Hard Light Productions Forums
Modding, Mission Design, and Coding => The FRED Workshop => Topic started by: Axem on March 28, 2011, 06:01:17 pm
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Everybody! It's the beginning of Axem's FRED tutorial series.
To be a genius FREDder like me, do your best!
But when that doesn't work, you can take a look here.
FRED has sure changed from its retail FreeSpace 2 days. Mountains of new sexps and features have been added, allowing certain FREDders to accomplish feats that people had no idea were even possible. Junior FREDders may see something in a campaign and go "WOW, I want to do this in my campaign. But how did they do it?!". Typical answer is "go look in the mission file."
While that's fine and dandy, the people peering in don't have any context on why that stuff worked. So I'm going to help you understand! And then you'll be able to think about how to approach other assuredly insane ideas you have lurking in your head.
Approximately once a month I will create a new tutorial on some random FRED concept. From things as specific to "How do I do in-mission jumping"? or as broad as "Arguments, how do they work?"
Answer to both of those, of course, is magic. But I'll show you the magic.
So, now's your chance to suggest topics or ideas. If there's a bunch of smaller topics that look great, I'll lump them together.
Everything will be posted on the FS Wiki, so if you find a typo or something while reading it, feel free to correct it.
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The Tutorial List
Tutorial 1: In-Mission Jumping (http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/Tutorial_-_In-Mission_Jumps)
Tutorial 2: Conditional Arguments (http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/Tutorial_-_Conditional_Arguments)
Tutorial 3: Directive-is-variable SEXP (http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/Tutorial_-_Directive-is-variable_SEXP)
Tutorial 4: Mission Infrastructure and Checkpoints *NEW* (http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/Tutorial_-_Mission_Infrastructure)
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Inaugural tutorial, in mission jumping! It's so cool.
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how do i get them to shot beams :confused: :confused: :confused:
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:yes:
About time someone other than myself started posting this sort of thing. :)
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Will be watching for top notch tips :yes:
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Really? I was JUST wondering how to make cap-ships do 'mirco jumps' That's awesome. ha
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i reley dont wan to say this
but I have to now.
THIS TUTORIAL IS SO ESEY
I mean all you do is follow a step by step instruction
THAT'S IT!
How is this a tuto-
oh wait
:yes: Good job Baka Axem, excellent tutorial
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It's great work, axem, very informative and humorous! Fantastic! (Insert more adjectives)
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how do i get them to shot beams :confused: :confused: :confused:
Funnily enough, I learned this from playing the JAD series (where it mentions Beamfreeing ships), before I started messing with FRED2 much at all...
...or maybe it was the first DEM..
I don't remember which one I played first XD
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how do i get them to shot beams :confused: :confused: :confused:
i dunno lol
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Fascinating! And well-written. Many thanks, Axem.. Please, keep it up. And here's my suggestion: Subspace Missile Strikes.
Greetings,
H.
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Fascinating! And well-written. Many thanks, Axem.. Please, keep it up. And here's my suggestion: Subspace Missile Strikes.
Greetings,
H.
Subspace missile strikes are super easy, and can be done entirely via tabling, no FRED wizardry required.
Faking subspace missile strikes from AWACS as in War in Heaven is a little harder and requires a kludge with weapon-create, but is also not that bad.
I may do a checkpoint tutorial and an SSM 'tutorial' at some point.
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Checkpoints would be a lot more useful, I think. :nervous:
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Great tutorial, thank you. If you're taking suggestions I'd love to see tips on how to launch the player from a moving cap ship. :)
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:yes:
About time someone other than myself started posting this sort of thing. :)
Shade did on the Wiki before this happened. Just throwin' that out there. :nervous: But this is cool nonetheless.
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That's true. I remember Shade doing that now. Cetanu did something similar once too.
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i reley dont wan to say this
but I have to now.
THIS TUTORIAL IS SO ESEY
I mean all you do is follow a step by step instruction
THAT'S IT!
How is this a tuto-
oh wait
:yes: Good job Baka Axem, excellent tutorial
Hey pal, what sounds easy to you, can be difficult for some to even grasp, mind you.
Here to give credit where credit is due, thanks Axem!
Make more of 'em tutorials. Budding Fredders need all the help they can get.
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Pssst...
Eeeet eees joke.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Z2Z23SAFVA
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I think the next topic is going to be conditional arguments. It'll help set the stage for other magic later on. I think there may be other tutorials around for those here too, but I'll go into all sorts of weird stuff you can do with them.
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Can't wait!!
...
...but I'm going to have to :(
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Very good Axem
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I admit i did rape-look at the Vassagos Dirge and WIH files to see how player jumps were done, but this tutty-tut makes the theory behind the practice all the more satisfying to plant in my headspace.
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Glad there's more of this stuff around, it'll be very useful for me when I finally have time to go learn FRED. Probably some time after I die.
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Oh look, it's May without an April entry at all.
For shame Axem. For shame...
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Ping!
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Please can you do a cutscene tutorial, the ones already done are to vague
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Yeah and Axem is like the best at cuttlefish.
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Oh look, it's May without an April entry at all.
For shame Axem. For shame...
*Slaps Axem on the wrists*
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Yeah, will finally expand my retail freeding skills , thanks Axem :yes: :yes:
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Is this still being worked on?
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Is this still being worked on?
Axem is super busy with all the campaigns he's on, but I'm sure he'll do another when motivated.
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Is this still being worked on?
Axem is super busy with all the campaigns he's on, but I'm sure he'll do another when motivated.
NEw JAD!!!!! Aw3so[\/]3n3S5!!!!!!
2.5 isn't it>?
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2.2 actually. And yes I was sort of preoccupied with working on that and BP as of late. However this weekend is a long weekend in Canada-land, so I hope to have the next part then. I already have an overview of what I'm going to be doing, so its just detailing it all.
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Axem's Conditional Arguments April Tutorial is out... in July. (http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/Tutorial_-_Conditional_Arguments)
Obviously Axem has a time machine.
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Nyan. :yes:
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:yes::yes:
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One point I feel is worth mentioning is that the argument SEXPs do not loop in the way you might think they do. For instance in this case
(http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/images/Axm_argtut12.png)
the game will make all ships with less than 30% hull jump out THEN make all the same ships send messages. It will not warp out the first matching ship, send a message from it THEN move onto the second match. This sort of thing has tripped up quite a few FREDders in the past, especially when using string variables to hold the value of <argument>.
If you think about it, you should see that it always ends up holding the value of the last matching item in the list regardless of how many ships match.
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Nyan :3
Very clear and helpful tutorial. Even Spoon has use for this :yes:
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Yeah, doing this monthly worked out sooo well...
Any future requests?
How about choosing from one of the following:
a) Custom Countdown Timers (as seen in JAD2.21)
b) using variable-is-directive (as seen in JAD2.21)
c) Something else from JAD. :p
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b)
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a)
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Request: how to switch control between two different ships in a single mission.
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You WOULD ask for that, wouldn't you.
I'm working on directive-is-variable as its pretty simple. Maybe by this weekend I'll have that up.
Then I'll do countdowns.
And then... hot swapping... :mad:
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Request: how to switch control between two different ships in a single mission.
Actually I'd be interested in this as well. I would have thought you couldn't actually swap the player to a different ship, but that changing classes/weapons/hull integrity/everything else was necessary. Then again I haven't FREDded in a while. We'll see what the Master comes up with!
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That's pretty much what it is. But there's some tricks and logic so everything works correctly.
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Hooray! New tutorial up!
Directive-is-variable SEXP! (http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/Tutorial_-_Directive-is-variable_SEXP)
Not only is it a brand new sexp, but its also an awesome brand new sexp! Demands visibility for all to see and use!
Also stuck so everyone can see and because I can abuse my power.
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Nice to see that SEXP getting used. :)
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I didn't knew what this sexp was for, I see a place where I can use it right now.
Thanks.
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Everybody! It's the beginning of Axem's FRED tutorial series.
To be a genius FREDder like me, do your best!
But when that doesn't work, you can take a look here.
FRED has sure changed from its retail FreeSpace 2 days. Mountains of new sexps and features have been added, allowing certain FREDders to accomplish feats that people had no idea were even possible. Junior FREDders may see something in a campaign and go "WOW, I want to do this in my campaign. But how did they do it?!". Typical answer is "go look in the mission file."
While that's fine and dandy, the people peering in don't have any context on why that stuff worked. So I'm going to help you understand! And then you'll be able to think about how to approach other assuredly insane ideas you have lurking in your head.
Approximately once a month I will create a new tutorial on some random FRED concept. From things as specific to "How do I do in-mission jumping"? or as broad as "Arguments, how do they work?"
Answer to both of those, of course, is magic. But I'll show you the magic.
So, now's your chance to suggest topics or ideas. If there's a bunch of smaller topics that look great, I'll lump them together.
Everything will be posted on the FS Wiki, so if you find a typo or something while reading it, feel free to correct it.
====
The Tutorial List
Tutorial 1: In-Mission Jumping (http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/Tutorial_-_In-Mission_Jumps)
Tutorial 2: Conditional Arguments (http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/Tutorial_-_Conditional_Arguments)
Tutorial 3: Directive-is-variable SEXP *NEW!* (http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/Tutorial_-_Directive-is-variable_SEXP)
Axem, do you have it in pdf format - easier to print :D
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Forget the PDF.. I want a NEW tutorial...
Approximately once a month I will create a new tutorial on some random FRED concept. From things as specific to "How do I do in-mission jumping"? or as broad as "Arguments, how do they work?"
Bold, Italics, Underline.. mine.
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Forget the PDF.. I want a NEW tutorial...
Approximately once a month I will create a new tutorial on some random FRED concept. From things as specific to "How do I do in-mission jumping"? or as broad as "Arguments, how do they work?"
Bold, Italics, Underline.. mine.
:nervous: +1
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Obviously I meant Jovian month. Which is like a year to us...
Any suggestions for a new tutorial?
Also no on the PDF thing. I write it for the wiki. You could go to the Printable Version and save the page or export as PDF. That's the best way I could see it being done.
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Double posting because I love having the thread to myself.
After asking IRC and clearing it with the necessary illuminati, here's the plan. A 4 Part Mega Tutorial Series.
Stage 1 - Making Custom HUD Gauges and controlling them in FRED (Yes this does go into modding a bit, but its easy and I'll provide the files too)
Stage 2 - Conversation Trees (Basic) (Single Run-Through, Number Key Controlled)
Stage 3 - Conversation Trees (Advanced) (Multiple Run-Through, Keyboard Controls)
BONUS STAGE - THE JAD MEGATIMER
Judging by past experience, expect it all to be done in 2027.
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Awesome. ^^ Really looking forward to seeing the HUD guages tutorial. :nod:
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Also no on the PDF thing. I write it for the wiki. You could go to the Printable Version and save the page or export as PDF. That's the best way I could see it being done.
Good enough. Thanks!
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Awesome. ^^ Really looking forward to seeing the HUD guages tutorial. :nod:
That's one of the FREDding fields I don't know much about so I'm looking forwards to it too. I could dissect some of Axem's missions where he's used them but it's easier to just wait. :)
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Love these tutorials. Fastest way to catch me up in what FSO can do these days.
Thanks Axem!
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And I'll thank YOU for not drawing attention to how its been over a year since the last update. :)
There's actually a good reason behind that. There's a pair of hud sexps that I found confusingly named and kind of backwards to use, and I wanted to wait until they were fixed (after the code freeze) before actually making up the tutorial, so there would be no confusion!
(But couldn't you come up with another subject?)
Maybe. Maybe...
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Use of the event.log would be a good subject. Not many people know how to use it.
Hell, if you don't want to write a tutorial on the subject, I probably will at some point.
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Well the guy who wrote it might be able to diverge some tricks and explain in great detail on how it should work better than someone who sort of guesses how it works. :p
That said, I do have an idea for a tutorial about something else.
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Fair enough, it's just that a tutorial is probably going to have to wait at least a couple of weeks before I have a PC I can actually run FRED on well enough to make one. :)
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And I'll thank YOU for not drawing attention to how its been over a year since the last update. :)
There's actually a good reason behind that. There's a pair of hud sexps that I found confusingly named and kind of backwards to use, and I wanted to wait until they were fixed (after the code freeze) before actually making up the tutorial, so there would be no confusion!
(But couldn't you come up with another subject?)
Maybe. Maybe...
I wish! Once I've got the basics down THEN I'll see about suggesting new things to do :p
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This tutorial is superb.
As an addendum to the in-mission jump, I worked out last night that instead of a force-jump SEXP I could keep track of how many tactical jumps they made via a variable, then once it hit above a certain value give back the player their subspace drive, and add allow-warp.
Thus, allow for a real jump-out.
This allows for silent external influence - eg if a specific objective is achieved the game can silently add to the variable, transforming ALT-J from a tactical jump to a real exit. This feels a little more flexible,a s it allows the player to achieve the mission goal, yet keep playing and jump out at their leisure. The last work is to clean up the directive line.
$Formula: ( modify-variable @TacJump[0] 1 )
+Name: TAC JUMP - Add to Count
+Repeat Count: 1
+Interval: 1
+Chained: 0
$Formula: ( when
( > @TacJump[0] 0 )
( set-subspace-drive
( true )
"Alpha 1"
)
( allow-warp "Alpha 1" )
)
+Name: ALLOW REAL JUMP
+Repeat Count: 1
+Interval: 1
bh
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Obviously I meant Jovian month.
LMAO.
I Love you, Axem, for that refenece alone.
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Many Jovian months later, there is an update.
Mission Infrastructure and Checkpoints! (http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/Tutorial_-_Mission_Infrastructure)
Next month: Cutscene SEXPS!
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When-stop
{ hammertime}
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I must be the biggest noob ever because I cannot for the life of me find out how to load my FRED missions to be able to play them. The tutorial says that when you start Diaspora go to Data Files -> Mission Simulator. Choose Single Missions. But when I start the game I get the screen for profile management, Basic settings, Advanced settings and by this point you should know the screen I'm talking about (the picture is the screen im talking about) But nowhere on that page is there a Data Files section and when I press Play to start the actual game there is nowhere in the main menu of the game to start my mission either. Just need a little help on how to load my created missions. Quick help would be much appreciated!!!
[attachment deleted by an evil time traveler]
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You should find Data Files in the mainhall, once you've loaded the game and selected a pilot (I think.)
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You should find Data Files in the mainhall, once you've loaded the game and selected a pilot (I think.)
I meant the mainhall when I said main menu. It takes you to the Mainhall (main menu) after you select your pilot but at the main menu you have to choose between Briefing, Campaigns, Data Tech (Not the right place i checked), Options, Pilots, and exit. so I don't think its at the main menu.
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You should find Data Files in the mainhall, once you've loaded the game and selected a pilot (I think.)
I meant the mainhall when I said main menu. It takes you to the Mainhall (main menu) after you select your pilot but at the main menu you have to choose between Briefing, Campaigns, Data Tech (Not the right place i checked), Options, Pilots, and exit. so I don't think its at the main menu.
Nevermind found it. It was in the Data Tech section i just didnt look hard enough. Thanks for the tip.