Demo Editing/Demo How To Info

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Overview

Intro text needed

How NPCs/Objects/Models Work

How Entities work.

How To Make Models Transparent

Most stealth/invisibility/transparency effects don't play back in demos. The few exceptions (like trainer War Witch and Numina) are built into the model and not something you can apply.

However, although the standard stealth powers don't work, this FX does:

OBJECTIVEOBJECTFX/GHOSTED.FX

This is the placeable mission objective effect (like for planting bombs) that make the objects transparent until you place them. I did a quick demo test as follows (using BAB):

0   17  NEW "Back Alley Brawler"
0   17  NPC Model_Back_Alley_Brawler_Trainer
0   17  POS 367 65.921875 -832
0   17  PYR 0 -1.570796 -0
0   17  MOV READY_XARMS 0
0   17  FX Maintained 717 OBJECTIVEOBJECTFX/GHOSTED.FX 0

The FX line is the only one I added (make sure it doesn't conflict with any other FX) and voila! Transparent BAB.

Back Alley Brawler Normal appearance

Back Alley Brawler GHOSTED.FX applied

Qualifiers:

• The transparency effect pulsates, so it's not a consistent steady level of transparency.
• The FX also includes the mission objective noise, so you might have to work with the audio.

How To Create Invasion Effects (Sky & War Walls)

Normal sky: SKYFILE SKY 1 0 1.000000
Invasion sky: SKYFILE SKY 0 1 1.000000

That's using the first two fields (which is how it records during an actual invasion), which appear to be binary.

You can also play with the final number to tweak things, though I don't know how that functions. My best guess being that it's a saturation value of some sort -- the more you increase it, the more color starts washing out all detail, although interestingly it seems to predominate in the foreground, rather than the sky or distance. Possibly a depth of field value.

War Walls Up:  0   DYNGROUPS DYNARRAY |100,0
War Walls Down:  0   DYNGROUPS DYNARRAY |0,0

How To Make Characters Walk

How to make player characters walk.

How To Manage Destructible Objects

Object-based NPCs that are classed as "destructible" have a variable appearance based on their hit points, sometimes as simple as destroyed/not-destroyed, sometimes with multiple different appearances including partly-damaged states.

To make these work in demos, you have to assign hit points to the models. If you don't do that, then the game assumes the hit points are zero and treats the model as "destroyed", which usually, but not always, means that it's just gone.

So when you're splicing these into the demo code, include hit points for them like so:

0 23 NPC v_destcldrn_cauldron
0 23 MOV READY
0 23 HP 150.00
0 23 HPMAX 150.00

Setting the HP equal to HPMAX will give you the default, undestroyed appearance, and hopefully that should make them appear for you. If you want to see if there are transitional appearances, you can try setting HP to half of HPMAX, and so forth. Not all have transitional appearances, but some do. The Clockwork Paladin construction comes to mind as an object with multiple different transitional appearances depending on HP. This is also how the Rikti A Bomb warning lights color is controlled.

Not all object models are destructible, but seeing "dest" anywhere in the object name is generally a guarantee that it is one of these. But there are also destructible models that don't have "dest" in the name. If in doubt, add HP & HPMAX (at 100% HP) to the model code.

Fixing "Player" FX

What it looks like is happening is that many FXs are not working if they are attached to the Player (meaning the character flagged as the Player in the demo). I pasted in some other NPCs and players (not as the "Player") and they appeared to work fine.

I suspect that this may have been something that crept in with I11, because some of the Maintained FXs that I was able to get to work are the Willpower FX, but older power set FXs didn't work for me (just based on 1 or 2 that I tried quickly). I also tried inserting the moneybag FX into some of my own demos and had the same problem with it not appearing on my "Player".

So, although you're doing everything right, it appears to be an issue with demos that isn't working. As I said, it appears to only be the one character flagged as the "Player" that is the problem. Other players and NPCs look like they work OK, so here's a quick fix. What you can do to get by this issue is create an invisible model attached to the "Player" flag and turn your character into just a regular player. You can do this by making the following code into the beginning of your demo:

1 0 Version 2
0 0 Map maps/City_Zones/Trial_06_01/Trial_06_01.txt
0 0 Time 21.028650
0 CAM POS 1818.146851 -318.060516 9450.268555
0 CAM PYR -0.346 1.370835 0
0 50 Player
0 50 NEW "Invisible Placeholder"
0 50 NPC Puddle
0 50 POS 1803.004883 -319.173309 9443.212891
0 50 PYR 0 3.11 0
0 50 MOV READY
0 1 NEW " "
0 1 COSTUME 1 ffffff -3.297710 -1.000000 -0.015873 -1.000000 -0.523810 ...

...the end there being the rest of your character's costume as normal. Puddle is an invisible model, so by inserting that as the "Player" it gets you past this bug (I also changed your character's name field to <0 1 NEW " ">, otherwise, as you are no longer the "Player", the character's name would appear above your head).