Making Power Nodes Auto-Attackable Again

[Agemmon]

Hey everyone!

I have a few friends who recently bought the Dawn of War master collection not too long ago during that black Friday sale on Steam. So far, they mostly enjoy the Last Stand game mode but they love good ol' comp stomps even more.

I really don't know what happened to the Dawn of War II - Retribution AI though — I don't remember the AI ever being so terrible. They don't spend their resources well, they use the exact same builds four out of five times, and they usually don't end up retreating in time.

Anyways, I had to show these guys the Elite mod. I'm not even sure if the Elite mod modifies the AI in any way, but for some reason I remember comp stomps on earlier versions of the mod being much more enjoyable.

However, it was either in this version of the mod or a recent previous version that units would no longer auto-acquire or fire upon enemy controlled power nodes unless they right clicked them. Honestly, I personally think this is a great change for player-versus-player, but it breaks the AI — they don't ever seem to attack them anymore.

I'm going to dig through the SGA files now and see if I can find something, but just in case I come back seeking assistance: how would I go about reverting this one specific change? I'm assuming I would go into the ebp / sbp file for the power node and change some relevant value in there.

We just want to have two versions of the Elite mod: one for when we feel like playing with other players and one for when we feel like playing comp stomps (that work).

Thanks for your time guys, wonderful mod here by the way!

[Wise Windu]

Yeah, that change was made back in 2.2 beta 4 I think. Also, there will be changes to the AI coming in the next patch that will hopefully make the AI a bit less dumb. Won't fix the auto targeting of nodes, though, unfortunately.

If you want to make them auto-targetable again, go into the following files:

simulation\attrib\ebps\pvp\race_chaos\buildings\csm_listening_post.rbf

simulation\attrib\ebps\pvp\race_eldar\buildings\eld_listening_post.rbf

simulation\attrib\ebps\pvp\race_imperial_guard\buildings\ig_listening_post.rbf

simulation\attrib\ebps\pvp\race_marine\buildings\sm_listening_post.rbf

simulation\attrib\ebps\pvp\race_ork\buildings\ork_listening_post.rbf

simulation\attrib\ebps\pvp\race_tyranid\buildings\tyr_listening_post.rbf

In those files, go to the health_ext node and set "is_auto_targetable" to "true". (If you're using Cope's Toolbox, check the box next to that option and save the file.) Hopefully that helps.

[Agemmon]

Ahh I thought I was right — yeah, I saw each of those earlier when I was excavating through the files. I actually have all of those for each race in the Elite_attrib.sga and saved them. It made an additional Elite_attrib folder inside the Elite / Archives folder. Running Dawn of War II – Retribution with the command line "-modname Elite" doesn't seem to implement the changes, but I'm about to try it right now by adding in -dev as well. Hopefully I don't have to repack them into the .sga or whatever but I'll see if anything works!

Thanks for the help, I'll let you know what happens!

*Edit: Looks like I may have to repack it into Elite_attrib.sga, the changes I made in Cope's Toolbox. Also found the activated power node files in GameAttrib_orig.sga so I'll check that out too (Edit: the mod doesn't seem to call upon this file actually so it's definitely the listening post ebs in Elite_attrib.sga)."

[Wise Windu]

You'll have to change the .module file if you want the game to reference files in a folder. And then you have to be running the -dev startup command to make it reference files in a folder as well. Currently, Elite has neither of those things in its .module file or shortcut. The game's desktop shortcut already has -modname Elite in it, so adding it to Steam's startup options won't change anything.

You can add something like:

[attrib:common]
folder.01 = Elite\Archives\Elite_attrib
folder.02 = GameAssets\Data
archive.01 = Elite\Archives\Elite_attrib.sga
archive.02 = Elite\Archives\GameAttrib_orig.sga

in place of what's currently in the module file. This should still allow you to play with other people who don't have your modifications as well, as long as you aren't running -dev mode (maybe. The game isn't technically using the files when not in -dev mode, but might still reference them. You'll have to test it.)

Alternatively, add the above lines to a copy of the .module file, and then name the file something else ("CompStompMod" maybe), and then make a copy of the Elite desktop shortcut, right click on it, and replace the Shortcut Target with:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\Steam.exe" -applaunch 56400 -dev -nomovies -modname CompStompMod

This way, you won't even have to change your startup settings every time you want to switch between the two.

Hopefully I didn't miss anything.

[Agemmon]

Hmm, still doesn't seem to want to work for me. My file structure is fine in relation to the module information under [attrib:common], the auto-attackable extension is checked off for each respective race's listening_post.rbf and they are in the folder (C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Dawn of War II - Retribution\Elite\Archives\Elite_attrib\ATTRIB\simulation\attrib\ebps\pvp\race_[race]\buildings\[race_]listening_post.rbf), and I used the shortcut information you suggested as well.

When I launch the game, it works fine and I am definitely in dev mode because matchmaking is disabled. However, the computer players and I are still unable to auto-attack listening posts. I'm not too sure what the issue is.

[Wise Windu]

Oh. Try changing the folder.01 = Elite\Archives\Elite_attrib line to:

folder.01 = Elite\Archives\Elite_attrib\ATTRIB or move the simulation folder to be within the Elite_attrib folder without changing the module file.

Is there a reason for the brackets around "race_"?

[Agemmon]

By putting in the square brackets, I just meant that as being any race. Chaos Space Marines have there listening post filed as "csm_listening_post.rbf" for example. I'll try the change to the module line and let you know how it goes!

[Wise Windu]

Ah right. Sorry, I'm tired and in the process of writing a lab report

[Agemmon]

All good, I'm happy enough having you assist me!

I'm about to try it out, but here's all of my steps just in case it helps:

Step #1 (Edit process):

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Step #2 (Just showing that the files are there):

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Step #3 (Showing my shortcut and module edits):

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[Agemmon]

I can confirm that everything is working perfectly! Thank you so much for your help!

[Wise Windu]

Cool, no problem. And remember that you can follow the second set of steps I gave to make it possible to just have 2 desktop shortcuts instead of having to change the -dev command; one for comp stomping, and one for playing multiplayer

[Agemmon]

Hmm, actually, I do have two shortcuts now for it: one that launches Elite and one that launches CompStompMod, but the CompStompMod shortcut isn't launching the game.

I just renamed my modified Elite.module to CompStompMod.module and put my backup of the unchanged Elite.module in the Dawn of War II - Retribution folder and changed "-modname Elite" to "-modname CompStompMod" in CompStompMod.module.

Is there something else I need to change or something that went wrong there? Elite launches properly, but the CompStompMod won't launch at all.

[Wise Windu]

Do you get a crash, or does it just not start?

edit: never mind. Go to the top of the CompStompMod.module file, and change the Name = Elite line to:

Name = CompStompMod

[Agemmon]

I had a crash at first, but then realized I forgot to add "-dev". After I added it in the target line of the shortcut, it just wouldn't start at all.

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*Edit: Ahh, okay, I'll try that now*

[Agemmon]

Perfect, everything works! That also actually helped me out for an old mod I was working on where I tried to have variants of the mod run through different shortcuts and module files. You, Wise Windu, are a miracle worker — thank you so much for your time and help

[Wise Windu]

No problem, have fun!

[Pondera]

Try as I might, I CANNOT get this to work. Seems pointless to play without it, since the AI is utterly and pointlessly crippled. I followed your instructions but the game refuses to read my changes.

[Wise Windu]

Have you enabled -dev mode in the Launch Options?

[Pondera]

FINALLY managed to get it working. Extracted the needed files by cannibalizing another mod. Apparently, there's something wrong with the extraction and editing method of Cope's toolbox.

At any rate, after all that time and headache, I know what I'm doing today with my day off