The Bears Pit: v1.13 General Development Talk » "1.13" Mod

Messages:1815
Registered:August 2003
Location: Pleasantville, NJ

500 is plenty for me. Great work!

Nada is item slot number one. It is a non item I believe was put there for validity purposes. That's freaky indeed.

Sergeant Major

Re: "1.13" Mod - Main Thread[message #10531]

Fri, 26 August 2005 19:05

Lochmacher

Messages:53
Registered:March 2005
Location: Tacoma, WA US

Nice work Muggs... seriously. I can't tell you how many mods were held up by this. I think that when JA3 1.0 comes out, it will pale in comparison to JA2 1.13! That, and this is still going strong... Truly amazing.

Corporal

Re: "1.13" Mod - Main Thread[message #10532]

Fri, 26 August 2005 19:46

Snap

Messages:285
Registered:September 2000
Location: USA (by way of the Old Wo...

About flags in item data and such. You could "disassemble" them in the xml file and then reassemble into an int when reading the data, so that no code that uses these flags will be broken. If there are some unused flags, you could also piggyback some new features this way without increasing the number of entries in the record. You could also piggyback on some other numerical values. For example, if a parameter can take the values of 0 or 1 in the original, you could add 2, 3, 4, etc. to that. Of course, you would then have to check all the code that uses that parameter, which can be a bitch.

BTW, if an XML file has the extension .xml, you should be able to view and perhaps edit it with colourful highlighting using standard Windows tools.

Master Sergeant

Re: "1.13" Mod - Main Thread[message #10533]

Fri, 26 August 2005 19:52

Snap

Messages:285
Registered:September 2000
Location: USA (by way of the Old Wo...

Quote:

Originally posted by Lochmacher:
Normally, I would say, "Just step back and snipe the buggers!", but then there's the bug where your shots don't register (shot, ricochet sound, no bullet).

I thought this was fixed in 1.12? I guess not entirely.

Speaking of things that were fixed in 1.12. When they fixed the breath rollover bug, they apparently broke something else, so that knocking out enemies became very problematic. Dvornik made an exe patch back before the code was released. Has this been fixed in the code?

Master Sergeant

Re: "1.13" Mod - Main Thread[message #10534]

Fri, 26 August 2005 19:56

grindedstone

Messages:88
Registered:August 2004

I would just like to add on the knocking them down, i hit a guy twice with a crowbar and once with a fists, he went down in MY turn, but then in his turn he got up and killed my merc, is there a way to make it so once their down, their DOWN... for a turn... so it you down soemone in your turn by the next time its your turn their still down... then after that their back up.

Corporal 1st Class

Re: "1.13" Mod - Main Thread[message #10535]

Fri, 26 August 2005 20:04

surefire

Messages:15
Registered:August 2005

Congratulations! You're bringing the JA engine a open structure step by step, Mugsy, and make us more room to fancy.

Many ideas have been inspired by your externalization work, here is another suggestion(sorry, your mod just keeps ideas come into being :ok: ):

if a vision area property can be added to an item, then maybe some original unnecessary item such as camera and micro-television can be more useful: mercs with electronics skill can make these camerae as some kind of surveillant devices, and then mercs equiped with a moinitor(making from micro-television) can have the same vision of corresponding camera.

Private

Re: "1.13" Mod - Main Thread[message #10536]

Fri, 26 August 2005 20:35

Messages:1815
Registered:August 2003
Location: Pleasantville, NJ

@ Snap

I don't understand what you mean by 'colorful highlighting' using windows tools? What we can do with the .xml files now is open them like a text document and change variables such as range, damage etc. (in Mugsy's latest version you can't change as many as in W4st's but I have a strong feeling the changes will tend to be more 'stable' this way).

Are you suggesting there is more we can get at by using windows tools or is that just wishful thinking.
Please explain.

Sergeant Major

Re: "1.13" Mod - Main Thread[message #10538]

Sat, 27 August 2005 01:46

gmonk

Messages:668
Registered:April 2002
Location: Newfoundland, Canada

Regarding the interrupts, don't NPCs gain skills or experience from interrupts? Maybe this was done to prevent insane increases in short amounts of time?

First Sergeant

Re: "1.13" Mod - Main Thread[message #10539]

Sat, 27 August 2005 03:15

Messages:626
Registered:July 2005
Location: Canada

Shotgun reloads:

1. I'm going to add a stat to the weapons.dat file called "APsToReload" which will allow us to set how long it takes to reload each weapon individually.

2. As for the clip switching with shotgun shells, I'll look into this as well, and will probably add a flag somewhere to enable/disable this too.

About the H&K & MP5 situation:

Once all the externalization is done, I'll add a bunch more weapons and items, and when the mod is released, there will be an xml file which will allow you to choose which weapons the enemies will use. You'll be able to just remove the H&K guns if you don't want them, and just have them available from BR's and/or Tony's if you like (or disable them entirely, if you prefer).

Breath recovery:

I'll look into having enemies only regain breath the same way mercs do. It looks like the rollover bug is fixed in the CVS code, but I'm not sure if Dvornik's fix is in there. If it is, it isn't clearly marked. If anyone knows what exactly he changed, I make sure it's in there.

Multiple Interrupts:

Sure I can enable this, but should enemies be allowed this feature as well? That could make combat pretty interesting, or frustrating....
I'll also check into the experience gain for interrupts.

Stealing:

The CVS code put some new stuff in for stealing. It should open up a menu with the enemy's items and you can pick what you want to take. Not sure how well it works though...

Ricochet bug:

I've seen this bug too. You can fire at an enemy (usually on the roof) and all your shots just hit an invisible wall. If you move to a new location, the problem usually goes away. But yes, very annoying. Very frustrating that the 1.12 source that was released didn't contain all the 1.12 fixes.

Grenades through roofs:

Again, I'm going to blame the CVS/original source code for this.

BTW, if someone knows how to fix any of these bugs, by all means please let me know, and I'll fix them. Otherwise, I'm going to need to spend a long while trying to recreate the bugs and then slowly debugging them.

Item flags:

Already handled. I added a whack of new booleans and changed all the code that referred to the flags to look at those booleans instead.

XML files:

Yes, there are lots of nice tools you can use to edit "real" xml files. In the next version, I'll switch all the externalized file extensions from .dat to .xml. For now, just rename the weapons.dat to weapons.xml, use the tool of your choice, and rename it back when you're done.

Caveats from breaking the Item Barrier:

There are a couple things to take note of about the new item limit:

1) the Proedit.exe file still pulls from the *.edt files, so I'll need to keep them up to date. And those edt files only support 350 items, so if you use proedit to assign new weapons to the mercs, you won't be able to assign anything with an index higher than 350.

2) I'm going to see if I can rewrite some of the loops that go through the items and stop them once they hit an item with no class, the loop will stop. Even the IC_NONE flag has a class, so this means just the items that aren't written in the xml file (keep in mind, empty item slots >350 don't need entries in the xml file). If I make this change to the loops, then we can easily have 10,000+ items with little or no performance impact.

German JA2:

Not supported because I don't speak German. Once all the hard coded text has been externalized, a simple compile switch to German should be all that's needed to make it work (I think). But I wouldn't be able to test it. I'm posting the source code with each new release, so someone who speaks German and has a C compiler can go ahead and try it. (Let me know if it works, once all the text is out of the exe)

Cheers,

MM

First Sergeant

Re: "1.13" Mod - Main Thread[message #10540]

Sat, 27 August 2005 04:03

Messages:1815
Registered:August 2003
Location: Pleasantville, NJ

I definately think enemies should also be allowed multiple interrupts. I'm pretty sure the a.i. will take the first shot it can get so I think the advantage will still tip in the player's favour.

Even if it doesn't, I believe anything extra we - the players - get should also be available to the a.i.

I wonder if in you're travels through the code you happened to see the quest items mentioned? If so, do you think it is possible to externalise these as well or are they too thoroghly intwined throughout the code? I'm wondering because for modding purposes, being able to change quest features at will opens the door to greatly expanded storyline potential.

Don't bother to answer that if it's too far off topic for you to even want to think about. The important thing to me - and I think most of us - is that you are providing access to data in a clean and percise manner and I really can't thank you enough for that.

Sergeant Major

Re: "1.13" Mod - Main Thread[message #10541]

Sat, 27 August 2005 04:29

Messages:626
Registered:July 2005
Location: Canada

Sorry Khor, I haven't looked at the quest items at all yet. I want to get all the data out of the exe first, and then I will start on removing hard coded references to items afterwards.

First Sergeant

Re: "1.13" Mod - Main Thread[message #10542]

Sat, 27 August 2005 12:59

Snap

Messages:285
Registered:September 2000
Location: USA (by way of the Old Wo...

Mugsy: Congrats on breaking the item barrier and other great work!

Is there somewhere a list of changes that were in the CVS code prior to yours?

Quote:

Originally posted by Madd Mugsy:
Breath recovery:
I'll look into having enemies only regain breath the same way mercs do. It looks like the rollover bug is fixed in the CVS code, but I'm not sure if Dvornik's fix is in there. If it is, it isn't clearly marked. If anyone knows what exactly he changed, I make sure it's in there.

Dvornik hacked the 1.12 exe directly - that was before the source code was released. If no one has fixed this in the source, then the bug should still be in there. And judging by what Grindstone says, that may be the case. But that's such a big, obvious bug! Hasn't anyone else noticed? With the bug you pretty much can't keep an enemy KO'ed without nearly beating him to death, and stun grenades aren't too useful either.

Quote:

Multiple Interrupts:

Sure I can enable this, but should enemies be allowed this feature as well? That could make combat pretty interesting, or frustrating....
I'll also check into the experience gain for interrupts.

As implemented, the feature doesn't seem to distinguish between enemies, mercs, militia, etc. Simply eliminating interrupt limit will eliminate it for everyone. My first thought is that it should be OK, and I haven't had a second thought yet Smile

Experience gain for AI? I don't think it's worth it - I mean, how much can they gain during one battle? Or do you mean something else?

Quote:

Very frustrating that the 1.12 source that was released didn't contain all the 1.12 fixes.

Hmm... I wonder if it has the interrupt bug fix where you could not get an interrupt under certain conditions. That was the biggest of my pet peeves.

Quote:

1) the Proedit.exe file still pulls from the *.edt files, so I'll need to keep them up to date. And those edt files only support 350 items, so if you use proedit to assign new weapons to the mercs, you won't be able to assign anything with an index higher than 350.

Perhaps it would be worth it to unscramble Prof.dat into an XML file as well? I've seen the code that reads Prof.dat (you must have seen it also) - it's not a 1-liner, but it should be possible to export it into a program that would dump the contents of Prof.dat into an XML file. Then we won't need ProEdit, although it is nifty.

P.S. I can't find my copy of JA2 Gold, or JA2 for that matter! Gah! I am too cheap to spend another $20 on it Sad

Master Sergeant

Re: "1.13" Mod - Main Thread[message #10543]

Sat, 27 August 2005 15:38

flybyu

Messages:43
Registered:August 2005
Location: Indiana U.S.A

@Madd Mugsy Hay great mod I have been playing for days now and not one problem. You have done a great job, thanks a million.

Corporal

Re: "1.13" Mod - Main Thread[message #10544]

Sat, 27 August 2005 17:40

gmonk

Messages:668
Registered:April 2002
Location: Newfoundland, Canada

I noticed a weird bug I hadn't encountered in previous games tonight.

I entered a sector by ground (one with a red '?' on it just below Omerta.) The enemy wasn't there but I was getting weird stuff with the extended ear, noises from everywhere and no enemies to be seen. Just to see what happened I used the 'kill all enemies in sector' cheat and the corpses appeared where they would normally have started. I happened again in a swamp sector but I didn't use the cheat, I just walked across the map.

Is this something in the code or a random glitch?

First Sergeant

Re: "1.13" Mod - Main Thread[message #10545]

Sat, 27 August 2005 19:20

PoliceLT

Messages:31
Registered:August 2005
Location: Australia, Melbourne

Oh right! I forgot about that bug gpmg.

I had this happen to me once in the hill-billy farm next to Cambria. It took me a while to figure out what the hell happened to the hill-billies, so I turned on some cheats on. The Hill-Billies were there, but they weren't actually seeable.

I have decided that the sector where they were made my merceneries and them blind, but when I made one of my mercs jump ontop of a roof, I was able to see them all again.

Private 1st Class

Re: "1.13" Mod - Main Thread[message #10546]

Sun, 28 August 2005 00:16

mde

Messages:1
Registered:August 2005

@Madd Mugsy

I have the mod compiled with the "german" define.

Got massive CTDs. Enabled Debug. Last entry in debug.txt:

Music EndCallback completed

Any Idea?

Civilian

Re: "1.13" Mod - Main Thread[message #10547]

Sun, 28 August 2005 02:18

Messages:626
Registered:July 2005
Location: Canada

mde,

That's always the last entry in debug.txt. It just means the music turned off when the game exited. It also likely means that whatever crashed your game isn't in the debug.txt. What were you doing when it crashed?

Police/gpmg,

Weird! I've never seen this bug before. This must be something leftover from the CVS/original source.

First Sergeant

Re: "1.13" Mod - Main Thread[message #10548]

Sun, 28 August 2005 02:41

Messages:1833
Registered:September 2004
Location: CH

@muggsy

great work

so 150 new items?

@snap

this time it worked with your pics. But for a fist look, they`re the same as i downlaoded way back at LOTB forums

maybe there was a probleme with geoshitties last time i tried

Sergeant Major

Re: "1.13" Mod - Main Thread[message #10549]

Sun, 28 August 2005 02:53

Messages:626
Registered:July 2005
Location: Canada

scorpion,

At a minimum. I changed all the loops that went through the items in the code. With luck, I can bump it up to 10,000.

First Sergeant

Re: "1.13" Mod - Main Thread[message #10550]

Sun, 28 August 2005 03:05

Messages:1833
Registered:September 2004
Location: CH

absolutely great

are you free asw to how many of them can be

-firearms
-grenade launchers
-knives
-throwing knives
-melee
-rocket launchers

items with functions such as Night vision goggles?

Sergeant Major

Re: "1.13" Mod - Main Thread[message #10551]

Sun, 28 August 2005 04:52

Messages:626
Registered:July 2005
Location: Canada

I'm working on it. But, man, you wouldn't believe how much crap is hard coded.

Hell, it was checking the grenade item #s to see what kind of explosion to make instead of the explosion type #s. So lame...

EDIT: Ok, I've hit a few walls trying to push all the item information out to the files, so we can replace items, etc. How does everyone feel about leaving the existing items in place, but allow for new ones? That way, I may not need to recode >10,000 lines.

First Sergeant

Re: "1.13" Mod - Main Thread[message #10552]

Sun, 28 August 2005 05:30

Messages:1833
Registered:September 2004
Location: CH

sorry i forgot the question mark above (are you able as to what item will have what property)

sorry for crappy english

yeah, i guess leaving old items in place is okay... as long as we can add stuff...

they will be as editable as the new ones? or limited somehow?

Sergeant Major

Re: "1.13" Mod - Main Thread[message #10554]

Sun, 28 August 2005 06:40

Messages:1815
Registered:August 2003
Location: Pleasantville, NJ

If all variables are externallised I don't see a problem. However, grouping weapons for the first, say 2000 lines, ammo for the next three, etc. might make the program faster right? And if all variables are externalised we could then arrange the items in any order we liked right?

My only worry is that mixing all item types together at random may lead to problems down the road. There are numerous glitches and outright errors that always seem to be tied to item placement. Even in the original code there were different item types mixed together instead of being cleanly grouped and I wonder if this could be the cause of some inherant problems.
Forgive me if all that is gibberish. By far the most important thing is for you to get all in game functions of items externalised so that at last there won't be anything that requires extensive hacking just to make work then later causes read errors and other frustration. I might be talking out of the wrong hole here but it may be something worth thinking about.

Sergeant Major

Re: "1.13" Mod - Main Thread[message #10555]

Sun, 28 August 2005 06:58

Messages:626
Registered:July 2005
Location: Canada

You can't move the original 300 some odd items around because they get all screwed up when the maps load.

Existing items should still be editable.

First Sergeant

Re: "1.13" Mod - Main Thread[message #10556]

Sun, 28 August 2005 07:42

Messages:1833
Registered:September 2004
Location: CH

what if the maps were empty?

would it work then?

Sergeant Major

Re: "1.13" Mod - Main Thread[message #10557]

Sun, 28 August 2005 08:42

Wil473

Messages:2808
Registered:September 2004
Location: Canada

The engine checking the item# instead of exposion# explains some of the trouble with trying to copy and mix explosions with WEDit and the GUI Desktops. Odd thing was the older WEdits "could" overwrite the explosion type so that an area damaging explosion did leave a smoke cloud (in game napalm or thermobaric signiture depending on the fiction). The later Desktop editor always allow the change, but would revert back on reopening, and never seemed to write to the .exe. (implying either the editors lost the abiliy between versions, or there was something screwy with the .exe).

By naming this one specific headach, I'm hoping that means you have sucessfully got externalized the explosive effect to be used by an item.

Lieutenant

Re: "1.13" Mod - Main Thread[message #10558]

Sun, 28 August 2005 08:49

Messages:626
Registered:July 2005
Location: Canada

Explosions are now externalized and the explosion effect is no longer tied to the item #.

The maps would only ever be empty in a mod, not in the regular game. Theoretically, I guess it would work, but I'm still leaving certain things hard coded:

Money, gold, silver, etc.
Adrenaline & regen boosters (unless someone really wants them out)
Quest items (because they're a pain in the ass; I may do these at a later date (but not today))

First Sergeant

Re: "1.13" Mod - Main Thread[message #10559]

Sun, 28 August 2005 09:03

Messages:1833
Registered:September 2004
Location: CH

i think there is no problem with silver, gold, money and boosters

quest items... neither

because quests can be modified to a certain extend editing the .npc files of NPC`s

don`t worry. Khor and i will ceertainly come up with other stuff that we`d like to have externalized... you won`t run out of work in the next couple of years thanks to us Wink

Sergeant Major

Re: "1.13" Mod - Main Thread[message #10560]

Sun, 28 August 2005 09:03

Wil473

Messages:2808
Registered:September 2004
Location: Canada

Thanks for the swift reply, I was caught proof reading my post again (I do have some academic credentials that demand I double check all writing). If that's all that's left in code, you've done great. I don't see any problem those three catagories being left in code, though can we add new items in those three catagories (money, merc stats boost, and quest items)?

Is it too much to hope that it's now possible to have a real area effect explosion (thinking grenade/mortar/LAW hit effect as opposed to the rocket rifle HE and HEAP hit animation) from a magazine fired weapon?

Lieutenant

Re: "1.13" Mod - Main Thread[message #10561]

Sun, 28 August 2005 12:14

Snap

Messages:285
Registered:September 2000
Location: USA (by way of the Old Wo...

Got the CVS source, both C and C++. Still no idea what's been changed.

We do need to find out whether the breath bug with HtH is still there. As I currently don't have the game, could someone please do a simple experiment?

- Get yourself into position to kick the shit out of someone. It would be best if the victim hadn't spent most of his APs in this turn (you'll see why in a bit).

- Turn on cheats. Turn on debug overlay (Q or Alt-Q. Alt-M to turn it off, IIRC.)

- Hover the cursor over the victim - an overlay with all sorts of info should be displayed. Use PgUp/PgDn to scroll pages of info. Find where it shows his APs and breath.

- Now give him hell! As you punch, watch what happens with his stats, in particular his APs. Normally, each punch should knock down a few APs. If only 1 AP is knocked down, then we have a problem. Because if he has more than 5 APs (IIRC) at the start of the next turn, he'll restore enough breath to get up.

Master Sergeant

Re: "1.13" Mod - Main Thread[message #10562]

Sun, 28 August 2005 12:30

Snap

Messages:285
Registered:September 2000
Location: USA (by way of the Old Wo...

Quote:

Originally posted by Madd Mugsy:
Bobby Ray's sells more stuff, both quantity and variety

He's an internet shop, so he should have good variety and better inventory. BR's now has the good stuff at the same time as Tony, and if you look in the used section, you might find some slightly better stuff there, if you're up to fixing it. BR's now sells ALL the weapons and ammo in the game, along with detonators, TNT, etc. I also bumped grenades & explosives back a bit so you'll see them earlier.

I appreciate the effort :wave: but... Would it be possible to have a "Normal" option for Bobby Ray, with original settings? I think it was balanced well in the game.

I would also revert the changes that concern stats and learning, but I have already figured out how to do that :wrysmiley:

Speaking of which, I've been looking at stat gains for doing various tasks, with the view of rebalancing them a bit. Any ideas? I'll post some of my suggestions later.

Master Sergeant

Re: "1.13" Mod - Main Thread[message #10563]

Sun, 28 August 2005 14:21

ratbag

Messages:6
Registered:December 2004
Location: Australia

Hi,

Is there some way I can get Visual Studio's debugging to work when I run JA2, or even just get debugging info?

I get this error

First-chance exception at 0x211158b7 in ja2_reldbg.exe: 0xC0000005: Access violation reading location 0x00000000.

Using any .exe built from the source, when the game time reaches 3 days, 20:56.

I'd like to work it out myself (I've got some programming skill, but not much with Visual Studio), but I can't figure out how to break out of JA and into VS... alt-tabbing doesn't work.

Any help would be appreciated - my game is going too well to give up because of this error!

Private

Re: "1.13" Mod - Main Thread[message #10564]

Sun, 28 August 2005 14:41

Messages:1815
Registered:August 2003
Location: Pleasantville, NJ

@Snap

I did the debug test you outlined but don't know what the variables mean. After punching the enemy three times he dropped and didn't get up even though I didn't punch him the fourth time like you usually do. This; I gather, means the breath bug has been fixed.

Because I don't understand the variables I'm going to list them in the hopes that someone who does might explain:

Id: 21 (I take this to mean the enemy's placement number 1-32?)

Body type: 2 (Normal = 1 Strong = 2?)

Opp Cnt: When I punched the enemy to the ground this number read 2. I waited a turn without doing anything and this number became 4.

Opp List A: 1 0 3 1 4 0 0 0
After I waited a turn:1 0 1 1 1 0 0 0

Visible: 1

Direction: East

Dest Direction: East

Grid No: 8870

Dest: 8870

Path size: 0

Path index: 0

First 3 steps: 0 0 0

Next 3 steps: 0 0 0

Flash ind: 0

Show ind: 0

Main Hand: Desert Eagle

Second Hand: nada

Curr Grid no: (I don't remember this number)

Quite a few of these variables are self explanitory. I listed them hoping anyone who knows a lot about the debug info might list as much about each catagory as they can to help us look at potential problems. I've never used the debug, it looks like a really handy tool for checking maps before they cause problems in mods.

If anyone knows of a walkthrough of the debug already posted somewhere please tell me where to look. If there isn't one I really hope someone who knows takes the time to explain this stuff.

Thanx in advance.

Sergeant Major

Re: "1.13" Mod - Main Thread[message #10565]

Sun, 28 August 2005 18:22

grindedstone

Messages:88
Registered:August 2004

Try Beating up the blacks and camo (i mean black uniform - elites)

Corporal 1st Class

Re: "1.13" Mod - Main Thread[message #10566]

Sun, 28 August 2005 19:34

Snap

Messages:285
Registered:September 2000
Location: USA (by way of the Old Wo...

Thanks, Khor. The first screen doesn't show stats, but the trick is simple: when the debug overlay is displayed, use Page-Up and Page-Down keys to get more info. It will show you stats, equipment, orders, alert status, and a lot more - it's all pretty self-explanatory. This is indeed a nifty feature.

Master Sergeant

Re: "1.13" Mod - Main Thread[message #10567]

Mon, 29 August 2005 06:11

Nighthawk

Messages:46
Registered:February 2002
Location: Springfield, MO

Hello everyone,

I have been playing the 8/20 version for several days and I love it. Congrats on breaking the item limit MM. I have some weapon pics collected together from some past mods like DL and Vietnam that I created a weapon mod for in UB. All Big, interface and tileset pics are in there. Would you please consider including any that are not already in the Weapons.dat file.

www.geocities.com/jedinighthawk/JA2SupplyRoom.html

I'm also working on getting all the UC and UB tilesets together in the ja2set.dat file and testing my new maps with the 1.13 exe. Still working on that.

Nighthawk

Corporal

Re: "1.13" Mod - Main Thread[message #10568]

Mon, 29 August 2005 06:35

Messages:1833
Registered:September 2004
Location: CH

Quote:

Originally posted by John Wright:

I'm also working on getting all the UC and UB tilesets together in the ja2set.dat file and testing my new maps with the 1.13 exe. Still working on that.

Nighthawk

this is most interesting

you`re doing this for ja2 or unfinished business? you`d need to make a lot of new maps either way

Sergeant Major

Re: "1.13" Mod - Main Thread[message #10569]

Mon, 29 August 2005 06:38

DurtyDan

Messages:101
Registered:November 2001
Location: Oregon, USA

I just finished the 8/20 verson. I haven't heard any comments on the big picture here, so here are mine.

I started on expert mode, and it seemed too easy. Then restarted on insane diffuculty, which had way too many patrols for my liking. I like the well-equipped blackshirts, but the sheer number of patrols got tiring. It really limited movement between cities and required that too much time was spent maintaining the militia levels in the cities. The initial placements on city maps seeemed good, though. My recommendation? Just increase the number and frequency of the black shirts on patrols and overall initial placement numbers for expert level. This would make kind of a middle ground before before the insane level. That way, those who want constant, difficult battles can have it their way, and the rest of us who want difficult, but less frequent combat can have it our way.

The dropp all function works great for the soldiers, and I like the ability to grab armor and stuff off of the civilians, though they seemed more prone to the breath bug when beating them up for their goodies.

There seems to be a problem with targeting under certain conditions to/from a roof. Couldn't really predict or replicate it from map to map. Not enough of a problem to affect the overall experience, though.

Great job on the mod! This is groundbreaking stuff here. If only someone more talented than I could make a map conversion using this .exe, or convert one of the other great mods out there to this standard......

Sergeant

Re: "1.13" Mod - Main Thread[message #10570]

Mon, 29 August 2005 16:29

Messages:626
Registered:July 2005
Location: Canada

DurtyDan,

So how does 25% more elites in expert sound? That's the current # in insane. I've increased it, and also raised the insane level to have 50% more elites. Plus both expert and insane levels should not be limited to yellow shirts in cities. Finally, I've increased the garrison sizes by 25% in expert, which puts the # of enemies in cities/patrols in expert = 2/3 the # in insane.

There's a grace period defined in the code for the # of hours between the queen sending troops in to reclaim cities.

#define EASY_GRACE_PERIOD_IN_HOURS					144		// 6 days
#define NORMAL_GRACE_PERIOD_IN_HOURS				96		// 4 days
#define HARD_GRACE_PERIOD_IN_HOURS					48		// 2 days
#define INSANE_GRACE_PERIOD_IN_HOURS				6		// hours!

As you can see, insane is set to a truly insane level Wink

I've increased this number to 18 hours to decrease the frequency of town attacks. Suggestions are welcome, as I'm only one person doing play-testing here Smile

John,

Thanks for the pics. I'll take a look at them when I've got a chance.

Snap/everyone:

The Breath bug - is it there or not? What's the final word?

Bobby Ray's on Good is pretty much normal with just two changes: Used items are one progress level higher than the new items, and BR is no longer a step behind Tony in progress levels. As for the actual stuff available and the quantities, you'll be able to change that in the Items.xml in the next release (see below for a sample).

Status update:

I have successfully externalized the following:
- Items
- Attachments
- Explosives
- Armour
- Ammo strings (you should be able to create new calibers, but I haven't tried yet)
- Shop keeper inventories
- Bobby Ray's inventory & ROF stats (in the Items.xml)
- Compatible Face Items
- Extra Attachment Info
- Merges
- Attachment combination merges
- Launchables
- Ammo magazines
- Incompatible Attachments (this is a new section - I had to rewrite this part of the code as all the attachment compatibility parts were hard-coded)
- Enemy weapon choices
- I haven't been able to externalize all the hard-coded strings like I had hoped because my C skills are crappy when it comes to strings and arrays and pointers :silly:

I added four new stats to the weapons.xml (not .dat anymore):

- SilencedSound = sound number when silencer is attached (used to be hard coded based on ammo caliber)
- APsToReload = self explanatory. used to be hard-coded to 5 for all items. Now we can change it.
- MaxDistForMessyDeath = Max. allowed distance for a head pop / flyback death animation. Used to be hard-coded to 7 for all weapons (except barrett, which was 23). I've upped the sniper rifles to 14. (BTW, I also increased all sniper rifles' damages by 10)
- SwapClips = 1/0. Whether the weapon will swap clips during combat, or top off as it does in real time mode. Set to 1 for shotguns & revolvers.

Here is a new sample of the externalized Items.xml file:

	
		282
		RPG-7
		RPG-7
		Hey, it's an RPG, baby!
		RPG-7
		The Rocket Propelled Grenade, or RPG, is a cheap, single-shot weapon. It's main purpose to to provide an inexpensive albeit devastating weapon against soft targets.
		16
		282
		3
		0
		0
		68
		79
		0
		1500
		10
		0
		-3
		1
		1
		1
		1
		1
		1
		0
		1
		0
		0
		0
		0
		0
		0
		0
		0
		2
		1
		0
		0
		0
		0
		0
		0
		0
		0
		0
		0
		0
		0
		0
		0
		0
		0
		0
		1
		0
		0
		0
		0
		0
		0
		0
		0
		0
		0
		0
		0
		0
		0
		0
		0
		0
		0
		0
		0
		0
		0
		0
		0
		0
		0
		0
		0
		0
		0
		0
		0
		0
		0
		0
		0
		0
		0
		0
		0
		0
		0
		0
		0

As you can see, there's a shitload of stuff in there never before editable. I had to edit so many lines of code to get this to work that I lost track of the count.

As I said before, I left the booster syringes, the quest items, and the money hard-coded. Enemy (non-gun) inventory is still hard-coded however, as it'll be a major pain in the ass to get that part of the code externalized. Same goes for the inventory items assigned to IMPs.

Anyway, there's a bunch of new stuff in there that I added in there on top of what was already in the code. Some just externalize the existing hard-coded parts for a single function. Others are completely new; for example:

- DamageBonus = ranged weapon bonus applied on hit
- MeleeDamageBonus = hand to hand weapon bonus
- PercentStatusDrainReduction = kits have their status drain reduced (or increased if -ve) by this percentage

Some tags only apply to a single function, like still only works with the x-ray detector, but now you can have multiple types of batteries if you want.

Most bonuses now can be assigned to attachments, weapons and ammo(!), and all are cumulative. So you can have special armour piercing bullets that do extra damage, or homing bullets that give a to-hit bonus, or whatever. This is how the solid slug bonus for shotguns now work - the 12 gauge ammo has the range bonus! This is very cool, I think, as it opens up a huge range of possibilities. If the cumulative part bothers you, just make that particular weapon/attachment incompatible with the attachment with the bonus.

Duckbills: I had to hard-code in the check for buckshot when the duckbill tag is enabled before it'll apply the range bonus that you specify.

You can now have multiple mortars (I'm going to put the commando mortar from Snap's pics in as a sample), with different kinds of shells, multiple grenade launchers, multiple rocket launchers like the rpg, and multiple single shot launchers like the LAW (with changeable "discarded" items).

Other neat stuff is in there too, like the fingerprintID tag, which lets you add/remove fingerprintIDs from any weapon. The rocketrifle tag enables the small missile smoke trail for smaller sized rockets.

You can add new blades and throwing knives (shuriken anyone?), and have a corresponding "bloody" item appear when they hit their mark.

New armours & new armour attachments are possible.

New grenades and explosives are possible. New mines should be possible too.

New face items are possible. The various vision and hearing range bonuses now look in all equipped slots,including hands, so binoculars are possible (theoretically). (They don't look in attachment slots however (yet - I can add this if it's desired). Thermal goggles using the x-ray device aren't yet possible due to the way the x-ray detector works however.

Oh, and BTW, the new item limit has been tested and is working fine at 5000.

So, I've been pretty busy. What do you guys think?

First Sergeant

Re: "1.13" Mod - Main Thread[message #10571]

Mon, 29 August 2005 17:13

gmonk

Messages:668
Registered:April 2002
Location: Newfoundland, Canada

I think Madd Mugsy is actually three or four guys. This is an insane amount of work you've done.

I've been playing the hell out of the version you released a few days ago on expert mode with 'drop everything', I've found it challenging (I usually play with a fair complement of low-level AIM mercs, MERC mercs and native hires.) The extra stuff lying around doesn't really give you any advantage because you've got the same gear the enemy has, and you can't sell it all or grow more arms to hold weapons.

I haven't had to order much ammo from Bobby Ray's but I've ordered a fair numbr of toolkits, used gear and accessories. I find it a little more realistic and a little more challenging than the standard game on similar settings. Although the frequency of atacks on captured sectors is a little lower than I'd expect the fights that occur are challenging (I have a core capture squad and about 6-8 more mercs for logistics and reinforcement, when you start splitting them up for militia trg and so on it gets more challenging.

I encountered that weird 'no show' bug again in the Hick's Sector, but I remembered Police L.T. mentioning the rooftop thing and they appeared when I climbed onto a roof. Is there something in the code that puts them in a level above the players vision even if they aren't on a roof?

As for separating the data from the code, kudos, it's something that makes the game a lot more flexible for the other modders out there.

I've been fan of games that offer tools for modding since I found JA2. I've played a bit of Freedom Force and Neverwinter Nights because I like the modding. What I find remarkable about JA2 is that so much has been done with a toolset and base code that weren't really all that moddable in the beginning. Long live JA2!

Oh, and thanks Madd Mugsy for your excellent work.