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Holographic NPCs


codja

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Hi All,

 

I'm in the process of creating a map based in Coruscant - after watching AOTC I noticed all the cool holographic effects which i'm trying to do in the game - I've made some custom shaders with all the alpha channels and all that and they work fine.

 

What i'm trying to do though is to get an NPC into the game that doesn't move from it's spot and plays set animations in a loop.

 

For example, I have created a holographic text shader - no lightmap, and set it to scroll using ShaderED, pasted it onto a short cylinder so it looks like some sort of rotating holographic advert. What I want to do now is get a model into the game, such as Reelo, to perform a set animation over and over - much like the "help us obi-wan kenobi" Leia in Star Wars ANH

 

The skins for this model are no problem - i've pretty much sussed all the alpha stuff for shaders so that's not a problem - I just don't want my advert to run around chasing me shooting blasters!

 

I'm aware that i'll have to create a new npc in the npcs.cfg (I've gone for holoreelo) and I know how to put it into the game, but I have no idea what the variables should be set to. I'll probably be able to stop him running around, but how to I go about playing the set anim - do I delete anims from the .glm, do I mess with the anims.cfg, do I have to use scripting - I don't really know where to start. Any pointers will be most welcome.

 

I'm using JO tools, but the map will be running in JA, but this shouldn't make much difference

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It would have been good to tell, if you are mapping for SP or MP. If I remember correctly, you can insert NPCs also in MP maps in JA, as well as some scripting, so that's not any indication nowadays, I deduce. Still, I assume you are making SP maps (I hope so).

 

The animation can be accomplished via scripting. You just need to make an eternal loop, choose the animation you want to loop, or multiple animations, if that would suit your needs better, then set the wait command(s) (so that the animation has time to reach the point you think would be the best point to start it all again) and close the loop.

 

For holograms I think a nonsolid command would also be needed. You would have to mess with them a little (if you haven't already) to see what they might look like. As well as invinsibility and such things.

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I completely forgot about the Bartender. Do you know whether there is anyway to set a different idle animation?

 

I could have the bartender guy there with my holo shaders on him just idling away.

 

Will gravity still affect the model though? If I setup a holo half way up a VERY tall building, I don't want it falling out of the sky

 

Can you export a specific frame of animation to an md3 file? Normally you get the arms outstretched pose used to initially set the model up

 

Also, it's single player so full scripting should work. I'll have to download some scripting tuts as i'm not too hot on them at the moment.

 

I'm really surprised no-one has tried this as from the little tests i've done, it really adds a lot to the atmosphere, especially when combined with the correct sounds - the JA Coruscant level looks a bit of a mess to me and is a wasted oppurtunity - Hoth and Tatooine are great though

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nodraw! Doh! Sorted.

 

Nice one GothicX, I'll give it a go. I'll see if I can get some shots posted once it's all looking cool.

 

Can you turn the NPC's gravity off in ICARUS? Is it the same effect that happens in JO Cairn Bay where you can switch off the sheilds to the docking bay and blast all the stormtroopers out?

 

Hmmm...

 

I haven't had the chance to download the JA SDK yet - is there much difference between the JO and JA versions of ICARUS - I know they've added a bit to the shading script for the dynamic glow etc... Is there a readme available for the "extras" in JA?

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