Battlezone Universe

how would one go about making a new recycler varient? (such has greenhands or commando varient)

For that my friend, you need to master ODF editing.

Best tool for a modder is 'Notepad'. Open an ODF file with notepad, and you will start to decipher it for yourself. Its really easy to create new things.

Give it 4-6 months of work, and you can learn how to ODF edit. It will take YEARS however, to master them, purely because there are SO many entries in BZ2.

yes the ODF code is extremely simple, I've deciphered the vehicles construction in the code (as far as weapons, resources, build time, and movement go) and the "data.ODF" do I have to reinstall the game to get a clean data.odf???

How do the "addons" work exactly

oh btw most of the links above don't work, BZ-scrap thankfully still works but I can hardly figure out which tool is which in their listing

Tip #1: start your own thread.

-- GSH

Yeah. And read the topic rules at the top of this page before you post in this topic.

Topic split off, so don't look in the other topic any more. :P

well thanks for splitting it anyways...

I don't like to start topics in forums I've just joined. seems rude.

anyways I've made very little progress making a recycler I don't seem to know where to start.

try using an existing one as a base. Take a look at ivrecym.. something .odf in the patch13.pak

Extract it into addons/testingstuff/ or something like that and rename it how you want. You will see it inherits from ivrecy.odf via the use of specifying an existing ODF as a classlabel. Recs do this often sine it greatly reduces the amount you have to write and makes core changes to base objects affect your units too (new patches).

For example, here are some ODFs from MRVP:
ivrecyscrappy.odf
[GameObjectClass]
classLabel = "ivrecy"

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

provideCount = 3
provideName3 = "ivrecyscrappy"

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

[CraftClass]

[TrackedVehicleClass]

[TrackedDeployableClass]

[DeployBuildingClass]
deployName = "ibrecyscrappy"

[RecyclerVehicleClass]
[Lod1]

ibrecyscrappy.odf
[GameObjectClass]
classLabel = "ibrecy"

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

provideCount = 3
provideName3 = "ibrecyscrappy"

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

[PoweredBuildingClass]

[BuildingClass]

[FactoryClass]
buildItem1 = "ivhscavscrappy"
buildItem5 = "ivconsscrappy"
buildItem8 = "ivscout_m"
buildEmptyItem = 8
buildItem9 = "ivscavscrappy"

[RecyclerClass]

[Lod1]

And thusly so on and so on.

I'll look into that, thank you very much :D

Where could I patch13.pak from?

patch13.pak is part of the BZ2 1.3 patches.

Get TA5, and then its in youre root directory. Note that you WILL have to use TA5 if you ever expect people to download or use a recycler variant...

Thats wierd, I cant find any odf files for a recycler. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong place. Can anyone tell me where one should be?

patch13.pak>addon>objects>isdf>buildings>recycler
                                        isdf>vehicles>recycler
                                        fury>buildings>recycler
                                        fury>vehicles>recycler

I don't have a folder called patch13.pak...

It's not a folder.  It's a file.  Go to BZScrap and download the Pak Explorer, then open patch13.pak in Pak Explorer, then go through what AHadley said.

Quote from: TheJamsh on July 06, 2009, 06:56:28 PM
patch13.pak is part of the BZ2 1.3 patches.

Get TA5, and then its in youre root directory. Note that you WILL have to use TA5 if you ever expect people to download or use a recycler variant...

alright and just to be clear this is not just "Modding the recycler".

What I intend to do is make an entire varient (like greenhearts with all the different vehicles and such) moreover I intend to change specific vehicle properties such as ammo/hp/armor and weapons damage ammo etc.

can this all be done from the recycler or need I dive deeper?

EDIT:

Apparently I need to dive MUCH deeper to mod the units and weapons, can anyone point me towards the "vehicals" pak (right now I think its the data.pak but not sure) They don't seem to be in patch13

EDIT2: nvm found it. for referances


patch13.pak
   - objects
          - ISDF
                 - Vehicles

Everything's in patch13.pak.
Vehicles:
patch13.pak>addon>objects>isdf>vehicles>
patch13.pak>addon>objects>fury>vehicles>

Weapons:
patch13.pak>addon>weapons>

I just discovered that a moment before your post... thanks :D

Ok time to get technical. I know the code but not what files I need to change.

ok I have a ton of choices in the way of file names. but to be more specific the one with the most information in it appears to be ivscout.ODF

would I just edit "that one file" or am I required to edit all the smaller files.

I guess what I'm asking for is (What is the MINIMUM I'm required to have in a vehicles definition files) I already know I need the actual visual form ".msh" basic definition ".ODF" and setup.

but can it be narrowed down from the 25 files I'm looking at?

EDIT: I can post a screen shot of what I'm looking at if it makes things easier.

EDIT2: any chance I could get someone in a chat for quick assistance? I wanna get alot of work done tonight.

ivscout.odf is the base ODF. Other recycler variants use ivscout.odf as a base, and override only certain fields. Look for ivscout_*.odf.

Everything starts from a recycler vehicle ODF. It details what it turns into. And from there, what can be built. So, most recycler variants need to provide ODFs for recycler vehicle, recycler building, construction rig, and factory -- you need to override the fields in the base ODFs to point to your ODFs when you want, and you've got to go from the base of the tree to what you edit. Look at some recycler variants, starting at the recycler vehicle odf for how they do that, and how little is needed. The top few levels of a recycler variant are tiny bits of editing.

-- GSH

that didn't answer my question at all... I understand how the recycler and other units "link" to eachother in terms of construction.

But I have no idea what the minimum is for files. as far as I know when you look in the recycler directory there isn't just 1 recycler there. there's 5 or 6 all modded differently.

I was looking for what files were needed just for 1 scout version, I want to narrow it down to "only whats needed"

So again. What is the bare minimum required for a "scout" to work on all game settings (besides MPI I'm aware that requires AIP scripting)

and 2ndly the files are going to be put back into the patch13.pak so where any core-referances will still be. so I only really need the files I'm going to "mod" in order to change the vehicle.

Find a link for and download MRVP. It is not for ta5, but it will work. It shows you many examples of recs or varying complexity.


[GameObjectClass]
classLabel = "ivscout"

save this file as ivscout_new.odf in your addon folder and open the editor to place it in game.
That is the bare minimum for it to work (even in MPI)

if you've got some time tomorrow to chat i might be stuck up at work tomorrow and could chat on google chat.

Quote from: Lordtac on July 08, 2009, 03:29:47 AMand 2ndly the files are going to be put back into the patch13.pak so where any core-referances will still be.

absolutely do not put modified files back into the patch13.pak. Instead place them into the folder called addon in your root BZ directory

::edited to erase a problem with the naming of the file

Quote from: ScarleTomato on July 08, 2009, 05:17:02 AM
save this file as ivscout2.odf in your addon folder and open the editor to place it in game.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

existingodfname1.odf and existingodfname2.odf are NO NOs. You MUST NOT make them, EVER...

When existingodfname.odf is made in MP, the team # is appended to the end of the ODF. This has to do with weapon load outs from the factory panel IIRC. The danger number might go as high as 6. So, just to be safe, don't end in a single number from 0 to 9.

On a side note: ivrecy_n1.odf is ok because ivrecy_n will never be spawned in MP as it does not exist.

So what happens if you make ivscout2? I'm not sure i understand what the error is that occurs. How would i go about creating the problem you're referring to?

BASICALLY...

The game creates for itself temporary .odfs so it can better keep track of things. In making a "blah1-6.odf", you endanger your odf from ever popping up in-game AND the temp odf of the Game always wins.

Just use "Blah_1-whatever.odf", as the game will never use underscores in it's temp files.

Quote from: ScarleTomato on July 08, 2009, 06:48:19 AM
So what happens if you make ivscout2? I'm not sure i understand what the error is that occurs. How would i go about creating the problem you're referring to?

An easy way to avoid it is by simply using the alfabet instead of numbers. (ivtanka, ivtankb, ivtankc, ......)


Warfreak,

Are you sure about that underscore thingy? So you can for instance use 'ivtank_a', 'ivtank_a1', 'ivtank_a2', .... ? (If so, how does the game handle customized units for those odf's ?

Quote from: Red Spot on July 08, 2009, 03:41:07 PM
So you can for instance use 'ivtank_a', 'ivtank_a1', 'ivtank_a2', .... ? (If so, how does the game handle customized units for those odf's ?

Yes you can do that just fine, the game still creates "ivtank2.odf" even though yours is "ivtank_a1.odf". I know this from Nielk's experience with this problem while working on MRVP.

I honestly cannot find the problem yall are talking about. Iv'e played a whole MP game with ivscout and ivscout2 and found no problems. The reason I want to recreate it is so I can know exactly what the error is.

Well I did notice that the recycler builds ivscout1 all the time but coudn't make it make a temp ivscout2. Every time i changed the loadout in the recy menu it just modifies the ivscout1. And since you can only modify one of each odf in the recy theres not a way to have two different loadouts of the same odf. How did you make it get up to 6?

Team 1 gets ivscout1
Team 2 gets ivscout2
...
Team 6 gets ivscout6

In multiplayer, there are only six playable teams.

ah i gotcha

well anyways lordtac (sorry for hijacking your thread :wink: ) It turns out i didn't have to go into work today, so i'm avaliable to chat.

Quote from: AHadley on July 08, 2009, 07:28:56 PM
Team 1 gets ivscout1
Team 2 gets ivscout2
...
Team 6 gets ivscout6

In multiplayer, there are only six playable teams.

Commander of team 1 is team 1
The 3 thugs on that team are teams 2-4 or 5
Commander of team 2 is team 6
The 3 thugs on that team are teams 7-9 or 10

At least that's what I've observed.

Quote from: ScarleTomato on July 08, 2009, 07:36:10 PM
ah i gotcha

well anyways lordtac (sorry for hijacking your thread :wink: ) It turns out i didn't have to go into work today, so i'm avaliable to chat.

Its alright.

I got a lot of work done on the mod last night, I figured out where everything was, how to make sub-menu's and even how to change the weapon hard-points around to my liking, but I didn't see that specific error.

I'll have to be careful with that.

so far I've only changed a few things.

1- recycler spits out my scout instead of stock
2- my scout uses AT-Stabs instead of miniguns
3- factory spits out MY walker instead of the normal one
4- My walker has 4 uses lasers and chainguns instead of Blast. although it can still pick up "cannons" over the laser hard-point which i still don't understand fully.

EDIT: I was told theres a program I can use to quickly check how my units are functioning (without opening battlezone2) can anyone tell me what program that is.

Quote from: Lordtac on July 08, 2009, 11:13:59 PMalthough it can still pick up "cannons" over the laser hard-point which i still don't understand fully.

the game looks at the name of the frames in the msh to determine what weapons it can pick up.
you need to change the names of the hp_cannon_1 and hp_cannon_2 frames in the XSI to hp_gun_3 and hp_gun_4

roger I'll look into that... ok how do I edit the "XSI"?

Well, I would say Notepad but I realize some people dont realize when you do that you must rename ANY & ALL REFERENCES TO THE THING YOU ARE RENAMING.
Also, THREED IS NOT YOUR FRIEND, IT IS A XSI DESTROYING WHORE...

So yeah, either import them to your favorite modeling program, make fixes, export and test.. OR.. Notepad.  :-D

Open it in notepad.  Do a search for the HP you want to edit (in this case hp_cannon_1 and hp_cannon_2).  For every instance of hp_cannon_1, change it to hp_gun_3, and for every instance of hp_cannon_2, change it to hp_gun_4.  You will also have to change the odf to reflect the change from hp_cannon_1/2 to hp_gun_3/4.  Make sure that when you save this walker file, you've saved it as something other than ivwalk_skel.xsi.  Add your edited xsi and all of the animation xsi files (every ivwalk_.xsi file other than ivwalk_skel.xsi) to the addon folder.  Don't change the names of the animation files.  Also in the odf, change the line that has ivwalk_skel.xsi to reflect the change in file name.

Remember to rename the xsi file something to avoid overwriting stock and make ur walker point to it. You shouldn't have to mess with the animation frames at all, but to build the mesh, you WILL have to put them in the addon folder with your new model for them to compile into the mesh.

There's an xsi pack on BZscrap wich should have the animations, the newest walker XSI *should* be in the 1.3TA5 modders data zip.

I would like to note the issue is not your custom ODF will not be used, but that the engine's tmp will not. When testing a Fury ester egg GBD wants to put into BZC, we found that the GBD furies were pulling in the GBD2 furies for team two, and as such had no cost. I murdered him...

Yeah basically 1 and a half years ago i learned not to put numbers behind things :)

Alright I did everything you guys said above. for some "odd" reason I have to rename ALL XSI files associated with my unit. and then reflect it in the units code.

I have no idea what may have caused your idea's not to work on my end (just putting the skel.XSI in my units folder)

me and a friend tried it for hours changing things but only ended up making me restart all my work.

but to that end sense it wan't very much to begin with I made some head-way.

1-Recycler now has a sub-menu for scouts in which theres 3 scout types.

     Scout 1- Normal scout, no changes "Scout"
     
     Scout 2- My upgraded slightly heavier scout, uses AT-Stabs instead of chain guns with restricted turning and faster forward thrust. "Interceptor"
     
     Scout 3- Another Upgraded one, Fires 3 FAF missiles alternativly, has much high armor then the standerd scout, more ammo to deal with missile, moves very slowly but turns rather fast "ShortJohn"

2- I created a new AT with the slug cannon as a primary weapon. thankfully the slug cannon recharges with the standerd weapons, and didn't produce any errors. this AT also moves a bit faster and has chain-guns instead of mortars. "Sniper Tank" (for lack of a better name)

3- The walker works marvelously but the AI seems to only wanna use its minigun (weak... so weak...) it moves much faster though.

4- Working on a "Fast Attack" sabre thinking about giving it tripple machine guns with a AT_Stab, less armor faster movement.

alright I need some assistance yet again.

I am attempting to make a homing salvo missile type weapon, homes like the shadower but fires 4 or 5 missiles per lock. (or shot)

Quote from: Feared_1 on July 08, 2009, 08:17:46 PM
Commander of team 1 is team 1
The 3 thugs on that team are teams 2-4 or 5
Commander of team 2 is team 6
The 3 thugs on that team are teams 7-9 or 10

At least that's what I've observed.

Missed this before. You forget about FFA.

the salvo rckt is a [Cannon Class] and the shadower is a [Launcher Class]

how do I make a [Launcher Class] fire more then 1 missile per shot

I believe there is a multilauncher class that lets you lock multiple times, hence multiple missiles. If you mean more than one for one lock, I'm not sure. I would just fiddle around with ODF lines personally.

The main thing is the Launcher Class passes a locked target onto the missile and Cannon Class doesn't, so what you end up doing now really depends on the exact behavior you want.

Nobody ever uses the scion multilock...1. its underpowered 2. the AI don't like it 3.It takes to long to multilock.
Maybe this could be tweaked?

Perhaps you could try to create a single 3d missile model and then copy it multiple times, arrange them symetrically and either glue them together or create an object union to form one single missile group. I think someone pulled this off by adding hp_rocket_1 thru 4 onto one launch point. It would fire like 4 at one time; I know it can be done with twin missiles configurations. You might ask TimeVirus; he seems quite adept at creating some pretty intense rocket/missile combos.

Not sure how easy this would be to programme, but maybe you could set it so that you establish one lock, and all missiles fired home in on it until the target is destroyed or you move a certain distance away from it.

multilock can be be made to be very powerful

well I figured out the multilock and decided to go with that.

and I have wonderful news.

I've decided that I would begin adding aircraft such as fighters into the mod, unfortunatly I'll need to learn AI programming to tweak them.

but besides that its looking pretty good.

btw flying the ivdrone_c from commando/greenheart variant is awesome.

and finally, I've also discovered that to make anything "worthy" of such a vast community I'll have to add my own models to BZII

so how would I go about that (I already have blender and know how to use it but I don't know how to "texture" the models or add color to them.)

I've gone to blenders websites for tutorials but their extremely vague.

but I do know how to model.

any assistance with .XSI coding (with blenders .X export) would be much appreciate.

I'm aware I'm getting into some pretty advanced stuff. but nothing ventured, nothing gained.


If I can't make my own models would any modders be pissed if I used there's without permission but with credit to the original creator.

It depends on what you use. Some of us may already know how other modders feel about specific assets. In fact some modders say go ahead while others say NEVER!

It is also nice to hear the request you know.

You can use anything from MRVP provided you rename any files to prevent duplicate asset errors. (This includes, if it has a non stock texture, editing the XSI to point to one differently named).

You can also request models, BUT BE WARNED, you must have something to show to get people involved. For example, Steeveeo had lots of cool stuff like weapons and other ODFs that got Warfreak and later VSMIT and I involved as modelers.

well I can do this in a few different ways.

I always change the names with "lt at the end. such as ivrecylt_mrvp" thats how it would look.

I can post screen shots, I can tell you about it, or I can release updates.

I don't wanna release updates really because it seems that would confuse everyone (from patch to patch)

I can post some screen shots, but that may take a while, and may not show more then the physical look of the ships.

and I can deffinently inform you of whats going on and how the ships react.

Ship Name: ivdronelt_c A.K.A. testcraft

ship type: aircraft

Weaponry: standerd (atstab, shadower, forcefield)

Mobility: fast, pilots must bank the craft using the strafe buttons to turn, has a really beautiful effect in 1st-person, piloting is similar to "echelon" from bathesda without speed guage.

Air-Stunts: Thanks to extensive tweaking assisted by commando we found a way to allow the ship to perform a full loop, barrel rolls, and even the famous (or infamous) U-Turn from starfox, and thats just all I've discovered.

Attack ability: pretty weak, I'm going to have to script new weapons for the aircrafts entirely.

A.I. compatibility: Virtually none, the AI will attack at a standerd altitude but because of the way I implemented the turning it hardly turns at all. I will have to rescript the AI for the ship if/when I can.

The AI reacts better then theorized. They are using banking turns, they swoop and don't fly in a straight towards targets, and they even dive bomb, I only need to fix it so they don't "ram" their target and it'll be perfect.

Controls (system standerd)
W - boost
S - Airbreak + reverse
A - Roll Left
D - Roll Right
C - Takeoff/Land
Mouse = pitch and turning

Modified From: ivdrone_c (from commando/greenheart variant)

What I mean is, to use anything from another mod, it really is best to ask.

The following things are OK to use as it is:
Anything that comes with the 1.3 patch or earlier can be used in Battlezone II mods without restriction.
MRVP assets may be used (tweaked to prevent collisions) as I have just given you permission.
FE stuff seems to be allowed to be used now. I mean this like, adding the Hammer and Brawler to the game and giving them custom weapons even is fine.

If you take, for example, ivsilo_fatboy.odf I would suggest the name ivsilo_lt.odf or some such. To credit the original, if you want to, simply provide them in your mod's readme.

I don't think I can account for each and every barrowed vehicle. but I can account for where each one came from.

and thanks for the permission.

As long as you don't claim them as your own, there should be no issues, unless the originator is really that anal.

Then again- we aren't talking GPL here. I've seen modders go 3 types of crazy over assets.

I've never used existing models preferring to create my own original models. The odf's are another story though; these I modify to suite my personal tastes.

Texturing, as others have already stated is an art. Painting a decent texture is not difficult to do, but getting it to appear correctly on the entire model surface is a whole nother en-cha-la-da. My feeble attempts have basically led to utter hair pulling frustration when trying to comprehend the process of applying a texture map on a 3d surface.

My 3d modeler supports multiple layer textures, and applying a simple texture is simple enough to do. Customized single textures like those used by BZ are difficult to apply correctly from my experiences trying to replicate it. GMAX, a free version of 3d Max has a tutorial covering the topic, but even that one uses multiple texture files to texture the sample model.

Blender, like any other 3d modelers supports texturing, but like other 3d modelers applying a custom texture correctly is where most of us get lost. Remember, a UV map repesents a 3d object that must somehow be seperated into manageable sections so that UV lines don't overlap as this can cause odd looking textured models when a custom texture is applied incorrectly. 

I see. that is quite a mouthfull.

when it comes to scripting (in most cases) I like to think I'm awesome. I mean. I dabbled with it for a day and figured out how the scout works.

even modeling I'm pretty good, moving around the verticies isn't hard, neither is making faces.

but when it comes to ART as in color on paper with lines around it. that's where I drop the ball.

don't think I'm to ignorant I know I've still got alot to learn.

now. I need to script a new path-finder AI (like the "tank" "hover" "aircraft" "scav" path-finders) how would I do that? If its hard-coded / impossible, I'll have to figure out a work around

Quote
now. I need to script a new path-finder AI (like the "tank" "hover" "aircraft" "scav" path-finders) how would I do that? If its hard-coded / impossible, I'll have to figure out a work around

Just ... don't try to do such a thing. Don't try to control AI via DLL until you're a DLL genius. Just tweak the many parameters available to existing unit types, and AI types.

-- GSH

ok... in that case I need to figure out how to make the aircraft "turn away" from a building or tank (anything ground based) before it rams it.

and 2ndly as far as controls go I need to figure out a new way to get the ship to pitch because the target reticule is going out of visual range when you point the craft straight down or straight up.

oh and finally some testing pics. (sorry its really hard to tell whose who but it was 4 squads of mine vs 4 squads of enemies)

#1 - Cockpit view

(http://i26.tinypic.com/246p74g.jpg)

#2 - rear view

(http://i32.tinypic.com/s28z2g.jpg)

the mesh looks familiar because its from ZTV I don't plan to use it I just needed a different mesh for testing.

I do plan to use the cockpit though (same mod)

That model is just the ISDF submarine with the ISDF bomber wings and missile scout turret cut and pasted on.

yeah the author of ZTV put it together, I was told you could simply copypasta between XSI's if you know the codes good enough

P.S. MRVP doesn't seem to have anything I can use. though I like some of the recycler varients in it. :D

commando told me there was an XSI helper tool that could assist me in making models, can anyone post a link to it?

EDIT: Just for the record I'm working on this alone at the moment, I don't have any modelers or code scripters just people I ask for help ocassionally.

I wouldn't mind a modeler or 2. having 3 scouts that look exactly the same... isn't exactly new.

bump, the XSI helper would be much appreciated.

DLL monkeys are useless for RVs since RVs cannot use a custom DLL to work. Unless you mean ODF monkeys, in which case you need them.

Quote from: AHadley on July 26, 2009, 04:32:59 PM
DLL monkeys are useless for RVs since RVs cannot use a custom DLL to work. Unless you mean ODF monkeys, in which case you need them.

*blinks confused* DLL monkeys??? ODF monkeys??? are you referring to the parameters in the vehicle odf files that effect how the AI uses the vehicle?

I refer to people who write code as code monkeys. :lol:

Can be rather confusing.

oh well I'm the only one working on the RV at the moment *sad panda* I'm to much of a perfectionist to make myself work on a unit that constantly rams its target...

are there any ships in BZ2 that shoot a target and quickly "run away" or perhaps any units that idk, chase targets and perform "strikes" (jump over them while shooting them turn around and do it again etc.)

I know I can use the mortar bikes ODF. as a good example for a gunship and I can use the Sabres ODF. as an example for a helicopter but I don't have anything ATM for a fighter.

Because most units will "stop" at weapon range.


EDIT: Ok I "WILL" need a model monkey in order to make half-way decent air-ships. Don't worry I have designs in mind, it will just be to hard and time consuming for me to do all the modeling.

EDIT 2: I found a way to make the fighter work against buildings and ground units but no ones gonna like it.

in order to keep them from crashing into the ground when attacking a target I had to overpower the fighters weapons so it would kill the target before it rammed it.

that's the only solution so far.

Bump for assistance.

Curse you all for making me triple post :P

alright wonderful news. rocket has decided to assist me with modeling. and he's already done the model for the ISDF fighter!!!

2 cannons (aero-blasts)
2 guns
1 special (aero-shield)

unfortunatly I am yet to find a way to make a fighter drop "a bomb" of any kind. that kind of coding is very confusing, but when I figure it out, I will begin working on Bombers

(http://i31.tinypic.com/28cegkz.jpg)

A very slow mortar, acts much like a bomb. :)

Quote from: mrtwosheds on July 31, 2009, 12:14:19 AM
A very slow mortar, acts much like a bomb. :)

O.O I MUST TEST THIS THEORY

yeah thats basically the easiest way. I used to have a gnat posted with a MAG bomb on it somewhere around here...

http://stu.cbu.edu/~myarbrou/GNAT.zip
here's an example. The regular gnat has a MAG bomb and the gnat interceptor has a carpet bomb.

I think I know what I need to change to fix my aircrafts now.

I need to change the attack task. thats whats going wrong and whats always been going wrong. but I don't know anything about that part of the code, can anyone give me a list of the available tasks and what each one does?

EDIT: nvm your gnat has the same exact problem my sentinal does. thanks for the bomb tech though

btw the morter thing worked very well. but I need to change the explosion so it doesn't do 1dmg if it misses

Nice model, but the texture needs some work, it looks rather odd.

Dunno, looks like some effort went into UVing, just needs more work is all.  :wink:

yeah the guns need to be reworked but that's it really

well, that was weird, when i put it on my screen the guns and cannons were a different color.... it looks like i need to work on that...

and yeah, i was a little lazy with the texture, i guess i could fix that too.

alright I now have a "gun ship" is there a way to make an "aircraft" strafe??? this will be required for the gunship to work, otherwise I'll have to change its roll

Aircraft don't straff.

so there is absolutely no way for me to make the gunship strafe???

EDIT: looks like gunships going to be using APC dynamics then. the only problem with that, is that even though it hovers OMG HIGH off the ground, it still collides with "walls and bumps"

how do I fix this

you could make it not an aircraft class, that'd work, and give it a very high hover height.

try making it a hovercraftclass, something similar to the scion gunship thing. (what's it called again?)

Make it a Hovercraft that fakes Aircraft physics. (although last i checked, real aircraft can't strafe for crap)

I would do that but the problem is even though it hovers 60ft off the ground, it can't pass over high walls that only reach 40ft because its a hovercraft and as such is effected by the terrain

EDIT: GOOD NEWS EVERYONE I've just found a way around the walls. unfortunatly I had to sacrifice the ships lower speed (enabling light ships to run away) but the good news is it works

youll have to play with the spring and damping settings, or sacrifice the strafe...

Trust me, aircraft to longer to tune that hovercraft.

increasing the speed worked just fine.

EDIT:

Alright with all the new vehicles coming out I've noticed that they all sound litterally the same. and some even look the same (scouts and sabre varients)

now to achieve some diversity first I will require a "voice actor" to do vocal work for the units (command responses and general chatter "killing something" etc.)

You will have to follow a few guidelines and you'll have to be able to make MANY different kinds of voices from a country guy ("YEEHAW!!! I gottem") to a dedicated ship pilot ("Read you 5 by 5 lead") but for the most part I'll allow you to be creative.

I can't do it cause my microphone is garbage and I can't make that many voices anyway. If you'd like to voice act PM me and offer a sample of your voice acting so I can see what units you can voice act for.

Alright I have yet another question.

is it possible to make a building float really high off the ground? (about 500 ft)

OR

is it possible to FAKE a factory by making it a unit that can't turn or thrust but hovers 500 ft above ground, fyi it must build other units on a platform inside its hull

You can make them float but have a terrain plate on the ground. As an example, look at ZEmod.

a constructor will be much more effecient for what I'm trying to do.

but can a constructor be made to build an object on its own hull (like a factory)

Nope.

damn so close.

well can a constructor effectively build from 500ft in the air? (like REALLY far away) I could treat it like a "teleporting" kind of thing

2ndly

is it possible to make a "Wingman" (as defined by classlabel) deploy/undeploy

NO and NO.

Constructors build on the ground.

Factories build on the first solid thing they find from their HP build location searching downward (could be a part of them).

Wingmen can't deploy.

damn BZ's limits.

fine is it possible for a building or factory to have... nvm dumb question.

I'll stick with the com-link deal.

does anyone know how to set that up?

hmm where would I find that mod, so I can check out the coding.

wait what? what mod. And bZ2's limits are fine, brilliant in TA5. if you're sensible that is...

This thread has totally lost me.

Only MorphTankFriend and MorphTankEnemy can 'morph' or 'deploy', which FYI is exaactly the same thing really, except that morph tanks can change ship completely, whereas deploy is just an animation and some height/weapon changes usually.

Why you would want a constructor to build things on its back i have no idea...i don't even understand how that would ever work.

What you COULD do however, is move the 'special' hardpoint of the constructor up ridiculously high, so its build effect will originate from there, which will look more like a 'beam from space' building it if thats what youre looking for... The constructor model wont look right for that kind of thing though. I suggest you delete the treads of the ISDF comm vehicle, and use it as a hover-constructor XSI, so it looks like some sort of communicator. Other than that i have no idea...

actually what I was planning is to have my model monkey (rocket) create a "star destroyer" Type of capital ship with cannons and the like (only 5 hard points but I can make it work) that would float about 250 to 300ft above the ground (barely in site range) and build all the aircraft units as well as some "Orbital Strike" units.

the reason I want it to use the constructors scripting is because I want it to be able to move (granted its VERY slowly) so it can attack SOME land based enemies with orbital strike (special) chain guns (anti-air support) and Missiles (both)

The main problem with that is that the constructor itself has no "build" hard point that I can find. If I had a choice I'd make it a constructor that builds the units in a special hanger on the lower half of the ship but it doesn't look like I can do that.

having a capital ship will completely change the rules of engagement in BZ2 especially with the new fighters I'm putting in.


EDIT:
Also take note that a constructor CAN act as a factory, given proper scripting it will build units instead of buildings, and constructors also use the function keys instead of #'s. so you can have up to 10 of them in 1 group even if they aren't the same.

On top of that you can have constructors build other constructors, so if you want a constructor to act as a building, simply remove its movement abilities entirely, as for clicking the ground to build, I haven't figured out a way to change that yet.

I can put a cons on a base slot. I've done it before.

A don't see it as a good solution for what you want to do as you need flat ground 9right under it if it is immobile) to build building OR units on.

There has to be some way to do this. It can't be impossible (still testing things btw)

I just gotta find that bit of code that forces the constructor to build on flat ground, then find the piece of code that forces buildings to build on a hard point.

and switch them. (granted there's a fair chance that won't work)


EDIT: hmmm there's nothing in the vehicle ODF that would point to any hard-point or construction command. so I can only assume its caused by the class label (which is probably hard coded)

hp_special, is where the build laser emits from.

Is the constructor class use able with a conventional hover class unit? As I recall one of TV's units could fire a power up instead of conventional ordinance. Could other things like buildings be deployed/built as well? Units like the Cerb Demon deploy other units like drones. Why not a buliding? BNG.

From pb4a (I think) Hovering constructors are possible, I have one In LOS.

[CraftClass]
PathingType = 0 // -1 = auto, 0 = Hover, 1 = Walker, 2 = Person, 3 = Tracked, 4 = Flyer

[HoverCraftClass]
with all the usual stuff...

so it "IS" possible.

does it still use scrap? and take build orders?

*points up* What I'm trying to do is build a capital class ship that floats high up in the air but the game isn't agreeing with me.

oh and 2nd I was just wondering is it possible to adjust the range of the constructors build beam

It works JUST like a normal cons, only thing is now the model doesn't need to include foot helpers if you set it to use hover pathing.

Just like a normal constructor... so your capital ship would struggle to fly over a hill and probably choose to fly round it, it may look very odd if you asked it to fly over your base as it carefully negotiates each building 300 feet bellow it...PathingType = 4  may well sort that out though.
The art of bz2 modding involves allot of doing what the game will let you, and giving up on idea's that just don't work, Bz2 is NOT a fight simulator.

I don't know about the build beam, simple fact is that the cons won't build until it is close to where you told it to build. I would guess that height is not involved in this calculation, but I could be wrong.
Maybe this setting will help you see it from a distance.
[Render]
maxDist = x

Alright so it "could" work and FYI I know its not a flight simulator, but you have to admit one thing. The only reason aircraft aren't working (I mean like real aerodynamics not hovercraft with high height) is because the AI like to strafe when their attacking buildings.

Well this task appears to require scripting I haven't seen or aren't aware of. So can I get a little more direct assistance? (Just like my flash programming I don't beg for code, but I would like to know where to look to learn it at least)

atm I can't even get the constructor to hover 300ft (again probably cause its a "walker") and I did experiment with the building, I can't recreate what your talking about unfortunately. Do I need to script a "gun" for this or is there some other way to do it.


EDIT: Oh look *points at forum rank* I'm a drunken constructor, how Ironic.

Its not and was never a walker. It is a hovertank which faked walker physics (hence the need for foot helpers).
Be sure that you have a dummyroot, makes things easier and is determined by the engine as the center point.

Dropping buildings which own terrain is IMPOSSIBLE or atleast will cause TONS of bugs and oddities. (Cons should be working i would think)

Just so you know, build meshes are LOCKED to the ground by the code. If not there, then a terrain_h baseplate. Thats it, no getting around that. BTW, you should say 'ODF' rather than 'Scripting', im not sure half the time if youre talking about C++ or ODF files.

you can also set strafe time to 0 for aircraft via the new settings, and FYI there flight plans dont change whatsoever. You need to see that BZ2 takes no concept of 'height' when pathing around things, or flying either. BZ2's pathing code is 2-dimensional, and that wont ever change.

Class labels are hardcoded, and you need to correct aiName and ODF [Header's] to make a constructor work. classlabels tell BZ2 what kind of object it is, and unfortunately for you there is no 'flying constructor that flies through the air ignoring all buildings and terrain slopes and builds units and buildings or whatever'.

The constructor wont build until its close to the build location like MrTwoSheds says, and height unfortunately IS taken into consideration, because its a general distance from object calculation i believe.

Also, youre capitcal ship will HAVE to be a building to be able to build items AND have mounted turrets. The turrets will have to be tapped onto a 'factory' class, or other [PoweredBuildingClass].

Constructors will NOT fire weapons. Their AI has no knowledge of them, and you will probably AV if you tried. Put simply there is NO WAY to have a capital ship that hovers 300 feet in the air that can move, fire multiple weapons from different turrets at the enemy AND build things. its simply NOT possible.

Quote
Constructors will NOT fire weapons. Their AI has no knowledge of them, and you will probably AV if you tried. Put simply there is NO WAY to have a capital ship that hovers 300 feet in the air that can move, fire multiple weapons from different turrets at the enemy AND build things. its simply NOT possible.

Suggested tip for new modders: (1) find something that works 99% of the way you want it to. (2) Change that last 1%. (3) find something that works 98% of the way you want it to. (5) Change that last 2%. (5..N) Repeat, with larger percentages.

BZ2 works in particular ways. If you go with those ways, you'll be able to create things. If you try and go against those ways, you're likely to be hammering your head on the wall for hours. That's why it's best to start small in your tweaks, rather than saying "I want to recreate Tetris (or any other game that is really rather not like stock BZ2 gameplay), why doesn't BZ2 make that easy?"

-- GSH

alright alright. so

1.\ A constructor Can't and Won't fire guns
2.\ A constructor is ground based. period
3.\ There is no way to increase a constructors building distance.
4.\ Even if I did manage to bypass all that (which I won't) It would still get stuck going around things.
5.\ A Constructor cannot be edited to build from a hard-point (A.K.A. building on itself)

am I missing anything else on the "constructors can't do this" list?

btw I figure this is just way to much wall-head-banging, I can just as easily get away with making a star ship that doesn't build at all that has turrets, or has timed drones that attack targets. (Greenheart and commando did that with ivdrone_c after a while the unit dies but it is an individual unit)

oh and 2ndly the game can be made to slightly take height into consideration, ivdrone_c uses a "minimum" height in its coding, of course the AI doesn't completely agree with this, but it will cruise at this height (about 40 meters I think) till it finds something to attack, then it heads straight for the target.


EDIT: I'm not being ignorant of the game limits, I'm just trying to see what I can get away with. This is just as much a learning experience as it is fun.

EDIT2: btw thanks for the info so far

Quote
1.\ A constructor Can't and Won't fire guns
2.\ A constructor is ground based. period
3.\ There is no way to increase a constructors building distance.
4.\ Even if I did manage to bypass all that (which I won't) It would still get stuck going around things.
5.\ A Constructor cannot be edited to build from a hard-point (A.K.A. building on itself)

am I missing anything else on the "constructors can't do this" list?

You're going about it the wrong way, focusing on what they can't do. Why not play the game (and mods), and see what constructors do? Odds are, that's what they *can* do. Seek to change 1% of that behavior as your first step (see above). There's usually not a ton of options waiting to be used by you and only you -- when I make changes, they're noted in the changelog, so everyone has access to the same info as to what's now possible.

-- GSH

I was being a bit sarcastic and frustrated. I've noticed the last page was loaded with posts about what constructors can't do instead of potential alternatives.

except the building idea of course.

I'll take your advice though. thanks.

The newest ship finished thanks to rockets modeling.

(http://i29.tinypic.com/fejk3b.jpg)

Looks good, but weapons should be in front to avoid clipping.

(Support, Role, Dual)

I don't understand what you mean by weapon clipping. do you mean the ship "hitting itself" by accident?

Yeh occasionally (depends on the ships shape really), weapons will hit the ship they are fired from. If im not mistaken they pass straight through, but it looks ugly as sin.

I think youll probably get away with that model fine. Rocket just needs to work on his UVMapping skills, but then who am i to talk when i cant do any modelling unless its CAD :P

Remember that there are easy ways to make a flying capital class ship. Okay heres a similar idea.

Allow the constructor (youre regular one) to build bio-metal pools on the ground. These pools would (ideally) need to be just as big as you're capital ship, so it would heavily restrict the areas where you can build it. What you do is MASK off the pool (thankyou GSH for this), and restrict is against stock scavengers or rescource scavengers of any kind.

Now, you make a hover scavenger, with BoxCollide = 1 (to save wierd things happening on the ground), that is the vehicle version of youre ship. Now remember that while in 'hover scavenger' state, its NOT possible to have the thing firing weapons. In this state however (and with PathingType = 4), you will be able to get the ship around the map, but it wont engage.

You can mask this 'scavenger' to deploy ONLY on the special pool you created for it, and when it does, it transforms into a factoryClass building. From this building (which enters the baseSLot's when built), you can build small fighters etc and even have as many tapped gun turrets as you like (FYI, i made a ship that had about 40 tapped turrets... OOOOOO the lag).

When you've annihalated the area you want to, just undeploy it by 'upgrading' it back into its scavenger form, which will promptly remove the turrets. The only issue is, any turrets that were lost or destroyed with be re-generated again regardless if you re-deploy it. You can however make it so that it replaces the scrap pool, and it never comes back.

*Wheeze. There :P, try that one on for size. I did something similar a while back, but never released said variant (aka starship variant), because i lost interest in it and started my mod. Oh that and it looked awful from the outside. You can see the screenshots of it here though:

http://www.bz2md.com/smf/index.php?topic=2207.0

ignore the fact its in serenesis board, and ignore the first pic entirely, none of this is in the mod.

O.O That's a wonderful idea.

is it possible to deploy it "Without" a pool? that would be a much better alternative.

if its not possible I understand.


EDIT: I've been thinking of an alternative inspired by star trek concerning "dry-docks"

I'm aware its not possible or at least "very hard" to fool the constructor into thinking its a factory, But going off what was mentioned in the last page, I'm now aware that the constructor must be landed or "deployed" to build.

Taking this into consideration, it might be reasonable to instead have a factory that builds "construction drones" instead of vehicles.

Of course the drones would need to move quickly and hover rather high but fortunately would fulfill their roll as small factories.

Now my question isn't "is this possible" my question is "is this plausible". As useful as drones can be, sometimes their more of a hindrance then a help. so good idea or bad idea.

Sorry even I'm getting tired of asking questions at this point.

The idea of deploying it without a pool would mean adding invisible treads to it, and making it a recyclervehicle class. There is at the moment no hovering recycler, so the collisions will be awful.

Youre best bet is to stick with the idea i mentioned above, its still hacky, but the ONLY way to get around it.

Remember however youre fake scrap pools dont even have to look like scrap pools, they just need to be 'rescource' class (i think thats the one, check a stock pool to quote me)

As for you're latest idea, it sounds like you have a high building/dry dock thing, and you build these construction drones, just fast hovering constructors, that build units & things? That just sounds silly :P

actually the idea was to have the factory build lots of different construction vehicles like "base cons" "light cons" "medium cons" "heavy cons" "LAC" and "MAC" etc in that fashion.

also a  "AP" cons (constructor that builds like an armory) sounds reasonable but still kind of a pain because you can't tell a constructor to "cue" buildings OR to simply just build, it has to build it on the ground.

to combat this issue I was thinking to make drones "team transferable" so the commander can control who gets what because the constructors will "NEVER" build another constructor or factory (except Recy Cons) which you will only be allowed 1 at a time.

Interesting but that idea will be painfully slow in MP games... and you'll rack the unit limit up quickly with drones flying every which way.

perhaps I could make the system more streamline by getting rid of some of the cons and compiling there build lists.

light, medium, and heavy cons could just simply be (Ground Cons) and LAC, MAC, and HAC could just simply be (Air cons)


EDIT: I'd be posting more ships but rockets on vacation at the moment.

I decided to go with the scavenger pool idea as far as the starship goes, when I was reading it before I didn't see the part in which he stated (Allow the constructor to build the pool)

now instead of a pool I would rather the constructor just clear the ground and have that cleared ground be labeled a "pool"

but what do you mean by "masking"

Masking basically lets you allow certain scavenger types to certain pool types only. Its a bit difficult to get youre head around and i havent 'quite' got it yet, but its basically possible to let your starship ONLY deploy on one pool, if the pool has a matching ODF entry.

I believe you can just use the following:

Pool ODF:
[GameObjectClass]
DepositClassMatch = 2

[ScavengerHClass]
ScavClassMatch = 2

DONT necessarily use those entries, i havent quite got my head around masks yet and the way they are done. However, just for the hell of it, ill post the entry GSH made in the 'changelog' that talks about it.


- Fix for mantis #1521 and #509. Added

[DepositClass]
DepositClassMask = 0
DepositClassMatch = 0
DepositClassProvides = 0

[ScrapClass]
ScrapClassMask = 0
ScrapClassMatch = 0
ScrapClassProvides = 0

[ScavengerHClass] or [ScavengerClass]
ScavClassMask = 0
ScavClassMatch = 0
ScavClassProvides = 0

   These are bitmasks. A pool (deposit) can be selected if, for a
given scav+deposit pair, (ScavClassProvides & [i.e. bitwise and]
DepositClassMask) == DepositClassMatch, and (DepositClassProvides &
ScavClassMask) == ScavClassMatch. Scrap is the same type of match. The
defaults are 0 for mask & match, making existing items all work. But,
if you start setting bits to 1, you can restrict what they match. As
scav masks are used for both deposits & scrap, then you may want to
use bits 0..15 (1..32768) for deposits, and 16..31 (65536 and up) for
scrap matches.

-- Extra expanation #1:

   For example, if a pool wants to restrict access, it could do something
like DepositClassMask = 1, DepositClassMatch = 1. That will remove
access from all scavs, by default, until the scav adds
ScavClassProvides = 1 (or any provides with bit 1 set).

   Alternatively, you could do the matching on the scav. You could do
ScavClassMask = 1, ScavClassMatch = 1. That'd restrict all pools until
the pool puts in DepositClassProvides = 1 (or any provides with bit 1
set).

   Basically, the (SourceProvides & DestMask) must == DestMatch. Note,
if both sides do matching, then it must work symmetrically.

-- Extra explanation #2

   Note: this has *nothing* to do with any race mask/typemasks used
elsewhere. This is a completely new system. If you're not familiar
with binary math, you should probably use Windows's calculator, and
put it into View -> Scientific mode to enable the option to show
binary mode, ANDing, etc. For example, if you have binary value 10110,
you should convert that to decimal mode and get 22, the value to enter
in the ODF. You can also test out ANDing by entering 10110, then press
the 'And' button, and and with 11111, and you'll end up with 10110.
(Anding simply means that for each bit, if both bits are 1 in the
inputs, it'll be 1 in the output. If either (or both) bits are 0 in
the inputs, the result is 0.

   If you're working on restricting access, then you should start off
with the Match param, and work backwards. The default match is 0, and
so you want a combination of Provides AND Mask that equal zero. Note
that the default mask is also 0, so by the rules of binary math,
anything in provides ANDed with Mask 0 equals 0. So, access is
granted.

   If, for example, you decided to set Match to 1, but left Mask at 0,
then it will *always fail*. Why? Because, as above, anything anded
with Mask 0 results in 0, but you're matching 0 against 1. Won't work.
Unless you're aiming for permanent "never match" state, then any bit
set in match must also be set in the mask.

   Bit #1 is decimal value 1. So, if you want to restrict pools, as
above, you could set DepositClassMask = 1, DepositClassMatch = 1. That
will remove access from all scavs, by default, until the scav adds
ScavClassProvides = 1. Or, ScavClassProvides = 3 (binary 11),
ScavClassProvides = 5 (binary 101).

   Another pool could set bit 2 (decimal value 2) DepositClassMask =
2, DepositClassMatch = 2.  That'd prevent default scavs
(ScavClassProvides = 0) from deploying. And, it'll prevent
ScavClassProvides = 1 from working. But, ScavClassProvides = 2 and = 3
will work, because both have bit 2 set.

   Another pool could set bit 3 (decimal value 4) DepositClassMask =
4, DepositClassMatch = 4.  That'd prevent default scavs
(ScavClassProvides = 0) from deploying. And, it'll prevent
ScavClassProvides = 1 from working. But, ScavClassProvides = 4 and = 5
will work, because both have bit 3 set.

   The three examples above restrict based on a single bit being set.
You could also combine bits the same way.


--

   Compiles, but only minimal testing done. [NM]


O.O omg that sounds to easy to be true.

whats the catch?

Alright I got the pool working, other scavs can't deploy on it and my scav can, it can also be upgraded back into a normal scav, and finally I found the "biometal pool" odf, renamed it, and allowed my constructor to build it.

Rockets been gone for a few days and I've got a ton of modeling to do. I've been trying to get blender to work but it won't export correctly although its in the right format (seriously I can't even put a "cube" in the game)

So I either need to learn how to model ASAP or I need another modeler to lighten rockets load cause he has personal matters to attend to or work or whatever really.

Also whoever decides to help will have to know how to add turrets to buildings (as far as the modeling side goes)

so yeah I've got the coding done for the star ship (as far as I can without a model) now I need the model and it'll be ready.

guess i could help...

I can make custom textures or UV model according to existing textures.
I can do animations and models to scale.
I set up everything that the .xsi needs in program and can export to .xsi.

I use 3DS Max, so if you make the base model, export to .3ds and send my way, can make ready for BZ2.

I use blender unfortunately I'm getting 3ds max now sense that seems to be the best program for modeling.

Not that easy, it costs some big money. Personally got my copy from a friend.

damn I'm boned then.

well warfreak do you know how to put turrets on buildings (as far as the modeling side goes)

you can work together with rocket to make the star ship, I already sent him a message with the design idea.
its kind of a mix of "Home world", "Halo 3", and I forgot the name of the third game >.<.


EDIT: the game was starcraft and the ship was the protoss carrier but its only like that ship in the sense that it will launch drones.

(http://i26.tinypic.com/2mezslh.jpg)

Another update, the bomber and it works. dare I say. Better then BZ2's stock bomber AND you can have as many as you like (for now) MWUHAHAHA

i know what game! (i know, be quiet rocket...)  :lol:

do you think i should add some landing gear on there, it's just dragging on the ground right now..  :|

in the original game it didn't have landing gear, and as seen in the game (bz2) it appears to hover ever so slightly (most of the time)

so no, landing gear would look ugly, the only thing that really needs improvement is the bomb size, their almost as big as the day-wrecker itself.

Is that the Firebird off of Halo1 except with rockets strapped to the wings?

Rocket, if you need a custom texture, send the model my way.

Negative my friend :) they do bare a slight resemblance though. the game is WAY older then halo.

EDIT: We're almost to a playable stage everyone, all we need is the starship and for me to clean up the build menu's a bit.

BTW WE STILL NEED VOICE ACTORS!

I can voice act real good, got the best software in the business. Send me lines though, I don't like making them up.

English, but not a stereotypical posh toff :P

I'm glad so many people are willing to help out. At this rate it'll be finished much sooner then expected.

Check my VO recording tutorial for a sample of my work :)

This is my first piece of VO work. It was never used, the mod wasn't released. (http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?zumln5zlmae)

Second VO I made, for a tutorial on how to make them. I'd gotten much better by then. (http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?zmmgzyylzmx)

I suppose I could voice act. I don't have particularly good recording stuff but the voice is supposed to be coming over a radio anyway so...

k

Note: I always respond to people wanting to help through PM, but leave a message on the forum so I can find it easily.

I've begun work on the AIP for my variant.

I got the error to stop (thankfully) but NOW the recycler won't deploy. what am I doing wrong?

Oh and the recycler is named (ivrecylt) idk if that's the one spawning with the variant though because the AIP doesn't appear to account for which recycler is being use, or I don't see where you set the recycler.

EDIT: NO AIP appears to be working. I've used files from the data folder but none are working. I am now convinced that I am putting the file in the wrong place.

The AIP file for my variant is currently in "Addon" is there a problem with that or does it need to be somewhere else?

2ndly the Config File (the middle man, puts the variant in the game) has 2 lines ones IAAIP (instant action AIP) that points to the file and (AIP) that points to the same file.

The error I keep recieving is.

aipltii0 Cannot be found

aipltii1 Cannot be found

aipltii2 Cannot be found

aipltii3 Cannot be found

aipltii4 Cannot be found

EDIT2: NEVER MIND NEVER MIND

I was being a TOTAL MORON, I've got it all worked out, just don't bother answering the above, I got it.

Quick note.

THE LOWER YOUR MIC'S QUALITY THE BETTER, IT ADDS TO THE REALISM!

Sorry, but I had to get that out of my sistem. It really annoys me when people say they won't do voice work because they have a bad mic. Bad mics are best.

Oh I see, I generally refrain from voice work because my mic always "catches the wind" and the sound of the air blowing through the mic sounds horrible.

But I'll give it a shot, I got a recording program.

EDIT1: I'm using cake-walk for my voice recording, I've got the sound as far up as I can get it, and my voice still sounds like a whisper. meanwhile I'm holding the mic right beside my mouth, almost touching my lip and yelling.


EDIT2: Ok I figured something out, I had to use the amp plugin and push the volume all the way up but it sounds about right now.

try placing the microphone a little below your mouth, and it will reduce, if not stop, the "wind" sound that occurs usually.

thanks rocket I've already got most the lines done for the arrow. ahadley is assisting me.

I started using a welders mask to block unwanted ambient sounds for voice recordings and the noise levels have dropped quite nicely, and somewhat gives the voice quality a slightly echoed effect; it's one of those cheap plastic face types similar to those used by riot cops. It looks quite ridiculous, but helps shield out unwanted ambient sounds like the PC, fans, etc.

yeah I got it working background noise isn't a problem. you wanna be a voice actor?

you could just buy a pop shield. google it...

LOL guys its fine. I don't need anymore help with my own mic, I've already got the arrow completely voiced.

I have horrible news.

last night my computer was attacked by a virus I refer to as the "System Restart Loop"

I got the system working again, but my registry got annihilated.

I have my old registry files on my computer in a backup file, how do I put them back in the registry?

EDIT: THE REGISTRY FILES ARE NOT ".reg" THEY'RE ".hive"

I'm aware that I CANNOT put them back in the registry without replacing something

actually does anyone know BZ2's lines in the registry? I can't find them (and my external hard-drive was renamed "F" >.<)

So rename your external drive to what it was previously.

Quote from: Lordtac on August 15, 2009, 02:00:30 AM
actually does anyone know BZ2's lines in the registry? I can't find them (and my external hard-drive was renamed "F" >.<)

BZ2 has 1 line in the registry and it is not required for the program to run. There is a utility on BZScrap to change that as it is what many mod installers look at, so that you can not have to find the folder each time you install something.

Quote from: VSMIT on August 15, 2009, 02:08:49 AM
So rename your external drive to what it was previously.

Thats a good idea unfortunately, I've already reinstalled many of the programs that "were" on it before the crash.

renaming F would be disastrous for the installed programs, I'll take nielks advice.

EDIT: it appears that wasn't it, its calling for something called "d3dx9_41.dll"

EDIT2: OK we're operational again, can't wait to get some fun done

alright everyone I'm going to be taking a LONG trip so I may be gone for about a week.

that doesn't mean everyone stops working on the ships and the mod.

I expect everyone to have there work done in a weeks time. I haven't forgotten your appointed tasks.

while I'm away I'll be drawing ships and models on paper which I will transfer over using a scanner.

wish me luck everyone's been telling me this is a dangerous trip.

Everything turned out WONDERFULLY I feel so accomplished and pumped up. I'll be working extra hard now sense everything worked out so nicely.

Wow, these are amazing! Good to see aircrafts finally being used extensively in the game.

P.S. Are you still interested in modeling/weapon help? PM or email me if you are.

Yeah just don't use the Arrow to attack buildings, they'll be annihilated.

I can model too but i don't know how to do animation or hard points very well.

I'll do models for you.

I also will want to look at the next release before it comes out to look into your file arrangement.

I can make models for you, too.  But be forewarned: I have a lot of classes, and your models may not be done in a timely fashion.  Depends on what you want and when you give it to me.

At the moment I need (by order of importance)

1- DLL scripters (to see about my tech tree idea and if it would even work in multiplayer)

2- Modelers who can Animate (make walkers)

3- ODF specialists (whether it be weapons vehicles or buildings to assist with the tech tree idea)

4- Voice Actors (Almost ALL new vehicles are voiceless a.t.m. I need actors)

5- AIP editors (No work for AIP editors a.t.m. but I'll need them when the mod is finished)

6- Map editors (same as AIP editors, I'll need them to rework maps for MIP variants.)

I can design walkers which other people can animate. I'm working on the animation thing. just learning blenders animation stuff.

Quote from: Clavin12 on September 10, 2009, 01:35:22 AM
I can design walkers which other people can animate. I'm working on the animation thing. just learning blenders animation stuff.

Don't bother with Blender's animation just yet; OM's exporter doesn't export it properly (threed-like, and in Euler rotations which BZ doesn't support).

Quote from: Lordtac on September 08, 2009, 05:25:54 AM
Tech Level 4
ISDF Experimental Units (star ship for now)

A Krogoth is much needed here :-D.

Quote from: Lordtac on September 09, 2009, 10:37:39 PM
At the moment I need (by order of importance)
1- DLL scripters (to see about my tech tree idea and if it would even work in multiplayer)
5- AIP editors (No work for AIP editors a.t.m. but I'll need them when the mod is finished)
6- Map editors (same as AIP editors, I'll need them to rework maps for MIP variants.)

FACT: The minute you get .dll scripting and map changes involved, or either one of the two, its NOT a recycler variant anymore. Its a mod.

To get anything working via .dll in terms of what you're trying to achieve means changing the stock .dll's, and that means bad assets if you do that to stock. You will have to turn youre recycler variant into a MOD if you want custom .dll work for it.

AIP's don't matter so much, they can be given to stock so long as you know everyone of you're clients has the AIP's if you want to use them.

Editing maps is another big no-go unless its a brand-new map included with the variant, even then theres no real need to unless youre creating very specialist AIP's or you want to use a custom .dll.

Either way, this is going much further than a recycler variant now.

Added as a separate post because its important:

- Asking for help is one thing, but be careful you don't 'demand' it. My mod has been running now for over a year in the background, and i only have 4 people on the team, and even then not much has happened except from my end (from what i can tell, i never know what the others are up to).

Its VERY unlikely people will offer to animate walkers for you. Its a bitch. VSMIT's still working on the four-legged AAN 'Landstalker' for my mod, and although hes been side-tracked by the new 1.3 CP, its not an easy task at all.

Thanks for the advice jamsh

we found a way to do the tech tree idea WITHOUT messing with the DLL's. Nielk knows a bit about DLL's so I'll ask him if we need to mess with them to change something.

To demand is to force someone to work for you.

To ask is to want someone to work for you but not force.

I never demand anything unless its absolutely necesarry to make something work.

IE- Bill gate's money would be required to land a residential station on the moon.

I can do walkers.

Only if your not to busy VSMIT.

Jamsh says your already busy on 2 other mods

Neither of the two(three) major mods have gone anywhere.

understood.

Check your PM's in the next few mins for your task

@ VSMIT = oi :P. mine is, just very secretly...

But yeh LT try to keep it as ODF-based as possible, it makes it much more user-friendly in the end :)

yeah ODF's seem to be able to do much more then I previously though

They are. They're really easy too.

just posting to let everyone know the mod is still in production, we're just working on the tech tree a.t.m.

and also to the other modders, the twiddla page is empty because I can't fit the tree on it, I have to use MS-Paint for now

I'm gonna end up really slowed down here, production has stepped up on my major project (the addon pack)

(http://i34.tinypic.com/6egebc.jpg)

the above post is what I've got of the tech tree so far, its pretty simple (looking)

tech trees always came to me better when ingame.. :lol:

we're not dead yet, Did some work on the tech tree and have been working on what units to add into the game.

Nielk is being very helpful, everyone else is to busy

if ANYONE has any freetime (modelers, gun coders, effect specialists) Contact me VIA pm we need more help

I'm busy and semi-helpful. :-P

Tech Tree is DONE we are back on modeling and units

Got a mic but it doesn't like W7 atm.

thats why I don't get vista or W7

Quote from: AHadley on November 19, 2009, 06:42:02 PM
Got a mic but it doesn't like W7 atm.

What doesn't Win7 like about it?

Just won't see the thing. Same as my iPod. Recognises there's hardware, so it's probably drivers. I'm working on it.

Odd.  My USB Headset was PnP.

It didn't like my graphics drivers, or my iPod drivers, looks like it doesn't like my sound drivers either. Shouldn't be a problem to fix.

LOL I knew win7 was a trap.

I'm looking forward to having you back to work ahadley tell me when its fixed (or when your ready to downgrade to XP or whatever you had before)

Downgrade? Eurgh.

Think I've got it fixed. Something to do with using Stero Mix for audio capture... I'm still learning :lol: