I’m not really sure if this is at all possible if by trick, gimmick or otherwise, but I was wondering if you can spawn a creature - say over lava tiles (Fire Mephits) using the dropin effect.
I’ve tried to no effect by placing a waypoint and raising it to elevation, but the creature just default spawns Next to the PC.
It would be a really neat effect to see them rise out of the lava…?
Edit: Didn’t HotU have a beholders doing this very thing only out of a pit?
Is there a way to “trick” the tile into appearing invisible to the PC and still remain accessible to spawn the mephits?
Afaik, it’s not possible to spawn creatures on inaccessible tiles. Creating accessible tiles will do the trick, this shouldn’t be too difficult. HotU has a cutscene where a beholder raises from a pit. I guess they created a partially accessible tile with a border which can not be crossed.
True. Also, creatures will always spawn on the walkmesh, regardless of the spawn point height.
Fortunately, there are tricks.
The bUseAppearAnimation parameter of CreateObject will play the creature’s appear animation. Typically, the creature drops from a height. However, a few creatures - e.g. beholders - have unique animations.
There is also EffectAppear() for existing creatures, but see caveats on that page.
More generally, you can use SetObjectVisualTransform() to make the creature appear anywhere, then move and/or spin in any direction. Bear in mind that the actual position of the creature must still be a valid spawn point, and most aspects of gameplay will behave as though the creature is there, not where it appears to be. This is fine for a grand entrance, cutscene or non-usable creature; otherwise have the movement end at the actual spawn point asap.
