Jump to content

Patupi

Members
  • Posts

    41
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Profile Information

  • Gender
    Male
  • Location
    Florida, USA
  • Interests
    Scifi reading, writing, playing computer games & watching movies. Programming. Pencil sketching. 3D modelling. Clay sculpture.

Patupi's Achievements

Squaddie

Squaddie (1/5)

0

Reputation

  1. Yeah, in mods I use myself (my own mods and other's) I tend to alter the Subrace.txt like that... and sometimes for other suits... try making reticulans wear human armor. It's fun Though for some reason the head seperates if they wear human female armor. Go fig.
  2. Yes, in the vanilla game you can trade for a second level of armor beyond the 'pajamas' they come with. Both flavors are available, Reticulan Rebel pajamas and armor, and also the Reticulan Expedition pajamas and armor. Expedition suits are slightly better overall, but in the vanilla they don't transfer and Expedition armor is tricky to trade for (You can't just find them on the battle field unfortunately). So Rebels only wear Rebel suits and Expedition only wears Expedition suits. There is a mod that remedies this by adding in the appropriate suits to the 'subrace.txt' file for each race so they have all suits available.
  3. I've noticed that there are sound bytes for a rebel Reticulan treason mission, one where after you attack the Rebel Reticulans those at your base grab some of your weapons and attack the air purifier at the base. There are only wave files for this though, no triggers, meeting items etc so it doesn't look like it's possible to set it up unless someone has found a way to get this working. Has anyone tried to get a new mission on this working before? There is already a map for home base missions at least so it should be possible somehow.
  4. OK wierd, I must have forgotten to upload v0.4! Well v0.5 is ready anyway. I'll likely not work as quickly on this now the holiday is over and I'm back to work, but I'm trying not to give up on it. New version has two new suits for your Reticulan allies (no regen suit for them yet. I'm going to add in a research topic eventually that allows non-human regen. That is when you get the 'light regen pack', where-as now it comes with the 1st nanotech topic), new ammo for robot rifle, and new icons for most of the new ammo in the mod. Finally got icons to work! Woot! (EDIT: Whoops! I accidentally uploaded my version with the rapid tech boost that I used to quickly test the research tree. Corrected)
  5. (NOTE: Following is UFO AL, I don't have experience modding AM or AS so those may be different!) It depends on what the item is. If it's a new item with a new ID you've created you can give it a new 'STR' name in the equipment.txt file and the display text in the pack.txt file in the localization folder. Bear in mind that most of the pack.txt items have two entries, one for the short description and one for the long description. Note that if you add entries for these files all except the pack file will need the item array value changed to count the number of entries. The last entry in the list has a value (Not sure what this is called, but it's different from the ID number) one less than this array value and when I add in an entry I put in the value for this before the entry: IE: PTR 0 ;manufacturable PTR 0 END_OF_SubItemTemplate ;---------------------------------------------------- ;260 SubItemTemplate RECORD the ';260' is the number that is one less than the initial array value listed. This is because they start with a blank entry usually that have a value of ';0' to begin with. If your item is an existing item then DON'T change the 'STR' name in the equipment file. Even if you change all the relevant entries in equipment.txt, pack.txt and entity.txt the thing will still mess up, most likely getting the description wrong in game. This basically means for example if you want to change the existing shotgun's text in-game then you'll have to put up with leaving the equipment name the same in the equipment.txt and entry.txt etc and just remembering what the new STR name is there and just change the pack.txt displayed name to alter what comes up in game. I usually add in a comment after the 'STR' name to show what the new name is. IE use the ';' char followed by the new name: ********************************* STR name "HumanShotgun" ; mod change- STR name "AutoShotgun" ********************************** the game ignores the second line but it'll help you remember that you've changed it for doing other entries. Oh, and I used the 'Waybackmachine' to try and read the old entries online for lost links. It doesn't always work but try right clicking on the link and copying the link address then going to WBM's website and putting it in there. Might work if it happened to store an image of strategycore or other websites back then. I've had some luck with Shadow Warrior's tutorials so far like this.
  6. OK, as I'm finding stuff out about this (by trial and error mostly) I'll add up what I've found here. Hope someone finds this useful. As I've just worked out how to get customized icons into the game I'll start there. First all the icons for items (weapons, ammo, devices etc) are in two separate folders and you'll need to make these folders in your mod. From the root directory make: root\interface\textures\items\ In this directory you put your remodelled TGA pics for use as icons. They should all be in triplets. Each item will have one file with just the item name, then an item name with '_checked' after it, then a third with '_over' after it. They are all the same except for different colored borders. One for the normal view of the icon, one for when it is clicked, and another for when you mouse over it. EG: ammo_h_advhybridbattery.tga ammo_h_advhybridbattery_checked.tga ammo_h_advhybridbattery_over.tga 2nd Folder: root\interface\models\items\ In this directory is a copy of the .txt file from the equivalent folder in the 'gamedata.vfs' file. Choose a file to work with that is similar and copy it to your new directory. I was making larger batteries for use in the Reticulan weapons, a 2x2 battery rather than the 1x2 Reticulan batteries so I chose the robot batteries which are 2x2. I didn't change the 3D models as I'm having difficulty with positioning models so they look right. On the battlefield these should still look like the old Reticulan batteries. The name of this file should be the same as the name of the icons but with .txt instead of .tga and with neither _checked or _over after it. EG: ammo_h_advhybridbattery.txt Use a hex editor to edit the .txt file and change the 3 filenames that will refer to the above three pics you've made. Again there should be a .tga, a _checked.tga, and a _over.tga here and each should be changed to the new names you use above. Don't change any other file names in this file! There are multiple references to similar names here, but only three have the '.tga' at the end. Since you're using a hex editor (I couldn't find a notepad prog that didn't corrupt the files!) you need to insert or delete bytes to make the length of the name you are using fit. If your new file name is 3 characters longer add 3 bytes. If it's shorter delete 3 bytes. Then change the file name here to what you need. EG: .....Interface/T extures/Items/am modron_h_battery .tga.....F...... I had to add 5 bytes in the middle of the file, then change the text to: .....Interface/T extures/Items/am mo_h_advhybridba ttery.tga.....F. This will point to the right files for the pics to work. After this you just need to change the 'equipment.txt' file for your new item to point to these new files you've made: id INT 2014 ismanufacturable BOOL T g_modelid STR "Items/Models/ammo_r_batery.TXT" g_ifacemodelid STR "Interface/Models/Items/ammo_h_advhybridbattery.txt" startquantity INT 0 Then save, use your vfs compile tool (whichever you use) and run it.
  7. Try saving whenever one of their territories goes blank with no mission circle, then run the time on until the mission that turns up IS a capture mission. if it isn't reload and try again. For some reason the Martian ones always seem to give me capture missions more than the others. Beast and Ret captures happen once, and if you miss them... tough! For me anyway. I haven't missed them much, I usually go for them when they turn up as soon as possible. Martian ones... I keep getting. Even after I've done the capture mission I get more! Odd. I don't recall you needing plasma principles, just EM principles, to win the game, but I could be remembering wrong *shrugs*. I usually get both anyway, just to get the annihilator gun (on vanilla anyway, on ALTR the flamethrower with advanced fuel is actually better, if a little shorter ranged)
  8. If you can build EM rifle and the Annihilator then you have researched EM principles and plasma principles. EM principles gets renamed once you research it to whichever researcher was in charge (ie highest level) of that research project when it completes. 'The Ramirez principle' or the equivalent. You've had the report about what the Laputians brought with them in their second ship? It should be obvious that's the thing that allows you to win the game. I've never actually tried to attack the Beastmen fortress before that point but apparently you can, you just have to retreat as the enemy just keeps coming. After the Laputians bring their 'gift' and the planet's terraformed enough for it to spread you can do that last 2 level mission to win the game.
  9. OK, problem with replacing poison with confuse. It seemed to work, the beastmen had the confuse icon, but for some reason they didn't act confused. I've even shot my own people with confuse ammo and they aren't acting confused. Tried both psiconfuse effect and the drugdrawbackconfuse effect and neither work. Unless I can find another way for it to function I'm going to have to chose something else to replace poison ammo with... maybe electrical? Em damage rounds? Since the Beastmen have been trying to find ways to attack martians all these years that would make sense. Martians are vulnerable to EM damage. (EDIT: OK, couldn't resolve the confuse issue, but I picked slow instead. Ammo slows the victim's move speed considerably for short periods. Probably reduce the damage it deals as well in all guns. So far in testing it seems to work pretty well)
  10. If you ally with the Martians and then terraform to roughly 2/3 they break the treaty with you and make war again as the terraforming isn't compatible with their physiology. Then you research compatible terraforming and you can make peace with them again. That's the only problem with advanced terraforming I know of. They might be talking about the flooding. If the Martians have only one or two teritories and they flood the race will disappear. Could cause problems if you haven't researched EM principles I guess, though how you'd terraform that much without EM principles is beyond me! I usually end up with a blank tech tree by the time I'm into the last part of the game. As long as you've had the Laputians launch a manned ship to you you should be fine.
  11. Ahh yes, the acid thing. Yeah it's a git. Something is up with salvaging acid grenades and acid ammo. Technically you need both to research acid weapons, but for some reason sometimes it doesn't register one of them as salvaged to engage the research even if you have salvaged both. Sometimes for me if you take one of each (grenade and ammo) and leave it on the battlefield, then salvage it at the end this engages the research... sometimes it doesn't I've tried a few things, but a some mods alter it so you only need one of them. Usually just acid ammo. Yeah, snipers are a lot of fun. On matriarchs though their 'bullet dodge' does make sniper rifles less effective. Once your snipers have enough kills (usually somewhere from 500 to 1000 from memory) they should have enough accuracy to hit Matriarchs somewhat, and taking leg shots is very useful against them! Even if it doesn't do much damage. Leg shots, then follow up with Laser cannon usually does good. Um, can't think off hand, but I'm pretty sure the capture mission isn't desperately important for Martians. It doesn't give much for Reticulans I know, just some info and Psi defence unit. As long as you can get Martian language and have the Moon missions done you should be fine for the end game. You need terraforming to a high level to make the... well I won't spoil it for you. The end game anyway. And that means terraforming level two, which needs EM principles.
  12. Sort of, but it's no where near as good. Once you research Plasma tech after talking to Martians you can get your people (or allied Martians) to use plasma cannons, but they don't set people on fire, just do fire damage... plus take forever to aim, and then ready between shots. The 'plasma shot' mode that throws balls of plasma also gives a slow moving ball that takes forever to reach the target, and is a small explosion area. You pretty much always miss any moving target except at close range! The Plasma throw (flamethrower mode) is a little better, but still very slow to aim and you get three shots per clip! I'm doing a mod at the moment where one aim is to make Martian EM and Plasma weapons more accessible earlier in the game (because by the time you get them most enemies are either immune to EM or easier to kill with other weapons) and also makes plasma weapons more deadly, both robot mounted and hand held martian versions. I also made them set people on fire, though not quite as easily as the ALTR flamethrower and not for as long. As to the 'follow this guy!' thing, I think it has to do with how much you carry, or what you carry. On different missions certain enemies (like rollers and elementals) will just follow one person round the map, but it changes as to who gets followed. I suppose it could be the level, ie follow the highest level person. For me it's usually Samantha, but then I usually get her to have dual pistols and tons of ammo so it might just be her load out. Gatlings don't hurt them? That I haven't come across. Usually Gatlings mess them up at close range for me. Usually if I use Gatlings it's one guy, with a couple of flankers with rifles on aimed burst. Bear in mind the more kills your guys have the higher their accuracy is, no matter what their stats are. Often I make sure one guy is the one to get the 'kills' just to get a bit more of the experience for that person and get his/her kills higher and more accurate. On vanilla the average of soldier, scientist and technician skill levels gives you the enemy level, so try to strike a balance between rushing lots of combat and increasing soldiers ahead of the scientists and thus getting tougher enemies before you've researched good stuff... and letting too many missions go by and getting lots of tech, but not very good soldiers to fight the improved enemies with! (EDIT: Oh, and BTW just incase you haven't tried it, paralyze does work on Rollers, actually on all organic targets. I've done it with pistols too, though it doesn't work enough times to be very useful with that. I'd stick with Cannon on Paralyze ammo if you do. It's higher chance of working, plus it always hits at least for some damage, thus always a chance of paralyzing.)
  13. Acid is more likely to work (ie start them burning, it always does damage) with the big gun, and much more likely with the cannon. Dual pistols does work (I've killed rollers with dual human pistols, not just beastmen ones loaded with acid), but they don't always start burning. With the ALTR mod the flamethrower has a MUCH higher chance of setting people on fire (like almost always!) and it lasts longer than the normal burning duration. I think they also lengthened the Beastmen acid 'burning' duration as well for that mod. In vanilla it's a little more tricky, but I'd always use someone with Beastmen anatomy and major athletics to dodge around them. Note. If you can't move because the Roller is too close put time on slow and keep trying to move. I think it just gets the larger roller's 'footprint' confused with the soldier's and he/she can't find an empty spot to move to. Even if the roller doesn't move much, or even if it moves closer to you, I often find a quarter second is enough to get your soldier able to move again. If you have your soldiers clustered then friendly fire incidents can be nasty, especially with the shotgun. But at least the range is short so I tend to group my troops fairly loosely for those tactics, or in a line that blocks the roller from moving between them. Then at least I can cancel the orders of those in the middle if the roller sneaks around the line. Honestly I only had trouble with rollers (even whole groups of them) when I first played and didn't realise that anything other than bullets (and possibly grenades, though it's tricky to actually hit them with that) isn't really effective against them. Mostly I find as long as I don't charge towards where the enemy spawns that the rollers don't group together much. They move so randomly they come at me at groups of two at most. As to the smell absorber, I've honestly never used it. I probably should try that, though as you said, you'd likely need a combination of smell absorber and stealth training to avoid vision and sound as well.
  14. Ballistic weapons if you can't get incendiary. If you can use Beastmen guns with incendiary that would help but the ammo can be in short supply. Tip, if on your recovery screen after a mission with beastmen shamans you see two red ammo and two green (paralyze and AP) the pistol somewhere nearby should have an acid ammo mag in it. Take the pistols near there and swap ammo around till you find it. I generally go for shotguns vs rollers, though rifles on automatic (once your people have more kills, thus more skill at such illusive prey) can work too. Because they are so hard to hit area effect weapons work too. Short range blasts from the warp weapons does good work too, though the time to aim is a pig and they can hit you before it can fire sometimes.
  15. *sigh* I'm having issues with the mod. For some reason all the equipment to do with 'Automatic Firearms' work fine when added in as initial equipment, but when you research it the production screen crashes. At first I thought it was a conflict with the AMM mod which I'd added in. Both used IDs 3001, 3002 etc. However even changing the technology IDs to 5001 etc didn't work. I'm looking into the problem, but at least this time I have a backup that works (I think) and can start from that point. It's possible though that certain IDs aren't working correctly. I'll check my Entity.txt file and the Pack.txt file again to make sure I didn't miss anything (EDIT: thought it might be conflicts with production dependancies, perhaps material listings that might not exist... but I took them all out and relied just on the tech dependancy and it still crashes. ) (EDIT: OK, it seems to be (at least partially) the LMG that's crashing this. Must be a typo somewhere.) (OK, fixed it and re-uploaded the file. Should work now. It looks like I was using the material requirement "Chemical3" rather than "Chemicals3".)
×
  • Create New...