Question About Maps

trennan

What I have run in to with this, isn't creating a map. It's about using a populated map, like First City. If I want to use this map, but I need some of the NPC's in the map to do something until an event starts. Do I need to go in and kill those NPCs off and replace them? OR can i set the pre-existing ones to stop what they're doing at a key point? Take for example the Challenge Floor. If i wanted those two NPC's to fight until key point X happened, preferably with one winning and one losing. Can I set the pre-existing ones to that? Or do I need to kill them off and replace them?

duncanidaho11

No Foundry map has pre-existing NPC's. It's up to you to populate maps and to set NPC animations. You can remove and replace NPC's, so that they transition from one activity to another. This is handled through triggers tab of any selectable object.

trennan

I was toying around with the foundry. I loaded the First City Map just to check it out. It was populated, just as it would be going there. This is where my question came from.

thay8472

Sounds like your launching the project from the start with the first 'door' on the Qu'noS ground map.

duncanidaho11

By "load" do you mean "select the First City from the list of available ground maps and opted to playtest that map directly from the editor" or "as a test character, you simply traveled to the First City (in the separate instance of the game your test character occupies until they start their mission)"?

johnnysnowball

At the end of the day, you are using a Cryptic social zone that is live, in game, and will be populated by players in the published version of the mission. You have no control over the NPCs there.

trennan

johnnysnowball wrote: »

At the end of the day, you are using a Cryptic social zone that is live, in game, and will be populated by players in the published version of the mission. You have no control over the NPCs there.

So that means I'll have to work around the NPCs that are already there. Which really isn't all that hard. I was just hoping that if I did a mission in one. That it would be a separate instance, where I could make them do what I wanted. Good to know. Thanks for the answer.

trennan

Wait, I just realized. With this, I can test play ESD and slaughter everyone.

duncanidaho11

trennan wrote: »

So that means I'll have to work around the NPCs that are already there. Which really isn't all that hard. I was just hoping that if I did a mission in one. That it would be a separate instance, where I could make them do what I wanted. Good to know. Thanks for the answer.

It means that the only thing you can do with a live social map is designate an NPC to use for a mission start point (though I personally recommend designating a system in the sector block as your starting location). You cannot make edits there. You cannot add NPC's around those that exist in the live version of any location in the game.

There are blank versions of some social spaces that you can select from while in the editor (don't take testing as any way representative of what you can and can't do in the Foundry, it's just a copy of the live game). For example, Andoria, Bajor, Starbase 39, the various ESD interiors, and the OLD version of the First City. It should be noted that the current version of the First City ground map has not been added to the Foundry editor (because it takes dev effort to prep a map for use in the Foundry and they've been putting that in for us on volunteer time.)


If you want to get to grips with the editor, the first step (after you've setup your testing character and project) is to create a ground or space map (whichever you want to work on first.) Then, place assets, objectives, dialog, and/or NPC's to create some kind of footprint for your mission. Everything ultimately goes in through the Map editor tab but you will also have to use at least one more (Story, where you plot out objectives and map changes) to create a mission.

Then test that map (button in the upper right of the map editor) to get a feel for what you've made. Only test from the beginning if A. for some reason you want to play your own instance of STO (which is what you've been doing, by the looks of things) or B. want to see how your mission looks from the opening hail and trip out to the starting location (I only did this once my first time to verify that I setup my sector block start location the right way.)

trennan

duncanidaho11 wrote: »

trennan wrote: »

So that means I'll have to work around the NPCs that are already there. Which really isn't all that hard. I was just hoping that if I did a mission in one. That it would be a separate instance, where I could make them do what I wanted. Good to know. Thanks for the answer.

It means that the only thing you can do with a live social map is designate an NPC to use for a mission start point (though I personally recommend designating a system in the sector block as your starting location). You cannot make edits there. You cannot add NPC's around those that exist in the live version of any location in the game.

There are blank versions of some social spaces that you can select from while in the editor (don't take testing as any way representative of what you can and can't do in the Foundry, it's just a copy of the live game). For example, Andoria, Bajor, Starbase 39, the various ESD interiors, and the OLD version of the First City. It should be noted that the current version of the First City ground map has not been added to the Foundry editor (because it takes dev effort to prep a map for use in the Foundry and they've been putting that in for us on volunteer time.)


If you want to get to grips with the editor, the first step (after you've setup your testing character and project) is to create a ground or space map (whichever you want to work on first.) Then, place assets, objectives, dialog, and/or NPC's to create some kind of footprint for your mission. Everything ultimately goes in through the Map editor tab but you will also have to use at least one more (Story, where you plot out objectives and map changes) to create a mission.

Then test that map (button in the upper right of the map editor) to get a feel for what you've made. Only test from the beginning if A. for some reason you want to play your own instance of STO (which is what you've been doing, by the looks of things) or B. want to see how your mission looks from the opening hail and trip out to the starting location (I only did this once my first time to verify that I setup my sector block start location the right way.)

I don't plan on editing the map. I was just wondering about the NPCs for social maps. Test play does load them in. Which is why I asked if I could have them do what I wanted. For this part, it's mainly go in, watch a character give a speech, maybe get asked a yes or no question, and it's over. So all I would really need is for a character to appear, talk, and disappear. Or will I have to designate an npc and just have it as a a story board without the character actually making an appearance?

Sort of a go in interact with NPC A to get directed to Object B.
Object B shows a holorecording of said speach and Directs you back to NPC A.
NPC A askes a Yes or No question.
End of Mission

Is this the sort of thing I need to look at doing for it?

duncanidaho11

trennan wrote: »

I don't plan on editing the map. I was just wondering about the NPCs for social maps. Test play does load them in. Which is why I asked if I could have them do what I wanted. For this part, it's mainly go in, watch a character give a speech, maybe get asked a yes or no question, and it's over. So all I would really need is for a character to appear, talk, and disappear. Or will I have to designate an npc and just have it as a a story board without the character actually making an appearance?

Sort of a go in interact with NPC A to get directed to Object B.
Object B shows a holorecording of said speach and Directs you back to NPC A.
NPC A askes a Yes or No question.
End of Mission

Is this the sort of thing I need to look at doing for it?

You can do that but you still need to back out of test play. I'll say this again, you're not going to learn anything from it what-so-ever. If you have not specified a map to edit (which, to be clear, is a process of adding objects, NPC's, objectives, and dialog, not manipulating geometry) you will be playing a version of STO which is identical to the main game in every way except one: there will be no other players in it.

You may as well be playing through with your main character (you get people in the zones that way )

So, head back to the editor. In the Story tab look to the list on your left. You have a number of options there but the one you want is "Cryptic maps." Drag that icon from the right and into the box at the center of the screen. That designates that you want to use a live social map for your Foundry Mission. Now, look just below the map options. You five objective related items there but for what you're doing you will only be able to use three: Interact, Dialog with Contact, and Pop-up dialog. Interact is what you use for object interactions, Dialog with contact is for NPC interactions, and pop-up dialog is pop-up dialog. You can use this at any point to, for example, provide an intro when you first spawn on the map or to, say, project a holorecording after you interact with an object.

When you drag any of these in you'll see at least one option associated with it. For interactions, you will need to specify what NPC/Object that objective uses. Choose the appropriate one from your social map and there you go. For dialog with NPC and pop-up dialog, you will also need to write dialog. There's a button on the objective's icon, or you can go straight to the dialog tab (whichever you prefer.) Write what you want, choose the appropriate NPC to display on the pane (it can be independent of the original dialog contact), add dialog options (bottom buttons on the dialog pane), done.

If you want to do anything more elaborate, you cannot use a Cryptic map and you will have to deal with the editor in more detail. For that, I recommend watching a tutorial series such as I've just linked below since a comprehensive explanation of the Foundry basics is a bit beyond the scope of a single forum post.


Hope that helps and if you have any further questions don't hesitate to ask.

trennan

duncanidaho11 wrote: »

trennan wrote: »

I don't plan on editing the map. I was just wondering about the NPCs for social maps. Test play does load them in. Which is why I asked if I could have them do what I wanted. For this part, it's mainly go in, watch a character give a speech, maybe get asked a yes or no question, and it's over. So all I would really need is for a character to appear, talk, and disappear. Or will I have to designate an npc and just have it as a a story board without the character actually making an appearance?

Sort of a go in interact with NPC A to get directed to Object B.
Object B shows a holorecording of said speach and Directs you back to NPC A.
NPC A askes a Yes or No question.
End of Mission

Is this the sort of thing I need to look at doing for it?

You can do that but you still need to back out of test play. I'll say this again, you're not going to learn anything from it what-so-ever. If you have not specified a map to edit (which, to be clear, is a process of adding objects, NPC's, objectives, and dialog, not manipulating geometry) you will be playing a version of STO which is identical to the main game in every way except one: there will be no other players in it.

You may as well be playing through with your main character (you get people in the zones that way )

So, head back to the editor. In the Story tab look to the list on your left. You have a number of options there but the one you want is "Cryptic maps." Drag that icon from the right and into the box at the center of the screen. That designates that you want to use a live social map for your Foundry Mission. Now, look just below the map options. You five objective related items there but for what you're doing you will only be able to use three: Interact, Dialog with Contact, and Pop-up dialog. Interact is what you use for object interactions, Dialog with contact is for NPC interactions, and pop-up dialog is pop-up dialog. You can use this at any point to, for example, provide an intro when you first spawn on the map or to, say, project a holorecording after you interact with an object.

When you drag any of these in you'll see at least one option associated with it. For interactions, you will need to specify what NPC/Object that objective uses. Choose the appropriate one from your social map and there you go. For dialog with NPC and pop-up dialog, you will also need to write dialog. There's a button on the objective's icon, or you can go straight to the dialog tab (whichever you prefer.) Write what you want, choose the appropriate NPC to display on the pane (it can be independent of the original dialog contact), add dialog options (bottom buttons on the dialog pane), done.

If you want to do anything more elaborate, you cannot use a Cryptic map and you will have to deal with the editor in more detail. For that, I recommend watching a tutorial series such as I've just linked below since a comprehensive explanation of the Foundry basics is a bit beyond the scope of a single forum post.


Hope that helps and if you have any further questions don't hesitate to ask.

I've watched tutorials on the regular foundry maps. Still refer to them as I'm just getting started on it. The social maps were where I had questions. Though I am sure I'll have more questions as I go. The speech is the start to it all and I wanted it set in a social area. Which I was looking at, I just wasn't sure if I could make the NPCs do what I wanted, or have to go more the holorecording part. With the inability to adjust NPCs in a social zone. I'll have to do the latter. From this event, I'll be working on a progressive story.

trennan

Question.

I've working on project two now. I see what you mean about the leaving from door now. I've tested a few different ones in the beta quadrant. But when I click play from beginning it puts me at Sol. No matter which one I'm using. Right now I have it set to Ganalda station in the Beta Quad. Should I set if the map that I'm using?

markhawkman

It seems to load the default spawn point for whatever zone. For the Beta Quadrant that's Sol, for Alpha, some point near the Badlands, and not sure about Delta but I think it's near the Jenolan Sphere.

trennan

markhawkman wrote: »

It seems to load the default spawn point for whatever zone. For the Beta Quadrant that's Sol, for Alpha, some point near the Badlands, and not sure about Delta but I think it's near the Jenolan Sphere.

So on the storyboard side of it. From the first grant mission dialogue to going to the selected system, as long as thats leaving from door is set to sector space, then I can pretty much ignore it?

duncanidaho11

trennan wrote: »

markhawkman wrote: »

It seems to load the default spawn point for whatever zone. For the Beta Quadrant that's Sol, for Alpha, some point near the Badlands, and not sure about Delta but I think it's near the Jenolan Sphere.

So on the storyboard side of it. From the first grant mission dialogue to going to the selected system, as long as thats leaving from door is set to sector space, then I can pretty much ignore it?

Yes, that first "leave from" door sets an overall starting location. That is the only time you want to change that setting. Further down the story board (ie. between map transfers in your mission) changing "leave from" doors from the default can cause progression problems (or at least add hassle for players).

trennan

duncanidaho11 wrote: »

trennan wrote: »

markhawkman wrote: »

It seems to load the default spawn point for whatever zone. For the Beta Quadrant that's Sol, for Alpha, some point near the Badlands, and not sure about Delta but I think it's near the Jenolan Sphere.

So on the storyboard side of it. From the first grant mission dialogue to going to the selected system, as long as thats leaving from door is set to sector space, then I can pretty much ignore it?

Yes, that first "leave from" door sets an overall starting location. That is the only time you want to change that setting. Further down the story board (ie. between map transfers in your mission) changing "leave from" doors from the default can cause progression problems (or at least add hassle for players).

Thanks, that is good to know. I have everything set in mind, well aside from system. I was using one for testing. Having that out of the way. As soon as I select where I want this to go, I can start toying around with the other setups. I didn't do combat in my first mission. This one I'll have to toy around with the settings to figure all that out. I can watch tutorials all day. Still won't help with the application there of.

markhawkman

I once set a mission where you went into a cave to retrieve an artifact to use the cave entrance as the leave from.... it was annoyingly time consuming and a total waste. It was time consuming to leave and didn't really add anything.

trennan

I'm kind of annoyed at the lack of ship interiors and lack of ability to make custom maps. There's Generic 1, which is a blank interior, but set in layout. Generic 2 is set already, just have to add extras. And we only have 1 generic ship interior. Ahh well I can work with the ship interior, just have to add what I need as I go.

Also is there a way to disable the away team? Or perhaps limit the number? I'd like to be able to set some things to just the player without them.

markhawkman

Nope always have full away team IIRC.

We do have several ship interiors, but some have weird names.

trennan

markhawkman wrote: »

Nope always have full away team IIRC.

We do have several ship interiors, but some have weird names.

Thanks for that.

Also, I've ran in to a few problems. One is reach markers for space are not working. I put one in, I go to that spot, and nothing.

Two, using a planet as a reach marker is the same way. I can fly through the atmosphere all I want. But it doesn't update missions at all.

Both of these are set to Y - 0, so they should be directly in front of where I'm going without an altitude change.

Third is something I'm toying around with. That's creating an escort part. I've tried with Legacy contact, wander, and reach markers. This doesn't work.

The escort part is just me toying around. Granted I'd love to be able to fit it in. But it's not needed. The reach markers work great for ground. They just don't work in space for me. How do I fix this? Put in a go to x object as a work around?

duncanidaho11

trennan wrote: »

Also, I've ran in to a few problems. One is reach markers for space are not working. I put one in, I go to that spot, and nothing.

1. What have you tied the reach marker to? Are you simply placing them on the map or have you tied them to specific reach objectives or object/npc state changes? You need to make sure you've done the latter (because otherwise moving to a reach marker will have no effect.)
2. What radius do you have set for the reach marker? In some cases the default is zero.

Third is something I'm toying around with. That's creating an escort part. I've tried with Legacy contact, wander, and reach markers. This doesn't work.

The escort part is just me toying around. Granted I'd love to be able to fit it in. But it's not needed. The reach markers work great for ground. They just don't work in space for me. How do I fix this? Put in a go to x object as a work around?

You can't fix it because using legacy contact is not a productive approach to an escort section.

Wander, first of all, doesn't work in the Foundry editor (for whatever reason). So, while it can be used you won't see anything happen with it while testing. Secondly, it's random movement. You cannot change where a wandering NPC goes, only a few variables affecting the pattern of random movement. The only visible way to fully simulate an escort section is to use patrol behavior, but there are still limitations to that approach which you will have to build around.

markhawkman wrote: »

We do have several ship interiors, but some have weird names.

You can also build your own in the Empty exterior ground map.

For example:

Use walls, carpets, and floor pieces (elevated, for the ceiling) and fill with detail as necessary.

trennan

duncanidaho11 wrote: »

trennan wrote: »

Also, I've ran in to a few problems. One is reach markers for space are not working. I put one in, I go to that spot, and nothing.

1. What have you tied the reach marker to? Are you simply placing them on the map or have you tied them to specific reach objectives or object/npc state changes? You need to make sure you've done the latter (because otherwise moving to a reach marker will have no effect.)
2. What radius do you have set for the reach marker? In some cases the default is zero.

Third is something I'm toying around with. That's creating an escort part. I've tried with Legacy contact, wander, and reach markers. This doesn't work.

The escort part is just me toying around. Granted I'd love to be able to fit it in. But it's not needed. The reach markers work great for ground. They just don't work in space for me. How do I fix this? Put in a go to x object as a work around?

You can't fix it because using legacy contact is not a productive approach to an escort section.

Wander, first of all, doesn't work in the Foundry editor (for whatever reason). So, while it can be used you won't see anything happen with it while testing. Secondly, it's random movement. You cannot change where a wandering NPC goes, only a few variables affecting the pattern of random movement. The only visible way to fully simulate an escort section is to use patrol behavior, but there are still limitations to that approach which you will have to build around.

markhawkman wrote: »

We do have several ship interiors, but some have weird names.

You can also build your own in the Empty exterior ground map.

For example:

Use walls, carpets, and floor pieces (elevated, for the ceiling) and fill with detail as necessary.

For the Reach markers I've tried different things. I go to my map, I'll place one at point X, and then I'll flip over to story and put a Reach Marker section in. Which is suppose to set a way point there. Which it does, but when I go in to test it out, it doesn't work. The same goes for a Reach Marker when I set it the planet in my space map. I fly to the planet. I cruise through it's atmosphere and it won't update the mission or progress to the next part. I've even tried placing a reach marker on the planet and resizing it to 300. So I'm stuck with Reach Markers that don't work. This could just be my foundry. I do have one that works. It's in a ground part of the mission. The Reach markers just aren't working for me in space.

I'm still toying with the ship escort idea. As I said I tried wander first off, with reach markers. This was a horribly bad idea, but I tried it. My next idea is to figure out how to despawn a contact, spawn in one ship from a Friendly NPC group, set it to patrol and move from point a to point b, despawn, and have my contact spawn back in at point b. Which is what I was working on last night before my bed jumped up and knocked me unconscious.

But my main problems right now are the Reach markers not working for space. I can work around this with placed objects. I'd just prefer not to.

markhawkman

There's a second issue with reach markers to consider. Sometimes they only trigger when you enter them. If the marker spawns with you inside it, then it'll wait until you exit and return.

duncanidaho11

trennan wrote: »

For the Reach markers I've tried different things. I go to my map, I'll place one at point X, and then I'll flip over to story and put a Reach Marker section in. Which is suppose to set a way point there. Which it does, but when I go in to test it out, it doesn't work. The same goes for a Reach Marker when I set it the planet in my space map. I fly to the planet. I cruise through it's atmosphere and it won't update the mission or progress to the next part. I've even tried placing a reach marker on the planet and resizing it to 300. So I'm stuck with Reach Markers that don't work. This could just be my foundry. I do have one that works. It's in a ground part of the mission. The Reach markers just aren't working for me in space.

A few things:

• Are you sure you're at the correct height? (double check the Y coordinates on both the marker and your spawnpoint)
• Are you sure you've set a radius? (300 radius? If you plugged that into Y that might explain something)
• Are you sure that you've selected a reach marker for the reach objective?
• Are you sure that you've selected the correct marker you intend to use (if there is more than one on the map)?
• Are you sure that you're not trying to spawn inside the reach marker?
• For now, don't bother with using a planet as a reach objective. Let's get the basics working first.
• Added recommendation: place a beacon FX (detail object) on all active reach objectives (set to the same height (Y) as well). Otherwise they can become very difficult to navigate to in 3D space. Even if you spawn at the same height, players may not remain at that altitude as they progress through other objectives and combat. This will also verify that you've placed the reach marker where you think you have.

As far as I've seen, there's nothing technically wrong with the reach markers in the foundry ATM. Double check all settings and re-watch the tutorials to be sure you've set them properly. We can only do so much here to diagnose what's happening on your screen.

trennan

duncanidaho11 wrote: »

trennan wrote: »

For the Reach markers I've tried different things. I go to my map, I'll place one at point X, and then I'll flip over to story and put a Reach Marker section in. Which is suppose to set a way point there. Which it does, but when I go in to test it out, it doesn't work. The same goes for a Reach Marker when I set it the planet in my space map. I fly to the planet. I cruise through it's atmosphere and it won't update the mission or progress to the next part. I've even tried placing a reach marker on the planet and resizing it to 300. So I'm stuck with Reach Markers that don't work. This could just be my foundry. I do have one that works. It's in a ground part of the mission. The Reach markers just aren't working for me in space.

A few things:

• Are you sure you're at the correct height? (double check the Y coordinates on both the marker and your spawnpoint)
• Are you sure you've set a radius? (300 radius? If you plugged that into Y that might explain something)
• Are you sure that you've selected a reach marker for the reach objective?
• Are you sure that you've selected the correct marker you intend to use (if there is more than one on the map)?
• Are you sure that you're not trying to spawn inside the reach marker?
• For now, don't bother with using a planet as a reach objective. Let's get the basics working first.
• Added recommendation: place a beacon FX (detail object) on all active reach objectives (set to the same height (Y) as well). Otherwise they can become very difficult to navigate to in 3D space. Even if you spawn at the same height, players may not remain at that altitude as they progress through other objectives and combat. This will also verify that you've placed the reach marker where you think you have.

As far as I've seen, there's nothing technically wrong with the reach markers in the foundry ATM. Double check all settings and re-watch the tutorials to be sure you've set them properly. We can only do so much here to diagnose what's happening on your screen.

I figured out my planet marker. That one is finally working. I had to resize it to 55 to allow you to get close enough. If I just set one on the map, which is y - 0 and everything else is at y-0 then it should work just flying in to it. But when I resized even to 10-20 it wouldn't work when I flew in to it. This is with just testing it, as a all you do is spawn in and go to the reach marker. So I bypassed the need for it. I had a couple other items sitting in the area that I could use as interacts. Which actually works better for what I'm working on than I could have gotten with a reach marker. But I'll remember that if I use one in space later on. Add a blinking light, satellite, or something there as well.

I gave up toying with the escort idea for now. I could of messed with that until the sun blew up. That wouldn't help me get things done.

trennan

Why is a Prop Military Turret Destroyed, a Contact instead of a Detail?

To use it you have to put in an Interact With Contact, instead of the Interact with Object.

markhawkman

there's a few objects that are contacts. I think they're dupes of actual objects though.

trennan

markhawkman wrote: »

there's a few objects that are contacts. I think they're dupes of actual objects though.

This one isn't a duplicate I checked. In details you have a Military Turret. But No Turret Destroyed. And in Contacts you have a Prop Military Turret Destroyed. Which I should bug report, because there's no way this should be a contact. Just an annoyance really.

The only problems I'm having with it right now. Is at two map transitions, I have a couple story popup messages. Transition in and the message popups. They aren't doing that. That was last night. I haven't checked yet today.

The only other problem I have, is my last map transition. It says there isn't an asset for it, even though by story, there's a map transition to it and a completed map. If it's still there today. I might duplicate that map, then swap it out for the map that's already there and see if that fixes it. This says, "State transition has no component selected. Map ______."

trennan

Ok a quick play through in the editor. Everything works, except those two popup messages. Even the final map transition works. Though I still have, "State transition has no component selected. Map ______" Which prevents me from publishing.

Ok I solved this. It was part of my states. Though the popup message still isn't working here. Nor is it working upon beaming in to the planet.

And I found a work around for the popup messages at the start of my last two maps. I placed reach markers at the spawn points and that fixed it right up. Also, it seems in my transition down to the planet. When you reach the beam down part. Everything I have in the map, including my planet disappear. Though my reach marker for this seems to be a few Km above where it should be.

trennan

Do the [OOC][/OOC] or [Rank] commands work in the project description?