by elvist » Sat Jul 05, 2014 12:24 pm
Hey everybody! Long time no see!
I recently got back to my Ultima I ACK project so that I might have a completed Trilogy of Darkness rebuild. I barreled through my last setback and replaced all of my NPCs so that they are fully healed, and found a new problem.
In testing, I've found that none of my NPCs, specifically monsters or evil NPCs, will walk on terrain that has ANY kind of modifier attached. (with some exceptions).
I guess I'll get into the exceptions: My water tile is unpassable unless holding Item Boat. If I change the vehicle setting on any of my water based creatures to Boat, it works fine. If I set the Vehicle setting to Water, not so much even though this is indicated in the manual etc. This is not so much of a problem though as just giving my Sea Monsters a Boat solves it. I have a Forest tile, it is passable to the player, and presumably anything else, provided they aren't holding Item Aircar. Item Aircar counts as Item Boat, yet can go anywhere the user can, unlike the Boat which can only go where needed. If my player has Item Aircar then he can cross oceans and rivers and grasslands, but can not cross forests: this works as designed. If I give an amphibious creature Item Aircar as their Vehicle Setting, then they appear amphibious as they can cross water and land alike. Works very effectively; it restricts my lizardmen from entering forests, but I don't mind the restriction.
Problem: Because my Forest is set to Passable Unless Holding Item Aircar, NO NPC will cross it. Ever. This is not what was intended. If an NOC is set to Vehicle Nothing, then I want them to follow the player into forests.
Also, if an NPC is Forest based only and has their Vehicle setting set to Forest, they also will not move when placed amidst it even though this is contrary to the manual's indication.
This limitation/bug/feature has created other issues as well: If I create a tile Lava and attach a macro that hurts the player when they cross it then set create a lava lizard creature that lives in it I cannot set their Vehicle to Lava and have them move amongst it. For some reason, I also cannot create a vehicle that moves along it safely and only run the damage macro if player lacks it and then set the lava lizard to Vehicle Lava Boat. For some reason, the lizard still refuses to move across it. Through testing, It appears that attaching a macro to a terrain tile marks that tile as impassable to all NPCs regardless of Vehicle.
I'm still trying to track down the extent of the problem, but I've found other examples that I don't yet understand. I tile that is passable to all, unless a variable = x, may be placed on a map. If the variable = x then the tile appears as a wall. When the tile is passable, NPCs will avoid like the plague. Effectively making the tile passable only to the player.
Has anyone else run into this? I searched the forums and couldn't find anything, so if this has been addressed then I apologize. However if anyobdy knows of a workaround to this/these issue(s), I would love to hear it. I feel like I'm a day or 2 away from uploading this last chapter ti may Ultima I-III reimagines and need only overcome this obstacle to do so.
Thanks in advance, everybody. I'm sorry I haven't been around, and I hope some of you have enjoyed playtesting my last 2 efforts. I love this tool and the friends I've made in this community.
Cheers.
Hey everybody! Long time no see!
I recently got back to my Ultima I ACK project so that I might have a completed Trilogy of Darkness rebuild. I barreled through my last setback and replaced all of my NPCs so that they are fully healed, and found a new problem.
In testing, I've found that none of my NPCs, specifically monsters or evil NPCs, will walk on terrain that has ANY kind of modifier attached. (with some exceptions).
I guess I'll get into the exceptions: My water tile is unpassable unless holding Item Boat. If I change the vehicle setting on any of my water based creatures to Boat, it works fine. If I set the Vehicle setting to Water, not so much even though this is indicated in the manual etc. This is not so much of a problem though as just giving my Sea Monsters a Boat solves it. I have a Forest tile, it is passable to the player, and presumably anything else, provided they aren't holding Item Aircar. Item Aircar counts as Item Boat, yet can go anywhere the user can, unlike the Boat which can only go where needed. If my player has Item Aircar then he can cross oceans and rivers and grasslands, but can not cross forests: this works as designed. If I give an amphibious creature Item Aircar as their Vehicle Setting, then they appear amphibious as they can cross water and land alike. Works very effectively; it restricts my lizardmen from entering forests, but I don't mind the restriction.
Problem: Because my Forest is set to Passable Unless Holding Item Aircar, NO NPC will cross it. Ever. This is not what was intended. If an NOC is set to Vehicle Nothing, then I want them to follow the player into forests.
Also, if an NPC is Forest based only and has their Vehicle setting set to Forest, they also will not move when placed amidst it even though this is contrary to the manual's indication.
This limitation/bug/feature has created other issues as well: If I create a tile Lava and attach a macro that hurts the player when they cross it then set create a lava lizard creature that lives in it I cannot set their Vehicle to Lava and have them move amongst it. For some reason, I also cannot create a vehicle that moves along it safely and only run the damage macro if player lacks it and then set the lava lizard to Vehicle Lava Boat. For some reason, the lizard still refuses to move across it. Through testing, It appears that attaching a macro to a terrain tile marks that tile as impassable to all NPCs regardless of Vehicle.
I'm still trying to track down the extent of the problem, but I've found other examples that I don't yet understand. I tile that is passable to all, unless a variable = x, may be placed on a map. If the variable = x then the tile appears as a wall. When the tile is passable, NPCs will avoid like the plague. Effectively making the tile passable only to the player.
Has anyone else run into this? I searched the forums and couldn't find anything, so if this has been addressed then I apologize. However if anyobdy knows of a workaround to this/these issue(s), I would love to hear it. I feel like I'm a day or 2 away from uploading this last chapter ti may Ultima I-III reimagines and need only overcome this obstacle to do so.
Thanks in advance, everybody. I'm sorry I haven't been around, and I hope some of you have enjoyed playtesting my last 2 efforts. I love this tool and the friends I've made in this community.
Cheers.