NPC Triggering Problems HALP HALP! :P
 

So, I have been working on a map for a couple days now. I have watched more video tutorials than I care to admit before and during this map I am making. A couple things I am running into are problems with getting the NPC's to trigger the way I want them to. For instance, the two major problems I have is having an NPC laying on the ground doing the Borg Twitch Ground, but I am at my wits end on how to trigger a beamout on that NPC when the story gets to a certain point. Also, when the group finds this same character later in the map, I am having a problem with setting the NPC on a path to walk. Can these things be done? Or am I just tearing hair out for no reason at this point?

Thank you all, love the Trek, and am loving the Foundry, hope you can help me because I want lots of people to enjoy this mission.

Side-note to the Foundry creators, this and many other problems like it would be offset by the NPC States tab having more than two states (like we find with objects).

Both things that you want (having an NPC beam out, and having an NPC walk on a path) are not possible with the foundry.

Sorry

Zorbane is correct. Beaming out cannot be done, the best you can do is hide the NPC in some manner from view saying they beamed out.

you can make an NPC wander, but it is next to impossible to get them to wander in a specific direction, even if you use things like invisible walls to limit what nodes it can path along.

...that is unfortunate, I could see a lot of applications to story-telling being enhanced with just those two abilities.

How do I "invisible" my npc's? A link to a good tutorial would be acceptable if you all would be so kind.

Also, can you recommend some really good foundry missions for me to check out so I can see how people get around some of the limitations?

Great response time too, guys. Thanks for the help.

Vazil@LordNezeroth

I don't have as much experience in this but ways you can make npcs "invisible" is by having an object appear where they are (so the npc is now inside and can't be seen) or dropping it off the map by having the platform it is standing on disappear

Don't be afraid to jump into starbaseugc chat http://starbaseugc.com/index.php/chat/
There's usually someone there who will try to help you with questions

To make your twitchy ensign "go away" there are two methods to use (maybe you can think up a third).

1. Hide him - This is done by having your player leave the room or area, then you place an object over his location. Sandukutupu used a shifting wall so when you came back the person was gone. Poof!

2. Drop him - Similar to above but actually done with the floor. The floor tile he is on is remove for a second and then replaced with an identical floor tile.

Now for walking if you set Wander I have found 5 = walk 10 = run 15 = run fast. You can't tell them where to go the node paths seem to confuse people. Here is my take on it;

1 means they walk between 2 points, 15 means they walk between 16 points the origin being the first. The points are laid out at random but are not changed once the map starts. I have tested this and seen the character go over the same points again and again.

Does anyone know if things like NPC waypathing and proper warp-in/warp-out beam-in/beam-out funtionality will ever be added to the Foundry? These fairly simple (you would think) things are desperately needed, frankly I'm amazed they were never in to begin with...

They are working on a system that will allow us to set proper paths for our NPCs to walk. Zero just mentioned it in her front page blog. No ETA though.

Not even putting a Soon(tm) on that then?