Marzec on 14/5/2017 at 10:41
Hi guys,
It has been a long time since I wrote on the forum. Now I am again testing my skills in DromEd. I hope you can help me to lead the project to a playable fanmission :)
Feature description: Garrett enters a selected location and several things happen, including an emergence of ghosts.
So this is the basic goal. Now to the problems and questions.
1. I successfully managed to create a "memory ghost" - one that emerges to tell a story (like in pagan city from T2 OM). What I used:
AI/AI Core/Team: Neutral
Creature/Is Non-Physical: TRUE
Renderer/Self Ilumination: 0.75
Renderer/Transparency (alpha): 0.13
Point 1. Question: How do I make them fade-in and fade-out like in OM?
2. This is strongly connected with the 1st one. Currently I did above via teleporting the AI with TeleportTrap and making him perform some actions with AIWatchObj. But it seems AI is not fully ... "aware" of the teleport. When I teleport NPC, he is idle for a few seconds... then he manages to do his AIWatchObj I assigned to him. In addition... the other releported NPC is not showing this problem. I feel the teleport distance matters here. The problematic NPC's distance is huge (I mean huge) while the OK NPC is just a "drop of the body".
3. Other teleport + AIWatchObj problem I encounter is AI randomly stops to perform the defined "response steps" (wait, frob, wait, frob etc.). AIWatchObj setup below: (ommited fields have default values)
Code:
Watch kind: Self entry
Priority: Absolute
Radius: 3
Height: 6
Link kill option: After completion
No test once triggered: TRUE
Here is the high level flow telling you how my traps, AI and links interact with each other. Note the "AI controller" from the thread title. It is the "director" of the set of effects that are visible after BoundsTrigger is activated.
a. Garrett reaches the BoundsTrigger trap.
b. BoundsTrigger triggers the TeleportTrap and its own DestroyTrap.
c. TeleportTrap teleports the AI Controller (Mech guard) to the Marker (fairly small distance).
d. AI Controller starts the AIWatchObj responses: frobs the gizmos one after another with 2 sec waiting state inbetween each of them: Up/Down Switch 1, Up/Down Switch 2, Up/Down Switch 3, Up/Down Switch 4, Button 1, Button 2
(Logic of the up/down switched not mentioned)
e. Button 1 activates TeleportTrap 2 which teleports the AI Ghost (in a huge distance)
Now going back to the points I mentioned at the beginning:
Point 3. problem is visible in step d. - AI Controller randomly quits the reponse sequence on Up/Down Switch 2 or later...
Point 2. problem is visible for AI Ghost.
Any ideas on how I could improve the setup?
R Soul on 14/5/2017 at 11:42
It's best to use a conversation. In Trial of Blood (miss 10) the AI ghosts are already in place. From the hierarchy they inherit a few properties that mean the player cannot cause them problems, and the Phantom script (along with messages in the conv) handles the fading in and out.
As for the AI themselves, it's best to start with an existing phantoms and modify (either create in the mission and change properties, or make a new archetype) it too look and sound like the type of AI you want to use.
Daraan on 14/5/2017 at 15:28
As I had quite a bit of hassle with Teleporting AIs before and after my custom script, I learned that AIs need a tiny bit of time to accustom after a TP. I normally work with ~50ms and they work as expected after a short delay.
Marzec on 14/5/2017 at 20:01
Quote Posted by R Soul
It's best to use a conversation. In Trial of Blood (miss 10) the AI ghosts are already in place. From the hierarchy they inherit a few properties that mean the player cannot cause them problems, and the Phantom script (along with messages in the conv) handles the fading in and out.
As for the AI themselves, it's best to start with an existing phantoms and modify (either create in the mission and change properties, or make a new archetype) it too look and sound like the type of AI you want to use.
The idea to look into miss 10 was the best. I managed to do that with conversation on a phantom. No more teleporting trickery. Thanks!
john9818a on 15/5/2017 at 05:19
One thing I would suggest with AI that need to perform tasks, make sure their fidgeting is turned off. This will prevent the AI from performing Idle gestures. One of the idle gestures last for about 10 seconds and can cause problems with timing.