Jedi force powers mod needs scripting help/suggestions

[TGBlank]

Ok, for starters, the mod's idea is to complement the already existing lightsaber mod with *drumroll* force powers.

 

Problem is to get such powers working... and then balancing them so they dont break the game.

 

Now, even if you're not interested in the mod, several of the 'powers' could be modified and tailor-fitted for completely unrelated mods that you may actually be interested in.

 

 

There are mainly 2 things that i want to do with the force powers atm:

a) get them to work

b) find out a way to get them to a hotkey, without hogging the game processing or waiting for a whole second to 'cast'.

 

For b, more likely than not i'll need fose, which i haven't tinkered much. Till then, i'll use aid items for power testing purposes.

As for a, which is more important at the moment:

 

Force push/pull:

- So far, the idea is to get either a targeted or an aoe effect that pushes/pulls things through 'pushactoraway' (maybe i'll add a stat roll later to avoid brokenness) or simply through brute force.

- AOE Attempt #1 placeatme explosion: works fine, affects objects nicely, BUT it friggin trips my character too. Not to mention that if placeatme haves the same problems as in oblivion, it'll increase the savegame size at each casting (hope somebody can confirm on this for fallout) :verymad:

- AOE Attempt #2 placeatme forceless explosion that adds an effect that trips (with a safety check for player): works too, BUT now it doesn't affect objects, which kills part of the fun. :confused:

- Targeted attempt #1 create a mesh-less weapon with the desired effect, and use 'fireweapon' for it: doesnt work as intended if i have a weapon drawn out :verymad:

- Targeted attempt #2 getcombattarget targeting: this one surprisingly worked alright in combat, a couple of shaders, sound effects and distance/stat checks to avoid brokenness and it works sweetly. BUT it haves 2 problems:

a) no way to target objects

b) no way to target non-hostiles

:wallbash:

 

Other powers vary in complexity, tho i'd rather have reliable targeting and aoe methods before dwelling further.

 

After that, there is the casting animation, any suggestions in how to deal with that? (script-wise)

 

Neeways, any help would be greatly appreciated. :thanks:

[Cipscis]

In order to create new "hotkeys", you'll have to use FOSE's IsKeyPressed. Here is the "hook" code that I use to detect a keypress, using the "N" key as an example:

short sIsNPressed

if sIsNPressed != IsKeyPressed 49
set sIsNPressed to sIsNPressed == 0
if sIsNPressed
; The "N" key was pressed
else
; The "N" key was released
endif
endif

You'll want to use code like that inside a GameMode block, probably in a quest script. You should be able to have a script that checks keypresses like this running every frame without having to worry about it affecting the game's performance.

 

As you've described, the problem with using PushActorAway is that it will only affect Actors - other movable references will not be affected by the "force". Because of this, you might want to try using an explosion, placed via PlaceAtMe as you've described, at a location near the targeted reference so that you can exert a force on a localised area, hopefully only affecting the appropriate references.

 

I've tested the effects of using PlaceAtMe to place explosions, and I can tell you with utmost certainty that it is entirely safe and will not lead to savegame bloat of any kind. Once an explosion has "finished", its RefID will be recycled so that it can be reused for another reference. I've tested this with several methods, inlcuding using FOSE's PrintToConsole along with the "%i" format specifier to display the FormID of a form passed via a "ref" variable (in this case the RefID of an explosion placed via PlaceAtMe) and they are recycled after only 2/3 explosions have been placed.

 

FireWeapon doesn't really work all that well when called on the player, but you could use a very small reference (perhaps use SetScale 0 on it) to fire a projectile via FireWeapon.

 

Cipscis

[TGBlank]

Good to hear that placeatme works right, it means i don't have to bash my skull to the keyboard to figure out an alternative to aoes.

Now, to aoe-affect objects, i need the explosion to have some force... but if i give too much, it'll trip myself... but if i give too little, it wont trip my foes and it'll barely move large objects.. why can't i have an explosion that i'm immune to? :wallbash:

tgm-ing myself could be an option, but it's a cheap and unelegant hack i'd rather avoid.

Is there a flag i can raise to make the player invulnerable to knockdown for a few seconds?

Well, i can always make a trip-effect explosion with some force so it does move objects a little, but that wont work with 'pulling'. negative force doesn't seem to work.

Pulling a specific body part, more specifically, the weapon, would also be of great interest, tho a method to target a specific part eludes me.

Will try some toying with fireweapon and placeatme with projectiles.

[TGBlank]

Update:

fireweapon refuses to obey no matter what i do to it, placing projectiles didn't worked as i expected (the projectile doesn't fly ahead)... explosive projectiles also haves the funny effect of exploding in my face whenever i placeatme them.

 

Still in need for a 'target what i'm aiming at' other than getcombattarget (so i can use in objects and nonhostiles).

 

Confirmed that pushactoraway doesnt run on objects

 

Also in need for a 'disable camera shake' for explosions. Or a way to make one ignore the player.