How to place an NPC partially below ground level

ymisu · January 2014

I have ben trying to place an NPC so that they were partially below the map ground level. When I go in to play the map in Foundry the NPC is standing on the terrain. I can go into 3D edit and drop them back down but the next time I enter they are standing on the surface despite still having the desired Y value.

Can this simply not be done because of the physics and collision rules being applied or am I missing something?

Thanks to all.

charononus · January 2014

It's not impossible I've seen it in real foundry quests. That said it's annoying and should be made impossible. It makes their click box to talk to them impossibly small and makes the quest as close to broken as possible while still being completable if you have ocd and are willing to dance around to find that perfect spot to talk to them for 30 mins. (See the old blood and sand arena quest right now for an example)

ymisu · January 2014

Well in this case it's not an NPC you speak to or deal with. It's for effect. Just some ghostly arms sticking out of the ground and moving about. But I know what you mean on the click boxes because dealing with them in design is the same sort of issue. If you don't move farther back it appears as underneath you and if you move too far back... well you are too far back. :-)

I had expected it to just work. Thought maybe I'd find a flag for collision detection and that would make it ignore the environment.

eldarth · January 2014

The "terrain" is merely a thin layer like skin -- there is nothing solid below the graphic. Once you place an NPC "below" the level of the terrain, they simply "fall" thru the ground and Cryptic "respawns" them above where the author "placed" them.

In order to do what you want you need to place an invisible wall (like a 5'x5'x5' cube) below the terrain as far down as you want to give the NPC something to "stand" on instead of empty space.

kreatyve · January 2014

I do believe in the advanced costume editor, you can change the stance to one that's "floating", like an Angel stance. I haven't played with it much myself to see if it will make the NPC float or not, but it might be worth looking into.

eldarth · January 2014

kreatyve wrote: »

I do believe in the advanced costume editor, you can change the stance to one that's "floating", like an Angel stance. I haven't played with it much myself to see if it will make the NPC float or not, but it might be worth looking into.

Yep - it "floats" a couple feet above a solid surface -- so, same problem as above. Have to put an invisible block beneath if you want it below terrain at all.

ymisu · January 2014

Thank you. To me that makes perfect sense. I had tried, I thought, the invisible wall underneath with that concept in mind and it did not work. This means either I meant to try it and did not or I did not properly place it. I'll go try it again.

Thanks again.

How to place an NPC partially below ground level

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