Creating The Bronze Age mod

[Sebastián Gómez]

Yeah, it is, even after cleaning white spaces. I think I'm done for today. I'll continue tomorrow. Thanks for your help buddy.

Edited September 4, 2019 by Basshunter

[Freagarach]

4 hours ago, Basshunter said:

And hopefully some of you too.

Do you have a link to a public repo where your code lies? That would make debugging a lot easier (and you don't have to upload every changed file here on the forum) :)

In this case, you did remove the ability to build stone walls, but as you mentioned

2 hours ago, Basshunter said:

The next thing I know is that Spartan unit templates has this line "-structures/{civ}_wallset_stone" which indicates they can't build walls.

Now, the engine tries to remove wallset_stone from the template of those Spartans, but that (wallset_stone) is not there anymore. Like trying to get money of an empty bank account. That is what is causing the warnings. To fix it, you can remove those lines (those being: "-structures/{civ}_wallset_stone") from the Spartan templates.

[Nescio]

Basically, the - does for list entries what disable=""/ does for nodes: if a parent has list entry X but you don't want it in a child, then -X will remove it from there. However, you can't remove (or disable) something that isn't there, hence the warnings to remind you you're doing something improper.

• In the public repository, `template_unit_infantry.xml` has `structures/{civ}_wallset_stone` and Spartan infantry templates remove it with `-structures/{civ}_wallset_stone`, which means they can't place city walls, but infantry from other civilizations can.
• If you want Spartans to be able to place city walls just like the other civilizations, then remove the `-structures/{civ}_wallset_stone` from their templates.
• If you want no infantry of any faction be able to place city walls, then remove `structures/{civ}_wallset_stone` from `template_unit_infantry.xml` and remove `-structures/{civ}_wallset_stone` from all Spartan templates.
• If you only remove `structures/{civ}_wallset_stone` from `template_unit_infantry.xml`, but not `-structures/{civ}_wallset_stone` from all Spartan templates, you'll get warnings.

And to answer your probable next question: if a unit has a <Builder> node, it can build and repair anything; the entities listed are merely the things that they can start, but other units can finish them too (see e.g. Mauryan worker elephant).

[Sebastián Gómez]

@Freagarach@Nescio Thank you guys for your cristal clear explanation. I really appreciate it. So I suppose the easy fix would be to create my own versions of these Spartan units removing the "-" from the stone wall line, right? I was wondering if there's a way to work around this by disabling all vanilla civs. They won't be part of my mod anyways.

Edited September 4, 2019 by Basshunter

[Stan`]

You can by creating a file called civs.DELETED next tot the folder 

[Sebastián Gómez]

57 minutes ago, Stan` said:

You can by creating a file called civs.DELETED next tot the folder 

Apparently, this only deletes vanilla civs from the list but doesn't fix the problem with Spartan units. In order to fix this problem (ai least temporarily) I have to add a units.DELETED file too.

Edited September 4, 2019 by Basshunter

[Sebastián Gómez]

Good morning everybody,

Today I'm looking to modify the appearance of the top bar (the one with the resource icons). Could somebody please point out where's the specific graphic file used for this bar? I can't find it 

Edited September 8, 2019 by Basshunter

[Lion.Kanzen]

3 hours ago, Basshunter said:

Good morning everybody,

Today I'm looking to modify the appearance of the top bar (the one with the resource icons). Could somebody please point out where's the specific graphic file used for this bar? I can't find it 

Another hardcoded thing , hidden thing the specific file, is a variety to pixels those forms the gradient.

[Nescio]

Good evening!

The images themselves are located under art/textures/ui/session/, but to figure out what is what you need to have a look at the files under gui/session/, e.g. session.xml loads top_panel.xml, which uses the `topPanel` sprite (line 4), which is defined in sprites.xml, which reveals (line 83) the image used is ribbon_bg.png.

[Sebastián Gómez]

Hi guys.

I was reading this guide https://trac.wildfiregames.com/wiki/CreatingNewUnits and noted that <animations> node was used directly in the unit actor file. However, a different approach is used in A24, where <group> nodes are used to point out some XML files which in turn point out to all the animation files needed. Is there any advantage of one approach over the other? I personally find the first one more intuitive.

On the other hand, what does this <group> node mean? and why are animations sometimes divided in different  <group> nodes like in the example below?

Actor: infantry_javelinist_b.xml

Spoiler

 

 

Edited September 12, 2019 by Basshunter

[Stan`]

Method 1: Defining animations in actor files

Pros:

• Easy

Cons:

• If multiple models are using the same animations if you want to change them all you have to change a lot of files.
• Lots of duplication

Method 2 using variant files

Pros

• Little duplication
• Easy maintenance
• Variants can inherit one another 

Cons 

• A bit more complex to understand 

Why are there groups. Groups are here for the carry Idle animation so that there are two idles one with and without resources. @wraitii and @Alexandermb can tell you more.

[Sebastián Gómez]

Why are there repeated animation entries with different speed values in some templates? What does it mean in the game?

Spoiler

 

 

Edited September 12, 2019 by Basshunter

[LordGood]

randomizes gait, keeps the synchronization of marching from being unnaturally perfect in formation

[Sebastián Gómez]

3 hours ago, LordGood said:

randomizes gait, keeps the synchronization of marching from being unnaturally perfect in formation

Thank you . It caught my attention that it's even used in the "idle" animation. Doesn't this animation refer to when the units are just standing still? if that's the case, how would this value act for these specific animation? 

By the way, do you think I'd this feature in case of not using formations in my mod?

[Stan`]

47 minutes ago, Basshunter said:

Thank you . It caught my attention that it's even used in the "idle" animation. Doesn't this animation refer to when the units are just standing still? if that's the case, how would this value act for these specific animation? 

They'd be Idle a bit more slowly or faster

47 minutes ago, Basshunter said:

By the way, do you think I'd this feature in case of not using formations in my mod?

It can be used to create random variations so why not.

[Sebastián Gómez]

Hi guys,

Would you shed some light on how to edit the position of a prop - in this case a shield - during an animation? 

As you can see, the shield is in the correct position when soldiers are relaxed but not when they start fighting.

[Stan`]

Well you need to edit the prop point in the animation directly. You cannot do it through the game.

[Sebastián Gómez]

On 9/16/2019 at 1:27 AM, Stan` said:

Well you need to edit the prop point in the animation directly. You cannot do it through the game.

Hi Stan. Where can I find the animation files in order to modify prop points?

[Stan`]

You'd have to get in touch with @Alexandermb He has the latest animation files.

[Sebastián Gómez]

Just now, Stan` said:

You'd have to get in touch with @Alexandermb He has the latest animation files.

Thank you.

[Sebastián Gómez]

Edited September 22, 2019 by Basshunter

[Alexandermb]

@Basshunter doing metal helmets is my hobby now so, if ya need some let me know! 

[Sebastián Gómez]

@Alexandermb Thank you . I will.

[Sebastián Gómez]

@Nescio @Stan`

Hi, guys. Would you help me modify the current wall system a little bit?

I'd like to reduce wall tower appearance to only the beginning and the end of straight wall sets. The purpose of this is to create walls that better resemble the ones from Mycenae which apparently didn't have many towers.

It'd work like this:

Edited September 23, 2019 by Basshunter

[Stan`]

You'd have to change the wallbuilder to achieve such an effect, However I do not know that code that well. Maybe @FeXoR @bb_ @elexis do.

Very cool video btw. How did you make it ?