A character that isn't there

[Skittish Robot]

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I am doing a sort of video art project and I am using Don't Starve to tell a story. I need b-roll, so basically I need shots of the world without my character in it. I therefore endeavored to create an invisible character mod. I have done a pretty good job so far, but there are some limiting factors I could use help with.

I have a mod that turns the UI off, also I used the Extended Sample Character mod to create the character by replacing all the art with its blank template counterpart, and rebuilt it using the mod tools on Steam. Then I deleted all the text in the quotes when the character says something at certain times like sunset or when she is in the dark. I also used the "Making basic character perks" tutorial to remove the tags scarytopray and character, so most mobs ignore me.

My problems are this: My character still has a shadow, so I can't do any moving shots (I have to hide behind something or hope the shadow blends in with the terrain). Birds, beefalo and killer beehives still react to me. While nothing appears on screen, I still hear Willow's voice at those environmental events. Also, I hate having to enable god mode and reveal the map every time I start.

So my questions are:

• How do I get rid of my characters shadow?
• How do I get all mobs to ignore me?
• How do I remove all my character's speech text and voice sounds?
• How do I trigger console commands when I load the game?

Even if it means injecting a bug in the code, I don't mind. I just need to have the game run 10-15 minutes at a time. Thanks.

[BraveChicken]

To make all mobs ignore you, add the line:    inst:AddTag("notarget")    to your character's prefab file (in the  local fn = function(inst) )
That should solve the problem with beefalos, birds and killer beehives that were still "noticing you".

To  mute your character simply add the line:
    inst.components.talker.special_speech = true
somewhere along with your character's stats. That will make your character unable to speak up and comment over any examined item/entity. 
Also if you would like to make your character unable to trigger spiders when stepping on their webs then add this line too:
    inst.components.locomotor.triggerscreep = false

And for the console commands you can create a simple TaskInTime which will trigger all of the console commands that you need each time you'll load the game. The code looks like this:

    inst:DoTaskInTime( 0.1, function(inst) 
        PLACE CONSOLE COMMANDS HERE
    end)

This one also goes into your character's prefab file, in the local fn = function(inst).
Simply place all of the commands in the marked spot and the TaskInTime will do the work for ya. 

Example:

    inst:DoTaskInTime( 0.1, function(inst) 
        GetWorld().minimap.MiniMap:ShowArea(0,0,0,10000)
        c_give('carrot')
    end)

 

I hope that helps.
However, I'm not really sure how to remove the shadow of the character... Sorry about that. XD

[Skittish Robot]

Yes, everything worked. Thank you!

Now, if only there were a way to get rid of my shadow...

I find things like this:

	local shadow = inst.entity:AddDynamicShadow()
	shadow:SetSize( 2.5, 1.5 )

But I can't seem to apply it to my character -- in other words set one of the values to zero.

A preview of my work so far: 

I would really love to get rid of the shadow during the hound attack.

[BraveChicken]

Ok! that little thing you just posted "local shadow = inst.entity:AddDynamicShadow()" actually helped me out a lot!

I looked for a file called entity (to find the source of it) and I managed to find the "entityscript" and in it I found the line "self.DynamicShadow:Enable(false)" which solves the problem!

Go to your character's prefab file and add to the local fn = function(inst) the line
    inst.DynamicShadow:Enable(false)
This will get rid of the shadow!  

Welp, I guess I learned something new today too!  XD

[Skittish Robot]

Yup, that checks everything off my list. Thanks for the help!

[Skittish Robot]

I had mostly finished the first episode when I first got rid of the shadow, so not much to show from there (I did replace the hound shot in the example above, though).

But I made a second episode and was able to use the shadow-less shots throughout.

I have no plans to make a third episode, but if I did, I would want to be able to turn off the sound of my footsteps. I think the key lies somewhere in worldtiledefs.lua, but I can't figure it out.

If you're interested in the story, then don't miss the first episode.

Anyway, here is the second episode:

Enjoy!