Actor piece reset limitations?

[Icefall]

I'm currently working on part of a level that makes use of a brick actor as an elevator floor. Once the lift reaches its top, the actor piece is dropped to the ground. However, the brick falls through the ground and disappears instead of just landing on the terrain. To counter this, I've been trying to get the actor to reset once the lift is ready for it at the base level. There seems to be some fickleness though as to if/when the actor resets based on actor positioning in relation to other objects as well as the reset timing. Are there any notes regarding the specifics of actors that could help with this?

Also, as a suggestion regarding the moving pendulums, which is what I'm using to power the elevator, could their strength/tension be a variable we can tweak so there is less/no give if an object is dropped or pushed against them? The current give can offset timing, which is why I bring it up. Another way of considering timing though might be to allow syncing between event objects so they move together consistently regardless of the physics put on them.

[Crunch]

The way actors work, it is possible to break through a surface. Basically, with enough force, you will pierce any static object. Depending on the thickness of the component that is. EXAMPLE: It is a lot harder to pierce a 5 foot thick brick prop as opposed to say a stone track piece. To counter this, you have a few options.

1) You said you were using a brick actor. The brick actor you can adjust the "shell" parameter. This basically allows you to adjust the mass. Set it to 95%, and it is 95% hollow. (adjust as needed; 95% may be way to light for what you need)

2) Where the brick falls, You could place a (static, not actor) brick with an increased thickness. Perhaps set to a value of 3 should do the trick.

How the reset mechanism works: Say for instance you have a timer set to 10 seconds. The object will not reset until it has moved outside its bounding box. Also, if anything gets in the way of it resetting, (standing in its spawning place, or another object there) it wont be able to reset until said thing has been moved. Lastly, if something does prevent it from resetting at 10 seconds, it will wait another 10 seconds to try and reset itself.

As for your suggestion, that is a bit complicated, but i will pass it on to our developers. I have run into this problem as well. (Roverball)

Hopefully this helped answer your questions.

-Crunch

[Icefall]

Thanks for the information and I'll try those out.

[Centronias]

Another thing that factors into punch-through is the elasticity of various materials. Steel is the least elastic and will tend to punch through less elastic materials (of course, the density of steel doesn't help) while rubber is the most elastic, generally not punching through anything (as long as the size of the rubber object is reasonable).
I would suggest making your elevator out of concrete and then the plate onto which the elevator would fall out of steel. The elasticity of the steel should keep the lift platform from punching through.


As for the pendulum suggestion, I'll look at what sort of things we can tweak in the simulation model to achieve what you're looking for.