Using brutes and grunts without the character getting scared... oh, hello too! :)

[ShodanIsAlive]

Hi everybody, I'm new here.
I always tried to mingle a bit in every toolset I stumbled upon... without finishing a single project I started... but I'm digressing, I hope I can complete this project this time.
But first things first: I want to create some new "enemies" for the game but I don't want to cause the fright effect when I look at them. Is there some way to accomplish this? Before asking I opened the grunt and brute model in the HPL Model Editor and scanned through the list of variables... but I can't find a flag called "FrightThePlayerToHell" or something like that
Is there some way to stop making monsters frigthen Daniel so badly or it's scripted inside the game engine and thus not changeable?
I noticed in "main.cfg" there's a tag "Enemy" containing the value "EnemyDarknessGlowMaxDistance" set to "15"... if I set it to 0, maybe the terror will not trigger? It will stop for every monster though, I'd like it to stop for only one. Is there a way to change cfg values while playing?

Hello there and thanks for the patience

[ShodanIsAlive]

Hmmm... I tried to jumble a bit with the dir structure of entities: copied the "rat" from critters to "enemies" and put inside a test map... result is that, when the player spawns, I hear the "whooooaaaargh" of a monster and the game starts the music like if a monster is looking for me... but the vision is not distorted in any way, even looking at the poor mouse that still tries to get away from me. Could it be that simple?
I tried even putting a monster inside the map disabling the triggers: Daniel is still scared even if the monster is scratching its head (literally!!! haha, that was funny).
Now I'll try to copy all the user variables of the grunt into the "enemy" rat to see what happens > Maybe it will come at me and eventually pound me to the ground... now that's how a man dies!

edit: Oops... there was a grunt outside the map...

[Savara]

I would be scared of one of those monsters scratching its head. I mean, really!

Sorry I can't help with those questions but just wanted to say good luck with the project

[ShodanIsAlive]

@Savara: thank you buddy

On the topic: I tried to put the vars to the mouse... even the type of entity... I left "Enemy_Grunt" and that is the key of it all it seems. If the entity you are creating is of a certain type (like "Enemy"), behaves in the way defined for the type. I found a file called "EntityTypes.cfg" in "editor" subfolder that defines all the entities showing in the editor... although i'm not so sure if changing one of those would affect the true game entities. Most importantly I still can't find a flag indicating that an "enemy" should scare the player.

[Giovanni Rosa]

I just wanted to say; welcome to the forum, and best of luck to you. I'm not really a coding genius or a file genius to be honest, so sorry! I hope you find your answer!

[ShodanIsAlive]

Thank you but I'm at an impasse until I'll be able to make Daniel watch a grunt without losing sanity and getting some heavy headache.
I could make a subclass of a critter maybe... I don't know if the behaviour will be like a rat though, running in circle as I approach... or if it would be able to follow the nodes... Help please! There is not so much documentation about this

[ShodanIsAlive]

Tried to create an entity based on class "NPC"... even if Daniel won't be scared by it, I doubt it shall move around.
FG please, could you release a patch to insert a simple variable in every "enemy" entity called "TriggerFear" or something like that? Or a base entity for the "enemy" which could be subclassed to make things like random people walking around a room or a corridor following the paths? Or a man that can follow you around without attacking and scaring the player... that would be cool... for me it'd be at least ^^''
If anything like this exists even now, can someone point me in the right direction? I'm stuck and my sanity is rapidly decreasing. Could someone turn on a lantern for me?

[ShodanIsAlive]

No one of you fine modders has ever had the need to look at an enemy without the player losing sanity?
Let's change the subject then: is it possible to make a model follow a path while playing an animation? In this way I won't need to subclass "Enemy_Grunt" anymore and maybe find a way to interact with it.
Please help me. If there's no way to accomplish this, just tell me and I won't pester you guys anymore.

[MrBigzy]

I don't think either of those options are possible, unfortunately. Well, one hackish way to prevent it would be to delete (or rename) the texture file that overlays when that happens. I think there was another post in the forums about preventing sanity drain from monsters; can't remember if they succeeded. As for playing a specific animation while following a path, that's something I've tried to do as well, and isn't possible afaik.

[ShodanIsAlive]

Yes, I suppose I could remove the effect... but just now, you gave me an idea: if I envelope a grunt in an invisible mesh (a cylinder maybe, or a cube, without textures), maybe the engine will think that the player is not seeing the monster what do you think?