Making friends with ZDBSP

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BlueZero4

BlueZero4

(not a palindrome)
Okay, so Zennode is awesome. I think we've all established that.

ZDBSP, however, should let me testplay maps easily and quickly so I can fine-tune stuff. I've just now tried to put ZDBSP as my nodebuilder, but I can't seem to get it to build nodes for me on any map I try (if you're wondering, FFZ1&2, NSZ1&2, and also a few unfinished map fragments).

Mostly I don't think I have the right parameters (here's a list). Currently I have my quick nodebuild parameters as
Code: 
%F -o %F
and my export nodebuild parameters as
Code: 
"%F" -o"%T"
What paramters should I be using?

But also, I remember merging a sector once causing ZDBSP to break. Is there anything I can do to make it easier on my nodebuilder? Like, a special sort of cleaning up in a lump editor that would rearrange the numbers of all my sectors and vertexes and linedefs for my nodebuilder.
 
ZDBSP isn't really worth bothering with. Yes, it's fast, but ZenNode's Fast Build is almost as speedy, and without ZDBSP's quirks such as extra HOMs. I recommend using Fast Build during testing and Normal Build when you're done.

For those who are curious, most of ZenNode's time is taken up by building a map's REJECT lump. Fast Build causes ZenNode to skip the REJECT, which when building a huge map can mean the difference between one minute and three seconds.
 
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Fawfulfan said:
ZDBSP isn't really worth bothering with. Yes, it's fast, but ZenNode's Fast Build is almost as speedy, and without ZDBSP's quirks such as extra HOMs. I recommend using Fast Build during testing and Normal Build when you're done.

For those who are curious, most of ZenNode's time is taken up by building a map's REJECT lump. Fast Build causes ZenNode to skip the REJECT, which when building a huge map can mean the difference between one minute and three seconds.
Click to expand...

From my experience, ZDBSP has less HOMs and slimetrails than Zennode; the only issue is that it's sometimes more unstable. "The Perception" in Botanic Serenity Zone was built with Zennode for instance, and the only reason the first map wasn't was because it was unstable there for some reason. We never quite figured out why.
 
At the very least, I find the HOMs and slime trails to be just as bad, but in different places. Sometimes this means they are less obvious, sometimes more so.
 
Fawfulfan, how do you use Zennode's fast build feature?

Going down the list on the ZDoom Wiki, Boiciel's parameters match up as:
Code: 
-R -m MAP01 %F -o %F
  • -R -- Full-sized reject filled with zeros. Healthy?
  • -m MAP01 %F -- Tells ZDBSP to only build for MAP01, though I'd really like to know what the "%F" part is.
  • -o %F -- Makes ZDBSP not write to tmp.wad anymore but instead the name of the file. This might be the main offender.
Actually, it was the "-R". I'm still nervous about the "MAP01" bit though.

Prime 2.0, I've just gone through NSZ1, NSZ2, and FFZ1 with both nodebuilders. All of the nasty software glitches from NSZ2 and FFZ1 came back, probably because I was using ZDBSP to build them for some time too. However, the one software glitch I really remember from NSZ1 went away with Zennode. I'ma say that they both have their faults, but it seems Zennode makes mistakes less often.
 
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Zennode's fast build feature has more graphical glitches than Zennode's normal feature, so I'm sticking with ZDBSP as long as I'm just going for speed.
 
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