modding annoys me sometimes

from Sins Forums

So I enjoy playing around with text files in this game (I'm absolutely no good at texturing and the like) but sometimes the way this game works makes me want to kill things.  I'm trying to come up with ideas for experimental ships (one for each race) and for the TEC I came up with the idea of a modified LRM frigate that has the ability to fire nuclear missiles.  Now the implementation of the weapon effects is fairly easy, but what I want to do with it is make it so that the ship fires a single missile, with the right appearance, that hits for a certain amount of damage and does splash damage to all ships around the target.  I can not for the LIFE of me figure out how to make it do that.   I've tried all sorts of things, using the cluster warheads ability (only applies to the LRM's base weapons and I cant change the weapon effect), using the Marza's Radiation Bomb ability as a base (the weapon effects work, the area damage doesnt.  Radiation bomb is a damage per sec ability and I'm trying to get it to be a one time hit thing).  Any insights would be incredibly appreciated. 

As for the other races I dont have anything for the Vasari yet but for the Advent I want to make a kamikaze style ship that sacrifices itself to permanently take control of ANY enemy ship.  That is gonna be a stone bitch to work out (pessimistic of me, yes) so if anyone has any suggestions about that as well I'd really appreciate it.  Thanks everyone.

modding
5,246 views 12 replies
Reply #1 from Sins Forums Top

Well, effects are sort of take-it-or-leave-it. The only 2 effects that have one missile are the Vasari Assailant's phase missiles, and the Ogrov's torpedo.

How exactly do you want the nuclear missile firing to go? Meaning, does the ship *only* launch them or is it an ability added on to the basic Javelis? In the first case, Cluster Warheads is the way to go and you just need to change the ship's weapon effect. But it sounds like that's what you don't want.. In the second case, abilities can use particle travel effects.

For example, from the Kol's AbilityGaussBlast:

weaponEffectsDef
 weaponType "Projectile"
 burstCount 1
 burstDelay 0.000000
 muzzleEffectName "CapitalAbility_GaussBlastLaunch"
 muzzleSoundMinRespawnTime 0.100000
 muzzleSounds
  soundCount 1
  sound "WEAPON_GENERICFIRE"
 hitEffectName "CapitalAbility_GaussBlastHit"
 hitHullEffectSounds
  soundCount 1
  sound ""
 hitShieldsEffectSounds
  soundCount 1
  sound ""
 projectileTravelEffectName "CapitalAbility_GaussBlastTravel"

(notice the hasWeaponEffects TRUE a little bit above that).

In theory, you should be able to use the weapon effect from the Ogrov, for example, in the ability file and then have your buffs do the dirty.

Reply #2 from Sins Forums Top

Well what I did was port the weapon effect from the TEC planet bombing shell.   That works out nicely.  The problem is that I cant have both the Cluster Warheads work and have the weapon effect because Cluser Warheads builds on the Javelis' original weapon effects.  I didnt want it to look like it was constantly firing nukes (which did look pretty cool, I tried it :andrew: ) but for the ability to launch the shot, then have it do AOE once it hits.  Maybe I'm overlooking something obvious, its definitely happened before  ;P .  The problem comes in when I try to add the weapon effect to the ability. 

Sins of a Solar Empire II
Reply #3 from Sins Forums Top

Well yeah, if you're using the nukes as a second "weapon" then you can't really do that.

What I don't understand is why you don't just make a brand new ability that uses whatever weapon effect you want, and then just have it do AoE damage around the target?

Reply #4 from Sins Forums Top

Here i've already hav a nuke ability made, its for capship Kol, but u could make it work for the frigate 2, i hav entrenchment tho so i don't kno if it'll work on 1.16

http://files.filefront.com/13776288

Reply #5 from Sins Forums Top

Thanks viper, I'll give it a look.  @ Annatar :blush: I tried, I couldnt make it work so I figured taking bits from other abilities would work.  Unfortunately I dont know quite enough bout how the game works to make a whole new ability from scratch and have it include the aspects I want it to.  Ill keep tryin tho. 

Reply #6 from Sins Forums Top

Look at the Marza's radiation bomb. It is very similar to what you want.

Reply #7 from Sins Forums Top

@ Annatar I tried, I couldnt make it work so I figured taking bits from other abilities would work. Unfortunately I dont know quite enough bout how the game works to make a whole new ability from scratch and have it include the aspects I want it to. Ill keep tryin tho.

Well, trying to cannibalize from other abilities without understanding how it all works isn't going to get you very far, as you've seen :) Doing abilities is the trickiest thing for Sins modding.

Why don't you start over, using Radiation Bomb as EvilTesla suggested as a base, but when you run into trouble post here and myself and others can help you out. I thought of telling you exactly what to do to change it into what you want, but I'd rather help you do it than do it for you ;)

 

Reply #8 from Sins Forums Top

I agree completely :grin: .  I should have some time to play with it later and Ill put up what I've got, *fingers crossed* maybe I can get it working on my own.

Reply #9 from Sins Forums Top

Ok, I think I got it.  Just one question: everything seems to be working the way I want it to except for the fact that the damage shows up on the infocard for the ability twice.  Any idea whats causing that?  I'll post the files if needed, theyre fairly large.

Reply #10 from Sins Forums Top

No, the reason is obvious.

Your ability does two damages.

First, it damages your target.

Then, it damages the surounding target.

 

The infocard is showing BOTH damages. This is normal, and to be expected.

Reply #11 from Sins Forums Top

Is it possible to have an ability that targets both the spawning ship and a specific target ship?  Im trying to create an ability that captures an enemy ship and destroys the ship that casts the ability but I cant figure out how to apply one buff to the origin ship and another to the target.

Reply #12 from Sins Forums Top

It's not so hard. You can check the abilities that have 2 buffs (one [...]Self and one [...]Target)

And there is a MakeDead buffInstantActionType and a ChangePlayerIndexToFirstSpawner buffInstantActionType.

Good luck