HOIK! [Guide] - Rapid Player/NPC/Etc Transport Using Only Sloped Tiles.

[Trimerion]

I'm thinking of explaining a little bit about how collision detection is (probably) coded, do you think that might help (you and others)? Or more a practical demonstration of a simple way to get started? (Which I'm also thinking of demonstrating, eventually.)

that migt be an idea, dont know if it would help but it cant hurt, I was thinking about seeing if I can get yourself or @DicemanX on a skype call or twitch stream or in a mp world where we can sit and discuss things (maybe at some point when my new net is up and running)

 

[ZeroGravitas]

a skype call or twitch stream or in a mp world

Hmmm, good luck with that, lol. We've been a bit of a hermit club, and I've not been functional most of the time either. Post questions in T-MEC or here, preferably with screen shots. Check out our world downloads, etc. Good luck.

 

[Silverlancer]

Hmmm, good luck with that, lol. We've been a bit of a hermit club, and I've not been functional most of the time either. Post questions in T-MEC or here, preferably with screen shots. Check out our world downloads, etc. Good luck.

About items hoiking better

Hoiks used to not always get coins for me the rate at best was like 1/3rd of coins hoik'd and the rest didn't

Now i'm getting like 9/10th coins hoiking as of 1.3.05

 

[ZeroGravitas]

Now i'm getting like 9/10th coins hoiking as of 1.3.05

I'd be wary of reading tooo much into that. Size one horizontals are notoriously patchy, working completely differently in different areas of the same world, bizzarely. Sometime items will just zip merrily along the entire length. There may well have been various minor code changes, however.

 

[Diamondheart]

So far I've noticed that (In several maps, at various heights) hearts and stars, coins, and some of the newer(1.3) blocks will jump to the end of a line of hoiks, at the end the hoik is aimed to push things, in both directions. Have had it also work vertically a few times, but that is still sketchy at best on results.

 

[stefnotch]

To add to the guide, you can also hoik boulders! Though, so far I only was able to get UP hoiks to work.

It looks like this:
W=Wall
U=Up hoik tooth. (A single sloped block.)
P=Platform (A sloped platform, the one you use for player hoiks.

WU
W
WU
W
WUP
W
WWWWWWWWWW

 

[DekaDante]

There's nothing quite like figuring something out and it clicking into place. I see you have a ghost wall (top left), but a bit puzzeled by the hoik design (bottom left), as with only 1 tile space between every tooth I would have thought that would not work... Does it? (Will have to re-test a bunch of things if so.)

Well, this collage represents my working process). The main problem is how to make a launcher: first of all I used a mechanical way and I was obliged to stay between blocks & kick one of them with a hammer. It was a silly way. Second of all I understood that my favorite toy, a ghost wall, could be useful as a launcher, not only an elevator. A ghost wall start working after *4 block, but it is not necessary *1 block higher my char, but *1 lower. And I descended a block, and it worked and that was the elegant one. About dimensions.. after start we move forward to *3 blocks and *1 up or down and we have to limit our moving to avoid staying in the wall.. so, it is just one of the possibles solutions. They could be different.
This file is a training area for my experiments, and don't hesitate to check it out).https://dropmefiles.com/5MEpD

 

[ZeroGravitas]

you can also hoik boulders

Yes indeedy! Well spotted. I wasn't able to come up with a killer app for it, though. I mean, you could sling them up at a boss, provided they stay in roughly the right place. But like you say, they will only go up, so can't loop them (which would be killer), they just break. You also can't stop them rolling sideways, even while up-hoiking, so you need to curve the hoik off in a particular skew if you want to go higher than the setup shown below:

Mounting either with a ghost wall slope, or with boulder activated, actuated bottom tooth. If you freeze-frame at 13s in on my hoiktronics laboratory tour video, you can see where this lab is in my (old) hoik demo world.

 

[stefnotch]

Yes indeedy! Well spotted. I wasn't able to come up with a killer app for it, though. I mean, you could sling them up at a boss, provided they stay in roughly the right place. But like you say, they will only go up, so can't loop them (which would be killer), they just break. You also can't stop them rolling sideways, even while up-hoiking, so you need to curve the hoik off into an exact diagonal if you want to higher than the setup shown below:

Mounting either with a ghost wall slope, or with boulder activated, actuated bottom tooth. If you freeze-frame at 13s in on my hoiktronics laboratory tour video, you can see where this lab is in my (old) hoik demo world.

Wow! You actually responded and you also noticed that the boulder keep rolling even if they get hoiked. I wasn't sure if this was the reason why my boulders kept breaking when the hoik is too high. (I had a wall next to it.) I will keep experimenting with the boulder though, maybe I can come up with something awesome after all!
Though, that means that there are even more things that can get hoiked. (Are boulders projectiles?)

And, for the killer application, here is a cheap idea:
Make the bolder go up, fall down when he is too high up and make him go to the next hoik. That way, you should be able to cover a relatively large area. If you keep moving in the same direction as the bolders, the boss would chase you...

 

[ZeroGravitas]

when he is too high up and make him go to the next hoik.

See, that was what I was trying with the multiple up hoiks in a row. Issue is they fly a fair way horizontally, off the top, and get up to quite a speed. If you found a boss that just happens to chase at boulder roll speed and you got the start up just right, you might get them to sync up and repeatedly hit him. But then you'd probably be better off with a simple flat track in that case...

A tricky part is setting off a series of boulders successively. You probably want a gradual release, one every half second, in a series, for 30s or something, depending on boss, etc.

Are boulders projectiles?

Good question, I will just check............ Yes they are. When I use my array of 100 dart traps to fire 1000 dart projectiles into the world, simultaneously, my Terra blade stop firing sword projectiles (blocked by the 1k cap on projectiles in world) and boulders simply disappear when started off.

I will keep experimenting

Please do! And let us know if you find anything fun, odd or useful! (Screen shots too!)

... Ooh, just tested the staff of earth - it's boulders are more limited in maximum duration, and the bounce all over the place, but it looks like they will do all directions of hoik, to some extent! Though, like I say, bounciness gets in the way a little, but damage is far higher, although will only be able to use after Golem, which limits usess greatly... Hmm.
[DOUBLEPOST=1437318810,1437318239][/DOUBLEPOST]

So far I've noticed that (In several maps, at various heights) hearts and stars, coins, and some of the newer(1.3) blocks will jump to the end of a line of hoiks

Now i'm getting like 9/10th coins hoiking as of 1.3.05

I'd be wary of reading tooo much into that.

Maybe I spoke too soon, a couple of items I just tested on a shortish size one in my lab went further than expected in one toggle! Coins seems the same on that particular setup though, despite the change in sprite.

in both directions

Do you mean hoiking size 1s to the left as well?... (Time for some pics/gifs/videos if so!)

 

[ZeroGravitas]

This file is a training area for my experiments, and don't hesitate to check it out).https://dropmefiles.com/5MEpD

And so I did....

While my standard up hoik goes: up-3 tiles, up-3 tiles, etc, etc. Your (far prettier) design goes up-3 tiles, left-1 tile, up 3 tiles, right 1 tile. So it's slower, vibrates the screen around a little jarringly, doesn't need half of the up slopes you've used and is hard to get out of, but does indeed work!

It might even have some novel uses, like activating a series of plates on consecutive rows, vertically... Nice re-discovery anyway. Did you also figure out the horizontal hoik yourself? (Yours work as standard.) The 'bottom hoiks' (3rd picture) were the last type I managed to figure out, after the down.

I'm looking forwards to what else you manage to figure out, hopefully something entirely novel next time!

 

[Diamondheart]

yes Zero, they WERE moving left. I had to do an op wipe last night and am currently reinstalling everything. for some reason my visual studio is giving me dumb compatibility errors and it won't let me install xna game studio either. terraria is back on deck and running smooth, but a few little things are acting different than before, hoiks being one of them. my left facing 1x1 line is shoving items into the blocks 3 below the line now, the right facing line seems to not push coins at all now and the npc hoik switch system in my version of Dicemanxs horseman blade farm are appearing half stuck in the ceiling standing on the top of the hoik blocks... apparently I got some issues to work out here before my hoik input will be useful on anything for a minute.

 

[DekaDante]

Did you also figure out the horizontal hoik yourself? (Yours work as standard.)

I believe it was one of the simplest ways to build hoik. I didn't test your types of hoik yet, maybe next week. But I saw one or two of your videos & I definitely tried to use your sort of start - stair+block - it works.. strange in 1.3. There are two things I don't understand: how to move straight down & how to take a turn via hoiks. My constructions look terrific, they shoud be simpler. So, and you know that better, than me, there could be different hoik types.
I started with #1 - worked in 1.2.*, doesn't work in 1.3, for obvious reasons. Then #2, wrong way, - works both in 1.2 and 1.3. #3 doesn't work for enemies, only for me. #4 - works indeed without no reason. Machines ##5-7 - different types of horizontal hoiks. #8 - half-way machine, the best one, I do not understand neither how nor why it works; hope, could be useful.

Perhaps, next month I think out something new. Anyway, best regards!

 

[DekaDante]

...did I break my game?

 

[ZeroGravitas]

...did I break my game?

Up and forwards composite hoik there then.

Here's a simplified version (left) with exactly the same functionality as yours (up 3, right 1, reapeat, with a up 2 (or up 3) mounting tooth at the bottom). Note, with a platform below, one can choose to walk past the mount, underneath, or push up to step up and get on the hoik. Also (right), a steeper 'diagonal' that goes up 3, right 2, repeat.

 

[DekaDante]

Thank you for the explanation, now it looks much more simpler - I started with somthing like #1
And your {right} hoik seems working but actually not.. err.. is it normal, or I can't see something: two steps {space} - hoik - two steps {space} - hoik {platform} - 1 {space} - 1 {platform}, etc? My best attempt is #2

Edited: Ok, I understood, one has to always hold {forward}

 

[NightX]

Guys, i will make a Hoik tunnel for me to travel along my map like this.

DDDDDDDDDDDDDD
DHDHDHDHDHDHD
DDDDDDDDDDDDDD
DDDDDDDDDDDDDD

where

D=Dirt
H=the tile shaped in L to hoik to the right.

but i am a little confused on hot to hoik from right to down.

how do i do this with all this dirt surround me?

 

[stefnotch]

Guys, i will make a Hoik tunnel for me to travel along my map like this.

DDDDDDDDDDDDDD
DHDHDHDHDHDHD
DDDDDDDDDDDDDD
DDDDDDDDDDDDDD

where

D=Dirt
H=the tile shaped in L to hoik to the right.

but i am a little confused on hot to hoik from right to down.

how do i do this with all this dirt surround me?

This image should give you a starting point. You could try to get rid of some of the dirt, build something like in the image (test it) and add dirt afterwards.(test it again)

 

[ZeroGravitas]

And your {right} hoik seems working but actually not.. err

Yeah, looks the same. The first step will stick a little though, if you don't run in fast enough, because it's an awkward top hoik. You could probably change this up a little if you wanted it smoother.

but i am a little confused on hot to hoik from right to down.

To go down through solid blocks? Easy to go sideways, very tricky to go vertically. Upwards, you mine out the two blocks above you head, then hammer the same tile you would have hit to go sideways (i.e. level with your head). To go down you need to hold yourself up (e.g. with a hook), mine the two tiles below your feet, then hammer the block at foot level.

Not sure that will work for you thought, easier to build downwards hoiks in free space. Need to ensure you are positioned right up against the thick edge of the sloped tile to ride it down too...

 

[XeraXenia]

I was talking to ZG yesterday about reverse gravity hoiks, now that 1.3 has made the Gravity Globe an obtainable item, and he told me to make a video/take screenshots/gif my tests in reverse gravity.

Here's a gif of a "ground sliding hoik" as i call it, with platform mounts. as you can see, it doesn't work at all.

Here they are again, coming from the opposite direction, with platform mounts and actuated slant mounts. Again, no dice.

Now for ceiling sliders. I didn't do size one sliders because they don't seem to function at all in reverse gravity. size two sliders are jerky, they don't zip you along and you have to hold down the directional key. only size three ceiling sliders seem to work properly

I haven't gif'd the actuated mounts, but i'll do that next if need be. From what i remember, they seem to work fine.

~XX

Edit- it appears the same rules that apply to other mounts apply to actuated mounts, except for size 1 ground sliders:

Double Edit- I just realized i may have not done the size 2 hoiks properly, and need to add more teeth.

Tripple edit:

In conclusion it looks like any actuated mount hoiks that would work normally in normal gravity work in reverse gravity.
The only things that don't work are any platform/ghost wall mounts that are NOT a size 3 ceiling slider

If anyone wants me to do more tests i'm up for it

~XX