Is there any way in heaven or earth that the spell can identify who its hitting? I've tried "Player Contact" in the NPC window but that doesn't work with an aggressive NPC. And an aggressive NPC is in battle when the Player casts a spell on it.

There's an event link with hit that works, but I can't seem to be able to get it to actually identify who it's hitting. For instance, I have a global identified when the Player talks to a passive NPC, and then the passive NPC turns into an aggressive NPC. So gb_spider = 1. But I can't seem to link the aggressive spider into any kind of an event, except for death.

Thanks.

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-- Debra
Danillitphil Productions

hello Debra,

I believe I know what you are intending to do. I've thought of two ways this could work for you:

Step 1:

Display a dialogue box and type in &&(globals) into the text field. (Or some other Tag value.)

Step 2:

Make an event link for "hit" that displays a graphic for the target. Eg; when the cast spell hits the target, it will display a graphic stating it's name.

I hope I have been of any assistance, or at least given you an idea of how to preform that task.

-Gray

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.Mac Member | mac.com

Thanks, Gray --

The problem is, is that I'm trying to get the engine to identify who I'm hitting, not necessarily the Player, so that I can call the right events.

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-- Debra
Danillitphil Productions

I take it that people don't know much about spells and casts.

I take it that if you want to do something other than killing, it's REALLY difficult to figure out?

I take it that there's a bug in Coldstone that will NOT let you have allies?

I take it that while there's an event link under death, Coldstone doesn't really want you to use it because if you use it too much it's unstable?

I take it that you can ONLY cast onto an enemy?

I take it that in a spell window, the "not enough magic points to cast" doesn't work.

I take it that while there's event links in the NPCs, Coldstone doesn't really want you to use them.

--- Just reporting the bugs. Oh, excuse me, operator errors. It is, of course, my fault that you can't cast onto allies, whatever they are. And, of course, since I'm actually trying to create a game that doesn't have its heart and soul in killing, I find I have to spend days trying work around it. It is, of course, operator error. How can it not be? I have a complete manual that tells me everything I need to know. And, of course, I have this application program, an easy to use game development tool that allows me to create professional stand-alone games.

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-- Debra
Danillitphil Productions

I take it that you're frustrated
i take it that you're venting
i take it that you've forgotten that absolutely no one is obligated to even spit in your direction.
i leave it at that.

Allies is not nor has it ever been complete or implemented.

you can cast spells on yourself...

I personally don't use the 'not enough magic points to cast', the 'only allow to cast if' parameter works best, simply because it does not even attempt to cast.

Yes causing zero damage is one of my request as well, although ou can set it to 0min and 0max, the player will always strike for 1-3 points of damage. Perhaps equipping the player with a two handed shield would stop them from slowly bludgeoning the NPCs...but that is far fetched and unlikely.

SO in effecct your problem isn't operator error its ignoring the cold Hard fact, CGE has some regrettable hardwired functions, that appear to be alterable but ultimately are not. This is regrettable and quit frankly if you are starting to find you're idea outside the scopee of CGE's imposed limits, then i would consider moving on, while you still can.

ll the time you're spending trying to twist coldstone's arem could be better spent using something a little more stable with a lot more control, and feedback(detailed error reports,large user base), aalso something which has an indefinite trial period (If you'd like, you can completely construct your game, and not have to pay until you're ready to publish/compile)..i will not mention its name but i will point you in its direction (url="http://"http://www.tntbasic.com")------------>(/url)...honestly the only way you'll ever get the control you want or the features you desire is to build it yourself...its up to you whether you need a stilletto(the product i just suggested) or a broadsword(C derivatives).

THe big question do you stay or do you go....

ColdStone's full manual makes no mention that it allows you to track/alter on the fly the stats of any entity other than the PC.
I can think of no clean solution that would not be at the expense of true realTIme action. I can only think of a way to keep track of a single NPC combatants stats and effect chaange to it...this is thoroughly useless.

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Quote

Originally posted by Debra:
I take it that people don't know much about spells and casts.

In my case, at least, you're absolutely correct. Sorry!

Quote

I take it that if you want to do something other than killing, it's REALLY difficult to figure out?

Well, modifying statistics shouldn't be too hard, as they're provided for in the spell editor. As anything not built-in would require some custom event scripting, you're probably right.

Quote

I take it that there's a bug in Coldstone that will NOT let you have allies?

It's not a bug, it's a feature that was never promised and was never fully implemented.

Quote

I take it that while there's an event link under death, Coldstone doesn't really want you to use it because if you use it too much it's unstable?

I'm not familiar with this, either, but if it's unstable, it's a bug(s). Can you provide more information so that I can try and duplicate it?

Quote

I take it that you can ONLY cast onto an enemy?

One enemy, all enemies, all allies (if any - see below), or yourself, as provided in the spell editor. You can also have a spell with no true "target" (such as a teleport spell).

Quote

I take it that in a spell window, the "not enough magic points to cast" doesn't work.

When you try to select a spell in-game from the spell book, but don't have enough MP, it just flat out won't allow you to cast it, right? I always thought this link was for determining how to deal with event-cast spells (i.e., cast through a "Spell Wizard" action). Does this not work?

Quote

I take it that while there's event links in the NPCs, Coldstone doesn't really want you to use them.

Why do you say this? I've never had any trouble with the "Player Contact" link, and while I haven't used the "Target" links in a while, I'm fairly sure that they worked last time I tried them. What's the problem?

Quote

Just reporting the bugs. Oh, excuse me, operator errors. It is, of course, my fault that you can't cast onto allies, whatever they are. And, of course, since I'm actually trying to create a game that doesn't have its heart and soul in killing, I find I have to spend days trying work around it. It is, of course, operator error. How can it not be? I have a complete manual that tells me everything I need to know. And, of course, I have this application program, an easy to use game development tool that allows me to create professional stand-alone games.

Ouch... are we all really that hostile around here? :eek:

About allies... are you trying to have the player cast onto allies? Answer to that: as far as I know, the player doesn't have allies - all he has is enemies and neutrals. Enemies, on the other hand, should be mutually allied - any spell an enemy casts on "allies" should affect all enemies in range. Does this not work?

As to the killing focus: yeah. Coldstone is definitely focused on making games like PoG - although something like Cosmic Memory shows that it is at least possible to make other game types. Anything in particular that we can try and help you with, either here or on the dev list?

About the manual: yes. I did my best with the manual during the betas (you'll see my name as a "Special Thanks" on the title page), but since I wasn't involved with the engine development, all I could really be was a glorified proofreader. If there's something in the manual that's outright wrong, by all means blame me (and let me know so that I can blame myself too ), but if there's something that simply isn't in the manual, I'll plead ignorance. Hopefully we can get a revised, more complete version from Beenox sometime in the future.

About the marketing... heh, it's marketing. I don't think I've yet seen any software that's truly "easy to use" and "professional" at the same time - more often they seem to fall somewhere in between the two, and that's how I see Coldstone at this time.

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I don't know what I'm talking about.
Oh no, here comes another learning experience.
(url="http://"http://homepage.mac.com/glennfield/ColdstoneBugs.html")Coldstone 1.0.1 Bug List(/url) - last update 10/10/2002
(url="http://"http://www.ambrosiasw.com/webboard/Forum48/HTML/001547.html")Stark Bledfast's Coldstone Debugging 101(/url)

Quote

Originally posted by Debra:
**I take it that people don't know much about spells and casts.
**

Me thinks thou maketh a strong, offensive statement with this remark, one that doth not bode well for thine attitude. Mayhaps thou can express thine anger in a more civilized fashion?

Quote

I take it that if you want to do something other than killing, it's REALLY difficult to figure out?

I assume thou refereth to thine original query, about the spider? If I be mistaken please correct me. But as I perceive this quandary, the spider is meant to sit still until a player comes into contact with the foul beast, at which point it bares fangs and leaps upon the player? Now, what type of event doth thou want to linketh the spider to, and under what conditions shall the linkage occur? It shall be infinitely easier to answereth thy question with all the information.

Quote

**I take it that you can ONLY cast onto an enemy?
**

Correct. While Coldstone doth support the basic framework for a three team system (the player and allies, neutrals, and enemies), the interface wert not coded into the commercial editor, probably because of more bugs in the system than thou canst swing a +5 Holy Avenger at. Only the player, neutrals, and enemies were included. I suspect that a spell with targets of 'allies' would have originally stricken all of thine (now non-existent) allies, now that there art none it has no use to you. So therefore, thou can only cast spells upon thyself and thy enemies.

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Is if evil? Well then, it is evil and yet I do it. - The Crucible, Arthur Miller.

(This message has been edited by Celchu (edited 12-04-2002).)