Dummies Guide to Building: Swimming

Swimming is handled by an ACR integrated trigger system. Enter a trigger and a 'toon changes appearance to an appropriate racial swimming model. Leave a trigger and the original appearance is restored. While inside the trigger, swim checks are applied that result in messages regarding how long the PC can hold its breath, and a chance of drowning. Encumbrance, swim skills and con bonuses are taken into account. For instance, swimming in full plate renders a -12 to the swim check and "you're probably going to drown" as per a [1] post by Zelknolf in August of 2013.

BUILDING

The six swim triggers may be downloaded one at a time from the Github Campaign directory https://github.com/ALandFarAway/ALFA-Campaign/tree/master/triggers by clicking on the trigger you want, then clicking the Raw button, then saving the UTT file and dropping it directly into your module directory.

You may also import an ALFA_Swim_Triggers.erf currently found on the DMFTP in the NWN2/Campaign/Contributions directory. You will end up with a set of triggers called ALFA_Swimming in your trigger pallet. The triggers are preloaded with variables for calm, rough or stormy water that is either open to air or cut off from it:

Calm, Enclosed Water/DC10 Swim check

Calm, Open Water/DC10 Swim check

Rough, Enclosed Water/DC15 Swim check

Rough, Open Water/DC15 Swim check

Stormy, Enclosed Water/DC20 Swim check

Stormy, Open Water/DC20 Swim check

These triggers have the standard ALFA trigger scripts associated with them, but in onenter and onexit slots they have:

abr_trg_swimonenter

abr_trig_swimonexit

The only thing you have to do is compile them and lay them down where you want them. As with all triggers, don't lay them down over an existing trigger of any kind and make sure the first point laid down is on a walkable area.

Release notes: ACR 1.86 April 28, 2012

Swimming -- Players who enter water will find that some of them-- specified by builders-- will require the players to swim. It comes with animations and responds appropriately to the swim skill, and includes drowning: be careful, and don't swim until you've put your tower shield away and given your lunch a chance to settle.

Weekly Tech Summary: 2013-03-14 to 2013-03-21

• Swimmers will no longer take 10 if they would fail by doing so.
• Swim modifiers are correctly used, matching the reported feedback.

ACR Update: January 31st, 2015

Swimming got some updates...

• Leaving water actually resets your breath holding counter, instead of waiting for you to swim in water with air overhead to recover.
• Water now actually applies combat penalties based on equipped weapons.
• Swim checks now apply again, regardless of the contents of the swimmer's hands
• Swim triggers now call the standard ACR trigger exit function after handling swimming

ACR Update: May 19, 2015

This time...

• Swimming will not produce stacking heartbeats when crossing multiple swim triggers.

• One known issue -- this swim fix works by slowing down the "stop swimming" event, so someone who goes out of the water without stopping to RP will find that they're able to "air swim" for a few seconds.

Helpful Tech Tip

You can find the descriptions of skills inside of the actual skills in game (that is, click the skill on your character sheet and read the stuff in the top half of the window)-- that is where you'll find stuff like swim having a double ACP penalty.