PranQsters Crazy Contraptions- bot-buggy, rodent-power, AI spline paths, etc.

[PranQster]

... and I have a couple ??s

 

First. I have my (very crude) carriage bound to a horse. When the horse makes path changes at path corners, the carriage adjusts its angle abruptly. Is there any way to make it turn smoothly behind the horse... perhaps some elastic-behaving func that could be between the horse and the carriage, and bound to both, to buffer the sudden change in direction?

 

Second. I have an AI sitting on the carriage and have worked it so he sits pretty well. But on occasion, when the carriage changes angles with the horse's path corners, it moves under the AI and sends him damage (I set AI not to receive damage already so he doesn't die). The problem is that the func_static carriage drastically moves to an extreme angle, away from the wheels & axle, then returns to its proper position and looks fine again... most of the time. Other times it ends up knocking the rider off or gets stuck in a funny position and leaves the horse either walking in place or walking backward.

 

Excuse the low ambient light and the very crude box the AI is sitting on. I was just testing a concept and have not started actually building anything yet:

Edited February 27, 2012 by PranQster

[Springheel]

Not sure how to deal with that. A couple wild things that might be worth trying...you can slow down the rate at which the horse rotates (forget the spawnarg right now). That might cause pathfinding weirdness but at least the turn would be more gentle.

 

You could potentially make the cart a ragdoll with a joint where it connects to the horse, so it can swing? No idea if that would work.

 

I'm not sure if you can adjust the origin of an animated entity (probably not) but putting it further behind the horse might have an effect.

 

As for the rider, could you bind him? Does he need to get off?

 

It's a neat attempt, and I wish you luck with it.

[Baddcog]

maybe it would be better to make it a simple animal (rats were always great for this in T2) and just have it follow the horse?

[Springheel]

Another weird thing to try...could you bind a ragdoll rope to the horse and the cart to the other end of the rope?

[PranQster]

Thanks guys. Some neat ideas. I'll be trying them all.

 

For now the rider has no need to get off... was just thinking of having a cart and rider travelling through town or countryside for aesthetic purposes.

[PranQster]

Another weird thing to try...could you bind a ragdoll rope to the horse and the cart to the other end of the rope?

Hmmm... I'll try that too. Thanks again.

[PranQster]

As for the rider, could you bind him?

 

That was one of the first things I tried. I first bound him to the cart (he's currently on a nodraw solid elevator entity which hovers just above the wooden cart), then to the horse. In both cases he got completely tweaked and then shot out of the map as though from a catapult. I may try binding him to the elevator entity next.

[RPGista]

Very cool experiment. Always coming up with some really interesting constructs, PranQster! I was very amused by all the hardware in Siege Shop, specially the baloon... Wonder if the player would have a bumpy ride too if he was seating (fixed) there, in some sort of in-game cinematics, for example?

[PranQster]

I did try riding and it worked pretty well if I stayed down on the lower board where the AI's feet are. I'm sure a large wagon or coach would work well with walls around to keep anything from falling out.

I'm going to have a few cool things in my new map, if I ever get it done. I need to work out an error related to AI having max 256 reachable areas, or something... needs some monster_clip application somewhere to fix it but that'll wait for another day.

[DeTeEff]

I made a custom built chariot/coach for Reap as you sow. It was just meant for a "fixed" path so it consisted of a sliding door that moved at the same speed as the horses moved. The wheels on the coach was just rotators with a speed tweaked to match the whole carriage...

 

EDIT: Changed text

Edited February 17, 2012 by Fieldmedic

[PranQster]

Yeah I used a rotation for my wheels & axle assembly and just chose -30 for speed on the y axis and it came out pretty good on the first try. I'm planning on this thing being able to go through the city streets, following an AI path wherever it goes.

I need to play Reap again... I remember having some sort of crash after leaving the underground pipes with the snow cave-in.. never finished it (thanks for reminding me).

[PranQster]

Another weird thing to try...could you bind a ragdoll rope to the horse and the cart to the other end of the rope?

Ok, I don't understand this. What exactly is a 'ragdoll rope' and how do I make one? In the entities list I found ragdolls (bodies), and ropes/chains... is it one of those ropes? And can I make it short?

 

I believe that was what was meant. I tried it and while the first end of the chain bond nicely to the lantern bot (horse replacement), the second end insisting on dragging on the ground, which pulled my chariot into the ground. I'll try making a nodraw solid platform for the chain to lay on and see if that helps.

Edited February 19, 2012 by PranQster

[PranQster]

I tamed down some of the problems I was having. The chariot/buggy still turns stiffly since it is bound to the lantern bot, but lowering the turn speed down to 15 from 150 made a big improvemt, ad did the proper binding of the various parts of the buggy to each other. The only part bound to the lantern bot now is a thin invisible elevator platform which the AI rides/sits on, the rest is bound to it.

The AI tends to gradually slide to the right side of the buggy when it makes left turns. Applying 'friction' '1' to the platform he sits on had no affect.

 

[Springheel]

Ha, I like that even better than the horse!

[PranQster]

Yeah it's much better. Another problem with the horse is that it does not show in DR. If I create a horse, I can edit spawnargs, etc while it is still selected. But in order to select it again in the future, I need to select it in the Entity List since there is nothing to click on in DR... as though I had chosen to hide it. There is no way for me to see it's position at all.

[Springheel]

Another problem with the horse is that it does not show in DR.

 

Really? I don't recall having that problem myself. Doesn't sound right.

[PranQster]

I have no idea why, but since 1.7.0, the horse does not render in DR for me. Neither wireframe in the main view, nor 3D rendered in the camera view. It's not a giant deal for me since I'm not planning on using it much, but if I do put one in, I need to load the map to see if it is positioned where I want it.

[pusianka]

Pranqster I love your experiments! This lanternbot is genious for that. I m still waiting for a horde of rats pulling the carriage ;D

Edited February 20, 2012 by pusianka

[ungoliant]

Pranqster I love your experiments! This lanternbot is genious for that. I m still waiting for a horde of rats pulling the carriage ;D

 

that almost makes me wonder if you could make a rat run in place and put a spinning wheel around him, and then stick it in a crazy inventor's lab hooked up to a contraption, lol

[PranQster]

that almost makes me wonder if you could make a rat run in place and put a spinning wheel around him, and then stick it in a crazy inventor's lab hooked up to a contraption, lol

Challenge accepted

 

I'm taking a little break from my current map, which is currently broken. So I may as well play around a bit with more experiments.

Edited February 21, 2012 by PranQster

[PranQster]

Almost succeeded with the rodent wheel... the bitch is trying to get the little prick to run in place.

[PranQster]

Success! It's a bit wobbly and off-center, but I think that makes it even better.

Edited February 21, 2012 by PranQster

[PranQster]

The positioning of a path_corner and path_turn was one crucial part to keep it running. The other was changing the rat's turn rate from 360 to 0, which forced it never to turn around. The wheel itself needed to be an elevator to keep the rat on it.

I just realized that the last 3 screenshots appear to have the wheel in the same position. A coincidence; I promise it was turning.

Edited February 21, 2012 by PranQster

[nbohr1more]

LOL!

 

Video plz!

 

[PranQster]

Ok, just a sec. I'll try to get a vid.

Recorded... will need to export to a new format, resize and transcode. Hopefully just a few minutes.

Edited February 21, 2012 by PranQster