change unit type (wall 3 to cinematic block)
change unit type (wall 2 to cinematic block)
change unit type (wall 1 to cinematic block)

Trigger 2 - active
Condition
Units in area: (center unit cinematic block as per picture)(player x) (abstract fishing boat) (area 10) (>=1)
Effect
fire event (Trigger 3)

Trigger 3 - not active
Condition
timer (ms) 200
Effect
change unit type (wall 5 to cinematic block)
change unit type (wall 4 to wallstraight5)
fire event (Trigger 4)

Trigger 4 - not active
Condition
timer (ms) 200
Effect
change unit type (wall 4 to cinematic block)
change unit type (wall 3 to wallstraight5)
fire event (Trigger 5)

Trigger 5 - not active
Condition
timer (ms) 200
Effect
change unit type (wall 3 to cinematic block)
change unit type (wall 2 to wallstraight5)
fire event (Trigger 6)

Trigger 6 - not active
Condition
timer (ms) 200
Effect
change unit type (wall 2 to cinematic block)
change unit type (wall 1 to wallstraight5)
fire event (Trigger 7)

Trigger 7 - active
Condition
Units in area: (center unit cinematic block as per picture)(player x) (abstract fishing boat) (area 10) (==0)
Effect
fire event (Trigger 8)

Trigger 8 - not active
Condition
timer (ms) 200
Effect
change unit type (wall 1 to cinematic block)
change unit type (wall 2 to wallstraight5)
fire event (Trigger 9)

Trigger 9 - not active
Condition
timer (ms) 200
Effect
change unit type (wall 2 to cinematic block)
change unit type (wall 3 to wallstraight5)
fire event (Trigger 10)

Trigger 10 - not active
Condition
timer (ms) 200
Effect
change unit type (wall 3 to cinematic block)
change unit type (wall 4 to wallstraight5)
fire event (Trigger 11)

Trigger 11 - not active
Condition
timer (ms) 200
Effect
change unit type (wall 4 to cinematic block)
change unit type (wall 5 to wallstraight5)
fire event (Trigger 2)

Contact:
tbarak@mts.net

[This message has been edited by ToMyBoY (edited 08-24-2006 @ 09:54 PM).]