Questions about Core_Campaign modding

Flamescreen · Post by **Flamescreen** » Thu Apr 18, 2002 7:32 pm

A few days ago a new DAC visitor, 'Prince of Whispers' asked me several questions about modding the core campaign. I promised to look it over, but to date I couldn't find any deffinitive answers to his questions(and I'm not that good at modding), so I thought I would post his mail so anyone with knowledge and time could help him were I couldn't.

Well, here it goes:
My Query/situation :- (note : I play v1.27)

I am interested in placing my own created character (main character) in the single player game to start off, then after brahmin wood, when i reach bunker alpha, have an addition of 5 other own-created characters (my squaddies) made available to me in the recruit pool IN ADDITION to the usual list.

I realise I could just swap the .ent files of my squaddies with the existing characters in recruit pool by renaming my .ent filenames, but in doing so, it replaces the computer NPCS rather than adding new recruits to the list. If i rename my file to hf11.ent it would take the place of Torn, but I won't see Torn ever again.

WHAT I HAVE DONE SO FAR : -

1) MAIN CHARACTER

for my main character, I renamed the .ent file to "prefab1.ent", thereby replacing MICK, but that's okay. Mick does not appear in the game as an npc anyway.

PROBLEM : -

In order to select 'Tough guy'{I guess he also wants to do that}, you can't just take him as is, at the pre-generated character screen you have to choose 'Modify' in order to activate the 'Tough guy' switch. By doing so, my character's story description (which i modified in one of the locale folders) dissappears. Is there any way to avoide this? Or better yet, to re-generate a new description for my main character (don't forget it is still renamed as Prefab1.ent) while in progress of the game?

2) ADDING MY SELF-GENERATED SQUADDIES TO THE RECRUITS POOL

First, I created five new actors in the entities editor. Each of the characters have their display name the same as their actual name(also saved the .ent file as the same name to avoid confusion).

To give an example, I created a character named BETA, then changed his display name as BETA, added 'BETA' in tables/human male, added a BETA.zar in gui/chars for his portrait.

Then I placed this BETA.ent in the recruits folder.

Thirdly, I added an extra line in campaign.txt, at the bottom, where the recruits are:-
mission01/..etc..etc.....BETA.ent

THE RESULT =

I started the game using my prefab (tough guy), with its descrption lost, and when i completed brahmin wood, my 5 other characters were not present in the bunker alpha recruits pool (recruits master). {He doesn't say here, but I think he expected the recruits to be added not replace, and thus he probably didn't entered their names like he did for Beta}

I entered the mission editor (openned bunker 01), selected 'Level' button, selected 'trigger' button, selected CVAR_M01_COMPLETE, openned it and selected ACTION instead of CONDITION, then i saw a few lines of lists. one of them attracted my attention, saying

"Modify characters tagged mission 01 in the recruits pool list".

Does this line have anything to do with what I am trying to achieve? I am trying not to modify any player index/tag names in the .ent editor. is there a cleaner, more universal way?

How come when you open pre- made npc recruit characters in entity editor, all Npc's have no tagged names then?

Missions Editor : even by selecting 'ENTITY' or 'ENTITY EDIT' in the missions editor, the npcs (recruits) have no tagged names. Why must my own-created .ent charcters be tagged, but pregenerated npcs do not? If they are, then where are they tagged?

What and where is the 'RecruitPool List'? {This is the only part I can help somewhat as the recruit pool is under core\entities\actors, if I can remember correctly.If not you can always find it if you're in the Entities editor and select open then browse.You should find somewhere subfolders like raiders,citizens etc.Sorry it's been a while since I modified characters}I know i'm supposed to modify it, but i can't find it. Are they referring to Campaign.txt which i had already amended?
Please help me, my .ent files are all created, but i can't start playing, without totally replacing torn, farsight, kevin and the rest. i wan't to create new additions in the pool, exceeding the total recruits list of 66 (i think), and placing my own descriptions for these characters.

Thank you.

Ps. Please be specific [step by step instructions would be great!] if you decide to reply.

Pps. my query is something like that posted by a ZEPHAS before, but also slightly different.

I wan't my prefab1.ent description permanently changed, so that after I replace the original description of Mick back in, my main character's description in my save file remains unchanged. Is there a way?

Also, I do not want my 5 recruits to appear in 'physical form' by amending player index (I notice all npcs which join your party have no index in the entity editor.) If possible, I want them available in the recruits pool after brahmin wood. thanks.

{A long one yes, but don't let it discourage you. You can also reply to portions of it, if you want.}

OnTheBounce · Post by **OnTheBounce** » Thu Apr 18, 2002 11:41 pm

Okay, here it goes, OTB speaks ex cathedra from his belly button:

Adding Your Recruits to the Pool

Create entity files for those recruits that you want to add to the recruit pool.
Open the "characters.txt" file in core/locale/game and make an entry for each one. Just copy the format you see there and you'll be okay.
Place ZAR files in the core/gui/char folder to act as portraits for each of your recruits. The file name will need to be the same as what you entered in the Display Name field for each recruit.
Open the "campaign.txt" file located in core/tables and go to the section "Recruit Pool Definitions". Here you will want to add lines in the following format:

{mission00;add;entities/recruits/hm01.ent}, //Male Stealth

You will want to substitute your own file name for "hm01.ent" and each recruit gets a line. Don't worry about the "//Male Stealth" portion, that's just for reference purposes.
After you have saved and closed the file, open the Campaign editor and the bos.cam file and select Tools/Import Recruits. This imports the portion of the campaign.txt dealing w/the recruit pool into the CAM file. Simply modifying the campaign.txt will not do the trick!
You are now ready to go. Start another campaign, and when you return from Brahmin Woods you will see all of those shiny, happy people you added in the recruit pool.

The Main Character Problem

You're SOL here. The problem is that when you modify one of the prefabs, you automatically override that character's description because your character's name is entered into the "Custom Name" field. Since this overrides the entry in the "Display Name" field the description is lost.

Sorry, but there's no work around for this one. At least not that I'm aware of, and I've given this quite a bit of thought.

Miscellaneous

Tag Names aren't anything you have to worry about. What they are used for is affecting entities with triggers. Since you're not scripting levels this field has no relevance to what you're doing.

Don't worry about changing the Player Index in the ENT file. Once a character joins your squad their PI is automatically changed to "1", which is always the human player's index.

Sorry this took so long, but I've been very busy w/work and my own material.

Cheers,

OTB

Flamescreen · Post by **Flamescreen** » Fri Apr 19, 2002 1:58 am

Thanks. I hope this is not only helpfull for Prince of wishes but also anyone alse that has similar questions.

War Bringer · Post by **War Bringer** » Fri Apr 19, 2002 2:10 am

heh heeey! i got that letter, too! :mrgreen:

prince of whishes wrote:

"i've been through the forums, and found your knowledge in the fallout editors to be very impressive. "

of course i was sooo flattered by this. but then, of course i didn't know what the hell he was talking about. and so i started talking out of my ass, and here's one of the things i suggested.

i haven't a clue as to how to use the editors other then creating a few entities and mapping. also, i'm pretty lazy, so to kinda get to what he wanted with adding recruits after the first mission or 2, i suggested that he just create the entities for them, add the zar., and then place them on a mission map he wants them to first appear in (making sure that their team is set to 1, so the player can controle them). i've actually tried this a-n-d... i-t.... k-i-n-d-a works... kinda. it's generic and all, but try it sometimes if you don't know how to work all the details. anyway, i had to be honest to the guy and tell him that i wasn't a mapping god or anything. someone shoot me on this one.

galavan

Flamescreen · Post by **Flamescreen** » Fri Apr 19, 2002 5:03 pm

War Bringer wrote: prince of whishes wrote:

"i've been through the forums, and found your knowledge in the fallout editors to be very impressive. "

Well, some portions of the letter had to be...removed!
Also I have to say I'm the one that got most of you into trouble, since I recommended OTB, Endocore, Max and yourself, since I'm next to ignorant when modding the game kicks in(I remember saying to him: I'm merely a mapper).

I admit it required some work to make the letter more readable, but hey, he was on the right track! What better tactic (no pun intented) to attract someone's interest than praising him like a God?

People and Flattery make a good mix it would seem!

War Bringer · Post by **War Bringer** » Fri Apr 19, 2002 8:14 pm

Flamescreen wrote:(I remember saying to him: I'm merely a mapper).

haha. i remember saying something along the lines of

damn it man, what the hell were you thinking?!

OnTheBounce · Post by **OnTheBounce** » Fri Apr 19, 2002 9:32 pm

Flamescreen wrote: People and Flattery make a good mix it would seem!

Yep, generally speaking, the old adage that, "Flattery will get you everywhere," holds true.

OTB

Flamescreen · Post by **Flamescreen** » Sat Apr 20, 2002 7:09 pm

Incidentally, as we're speaking about Prince of Whispers, On The Bounce, did you get a word of thanks from him? Though I'd prefer him to give it here in public.

OnTheBounce · Post by **OnTheBounce** » Sat Apr 20, 2002 9:28 pm

Flamescreen wrote:...[D]id you get a word of thanks from him [Prince of Whispers]?

Yes. I sent him a link to this thread via PM at the old DaC site and he returned it with thanks.

OTB

BloodGod · Post by **BloodGod** » Sun Apr 21, 2002 2:17 am

hi everyone. this is (was) the prince of whispers. i took flamescreen's advice and re-registered here at the new site, under 'BloodGod'.

i would like to thank the following persons whom were not too busy to return my query:-

flamescreen, OnTheBounce, Forty-six & Two, Spiff the Brahmintipper, Sir Stainless, War Bringer, Pyro, Odin-NMA, KashluK, the guardian, and jimmyjay86.

apart from OTB, i would especially like to thank flamescreen and jimmyjay86, whose incessant willingness to help me (a newly registered member) and keep me from wandering astray in the old forum, ... in my mind, ought to make them exemplary forum figures of Duck And Cover.

c'mon OTB ... give them a medal/knight them Paladin Flamescreen and Paladin JimmyJay86 or something ...

ps. i really don't see what is so funny about the 'politeness' bit though. after all, i was the one asking for something from people who hardly know of me. if it is ever my turn to give help, i'd imagine that the same courtesy would be much appreciated.

Flamescreen · Post by **Flamescreen** » Sun Apr 21, 2002 3:00 am

It's funny for me because I myself did it and can relate to it. It's "known territory" for me to flatter to get to what I wanted when I'm new somewhere. Hope you don't think we made fun of you. We don't have such intentions(At least not in a negative meaning). DAC people are friendly.
Congrats for entering New DAC. Nice shiny new avatar.

BloodGod · Post by **BloodGod** » Sun Apr 21, 2002 3:22 am

It's funny for me because I myself did it and can relate to it. It's "known territory" for me to flatter to get to what I wanted when I'm new somewhere.

tsk..tsk..tsk....

great minds think alike...

Flamescreen · Post by **Flamescreen** » Sun Apr 21, 2002 4:56 pm

BloodGod wrote:
c'mon OTB ... give them a medal/knight them Paladin Flamescreen and Paladin JimmyJay86 or something ...

I don't know about JJ86, he certainly deserves such a title, but I don't think I do. After all I've been at DAC from late December and registered late February, so technically, I'm a newbie here.(And heck even guys like Sir Stainless, who don't care for FoT that much, probably know more about it than myself) I'm quite satisfied with my current rank, it is an accomplisment to rise that high with almost no spamming. I can't keep it up for long, but as I'll hit aprox 200 posts(my old post count) I'll be O.k.
Thanks for the good words however.

Viktor · Post by **Viktor** » Mon Apr 22, 2002 7:34 pm

OnTheBounce wrote:
Flamescreen wrote: People and Flattery make a good mix it would seem!
Yep, generally speaking, the old adage that, "Flattery will get you everywhere," holds true.

OTB

Failing that, money, drugs or sexual favours are usually well recieved.....

Duck and Cover

Questions about Core_Campaign modding

Questions about Core_Campaign modding

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