[Community FAQ] Tips, Manuals, Tutorials, & Bugs

zovya · May 2013

Known bugs: Read this first.

Mouse Freeze
Occasionally the mouse will freeze when dragging assets onto your map. A quick fix for this is to use ctrl+s This will save the quest and free up your mouse at the same time. Alternately alt+F4 will attempt to close the foundry, giving you an option to exit/save&exit/cancel.

Duplicating Map Bug
If you duplicate your map with NPCs with dialogue or interact-able objects on it, the copied map will have all objects with interact-able dialogue options. A good rule of thumb: set your maps, details and transitions before you start populating them with NPCs and the storyline.

I get the "Bad objective component when objective..." error.
This is due to having two objectives use the same NPC. A previous patch made it so that one NPC cannot be used for the same Objective more than once. This thread shows how to fix the issue.

Cryptic Map Bug
If you include a normal Cryptic zone map (ex: Blacklake District) in the middle of your storyline, it often will drop the quest from the players journal. The player cannot return to the quest until relogging, once, or possibly more times.

Sound Bug
This bug has been squashed. Yay!

Patrol speed doesn't work.
When you set an NPC behavior to a one-way or looping partol, you have an option to set the speed in fps (feet per second). This value currently doesn't work and will always be the default speed.

Player losing the review window after the quest.
If the player moves after completing the quest, opening the chest, they will lose the window that allows them to review the quest. Sometimes if you open another window, like inventory for example, the quest review will come back up. If that doesn't work, you can type in this command: /Ugcshowreviewgen

Teleporter elevation and rotation values are off.
Many have noticed that the values for a teleporter's elevation and rotation angle are not in feet, and degrees like other objects in the game. The rotation angle is actually in radians, here is a thread that explains how to convert the values. No one knows how to compensate for elevation yet. It is suggested you start with a high value, and keep lowering until you get it where you want.

Manuals and Tutorials:

4 Part Manual created by Gillrmn
http://nw-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?137101

Neverwinter Foundry Tutorial - NWUGC.com
Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5

A Video Tutorial Series by Gemstrike
http://nw-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?158651-Yet-another-Video-Tutorial-series&highlight=video+tutorial

New Author Guide by zareth2
http://nw-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?357611-New-Author-Guide

Helpful Links
Neverwinter Foundry Wiki - Quick Start
The technical Q&A thread
Please do not stack Encounters
Encounters for Dummies (and everyone else)
Things I Learned the Hard Way
How to: Making Better Environments

Foundry Specific Console Commands
/Ugcshowreviewgen Show the Foundry review dialog. (in case you move and the review box closes)
/Ugchidereviewgen Hide the Foundry review dialog.
/UGC.Redo No comment provided
/UGC.CloseProject ?
/ugcEditorImportProjectSafe ?
/ugcEditorExportProjectSafe No comment provided
/Ugcplayingeditor_Toggle Alias for Gensendmessage Ugc_Edittools_Toggleplayingeditorbutton
/ugcEditorMode Set the UGC editor mode.
/UGC.Save No comment provided
/UGC.Do No comment provided
/ugc_MaybeShowReviewGen No comment provided
/UGC.CloseProject
/ugcEditorImportProjectSafe
All Game Console Commands

FAQs:

How do I place a Campfire?
The campfire that a player regenerates health and respawns after a defeat is call the "Respawn Point" located under the Specials tab when editing a map. Turn the campfire to face where you want the player to respawn. ie, not in a nearby wall.

How do I place the player's name in dialogue?
The command to use is [nickname] in the dialogue text. The code will be replaced by the players character name when he/she plays the quest. You can only use this command in the NPC's dialogue however, not in the player's response.

How long till my quest is live when I publish it?
When you publish your quest, the editor will indicate when publishing is complete. It is live on the public server at that time. However, you cannot search for the quest by title for a while. You can search for it by author's @handle or the quest short code (NW-XXXXXXXX)

How long till my quest is not in the "For Review" tab?
Once your quest gets 5 reviews, it will no longer show in the "For Review" tab on the Foundry Catalog in game.

How do I get people to play and review my quest?
There are literally thousands and thousands of quests just in the review tab alone. And more being published everyday. The chance of someone randomly encountering your quest in the review tab is slim. You should advertise your quest to other players either on the forums, in game, to you friends or guild members. There are many "review trade" threads in the Foundry Spotlight Forum where you can swap reviews with other authors.

How do I get my quest available for the Daily Foundry rewards?
Your quest must meet the minimum requirements to be eligible for the Daily Foundry rewards. It must have at least 20 plays, at least 5 reviews, and must have a minimum average play time of 15 minutes. Average play time is calculated by the game based on how fast players complete your quest.

I get the "Bad objective component when objective..." error.
This is due to having two objectives use the same NPC. A previous patch made it so that one NPC cannot be used for the same Objective more than once. This thread shows how to fix the issue.

What exactly are the X, Y, and Z coordinates?
The X coordinate is the object's placement in the east-west axis. Smaller number is westward, larger number is eastward. The Y coordinate is based on the up-down axis relative to the ground/floor. The Z coordinate is the object's placement in the north-south axis. Smaller number is southward, larger number is northward. Each unit in the coordinate system is 1 foot on the map.

I place a large asset on my map and I can't see anything else under it.
If you have a large asset on your map, it may obscure everything under or around it. A good example is water planes. Click on an object, the "Editor Display Priority" selection box is your tool. Although, water planes do not intersect with the terrain in the 2d editor. See this thread about it.

What are the available Foundry Titles, requirements and perks?
Rank 1 - Foundry Apprentice
Requires: (need info)
Rewards: Foundry Apprentice Cloak and title "Foundry Apprentice"

Rank 2 - Foundry Neophyte
Requires: (need info)
Rewards: Title "Foundry Neophyte"

Rank 3 - Foundry Graduate
Requires: 7 Authoring Achievements
Rewards: Foundry Graduate Cloak and title "Foundry Graduate"

Rank 4 - Foundry Stalwart
Requires: 11 Authoring Achievements
Rewards: Title "Foundry Stalwart"

Rank 5 - Foundry Journeyman
Requires: 14 Authoring Achievements
Rewards: Title "Foundry Journeyman"

Rank 6 - Foundry Artifex
Requires: 17 Authoring Achievements and 10 Community Achievements
Reward: Book Imp companion, Foundry Artifex Cloak and title "Foundry Artifex"

Rank 7 - Foundry Master
Requires: 20 Authoring Achievements and 12 Community Achievements
Reward: Foundry Master Cloak and title "Foundry Master"

Rank 8 - Foundry Grand Master
Requires: 23 Authoring Achievements and 14 Community Achievements
Reward: Silverback Bear Mount, Foundry Grand Master Cloak and title "Foundry Grand Master"

Rank 9 - Moonstar Agent
Requires: 26 Authoring Achievements and 16 Community Achievements
Reward: Icosahedron Ioun Stone companion, Moonstar Agent Cloak, and title "Moonstar Agent"

Rank 10 - Moonstar
Requires: 29 Authoring Achievements and 18 Community Achievements
Reward: Moonstar Cloak and the title "Moonstar"

Tips and Tricks:

zovya · May 2013

Reserved for later

zovya · May 2013

Reserved for later 2

zovya · May 2013

Please add to this, give me any bugs you know of, tutorial links, or some of your tips. I'll try and arrange them the best I can. If we can keep this thread active, this can be a big help for new authors.

thehuntress · May 2013

This is awesome, Zovya! I'm too tired right now to think of what I've learned but will when I come across some a-ah moments.

raythewolf · May 2013

So I have a simple question. I just made a quest " Den of Thieves " and when I published it I tried to look for it in game but it was not there in backed it even stated that no results were found. So how can I find my quest in game or how can I make it easyer for me to find

waeolwen · May 2013

I believe you have to search by the quest "code." I have not published a quest yet, so I am not sure on the mechanics there.

coanunn · May 2013

raythewolf wrote: »

So I have a simple question. I just made a quest " Den of Thieves " and when I published it I tried to look for it in game but it was not there in backed it even stated that no results were found. So how can I find my quest in game or how can I make it easyer for me to find

You have to use the short code until it's passed the "review" stage. Once you have enough reviews from players who have agreed to review new quests it won't be searchable in anyway except the short code. #1 suggestion, ADVERTISE it on here as needing to be tested and wanting feedback. The people who are serious about the Foundry will help you out and get some reviews turned in for it.

Zovya, Great posts! Always nice to have a reference point to find everything else from.

zovya · May 2013

Made some updates. I have some (need info) requests if anyone has this information.

And as always, need more FAQs to A

coanunn · May 2013

Links for a couple important threads:
Tips and Tricks - http://nw-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?213112-Things-I-Learned-the-Hard-Way
Encounter Tutorial - http://nw-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?140071-Encounters-for-Dummies-(and-everyone-else)&highlight=dummies

kamaliicious · May 2013

"Rank 3 - Foundry Graduate
Requires: (need info)"

Requires 7 authoring achievements.

kirksplat · May 2013

Great thread.

I sent a pm.

alrik8888 · May 2013

Sound effects you add to the game don't seem to work. They worked fine when testing inside the foundry with the "play from here" options but when I found my quest ingame and played through it, none of them played. This is a pretty big issue since the thing I'm working on is heavily reliant on sound effects to create atmosphere, like you'll be walking down this long dark hallway, and you'll hear a monster roar in the distance, things like that aren't working ingame. Room ambience works, but that makes things extremely limited.

Until this gets fixed I've withdrawn my quest, I don't want people playing through it and thinking everything is quiet and empty and giving bad reviews because of a bug that's not letting things trigger.

The thing about the cursor freezing up is by no means rare either, I have it happen constantly and I have to alt f4 to get it back. Another one I've noticed is if you're working on a lengthy dialogue tree, sometimes things get a little wacky, like you'll reclick the npc's dialogue section to correct a typo or whatever and you can't scroll down, and clicking closes it so the only thing that works is using the arrow keys to get to wherever you need to be. It's annoying but not nearly as bad as the sound bug, that basically ruins my whole project.

zovya · May 2013

Thanks for the updates. I need to mention the sound in the bugs part.

tasarran · May 2013

How do I make a series of areas that are linked?
In other words, I want to have a big area, with entrances to several smaller dungeons.
How do I work this?

kamaliicious · May 2013

tasarran wrote: »

How do I make a series of areas that are linked?
In other words, I want to have a big area, with entrances to several smaller dungeons.
How do I work this?

You don't. Everything must be linear, you can not have a hub area where you can choose to go to more than one separate area.

tasarran · May 2013

Wow, that seems like a pretty serious limitation, and rather arbitrary?

kamaliicious · May 2013

tasarran wrote: »

Wow, that seems like a pretty serious limitation, and rather arbitrary?

You should open a new thread so this discussion doesn't muddy up a FAQ.

lemonkingi · May 2013

No one has found this work around for the Mouse Freeze yet so here you go.
Drag Around the 3D Model Preview when you go to place an object, and it won't freeze.

If the mouse crosses the 3D model preview it will lock into manipulating the model and not the object you are dragging, creating what seems like a freeze.

slaidz · May 2013

Whenever the mouse freezes I usually just save and that fixes it.

zovya · May 2013

lemonkingi wrote: »

No one has found this work around for the Mouse Freeze yet so here you go.
Drag Around the 3D Model Preview when you go to place an object, and it won't freeze.

If the mouse crosses the 3D model preview it will lock into manipulating the model and not the object you are dragging, creating what seems like a freeze.

I've never had the mouse freeze in the 3D mode. That's a new one to me.

alrik8888 · May 2013

Looks like "backdrop" sound is also not working. I changed it to forest ambience and it's not playing.

Editing the sky, adding fog, etc all works though.

ariusdecimus · May 2013

How does one suggest a sticky? This is very helpful, I think it needs to be seen more so we can get more contributions as well as keep it at the top.

zovya · May 2013

Just keep it bumped for now, that way more new authors can see it.

ariusdecimus · May 2013

Gotcha, will do.

darkenedeye1f · May 2013

Bug: only encounters that are based off animals will work with a reskinned animal costume. So spiders or wolves pretty much. This is because the red tells and attack animations do not work with the animal costume.

x0y1 · May 2013

Error: "Invalid Foundry Project Request" when you duplicate your entire mission.

Solution: Check your foundry mission name. There is error with the name length. Rename it, e.g 7 chars work, then use duplicate....

zovya · May 2013

alrik8888 wrote: »

Looks like "backdrop" sound is also not working. I changed it to forest ambience and it's not playing.

Editing the sky, adding fog, etc all works though.

Can someone confirm? I think only backdrop sounds for indoor maps are working, not backdrop sounds for outdoor maps.

luther8 · May 2013

good job I'm sure it will help a lot of people.

darkanind · May 2013

When I fall into a pit as my Author character and release, I just respawn in the pit and die again. I don't respawn at the fire. Bug? Or just happens in the Foundry?

darkanind · May 2013

darkanind wrote: »

When I fall into a pit as my Author character and release, I just respawn in the pit and die again. I don't respawn at the fire. Bug? Or just happens in the Foundry?

I just found out it only happens in the Foundry during preview.

[Community FAQ] Tips, Manuals, Tutorials, & Bugs

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