Using mist as an activator for Special Furniture Marker?

[ToppDog]

I made some custom alchemy & enchantment tabletops for my mod that are static, with the crafting animations/window activated by special furniture markers that are placed precisely to make a 1.0 height NPC/Player char look exactly right during the animations. It works perfectly fine except that the player has to hover over the special furniture markers on the floor in front of them instead of the actual static crafting stations. So, is it possible to create an activator for a special furniture marker?

 

I know the object used has to have collision, so I created a version of "FXMistLowSwirls02" with collision added which I have placed on top of all three crafting stations, but I am unsure how to go about making these new objects be activators for the special furniture markers. Here's a pic of what I am trying to do:

 

http://i.imgur.com/HVqPcyS.png?1

 

[Tamira]

Can't you do it the other way round: Edit the alchemy/enchantment tabletop and point to your new custom model?

 

On the other hand I'd really like to know myself if it is possible to use a furniture marker when you activate an activator. ;)

[ToppDog]

I thought of doing it the other way around (from what I learned from you before), but I think the problem will be that the position the player/npc will be in while performing the animation is directly linked to the position of the alchemy/enchantment tabletop (or the custom model), & in this case they kind of hover with their feet above the ground, & their torsos clip into the counter.

 

If they activate the special furniture markers, the animations are correct, with feet on the ground & hands on the counter, right in front of the stations instead of on top of the tabletops. It works fine this way, except that the player has to know to hover the mouse on the floor in front of the stations, instead of the stations themselves.

 

I'm going to experiment some more to see what I can come up with...

[Tamira]

Hm, can you send me your new object (nif) via PM? I could try to make a working station for you. Or is the new station made of objects that you assembled in the CK?

[ToppDog]

I made it with objects assembled in CK with certain textures turned off, etc. The reason I was going to try the static mist object was because besides having collision, there must be some kind of texture to be able to click on an object, correct? I tried placing the actual crafting tabletops with all the textures deleted before & they weren't selectable in-game. That's how I ended up using the statics & special furniture marker combos.

 

This may be an entirely wrong approach, so maybe you're right & I may have to create .nif files of the crafting tabletops.

[Tamira]

 

 

......, so maybe you're right & I may have to create .nif files of the crafting tabletops.

 

If I can give you a helping hand with this, just let me know.

[Tlaffoon]

Couldn't you just place an invisable alchemy station where yours is?

[ToppDog]

Na, I tried that before. If it's invisible, it can't be clicked on in-game. That would be the ideal solution though if it worked.

 

Actually, I do think that will work. I found an older post from Tamira that says "Easier is it to use the vanilla enchanting station, give it a new ID, make it invisible in game by checking "Is Marker."

 

When I tried it before, I made it invisible by changing all the textures to NullTextureSet, instead of selecting "Is Marker", & I could not click on it in-game. So, it should work if I do it the way Tamira did. All I think I need to do now is delete the collision from the custom pieces, so they do not overlap the invisible markers.

Edited August 25, 2015 by ToppDog

[ToppDog]

Okay, I was able to create an invisible item that acted as a marker, but it did not play the crafting animations (just opened up the menu). I know this is because the animations are linked to the mesh of the crafting stations. The reason I didn't try making the crafting stations invisible markers is because they sit too low & can't be activated the way I would like. So, I'm thinking of adding in a round disc shaped object to the .nif files to have a raised area that the player can hover the mouse over to activate the tabletops instead of deleting the collision on all those different pieces of the custom tabletop stations & countertops, etc.

 

I've tested it separately & it seems like it will work. I used enlarged blocks of cheese to sit on top of the stations & they work well as markers & are easy to hover over with the mouse. But, there are areas of the default stations I do not want the player to be able to select with the mouse, so is there a way to add in the cheese mesh & delete parts of the default stations & still keep the animation portion intact?

[sLoPpYdOtBiGhOlE]

I may be missing your point of what your after, but using an sit marker as the alchemy table without any static and using an invisible activator is really quite easy to set up (even without any nif editing at all).

 

example:

Duplicate the CraftingAlchemyWorkbenchTabletop in Object window.

Edit the duplicate to use the Model Furniture\SitCrossLeggedMarker.nif

Check the IsMarker box.

Close duplicate edit window.

Drop the duplicate CraftingAlchemyWorkbenchTabletop in the render window where you want it.

 

Under Object Window -> WorldObjects -> Activators -> find an invisible activator to use and duplicate it.

eg: dunRebelsCairnSwordActivator

Edit the duplicate and give it the activator text you want eg: Alchemy Lab

Maybe add the override text as Use.

 

Drop the duplicate activator in the CK render window.

Under the Linked Ref tab of duplicate activator add a Linked Ref from the duplicate activator to the CraftingAlchemyWorkbenchTabletop duplicate.

Under the script tab of duplicate activator add this:

Scriptname InvActiScript extends ObjectReference



Event OnActivate(ObjectReference akActionRef)

    GetLinkedRef().Activate(akActionRef)

EndEvent

Scale/rotate/move the duplicate activator to where you want it.

Done.

http://nsa37.casimages.com/img/2015/08/27/150827042226234124.jpg

 

 

Now when your in game when the user targets the activator they see "Use Alchemy lab"

When they activate the:

Targeting Activator
http://nsa37.casimages.com/img/2015/08/27/150827043258178477.jpg

After Activating
http://nsa38.casimages.com/img/2015/08/27/150827043258729126.jpg

Exiting Alchemy
http://nsa37.casimages.com/img/2015/08/27/150827043258363134.jpg

 

No nif model editing required at all.

 

If it's a case you want to use the FXMistLowSwirls02 as an activator, then use chunckmerge and add collision.

After adding collision if you want the FXMistLowSwirls02 to be not physically collidable but still want it to work as an activator

Then in NifScope under bhkRigidBody section set

Layer -> OL_NonCollidable

Layer Copy -> OL_NonCollidable

 

Also set the BSX flag as Enable Collision

 

Doing this will make it so when you use the edited FXMistLowSwirls02.nif as an Activator Form, when dropped in the game world the the player and objects can pass through the FXMistLowSwirls02, but when the player targets the mist it will show Activate.

 

Which is handy if your puting the activator on a table or shelf that the user might manually place items on, as the mist/activator will not block or leave the object floating above the table or shelf.

 

The dunRebelsCairnSwordActivator I used in my above example is invisible but it is physically collidable.

eg: it obstructs objects from passing through it.

(Same bhkRigidBody OL_NonCollidable and bsx Enable Collision can be applied to this model or any other nif)

Edited August 27, 2015 by sLoPpYdOtBiGhOlE