Pipe dream about invisibility.

[Alwayslost]

Ok, here's a thought/dream.

Can SEQ track if you are invisible?

If so, could it automatically (temporarily) place see invis mobs on the "warning" filter? Or even temporarily place a red triangle around them?

It would be SO cool if after my character casts invis, I could run through a zone and just watch the SEQ screen to avoid the see invis mobs.

[fryfrog]

how would seq know what mob can see invis?

[Amadeus]

I suppose one of the unknown values in the spawn structure *could* be a see invis flag of some sort ...but, at this point, SEQ has no way of telling if a mob can see invis without '/conning' it ...as far as I know.

[cavemanbob]

The client can track if an invis flag is set on any mob, it cannot however tell if another mob can see invisible. If you want to verify this, look through spawninfo structure for a player that can see invis and one that cannot as they are the same as the mob structs and enumerations. Or if that doesn't satisfy you go pick through the data for a mob that you know see's through invis, you can dump the data easy enough...

[Alwayslost]

I based this pipe dream on the assumption that /con-ing a mob was handled on the client.

If your faction is on the client, then along with the faction level so should the ability of seeing invisible be on the client.

I'm no programmer. I don't even know if a /con is served server side and transparent to the client...

So, if it is on the server side only then this just is not possible.

Am I making any sense at all?

[guice]

Faction isn't handled by the client anymore (or ever was?). It's sent across by the server when you /con a mob.

[Lyroschen]

This has been discussed previously in this thread:
http://seq.sourceforge.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3167

On that thread, I posted:

Another option could be to maintain a filter list of sorts for every zone, listing mobs that can or can't see invis. If you cast invisibility on yourself, then such mobs can be flagged to indicate they shouldn't be able to see you. Mobs that can see invis would remain unflagged. If your invis wears off, the mobs will all unflag. This would help you notice that your invis dropped while you're fixed on the SEQ screen, as well.

One potential difficulty for this would be establishing a list of which mobs can and can't see invis. Particularly in zones where some mobs with a particular name can see invis, and others with the same name cannot - for example drachnids in FV. 'course I don't know if that's a level issue, or if they actually cast a spell on themselves allowing them to see invis.

At any rate, if it can be accomplished, this is the best solution I can think of to get the effect Wishbringer wanted, since faction info isn't sent to the client until a mob is con'd.

If someone finds a flag in the mob struct to indicate which can, and cannot see invis, that would make it much easier. If such a flag exists there.

[orenwolf]

There'd be no reason for this to work.

Con's are served in their own packet, from the server, when you con a mob.

From a client's perspective, there is *no* difference between a mob that can and cannot see you. If the mob can see you, the server knows it, and it will agro. that has nothing to do with the client and is no different than any other mob agroing on you.

Because /con happens server side, there is *no* reason the client would be fed this information.

And for the record, the client *used* to be served faction information as a part of that faction (a number from ~5000 to -5000 or so) and it used that to show what you conned (amiable, kindly, etc.), but that too was changed to a simple range, each number representing a con type.

[Lyroschen]

I agree that it is unlikely for such information to be delivered to the client side. It's possible they would include a stat such as "see's invis" in a mob struct, but not highly likely. If not, then building a list by zone of what mobs inately see invis and which don't is a feasable, although imperfect, alternative.

[orenwolf]

This is true - however - what benefit would such a list have over, instead, having a filter created to warn you of the presence of such mobs anyway?

[guice]

If not, then building a list by zone of what mobs inately see invis and which don't is a feasable, although imperfect, alternative.

Personally I don't see this being feasable. If this data isn't sent over prior to con'ing a mob (I find it unlikely), attempting to build a list of mobs that "saw" invis won't work.

There are many factors into play. For example; there's currrently a bug (server side) where any NPC that's been previously charmed and let go will see invis (well, this bug existed a few weeks ago, not sure if it's been patched in the last two patches).

Then you have the factory that X random mob (ie spiders in DL/FV) can see invis. Unless it's some variable of a gen string (ie all mobs devisable by 4 can see invis), there's no way to predict if a_spider_05 will see invis or not.

I'm just blowing out things from me arse here. I have not, nor do I think I'll be able to, view any packets sent to the client machine. Just factors I see while playing EQ.

[Lyroschen]

Oren... The list would be used as a filter, not instead of. But before the filter can be created, we must first determine which mobs in a zone can or can't see invis.

Guice... The fact that in some zones there are mobs with the same name where one can see invis and another cannot is why this wouldn't be a perfect solution. However, in most zones, the mobs that can see invis, vs the mobs that cannot are constant.

From my previous post:

One potential difficulty for this would be establishing a list of which mobs can and can't see invis. Particularly in zones where some mobs with a particular name can see invis, and others with the same name cannot - for example drachnids in FV. 'course I don't know if that's a level issue, or if they actually cast a spell on themselves allowing them to see invis.

If needed, such mobs which MIGHT be able to see invis could be flagged differently. At any rate, it's a lot of effort for the benefit. One I'd like to see included, but a far cry from a priority. My post was more of an effort to put into perspective what the task would entail given my knowledge of how things work.

[cavemanbob]

In the end it more or less comes down to someone just setting an alert or warning type thing so you can tell if you should manually check if a mob can see invis though.

[Lyroschen]

Agreed regarding those mobs which might see invis, like Drachnids. For those mobs which always see invis (like most undead, many giants, etc), it would be more usefull. Would make the run through EJ to CoM easier, for example.

[cavemanbob]

The more I think about this, the more I like the idea of this as some sort of an option at the very least, though I'm not really sure how to implement it properly. Obviously mobs that are undead for example trivially see through invis, but how to do others? Possibly a file with names of mobs to flags this way? I encourage thoughts about this...

[guice]

Obviously mobs that are undead for example trivially see through invis

Not Necessarly. A grand number of Undead Mobs in LoY don't see invis (undead Trolls in Nadox). Even a number of undead mobs in Crypt of Decay don't see invis. And I know there's another zone. I remember con'ing a skeleton once a while back and I got the 'indefferently' messages.

[Alwayslost]

Feasible or not, I thank you all for your replies and I'm glad I got some discussion about the subject. ;)

Sorry I didn't find the previous posted info before.