Collision problem with sliding coffin lid door thing.

[Mister Spook]

Confusing enough of a title?

Okay, here's my problem. The map I'm working on is a crypt. It's got a bunch of stone sarcophagi with lids that slide open when you frob them. [after picking the locks of course] They're traditional coffin shaped with the wider area at the shoulders and narrower at the head and foot, but the collision area of them is rectangular.

You can see what I mean here:

http://www.hexed.net/thievery/grrr.jpg

Naturally, this is not cool since it makes it very hard to get close enough to activate it from a good portion of the directions that you'd want to. Also invisible collision stuff is just no fun anyway.

So what I'm asking is: Is there a way to make these extra collision areas outside of the coffin shape not affect the players or bots. I've tried everything I could think of in the ThDoor properties, all to no avail. The only thing that worked was setting bBlockPlayers to 'false' but then that allowed you to jump up on the sarcophagus and fall into it. Not very lid-like behaviour.

Anyone have a solution for this problem? I'd really hate to have to give up my cool shaped coffins for boring rectangular ones.

Here's a shot of one of them open if anyone is curious:

http://www.hexed.net/thievery/opened.jpg


~ Spook

[Bloody-Reaper]

Make some collision cylinders? They should fit nicely.

[LaughingRat]

Make some collision cylinders? They should fit nicely.

Sounds like a problem that can't be solved by a big crate....

[LegalAssassin]

Either attach separate BlockAll's or use two movers instead... maybe?

[Bloody-Reaper]

Make some collision cylinders? They should fit nicely.

Sounds like a problem that can't be solved by a big crate....

It's only in extreme situations there's need to call for crates... This isn't one.
But im sure a crate would fix it somehow...




Yes!
Block the sides of the coffin of with crates! See, problem solved.

[Bloody-Reaper]

On another note... Cant you just make the coffin solid?
I mean, build wth BSP like the rest of the map... Shouldnt it work?

[Mister Spook]

Cant you just make the coffin solid?
I mean, build wth BSP like the rest of the map... Shouldnt it work?

Oh yeah. That's no problem at all. The problem comes in when I make the lid into a ThDoor. Then all of a sudden it adds that rectangular collision garbage around it for some reason.

I need the hollow space inside for stashing Loot and the body that you've been hired to steal, so being solid is out.

Also it's kinda' fun that you can hide in them if a guard is coming.



~Spook

[SiLeNt_NiGhT]

Rather than having your lids 'slide' to one side (as in the screenshot) why not have them come completely off the coffin in more than two key moves, ie; 1) slide to one side. 2) tilt lid vertically 90 degrees. 3) Lid then lowers to ground. [4 keys total]. In reverse you would click the lid and it would take the same path to its original position. This might allow someone to crawl inside and hide, as you've said - and be able to seal themselves in if required. Just an idea. The only problem is that if the walls aren't 'thick' enough and far enough apart from each other the thief will 'leak through' and be seen; providing a nice, enclosed, target for a guard to kill. ( I know cause I've got some sarcophagi in my map too) :?

[Mister Spook]

That method for opening actually seems kinda' cool. I'll have to try one out that way and see how it looks.

The way I've got it going now it's really easy to hop inside and close it up and I was going this method because it seemed more realistic to try and keep a 300lb slab of stone on top of the sarcophagus and just slide it But your way does sound like it would look cool.

Good to know about the thieves poking out thru the walls if the space is too small though. I hadn't even thought to test for that.

I just really gotta' find a way not to have those invisible force walls block the players at the corners or I'm gonna' have to scrap my cool shape and go with boring rectangular ones. I made a rectangular one and it didn't look *bad* but... after building these ones, it would really hurt to have to go with something less cool.

Of course... it doesn't help that I'm totally new to this and only have maybe 50 hours of experience in Unreal Ed 2.


~Spook

[SiLeNt_NiGhT]

Mister Spook wrote:
" ...it seemed more realistic to try and keep a 300lb slab of stone on top of the sarcophagus and just slide it ..."

...yea, sometimes we have to sacrifice our sense of realism for UnrealEd's realism... :wink: but hey, ya comprimise a little and ya keep a full supply of tylenol in the bathroom cupboard where it belongs. ... that said, I also try to stick to realism where possible.

M. Spook wrote:
" Good to know about the thieves poking out thru the walls if the space is too small though. I hadn't even thought to test for that."

Well, I'm not entirely sure what causes this...because by all rights it shouldn't happen - but then what do I know? I'm as green to Ued as you. The true test will be when I've got some guards on my map and have them walk by while I'm in the sarc. I've only noticed this from the 3rd person viewpoint ingame sofar.

Good Luck

[SiLeNt_NiGhT]

Oh, just wondered - can you not change collision radius and height in brush properties to be smaller, shortening the corners? This may bring the radius to within the 'shoulder corners' of the coffin wall you we're talking about. I know this works for meshes but haven't tried it for complex brushes.

[Mister Spook]

Oh, just wondered - can you not change collision radius and height in brush properties to be smaller, shortening the corners?

Doesn't seem to work on movers. Unless there's something that I'm missing. I even tried setting the CollisionHeight and CollisionWidth to zero. No effect, unfortunately.

But I DID get my stupid lids working. Well 98% working and that's gonna' have to be acceptable. I explain:

First I made the lid a ThDoor mover. Then I made *another* mover that's a plank 2uu thick and just large enough to keep you from being able to climb into the coffin. Then I set all the collision stuff on the lid to be False and placed the plank on top of the lid and made it invisible. Then I linked the two using... um... the way you link things so that they do the same moves as the mover they're linked to.

I had to place the plank on top of the coffin lid because when underneath it, you could stand on the lid [throuh the lid really] and in full light, if you crouched, your visibility dropped to 0%. Hardly fair. Also the plank had to be 2uu thick because when made 1uu thick... you would jump onto it and be inescapably stuck and have to ~suicide to get out.

It works within an acceptable level. But there *are* some problems with it. The plank warps as the lid slides and rotates so that its collision area is a little different for Key0 and Key1. But this is more of me picking nits than being a real issue.

The major problem is... they don't play well with others.

It seems that if I put two in the same room and they're not quite far enough apart, they interact oddly. And by oddly, I mean:

Some phantom non-object is created that casts a mysterious shadow and also causes either lid that touches it when it rotates to go completely transparent where it touches the phantom non-object.

In one room that I placed them... the phantom non-object is an invisible beam that floats perpendicular to the head of one of the coffins. In another... it's a big triangle that takes up a good portion of the space between them. That one is the weirdest. It's directly under the light in the room... yet makes a good 1/3 of the room deepest shadow. 0% visibility. It's *very* odd. And I've no idea what the deal is as there is *no* object anywhere in the editor causing it.

And I've flat out given up on making it go away.

So... It's one fancy sarcophagus per room and a couple smaller rectangular ones to keep it company. Plus, the variation looks nicer. [and they're a lot easier]


~Spook
[do I ever make a short post?]