Reconsider the stealth icon: ugly, buggy, and metagamey

[RoseFrost]

It bugs out the shading on cloak models.

[BloodRiot]

we're gonna need to see pictures of that happening because it may be sometrhing differfent or very specific going on. was my first time hearing of it personally and testing with some random cape didn't seem to mess up anything.

Cna you tell what model of cloak you are using. Pictures woudl be fantastic too.

[Snarfy]

we're gonna need to see pictures of that happening because it may be sometrhing differfent or very specific going on. was my first time hearing of it personally and testing with some random cape didn't seem to mess up anything.

Cna you tell what model of cloak you are using. Pictures woudl be fantastic too.

If you find some darker colored equipment you'll easily notice it as soon as the stealth icon appears. It basically gives the characters cloak, armor, gloves, boots and hood a very light appearance once you enter stealth. Essentially it looks very spider-skin'ish without the glittering effect. Once you leave stealth, the white appearance switches off with the stealth icon and all clothing reverts back to normal.

There is a way to negate this white appearance while in stealth, specifically un-equipping and re-equipping all those slotted pieces, but as soon as you transition to another zone the appearance will return to white(not to mention that you run the risk of being detected easier due to temporarily dropping your stealth scores while you re-apply all equipment).

[BloodRiot]

we're gonna need to see pictures of that happening because it may be sometrhing differfent or very specific going on. was my first time hearing of it personally and testing with some random cape didn't seem to mess up anything.

Cna you tell what model of cloak you are using. Pictures woudl be fantastic too.

If you find some darker colored equipment you'll easily notice it as soon as the stealth icon appears. It basically gives the characters cloak, armor, gloves, boots and hood a very light appearance once you enter stealth. Essentially it looks very spider-skin'ish without the glittering effect. Once you leave stealth, the white appearance switches off with the stealth icon and all clothing reverts back to normal.

There is a way to negate this white appearance while in stealth, specifically un-equipping and re-equipping all those slotted pieces, but as soon as you transition to another zone the appearance will return to white(not to mention that you run the risk of being detected easier due to temporarily dropping your stealth scores while you re-apply all equipment).

That was useful thank you ill see what i can do

[RoseFrost]

we're gonna need to see pictures of that happening because it may be sometrhing differfent or very specific going on. was my first time hearing of it personally and testing with some random cape didn't seem to mess up anything.

Cna you tell what model of cloak you are using. Pictures woudl be fantastic too.

I linked a video of this in the original post in this thread.

[Aspect of Sorrow]

If it's absolutely necessary for people to tell if someone else is stealthing, can't that information be provided by a message they get in the combat log if appropriate checks are made? That way stealthers aren't stuck with the awful icon for the vast majority of time where it isn't actually serving any purpose.

Reliable PC OnPerception event hook is a thing of NWN:EE, not base NWN nor NWN2.

[selhan]

I vote its Ugly!

[Oarthias]

We've been able to manually use appraise creature to get a message stating that "character name" is attempting to hide, appear in the combat window for quite some time before the icon showed up. I'm personally not a fan of the icon, but it does save me from having to hit appraise on everyone that walks up.

[selhan]

That appraise is so meta! Get rid of that too! Why people cant simply go with what their pc sees is beyond me!

If your short like a halfing, chubby with a round nose I will think you a gnome.

If you got horns and a tail, I will think you a tiefer or a bloody billygoat depending on your horns.

If your slender and small of stature with red eyes and ebony skin your drow to my eyes even if they are really a tiefling. Dont get me started when a person got damn horns on their head and try to say their isnt any. GTFO with that. Same with a tail. If you dont want them get rid of it. It aint hard , or use a bloody wig or something.

If my pc cant determine your physical appearance then I dont know who or what you are. Unless the pc tells me or someone else tells me. And if that someone tells me, they better have ic information or I will drop rp with them like troll dung!

The stealth icon is ugly in my opinion, I can understand if a sneak dont like that cartoony looking thing in their face. Might as well float an Improve Expertise, Defensive fighting, Parry etc Icons over peoples head when activated. Just sayin. If I spot your arse then I do, will I rp it?, that is surely up to me. Maybe my pc wanna flip your skirt or maybe my pc wanna play dumb and let you just keep on THINKING I dont see you. Thats up to me.
But like I saw someone said earlier I think it would be better and cooler if the combat chat said something to the effect of..

* You spot what appears to be someone trying to hide*

I guess another point is, we got rid of the ability to see everybody's wards, enhancement's from right clicking on peoples "Examines" due to meta many many years ago. Might as well bring that back ijs.

Honestly I aint arguing, I seen this type of stuff go back and forth and its only gonna lean to one side in the end. My heart goes out to the players that are just trying to enjoy the game.

[BloodRiot]

(...)
I think it would be better and cooler if the combat chat said something to the effect of..

* You spot what appears to be someone trying to hide*
(...)

I might be wrong, cuz i admit i haven't looked into that myself. But i have a feeling such a solution is actually too complex for the effect. The effect has a beenfit that it is reliant on reading the owning PCs stealth status. It only cares if you are currently sneaking or not.

A system like what you describe is spotter centric and would require the spotter to keep tabs on every pc around them. Needs to know for each pc if they are spotted, if they were not spotted before and know when to reset it if the sneaker re-hides. Probably more things and that is for each and every single creature around them individually. This is so it doesn't out hidden PCs without spotting them, doesn't spam your combat log every round telling you "you spot X trying to hide" and correctly resets this if the pc attempts to hide again after being spotted once.

Thats a lot of information to keep track of when you can just do what we do now and flip a switch depending if the hiding toon is currently sneaking or not.

I'd be amenable to the combat log/text overhead/both/other solution but the level of complexity just aint worth when this solution is present. The bug with clothes items can be looked into however, and if someone wants to make a better icon i'd not oppose it

[selhan]

I'd be amenable to the combat log/text overhead/both/other solution but the level of complexity just aint worth when this solution is present. The bug with clothes items can be looked into however, and if someone wants to make a better icon i'd not oppose it

If im correct the bug is the difference between class stealth. Example A Shadowdancer doesn't suffer that problem and something like Assassins do. Im not 100% sure myself but you might want to test that to verify. I aint got that many alts lol too lazy for such the grind.

[BloodRiot]

Its fine i was able to replicate it easily once i knew what to look for. I can probably fix the clothes brightening effect for this one.

[Steve]

Maybe just replace the existing icon—which looks like something between a UFO and a mushroom with eyes—to like a little colored light? Maybe a colored light that pulses slightly?

Ugly should be easy to fix. General Acceptance is another matter…lol.

[selhan]

Maybe just replace the existing icon—which looks like something between a UFO and a mushroom with eyes...

RMFAOL

[BloodRiot]

Ugly + Pretty = Subjective

Im not gonna try to make a new icon, but i can swap it out if someone makes a new one that is generally accepted.