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Scanning with Drone

(NEW) This feature is valid for Expeditions only.

Overview

The Scanning with Drone (or Process Points) minigame allows the player to perform scanning of the set of points on the map using the Drone.

To successfully scan these points, the player needs to hold the drone above them and correct the Drone position when the circle showing the approximate location of the target point narrows. These narrowing circles are called the "scanning area" in the settings below.

NOTE: The visuals and UI of the Drone usage in this minigame are different from the regular operation of the Drone. In the minigame, the player looks at the map from the top view, the Drone flies at the particular height and this height cannot be changed by the player.

Setup

The general setup of a zone and a stage for this miningame is performed as described in Minigames: Overview.

For the Scanning with Drone minigame, the MinigameProcessPoints settings should be selected in the setting field of the ZonePropertyMinigame prop.

NOTE: Along with the setup of the minigame itself, you should also add single or multiple (maximum – 3) zone locators to the map in the Editor. These zones themselves will be invisible to the player, but their position will define the location of target points that the player needs to "scan" with the Drone. The props of these zones should be empty. In the settings of the minigame, you will need to specify links to these zones in the zones list.

The MinigameProcessPoints settings are the following:

  • uiWinHeader – The text of the header that will be displayed in the UI when the player wins the minigame. To display the same text as in the original game, you can use the UI_DRONE_GAME_WIN_HEADER localization string, which will correspond to "SUCCESSFUL SCAN".

  • uiWinDesc – The main text that will be displayed in the UI when the player wins the minigame. Typically, in this text you describe to the player what they have found, indentified, or scanned.

  • delayWinMs – Delay of the win popup, in milliseconds.

  • showTryAgainPopup – Whether or not should the Try Again popup be shown if the player fails to pass the minigame.

  • exitSound – The sound that will be played when the player leaves the minigame. For details on specifying links to sound files, see Adding Sounds.

  • timeToSolve – The time limit for winning the minigame. If the player exceeds this limit while playing, the minigame is considered failed and closes. In the original game, this parameter is always set to -1, which corresponds to unlimited period of time.

  • name – The identifier of this minigame within this zone that is used by the corresponding stage of the objective. See Minigames: Overview for details.

  • uiTooFarHint – The hint that will be displayed in the UI when the drone flies to far away. To display the same text as in the original game, you can use the UI_MINIGAME_DRONE_HINT_IS_TOO_FAR localization string, which will correspond to "DRONE IS TOO FAR".

  • uiSearchDescHint – The hint that will be displayed in the UI when the drone is searching for target points. To display the same text as in the original game, you can use the UI_MINIGAME_DRONE_HINT_SEARCHING localization string, which will correspond to "SEARCH FOR POINTS TO SCAN".

  • uiTaskDescHint – The hint that will be displayed in the UI when the drone is near or within the target area for scanning. To display the same text as in the original game, you can use the UI_MINIGAME_DRONE_HINT_STAY_IN_CIRCLE localization string, which will correspond to "STAY IN THE ZONE".

  • height – The height of the Drone's flight, in meters. Please note that at large heights some Distributions or Models may disappear.

  • additionalMaxDistance – The distance that will be added to the default maximum distance of the Drone during the game. The resulting maximum distance will set the limits for the Drone horizontal movement.

  • droneTorqueCoefOverride – This value overrides the torque coefficient (coeffForceTorque) that affects skidding of the Drone. This overriding is performed during the minigame only. Recommended values for this parameter are near 2.5.

  • skipMapBordersCheck – Whether or not the no flight zone near the edges of the map should be ignored by the Drone during the minigame. Please note that if you enable this option and place the minigame too close to the borders of the map the player will be able to see these edges.

  • heightChangeAllowed – (Should not be used. Will be removed.) This parameter is disabled by default and should be kept in this state. It will be removed (TBD).

  • circleSpeed – The speed of the basic narrowing of the circle of the scanning area when the drone is inside it. The higher this value is, the faster the cirle will narrow.

  • circleRadius – The initial radius of the target scanning area, in meters.

  • circleFinalRadius – The final radius of the target scanning area, in meters. Values lower than 1 meter should not be used.

  • circleFarAwayRadius – The radius of the initial identification of the target scanning area, in meters. The Drone should be at this minimum distance from the scanning area for the player to see its circle. If the Drone is farther than this distance, the player will not see the scanning area. The value of this parameter that is optimal for the minigame depends on the specified height of the Drone.

  • circleStartDelay – The delay before the scanning area starts to narrow after the Drone enters it, in seconds. If the controlling of the drone is set up to be not very responsive, this delay can be increased a little bit, to allow the player to stay in the not narrowing circle.

  • circleScanningEnableRadiusPart – The multiplier to the initial radius of the scanning area (circleRadius). For example: 1.0, 1.2, 1.5. When the Drone enters the resulting radius (circleScanningEnableRadiusPart * circleRadius), it is switched to the scanning mode in the UI.

  • circleChangePointTimeMin – Circles of scanning areas are able to change the direction of narrowing and change this direction from time to time. The circleChangePointTimeMin and circleChangePointTimeMax parameters define the timing of these changes of the direction by setting the minimum and maximum time (in seconds) after which the direction will be changed. The particular moment of this change will be selected randomly in this time interval.
    For example, if circleChangePointTimeMin = 0.5 seconds and circleChangePointTimeMax = 2 seconds, then the next change in the direction will occur randomly, somewhere between 0.5 and 2 seconds.

  • circleChangePointTimeMax – See circleChangePointTimeMin above.

  • requiredAbilities – the DRONE ability is required in this group of settings. To add it, add a new record to this section (it will appear as [0]), then, in the properties of this record, add DRONE to the id field, and do not change the values in the activateOnWin and checkPresenceOnly fields (they are disabled by default).
    I.e., for the minigame to work the configuration in the requiredAbilities section should be the following:

    • [0]
      • id – DRONE
      • activateOnWin – Disabled
      • checkPresenceOnly – Disabled

    WARNING: If you leave null in requiredAbilities section or set it up incorrectly, the minigame will not start (there will be no view from the top and no moving Drone displayed).

  • startZone – The zone where the minigame starts. You need to specify here the link to the same zone where you are configuring these minigame settings.

  • zones – The list of target zones. The position of every such zone will define the location of the target point that needs to be scanned by the Drone. You should add up to 3 such zones to the map in the Editor and specify links to them in the records of this list. Please note that these zones should be located at some distance from each other, see Important Nuances below for details.

Important Nuances

Distance between Scanning Areas

The Scanning with Drone minigame will not work correcly, if scanning areas – defined by zones, circleRadius, and circleScanningEnableRadiusPart – intersect or are at a very close distance to each other.

Internally, the Drone has two states:

  • "Drone is searching for the scanning areas." – when the Drone is outside of the scanning area and is not near it.

  • "Drone is in the scanning mode." – when the Drone is at the circleScanningEnableRadiusPart distance near the scanning area and switches to the scanning mode.

The Drone needs to be switched between states sequentially.

Due to this, the scanning areas (not only the zones in the Editor themselves) need to be at appropriate distance from each other.