Halloween - Fix for monoculus stun and info about other bosses

[ics]

MONOCULUS!

I noticed many of you are using monoculus as a boss on halloween maps this year. If you do, you also might have noticed the issue where it does not get stunned by players exiting the "purgatory" area, where you end up after you go to the teleport in generates when it switches places. It works on viaduct_event, so why not in ours.

I figured i'd ask this and Eric from Valve was kind enough to look into the matter. There is a fix for this now available. Infact it's been available since monoculus was introduced but apparently none of us figured how to do this. I will update Hellstone with the fix too. I thought i would share this with everyone, so you can also use monoculus properly in your maps.

The fix!

Entity info_target, name it as spawn_purgatory (this is the monoculus teleport exit that it creates when it switches places) - the place where this leads to, this playable area needs to be sealed with trigger brush and make it as entity trigger_add_tf_player_condition. Set the Condition as TF_COND_PURGATORY with Duration -1.

This ensures that the "stun" effect is being applied properly. After you exit back to normal world and hit the monoculus within certain time, monoculus will get stunned. Valve handless the effect timeout within the engine, so don't worry about it lasting forever.

OTHER BOSSES, HHH & MERASMUS ISSUES

Such as HHH stunning players who wear it's head, has apparently been fixed over the last year. Players who wear it's head no longer get stunned by HHH scare!

About Merasmus and the bombhead not exploding when you ran at it with it at your head, Valve is looking into the matter aswell as merasmus not healing itself during hiding. He will go into hiding if you have func_nav_preferred set within the map and it's big enough. If i hear something new, i will update this post with new info.

Thanks and have fun with them bosses!

EDIT:

I received a message from Valve and they have fixed the merasmus bomb head not working in any other map than lakeside_event. They will ship the fix within one of the next updates to the game. FIX HAS BEEN RELEASED!

Also it is worth mentioning that if merasmus does not go into hiding, it cannot find a place to hide. This means either that your func_nav_preferred is too small or there are players standing in the spots where he would hide on. Also, he does not heal himself when hiding untill he hits level 2.

So all in all, i think the halloween boss issues will go away before halloween hits!

 

[Izotope]

The fix!

Entity spawn_purgatory - the place where this leads to, this playable area needs to be sealed with trigger brush and make it as entity trigger_add_tf_player_condition. Set the Condition as TF_COND_PURGATORY with Duration -1.

Seems a little bit unclear, could you rephrase this part?

 

[radarhead]

Did Eric mention any plans to fix the two broken Wheel of Doom spins?

 

[ics]

Seems a little bit unclear, could you rephrase this part?

Oh damn, i was so sleepy that i forgot to say that it's info_target named as spawn_purgatory. I will update the 1st post.
It's the one where player comes out, when he goes through the teleport which monoculus creates when it switches places. It's a teleport exit tied with monoculus itself. You can set this entity to any area of the map where you want the players to come out. It doesn't need to be underworld of hell.

Did Eric mention any plans to fix the two broken Wheel of Doom spins?

I didn't ask about that, didn't come to my mind. I'll try to ask about that too. What spesifically is broken with it? I know jarate rain but as i recall there was something else too.

If anyone knows, post here and i'll read it out when i get off from work today. Thanks.

EDIT

I think i know the reason for jarate rain not working, ill test it today after work and tell you if i got it working. I'm currently helping a friend with his map that uses the wheel. Perfect time to test it out.

 

[ics]

I figured i'll make a new post, since i tested out a bit before work about the wheel. It was the dance that was broken. But has anyone made any info_targets and named them as dance_teleport_blue0 (from 0 to 15) in your maps and same for red? Because i think that would solve it. I didn't test this, but i think that it is.

The jarate rain i got working just fine. You need to do func_brush over the map. This is the area where the jarate starts to rain under it. Name it as spawn_cloud, set render mode to never render and solidity to never solid and it will be rain on their parade!

If there is anything else that is broken, please post and i'll have a look before we need to bother valve folks about this.

 

[ics]

I received a message from Valve regarding the bombhead not exploding merasmus. They will fix it within the next updates to the game. See 1st post EDIT part for more info.

I will still look into the wheel of doom roulette and it's non-working spells. I'll report back when i have something new to tell.

 

[Izotope]

They will fix it within the next updates to the game.

Does this include custom maps where players are given the bombhead condition via trigger?
Like, when I give people a bombhead that is set to detonate in 10 seconds, will they actually die?
Because last time I tested this the bomb just explodes without dealing any sort of damage.

 

[ics]

I dont know, maybe test after the update goes live? Technically bombhead should only do damage to merasmus, so i wouldn't bet it will make damage to anyone else.

 

[Phe]

In my map everything works fine exept for the bombhead, it doesnt explode when you get to merasmus...

 

[radarhead]

I know jarate rain but as i recall there was something else too.

The "ghosts" spin is also broken, afaik there is no way to set up an entity to mark spawn points for ghosts.

The jarate rain i got working just fine. You need to do func_brush over the map. This is the area where the jarate starts to rain under it. Name it as spawn_cloud, set render mode to never render and solidity to never solid and it will be rain on their parade!

Thank you so much for figuring this one out!

 

[Pelipoika]

The "ghosts" spin is also broken, as afaik there is no way to set up an entity to mark spawn points for ghosts.


Thank you so much for figuring this one out!

Maybe the ghosts randomly spawn in the same area merasmus's props can spawn

 

[Tumby]

Maybe the ghosts randomly spawn in the same area merasmus's props can spawn

I have played around with merasmus before and this is not the answere.

The jarate rain i got working just fine. You need to do func_brush over the map. This is the area where the jarate starts to rain under it. Name it as spawn_cloud, set render mode to never render and solidity to never solid and it will be rain on their parade!

Wow, didn't know that!

The only merasmus related thing (apart from the mentioned) that I could never figure out is merasmus opening the bombinomicon and throwing around bombs. There are a few info_targets with special names suggesting that they are used for it, but they never did a thing for me.

 

[Izotope]

The only merasmus related thing (apart from the mentioned) that I could never figure out is merasmus opening the bombinomicon and throwing around bombs. There are a few info_targets with special names suggesting that they are used for it, but they never did a thing for me.

Some insight from Valve on that would be nice.

 

[ics]

If nothing is found by us today, I can ask from Valve about the matter regarding the merasmus bomb drops. I think it requires those 2 entities and propably more players in order for it to do that bomb drop. I'll experiment some more today and report back if i find anything.

In my map everything works fine exept for the bombhead, it doesnt explode when you get to merasmus...

This will be fixed in the future update before halloween. Trust me.

Maybe the ghosts randomly spawn in the same area merasmus's props can spawn

Merasmus props as in where he is hiding will spawn to any open spot where there is no players. If players stand in a position where the prop should be, then it cannot spawn or go into hiding. There needs to be enough open spots in order for it to do that.

I think ghosts are a different thing. I need to experiment on this more. I'll get back on this thread if i figure that one out.

EDIT

I was not successfull of cracking the method of spawning the ghosts. I need the solution for one of the maps i've helped making too, so i submitted a question about it forward. Hopefully, i'll get a reply.

 

[Phe]

Okay nice

 

[ics]

So i asked about Eric from Valve about the ghosts and the merasmus.

To get ghosts working from the wheel, all you need to have is to have tf_logic_holiday in the map and have haunting set to yes

As for merasmus bombs, you need enough open space and control point within the map. It tries to center on it when it spawns bombs around.

EDIT:

Remember to set holiday to halloween too in tf_logic_holiday!

Also, advice to test the wheel of doom better. Type in console when sv_cheats 1: ent_fire wheelnamehere spin - this spins the wheel without you doing anything else.

 

[radarhead]

To get ghosts working from the wheel, all you need to have is to have tf_logic_holiday in the map and have haunting set to yes

Wow, that's... weird. Dunno why a function of the wheel is enabled through a different entity. Thanks for the info.

 

[ics]

Wow, that's... weird. Dunno why a function of the wheel is enabled through a different entity. Thanks for the info.

The entity tf_logic_holiday is sort of switch for things. I heard in tf2maps chat that valve is planning to add "friendly mode" to it that enables no shooting anyone except the boss during the boss fight. Mappes can then turn that on or off from it's settings.

 

[Izotope]

Just tested the bombhead thing after the update, both on a custom map and on Ghost Fort, still not dealing damage to yourself.
I could've sworn it used to kill you back in the days.
Can anybody with clear memory of having a bombhead explode on you and not on merasmus confirm that it used to kill you?

Spoiler

View: https://youtu.be/AN2iUmJkuXo

@ics Whether or not it used to kill the wearer, could you email Valve so they change that?
I really need those bombheads to kill on expiration, I don't want to resort to using unnecessary amounts of entities to work-around this.

 

[Izotope]

Found a video from 2012 where somebody with a bombhead exploded. Watch here at 3:34.
More reason to email Valve so they fix this.