Tips for converting to zero hour?

smurfbizkit · 12-17-2003, 07:10 PM

Right now I'm wrapping up the v026 patch for Blitzkrieg 2, right after that's done I will start converting the mod over to zero hour. I was wondering if you guys found any shortcuts, or have any tips for how to go about doing this. I also have several more specific questions...

The main ini's for the units...if I take the ini's for a typical blitz2 tank...will zh recognize it? or will I have to go in and make changes there? (if so...what is the likely issue)

anyone have a list of all the new damage types in zh? (and if any where removed?)

I do know that this will be a massive effort, so any tips will be much appreciated.

CCGISME · 12-17-2003, 08:44 PM

well i dont know much about converting,

but the problem with the INI is that in ZH there is no basic Faction Unit or Faction Building in the INI for ZH, so instead you have to make one for USA, GLA, and China, but in your case it will be difficult, because of all the new generals and stuff. :dead: ZH also does not recognize some of the generals INI features from what I've tried. :/

Sorry, but it is a really long hard process.

If I could help, I would, but I don't want to screw anything up for you. :ashamed: And plus I'm not even envolved with your mod anyway,

so....whatever.

Good Luck!

smurfbizkit · 12-17-2003, 10:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CCGISME

well i dont know much about converting,

but the problem with the INI is that in ZH there is no basic Faction Unit or Faction Building in the INI for ZH, so instead you have to make one for USA, GLA, and China, but in your case it will be difficult, because of all the new generals and stuff. :dead: ZH also does not recognize some of the generals INI features from what I've tried. :/

Sorry, but it is a really long hard process.

If I could help, I would, but I don't want to screw anything up for you. :ashamed: And plus I'm not even envolved with your mod anyway,

so....whatever.

Good Luck!

The factionunit/building ini thing isn't much of an issue...since those ini's of ours are either empty or just have 1-2 objects in them. We moved all of our units over to separate ini's...1 ini per unit (example a sherman.ini, tiger.ini, etc). As for as help on it...I don't really need help with it, just wondering if others who have done this have any tips.

DeeZire · 12-18-2003, 12:21 AM

The conversion itself should be cake for you Smurf, if only time consuming.

One thing to keep in mind is that some things were removed to clean up the core engine and remove duplicate code - the optimization pass was completed for ZH which is one good reason why it runs better than Generals

Some things to keep an immediate eye out for;-

1 - SoundDie= has been removed as part of optimization (duplicate code, and audio bites can be a resource hog). Instead, the audio cue for every object has been built into the FXListDie module so keep an eye out for those and double check FXList.INI. As a matter of interest, SoundDie= was only ever there for testing purposes, they just never got round to removing it

2 - Some unecessary code was removed from the particle system handling routines and they were optimized to speed things up. As a result, youll have to remove all of the following tags from ParticleSystem.INI as they no longer work;-
AngleY=
AngleZ=
AngularRateY=
AngularRateZ=

3 - Some tags have been moved from InGameUI.INI and put into Language.INI to make localization better, so double check your files compared to the ZH verions

4 - Remember that theres new objects as well as new hot keys defined in CommandMap.INI so double check your CSF/string file and your own CommandMap.INI to avoid any hotkey conflicts and to make sure that the new hot keys have been defined

5 - Every tree in the game has been changed - check them all and look carefully through NatureProp.INI. This was to optimize things again as most maps contain a lot of trees. The fallback from this however is that they dont look as cool when things like a nuke impact nearby so personally I recoded them so that they do again

6 - WorldBuilder for ZH is much closer to the dev version, so if you hit any trouble try to load it with your mod installed and it practically debug it for you and tell you where your errors are. The only thing that will totally hang WB now and cause the debug to fail is duplication of object definitions so avoid those as it means WB will be unable to define where one object ends and another begins.

Good luck, if you need help you know where I am

Flyby · 12-18-2003, 03:05 AM

7. in the JetAiUpdate the tag "TakeoffSpeedForMaxLift =" has been changed into "TakeoffDistForMaxLift ="

8. WB will give you an error if you've used TAB's in your code...

smurfbizkit · 12-18-2003, 12:36 PM

ah thx

oh and flyby the wb gave errors for tabs in generals as well...

Eradicator · 12-18-2003, 01:15 PM

I don't think it did. It simply crashed in Generals. In Zero Hour it actually tells you that you can't use TABs and tells you which line it is on which helps a LOT. When Zero Hour first came out and that changes (like SoundDie) weren't known I just converted one object at a time and ran the WB. It would then tell me what was wrong and I fixed it. A little time consuming, but its guarateed to work. You'll probably have to get rid of SoundDie for every unit (but you probably don't have to worry about maxlift since theres no air units in Blitz 2, yet).
Just like in Generals the INI name for the objects has no relevance at all. You can name it anything you want (like Blitz2Units.INI or GermanTanks.INI) as long as its under the Object sub directory, but you probably already knew that.

Phoib · 12-18-2003, 03:24 PM

I converted the "currently betatested project" from Gen to ZH, so I can also help you do it. Check the INI forums for some lists FlyBy compiled.

Also, the subdue health stuff...

Eradicator · 12-18-2003, 03:33 PM

Doesn't Blitz2 not need the subdue health stuff?

Phoib · 12-19-2003, 10:01 AM

AFAIK you still need to define it...