Give the noobs a ride...

[Arcane]

Well Im glad the idea was atleast considered and put out there for furture mods then

[Scout]

" know DLL has the capability to make a pilot become "attached" to a unit like an APC (As in one of BSer's missions)"

isnt that city assault, also wasnt that made by sfp sonic? not bs'er?

[Commando]

Urban Assault, with the APC that carries the player's pilot was made by BSer.  I know mission two, in FE, attaches the stranded ai pilots to ai sabres controlled by the player.

[Speedy]

From what I've seen, I believe there is a way to have ships pick players up and possibly even switch roles (pilot + passenger). Let me work on it, I have a general idea on how to do both ideas but it might need a simple new function for the DLL to make things easier and not a hack haha. But hey... whatever works!

[Arcane]

Thank you Speedy

[Speedy]

I have made a prototype DLL. The mod is called GNR, short for, Give the Newbs a Ride. After all, if you need to be extracted from enemy territory because you got waxed to bits, you truly are a newb .

Functionality: If a human is a pilot, he/she can walk up (15m) to a friendly human-piloted vehicle and automatically jump aboard. That way, you can ask your teammates to come pick you up (just run them over, they snap on). You can then get off as well. It allows you to freely look around while you are getting a ride. In addition, your pilot can die if the ship gets caught in an explosion but getting hit by minis+chains is ok. Your vunerability to explosions is a trade-off I guess. You get a relatively safer and faster ride on a ship than alone.

If the ship's pilot hops out, the passenger will take charge of the ship. Then the pilot that hopped out will be the passenger. This would act as role-switching however it is untested yet.

However, there are a few major problems with it:

1) It requires mwf 1 or it sucks hahaha.
2) I found a bug: SetVelocity() does not work.
3) It is an extremely rough ride.
4) Minor screen artifacts.

Now I have a few questions:

1) Would anyone mind if the ride really sucks even if it works? I'm talking about massive warp for the single pilot BUT not for anyone else.

2) Here's a neat little feature: would you like onboard pilots to act as engineers and heal your ship at a small rate? This might act as an incentive for people to pick people up and remember that it has to be a human player. (1/10 of a service truck?)

Right now, it only really works with 1.3. In 1.2 its even more warpy but it works haha.

The way it works is that if you get near a ship, you're position will be set to the position of the ship. You are then litterally inside the ship; luckily, as far as I've tested, collision detection doesn't kick in for some reason. You can't be harmed by non-explosive weapons. However if the ship dies, chances are you will too (I'll make it for sure later). Thing is that since the SetVelocity function does absolute squat you get set at the ship's position at every mwf/10 second intervals (ex: mwf = 3; 3/10 of a second). And since there is no GetVelocity function, that above is kinda useless too. If the Get/SetVelocity functions worked, your pilot's movements would sync with the ship's and you will get a (hopefully if I'm right) 100% smooth ride.

What I wanted to do is send the pilot off way, way off map and have the camera viewport to change to the ship's. It would be smoother for sure and you'll be invunerable to explosions but it doesn't work at all. The camera functions seems to only function in single-player mode, oh well.

If anyone still wants to see the mod and that it will actually be used, then please say so. I will also add a feature that can turn off the functionality of this mod so that it will essentially act as normal 1.2/1.3. That way, the server can choose whether or not giving people rides are cool. And, I could also make the heal-feature optional too (off by default). Once its done I will provide the source code to any mod (like FE) wanting the functionality of GNR.

If people still want it, I'll have to submit a few DLL bug reports and a function request to GSH before it is really usable.

I'm off for a week to Denver on Monday so I don't have access to bz2 there but I still might have the Internet.

[Arcane]

Thank you Speedy, I could have never done that on my own. You know Id like to see it. I think the idea of them slightly healing you is a great idea too.

[Zanting]

Well Im glad the idea was atleast considered and put out there for furture mods then

Indeed the SXDS Mod,
Btw. no im not dead! & I still play!
-Styx

[Jwk the Hemp Monkey]

Sounds good, i would like to see it. Doesnt matter if it is a 'bumpy' ride, as long as it is 'a' ride. Nothing to unrealistic though ,like the passengers head popping out the end of a cannon.

Yes, passengers must die if the ship explodes.

[OvermindDL1]

I see problems with synching.  Plus, how does SetVelocity not work?  It seems to always work fine when I use it...

No, you cannot change the viewpoint to be the same as another player.

[Red Devil]

I'd like to be able to walk around inside the Dropship and look out the windows at those soaring birds and the roaming dinosaurs as we land.  Having a snack bar or even Shabayev stewardesses would be nice too.

[Arcane]

Nothing to unrealistic though ,like the passengers head popping out the end of a cannon.

Maybe we could use the pilot as human munitions?  

[Zero Angel]

I have a pilots head model. It shouldnt be too hard to put that sucker on a bouncebomb and fire it away. Heck, I could even do
xplVehicle = "xprsxpl"

and have like lots of blood shooting out of the barrel when it fires.  

EDIT: Ah, sorry Speedy for going OT. I didnt see your post and thought this was a spamming topic.

[WhiteDove]

Lol, yeah! That would be like great go ahead. Hehe.

-WhiteDove

[Spawn]

dont forget to add that to the muzzle blast also