spöb placement tricks

(food for thought)

This may be obvious to some, but nonetheless here it is just for the halibut.

Given:
1. spöb X and Y placement values are ą32767
2. s˙st wraparound occurs at ą15000 pixels
3. visible s˙st area is player ship position ą500 pixels
4. radar screen dimensions are ą2750 pixels

Trick #1:
Set spöb X and/or Y to >=15000 (+ spöb radius) and <=15500. The player will be able to see the spöb (and communicate with it) if they travel to the s˙st boundary area, but they will never be able to reach it.

Trick#2:
Set spöb X and/or Y to >=15500 + spöb sprite size/2 + 1. spöb will not be visible to player at all, but it will be listed in the map details.

So what?

Using a modification of trick #1 (set the spöb X/Y to ą15001) will allow the player to land on the spöb (if approached carefully), but when they leave the spöb they will instantaneously appear at the s˙st wraparound position and the spöb will not be visible.

Using either trick in conjunction with a mďsn SpecialShip with a ShipStart on top of the out of sight spöb and a ShipGoal of "observe" will enable the developer to initiate either/both an OnShipDone(set) of NCBs and operators as well as displaying (in space) the ShipDone dësc upon entry into the s˙st or leaving any other spöb within the s˙st.

This post has been edited by Arturo : 14 July 2005 - 05:00 AM

I wonder what would happen if you landed on a spob and got moved to the one past the wrap limit.

Arturo, on Jul 14 2005, 10:57 AM, said:

This may be obvious to some, but nonetheless here it is just for the halibut.

Given:
1. spöb X and Y placement values are ą32767
2. s˙st wraparound occurs at ą15000 pixels
3. visible s˙st area is player ship position ą500 pixels
4. radar screen dimensions are ą2750 pixels

...
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Don't forget that 3 depends on the resolution the player is playing at, that is, it is likely less if the game is played in 800*600 (probably 300 then). I don't know if Nova support very high resolutions, though.

For Trick #2: You can also do it by listing the spob ID in the syst resource, but never list the syst ID in that spob resource.

(EDIT) Hehe, I forgot the EVDC is dominated by Nova-users, I naturally thought as an Overrider (/EDIT)

This post has been edited by Coraxus : 14 July 2005 - 02:14 PM