Mini Map Icons and more stuff.

[Black Relic]

So I have a few questions if anyone knows there answer or even a hint of one.

-Mini Map Icons.

The Icons in the campaign (forward base icon, Turret icon, the hq2 icon, an a few more) I would LOVE to use but i cannot seem to get them show up on the mini map. Are the Icons bonded to the building itself or what? Because the only way I have been able to change the turret icons it to override an existing icon and replace it. So now the mini map does show vehicles...bummer really. I need to be able to use a few more icons for the mini map so people can navigate it rather than having just building icons being everywhere. I even went in the Lau files in ui/movies/hud and to campaign/tuning and didn't find much help there.

And I have no clue how to make DDS files, because i not only need to lower the size of the icons but I need to create my own (because the forward base icon has no enemy indicator), because I want to implement territory which I already have the basic design down.

-Ai take over.

This mainly has to do with a certain sim variable in the game. the Techmarine_offense_5_dreadnought_behavior.
That was used in the campaign were when activated (toggled) an Ai would control the unit and attack enemy units that would harm the techmarine. I want to implement that in mod were you click it and a Ai take overs and controls that unit so you don't have to. And you can deactivate it to get back in control of that unit if needed. So does any one know where i can find that???

And on the subject of an Ai, is it possible to covert something that you dropped in into an enemy unit? Because i want to implement Ai's that fight both sides (red and blue) and have a building were a player can drop in that Ai. Say to stop a flank, to cause confusion, to slow down an advance on a certain part of the map where a player cannot get to to defend, disrupt supply lines (territory thing) etc.

So I am really begging for some answers if anyone has them on anything. Thanks!

[Wise Windu]

I haven't tested it, but it looks like the minimap icons are changed in squads' sbps file, under squad_ui_ext\minimap_blip_override. For buildings, you probably have to do this in the ebps file since they don't have sbps, and the minimap_blip_override is in there, too. Unless you've tried that already, in which case, I dunno.

The way I make DDS files is with GIMP 2, and downloading a DDS plugin. Then you just export the file as a DDS with whatever compression you want. DoW2 mostly uses DXT5 compression.

That was used in the campaign were when activated (toggled) an Ai would control the unit and attack enemy units that would harm the techmarine. I want to implement that in mod were you click it and a Ai take overs and controls that unit so you don't have to. And you can deactivate it to get back in control of that unit if needed. So does any one know where i can find that???

Not sure what you mean. Finding the sim_variable won't help, because the sim_variables themselves don't mean anything. All they do is allow for abilities to recognize a value and create actions based on them. You could give the same ability any sim_variable and it would still work. So basically, it's the ability you want to find, not the variable.

That said though, the sim_variables are all found in simulation>attrib>attributes.rbf>sim_variable.

And on the subject of an Ai, is it possible to covert something that you dropped in into an enemy unit?

There's a change_ownership_action that might work after you use a spawn action.

Code: Select all

change_ownership_action: {
| $REF: "actions\ability\change_ownership_action";
| duration: 0f;
| change_type: "enemy";
| change_team_color: true;
};

Let me know if I misunderstood anything. Hopefully this helped.

[Flash]

Windu beat me to the the DDS answer. There's a bunch of ways including what he said. I use Photoshop and the free nvidia plugin.

[Black Relic]

Yea I know where the minimap_blip_override stuff is. Whats funny is that i know where every icon used in the mini maps are but when i try to plug in say hq2 the override would not wok which was a bummer really. So I did try them with only minimal positive results since i replace the vehicle icon with the turret icon. So no vehicle icon . Which is why i was wondering if i could try to figure out as how i could use it all. I did get a clue if any one who understands code could help me.

It was indeed in the campaign/tuning.lau. where building can be bonded to an icon in code. If anyone knows where i can do such a thing for pvp that would be very helpful.

Well i already found the ability, but i have no clue how to find it all. Is it a coded thing where the Ai takes over or what? Because i looked though Last Stand stuff and all i know is that there is 4 computers. 2 helps the player control their minions and the other 2 are enemies. Do i have to do something like that for pvp? Where a computer is assigned to a player?

The mod will only be able to support (maybe) 2v2 so this is something I think I can live with if i need to implement it.

Do you know if that the change owner_ship_action to enemy will make that unit an enemy of your enemy or will they become their ally? As in can you change the owner ship to a specific player\computer?

Sorry for so many questions yo, alot of thing I want in the mode. Just want to thank Myrdal again for his code too. pretty epic

And thanks for the replies guys.

[Wise Windu]

Well i already found the ability, but i have no clue how to find it all. Is it a coded thing where the Ai takes over or what?

Where is the ability, and what is it called (file name)?

Do you know if that the change owner_ship_action to enemy will make that unit an enemy of your enemy or will they become their ally? As in can you change the owner ship to a specific player\computer?

It will make the unit the enemy of the caster. Not sure who will control it if there's more than one player.

[Black Relic]

this is the file address.

simulation\attrib\ability\xp2\race_marine\techmarine_hero\sm_techmarine_hero_offense_5_dreadnought_enable_minion_control

[Wise Windu]

Might it be this ability? : simulation\attrib\ability\xp2\campaign\race_marine\techmarine_hero\sm_techmarine_hero_offense_5_dreadnought_initialize.rbf

With the sim_variable being referenced in the scar code? Not sure which scar file has these ability scar codes, but here it is:

Code: Select all

scar_function_call: {
| $REF: "actions\ability\scar_function_call";
| function_name: "";
| function_name_params: "Action.VenerableDreadnoughtBehaviour";
};

[Myrdal]

The relevant code is in attributeeditorfunctions.scar, starting at line 2689. The TG in last stand would have similar scripting.
The simvar is used to enable/disable the AI behaviour:

Code: Select all

2741                     if Entity_GetSimVariable(caster, familyManager.sim_variable.techmarine_offense_5_dreadnought_behaviour) == 0 then
2742                     --The Dreadnought is no longer under AI Control, the player has de-activated this ability
2743                     elseif Entity_GetSimVariable(caster, familyManager.sim_variable.techmarine_offense_5_dreadnought_behaviour) == 1 then
2744
2745                         -- Function that controls minion Behaviour
...


[Black Relic]

awesome stuff guys thanks. At least i know where to look now. Sadly i cannot edit scars. But I think i can manipulate units to make squads follow and protect another. Because in my mod (in theory) you can control up to 100 squads (thanks to mydral/hakon) efficiently. However since my mod is also going to be complex. I want to give the player some slack and have an easier time control a mass number of squads. That is the main reason of why I was asking about AI takeover, if anyone was wondering. Thanks again guys. LOADS of help.