Sector effectors
In vanilla Duke Nukem 3D, Sector Effectors (Tilenum #1) are used to create practically all of the effects that affect sectors in any way, as opposed to effects that affect sprites and actors, which are mainly created through CON language. Atomic Edition added a few new Sector Effectors, most of them came with the vanilla game.
Although you can find the complete listing of Sector Effectors in the Sector Effector Reference Guide, this page exists to explain them as well as their particular quirks in detail for advanced level editing.
SE5 - Boss Sector
This is an unused SE that was planned in (and implemented) as a sector-based boss in the beta version of the game, LameDuke. It still exists in the game and can be used to create a variety of effects.
Any sectors with the SE5 on them will start following the player along any locators (Tilenum #6) in the level. You can have multiple ones in the level (also using the same locators), they don't need any tags and will act as their own entities regardless.
For smoother movement, use multiple locators, each with their own unique lotag. They disregard any hitags the locators have.
They cannot carry sprites and act the same way as subways and two-way trains do; they can only carry a single level of child-sectors. There's no limit for child sectors as long as their parent sector is the one with the SE sprite. They can, however, carry effects that apply directly to sectors, such as teleporters (SE7).
SE15 - Slide Door
| Name | Lotag | Hitag | Info |
|---|---|---|---|
| SE15 | - | (unique value) | You must give the SE an unique Hitag.
Its angle also determines the direction of movement of the sector. |
| Sector | 25 | - | You need to give the sector you want to act as a sliding door the lotag of 25. |
| GPSPEED | (distance) | - | Controls the distance the sector will move, divide the build units of a desired distance by two. |
| ACTIVATOR
MASTERSWITCH |
(unique value) | - | You can use one of these to trigger the movement, but they must use their own tag from the SE. If no triggering sprite is used, the sector can be activated by pressing USE next it. |
| ACTIVATORLOCKED | (unique value) | - | You can also lock the sector from moving with ACTIVATORLOCKED. However when it's unlocked, it still requires player interaction. |
Slide "Doors" are sectors that move at a predefined speed (of ? [verification needed]) towards the opposite direction pointed by the angle of the SE. It's recommend to only use the major "compass points" for these directions, as if the sector isn't aligned perfectly, it will start slowly moving towards a cardinal direction with the possibility of exiting its parent sector (this is especially apparent with ACTIVATOR-activated SE15).
The sector will move double the given distance as measured from its center (where the grey ST appears in the 2D mode of the editor). Please take note of this.
Although Slide Doors will not move any sprites placed onto them, even when the floor texture is set to be relative, other sectors with SEs can be placed on top of them.
SE31 - Floor Rise/Fall
| Name | Lotag | Hitag | Info |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPSPEED | (speed) | - | Controls the speed of the effect (how many build units per game tic). Higher values are faster, 0 won't move at all.
NOTE: The speed also affects the destination (see below). |
| ACTIVATOR
MASTERSWITCH |
(unique value) | - | You can use any free tag to toggle or activate the effect with a switch. |
SE31 is used to create rising or falling sectors and differs from Sector Tag 17 (Elevator Platform Up) in minor ways. The greatest advantage of SE31 is that the platform does not get activated if the player falls on the sector.
To use the SE31, place the sprite at the desired end height. Once activated, the sector will rise or descend to the Sprite's Z height. In order to make a floor descend, you must lower the sprite below its current height. This is accomplished by either manually setting the sprite's Z in 2D mode (by pressing F8 to edit its properties), or lowering it with the PageDown controls in 3D mode while in progress of raising the sector's floor.
Note that the Lotag of the GPSPEED sprite can affect how the sector reaches its destionation height. For instance, if you're only using increments of PageUp/PageDown in the 3D mode of the editor (1024 build units), the speed set must be power of two.
If you're using a value that's not dividable by 2, the sector will not reach the height given by the SE sprite. If you're using odd values by either manually setting the desired height in 2D mode, holding down Home while pressing PageUp/PageDown in 3D mode or moving either the sector or SE with ALT+Mouse1, please make sure the difference between the sector's Floorz and the SE sprite's Z is divisible by the given speed.
SE32 - Ceiling Rise/Fall
| Name | Lotag | Hitag | Info |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPSPEED | (speed) | - | Controls the speed of the effect (how many build units per game tic). Higher values are faster, 0 won't move at all.
NOTE: The speed also affects the destination (see below). |
| ACTIVATOR
MASTERSWITCH |
(unique value) | - | You can use any free tag to toggle or activate the effect with a switch. |
SE32 works exactly like SE31, except the ceiling instead of the floor of the sector is moved to the SE sprite's Z.