Start Pylons

[Lowell]

I seem to have trouble setting up the start pylon. I have it triggering on a gate just like the game. I've tried many different ways to try to get it to kick-in but no luck. All pylons are set for team 255, the start is toggled by a gate, the end pylon is linked to the yard building. Nothing.

Any help would be great...I can't see how the one in the game is working, mine is just like theirs. I even removed the control tower at the generator gate like the game had...no good either.

What is it that I am missing?

Lowell

[martin]

I can' in fact ever remember seeing a pylon working in a game mod... is there one in civil war on the red junction level (the one you don't play)

[trickfred]

They must have used some hardcoded trick in the .exe to make it work properly - I've copied Yard wholesale into a mod, and they still didn't work.

[Lowell]

I think you are right Trickfred. They must have scripted something for that to work.

- I've copied Yard wholesale into a mod, and they still didn't work.

ha... I was about to do the same thing. Thanks for saving me the trouble.

Well the start track link works great toggling off of a gate, it's operation is similar to the start pylon...if one sprite can be triggered, why not another? I also was at a loss to see why the control tower is missing on the yard gate inside the "generator" map...when the gate on the yard level is turned up...it seems that the start pylon in the yard level should have toggled just fine off of the generator gate.

I think I will solve my brick wall I've run into by adding some Solar Panels and linking them right to the pylons and yard building on my positrons map. I'll have to come up with some sort of line to cover it up in the strings default story line.

What about the PowerStation? I have had no luck with trying to link to or link off of the building. The level will crash if you set the power station to any team other than –1 or 255. I tried linking solar panels to it but no luck. I have searched in the forum for any information on both of these items and found no reference.

Lowell

[xander]

What about the PowerStation? I have had no luck with trying to link to or link off of the building. The level will crash if you set the power station to any team other than –1 or 255. I tried linking solar panels to it but no luck. I have searched in the forum for any information on both of these items and found no reference.

Power stations were taken out of the game at some point early in the alpha or beta process. I don't know what they were meant to do, but as they are not used in the game, I would recommend against using them -- they are unsupported. If you can figure out how to use them, however, let us know. It might be handy.

xander

[martin]

indeed, I've played around with power stations but never got them working either

as for the pylons: maybe we should start a campaign for a new sticky guide from Chris to go with the lights in mods about pylons in mods.

[Lowell]

Xander wrote:

If you can figure out how to use them, however, let us know. It might be handy.

If set for team -1 / 255 the darwinians will run up to the terminals and the terminal light will flash green. I have even used a control tower linked to it and an engineer turned that on without any troubles. If linked to a row of pylons...nothing happens. I haven't tested it to see if it can be brought online in a mission script yet.

Surely there is a bar napkin somewhere that has the idea behind the power station. It won't generate power on it's own. I even tried feeding it Primitives from a refinery and it won't even budge. Solar panels...sticks it's nose up at them. So why is it in the editor.

EDITWell, I shouldn't say why is it in there...it is still a good static building, I was thinking of safe areas and script triggers to use with it...just wish it would generate power.

[trickfred]

Xander wrote:

If you can figure out how to use them, however, let us know. It might be handy.

If set for team -1 / 255 the darwinians will run up to the terminals and the terminal light will flash green. I have even used a control tower linked to it and an engineer turned that on without any troubles. If linked to a row of pylons...nothing happens. I haven't tested it to see if it can be brought online in a mission script yet.

Surely there is a bar napkin somewhere that has the idea behind the power station. It won't generate power on it's own. I even tried feeding it Primitives from a refinery and it won't even budge. Solar panels...sticks it's nose up at them. So why is it in the editor.

EDITWell, I shouldn't say why is it in there...it is still a good static building, I was thinking of safe areas and script triggers to use with it...just wish it would generate power.

AFAIK, weren't PowerStations supposed to be attached to laser fences and enable them to be turned on/off? Not sure where I got that assumption from, but the fact that laser fences have different states (yeah, they don't work, but they're still there in the Editor)would mean something would be required to change their states, yes?

[Lowell]

....Oops....The darn thing works...who slipped that in when we weren't looking...




Set your laser poles as normal. set which ever team color...then set them for ( Enabling ) place a control tower, after the green darwinians walk up to the power station's terminals...the laser fence starts to power up. I linked my poles from left to right, that's how they powered up. One screen at a time, lifting from the ground up, like a power window rolls up in a car.

It is a cool effect, and the building does work.
EDIT//Link the power station directly to your first laser pole...don't use a pylon or anything...or you'll learn the hard way like I did.

Now can we fix the Start Pylon...

[xander]

Do powered up fences (i.e. ones that started off) still kill baddies?

xander

[trickfred]

Yeah, and setting them to 'disabling', which you would assume has them in an on position and turns them off when the PowerStation is activated, doesn't. It does the same as setting them to 'enabling'.

Broken.

[Lowell]

...Wow...it works better than if they are powered up from the start. The darwinians and engineers got it online just intime...I placed an AI Unit on the map and an AI Target just inside the fence area, so as the greens were running for the power station the reds were running in after them. Just as the last open section was closing a red got off a laser shot and killed a couple greens. When the laser wall was up the reds could not get through...plus their laser guns could not penetrate the fence either. They kept trying because of the AI Target on the other side...kept shooting but the greens were safe behind the laser fence...I'm going to use this in my next map...very cool.

[trickfred]

Um, I dunno about your version of the game, but if a PowerStation is linked to a laser fence, the fence is off when entering the level, even if set to 'enabled' in the editor (in fact, whatever it's set to).

Also, Squads seem to be able to walk through the fences when activated by a PowerStation, no matter what colour they are. I can take screenshots too, if you wanna see them. Edit: In a rectangle-shaped Team 1 fence, Squads can walk through 3 sides safely, and fry through only one side. Weird.

Edit: I've got screenshots of red DGs walking through a green fence too. Don't know how you managed to stop them.... and a red fence, and a yellow fence.

Bro-ken.

[NeoThermic]

There's a simple way to solve this. Post the level file you're using for us to download and test

I've got every version here from 1.0 to 1.42, so I can check that it works in any

NeoThermic

[hitm4n]

great job figuring it out lowell...

i don't do mods, nor know how, but i wonder.... could you name all your pylons "1" and have all sections rise at once. Rather than winding up 1 at a time... ? Just a thought i'd share You should try a few diff methods and see what other uses you could maybe get from these.

Like Trickfred tries, can they work in reverse.