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Thanks Stumpy good idea

I have an eclectic YouTube channel making videos on a variety of games. Come and have look here:

https://www.youtube.com/c/NeonsStyleHD

 

Dark Mod Missions: Briarwood Manor - available here or in game

http://forums.thedarkmod.com/topic/18980-fan-mission-briarwood-manor-by-neonsstyle-first-mission-6082017-update-16/

 

 

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In darkradiant, how do you turn off the crosshair icon? for years i've been accidentally hitting some button or something and turning it on. But I prefer just the regular mouse cursor over the crosshair icon for the mouse when editing in DR.

 

Does anyone know how to turn that on/off? I tried looking in my keyboard shortcuts but couldn't find it.

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In darkradiant, how do you turn off the crosshair icon? for years i've been accidentally hitting some button or something and turning it on. But I prefer just the regular mouse cursor over the crosshair icon for the mouse when editing in DR.

 

Does anyone know how to turn that on/off? I tried looking in my keyboard shortcuts but couldn't find it.

 

Never add that happen to me are you on windows? Does it change back to a arrow when you get out of DR? To me the DR mouse cursor is just the default windows arrow cursor, so if you are changing the cursor perhaps that needs to be solved on the OS control panel not on DR? On windows go to control panel - hardware - mouse - pointers and see if it changed there.

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Never add that happen to me are you on windows? Does it change back to a arrow when you get out of DR? To me the DR mouse cursor is just the default windows arrow cursor, so if you are changing the cursor perhaps that needs to be solved on the OS control panel not on DR? On windows go to control panel - hardware - mouse - pointers and see if it changed there.

 

It's only in the orthoview (I believe it's called.. the view that has the grid space on it and isn't 3D). If I closed Dark Radiant and reopen it the crosshair goes away, and outside of DR it never changes so it's only inside the application that the crosshair appears.

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I need a guard to inspect/count his loot.

Is it possible to make an AI to kneel down and don't stand up after a few seconds (except when alerted, but it should return to the kneeling position when no longer alerted)?

 

I tested with path_corner and path_cycleanim but the kneeling animation seems to have the stand up included so he would constantly kneel down and stand up again.

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OGDA,

 

the AI can do what animations the AI has. If the kneeling anim takes him down and up, then you cannot have him go down and stay there.

 

In order to make AI kneel down and stay there, you need to

1) make an anim where the AI kneels down

2) make an anim where the AI cycles staying kneeling

3) make an anim where the AI gets up from kneeling position

4) make a special AI who has the sitting anims replaced by the kneeling anims.

5) now you could use "sitting" behavior for kneeling behavior.

 

With this principle you could do any activity where the AI goes into activity, stays there and then leaves. Leaning against walls, doing pushups, standing on a chair, or whatever.

 

The problem is that making good and natural looking animations is a lot of work.

Clipper

-The mapper's best friend.

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Well, I think getting into TDM animation creation would be too much for me as I'm still learning the editor. Some stretching animation and a little path will do as an alternative.

Thank you for the info! :)

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This is not completely true. You can alter animations and pause them for example. I did that in my mission Old Habits 2 with the priest there. I increased the time the ai is down after kneeling to give the impression that he is praying. You can take a look at the mission files to see how it is done.

FM's: Builder Roads, Old Habits, Old Habits Rebuild

Mapping and Scripting: Apples and Peaches

Sculptris Models and Tutorials: Obsttortes Models

My wiki articles: Obstipedia

Texture Blending in DR: DR ASE Blend Exporter

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If you like, I can cut the kneeling animation into the three parts Sotha suggested. I can also try to add some rummaging to the cycling part (although I also have not too much experience creating animations and don't know how long it will take me or how good it actually looks). What movement do you have in mind exactly?

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I have been playing with the Model Scaler, but there seems to be a problem. When I load the map in the game, the rescaled objects appear as black cubes (denoting missing objects). Any way to fix this?

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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At this progress state of the map I don't want to waste your time, for something that is merely finetuning. I implemented some stretching and turning for the work in progress.

Thank you very much for your help and offers!

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I have been playing with the Model Scaler, but there seems to be a problem. When I load the map in the game, the rescaled objects appear as black cubes (denoting missing objects). Any way to fix this?

Did you reload the models?

FM's: Builder Roads, Old Habits, Old Habits Rebuild

Mapping and Scripting: Apples and Peaches

Sculptris Models and Tutorials: Obsttortes Models

My wiki articles: Obstipedia

Texture Blending in DR: DR ASE Blend Exporter

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No - in fact, I tested the map on a different machine. But I see the problem now. This should probably be documented on the wiki because people will be using the function a lot.

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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I have several areas I'd like to ask about:

 

- I've studied a few discussions on moonlight, but I'm none the wiser. I'd like to make a few simple in-door windows, with moonlight entering the interiors, but only slightly. Do I need to add special entities if I want to have simple cones or rectangles of moonlight coming through the windows ?

 

- I've read that visportals should be used in reasonable numbers, despite being very helpful (especially for transitions between exteriors and interiors). Is there an agreed-upon upper limit to the number of visportals you can have on a single map ?

 

- What's the steepest set of stairs an NPC can traverse before things start going wonky ? I'd like to know if there's a sweetspot, in terms of stair height and length, that suits AIs and their animations the best. I'm worried I'll build an elaborate interior map with stairs, only to then find out that the NPCs get themselves killed or cause serious bugs while moving on stairs.

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I think the VP number has a negligible effect. What matters I think is that leafs are opening and closing efficiently. There's a sweetspot of areas opening and closing as you walk around, and I think you don't need any more VPs once you've hit that spot as they don't have added value. Eg, you don't want a line of sight through 3+ VPs if you can help it.

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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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Hello,

Having wrapped up the ubicraps new TC stuff and with the rest of my life spare again - thought I'd take another look at TDM.

Two questions:

1. Real world reflections on [larger] windows... figure this may be possible by semi-opaque mirror inside and bound to glass but - is it "two way" and is it possible for AI to see the player refecltions (unlike the shadow looming over them)..?
2. Do or is there any plans to introduce teh "movers cause damage thing" that the broken record that my posts keep scratching on about..? IF so, will it be next version or is it better to simply add player_hurt to every brush/entity that causes damage..?

oh and

 

3. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ok then.

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@petlike - the height of stairs can be worked-around so they don't sprint off the top step and fall all the way down by making the stair case into a sprial.

 

I meant walking up the stairs as well as down the stairs. I want NPC animations to fit the stairs and not come across as hideous or buggy.

Edited by Petike the Taffer
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Hello,

 

Having wrapped up the ubicraps new TC stuff and with the rest of my life spare again - thought I'd take another look at TDM.

 

Two questions:

 

1. Real world reflections on [larger] windows... figure this may be possible by semi-opaque mirror inside and bound to glass but - is it "two way" and is it possible for AI to see the player refecltions (unlike the shadow looming over them)..?

2. Do or is there any plans to introduce teh "movers cause damage thing" that the broken record that my posts keep scratching on about..? IF so, will it be next version or is it better to simply add player_hurt to every brush/entity that causes damage..?

 

oh and

 

3. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ok then.

 

First off, welcome back!

 

The mirror's kinda work but can be really wonky. You don't want them reflecting an area with visportals, as I recall they do weird things.

Since the way mirrors work is basically a camera attached to the mirror looking out, who's viewport is drawn on the mirror's surface (as far as I know anyways) I don't think AI can "see" the player in the mirror.

Also it can kill performance.

 

As for movers hurting the player, it's situational, we wouldn't want all movers to do that.

A door opening shouldn't cause damage to the player, unless it's 30 feet tall.

A lever moving that hits the player shouldn't cause damage.

 

Using the hurt trigger is the ideal situation here as it allows fine control over what hurts and how much.

I always assumed I'd taste like boot leather.

 

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I meant walking up the stairs as well as down the stairs. I want NPC animations to fit the stairs and not come across as hideous or buggy.

 

You can test it yourself using either brush stairs or slopes, but generally sticking to 22,5° is mostly fine (e.g. stairs that are 128u high and 256u long). You could get away with 45°, at least with sloped surfaces, but the way AI bends their knees looks rather jarring at that angle.

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First off, welcome back!

 

The mirror's kinda work but can be really wonky. You don't want them reflecting an area with visportals, as I recall they do weird things.

Since the way mirrors work is basically a camera attached to the mirror looking out, who's viewport is drawn on the mirror's surface (as far as I know anyways) I don't think AI can "see" the player in the mirror.

Also it can kill performance.

 

As for movers hurting the player, it's situational, we wouldn't want all movers to do that.

A door opening shouldn't cause damage to the player, unless it's 30 feet tall.

A lever moving that hits the player shouldn't cause damage.

 

Using the hurt trigger is the ideal situation here as it allows fine control over what hurts and how much.

 

Hello!

 

I thought I replied to this already, but it vanished...

 

Well, it was an idea about the reflective windows, but I can't figure it out or how to create the abberation for the reflection. Moot point if it's player only...

Guess the damage is the only way forward when it comes to ye olde pit-falls and spears and garbage compactors and the like - it's a bit of extra typing though, and not figured out the push-back yet (why I gave up on the idea originally):

http://forums.thedarkmod.com/topic/16072-trigger-hurt-how-to-use-how-does-it-work/

 

As for the stairs, sometimes I would take the prefab wooden stairs and cut them to size before cladding them with a mesh of the relevant textures (double down grid size, snap) - tricky to get the texture alignment right on carpets, but can be disguised by things such as carpet rails. Not so bad if you plan the mesh points right - adding an extra few for the ) bit at the end of the step, for a little shadow, perhaps some wear on the step itself so it isn't completely flat.

 

I'm very messy with any external brush-work that isn't exactly straight, though...

Edited by teh_saccade
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You can test it yourself using either brush stairs or slopes, but generally sticking to 22,5° is mostly fine (e.g. stairs that are 128u high and 256u long). You could get away with 45°, at least with sloped surfaces, but the way AI bends their knees looks rather jarring at that angle.

 

Thanks, Judith, this is an awesome answer. B) Exactly the sort of advice I needed on this.

 

Yeah, I can imagine that at 45°, AIs can start getting a bit too bendy in the knees.

 

I think the VP number has a negligible effect. What matters I think is that leafs are opening and closing efficiently. There's a sweetspot of areas opening and closing as you walk around, and I think you don't need any more VPs once you've hit that spot as they don't have added value. Eg, you don't want a line of sight through 3+ VPs if you can help it.

 

Thank you very much for this answer. :) I've asked about VP in the first place because the FM I'm working on has some fairly big outdoor spaces in addition to interiors, so I want to add at least a few VP at entrances to lighten the load while the player is inside the building complex. I suppose that if I just add a two-way VP to one or two entrance doors the player will use, it'll prove sufficient.

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Definitely that much, but you know VPs are kind of by a formula so you don't really need to be stingy. Just follow the formula.

 

There should be a VP in basically every doorway (sans a closet maybe) and two at hallway corners. For the outside area you should think about VPs even in its design, like choke points or T or L-turns you can VP like glorified doorways and hallway corners, respectively. Some doorway type connections could also have some immediate 90 degree turns in them to shut off the outside-facing VP. And the point I made above, try to place connections in outside areas at strategic places and angles so you don't see more than 1 other VP looking through another VP to the extent possible.

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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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