Mines

[grayman]

The SVN mine test map bug_2478 in maps/test has been renamed to test_mine.

[grayman]

One strange thing I had with a flashmine, it showed some straneg decal after I hit it with a water arrow (but it was not yet exploded!).

 

Here is a screenshot, this happens both to the flash and regular mine:

 

I believe that's a bug in the way the decal is painted. It was happening occasionally before I started tinkering, and I didn't look at it.

 

If there's no existing bugtracker issue for it, could you please file one?

 

 

Oh, and also, the exploding mine does not show any smoke after the explosion.

 

Are they supposed to? I don't recall if there's existing (broken) code to spawn smoke.

 

 

I wish the mine would show some visual change while being picked, like small rotating gears on top. Right now it is impossible to pick without sound, which can be hard if you have no proper sound, or there is very loud noise nearby.

 

Visual vs. aural feedback was discussed upthread. Visual lost.

 

Visual feedback would be nice, but a modeler would need to get involved. If the ticking sound were any louder, you'd start wondering why the AI weren't responding to it. The lockpicking sound is pretty loud, though, as is the disarm sound.

 

 

 

[Tels]

I believe that's a bug in the way the decal is painted. It was happening occasionally before I started tinkering, and I didn't look at it.

 

If there's no existing bugtracker issue for it, could you please file one?

 

Sure. But note that the mine did NOT yet explode. Shooting it with a broadhead arrow makes the mine explode afterwards.

 

http://bugs.angua.at/view.php?id=2794

 

Are they supposed to? I don't recall if there's existing (broken) code to spawn smoke.

 

I might be a bit confused as I used my own "Black Light" add-on which beautify things, but the fire arrow explosion definitely smokes (I just make the smoke longer lasting in my addon), so the mine explosion (which uses the same particles etc) should also smoke after the explosion. But it doesn't, maybe because the smoke is created below the floor and thus invisible?

 

Not sure if this is the same as this: http://bugs.angua.at/view.php?id=2705

 

 

Visual vs. aural feedback was discussed upthread. Visual lost.

 

Ah shame. (I love the aural feedback, btw, please do keep it!)

[Springheel]

Finally had a chance to check on this.

 

Things certainly are much improved...I never had a mine land upside down, and most mines went off properly. I did have one AI step up onto the side of a mine without setting it off, once.

 

I also noticed that mines appear to go off if they are touching a ragdoll? I threw a mine down and it landed touching the arm of a dead AI. After a second or two it detonated even though no one was nearby. Tried it a few more times with the same result. That's not a serious problem but it's worth looking at for the future. I could imagine a player tossing mines into a particular choke-point, and if he hits an already existing ragdoll, he basically wastes a mine without any real indication why.

 

How many tumblers do mines have? I tried unarming one and went through four or five tumblers and still couldn't unarm it. With fairly long sequences I was working at it for at least a minute. That might be a bit too much...once a player has noticed a mine and successfully got within lockpicking range, I don't think the actual act of picking it should be so onerous.

 

One other minor thing...when the player hits a mine, he is thrown about four meters backwards. Yet other humanoids don't appear to be affected at all. There's a bit of an inconsistency there. I'd actually like to see mines throw AI backwards a bit, if it looks half decent (do AI go to ragdoll before or after being thrown by something like that?)

[grayman]

How many tumblers do mines have?

 

0

 

It's defined in the mine *.def file.

 

 

 

[Springheel]

Hmm, then something was off for me...the sequences seemed to be about 8-10 clicks long, and I went through at least 4 different sequences. I'll have to go back and try again.

[Springheel]

Does the mine damage go through walls?

 

Had an amusing affect....when you throw a mine at an AI, it sticks to them for a moment before falling to the ground. If the AI dies while the mine is stuck to them, then the mine stays hovering in air, where it detonates if you run into it.

 

Ah, I see what the problem is for picking them...when I'm picking a door, I hold down the "use" key to pick and hit the "attack" key to hit the sweet spot. However, with mines, the attack key doesn't do anything. I have to use the "frob" key instead. That's bound to be confusing.

[grayman]

Does the mine damage go through walls?

 

Don't know. Never tried it.

 

There are probably a number of wonky things that happen to certain objects when they hit an AI. When a mine hovers like that, it means it had stopped thinking a while back, because it had come to rest. When it stops thinking, it stops dealing with gravity. When it's bumped by something, it starts thinking again, and falls. When an AI dies, it looks like the AI's falling down--unless he bumps the mine--leaves the mine hanging in air.

 

I've seen suspended halberds, and this is probably the same thing that happens when you gas a card player and his cards end up hovering.

 

Future work.

[lost_soul]

I just noticed that characters don't get propelled at all when they step on mines. They just collapse. Is this something that should be fixed, or do I just have too much

on the mind?

[grayman]

I just noticed that characters don't get propelled at all when they step on mines. They just collapse. Is this something that should be fixed, or do I just have too much

on the mind?

 

 

They receive an impulse, but there's some randomness that goes on. Sometimes they'll get pushed away from the explosion if the impulse hits them at the right angle, but most times the physics doesn't give them enough to do more than collapse.

 

If folks think that a mine should carry more oomph, then speak up and I'll see if I can tweak the impulse. Rats already get thrown against the ceiling, and I wouldn't want a cranked impulse to fling one into the next county, so I'd probably have to create a mass-dependent result.

 

 

[jdude]

What if it is a well lit area and you drop the mine far from the guard but in his sight. Should he notice it and go on alert? But if he does, should he be able to disarm it?

[ungoliant]

I think if an AI sees a mine thrown, he should go inspect it. maybe even prod it with a toe, heh heh