Showimg is a pain in the...

[Aethorpe]

I am trying to use an NPC with a list of showimg to display all the images for each level, rather that just setting the NPC image and making alot of useless empty NPCs, and I can't get it to work if I set the x,y. I did, however, manage to get it to work if I set the NPC at the first image location and do showimg at x,y and then base all the other images off of the coordinates of the first image, like so.

NPC Code:

---

showimg 1,smokeani.mng,x,y;

showimg 2,smokeani.mng,x + 2,y;

showimg 3,smokeani.mng,x + 1,y - 1;

showimg 4,treetop.png,x -1,y + 23;

---

But now my problem is, if I walk out of range of the original NPC, all the rest disappear, even some that I would still need to be able to see, is there anyway to make them stay visible regardless of where I am in relation to the NPC containing the scripts?

Any suggestions are welcome, thanks.

[Lance]

Perhaps your drawing layer was off, so the coordinates were not showing properly? Also, you can't see NPCs in levels you aren't in, unless you are using a gmap.

Could you post your original attempt to display it with set coordinates?

[Aethorpe]

Originally Posted by Lance

Perhaps your drawing layer was off, so the coordinates were not showing properly? Also, you can't see NPCs in levels you aren't in, unless you are using a gmap.

Could you post your original attempt to display it with set coordinates?

Well, I am using a gmap, and I never left the level, just walked off the screen from where the NPC was located.

My original attempt was something like this;

NPC Code:

---

showimg 1,smokeani.mng,48,6;

---

[Lance]

Originally Posted by Aethorpe

Well, I am using a gmap, and I never left the level, just walked off the screen from where the NPC was located.

My original attempt was something like this;

NPC Code:

---

showimg 1,smokeani.mng,48,6;

---

Are you in the upper-left-most level of the gmap? That is where that image would be shown.

[Aethorpe]

Originally Posted by Lance

Are you in the upper-left-most level of the gmap? That is where that image would be shown.

You mean, upper right? 48 x, 6 y? :o I tried it at 32 32 as well, and I was in the middle of the level, I tried lots of coordinates, it just didn't seem to help. :|

Oh, you mean in the top of the map. :O

Why would it be shown there, and not my current level?

[Lance]

Originally Posted by Aethorpe

You mean, upper right? 48 x, 6 y? :o I tried it at 32 32 as well, and I was in the middle of the level, I tried lots of coordinates, it just didn't seem to help. :|

I'm talking about the position of the level in the gmap. When you have a gmap, the coordinates measure from the top-left corner of the top-left level of the gmap. If you were in the top-left level of the gmap, you would have x and y-coordinates between 0 and 60. If you were in the second level along the top of the gmap, you would have x-coordinates between 60 and 120 and y-coordinates between 0 and 60. If you were in the second level down along the left side of the gmap, you would have x-coordinates between 0 and 60, but y-coordinates between 60 and 120.

If you were drawing something at any coordinates between 0 and 60, it would be shown at the top-left level of the gmap.

[Aethorpe]

Originally Posted by Lance

I'm talking about the position of the level in the gmap. When you have a gmap, the coordinates measure from the top-left corner of the top-left level of the gmap. If you were in the top-left level of the gmap, you would have x and y-coordinates between 0 and 60. If you were in the second level along the top of the gmap, you would have x-coordinates between 60 and 120 and y-coordinates between 0 and 60. If you were in the second level down along the left side of the gmap, you would have x-coordinates between 0 and 60, but y-coordinates between 60 and 120.

If you were drawing something at any coordinates between 0 and 60, it would be shown at the top-left level of the gmap.

Oh my, so my x needs to be something like 1190, and y needs to be like, 800ish? Yikes.

Thank you sir.

After some adjustments I found it sitting in a nearby tree, but it's still giving me the problem of if I walk away from the NPC, all the images it's meant to disappear. Do you know of a remedy for this?

[Lance]

Originally Posted by Aethorpe

Oh my, so my x needs to be something like 1190, and y needs to be like, 800ish? Yikes.

Thank you sir.

Something like that, yeah. The easiest way to find those coordinates out would be to add an NPC in there and have it report its x and y, then figure out the positions for the images based on that.

[Aethorpe]

Originally Posted by Lance

Something like that, yeah. The easiest way to find those coordinates out would be to add an NPC in there and have it report its x and y, then figure out the positions for the images based on that.

Good idea, is there some sort of print function?

But what of the problem of not being able to see them if you leave the range of the NPC, perhaps some way to attach the NPC to the player so it never goes out of range? Or to only display images with a certain x,y radius of a player?

I can't think of a way to do that. :|

[Lance]

Originally Posted by Aethorpe

Good idea, is there some sort of print function?

NPC Code:

---

message x: #v(x), y: #v(y);

---

But what of the problem of not being able to see them if you leave the range of the NPC, perhaps some way to attach the NPC to the player so it never goes out of range? Or to only display images with a certain x,y radius of a player?

I can't think of a way to do that. :|

I'm not sure I've encountered the behavior you're describing.

[Aethorpe]

Originally Posted by Lance

NPC Code:

---

message x: #v(x), y: #v(y);

---

I'm not sure I've encountered the behavior you're describing.

Try placing a working showimg NPC at the bottom left of a gmap'd level, and tell it to show it's image at the top right of that same level, then walk up to the top right and when the hidden location of the NPC is about 1-2 tiles out of view, the image on the other side of the map, that you can plainly see, vanishes. :|

It's a downright annoying.

[Evil_Trunks]

This is probably a "problem" with the way the NPC server handles showimgs on the GMAP.

Once the information about the actual NPC which is drawing the showimg is no longer being sent to the client, the client stops displaying that NPC's showimgs as well.

This is my guess.

[Aethorpe]

Originally Posted by Evil_Trunks

This is probably a "problem" with the way the NPC server handles showimgs on the GMAP.

Once the information about the actual NPC which is drawing the showimg is no longer being sent to the client, the client stops displaying that NPC's showimgs as well.

This is my guess.

It's all offline though, there is no NPC server to do that, although the client itself could be doing that, but is there a way around it?

[xManiamaNx]

I've seen this happen before. Have something showimg something, and walk where the actual npc would be off the screen, the showimg will hide if it isn't on layer 4.

[Shaun]

Not sure if this is related, but online, in a GMapped level, NPC scripts are "hidden" for me. I know they are there, because if they were imagged before, they will still block (creating invisible force fields!). If the levels are not GMapped, the NPC scripts are there and normal and good, but once the levels are GMapped, the images "hide". Nobody seems to understand GMaps. I don't seem to understand anything beyond the third grade level.

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