VN Boards Archive

[VN Boards Archive]

Welcome to the Vault Network forum archive.

This is not a complete archive, time didn't allot us the opportunity to properly backup the majority of the boards deemed "expendable". Most boards on this list have at least 20-40 pages archived (non-logged in pages, 15 topics per page).

Popular boards may have as many as 250 pages archived at 50 topics per page, while others deemed of historical signifigance may be archived in their entirety.

We may not agree with how the board shutdown was managed, but we've done what we could to preserve some of its history in lieu of that.

Please enjoy the archive.
~ Managers, Moderators, VIP's, and regular posters.

Author

Topic: LifeTank Question

Karamon98 Posts: ???? Registered: ???? Extended Info (if available) Real Post Cnt: 0 User ID: 0	Subject: LifeTank Question
	I am looking to use lifetank to assist me in dungeon crawling. Any time I use it though, it just ends up running into walls. Is there a helpful user guide that could help me understand how to get around this problem? It seems like a really great program once you start getting it working right. Is it better to just use it out in the open? Thanks! -----signature-----
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NK_Wizarium Posts: 99 Registered: Oct 28, '08 Extended Info (if available) Real Post Cnt: 98 User ID: 1,334,038	Subject: LifeTank Question
	As far as I can tell, there is no way to make it crawl.. it will only run.. which is really a limitation when working within the confines of a dungeon. From the developer's own msg board, he states that he hasn't gone through that part of the code in ages, and likely won't be anytime soon. He freely admits that section could probably use a complete re-write. That out of the way, I have found it usable to a degree depending on the situation. Under the right conditions, it flat out rocks. Under the wrong conditions, you will only suffer massive frustration. The editor is a STRAIGHT point A to point B to point C router. If you have ever played Rainbow Six, it is extremely similar to routing your teams. Understanding that it will attempt a straight line to the next waypoint is paramount to your success. You have to plan out your route so that it avoids running into walls. Add waypoints so that it navigates correctly. Let's say you have a hallway that is L-shaped. You want your toon to enter the hallway and exit it. That's two waypoints, a start and an end. Since the engine will attempt a straight line to the end point, it will try running an angle against the hallway wall. The solution is to add a third waypoint in between the first two. Set the beginning waypoint. Run straight ahead until you hit the wall in front of you (the elbow of the L). Set that as waypoint 2. Turn 90 degrees and run to the hallway exit. Set that as the last waypoint. Now it will navigate correctly without running into the walls and getting stuck. The next decision is whether to use Reverse Route or Loop. If you select Loop, it will attempt to run from the end back to the beginning, which will cause it to skip the elbow waypoint and run into walls again. If you select Reverse, it will turn around, run back to waypoint 2, then back to the beginning, which is what is needed to avoid walls on the way back. This method of thinking ahead of your toon in order to correctly route will get you more successful results. Be aware, though, that anything that knocks your toon off of a straight path will affect the next waypoint. If you kill something a good distance away, you will have to walk out of your way to loot it. The routing will continue from where you looted, which might then cause you to run into a wall in a tight dungeon setting! Since monster spawns in dungeons are fairly static (they always occur in the same exact spot), you can again compensate for this if you think ahead. Set up a route and watch it. It won't take long for flaws to reveal themselves, and then you need to make the appropriate change to the route. There are several annoying quirks to running routes... for one, if you kill something very near a waypoint, the toon will go into indecision mode about whether it should loot or continue to the waypoint. This never happens when the waypoint is far away. You will start getting corpse opening errors and all kinds of malfunction. Usually, it will figure it out. When it does, it will go ahead and loot the corpse then go Idle. If you are patient, and I mean it may take 1-3 minutes, it will resume the route. this can get frustraing if you're in a fast spawn area and 1-3 minutes means you are getting ganged up on again. Not much you can do but try to be creative and figure out a way to avoid the situation. Sometimes, it just can't be done and you need to move on. Good luck! I love the routing feature and use it more often then setting a sticky spot. - Wiz The Honorable Order of Neon Knights (Frostfell) -----signature----- (none)
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