NKF Posted August 25, 2005 Report Share Posted August 25, 2005 Oh most definitely, I wasn't just going to list the unitref number and expect you to decipher it yourself! Basically it'll list name, psi skill and psi strength. I'm not going to release this to the public (yet), because it doesn't exactly do what I want it to do, but I've retooled it for the task you're intending to use it for, so could you PM me an e-mail address so I can mail it to you? The forum e-mail function doesn't appear to allow attachments. (edit: of course, you did so when I sent this, so never mind that...) - NKF Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bomb Bloke Posted August 27, 2005 Author Report Share Posted August 27, 2005 No one knows the equations for psi attacks. They should produce a percentage answer, and we don't have anything which produces anything like that. I've written a program which dumps unit stats in a nicely readable form, er, more or less. A programming tool rather then a program. Produces output a bit like my logging program does, but rotated 90 degrees. Can be used to easily view stats of units. I can't help myself. Screenshot! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NKF Posted August 27, 2005 Report Share Posted August 27, 2005 Bomb Bloke, if you could open up a separate window, toss in tabs, make a list on the side and group related information together, that looks like it would be a very nice way of viewing the unitref file. I wish my copy of Visual C++ would work properly... Win32 interface programming from scratch is well beyond my meagre scope of knowledge at the moment. - NKF Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bomb Bloke Posted August 27, 2005 Author Report Share Posted August 27, 2005 Bomb Bloke, if you could open up a separate window, toss in tabs, make a list on the side and group related information together, that looks like it would be a very nice way of viewing the unitref file. Seperate window? Tabs? List? Don't understand much of that. I just use notepad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NKF Posted August 27, 2005 Report Share Posted August 27, 2005 I was just thinking out loud there Bomb Bloke. The thought just hit me that it would be oh so much nicer to have an easy to use interface to view all the data rather than fiddle around in a text editor. - NKF Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bomb Bloke Posted August 27, 2005 Author Report Share Posted August 27, 2005 I've been thinking of making one, not so much for viewing as for editing. As it stands I have to play about with a hex editer, and I don't think in hex very well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danial Posted September 22, 2005 Report Share Posted September 22, 2005 I'd just like to point out at this juncture that we've suddenly gone from discussion psionics and are now discussing the intricacies of kneeling. Sorry to drag it back there again, but I just had a revelation about this today and didn't think it warranted it's own thread... The kneeling multiplier is 1.15 (or +15% if you will), so basically kneeling negate's the alien's height advantage then? Hmm. So the aliens are pre-kneeled but don't get the kneeling advantage. That's curiously good to know.If you take the 15% kneeling multiplier away from the soldier's 22-height, so 85%, it works out to 18.7, and of course, rounding it down to the integer makes it 18, exactly where I thought it should be. This means that if a 6-ft soldier is 18-high, the 24-high ceiling would be 8ft, which is exactly where it should be too. So to summarise, it's my belief that Aliens, in lacking the kneeling ability, were made pre-kneeled by the programmers by making all human opponents bigger than they should be Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zombie Posted September 22, 2005 Report Share Posted September 22, 2005 I get what you mean, Danial. Since the aliens cannot kneel, the programmers just made them shorter to compensate for this fact. But why would the aliens have a kneeling height listed in addition to their "standing" height? And for some aliens, that kneeling height is even shorter (21 standing vs. 16 kneeling for example). Perhaps it was just too difficult to impliment AI to cover kneeling for the aliens. I mean, they would have to determine when would be a good time for the aliens to kneel or stand. That could have been a problem, especially on a tight schedule. - Zombie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danial Posted September 22, 2005 Report Share Posted September 22, 2005 Exactly. It might have been at the last minute that they said, "We need to get this out NOW! Forget about the Aliens kneeling and just make the humans bigger targets for them to hit" It's like in HL2 - The ally NPCs have the ability to sprint (as opposed to just running and walking), but when they use it is beyond me. Because sprinting is limited to 8s bursts, I guess it would be difficult for the AI to know when to make the best use of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bomb Bloke Posted September 23, 2005 Author Report Share Posted September 23, 2005 Given that the aliens don't use their kneeling stats, it'd be reasonable to assume that the developers didn't put much effort into balancing those stats. Getting the AI to use the croach function would be simple - if they think they're done moving, and they would still have enough TU for reaction fire after croaching, then the unit would do it. The most effort would go into drawing the extra sprites needed. Some aliens just have gaps in their sprite files where you'd expect the bent legs to go (based on their placement in the soldier sprite files). Incedently, does kneeling affect firing accuracy at all? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danial Posted September 23, 2005 Report Share Posted September 23, 2005 It does. It adds 15%. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bomb Bloke Posted September 24, 2005 Author Report Share Posted September 24, 2005 Hmm. So, does this accuracy modifier also apply to aliens, who are by default shorter? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NKF Posted September 24, 2005 Report Share Posted September 24, 2005 Well, if you get permanent control of a unit, say a sectoid, you can indeed make it kneel. The legs, because none exist for the sectoid sprite set, vanish, and the upper torso drops accordingly. The AI however cannot kneel, so it doesn't get the +15%. - NKF Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blehm 98 Posted September 24, 2005 Report Share Posted September 24, 2005 since sectoids are already really short then they become Super short when they kneel? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zombie Posted September 24, 2005 Report Share Posted September 24, 2005 Sectoids have a standing height of 16 which places them close to the bottom of the height list. Kneeling decreases height to 12, but the Sectoid still isn't shorter than the shortest standing height alien in the game (Silacoid, height=10). Still, the AI cannot kneel Sectoids anyway so you will never see this reduction. Yeah, there are ways to force aliens to kneel (ie, using my method of permanent X-COM control by Mind Controlling, stunning and reviving). But the alien isn't considered "alien" anymore - it's considered one of your units. BTW, the sprite image of an alien doesn't change if you force it to kneel on the Playstation. It appears as it did standing. - Zombie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danial Posted September 24, 2005 Report Share Posted September 24, 2005 Some aliens just have gaps in their sprite files where you'd expect the bent legs to go (based on their placement in the soldier sprite files).I've always wondered what those gaps were for... It never occured to me that they're the missing kneel sprites Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bomb Bloke Posted September 25, 2005 Author Report Share Posted September 25, 2005 Zombie, I know PC's can read PlayStation discs... Are there any PCK/TAB files on your UFO game disc? Wouldn't mind having a look at them if there are. I know aliens can't kneel, but I also know that your agents get an accuracy bonus when they do. I'm wondering if this bonus is related to the height of a unit. If so, that would give all aliens a bonus by default, as they are shorter then your soldiers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zombie Posted September 25, 2005 Report Share Posted September 25, 2005 Nope, I can't find any PCK or TAB files listed. For the most part, the PSX file system is set up differently from the computer version we are all used to. Let me see.... there are 9 files with a .STR extension. These are pretty big in size so I assume they are the videos. Then there is a 1 KB file that is a SpeedDial type. Dunno what that is for. Okay, next there are 4 big .DAT files: FLIC, GEOSEQ, TACSEQ and XCOM. Also 4 security catalog files with the same names, except these are for the most part 1 KB in size - probably they just call up the dat files. Then there are the two application files: GEOSCAPE and TACTICAL. Finally, there is a 4 KB file with a .41 extension. That's it, no PCK or TAB files are listed. I really doubt the kneeling accuracy bonus is related to height. Otherwise, everything with a different height would have a separate accuracy bonus. - Zombie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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