Lava Monsters

[EvilGrins]

To the best of my knowledge there are only 2 existing monsters that can survive in lava, and that's the LavaSlith & LavaTitan... and so far as I know they only exist in the MonsterHunt.u file but I'd love to know if they're available in another monster package and if there are any other kinds of lava monsters.

Reason I'm asking has to do with one of the edits I'm doing for a UTDMW map, which I edited originally because it looked ideal for them in a lot of ways, but then much to my surprise later I noticed the map was generating its own Warlord; I don't typically look for CreatureFactories on maps that aren't in MonsterHunt.

This factory pops out a Warlord seemingly randomly, every so often. Hard to notice as it pops up about halfway down into the pit and it rarely comes up to the main playing area.

This is the original:
https://unrealarchive.org/maps/unreal-t ... 2b587.html

Map has a crater in its center filled with lava and it seems a lava monster would work better than the Warlord, which eventually stops flying and lands down there to eventually get BBQ'd. I tried swapping it for a LavaSlith, which didn't work as well as I'd hoped (apparently there are some types of lava a LavaSlith can't survive in) but it got me curious nonetheless.

I suppose technically if I wanted I could switch the lava to some other less lethal to LavaSlith type.

So, does anyone else know of any other lava type monsters?

[Barbie]

To the best of my knowledge there are only 2 existing monsters that can survive in lava, and that's the LavaSlith & LavaTitan...

No, LavaSliths are 100% immune against "Corroded" (usual damage in SlimeZones) and LavaTitans (as well as normal Titans) are 30% immune against the "exploded" damage:

This factory pops out a Warlord seemingly randomly

All 120 sec - see CreatureFactory0.

I suppose technically if I wanted I could switch the lava to some other less lethal to LavaSlith type.

Set the Pawn's property ReducedDamagePct to 1 and ReducedDamageType to the DamageType of the given Zone. For a LavaZone set Pawn.ReducedDamageType to "Burned".

If you want to spawn such monster by a factory, you have to subclass the Pawn.

[EvilGrins]

If you want to spawn such monster by a factory, you have to subclass the Pawn.

Figured as much, and someone recently sent me instructions on how to do just that · https://unreal-games.livejournal.com/128066.html

In the meantime, I've been testing other monsters. Thought a Queen might be good as it would teleport out of the lava, but apparently they like to burn. Tried a Cyberus too, but they more hover than fly and kept sinking.

Tried all sorts of other flying monsters with varying results...

[sektor2111]

LavaSlith is not a LavaMonster in any way and neither LavaTitan. Their name is not that self-explanatory as pretended to be.
If they are "Lava_Whatever" it's because of colors not for properties, I did not fix these in any of my MH just because I cannot predict what will go screwed up. Usually fixing two things might do damage to 20 things in MonsterHunt... mappers were very "creative"...

Imagine a big Lava zone which is not exactly a cube where such monster counted it's boosted/falls into. If monster is immune at this damage (Titan, and not swimming), it might sit there unkillable for two ages if environment is not killing him and keeps counting unfinished. Already happened X times with Invulnerable Mercs - perhaps you didn't really play MonsterHunt as I see...

[OjitroC]

.. perhaps you didn't really play MonsterHunt as I see...

Have a look at the map that EG linked to and which he wants to edit - it’s not a MH map so, whilst what you say is very important and relevant in relation to MH maps, it's not relevant in the context EG is dealing with.

To the best of my knowledge there are only 2 existing monsters that can survive in lava, and that's the LavaSlith & LavaTitan... and so far as I know they only exist in the MonsterHunt.u file but I'd love to know if they're available in another monster package and if there are any other kinds of lava monsters.

So, does anyone else know of any other lava type monsters?

A list of monsters with 'Lava' in their name - I haven't checked to see if they have ReducedDamage against DamageType = Burned
TKR_MonsterPack.LavaSlithM
TKR_MonsterPack.LavaSlithS(?)
TKR_MonsterPack.LavaTitanS
TKR_MonsterPack.LavaTitanXS
Uber3.lavaManta (probably not immune to Burned damage as the notes in the readme suggest the name relates more to the skin than anything else)
zcpawn.zclavaworm

Thoughts - do you actually want something in the lava? Given this is a CTF map, is something in the lava going to be useful/noticeable? It's not going to interact with the 'players' there. Do you want it to interact with 'players' or is it just for 'looks'? Why not just move the spawnpoint higher up and leave it at a WarLord?

Hobi-Wan's CTF-Crater of Snipers is very similar in form, design, layout and texturing - it has a central lava crater that is nowhere near so deep and might be worth a look for what you want to do.

UnReachableNodes: PlayerStart25 looks much over ground for normal Human Size, check it
UnReachableNodes: PlayerStart26 looks much over ground for normal Human Size, check it
UnReachableNodes: DefensePoint4 looks much over ground for normal Human Size, check it
UnReachableNodes: TranslocDest2 looks much over ground for normal Human Size, check it
UnReachableNodes: TranslocDest3 looks much over ground for normal Human Size, check it
UnReachableNodes: Spawnpoint0 looks much over ground for normal Human Size, check it
UnReachableNodes: PathNode3 looks much over ground for normal Human Size, check it
UnReachableNodes: PathNode4 looks much over ground for normal Human Size, check it
UnReachableNodes: PathNode5 looks much over ground for normal Human Size, check it
UnReachableNodes: PathNode6 looks much over ground for normal Human Size, check it
UnReachableNodes: PathNode7 looks much over ground for normal Human Size, check it
UnReachableNodes: PathNode8 looks much over ground for normal Human Size, check it
UnReachableNodes: PathNode9 looks much over ground for normal Human Size, check it
UnReachableNodes: PathNode11 looks much over ground for normal Human Size, check it
UnReachableNodes: PathNode12 looks much over ground for normal Human Size, check it
UnReachableNodes: PathNode13 looks much over ground for normal Human Size, check it
UnReachableNodes: PathNode17 looks much over ground for normal Human Size, check it
UnReachableNodes: PathNode23 looks much over ground for normal Human Size, check it
UnReachableNodes: PathNode29 looks much over ground for normal Human Size, check it
UnReachableNodes: PathNode30 looks much over ground for normal Human Size, check it
UnReachableNodes: PathNode145 looks much over ground for normal Human Size, check it
UnReachableNodes: PathNode146 looks much over ground for normal Human Size, check it
UnReachableNodes: PathNode147 looks much over ground for normal Human Size, check it
UnReachableNodes: PathNode148 looks much over ground for normal Human Size, check it
UnReachableNodes: InventorySpot242 looks much over ground for normal Human Size, check it
UnReachableNodes: InventorySpot243 looks much over ground for normal Human Size, check it
UnReachableNodes: InventorySpot261 looks much over ground for normal Human Size, check it
UnReachableNodes: InventorySpot266 looks much over ground for normal Human Size, check it
UnReachableNodes: InventorySpot300 looks much over ground for normal Human Size, check it
UnReachableNodes: InventorySpot301 looks much over ground for normal Human Size, check it
UnReachableNodes: Here we have 0 points skipped, 30 Navigation Points which are too high and 253 good ones.

VoidCheck: --- Void placement report ---
VoidCheck: Light10 looks placed into void.
VoidCheck: 1 actor looks placed into void, check that possible useless garbage.

[EvilGrins]

do you actually want something in the lava? Given this is a CTF map, is something in the lava going to be useful/noticeable?

Maybe, maybe not.

I was toying with switching the armor on the map to Asbestos Suits, which can survive in lava and directed hits from instagib shots, so theoretically if there were monsters in the lava anyone that fell in would have to fight to survive... if they wanted to survive at all once they fell in.

Since abandoned this notion.

[OjitroC]

I was toying with switching the armor on the map to Asbestos Suits, which can survive in lava and directed hits from instagib shots, so theoretically if there were monsters in the lava anyone that fell in would have to fight to survive... if they wanted to survive at all once they fell in.

Since abandoned this notion.

That’s probably best as I don’t think it’s possible to get out.

[EvilGrins]

That’s probably best as I don’t think it’s possible to get out.

Oh, there's 3 ways:
· Monster kills you.
· Lava kills you.
· If wearing asbestos armor, you commit suicide.

I sometimes appreciate the random monster element on Deathmatch & CTF & DOM maps. Like DM-SkaarjArena which has 2 SkaarjWarriors on either side of the map, sealed off so they can't interact with players. Or CTF-ProjectX which has 1 nearly invisible Skaarj on it.

I've been playing ut99 since before MonsterHunt was a thing, so I had a bit of time to get used to monsters on maps as random elements.

Only downside for team games is Red Team bots don't see monsters, and as it turns out the Red Team's UTDMW also doesn't; despite appearances it's still basically just another bot. Blue Team and their UTDMW can see monsters though.

[OjitroC]

I sometimes appreciate the random monster element on Deathmatch & CTF & DOM maps.

I suppose that's where MonsterSpawn or Dropper or SwarmSpawn come in handy, though they each do slightly different things. Personally I find monsters in 'normal' UT gametypes an annoyance, as I like to focus on the bot/player opponents, but that's just me - that's also why I like to use MonsterSpawn and just deal with the monsters (and why I like SP campaigns and SP-like MH maps).

[EvilGrins]

I preferred Monster Madness, as it put monsters into the game that could win at Deathmatch and all players and bots could see...

...but I digress.

For this map edit I've opted to go with the GiantGasbag because it can also spawn Gasbags on its own, making it more useful to keeping things interesting. That and Gasbags have no legs so they don't land... causing less of a lava issue.

[sektor2111]

Have a look at the map that EG linked to and which he wants to edit - it’s not a MH map so, whilst what you say is very important and relevant in relation to MH maps, it's not relevant in the context EG is dealing with.

Not entirely True, he described Monsters from MonsterHunt Package and I posted what I know about them and their LAVA "properties"... That's stage 1)

Stage 2) We do have some SwarmSpawner which actually has more options than you can think off. These Swarms can be adjusted for a lot of properties, you can even screw original immunity and deploy another set of properties. Who said that default pupae cannot be turned in a Lava Monster instantly ? You can have a wide range of any type but... EDIT these as they should.

Note: If SwarmSpawn has defined the right properties (doable because server-side or whatever home-game won't mismatch anything) and the right INT file, UT can write that INI file itself in less than a second and... completed with ALL LINES possible. You can practice an exercise of editing and get it as you need. No Packages, no pain, just various monsters from the same resources. If I'm looking at pupae, I used it in a map in different formats like I had 2 extra pupae monsters only with the same stock creature.

[OjitroC]

Not entirely True, he described Monsters from MonsterHunt Package and I posted what I know about them and their LAVA "properties".

Yes you are right and certainly about the non existent lava properties of the monsters mentioned.

SwarmSpawn certainly is powerful and very useful - I must admit I haven't used it a lot and to its full potential so perhaps I'll give another go soon.

[sektor2111]

SwarmSpawner could have brackets at all mentioned as "config" variables which would allow a better deal in Creating/Editing ini file from "Preferences" console command menu. There all entries would be generated, I've adjusted what I used, and then some "warning" spread in console also has gone because data was properly wrapped by UT itself.

Navigation Points mentioned higher have a looping risk - not all. They might have navigation data because Scout (bigger than Bot) could manage to roam around, in exchange Bot might have ramp type issues - not everywhere but there are chances to fail. The rest is... not for me - 3208 reachspecs cannot be compared with 856 reachSpecs where I can still check/remove/add other ones making paths-net 100% Bot compatible. Interesting map I have to admit.

For mappers having a fixing hobby I recommend selecting all NavigationPoints after removing paths and pushing them lower with a few units (8-10 UU). Those beyond ledges can be moved back on roads. Paths passing over some boxes or through colliding trees can be... deleted (PathsLinker in stage) as those causing bad angles around ledges and those too close each-other causing only more reachSpecs charge - if in some area 3 PathNodes can do good paths, there is not need for 12 PathNodes or more for no purpose. XC_EditorAdds has a better management of overcrowded spots but it causes too much jumping far away, even a few flawed ones.
Karma: Adding Aerial paths over LAVA for monster flying making it capable to navigate... requires ReachFlag R_Fly = 2 and some manual work ?...

[Red_Fist]

I think there is more to do if you use flying creatures and they go in and or out of a liquid zone.

As opposed to a walking creature that goes in or out of liquid zone.

[Barbie]

I think there is more to do if you use flying creatures and they go in and or out of a liquid zone.

Sadly they (Mantas, Flies, Warlords) sometimes land and get burned (or corroded), I have developed some "NonLandingPawns" in 2015.