superleaping

[bearded]

what animation does superleaping use?
would it be possible to change it to the flying animation?
jumping is the default?

[BentonGrey]

Yeah, it uses the jump animation for default.  If you wanted to change it, there would be two ways to do it.  A) Rename whatever animation you want your character to use as "jumping" (this has obvious disadvantages), or B) Search through the script files to find super-leaper and change that part.  I can't be more specific than that, since I'm not precisely sure how it is set up.

[Epimethee]

B) Search through the script files to find super-leaper and change that part.

Alas (poor Yorick!), this isn't customizable in FFX. This is a hack on the built-in jumping ability.

Would using the Rope Swinger or the Glider attributes instead do the job?

[bearded]

i'm trying to find alternatives for batman and spiderman instead of flying. tumble with the animation changed to the flying animation almost works, i just wish they could get some air while they do it. maybe changing the animation to be higher?
i wish speeding bullet would use different animations, but it only seems to use run.

[DrMike2000]

Yeah, the animations used by FFX Superleaper and speeding bullet powers are hadrcoded. They can't be changed by scripting, or anything other than hex-editing/changing the animation files.

[bearded]

do you think it is possible to start the chain fx as a beam from the right hand to the target and maintain it until the landing?

[Epimethee]

Yes, if you set it as a script-based visual effect instead of an attack. Cf. the scripting documentation and, for examples, ffx.py and FFEdit.

[bearded]

i'll need to add the visual effect in the ffx.py def superleaping, right? how hard would it be to set up as a customizable effect for each character?
like, catwoman and indiana jones would want the whip effect, and batman would want a bat grapple, and rorschach would want a grapple gun, while spiderman would use his webs.

[Epimethee]

You can copy the customization code from various other attributes and adapt it.

Note that, for the FX to end at the right time, you'll need to add specific code. Two potential solution come to mind:

1. Location+time: Detect when the character gets near the target object using Get_ObjectPos(). To detect if the leap has been cancelled instead, you'll also need to add a regTimer().

2. Animation based: use mlogreader.py's regFlightStop(). This should be the better solution.

BTW, what is your issue with using Rope Swinging flight instead? Some of these meshes already have the appropriate implement built in their flight animation.

[bearded]

nothing more than a personal choice. i appreciate what was done with ffx and all the flying attributes.
but to me, spiderman looks like he is hanging from the sky. and he never does that. he is always moving. so i was just thinking superleaping would work better for that, it's more like what he actually does.

[Epimethee]

Yeah, makes sense. Rope Swinger is certainly a low-fidelity game adaptation of the "real" behaviour. Initially, I wanted it to work only when near buildings (but not over) and other tall objects or on interior maps, but the game engine doesn't really give us enough hooks to make something reliable and smooth.

[bearded]

i wonder if it would be possible to use the line swinger meshes and attach an air ship based fx to the top of the mesh during flight? do fx have to attach to nodes or can they attach to the top? otherwise, maybe make a new node and attach it to the top of the drop line.
that way it would look like blue beetle was hanging from the bottom of his ship:

[Epimethee]

Nice idea.

IIRC, fx can attach at the top. However, this requires a mesh where there always stays in the same position relative to the character during the flight animation. If not, it would be better to hex the ship to the mesh.

[bearded]

it totally works, with a little work. i painted the ff car blue used it as the start and core of blue beetle's flight with the nodes set to top. it was a bit too close to the character so i used max to increase the height, and i changed the flying animation to the hover. the only down side is the ship appears out of nowhere.
booster gold: "Woah! where did that come from?
blue beetle, with a smile of satisfaction: "Stealth mode."
does anyone want the ship fx?