Finish pad height?

Is there any precise measurement of how high finish pad will ''catch you''? I was always wondering that.
It doesn't appear to change if you scale it up in LE on z axis but can be made wider by scaling it up on x/y axys.

You're not going to like it, but every finish pad has a random height in which it will catch you and is engine-based. I do not know the formula or seed that controls it.

Example: if you watch MBG WRR you'll see in some levels we're really close to the finish pad, that's because the height for it is really low, and in some levels it's extremely high.

If you add another finish pad and delete the original, the new finish pad *should* have a different random height, but I never tested it. It's a matter of luck to get something that is extreme high.

Is it cylindrical?

Not at all. The shape of the finish pad will define the shape of the trigger (if it's even a trigger). If it was a triangle, it'd be a triangle 'trigger'. If the finish was an oval shape, it'd be an oval 'trigger'. Same to square etc.

But does the top of the trigger stay level? Or is it more of a cone shape?

Good question. What you can do is make a slope in Blender and convert it to dts and call it the end pad. Then see whether the top of the finish pad's trigger is the same as the bottom in terms of height, and not different. If it is different, then we know it's leveled, if it's the same then it's a fixed height from the bottom of the shape.

I think they all have the same heigh. It all dépends of your momentum when ''being catched'' by the finish pad. If you hit the pad on the top, but with a lot of downward momentum, of course the marble's going to finish its course lower, or even flat on the pad. But, if you hit the limit of the trigger with major upward momentum, you're gonna end up super high above the pad...

I guess you can call me a ''sameist'' because I believe in the same height theorie. Oh yeah, I just created a social movement.

Or we could just modify it in script by doing a hackish method where placing a trigger on the finish pad and removing the script code to end the game in GameConnection::onEnterPad(%this, %pad)


Just a thought people

Jul 6, 2013, 10:35am, xelna wrote:I think they all have the same heigh. It all dépends of your momentum when ''being catched'' by the finish pad. If you hit the pad on the top, but with a lot of downward momentum, of course the marble's going to finish its course lower, or even flat on the pad. But, if you hit the limit of the trigger with major upward momentum, you're gonna end up super high above the pad...

I guess you can call me a ''sameist'' because I believe in the same height theorie. Oh yeah, I just created a social movement.

That's what I've always assumed. And I just can't see the original creators thinking Hmm how high should you be able to finish above the pad? Oh I know lets make it randomly different in every level! Yeah!


EDIT: Did some testing. The trigger appears to extend ~5.15 above the level of the pad. (In the LE.The pad center appears to align with the bottom of the pad) If the bottom of the marble passes 5.15 units above the pad it sometimes triggers, sometimes not. 5.16 above and it doesn't trigger, 5.14 above and it does.

My guess is the pad is about 0.15 thick, and that the trigger therefore extends 5 units above its top

These results were consistent with multiple instances of the endpad, although I only tested it in one .mis

EDIT2: more testing, this time I moved everything down to zero on the z plane (same .mis and pad though), and got slightly different results. Finish is now triggering all the way into the 5.2+ range. Just crashed the game but I had it triggering on 5.23. In any case its still pretty similar. I had meant to test for shape, but I am done for now. I would bet on the top of the trigger being the same shape as the top of the pad though.