29 replies to this topic

[Daz]

I watched a YouTube video last week showing off FRAG12 shotgun ammunition in a full automatic, drum fed shotgun and my immediate thoughts were *expletive* followed by "I'm so going to mod a pair of those on a tank".
So I did. Ish.

So far i've only done the turret and put it on a Predator chassis for the sake of seeing it ingame.
There's some texture glitches in a couple of places because I've just mapped the new bits to the Predator texture but i'll change that at some stage.
Need's some detail on the turret top too.
Have to code a weapon for it aswell (buckshot as standard, upgrade to FRAG12 high explosive rounds), which I've not even looked at yet.

There are two pump grips which I'll eventually animate to pump whilst firing (an auto shotgun would have a bolt instead obviously, but with it being so small I was trying to pick out elements of the classic shotgun look for recognition purposes - hence the magazine tube below the barrels too).
They're not too noticeable at the moment but I'll improve that by a combination of a new texture and animating them.

The bits sticking out the side at the start of the barrel are supposed to be drum magazines and their feed tubes.

Unfortunately it looks very Mammoth Tank-esque which I didn't really want to happen.

[Master Windu]

That is an awesome idea and a model. Shotgun Tank. Sounds and looks cool

[Phil]

The idea rocks. Haven't seen something as unique as that in a while...

[Daz]

Cheers.
Just had a faff with weapon coding and by total fluke got a near perfect weapon for the FRAG12 upgrade, just need to tone damage down a bit because they make mince meat out of anything unarmoured seriously quickly (which is kinda the idea, but they're too good at it).

Started with the Predator cannon - gave it a 20 round clip, higher speed, grenade damage effect (it was the first thing I saw that might be an area effect) and firefx from the Watchtower.
Looks the part.

Not sure how to do a buckshot blast though, might have to look into custom firefx if that's possible.

Will have to be left til tomorrow now though.

Edited by Daz, 24 August 2007 - 10:55 PM.

[Phil]

Bah, too bad I'm not at my home computer this weekend. Could have done lots of cool stuff
I'll just focus on the theory of the settings and XML structure then *sigh*

[Daz]

I think the turret could do with moving back a bit. Apart from that, it looks incredible

On my drawings it is a bit further back.
Just while it's on the Predator chassis I've got it forward to try and make sure the drum parts don't go through the chassis when the turret turns.

[OmegaBolt]

Looks very cool, great job so far.

[Daz]

Can't for the life of me get the upgrade code to work.

From looking at the Railgun upgrade I need entries to cover the following:

UnitAbilityButtonTemplates.xml - The button itself.
LogicCommand.xml - What happens when you click the button.
LogicCommandSet.xml - List the button under a building, etc.
GUSgunT.xml (the .xml that handles the unit the upgrade applies to) - Tell the unit what to do when the upgrade has been bought, ie change weapons.
upgrade.xml - The upgrade.
PackedImages.xml - Button graphics.

I've got all that, and as far as I can see the game knows the upgrade exists (it shows on the tank itself as an available upgrade) but I can't get the button to show on the Tech Center.
I replaced the Sensor Pods upgrade in the command set with the new upgrade but the new button won't show, it's definately reading the file though as the Sensor Pods upgrade is now missing from the Tech Center.

No errors listed when I run BuildMOD.bat either :S

[Daz]

Gave it its own chassis, two little bits on top of the turret (that at the moment appear when upgraded**, but I might just leave them there) and moved some texture mapping around (mainly on the drum magazines).



Still needs some mapping tidy ups and/or its own skin.

**Just tied it to the railgun upgrade for now, still can't get my button to appear.

Edited by Daz, 25 August 2007 - 03:55 PM.

[Soul]

Sweet tank.

[Mastermind]

Getting new UnitAbilityButtons to work is something of a pain. You need to copy over the entire C&C 3 default file for them (with the UnitAbilityButtonTemplateStore), and then add yours to the end of it. If you try to create your own UABTS it will override the default one, and none of the buttons will show (which sucks).

[Daz]

Exactly what I did when I decided I hadn't just referenced something wrong.
I actually changed LogicCommand.xml, LogicCommandSet.xml, upgrade.xml and UnitAbilityButtonTemplates.xml to the full version of that file from the xml folder.

My UAB entry isn't at the end though, does that actually make a difference or were you just suggesting that for tidyness?

[Daz]

My UAB entry isn't at the end though, does that actually make a difference or were you just suggesting that for tidyness?

Checked and no difference.

Have attached the relevant .xml files if anyone would care to take a look, the relevant entries can be found by searching for "FRAG12".

Attached Files

•  FRAG12.zip   14.09KB   33 downloads

[Mastermind]

Suggested for tidiness. You shouldn't need to copy the full LogicCommand and LogicCommandSet, you can just create new ones wherever you'd like. I created a commands.xml file that I use for that stuff. I'm going to have to see about doing some digging to figure this out.

[Daz]

I did originally have the bits in seperate files and just switched to the whole file method as part of trying to get it to work.
I've reverted to seperate files now except for the UnitAbilityButtonTemplates.xml.

I've not read of anyone getting upgrades to work (to be honest I've not seen much of anyone doing anything). Have you actually a button that works?
I wonder if there's been some kind of error on EA's part and this one particular thing isn't working correctly.

[Mastermind]

I've gotten unit abilities working, so that part works fine. I don't think I've tried upgrades though.

[Boomerang Python]

Daz you ought to write a tutorial on how to put a tank ingame from scratch.

Cuz when i tried my textures wouldnt show up..

Edited by Boomerang Python, 27 August 2007 - 02:59 PM.

[Daz]

Download the sample art file.
Open your model, and then merge it with one of the sample ones (Predator is a good generic one to use). Then do get material from selected, select the main mesh of the Predator and drag the material from it to your material editor. Delete all the Predator bits from your scene.

Use the material you just copied as a basis for your own.
And remember you need .xml files for each texture, but that's explained in the SDK documentation as it's part of the sample mod.

[Boomerang Python]

Still keeps showing up as pinkness..

[Mastermind]

Did you file the textures correctly? They need to be in a folder in Art that is the first two letters of the texture. You also need the XML file for the texture, which is covered in the Texture section of the docs.