Posted: Tue Dec 10, 2019 10:37 am Post subject:
A few ideas
Subject description: Some things I've come up with
I'm not sure if anyone has come up with these previously but I have a few ideas to implement some things.
1. Multiple cell helipads
I have come up with a method to emulate the multiple aircraft helipads from RA2. It's not perfect but its what I've come up with. It's actually not a single helipad but several separate ones. I haven't tested it (mainly because I'm not using this in my mod) but it should work in theory. The drawbacks are that you need to chain several building/freeunit combos and that the helipads must be individually sold.
Code:
[HPAD]
blablabla helipad code
FreeUnit=FreeHeli
[FreeHeli]
vehicle code here
Primary=Scanner weapon
DeploysInto=HPAD2
[HPAD2]
Helipad code
FreeUnit=FreeHeli2
You would then chain as many of these as you want and it should theoretically work. You should probably also set the cost of everything besides the first helipad to 1 so that you don't pay for the other helipads.
2. Timed explosives
I feel like someone has probably already come up with this but I haven't seen such a thread yet so here's my idea. I have tested this and implemented this in my mod and i works fine. The drawbacks are that you can't put them on units as they will move out of the way (At least the AI ones do I'm not completely sure about player controlled ones) and that your unit cannot gain veterancy as it is the anim doing the damage. The way it works is a pair of anims, the first being the timer and the second being the one that does damage.
Code:
[ANIM1] ;timer anim
Normalized=no
Rate=150 ;Change this to adjust timer
LoopCount=1
UseNormalLight=yes
Next=ANIM2 ;Change this to whatever your second anim is called
[ANIM2]
Image=INVISO
Surface=yes ;I'm not sure if this is needed
Damage=1000 ;Set this to change bomb damage (Remember that anims use Fire2 warhead and adjust accordingly)
Report=EXPNEW06 ;Optional
If used correctly you should have a timed explosive. QUICK_EDIT
1. doesn't work well enough
The user has to deploy the dummy units manually (additional clicks)
or they deploy automatically giving the player no chance to set where they deploy (FreeUnit's appear at the first free cell north of the building). When the FreeUnit is spawned on a slope or tiberium, they don't deploy at all, which forces the player to move them to free areas and deploy there.
In addition could a player abuse this and move the dummy unit far away, deploy and then quickly expand around this outpost. The other way round with BaseNormal=no, it would be annoying if you can't build around your helipads.
2. yes, nothing new. A better way would be using Airburst=yes multistage projectiles. Using the right projectile settings (slow projectile speed, slow acceleration etc), you can add a dummy/timer projectile for the wanted timer effect.
The bonus would be, that it allows veterancy for the unit that fired the timed bomb. _________________ SHP Artist of Twisted Insurrection: Nod buildings
I suppose it makes sense that the helipad thing isn't a particularly practical method. As for the timed weapon thing, I currently have it attached to a saboteur unit which is sent into the enemy base to plant the explosives and usually dies soon which means that it doesnt have much chance of getting veteran anyway. As for the projectile speed thing I have the animation as a ticking clock so that you can see how much time is left. I feel it wouldn't be as visible with a projectile. QUICK_EDIT
A very slow/standing projectile which is animated can be used for the visible timer too. _________________ SHP Artist of Twisted Insurrection: Nod buildings
I have a few questions and don't want to make a new topic so I'll just leave these here if anyone feels like answering.
1. Is it possible to extract sound effects from the cutscenes?
I've added quite a few units and want to see if I can get more diversity from the voice lines.
2. I've seen some things in other threads about healing with art.ini debris but a quick search doesn't yield any guides on exactly how to do this. Help?
2a. In what cases would a negative verses warhead be better than a negative damage weapon?
3. Non-functional voxel
Went into VXLSE and made a new voxel some time ago. It's invisible in-game except for a tiny purple shape that looks vaguely like it in the upper section of the selection box. Have I gotten the art.ini coding wrong or is the voxel too small?
4. Nod AI not using vehicles
I'm trying to get the AI to use my modded vehicles. I'm using the alt. war factory method to get my (for now just nod) naval units working and have made clones of a few of my mod units and replaced "TTNK" and "BGGY" with the IDs of the clones. It does, however, build MCVs and Harvesters.
4a. Nod AI not building past WarFactory
I have checked that everything that it comes after has "AIBuildThis=yes" on and that the AI war factory is the original one and not the clone used by human players. The AI is refusing to use vehicles (as stated above) and build more than the war factory.
4b. Game crashes when selecting Nod AI Conyard
If you infiltrate the Nod conyard with a CHAMSPY (or just have spectator mode on in TS Client), the AI has its WF built, and you select the conyard, the game spontaneously IEs. I haven't touched the CY so I assume this must be in some way related to the "Not building past WF" issue mentioned above.
5. Is it possible to have crew units for each faction as in RA2
I have split the basic infantry into the GDI "Heavy infantry" and Nod "Militiaman". I am currently using a shared "Crewman" unit as the crews.
6. Is it possible to have armed civ buildings without AI attacking them
I've attempted to emulate garrisoning by giving all civ buildings a weapon and "HasStupidGuardMode=false" and "Power=-1" as well as "Powered=yes", "Capturable=yes" etc. However, the AI is attacking and destroying these buildings on sight. Is it possible to have the AI not destroy them, and preferably even capture them? QUICK_EDIT
1. XCC Mixer - copy as wav. There are also tools that could record from the output. Search the net.
3. Could be usage of non-usable palette colors. Size might be too small etc. Problem is with the voxel. Check section header for scaling and normals mode.
4a. Reasons like AI doesn't have credits or engaged in trying to build something that doesn't finish (like 0x0 building). Last prereq shouldn't be unique, try making a non-usable clone with same prereqs.
4b. Give more details like EIP in internal error. Give code.
5. No. RA2 uses separate flags for that.
6. Try OnlyTargetHouseEnemy=yes in teamtypes. QUICK_EDIT
2. See tutorial Animations and art.ini debris how to create debris with damage and warhead
About negative damage and/or negative Warhead Verses:
-only negative damage can repair buildings
-negative warhead + positive damage heals units
should also work this way on art.ini debris, which can get a custom warhead assigned
-negative warhead + negative damage heals units and buildings but only on the centre cell (Spread is not used)
4b. Give more details like EIP in internal error. Give code.
Image of the error will be attached below.
Quote:
6. Or try setting LegalTarget=no on each of these buildings
I can't really do that since the buildings can shoot at them and should be able to be destroyed. What I don't want is the AI destroying them without them even shooting.
I will also attach both my AI.inis and my rules.ini in case the AI problems are in there. (I am using TS Client for my modding)
6. Or try setting LegalTarget=no on each of these buildings
I can't really do that since the buildings can shoot at them and should be able to be destroyed. What I don't want is the AI destroying them without them even shooting.
Do you tried it? I'm pretty sure the AI's attacked unit would retaliate if the building shoots on it.
LegalTarget=no still allows you to click on it to attack it. It just isn't considered by default as a target. _________________ SHP Artist of Twisted Insurrection: Nod buildings
If you are on older version of TSClient then update it to v5.44 (available through client updater). That has several bugs fixed.
The patched game.exe in TSClient also changes behaviour towards civ units and buildings with weapon. Should get the original game behaviour by setting Resources\GameOptions.ini -> [ForcedSpawnIniOptions] -> AttackNeutralUnits=no.
In rules, you are changing owner of Nod units to NA. Better is to leave those units as it is which are used by AI for that side and clone those units for additional side's use.
Better to use AI Editor to avoid mistakes like ID having =G instead of -G. QUICK_EDIT
I see. I'm using the version from the ZIP file and haven't updated since i heard somewhere that updating breaks your mod files. And AFAIK the NA (and NN for naval) is necessary for the alt. WF to not put land units in the water and vice versa.
And on an unrelated note, does Sticky=yes on anims do anything? It's listed in art.ini and on some fire anims but I'm not sure if it does anything. If it does i might just be able to do some sort of RA2 IvanBomb thing with some anims.
EDIT : Went through the except.txts while trying to figure out which config INI the ModMode key is in. Seems that everything (except the last 2 which are different) are something called "ERROR_ACCESS_VIOLATION blablabla tried to write to blablabla" the most recent 2 (Was trying to fight 2 AIs against each other in a 2v2) says "ERROR_DIVIDE_BY_ZERO" Is this something to do with a warhead of something? Seems to happen when a GDI Saboteur plants timed charges on a building or a Nod Suicider detonates (Which is weird since neither have 0% WH or anything). I assume this must have something to do with the janky debris thing I had to do for the Saboteur to be able to actually destroy things properly.
You should test it and not trust modenc, which is mainly written with RA2/YR in mind and has several things updated or work different.
modenc wrote:
With this set, firing at the object is completely disabled
That is definitely not the case in TS. When set "no", you can still shot the object. _________________ SHP Artist of Twisted Insurrection: Nod buildings
Thanks for the tip with the LegalTarget. As the player you need to force fire to attack them but the AI doesn't obliterate them now.
However, the debris thing is a bit difficult. For the GDI Saboteur unit I need it to plant a bomb which spawns a debris (would be an anim but doesn't work right). The anim is a timer which is supposed to tick down until it blows up. The issue is I need a custom warhead, and therefore have to use debris for the damage, but since anims can't spawn debris I have to make it a debris. Issue is how I can get the timer working with the debris, since I need the timer anim to disappear once its over and spawn the damaging debris.
EDIT : I have found that A. I forgot how to update TS Client (somehow the auto-update prompt isn't coming up even though it seems that ModMode is disabled) and B. The sound effect for one of my tanks isn't working which is weird since it was working some time ago and has the proper priority tags and whatnot in Sound01.ini. The files are just some CABAL lines extracted from Speech01.ini so the game should read them just fine.
Oh and AIEdit doesn't seem to want to work. I'm not exactly sure how to use it so I just dragged my Ai.ini on the .csproj file. Says it doesn't work on my OS or something. Running Win10. QUICK_EDIT
there you go, a normal anim as timer, spawning an art.ini debris when the timer ends.
Code:
[TIMER]
Image=CLOCKANIM ;whatever visible counter you want, or invisible
Rate=300
Next=SPAWNDEBRIS
[SPAWNDEBRIS]
Image=CLEAR ;SHP with a few empty frames
Start=0
End=1
TrailerAnim=MYDEBRIS
TrailerSeperation=1 ;spawn a single debris in the short lifetime of this anim
[MYDEBRIS]
Image=none
Elasticity=0.0
MinZVel=-10.0
MaxXYVel=1.0
ExpireAnim=none
LoopCount=-1
Rate=0
Bouncer=yes
Damage=0 ;set this
Warhead=Super ;set this
1. Is it possible to have a healscan building?
I want nod to have a medic-like unit but wish for it to be a building. The problem is that you must force-fire for it to work. Can it be made so that it scans for a target to heal on its own?
2. Units getting stuck
I've added my naval units, and found that some (notably the submarine) get stuck occasionally when moving through ice. It moves into the ice sheet, and won't come out, making you have to spamclick where you want it to go, after some time of which it will move. Same thing seems to happen if you give Foot, Track, or Wheel a % on [Beach]. I assume this is something with locomotors? QUICK_EDIT
1. no
the game has only the 2 hardcoded logics to allow a weapon with negative damage
-used by a vehicle to repair vehicles
-used by an infantry to heal infantry
nothing similar exists for buildings.
But you could use one of the ActiveAnims of the building to have a special cell right next to the building where it always heals anything that stands there.
For a building to heal infantry you could also simply use
Hospital=yes
Ammo=999999
2. DTA used some pretty comprehensive workarounds to get the pathfinding for Naval units work.
IIRC it had to sacrifice an entire groundtype (i think Ice) as a border on all shore tiles to make pathfinding work again.
See DTA how it's made there. _________________ SHP Artist of Twisted Insurrection: Nod buildings
Well I've tested the anim-debris thing (well not me but I let the AI do it) and it didn't do anything. Multiple bombs were planted on one building and it did nothing. The debris is set to do 750 damage so if it works it should be visible. I essentially just copied your code over, changed the bits I needed and put everything into empty gaps in my [Animations] list in the rules.ini so I don't see any problems on my side. In case there is a problem with my code, I will have it below.
Give them all an image and check where it stops working.
Also on ExpireAnim to see if the debris hits the ground.
Takes 30seconds to test yourself.
\Edit
oh, are you sure you've added your new animations correct to the rules.ini [Animations] list? It's best to add new stuff to the end.
If 2 anims share the same index, the second anim isn't loaded.
btw, the warhead used on art.ini debris doesn't show any explosion animation (probably to prevent loops). You have to set one on ExpireAnim. _________________ SHP Artist of Twisted Insurrection: Nod buildings
Alright. TS Client has been updated, and the saboteur has been tested with images. From what I can tell it's all spawning but the debris for whatever reason isn't damaging anything. Also I made a new heal that uses the [Super] warhead for some testing and the game crashed when I built it. The unit is just a [Medic] clone with a new heal, and the Image= tag is present. No idea why it decided to crash, was just about to take out the last AI base with my infantry blob of doom.
Edit : Ok I'm pretty sure it was a typo in the Primary= Last edited by Potato_Doggo on Fri Jan 24, 2020 12:26 pm; edited 1 time in total QUICK_EDIT
Download the AI Editor from the attachment at the bottom of that post or from releases tab on github site link. What you clicked is the source code of the tool at github. Using the same AIEditor for both ai.ini and aifs.ini would result in duplicate IDs as it is configured to start with a default ID. To avoid that, make 2 copies of AIEditor and in one of those edit config\ts.ini for a different starting index ID. QUICK_EDIT
So most issues have been fixed and there are only a couple more :
1. Nod AI still does not build past WF and build vehicles (other than harvester or replacement MCV)
2. Saboteur debris spawns but does not seem to do damage.
3. Game still crashes when clicking on infiltrated Nod CY (or clicking in spectator) after WF construction
Besides those there's the fact that the campaign crashes on startup but I have learned from other threads that that is because of the extra sides for alt. WF and will fix eventually. I will also have to finish up the modded unit roster for GDI as well as code the AI (Nod AI is a bit of a pain to deal with since you can't use vehicles but the infantry is good enough that it can handle itself, more teams must be added because the current mod build has one large blob squad that it uses for everything which can tax the pathfinding). There is also the slight issue of the GDI AI refusing to build certain units in the blob squad its been assigned (E15, E16). Not sure what is causing this but it might be something similar to whiteboy (Which would be weird since GDI doesn't have many added units). QUICK_EDIT
Very sorry to double post, but I sorta managed to fix the issue with the voxel. It was too small. I resized it and touched it up and it's kinda not in the selection box. Attached below is what it looks like in game and the .vxl file. The .hva is just a clone of 2tnk.hva. Is there anything I'm doing wrong here? I'll even throw in the art.ini code.
copying the hva works only sometimes.
Best is to delete it and create a new hva using HVA Builder.
In HVA Builder then make sure the VXL is centered correct. _________________ SHP Artist of Twisted Insurrection: Nod buildings
So I have a few more questions (again). I've gotten around to modding GDI (and refining nod) and want to know a few things.
1. Cloaking questions
1a. Cap for CloakingSpeed tag?
I'm implementing an infantry specialist for GDI, the Ranger. I want it so that if you leave the unit alone for about 5-10 seconds it will cloak, and I want to know if there's a cap for the CloakingSpeed tag. (No I can't mess with CloakDelay I have other units that need to cloak fast)
1b. Uncloak speed
In relation to the above question, I currently have CloakingSpeed set to 10, and it seems to take as long to uncloak. I would like it to uncloak instantly and only take the long time to cloak. Is this possible?
2. Explodes=yes
The Nod infantry bomber, the Suicider, has explodes=yes. The issue is that it does plenty of damage if it hits the target, but if killed and explodes, it does less damage. AFAIK the damage done by Explodes is determined by the health of the unit. Is it possible to make it do the same damage on explode or do I have to crank the health up real high to get it working right?
3. Missiles
I have given GDI a new pseudo-superweapon, the Minuteman silo. The issue is if you build it near the mountainside/cliff, the missile will strike the cliff, explode and possibly do damage to your own base. The projectile has VeryHigh and High on it. Is it possible to get it going straight up before going towards the enemy? I think there's a way with Arm= but I am not familiar with that key.
4. ROF Cap
Is there a maximum for the ROF= tag? For the pseudo-superweapon mentioned above I want it to have very long reload since it does a lot of damage each time. Is there a cap? QUICK_EDIT
2. Raise the Warhead Verses until the unit death explosion is doing enough damage. Then lower the weapon Damage to compensate the raised Verses.
Or use Primary with a dummy weapon with its warhead used for Explodes, Secondary with the real weapon.
3. Use ROT=0 to make your voxel projectile fly vertical up. Adjust the height with ProjectileRange and Speed. Then use Splits and Cluster to make it switch to a second weapon with projectile that has ROT > 0
Arm key has nothing to do with that.
It's a timer which tells when the projectile is ready to explode on its own (or jump towards the target when near). If set high enough, the projectile can only explode when it directly hits the target or when it reaches the max range.
4. no
ROF is set in frames. To match real SW timer, divide ROF with 15 frames to get seconds.
e.g. ROF=150 is 10 seconds _________________ SHP Artist of Twisted Insurrection: Nod buildings
So. The Minuteman is now working properly, but I need to sort out a few things with it (and another GDI building). These mainly consist of AI and I am very bad with the AI (Best I've been able to do so far is change what the AI builds by swapping out TeamTypes references).
1. Targeting
The AI will build it via AIBuildThis=yes but will not use it. When testing, I had to shoot it with my missile before it fired back (Resulting in a drawn out nuclear slugfest which ended when took out the AI conyard and power). How can I get the AI to use it on its own (like the ion cannon)? And is it possible at all?
2. Also targeting but different
How can I get the AI to target A. The minuteman silo ([GAMSILO]) and B. The Tiberium Reactor, which is a new GDI power plant ([REACTR])?
3. Nod AI still don't work right
The Nod AI will build the [NAWEAP] (the player gets the [CNAWEAP] since the AI doesn't need naval), but will not build anything from it except harvester and replacement CY. It will not build any other vehicles, nor will it build past the [NAWEAP] (No radar, tech etc.). There is also the aforementioned crash when clicking on an infiltrated Nod AI conyard/clicking on AI Nod CY in spectator mode.
I'm somewhat disappointed about the Ranger cloaking thing not working out but from what I can tell it cloaks A. Instantly if the Burst= is not finished B. After reload (ROF=200) if Burst= is finished. It's not perfect but is acceptable. QUICK_EDIT
1. If AI doesn't consider the player as the enemy, then it won't target. In MP maps, AI chooses an enemy based on the time given in AIHateDelays or if any attack happens or offensive superweapons get charged etc.. In SP maps, house alliance could be checked and map action 38 - Make enemy is used to select an enemy. Some superweapons are defensive like the droppods but a hack is available to make it an offensive weapon. Weapon itself should be capable in range etc.
2. Question isn't clear whether you are asking AI building to building or AI unit to building. Superweapon target selection is based on threats or rules entries like AIIonCannonConYardValue. Unit teams can be scripted to target a specific building by giving its structure number (Look at the bottom of the page).
3. Was already answered. You have given even the basic Nod units like Bike/BGGY to Owner NA - a non playable faction and AITriggers still has it as part on Nod side. Try setting UseMinDefenseRule=no in rules.ini. You should have created a parallel tech tree (by cloning) for the naval side instead of hijacking Nod stuff. As for the crash, I can't recreate your mod condition to test it and neither did you share except.txt for someone else to check. QUICK_EDIT
1. The weapon is has 255 range so it should cover the entirety of any map.
EDIT : Thinking about it it might just be the NoAutoFire=yes and GuardRange=0.1 tags but we can't have our nuke silo deciding where to nuke on its own now can we?
2. I want the AI to use its units (Vehic/Inf) to target the two buildings mentioned.
3. I've went into AI.ini and replaced any mention of TTNK, BGGY etc with the modded units. It still doesn't do anything. AFAIK the NA (and NN) faction(s) are needed for alt. warfact, but since I have replacements for them in mod, I've made TTNK, BGGY etc. TechLevel=-1 and Owner=Nod. As for the Except.txt I will attach below.
3. Did you try setting UseMinDefenseRule=no in rules.ini? Except.txt is about 20+ kb file for TS which contains Eip:xxxxxxxx etc., from that instruction pointer, reverse engineering people could find the fault location in the game.exe. QUICK_EDIT
1. The weapon is has 255 range so it should cover the entirety of any map.
EDIT : Thinking about it it might just be the NoAutoFire=yes and GuardRange=0.1 tags but we can't have our nuke silo deciding where to nuke on its own now can we?
then don't give the player the same building as the AI
The player also expects a proper SW and not a makeshift one without any timer, targeting cursor etc.
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A few ideas
