Noob NPC question

[Kenobi9191]

Hey guys, I was just wondering how I would go about spawning a taun taun cause there isn't one in the list :P I heard you type something in the Key and Value of NPC_Vehicle. Also, how you make it so they respawn after a certin amount of time/from a button.

[CalcProgrammer1]

Make a NPC_vehicle and give it a NPC_type of "tauntaun"

[Kenobi9191]

Hey thanks man! do you know how I can make it respawn buy button?

[CalcProgrammer1]

give the npc_vehicle a key "count" and val "-1" (makes it respawn infinitely), then you must give it a targetname, then make a trigger_multiple (its invisible in the game, so you want to make an object of some kind to be your control panel or button) and target it to the targetname of your npc_vehicle, so the npc_vehicle has key "targetname" and val is a name you want to call the vehicle such as "vehicle_tauntaun_1" and then the trigger_multiple must have "target" and val "vehicle_tauntaun_1", and check the Use_button spawn flag checkbox to make it a button. Note that when you give the vehicle a targetname it no longer automatically spawns itself when the map starts, therefore you must press the button to spawn it. Oh, and give the trigger_multiple a "wait" of "5" (thats just the number I usually use, its how many seconds the button waits before spawning another vehicle, if you don't do this you'll spawn many many of them per second over top of each other and probably crash your computer if you hold the button down long enough)

So:
npc_vehicle:
"NPC_type", "tauntaun"
"count", "-1"
"targetname", "vehicle_tauntaun_1"

trigger_multiple:
CHECK use_button
"wait", "5"
"target", "vehicle_tauntaun_1"

[CalcProgrammer1]

Another way to make them respawn is to put a trigger_once without the use_button check, but the player must pass through this before he reaches the vehicle because this initially spawns the vehicle, the trigger_once only needs a "target" key. Then add the "target" key to the vehicle itself, so that the vehicle basically targets itself, this happens when the tauntaun dies, it targets itself, and a new tauntaun appears in the spot where the npc_vehicle is. However, if playing in a mod where entities can be destroyed, such as Lugormod with /blowup, the entity may not fire its target when it is destroyed without being killed and therefore won't respawn. I prefer buttons to spawn vehicles but it all depends on how you want the map to operate.

[Kenobi9191]

Thanks a lot man!

[CalcProgrammer1]

Its no problem, I had those same questions when I started mapping about two months ago, and eventually figured it out.

[Kenobi9191]

Do you have any suggestions for a cool smoke/steam effect with Fx_runner?

[CalcProgrammer1]

well, for a small smoke effect i usually use volumetric/smoke.efx, I've also used the volumetric/steam_jet.efx, it's pretty cool. Here's a list of the fxfiles:
http://www.richdiesal.map-craft.com/...Xlistrefs.html

Also, remember to put a / instead of a \ in your fxfile pathnames. It won't make a difference if you play in just standard JKA, but I know lugormod doesn't support \ and other mods might not either.

[Kenobi9191]

Thanks once again Calc