A few mod related questions |
I'm trying to figure out how to implement the following list of abilities/configurations. Could someone please point me in the right way, or tell me it's impossible?
1. Area Damage: Is it possible to have missiles/mines/guns do splash damage during combat? And if so, how would I change the hit effects?
2. Limited Use/Burst Fire: Is there a way to limit how many times a gun can fire in a round of combat or have it fire a few times then have to stop a long time to reload (ie. this gun can fire three times before overheating and must cool for 10 seconds before firing another 3 times).
3. How do the effect files work? (The bmps in the effects folder, why are there multiple copies of each beam/bolt/missile, and what would be the proper way to say..make a very large sized bolt projectile without having the game stagger and rip them up).
4. Can I modify ship stats with components? (Maximum combat speed, acceleration rate, turn rate), and can I have weapons that negatively impact enemy ships combat manuever abilites (ie. Limit max speed, slow turn rate, etc.). What are the modifiers I'll need to use those abilities?
Re: A few mod related questions
Bitmap effects are fairly straightforward.
Effect Type := Weapon Specific Type := Bolt Effect Name := Small Bolt 24 Bitmap Filename := Torps_03.bmp ... Number Of Frames := 16 Frame 1 Texture Start X := 0.500 Frame 1 Texture Start Y := 0.500 Frame 1 Texture End X := 0.625 Frame 1 Texture End Y := 0.625 Frame 2 Texture Start X := 0.625 Frame 2 Texture Start Y := 0.500 Frame 2 Texture End X := 0.750 Frame 2 Texture End Y := 0.625 ...
The frames for this effect are loaded from the Torps_03.bmp file. There will be 16 frames to the animation, and it cycles through them with equal time spent per frame.
Frames are mapped with X and Y coordinates, left to right, top to bottom. Rather than using specific coordinates, a relative system is used, presumably allowing for easy texture scaling support (need to use low res textures, all you have to do is batch resize the bitmaps). In this case, the first frame will use a sprite built from a square with X coordinates ranging from 50% of the pixel width to 62.5%. The same for the Y coordinates, related to height.
Looking at Torps_03.bmp, we see that the file is 256x256 pixels. This means that, as measured by MS Paint, the first frame will be drawn from a square with top-left and bottom-right coordinates of 127x127 and 159x159 (an orange blob in a grey disc). Frame two will be the slightly redder blob in the grey disk to the right. Basically, this effect uses all 16 frames in the lower right quadrant of the bitmap, read left to right.
You can create arbitrary new bitmap files and map them however you like. Note that it's always best to create new files, rather than modifying the existing ones.
Re: A few mod related questions
You can set a higher ability scope level (eg: Sector - This Player). They are all listed in the modding PDF doc.
Re: A few mod related questions
1 - area effect damage is not possible. its been asked for and may turn up in SE6
2 - Limited use = ordnance. once your out of ordnance the weapon can no longer fire. as for burst fire. i suppose make the animation look like its firing 3 times and have high damage for the weapon and long reload time. don't think this will get the effect you are looking for though. maybe someone else knows how to do it.
3 - never bothered with animations. i suggest looking at the bitmapeffect_*.txt files in the Data folder and see how they read the bmp files.
4 - yes you can. in balance mod all engines add manueverability (at least last time i played it they did) i suggest loading the data files for BM and seeing how exactly it is done. Combat speed can be increased by making a component that uses the afterburner effects... though i'm not sure if it applies to vehicles other than units.
As for weapons slowing down vehicles, i've seen it done so it has to be possible. don't remember how exactly.