Skip to main content

Nightmaregrowth

Based on game build 714014 | Last updated: 2026-03-06

Overview​

The nightmaregrowth prefab represents a corrupted, growing entity found in the Grotto. It emits a powerful negative sanity aura and initiates structural destruction upon growth. The prefab is implemented as a multi-prefab system including a main entity (nightmaregrowth), a visual crack effect (nightmaregrowth_crack), and spawner variants. It integrates with the inspectable, sanityaura, and workable components to provide narrative interaction, sanity effects, and destruction behavior.

Usage example​

-- Create a nightmare growth at world position
local growth = SpawnPrefab("nightmaregrowth")
growth.Transform:SetPosition(x, y, z)

-- Grow the structure manually (triggers destruction and visual effects)
if growth.growfn then
    growth:growfn()
end

Dependencies & tags​

Components used: sanityaura, inspectable Tags: Adds ancient_text to the main entity; FX, NOCLICK, DECOR to the crack effect.

Properties​

No public properties are exposed by the main nightmaregrowth entity beyond its components.

Main functions​

grow(inst)​

  • Description: Triggers the growth animation, spawns the collapse_small FX prefab, destroys nearby workable structures within radius 4, plays sound effects, and sets up crack animations.
  • Parameters: inst (Entity) — the nightmaregrowth instance.
  • Returns: Nothing.
  • Error states: None. Only affects entities within DESTROY_RADIUS (4 units) that are valid, possess workable, and are CanBeWorked.

SpawnCrack(inst)​

  • Description: Spawns the nightmaregrowth_crack prefab at the current position, sets its rotation if available, and destroys any valid, workable structures in the immediate area using workable:Destroy.
  • Parameters: inst (Entity) — the nightmaregrowth instance.
  • Returns: Nothing.

rune_getdescription(inst, viewer)​

  • Description: Returns a narrative text line if the viewer has the ancient_reader tag in any equipped slot; advances story progress first.
  • Parameters:
    • inst (Entity) — the nightmaregrowth instance.
    • viewer (Entity) — the player inspecting the entity.
  • Returns: String (from STRINGS.NIGHTMARE_OVERGROWTH.LINE_n) or nil if conditions not met.

rune_getstatus(inst)​

  • Description: Advances story progress counter without returning a status string.
  • Parameters: inst (Entity) — the nightmaregrowth instance.
  • Returns: nil.

Events & listeners​

  • Listens to: onremove — triggers OnRemove to clean up the crack effect.
  • Pushes: No events are fired by this prefab’s code.

Save/Load Integration​

The main entity supports serialization via OnSave and OnLoad hooks:

  • Saves storyprogress (narrative line index) and crack_rotation.
  • Loads saved data and restores state; ensures _storyprogress global does not regress.

Spawner Variants​

Three prefabs manage spawning behavior:

  • nightmaregrowth_spawner: Schedules nightmaregrowth creation after a random delay (2.5–5.5 seconds), then removes itself. Supports OnLoad to spawn immediately if loaded mid-delay.
  • retrofitted_grotterwar_spawnpoint and retrofitted_grotterwar_homepoint: Register server-side events for dungeon generation systems; do not spawn entities directly.

crackfx (nightmaregrowth_crack)​

A non-networked, non-persistent FX entity with:

  • Layer LAYER_BACKGROUND, orientation OnGround, sort order 3.
  • Tags: FX, NOCLICK, DECOR.
  • Plays crack_idle animation (non-looping initially, but transitioned to).
  • Rotation set randomly at spawn; rotation saved/restored alongside main entity.