Misery - Spawning NPCs For Testing

[arottweiler]

As I'm testing the different guns and ammo I was thinking it would be useful if I could use the console to spawn an NPC in front of me that I can then use for target practice. Even better if I could change their armour and weapons to see how my armour holds up.

Is something like this possible or would it be too involved and not simple enough to just enter a console command?

[Milk]

I know you can spawn npcs, but i do not know about their equipment.

[arottweiler]

I should have done some better searching because I just found this and it's for 2.1.1 which is the version I'm using:

http://www.moddb.com/mods/stalker-misery/forum/thread/tutorial-misery-211-debug-menu

There's a debug/spawn menu that can be activated from within the gamedata\configs folder and it creates a new hud to control spawning NPCs. This one section in particular made me almost spill my beer.

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open Gamedata/configs/debug/xrs_debug_tools.ltx with Notepad++ and look at line number 4.

you'll find developer_debug = false ; Enables dev_debug and sim_debug

This is a critical tool for anyone using the spawner to spawn squads, muties and hunting targets for weapon or equipment testing.
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This is definitely something for me to tinker with at the weekend and it looks like I can not only spawn NPCs but entire squads with specified gear for the purpose of testing. Hopefully I can work out a way to bind weapons to my team for the underground because if I can't I might just go it alone or with the minimal people. I can see it becoming an infuriating reload fest trying to keep everyone alive.

I worked out how to extend the life of the Universal Power Device last night because I like to play with nightvision on a lot and was spending too much time managed those UPDs. Now they last much longer so I don't have to keep replacing them.

[Shredder]

Concerning the UPDs you are supposed to buy batteries that replenishes them. You only ever need to buy one.

[arottweiler]

I've worked out some basic functions of the debug and spawn menu and it's useful but it doesn't look like I can spawn anything, anywhere so it's not possible to spawn a chimera outside the Skadosvk for example. NPCs and mutants spawn at fixed points and it is possible to make them spawn there so it still has a use. I've read that you can make squads spawn at their fixed spawn point and then make them travel to another point on the map but I've not been able to get this working. Playing around trying to get this working makes the game crash a lot.

For anyone interested in trying it out read through this thread to enable it:


http://www.moddb.com/mods/stalker-misery/forum/thread/tutorial-misery-211-debug-menu


When it's working you will see a lot of information on the screen that is constantly changing depending on what you're doing. This info is a dream for anyone who wants to learn about modding and you can turn it on and off in the debug menu by typing

hud off

or

hud on

When in the game press esc and then S to open the debug menu. Spawning items is very simple and when it works you will get a notification it has been created and it will be at your feet. The following file contains all the item names in the game and this is what you need to use. Odd file name I know but this really is it.

gamedata\configs\ai_tweaks\xr_corpse_detection

This will be useful for spawning items to test them but I'm not going to cheat and keep them to sell. The idea is to spawn guns, ammo and medical items to try out and then quit without saving.

The NPC spawn function is a bit more tricky to understand and there are no clear instructions I could find so I'm making my own.

When you spawn an NPC or a mutant you need two pieces of information:

Spawn Squad - This is the name of the NPC or group of NPCs, or mutant.

Smart Name - This is the spawn point they will appear in.

You will notice the squad name also contains the name of the smart name. If you try to change these around to make the spawn locations different to the default ones you will either get an error in the debug menu and nothing happens or the game will freeze and crash.

There might be a way to do it but I've not experiemented enough with that. There might even be a way to add your own squads in to the script file so you can spawn a group of mercs, stalkers, dogs, snorks and maybe a controller thrown in all at the same time. It would be like a Stalker Royal Rumble.

For anyone interested this is what I've got working so far. Noah is the most useful because he can die easily and he did in my game. This command will spawn him back to his ark and he will resume with his old routine and conversations. So approach him with caution!

Spawn Squad: zat_b18_noah_squad
Smart Name: zat_b18

Hey presto Noah will appear in the ark and if you are standing there you will see him appear out of thin air. If you do it again another Noah will appear and stand outside the ark. A third one will create Noah number 3 who sits down on the bench. I had to stop at 3 Noahs.

A few more examples:


Substation Workshops

This spawns a group of 5 hostile mercs near the fire so if you are standing there at the time you will find yourself lying there in a few seconds.

Spawn Squad: zat_b103_lost_merc_squad1
Smart Name: zat_b103_merc_smart


Waste Processing Station

Each spawn creates a squad of 5 hostile bandits in the station. I was near the Skadosvk and spawned 10 squads in a row and could see them on the PDA but my game crashed before I got there. I have a low spec system so it probably couldn't handle that many NPCs in one place. Next time I'll keep it to one or two squads. If you're far away when they spawn they will just go about their normal routine so this is good for sniper or ambush practice.

zat_b40_bandit_squad
zat_b40_smart_terrain


Ranger Station

Most of these squads that spawn are neutral stalkers who will roam around the ranger station but they become hostile if you shoot them which is understandable. No-one likes being shot. If you spawn several different squads and shoot at one then all of the squads will become hostile to you. This could be the best place to practice because I doubt it will impact relations with the Stalker faction.


zat_b5_stalkers_squad (4 neutral stalkers outside the main entrance)
zat_b5_smart_terrain


zat_b7_stalkers_base_squad (4 neutral stalkers outside the main entrance)
zat_b5_smart_terrain


zat_b5_dolg_squad (3 neutral duty stalkers in the station)
zat_b5_smart_terrain


zat_b5_dolg_assist_squad (2 hosile mercs in the station)
zat_b5_smart_terrain


zat_b5_bandit_squad (4 neutral bandits inside the station)
zat_b5_smart_terrain


I've not tried out Jupiter much but have found one place:

Depot to the East of the base where the armoury is

jup_b207_depot_mercs (1 hostile veteran merc - very tough)
jup_b207

jup_b207_merc_1 (spawns 5 hostile veteran mercs near the armour entrance. I know the file names don't make sense and it should be the other way around but I tested this a few times)
jup_b207