Prefab Editor question and answer thread

[tdevine]

Trying to put a lot of facts and answers into one thread.  Please put the number of the question in the beginning of your response so others can quickly find what they are looking for.

 

1  How to name a POI so that name shows up in game.  The editor name may not be the one you want for the game.  Example, TFP "Factory 1" is actually "Shamway".  I can't find the file to set the name I actually want.  And if you want a name that's more than one word in the editor, you can use a space or it will give you an error. I can use "_" between words, but I would like to do it better than that.

 

2  What tool do I need to modify a .dll file for this game?

3  When you copy a sleeper volume, why does it copy the size of the volume and number of zombies to spawn, but NOT the trigger of the original volume?

4  What is the purpose of the Load Into button as compared to just using the Load to Clipboard button to bring a copy of an existing POI into your new project or POI?

 

Edited February 18 by tdevine (see edit history)

[stallionsden]

There is a pinned thread up top called getting started prefabbing - complete (poi creation) no need for another thread tbh

[tdevine]

4 hours ago, stallionsden said:

There is a pinned thread up top called getting started prefabbing - complete (poi creation) no need for another thread tbh

It says it is A16 specific.  So how much of the information is outdated or wrong?  Is it going to help with A21 enough to even read?

[stallionsden]

It is useful still tho some things are different but it is info gathered from a16 I believe. Onwards. 

 

 

[Laz Man]

12 hours ago, tdevine said:

Trying to put a lot of facts and answers into one thread.  Please put the number of the question in the beginning of your response so others can quickly find what they are looking for.

 

1  How to name a POI so that name shows up in game.  The editor name may not be the one you want for the game.  Example, TFP "Factory 1" is actually "Shamway".  I can't find the file to set the name I actually want.  And if you want a name that's more than one word in the editor, you can use a space or it will give you an error. I can use "_" between words, but I would like to do it better than that.

 

1.  There is a localization text file you can add the name for the POI in the game files.  Plenty of samples in there for the exact syntax.

 

12 hours ago, tdevine said:

3  When you copy a sleeper volume, why does it copy the size of the volume and number of zombies to spawn, but NOT the trigger of the original volume?

4  What is the purpose of the Load Into button as compared to just using the Load to Clipboard button to bring a copy of an existing POI into your new project or POI?

 

 

3. That's an old function.  We mainly use it copy sleeper counts / types into a new volume to save time.  The trigger system is a fairly New function so it probably was never considered when the copy function was created.  Perhaps a future improvement.

 

4. Load Into Clipboard is helpful to load parts into another POI to save time building versus building something block at a time.

[Fisher]

This is going to seem strange, and probably has a really easy answer:

 

How do you move DOWN in the prefab editor?  I use space to go up, just like in god mode, but ctrl doesn't go down.  I can press Q to exit god mode, but that just drops me to the level I'm on.  I want to go lower.  I'm obviously missing something here...

 

[stallionsden]

26 minutes ago, Fisher said:

This is going to seem strange, and probably has a really easy answer:

 

How do you move DOWN in the prefab editor?  I use space to go up, just like in god mode, but ctrl doesn't go down.  I can press Q to exit god mode, but that just drops me to the level I'm on.  I want to go lower.  I'm obviously missing something here...

 

The c button

[Fisher]

7 minutes ago, stallionsden said:

The c button

Nope.  Doesn't work.

 

I also considered that it was bound to the toggle crouch function instead of regular crouch, so also tried that.

 

I cannot move down in the prefab editor...

 

But at least you've given me hope that it IS supposed to be possible.

 

Edited April 5 by Fisher (see edit history)

[stallionsden]

the c button tho is the default button to go down. have you re mapped your keys by chance. 

maybe you accidently pressed p or one of the numpad buttons which freezes the character.

 

[Fisher]

5 minutes ago, stallionsden said:

the c button tho is the default button to go down. have you re mapped your keys by chance. 

maybe you accidently pressed p or one of the numpad buttons which freezes the character.

 

Ya, just tried it again.  Apparently, TFPs don't like when you remap keys.  I like most normal people remap the crouch to Ctrl.  (https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/916373-pc/80302415#:~:text=I generally use Ctrl but,that C works well also.&text=C for crouch just makes,over "hold to crouch.")

 

I had to remap it to C for it to function.  That seems like an oversight in the game.

 

Thanks for your help!

 

 

[Fisher]

9 minutes ago, stallionsden said:

the c button tho is the default button to go down. have you re mapped your keys by chance. 

maybe you accidently pressed p or one of the numpad buttons which freezes the character.

 

I responded to you, but it needs moderation because it has a link in it.

 

After remapping crouch to "c", it works.  Silly oversight that needs to be fixed.

 

[Fisher]

Anybody able to tell me what this block is?  I've googled, to no avail.  It gives "magic" stability.  There's no visible blocks between them, but they transfer stability between them.  I first noticed them when looking over the recent aircraft challenger map.  I guess they're useful for adding stability to higher floors without visible columns.

 

They're interesting, but at the same time irritating.  You can't shoot through the invisible blocks that support them.  I got so frustrated when every arrow kept breaking before it hit the cop...

[zztong]

10 hours ago, Fisher said:

Anybody able to tell me what this block is?

 

That looks like a railing shape, perhaps the Corrugated Metal version.

 

Do you know about the F3 window? F3 toggles a window that shows you a bunch of information. One of the bit of information is the name of the block at which you're pointing. Sometimes you need to hold the SHIFT key when pointing at a block for the feature to see past the air block in front of you.

 

F3 is available in the Prefab Editor and in the game under certain conditions. You might have to be in GodMode in-game.

Edited April 6 by zztong (see edit history)

[Fisher]

59 minutes ago, zztong said:

 

That looks like a railing shape, perhaps the Corrugated Metal version.

 

Do you know about the F3 window? F3 toggles a window that shows you a bunch of information. One of the bit of information is the name of the block at which you're pointing. Sometimes you need to hold the SHIFT key when pointing at a block for the feature to see past the air block in front of you.

 

F3 is available in the Prefab Editor and in the game under certain conditions. You might have to be in GodMode in-game.

Thanks for the F3 info.

 

I still don't know how these blocks are providing stability though.  Here's 2 pics of the same block covered up.  There are 6 air blocks below it, so how does it work?  When I say "air" though, it's not empty.  You can't place anything under them, as something is occupying the space.

 

 

Edited April 6 by Fisher (see edit history)

[zztong]

9 hours ago, Fisher said:

There are 6 air blocks below it, so how does it work?  When I say "air" though, it's not empty.  You can't place anything under them, as something is occupying the space.

 

Through XML there's a way to define a custom air block that provides structural support. What POI is it? One of MPLogues, perhaps? Or a POI from a modlet that depends on the Custom Blocks Pack?

 

What's the block name reported by F3?

[MichaelL.]

This particular block has a "bug" that can make it invisible when placed next to another.  I suspect TFP will nerf this in the next alpha.

 

 

Basically,  there are some blocks that can have parts of them disappear when placed next to others.  One example is the stair block with railing.  If placed next to a wall or another stair block, the rails become invisible.   

[Riamus]

Interesting.  They're obviously meant to disappear the railings when against another block for visual purposes but they should probably have an exception for when placing next to themselves to avoid this.  But how much does it really matter?  I'm not a fan of trying to force players to play in any specific way.  If people want to cheat or cheese the game mechanics, let them.  It doesn't impact me any as long as I don't do it myself.  And if it bothered me that someone else did it in my game, I'd just play with different people.

 

In any case, you can make "air blocks" that do the same thing, though they are of course custom and not vanilla, so there is that one difference that could mean TFP would remove this.  But I don't really see a problem with it.  What is the point of having horde night on if you're not going to play it?  Sounds boring to me.