number symbol "#" in npc_types name?

[revloc02c]

Hard to search for the answer for this one, but I tried pretty hard.

In the database in the npc_types table some of the names there start with a number symbol "#". What does this mean?

That was my main question, and since we're here: What does the double number symbol on the front of the name mean on a few of the entries? And what does the leading underscore in the name column mean in a bunch of rows?

[trevius]

NPC names can only show letters, so anything else in the name will not show up in-game and is purely for reference in the DB or to allow 2 NPCs to have the same name in-game, but different names for quest scripts.

The #s were probably started from the collects of Live that included them. Many named NPCs and other invisible NPCs started with a #, so they are still that way in our DB. Personally, I like to set my nameds to all use a # in front so it is easier to see what is what when I look at a zone worth of spawns.

The numbers and underscores are basically the same idea. They don't necessarily mean anything in all cases, but in some cases they may be important (if they have a script tied to them).

[lerxst2112]

As an example, there are 3 versions of Askr the Lost in bothunder, but they all have the same name in-game because of the invisible characters.

[revloc02c]

Thanks for the info. And that's a good idea Trev to put a symbol in the name of named mobs so they sort together (I think that's what you meant).

So let's take Askr the Lost, for example. I can see that there are 3 separate .pl files in quests/bothunder one for each variation of the name but now what I don't get is the purpose of having three and how they interact with one another?

[lerxst2112]

In that case they don't interact with each other, but there's the one that is near the entrance that gives some information about how to enter the towers and such, and two that pop during the Agnarr event that say different things and teleport the group to the next area. It makes the individual scripts less complicated.

[revloc02c]

Got it. That makes sense. Thanks again.