[Mohawk]

Hello,

I have experimented with the ini-codes for a while and found out some funny things. If some of my discoveries have been posted before..sorry :cry:

Machinegun scatter:

First open WeaponObjects.INI and make a copy of the GenericTankShell and rename it to GenericBullet or whatever you want. After that delete the modelname of the shell and type None instead, because the bullettracers are sufficient and You don't want to see big fatass tankshells coming out of your machinegun barrel. (Without a projectile you cannot create scatter!)

Now open Weapon.INI and find the HumveeGun or the technicalGun or a different machinegun. Once you found it paste or type the name of the new projectile. Then Choose a proper detonationFX for your new projectile. I use FX_DamageInfantryStruckSmallArms. After this You have to type the following below the weaponname: ScatterRadius = 12. It doesn't have to be 12. Any number can be given. Finally you have to give the weapon a DamageRadius. Example: DamageRadius = 3.

Voila. The realistic HumveeGun is ready for use. With some luck you can hit multiple targets at thsame time! This depends on the ScatterRadius number.

Realistic tankShells:

You can copy the modelname of the SpectreHowitzerShell (WeaponObjects.INI) and paste it upon the modelnames of the tankshells.
You must rescale the model, because the SpectrehowitzerShell is very big.
(Example: Scale = 0.3)

Why should you do this? I think that a tankshell flies fast enough to create airfriction. This will cause the projectile to burn in air. The SpectrehowitzerShell is a good example of this fact.

Scatter for the RocketBuggy:

think about a MRLS wich is in fact a very big brother of the rocket buggy. The MRLS is more advanced, but it rockets won't try to follow the targets. The is a difference between missiles and rockets,ofcourse.

Open the WeaponObjects.INI and find the Buggyrocket. Then find the line: try to follow target. In default it's yes. Replace yes with no. Done, no w to weapon ini and give it a ScatterRadius. This will give the rocketbuggy a disadvantige against fast moving objects, but you can balance it up by increasing the DamageRadius a bit or Increase the clipsize.

Realistic TankShell damage depending on firedistance:

I tried to give the crusader a secondary weapon: CusadertankGunClose.
This secondaryweapon inflicts more damage. A tankshell loses speed and thus the impactenergy will decrease with each meter. My idea is to give each tank a secondary weapon that inflicts more damage if fired at close range.

I renamed the Primary weapon of the crusader: CrusadertankGunFar.
This weapon has the following line in the Weapon.INI code: MinimumWeaponTargetingRange = 101. The weaponrange of the CrusadertankGunClose is 100.

I tried this ingame and found out that the Crusader tends to only use the Primary weapon. I won't use both weapon equally. What am I doing wrong? Did someone applied this before?

Any help will be appreciated.

[CodeCat]

I knew all that, but it's probably still interesting for some of the newbies out there. About that "realistic tankshells" thing: you could also add a trail to the shells. Just add this to the shell object's default ConditionState:

ParticleSysBone = None ArtilleryBarrageTrail

And about the fire distance thingy: I tried something similar myself, and I got the same result. I never heard of "MinimumWeaponTargetingDistance", but I did it with MinimumAttackRange and got the same thing. Don't really know how to solve it.

Here's some more tips (more might follow):

-Burst-fire sounds-

If you have a sound that sounds like a machine gun firing a whole salvo, then it would sound ugly if that sound would be played each time the weapon fires, assuming that the weapon fires multiple shots too (ClipSize is not 0). So to get the sound to only play once, yet still have the weapon fire multiple shots in 1 burst, there's a little trick.

First, go to the sound's entry in SoundEffects.ini. Change "Sounds" to "Attack". Then add "loop" to the "Control" line. So now we have a looped sound, which STARTS the loop by playing the weapon sound, but plays nothing when the loop continues.

Next, go to the entry of the weapon in Weapon.ini, and add "FireSoundLoopTime = n" to the weapon somewhere, where n should be just slightly shorter than the weapon's ClipReloadTime. This ensures that the sound will only stop looping after n milliseconds of no firing. If n is larger than ClipReloadTime, then the sound will keep looping until after the second salvo starts, so it will never stop looping. Remember that the sound only plays when a NEW loop starts, not when an existing one continues.

[trex238]

For the velocity loss of tank shells you'll have to try out something different. People have tried the min distance primary & secondary max distance before but it doesn't work. Maybe if there's a Degenerates tag or something like in the old C&C's.

[CodeCat]

Another tip:

-Adding force-move-

The force move function, like in the other C&Cs, was originally on the ALT key. But EA decided to remove it in favour of the waypoint function. To add it again, open CommandMap.ini (located in Data/English) and go to the BEGIN_FORCEMOVE and END_FORCEMOVE commands. Just remove the semicolons from the lines, but don't forget to assign BEGIN_WAYPOINTS and END_WAYPOINTS (right below the force move) to a different key. Try using KEY_Z, that's what they used in Red Alert 2 aswell.

BTW, the Z key is also used on BEGIN_PATH_BUILD and END_PATH_BUILD, but is commented out. So does anyone know the difference between PATH_BUILD and WAYPOINTS?

[Granger]

BTW, the Z key is also used on BEGIN_PATH_BUILD and END_PATH_BUILD, but is commented out. So does anyone know the difference between PATH_BUILD and WAYPOINTS?

Could it be for creating a waypoint path around your base, for units to follow and guard the area, like in Tiberain Sun? :/

[CodeCat]

Ah yes, so you would have 2 different kinds of waypoints: general waypoints (you place them and then tell units to follow them, like in TS) and unit-specific waypoints (like in RA2, each unit has its own waypoint). The only question would be: which is which?

[DeeZire]

The path build no longer works properly. It allowed you to set 'permanent' waypoint paths, like in Tiberian Sun, rather than the waypoint system that the game has now. IMHO the current waypoint system is practically useless - rally points for unit production are technically more useful, the current waypoint system is a useless extension of them.

[CodeCat]

Well I occasionally use the waypoints still, usually to blow up the remains of a base. Then I just sit back and relax while my units tear everything down. Or I sometimes use it to make my units scout better, I just give them a zig-zag pattern to follow, and the results are much better than if you just sent them straight.

[Mohawk]

Immoman you're right the 2-weaponssystem doesn't work properly, because the unit tries to use both weapons simultaneously at close range. :|
I don't know how to make it work. Maybe Deezire knows how..?

I also encountered another problem. I changed the quadcannon into a flakcannon, gave it projectile and a smokey ProjectileDetonationFX and a scatterradius. However,the flakweaponair won't work if you add scatterradius. The targetunit doesn't get hit at all and the ProjectileDetonationFX won't appear in the air. Does anyone know how to solve this?

[Redeemer]

I was looking into creating a flak cannon, maybe to go with the quad tank on one of the origin sites (i think that's were it is :/ )
i'm just beginning to code stuff, but i'm getting better... anyways i digress.
I was thinking about maybe using the proximity detonation code from the booby-traps/demo-traps and applying that to the flak projectile.
Any thoughts people?