One Script and one Vis

[lauser]

This is for JA M/P.

 

I have one script question and one for Vis.

 

#1) I am making a custom turret cannon for my map. How do I script it so that it will behave like a normal turret? LASSEV?

 

#2) When I move around my map sometimes I can see right through big walls rocks and sky. What I see are other sections of the map. Will using a HINT brush help this problem? To be honest I forgot how to fix it. And searching for the answer to this on these forums could take me a week. That's why I posted this question here.

 

Thanks in advance....GIN

[lassev]

1) You gotta elaborate! Do you mean a fully functional turret you can go and use (hit use button and you are transferred behind the turret, and you can aim and shoot)? Aren't this kind of turrets closer to vehicles than anything scripted? Perhaps you could script some kind of fake turret... But I haven't ever attempted to move effects, so I cannot say how the projectile would work...

[lauser]

Actually I might be on the right track. The turret is actually an NPC. So I copied the sentry NPC file and I'm going to try using that along with a weapons file. Not too sure on this yet.......

 

Lassev, all I'm doing here is REskinning the turret. But I'm afraid the NEW turret skins wont be referenced because they are custom.

[WadeV1589]

I can see right through big walls rocks and sky

You can see through regular textured brushes? The sky problem is the fact that sky is always drawn behind anything you can visusally see. If you can't make it so vis blocks it you need to either re-design that part of your map or add in solid walls or rockfaces instead of sky.

[lassev]

Originally posted by lauser

Actually I might be on the right track. The turret is actually an NPC. So I copied the sentry NPC file and I'm going to try using that along with a weapons file. Not too sure on this yet.......

 

Lassev, all I'm doing here is REskinning the turret. But I'm afraid the NEW turret skins wont be referenced because they are custom.

 

Ah. So, it's the autonomous sentry turret? The floating ball with some blasters? Are you sure that's what you want?

 

Anyway, the models/players/senty doesn't have skin files. It has only two textures for its shaders, and the main texture is referenced directly inside the .glm model file. In that respect it's quite similar compared to the seeker droid I used. If you don't want to replace the original sentry in a mod, but would rather create a new NPC, you are left with one option: to change the texture folder references.

 

Now, I'm a simple man, and I don't know anything about modelling, so what I did, was to hack the model file with a hex editor to change the references. That way I created a new NPC with new shaders using the seeker model (nothing but a sphere).

 

This is also an option open to you. Or if you are a modeller man, perhaps you can open the model in some 3D modelling program to do the texture changes in a more civilized manner. Either way works.

 

I hope this clears some things Just don't ask me if Raven approves this approach! I guess I would be just flattered if somebody from Raven played my level one day (to spot this model hacking...

[lauser]

I think I might have the sky problem figured out Wade. When you have a building or another part of the map behind a structural wall with sky texture applied, you can see right through the wall and it looks like your building is floating in mid air. So I should put a structural wall in between the 2 areas if I can do it? Would this prevent the see through appearance? I don't really feel like redesigning major portions of the map.

 

As far as the NPC goes, it's from the entity menu. It's called misc_turret. All I'm doing is changing the skin. I tried looking at the sentry NPC file to try and get around this. But it wont work.

 

Now, using files made by RAVEN. Altering them in any way is actually frowned upon. Not by RAVEN but by LUCASARTS. How do I know? I wont devulge that info here. If you want to know P/M me and I will tell you. (or email)...... I don't think I should put that info on these forums. But I will give FULL credit to RAVEN and LUCASARTS. I know of other mappers that have used files without permission. Not that this makes it right.

[lassev]

Well, the misc_turret, which is the blaster turret normally hanging from ceiling, rotating around Z-axis and shooting the player, uses the model models/map_objects/imp_mine/turret_cannon.md3. I didn't find any npc file or any other file referring to it (apart from the weapons.dat entry, but that's mostly useless). This model behaves like those models I explained before: the reference to the textures is inside the model file itself.

 

You might be right that editing the models is not a good practise. I created my plasma droid by editing the Raven remote droid (a simple sphere model). My readme will state the origin of the model as clearly as this. If LEC decides to take offense, it's their right of course. I'm not trying to steal the model, nor will I attempt to take any credit for it. My product is the map, not the model.

[WadeV1589]

Lauser I think you've lost me...any chance of 2 screenies, one in-game, one in-radiant?

[lauser]

Yeah Wade I will post a screen as soon as I can here:

 

http://www.freewebs.com/frmapping/screenshots.htm

 

Lassev, you can see the turrets I'm talking about in these screenshots too. They are the turrets from Hoth, not the ceiling mounted ones you are refering too. Not much point in REskinning those TINY little turrets...

 

Okay so shot #3 is for Wade. See in the background Wade? I can see the other parts of the map...LOL

 

Shot #4 is for Lassev. See the turrets?

[WadeV1589]

Ah that problem!

 

Does it still let you see all of that after compiling the vis stage (NOT fast vis)?

 

Also don't you think letting the player get that high is a bit odd anyway? Clip it if you can to make your life easier BUT if you do r_showtris on the ground and can still see all that inside you need to use areaportals and some hinting.

[lauser]

Ahaaaa!! That's what I thought Wade! I will check out the use of area portal to see if that helps. I can use HINT lower down. I have an anti portal which is in use behind that hill in the tree shot. WOW! Anti portals work well when used properly

 

The reason I want it fixed is because I'm going to have a tree area higher up eventually where all the EWOKS hang out. Also, this is one of 3 areas I'm having trouble with.

[WadeV1589]

Don't forget though areaportals will only work when the door is shut.

[lassev]

Oh, yeah. Finally I know what you mean. Yes. It seems to me you already have a custom, green skin suitable for the environment. So you solved the problem? Good work!Unfortunately I have no idea how you could turn the turret into an operational weapon. I guess it would take honest coding.

[lauser]

Actually Lassev, all I did was make EXACTLY the same directory for the skin which the turret references. Unfortunately this is not only bad for your game but screws up textures for the normal turret in HOTH. So you get a green turret in HOTH....LOL

[lassev]

Indeed. That's exactly why I was always talking about if you want to create a new model... You know, I had this same problem. I was loath to replace the original seeker (or is it remote_sp, whatever), so I ended up editing the model itself. Unfortunately, there was no way what-so-ever to change the weapon from bot_laser (in SP, that is), so I had to, after all, replace something - namely the weapon effects. But fortunately my level is small, it has only one map to be loaded as a mod, so it doesn't matter in the long run, so to speak.