Spontainious NPC health regeneration

Hi Guys, I've been testing several PoG plug-ins in progress and have seen a problem occur in at least three plug-ins where an aggressive character gets a pulsating light under the creature, usually accompanied with a humming sound, and a regeneration of health points (typically 10 to 30 HP every half second) making the foe almost impossible to defeat. One plug-in which has been released has had several players report this event. In that instance, (I'm trying not to name names or point fingers) the event does not happen on every encounter. When it does, the creature becomes passive (does not attack) but is still virtually unbeatable because of the rapid regeneration of health.

In each instance where this happens, I do not believe the author of the plug-in intended this to occur, so my question is: Does anyone know what causes this, and how can it be avoided? I am just getting started with my own plug-in and am not yet fully functional with CGE. I appreciate any input you can provide. Thanks, ~RD

Edit: I've tried the search feature and don't find this mentioned.

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The (url="http://"http://mywebpage.netscape.com/rduckfwj/pog/mapnotes.html")Kingdom of Garendall(/url) sectional map is easily printed from gif format pages.
Find those areas you missed the first time around. You'll want to explore those hidden areas now made accessible with Spells Expander.

(This message has been edited by Rubber Ducky (edited 12-09-2002).)

THat's sounds like an Easter Egg gone awry if i ever heard one. Maybe it wasn't intentional but those NPCs defnitely have access to a real spell, that fires an animation that either loops really fast or has several call events attached.

If it was/-n't intentional feel free to email me the script...sounds...useful.

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(This message has been edited by ellrx (edited 12-09-2002).)

Quote

Originally posted by Rubber Ducky:
< snip!>

I know exactly what this is. It has plagued the alpha version of TFM... it's a problem with the AI. Most PoG enemies are "berserkers"... they just stand around and attack, and don't use any items at all. In TFM, I wanted more of a challenge, and so I gave a few enemies the Aggressive Fighter AI (the AF can use items) and one or two potions.

Alas, this didn't turn out the way I expected. The enemy had infinite amounts of every potion I gave him, and for some reason constantly used them, even when he didn't need them. In the end, because it's an engine issue, I had to reconfigure my enemies as Berserkers, which is a shame.

Writers of the plug-ins with this problem should definitely make an update, at least until (more likely unless) an engine update comes out that fixes this; and plug-in and game devs alike would do well to avoid this issue.

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"When angry, count ten. When very angry, swear!" —Mark Twain
(url="http://"http://www.evula.org/wolvenstudios/projects/tfm.html")The Four Mages(/url), an unfinished quest-oriented plug-in for Pillars of Garendall. | (url="http://"http://www.evula.org/wolvenstudios/projects/tfm_faq.html")TFM FAQ(/url) | (url="http://"http://www.evula.org/wolvenstudios/projects/tfm_log.html")TFM Progress Log(/url)
— Cafalll, the only permanent employee of (url="http://"http://www.evula.org/wolvenstudios/")Wolven Studios(/url).

Quote

Originally posted by Cafalll:
**I know exactly what this is. - - - - and plug-in and game devs alike would do well to avoid this issue.
**

Thanks, Cafall, this is beginning to make some sense. I am still puzzled by the fact that in one instance it does not happen every time. And why would the NPC turn passive? ~RD


(oops I leftt offf somee ellls) 🙂

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My Doctor said I was having too much wine, women, and song - so I gave up singing because 2 out of 3 is not so bad.
The (url="http://"http://mywebpage.netscape.com/rduckfwj/pog/mapnotes.html")Kingdom of Garendall(/url) sectional map is easily printed from gif format pages.
Find those areas you missed the first time around. You'll want to explore those hidden areas now made accessible with Spells Expander.

did someone say eLL' ??

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Quote

Originally posted by Rubber Ducky:
Thanks, Cafall, this is beginning to make some sense. I am still puzzled by the fact that in one instance it does not happen every time. And why would the NPC turn passive? ~RD

I don't know about it not always happening — sounds like a plugin-specific issue to me. As for turning passive, I've noticed this and I think that it's caused because characters pause whenever they use a health potion; the enemy uses a health potion constantly, so he's always pausing and can't move.

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"When angry, count ten. When very angry, swear!" —Mark Twain
(url="http://"http://www.evula.org/wolvenstudios/projects/tfm.html")The Four Mages(/url), an unfinished quest-oriented plug-in for Pillars of Garendall. | (url="http://"http://www.evula.org/wolvenstudios/projects/tfm_faq.html")TFM FAQ(/url) | (url="http://"http://www.evula.org/wolvenstudios/projects/tfm_log.html")TFM Progress Log(/url)
— Cafalll, the only permanent employee of (url="http://"http://www.evula.org/wolvenstudios/")Wolven Studios(/url).

Quote

Originally posted by Cafalll:
**I don't know about it not always happening — sounds like a plugin-specific issue to me.
**

Thanks again. Sapphire's Blue Dragon is sometimes aggressive and sometimes passive and it may be a factor of the player's stats (the stronger the player's character, the more defensive the dragon) because in my first encounters, I remember getting trounced. When I went back later, the dragon was gulping joy juice.

Quote

Originally posted by Cafalll:
As for turning passive, I've noticed this and I think that it's caused because characters pause whenever they use a health potion; the enemy uses a health potion constantly, so he's always pausing and can't move.

I think you're on to something there. The only piece of the puzzle that doesn't fit is why they keep on downing health potions after their HP status bar is filled up. At this point, I come to the conclusion that Coldstone has a bug (What? It's not the first one?) and at least I have a better understanding of what is going on. I'll avoid the issue in "Damsels in Distress" which is still a looong way down the road. ~RD

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My Doctor said I was having too much wine, women, and song - so I gave up singing because 2 out of 3 is not so bad.
The (url="http://"http://mywebpage.netscape.com/rduckfwj/pog/mapnotes.html")Kingdom of Garendall(/url) sectional map is easily printed from gif format pages.
Find those areas you missed the first time around. You'll want to explore those hidden areas now made accessible with Spells Expander.

Quote

Originally posted by Rubber Ducky:
I think you're on to something there. The only piece of the puzzle that doesn't fit is why they keep on downing health potions after their HP status bar is filled up.

This is most likely a bug. I've noticed the same thing when giving an NPC a defensive spell that they will cast it constantly(if you give the NPC a graphic that has a cast animation, such as the conjurer player icon, the NPC does jumping jacks on the screen. Pretty funny stuff) until they run out of magic.

There are some issues that definitely need working out.

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