View Issue Details

IDProjectCategoryView StatusLast Update
0004897The Dark ModDesign/Codingpublic30.08.2019 22:47
ReporterVanishedOne Assigned To 
PrioritynormalSeverityfeatureReproducibilityN/A
Status newResolutionopen 
Product VersionTDM 2.06 
Summary0004897: Vines don't grow on trees (or wooden surfaces generally, however rough)
DescriptionSomeone was surprised to find vine arrows don't work with wooden surfaces. Copying my comment from http://forums.thedarkmod.com/topic/9082-newbie-darkradiant-questions/page-337#entry429483 --

'I suppose it is a bit counterintuitive if not even bark is vine friendly. http://wiki.thedarkmod.com/index.php?title=Vine_Arrows just says they work on 'many rough surfaces', so I'm unsure whether that was a design decision (to ensure rope and vine arrows would both be distinctly useful?) or whether nobody ever thought to set up rough wood materials for vine friendliness.'

In fact, http://wiki.thedarkmod.com/index.php?title=Arrows#Vine_Arrow says: 'Upon impact, strong, magical vines will grow and embed themselves in any rough surface.'

This seems to be the shop item text: "A patch of strong, creeping vines are released on impact, which will grow up any rough surface. After a few moments the vines will support the weight of a man."
Additional InformationOther than the training mission, the only released missions I know use vine arrows are In The Black and Volta II. I can confirm the former wouldn't be harmed if bark/rough wood were vine friendly, but I can't speak for the latter.
TagsNo tags attached.

Activities

Springheel

Springheel

30.11.2018 00:53

administrator   ~0010808

They were supposed to work on brick and other stone surfaces with sufficient cracks or indents to support them.
VanishedOne

VanishedOne

30.11.2018 16:21

reporter   ~0010810

Last edited: 30.08.2019 22:47

Looking at the strings for the training mission, this is the only appearance of 'vine': "Not only ladders can be climbed. These vines on the wall are strong enough to carry you. Use them just as you would a ladder.\n" So it looks as though the fact that vine arrows specifically attach to stone isn't being conveyed to players via the wiki or the training mission.

If someone's got the idea from the wiki that vine arrows attach to rough surfaces by virtue of their rough shape, rough bark is going to seem an intuitive candidate, especially if you've ever seen vines/ivy growing on trees. (And of course T2 players probably expect them to attach to metal grates.) So this is maybe a problem of player (and mapper, in the context of the linked thread) communication: the rule isn't explicit, and can't be reliably inferred by reasoning about the simulation.

Edit: It turns out they do attach to metal grates: quite a number of textures/darkmod/metal/grate/* materials are vine_friendly. (Though not grate_pattern_* even though they look a lot like textures/base_floor/sflgrate2mini, which *is* vine_friendly.)

Issue History

Date Modified Username Field Change
27.10.2018 16:29 VanishedOne New Issue
27.10.2018 16:30 VanishedOne Additional Information Updated
30.11.2018 00:53 Springheel Note Added: 0010808
30.11.2018 16:21 VanishedOne Note Added: 0010810
23.02.2019 20:09 VanishedOne Description Updated
30.08.2019 21:30 VanishedOne Note Edited: 0010810
30.08.2019 22:47 VanishedOne Note Edited: 0010810