Trouble with NPCs on platforms

kirksplat

This has been happening to me non-stop on a new mission. I've built an elaborate set in the sky (about 100 absolute y), using platforms and building blocks as the floor. Mostly, there are 500 x 500 or 100x 100 platforms, used as ceilings and floors.

When I put an npc contact on a map using any number of triggers, the npc doesn't spawn, or he spawns on the ground or up on top of the ceiling. I don't know where he is. I've used reach markers up close to see if he is falling through the platform, but no.

But, if I take that npc and sometimes move him 2 feet away from the intended spot, he will spawn just fine.

The obvious question: Am I using relative to geography or terrain on a non-flat map? Yes to non-flat map, but everything is set exactly as it should be with y relative to absolute zero. Either something with the spot on the platform or something about the underlying terrain is pushing my npc who knows where.

Anyone else experiencing this? I'm pulling out my hair just to get the npcs in the spot that I put them, and I'm afraid to move them one inch, in case that new spot is a problem for spawning.

zer0niusrex

kirksplat wrote: »

This has been happening to me non-stop on a new mission. I've built an elaborate set in the sky (about 100 absolute y), using platforms and building blocks as the floor. Mostly, there are 500 x 500 or 100x 100 platforms, used as ceilings and floors.

When I put an npc contact on a map using any number of triggers, the npc doesn't spawn, or he spawns on the ground or up on top of the ceiling. I don't know where he is. I've used reach markers up close to see if he is falling through the platform, but no.

But, if I take that npc and sometimes move him 2 feet away from the intended spot, he will spawn just fine.

The obvious question: Am I using relative to geography or terrain on a non-flat map? Yes to non-flat map, but everything is set exactly as it should be with y relative to absolute zero. Either something with the spot on the platform or something about the underlying terrain is pushing my npc who knows where.

Anyone else experiencing this? I'm pulling out my hair just to get the npcs in the spot that I put them, and I'm afraid to move them one inch, in case that new spot is a problem for spawning.

Have you tried relative to geometry?

kirksplat

zer0niusrex wrote: »

Have you tried relative to geometry?

I'll try this the next time that I run into it. Can you give us a technical explanation for relative to geography. I've never seen it explained.

zeuxidemus001

kirksplat wrote: »

I'll try this the next time that I run into it. Can you give us a technical explanation for relative to geography. I've never seen it explained.

I know what you are talking about this happened to be when i made the mission City of Rator 6. What I had to do to play with the geometry because some even tho they are at same elevation from where they are created. Some things I had to put higher than others and some lower until they all evened out.

meurik

@ zer0niusrex

Any chance we can build our own "interior" maps, without having to fake interiors, by buildings floors, walls etc on EXTERIOR maps? I'm thinking of the "click to place rooms" functionality that is rumoured to be included for Neverwinter's foundry.

Would certainly save alot of time, rather than building each and every room with "blocks".

nagorak

Have you tried using relative to terrain? As I recall the relative to zero is a bit buggy with contacts (works fine with objects).

nagorak

meurik wrote: »

@ zer0niusrex

Any chance we can build our own "interior" maps, without having to fake interiors, by buildings floors, walls etc on EXTERIOR maps? I'm thinking of the "click to place rooms" functionality that is rumoured to be included for Neverwinter's foundry.

Would certainly save alot of time, rather than building each and every room with "blocks".

I would be satisfied if they could just give us a better lighting option with more ambient lighting and light coming from directly above, so that our interior levels didn't end up looking so weird. None of the exterior lighting options really work 100% right for interiors, especially because everything ends up being in shadow once you put a ceiling on top.

rogueeenterprise

I actually have this happen to me ALL THE TIME. Pretty near drives me ballistic, lol.

kirksplat

This happened again, but changing it to relative to geometry fixed it. Hope that helps everyone.

rogueeenterprise

KF, when you changed relative to geometry, did you have your platform still set relative to zero, with the NPCs set relative to geometry? if so, what values were you setting for each? NPCs set to +1 over the platform?

kirksplat

rogueeenterprise wrote: »

KF, when you changed relative to geometry, did you have your platform still set relative to zero, with the NPCs set relative to geometry? if so, what values were you setting for each? NPCs set to +1 over the platform?

Yes, platforms were still set to absolute. The value of the y may have been more than 1, since I was experimenting with all kinds of y values. I just know that I couldn't find my npc, and when I switched to y relative to geo, she was suddenly there.

I'm afraid to mess with anything.

But now that I'm playtesting my maps, stuff that showed up isn't showing up on a publish. I had a spider below a console that worked on preview and he is missing on the publish.

drogyn1701

I can confirm that, as I was helping Kirkfat test his mission. My guess would be it might be spawning on the roof or falling through the floor. I was having trouble with npcs spawning on the roof of a custom-build (months before season 6). I had a map built on a platform high above a ground map, with another platform for a ceiling. I had several "rooms" and most of the npcs spawned fine, but in one, a bunch kept disappearing after I put the ceiling on. Finally said the heck with it and got rid of those ones.

KF, I would honestly just replace that npc with an interact object and then pop-up dialogue. Less chance of bugging that way.

markhawkman

Absolute coordinates aren't working for your NPCs? Shouldn't those be the actual xyz location of the object on the map?

kirksplat

drogyn1701 wrote: »

I can confirm that, as I was helping Kirkfat test his mission. My guess would be it might be spawning on the roof or falling through the floor. I was having trouble with npcs spawning on the roof of a custom-build (months before season 6). I had a map built on a platform high above a ground map, with another platform for a ceiling. I had several "rooms" and most of the npcs spawned fine, but in one, a bunch kept disappearing after I put the ceiling on. Finally said the heck with it and got rid of those ones.

KF, I would honestly just replace that npc with an interact object and then pop-up dialogue. Less chance of bugging that way.

Well, it's a puzzle dialogue so it's going to be a pain to port to a dialog with an interact. I'll have to do it though, unless switching the hidden spider to y relative to geo fixes, but I guess it's a better choice, since I hated the "Talk to Computer" interact that I'm stuck with when using a hidden spider under a console.

drogyn1701

Well if we had gotten the "talk to object" objective it wouldn't be a problem... but somebody had to complain about the inability to put an animation with it Just kidding, workarounds are what we do. Ain't nothin gonna change that.

zorbane

I am having similar problems except instead of platforms its walls.

Here is a screenshot of my boff stuck in a wall http://imgur.com/znDIP

They wouldn't always get stuck, sometimes they'd walk right through and out the other side.

This would not occur to the player character.

I noticed that this occurred in places where I had objects overlapping (in this case walls or the wall with door) so I suspect this may be the cause. It may be the same problem with the boffs and npcs falling down where platforms were placed and intersected. It also only happened after I published, don't know if that had anything to do with it.

Project Name: Duritanium Man - Pre Alpha
Project ID: ST-HSMJTB692