"Secret" Features

[Constance]

In the latest alphas, I've found that there is a whole lot of undocumented changes and new features going on. Things like a revamp of the Dialogue Editor, little tweaks & a Static parameter.

This'll be a list of every single undocumented change/feature I can find.
Please tell me if any of these are actually parts of mods that happened to stray outside the Custom folders.


As of a222...


Static Parameter

[+] Static

If you keep an eye on every post in the forum, you've seen me point this out before, but it's worth mentioning.



This parameter now appears on every single character - if you check it, the character will refuse to move. They also will not detect any hostile enemies.
If you bump into them, they'll get startled and go into an Active Idle pose, but do nothing else.
Pretty useful to make training dummies.

Dialogue Changes

[+] Dialogue Revamp

This is probably my favorite bit.



The dialogue system has been revamped; you can now write dialogue entirely in-game.



It's really clunky, but I think I've figured out the controls. Press ENTER to go into typing mode. While in typing mode, you can't switch lines.
In order to type on other lines, you have to exit typing mode and use the Arrow Keys to switch to the other lines.

There isn't anything like this yet: But if there were, it'd make it way, way easier.
Since there's no progress line thingy (as demonstrated above), it's impossible to tell if you're on a blank line.

I've also found these lines in dialogue.as:

Code: Select all

				if(GetInputDown(controller_id, "keypad+")) {
					// add new line
					AddLine("", selected_line + 1);
					text_dirty = true;
				}
				if(GetInputDown(controller_id, "keypad-")) {
					// delete line
					DeleteLine(selected_line);
					edit_mode = false;
					text_dirty = true;
				}

I tried pressing those keys, but it doesn't work. Probably something on my end.

Also not exactly new, but I've found two useful shortcuts you can use.

• CTRL + R - Toggle Recording
  SHIFT + (Up/Down) - Switch to next Dialogue Line (skip all technical stuff like cam pos)

I also haven't mentioned what is, in my opinion, the coolest feature.

The dialogue editor now scrolls.

Just keep scrolling down with arrow keys and the editor screen will adjust accordingly. No more awful hat tricks to get longer dialogue scenes working!

Disappearing Object Hotspot

[+] Sometimes I Wanna Disappear

I found a script in Data/Scripts/hotspots/object_disappear.as

This hotspot is pretty interesting.

Code: Select all

void Init() {
}

string _default_path = "Unknown";

void SetParameters() {
    params.AddString("Object name to disappear", _default_path);
}

void HandleEvent(string event, MovementObject @mo){
    if(event == "enter"){
        OnEnter(mo);
    }
}

void OnEnter(MovementObject @mo) {
    if(mo.controlled){
        string to_disappear = params.GetString("Object name to disappear");
        array<int> @object_ids = GetObjectIDs();
        int num_objects = object_ids.length();
        for(int i=0; i<num_objects; ++i){
            Object @obj = ReadObjectFromID(object_ids[i]);
            ScriptParams@ params = obj.GetScriptParams();
            if(params.HasParam("Name")){
                string name_str = params.GetString("Name");
                if(to_disappear == name_str){
                    Log(info, "Test");
                    DeleteObjectID(object_ids[i]);
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

If you don't feel like reading the code, I'll explain it, along with details of what I found with some experiments.

When you walk into this hotspot, it'll disappear every single object marked with a 'Name' parameter.
So, say you have an object you want to disappear when your character gets near it.



The script doesn't have an object to spawn it, but if you're versed in .xml wizardry, you can easily plop it down.
If not, just make a .xml with this data and load it into the game:

Code: Select all

<?xml version="2.0" ?>
<Type>generic</Type>
<Hotspot>
	<BillboardColorMap>Data/UI/spawner/thumbs/Hotspot/sign_icon.png</BillboardColorMap>
	<Script>object_disappear.as</Script>
</Hotspot>

So, load that and plop it down next to the box.



Here's your object, and here's your hotspot.
Right now, the hotspot doesn't do anything, so we need the two linked.

So, edit the hotspot with the Parameters screen first and edit the "Object name to disappear" string and replace it with your very favorite name.



Let's name the box we want to disappear 'Houdini'.
Once the player walks into this hotspot, the hotspot will look for every single object named Houdini and will absolutely annihilate and crush it to dust. Just, y'know, quietly.

But, of course, the box isn't actually named yet. So, let's name it.
Go into the box's parameters.



Click on 'Text', and you'll have this.



I'm sure you can figure out what to do here.




From here, you're set.


I've experimented with each type of object and this hotspot.

• Static Objects: Works perfectly. Object will disappear as soon as you enter the hotspot.
  Hotspots: Also works perfectly. Unless the level script somehow absolutely definitely needs the hotspot to stay, it won't crash nor will any side effects occur.
  Characters: Works just fine, until about a second passes and the game crashes.

When you enter the hotspot and make an object disappear, you can leave the level and come back and Houdini will still be there.
However, if you save the level right after you disappear the object, and reload the level back, then Houdini will be permanently gone.

This hotspot is basically like if you deleted something in the Editor, just without accessing the Editor at all, nor pressing BACKSPACE.

Volume Sliders

[+] Loudness

Really minor, but kinda cool.

Not worth actually making a whole section on this, but there are a ton of Arenas in Data/Levels/arenas.

I'll expand this list the more stuff that I find.

[Constance]

I've actually found some cool new dialogue animatons in Data/Animations.
When I asked Akazi about it on Steam, they actually confirmed (or completely lied as per Whale Man conspiracy) that they made it for the Lugaru campaign, so that's pretty neat.

[+] Images

r_dialogue_2handneck

-



r_dialogue_armcheck

-



r_dialogue_handhips

-



r_dialogue_kneelfist

-



r_dialogue_kneeling_low

-



r_dialogue_shockedback

-

r_dialogue_standfromfront, which is actually a copy of r_standfromfront with no discernable differences.

-



r_dialogue_worriedpose_1

-



r_dialogue_worriedpose_2

worriedpose_2 kinda looks like they're cold & shivering, so that's one way to use it. Either that, or pouting.

[Constance]

Not exactly 'secret' or a 'feature' or anything at all, this level .xml has been sitting around in Levels/project60 for a while - Sparce Hills.

[+] Image

Someone didn't label their weightmap & colormap right.

If you go into the files, that neon texture is actually labeled as a colormap, when in reality, that is absolutely definitely a weightmap if I've ever seen one.

[Autious]

Hey Timbles, this is pretty cool. It's nice to see people explore and documents that we don't document ourselves.

[Constance]

Hey Timbles, this is pretty cool. It's nice to see people explore and documents that we don't document ourselves.

Thanks; it's actually pretty fun.
Once Overgrowth is released, I am so absolutely starting its own TCRF article.

[Constance]

Everyone knows that you can attach groups of static objects to characters; but what about other objects?

[+] Hotspots

Hotspots

Hotspots, surprisingly enough, work perfectly. You can run around with a hotspot attached to you and its icon will even follow you around.

[+] Sounds

Sounds

Sound objects actually work perfectly. The source of the sound coming from the sound object (like ice cracking/the test sound) will change depending on where the character is, and distances will still make the sound fade over time.

[+] Characters

Characters ?

OH. MY. GOD.



When you attach a character onto another character, this happens.
I honestly didn't expect this. I just thought it'd crash the game and nothing'd happen, or at the very most, just change where the character'd spawn.

But this.




The character on top (green shirt) is hostile, while the character being ridden on is set to Static.




The two attached characters are actually just floating off. Something to note is that the blue orbs are the points of attachment.



Wow.

Akazi then gave me the idea to make a tower of them.

• Akazi™: hahaha
  Akazi™: I'll make sure this isn't patched

This is just about the best bug in the game.

There is so much you can do with this; like, you can use an enemy on top of your head to kill other enemies (your head-enemy will dropkick everyone that comes near).

You can like, chop down a 'tree' of characters.

Try making a tower, controlling the bottom rabbit and pressing F.

Try attaching a hostile enemy onto your own head.

Also, after you attach an enemy to your head and kill them, soccerkicks somehow become like, three times as powerful...

[+] How To

To do this, here's the steps:




Get a character & an object.




It's recommended to put the object in the middle of the character, but it's not actually important. Either way, select both.




Press the 'Group' button to group them...




Now press TAB twice quickly to freeze the game, and move the group onto the character.
Use the object you put at the center of the group's character as a pivot point for where you want the object attached.




Now hold ALT and click on a bone to attach the character.




After all that, press 'L' to reload the level and enjoy.
You can replace 'character' with 'hotspot' or 'sound' and this guide can still apply.

This was all found & tested on a223.

[ScarXL]

The character thing is hilarious, I might try that to make a tower of bunny rabbits xD

[Autious]

Hey Timbles, this is pretty cool. It's nice to see people explore and documents that we don't document ourselves.

Thanks; it's actually pretty fun.
Once Overgrowth is released, I am so absolutely starting its own TCRF article.

That's a pretty cool site, and it'd be an honour to have someone make an article on there for Og one day.

[Thomason1005]

taha the character Tower is genius

[Phoenixwarrior141]

This should be an actual feature. Let companions or allies stand on your shoulders and kick shit with one leg.

Make it happen people who are productive human beings.

[Blackavar]

I'd be willing to bet a few dollars that this is the pose Turner will make in the Lugaru campaign when he comes back to his home and everyone (but Jack) is killed

[halzoid]

A light, Emmiter and decal attached to one character xD


also, can i point out how damn atmospheric the emmiter and dynamic light can be!


(wont let me add these as files... thanks Timbles for the tag tip V)

[Constance]

Surprised I didn't think of adding a decal onto a character.
As for the image files, just put the link between these tags:

Code: Select all

[img][/img]

[Thomason1005]

this Looks freakin awesome

[Constance]

Sorry for making this thread hard to load.
So many images. So many .gif's.

Either way, I decided to see what would happen if I got my character out-of-bounds in the most extreme conditions.

[+] Expediction

The first thing I noticed was this 'glow' effect.



At a certain point, your character (in this case, Ghost) gets a 'glowy' effect when your camera is in sight of the sun.



The second thing I noticed was 'the wiggles'.



The 'wiggle' effect is increased the further you get out-of-bounds.

In the .gif, my character is at t0="-10000.7989" (One-thousand in-game units from x0, y0, z0).


This is my character at t0="-40000.7989" (Four-thousand).




This is my character at t0="-100000.7989" (Ten-thousand).




This is my character at t0="-200000.7989" (Twenty-thousand).



I decided to put it in slowmo here.




I decided to pump it up a bit.
This is my character at t0="-1000000.7989" (Ten-thousand).



You can see Ghost is now getting derezzed.


Not enough.

This is my character at t0="-5000000.7989" (Fifty-thousand).




More.

t0="-10000000.7989" (One-hundred-thousand).



It was here that I noticed two things.

• - Ragdolls are affected in visuals and physics. In the .gif, I activate ragdoll by pressing Z completely stationary; the character is flung back.
  
  - When viewing to the side, the character looks somewhat normal. Somewhat.

I initally found this when I created a giant runway in a blank level to see what it'd look like for a super-duper fast character to have motion blur.

Not exactly a bug as much as it is an unintentional feature. Kind of reminds me of the Farlands in Minecraft.

Found and tested on a225.


EDIT: As per usual, I got an idea to take this even further and it's now one of the best bugs in Overgrowth, if not THE. I think I'm noticing a trend with this thread.

Either way, to accurately sum it up, I'll need to include a video, so that's in the process of being uploaded right now.

EDIT 2: I got a video up.



somewhat noisy music warning


It turns out, the shaking doesn't just apply to characters.
It applies to everything.

And I mean everything.
It applies to the editor controls. It applies to the camera. It applies to enemies.

In fact, look at the enemy when I approached them. They were blind.
For some reason they also wouldn't attack, and were (unexplainably) better at blocking then normal.

I didn't test it as far as I wanted to because...
I mean come on, did you see what trying to make three blocks of that level was like?

In fact, I openly challenge all members of the Forum that are reading this to try to make a playable level like this.

Open a level .xml and set the t0 to an excessive amount, like ten-thousand (or if you can't handle it, five-thousand).

Just attempt to make an enjoyable level like this. I want to see your results.
And if that's not enough difficulty for you, pump the numbers up.