Modded AIPs in Public Beta 4

[Commando]

To those of you making any mods for 1.3 Public Beta 4, you WILL need to correct either your AIPs or your odfs.

1.  AIPs can be corrected by adding checkProvides = false under the [Start] header.

checkProvides defaults to true and causes the ai team to check for objects using the provideNames AND NOT THE ODF NAME.  Setting checkProvides to false causes the ai to check for the odf name only which is the way previous versions of bz2 have behaved.

[Start]
checkProvides = false

2.  You can update your odfs by increasing your provideCount by 1 and adding the odf name to that new provideName# setting.

For steevo's antenna mound.

provideCount = 2
provideName1 = "fbantm"
provideName2 = "fbantm_st"

[Steeveeo]

steevo

WRONG!

lol how come nobody can spell/pronounce my name right?


Back to the point, thank you for the info Commando (and GreenHeart over MSN), will test this out.

[mrtwosheds]

An excellent change I think. Having to specify each odf name in aip plans is a major headache for those who wish to make complex plans and use multiple variants of units or buildings.
guntowers now have

provideCount = 2
provideName1 = "fbspir"
provideName2 = "defender"

so send attack units to attack "defender"

All recyclers are "Recy" so no more loosing everything only to have the aip not attack ibrecy_m because all the aip,s are looking for ibrecy.

so set checkProvides = True
And alter your attack plans to the 2nd provide name.


noticed this in ivwalkdm

provideCount = 4
provideName2 = "ivwalkdm"
provideName3 = "assault"
provideName4 = "DefendUnit"

[mrtwosheds]

Noticed that all units/buildings do not yet have generic non racial provideNames
eg
provideCount = 1
provideName1 = "ivturr"

It would be good if they did.
I would even consider doing it myself.

[Warfreak]

hmmm, this would actually open doors to allowing similar races to use the same AIP's

ex: EDF and Hadean use similar build plans (pwr,gtows,tech,train,fact,recy,sbay,etc) So the first 2-3 AIPs that set up these basic structs could actually be done using the same AIPs in a sence. And then the diffrences (bomberbay for edf, Upgrd Fact for hadean) could use the remaining AIPs. Jsut a suggestion for modders with similar Races in their mods. 

[Commando]

I'm glad you liked the feature mrtwosheds.  Once GSH added that feature, I spent a good day updating the odfs with the provideNames.

I can go over them again adding the generic label for public beta 5 if there will be one.

[Commando]

Just FYI, the checkProvides = false will not be needed in public beta 4a.  The engine will check for both odf matches AND provideNames when checkProvides = true in pb4a.  Currently it only checks one or the other.  If checkProvides = true, only provideNames are used.  If it is false, only odf matches are used.  With pb4a, both will be used when checkProvides is true and only odf matches will be used when checkProvides is false.

[mrtwosheds]

Thanks for that, You just saved me from a long protracted nightmare of writing and testing aip's that would not have worked properly.

[mrtwosheds]

Commando
Would it be a good idea to remove the racial identifiers from providenames?
eg

provideName1 = "vcons"

or

provideName1 = "vturr"

This would cause any other race units owned by a team to be targeted by an aip. Like a sniped turret for example.
Just an idea.

[GSH]

If you do that, I'd prefer to use the names in ScriptUtils.h, e.g.

   //   "CLASS_CONSTRUCTIONRIG" // ConstructionRig.h
   //   "CLASS_TURRETTANK" // TurretTank.h - ivturr/fvturr (vehicle turrets)

That way, there's less mistaking it for a "real" ODF, and the type matches up with what the DLL would use to query.

-- GSH

[Red Devil]

I was going to ask that that be added in 5, but I didn't know you could do it now.