I need to detect ACTOR "Ghosts". There is no factions that they all belong to, no Keyword, and no obvious function to detect them (GetISGhost is not the same thing in spite of the confusing name of that Function. That has to do with the collision not the actor being a "ghost". Almost none of the Ghosts in Skyrim are set as SetGhost()

The only thing I could come up with was this:

IF(pGhostDeathFXShader != none)

THIS I found in Bethesda's script for all the ghosts I have looked at so far.

SO I would try this:

IF (me.GhostFXShader != none)

So yes that is very cool, but wait...er... HUH? How many other forms like that can be used that way as a function?

Like would this detect the actor making the draw bow sound:

IF (aadpWPNBowPull != none)

Probably not but that was the first thing that came to my mind as I would really like a sound detection function.
So anyone else know about this? What else do you know in this area of interest? Any others examples that you know work?

ok, so this only works in a script that is attached to the actor.

This will not compile:

IF (me.GhostFXShader != none)

Dang it all... now how will I detect the ghosts.

this should work (pseudo code) :


if myObject.GetVoiceType() == "Formlist for ghost voices"

Okay, I took a look at the defaultGhostScript file. What I find is that pGhostDeathFXShader is a property, not a function. It is defined at the very top of the file:

EFFECTSHADER PROPERTY pGhostFXShader AUTO

Since it is a property defined in that script, you can use it in the script, but if you try to use that same variable in another script, it's not going to be defined so it will give an error.

The function you are actually using is http://www.creationkit.com/EffectShader_Script. If you want to use that function in your own script, then you need to define it (see the above code) and pass in the value.

Does that make sense?

That is not the issue, but thanks anyway.

I did set my shader ref as a property,

IF (GhostFXShader != none)

would compile but

IF (me.GhostFXShader != none)

would not compile.

So this will not work for me in my Abilities script.
If you are saying that this was only checking to see if the property was valid and NOT checking to see if the actor had the shader than yes, you are right I misunderstood what it was doing.

Are you sure about http://www.creationkit.com/IsGhost_-_Actor? I just tried

Debug.Trace("Bag is a a ghost? " + BagOfHoldingACHR.IsGhost())  ; "Is Ghost" is ticked. SetGhost never used on it.Debug.Trace("Player is a a ghost? " + PlayerREF.IsGhost())Debug.Trace("Fjori is a a ghost? " + (Game.GetForm(0x0003D726) As Actor).IsGhost())Debug.Trace("Holgeir is a a ghost? " + (Game.GetForm(0x0003D727) As Actor).IsGhost())Debug.Trace("Luah is a a ghost? " + (Game.GetForm(0x0002335A) As Actor).IsGhost())

...and it only returned true for actors with their "Is Ghost" flags ticked.

[07/02/2012 - 11:41:31PM] Bag is a a ghost? TRUE[07/02/2012 - 11:41:31PM] Player is a a ghost? False[07/02/2012 - 11:41:31PM] Fjori is a a ghost? TRUE[07/02/2012 - 11:41:31PM] Holgeir is a a ghost? TRUE[07/02/2012 - 11:41:31PM] Luah is a a ghost? False

PlayerREF.SetGhost(True)Debug.Trace("Player is a a ghost? " + PlayerREF.IsGhost())

...resulted in...

[07/02/2012 - 11:46:53PM] Player is a a ghost? TRUE

...so it would appear it's all about that flag.

If GhostFXShader ; (GhostFXShader != None) 

just checks if there's a value for the property and would return 'False' only if the property were not filled or had been set to 'None'

Yes, I am very sure, ISGhost is not the same thing in spite of the confusing name of that Function.

That has to do with the collision not the actor being a "ghost". Almost none of the Ghosts in Skyrim are set as SetGhost()
Look at the actor list and check a few ghosts, many are not tabbed as ghost. The ones that are I would guess they do not want the player to hit them at all.

This confused a lot of people in Oblivion moding as well. I only know this very well because I was the first (AFAIK) to make a Dodging mod in Oblivion.
So for about a year or more I was working a lot with that command. Setting an actor to GHOST means only that they cannot be attacked as the weapons and arrows pass thru them with no hit registered. But being A GHOST ACTOR in this game means you play a ghost shader, have a ghost voice and that is the only two things they all have in common from what I can find.

Yes, I have found that the SetGhost(True) only affects the collision mesh also, not the "look" of the NPC, that is in the textures (best I know). I'm using SetGhost() and IsGhost() in my mod to disable the collision and it works fine, but it doesn't change their look and I'm sure none of the users realize their follower is a ghost while on the carriage.

But, to answer the title of your thread: New function discovery? IF(pGhostDeathFXShader != none)

The answer was no, that's the property name.

So getting the voice type will not work either, only a few have a "ghost" voice type and most of the rest use NORMAL voice type (oh for god sake...)

Seriously.... the developers had no need to detect a Ghost in their game!


I will ask the moderator to lock this (the OP question was answered) and start a new thread.

You could hit up SKSE for Actor.GetAlpha()

So, slightly off topic, foo.SetGhost(true) cancels collision for foo?

I need to cancel a SKSE request

Yes, that's all I use it for.