Difference between revisions of "Fake floor"

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(Illusio pit is from one (joke) WAD and not the best way to describe the effect)
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A '''fake floor''' is a map design technique where a sector forms a pit with no textures on its walls. This creates an illusionary floor above the height of the actual floor. Among other uses, this visual oddity can be implemented in a relatively deep pit to hide monsters which are raised to attack the [[player]] or in a shallower one to add a deep-water effect.
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[[File:Illusiopit.png|thumb|alt=Example of fake floor|Example of fake floor in [[wow.wad]]. (Top: Before jumping in the pit, bottom: Inside the pit.) Notice the [[Hall of mirrors effect]] due to lack of a texture on the walls of the pit.]]
  
A notorious [[joke WAD]] called [[Wow]] uses this effect in a comical way, calling a fake-floor pit the player may fall into an ''illusio-pit''.
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A '''fake floor''' is a map design technique consisting of a lowered sector forming a pit which has no lower textures on its surrounding walls. This creates an illusory floor at the level of the surrounding sector, above the actual floor height. Amongst other uses, this technique can be implemented using a relatively deep pit to hide monsters which are raised to attack the [[player]], or with a shallower one to add a [[deep water]] effect. Another use of this technique is to create sectors which have differing brightness between their floors and ceilings.
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The reason for the existence of this phenomenon is related to [[Doom]]'s [[visplane]] system, which draws floors and ceilings using a flood-fill-like algorithm. Since the surrounding lines have no textures to interrupt the drawing of the surrounding sector's flat, it "flows" out of its sector's boundaries to cover the other sector.
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[[File:Multilighting.jpg|thumb|alt=Floor and ceiling having different brightness|Example of different ceiling and floor brightnesses on [[Mordeth|Mordeth's]] MAP07 (under construction)]]
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The technique is discouraged for use with modern [[Source port|source ports]], particularly ones that use hardware rendering, as the trick mostly works only on the original [[Doom rendering engine|software renderer]].
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A notorious [[joke WAD]] called [[Wow]] uses this effect in a comical way, calling a fake-floor pit the player may fall into an ''illusio-pit''. This name has become a widespread and popular term for the phenomenon.
  
 
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Latest revision as of 01:03, 4 April 2014

Example of fake floor
Example of fake floor in wow.wad. (Top: Before jumping in the pit, bottom: Inside the pit.) Notice the Hall of mirrors effect due to lack of a texture on the walls of the pit.

A fake floor is a map design technique consisting of a lowered sector forming a pit which has no lower textures on its surrounding walls. This creates an illusory floor at the level of the surrounding sector, above the actual floor height. Amongst other uses, this technique can be implemented using a relatively deep pit to hide monsters which are raised to attack the player, or with a shallower one to add a deep water effect. Another use of this technique is to create sectors which have differing brightness between their floors and ceilings.

The reason for the existence of this phenomenon is related to Doom's visplane system, which draws floors and ceilings using a flood-fill-like algorithm. Since the surrounding lines have no textures to interrupt the drawing of the surrounding sector's flat, it "flows" out of its sector's boundaries to cover the other sector.

Floor and ceiling having different brightness
Example of different ceiling and floor brightnesses on Mordeth's MAP07 (under construction)

The technique is discouraged for use with modern source ports, particularly ones that use hardware rendering, as the trick mostly works only on the original software renderer.

A notorious joke WAD called Wow uses this effect in a comical way, calling a fake-floor pit the player may fall into an illusio-pit. This name has become a widespread and popular term for the phenomenon.