joebarnin

In my map under development, I see the following message in the DM console log: DepthStage: missing vertex or index cache What does this mean? Should I be concerned? I found the code that generates it (DepthStage::ShouldDrawSurf), but I'm not smart enough to know what it means. Thanks.

My personal experience matches what @AluminumHaste said. Eight years ago I tried to make my first mission a large one, got frustrated and gave up. Three years ago I tried again, but this time started small. I finished it, and have done a couple more since, with another in the works.

@DragoferThanks. I just tried your suggestion, and it looks like clearing immobilization is necessary, but not sufficient. Without a way to set m_bOnClimb=false (or m_bOnRope = false in the case of climbing a rope), the game still thinks the user is climbing on the ladder/rope. There doesn't appear to be a way to call ClimbDetach() or RopeDetach() from a script. The only way I can find to cause RopeDetach() to get called indirectly is to remove the rope, which I'd rather not do. I'll submit a ticket.

Not sure if this counts as a newbie question. I'm using a func_teleporter. The teleporter fires at an unpredictable time; as an example, presume that I've got a script that invokes the teleporter every 5 minutes (that's not exactly what I'm doing, but it works as an example). It works fine normally, but if the player happens to be climbing a rope (from a rope arrow) when the teleporter fires, the teleporting doesn't work as I expect. The player is teleported to an incorrect location, and the physics engine seems to think that he is still climbing a rope (i.e., the player can still climb up and down as if they were on a rope, but there is no rope at the new location). It looks like the teleport code doesn't cause the user to "let go" of the rope, or something? Is this a bug, or ...? In scripting, is there a way to force the player to let go of a rope? I've experimented with removing the deployed rope, and that does cause the player to let go and the teleport works as expected, but that's suboptimal (now the rope is missing).

I think there's probably a way to make this happen with a custom s/r and some scripting. I'll think about it. Edit: here's how. Set up a custom stim near the light, with an appropriate stim radius. The stim fires every 200 ms. Add a corresponding response to the player object. Custom responses call a script. That script looks like this: if (!light_already_on) { $mylight.On(); light_already_on = true; lightTime = sys.getTime(); thread checkLight(); } lightTime = sys.getTime(); light_ready_on is a global boolean, lightTime is a global float. Basically, the response script stores the latest systime that player was near the stim. The checkLight thread is this: void checkLight() { if (sys.getTime() - lightTime > 0.5) { $mylight.Off(); light_already_on = off; } sys.wait(.1); } Once the light is on, the checkLight thread wakes every 100 ms and compares the current time with the "last time the stim was fired". If it's more than a certain value, the user has moved away and the light is turned off. Completely untested. Also, the various timing parameters might have to be changed. But it's an idea.

In general, I feel it's best practice to extend an existing definition, rather than copying it and modifying it. Say, for example, in a future release of DM, the developers make a change to the tdm_player_thief.def file. With my original technique, anyone playing my mission won't see that change (because my mission is using a cloned version of the old tdm_player_thief.def file). With my preferred technique, that change will be maintained, because I'm just extending the existing definition.

@JackFarmer For this mission I have a unique projectile (something like a fireball) that doesn't actually damage the player when it hits them, it has some other effect. I decided to implement this using stim/response. So my fireball has a stim attached to it (more accurately, the stim is attached to the "def_result" associated with the fireball). When the fireball 'hits' the player, I want a certain effect - this is implemented by a response. So the response has to be defined on the player object. The technique I describe above enables you to add responses to the player object. (It also enables you to change other player parameters, like walking speed or starting health, by the way). Maybe there's a better way to do this, but the technique I describe seems to work. Hope this makes sense.

Never mind, I figured out a better way. In a .def file, define a custom 'player' that inherits from the default and includes the custom responses. Something like: entityDef my_player_thief { "inherit" "atdm:player_thief" // add custom responses "sr_class_5" "R" "sr_type_5" "1000" ... Then, on any worldspawn, define a spawnarg, "player_classname", with a value of your custom player entity (in this case, "my_player_thief"). When TDM starts it looks for that spawnarg on the worldspawn, and spawns that entity instead of the default one. Since my_player_thief inherits from atdm:player_thief, it behaves just like the default player, except for the changes you add/override.

I have some user-defined stims (sr_type >= 1000), and I want the response to be attached to the player object. How is this done? The only way I could figure out is to clone the default tdm_player_thief.def file into my mission folder, and modify it by adding my responses to the atdm:player_base object. This works, but it seems suboptimal (and maybe risky?). Is there a better way?

ai_type of "human" wont work. I think it's looking for a number, and it looks like humans are 0 (zero). So try "0" instead of "human" for both of those. Hmm, I just noticed that later in that wiki entry, it says "ai_type Type of AI: human, beast, undead, steambot, etc. (reads m_AIType in the SDK, which is set by the "type" spawnarg on idActors. Not sure if this is implemented yet)." Hopefully, 0 will work for humans.

Is there a script call that will tell me if an entity is in the player's inventory? Or, a call that enumerates all of the items in the inventory? getNextInvItem() isn't appropriate, as it actually modifies which inventory item is active to the player.

@GeepMy loot objectives look the same, except I don't set the Irreversible flag (both places). Try unchecking those and see if it works.

My trigger_hurt can be toggled. I've got a brazier post that you can climb up on. The flame starts out lit, so the trigger_hurt is on. If you douse the flame, the trigger_hurt turns off, and if you relight it, it turns off (this is accomplished by adding "target=trigger_hurt_1" spawn arg to the flame). I can douse and light the flame back and forth several times, and it works. What are the details of what you are trying to do? How do you activate the trigger_hurt?

Clever idea. How does it attach on the player's side? I can see how it sticks into the other side, just like a regular rope arrow. But what happens to the 'end' of the rope near the player? Does it magically attach to something? Maybe you have to be standing next to some sort of attachment object, and then the end of the rope attaches to it once the arrow is shot. Or maybe after you shoot the Tight Rope arrow, the end is 'attached' to you, and you have to walk over to the attachment object and interact with it to make it stick. Also, I think the rope will have to sag a bit or it may look cheesy?

What sad news. RIP greyman. Condolences to his family and friends. He was an important contributor to TDM, and the William Steele series will live on.

Congrats! This is an excellent mission - enjoy, everyone!

Excellent! Sign me up!

Congrats!

I think I see the problem. The "don't kill" objectives need the "Ongoing" flag set on them. The wiki says: "Important: No kill objectives need be set as "Satisfied at Game Start" and "ongoing" or they will not work!". You've got the "satisfied" checked, but not "ongoing". See if that helps.

The logic in the code is: Check each objective that is visible and that applies to this difficulty level: For each of these objectives, do the following four checks: objective state is Complete objective state is Invalid objective is not Mandatory objective is Ongoing If, for a given objective, any of those four tests are true, then that objective is "done", from the point of view of completing the mission. If, for a given objective, all four of those tests are false, then the mission can't be completed. If all of the checked objectives are "done", the mission is complete. I hope this makes sense. If you want to attach your map I can take a look at the objectives section. Or just the atdm:target_addobjectives section from the map.

Wild guess here. In DR, the Mission Objectives dialog, at the bottom there's an Edit Mission Success Logic button. Is there anything specified in that dialog? Anything in there overrides the "normal" mission complete logic.

I just tried my most recent FM (Now and Then). On 2.09, dmap took 60 seconds. On 2.10 (dev16215-9215), it took 23 seconds. Nice! The build succeeded, and the mission seem to run fine (I played it for a few minutes). Good stuff!

Very nice mission!

I'm embarrassed about how many missions I played, dragging bodies around the hard way, before I realized this...

Congratulations - I'll give this a try soon!