9 replies to this topic

[Gorgotham]

Was wondering if it's possible to add something that would slowly reset a players faction to their chosen one if they do something to screw it up.

I notice the same faction type bugs are still in the mod from days of old.

Also, is there a way to make merchants and towns people respawn after a certain amount of time?

One of my players killed a dog in Benzor Forest and was killed when going back to Benzor. Granted that can be considered an evil act, but I don't think the entire city should be KOS to him until the server resets.

hmm, thinking in this vein, is it possible to reset factions on death? So that when they exit out of Nexus, they are back to normal?

[horred the plague]

Was wondering if it's possible to add something that would slowly reset a players faction to their chosen one if they do something to screw it up.

I notice the same faction type bugs are still in the mod from days of old.

Also, is there a way to make merchants and towns people respawn after a certain amount of time?

One of my players killed a dog in Benzor Forest and was killed when going back to Benzor. Granted that can be considered an evil act, but I don't think the entire city should be KOS to him until the server resets.

hmm, thinking in this vein, is it possible to reset factions on death? So that when they exit out of Nexus, they are back to normal?

A lot more pain than it's worth. NTM, it adds even more BS to the heartbeat script, which is the #1 cause of lag. It's easier, and better, just to change the dog. I did change all the CEP animals from commoner to animal faction (why they did this in the first place, is far beyond me)-- all-new versions, because CEP CRE's are in a CEP hak pak---but a couple still remain in the encounters apparently. Which Benzor forest, specifically?

To do what you ask, I would have to make every townsperson in every town encounter-based. Are we talking about anyone important, in particular, or just some backdrop fools? If they are important, and dying--we'll make them plot-based or immortal. If not, let them die. They are nothing but CPU overhead anyways, placed for appearance and ambience.

Edited by horred the plague, 27 March 2005 - 03:43 AM.

[Gorgotham]

Don't know the name exactly, but it is the zone out North (I think) of Benzor I think, the one with the travellers warning sign in the middle of the "road" just before you zone out.

Or it could be the one near the tradeskill and temple places.

And the NPC's killed are some quest NPC's...the rat catcher guy, the player vendor, and pretty much every one in that market circle and surrounding carts.

[horred the plague]

Don't know the name exactly, but it is the zone out North (I think) of Benzor I think, the one with the travellers warning sign in the middle of the "road" just before you zone out.

Or it could be the one near the tradeskill and temple places.

And the NPC's killed are some quest NPC's...the rat catcher guy, the player vendor, and pretty much every one in that market circle and surrounding carts.

the player vendor I know is immortal, but Trudal will need to be addressed. The merchants as well, if not already. I don't recall seeing a dog ever, north of benzor--but I'll look for one.

If the script function SetIsTemporaryEnemy did its job properly, I could make a "gradual" faction change very easily. Since it doesn't seem to work right, it would take a lot of complicated hoo-doo. I don't want to turn off the global setting on the commoner faction, in case an actual commoner (city-folk) is attacked.

EDIT: I already have some heartbeat BS in place for the animal faction, so they reset after a prescribed amount of time. Another reason to change the dogs themselves.

Speaking of which, I found the crew you mentioned and they are changed to the proper ones. I'm in Benzor city right now, tracking down the important folk and making them plot/immortal.

RE-EDIT: Anyone of relevance in Benzor has been labelled as a Plot character. Exception: Galdor--he's set up on an encounter already, which is best IMO. Seems to be a symbol for evil PC terrorists. And who am I to kill their joy?

Edited by horred the plague, 27 March 2005 - 04:44 AM.

[Gorgotham]

Another thing, wandering monsters in Nexus plane.

A player had a pack of cougars spawn on him in the Nexus Plane. I put a guard in there on defender faction, and buffed the hell out of him.

Something to think about adding to a future build.

[horred the plague]

Another thing, wandering monsters in Nexus plane.

A player had a pack of cougars spawn on him in the Nexus Plane. I put a guard in there on defender faction, and buffed the hell out of him.

Something to think about adding to a future build.

Well, I decided to try something a little different first. I haven't been seeing too many wnadering creatures in the wrong places lately, so...

The nexus was an exception, due t the fact that it already had a lengthy OnEnter script, that I tacked my NOWANDER variable on top of. I'm going on the theory that maybe the length of the script was keeping it from setting at times. So, I made a bridge script, called fugue_no_wander. It works like this:

void main()
{
int NOWANDER = GetLocalInt( OBJECT_SELF, "NOWANDER");
if ( NOWANDER != TRUE)
    {
    SetLocalInt( OBJECT_SELF, "NOWANDER", TRUE);
    }
ExecuteScript("hc_fugue_enter",OBJECT_SELF);
}

If this doesn't do the trick (I believe it will), I'll resort to the protctor as a last resort. Keep in mind that with all the different factions abounding, the player could end up being attacked by the defender! This was happening a while back with the gatekeeper, until I made him Dungeonmaster faction.

You did remind me of something, though. Since the defender faction is only used on the "human" settlements, I should account for it in the hc_inc_race_ent script. Defenders should be repelling the factions that are hostile to commoners--it is illogical that they would allow these to walk right through the city gates of benzor or brosna without a fight--just because they happpen to be a PC (maybe especially in this case ).

The faction you could still use for your "death defender", if he is necessary after this, would be Mulrok. They are neutral to all but the hostile faction (at least as player factions go). (They will be, as of next version--noticed I missed humanoid and lizardfolk with them--oops!).

[Gorgotham]

I tell ya Horred, you get that faction thing worked out, and this mod would be perfect. It's almost there! I can feel it!

One thing though with the method your using to keep the merchants alive, I've noticed sometimes they will attack each other if one is attacking a player and they use an AoE spell that hits another NPC, then that NPC will jump into the fray attacking the other NPC.

If they are plot, they will fight forever, or until a server re-boot. See, I ran a Nordock server for about a year when it was first released, and Lord knows I tried to get these factions working together. And always had that problem. That's why I asked about something to reset factions over a period of time.

It's like playing chess and trying to count 10 moves ahead and think of all the things that can happen. I know it's not easy.

Edited by Gorgotham, 27 March 2005 - 07:34 AM.

[horred the plague]

I tell ya Horred, you get that faction thing worked out, and this mod would be perfect. It's almost there! I can feel it!

One thing though with the method your using to keep the merchants alive, I've noticed sometimes they will attack each other if one is attacking a player and they use an AoE spell that hits another NPC, then that NPC will jump into the fray attacking the other NPC.

If they are plot, they will fight forever, or until a server re-boot. See, I ran a Nordock server for about a year when it was first released, and Lord knows I tried to get these factions working together. And always had that problem. That's why I asked about something to reset factions over a period of time.

It's like playing chess and trying to count 10 moves ahead and think of all the things that can happen. I know it's not easy.

I've seen the AoE situation in effect before. The most famous culprits I can think of are spiders and ettercap, webbing each other. If I recall, there is a setting to keep them from firing AoE if their own are within the AoE. I know there is in Jasperre's---but Jasperre's was causing too much lag to use liberally in here.

[horred the plague]

I tell ya Horred, you get that faction thing worked out, and this mod would be perfect. It's almost there! I can feel it!

One thing though with the method your using to keep the merchants alive, I've noticed sometimes they will attack each other if one is attacking a player and they use an AoE spell that hits another NPC, then that NPC will jump into the fray attacking the other NPC.

If they are plot, they will fight forever, or until a server re-boot. See, I ran a Nordock server for about a year when it was first released, and Lord knows I tried to get these factions working together. And always had that problem. That's why I asked about something to reset factions over a period of time.

It's like playing chess and trying to count 10 moves ahead and think of all the things that can happen. I know it's not easy.

I've seen the AoE situation in effect before. The most famous culprits I can think of are spiders and ettercap, webbing each other. If I recall, there is a setting to keep them from firing AoE if their own are within the AoE. I know there is in Jasperre's---but Jasperre's was causing too much lag to use liberally in here.

Found a switch being used for it, in hc_on_mod_load. It was being turned on if you had CORE_RULES set.

   if (GetGameDifficulty() == GAME_DIFFICULTY_CORE_RULES)
        SetLocalInt( GetModule(), "X0_G_ALLOWSPELLSTOHURT", 10 );

I just commented these lines out. It may eliminate a little realism, but hopefully it will also eliminate the "battle on forever" approach. Every server that I've checked out thus far has been using Party PvP anyways--why not give the monsters the same advantange as the players?

Now, to see if this system actually works or not!