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[it kills mods]

The rocketTank AI is pretty much the most useful thing that there is for modders in BZ2 as far as unit creation goes.

It fights well, performs subAttack tasks well and obeys weaponMask. It can be used to make cloaking units or flying units or kikass megadeath boss units that belt you with 5 cannons, or simply just provide competent AI units that can weapon switch and strafe.

Its when you command it however that the problem becomes apparent. RT units under player command will all of a sudden decide to stop using all their weapons, apprently stuck on the first slot, and then continue to be gumby for rest of their lives. This is a very well known bug, still apparent in 1.3 and it kills mods. Same for morphTank AI. All of a sudden your powerful and expensive AI wingman becomes effectively useless at what it was designed to do. Even stock RTs instantly drop 50% effectiveness.

It seems to happen most often when an RTAI unit is told to change targets (eg: through telling it to Hold, hence the handle).

1.3 has a lot of cool new modding stuff, but a few little critical fixes like this have been missed, possibly because the significance of them was not immediately obvious. Well this one is significant. It is nasty and it seriously undermines attempts to mod new unit functionality. Can this bug be addressed?

Thanks from the mod community.[/b]

:rollingpin:

Seems there is mixed reactions to 1.3 in the modding community, interested to know why. Please post your experiences here.

Personally I am a big fan of it, but that may be because the TC project I'm working on (especially as regards unit physics) tends to be a long way removed from stock BZ2. Although Epic works OK in 1.2, it benefits greatly from 1.3 changes:


- It fixes FX culling and fog blending over distance (WOOT!!!)
- Gives me -> 26 races each with their own racial configs - new shields, pilots, explosions, build FX etc.
- Provides options for hard ceiling and constant burn on jetpacks
- Fixes AVs and freezes
- Lets tugs ferry active units
- Lets pilots and GTs be set as commandable
- Lets me have multiple eg: service bays
- lets me cap numbers on individual unit/building types if desired
- Gives me back the hunt command (and maybe minelaying too, unsure)
- Allows scopes on any pilot weapon
- generally seems to make AI units smarter and more efficient or at least allows the option to do so through config.
- etc.


1.3 was partially designed to allow more scope in the modding dept. and so far for my purposes it's all good - but a few modders don't feel as positive about what they see as arbitrary and unneeded changes to core functionality that is apparently breaking their mods, or else feel that needed functions havent been addressed.

Why?