Newbie DarkRadiant Questions

[Kvorning]

Yeah I meant simultaneously, but I suspected that was the case. No biggie, it'll solve itself once 2.0 is out I think

[grayman]

I don't know what would happen, though, if you put two location entities in the same location. Might be worth trying.

[Kvorning]

I accidentally tried that once before, where as a result the game says there's an 'overlap' and goes with the first activated.

 

It's really just some sort of sound_loss for the transparent windows I'm interested in, which is just a matter of time and a bit of patience I suppose. That is, unless there's an alternative other than extremely carefully placed speakers.

[Sotha]

Is it possible to play an animation no matter what happens?

 

The AI would play the animation from start to finish even if they were, during the animation: hurt, heard noise, saw enemies, or the player would bump into them?

 

The only way to prevent the animation would be to kill or KO the AI.

[Fidcal]

Change their team to neutral just before and restore after?.

[Sotha]

Neutral team members will be reacting to getting hurt, so no go.

[Fidcal]

It's possible to do a seamless swap with an identical AI from a blueroom who is blind, deaf, lacking in touch, etc. using a script that copies origin and orientation. Need to consider any carried items, energy left, etc. Might work depending on setup. I don't think you can change visual acuity etc dynamically but its worth checking eg, S & R.

[PranQster]

Does anyone know how to have an AI do an 'anim' 'melee_attack_Thrust' (or RL or LR) without the AI freezing? I have an archer with RIT paths: enter > corner > turn > draw > attack > sheath > exit. As soon as the AI draws it's dagger, it freezes and won't continue on to the attack anim.

[PranQster]

Neutral team members will be reacting to getting hurt, so no go.

I'd try setting them to team 14(?), same as rat/animal. Then set all of their 'ChanceNotice' spawnargs to '0'.

[Sotha]

I'd say you still have them feeling the pain. And can you tune acuity spawnargs at runtime?

 

The normal attack animations have a frame command that puts them to wait for a signal from the game. You need to make a separate dummy attack animation without the frame commands.

 

Examine one of the .pk4s i cannot remember which one. Probably in the ai .pk4s or defs pk4. It has a file called ai_proguard_devel.def or something similar. Find the attack animation declarations. copy paste them into a new set and rename into "attack_dummy" or similar. remove the frame command that puts the animation to wait some info from the game. Then you need to supply this altered file with your mission.

[PranQster]

Thank you so much! I'll look into doing this.

 

I have them all set up to practice on attack dummies. 3 dummies, 3 path_corners each (Left, Center, Right). The path corners for each dummy are (left - to - right) melee_attack_LR, melee_attack_Thrust, and melee_attack_RL. I tried this before with bound swords on my archers, but ran into the same freeze after draw and I just gave up.

 

Edited September 2, 2013 by PranQster

[Obsttorte]

And can you tune acuity spawnargs at runtime?

void setAcuity(string type,float value);

For the types check the tdm_defs.script or ai_base.script. It should be defined there somewhere.

[PranQster]

I'd say you still have them feeling the pain. And can you tune acuity spawnargs at runtime?

 

The normal attack animations have a frame command that puts them to wait for a signal from the game. You need to make a separate dummy attack animation without the frame commands.

 

Examine one of the .pk4s i cannot remember which one. Probably in the ai .pk4s or defs pk4. It has a file called ai_proguard_devel.def or something similar. Find the attack animation declarations. copy paste them into a new set and rename into "attack_dummy" or similar. remove the frame command that puts the animation to wait some info from the game. Then you need to supply this altered file with your mission.

Thank you Sotha. That worked.

Next silly question.... I have archers (they need to be archers) with movable longswords attached to the left sheath. All that looks great. Only problem now is that the 'draw' animation plays but does not attach the sword to the hand.

[Sotha]

Ah, thanks Obst. If that works, it could be the Ultimate Solution.

 

Pranq, examine the archer AI def files. I suspect they have a clause that replaces the "draw" anim with a "draw bow" anim. You gotta make your own archer entity, which those removed.

 

Note that the archers won't probably ever draw their bows after that trick.

[grayman]

Next silly question.... I have archers (they need to be archers) with movable longswords attached to the left sheath. All that looks great. Only problem now is that the 'draw' animation plays but does not attach the sword to the hand.

 

Are you wanting the archers to be able to use both their bows and swords?

 

In 1.08, they'll only use their bows.

 

In 2.00, they'll use whichever is appropriate. If close enough for melee, they'll draw their sword. If not close enough, they'll draw their bow.

[PranQster]

Are you wanting the archers to be able to use both their bows and swords?

 

In 1.08, they'll only use their bows.

 

In 2.00, they'll use whichever is appropriate. If close enough for melee, they'll draw their sword. If not close enough, they'll draw their bow.

That's what I'm trying to take advantage of. In melee they will draw a dagger by default. When I was building in 1.08, I could get them to draw an attached longsword (sword visible in hand), but they would freeze at the attack anim (now fixed by Sotha's post above). In 2.0, they don't get the sword actually in their hand, but they draw, attack target and sheath weapon with an empty hand. If I could just get the sword to attach/detach from the hand at the draw and sheath anims, I'd be all set.

I've already tried regular guards with bows attached, but they don't draw the bows properly for archery. I had it almost perfect once before (except for the freezing attack anim due to frames)... I must be forgetting something.

Edited September 2, 2013 by PranQster

[PranQster]

Ah, thanks Obst. If that works, it could be the Ultimate Solution.

 

Pranq, examine the archer AI def files. I suspect they have a clause that replaces the "draw" anim with a "draw bow" anim. You gotta make your own archer entity, which those removed.

 

Note that the archers won't probably ever draw their bows after that trick.

Well, they can do what I call dummy_draw (dummy_attack_RL, dummy_sheath, etc)in a custom .def file. They go through the full motion of drawing their melee weapon, using it, and then sheathing it again.... just that the weapon does not render in their hand. Edited September 2, 2013 by PranQster

[Springheel]

You want them to do this in a scripted sequence, or in actual combat?

[PranQster]

You want them to do this in a scripted sequence, or in actual combat?

 

I was using path_anims to make them go through the motions of combat, not scripted. I have 4 archers who have an RIT network for archery practice (works well). They have 6 corners to choose from, all in a row. They go to the corner, turn, pull out bow, draw & fire arrow, & return bow to back before continuing to their next path.

I decided to try to make them some melee targets too. I built the same type of RIT and use the melee path_anims there... Also working well except for actually putting the sword in their hands. It actually looks more like unarmed melee at this point. I may just remove the 'draw' and 'sheath' anims and make it look like they're practicing unarmed combat.

 

 

OK, lets nevermind this for now.

Even after making a custom.def file and custom named md5anim and md5mesh files, etc., it still interferes with draw, attack and sheath animations from default proguard. No AI in the map can engage in melee combat. I had the md5 files in a custom path, with all of the stock 'proguard' stuff in the def file edited accordingly. No Joy

I'll save this project for a rainy winter day.

Edited September 3, 2013 by PranQster

[Obsttorte]

There is a lighting problem that gives me headaches.

 

I've placed a light with a large radius inside my map, but moved its light_center outside into the void. I've done this as it should serve as sunlight. However, while it worked in the beginning, it now starts annoying me by partially or completely turning off from time to time, creating angled shadows that moves with the player.

 

Any idea what may be causing this?

[Bikerdude]

Possibly, have you tried building a caulk box around the origin..? or creating a caulk tube that links to the map interior..?

[Obsttorte]

Well, the light entity itself is inside the map, just the light origin is somewhere else. And as said, it worked in the first place. It's really annoying me because the only way to create this effect I want in e different way is to place dozens of lights, what is a bit cumbersome.

[Moonbo]

Ah, I'm using 1.8 and that entity is sitting in the "base" folder (i.e. it's a Doom 3 entity). Is that going to be ported over to 2.0?

 

I'm still having issues getting it to work though. Here is how I've set it up. On the atdm:location_settings I have two spawnargs: "snd_before" and "snd_after" both linked to the proper sound files.

 

On the info_location, I have the spawnarg: "ambient snd_before".

 

I have a target_setkeyval entity, with the following two spawnargs: "keyval ambient;snd_after" and "target info_location1". I then have a switch which triggers the target_setkeyval. When I flip the switch, the music stays the same.

 

Just a heads-up that I was able to figure out what was wrong. Using the target_setkeyval entity *does* work to change the music, but not while you are in a location. So let's say there's ambient zone A and B. If you are sitting in zone B and you change the music for both zones, you will not hear any change from where you're sitting. But if you walk into zone A, then the music there will have changed. If you then walk back to zone B, then the music will change there too. It just won't change for the zone you're in until you leave and return.

 

For my FM, I got around this by teleporting the player out and then back right after triggering the target_setkeyval (covered by a trigger_fade effect).

[Obsttorte]

Another possibility would be to first change the ambient and then the location name.

[Moonbo]

Quick question: I have a sleeping AI who has all its acuities set to 0 (i.e. it can't see, hear, etc). However when I damage the AI, it still reacts (i.e. gets up and starts searching even though he can never see the player). Is there a way to the AI to not react to being damaged and keep on sleeping?