The Guide
by George
Maciver
This tutorial enlarges on the information
given on page 86 of the official Manual
We are going to set up the guide so that he
takes a torch and lights it, then walks to another wall
torch and lights that, then activates a trigger that will
open a double set of doors.
First, place your guide, the
wall torch from the Settomb WAD (which is in the animating
one slot) and two AI-Follow nullmeshes as shown below. It is
important to face the fat end of the AI Follow nullmesh to
where you want the guide to face.
Bring up the OCB dialogue box
for the second AI nullmesh by hitting the O (letter O) key,
then highlighting codebit 5.
Don't forget to place a
trigger for your guide!
And while we're at it, let's
use a textured and lighted room to make things look more
interesting. This is the first room from the tutorial level.
In game, the guide will take
the torch and light it and then follow you around the level.
Obviously he is capable of
far more than that, so let's give him another task! Place a
wall torch and a flame emitter 2 and an AI follow as shown
below. Remember, it is important to turn the AI Follow
nullmesh so that the fat end points towards where you want
the guide to face. Bring up the OCB box for the AI Follow
nullmesh and this time highlight codebit 1. It is very
important that you also type the number 1 in the timer
field. The first two AI Nullmeshes have a 0 (zero) in the
timer field, but every AI follow nullmesh must now be
numbered sequentially.
At this juncture we need to
learn to use a flip effect 30. It is only by using flip
effect 30 with the AI Follow nullmesh that the guide will
work. It isn't difficult, but it does require careful set
up. If it doesn't work first time, don't be discouraged.
Once you learn the basics, the guide is a real joy to work
with.
To set up a flip effect trigger bring up the trigger
dialogue box and in the trigger window select 'flip effect'
and hit okay.
Next, and this is very
important type in the number 30 next to the trigger type
and put a number 1 in the timer field.
All we need to do now is
place a trigger for this flip effect right across the room
so Lara can't possibly miss it. If she does not trigger the
flip effect, the guide will just stand and look at her.
Now place a heavy trigger for
the flame emitter on the AI Follow nullmesh.
When the guide arrives on the
nullmesh he will light the wall torch by activating the
heavy trigger. Without the trigger, the flame emitter will
not light.
Now for the doors! Place another AI Follow Nullmesh by one
of the doors, bring up the OCB dialogue box, highlight the
number 2 codebit and put a 2 in the timer field.
Bring up the trigger dialogue
box and set a second flip effect trigger, this time with a 2
in the timer field, and place the trigger right across the
room as shown.
Finally, place a heavy
trigger for one of the doors on the last AI Follow Nullmesh
and an ordinary trigger for the other door on top of that.
Output your WAD, convert your level and have fun! Your guide
will pick up the torch and light it, walk to the next torch
and light that, then activate a hidden trigger to open the
double doors.
The other things you can make him do with
OCB settings are:
Code bits 3 + 5 - Hold up his torch and read an
inscription. He will activate a heavy trigger here too.
Code bit 4 - Bend down to light the surface of a
water room (lighting an inflammable pool and activating a
flip map to change water textures to lava textures, for
example).
All Code bits - he disappears.
Notes
Sometimes when using Code Bits 3 + 5, the
game crashes when the Guide holds up his torch to read the
inscription. I suspect this has something to do with the
terrified look on his face that is triggered in the Tomb of
Seth level, but as yet I've been unable to fathom how that
was done. It could be something to do with another
flipeffect being triggered by the flyby cams, but I don't
know. If you find the game crashes at a particular spot
using this, I've found it best to give the Guide another
task at that AI point and use the read inscription codes
somewhere else. Trial and error is the best I can suggest at
this juncture. If anyone can cast more light on this, I'd be
grateful for the information.
Lara can cross more than one Flipeffect 30
trigger and the guide will then start running to get to the
last AI point triggered by the last Flipeffect. However, I
think this could be the reason the Guide sometimes freezes
and refuses to do anything. I'd recommend making sure the
next Flipeffect can't be triggered until the Guide has
accomplished his last task. Keep it simple!
You can set a higher number in the timer
field and the Guide should go through all the AI points in
between. Again, this requires careful set up and exhaustive
testing.
The
Terrified Guide by Fluen
Congratulations to Fluen for finally solving
the mystery of the terrified guide! She discovered this
after many, many months of playing around with this object.
It's important to note that this is
hardcoded to the 71st used room in your map. This is
the key. It can be your room 80 for example, but only if
there are 70 used room slots before that. There doesn't seem
to be any other requirements aside from using the "read
inscription" animation (OCB buttons 3 and 5 pressed).
He's only able to do this once in a level
(when tried a second time the game crashed). Once he is
startled, his facial expression remains and makes him
somewhat unusable afterwards even though he's willing to
work on as usual. However, it's simply enough to use flyby
cams and get him to run away and then make him disappear by
pressing all the OCBs as described earlier.
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