[luxebo]

Now since I have some time to spare during winter break, I'd like to go back and finish up building some campaigns (and maybe to the point of release???) The missions are still on 304 though so I might build one on 424.

However I keep getting stuck on a few issues:
1) Tac map doesn't appear as usual, and I forgot how to convert to tga and all that stuff to make the tac map work again.
2) Did 424 add vehicle support? Otherwise I'm limited to once again only mechs.
3) How do I make new variants? I the best way to do it, as if I did it I would encounter the same armor issues. iirc something with commas, but could be wrong.
4) What is the best way to make a height map or a fresh texture? Right now I'm just playing around with previous missions in a separate installation but I can't just retake mission tacmap/textures.

I'll end up with more issues as I'll start advancing in mission creation most likely.

[magic]

1) Tac map doesn't appear as usual, and I forgot how to convert to tga and all that stuff to make the tac map work again.

You will need some program like phtoshop ar similar that can open mission_name.burnin.jpg and save it as (convert) to mission_name.tga

2) Did 424 add vehicle support? Otherwise I'm limited to once again only mechs.

What do you mean?

3) How do I make new variants? I the best way to do it, as if I did it I would encounter the same armor issues. iirc something with commas, but could be wrong.

Open mech.CSV file with notepad. Dont use other programs like excel or even mech creator tool (whatever its name).

1.
MasterComponentID,Load#,MechBay X,MechBay Y,CompBas#,Name,Range,Heat,Weight,1Hit Damage,Dam/10Sec,BR,C-Bills,Comment,,,
Item0MasterId,91,-1,-1,1,Fusion Engine,NA,NA,0.00,NA,NA,0,0,ALWAYS a Fusion Engine.  DO NOT CHANGE.  ALWAYS 1,,,
Item1MasterId,92,-1,-1,22,Gyroscope II,NA,NA,0.00,NA,NA,0,0,ALWAYS a Gyroscope.  DO NOT CHANGE.  ALWAYS 22,,,
Item2MasterId,86,-1,-1,4,Arm Actuator,NA,NA,0.00,NA,NA,0,0,ALWAYS an ArmActuator.  DO NOT CHANGE.  ALWAYS 4,,,

Numbers must be in order from Ite0 to Item71. You cant add more lines, just replace existing and replacing lines must have correct ItemX number.

2.
BaseInternalStructure,3,5,5,7,7,10,7,7,,,,,,,,
BaseArmorPoints,9,10,10,11,11,13,11,11,3,3,4,,,,,

must much this for every variant
CurrentInternalStructure,3,5,5,7,7,10,7,7,,,
CurrentArmorPoints,9,10,10,11,11,13,11,11,3,3,4


Copy entire variant (last variant from CSV file from
VariantInfo,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Identification,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
VariantID,0001,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
VariantName,Anubis ABS-32,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

til the end of file:
Slot12,,29,37,49,61,71,,,,,
CurrentInternalStructure,3,5,5,7,7,10,7,7,,,
CurrentArmorPoints,9,10,10,11,11,13,11,11,3,3,4
,,,,,,,,,,,

Including the lats line of commas ",,,,,,,,,,,".

DONT USE ANYTHING ELSE BUT NOTEPAD.

4) What is the best way to make a height map or a fresh texture? Right now I'm just playing around with previous missions in a separate installation but I can't just retake mission tacmap/textures.

Height map is the gray scale image. White is the highest and black the lowest terrain, shades of gray are between.
You can export height map from the existing map from the editor "File" menu.
You can also assign height map to existing map from the editor "File" menu.

There are template and some example height maps under data/terrain folder.
You can retake any texture from any existing mission just have to convert mission_name.burnin.jpg to mission_name.tga.

Hope this helps.

[luxebo]

Thanks Magic!!! 

For #2 I was asking if I could place vehicles under player control in 424 but I'm guessing probably not.

Thanks for the variants, that helps me a bit.

I'll give a try to the burnin thing, it keeps making my editor glitch and crash.

I'll also give a try to height maps. What program can be used to create own textures though? Would like to go back and do that, though forgot.

[luxebo]

Doing the jpg to tga convert crashes editor. No idea why exactly. Frustrating though.

Maybe can you show an example, as it might just be that I'm naming incorrectly. I end with converting A_0_4.burnin to A_0_4 with no extension.

Edit: Variants work perfect! 

[luxebo]

Lastly I found a bug: created a warrior brain from Wolfman's Warrior tool and while I told that bot to reach a certain base area (coordinates) it ended up waiting at a completely random coordinate, in which was basically across the map. Remade that same warrior it still did that every single time I played the game.

Few more regular questions:
How do I make a new weapon?
How do I make a new pilot?
How do I make new vehicles/hovers/infantry/aircraft?

All three of these I've not tried just yet. And I would like to try to make more mechs, though not likely happening.

Edit: Verifying that this little fix on the tac map works on most maps, but for some reason A_0_4 (Pirate Mine where you have to go rescue guys in a mine) will not work with the convert of jpg-tga.

Edit 2: Fixed warrior bug. Ignore that.

[RustyDios]

For #2 I was asking if I could place vehicles under player control in 424 but I'm guessing probably not.

You can do this in mission but not from the Logistics screen. Remember that a player can only have up to 16 units I think, I don't know what would happen if they could put down 12 mechs, call in support units of their own and THEN you try to give them more, it would likely crash.

Check out http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=89176.0 for how I've been doing this exact thing.

[luxebo]

From wolfman-x's expansion I believe there was multiple missions where they exceeded the 16 unit limit and upped all the way to 20 I believe. There were also incidents for where I just let the player start with lots of units and it worked fine in MC2X (like 40+ infantry force).

[RustyDios]

From wolfman-x's expansion I believe there was multiple missions where they exceeded the 16 unit limit and upped all the way to 20 I believe. There were also incidents for where I just let the player start with lots of units and it worked fine in MC2X (like 40+ infantry force).

That may be true for MC2X... but I'm not sure that has been implemented in MCO .... as far as I know the two projects are different, with different teams behind them. The command bar in my game only has space for 16 units, hence why I thought this was the limit. You could certainly have an allied force of that size (40+ infantry ).. I don't think it will work for the player, even if you added them to the player post mission start by the mission.abl and addmovertoplayer command.

You could always try it out and see what happens... ... ...

[luxebo]

Tried a mission with a bunch of urbies and one Overlord. Works fine. Can't control em all at once, but as long as you don't select em all at the first glance, you will be ok.  (Selecting all the units will break the game if you move, just select them in parts.)

[RustyDios]

Hmm... cool... so what number did you go up to.. or was it "too high to count"... ((the .fit file might give you a better insight into how many units you placed))... also how many player mechs and drop zones did you allocate/fill, a full complement of 12 or less?

It would be interesting to also know by what method did you use to assign all the units to the player (if it was a coding loop, it might prove useful to others).... ...

Seems like it would be a great way for planning out some "each side of the obstacle" missions, to ensure the player gets a decent force at each location.... or for doing some kind of massive war smash-up scenario...

[luxebo]

I dunno, maybe like 40+ Urbies. You can easily assign all units to players as it is allowed with the setting above where it says which alignment in order to mass place multiple units in player's hands. However it takes time to input which pilot etc and it only works via campaign without mission logistics, otherwise at most it'll be 12 Atlases/100 tonners plus powering up a bunch of mechs/aircraft. Only filled one drop zone, the amount of player mechs placed are given like 40 scattered in a group next to a dropship (as said need to be all aligned, lazy guys will leave em all Bubbas but it makes more sense to have different pilots per mech.) Dropship died insanely quickly with not a single loss. 

It might run into issues however here or there, as it wasn't truly working as intended by microsoft.