Here, kitty kitty kitty...

hollyfant · Post by **hollyfant** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 5:58 pm

While running some tests for a possible next character, I ran into the following questions regarding familiars:

Is there (still) a fatwa on familiars, with their 2d portraits? Do they cause lag and/or other problems?
How can you make familiars make sound? They all have a sound for attacking, and some can make yes and no sounds. But they also have a "what do you want?" squeal when you talk to them, that I can't reproduce when possessing them.

hollyfant · Post by **hollyfant** » Mon Oct 20, 2008 3:58 pm

To answer my own question, at least in part: familiars have an incomplete .SSF file, even for the sounds they do have. Cats for instance will make a sound when attacking, getting hit, dying, starting a fight and being selected. Only the "starting a fight" can be emoted.
The only solution short of scripting something seems to be padding the .SSF files of familiars and map the noises they can make to emotes that are available to the player, but that would probably have to be done server-side.

Would the team be open to such, or is that just a waste of resources? Can .SSF files even be overridden? Or could it be done client-side while still allowing other players to hear the effect?

Keryn · Post by **Keryn** » Mon Oct 20, 2008 4:46 pm

And yes animal companions still lag and cause weird effects... unfortunately!!!

hollyfant · Post by **hollyfant** » Mon Oct 20, 2008 6:03 pm

Keryn wrote:And yes animal companions still lag and cause weird effects... unfortunately!!!

Well I guess that makes the whole thing moot, then.

hollyfant · Post by **hollyfant** » Tue Oct 21, 2008 2:32 pm

Update for those of you who have a familiar: they can make the "getting hit" sound by speaking /annoyed when possessed. I kid you not. And in case of cats, that sound could pass for a meow.