Script Editing Open-Ended Questions

[tempest747]

So I've been pouring through the gs files of the game and the GSM has been monumentally helpful as a starting point. I feel like I have a grasp of how the various script files relate to in game stats and images, but I've clearly only scratched the surface. My end goal would be to release a customized single player campaign map with altered or replaced units to spice up gameplay ala the CnC : Zero Hour Axis of Powers mod (which is what got me into modding in the first place)

To that end the changes I'm hoping to implement are as follow - 

1. Change some Faith's Temple creatures into Champions with altered stats(ie Cyclops/Pegasus/Rock Troll) or at least provide a champion variant
2. Create Artifacts for these new characters
3. Alter map encounters to reflect these changes
4. Create new water-bound encounters to encourage more naval use (sea-based dungeons like crystal outcroppings guarded by Krakens and Sea Dragons)
5. Create three new spells, ideally from scratch

       - A spell to increase magical resistance for the duration of battle, a spell to prevent another mage from casting for a short time, and a spell to            permanently increase one stat at the cost of another (speed for armor, health for health recovery, etc)

I'm not sure of the realism of these goals ingame, and would appreciate any hints, but its my full intention to at least attempt to complete these goals. Any thoughts?

[orzie]

All of these seem implementable, except maybe the spells, but Boaster knows better about these. Good luck in your endeavour.

[Boaster]

Apr 29, 2015 17:05:45 GMT -6 tempest747 said:

1. (a) Change some Faith's Temple creatures into Champions with altered stats(ie Cyclops/Pegasus/Rock Troll) or at least provide (b) a champion variant
2. Create Artifacts for these new characters
3. Alter map encounters to reflect these changes
4. Create new water-bound encounters to encourage more naval use (sea-based dungeons like crystal outcroppings guarded by Krakens and Sea Dragons)
5. Create three new spells, ideally from scratch

1a. You can change which units appear available in buildings in 'gs\newbuild.gs' (gs\newbuild5.gs). You would have to establish your own conditions for your specific needs.

1b. Champion variants were made possible by the GS5R3 mod. Would require a new unit file and added to the units index file.

2. Easily done. Create file, modify 'gs\artifact.gs' to include the new artifacts. New artifacts are best added at the end of the list. In terms of editing starting from the GS5, overwrite the dummy artifacts seen at the bottom (as these were added as place holders for new possible artifacts).

3. Map encounters are held in 'gs\dungeons'.

4. Dungeons cannot be accessed over water by land or water based units. Also, boats cannot ordinarily enter sprites (conquered or occupied).

5. Easily done, though can be difficult depending on the desired effect of the spells. I recommend, as with artifacts, copy the file for the spell/artifact which closest provides the effect you're looking for, add it to the index list ('gs/spells.gs' in the case of spells).


What you want can be done, but at the price of learning slowly over time.

[tempest747]

Apr 30, 2015 7:31:29 GMT -6 Boaster said:

Apr 29, 2015 17:05:45 GMT -6 tempest747 said:

1a. You can change which units appear available in buildings in 'gs\newbuild.gs' (gs\newbuild5.gs). You would have to establish your own conditions for your specific needs.

1b. Champion variants were made possible by the GS5R3 mod. Would require a new unit file and added to the units index file.

2. Easily done. Create file, modify 'gs\artifact.gs' to include the new artifacts. New artifacts are best added at the end of the list. In terms of editing starting from the GS5, overwrite the dummy artifacts seen at the bottom (as these were added as place holders for new possible artifacts).

3. Map encounters are held in 'gs\dungeons'.

4. Dungeons cannot be accessed over water by land or water based units. Also, boats cannot ordinarily enter sprites (conquered or occupied).

5. Easily done, though can be difficult depending on the desired effect of the spells. I recommend, as with artifacts, copy the file for the spell/artifact which closest provides the effect you're looking for, add it to the index list ('gs/spells.gs' in the case of spells).


What you want can be done, but at the price of learning slowly over time.

1a/b. I had never really looked through the Lord Editor before you mentioned this and was kinda surprised to see most if not all the units I was wanting to "upgrade" already existed, I'm guessing there isn't a way to play them in game without using the custom lord option though?

2. In progress

3/4. That's a bit of a letdown, and also somewhat confusing. I'd messed around with placing dungeons on water in previous maps by using the 
water rock sprite, and the encounters loaded, but had the map of whichever encounter was selected (in this case it was a gold mine encounter). The Corsair units populated in combat, but couldn't move anywhere as a result of being landbound, but I'd hoped that if I could find a way to load the regular naval combat map in as an encounter it would let them move around freely?

5. Most of the spells I have in mind are simple copy jobs from potions - the resistance spell for example would literally have the same effect of a potion without taking up the artifact slot.

[tempest747]

So these were my experiments with water based dungeons as-is in game. Just loaded up a test map with a few dungeons place on water like so - 
The dungeon was approachable and the pre-combat dialogue window populated as usual (a gold mine)

As previously stated though, the map which the dungeon was connected to was land based, which was expected.


But at the end the dungeon was able to house the gallies, of which a screenshot will be attached to a lower post. I assume this is related to the /lming.gs script, and the map loading by the /mapfile"map/liming.smp"def line. I guess my next step here is to understand how to create dungeon maps? Is that in the same map editor?


(Apologies for the lengthy post)

[tempest747]

Additional post for this screenshot only

[Boaster]

Were you able to order the ships out of the dungeon?

[tempest747]

May 9, 2015 20:31:00 GMT -6 Boaster said:

Were you able to order the ships out of the dungeon?

Yes, however only once I changed maps. On a smaller map the game would crash, but I believe that was because the map size was too small (64x64). Most of my test maps that are on the small side crash if I try anything unusual. After 128x128 it worked fine

[tempest747]

So I figured out how to load combat maps....maybe. I didn't realize there was a combat view option in the map editor, but I'm unsure of how to navigate the creation process, the ones i've tried crash immediately. 

[Orzie1]

There are only certain map sizes, like 48x48 or so which don't crash. The game doesn't support other sizes since the battle map feature is obviously undone and not finished (thus excluded from the final game).

[tempest747]

May 20, 2015 1:05:56 GMT -6 Orzie1 said:

There are only certain map sizes, like 48x48 or so which don't crash. The game doesn't support other sizes since the battle map feature is obviously undone and not finished (thus excluded from the final game).

Ahh, that explains quite a bit. Doesn't seem to matter how much tinkering I do, at best my creations don't load the way I'd like and at worse I've had a few crashes (and one very oddly needed reinstall). Though its somewhat comforting to know that almost every aspect of the game I wished to add or change was already covered by the mod, I think it shows just how well created and tailored to the audience it truly is. The few nagging remnants of ideas will have to wait until people much more capable at this than myself find some breakthrough.