Home » PLAYER'S HQ 1.13 » v1.13 General Gameplay Talk » back to JA2 after a long hiatus
back to JA2 after a long hiatus[message #344791] Tue, 29 March 2016 11:11 Go to next message
zango is currently offline zango

 
Messages:128
Registered:January 2005
Location: India
Finally hope to find personal time - family going on vacation for a couple of weeks leaving me behind. I should be able to play JA2 again! YaY!!

Will JA2 work on Windows 10? Windows 7?

Report message to a moderator

Sergeant
Re: back to JA2 after a long hiatus[message #344792 is a reply to message #344791] Tue, 29 March 2016 11:28 Go to previous messageGo to next message
silversurfer

 
Messages:2793
Registered:May 2009
Windows 7 works for sure, Windows 10 should work if one follows the advice in "Docs\Windows Compatibility Fixes" folder.


Wildfire Maps Mod 6.07 on SVN: https://ja2svn.mooo.com/source/ja2/branches/Wanne/JA2%201.13%20Wildfire%206.06%20-%20Maps%20MOD

Report message to a moderator

Lieutenant
Re: back to JA2 after a long hiatus[message #344794 is a reply to message #344792] Tue, 29 March 2016 13:24 Go to previous messageGo to next message
zango is currently offline zango

 
Messages:128
Registered:January 2005
Location: India
Thank you! Will try it out. Looking forward to days and nights of pure joy listening to these characters babble as they go around blowing enemy heads off! happy

Report message to a moderator

Sergeant
Re: back to JA2 after a long hiatus[message #344830 is a reply to message #344794] Fri, 01 April 2016 14:33 Go to previous messageGo to next message
zango is currently offline zango

 
Messages:128
Registered:January 2005
Location: India
Started playing. Damn this is so addictive happy - i promised myself 1 hour of play time last night at 10. Slept at 2.00 am - don't know what smiley is appropriate - happy for the pleasure of the addictive play time or angry for the lost sleep

happy)

Report message to a moderator

Sergeant
Re: back to JA2 after a long hiatus[message #344859 is a reply to message #344830] Mon, 04 April 2016 13:12 Go to previous messageGo to next message
zango is currently offline zango

 
Messages:128
Registered:January 2005
Location: India
whole days and nights of the weekend went in playing this.
The most fun is - as many point out - in the early part of the game. After that, once you've got a ton of money, no more quests other than to kill Diedranna, access to all the map using vehicles/helicopter, it does get repetitive. Not boring. I could play another sector after finishing the last, promising myself this would be the last happy

Anyway, I don't know why the enemy is attacking the cities/sam sites/ and even sectors on the city borders in hordes - 60+ enemies in one shot! - this is definitely tiring. I can't defend the cities which have so much enemy presence. Get severely outflanked with small squads - only option then is to flee - and reenter from a different direction - but that is not easy or fun to play.

I remember when I played long long ago - I made changes to ini file by hand. I knew then (through forum posts) which settings did what. I had tried the expert mode of 32 enemies per sector and that got tough after a while with enemies attacking in similar hordes and wiping out the militia.

I also know the INI Editor is supposed to help with the init settings similarly.

Now the number of settings has gone way too high. I don't know which setting I'm looking for. Also at this stage of the game, don't think I can make those changes either without making the game fail to start my save games.

Report message to a moderator

Sergeant
Re: back to JA2 after a long hiatus[message #344866 is a reply to message #344859] Mon, 04 April 2016 17:38 Go to previous messageGo to next message
edmortimer is currently offline edmortimer

 
Messages:1533
Registered:January 2015
Location: Home Free
First -- don't use the INI Editor. It has not been updated for all the new tags and will delete them if you save any changes made in it.

The mass troops are caused by the massive counter-attack option, which is set ON by default. You can turn it off in JA2Options.INI. Search for TRIGGER_MASSIVE_ENEMY_COUNTERATTACK_AT_DRASSEN = TRUE, and change it to false. Also, search for NEW_AGGRESSIVE_AI. That is set to FALSE by default, and if true will cause massive counter-attacks at all cities.

Many players don't like the massive counter-attacks, but I do. Of course, in my mod, Arulco Vacations, I re-worked the morale/reputation system so the Player can retreat, hit and run, and raid without dire consequences to morale and reputation. In vanilla 1.13 that is not possible without serious morale/reputation problems. I think the massive counter-attacks are a good strategic and tactical challenge that is realistic. Defeating them requires advance planning and good tactical decisions. You can delay the massive counter-attacks by not taking all the sectors of a city, as it is triggered when you control the entire city.

As for SAM sites and other sectors being attacked in force -- once the massive counter-attack is triggered, and those forces are on-map and moving about without restrictions (i.e. they've retaken the town and haven't suffered many losses) they can end up being a real pain just about anywhere (though the Queen does have prorities, which are set in ArmyComposition.XML and PatrolGroups.XML in TableData\Army).

Report message to a moderator

Sergeant Major
Re: back to JA2 after a long hiatus[message #344873 is a reply to message #344866] Tue, 05 April 2016 16:04 Go to previous messageGo to next message
zango is currently offline zango

 
Messages:128
Registered:January 2005
Location: India
Thank you! Did that but lost interest in continuing this round.
I started watching the "Let's play" on Youtube by Moerges and got a few hints on character selection and his style of play (daylight attacks, character traits such as huntsman, ..)

So I started another experienced round. Created the IMP merc with huntsman, auto weapons and scouting as the traits.
Also recruited Moses(@#!#@#!), Bud (!@#!@#), Leech, Steroid(superb merc IMO), Bull (another underrated merc). All have high marksmanship. Moses has high wisdom too!
Finished Omerta quickly and then recruited Ira at the rebel hideout. This team of 7 then set out to San Mona immediately. I thought I'd learnt tricks from Moerges so I could play in the daylight. And I couldn't have been more wrong!

Just outside Omerta we ran into 7 red shirts. I thought this would be easy.

Moses - despite his high intelligence - is losing stats! Misses shots at very close range with full aim!
Bud misses shots at close range with full aim.
Leech misses (not as many but still most) shots at close range with full aim.
Steroid and Bull are better than these mercs with higher stats! What am I missing? (of course I realize the game has a lot of other things in it's calculations - guns, teams the mercs are in, other character traits, etc) in deciding the chances to hit, but bud missing each and every shot using his gun which has a range of 18 (match ammo) while bull and Ira sitting close by get them using their much poorer guns.

So, I abandoned this fight and restarted in Omerta. Decided I will avoid fighting in day time and switch back to my tried and tested night ops.
Walked the troops to San Mona. Had a fight in the Shady Lady sector with 4 yellow shirts - this was easier but not very much - but Moses showed that he's going to continue losing stats - health (-1), dexterity (-1), marksmanship(-2). I had him for 7 days too! angry - he's going to go off my team soon.

Then made money with fist fights in San Mona. Went to Tony but he didn't have good stuff to sell. I sold off some pistols. Extended Bud by a week. Steroid and Bull had been recruited for a week. Extended Leech by a day.

Then I walked out towards Chitzena. Night was falling.

Starting sector outside San Mona had 12 enemies. Night ops - I thought I'd do well. I was mistaken.

We opened the fight standing next to 3 grey shirts! Already!

Bull finished one off with a throwing knife. Steroid ran upto another and finished him off. The third was already going to be alerted and I had no other silenced weapons/throw knifes, so I decided to engage into a battle with guns booming.

The enemy started running in, I got interrupts, Bud and Leech started to fare better, but Bull and Steroid were still the better marksmen.

And Moses dropped another Marksmanship point!

Finished this sector. Got great guns for this early in the game. Val 76/Druganov SVD with PSO1 scope/M4A1/Ruger Minis/AUG rifles. No need for these pistols/shot guns any more!

Took all this equipment, went to Tony, sold the excess guns off, rescued Maria and sat down to repair equipment/train stats using Bull (strength) and Leech (Marksmanship) on some mercs. Moses doesn't gain any points even when learning.

Saw Maria and Angel off the next day, and stopped playing. Now my team is equipped to go to Drassen with plenty of days left on their contracts and lot of money in my wallet.

For Moses to loose points, is there a way to stop him from doing so at this point or will I have to restart? He isn't learning new skills but keeps dropping.

Are Bud and Leech not as good as their stats suggest?


Thank you for reading.











Report message to a moderator

Sergeant
Re: back to JA2 after a long hiatus[message #344875 is a reply to message #344873] Tue, 05 April 2016 17:06 Go to previous messageGo to next message
CVB is currently offline CVB

 
Messages:129
Registered:September 2014
Location: Berlin
Moses indeed loses stats, I guess Alzheimer's has set in (that's controlled by a setting in MercProfiles.xml, BTW)

Had no problems with Leech and Bud, so can't comment on that



Peace is a purely theoretical state of affairs whose existence we deduce because there have been intervals between wars.
J. Pournelle

Report message to a moderator

Sergeant
Re: back to JA2 after a long hiatus[message #344876 is a reply to message #344875] Tue, 05 April 2016 17:16 Go to previous messageGo to next message
zango is currently offline zango

 
Messages:128
Registered:January 2005
Location: India
Any idea why I ran into grey shirts on my 3rd battle in the game?

Report message to a moderator

Sergeant
Re: back to JA2 after a long hiatus[message #344877 is a reply to message #344876] Tue, 05 April 2016 17:21 Go to previous messageGo to next message
edmortimer is currently offline edmortimer

 
Messages:1533
Registered:January 2015
Location: Home Free
Because you went to San Mona . . . they vacation there.

Report message to a moderator

Sergeant Major
Re: back to JA2 after a long hiatus[message #344878 is a reply to message #344877] Tue, 05 April 2016 17:22 Go to previous messageGo to next message
zango is currently offline zango

 
Messages:128
Registered:January 2005
Location: India
Great - then I can expect that now going to Drassen and onwards is going to be a breeze - nice guns I've got for the job. Back to killing off the baddies!

Report message to a moderator

Sergeant
Re: back to JA2 after a long hiatus[message #344883 is a reply to message #344878] Tue, 05 April 2016 20:53 Go to previous messageGo to next message
zango is currently offline zango

 
Messages:128
Registered:January 2005
Location: India
I am wrong and more wrong! I am near Omerta now. And this gets tougher and tougher. Did the hike to San Mona make the game AI advance its powers beyond my current capabilities?

this just is crazy angry - being attacked by mustard gas/tear gas mortars, and bombarded after being detected. (saw in one video on youtube that now you can ask by radio for bombarding other sectors)? All enemies are elites now. This is my 4th battle only angry And I am only playing experienced. Should I go back to novice!?

Enemies are hitting me, I'm not able to hit them. What the !@#$!@#!!

[Updated on: Tue, 05 April 2016 20:58]

Report message to a moderator

Sergeant
Re: back to JA2 after a long hiatus[message #344895 is a reply to message #344883] Wed, 06 April 2016 10:46 Go to previous messageGo to next message
LatZee is currently offline LatZee

 
Messages:185
Registered:December 2015
Just to mention that with NCTH, marksmanship is only equally as important for shooting as dexterity and wisdom (logic probably being that marksmanship is how good is someone at shooting target in controlled environment, eg a shooting range, but in combat it's all important). That makes your guys very mediocre shooters, Moses has dismal dexterity, Steroid has both bad dex and wis, Leech has bad wis, and so on. Literally they are probably no better than Ira with her low marksmanship but high dex and wis (and it is a lot easier to train marksmanship drastically by just shooting than raise dex and wis).

Also about Moerges lets play, i watched parts of it some time ago, and it is very educational, but its also on very old version 4870, many things work quite differently in newer versions, and is not as easy to play edge of vision games like he does and still shoot accurately with low range weapons. Especially without Meltdown who is a gunslinger/ambidextrous and so gets some extra range on her pistols and kinda carries early game for him.

All of that of course doesn't explain why are you getting blakshirts and stuff like that too early, but just saying big grin

Report message to a moderator

Staff Sergeant
Re: back to JA2 after a long hiatus[message #344898 is a reply to message #344895] Wed, 06 April 2016 11:20 Go to previous messageGo to next message
LatZee is currently offline LatZee

 
Messages:185
Registered:December 2015
And another thing i forgot, Moerges uses hunter IMP because of travelling speed bonuses, but in newer versions (not sure what you're using, so might not be important if it's something like 7435 stable) those bonuses were moved into a minor trait Survival. So hunter doesn't get that anymore.

Report message to a moderator

Staff Sergeant
Re: back to JA2 after a long hiatus[message #344900 is a reply to message #344895] Wed, 06 April 2016 12:50 Go to previous messageGo to next message
silversurfer

 
Messages:2793
Registered:May 2009
LatZee wrote on Wed, 06 April 2016 09:46
Just to mention that with NCTH, marksmanship is only equally as important for shooting as dexterity and wisdom (logic probably being that marksmanship is how good is someone at shooting target in controlled environment, eg a shooting range, but in combat it's all important). That makes your guys very mediocre shooters, Moses has dismal dexterity, Steroid has both bad dex and wis, Leech has bad wis, and so on. Literally they are probably no better than Ira with her low marksmanship but high dex and wis (and it is a lot easier to train marksmanship drastically by just shooting than raise dex and wis).

NCTH is a lot different than OCTH. For importance of attributes one can read through CTHConstants.ini. CTH is calculated from a base part and an aiming part which put different priorities on attributes.
CTHConstants.ini is a good source of information about the NCTH system in general. There are tons of parameters in there and one can completely break his game by changing them without knowing what he's doing. ;-)



Wildfire Maps Mod 6.07 on SVN: https://ja2svn.mooo.com/source/ja2/branches/Wanne/JA2%201.13%20Wildfire%206.06%20-%20Maps%20MOD

Report message to a moderator

Lieutenant
Re: back to JA2 after a long hiatus[message #344901 is a reply to message #344900] Wed, 06 April 2016 13:13 Go to previous messageGo to next message
LatZee is currently offline LatZee

 
Messages:185
Registered:December 2015
silversurfer wrote on Wed, 06 April 2016 11:50

NCTH is a lot different than OCTH. For importance of attributes one can read through CTHConstants.ini. CTH is calculated from a base part and an aiming part which put different priorities on attributes.
CTHConstants.ini is a good source of information about the NCTH system in general. There are tons of parameters in there and one can completely break his game by changing them without knowing what he's doing. ;-)


Sure, I oversimplified a bit (maybe a bit too much even) by claiming that they are equally important big grin but there is no really saving Moses from his 29 dexterity, that is kinda the point i was trying to make big grin didn't want to go into details too much, just wanted to point out that it's not that simple as good marksmanship = good fighter big grin

Report message to a moderator

Staff Sergeant
Re: back to JA2 after a long hiatus[message #344903 is a reply to message #344901] Wed, 06 April 2016 13:46 Go to previous messageGo to next message
silversurfer

 
Messages:2793
Registered:May 2009
LatZee wrote on Wed, 06 April 2016 12:13

Sure, I oversimplified a bit (maybe a bit too much even) by claiming that they are equally important big grin but there is no really saving Moses from his 29 dexterity, that is kinda the point i was trying to make big grin didn't want to go into details too much, just wanted to point out that it's not that simple as good marksmanship = good fighter big grin

This is true. If we look at the weighting of the stats we can see that experience is most important for base CTH which represents 33% of the total CTH value. For aiming we need to have mostly marksmanship and dexterity. So any merc who is especially bad in one of these three will never be a good shooter. Wisdom also doesn't hurt especially as this is important for improving attributes.

Gus should be a very good shooter for example, maybe better than Lynx who lacks a bit on the experience and wisdom part. However, Lynx has the marksman trait which gives him an advantage IF he uses the proper weapon. That is another point in NCTH that players need to remember. For example giving an SMG to a hunter is not the best choice. Instead give him a rifle or shotgun.



Wildfire Maps Mod 6.07 on SVN: https://ja2svn.mooo.com/source/ja2/branches/Wanne/JA2%201.13%20Wildfire%206.06%20-%20Maps%20MOD

Report message to a moderator

Lieutenant
Re: back to JA2 after a long hiatus[message #344911 is a reply to message #344903] Wed, 06 April 2016 19:57 Go to previous messageGo to next message
zango is currently offline zango

 
Messages:128
Registered:January 2005
Location: India
WoW - thanks guys. Thanks a lot for all this information!!
All the missed shots seem to make more sense happy - Meltdown/Fox FTW.
(Steroid isn't bad at all btw, Leech and Bud are missing more than he is - hmmmmm???)

Ofc still leaves the greyshirts, enemy scoring hits with mediocre pistols, and other such question still open. Maybe some corner case in the code has triggered the AI to get more agressive already.

I'll at least get Moses off of my team as soon as I get the chance. He's probably going to stay for training the militia in Drassen anyway.

Report message to a moderator

Sergeant
Re: back to JA2 after a long hiatus[message #344913 is a reply to message #344911] Wed, 06 April 2016 21:07 Go to previous messageGo to next message
silversurfer

 
Messages:2793
Registered:May 2009
I don't know for sure where those blackshirts came from but when you conquer a sector (especially SAM sites) the queen sends troops to take back that sector and these troops can be composed of blackshirts only. Maybe you ran into such group?
Normally you shouldn't meet random patrols that have only blackshirts unless you tinkered with the ini files.

Despite having mostly pistols the enemy soldiers can score hits. They outnumber and outgun you and they send several bullets your way each turn so there is always a chance that a bullet hits its target. The best countermeasure is good cover, armor and of course taking out the opponents before they can fire at you. If all that fails you better have a medic on your team. big grin



Wildfire Maps Mod 6.07 on SVN: https://ja2svn.mooo.com/source/ja2/branches/Wanne/JA2%201.13%20Wildfire%206.06%20-%20Maps%20MOD

Report message to a moderator

Lieutenant
Re: back to JA2 after a long hiatus[message #344920 is a reply to message #344913] Thu, 07 April 2016 09:15 Go to previous messageGo to next message
zango is currently offline zango

 
Messages:128
Registered:January 2005
Location: India
Sadly my time of JA2 fun is coming to an end. I'm going to go join my family on vacation happy

Hopefully will return yet again. Maybe an hour or two of play per week (hah - how an hour of planned time becomes 5-6 hours without realizing it)

Thank you guys for all the hard work on JA2 1.13 and for keeping the legacy of this wonderful game alive.

Report message to a moderator

Sergeant
Re: back to JA2 after a long hiatus[message #345166 is a reply to message #344920] Sun, 24 April 2016 07:18 Go to previous messageGo to next message
BattleGnome is currently offline BattleGnome

 
Messages:60
Registered:April 2016
G'day,

sorry for piggybacking on someone else's forum but I too have been absent from the game for a while and I'm hoping to get some help reinstating some mods and settings I previously used.

When I last played the game I had set random placed NPC's to always appear in certain sectors (Madlab, Vendors, Hamous, Terrorists, etc..) but I cant seem to recall how I did that or find the instructions I used to do it.

Does anyone know how I might go about doing this?

Thanks, Gnome.

P.S. - Just in-case it's important; I'm playing JA2 1.13 with Alruco Revisited Maps, I'm using Windows 7 Pro x64, and except for these mods I cant figure out how to reinstate the game runs perfectly.

Report message to a moderator

Corporal
Re: back to JA2 after a long hiatus[message #345197 is a reply to message #345166] Tue, 26 April 2016 21:16 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Gambigobilla

 
Messages:693
Registered:July 2008
In your profile folder there should be a Ja2_Options.ini file. Open it and find ENABLE_ALL_TERRORISTS and set it to TRUE. I believe non-terrorist RPC always appear but they are either mobile or their location is randomized in each game. Finding them is a part of game.

A little information; profile folder means the folder JA2 reads gamedata from. For basic 1.13 installations profile folder is "Data-1.13".

Report message to a moderator

First Sergeant
Re: back to JA2 after a long hiatus[message #345201 is a reply to message #345197] Wed, 27 April 2016 07:59 Go to previous messageGo to next message
BattleGnome is currently offline BattleGnome

 
Messages:60
Registered:April 2016
That's the point, I don't want them to be randomized. I've played this game through so many times that looking for these characters becomes a chore. I don't want to search for Madlab, Skyrdier, Hamous, etc... I want to know exactly where they are before I start the game so that I can spend my time fighting the queen not wading through swamps looking for an NPC.

I have since found a way to set locations for Madlab and Joey but still can't recall how to set locations for;
Skyrider.
Carmen.
Devin.
Mickey.
Terrorist (I don't think these could be set for each individual but you could control the possible sectors for them to appear)

I'm sure there are others with randomized locations that I can't think of right now...

[Updated on: Wed, 27 April 2016 08:02]

Report message to a moderator

Corporal
Re: back to JA2 after a long hiatus[message #345205 is a reply to message #345201] Wed, 27 April 2016 09:42 Go to previous messageGo to next message
silversurfer

 
Messages:2793
Registered:May 2009
There are parameters <sSectorX>, <sSectorY> and <sSectorZ> in MercProfiles.xml that allow to set the starting sector for certain NPCs. This is already used for some terrorists. Others are set to 0 which randomly places them from a list of predefined sectors. If you want to place the terrorists manually you have to put them in on one of the predefined sectors or they will not show up on the map.

Toggle Spoiler



Wildfire Maps Mod 6.07 on SVN: https://ja2svn.mooo.com/source/ja2/branches/Wanne/JA2%201.13%20Wildfire%206.06%20-%20Maps%20MOD

Report message to a moderator

Lieutenant
Re: back to JA2 after a long hiatus[message #345222 is a reply to message #345205] Fri, 29 April 2016 03:31 Go to previous messageGo to next message
BattleGnome is currently offline BattleGnome

 
Messages:60
Registered:April 2016
I tried editing MercProfiles.xml but it didn't seem to have the desired effect. Should I edit MercProfiles.201623Apr.xml instead?

Report message to a moderator

Corporal
Re: back to JA2 after a long hiatus[message #345224 is a reply to message #345222] Fri, 29 April 2016 09:13 Go to previous messageGo to next message
silversurfer

 
Messages:2793
Registered:May 2009
Have you started a new game? As far as I know this will only have an effect in new games.


Wildfire Maps Mod 6.07 on SVN: https://ja2svn.mooo.com/source/ja2/branches/Wanne/JA2%201.13%20Wildfire%206.06%20-%20Maps%20MOD

Report message to a moderator

Lieutenant
Re: back to JA2 after a long hiatus[message #345225 is a reply to message #345224] Fri, 29 April 2016 09:22 Go to previous messageGo to next message
BattleGnome is currently offline BattleGnome

 
Messages:60
Registered:April 2016
Yes I have. I set skyrider and Hamous to be in defined sectors and then started three new games and went looking for them. I found skyrider where i expected him to be in only one game and I didn't find hamous in any of them.

Report message to a moderator

Corporal
Re: back to JA2 after a long hiatus[message #345229 is a reply to message #345225] Fri, 29 April 2016 13:57 Go to previous messageGo to next message
silversurfer

 
Messages:2793
Registered:May 2009
Ok, the method I described was for the terrorists. I doubt that you can simply place other NPCs like that. It's code dependent which NPCs can be manually placed.


Wildfire Maps Mod 6.07 on SVN: https://ja2svn.mooo.com/source/ja2/branches/Wanne/JA2%201.13%20Wildfire%206.06%20-%20Maps%20MOD

Report message to a moderator

Lieutenant
Re: back to JA2 after a long hiatus[message #345230 is a reply to message #345229] Fri, 29 April 2016 14:35 Go to previous messageGo to next message
BattleGnome is currently offline BattleGnome

 
Messages:60
Registered:April 2016
Bugger!

The way I interpreted the text in MercProfiles.xml seemed to imply that I could place them. That's frustrating.

I believe I found a way to set the location for Madlab and Joey using Data-1.13\Mod_Settings.ini but because I've been trying to workout how to place other N/RPCs I haven't actually played far enough through to determine if it is actually working.

Any suggestions for how I might go about asking that N/RPCs with random locations be externalized, in a single location, and made possible to edit? I'd love to be able to place (even from a fixed list of options) where the following R/NPCs are placed;
Slay / Terry
MoM / Annie
Charlie / Sammy
The Imposter / Chris
T-Rex / Jasmin
Joe / Tiffany

Skyrider
Madlab
Hamous
Joey
Gabby
Carmen
Devin
Mickey

(Not sure it would be worth placing these characters but if the rest are being done, then why not?)
Farther Walker
Fred
Carl
Calvin
Oswald


I understand that finding them is part of the game but when you have played it through 500 times already, finding them becomes a chore.

Thanks,
Gnome.

Report message to a moderator

Corporal
Re: back to JA2 after a long hiatus[message #345231 is a reply to message #345230] Fri, 29 April 2016 17:46 Go to previous messageGo to next message
CVB is currently offline CVB

 
Messages:129
Registered:September 2014
Location: Berlin
edmortimer had all the terrorists (except Charlie) gather in a single location in Arulco Vacations. Maybe he can give you a hint, or you may want to download and study AV. The same procedure should also work for other NPCs.

Devin, Mickey and Carmen (and perhaps Gabby as well? Not sure since I normally don't play SF) may be special cases, as they are intended to travel around, while the other NPCs are placed once and then stay in place.

Charlie/Sammy is always placed in the same
Toggle Spoiler
, because he is needed there for a quest. No need to change that.

The head miners are placed by LUA script "initmines.lua". Fred is always the first miner encountered (unless you first visit Alma), and Matt is always in Alma. I don't think it's worth tinkering with the placement, since except for Matt (again, for quest reasons) they are basically interchangeable anyway.



Peace is a purely theoretical state of affairs whose existence we deduce because there have been intervals between wars.
J. Pournelle

Report message to a moderator

Sergeant
Re: back to JA2 after a long hiatus[message #345240 is a reply to message #345231] Sat, 30 April 2016 07:40 Go to previous messageGo to next message
BattleGnome is currently offline BattleGnome

 
Messages:60
Registered:April 2016
I posted in the externalizations forum (http://thepit.ja-galaxy-forum.com/index.php?t=msg&th=10102&start=0&) so I'll see what results that gets.

Report message to a moderator

Corporal
Re: back to JA2 after a long hiatus[message #345241 is a reply to message #345231] Sat, 30 April 2016 08:21 Go to previous messageGo to next message
edmortimer is currently offline edmortimer

 
Messages:1533
Registered:January 2015
Location: Home Free
Quote:
edmortimer had all the terrorists (except Charlie) gather in a single location in Arulco Vacations. Maybe he can give you a hint, or you may want to download and study AV. The same procedure should also work for other NPCs.


The answer was already given so I didn't speak up -- I simply edited MercProfiles.xml to set their location (in this instance, Chitzena: SectorX=2 SectorY=2 SectorZ=0), and then placed them physically on the map with the MapEditor. I also deleted them from their other locations -- but that was not necessary, it was just a cleaning up of the map sectors.

Report message to a moderator

Sergeant Major
Re: back to JA2 after a long hiatus[message #345242 is a reply to message #345241] Sat, 30 April 2016 08:50 Go to previous messageGo to next message
BattleGnome is currently offline BattleGnome

 
Messages:60
Registered:April 2016
I also edited MercProfiles.xml but I haven't got far enough through to determine if the terrorists are where I wanted them to be because I got hung-up on Hamous and Skyrider. However, I did not touch the map editor as it never occurred to me that I would need to if I was placing them in a sector where they can normally appear anyway.

edmortimer, have you at any point tried to move any of the other N/RPC I have listed? Was it successful?

Report message to a moderator

Corporal
Re: back to JA2 after a long hiatus[message #345247 is a reply to message #345242] Sat, 30 April 2016 19:35 Go to previous messageGo to next message
edmortimer is currently offline edmortimer

 
Messages:1533
Registered:January 2015
Location: Home Free
Quote:
I also edited MercProfiles.xml but I haven't got far enough through to determine if the terrorists are where I wanted them to be because I got hung-up on Hamous and Skyrider. However, I did not touch the map editor as it never occurred to me that I would need to if I was placing them in a sector where they can normally appear anyway.


Yes, as long as they can normally appear there you don't have to use the MapEditor.


Quote:
edmortimer, have you at any point tried to move any of the other N/RPC I have listed? Was it successful?


No, I have not. You should look at StrategicEventHandler.lua in the Data1.13\Scripts folder Down near the bottom you'll find placement code for Fr. Walker, Devin, Hamous, Rat, & Carmen.

Report message to a moderator

Sergeant Major
Re: back to JA2 after a long hiatus[message #345266 is a reply to message #345247] Tue, 03 May 2016 07:19 Go to previous messageGo to next message
BattleGnome is currently offline BattleGnome

 
Messages:60
Registered:April 2016
Hello again.

It seems I have now succeeded in placing all the N/RPC on my list, except the head miners, but had to edit multiple files to achieve this.

Data-1.13\Ja2_Options.ini
Data-1.13\TableData\MercProfiles.xml
Data-1.13\Scripts\GameInit.lua
Data-1.13\Scripts\StrategicEventHandler.lua

(Side note: also edited Profiles\UserProfile_JA2113\Ja2_sp.ini to change the default settings when starting a new game)


Thank you all for your help, it is greatly appreciated.

I will now turn my attention to having 10 English speaking IMP voice options available so I can make a full squad. I have had a search around the forums and found much about adding faces but not much about voices, can anyone point me to the right forum?

Report message to a moderator

Corporal
Re: back to JA2 after a long hiatus[message #345269 is a reply to message #345266] Tue, 03 May 2016 12:42 Go to previous messageGo to next message
zango is currently offline zango

 
Messages:128
Registered:January 2005
Location: India
Still managing to play the game happy.
Finally found settings to my liking: non-SciFi(realistic), OldCTH, enemy drops all, gun progression is fastest, bobby rays set to awesome. Experienced. Ironman. No retaliation from the queen upon taking cities else that's what you end of doing (defence etc). No reinforcements from adjacent sectors.

Old CTH makes it more balanced than New CTH in my opinion. Else, you need good high level mercs at the beginning without which you can't really win battles without reloading and reloading. If in Ironman that is really painful.

Few bugs I've discovered so far:
1. If an enemy escapes to an adjacent city sector with militia in it, you can still rearrange the militia. Doing so, every time you auto assign militia, the militia in all the other sectors increases automatically by 10!
2. In one save game I had, I couldn't save the game any further. Kept getting an "error: unable to write savegame" with a further debug message "Debug: couldn't write laptop files" - seems there is one other thread on the forum on this topic but no closure.
I had to go back to a previous savegame to be able to continue the game further.
few other trivial bugs.

Finally enjoying JA2 the same way as I did years ago! happy

Report message to a moderator

Sergeant
Re: back to JA2 after a long hiatus[message #345270 is a reply to message #345269] Tue, 03 May 2016 13:02 Go to previous messageGo to next message
zango is currently offline zango

 
Messages:128
Registered:January 2005
Location: India
Another issue has cropped up. If I store items in any backpacks and put them down, the items in the packs are getting lost upon picking up the pack again. Don't know what's wrong. Lost a ton of stuff this way.

Report message to a moderator

Sergeant
Re: back to JA2 after a long hiatus[message #345271 is a reply to message #345270] Tue, 03 May 2016 13:31 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Deleted.

 
Messages:2663
Registered:December 2012
Location: Russian Federation
zango wrote on Tue, 03 May 2016 15:02
Another issue has cropped up. If I store items in any backpacks and put them down, the items in the packs are getting lost upon picking up the pack again. Don't know what's wrong. Lost a ton of stuff this way.

Don't put backpacks into other backpacks.
Don't use hotkeys to drop/pick up backpacks.

This should solve the problem.



Left this community.

Report message to a moderator

Lieutenant

Re: back to JA2 after a long hiatus[message #345272 is a reply to message #345271] Tue, 03 May 2016 14:11 Go to previous messageGo to next message
zango is currently offline zango

 
Messages:128
Registered:January 2005
Location: India
No, I'm not doing any of these. Just dropping backpacks when full, to pick up another one, and then if I pick the old backpack again, contents are lost. I want to load backpacks in hand, in truck, etc.

Report message to a moderator

Sergeant
Re: back to JA2 after a long hiatus[message #345277 is a reply to message #345272] Tue, 03 May 2016 18:47 Go to previous messageGo to previous message
zango is currently offline zango

 
Messages:128
Registered:January 2005
Location: India
And this didn't happen until now - in all my previous games. Been playing for a little more than a month now.

Report message to a moderator

Sergeant
Previous Topic: Changing starting money?
Next Topic: Back to 1.13 after years...
Goto Forum:
  


Current Time: Fri Mar 29 07:24:51 GMT+2 2024

Total time taken to generate the page: 0.01983 seconds