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questions on a new mission (design phase)
westmetals
Member Posts: 8,479 Arc User
I've begun work on my second mission and had a couple of questions....
- I've seen the static effect that blocks out the minimap (used in some other missions as well as story episodes). What is that called and is it useable on a ground map?
- Is it possible to set a 'reach marker' type objective which would trigger on the player returning to the starting (spawn) point AFTER completing something else? (I'm trying to set it up where you would have to return to the entrance to a maze, and just worried about it completing too early.) Or is this even the default and I'm just asking a silly question?
Also, if one of the devs is reading this... could we possibly get the ability to import captain/boff costumes (so we can put our own captains or boffs in a mission) and/or the ability to create custom NPCs of some of the non-playable NPC races (such as Jem'Hadar, etc)?
- I've seen the static effect that blocks out the minimap (used in some other missions as well as story episodes). What is that called and is it useable on a ground map?
- Is it possible to set a 'reach marker' type objective which would trigger on the player returning to the starting (spawn) point AFTER completing something else? (I'm trying to set it up where you would have to return to the entrance to a maze, and just worried about it completing too early.) Or is this even the default and I'm just asking a silly question?
Also, if one of the devs is reading this... could we possibly get the ability to import captain/boff costumes (so we can put our own captains or boffs in a mission) and/or the ability to create custom NPCs of some of the non-playable NPC races (such as Jem'Hadar, etc)?
Post edited by westmetals on
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2: yeah, that's fine. the game doesn't complain about it if objectives take place at the spawn point. Although it's best to set things so that enemies don't spawn camp the player.
3a: that feature was removed for reasons known only to the devs. they mentioned it was glitchy, but not the specific reason.
3b: that would be nice.
My character Tsin'xing
As for your reach marker at the spawn point, it should be ok as long as it is tied to an objective. If, for example, you place a reach marker on a map and make an object disappear when the player goes to it, and this is not tied to an objective, the reach marker will trigger the first time a player walks over it. However, if you tie it to an objective, it will only trigger when the player is at the correct point in the storyline.
We used to have an costume import/export function. It was removed because it caused crashes. May it rest in peace.
The costume import was a half implemented feature that (I think) was backported from Neverwinter. The problem was that NW's import is designed to import NPC contact costumes which STO isn't set up to do. The result was a lot of buggy NPC costumes which tended to crash the Foundry editor a lot. The feature was pulled to prevent these crashes.
As to the second part, Cryptic has been putting a lot of extra effort into getting as many costumes into the Foundry editor as possible. We even have a few that regular players don't have. That said, many (most?) NPCs are just a single, unalterable skin lacking any of the breaks or special texture layers necessary to customize them. As a result, unless Cryptic takes the time to rebuild them for editability, we can't edit them.
I was able to use Costume Import to create a non-Borg version of Captain Ogen for one of my missions. No crashes at all.
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What exactly are you trying to achieve with the static effect on the ground?
There are Voth NPC groups in the Foundry. We also have the Voth ships that have been made into player ships. You could create costumes for those. If you do a Dialog with Contact objective, you can use a Voth ship costume as the contact. We also have the Dyson armor in the costume editor which could be used to make a passable Voth (with his helmet on.)
To obscure the minimap: when you're done building the map, add the biggest floor pieces you can find over the top of everything. These should show up on the minimap and obscure anything under them.
For ground Voth costumes try the Voth rep armor. I think it is available now in the costume creator. Has a basic Voth shape, plus a full-head helmet with an opaque visor so you can't tell there's not a real Voth under it. I have a player captain and crew that I RP as Voth using this armor.
What you can do is place large platform over the maze. Place it at a very high altitude, out of view of the player.
My character Tsin'xing
Very strange. This works perfectly well for me so long as the platform stands higher than the maze. I even have my platforms set to never become visible so you don't see them and they still cover the maze up on the minimap.
My character Tsin'xing
I built my maze on the terrain level of a ground outdoor map, laid down a huge platform and set it at 5000 high so that it automatically adjusted it to the highest it can go on the map, then I set it to never become visible.
This generated a giant square slab that hid my entire maze on the minimap, which is never seen in the game itself by the player.