quest/waypoints
 

well i was thinking up some quests to put on my server and i am wondering if it would be possible to add a quest function that makes npcs follow a grid AFTER the required items/text/etc. has been done, or maybe a waypoint type that doesn't acctivate until it is told to in a quest file..

if i didnt know anybetter i smell 8th shawl burning

Re: quest/waypoints
 

Interesting that you should mention this. Its on my quest command wish list. Here are the commands I would like to see added:

start(<gridid>,<waypoint>) - puts mob on a grid at a specific wp and starts it moving
pause(<time>) - causes mob to pause at the place where it is (does not have to be a wp) for time specified
halt(<time>) - stops mob from moving if time > 0 halt occurs after that time
resume(<time>) - causes mob to continue (after halt) if time > 0 the resume occurs after the wait for that time
moveto(<x>,<y>,<z>,<time>) - mob moves to x,y,z position (overrides grid) pauses for time - generates event_wp when it gets there
opendoor(<doorid>,<locked>) - causes specified door to open. locked is 1/0 and specifies if door can be opened if locked
facetarget() - makes npc turn and face target
signal(<npcid>) - generates a new event called event_signal for the specified npc (lets one npc signal another) you could use quest globals to pass information to it
zsignal(<npcid>,<zone>) - like signal above, but signals npc in another zone

I think that's everything on my wish list... I'm sure I forgot something

Yes ! no more hey, it's you i'm talking to, do you hear ?situations.
We could get them go crazy with 2 or 3 plyrs talking to them simultaneously, aggravate them and have them shout "Now STOP ! one at a time", dropping whatever they hold. It would be a great team quest "nasty kids have brother Estle loose his nerves, and get his prayer beads". That's team building ! J/K

I'm a bit confused about moving, and grids, in general. Does the logic belong to zone.exe through the DB, quests scripts, ... Could you plese point to, or post to explain how you 'd use your wish list, if it's not 'know-how secret' ?

@shadow-wolf : in the meanwhile, how about despawning the mob after the event, and spawning a new, with same types (name, race, level, ...everything) but with different spawn2. The new mob would have the pathgrid intended for the former one AFTER the required items/text/etc. has been done

Its all done in mobai.cpp. The waypoints are loaded and the destination wp is saved in the mob. The entire zone loops through all entities - doors,npcs,clients, etc - processing each in turn.

When it processes an npc, it calculates the distince it will move based on the speed. It determines the direction it is going and calculates the new position where it should be, sending a packet to the client telling it to move the npc to that position.

When it reaches a wp, it sets a timer and waits until the time is up. This means that during that time, each time it processes the npc, it does not move it. Once the time is up, it determines the next destination wp, loads that into the npc and starts moving to it.

A couple of examples might be... after talking with a player, the npc does a moveto() towards a door. When it arrives, the event_wp is triggered. It then does an opendoor(). Turns to the player using facetarget() and tells the player "what you are looking for is in here".

Another one might be use signal() and targlobal(). By setting a var to a specific value and sending it to the other npc, then doing a signal, you can create a conversation between 2 or more npcs. On event_signal, it checks the global var and does a say() depending on what is in it. Then it does a targlobal() back with a signal to that npc - who checks the var and does a say() based on what is in it... and back and forth.

zsignal() would be used by boats among other things ... but we won't go into that yet.

Thanks for taking time of a complete answer ; i was asking because i could not find out what EQEMu would improve to beyond pathgrid. That works well for patrol and random encounters, but there have been some discussions about mapping, path finding, mobs fleeing, Mob AI, and i could not read a definite option.

Furthermore, i like the signal() and zsignal() very much.