Questions about Core_Campaign modding
Posted: Thu Apr 18, 2002 7:32 pm
A few days ago a new DAC visitor, 'Prince of Whispers' asked me several questions about modding the core campaign. I promised to look it over, but to date I couldn't find any deffinitive answers to his questions(and I'm not that good at modding), so I thought I would post his mail so anyone with knowledge and time could help him were I couldn't.
Well, here it goes:
My Query/situation :- (note : I play v1.27)
I am interested in placing my own created character (main character) in the single player game to start off, then after brahmin wood, when i reach bunker alpha, have an addition of 5 other own-created characters (my squaddies) made available to me in the recruit pool IN ADDITION to the usual list.
I realise I could just swap the .ent files of my squaddies with the existing characters in recruit pool by renaming my .ent filenames, but in doing so, it replaces the computer NPCS rather than adding new recruits to the list. If i rename my file to hf11.ent it would take the place of Torn, but I won't see Torn ever again.
WHAT I HAVE DONE SO FAR : -
1) MAIN CHARACTER
for my main character, I renamed the .ent file to "prefab1.ent", thereby replacing MICK, but that's okay. Mick does not appear in the game as an npc anyway.
PROBLEM : -
In order to select 'Tough guy'{I guess he also wants to do that}, you can't just take him as is, at the pre-generated character screen you have to choose 'Modify' in order to activate the 'Tough guy' switch. By doing so, my character's story description (which i modified in one of the locale folders) dissappears. Is there any way to avoide this? Or better yet, to re-generate a new description for my main character (don't forget it is still renamed as Prefab1.ent) while in progress of the game?
2) ADDING MY SELF-GENERATED SQUADDIES TO THE RECRUITS POOL
First, I created five new actors in the entities editor. Each of the characters have their display name the same as their actual name(also saved the .ent file as the same name to avoid confusion).
To give an example, I created a character named BETA, then changed his display name as BETA, added 'BETA' in tables/human male, added a BETA.zar in gui/chars for his portrait.
Then I placed this BETA.ent in the recruits folder.
Thirdly, I added an extra line in campaign.txt, at the bottom, where the recruits are:-
mission01/..etc..etc.....BETA.ent
THE RESULT =
I started the game using my prefab (tough guy), with its descrption lost, and when i completed brahmin wood, my 5 other characters were not present in the bunker alpha recruits pool (recruits master). {He doesn't say here, but I think he expected the recruits to be added not replace, and thus he probably didn't entered their names like he did for Beta}
I entered the mission editor (openned bunker 01), selected 'Level' button, selected 'trigger' button, selected CVAR_M01_COMPLETE, openned it and selected ACTION instead of CONDITION, then i saw a few lines of lists. one of them attracted my attention, saying
"Modify characters tagged mission 01 in the recruits pool list".
Does this line have anything to do with what I am trying to achieve? I am trying not to modify any player index/tag names in the .ent editor. is there a cleaner, more universal way?
How come when you open pre- made npc recruit characters in entity editor, all Npc's have no tagged names then?
Missions Editor : even by selecting 'ENTITY' or 'ENTITY EDIT' in the missions editor, the npcs (recruits) have no tagged names. Why must my own-created .ent charcters be tagged, but pregenerated npcs do not? If they are, then where are they tagged?
What and where is the 'RecruitPool List'? {This is the only part I can help somewhat as the recruit pool is under core\entities\actors, if I can remember correctly.If not you can always find it if you're in the Entities editor and select open then browse.You should find somewhere subfolders like raiders,citizens etc.Sorry it's been a while since I modified characters}I know i'm supposed to modify it, but i can't find it. Are they referring to Campaign.txt which i had already amended?
Please help me, my .ent files are all created, but i can't start playing, without totally replacing torn, farsight, kevin and the rest. i wan't to create new additions in the pool, exceeding the total recruits list of 66 (i think), and placing my own descriptions for these characters.
Thank you.
Ps. Please be specific [step by step instructions would be great!] if you decide to reply.
Pps. my query is something like that posted by a ZEPHAS before, but also slightly different.
I wan't my prefab1.ent description permanently changed, so that after I replace the original description of Mick back in, my main character's description in my save file remains unchanged. Is there a way?
Also, I do not want my 5 recruits to appear in 'physical form' by amending player index (I notice all npcs which join your party have no index in the entity editor.) If possible, I want them available in the recruits pool after brahmin wood. thanks.
{A long one yes, but don't let it discourage you. You can also reply to portions of it, if you want.}
Well, here it goes:
My Query/situation :- (note : I play v1.27)
I am interested in placing my own created character (main character) in the single player game to start off, then after brahmin wood, when i reach bunker alpha, have an addition of 5 other own-created characters (my squaddies) made available to me in the recruit pool IN ADDITION to the usual list.
I realise I could just swap the .ent files of my squaddies with the existing characters in recruit pool by renaming my .ent filenames, but in doing so, it replaces the computer NPCS rather than adding new recruits to the list. If i rename my file to hf11.ent it would take the place of Torn, but I won't see Torn ever again.
WHAT I HAVE DONE SO FAR : -
1) MAIN CHARACTER
for my main character, I renamed the .ent file to "prefab1.ent", thereby replacing MICK, but that's okay. Mick does not appear in the game as an npc anyway.
PROBLEM : -
In order to select 'Tough guy'{I guess he also wants to do that}, you can't just take him as is, at the pre-generated character screen you have to choose 'Modify' in order to activate the 'Tough guy' switch. By doing so, my character's story description (which i modified in one of the locale folders) dissappears. Is there any way to avoide this? Or better yet, to re-generate a new description for my main character (don't forget it is still renamed as Prefab1.ent) while in progress of the game?
2) ADDING MY SELF-GENERATED SQUADDIES TO THE RECRUITS POOL
First, I created five new actors in the entities editor. Each of the characters have their display name the same as their actual name(also saved the .ent file as the same name to avoid confusion).
To give an example, I created a character named BETA, then changed his display name as BETA, added 'BETA' in tables/human male, added a BETA.zar in gui/chars for his portrait.
Then I placed this BETA.ent in the recruits folder.
Thirdly, I added an extra line in campaign.txt, at the bottom, where the recruits are:-
mission01/..etc..etc.....BETA.ent
THE RESULT =
I started the game using my prefab (tough guy), with its descrption lost, and when i completed brahmin wood, my 5 other characters were not present in the bunker alpha recruits pool (recruits master). {He doesn't say here, but I think he expected the recruits to be added not replace, and thus he probably didn't entered their names like he did for Beta}
I entered the mission editor (openned bunker 01), selected 'Level' button, selected 'trigger' button, selected CVAR_M01_COMPLETE, openned it and selected ACTION instead of CONDITION, then i saw a few lines of lists. one of them attracted my attention, saying
"Modify characters tagged mission 01 in the recruits pool list".
Does this line have anything to do with what I am trying to achieve? I am trying not to modify any player index/tag names in the .ent editor. is there a cleaner, more universal way?
How come when you open pre- made npc recruit characters in entity editor, all Npc's have no tagged names then?
Missions Editor : even by selecting 'ENTITY' or 'ENTITY EDIT' in the missions editor, the npcs (recruits) have no tagged names. Why must my own-created .ent charcters be tagged, but pregenerated npcs do not? If they are, then where are they tagged?
What and where is the 'RecruitPool List'? {This is the only part I can help somewhat as the recruit pool is under core\entities\actors, if I can remember correctly.If not you can always find it if you're in the Entities editor and select open then browse.You should find somewhere subfolders like raiders,citizens etc.Sorry it's been a while since I modified characters}I know i'm supposed to modify it, but i can't find it. Are they referring to Campaign.txt which i had already amended?
Please help me, my .ent files are all created, but i can't start playing, without totally replacing torn, farsight, kevin and the rest. i wan't to create new additions in the pool, exceeding the total recruits list of 66 (i think), and placing my own descriptions for these characters.
Thank you.
Ps. Please be specific [step by step instructions would be great!] if you decide to reply.
Pps. my query is something like that posted by a ZEPHAS before, but also slightly different.
I wan't my prefab1.ent description permanently changed, so that after I replace the original description of Mick back in, my main character's description in my save file remains unchanged. Is there a way?
Also, I do not want my 5 recruits to appear in 'physical form' by amending player index (I notice all npcs which join your party have no index in the entity editor.) If possible, I want them available in the recruits pool after brahmin wood. thanks.
{A long one yes, but don't let it discourage you. You can also reply to portions of it, if you want.}