FT Improver - a way to improve Fallout Tactics

[Corpse]

I already have in my plans a patch for the UniqueOther race that will let users specify the sounds for the race dependent actions.

How about for other races, for example what if I want to replace one of the Raider or Reaver races?

Just thinking about streamlining to make all tribals, raiders, etc come under one common race since their appearance can now be manipulated with new armor types. This would leave a lot of race slots free to add new critters.

BTW, not sure if you have tested this but both 'Raider' and 'Reaver' races can use the new armors.

As to the new weapons for the Behemoth race, is behemoth's weapon coloured with red tints? Did you compare the weapon requirements with behemoth's stats?

Yes, the weapons were unusable but not because of stat requirements; as soon as I changed the behemoth entity I was using to UniqueOther, they worked fine.

I didn't add to SC the function for color palette importing, because I didn't want to cause bad habits at somebody inexperienced with graphics editing.

Nevertheless a function that lets you import and export palettes would be very useful, specially for a lazy bastard who is already full of bad habits like me. TBH its probably one of the most useful features spray11 has going for it.

 

[jarekfall]

Yes, all these races you've mentioned should be assigned to BOS race, so if player will kill such person, then he will see in the kill stats that he killed a human (not, for example a raider).

It should be very easy, because I already have the executable code of armour patch written and it is universal, and just will have to connect the code to different cases of each race and initialise the resources for each patch.

 

[requiem_for_a_starfury]

Main difference between tribals, raiders and reavers etc, other than appearance is the combat taunts. Change them all to bos and they'll all say the same generic taunts.

 

[xkcon]

Wow, nice discussion going on here on this thread. And Jarekfall thank you for all your efforts to make FOT a better game. I wanted ask a question regarding a Global Timer, specifically does time pass at the same rate on the world map as it does in mission maps in relation to the global timer? what I mean is if I'm traveling 7 seven days on the world map the glabal timer will only count to 10 (or whatever), but if I'm spending time in a mission map: 7 days on mission map and timer would count much higher than out on the world map?

Also Jarek, would it be possible to add more types of drugs?

how about tweaking the GotoMission trigger so that it's a onetime thing, instead of permanently bridging two maps?

I realize that these ideas may be too difficult, just wanted to throw it out there...

 

[TwoEyedYum]

how about tweaking the GotoMission trigger so that it's a onetime thing, instead of permanently bridging two maps?

I realize that these ideas may be too difficult, just wanted to throw it out there...

Well, i believe one can set some globar variable along with "exit grid + trigger zone" to fire GoTo trigger only once. When global var changed (player went through exit to next map once), trigger can do something else (ex. Nothing). I think, no patch required for that.

 

[Corpse]

I already have in my plans a patch for the UniqueOther race that will let users specify the sounds for the race dependent actions.

Will this include letting you specify target zar? I have noticed you can't target specific locations on the uniqueOther race; can this be changed?

Another question, will it also let you specify new race names or will they all come under the same category?

 

[jarekfall]

I wanted ask a question regarding a Global Timer, specifically does time pass at the same rate on the world map as it does in mission maps in relation to the global timer?...

Currently I'm not able to answer on this question, because I'm not working on a patch for game timers.
But you can check whether the timer on a world map changes depending on the day and night time on a mission map. For example enter on a map at 12pm and quit to the world map in the night at about 12am. If the timer on a world map will change, this would indicate (probably) that timers are synchronized. By the way, the timers in triggers count in real seconds, not the game seconds.

Also Jarek, would it be possible to add more types of drugs?

Why would you like to have new drugs? What exactly do you mean?

how about tweaking the GotoMission trigger so that it's a onetime thing, instead of permanently bridging two maps?

As TwoEyedYum wrote you can control "GotoMission" action through conditions. If a mission map is a first campaign mission (so campaign and mission variables aren't initialized), to initialize variables only once each time you enter a map it's good to have a hidden entity of type "StateScenary" placed on the map, which state is initialized in the map editor. At the beginning of a mission, check whether the "StateScenary" entity script state is ticked (or unticked) and if the condition is TRUE, initialize map or campaign variables, change the "StateScenary" entity state, the initializing trigger must have "preserve" option ticked. When the player is going to leave a map you don't have to change the state of the hidden "StateScenary" entity, it's automatically reset. The other way is to have initializing mission, that will start, initialize campaign variables and instantly load the first campaign mission.

 

[xkcon]

xkcon wrote:
Also Jarek, would it be possible to add more types of drugs?

Why would you like to have new drugs? What exactly do you mean?

Sorry what I meant is new Addictions, we can make all the different drugs we can think of, but currently there are only approx 8 addictions.

As far as the gotoMission trigger...
Actually what you and TwoEyedYum suggested doesn't work. Requiem and myself have discussed it before in this thread.
http://www.duckandcover.cx/forums/viewtopic.php?t=16871

I don't know, maybe I'm missing something, but if you can get it to work, can you show me?

 

[requiem_for_a_starfury]

No matter what conditions, campaign variables etc you use to fire the goto mission trigger. Once it has fired it supersedes any other trigger and you'll automatically be sent straight to the second map on entering the first.

 

[jarekfall]

Will this include letting you specify target zar? I have noticed you can't target specific locations on the uniqueOther race; can this be changed?

This will be only an actor sounds patch and only for UniqueOther race. In the future I may create a patch that will let you add new races and this would be a better solution than working with UniqueOther race.

Another question, will it also let you specify new race names or will they all come under the same category?

They will come under the same category.

Sorry what I meant is new Addictions, we can make all the different drugs we can think of, but currently there are only approx 8 addictions.

I will consider your suggestion.

As far as the gotoMission trigger...
Actually what you and TwoEyedYum suggested doesn't work. Requiem and myself have discussed it before in this thread.
http://www.duckandcover.cx/forums/viewtopic.php?t=16871

Now I see the problem. I spent a lot of time on testing. Yes, this is really a game bug, very annoying. I discovered that you can use this trigger only once per map, the second use will cause the bug. I saved a mission state and reloaded the mission and the bug was still present. This means that the bug have been also saved.

I also discovered that the bug runs oneself before any action, before trigger event handler.

I will try to fix this bug in the future.

 

[xkcon]

Jarek wrote:

Now I see the problem. I spent a lot of time on testing. Yes, this is really a game bug, very annoying. I discovered that you can use this trigger only once per map, the second use will cause the bug. I saved a mission state and reloaded the mission and the bug was still present. This means that the bug have been also saved.

I also discovered that the bug runs oneself before any action, before trigger event handler.

I will try to fix this bug in the future.

Wow if you could fix this then that would be awesome! The ability to teleport the squad from map to map and back with no hang-ups would truly be a powerful story-telling tool for us. Good luck and I hope you find time in the future for this task.

 

[TwoEyedYum]

Will this bug allow me to use GoTo trigger once (i don't need more for now)? So player can once get into cave, but next time (after leaving cave) he can't go there and forced to leave aboveground map in usual way - going to usual exit grid.

 

[jarekfall]

Update: 2010.09.17
You can't return to the map "A", you can use the GotoMission action only once per map, here "A",otherwise you will be automatically moved to the map which was a destination place of the GotoMission action.

Update: 04.04.2010
The newest version 1.3.0.1 of FT Improver contains three new patches:
- "Ammo variants patch"
- "BOS tools menu patch"
- "Multiple BOS processes patch"

FT Improver can now initialize and handle unlimited number of simultaneously running processes.

Everything is described in details in the "Readme.htm" file. Please read the "Readme.htm" file before you will start the work with FT Improver, it's important.

I hope you will find the new FT Improver useful.

Important information for modders:
When your trigger condition expects an entity with a specified tag an that entity doesn't exist on a map, then executable code generates a warning in the LOG. It's important to have as least as possible warnings in game's LOG, because each warning message require several function calls and these functions operate on large memory buffers. Also each warning is generated in every infinite loop cycle and even if it's already in a Log, it's simply not duplicated in the Log, a function is used to compare memory buffers content. As you see if you have several sources of warnings the game performance may be decreased significantly. Any other warning generated during gameplay should be removed as it's generated in every infinite loop cycle.

 

[Corpse]

Nice work dude!
Just added some new ammo variants, tested them ingame and they seem to work fine. Just one minor problem...
When I change any ammo entities with the new editor, I cannot open them anymore through BosEE or even the unpatched FT Tools.
I still use BosEE to assign custom impact sounds to weapon attack modes or ammunition entities but for some reason, BosEE refuses to open any altered ammo entities even if the ammo variant is changed to its original state. Would really appreciate it if a patch to add custom explosion sounds is included in the next version.

In regards to adding custom sounds to the UniqueOther race, could you do the same for the UniqueHumanoid?

And is there any way to remove the weapon restrictions for races like non-humanoid robots, gunturret or the vehicle races? These are restricted to only unarmed weapon class. Having them use other weapon types would be useful as their armament is limited by their available unarmed attacks. I have tried adding new unarmed attacks with SpriteCreator but the sound effect always fails limiting the number of unarmed attacks to six: single, burst, one, two, three and four. the only way to make them work with other weapons atm is having them use the UniqueOther race.

 

[jarekfall]

Another mystery has been solved. Is as I thought from the very beginning that entities: ammo2mmEC, ammoFlamer, doctorsBag, fieldMedicKit, firstAidKit, paramedicsBag weren't corrupted, they were created with newest entity editor. Newest EE operates on unicode type character strings and whole BOS.exe file operates only on unicode characters, FT Tools.exe operates only on ASCII characters.

I will try to make "Impact sounds" patch as soon as possible, so you won't have to use BosEE.

In regards to adding custom sounds to the UniqueOther race, could you do the same for the UniqueHumanoid?

I think there will be no problem.

And is there any way to remove the weapon restrictions for races like non-humanoid robots, gunturret or the vehicle races? ...

Yes, it's annoying that all turret types have the same attack sound mapped to TurrectAttackX.wav in case of GenericTurret.spr and RoboTurret.spr. It shouldn't be more difficult to create this patch than a patch for the Unique races.

 

[destromet]

Hey, thanks a ton for the ammo variant patch, its a life saver. It always annoyed me that armor piercing bullets were always much worse than JHP, so im gonna go fix that right now. thanks again man, this is a great took your putting together, keep it up!

 

[jarekfall]

I'm glad I could help you "destromet".

FT Improver v1.4 has been released. It contains an impact sounds patch. The detailed description of the patch is in the readme file.

Interesting information about BOS.exe file:

It contains three free libraries:
- zlib v1.1.3
- libpng v1.0.3
- JPEG library by Independent JPEG Group v6a 7-Feb-96

and

- Microsoft Visual C++ 6 Runtime Library

I think it does not use any other library, but if someone knows anything else, please let me know.

All functions from MSVCRT, zlib and libpng library have been identified. JPEG library is next for identification.

Zlib library does not contain functions from gzio.c file nor following functions: compress, compress2, uncompress.

Libpng library does not contain functions from files: pngwutil.c, pngwtran.c, pngwrite.c, pngwio.c, pngpread.c.

 

[TwoEyedYum]

Hi again, Jarekfall! While doing all this wonderful job, didn't you met a source of problem with "burst bug"? I don't know if it related to .exe in all, but i look for any information about it....

Burst bug quite annoyed me, while i tested my mod last time. With increased range of many weapons this bug becomes quite a cheat - you can wipe out hordes of mutants with one burst, and then kill last one (initial target) with some sniper weapon....

 

[jarekfall]

Hi, TwoEyedYum

Could you describe the bug, what does it cause, and also weapon's parameters, such as: spread type, used sequence name, etc? Can you tell me how to reconstruct this bug?

 

[requiem_for_a_starfury]

Burst bug, present when using a spread arc other than straight or none. When firing at a target out of optimum range or with a very high armour class, so that the chance to hit is very low. The target will be missed but any entity within a certain radius (I forget which but it's the same as the leader and glowing one perks area of effect) around the target will be hit instead.