Iron Wars development thread (download not available)

[IskatuMesk]

Nah, Terran get away just by spamming marauders 90% of the time. Terran is so bland right now. Marauders need to be, like, not stimmable/healable tanks that kite.

You might want to read my ITAS Fleet Concept document somewhere, and the design portion of my updated Zen of Modding.

http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=128683

[Ardis]

Yeah, Marauders seemed a bit too powerful (especially considering how easy to mass they were).

Oh, an updated version? I will make time to read it now, thank you.

[Ardis]

Just finished reading it. I made a lot of mistakes that I just now realized from what I read... I still intend to finish this mod, though, just not sure how long it will take since I'm going to have to get a job soon and then I resume classes in college this fall.

What I have in mind for the syndicate builder unit is one that can build certain structures normally (like the Terran do right now), but in order to do some of the larger or specialized buildings, it will have to morph into a special builder unit, possibly some kind of Asteroid hauler and basically it builds itself into the asteroid to make a building, probably a mix of the flying building commands and the morph mechanics. Not much else I can think of right now that doesn't involve completely avoiding the building morph mechanic.

[Ardis]

Been a while, I've been working on designs for stuff, finally got a satisfying look for the leviathan and I'll be making a sprite for it and scripting it as soon as I finish coloring it.

EDIT: And I've been looking into making AI scripts, but I can't really do much with this until I have some kind of idea of what every last unit is going to be because of how sensitive the AI can be (from what I've heard IskatuMesk say in the insane AI videos he posted recently.)

[Ardis]

Okay, I've hit a road block... The same road block that killed my last mod.

Not entirely sure, but there seems to be a hardcoded connection between the Siege Tank's transformation animations and their turrets because once I removed their turrets, it crashes whenever I try to transform them or even start a map with an already transformed tank.

My solution is to create an invisible sprite that can turn and attach it to the base units to give it the turret the hard coding seems to want so bad and I can even use this to my advantage by making it fire "inaccurate" versions of its weapons, giving the base unit's weapons a fly to target and the turret weapons an attack 3 x 3 area setting, so it looks like it misses or is spreading out its damage on larger ships instead of focusing solely on the same point.

What I need to know is, how can I create a sprite that appears to be blank without actually making a truly blank sprite (they seem to crash the game if they are truly blank), any colors in the palette (aside from black) that translate to transparency? I saw something called "White Circle (Invisible)" and thought that I could try to create a turning version of that or something.

[IskatuMesk]

Make something use the cloaking palette.

Or give up with the siege tank's siege animation altogether, it is enormously hardcoded and just changing timings can be a real pain in the ass.

[Ardis]

Is there a way to give all of the transformation stuff to another pair of units? Maybe, for example, use the Unused units like the Cargo ship and Merc Gunship instead?

Worst case, I'll just use invisible turrets and use the same animation scripting and timing for transforming with the custom sprites with the same number of sprites per .grp file since there aren't any special animations on these units.

My primary concern with this is that it will have a HUUUUGE file size because they are 250x250 (it's called a Leviathan for a reason) sprites and there are a lot of sprites in the siege tank script.

[IskatuMesk]

Hardcoded means hardcoded; nothing you can do with it.

AO's grps were pretty big when they exceeded 2k+ frames.

[Ardis]

Ouch... My sprites at this moment are rather light compared to that... We're talking comparing a bundle of paper to a train mostly made of lead that is carrying more lead. I might add muzzle flashes and similar effects to my sprites later on, but for now I'm more concerned about having working units with sprites that work with their scripting.

EDIT: Okay, so you said the cloaking palette, that's set through images.dat, right?

[IskatuMesk]

Once you start doing voice acting and music you just kind of forget about file sizes. Unless you're on 56k. In either case, my biggest grps average only around 6-7 megs, so that isn't too bad. They get compressed in the MPQ as well.

And yes, you want images.dat for that.

[Ardis]

Yep, everything seems to be working now. Thanks for the help. Turns out I spent hours of frustration from it crashing only to realize I had the shadow for the base in its' deployed mode set wrong and because the sprites had a different number of images, it crashed the game.

Unfortunately, I'm going to have to make custom projectiles for it to properly work as I envisioned because the Syndicate's weapons are supposed to be primarily solid ammo weapons (cannons, artillery and machine guns until you start teching into their drone fighters) and Starcraft doesn't really have any sprites that work as an acceptable placeholder for that. And what I had planned was that the base unit fired the rounds that actually hit while the turrets fired ones that "missed" to give it a little extra effect while letting it have an area attack for fighters to supplement its single target anti-fighter shots.

EDIT: Anyone have a few minutes to spare? I was going to attach a small demo file of the Leviathan and see if someone could put it to the test and try to break it for me since I can't think of much else that I can do to break it.

EDIT2: By the way, all non-ship sprites (projectiles, effects, planets, etc.) I throw into my mod are going to be free to use, it's only the ships I don't want people using.

[Ardis]

Arg... Ran across a bit of a problem... Not sure what went wrong exactly. I tried to use a modified version of the script for the Leviathan because the original had the turret and base attacking simultaneously and that was causing it to, when telling it to attack a specific target that is outside of its range, fly into range of that target then pick a new target to shoot at instead of the one you chose.

The modified code I made has an even more disturbing issue. Because I couldn't fit more than two weapons into one unit*, I had to use useweapon op codes, but they seem to spawn the projectiles it fires directly on its target which just won't do. The main turret battery seems to do something new where it appears on the target to hit when it's set to "fly to target" as if the weapon projectile were being spawned from the target rather than the attacking Leviathan while the "misses" are spawning in random points around a target then flying to another random point around the target before exploding. Only weapon that seems to work is the anti-fighter machine gun because it's already set to "appear on target"

* Three weapons; one for the main turret battery hits, one for the main turret battery "misses" and one for the anti-fighter machine gun turrets.

I feel like this iscript is a disaster... Any advice?

Spoiler

Code: Select all

# ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- #
# This is a decompile of the iscript.bin file 'data\scripts\iscript.bin'
# created on: Sun Feb 14 16:37:36 2010
# ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- #

# ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- #
# This header is used by images.dat entries:
# 250 Leviathan (terran\Leviathan.grp)
.headerstart
IsId           	90
Type           	23
Init           	LeviathanInit
Death          	LeviathanDeath
GndAttkInit    	LeviathanGndAttkInit
AirAttkInit    	LeviathanAirAttkInit
Unused1        	[NONE]
GndAttkRpt     	LeviathanGndAttkInit
AirAttkRpt     	LeviathanAirAttkInit
CastSpell      	[NONE]
GndAttkToIdle  	LeviathanGndAttkToIdle
AirAttkToIdle  	LeviathanAirAttkToIdle
Unused2        	[NONE]
Walking        	LeviathanWalking
WalkingToIdle  	LeviathanWalkingToIdle
SpecialState1  	[NONE]
SpecialState2  	[NONE]
AlmostBuilt    	[NONE]
Built          	[NONE]
Landing        	[NONE]
LiftOff        	[NONE]
IsWorking      	[NONE]
WorkingToIdle  	[NONE]
WarpIn         	[NONE]
Unused3        	[NONE]
StarEditInit   	[NONE]
.headerend
# ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- #

LeviathanInit:
	imgul          	252 0 42	# LeviathanShad (terran\Leviathan.grp)
	playfram       	0x00	# frame set 0
	goto           	LeviathanWalkingToIdle

LeviathanWalkingToIdle:
	setflspeed	892
	setvertpos     	1
	setflspeed	864
	waitrand       	8 10
	setvertpos     	2
	waitrand       	8 10
	setvertpos     	1
	waitrand       	8 10
	setvertpos     	0
	waitrand       	8 10
	goto           	LeviathanWalkingToIdle

LeviathanGndAttkToIdle:
	wait           	125
	goto           	LeviathanGndAttkToIdle

LeviathanAirAttkToIdle:
	wait           	125
	goto           	LeviathanGndAttkToIdle

LeviathanAirAttkInit:
	goto           	LeviathanLocal01

LeviathanGndAttkInit:
	goto           	LeviathanLocal02

LeviathanLocal01:
	nobrkcodestart 	
	nobrkcodestart 	
	wait           	20
	wait		2
	wait           	14
	wait		4
	wait           	24
	nobrkcodeend
	gotorepeatattk 	
	goto           	LeviathanGndAttkToIdle

LeviathanLocal02:
	nobrkcodestart 	
	wait           	10
	wait           	4
	wait           	6
	wait		4
	wait           	8
	wait           	4
	wait           	6
	wait		4
	wait           	16
	nobrkcodeend   	
	gotorepeatattk 	
	goto           	LeviathanGndAttkToIdle

LeviathanDeath:
	playsnd        	210	# Terran\Leviathan\TDrDth00.wav
	imgol          	334 0 0	# TerranBuildingExplosionsmall (thingy\tBangS.grp)
	wait		12
	playsnd        	7	# Misc\ExploLrg.wav
	imgol          	333 42 0	# TerranBuildingExplosionlarge (thingy\tBangX.grp)
	waitrand        7 12
	playsnd        	7	# Misc\ExploLrg.wav
	imgol          	334 0 -32	# TerranBuildingExplosionlarge (thingy\tBangX.grp)
	waitrand	2 10
	playsnd        	7	# Misc\ExploLrg.wav
	imgol          	334 0 42	# TerranBuildingExplosionlarge (thingy\tBangX.grp)
	waitrand	2 8
	imgol          	334 0 -42	# TerranBuildingExplosionlarge (thingy\tBangX.grp)
	wait            4
	end            	

LeviathanWalking:
	setvertpos     	0
	wait		360
	goto           	LeviathanLocal03

LeviathanLocal03:
	setflspeed	1600
	setvertpos     	0
	wait		64
	playsnd        	110	# Deflier Attack? (bullet\zdeatt00.wav)
	imgol		555 0 0 # EMP Shockwave Hit Part 1 (thingy\emp.grp)
	imgol		556 0 0 # EMP Shockwave Hit Part 1 (thingy\emp.grp)
	goto		LeviathanMidwarp

LeviathanMidwarp:
	wait		1
	move		20
	imgol		555 0 0 # EMP Shockwave Hit Part 1 (thingy\emp.grp)
	imgol		555 0 -32 # EMP Shockwave Hit Part 1 (thingy\emp.grp)
	imgol		555 0 32 # EMP Shockwave Hit Part 1 (thingy\emp.grp)
	imgol		555 64 0 # EMP Shockwave Hit Part 1 (thingy\emp.grp)
	imgol		555 -64 0 # EMP Shockwave Hit Part 1 (thingy\emp.grp)
	goto		LeviathanMidwarp
	


# ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- #
# This is a decompile of the iscript.bin file 'data\scripts\iscript.bin'
# created on: Sun Feb 14 16:37:36 2010
# ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- #

# ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- #
# This header is used by images.dat entries:
# 250 SiegeTank_Siege_Base (terran\SiegeTank_Siege_Base.grp)
.headerstart
IsId           	92
Type           	23
Init           	SiegeTank_Siege_BaseInit
Death          	SiegeTank_Siege_BaseDeath
GndAttkInit    	SiegeTank_Siege_BaseGndAttkInit
AirAttkInit    	SiegeTank_Siege_BaseAirAttkInit
Unused1        	[NONE]
GndAttkRpt     	[NONE]
AirAttkRpt     	[NONE]
CastSpell      	SiegeTank_Siege_BaseCastSpell
GndAttkToIdle  	SiegeTank_Siege_BaseGndAttkToIdle
AirAttkToIdle  	SiegeTank_Siege_BaseAirAttkToIdle
Unused2        	[NONE]
Walking        	[NONE]
WalkingToIdle  	[NONE]
SpecialState1  	[NONE]
SpecialState2  	SiegeTank_Siege_BaseSpecialState2
AlmostBuilt    	[NONE]
Built          	[NONE]
Landing        	[NONE]
LiftOff        	[NONE]
IsWorking      	[NONE]
WorkingToIdle  	[NONE]
WarpIn         	[NONE]
Unused3        	[NONE]
StarEditInit   	SiegeTank_Siege_BaseStarEditInit
.headerend
# ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- #

SiegeTank_Siege_BaseStarEditInit:
	imgoluselo     	254 2 0	# SiegeTankSiegeTurret (terran\stankt.grp)
SiegeTank_Siege_BaseInit:
	imgul          	255 0 0	# SiegeTankSiegeShad (terran\tstShad.grp)
	wait           	1
	setflspeed     	0
	playsnd        	319	# Terran\TANK\TTaTra01.WAV
	playfram       	0
	wait           	5
	playfram       	1
	wait           	5
	playfram       	2
	wait           	5
	playfram       	3
	wait           	5
	playfram       	4
	wait           	5
	playfram       	5
	wait           	38
	sigorder       	1
	goto           	SiegeTank_Siege_BaseLocal00

SiegeTank_Siege_BaseLocal00:
	wait           	125
	goto           	SiegeTank_Siege_BaseLocal00


SiegeTank_Siege_BaseGndAttkToIdle:
	wait           	125
	goto           	SiegeTank_Siege_BaseGndAttkToIdle

SiegeTank_Siege_BaseAirAttkToIdle:
	wait           	125
	goto           	SiegeTank_Siege_BaseGndAttkToIdle

SiegeTank_Siege_BaseAirAttkInit:
	goto           	SiegeTank_Siege_BaseLocal01

SiegeTank_Siege_BaseGndAttkInit:
	goto           	SiegeTank_Siege_BaseLocal02

SiegeTank_Siege_BaseCastSpell:
	imgolorig      	543	# Unknown543 (thingy\eycBlast.grp)
	goto SiegeTank_Siege_BaseLocal00

SiegeTank_Siege_BaseLocal01:
	nobrkcodestart 	
	wait           	10
	wait           	6
	wait		4
	wait           	8
	wait           	16
	nobrkcodeend 
	gotorepeatattk 	
	goto           	SiegeTank_Siege_BaseGndAttkToIdle

SiegeTank_Siege_BaseLocal02:
	nobrkcodestart 	
	wait           	20
	wait		2
	wait		4
	wait           	14
	wait           	24
	nobrkcodeend   	  	
	gotorepeatattk 	
	goto           	SiegeTank_Siege_BaseGndAttkToIdle

SiegeTank_Siege_BaseSpecialState2:
	wait           	38
	playsnd        	319	# Terran\TANK\TTaTra01.WAV
	playfram       	4
	wait           	5
	playfram       	3
	wait           	5
	playfram       	2
	wait           	5
	playfram       	1
	wait           	5
	playfram       	0
	wait           	5
	sigorder       	1
	goto           	SiegeTank_Siege_BaseLocal00

SiegeTank_Siege_BaseDeath:
	playsnd        	210	# Terran\SiegeTank_Siege_Base\TDrDth00.wav
	imgol          	334 0 0	# TerranBuildingExplosionsmall (thingy\tBangS.grp)
	wait		12
	playsnd        	7	# Misc\ExploLrg.wav
	imgol          	333 42 0	# TerranBuildingExplosionlarge (thingy\tBangX.grp)
	waitrand        7 12
	playsnd        	7	# Misc\ExploLrg.wav
	imgol          	334 0 -32	# TerranBuildingExplosionlarge (thingy\tBangX.grp)
	waitrand	2 10
	playsnd        	7	# Misc\ExploLrg.wav
	imgol          	334 0 42	# TerranBuildingExplosionlarge (thingy\tBangX.grp)
	waitrand	2 8
	imgol          	334 0 -42	# TerranBuildingExplosionlarge (thingy\tBangX.grp)
	wait            4
	end            	

# ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- #
# This header is used by images.dat entries:
# 251 SiegeTankTankTurret (terran\tankt.grp)
.headerstart
IsId           	91
Type           	13
Init           	SiegeTank_Tank_TurretInit
Death          	SiegeTank_Tank_TurretDeath
GndAttkInit    	SiegeTank_Tank_TurretGndAttkInit
AirAttkInit    	SiegeTank_Tank_TurretAirAttkInit
Unused1        	[NONE]
GndAttkRpt     	SiegeTank_Tank_TurretGndAttkInit
AirAttkRpt     	SiegeTank_Tank_TurretAirAttkInit
CastSpell      	[NONE]
GndAttkToIdle  	SiegeTank_Tank_TurretGndAttkToIdle
AirAttkToIdle  	SiegeTank_Tank_TurretGndAttkToIdle
Unused2        	[NONE]
Walking        	SiegeTank_Tank_TurretGndAttkToIdle
WalkingToIdle  	SiegeTank_Tank_TurretGndAttkToIdle
SpecialState1  	SiegeTank_Tank_TurretGndAttkToIdle
.headerend
# ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- #

SiegeTank_Tank_TurretInit:
	wait           	1
	setfldirect    	12
	goto           	SiegeTank_Tank_TurretGndAttkToIdle

SiegeTank_Tank_TurretGndAttkToIdle:
	wait           	125
	goto           	SiegeTank_Tank_TurretGndAttkToIdle

SiegeTank_Tank_TurretAirAttkToIdle:
	wait           	125
	goto           	SiegeTank_Tank_TurretGndAttkToIdle

SiegeTank_Tank_TurretDeath:
	wait           	1
	end            	

SiegeTank_Tank_TurretGndAttkInit:
	nobrkcodestart 	
	wait           	10
	wait           	4
	playsnd        	68	# Bullet\TTaFir00.wav
	useweapon	11
	wait           	6
	playsnd        	68	# Bullet\TTaFir00.wav
	useweapon	12
	wait		4
	playsnd        	68	# Bullet\TTaFir00.wav
	useweapon	11
	wait           	8
	playsnd        	68	# Bullet\TTaFir00.wav
	useweapon	12
	wait           	4
	playsnd        	68	# Bullet\TTaFir00.wav
	useweapon	11
	wait           	6
	playsnd        	68	# Bullet\TTaFir00.wav
	useweapon	12
	wait		4
	playsnd        	68	# Bullet\TTaFir00.wav
	useweapon	11
	wait           	16
	nobrkcodeend   	
	gotorepeatattk 	
	goto           	SiegeTank_Tank_TurretGndAttkToIdle

SiegeTank_Tank_TurretAirAttkInit:
	nobrkcodestart 	
	wait           	20
	playsnd        	70	# Bullet\TGoFir00.wav
	attackwith     	2
	wait		2
	playsnd        	68	# Bullet\TTaFir00.wav
	useweapon	12
	wait		4
	playsnd        	70	# Bullet\TGoFir00.wav
	attackwith     	2
	wait           	14
	playsnd        	70	# Bullet\TGoFir00.wav
	attackwith     	2
	wait		4
	playsnd        	68	# Bullet\TTaFir00.wav
	useweapon	12
	attackwith     	2
	playsnd        	68	# Bullet\TTaFir00.wav
	useweapon	11
	wait           	24
	nobrkcodeend   	
	gotorepeatattk 	
	goto           	SiegeTank_Tank_TurretGndAttkToIdle



# ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- #
# This header is used by images.dat entries:
# 254 SiegeTankSiegeTurret (terran\stankt.grp)
.headerstart
IsId           	93
Type           	14
Init           	SiegeTank_Siege_TurretInit
Death          	SiegeTank_Siege_TurretDeath
GndAttkInit    	SiegeTank_Siege_TurretGndAttkInit
AirAttkInit    	SiegeTank_Siege_TurretGndAttkInit
Unused1        	[NONE]
GndAttkRpt     	SiegeTank_Siege_TurretGndAttkInit
AirAttkRpt     	SiegeTank_Siege_TurretAirAttkInit
CastSpell      	[NONE]
GndAttkToIdle  	SiegeTank_Siege_TurretGndAttkToIdle
AirAttkToIdle  	SiegeTank_Siege_TurretAirAttkToIdle
Unused2        	[NONE]
Walking        	[NONE]
WalkingToIdle  	SiegeTank_Siege_TurretGndAttkToIdle
SpecialState1  	SiegeTank_Siege_TurretGndAttkToIdle
SpecialState2  	SiegeTank_Siege_TurretSpecialState2
AlmostBuilt    	[NONE]
.headerend
# ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- #

SiegeTank_Siege_TurretInit:
	playfram       	0x11	# frame set 1
	wait           	1
	nobrkcodestart 	
	wait           	38
	playsnd        	318	# Terran\TANK\TTaTra00.WAV
	wait           	3
	playfram       	0x22	# frame set 2
	wait           	3
	playfram       	0x33	# frame set 3
	wait           	3
	playfram       	0x44	# frame set 4
	wait           	3
	playfram       	0x55	# frame set 5
	wait           	3
	setfldirect    	28
	playfram       	0x00	# frame set 0
	nobrkcodeend   	
	goto           	SiegeTank_Siege_TurretGndAttkToIdle

SiegeTank_Siege_TurretGndAttkToIdle:
	wait           	125
	goto           	SiegeTank_Siege_TurretGndAttkToIdle

SiegeTank_Siege_TurretAirAttkToIdle:
	wait           	125
	goto           	SiegeTank_Siege_TurretGndAttkToIdle

SiegeTank_Siege_TurretDeath:
	wait           	1
	end            	

SiegeTank_Siege_TurretGndAttkInit:
	nobrkcodestart 	
	wait           	10
	playsnd        	68	# Bullet\TTaFir00.wav
	useweapon	11
	wait           	6
	playsnd        	68	# Bullet\TTaFir00.wav
	useweapon	12
	wait		4
	playsnd        	68	# Bullet\TTaFir00.wav
	useweapon	11
	wait           	8
	playsnd        	68	# Bullet\TTaFir00.wav
	useweapon	12
	wait           	16
	nobrkcodeend   	  	
	gotorepeatattk 	
	goto           	SiegeTank_Siege_TurretGndAttkToIdle

SiegeTank_Siege_TurretAirAttkInit:
	nobrkcodestart 	
	wait           	20
	playsnd        	70	# Bullet\TGoFir00.wav
	attackwith     	2
	wait		2
	playsnd        	68	# Bullet\TTaFir00.wav
	useweapon	12
	wait		4
	playsnd        	70	# Bullet\TGoFir00.wav
	attackwith     	2
	wait           	14
	playsnd        	68	# Bullet\TTaFir00.wav
	useweapon	11
	wait           	24
	nobrkcodeend   	
	gotorepeatattk 	
	goto           	SiegeTank_Siege_TurretGndAttkToIdle

SiegeTank_Siege_TurretSpecialState2:
	setfldirect    	20
	playsnd        	318	# Terran\TANK\TTaTra00.WAV
	playfram       	0x55	# frame set 5
	wait           	3
	playfram       	0x44	# frame set 4
	wait           	3
	playfram       	0x33	# frame set 3
	wait           	3
	playfram       	0x22	# frame set 2
	wait           	3
	playfram       	0x11	# frame set 1
	goto           	SiegeTank_Siege_TurretGndAttkToIdle

[Ardis]

Okay, between college and looking for a job, I haven't had much time to work on my mod. I have still been thinking of ways to improve it as well as working on the models for it in my free time. One way to improve it that has been on my mind was to get rid of addons and make them upgrades of the main building using the morph mechanics rather than the addon mechanics which don't work so well for overlaying buildings. Basically, this removes the need to have a trigger to remove all neutral addons AND removes the issue people (myself included) have been having where you go to click the main building and would get the addon instead because of how I did the graphics for it.

EDIT: I'm going to be working on the Federation and Syndicate units at the same time, but a lot of Federation models need to be torn down and rebuilt from the ground up because the original concepts were quite ugly to begin with, mostly their fighters. Also, the Pursuit Cruiser is going to be moved to the Syndicate since it better fits their design theme and the Empire will be getting a rapid fire railgun cruiser as its long range ship.