What is flagging a trap supposed to accomplish?

[Legacy_HipMaestro]

               Apologies if this is not the correct forum to post this question but I figured it was somehow related to scripting.  If not, please redirect me, eh?

Here's the issue from a player's perspective:  I decided to try to use this little-used subskill to identify the position of traps that were currently too high DC for my toon to recover but wanted to return to the area with all the trap locations pre-marked either when my toon gained higher skill or when a high-skill party member entered the pre-trod area.. (At this point, just for testing purposes, it is an SP module, a purely vanilla v1.69 one, so I am assuming it is the default trap-handling dynamic.)  Upon returning, after significant time elapsed, to the same area, not all of the traps that had been flagged were visible.  Some eventually became visible again as I switched over to Detect mode again similar to the original detect action.

So... now I am thoroughly confused as to how it (flagging) was intended to work.  Does it (the trap) still run through an OnHeartbeat detect action even after flagged?  Or is the Search check supposed to be instantly ignored once it has been flagged?

I was planning on using this method in our LAN games to pre-mark traps for recovery by our most highly-skilled party member when they entered the same area, but now I am dubious whether the traps will be instantly visible to them. (In some cases, our expert disabler does not always have a high Search skill.)

So, do you guys understand how this function is supposed to work in the vanilla game?  If it doesn't work the way I anticipated it would (I have never found ANY description of this function), could it be modified to work that way or is it hard-coded?

Thanks for any clarification about this, gang. '>
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_WhiZard]

               

HipMaestro wrote...

Apologies if this is not the correct forum to post this question but I figured it was somehow related to scripting.  If not, please redirect me, eh?

Here's the issue from a player's perspective:  I decided to try to use this little-used subskill to identify the position of traps that were currently too high DC for my toon to recover but wanted to return to the area with all the trap locations pre-marked either when my toon gained higher skill or when a high-skill party member entered the pre-trod area.. (At this point, just for testing purposes, it is an SP module, a purely vanilla v1.69 one, so I am assuming it is the default trap-handling dynamic.)  Upon returning, after significant time elapsed, to the same area, not all of the traps that had been flagged were visible.  Some eventually became visible again as I switched over to Detect mode again similar to the original detect action.

So... now I am thoroughly confused as to how it (flagging) was intended to work.  Does it (the trap) still run through an OnHeartbeat detect action even after flagged?  Or is the Search check supposed to be instantly ignored once it has been flagged?

I was planning on using this method in our LAN games to pre-mark traps for recovery by our most highly-skilled party member when they entered the same area, but now I am dubious whether the traps will be instantly visible to them. (In some cases, our expert disabler does not always have a high Search skill.)

So, do you guys understand how this function is supposed to work in the vanilla game?  If it doesn't work the way I anticipated it would (I have never found ANY description of this function), could it be modified to work that way or is it hard-coded?

Thanks for any clarification about this, gang. '>

I have not encountered the disappearing issue when running my own dedicated server. I had one character flag and log out and then another (non-rogue) character log in.  The trap was fully visible to the second, even though only a rogue would be able to detect it.  Flagging a trap should make the trap visible to all creatures (not just members of a party).

In single player the issue is different.  When loading a save, none of the traps will be flagged or detected, so one has to re-flag or re-detect them.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_HipMaestro]

               

WhiZard wrote...
I have not encountered the disappearing issue when running my own dedicated server. I had one character flag and log out and then another (non-rogue) character log in.  The trap was fully visible to the second, even though only a rogue would be able to detect it.  Flagging a trap should make the trap visible to all creatures (not just members of a party).

In single player the issue is different.  When loading a save, none of the traps will be flagged or detected, so one has to re-flag or re-detect them.

Ahhh... so as long as there is no save between visits in SP, the flagged traps should stay visible.  Interesting.  So we would need to test it on-line for the MP situation, though I have no reason to doubt your account, WhiZard.  But the clearing of flags with saves explains a lot then.

Do you happen to know the actual script mechanics of the flagging procedure? Is there some variable set on each trap to toggle whether it is visible or not and by whom? 

From your description regarding PW action, it seems that there is no way to make the flagging operation discretionary so must assume it is hard-coded then.  Drat!  Not much use with PvP teams then. '>

Anyhoo, thanks for the illustration. '>
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_WhiZard]

               

HipMaestro wrote...
Do you happen to know the actual script mechanics of the flagging procedure? Is there some variable set on each trap to toggle whether it is visible or not and by whom? 

Unfortunately you can only check the flag status by script, you cannot flag by script.  The standard mechanic used by familiar AI is by making traps detectable (SetTrapDetectableBy() seems to exactly replicate the process).

From your description regarding PW action, it seems that there is no way to make the flagging operation discretionary so must assume it is hard-coded then.  Drat!  Not much use with PvP teams then. '>

Anyhoo, thanks for the illustration. '>

The trap is either flagged or not flagged.  The trap can be detected by different characters without having to flag it.