Title says it all....i have a lots of custom usits and weapons in my 1.3 public beta 2 game now...i guess you could say its turning into a bit of a mod...:P I made a few new weapons myself, and tons of new gun and rocket towers for the isdf and scions, plus units and weapons i liked from other mods. Ive even tried to make some custom .aips, but they arent working right. Is there a tutorial for those? and does anyone know how you would make the computer upgrade weapons on certain ships? I would really appreciate the help, and would anybody want to try my stuff out?
Also, does anyonw know how to change hardpoints on certain ships? Ive made a modded ass tank- the main battle tank- and wanted to turn the twin mortars into machinge guns, but have no clue how. Changing thier names in the .odf wont work so i figerd it was a moddleling thing wich is WAAAYY outta my league.
You can grab the XSI pack, find the unit you want to change, open it in bz2me, and move and rename the hps.
Be sure never to edit the pak files.
You best bet for modding bz2 is to make your own folder and tell the cfg to read you folder then addon then data.
I myself have a folder called Nielk1 I throw test assets in.
I have bz2 me...i think...and have no clue how change the hp....
You download the XSI pack, open the xsi, and simple choose the hp and then click rename. You can also use bz2me to move hps my choosing the HP and then going to the other tab and clicking moe or rotate instead of pan.
uhh ok...ill try....
ok how the heck do you select hps with bzme?
eh....
BZ2me is crap, but there's a higherarchy listing, ...it's okay for viewing models, even doing that BZ2me only works maybe...60% of the time.
He is new to modeling, so he will be using bz2me!
LOL
Quote from: General BlackDragon on December 22, 2007, 05:09:26 AM
eh....
BZ2me is crap, but there's a higherarchy listing, ...it's okay for viewing models, even doing that BZ2me only works maybe...60% of the time.
Nah, F that. BZ2ME is one of the most useful BZ2 utilities ever, its extremely limited, but still useful for doing quick edits, changing HPs around, quick swapping textures and such. I made a few units with it, which actually look half-decent if you have the right 'parts' as well as put lots of effort into making them look original. Look at the gnat in the Starfleet MOD (I think thats the one), thats one sexy beast and all it is is a msl scout with some parts added on and some new textures.
I opened blender once, and took a look at the interface for about 10 seconds before my eyes exploded out of my head and I had to have new mechanical ones surgically installed (metaphorically speaking of course), as far as modeling noobs like me go, BZ2ME is awesome since i'm not really willing to put days/weeks/months into learning a 3D modeling program from scratch while having no transferable skills from a previous 3D modeler. :?
hehe im not moddeling just trying to change the hps around...there is no way in hell id ever be able to model. But yalls work is impressive----my favorite ship model is the destroyer tank from those g66 maps (i liked him so much i added it in to regular factory.....FUN)
There is 1 ship i reallly would like to make tho---the Flack tank. it would be nothing but an ass tank with 4 nice and long mg battels in the turret with those conical flash suppressors on the end...(hint hint-to anybody willing to model...) :)
I already got the perfect weapon to put on it all i would need is the model....Id make a good mobile aa unit, or as a turret
Edit: ok i figured out the hardpoint thing (Quad rocket tanks RULE!!!!) but theres 1 more question...is there a limited about of weapons a ship can have? I put that destroyer tank on the factory, and along with the stock twin cannons and missies, i tried to ad a pair of guns....the hardpoints were already there, but they wouldn't show in game...
The max number of weapons hardpoints any ship can have is 5. If the ship's odf calls more than those 5, I don't think it works.
VSMIT.
Do not bother trying to use bzme (threed) to edit the hp_mortar on the ivatank00.xsi.
It is extremely unlikely that threed will successfully save that file.
Open it in notepad find and replace hp_mortar with hp_gun, save, done, nothing broken, no need to scream while rebooting your pc out of a crashed battlezone...
Make sure you don't call it ivatank00.xsi
Say would one be able to go into notepad and then do a find/replace to rename the gun HP back to mortar?
Yep. XSI's are really just text files.
Since ThreeD isn't very good about saving animations, I sometimes modify a model using ThreeD, save it under a different name or in a different location, then do a side-by-side comparison with the original and copy the animation section(s) from the original to the modified one. Works pretty good.
Threed also has a nasty habit of not bothering to save the whole file, It is this that causes BZ2 to lockup when you try to load that model.
Yes, that's why I do the side-by-side; to put back the bits that weren't saved.
Or making 1.0 or 0.0 come out as 0.99999999999999999 and 0.0000000000000000001
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floating_point#Accuracy_problems
That is just the nature of computer hardware, 0.99999999999999999 equals 1 as far as the hardware is concerned, just that the normal xsi savers will truncate it to 1.0.
Well, 1.0 is one of the few floating point values that can be exactly represented in a floating point value. Just from memory, I think it looks like 0x3F80000 in a memory dump.
-- GSH
True, but 0.99999999999999999 does not, let's test:
Using double's: 0.99999999999999999==1.0 does return true.
Using float's would no doubt be the same. Probably just a bug in what outputs the number as a string, but it is still equal and thus valid.
oooook what the heck are yall talking about...... :?
Just the inacuracies of bz2me.
Still, new modders should use it, it is a powerful tool.
but do any of yall know how the computer upgrades the weps on the ships? I want to make some meeeeann assed aips for the computer, and i want them to do stuff players would do....put blast on the sabres and chains on rats and scouts...heck acually USE scouts duting the game...mag ass tanks and stuff. the best ive been able to do is get them to use scouts, but they dont use them quite like i want them to. I wanted them to attack with tlike 6-9 scouts at a time but they only send like 1 or 2, and not as a group. an i want them to STOP using those annoying !!@@ mortar bikes.
I'm in the process of modifying the FE MPI DLL so that it hands out weapons to the AI ships depending on what the humans are using in their ships.
The hardest part (for me) is deciding which weapon to hand out.
Advice welcome.
But mortar bikes are good, in small doses or as intermittent raiding parties.
AFA AIPs go, just make a custom unit (ivscout_sd) and have the AIP use that as a second phase attacker. The whole line formation thing is a flaw inherent in scout AI, I suggest you use a more effective attacking AI like RT/MT AI or Mortar Bike AI which are better dogfighting AIs. Secondly, you'll want to tweak the AI parameters to make the AI more dodgy, and finally, if you want to increase the AI unit's move/acceleration stats, make sure to make it unsnipable and dont go overboard.
Quote from: RD...
That is a good idea
Seeing how complicated it is with 4 races, I may just go with handing out weps depending on the tech level available.
This feature will only be available on the Hard difficulty setting. Also adding fighting pilots on that setting too. Never could stand them running away like a bunch of Nancy boys.
how does the AI change weapons on ships? using AIP's or .dll... e.g. when they start equiping warriors with arc cannons and speccing sheilds etc..?
im assuming AIP reading this... just builds another unit :S???
is there a file anywhere describing properties of the different AI processes?
e.g. dogfighting ability, other abilitys over other processes etc?
Always hard to get a straight answer around here, isn't it? :)
I hate AIP's but glancing through Wug's I don't see anyplace where they upgrade a unit's weapons. I'm sure I've seen the AI upgrade to shields and weapons but I believe I saw the code for that in the DLL, not in the AIP, so I'm not sure it can be done strictly via AIP.
-Av-
It's done via the DLL. "I'm in the process of modifying the FE MPI DLL..."
To have the AIP do it, you can make custom ships with different weapons on them and have the AIP plans build them, but then you need a bunch of extra ships, each with a different weapon configuration.
You can have weapon crates spawn at the Recycler and Factory build points, like FE does, but then you always get the same weapons on the craft.
How cool would it be to have the AI actually launching crates out to ships, or have a pilot model running around the base using the panels, guiding the Constructor, etc...
Lol...
-Av-
ok the custom unit thingy i can do.....1 question on ais tho....I made a ship called the heavy missle scout. Has light armor, is a bit slower and has 1 combat and 1 assalut hardpoint. Ive noticed tho with the "Rockettank" ai thingy on it wont switch weapons(beetween assalut and combat), so I put the "tankfriend" one on. but the thing is rocket tank one acutally makes them move around some the tank ai just sits and shoots does anyone know a good ai to put there?
and i also notice those entries at the bottom and have no clue what the do..they say stuff like "assaluttank attack" or"support sub attack" and stuff an i wonderd what they were for?
Hmmmm...
If I....and then I....
It could work. 8-)
Quote from: Avatar on December 26, 2007, 01:35:00 AM
How cool would it be to have the AI actually launching crates out to ships, or have a pilot model running around the base using the panels, guiding the Constructor, etc...
Lol...
-Av-
QuoteHow cool would it be to have the AI actually launching crates out to ships,
It cannot aim, and the ships are too stupid to pick them up...
QuoteIve noticed tho with the "Rockettank" ai thingy on it wont switch weapons(beetween assalut and combat)
Set the weapon mask 11111 (runs from weapon 5 to 1)
Rocket tanks fire
all unmasked weapons, does not care about assault or combat.
Quoteand i also notice those entries at the bottom and have no clue what the do..they say stuff like "assaluttank attack" or"support sub attack" and stuff an i wonderd what they were for?
They define different combat strategies
attackTask = "AssaultTankAttack"
subAttackTask = "SupportSubAttack"
subAttackClass = "ANS"
// subAttackClass uses 3 letters.
// 1st letter is either A or N. A is include Air targets. N is attack ground only.
// 2nd letter is either D or N. D is to deploy before attacking. N for regular attack.
// 3rd letter is either S or N. S is to use Weapon Range. N is use the Engage Range to attack.
Quote from: mrtwosheds on December 26, 2007, 07:49:33 AM
QuoteHow cool would it be to have the AI actually launching crates out to ships,
It cannot aim, and the ships are too stupid to pick them up...
The DLL aims just fine, and is a merciless Commander. :) I've DLL'd a fake crate toss from the armory as part of setting up BZC but it would be cool if the AIP could do it to upgrade weapons in the field.
-Av-
Quotebut it would be cool if the AIP could do it to upgrade weapons in the field.
And probably a little too generous to their human opponent. I wish my dll skills were better, I would love to make an mpi dll for my Legions but c++ makes me go cross-eyed, I have the wrong sort of brain for this stuff.
ok so what are all the different startegy thingys they got to put there? And how does that weapon mask thing work? Does it allow certain weps or something?
Quote from: mrtwosheds on December 26, 2007, 07:49:33 AM
It cannot aim, and the ships are too stupid to pick them up...
i swear ive seen ai bots grabbing health powerups in DM ...
Weaponmask only works with RocketTankFriend/Enemy or MorphTankFriend/Enemy AIs. It controls which weapons they will try to use, starting from the one on the 5th slot. An example of this for an ivscout, for example.
unitName = "Scout"
aiName = MorphTankFriend
aiName2 = MorphTankEnemy
[craftClass]
weaponMask = 00111 // special - msl - 2xguns
Will attempt to fire its 2 guns (which are on the 1st two weapon slots) as well as its faf missile (3rd weapon slot) at the same time
unitName = "Scout"
aiName = MorphTankFriend
aiName2 = MorphTankEnemy
[craftClass]
weaponMask = 01100 // special - msl - 2xguns
Will attempt only try to use its missiles (3rd slot) and special (4th slot) at the same time
Since the ivscout only has 4 weapons on it, the first of the 5 bits (which controls the weapon on the 5th slot) does not matter.
sweet so i could make some shad chains scouts and have them flip weapons.....1 more question....lets say you have a rocket tank with shads and hornets and thers an enemy tank sittin just outta range. is there a way you could rig the ai to use any wep that has the range to hit---make the rocket tank use its hornet rocket over 200 yards on the tank, then if it gets closer use the shads....and the other way around for heavy ships that have that "isassault" line in thier odf---it will use combat weapons if it is out of range for assalut weapons. then flip to assalut when it gets closer.
Quotesweet so i could make some shad chains scouts and have them flip weapons....
Not and keep its scout ability's, like targeting.
Rocket tank is fairly aggressive and loves to straff, too much.
Quoteis there a way you could rig the ai to use any wep that has the range to hit
Not that I know of, the rocket tank ai just
fires all guns at the same time when 1 gets into range, heavy ammo usage.
If you use the right sort of weapon combinations this can be a neat trick, some of my ai daleks fire beam guns, and grab you with a tractor beam, or emp you etc etc
aircraft class can also fire all guns.
oook the custom unit thingy didnt work--i created 2 scouts "ivscout_mini" and ivscout_chain and they would not build them at all. And i cant seem to get them to attack with atilla walkers at all. or even buld the darn things...I set it up so that if you built 1 they would build a coulple and attack yours, and also keep 1 or 2 handy around the base. :P
ANd would any of you old hands like to try my mods out? i know a lot of the things i made would be too powerful, (especially the assalut towers-300 yard engage range!!!!) and id like to know how to balance things out. and I would also like to know who to ask permission to use the "borowwed" ships and weps from the g66 mods-Destoyer, Dragoon, Goul, the hellion cannon, omega burst and the tcp cannon.
the tcp cannon needs to be paired up with ip rockets for optimal packet delivery
is that what those rocket thingys were in there for?...oh well -deletes ruined tcps-
Guys i still cant get my .aips to use my custom units. Any help?
Make sure they are in the search path.
Yep, as long as it can find them, just putting them in the aip is all that is needed, no constructor fact or recy modification is required for the AI team.
THey are in the addon folder along with the .aip's......and what the heck is a search path? I also cant get them to build or use ANY atilla walkers.
A search path defines where it looks first.
From the pb3 bzone.cfg
// Configure game file system
ConfigureFileSystem()
{
// Setup base data
ConfigureStream("base")
{
// Look in "addon" first
AddDirRecurse("@rootdir\addon");
// Look at pakfiles next
AddPack("@rootdir\patch13.pak");
AddPack("@rootdir\data.pak");
AddPack("@rootdir\bumps.pak");
// Look in "data" last, and only last.
AddDirRecurse("@rootdir\data");
}
What are you calling your AIP's ? there are several sets in 1.3 pb3.
i just extracted the stock 1.3 ones out of patch13 and modded them. It is reading them, but it just one build my custom units. ive seen some changes to their ai that i put in but none of my custom ships. -and btw i have public beta 2-
Quote-and btw i have public beta 2-
I used to have that, why do people modify/play old test versions of software when improved versions exist?
Get pb3, much better AIP's to work with, and the next will have even better.
i had pb3, but the textures look garbled when i started it, and the mouse did not show up. I still cant figure out whats wrong with it
Probably the dxt textures and your video card.
Any way to fix? I reallyy want to play 1.3...no more flyers wasting 20 of you atillas in a chain scout.......thats just wrong...
pb3 always gave me trouble. No matter waht I did the textures were blurry, but that has long since been fixed in the private beta. I think 1.3 (private) currently detecs your DXT ability and goes from there.
Just try launching pb3 with the /nodxt parameter.
textures were always blurry in 1.3 for me, then i changed the texture size to large in the 'graphics' section of the bz2 pause menu
yeh i ahd to do that.. i thought the small setting would have better fidelity but apparently is large!
Yea... a larger texture size lets the texture have more space for detail. :P
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Quote
textures were always blurry in 1.3 for me, then i changed the texture size to large in the 'graphics' section of the bz2 pause menu
Texture size of small tosses away the first two mipmaps of textures on reading, as long as the texture's got mips to discard. By doing so, you're using a texture 1/16 the size of what the artists intended, and therefore is blurry.
pb4 takes steps to ensure that new/upgraded profiles default to large textures. You can change it back, but unless your graphics card is ancient, you shouldn't do that.
-- GSH
where is this modded stuff? shove it in a .pak file all jumbled in and what not and we can see what goodies lurk within