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Creating Ghosts

Springheel

By Springheel
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Springheel

Springheel

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I did a bit of an experiment with ghostly effects, and came up with something fairly decent. This is a proof-of-concept shot. If anyone actually needs a ghost for a mission they're working on, let me know and I can get it working a little more fully (have to track down why the shadow won't turn off).

post-9-126643572976_thumb.jpg

TDM Missions:   A Score to Settle  *  A Reputation to Uphold  *  A New Job  *  A Matter of Hours

Video Series:   Springheel's Modules  *  Speedbuild Challenge  *  New Mappers Workshop  *  Building Traps

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Tels

Tels

Posted
Posted

I did a bit of an experiment with ghostly effects, and came up with something fairly decent. This is a proof-of-concept shot. If anyone actually needs a ghost for a mission they're working on, let me know and I can get it working a little more fully (have to track down why the shadow won't turn off).

 

Cool. Does he have only half a skull? Or is that a half-transparent skeleton inside a half-transparent "outer hull"?

 

It's a shame we can't have half-transparent-colored shadows, tho.

"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man." -- George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950)

 

"Remember: If the game lets you do it, it's not cheating." -- Xarax

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rebb

rebb

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That looks positively scary :).

 

I guess its mainly done with the translucent keyword ?

 

Maybe the material could get a special "ghost spectrum" assigned so the mapper can ( or has to, depending on how you want to look at it :D ) place special "ghost lights" using the same spectrum value - which would only illuminate this material.

 

That way ghosts could be showing up even in unlit areas.

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STiFU

STiFU

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If you want to make them show in unlit areas, why not just use a blend add shader stage? :rolleyes: But the effect might look good, especially with an animated lighttexture. Hmn, or some nice pixelshading? Would that be possibly in D3? Adding refractions and so on to AI. Could look creepy on ghosts... :)

 

But looks very cool already. What a shame though that we have only so few sounds available for that skeleton.

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Springheel

Springheel

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I guess its mainly done with the translucent keyword ?

 

Yes, and semi-transparent textures. I'd like to add a subtle bit of pulsing effect to it eventually. In fact, by calling skins with animations, it might even be possible to have ghosts that are invisible (or nearly) until they become alert. I don't want to get too involved with this atm, however, as there are higher priorities.

 

 

That way ghosts could be showing up even in unlit areas.

 

This guy shows up fine in unlit areas. In fact, the darker the area, the easier he is to see. In brightly lit areas he appears more transparent.

 

What'll be their powers and weaknesses? Drift through matter? All matter? Impervious to? Harmed by?

 

Ghostly behaviour is another matter entirely. It would depend what the mapper wanted to do with them. At the moment they're best used for scripted sequences, since they don't behave any differently than other AI (except for being nonsolid).

TDM Missions:   A Score to Settle  *  A Reputation to Uphold  *  A New Job  *  A Matter of Hours

Video Series:   Springheel's Modules  *  Speedbuild Challenge  *  New Mappers Workshop  *  Building Traps

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demagogue

demagogue

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A simple & cool effect to get them walking through a wall might be to have a dummy non-solid wall with a player-clip brush over it, so it's effectively a solid wall for the player but the ghost can path normally through it using normal path corners and the AAS can still work... though you'd have to make sure other AI can't get to it and things like that.

 

If they are nonsolid, does that mean weapons don't hit them?

Could it be possible for weapons to "hit" while still being otherwise nonsolid (did Thief2's ghosts have this? I recall being able to walk through ghosts but still killing them with a sword before.)

What do you see when you turn out the light? I can't tell you but I know that it's mine.

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Ladro

Ladro

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Posted

I did a bit of an experiment with ghostly effects, and came up with something fairly decent. This is a proof-of-concept shot. If anyone actually needs a ghost for a mission they're working on, let me know and I can get it working a little more fully (have to track down why the shadow won't turn off).

 

Awesome!

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Bikerdude

Bikerdude

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Ghostly behaviour is another matter entirely. It would depend what the mapper wanted to do with them. At the moment they're best used for scripted sequences, since they don't behave any differently than other AI (except for being nonsolid).

may i also suggest that the ghost have the no_shadow arg set by default..

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Mortem Desino

Mortem Desino

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I remember there was a suggestion around a month ago for a "phantom" creature. So maybe I can mop up a new skin made completely out of 'shadow2'. It'd be really creepy to watch a disembodied shadow wander around a crypt, and disappear without a trace into darkness. :ph34r:

yay seuss crease touss dome in ouss nose tair

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Springheel

Springheel

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If they are nonsolid, does that mean weapons don't hit them?

 

Yes, currently weapons just go right through them. They probably take splash damage at the moment though. Some thought would need to go into that.

may i also suggest that the ghost have the no_shadow arg set by default..

 

They do. The model has a shadowmesh, however. Theoretically that should be very easy to turn off, but for some reason setting it to nodraw isn't working. As I said, I'll put more time into this if/when someone needs a ghost for their map, but it's not a high priority right now...just wanted to show it can be done.

 

maybe I can mop up a new skin made completely out of 'shadow2'. It'd be really creepy to watch a disembodied shadow wander around a crypt, and disappear without a trace into darkness

 

Yes, this is easily done. You could also use some kind of blend filter effect to create a 'walking shadow' that is invisible in darkness but can be seen in light.

TDM Missions:   A Score to Settle  *  A Reputation to Uphold  *  A New Job  *  A Matter of Hours

Video Series:   Springheel's Modules  *  Speedbuild Challenge  *  New Mappers Workshop  *  Building Traps

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Melan

Melan

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This is a cool thing. I may need it in the future, but considering the IRL work I am swamped with, editing has had to become such a low priority that you can really take your time with it. :wacko:

Come the time of peril, did the ground gape, and did the dead rest unquiet 'gainst us. Our bands of iron and hammers of stone prevailed not, and some did doubt the Builder's plan. But the seals held strong, and the few did triumph, and the doubters were lain into the foundations of the new sanctum. -- Collected letters of the Smith-in-Exile, Civitas Approved

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  • 6 months later...
Melan

Melan

Posted
Posted
I did a bit of an experiment with ghostly effects, and came up with something fairly decent. This is a proof-of-concept shot. If anyone actually needs a ghost for a mission they're working on, let me know and I can get it working a little more fully (have to track down why the shadow won't turn off).

May I have a few? My mission would be much enhanced by them, especially if they also had a ranged attack (e.g. throwing skulls instead of the stones of other AI). :)

 

Since the mission is far from completion, it is something I will only need much later, too.

Come the time of peril, did the ground gape, and did the dead rest unquiet 'gainst us. Our bands of iron and hammers of stone prevailed not, and some did doubt the Builder's plan. But the seals held strong, and the few did triumph, and the doubters were lain into the foundations of the new sanctum. -- Collected letters of the Smith-in-Exile, Civitas Approved

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Melan

Melan

Posted
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Hm, the things that come to my mind are

- default helmeted (non-citywatch) guards

- maybe those gray skeletons (they are already pretty ghostly, but an almost x-ray version would look freaking scary).

I am at work, but I will give you the exact models when I'm home and have DR open.

Come the time of peril, did the ground gape, and did the dead rest unquiet 'gainst us. Our bands of iron and hammers of stone prevailed not, and some did doubt the Builder's plan. But the seals held strong, and the few did triumph, and the doubters were lain into the foundations of the new sanctum. -- Collected letters of the Smith-in-Exile, Civitas Approved

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  • 9 months later...
nbohr1more

nbohr1more

Posted
Posted (edited)

 

Bikerdude's "Alberic's Curse"

got me thinking about Ghost behaviors and I thought I would blather out my random insights:

 

 

1) I really like Rebb's idea (above) for using spectrum lights and materials, I was puzzling over using a remoteRenderMap on a patch of an AI in another room lit by a single light but the Spectrum method solves so much... I was also imagining disembodied hands opening doors or picking up objects but that could be covered by this technique... Def Attach a small spectrum light near the end of the arm (etc).

 

2) It might be cool to have candles, books, goblets (etc) that float by themselves in place of Ghost AI

 

3) I would really love to see an Arm that reaches up from a crack in the floor or ground to grasp at you or AI \ NPC

 

 

 

 

4) I noticed, in Alberic's Curse, that a Zombie and Ghost did Grayman's "AI Movement Fix" dance when they got into a head-on course course collision instead of the Ghost simply passing through the Zombie. This got me thinking that it would be cool to have Ghost AI sometimes obey doors or architecture (for spiritual reasons ?) but also be able to pass through doors, other AI / NPC (etc).

 

 

 

 

5) Perhaps the stable of Ghost AI should be increased... I would love to see a creepy Noble Woman Ghost wandering a desolate courtyard... or a phantom party in a parlor with tons of Ghost nobles and Ghost servants ala Kubric's "The Shining".

 

Just some random thoughts on beefing up the Ghost supply. I think some of those might be low hanging fruit for bulking up the AI types?

 

(I love scary missions) :wub:

 

Edit: Added spoilers. My apologies :blush:

Edited by nbohr1more

Please visit TDM's IndieDB site and help promote the mod:

 

http://www.indiedb.com/mods/the-dark-mod

 

(Yeah, shameless promotion... but traffic is traffic folks...)

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Springheel

Springheel

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Can we please use spoilers? I don't want to know which missions have spiders or ghosts in them.

TDM Missions:   A Score to Settle  *  A Reputation to Uphold  *  A New Job  *  A Matter of Hours

Video Series:   Springheel's Modules  *  Speedbuild Challenge  *  New Mappers Workshop  *  Building Traps

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deadite4

deadite4

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We've played around a bit with ghostly acting AI recently over at hexen. It's proved to have significant problems when it came to actually fighting one and keeping it in the room with the player. Tendencies to go through a wall while fighting was the biggest issue. It's a real pain when it's going through objects undesirably.

 

We ended up scrapping it for now and making it just not take damage when its in its 'ghost' state.

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