Hotspots

This Page doesn't cover creating self-made hotspots. To read about that, see Hotspot Scripting.

Hotspots are objects that make things happen in the game in different ways. They can be used to make fire, water, kill boxes, objectives and much more.

Several hotspots can be found in the top bar under Load → Hotspot, however not all hotspots can be found there. All hotspots can be found by going to Load → Load item... and browsing to ../Overgrowth/Data/Objects/Hotspots/.

This page lists all hotspots available in the game and what their use is.

Hotspots

activate_characters

When the player enters the hotspot some NPCs has their static flag set to false. This can be used to optimize a level by having enemies be static until the player gets close to them.

Script Params

Parameter	Type	Description
characters	list of ints	A space-delimited list of IDs of characters which should have their static flag set to false when the player enters the hotspot

Example: 5124 423 566

ambient_sound

Is used to play environment sounds, either in some specific part of the level, or in the entire level. It can be used to add creaky wood sounds only to a ship, wind sound only at the top of a mountain, rustling leaves sound only close to trees and so on.

Script Params

Parameter	Type	Description
Delay Max	int	The maximum random time in seconds until this sound triggers after having been triggered
Delay Min	int	Same as Delay Max, except the minimum random time
Fade Distance	int	The distance in meters outside of the hotspot that the sound should start being audible, it fades in to full volume as the camera gets closer to the hotspot
Gain	float	How loud the sound should be
Global	bool	If the sound should play everywhere, and not only at the hotspot's location
Sound Path	string	The path to the sound to use, they can be found in Data/Sounds/
Wind Scale	bool	Makes the sound increase and decrease in volume to make it feel like it's being created by wind

boundary

When the player enters this hotspot's volume, they are pushed in a specific direction based on the rotation of the hotspot. Note that it only pushes horizontally, it can not push up or down. To know which direction it pushes in, simply test it by running into it.

displayimage

Renders an image in the middle of the screen when the player is inside the hotspot.

Script Params

Parameter	Type	Description
[0] Display Image Path	string	Location on disk of image to show
[1] Scale	float	How large the image should be, in percent
[2a] Red Tint	int	Multiplier for image's red channel
[2b] Green Tint	int	Multiplier for image's green channel
[2c] Blue Tint	int	Multiplier for image's blue channel
[2d] Alpha Tint	int	Multiplier for image's alpha channel

displaytext

Shows some text on the screen while the player is in the hotspot. Does not support word wrap or line breaks.

Script Params

Parameter	Type	Description
Display Text	string	Text to show

displayvideo

Does not work.

emitter

Creates either smoke, fog or water splashes within the hotspot volume.

Script Params

Parameter	Type	Description
Type	string	Set it to either "Smoke", "Foggy" or "Falling Water" (without the quotes)

eye_adjust

Changes the HDR settings when the player character enters the hotspot.

Script Params

Parameter	Type	Description
HDR Black point	float	Sets the low range of the dynamic range
HDR Bloom multiplier	float	Changes the intensity of the bloom effect
HDR White point	float	Sets the high range of the dynamic range

fire_test

Pretty looking fire composed of a number of textured ribbons and a light source. Can ignite characters when they touch it.

Script Params

Parameter	Type	Description
Fire Ribbons	int	The number of ribbons that should be used
Ignite Characters	bool	If checked, characters will ignite when they touch the fire, only works on NPCs if they are ragdolled
Light Amplify	float	The intensity of the light from the fire
Light Distance	float	How far away the light should reach TODO: What unit is this in?

general_campaign_level

TODO: How does this work?

generic_kill

Kills any character that enters the hotspot.

Script Params

Parameter	Type	Description
KillNPC	bool	If checked, the hotspot is lethal to NPCs
KillPlayer	bool	If checked, the hotspot is lethal to the player

lava_kill

Ignites and instantly kills any character that comes into contact with the hotspot.

levelwin

Sends a global "levelwin" message when the player enters the hotspot.

Script Params

Parameter	Type	Description
branch	string	After the "levelwin" message, a space is added and then this string

loadlevel

Loads a specified level when the player enters the hotspot.

Script Params

Parameter	Type	Description
Level to load	string	The path to the level you want to load, starting in ../Overgrowth/

lugaru_hawk

Adds a hawk that circles around the hotspot.

new_checkpoint

A checkpoint that's used together with the respawn_at_checkpoint hotspot. Entering this hotspot makes this the current checkpoint. When touching a respawn_at_checkpoint you get teleported to the center of the most recently touched new_checkpoint hotspot.

Script Params

Parameter	Type	Description
LastEnteredTime	int	A timestamp for when this was most recently touched, this is used to determine which new_checkpoint hotspot to respawn at when touching a respawn_at_checkpoint hotspot

no_grab

Any ledge within this hotspot can't be grabbed. You would usually use the collision painting system to decide whether a ledge is grabbable, but if you want to for instance make a ledge in a prefab not grabbable you can't always do that, so you can then use this no_grab hotspot instead.

object_disappear

Deletes the specified object when the player enters the hotspot.

Note that this hotspot does not use the actual name of the object. You need to manually add a script parameter on the object you want to delete called "Name", and write the same name you specify in "Object name to dissapear" parameter in the hotspot.

Keep in mind that this hotspot actually deletes the objects from the level, as if you would have deleted them in the editor.

Script Params

Parameter	Type	Description
Object name to dissapear	string	Any object that has an added "Name" script parameter that is the same as the string in this parameter will be deleted

overgrowth_level

The hotspot used in the Overgrowth story to set goals and/or layered music within a level. All the Information for this Hotspot can be found on the Checkpoints page.

TODO: Should another hotspot be used instead of this one?

TODO: These level messages are handled in this hotspot, need to explain what that means:

"reset"
"level_event music_layer_override"
"level_event crowd_override"
"level_event set_camera_dof"
"level_event character_knocked_out"
"level_event character_died"
"player_entered_checkpoint_fall_death"
"player_entered_checkpoint"

overgrowth_level_checkpoint

The checkpoints used in the Overgrowth story to activate a "reach" goal. All the Information about this Hotspot can be found on the Checkpoints page. TODO: Should another hotspot be used instead of this one?

Particle Occluder Hotspot

Allows for particles to not have any effect in the area inside the hotspot.

It works by default with particles generated by the emitter hotspot (as an example), but to make it work for rain/snow/other gpu particles, go to editor mode, press "Y" and go to Custom Shaders, here write #GPU_PARTICLE_FIELD_OCCLUSION

portal

Allows for traveling bwtween levels. Requires a portal_manager hotspot to function properly.

You can specify a light that gets brighter as a character approaches the portal.

To be able to travel to this portal from another level you need to create a Load → Utility → Player Spawn object.

Script Params

Parameter	Type	Description
Level to load	string	The path to the level to load when entering this hotspot
light_id	int	The ID of the dynamic_light_object that should get brighter when a character gets closer to the hotspot
spawn_point	int	The ID of the Player Spawn object you want the player to spawn at when teleporting to this level

portal_manager

Required when using the portal hotspot.

Script Params

Parameter	Type	Description
Level to load	int list	The IDs of all portals in the level

resetcharacter

Resets any character that touches this hotspot to their spawn location.

resetlevel

Resets the level when the player touches it, as if you press L in the editor.

respawn_at_checkpoint

Used together with the new_checkpoint hotspot. When the player touches this hotspot they get teleported to the center of the most recently touched new_checkpoint.

soak_level

After the player enters the hotspot, a new level is loaded after a set amount of time.

Script Params

Parameter	Type	Description
next_level	string	The path to the level to load
time_to_next_level	int	Number of seconds to wait before loading the next level

spike

A spike that can impale characters.

start_dialogue

Allows for dialogues to be started in different ways when the player is in the hotspot. For more information about dialogues read the Dialogue article.

Script Params

Parameter	Type	Description
Automatic	bool	The dialogue starts automatically when the player enters the hotspot
Color	RGB floats	TODO: What does this do?
Dialogue	string	The name of the dialogue to start
Fade	bool	Fade to black when starting the dialogue, to make transition less jarring
Visible in game	bool	Keeps the signpost icon visible in the game

StartRace

TODO: Does it not work like FinishRace ? Used to start a race similar to the one shown off in the video A Race Course In Overgrowth - Wolfire Games.

tutorial

Activates built-in tutorials when entered. Settings → Game → Tutorials needs to be on for the tutorials to trigger.

Script Params

Parameter	Type	Description
Type	string	Decides which tutorial to run, can be one of the following: stealth, basic, jump_climb, walljump, jump_higher, jump_long, combat, jumpkick, knife, throw, flip_roll

victorytrigger

TODO: Is this still usable? If so, how is it used?

water_bob

Makes the specified objects move as if they are on water.

Script Params

Parameter	Type	Description
Objects	list of ints	The IDs of the objects that should be affected
SavedTransform	Translation & rotation as floats	The original location of the objects
rotation_scale	float	Multiplier of rotation
time_scale	float	How fast the objects should move
translation_scale	float	Multiplier of translation

water_bob_fast

TODO: Is this simply a better optimized version of the "water_bob" hotspot?

wet_cube

A block of water with nice graphics that slows you down if you walk in it and drowns you if you're below the surface for too long.

Script Params

Parameter	Type	Description
Water Fog	float	How far down into the water you can see
Wave Density	float	How zoomed in the waves should be
Wave Height	float	How strong the waves should be

Deprecated and Component Hotspots

These hotspots have either been replaced by a better alternative, have stopped working at some point during the development of the game, or can't be used on their own.

announce_items

Remnant from old tutorial level.

Checkpoint

No longer used, should use the new checkpoint system instead.

collectable_target

Does not work anymore.

dark_world_level

Crashes the game.

dark_world_trigger

Function unknown.

destination_trail

Function unknown.

FinishRace

No longer works. Used in the Video A Race Course In Overgrowth - Wolfire Games.

fixedragdollpart

Not used on its own, used in aschar for impaling.

kill

Deprecated, use the generic_kill or lava_kill hotspots instead.

lugaru_level

The level hotspot used in the official Lugaru story.

must_visit_trigger

Old unused challenge hotspot.

particle_foggy

This is actually not a hotspot, it just creates an emitter hotspot that's pre-configured as fog.

rain

Particle based rain, use the rain shaders instead.

spike_tip

Used by the spike hotspot.

snow

Particle based snow, use the snow shaders instead.

water

Deprecated, use wet_cube instead.