LarryG on 8/7/2013 at 19:15
Inside or outside the manor?
sNeaksieGarrett on 8/7/2013 at 20:27
Outside. If you want, I can send you a copy of the mission.
LarryG on 8/7/2013 at 21:09
So you are getting "stray" puffs where G isn't at mission start? And they are linked to G? And they are persistent, i.e. they hang around longer than the puffs should? Is that right?
sNeaksieGarrett on 8/7/2013 at 23:27
The strays are at Fieldstone Manor, without fail. My testers noticed it. No, they're not linked to Garrett. (Unless you are just reconfirming what I said before about HostObj/Firer from game_mode_backup, then in that case, yes.) They appear to get made while in-game when Garrett gets to Fieldstone Manor I presume. I originally thought they were made by me by accident, but they only show up in dromed's view if I use game_mode_backup.
Yes, they stick around without following with the two AIs that are patrolling that area. There's a sword guard who starts patrol near the locked door, and an archer who starts on the other side of the manor. Upon investigating this area, you can observe random puffs appearing in the air. I think they're coinciding with the two AIs though, because you can often see two different breathspouts. The breathspouts for both guards appear normally in addition to these random ones.
Here's a screenshot while using game_mode_backup:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]1729[/ATTACH]
Note that 515 is one of the guards' breathspouts.
LarryG on 9/7/2013 at 00:26
Well, you set them up as "Immobile" so they wouldn't move with the guards. For that to happen they would have to be particle attached to the guards and be set up as either trailing or attached to object. The ~CulpableFor link makes me think that they have to do with the 611 swordguard, and the Firer link makes me think that the 515 breathspout emitter was the source of the one shown. Is object 515 the emitter for the 611 swordguard? If so then that's where I would look to see how that could be misfiring. I would also take a look at the particle effect itself, because it should persist for seconds only before fading away. I don't know what all the settings are that you used for the breath puff, but they may be at fault for the persistence.
sNeaksieGarrett on 9/7/2013 at 00:48
Hmm, well the breathspouts are basically a sub-archetype of SteamPuffSpout and are attached to the guards via a Contains link with Alternate.
Yes, 515 is indeed the emitter for 611.
edit:
I tried removing the contains link/culpableFor link and using Mesh Attach, didn't work. :(
Here's a picture of the breathspout if it might help:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]1730[/ATTACH]
LarryG on 9/7/2013 at 02:15
You're not showing 515, which is what I need to see to know how it is attached to 611. The breathspout emitter (515) has a ParticleAttachement link to the swordguard (611), correct? That's what puts the emitter at the guard's mouth, right? Or did you use mesh attachment? In any event, my guess is that when the guard is offscreen (and the emitter is too) the emitter is getting left behind at the last spot the guard was at when inside of the range that the game updates the image. Then, when the guard reaches an outside location and the TurnOn is sent to the emitter, the puff is generated where the emitter is, even though that isn't where the guard is currently located. So there should be a flag to set on the link or the emitter or the guard or ... to tell the game to keep the emitter attached even when off screen. I just forget where I read in the forum about such. Either that or it is a limitation of the method of attachment and you are scrod. If the latter, then maybe an S/R way to keep the emitter from firing when it is not "close" to it's host AI would be your best bet.
sNeaksieGarrett on 9/7/2013 at 03:27
Ugh, this is so complicated. I'm pretty sure now though that the issue is caused by how the breaths are set up with these AIs.
No, it's actually a Contains link and it's at his mouth because of the Alternate Data of the Contains link.
I've been messing with it tonight and mesh attachment doesn't seem to work properly. Same result. I thought I finally found a solution by using Tweq>Emit on the guard itself, but it emits from his behind.:laff: However, this method doesn't seem to cause the emitter problem like the old method I was using. If I change Particle Launch Info (just like what I had to do for Garrett) then it launches at the right spot for at least guard 611, but looking at taller AIs the puff is not in the right spot. So close! (not only that, but because the puff is not attached to the AI's face, when he goes into search mode the puff does not update to where his mouth moved to.)
Here's 515 as is:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]1731[/ATTACH]
I think you're on to something though about the distance thing. I always see them from a distance around the manor, and then once I get up close to them they seem to disappear moments after.
sNeaksieGarrett on 10/7/2013 at 14:54
How would I use S&R to do what you're suggesting? I admit I'm not very versed in S&Rs... but I did look at Receptrons last night and I didn't see any Stimulus that suggests a signal based on distance
LarryG on 10/7/2013 at 19:11
The way you judge distance is with stim intensity. If the source is set so that the intensity is slope is less than 1, then it will decrease over distance from the source by that factor. A little experimenting should get you to where you know what the slope should be to prevent the extraneous puffs. I would probably create a new stim just for AI breathspouts, call it "BreathStim" or something. You have two objects that need to be connected, the AI and its breathspout. So one gets to be the source and the other gets to detect the stim. I would make the AI the source. That way the breathspout does the detecting. You will need two receptrons for BreathStim. One detects when the stim is below the threshold you want, and the other is for when the stim is grater than or equal to the threshold. Both use the Clone Properties (or Set Property) response. The first clones properties from a disabled breathspout archetype (one that won't fire even if it gets a TurnOn sent to it), the second clones properties from a properly set-up breathspout archetype (one that works when a TurnOn is sent to it). That should do it ... cross fingers.
Edit: while you could go as far as having a separate stim for each AI so that they don't affect each other, you probably don't need to bother. If it becomes an issue, you could just use different intensity bands for each AI. Say, 1 to 1000 for the first AI, 1001 to 2000 for the second, and so on, with the AI's threshold set in the middle of its band. That should keep them from interfering with each other.
