The Bears Pit: v1.13 Feature Requests

Messages:1834
Registered:September 2004
Location: CH

in my eyes, the LAM is a rather exotic item. Night scopes are more generic.

Sergeant Major

Re: externalisations[message #121078]

Wed, 30 August 2006 18:05

Starwalker

Messages:759
Registered:October 2005
Location: Hannover, Germany

Well, the LAM exists in reality and incorporates several functions, though we cannot simulate it in a truly realistic way in v1.13.

First Sergeant

Re: externalisations[message #121079]

Wed, 30 August 2006 18:37

Messages:19
Registered:January 2006
Location: Baltimore

Lesh, your idea will take this game to the next level. We could even have insurgencies with that kind of grouping--anarchists who supposedly hate all forms of authority (except their own) and will masquerade as militia until they get their hands on the hardware necessary to **** up the whole plan. I was wondering, though, would the different factions have different outfits? Cops in blue, hunters in brown or camo, gangs looking like townspeople, anarchists in black/grey, etc.? Scorpion seems to have touched on this, but the syntax of his remarks has me wondering if he means the same thing...? :whoknows:

Private

Re: externalisations[message #121080]

Fri, 01 September 2006 14:37

DudeWheresMyTank

Messages:51
Registered:August 2006
Location: Canada

i'd like to see better map editors and the ability to have more than 2 building levels like x-com. every building in the country being 1 storey high is just goofy

Corporal

Re: externalisations[message #121081]

Sun, 03 September 2006 16:32

Messages:19
Registered:January 2006
Location: Baltimore

3(+) story buildings would suck unless we can rotate the map; lots of stuff would be obscured by tall structures.

Private

Re: externalisations[message #121082]

Thu, 07 September 2006 14:25

DudeWheresMyTank

Messages:51
Registered:August 2006
Location: Canada

it wasn't a problem in xcom because you could only see 1 story at a time. could probably make it a toggle like show/hide treetops. we could also use wireframe mode for the alternate levels

and it doesn't always have to be building levels. the entire map is basically flat ground right now. wouldn't it be nice to have hilly and rolling terrain? first rule of combat is always to hold the high ground. right now we only have rooftops

Corporal

Re: externalisations[message #121083]

Thu, 07 September 2006 18:39

Messages:1834
Registered:September 2004
Location: CH

that's right. but technically, that would require enormous changes to the map design/ layout and core game structure.

these wouldn't be just externalisations

Sergeant Major

Re: externalisations[message #121084]

Fri, 08 September 2006 23:59

Nevarn

Messages:2
Registered:August 2006
Location: London,UK

Just a simple externalisation I would like to see implemented:

Currently we are able to customise militia training in a number of ways including:

Training time per squad
Size of squad
Cost of squad

This is great, but we can't currently customise :

Loyalty gain per squad trained

Doing so would then enable players to keep everything in proportion if they wish do the original JA2, even with completely different squad sizes.

Civilian

Re: externalisations[message #121085]

Sat, 09 September 2006 00:00

ShadoWarrior

Messages:245
Registered:January 2006
Location: Twilight Zone

Loyalty gain per squad trained seems to vary. Sometimes it's 1%, sometimes it's as high as 3%.

Sergeant 1st Class

Re: externalisations[message #121086]

Sat, 09 September 2006 19:31

taxacaria

Messages:5
Registered:August 2005
Location: Germany (Old Europe)

i suggest another externalization :
VISUAL_DISTANCE_DECREASE_PER_RAIN_INTENSITY
should be splitted into a day and a night value.
AI is very very poor when rain is falling during the night because of bad visual distance.
that would help to make the AI working better at night.
btw - these variables should be placed in the weather section of the ini, too.

Private

Re: externalisations[message #121087]

Mon, 11 September 2006 16:49

Nevarn

Messages:2
Registered:August 2006
Location: London,UK

Quote:

Originally posted by ShadoWarrior:
Loyalty gain per squad trained seems to vary. Sometimes it's 1%, sometimes it's as high as 3%.

That's true, but it doesn't have to be an absolute value in the externalisation. A multiplier like the ones used for training rate etc would be sufficient.

Civilian

Re: externalisations[message #121088]

Tue, 12 September 2006 17:19

Messages:19
Registered:January 2006
Location: Baltimore

Hmm, interesting. Someone also pointed out that mercs get a Morale increase/decrease depending on the outcome of battles involving Militia, even rovers. The last Ironman game I played (before my current one) saw my reputation at AIM destroyed by failing to save dying Militia after a battle, when my mercs were in the same sector. This happened about five times, and the last incident saw me unable to hire even Bull. Externalizing Militia roles would be cool, so that you could affect the types of Militia trained based on the merc used to train them, (i.e. Len would train more Auto. Weapons users, Thor would train more Medics, etc.). :thinkerg:

Private

Re: externalisations[message #121089]

Tue, 12 September 2006 18:43

Messages:1834
Registered:September 2004
Location: CH

drake

if you can't give medical aid to militia after a battle has finished, then you can simply go to strategic map (don't compress time) load any different map (go to tactical view of a different sector than the one you just had a battle) go back to strategic map, reload the sector with recent battle and all militia and NPC (except fro prof.dat controlled ones) will be reset to full health

i know it's off topic. sorry

Sergeant Major

Re: externalisations[message #121090]

Wed, 13 September 2006 23:18

Messages:19
Registered:January 2006
Location: Baltimore

It's cool scorp. I'm the furthest thing from an 'off-topic' Nazi. But what do you do if all of your mercs are in that same sector? There's no way to load a different map, AFAIK, in that situation. Also, have militia options been externalized, or is that still the exclusive province of the coders?

Private

Re: externalisations[message #121091]

Mon, 18 September 2006 07:40

Biernath_J

Messages:166
Registered:August 2003
Location: Poland

As far as I know, you can load a map with no mercs. You can just admire landscapes.

Staff Sergeant

Re: externalisations[message #121092]

Tue, 26 September 2006 18:21

Messages:1834
Registered:September 2004
Location: CH

something i posted in another thread that's prone to getting forgotten though:

weapon type names. maybe even other ASC11 lines from the exe that can be of use once externalised

this might be most useful for weapon mods that make big change in the terms of weaponry used (zombie, bow and sword mods and such)

the coolest thing here would be to be able to add new weapon categories, for instance some machine guns are not really "light machine guns" anymore, thus GPMG would be a new weapon class. same with Dedicated marksman rifles being separated from the "sniper" rifles. Uh, and "Carbine" or "compact AR" might be cool additions too. (PDW as well)

Sergeant Major

Re: externalisations[message #121093]

Wed, 27 September 2006 15:53

Messages:5
Registered:August 2006
Location: Coquitlam, B.C., Canada

Yeah, that would be a good addition. For instance, in a sci-fi mod:

"Pulse Cannon"
"Plasma Shotgun"
"Disruptor Rifle"
etc.

Private

Re: externalisations[message #121094]

Wed, 27 September 2006 22:47

Messages:1834
Registered:September 2004
Location: CH

exactly, any remarkably different mod setting would greatly benefit of these things

other text from the exe, like "oppopnent's turn" or such would be, depending on setting, cool to be altered (me thinks of, say, a ww2 mod with axis versus allies or said zombie/ cross bow, sci-fi mods)

something else to externalise:

number of attachemntslots per item. i know it has been requested often enough, and i remember that it's improbable that the number of 4 can be raised. on the other hand, would it be possible to define if an item can have 0-4 attachmentslots as a start? this would be used to balance cheap versus expensive/ modern/ hitech guns for instance.

Sergeant Major

Re: externalisations[message #121095]

Wed, 11 October 2006 10:27

bonechucker

Messages:33
Registered:March 2001
Location: who wants to know ?

Hiho
my "wish-list" of possible externalisations with short comments/explanations.

1.map related stuff

a) Starting sector (already mentioned by Muggsy)
b) Time of arrival (thats just one offset in the exe -should be a real easy thing-if I remember right time counts from 01:00 pm in seconds.
c) Sam sites and their range
d)externalisation of bloodcat-ambush sectors- as long as those pets are around its hard to "leave arulco" with a mods storyline

2. trigger/flag related
a)adding a time trigger would give more control to modders than the progress trigger/flags
afaik the e-mail from enrico check progress vs game time...more control would be nice here too
b)possibility to deactivate e-mails,cutscenes,aim,merc,bobby ray....and to trigger/activate them by time or progress or npc script or by trigger which is like a mine in a map

3.Drug-control Wink

a) abilty to control effect in detail/affected stats and duration (I liked the effect of drugs in FO -positive AND negative effects)
b) is there already a built in counter - how often reg/energy booster were used? if so- would be nice if a modder had the possibility to determine what effects happen if the 4th reg booster was consumed by a merc in 24h....example -which stats get reduced by which (random?)value....or the "Larry-effect"

4.Prof.dat
-aim/merc/npc
-factions
-"Nails-effect" would be nice if mercs personal weapon/equippment could not be stripped off them.

5.Ap's
with the amount of guns which made it into the game, quadrupling the ap's and movement costs like Kaiden mentioned it a time ago would make finetuning a much easier task.
Would be nice in externalised form too...so everyone could tweak it as he likes

ok...I know that some things mentioned are a bit over the top....but hey folks.....Christmas is near and I did not write a wishlist for Santa Smile

Bone
p.s.
@ scorpion .. Wink

you asked for it Smile

Private 1st Class

Re: externalisations[message #121096]

Sat, 21 October 2006 05:05

Messages:1834
Registered:September 2004
Location: CH

garrison placement externalisation requests

assist me on this one if i miss anything cuz it's important.

i'd like to be able to specify:

number of admin, red shirt, elites that are by default present in a sector at the beginning of the game. Maybe even by difficulty level, also there might be other important values like how low/ high the chance is that this garrison leaves it's sector. i've had it in 1.13 that some formerly occupied sectors get nearly emptied of soldiers because they reinforce neighboring sectors. i guess that would have to do with enemy alertedness

i guess there'd be more to garrisons than that, but this i would have to know first Wink

i don't know to which xml that would fit, so maybe a new xml would have to be made?

patrol routes are something entirely different i assume, but there's a table somewhere so i might be doable to externalise it without too much hassle.

Sergeant Major

Re: externalisations[message #121097]

Sat, 21 October 2006 07:02

Messages:1817
Registered:August 2003
Location: Pleasantville, NJ

Patrol routes are a good thing as are all those requests by scorpion and bonechucker (bone you really hit the nail on the head with some of those).

A Quests.xml is at the very top of my Christmas list for this year (since Santa has been so good to us last year). With this we could finally have a more exacting way to alter quests. The existing method is way better than nothing but requires so much experimentation and trial and error it really hamstrings anyone trying to make huge changes in quests. Noone wants to work for months on a Quest routine only to find out that it breaks something else about the game when he gets around to really being able to playtest his work. More importantly, the existing method is very hard to decipher so very few people even try for remarkable changes in quests. We end up always having a thinly altered Alruco campaign in just about every mod there is. This is hardly the modders fault for reasons already explained but if we really want to have a lot more new ideas come into play the NPC scripting and general quest structure has to be made far less nebulous.

Having alternate secors able to switch back and forth would also be very cool to illustrate (for instance) a town being destroyed then rebuilt. But having multiple choices for alternate sectors and a way to externalise which conditions trigger their appearance would be golden.

Being able to assign weapons based on whether the enemy is a yellow, red or blackshirt would allow modders to use these different enemy types as allied armies and just be a cool thing to be able to tweak.

For instance, in a WW2 mod you might use the yellow shirts as conscript armies (Vichy or Commando Supremo) and it would be very cool to be able to have their gear reflect their nationality.

Well, they are all maybe lofty requests but I have a lot of faith in the abilities of the coders to make things happen mainly because all of the very cool things they've already done that seemed just a year or so ago to be fringe requests.

Sergeant Major

Re: externalisations[message #121098]

Sat, 21 October 2006 09:30

bonechucker

Messages:33
Registered:March 2001
Location: who wants to know ?

@Khor and Scorp -I like your ideas

Quote:

Originally posted by Khor1255:

Being able to assign weapons based on whether the enemy is a yellow, red or blackshirt would allow modders to use these different enemy types as llied armies and just be a cool thing to be able to tweak.

For instance, in a WW2 mod you might use the yellow shirts as conscript armies (Vichy or Commando Supremo) and it would be very cool to be able to have their gear reflect their nationality.

This idea from Khor would greatly enhance modding and gamebalancing options !

The example givven by Khor is a nice idea-not only for mods -
even for the basic 1.13 this would be a powerfull tool to improve gamebalance.

We already have the "enemy gun choices-xml" they only need to be expanded to differentiate between yellow,red and blackshirts.

Would it be possible to have :
"yellowshirt enemy gun choices-xml"
"redshirt enemy gun choices-xml"
"blackshirt enemy gun choices-xml" ??

Imho this won't be that much coding work compared to other requests , but the impact for modding and balancing would be great.

Bone

Private 1st Class

Re: externalisations[message #121099]

Sat, 21 October 2006 10:39

shed23

Messages:130
Registered:October 2004
Location: U.K.

I agree with the majority of ideas/requests posted here and eagerly await any outcome.

We must bear in mind, that the majority of the work done furthering 1.13, is by voluntary work, done for the love of it, by a relatively few people. They have my utmost respect.

Now, if only they would get their fingers out and fulfill some of these requests - that's a joke, please don't send me any virus in the next download!!

Sergeant

Re: externalisations[message #121100]

Sat, 21 October 2006 14:23

Kaiden

Messages:504
Registered:September 2003

Patrol routes and Garrisons are already tableized in the code, with number of redshirts, admins and elites, and the tables were made to accept growth... So that shouldn't be a problem.

However, we do have a few more serious issues to look into.

First Sergeant

Re: externalisations[message #121101]

Sat, 21 October 2006 20:09

Messages:1834
Registered:September 2004
Location: CH

Good news kaiden.

I know there's a lot of bugs to be fixed and that it's more important to you than throwing out some tables from the exe. But you can guess for us, at least garrisons are a must-have.

during the time you fix the bugs, we can already work with the new tables, experiment around, and so on.

Sergeant Major

Re: externalisations[message #121102]

Fri, 03 November 2006 08:42

Messages:1834
Registered:September 2004
Location: CH

one more idea (very small, more for the record)

body-part to hit chances could get put into ja2options.ini

meaning

HEAD_CHANCETOHIT_MODIFIER xy
TORSO_CHANCE...
LEGS_CH...

while xy is the value that can be entered. Would allow to play around with legs becoming a more valuable target (i know it's unrealistic, i know legs are hard to hit... that's not what it's about here) or headshot made harder/ easier

i think using that in conjunction with the option to restrict/ not restrict more accurate aiming to rifles could help playing around with the sniping balance too.

Sergeant Major

Re: externalisations[message #121103]

Sat, 02 December 2006 06:36

BrainDonor

Messages:33
Registered:January 2006
Location: Ontario

Complete Email externalization.

basically, having all the Emails as .txt or .xml files completely alterable. Having a xml file with a list of possible email triggers, that also states whether or not an email is sent out and what email is sent out.

trigger 1 = 0
trigger 2 = 0
trigger 3 = 1, blahblah.xml
trigger 4 = 0
trigger 5 = 1, bloobloo.xml

It would make a WORLD of differance in creating believable mods within the Jagged Alliance world.

Private 1st Class

Re: externalisations[message #121104]

Sat, 02 December 2006 06:43

Messages:1817
Registered:August 2003
Location: Pleasantville, NJ

These files are alterable through the EDT Editor. This tool is available here:

http://khelle.de/infusions/pro_download_panel/download.php?catid=3

Having an easier way might be cool but this tool is very usable and practically as easy as opening a file and typing.

Sergeant Major

Re: externalisations[message #121105]

Sat, 02 December 2006 11:21

BrainDonor

Messages:33
Registered:January 2006
Location: Ontario

Ahh, excellent, thanks alot, does that also allow me to edit when they show up though?

Private 1st Class

Re: externalisations[message #121106]

Sat, 02 December 2006 13:27

Messages:1817
Registered:August 2003
Location: Pleasantville, NJ

I'm pretty sure most of those e-mails are tied to event triggers and are therefore hardcoded.

It would be very cool to have control over that.

Sergeant Major

Re: externalisations[message #121107]

Sun, 03 December 2006 05:58

Messages:1817
Registered:August 2003
Location: Pleasantville, NJ

The ability to set triggers for alternate sectors would go a long way toward creating new storylines and quests.

I would definately like a Quests.xml but even if that is an unrealistic goal at least having alternate sectors triggers being controlable by modders would be the next best thing and a great addition to the existing structure.

Sergeant Major

Re: externalisations[message #121108]

Mon, 11 December 2006 07:13

Messages:1834
Registered:September 2004
Location: CH

longer time no reaction in this thread anymore

externalisation request: Email header. Enrico's name for instance is hardcoded in the exe. I don't mean the part tht can be edited through email.edt, i mean just the header.

now what i might have to do at one place is to hack new names into the exe (used to do that in version previous to 1.13) but if somebody was so nice to drop these lines out of the exe, that would make it easier to create new storylines for mods.

thx

Sergeant Major

Re: externalisations[message #121109]

Fri, 15 December 2006 05:53

Manami

Messages:33
Registered:October 2000

Would it be possible to externalize the time of nightfall and daybreak?

For those of us who like night ops or for mods set in winter.

Private 1st Class

Re: externalisations[message #121110]

Fri, 22 December 2006 03:32

storytime

Messages:19
Registered:March 2004
Location: Ontario

The scale of the tactical game is effectively hardcoded right now by the 2% CtH penalty per tile. The 3% headshot penalty should also be externalized.

Private

Re: externalisations[message #121111]

Fri, 22 December 2006 04:33

BrainDonor

Messages:33
Registered:January 2006
Location: Ontario

Wow, that EXE is just going to be a dried out husk by the time this community is done squeezing the juices from it.

Private 1st Class

Re: externalisations[message #121112]

Sat, 23 December 2006 00:59

storytime

Messages:19
Registered:March 2004
Location: Ontario

Good.

Private

Re: externalisations[message #121113]

Sat, 23 December 2006 01:00

Messages:1834
Registered:September 2004
Location: CH

errr... i could go on naming stuff to be externalized all the freakin time. that exe still contains soooo much stuff that'd rather be accessible and alterable.