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Post by Kyzrati on Jan 10, 2013 6:37:01 GMT -5
R8.3 is out and now I shouldn't be working on any major features that will keep me from releasing a few version updates in the meantime. So if you have some simple feature(s) to suggest/request that would make your modding easier or your mod more fun, feel free to propose and discuss them here.
This is not gameplay features, mind you, just modding features like spawning or mission control etc. I also can't accept any major modding features because I'll have to re-write the system later anyway to interface with an editor, but in case you aren't sure of whether something is "major", go ahead and ask anyway--I can always put it on the list for future reference even if it can't be added now.
Things I have on my list right now to do which fall into this category: -Fix item ammo "AUTO" spawn setting so it does what it's supposed to -ITEM_NEW_TURN trigger -END_MISSION SA effect, so you can end the mission pretty much any way you want through special_abilities
The last two, being triggers/effects, seem to be an exception to what I just said above, and the last especially I'd consider "major" because it will require a fair bit of work, but that is 1) a specific request useful for modding and 2) will still be useful in the future game, so that's cool.
These are things I'll be implementing and releasing as they're available with 8.4/8.5/etc, in the near term.
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Post by 10101 on Jan 10, 2013 17:48:19 GMT -5
First things come to the mind, but are rather "MAJOR" features. 1. Scenario.xt controlled maxlevel, so i can get my 2x2 Magetower with 8+ Levels 2. More control to Factions (somthing like relationships) and perhaps even another Playerfaction? Hot seat multiplayer comes to the mind. 3. AI modding, but thats already on the list.
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Post by Aves Dominari on Jan 11, 2013 14:37:30 GMT -5
I think I'll return from the dead to request variable 'b'urst fire rates. Three per makes it a bit hard to get the feeling of a really dakka gun across ;P
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Post by Kyzrati on Jan 12, 2013 8:33:09 GMT -5
First things come to the mind, but are rather "MAJOR" features. 1. Scenario.xt controlled maxlevel, so i can get my 2x2 Magetower with 8+ Levels 2. More control to Factions (somthing like relationships) and perhaps even another Playerfaction? Hot seat multiplayer comes to the mind. 3. AI modding, but thats already on the list. 1. Will be added once we have the new HUD. 2. I've been trying to avoid doing this right now because as much as I want it in there, it will require a rather large infusion of code now that factions are also interconnected with SA. I'm going to have to defer this one. I love the hotseat multiplayer idea, but how many people would actually play that? I do remember playing the original X-COM hotseat with my brother by just splitting the soldiers up and taking turns moving our individual squads One could easily give the player control over more than one different faction, which could be cool, and enable hotseat as allies, but you wouldn't be able to do it versus as you have to see the other player's actions. The former would definitely come with better faction control--added to list. I think I'll return from the dead to request variable 'b'urst fire rates. Three per makes it a bit hard to get the feeling of a really dakka gun across ;P Ah, welcome back Andrew! I completely agree with the need for this one, but I may not put it in until the Great Data Overhaul. A good year ago I added this idea myself to the (secret-to-avoid-people-nagging-me-about-it) master list*** of intended features, since I know it'll be useful, though it may not be quite as amazing as you're thinking since from a mechanics point of view such a weapon would by necessity be either imbalanced or useless (unless you really move away from standard X-COM balance/numbers). The problem is X-COM uses damage reduction armor, and our hypothetical high-rate gun would either 1) have weaker bullets to compensate for their larger number, thereby making it useless against armored targets or 2) keep standard-power bullets, but due to their greater number totally blow everything away. Of course now on re-reading what I just wrote I have to prove myself wrong since you could properly balance it by making it *very* inaccurate, which is both fun and fairly realistic... I guess at this point I don't want to make that one change since it's a combat mechanics modification that may tie into other similar additions/changes in the future. They need to be done all at once to ensure they work well together. For now, a better way to get the dakka-dakka feel is through particle effects rather than actual number of shots--it's just not easy for anyone but me to create those right now A simple example would be the minigun particle animation, though it doesn't do a great job itself. There could be much better particles that spray bullets all over and around the target area intermittently but only harm whatever the primary particle(s) collide(s) with. ***I should at some point make a copy of this available once 1) it's actually organized and not a rambling collection of notes and comments, and 2) the forum is expanded to include a separate board for game suggestions overall.
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Post by Aves Dominari on Jan 12, 2013 13:32:46 GMT -5
I'd be interested in seeing that master list at some point. (Also, having a light damage gun be nearly useless against heavy armor is one of the things I was going to be counting on; if you have a cheap machine gun and an expensive sniper rifle, you'll use the machine gun on random swarms and the rifle on tougher enemies.)
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Post by 10101 on Jan 12, 2013 14:09:14 GMT -5
Perhaps i'm blind and i could do it with a prop, but for completness sake shouldn't there be a E_MOV_ON_C / E_MOV_ON_THIS_C?
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Post by Aves Dominari on Jan 12, 2013 18:56:03 GMT -5
What do you mean by C? Cell? You can use an invisible prop and check whenever an entity steps on that prop, I think, which will do the same thing as long as you don't need another prop there too.
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Post by Kyzrati on Jan 12, 2013 19:14:41 GMT -5
What do you mean by C? Cell? You can use an invisible prop and check whenever an entity steps on that prop, I think, which will do the same thing as long as you don't need another prop there too. Perhaps i'm blind and i could do it with a prop, but for completness sake shouldn't there be a E_MOV_ON_C / E_MOV_ON_THIS_C? Yep, as Debesh says you can usually use props in order to do whatever terrain-based abilities you need to handle. To keep the system a bit simpler, cells themselves cannot possess abilities (otherwise you'd see that column in cells.xt). Most of the "interesting" parts of a cell should be implemented through props. I could eventually change this, but I doubt it. While it's true there are a few potential uses for such a feature, I don't believe it outweighs the amount of expansion required of the system just for that, when most of the same results can be handled by prop. Splitting the terrain abilities into two potential sources could be annoying both from a design and gameplay perspective.
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Post by 10101 on Jan 13, 2013 2:41:04 GMT -5
E_MOV_ON_C would only use the Cells name, but it was only for completness. If that's that much to do, it would be silly to do it only for that reason.
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Post by Kyzrati on Jan 13, 2013 6:20:18 GMT -5
E_MOV_ON_C would only use the Cells name, but it was only for completness. If that's that much to do, it would be silly to do it only for that reason. If your purpose is to make an entity that does something on a certain cell, there are conditions for that which you can combine with the ent MOVE trigger. Name-based effects as you describe would use the C_NAME condition. This would be an entity-based ability though. Adding a cell-based one would require adding completely new infrastructure for cell SA.
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Post by 10101 on Jan 20, 2013 8:24:07 GMT -5
Thinking about it, i have a really big one (eventually).
Let's think about XCOM: There are several scenarios (big cities, small towns,rural areas, woodlands, arctic areas,etc.) would those all have their own blueprints.xm etc. ?
It's because i think that mutual exclusive and grouping on their own wouldn't be enough to get more than one scenario into a single mod. So either a way th get a possibility to include different maps into one scenario.xt (with weight on wich scenario will be chosen) or perhaps a way to make complete grouping within the areas.xt so that when a 'Woodland'-area spawns, only areas without any scenariogroup and those of the 'Woodland'-scenario can spawn further. (no 1x1, 2x1, 2x2 or 3x3 house from the city within the woodlands.)
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Post by Kyzrati on Jan 20, 2013 13:45:32 GMT -5
Maybe you hadn't seen where I mentioned it before: Seeing as how you're talking about further in the future, you should know that the entire scenario/game design process will be re-written to use an actual level editor. There will be no .xm blueprints, and you'll be able to create whole dynamic campaigns and integrate your creations with the geoscape. It will also be much more modular so you don't have to copy files that require no changes, and can more easily combine multiple mods into one.
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Post by 10101 on Jan 21, 2013 1:25:18 GMT -5
Ok, as there is no 'General Bugreport'-Thread (And i hope we won't need it) i'll post that here.
If you try to quickload a game ('F9') and there is no savegame the game hangs. So perhaps there is some need for a check if there's already a savegame.
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Post by 10101 on Jan 21, 2013 1:28:23 GMT -5
grr, i really should check those files first. So here comes the log with the errormessage. Attachments:
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Post by Kyzrati on Jan 21, 2013 1:51:12 GMT -5
Yeah, there'll be a proper bug reporting board in the full official forum, when they may become more common as the game expands greatly. For now I'll add a thread for bug reports, rather than keeping them all over the place.
I'm aware of the lack of a savegame check. The overarching game framework has yet to written, so I don't even bother checking for stuff like the existence of a save file. Few people will encounter it at this stage, anyway.
A proper save system (with optional multiple saves + menu, or roguelike-style autosaving) will come with the game flow system which will include a main menu and all the parts *outside* the battlescape.
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