Newbie DarkRadiant Questions

[Farsead]

Can't find anything in the wiki about this.

How to create an AI that is dead at start of the mission?

[Fidcal]

Create entity > darkmod > ragdoll then select the one you want. Place it approximately where you want it to fall. You can't pose it like in Thief as far as I know so it falls as ragdoll.

 

[EDIT] Now added to wiki

[Baal]

@demagogue:

Try the "textures/decals/splatx" blood decals. They should work.

[SneaksieDave]

  Fidcal said:

Place it approximately where you want it to fall. You can't pose it like in Thief as far as I know so it falls as ragdoll.

Though, you can move it around in-game (use cvar g_dragEntity 1), and then use the saveRagdolls console command to write the ragdoll position out to the map file.

[Fidcal]

Really. That could be useful though presumably it must still collapse from that position?

[SneaksieDave]

Not if you lay it down.

[Fidcal]

I see; when it's already settled. Must remember that one. I do have a couple of bodies to dispose of.

[Farsead]

  Fidcal said:

Create entity > darkmod > ragdoll then select the one you want. Place it approximately where you want it to fall. You can't pose it like in Thief as far as I know so it falls as ragdoll.

 

[EDIT] Now added to wiki

 

Nice.

A dead city watch ragdoll fits nicely into this first map I'm making (largely based on tutorial map). I'm thinking of having it as an object to get him to a certain area for mission to complete, but maybe I should wait for such stuff until the objectives editor is finished?

 

 

By the way. The "thug" I created in this tutorial has a large black cube instead of a head. Is it a genetic defect, or do I have to do something more than just create the NPC?

I followed the tutorial instructions...

[Fidcal]

Let's see, I think you are using the Saint Lucia resources? Leave that with me and I'll check the thug soon as I can. It probably needs the Thief's Den resources extracting into the Saint Lucia resources but that needs care so don't try it blindly.

 

You can set that objective. The objectives editor is 99.9% OK if you have a recent Dark Radiant. I can describe what you need to do if you like.

[Farsead]

If you like, that would be great. :-P

I understand some of the objectives editing, but not how to do this particular thing (yet).

 

Also, is there any way to make a regular item lootable? I've got a knife that I want the player to pick up (as evidence that goes along with the city watch body).

[Fidcal]

To make any object into loot do the following:

• Create some other loot, eg a goblet. If you want the item to be pushable then choose from the moveable loot otherwise static. I prefer to set critical items static so they don't get knocked down a drain or something by accident. If the item you eventually want has no collision model then you *have* to choose static else you will get an error so I recommend static generally.
  
• In entity inspector click the check box at top left to show inherited properties.
  
• Scroll down to model and select it.
  
• At the bottom a button will appear 'Choose Model'
  
• Click it and select the model you want eg, dagger
  
• Select inv_loot_value and enter the value you want it to have. Look at the values of some other items if you need to get some idea of relative values. Click the green button or press Enter after entering the value to set it.
  
• Select inv_icon. There is likely no icon for your item. In Saint Lucia I don't think loot items showed in the inventory but in the future they will. Enter 'none' for now. I think it doesn't show anything in your copy. Later it will show a black square. I made a default blank which will be available later. Ideally, you can make an icon image but I won't go into that now.
  
• You can now click 'show inherited properties' checkbox if you want to hide them.
  

 

I think that's about it. Give it a test and let me know if I forgot something. I'll come back with the objective details in a while.

[Farsead]

Thanks man.

I gotta get some sleep now, but I'll try that out tomorrow.

[Flanders]

  Fidcal said:

Create some other loot, eg a goblet. If you want the item to be pushable then choose from the moveable loot otherwise static. I prefer to set critical items static so they don't get knocked down a drain or something by accident. If the item you eventually want has no collision model then you *have* to choose static else you will get an error so I recommend static generally.

Some other reasons why editing another moveable loot item isn't recommended: they have some specific properties like weight and collision sound that might not fit your model, you'd need to change that too.

 

  Fidcal said:

Select inv_icon. There is likely no icon for your item. In Saint Lucia I don't think loot items showed in the inventory but in the future they will. Enter 'none' for now. I think it doesn't show anything in your copy. Later it will show a black square. I made a default blank which will be available later. Ideally, you can make an icon image but I won't go into that now.

There is a default loot icon available with the first release. If you want the default loot icon enter guis/assets/hud/inventory_icons/loot_icon_generic in it's field.

[Fidcal]

Not sure if that generic loot icon was with Saint Lucia? Seems so long ago.

 

To make an objective where an object has to be placed somewhere:

• Create a brush where you want the object to be put. This might be the size of a room, a street, or a chest or wherever you want the object.
  
• Texture it with common > clip
  
• With the brush selected, Create entity > info > info_tdm_objective_location
  
• Give this entity a name you can remember like BodyDrop. Write it down or in a text editor
  
• Give it the property objective_ent and set it to 1
  
• Give your object, eg, a ragdoll, a name, eg, JakesCorpse and note it down.
  
• Menu > Map > Objectives
  
• If you haven't yet got any objectives then click the + Add button at top right.
  
• This creates a target_tdm_addobjectives entity so later make sure it is not in the void or you get a leak. Put it somewhere convenient. It is not visible in game.
  
• Select the target_tdm_addobjectives in the Objectives entities list top left
  
• In the objectives list below click the +Add button on the right.
  
• This creates a new objective in the objectives list. Select it.
  
• Click the edit button on the right.
  
• Type a description near the top, eg, Carry Jake's body back to X and drop it in the soandso
  
• In the components list further down click the +Add button on the right.
  
• This creates a default Kill objective. Select it. Click the Edit button.
  
• Just below it click the Type bar and from the list that show select 'Item is in location'
  
• Further down click the bar below 'Entity' and select 'Name of single entity'
  
• On the right of that type or paste in the name of the object (eg ragdoll) entity eg, JakesCorpse
  
• Below, click the bar below Location and select 'Name of single entity'
  
• On the right of that type or paste in the location entity name you gave above, eg, BodyDrop
  
• Click the OK button and OK again and save your map.
  

That should be it hopefully but it will be a bloomin' miracle if I haven't forgotten anything so fingers crossed.

[Fidcal]

I confirm by default, the thug has a black cube head in the Saint Lucia install even in thiefs_den.map itself in Saint Lucia. I think that heads are handled differently in Saint Lucia so I need to check what will fix it. Later.

[Fidcal]

It appears that the thug head was not included with the Saint Lucia package because it doesn't seem to work anyway because of changes - it only works with the darkmod code with the original Thief's Den package. You can substitute another head for now as a placeholder. These are the heads that work. I recommend the chaincoif guard because it does not appear elsewhere so it gives you an extra AI. It is like the citywatch without the helmet. Or if you're not using the beggar then try the beggar head for a nasty looking thug. To add any head to the thug, add the property def_head with the value of one of these heads...

 

atdm:ai_head_builderguard

atdm:ai_head_builderpriest

atdm:ai_head_citywatch

atdm:ai_head_baseguard_chaincoif

atdm:ai_head_beggar_skullcap

 

When Dark Mod is released then you can change it if you want - there will be a lot more choices!

 

[EDIT] There are three other variations of the chaincoif head: eyepatch01 & 2 are similar - one is black and the other a dark brown eyepatch I think:

 

atdm:ai_head_baseguard_clothcoif

atdm:ai_head_baseguard_chaincoif_eyepatc

h01

atdm:ai_head_baseguard_chaincoif_eyepatc

h02

 

[EDIT2] The eyepatch ones should be all one line eg, eyepatch01 but it gets chopped on this forum because it is too long without spaces.

[demagogue]

I have 2 readables that aren't highlighting, not frobable (although frobable=1), and not letting me read the xdata. But I can see the xdata on the gui surface, so it knows it's there.

 

I've got other readables working. I've checked it's the right entity & right classname (even copied from another sheet that works and changed the name), checked the name (since it showed up in the gui it must be right), checked the xdata stuff is set up right (also copied from another that works).

 

It's really baffling me how the other readables can work but not these two... Any ideas why these might show the gui but still not be frobable, while others (apparently) set up the same way are?

[Fidcal]

That reminds me I had this once in the last few weeks. I cloned a readable in the startmap and it wouldn't highlight. I never did fix it but got sidetracked into something else. Then later I could not duplicate the problem. Then I hoped I'd imagined it. Then I wondered if I had reallyimagined it. Then I entered the denial stage. Then I quietly forgot it. I fix all my problems that way.

 

I'll see if I can duplicate the error. Meanwhile, try moving the readable somewhere else and make sure it is on a table or against a wall etc. This helps highlighting. Small objects on a narrow post or pipe do not frob highlight well and it's best to increase frobbox_size to say 8 or 10 or 12.

[Fidcal]

Yes, I can duplicate this. I just cloned the first book on the left in the startmap and moved it left from the desk to float and it won't highlight. Set frobbox_size 15 and it highlights and works. So try that then reduce the frobbox_size to say 8. If it is too big it may swamp the frob highlight of anything placed near it.

[demagogue]

I don't know what's going on, but that worked. Thanks.

[demagogue]

I've been playing with ambient sounds, and having issues with the triggers.

Can't find a tutorial and a search confused me a little.

 

What's the basic way of handling the transition between two zoned- global ambients (including nosound)?

(by "zoned", I mean turning on an ambient at a bottle-necked entrance to the area, then going back to the old ambient when go back to the first area.)

 

Ideally, I want to set up 2 triggers (trigger_multiple) on each side of all the entrance/exit's, with each one only turning on their respective looping ambient speaker, and mutually replacing each other (that works fine; so far so good), BUT the trigger shouldn't turn its own speaker off when you touch it again, or if you just stand there.

 

The problem is you can inadvertantly turn off an ambient with the way the trigger_multiple's act like analog switches (on->off/off->on) and you touch it again and backtrack. I'd much rather just let an ambient go on indefinately once triggered, and ignore the trigger targeting it after that, until I actively replace it with another global ambient (including "nosound" when I really want to turn it off), so I can have absolute control over which ambient plays in which zone. (And it has to be like a trigger_multiple because you can go back.)

 

So sort of like a trigger_multiple that can only turn on speakers but can't turn them off, like an "activator" instead of a "trigger"?, or maybe a trigger_once that gets reset when another ambient-targetting trigger is hit?, or maybe a speaker property can handle the job? (s_waitfortrigger + something like s_triggercantturnoff, but if you start a new global ambient it resets the s_waitfortrigger condition.) Or maybe you have to script something?

 

edit: sorry I've been refining my post to get my thoughts clear.

[Fidcal]

First of all, btw, you are posting in the wrong forum. This one's really for Dark Radiant editor queries. You should post in Level Editing for general mapping questions.

 

Not certain of what you intend and even then I'd have to experiment so I can only make suggestions for you to try. If you set up each speaker maybe needs a s_waitfortrigger 1 property. Then trigger_once I think that should start a speaker once and leave it running if you have s_looping 1 set on it. Then s_maxdistance & s_mindistance on the speakers to control their radii so they overlap. As the player player moves between them the first should fade out and the next fade in. I'm uncertain that you'd even need the trigger_onces though unless you specifically want them to start after a special event? What I mean is, if you just want some background ambient sounds for different areas that overlap, you don't need any triggers just speakers and the sound fades in and out independently as you approach them. For instance:

 

"random" "1"
"s_looping" "1"
"s_maxdistance" "11"
"s_mindistance" "8"
"s_omni" "1"
"s_shader" "mansion_tense01a"
"s_volume" "0"
"wait" "2"

[demagogue]

Yeah, it should be in the other forum.

For the record, in case anyone is searching for this, I continued it here.

[Pollee]

Ahoy, I have a problem with DR on my laptop with Vista. I cant see anything in 3D and also grid view, it is white. On my other PC with XP is everithing OK. I dont know what is wrong. Could it be becouse of the Vista? Please, give me an advice.

[greebo]

I've heard of something like that before - which video card and which drivers are you using?