Battlezone Universe

Battlezone Universe => Battlezone 2 => Maps and Modding => Topic started by: Dianoga4 on October 29, 2009, 09:45:09 PM

Title: Question about plasma cannons in new patch
Post by: Dianoga4 on October 29, 2009, 09:45:09 PM
Hey guys. Well I tried searching the forums for various things to try and find my answer but so far I've had no luck. I did notice this when the TA5 patch first came out but I wasn't doing much with my mod at the time so I didn't look around on here and I'm still seeing it in the 5.1 patch.

Anyways, the problem I'm seeing is that when a stock gun tower shoots, the projectile looks fine. I have a gun turret and a vehicle that uses the exact same weapon that the stock gun tower uses but when they shoot, there is no bright green light at the end of the projectile. It's just an ugly thin green line flying through the air. I double checked the odf's to make sure and yes they are using the exact same gplasma_c as the gun tower. So then I thought maybe it had something to do with my models or something so I tried a stock assault tank and it's doing the same thing so I'm guessing it's not my models. I'm just not sure what's making it do that. It only started doing this since the TA5 patch and I did do a fresh install when I got the TA5 and 5.1 patches.

Thanks for any info.
Title: Re: Question about plasma cannons in new patch
Post by: AHadley on October 29, 2009, 09:48:44 PM
Lights were removed from projectiles in TA5 due to the heavy price on them. This is also the reason for the heavy clipping on the Recycler's front lights.
Title: Re: Question about plasma cannons in new patch
Post by: TheJamsh on October 29, 2009, 09:49:17 PM
The light was removed because it caused lag during battles.

Lights are a LOT more potent to framerate than they used to be... and i think theres a limit to 8-on screen lights at once, not sure.
Title: Re: Question about plasma cannons in new patch
Post by: Dianoga4 on October 29, 2009, 10:02:40 PM
Ok well thanks, I didn't know that about the lights, but it's not really what I mean. Sorry if I wasn't clear. I took a couple of screenshots to show what I mean. The stock gun tower has the bright looking projectile and you can see on the second picture the difference in the two different shots. They are both using the same weapon.
(http://www.pvuploads.com/Clients/LordWrathX/plasmashot.jpg)
(http://www.pvuploads.com/Clients/LordWrathX/plasmashot2.jpg)
Title: Re: Question about plasma cannons in new patch
Post by: General BlackDragon on October 29, 2009, 10:06:27 PM
Lights were removed from the "gplasma_a" and gplasma_c weapons only.

The plasma weapon the gun tower fires is called "gtower"

:roll:

I tried to make a rude fix for the light in gplasma_a and _c by adding a lightflare sprite.  But it didn't get in before TA5.1 :roll:
Title: Re: Question about plasma cannons in new patch
Post by: Dianoga4 on October 29, 2009, 10:17:40 PM
Where does it say that the gun tower uses a weapon called "gtower". I'm asking because I am using Pak Explorer to look at the pak files and according to the ibgtow odf file, the weapon is a gplasma_c. The gun tower in the picture is a ibgtow. I'm just trying to clear this up and appreciate the responses.
Title: Re: Question about plasma cannons in new patch
Post by: General BlackDragon on October 29, 2009, 11:11:47 PM
Are you looking in data.pak or patch13.pak?

:P Always look in patch13.pak first, as it overrides data.pak

1.3 "ibgtow.odf" file:

[GameObjectClass]
baseName = "ibgtow"
geometryName = "ibgtow00.xsi"
classLabel = "turret"
scrapCost = 50
scrapValue = 10
maxHealth = 5000
maxAmmo = 10000 // 0 is *not* treated as infinite ammo!
unitName = "Gun Tower"
aiName = "GunTowerFriend"
aiName2 = "GunTowerEnemy"
heatSignature = 2.0
imageSignature = 1.0
radarSignature = 1.0
isAssault = 1

collisionRadius = 11.0

armorClass = H

/////// REQUIREMENTS ///////////////

requireCount = 1
requireName1 = "ibcbun"
requireText1 = "Build Relay Bunker"

////////////////////////////////////


/////// PROVIDES ///////////////////

provideCount = 3
provideName1 = "ibgtow"
provideName2 = "VIRTUAL_CLASS_GUNTOWER"
provideName3 = "defender"

////////////////////////////////////


/////// weapons ////////////////////

weaponMask = 00011
weaponHard1 = "hp_cannon_1"
recoilName1 = "recoil_r"
weaponName1 = "gtower"
weaponAssault1 = 0
weaponHard2 = "hp_cannon_2"
recoilName2 = "recoil_l"
weaponName2 = "gtower"
weaponAssault2 = 0

////////////////////////////////////

lightHard1 = "hp_light_1"
lightName1 = "spotwhite"

turretCount = 4
turretName1 = "turret_y_1"
turretName2 = "turret_x_1"
turretName3 = "hp_light_1"
turretName4 = "hp_eyepoint"

[BuildingClass]
soundAmbient = "igtow01.wav"

[CraftClass]
rangeScan = 250
periodScan = 1.0
velocJam = 0.0
weaponPitch = 1.5
steerFactor = 0.5
engageRange = 200

[TurretCraftClass]
omegaTurret = 2.0
detectRange = 210

[Lod1]
geometryName = "ibgtowL1.xsi" ;geometry for lod1
distance = 150                   ;bsphere under 200 pixel => switch to lod1
dontShiftLOD = 1
Title: Re: Question about plasma cannons in new patch
Post by: Dianoga4 on October 30, 2009, 01:16:09 AM
Ok well that explains it. I didn't realize that the patch13 pak file overrided the data pak file. Thanks alot for the info.
Title: Re: Question about plasma cannons in new patch
Post by: AHadley on October 30, 2009, 10:14:54 AM
Bloody hell, man! Those bumpmaps! :o
Title: Re: Question about plasma cannons in new patch
Post by: Dianoga4 on October 30, 2009, 02:59:48 PM
Bumpmaps? I didn't use any bumpmaps although I'm thinking about trying tsome.
Title: Re: Question about plasma cannons in new patch
Post by: AHadley on October 30, 2009, 03:54:22 PM
The shine on the power generator. Bumpmaps work in TA5.1. Not on my PC though - and I don't think I've seen them properly before.
Title: Re: Question about plasma cannons in new patch
Post by: BNG Da BZ Fool on October 30, 2009, 04:08:04 PM
I like the colored ship icon where the wire frame image usually sits. It looks way better then a standard wire frame image. More peeps should adopt this to stadardize the game a bit as it enhances the player interface quite nicely. Are you using Blender to make your models D4?
Title: Re: Question about plasma cannons in new patch
Post by: mrtwosheds on October 30, 2009, 05:12:44 PM
:) You would not think it, but wire frames are really very difficult to get looking good, a simple image of the model is much easier, Its what I did (and still need to redo). Every now and then you freak out and try to spin to shoot at it, which is why wire frames are a good idea.
Title: Re: Question about plasma cannons in new patch
Post by: Mr X on October 30, 2009, 07:24:24 PM
I actually prefer the wire frames, maybe I'm just wierd...
Title: Re: Question about plasma cannons in new patch
Post by: bigbadbogie on October 30, 2009, 08:01:48 PM
Perhaps it would be better if the ship icon had a border to make it look more like part of the interface.
Title: Re: Question about plasma cannons in new patch
Post by: TheJamsh on October 30, 2009, 08:31:38 PM
I quite like wireframes, and two sheds is right about getting them looking good. However, you CAN use that area for other useful things as i've found out recently :D.

All units in the EP have a wireframe, just to fit in with stock. I do however quite like the 4-way view of the coloured ship, and am using a half-and-half version for my mods units.
Title: Re: Question about plasma cannons in new patch
Post by: Dianoga4 on October 30, 2009, 09:52:45 PM
Yes I use Blender to make all of my models and textures as well. I'm slowly learning how to do different things in Photoshop but for now I use Blender and I'm quite used to it.

As for the colored ship icon, yea I like colored ones way better than the wire frames. I was never a huge fan of the wire frames and when I found out I could use a full color icon, I immediately started using them. I had thought about making them a top down view of the vehicles but it wouldn't look right for some of them. I could try a border but I don't know if I'd like that, I think it would make them look too 2d'ish. I've played many times with friends with the colored icons and have never mistaken them for another vehicle.

Quote from: BNG Da BZ Fool on October 30, 2009, 04:08:04 PM
I like the colored ship icon where the wire frame image usually sits. It looks way better then a standard wire frame image. More peeps should adopt this to stadardize the game a bit as it enhances the player interface quite nicely. Are you using Blender to make your models D4?