The ins and outs of Teleportation

[Poit]

Hi,

 

Lately i've been having some problems with the move_to_new_town call. When I use it as part of a node like example A below it works perfectly fine as it is intended to. But when I try to trigger a teleport by inserting the call inside a cutscene or right after a conversation with a character, for instance begin_talk_mode(); then move_to_new_town(); it doesn't function at all.

 

My question is whether it is possible to trigger a move_to_new_town call without having the player step on a specific node. I've been bamboozled by this for a long time as I have two or three instances in my scenario where a flashback requires a shift in town scenery, at the moment I've finished the cutscenes but need to insert them so the narritive flows nicely. Any help would be appreciated.

 

Example 1 (-normal functioning move_to_new_town call)

 

beginstate 10;

 

reset_dialog();

add_dialog_str(0,"The portal to your next assignment is shimmering with magical force. Perhaps it would be a good idea to enter before it drains its power source.",0);

add_dialog_choice(0,"Enter.");

add_dialog_choice(1,"Stay here.");

choice = run_dialog(1);

if (choice == 1) {

play_sound(10);

block_entry(1);

move_to_new_town (4,10,4);

}

if (choice == 2) {

end();

block_entry(1);

}

 

break;

 

Example 2 -(Completely screwed up, oh my god what have I done wrong move_to_new_town call)

 

text_bubble_on_char(42,"");

text_bubble_on_char(44,"Rutland don't,");

force_instant_terrain_redraw();

pause(20);

 

text_bubble_on_char(44,"");

text_bubble_on_char(44,"It's not worth it");

force_instant_terrain_redraw();

pause(20);

 

text_bubble_on_char(44,"");

text_bubble_on_char(44,"I submit to your judgement my liege.");

force_instant_terrain_redraw();

pause(20);

 

set_total_visibility(0);

 

move_to_new_town (4,10,4);

 

set_flag(13,0,1);

 

}

 

break;

[Lilith]

Can't be done, I'm afraid. The only way to successfully call move_to_new_town is if it's called by the party stepping on a special rectangle.

[Smoo]

Unfortunately, the call only works in one of those blue rectangle thingies. You're just going to have to figure a way to start that cutscene using the rectangles.

 

Curses Thuryl! How dare you answer at the same time as me?

[Poit]

Well that's just too bad. I think I'll have to find a cunning method to trigger teleportation without the player having to directly intervent and step on a node. Mad Ambition and Bahssikava seem to the most likely scenarios that would involve some variant on the player controlled method (still haven't played Bahs) so I might just have a poke through their scripts.

[Thralni]

It really can't be done? teleportation after a cutscene? That's really too bad. I'm sure I did see somewhere, although i can't remember where exactly, that I saw it happen.

[Lilith]

You can do it after a cutscene, but only if that cutscene is triggered by the party stepping into a special rectangle. If it's triggered by something else -- like, say, using an item, or activating a terrain script -- then you can't move the party to a new town afterwards. The cutscene itself doesn't matter as far as the move_to_new_town call is concerned. You can put any code you want before move_to_new_town -- it's how the state is triggered that's the important part.

 

(Incidentally, it's perfectly okay to teleport the party within a town at any time. It's only when you try to move them between towns that you have to worry about how the state is called.)

[Kelandon]

Thralni, since you seem to have missed the details: teleportation after a cut scene can happen, but that cut scene has to have been called from a special rectangle, not from anything else (like a terrain script, a creature script, or a START_STATE). Bahs has a few places that dodge this, like the very first cut scene in town 1.

 

EDIT: As Thuryl said.

[Thralni]

Okay, sorry, sometimes I just read to fast and miss some things. Thanks for clarifying though. It saved me.

[Sticky]

Could it be done by first teleporting them into the special rectangle? Or do they actually have to 'step' in it?

[Thralni]

I think you probably really need to step on it. As was just stated, teleportation from a dialogue node wouldn't work, so teleporting them on a special rectangle would probably also not work, I guess.

[Ephesos]

You definitely have to make them step on it. I've tried the "teleport them onto the square" approach, and it doesn't work.

[Kelandon]

You can teleport them onto a space that is surrounded by special rectangles and use force_view_center to keep the party out of sight, though.

[Swimmin' Salmon]

Can the cutscene move the party onto a blue rectangle? I guess the question is if the engine will check for specials while already in a cutscene node.

 

*this message needs a sponsor*

[Ephesos]

It will NOT check for special encounters when in cutscene mode. That would probably have made things too complicated, engine-wise.

[Poit]

Quote:

You can do it after a cutscene, but only if that cutscene is triggered by the party stepping into a special rectangle. If it's triggered by something else -- like, say, using an item, or activating a terrain script -- then you can't move the party to a new town afterwards. The cutscene itself doesn't matter as far as the move_to_new_town call is concerned. You can put any code you want before move_to_new_town -- it's how the state is triggered that's the important part

That's actually one of the first things I tried but i still couldn't get it to work properly. For instance the party would walk into a room and step on a node. This node would then start the cutscene, a few NPC's would say lines and then begin_talk_mode(); would kick into effect with one specific NPC, starting an indepth conversation. Once you hit "end conversation" then there was the move_to_new_town(); call.

I could think of two possible reasons why this wouldn't work. Firstly its the actual begin_talk_mode(); that causes the problem. Once you have had a dialogue conversation does that mean the node that initiated it is finished and unable to be restarted?

Secondly if the problem wasn't the conversation itself it could be the way I ended it. For instance maybe action = END_TALK; and
state = (one number); nextstate = (identical number); lead to different script results once the conversation is terminated. Is there a right way and a wrong way to end a conversation so that the script progresses?

Quote:

You can teleport them onto a space that is surrounded by special rectangles and use force_view_center to keep the party out of sight, though.

That's an intersting suggestion. If it turns out begin_talk_mode(); prevents a move_to_new_town(); call from completing afterward I may redesign my town and use this method. By the way have you used this successfully before in any of your scenarios?

[Lilith]

Ah, yeah. The problem's almost certainly the begin_talk_mode(). You'll just have to do whatever dialogue you need through dialog boxes and the cutscene itself.

[Kelandon]

Quote:

Originally written by Poit:

Quote:

You can teleport them onto a space that is surrounded by special rectangles and use force_view_center to keep the party out of sight, though.

That's an intersting suggestion. If it turns out begin_talk_mode(); prevents a move_to_new_town(); call from completing afterward I may redesign my town and use this method. By the way have you used this successfully before in any of your scenarios?

Other than the force_view_center part, the first few cut scenes in Bahssikava all work according this principle.

[Thralni]

Quote:

Originally written by Kelandon:

Quote:

Originally written by Poit:

Quote:

You can teleport them onto a space that is surrounded by special rectangles and use force_view_center to keep the party out of sight, though.

That's an intersting suggestion. If it turns out begin_talk_mode(); prevents a move_to_new_town(); call from completing afterward I may redesign my town and use this method. By the way have you used this successfully before in any of your scenarios?

Other than the force_view_center part, the first few cut scenes in Bahssikava all work according this principle.

Now I finally manage to understand how you made it work with all these towns. I as a newbie (I hate that word) Regurly look back at other designer's towns. I saw multiple towns that atcually formed one story. After doing that, I played a bit of the scenario, and saw some things that actually were situated in different towns. Now i know how it works, thanks. Just one minor question: How big should that rectangle exactly be? Probably as larg as the party is?

[Lilith]

You actually need several different rectangles surrounding the party, so that the party can be placed in such a way that they're not actually in a rectangle but can't go far without moving into one.

[Frobozz]

Quote:

Originally written by Flagellation:
Can't be done, I'm afraid. The only way to successfully call move_to_new_town is if it's called by the party stepping on a special rectangle.

I don't see the point in Jeff not allowing this at any time. What would be his motive?

[Lilith]

Apparently it's likely to be a limitation inherent in the way the engine handles towns. Allowing move_to_new_town at other times could potentially cause serious bugs.

[wz. As]

Quote:

Originally written by Thuryl:
Apparently it's likely to be a limitation inherent in the way the engine handles towns. Allowing move_to_new_town at other times could potentially cause serious bugs.

That's right. It has to do with the order in which the engine handles nodes and scripts. A lot of code would have to be rewritten to accomodate this. Which is no excuse for Jeff not to do it, though.