New Modding Features

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Icepick
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New Modding Features

Postby Icepick » Fri Dec 22, 2006 7:57 pm

I'm currently in the process of adding some new modding features to Darwinia. This thread is basically for people to request any features they would like to see.
Obviously, the more reasonable the request, the more likely it is to get added to the game - requests for a dozen more unit types are much less likely to happen than, say, the ability to change text avatars (Dr Sepulveda) dynamically (which is already done, incidently.)

Please try to be as concise and to the point as possible - again, the easier I can understand your requests/suggestions, the more likely they are to be added.

You should also be aware of the fact that I am working on this in my free time, outside of all the other work I have to do, so I make no promises as to the speed at which these features will be added or released.

So, if you have anything you'd like to see in Darwinia, post it here!

Added Features:
    - ChangeAvatar scripting function, allows you to change the directory that the avatar images are read from. Any number of images can be used, and changed randomly.
    - DynamicBuilding, a versitle building with numerous features
      - Can use any shape (ala StaticShapes)
      - Can be assigned a 'Health' value, which will make the building destructable
      - If set to Global, the building can come online when it is destroyed
      - Will Dynamically read 'port' markers from the shape assigned to the model and create working Darwinian ports, which will cause the building to come online once all used
      - Can be assigned a unit type to spawn, in the same way as an AISpawnPoint building.
    - Virii will now render for teams other than 1 (red)
    - Team information can now be extracted to a text file. You can use the text file to specify the team colour, alliances between teams, and the Player team. See http://the-icebox.com/Darwinia/screenshot3.jpg for an example of this with 4 (randomly) coloured teams. An example of the file format for the main game would be:

    Code: Select all

    Team 0
       Colour 100 255 100
       Ally 2
       Weapon research
    EndTeam

    Team 1
        Colour 200 50 50
       IsEvil
       Weapon grenades
    EndTeam

    Team 2
       IsPlayer
       Colour 200 200 30
       Ally 0
       Weapon research
    EndTeam


    - Team Alliances can be made and broken dynamically using the SetAlliance and BreakAlliance scripting functions.
    - Sounds.txt will now be read from the directory of the current mod, if present.
    - Dynamic colouring for 3D entities (Spiders only, currently) - http://the-icebox.com/Darwinia/spiders.jpg
    - Using teams.txt, each team may now be given unique models for each unit - http://the-icebox.com/Darwinia/spidersyay.jpg
    - You can now use the scripting command SetAvatarName to display a name over the current avatar - http://the-icebox.com/Darwinia/sepname.jpg
    - Using the SetFadeRate scripting command, you can change the speed at which the screen fades in and out during transitions. It takes a float as a parameter, for the scale by which the speed should change (3.0 = 3 times normal speed, 0.5 = half normal speed)
    - SetLogoFile and SetLogoName can now be used to dynamically change the image/text displayed by the ShowDarwinLogo command
    - You can now change the stats of units using the SetUnitStat scripting command. For example:

    Code: Select all

    SetUnitStat Virii Health 60
    SetUnitStat Squadie Rate 40
    SetUnitStat Officer Health 50

Last edited by Icepick on Wed Jan 10, 2007 3:28 pm, edited 16 times in total.
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Postby nihilesthetics2 » Fri Dec 22, 2006 8:21 pm

Thats jolly decent of you - but where to start ! There are already compiled lists of requests around the forums somewhere, but my favourites are

1. Separate images for Darwinians in different teams
2. Script driven change of Sepulveda image (Edit : < --- Done already !? ( Should read more carefully ). Fill us in.)
3. Fix sounds.txt in mod folder bug
4. 'Alpha' colour for units and buildings replaced with team colour.
5. Update stats file values in scripts

Not much detail, but I think they are all self-explanatory

Better stop there before I get carried away.

Maybe we should try and find some way of organising the requests before it gets too chaotic. For example, long-running bug fixes should probably take priority, then gameplay enhancements and then new graphical features last. But then again you should probably do the ones that you will enjoy the most first.

N2
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Postby Icepick » Fri Dec 22, 2006 9:21 pm

I'll try and keep the first post updated with features that have been added.
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Postby The GoldFish » Sat Dec 23, 2006 1:01 am

One concern I want to bring up is this;

Seperate out, or give the option to seperate out, graphics which are used in multiple places(example, glow.bmp - used in shadows, the soul repository, trunk port effects, receiver soul rain aura, virii aura...)

Perhaps a new file type that would read resource paths for each item, and just point it to the same file over and over for the sake of backwards compatability? Obviously this would increase memory usage unless accounted for.

Basically just sort of outsourcing a lot of variables (like team colours) and such like'd be grand.

Obviously I have many more...
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Postby martin » Sat Dec 23, 2006 11:07 am

hmm, I love you icepick :D

-fix laserfences and powerstations, they sometimes work and sometimes crash horribly with no blackbox :(
-make buildings which will be manned by darwinians of only a certain team
-dynamically change all textures in the textures file using scripts
-change the editor so that you cannot link unlinkable buildings

I'll continue thinking on this ;)
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Postby Testrie » Sat Dec 23, 2006 4:48 pm

:arrow: do pylonstarts work yet?
:arrow: I always wanted to bring buildings online / offline (active / not-active) through scripts
:arrow: how about add an
extra option to script triggers and spawnpoints that makes it only activated by green , red , or both? (a dropdown that contains green , red, and both will do) - please make both be default if you decide to do this. (mabye only red and green adds an extra value to the entry in the mission files - just so everyone doesn't have change their mods)

elyea

ps can I beta test this mod?
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Postby Icepick » Sat Dec 23, 2006 6:15 pm

Testrie wrote: :arrow: how about add an extra option to script triggers and spawnpoints that makes it only activated by green , red , or both? (a dropdown that contains green , red, and both will do) - please make both be default if you decide to do this. (mabye only red and green adds an extra value to the entry in the mission files - just so everyone doesn't have change their mods)


ScriptTriggers already function this way - they only go off if a unit of the specified team enters the area. Currently there is no way to make a ScriptTrigger triggerable by *any* team, but I might add that as a feature.
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Postby skull13 » Sat Dec 23, 2006 6:36 pm

Can it be made to be a bit more user-friendly? I can't deal with all of the text coding involved
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Postby Testrie » Sat Dec 23, 2006 9:52 pm

Icepick wrote:
Testrie wrote: :arrow: how about add an extra option to script triggers and spawnpoints that makes it only activated by green , red , or both? (a dropdown that contains green , red, and both will do) - please make both be default if you decide to do this. (mabye only red and green adds an extra value to the entry in the mission files - just so everyone doesn't have change their mods)


ScriptTriggers already function this way - they only go off if a unit of the specified team enters the area. Currently there is no way to make a ScriptTrigger triggerable by *any* team, but I might add that as a feature.


no wonder i thought safeareas do that too. now can you do that for safeareas?

elyea
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Postby daset » Sun Dec 24, 2006 2:28 am

The GoldFish wrote:separate out, or give the option to separate out, graphics which are used in multiple places(example, glow.bmp - used in shadows, the soul repository, trunk port effects, receiver soul rain aura, virii aura...)


Seconded
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Postby Icepick » Sun Dec 24, 2006 4:13 am

Updated the first post with some new features.
Im especially interested to hear what people think about the newest feature (team detail extraction), and any ideas they have for it.
Current things on the list include seperate image files for the Darwinias/virii of each team, as well as scripting commands to let you change alliances dynamically.
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Postby xander » Sun Dec 24, 2006 5:03 am

Icepick, I want to bear you children. I love you. The team information feature is great. I am going to have to do something with that... One question however -- is there any way of making it possible to change it mid game? I ask for this reason: in Insurrection, the team that the player is working for can change mid game. Right now, green is good, red is bad, and there is no reason to use any other color scheme. However, if it could work so that blue is good, and green is bad, then switches half-way through, that would be über-cool. If it is not easy to implement, no worries, but I would love you forever.

As to the other features, I have been waiting for them for more than a year. Thank you so much for including them. I will try to play around with them a bit next week, though I am on vacation for the next two weeks, and will not be at my work computer.

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Postby NeoThermic » Sun Dec 24, 2006 5:19 am

xander wrote:Icepick, I want to bear you children. I love you. The team information feature is great. I am going to have to do something with that... One question however -- is there any way of making it possible to change it mid game? I ask for this reason: in Insurrection, the team that the player is working for can change mid game. Right now, green is good, red is bad, and there is no reason to use any other color scheme. However, if it could work so that blue is good, and green is bad, then switches half-way through, that would be über-cool. If it is not easy to implement, no worries, but I would love you forever.



Icepick wrote:[...]Current things on the list include [...] scripting commands to let you change alliances dynamically.


emphasis added ;)

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Postby xander » Sun Dec 24, 2006 5:25 am

NeoThermic wrote:
xander wrote:Icepick, I want to bear you children. I love you. The team information feature is great. I am going to have to do something with that... One question however -- is there any way of making it possible to change it mid game? I ask for this reason: in Insurrection, the team that the player is working for can change mid game. Right now, green is good, red is bad, and there is no reason to use any other color scheme. However, if it could work so that blue is good, and green is bad, then switches half-way through, that would be über-cool. If it is not easy to implement, no worries, but I would love you forever.



Icepick wrote:[...]Current things on the list include [...] scripting commands to let you change alliances dynamically.


emphasis added ;)

NeoThermic

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Postby KingAl » Sun Dec 24, 2006 5:25 am

Tourists?

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