ANATOMY
OF A SUBSECTOR
By japh
SYNOPSIS
There has been a lot of discussion and confusion on the df-21.net forum about subsectors. This document attempts to explain what a subsector is and how to make one.
A subsector is simply a sector which is wholly contained inside another sector. In Dark Forces, subsectors are usually triggers, raised platforms, lowered floor pits, desks, panels, and so on. One example is the desk opposite the Death Star plans in the Secret Base level.
Here is an ordinary sector:
+--------------------------------+ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | +--------------------------------+Let us create a gap in it (don't ask me how):
+--------------------------------+ | | | +---------------+ | | | | | | | | | |sector | gap | | | | | | | | | | | +---------------+ | | | +--------------------------------+Note that the outermost 4 walls 'face' inward, and the innermost 4 walls 'face' outward. 'face' is defined as the direction of the wall's tail in wdfuse. The wall face is also the same side as the player; the wall's other side is in un-space.
Let's put a sector inside the gap:
+--------------------------------+ | 1 | | +---------------+ | | |+--a----------+| | | || b| | |sector |d innersector ||2 | | || || | | 4|+------c------+| | | +---------------+ | | 3 | +--------------------------------+That small border between abcd and 1234 is un-space.
Now adjoin walls 1-a, 2-b, 3-c, and 4-d. GOB and test in DF. Can't see the subsector? That's because it has exactly the same floor and ceiling heights as the surrounding sector. Change the innersector's altitudes and try again.
Raise the floor altitude. You can now have a floor texture that simulates a control panel. The bottom textures for walls 1 2 3 4 will be the 'sides' of the table/panel. If you lower the subsector's ceiling height, the top textures for walls 1 2 3 4 will be visible.
Lowering the floor altitude or raising the ceiling altitude of the subsector causes, respectively, the bottom and top textures of walls a b c d to become visible.
To create a subsector in wdfuse, select the parent sector and use the subsector command from the menu.
To move a subsector, select the entire subsector in sector mode.
To move a wall or vertex of the subsector, use a multiple select command or you will lose the adjoin and create a portal to un-space.
