[ArcEmu] Make NPC only visible to those with a special item!

[FrostyC]

Ever wanted to make an item that reveals hidden NPCs when equipped?
I managed to do it and now wish to share this information with everyone...

1.)
First things first, make your NPCs! You can do this on WoW-V (Mob/NPC Creator) or by hand in your SQL DB.
Make sure to set the appropriate flags for vendors or trainers, whatever you're making.
(Note: If you plan on using an NPC that is already spawned, you may have to delete & respawn them.)

2.)
Second, it's time to make them invisible! Now what we're going to do is make the NPCs cast Spectral
Invisibility on themselves at spawn. We're going to do this two ways to make double sure that they cast it!

Go into your World DB tables with whatever you use (Navicat, Heidi, etc..) Open the table 'creatures_proto'.
Sort by Entry column, find the Entry # you used for your NPC. In that row, you should see columns called
spell1, spell2, spell3 & spell4. Change the value of all of those columns to 44801. Now after those columns
there is a column called spell_flags. Put a 2 in there. That makes them cast it while out of combat.

And now we're going to script the cast on Spawn. Copy the code below, and paste it into notepad or whatever
simple text editor your OS uses. Change "YOUR-NPC'S-ENTRY-ID" in the script to, you guessed it, your NPC's
entry ID #. Save as any filename, just change extension to .lua & put it into your scripts folder.

function NPC_OnSpawn(Unit, Event)
Unit:CastSpell(44801)
end

RegisterUnitEvent(YOUR-NPC'S-ENTRY-ID, 18, "NPC_OnSpawn")

Thanks to Kaidos for helping me sort the OnSpawn Event Number!

Restart your server.
Your NPC should now be invisible!:hsdance::hugglez::woot2:

3.)
But wait! Now you can't see them either! Well, make you an item (you can do this with WoW-V, just
click the switch mode on 'ITEM BONUSES' section) and put spell 44801 as an equip bonus.
This spell will not show anything in the tooltip for the item in-game, but the equip bonus is there.
Run the SQL from WoW-V on your world DB, go ingame, type .ser reload items, then add the item to your
character, and when equipped, you will see these NPCs. Take it off, they're gone!

I made a pre-made item you can use if you'e lazy, but if you use it please vote it up so it won't get deleted:
Item: Spectral Viewers | WoW-V.com

A FEW NOTES: Sometimes GMs can see the NPCs without the item on. I think it's just GMs that have
equipped the item before, so it might just be a cache issue, but normal players who have not had spell 44801
cast on them & don't have an item with that spell on it to equip, will not see these NPCs.

So if you log-in and don't have the item equipped, but still see the NPCs, don't freak out! Normal Players
won't see them. You can equip & unequip the item to get them to disappear from your vision again.

:wave:HAVE FUN!:wave:
If you have any issues, please post & I'll try to help you out best I can...
Credits for this guide: FrostyC

Also, I registered this account a long time ago & just started posting here, so rep would be nice if you like this.
Big thanks to stoneharry, and Kaidos for their help & for being so nice to a first time poster!

[Zantas]

Won't this reveal them to players nearby who don't have the item?

[FrostyC]

Won't this reveal them to players nearby who don't have the item?

Short answer: NO! That's the whole point!

Long Answer:
No, when you have the item on, you can only see the NPCs & other players wearing the item and you yourself. Other players without the item will not see the NPCs & won't see players who have the item on. This item makes you INVISIBLE, not stealthed & it's a different invisible from using the invisible command.

Now if you put the item on near the NPCs, they might know the general location of the NPCs, because you went invisible in that area...

But this spell does some kind of weird phasing. Putting the item on puts you in the same phase as the NPC casting the same spell on themselves, taking it off, sets you back to your normal phasing...

It's weird, but it works...


Here, easier to explain with pics, this is a gnome who doesn't have the item watching a night elf who does have the item, while he equips it.
Gnome represents Normal Players, Night Elf represents GM or Donor (whoever you give the item to)

NE doesn't have item equipped:


NE equips item:


This what the Night Elf will see with item equipped:



This what the Night Elf will see without item equipped:

[Ground Zero]

Nice guide, it would be easier for everyone if you did it all in Lua.

Change your Lua script to on spawn set the npcs phase to 2 (unit:SetPhase(2)) and create another lua for Item on equip to set your phase to 3, (player:SetPhase(3)) that way you can see phase 1+2 because you're in 3, this way you can see the npcs in phase 1 while you're in 2 aswell unlike your way.

[thebigman]

I still think if a mage casts invis or warlock detect invis then you will be seen, or no?

overall a nice guide and deserves rep, +2rep.

[2dgreengiant]

haha this is pretty cool gj

[FrostyC]

Nice guide, it would be easier for everyone if you did it all in Lua.

Change your Lua script to on spawn set the npcs phase to 2 (unit:SetPhase(2)) and create another lua for Item on equip to set your phase to 3, (player:SetPhase(3)) that way you can see phase 1+2 because you're in 3, this way you can see the npcs in phase 1 while you're in 2 aswell unlike your way.

stoneharry recommended phasing, and yea it works for some applications, but if I made Ragnaros a phase 2 NPC, I don't want to hear his sound effects all the time. That's why I wanted to put it on an item, I could remove...

I did not know you could set the phase via LUA.
I've never written LUA for an item, so I don't what's different there...
If anybody else wants to do it, be my guest. I'm not that worried about seeing players while I have the item on... In fact depending on where your NPC is, this may actually be an advantage...

I might mess with that a little some time & try to do that though. But it's my birthday & I'm tired of scripting for now... Time to break out the Tequila!:drunk:

I still think if a mage casts invis or warlock detect invis then you will be seen, or no?

overall a nice guide and deserves rep, +2rep.

No. It works like the GM invisibility, but it's not the same.

Thanks everyone, this is my first contribution!

[Truster92]

cool gonna try it out later on. needed something like this :P