A couple basic questions about adventure creation.

porpoisealert · May 2013

Hey, I'm making my first Foundry quest and I'm stumbling over a few key points that I want to pull off.

1.) How do I set a location that a portal takes the characters to? The idea behind my dungeon is that each room has a portal that takes you to the next room (I like the flavor of it more than just doorways to each passage) but all I seem to be able to do is teleport the person 5 feet behind a portal on the other side of a wall.

2.) How do I set an entry point to a door on a map that already has doors? I want to have the quest start on a city map (not a preset adventuring zone) but the best I seem to be able to do is create a floating door in the middle of the road. How do I have the object to interact with be a door that's already on the map but which the Foundry editor doesn't recognize as a freestanding object?

3.) Is there a way to set NPC movement? Like after a certain conversation path, can I make an NPC move to somewhere else?

4.) This sort of ties in with the above question, but is there also a way to make a certain NPC disappear/reappear? I'm wondering this as it relates to encounter mobs as well. How would I do the following?

A.) After a conversation ends with an NPC, the NPC disappears and another reappears in her place?

B.) More advanced: An NPC requires the correct answer to a riddle in order to make a portal behind him appear. If the answer is incorrect the quest objective for talking to him resets and preset encounter mobs appear. If the answer is correct the quest updates and a portal object appears behind him.

Any and all advice to my questions would be highly appreciated. I am totally new to this and kinda lost in the toolset. I'll give special thanks in the quest description when I'm finished to anyone who helps me out!

Edit: Adventure complete! Check it out- it's not too long.

Code: NW-DMG5882j5
Mansion of Madness
@porpoisealert

nokturnel · May 2013

I'll try to answer with my limited knowledge of what I've found out.

1. If you're trying to transition to a whole new map, you can leave from any object on your current map, but it has to be part of the story. Sadly you cannot let your players choose which map they want to goto or even have an optional map for your player to goto. What you can do is use "teleporters" in your map that link to each other allowing your player to teleport around your map wherever you like, these don't need to be tied to the story at all.

2. I'm kind of confused what you're asking. you should be able to select any "detail" on the map to be the exit object (whether it be door or not). The spawn point you can move around at your will.

3. You can change the NPC to be an encounter after talking to it. Have the NPC disappear once dialogue is over and have the encounter replace it with the same costume, pick an encounter with only 1 NPC in it and have it go on a patrol route (for friendly, choose a guard encounter, for unfriendly choose another encounter) Haven't tested this myself yet, but you might also just be able to change it into an NPC that looks exactly the same and have that NPC have a patrol route. (This way it won't engage in combat ever)

4a. In the visibility options on the npc select (Disappears) and (When Diaglogue Choice is Made) and place a different NPC on the map in it's exact place on the map that visibility options are (Appears) and (When Dialogue Choice is Made)

B. Easy, set the patrol encounter to only appear when the wrong dialogue choice is made. Set the portal to only appear when the right choice is made.

As a quick note if you're new, remember to switch between Detail Mode and Layout Mode to see different options available for each object/npc/encounter on your map.

giggliato · May 2013

nokturnel wrote: »

I'll try to answer with my limited knowledge of what I've found out.

1. If you're trying to transition to a whole new map, you can leave from any object on your current map, but it has to be part of the story. Sadly you cannot let your players choose which map they want to goto or even have an optional map for your player to goto. What you can do is use "teleporters" in your map that link to each other allowing your player to teleport around your map wherever you like, these don't need to be tied to the story at all.

2. I'm kind of confused what you're asking. you should be able to select any "detail" on the map to be the exit object (whether it be door or not). The spawn point you can move around at your will.

3. You can change the NPC to be an encounter after talking to it. Have the NPC disappear once dialogue is over and have the encounter replace it with the same costume, pick an encounter with only 1 NPC in it and have it go on a patrol route (for friendly, choose a guard encounter, for unfriendly choose another encounter) Haven't tested this myself yet, but you might also just be able to change it into an NPC that looks exactly the same and have that NPC have a patrol route. (This way it won't engage in combat ever)

4a. In the visibility options on the npc select (Disappears) and (When Diaglogue Choice is Made) and place a different NPC on the map in it's exact place on the map that visibility options are (Appears) and (When Dialogue Choice is Made)

B. Easy, set the patrol encounter to only appear when the wrong dialogue choice is made. Set the portal to only appear when the right choice is made.

As a quick note if you're new, remember to switch between Detail Mode and Layout Mode to see different options available for each object/npc/encounter on your map.

I'd like an ETA on when all those shiny buttons at the bottom of the home page will be active?

forien69 · May 2013

porpoisealert wrote: »

1.) How do I set a location that a portal takes the characters to?

Teleports (technical name for portals) are always made from two entrances/exits. They works in both ways. While on map, press "2" button on your keyboard and you will see two (purple I think) squares connected to themselves. These are both entrances for one teleport.

porpoisealert wrote: »

2.) How do I set an entry point to a door on a map that already has doors? I want to have the quest start on a city map (not a preset adventuring zone) but the best I seem to be able to do is create a floating door in the middle of the road. How do I have the object to interact with be a door that's already on the map but which the Foundry editor doesn't recognize as a freestanding object?

I don't quite understand what you mean. If you want player to go somewhere via doors in Protector's Enclave, go to Story, click TRANSITION you want, and set "leave from" to desired doors. (first pick a map from list on the left).
If you want player to transit out of YOUR CUSTOM map, use fake doors (SPECIAL tab), place them on any wall and do as above with TRANSITION.

porpoisealert wrote: »

3.) Is there a way to set NPC movement? Like after a certain conversation path, can I make an NPC move to somewhere else?

You can despawn him, and spawn GUARD-encounter NPC (only guards won't attack player), change his costume and set him a patrol path.

porpoisealert wrote: »

4.) This sort of ties in with the above question, but is there also a way to make a certain NPC disappear/reappear? I'm wondering this as it relates to encounter mobs as well. How would I do the following?

Almost every object on the map has settings and in them "appear" and "disappear". Check it out. It works for doors, details, encounters, NPCs, sounds etc.

My advice:

LOOK FOR SOME TUTORIALS
because there are many covering almost every single one of your question
(and those yet to come)

porpoisealert · May 2013

As to my "doors question," I'll clarify. The first map is an outside area that leads up to a contact NPC who wants you to go through the door behind him. But the editor doesn't register it as a door because it is just part of the base map. Is there any way to make it so that preexisting doors on a base map register as objects? I tried putting a door object in the same space as the "door" on the map, but I couldn't get it to work.

zovya · May 2013

I just started a FAQ thread. Here you can find Manuals and video tutorials.

http://nw-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?237862-FAQ-Foundry-Tips-Manuals-Tutorials-amp-Bugs

adakkar · May 2013

Should be able to place a door on top of a door in a premade map. It won't open into the building but would be usable for zoning into a new map.

Should also be able to use an invisible wall to do the same thing, but I forget whether a wall would show the sparklies or not.

nokturnel · May 2013

porpoisealert wrote: »

As to my "doors question," I'll clarify. The first map is an outside area that leads up to a contact NPC who wants you to go through the door behind him. But the editor doesn't register it as a door because it is just part of the base map. Is there any way to make it so that preexisting doors on a base map register as objects? I tried putting a door object in the same space as the "door" on the map, but I couldn't get it to work.

Oh so I assume you are unable to select the door in question as a object, in other words it's actually the house model. You'll have to try placing a door of the same size in it's location but make it pop out a little so it can be interacted with.

If that doesn't work it means the house model's actual size is actually bigger than it appears and there's an invisible wall or something where you want to place the door. If ya tell me which house model you used or if you're using one of the default maps, describe to me and I'll see if I can get it to work and relay the info to you.

boydzinj · May 2013

Remember, the foundry has allot of limitations. However, you can use smoke and mirrors and be a master of subterfuge to fool people. For instance, there is no way to give players a NPC that you talk to that turns hostile. However, you can have a NPC have dialogue. Once a specific dialogue is met, it can disappear and in the exact same spot an encounter can appear (you can have the encounter appear when the same specific dialogue is said). Since you can change the look of the encounter - you can give your enemy encounter the appearance of the NPC that just disappeared.

Smoke and mirrors. Be a master of subterfuge and you will do well. Likewise, monsters and enemy encounters do scale with the level of players. But, their abilties do not. They are reached at specific levels, just like players. There are some encounters which is listed as "HARD" but at level 1 thru 10 - you can stack 5 of them together and kill them without breaking a sweat. At level 30+, the same encounter can chain stun you and hit you for 25% of your hit points. So if you stack three of them - you can almost instant die to the same "HARD" encounters that were easy at level 10. Some of the encounters then scale to the point of being nearly impossible to defeat with no other enemies near them - at level 60.

On your riddle question ...

Try this: Hide the door behind a fake door that does not open. The fake door is a texture that will not let you interact with the real door or see it. It is said to disappear when a specific dialogue option is open. This will give the illusion that you need to answer the correct riddle question. The dialogue option for the NPC can be very lengthy and if you are smart - you can hide and give out the answer in a specific text that is not used anywhere else. That will cause the false door to disappear and the real door is reveal - letting the player go thru.

Portals: Again, hide them behind or under some large texture. Hae the texture disappear when a specific quest is completed or dialogue option is said. For instance, you want to do a "fetch" quest to go from the city and capture a special magic potion being held by the evil drow. At the end of the quest, you want the player to use a portal to come back to the city - versus making the player walk ALL THE WAY BACK... afterall, it took them 30 minutes to travel this far... why spend another 30 minutes to travel backwards?

The portals can not appear or disappear at this moment. However, you place a large texture over them, and once the quest is completed you make the texture disappear. Just remember, the portals have two parts. If you forget to make one of the large texture disappear when someone uses the portal they will be stuck inbetween textures. So they completed the quest and a teleport portal appears 'magically' (using the above features) and they can go back to town.

You can even have a NPC appear to announce the arrival of the portal using the same feature.

elvinatombender · May 2013

I'd like to add a question, too:

What kind of negative consequences can I force onto a player character?

The only features I found so far were spawning a hard encounter or making necessary objects for a quest disappear. This is quite unsatisfactory.

Say I make a riddle/deathtrap dungeon and for choosing the wrong answer in a dialoge I'd like to:

a) instantly force teleport the char into another location (room or new map)
b) kill him
c) instantly do lots of damage to the char
d) spawn a trap on the char's position which instantly triggers
e) cause an injury
f) do above to party members (even companions) even though they are not actively using the dialogue

Which of these is possible and how?
Thanks!

eldarth · May 2013

elvinatombender wrote: »

d) spawn a trap on the char's position which instantly triggers

I'm trying to do something very similar where the PC drinks poisoned wine.

You cannot spawn something at a relative position, but you can spawn
several traps where the PC should be standing while talking to the NPC.
Have them "appear when dialog reached" and disappear on dialog complete
or perhaps another objective in progress.

Unfortunately if the PC fails to "move" during your appear-when/disappear-when
timeframe the traps won't trigger -- even if the PC is standing directly on a trap trigger.

elvinatombender · May 2013

Is this the only thing I can do? That's... not a lot!

Even a trap which doesn't activate right away is somewhat not what I had in mind.

boydzinj · May 2013

elvinatombender wrote: »

I'd like to add a question, too:

What kind of negative consequences can I force onto a player character?

The only features I found so far were spawning a hard encounter or making necessary objects for a quest disappear. This is quite unsatisfactory.

Say I make a riddle/deathtrap dungeon and for choosing the wrong answer in a dialoge I'd like to:

a) instantly force teleport the char into another location (room or new map)
b) kill him
c) instantly do lots of damage to the char
d) spawn a trap on the char's position which instantly triggers
e) cause an injury
f) do above to party members (even companions) even though they are not actively using the dialogue

Which of these is possible and how?
Thanks!

Most of these are not possible at this time.

However, you can do something tricky. Did you know there are a few textures that can HURT players? The spellfire (I think it is spell fire) ... it is three or four FX items that can cause MINOR damage. If you set them to appear when a specific dialogue is said and disappear when a specific dialogue is said... that MIGHT do the trick.

However, I was not kidding about the damage. I think its like 11 damage per second. If a character has 10K health... it would take over 15 minutes to kill this character.

For the most part you can throw enemy encounters at the player. "HARD" encounters versus "EASY" ... I do not even think the traps are set to appear or disappear. For the most part, the foundry uses rewards and not penalize or death to advance their agendas. You pretty much have to think in those terms: Reward and do not penalize players. I also do believe that the 3rd edition of D&D GM handbook and all editions about that also recommends the same situation. You are essentially an AFK Dungeon Master that the players need to get past. Think like a proactive DM (Dungeon Master) and think how to reward and not penalize or kill the player as often and the foundry will be much better for ye.

However, the foundry is all smokes and mirrors... smokes and mirrors. You need to be a master of subterfuge. Try this out.

The players enter a room with a single NPC, the Riddler. There are three doors behind the Riddler. You have to answer correctly to progress. If you miss the riddle... "something" happens. You have the NPC, Riddler, that gives you a riddle.

The player is given 3 choices (A, B, or C).

If the player answer it incorrectly the NPC gives out a specific speech and dialogue.

The first choice gives a dialogue that makes the door texture disappear. The player enters the room... to see a "Treasure Chest" that is glowing. The player interacts with the treasure chest and it says a specific dialogue. The treasure chest disappears and several "HARD" encounters appear and battles the player.

In reality, the door texture was set to disappear when the NPC, Riddler, said a specific dialogue.

Likewise, the chest is a NPC that is a Mimic and is set to disappear when the mimic says a specific dialogue when the player interacts with the chest. The monsters also appear when that specific dialogue from the chest is said. There are no exists from the room... so the player is forced to go back and talk to the Riddler.

The NPC that is a mimic that looks like the Treasure Chest, and even be set to appear when you first talk to the Riddler again. Thus, if the player is silly enough to pick the wrong answer. They get ambushed... AGAIN.

You repeat for answer B and in answer C instead of monsters or enemy encounters appear... you have a texture disappear in that room - allowing the player to move on your quest.

Does this help you?

elvinatombender · May 2013

Sounds quite demotivating to be honest.

What about teleporting the character around at least (without the need of the char having to click something) ?

Can a NPC patrol trigger an area trigger which causes something else to happen in the dungeon?

boydzinj · May 2013

elvinatombender wrote: »

Sounds quite demotivating to be honest.

What about teleporting the character around at least (without the need of the char having to click something) ?

Can a NPC patrol trigger an area trigger which causes something else to happen in the dungeon?

Teleporting... no I do not believe so.

As for the NPC, I am pretty sure all the triggers are based on what players are doing. You may have to play around with that, but patrol speed is something that is goody. If the server is buggy and slow... they may take an hour to move 1 inch. Other times, patrols move faster than a speeding bullet.

Regardless of what options you see, the foundry can not control the patrol speed of NPCs at this time. Sometimes, NPCs get stuck behind a texture and will not patrol... even if other times that same texture does not stop them. UGH. I know.

zovya · May 2013

elvinatombender wrote: »

Sounds quite demotivating to be honest.

What about teleporting the character around at least (without the need of the char having to click something) ?

Can a NPC patrol trigger an area trigger which causes something else to happen in the dungeon?

An NPC can't trigger anything, but killing them can. Try this Trigger Timer trick.
http://nw-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?158751-Foundry-Trick-Trigger-Timer&highlight=trigger+timer

There's always a way to get close to what you want, with a little "magic".

porpoisealert · May 2013

I finished the quest! I may do some more polishing in the future, but for now it is entirely playable and (I think) pretty good. It's relatively short (I just went through it in around 15 minutes) so go take a look at it!

Code: NW-DMG5882j5
Mansion of Madness
@porpoisealert

A couple basic questions about adventure creation.

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