Bumbleson on 24/4/2005 at 08:05
I tried to attach an object in front of Garrett's face and to detect the distance of this object from the flash. The idea was that when Garrett's back is turned, the object would be farther away from the flash and the blinding script wouldn't trigger. Unfortunately it didn't work as intended, because the rotation of the camera is not always the same as the rotation of Garrett. If Garrett stands still and only turns his head (i.e. the player moves the mouse), the camera can be rotated by almost 90 degrees before Garrett's body follows. This is not the case when Garrett is moving. Then the camera direction and the actual orientation of his body are the same. But then it would still not work for up/down movements. This might also be the reason for the buggy behavior of the "object in view" condition.
If somebody finds a way of influencing the body awareness behavior (maybe restrict the camera to body rotation) this might work, but until then we'll have to cope with getting blinded once in a while.
SneaksieDave on 24/4/2005 at 16:08
Quote Posted by Subjective Effect
Now someone needs to allow blackjacking when blinded.
Quote Posted by New Horizon
That shouldn't be too hard really. Haven't looked into it myself.
*cough* I did. ;)
[wiki]BluntStimKnockoutAlertMax[/wiki]
The good news: The KO alert max can be affected and raised.
The bad news: It apparently can't be raised above red alert, which means no fully alert KOs. Yellow alert, though, yes.
Use the AI debug menu entries to get a (very cool I might add) visual depiction of an AI's current alert status and ramping up/down in-game.
Edit: those menu items would be:
AI Diagnostics->AI Stats->Enable for AIs-> All AIs
and
AI Diagnostics->AI Stats->Behavior->Behavior Stats->On
SubJeff on 24/4/2005 at 16:10
That's ok. So long as you can do it. Flashing alert guards so you can run is fine by me. Part function is better than nothing.
You can flash multiple opponents then KO them all right? So for example you could flash and KO all 4 AI in BUCKET GET?
SneaksieDave on 24/4/2005 at 16:39
Prompted by this little side discussion, I've gone and looked into using the property for blinded AIs and it in fact doesn't seem to work. They are still given their sight back on blunt stim, despite altering the alert max. I guess it's only for non-blind alertstate consideration.
GRRR.
Edit: Damnit! And for one of the most important considerations (KO of alerted blind servants/non-combat) it doesn't matter anyway, as it seems they go straight from Green to Red alert and yellow is removed altogether! WTF. :nono:
Crispy on 25/4/2005 at 05:03
Quote Posted by SneaksieDave
Edit: Damnit! And for one of the most important considerations (KO of alerted blind servants/non-combat) it doesn't matter anyway, as it seems they go straight from Green to Red alert and yellow is removed altogether! WTF. :nono:
Well, that kind of does make sense... your average non-combat civilian isn't going to think "hmm, I thought a saw a suspicious guy with a weapon who might be out to kill me, I'll try and find him" - they're going to run away. :D
It is annoying that it doesn't work on red alert status, though. I'd help if I could, but I haven't progressed past messing around with brushes yet; so I'm afraid all I can say is good work so far, and don't give up!
thestemmer on 28/4/2005 at 16:23
I actually never liked the fact that you could KO people when blinded in the original Thief games. When I could just blind and blackjack guards after being spotted, I felt that it ruined my immersion in the game. Having an easy recourse like that if you make a mistake takes all of the tension out of the situation. I much prefer having to run away like in T3. Just because Thief 1/2 are classics doesn't mean that they didn't have their share of flaws. I think we should take the improvements that T3 made to the formula and roll with them.
New Horizon on 28/4/2005 at 16:42
Quote Posted by thestemmer
I actually never liked the fact that you could KO people when blinded in the original Thief games. When I could just blind and blackjack guards after being spotted, I felt that it ruined my immersion in the game. Having an easy recourse like that if you make a mistake takes all of the tension out of the situation. I much prefer having to run away like in T3. Just because Thief 1/2 are classics doesn't mean that they didn't have their share of flaws. I think we should take the improvements that T3 made to the formula and roll with them.
Not all of us consider it an improvement though. ;)
I think if someone is blinded, then they're in a weakened state. It makes much more sense to be able to knock them out in this state...however, if they're not incapacitated by blindness and are full alert, they should be a bit harder to knock out for sure.
It comes down to limiting the arsenal within the gameworld, so the player has to think about using that next piece of weaponry. The fewer artificial restrictions the better.
Bumbleson on 28/4/2005 at 23:22
IMO the best solution would have been to enable blackjacking, but to have the blinded guards draw their weapon and swing it around at random, occasionally hitting the player who's trying to blackjack them. :sly:
SneaksieDave on 29/4/2005 at 01:59
Quote Posted by Bumbleson
IMO the best solution would have been to enable blackjacking, but to have the blinded guards draw their weapon and swing it around at random, occasionally hitting the player who's trying to blackjack them. :sly:
Interesting suggestion. :thumb:
*winks at any DarkMod members who might be reading*
