Hard Light Productions Forums
Hosted Projects - Non-FreeSpace => MechCommander OmniTech => Topic started by: Starman01 on April 29, 2011, 10:25:49 am
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Hello Battletech Fans !!!
It's time for our next update - the second MCO release. We wish to thank all the people who downloaded and played MCO's first release. Special thanks to all of you that playtested and reported bugs and other problems. Many of the problems and bugs found in the first release were fixed and there are many new features in the current build. We are very happy about receiving so much positive feedback and the interest you people still show into that yewel of a game.
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We would like to outline 4 very big changes in this new build :
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- Texture resolution for in game objects (mechs, vehicles, buildings) and terrain detail texture is now 256x256 (was 128x128) (To clarify : It's now possible, but not changed everywhere already :) )
- Memory allocation for game and Editor is changed and that fixed many issues.
- New maps 140x140, 160x160, 180x180 and 200x200
- 15 (!!!) new mechs added to the game
(http://omnitech.hard-light.net/team/starman/news/newmechs2-small.jpg) (http://omnitech.hard-light.net/team/starman/news/newmechs2.jpg)
(Click to enlarge)
Also, the following changes and additions have been made:
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Features included in this download are :
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- Texture resolution for in game objects (mechs, vehicles, buildings) is now 256x256 (was 128x128)
- Memory allocation for game and Editor is changed and that fixed many issues.
- New maps 140x140, 160x160, 180x180 and 200x200
- Activated ALL 4 weapon nodes for turrets.
- Max object texture resolution changed to 256x256.
- 3 wide resolutions supported; 1920x1200, 1680x1050 and 1440x900.
- reduced number of buildings and trees that can be rendered by the distance from camera (to prevent crashings or polygon overload).
- shadows will not render if distance from camera is too long.
- New maps 140x140, 160x160, 180x180 and 200x200
- Turrets and gates are free of object2
- Starmans Autocannon, LargeLaser, LRM and Calliope turrets included.
- Memory alloc fixed. Maps 180 and 200 are not crushing on exit now.
- All MC1 pilots are in MCO (by ThorC).
- New mechs Grizzly, Cicada, Crossbow, Ranger (by Magic)
- New Mechs Sunder, Hellfire, Redesigned Mist Lynx, Blood Kite, Naga and Mad Cat Mk3 (by Karl),
- New mechs Uziel, Argus, Thanatos, Owens (by Karl, models by Starman)
- New mech Champion (by Karl - model by RavenIIC)
- Mobile Turret Control vehicle and Mobile AC Turet (by Starman)
- New MRM turret, MRM popup and camo turets and LRM camo turrets (by Karl).
- New/fixed ABL and brain file functions (check the moddb download description for more details on this issue)
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What's NEW in editor:
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- Max number of pilots doubled to 128.
- More skys added to editor up to 36.
- Editor mem alloc changed.
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Campaigns included (more will follow soon):
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Magic's Exodus Campaign (vers.2.0)
A rebalanced version (a little harder) of the old Carver 5 campaign which uses the new units.
MW2 Mercs as a fully playable campaign with the duration to the end of Solaris games.
New campaigns are in the work and old ones are in state of being ported over, we will release them in time and step by step.
So, without anymore talking, here you can find the download (click image) :)
(Note : It could take up to 24 hours after this news posting before the download will be available due to the authorization procedures on moddb. Deeply sorry for that).
(http://omnitech.hard-light.net/team/starman/news/preview-moddb-alpha-sm2.jpg) (http://www.moddb.com/mods/mechcommander-omnitech/downloads/second-alphabuild-release-vers-066)
Have fun !
If you haven't already, be sure to check out our Moddb Site and the sweet images being uploaded there, which will give you an impression what the new look will be.
Here is an example, what you can find over there and what we are planing for the new game :
(http://omnitech.hard-light.net/team/starman/news/DavionGateCTRL-small.jpg) (http://omnitech.hard-light.net/team/starman/news/DavionGateCTRL.jpg) (http://omnitech.hard-light.net/team/starman/news/moblghtart-small.jpg) (http://omnitech.hard-light.net/team/starman/news/moblghtart.jpg)
(Click to enlarge the images)
You can find the Moddb-Page right here: http://www.moddb.com/mods/mechcommander-omnitech If you have an account there, be sure to sign up as watcher of this project, so you will be automatically informed about any changes we made there.
Be sure to check out our recruiting post as well (see our forum stickies). A really big cudos at this point to Magic, our lonesome warrior coder :) He would be very happy to double the size of his department, so if you have any skills in C++ and/or XNA; be sure to contact us if you want to help us out. Also, UV-Mappers are always welcome at the party. If you think you can provide some skills (and not only the before mentioned), send us your "batchall"
Cheers
The MCO-Team
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Looking forward to it coming online. :D
Possibly stupid question, but I figure it may come up: I do presume we should uninstall the previous Alpha first, and not attempt to install over it?
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Sweet. I look forward to running through it.
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Possibly stupid question, but I figure it may come up: I do presume we should uninstall the previous Alpha first, and not attempt to install over it
Exactly. I made some explanation in the description of the download over at Moddb. It's just placed there, because we cannot seduce the HLP Server for the download :)
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It's up!
Downloading now.
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Badass, Downloading now.
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Yay, downloading.
And eh, Starman, if you're having trouble seducing something, drug it :D
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Downloaded, still playing.
Was the difficulty tweaked in some way? Not that i'm complaining but the game seems harder now (currently playing through Carver 5 again). Might just be i'm trying new mech combos, not sure.
Congrats and thankyou to the MCO team for another wonderful release.
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And eh, Starman, if you're having trouble seducing something, drug it :D
Will do :) Have fun playing guys :)
Regarding Difficulty, I don't know if Magic has tweaked the AI, at least he didn't mentioned it :p
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Hmm, after some testing today i found out the procurement wasn't done yet for this version. :(
Any idea when the revamped version will be here? Cause getting more than 1 weapon of the same type would be nice without having to resort to cannibalizing mechs :)
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Sorry, but since the new logistic is currently in the works, we haven't altered the old files for the obsolete version. I wanted to do it for convinience, but we simply lack time / manpower for such a task :)
You can alter that easily in the purchase files :
In order to have more than one item/mech available, you will have to double the entry in the purchase file like this :
l Component20 = 124 //SRM
l Component21 = 124 //SRM
l Component22 = 169 //Small Laser
l Component23 = 169 //Small Laser
l Component24 = 168 //Small ER Laser
l Component25 = 168 //Small ER Laser
That will give you two of each type. Just watch that you have the number after "component" being increased by one in the correct way, same for mechs.
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Running through Carver V campaign again as well, have yet to hit any significant changes over the first release, save for the Texture Changes (and the game looks so much crisper with them, I might add.)
I'm wondering if you guys ever plan on implementing a 720p Resolution. I normally don't dick with the res too much, save for this time around, but all the available Widescreen resolutions (while miles better than stock, obviously) still leave black bars on either side of my screen. I'm on a 720p TV, so I figured you simply don't have one at that size yet.
I'll report back with anymore stuff I find as I get deeper into the game. Great work, as always. :yes:
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That'll be the purchase.fit file?
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Yes, there is one for each mission. The ones just called "purchaseXY" are for the Carver V campaign.
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Heh, anyway i can change my starting funds? xD
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I'm not sure, but I got the feeling you tweaked the minimum ranges a bit, so longer range weapons can be more useful at closer-end medium range.
p.s. the Blood Kite is awesome. :lol: LRMs seem to keep firing up to a little before the SRMs take over, and the ERLL seems similar.
I think the AI on harder levels is less likely to fixate on a single target now, which was something I noticed in the last version. It seems a good bit harder to get a good backstab session going on an engaged enemy.
Heh, anyway i can change my starting funds? xD
Yup.
[General]
l VariantCount = 3
l PilotCount = 108
l InventoryCount = 15
l IComponentCount = 0
l PurComponentCount = 0
l PurMechsCount = 0
b FirstTimeResults = TRUE
st CampaignFile = "data\campaign\carver5.fit"
st CampaignName = "Carver 5"
st PlayerName = ""
l CBills = 12300000
l Group = 1
b BigMoviePlayed = TRUE
st MissionName = "Reacquisition: Base Gemini"
st MissionFileName = "mc2_02"
l CompletedMissions = 0
I added a few zeros... :p
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awesome, this is in which .fit file?
EDIT: Also a list of weapon numbers would be handy, so i can update later missions with ER Lasers and Clan versions :3
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The high level AI is much better about target selection now. I have tried to lure them into ambushes three times so far on elite and all attempts have failed (though they still walk right past fuel tanks without a care.)
Whoops, Timerlane got to it first.
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awesome, this is in which .fit file?
Save your game(I like to call mine 'h4x', i.e. 'h4x.fit'), then find the file in the MechCommanderOmnitech\data\savegame folder, and open it in Notepad or some other text editor(you can ALT-TAB out and do it without closing the game). Once you're done, load that game, and you'll have the extra money.
You can drop in lots of cool stuff this way, once you understand how it works, though I don't know all the weapon codes, either. I just add other Mechs that have the weapons I want on them, strip them, and make the variants in-game that way. I do that in another save, then copy-paste it back over to the main file to keep things neat.
That was pretty much all that kept my interest going in the original MC2, particularly with the generally very predictable, poor AI: Playing with some of my favorite BT toys and blowing stuff up.
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EDIT: Also a list of weapon numbers would be handy, so i can update later missions with ER Lasers and Clan versions :3
Check compbas.csv in Object folders for the numbers. But note : Messing around with the values makes us supporting very difficult, so only change when you know what you do :)
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I actually found a nice few .fit files that have a list of components in them
called purchase - original mechs, expansion mechs and so forth
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Yep, that's the one. Best would be "purchase_All".Fit, but I think it's also missing a few of the very new mechs.
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indeed, that list stops at Mech93, so 94 mechs in all.
Also, trying to give myself an extra mech(in the savegame's .fit file through [InventoryX])
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Also, trying to give myself an extra mech(in the savegame's .fit file through [InventoryX])
To add a 'Mech to your inventory:
[General]
...
l InventoryCount = 15
...
Add 1 to your current InventoryCount. If you fail to do this, the game will simply ignore any added Mechs beyond that number.
And then add something like this:
[Inventory11]
st Chassis = "data\objects\bloodkite.csv"
st Variant = "Blood Kite Prime"
b Designer = TRUE
toward the end, just after the other 'Mechs. Obviously, the Inventory number should be one higher than the previous 'Mech.
IS Mechs, though, make this slightly harder. Anything you can find on the Mech page of the in-game Encyclopedia should be able to be obtained by calling the st Variant "x Prime"(pay close attention to spelling and spaces in the Mech's name, or lack thereof; the "Mad Cat MkII Prime" for example), but many of the IS Mechs have specific named Variants(check the Vehicle page for some), and you'll have to enter the proper Variant name instead of just 'Prime' ("Awesome AWS-9").
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I actually looked in the mech's own .csv files to see what variants it had and which one i wanted of course xD
Now about weapons, since i haven't tried it yet, is there a Component Count of sorts?
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Not that I know. To be honest, it has been years since i played with the csv files, but afaik as long as you don't do something that is incompatible with the X,Y values of the logistic slots, it would be fine. If you place something in there, that has no room, it either does skip the weapon, or more logically, it will crash the game :)
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In the csv files i've noticed that, regardless of where you put the weapon, weapons are fired from pre-determined positions on a mech(arms, torsos)
Changing these won't really harm the game would they?
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Nope. But I meant you cannot put 4 large AC's into a mech that has a logistic capacity from 3x4 field, that will most seriously result into a crash
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Yeah, i got that :)
By adding weapons i actually meant for in me inventory so i don't have to screw around with what is going to be in the store.
Also, is there anything you can show me as to how the new logistics is going to work or look like?
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It's still in early Development, but it will be similar to the way it worked in MW4. Also we plan to add more inventory to increase the micromanagement part for your force. But I will not spoil any details right now :)
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Ah, that is good news(remember that quote? :P)
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I'm loving this project - kudos to all involved. MC2 was one of my alltime favourite games and you folks have breathed new life into it.
Sir, I salute you.
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@Patriot
How the weapon animations work is like this...
when the model is created there are these non mesh elements added called helpers, they are placed at each weapon location and have a unique name. In the mech.ini file these helper objects are linked to a weapon type(s) that can fire from this location, e.g. madcat has 5 "weapon nodes" (actually this is true for all original MC2 mechs, the most I have put on a MCO mech I think is 8-10ish from memory) left/right arm (one each) left/right torso (one each, corresponds to the missile pods) and center torso (just one here), in the ini file the torso weapon nodes are allocated a weapon type value of 5 which means missile weapons only, while left/right arm as assigned the value 5 which means any direct fire weapon (basically anything thats a not missile) and torso is assigned the value of 2 which is ballistic weapons only.
So!
If you add a non missile weapon to the left/right torso in mech.csv the same will still allocate its animation to either the left/right arm or center torso. Similarly you will NEVER EVER!!! get a non missile weapon firing from the missile pods (remember they are left and right torso) no matter how many weapons you cram into the left and right torso entries in the mech.csv.
I have never bothered to test so I am not sure if when a mech part is destroyed if the game looks a the mech.csv or where it has allocated the weapon animations to in deciding what weapons are destroyed (e.g for the madcat if an AC is placed in the right torso of the mech.csv I am not sure if the AC dies when the right missile pod is destroyed or if the left arm to which the weapons fire animation is allocated to dies)
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I decided to go through all the main Carver 5 Purchase files and edited them to add multiple items for purchase.
I haven't tested it thoroughly, but I renamed the last purchase file to an earlier mission, and everything seemed to come up fine.
Put these .FITs in the data\missions folder, overwriting the files already in there. Also included is a backup folder of the original missions, so one can easily restore if things aren't working right.
As a general rule, I gave two of all 2-block(or larger) weapons and four of most 1-block weapons for the first few missions, and then stepped it up to four and six, respectively. I gave 8 Swarm LRM racks on the bonus file, since very few designs mount them to begin with, and they'd be relatively hard to get elsewhere.
I've also worked on the purchase.fit file(not included), which would add stuff for Solo Mission play, but either I messed up somewhere, or there's some sort of hard display limit I've bumped into(over 300 items, not all of which are showing up).
[attachment deleted by ninja]
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This might sound a bit silly, but who in their right mind uses Swarm LRMs? xD
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Bored people? :lol:
I used to rely on them mounted on a pair of Catapults for one mission(indirect fire from behind a wall, using a turret tower for LoS/spotting), but later switched to a pair of regularly-armed Highlanders.
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Swarm LRM's are the bane of my existence. They either kill my Mech's horribly or break the game when the enemy uses them, or break the game when I use them. They are evil, and must be punished.
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Yeah I think they are crap too but I guess the were included so that later in the MC2 campaign people would still have to deploy light/med mechs to take out Swarm launchers before they munched the slower heavy and assault mechs
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I never liked them. I don't know all BT Canon stuff, but the only Area-Effect weapon I know of , is artillery based. That's why I created the Arrow IV turret, and also a mobile variant. Because this one is mentioned quite often.
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Swarm LRM (http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Swarm_LRM)s are supposed to make a second attempt at hitting nearby targets if they miss(unfortunately, the original version has no IFF discrimination, so friendly units in the vicinity can also be at risk). Probably a little complex/unnecessary to program as written.
Back to the game: Thinking about it, they really are for the computer, rather than the player.
They definitely do discourage sending formations of slow 'Mechs into their vicinity, but I probably wouldn't fret about sending a lone 4/6(64kph) Mech to deal with 1-2 Swarm LRM trucks, provided I can run right at them; also, 'Mechs in mid-jump can't be hit, much as they do no damage to helicopters.
The one perk is that, AFAIK, gunnery skill doesn't matter at all, since it's purely an AoE weapon, and thus none of the ammo fired 'misses', at least not in the same way other weapons work; every Swarm LRM detonates on the ground where the target was at the moment of launch, and thus can potentially do damage, but whether anything is actually there when it arrives is another matter.
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The problem with Swarms in MC1/MC2 is that explosions don't have to roll hit or miss. Either you're in the blast radius or you aren't. That blast radius might not be that big, but apart from the vehicles (which die easy), the Swarms are usually in the hands of very good mech pilots. Succeeding the roll to hit means the missiles will chase you and land at your feet no matter what you do or what kind of evasive action you take... or at least that's the gist of the system, given that I've seen unguided, non-self-propelled projectiles home in on moving targets. Both legs, as a result, take an absolutely ridiculous amount of damage.
A full LRM volley from a Catapult to the leg(s) of a mech probably won't do all that much damage... but a full Swarm LRM volley from a Catapult can instakill a light and cripple a medium even on the lowest difficulty. Even heavies will feel the hard hit.
If possible, and if not done already, Swarm LRM damage and blasts in general should have their damage distributed randomly or evenly across the target, instead of all going to the legs.
Take in mind this is just based off casual observation and somewhat fuzzy memory though.
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Hmm, i just had an idea.
Why is it that we do not have the Light and Heavy PPC's?
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Hmm, i just had an idea.
Why is it that we do not have the Light and Heavy PPC's?
Because this is an alpha release :P. To be honest, I never heard of Light and Heavy PPC's untill Mektek's Mekpak.
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Is it even canon ? I'm not really sure about all the new stuff in the mektek packs. Last thing I want to see, is the finally recovered hidden project from starleague from the über-atlas that weight 200 tons, carry 4 LRM 80's, 12 Gauss Canon, a nuke launcher and that can make coffee if you install the special housewife software. No sir, i don't want :)
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Light and Heavy PPCs are canon, as are plasma cannons and plasma rifles, PPC capacitors, and a bunch of other crazy stuff (ATMs, so on).
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A lot of that stuff is Jihad-era, IIRC, and the less of that the better.
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Almost all of them are IS weapons, though. Mektek invented their Light PPC and Plasma Cannon before the CBT developers created their canon namesakes, and they're very different animals.
All things considered, I don't think the canon Light PPC would add much to this style of game(it's effectively a heavier, extra-ER(18 hexes) Medium Laser, but would still only qualify as a "medium range" weapon, just like the standard PPC and ER Medium Laser already are). The Heavy PPC would probably be a copy of the Clan ERPPC, but only go out to medium range.
The IS Plasma Rifle is just an AC10 that creates 10 heat per shot, and inflicts extra heat(or damage instead, against vehicles/infanty). The Clan Plasma Cannon inflicts only heat vs Mechs, and damage to vehicles/infantry.
ATMs would be hard to represent, unless you wanted to create omni-range "LRMs" that do more damage as you get closer to the target, when fired. Anything else(separate weapons for each ammo type) could already be fairly mimicked with separate LRM/MRM/SRM racks. Similar issue with IS MMLs.
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Plasma Rifle does 10 damage, too. Your wording was unclear on that.
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Timerlane,
are your MCO carver V purchase files fully tested?
I can add them to the next MCO release?
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I do have some questions on how it handles captured weapons facilities. Those pulse lasers I last captured aren't showing up anywhere.
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Hmm. The pulse lasers do show up as available for purchase the mission afterwards (Night ops)
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Timerlane,
are your MCO carver V purchase files fully tested?
I can add them to the next MCO release?
No, but OTOH, assuming the new logistics system isn't going to be ready by then, I would also want to go over/through and make multiple copies of 'Mechs available, just like the components(though probably only a couple of each), and also make the components a little more straightforwardly organized(for the sake of more easily adding/checking things). AFAIK, this was just supposed to be a quick-and-dirty fix to make the current purchase system a bit more livable until the new system was ready.
I do have some questions on how it handles captured weapons facilities. Those pulse lasers I last captured aren't showing up anywhere.
With the exceptions of the Clan Energy weapons/Swarm LRMs, Long Toms and Thunderbolts, nothing special, per se, actually happens. For those exceptions, the appropriate purbonus*.fit file(11, 19, and 21) should also be loaded for every mission thereafter, along with the individual mission's purchase file. (I don't quite know why the original designers did the Clan E-weapons and Swarm LRMs that way, as you can't pass the mission without capturing both of the weapon facilities, and therefore the 'conditionality' of the purbonus file is being 'wasted'.)
Everything else is just placed directly into all future mission's shops by default; it'd be nicer in some ways if the weapon facilities were all handled by purbonus files, as that would mean far shorter lists in each mission(the final mission's part list is over 180 units).
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Timerlane,
The work on new logistics is much more complicated then anticipated.
Since I am the only programer on the project I dont think I can make it to the end of this year.
Anything you can do to improve current purchasing system for carver V campaign is most welcome.
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Well, here's my second 'Beta' set of purchase files for Carver 5. Again, not thoroughly tested, but I don't believe there should be any major faults, due to the reorganization, and if there are, it should be far easier to catch/fix.
Features:
Two of each 'Mech for purchase.
Not so much a big deal for the user, but I reorganized the initial items in order of their general appearance in the shop, then simply added the new items as they're added, on the end. Much simpler to work with, and much less prone to simple typing mistakes, as after the first three missions, every mission's shop list is essentially just a partial copy of the final mission's shop list(same numbering, just less items chopped off at the end as you go along).
Also includes a slightly edited 'Carver5.fit' campaign file to enable Mech/Component purchasing on Mission 4, for those who don't want to poke through and flip that TRUE/FALSE variable(as discussed elsewhere).
Installing:
Put everything in the ZIP, except the 'backup' and 'campaign' folders, in the 'MechCommanderOmnitech\data\missions' folder.
If you haven't altered your 'Carver5.fit' file to enable purchasing on Mission 4, you may wish to copy that from the ZIP's 'campaign' folder to your 'MechCommanderOmnitech\data\campaign' folder, but this is not required for anything else to work(you just won't be able to buy things during Mission 4).
All original files are still included in the 'backup' folder.
Troubleshooting:
If the new components don't seem to appear, you can "refresh" the shop by backing out to the screen you see just before the mission briefing, then go back and check the component shop.
If the second set of 'Mechs doesn't appear(pick one):
A. Play through the current mission, and the 'Mech Purchasing should start working again after.
B. Restart the campaign.
C. Remove/delete the 'mechpurchase.fit' file from your 'MechCommanderOmnitech\data\missions' folder, and reload your saved game. Delete just that one file, by that exact name.
This is generated by the game automatically, so there's no harm in removing it. It contains a copy of the 'Mechs currently in the Mech Purchase area, and if there's a conflict between what the mission purchase files say, and what that file says, the game chooses to go with the 'mechpurchase.fit' file.
C is the 'best' option, but as it involves deleting a file from amongst other important files, you do this at your own risk.
[attachment deleted by ninja]
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Timerlane,
Got it, thank you.