Adding New Critters

D

dude_obj

Vault Senior Citizen
Moderator
I'm trying out the critter pack FRMs extracted from FoT. Hoping to create protos and scripts for these so they can be used in mods.

If I edit one of the existing critters, change its appearance, and edit its proto, the FoT critters seem to work. However, if try to add new critters to the end of the list (in the mapper), the critter shows up in the mapper, but the game will always crash when I do anything like examine or attack.

Some configuration details:
- I have the updated critter.lst in \fallout2\data\art\critters
- I have creates all of the \fallout2\dev\proto directories
- I have libararian=1 setting in mapper2.cfg

I followed coljack's tutorial on editing protoypes. He indicates that you can add a new critter at the end of the list, but whenever I try to do that the game will crash on any interaction with that critter.

Has anyone actually added critters beyond proto 483 (horrigan)?
Are we stuck with replacing critters rather than adding?
 
Yes, I have added a couple of new ones okay.

*Try only having 1 or two new critters in the critters.lst file
*Dont use the 'heavy power armour' FRM I made a few mistakes when making that one. I'll try and fix it one day
 
No success with adding new critters yet, but I have 4 of your FoT critters with their own protos, scripts, and associated message files, randomly roaming on a map. The vault boy wields a 44 magnum. I am replacing existing critter slots for now. Not sure why I am getting game crashes when adding to the end of the critter list.

I'm making a "critter pack playground" where all of the critters in your 8 packs will be roaming around. Its just a big section of desert but its named artemple.map so the game starts there. This is to allow people to see what they look like moving around and try combat with them etc. Eventually it could be a good set of protos and scripts for use in mods.

Can the stats for these critters be determined by running some FoT modding tools? I have no interest in modding FoT so I know nothing about that. Just looking for info on the critters you extracted. No idea what to set everything to at the moment (hp, traits, special, etc). What about kill types, when there isn't one listed, what to do about that?

Any ideas for any special behavior (in scripts) that these FoT critters should have? Do those bots have weapons that can be wielded? Any suggestions for examine messages or traits/stats/etc. Anyone?

I am finding it most convenient to make a directory PATCH000.DAT and put all my mod files in there. Configuring the mapper to look there for patches works fine, and the game runs fine. This way it doesn't delete protos and no need to worry about read-only. I also have the compiler p.bat script set to put my compiled scripts in patch000.dat. When its all tested I can just make a patch DAT and people can try the critter playground. I guess I will assume that they have to extract all of your frms into data\art\critters before running the patch.

So far the critter pack FRMs look very cool. Thanks for putting them together :D That monkey would make an interesting party member. Some special scripts could make him do some covert work for the player character. I wonder if its possible to make a critter steal from another in a script? Your monkey partner could wander around town stealing for you LOL
 
Right but that was only a binary operation (fix or not). To steal you have to pick stuff from inventory, so its more complicated, but I will try this later. I like the idea of the hover bot as an party member, not really for combat but maybe for science skill. As part of a story you could find modules that you use on the hover bot to increase its skills.

On the critter packs, I'll soon be posting a patch that allows you to play each animation sequence. They look very cool.

On the topic of adding new critters versus replacement, I never succeed with this. Following ColJack's tutorial, if I add a new critter to the end of the list, the next time I open the map all of the critters are blank in the mapper, they just don't show up on the critter selector bar. If I click on one of those blanks and press enter, it comes back, but I don't want to have to edit all of them every time I use the mapper! In other tries, when I added a new critter at the end, it would show up in mapper but cause the game to crash. I have tried this countless times, and finally gave up and started replacing existing critters.

Assuming someone is making a new mod (new cities etc) there are lots of slots that can be reused. But this one bugs me. If anyone knows how to add new critters without replacing, please let me know. You and ColJack are able to do this? What about the PIDs in critrpid.h, will new ones be recognized by the game engine and mapper? Did you add your critters in that header?

Adding critters and scenery from the critter packs is pretty straightforward, although some might be a bit tricky (like turrets). However, adding items (like armor) looks a bit more tricky..
 
What folder do you have the critters placed in?

Fallout2\data\art\critters ???

Fallout2\patch001.dat\art\critters ???

fallout2\critt000\art\critters ???

Just check the fallout2.cfg file to make sure the location for new critters is pointing to the correct location. By defualt it points to fallout2\data\art\critters
 
I tried it in the first two locations, several times.
The fallout2.cfg was right in both cases. It must be right, because I see the images, and can even create the new one. Its after creation that all hell breaks loose, either in the mapper or game or both.
 
It's possible that there's a typo in the critters.lst file I included in the critter packs try checking that. I never had any problems adding new critters myself.

Also normaly if the editer or the FO2 engine cant find the critters it jsut uses the 'flameguy' FRM as a filler for it and it shouldnt crash.
 
Well even if I add just one, and double check the critter.lst name, I can't make it work. I'm starting to wonder if Win2K is giving me grief, seems most people are not using Win2K.

BTW what do those numbers after the critter name in critter.lst mean? What numbers should be used for behemoth and pacification bot?
 
I honestly dont know, I just copied them from a similar exiosting critter.

I ran them on Win98 SE, I havent tried Fallout2 in Win2k yet.
 
Regarding the numbers in critter.lst, somebody tried to explain it here but I still don't understand what those numbers mean. :roll: Does anyone understand this? If it has something to do with an index that might be why I'm not succeeding adding new critters.
 
good gosh, I'll try and figure that out if I can.

*EDIT*
FRMname,aa,bb

aa = The FRM collection that contains the target grid to use while in sniper mode. This will apparently use the FRM with the suffix 'NA' from the given collection. The value for aa is given in a number the represents the line number of the collection (The jumpsuit is on line 11, hence all the human FRMs have the aa value of 11)

bb = ???? Unsure at this stage.


Either way it looks like I need to edit the Critter.lst files for the critters packs. I'm not sure what the second number is for at this stage.
 
bb - Defines, whether the character can use animation of run during attack. At some characters the animation of run looks, as the panic flight, and does not approach for display of attack. Such animation looks strange during attack and it forbid. For an example look animation hobologists(?) in cassocks
 
Hmm okay this is interesting. I tried my animation test script on the pacification bot from FoT. It seems that the kill types are not matching the animation calls. For example, the charred_body animation looks like dancing_autofire.

I thought that maybe the numbers in critter.lst were affecting this, but changing from 11 to another number like 103 doesn't change anything. I am assuming that pacification bot should have a number like 103 (unique) because its not like another type, and I don't think it can run while attacking. It would normally use a gun, but it can do a lame punch too with its big fat arm LOL.

Questions for wild_qwerty:
1) Did you use the same last two letters of the file names as they were in FoT, or did you assign them?
2) Does FoT follow the same naming conventions for those last two letters?

I tried to fix one of these animations by renaming them. For example I renamed the MAPACIBE (should be charred_body) to MAPCIBG (looks like dancing_autofire), and it works (I used the HMJPS as reference). Calling the reg_anim_animate(ANIM_dancing_autofire) now looks right. The script call to that kill type matches the animation. But I wonder why they are out of synch? I will try to find out which ones are out of synch in the critter packs and how they need to be renamed to fix them.

The called_shot_pic looks humanoid even though there is a specific called shot FRM for the bot. There is obviously more configuration required than the FRM for called shots, the FRM is the image only, and the interface screen writes the fonts. Some investigation will be required to see if we can get these called shot pics working in FO2. There must be msg files for the body parts, and some config file for the % to hit each body part (at least I hope so, it would be easier to hit a pacification bot arm than a mantis arm).

Cool, I have the pacification bot firing miniguns and gatling lasers. :D
Its magic_hands_middle animation looks very cool, like insect limbs.
This pacification bot will be very cool when the proto and script are done well.
 
dude_obj said:
Questions for wild_qwerty:
1) Did you use the same last two letters of the file names as they were in FoT, or did you assign them?
2) Does FoT follow the same naming conventions for those last two letters?
Click to expand...

1) I assigned them, also not every critter in FOT has all the death animations.
2) FOT does not use a naming convention. Well not one like FO2 anyway.

dude_obj said:
The called_shot_pic looks humanoid even though there is a specific called shot FRM for the bot. There is obviously more configuration required than the FRM for called shots, the FRM is the image only, and the interface screen writes the fonts. Some investigation will be required to see if we can get these called shot pics working in FO2. There must be msg files for the body parts, and some config file for the % to hit each body part (at least I hope so, it would be easier to hit a pacification bot arm than a mantis arm).
Click to expand...

This is due to an error in the critters.lst file, just change the first number entry to that of the current critter rather than '11'
 
Wild_qwerty said:
This is due to an error in the critters.lst file, just change the first number entry to that of the current critter rather than '11'
Click to expand...

Ah, it took me a while to figure out that the "number of the current critter" you mention is the line number that it resides on in the critters.lst file. Now the called shot pics work and the kill types too. Without this number set to the line its on, I was getting other kill types for some like electrify (electrified cows and such LOL).

Regarding the death animations, I spent a lot of time looking at the pacification bot images, using the actual animation calls from a script. It appears that there are really only 3 special death types for the pacification bot: chunks_of_flesh, sliced_in_half, and dancing_autofire. I did a bit of reorganizing so that:

BF (chunks of flesh) becomes BJ renamed (looks like chunks of flesh now, was sliced in half)
BG (dancing autofire) becomes BE renamed (looks like dancing autofire now, was sliced in half)
And I made all of the other death types look like dancing autofire.

One more thing, earlier you commented, after watching my AVI of the pacification bot, that it sometimes looks like you can "walk through" part of the bot. I found out why: in the mapper prototype editor, in the flags section, setting MultiHex to Yes fixes this problem (required for critters that are larger than one hex).

Thanks for the info. I'm having fun with the critter packs.
 
cool, if you find any bugs in them let me know. Also I only made the flame thrower attack for a few of the critters, so most wont be able to use a flamer.
 
Wild_qwerty said:
I only made the flame thrower attack for a few of the critters, so most wont be able to use a flamer.
Click to expand...

I also spent a lot of time comparing animation script calls with the hero jump suit FRM files. It looks like the flamer shares the same animations as the plasma rifle for stand, walk, run, take out, put away, point, and unpoint (they are listed in my spreadsheet). Then only the fire animation is different between flamer and plasma rifle (HMJMPSKL for flamer).

Is it the KL animation that you are referring to?
They didn't have flamers in FoT?
(I have FoT but I just can't get into that game)
 
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