Alarm

[Sotha]

Has anyone implemented or experimented with Alarm entity in their missions?

 

The wiki entry gives a clear idea how it is used: http://wiki.thedarkmod.com/index.php?title=Atdm:alarm_sound

 

But it does not answer one question. How far the alarm alerts the AI? Is it dependent on the alarm sound shader distance?

 

According to the DR help:

 

Place one (or more) in your level, then link it from any 'atdm:start_alarm' or 'atdm:stop_alarm' entity. Default sprS_propogate alerts virtually entire map; use 'alarm_mild' for more reasonable value.

 

So the spawnarg sprS_propogate is the one that dictates the distance the alarm goes? How can we tune the distance the alarm alerts AI? How "reasonable" is "alarm_mild""

How can I create an alarm with a local effect, lets say equivalent to the noisemaker arrow. Or a mine explosion?

 

Can I create a custom sprS_propogate "alarm-effect" and fine tune the distance. For example, make a piano the player can frob to make a sound to distract a guard in the same room.

[Goldwell]

I managed to get an alarm system setup in lord Edgars bathhouse. If you open up my map take a look at suite 1 or 2 (I can't remember which) inside the bathhouse, there is a lady sleeping in the bed and if the player hits the light switch it activates the silent alarm which notifies her and causes her to wake up searching but I had to tweak it down so it didn't set off the whole bathhouse. I don't know the exact range but it seems to be fairly small with my settings.

 

I believe the distance is called with a spawnarg but if you need any further help just let me know

[SteveL]

Alarms use normal sound propagation, so you set the volume not the distance, and they should work on the same scale as noisemakers. There was detailed discussion of them in the 2.02 beta thread iirc. And they have more spawnargs than they need. I remember discussing some volume modifier spawnarg that turned out simply to add its value to the main volume spawnarg.

 

You can use tdm_showsprop to see how far your alarm is reaching, and at what volume, as long as you have AI around to hear it. I think the threshold for AI hearing is about 20. If sound arrives with less than threshold volume they won't be alerted.