Nameless Voice on 26/2/2020 at 20:26
You'd probably be better off using two different models for the AI, one for each weapon.
It'll look much better than attaching objects, too.
Yandros on 27/2/2020 at 05:53
I rigged up a few Hammers in DCE m5 to go from unarmed when sleeping to grabbing a weapon by their bed if the player wakes them, but it wasn't anything elegant or hierarchical in design. In Broken Goddess we plan to have guards sheathe swords or put their bow on their back when not alerted, but switching weapons based on player proximity would be an additional level of complexity on top of that which we may just pass on.
nicked on 27/2/2020 at 07:24
Quote Posted by Nameless Voice
You'd probably be better off using two different models for the AI, one for each weapon.
It'll look much better than attaching objects, too.
Yes I think you're right. Gonna have to get my hands dirty in Blender I think.
nicked on 27/2/2020 at 20:34
I've knocked up a couple of guard models in Blender, one with bow in hand and a sword on the belt, the other with a sword in hand and a bow on his back. Looks fine when standing still, but the sword in particular is deforming horribly with the guard's leg movements. Looks like he's gone to a renaissance fair with a cardboard sword and it's rained. Is there actually a way with Dark's primitive mesh system to prevent part of the model from deforming?
Nameless Voice on 27/2/2020 at 22:09
Urgh. Yes, that's going to be problem.
Maybe a mix of the two - have the sheathed weapons objects, and the equipped weapon a part of the AI model?
You can also use... hmm, NVAttachMyObj to spawn and attach the sheathed weapon. That was what it was originally written for, for the sword-drawing AI in The City Project.
FireMage on 28/2/2020 at 02:36
Quote Posted by nicked
I've knocked up a couple of guard
Speaking of knocking, did you made sure no problems occurs to dead or ko guards? Since your metaprop is working with changing guard's AI, it could "resurrect" the guard.
I could be wrong tho ! But I remember having such issues while working on AI changes with Stims and MetaProp. Better check this out if not done already to be sure there will be no further unexpecited problems.
EDIT : The problem has been already checked and fixed. I just missed the reply :nono:
The M-Knockout trick is a very good move ! You need to find something similar to killed guards tho since I don't remember them to get the KO Metaprop when dead.
nicked on 28/2/2020 at 08:13
That's a good point. So I could just ignore that problem because I do have a compulsory No Kill objective in this mission... but it's not very neat, and if a guard died by some other means, it would still mean they got up again in a broken state.
I may just be forgetting something obvious, but is there a way to trigger adding a Metaproperty upon death? I can't find a metaprop which is added on death like with knockouts.
FireMage on 28/2/2020 at 14:16
Quote Posted by nicked
is there a way to trigger adding a Metaproperty upon death? I can't find a metaprop which is added on death like with knockouts.
Well, I don't really remember the entire setting so I won't write a complete tutorial at the risk to say something wrong but I do remember having found a trick to detect if a guard has died and applying the adequate changes on it.
It was in my mission "Overlord's Ending" to make the spawning guards in "Thief Mode" dispawning upon death to prevent it from reaching the object limit. If I remember correctly I've set the "ZombieRegen" script to guards so I could use AI>Responses>Signal Response property with Absolute Priority and Possum as Signal Name.
The blurry point in my memory is about preventing the guard from exploding like zombies. I think I've made the FireStim doing in Receptrons "Stimulate" to convert the FireStim into BashStim, then "Abort" to cancel the fire damages.
Then "Abort" to HolyStim and LightBright Stimuli for safety.
So the guards could Add to themselves the metaprop to delete themselves with the Possum Signal on death and avoid exploding. I invite you to check it out in case I'm missing a step but I bet it would work fine for your case since all you need is actually a metaprop to make the AI unable to receive the ProxGarrettStim.
nicked on 28/2/2020 at 19:48
I found a solution through experimenting. I can't decide if it's genius or stupid.
The guard is Corpse-linked to another guard archetype that doesn't have the weapon-switching metaproperties, but does have a source and receptron for the same stim which instantly kills him. So essentially when you kill a guard, the guard immediately spawns a new guard who immediately dies.
FireMage on 28/2/2020 at 23:49
Hmmm... This could work but I fear the illusion would be visible since you'll see the 1/2 second where AIs are T-Posed when spawned as their voiceset may not match if the voice is randomized.
Also, instead of Act/React to kill at spawn, I would suggest you to better choose "TweqDelete" with "Slay" instead. Since I know spawning AIs with Act/React sometimes stupidly "escape" from the stimshot. It would be reliable.
For the T-Pose you could use a CurrentPose property tho and hope the motion you'll choose will fit.
The last problem will be also the fact you won't have any method to make the AI scream or not since AIs tell their "KO death" lines when killed unalerted. You'll have to decide if those dying spawned enemies will always do a soft death scream or a loud death scream by defining the default Awareness of the dying guard.
It's still annoying about the Voiceset