Topic: How to...

[DaMuncha]

Im perplexed, why dont they have these things in the manual.... (I Just read the manual and all it tells you what the 'mouse over' says).

Can I spawn a creature when a conversation ends?, or can I spawn a new creature when a mission starts?

How do I get that zoomed in screen with the subtitles? my NPCs just talk in a little speech bubble in game.

Looking at the GA Manual I see a picture on teh front of a creature wearing armour and metal shoes, and holding guns. And a skirt? Where is that in GA?

Thankyou for clearing up that cheap ass way of making a building interior.

[Monster]

How do I size buildings and creatures? :@

[DaMuncha]

I discovered you select the object then hold Shift and use the mouse wheel to resize.

I have also discovered how to make things apear and disapear depending on what stage it is (theres a small white eye on the picture of what you have selected in the AI menui), instead of summoning.

[gec05]

Can I spawn a creature when a conversation ends?, or can I spawn a new creature when a mission starts?

1.) Load a creature from the Sporepedia. If there's another creature of the same kind already in the world, load another so it will have it's own behaviors. If you try to copy an existing one and try to give it special behaviors, it will apply to the others of the same kind as well.

2.) On the behavior window, click on the yellow bar on top to unlink it so that you can program it to act differently on a each act.

3.) Next to that same button on top there should be arrows to the left and right to change acts. Go through each one and click on the little eye next to the creature image to hide it for that selected act.

How do I get that zoomed in screen with the subtitles? my NPCs just talk in a little speech bubble in game.

You can only get this effect when the NPC is a goal. If you want your character to speak to several NPCs on one act, you can place up to 3 goals on each act. When you place a goal, make sure you click the Inspect/Talk to option.

Looking at the GA Manual I see a picture on teh front of a creature wearing armour and metal shoes, and holding guns. And a skirt? Where is that in GA?

Maxis always seems to do that. Some things you see are not what you can actually to but are just there to spruce up the appeal.

How do I size buildings and creatures? :@

Hold down shift and mouse wheel your subject.

[gec05]

Also, to get advanced behaviors, Ctrl+Click any standard behavior to open up the advanced behaviors. A side note, if your subject is going to have changes by acts, be sure to close the new window and reopen it when changing acts. Maxis forgot to program the advanced panel to show changes when shifting acts.

[Monster]

Where can I put my new parts on my captain? Which editor do  I go to and where is it!?
 
edit: nevermind, found it.

[Bonemouse]

Adventure Creation Video Tutorials

Terraforming
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0-XzwAsJ5o" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0-XzwAsJ5o</a>

Basic
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YflmPd_4fUk" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YflmPd_4fUk</a>

Intermediate
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tq6d0uMDULA" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tq6d0uMDULA</a>

Advanced
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKHEFN6_zQg" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKHEFN6_zQg</a>

[Ondaderthad]

My Tip:

Plan your adventure in advance. (obvious) But because you can do any of the 3 objectives in each Act in any order you need to think about how to divide the story to get a logic flow.

For example if you have these:
1) talk to NPC A
2) kill creature B
3) return to NPC A

you get the wrong effect that the tasks 1 and 3 get finished first. The reason is that as soon as you finish conversation 1 then you are close enough to the NPC to also finish task 3

In that example you could keep the task 1 and 2 above but for 3 you need to send the Captain to a different point or ask to pickup something else.

If your adventure is just these 3 tasks then it's better to place the 3rd one in a second Act even all by itself. That way the player has to finish 1 and 2 before coming back to 3

just my 2 spices.

[DaMuncha]

Ok. Thx. Another question.

Now that I've finished making my adventure I look at it in Sporpedia and its got 4 crappy screen shots I took while playing. How can I replace those screen shots with new ones?.... never mind I figured it out. You can change the screen shots in the tab where you set the adventure name.

[Hydromancerx]

Ok. Thx. Another question.

Now that I've finished making my adventure I look at it in Sporpedia and its got 4 crappy screen shots I took while playing. How can I replace those screen shots with new ones?.... never mind I figured it out. You can change the screen shots in the tab where you set the adventure name.

I had this question too.

How do you add preview pictures to it besides the planet one?

When editing your adventure, take some snapshots. In the area where you name your adventure (just like any editor) there should be 4 boxes. The first one is the one shown on the Sporepedia card. The other 3 can be used for the details preview.

[Skyward]

I have a question, why cant I choose a captain I made in the captain editor to play as for quick play adventures?

[Monster]

Can I do this?: Set an effect as visible in one act, but then in the next act set it to invisible.

[gec05]

I have a question, why cant I choose a captain I made in the captain editor to play as for quick play adventures?

You cannot use captains that already have parts they were supposed to earn first. You can however use premade captains for your adventures that require you to play as them.

Can I do this?: Set an effect as visible in one act, but then in the next act set it to invisible.

Select said effect and open it's behavior options. Press the yellow bar on top to unsync it from all acts. Go through each act and click the little eye in the window to either hide it or show it per act. Hidden props and creatures are highlighted blue.

[Bonemouse]

is there a way to make a spaceship or air vehicle not floating? Like have it on the ground. Or do I have to make a building that looks like a spaceship?

[pie]

You need to make a building that looks like a spaceship. Pretty much.

[Hydromancerx]

You need to make a building that looks like a spaceship. Pretty much.

Or a land vehicle that looks like a spaceship.

[DaMuncha]

How do you make a boat as a building? I'm trying to make the boats for the Stone Ship age in Mist and im having to resort to using buildings that look semi like a boat. its realy hard since the building parts are limited.

Is there a way I can make a boat I've made act as a building?

[Hydromancerx]

How do you make a boat as a building? I'm trying to make the boats for the Stone Ship age in Mist and im having to resort to using buildings that look semi like a boat. its realy hard since the building parts are limited.

Is there a way I can make a boat I've made act as a building?

Well you could enlarge the size and set it on mindless and immobile.

Or you could make a ship out of separate building parts and assemble it in the adventure editor.

[DaMuncha]

The boat will still bob up and down in the water and I still cannot aproach it or build anything near it, like a rope bridge.

[MisterBibs]

How do you make a mission goal of "Examine # of {Item}"? Other adventures I've seen do it, but the only way I can see how to do it is to make X amount of Acts, since I can't seem to give the same goal type (in this case, examine) to a second item of the same type.)

[Uroboros]

Try disguising a gameplay object as the boat, then lower it into the water by holding control?
Hmm, trouble might be that you'd need to use a crate or an explosive barrel for the right size, making it have only 1 HP
I wonder if a door would work.

[Skyward]

How do you make a mission goal of "Examine # of {Item}"? Other adventures I've seen do it, but the only way I can see how to do it is to make X amount of Acts, since I can't seem to give the same goal type (in this case, examine) to a second item of the same type.)

Maybe they duplicated the item in the catalog?

[Rikis]

Make enemies attack the player captain while they are inside a building?  I've been trying various combinations, but nothing works, they simply ignore the captain.  Yes they're set to aggressive (tried territorial but it didn't do anything).  I've tried some of the advanced social options too, but nothing.

[Uroboros]

Being "inside a building" is no different to being outdoors. Though, that sounds like a bug. Try deleting the creature on the list and re-picking it (assuming you aren't using them elsewhere or in other scenes).

Don't forget to check their awareness, because that sets the 'aggro' range for them to detect the captain.

[Rikis]

Yep, set their awareness to max.  Tried making a new adventure with an "inside" of a building.  If I set the captain "inside", and the creature outside, the creature will not attack the captain, even if it is within it's awareness radius and it's wander radius.  If I set them both inside, it's the same thing, the creature simply ignores the captain.  But if I set the captain outside while the creature is inside, the creature WILL attack the captain.  It's very annoying.  Even tried playing with the sides (making both creature and building on the same team, and on opposite teams).

[gec05]

Buildings and NPCs are always a buggy subject. Which is probably the biggest problem Maxis needs to make a patch for.

I was once trying to make a race adventure. I built bridges across lava oceans. But the NPCs would completely walk around them. It's frustrating.

[Uroboros]

I noticed that in my first adventure (Adventure Town, naturally).
The spoffits that follow you around? I tried to lure them over the bridge to their owner, thinking it some kind of optional bonus objective thingy, but they were totally blind to it.

I love making adventures, but the limits... dear god THE LIMITS!
Indoors? Good luck to you. Want to animate something? Use a sceneswitch, only you get capped at eight scenes. Want to create a prop for just one adventure? You have to upload it, meaning some poor shmuck will encounter a space civ that has a stool for a city hall, or a sliding bush for a land vehicle. I mean, not that it would be too unusual, given the stuff people upload without a thought for the seeding, but oh god, my brain!

Otherwise great games have recently been annoying the hell out of me.
My face, it palms.
(or should that be : "My hurt, it butts?")

[GrapeFruit]

Want to create a prop for just one adventure? You have to upload it, meaning some poor shmuck will encounter a space civ that has a stool for a city hall, or a sliding bush for a land vehicle. I mean, not that it would be too unusual, given the stuff people upload without a thought for the seeding, but oh god, my brain!

I think the "gaprop" tag helps with this, unfortunately the average joe doesn't know about that.

[Hydromancerx]

Want to create a prop for just one adventure? You have to upload it, meaning some poor shmuck will encounter a space civ that has a stool for a city hall, or a sliding bush for a land vehicle. I mean, not that it would be too unusual, given the stuff people upload without a thought for the seeding, but oh god, my brain!

I think the "gaprop" tag helps with this, unfortunately the average joe doesn't know about that.

Or you can always design your own props.

[GrapeFruit]

Want to create a prop for just one adventure? You have to upload it, meaning some poor shmuck will encounter a space civ that has a stool for a city hall, or a sliding bush for a land vehicle. I mean, not that it would be too unusual, given the stuff people upload without a thought for the seeding, but oh god, my brain!

I think the "gaprop" tag helps with this, unfortunately the average joe doesn't know about that.

Or you can always design your own props.

Of course, but that doesn't change the fact that the prop will be downloaded with the adventure and later (possibly) seeded somewhere in-game.

[Rikis]

DOes anyone know how to find the adventure "The Temple of Doom" by Maxis for editing?  I don't want to play through it again just yet, but I would sure love to get that bridge that they used.

[DaMuncha]

Yeah and I cant find the mission where you have to get the members of that band together. Its got stuff in it I wanna know how to make, cause I jsut cant find those parts in my editor. (like the foot path)

Where do you get the foot path? I can only find the dirt road.

[Uroboros]

Its under the terraforming options, far bottom. Don't forget to check the left/right arrows for other stuff.

[DaMuncha]

Ohhh .. arrows.. thx

[Skyward]

Stupid question
How can I make my creatures do animations?

Like making them dance?

[gec05]

Go to their behaviors, Ctrl+Click any of the mood settings to open the advanced behaviors. Drag and remove any actions you don't want them to do. Insert an "idle" action and set it to "dance." You can also change the conditions when it will dance so you might want to keep it on "always."

[Grazony]

I sorry for asking this, but how do you make a mission worth more points?

[Rikis]

I sorry for asking this, but how do you make a mission worth more points?

As far as I'm aware, an exact formula has not been found yet.  But it is not up to the player, rather, the outcomes.  If more people fail your mission, its points rewarded go up.  As more people successfully complete it, it's points go down.  I think the min is 10, so not much less than starting out at 15.  Anyways, I think that's the gist of it.

[gec05]

I think it's a combination of popularity and difficulty.

[MisterBibs]

Is there any way to take control of the camera to reveal something? I made a mission that would have been GREAT if there was a moment where the camera pulls up high and reveals what the player is wandering through.

[gec05]

Would be nice, but Maxis did not include such a feature.

[Hydromancerx]

Is there any way to take control of the camera to reveal something? I made a mission that would have been GREAT if there was a moment where the camera pulls up high and reveals what the player is wandering through.

Yeah I wish the player could talk back during NPC conversations such as choosing which response they want to reply back with.

[gec05]

Yeah, dialogue webs was another thing Maxis was aware of, but never included in the game.

[Uroboros]

No dialogue webs. No cutscenes or momentary camera events. No optional objectives. Only a single, central path through the mission. A limit of eight scenes, one of which must be sacrificed every time you wish to toggle item/NPC activities and visibilities. No 'supported' indoor areas. Makeshift indoor areas being a big pain to make, and often interfering with the AIs ability to move and interact. No way to make an object no-collide. Multi-mouthed beings still only use one mouth to attack/speak with.

And to make matters worse, i've got a big mental block for adventures after barely making a single one, which I don't feel I did well enough on. xP
At least the GAprop thing is being worked on...

[Bonemouse]

Yah. The limitations are a bit annoying. But we're still given plenty of tools to make fun mini-games. Dialogue webs would be sweet, though. There's a lot of emphasis on the visual content. Which is a lot of work. You could do a pretty compelling mini game based on a single conversation with more options, if we had them.

Anyways... I can't find where to add the photofilters to a mission.

[gec05]

It's located in the same spot where you would name, describe, tag a creation in any editor. On the bottom middle.

[DaMuncha]

Hey I was looking at the gaprop rope bridge they made, and I have no idea how they made it. I've tried everything but its impossible to rotate the parts im those ways, cause I'v allways gotten realy anoyed that I cant rotate some of the building pieces in that editor. I've tried ctrl, shift, tab, nothing works on those main pieces, But how did they do it?

[gec05]

You have to place normal building shapes on a connector part. You rotate the connector and you take the now rotated building part off of it and place it where you want it. If you need to re-rotate it you have to place it back on the connector (if you kept it on the same spot) otherwise you have to delete it and redo the process.

It'd be much easier if Maxis enabled Tab rotation on all building parts already.

[MisterBibs]

So here's my issue:

I wanna do a time-travel related Adventure. The idea is to flatten the world, and use the continent feature to make identical landmasses. I thought it would be clever (and hide the fact that you're still really on the same planet) that the two landmasses are completely opposite from each other. Starting Landmass would be at the night, Ending Landmass would be in the day.

Now, if my Captain ignores the mission and just jumps through the teleporter from Starting Landmass to Ending Landmass, the effect works: You go from a dark area to a sunny area. Do the mission (which is just Talk To That Guy), no matter how long it takes, the Ending Landmass remains dark.

What am I doing wrong?

[Spartan King 95]

Is it not staying dark?

[MisterBibs]

Is it not staying dark?

No, it's dark, which isn't the intended goal.

Starting Landmass: Intended to be dark, positioned farthest away from the planet's sun.

Ending Landmass: Intended to be sunny, positoned directly underneath the planet's sun.

There is a teleporter between the two Landmasses. There are two acts currently: Act 1 is talk-to-character, Act 2 is go-through-teleporter.

If the player ignores the goals of Act I, Starting Landmass is dark, Ending Landmass is sunny.

If the player completes Act 1 and Act 2, Starting Landmass is dark, Ending Landmass is dark.

[Bonemouse]

It's located in the same spot where you would name, describe, tag a creation in any editor. On the bottom middle.

I meant the visual filters that you type in the cheat to activate in game. "Film Noir" and "Oil Paint".

EDIT:

Okay, it's a cheat. Ctrl+Shift+C to open the console. Then type: adventurelook -[effect]

to get a list of available effects, type: help adventureLook

Also. You can totally disguise a game object as a vehicle, which answers my previous question of how to make a UFO sit on the ground.

[Spartan King 95]

Also. You can totally disguise a game object as a vehicle, which answers my previous question of how to make a UFO sit on the ground.

Or a building.

[Hydromancerx]

Also. You can totally disguise a game object as a vehicle, which answers my previous question of how to make a UFO sit on the ground.

Oh cool i wondered what disguise did!

[Uroboros]

Does "adventureLook" actually set the look of the entire adventure? It doesn't sound likely given its a console command, and not something in the actual menus. I suspect it only applies it to your machine, and anybody downloading your adventure gets the normal unfiltered look. Can anyone confirm this?

[Rikis]

Where do the screenshots you take while in test mode go?  I've looked at both my Spore folder in Program Files and my Creations Folder in My Documents and neither have 'em!  It's driving me crazy.

[Skyward]

Odd, they were in the documents/My Spore creations/pictures for me.

[DaMuncha]

Yeah Rikis, I noticed that too. I think those screen shots are just for the adventure editor, so you can apply them to the title screen.

[MisterBibs]

Can someone please help me figure out how Advanced Behavior is something more than "Make The Creature With Advanced Behavior Not Do Anything"?

I want a simple thing. Make one group of enemies in Yellow Team, make another group of enemies in Red Team. Yellow hates Red, Red hates Yellow. Both sides don't care about my guy.

I go into advanced behavior for Aggressive, and I remove the "attack everyone" behavior. The game already has a Attack The {opposite team} behavior. All good, right?

Nope. Yellow and Red, despite their First Advanced Behavior being "beat the snot out of the other group", do nothing.

I swear to God, the more I try and make a decent mission for GA, the more the editor just completely refuses to do anything reasonably.

[Darth Grievi]

Is the condition set to "aware of" or "always"?

If you have a hard time, you could also use a set of "move to" commands in the second slot to get the armies closer together.

[Beatnuki]

Does "adventureLook" actually set the look of the entire adventure? It doesn't sound likely given its a console command, and not something in the actual menus. I suspect it only applies it to your machine, and anybody downloading your adventure gets the normal unfiltered look. Can anyone confirm this?

I can confirm it actually sets the look for the whole adventure, no matter who plays or downloads this.  I know this because a) I made a mystery adventure with the noir filter and people kept asking how I achieved it, meaning it automatically applied itself to their computers, and b) I played a Spore-buddy's mission and they had applied a pixellated look for a retro videogame-based mission.

All you have to do is save the mission in the editor whilst the effect is still active and it should automatically apply to everyone who downloads it.

[DaMuncha]

They should put that in some options menu or sumthing, rather than a cheat.