[DeeZire]

Hi guys, long time no see

Im finally getting round to uploading *craploads* of work I did over the last couple of years and in doing so Ive only just realized that I never uploaded some parts of the RA2 editing guide, chiefly the Art(MD).INI and some parts of the Rules(MD).INI guides, doh. These things have been sat gathering dust in my old Win98 box for quite some time.

Anyways, before I do I thought I would sticky this post for people to put in corrections/amendments and generally share any new discoveries that the current guide on the site doesnt cover, that way I have one central location for things form which I can keep this great information resource as up to date and accurate as it can (and should) be - Im aware that some great work has been done and some fantastic advancements made in editing terms and it would be great for us all that the guide was just as 'modern'.

NB: whilst I can make references in the guide to things like the EXE patch work and the terrain expansion (like I already have) I only really want the guide to cover the standard game and its capabilities, so I dont really want to say things like 'you can have oodles of death type anims if you patch the exe' - you know what I mean.

Fire away!

[DCoder]

Minor notes. While they are not really new, I think they should be mentioned:

rules(md).ini:

PrismSupportModifier= has to be redeclared everywhere (mpmodes, maps) where any [General] tag gets redeclared or else the Prism Network will cause absolute damage( http://www.cannis.net/forum/index.ph...dpost&p=109053 ).

Refinery=yes locks the docking location to (4;2), where it is on the original refineries.

A building with HoverPad=yes causes IE when AI tries to fire a Nuke/Weatherstorm.

Invisible=yes causes recon error.

[VoxelAnims]Spawns=
Specifies the next [Particle] spawned when this voxel debris explodes. Defaults to 'none'.

While in the rules:
[METEOR01]
Spawns=PEBBLE
SpawnCount=5
and both METEOR01 and PEBBLE are VoxelAnims.

[OverlayTypes]CellAnim= causes a recon error.

SabotageCursor/MigAttackCursor only work on weapons used by InfantryTypes.

IsLaser=yes and Wall=yes, when combined, override SubjectToWalls=no ( http://www.cannis.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=1877 ).

ShakeX/YLo/Hi= only fires when a warhead is used by a weapon (Map action "Fire warhead at waypoint" doesn't trigger it.)

ai(md).ini:
ScriptType 63,0 description states

63,0 = Occupy Battle Bunker (Yuri's Revenge only)
Any InfantryType members of this TaskForce with Occupier=yes set will enter the nearest structure (which they own) with CanOccupyFire=yes set.

Yet, that ScriptType is present on lots of non-infantry teams. Which suggests the description is incorrect/incomplete ( http://www.cannis.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=3780 ).

sound(md).ini:
Type=Player is likely obsolete ( http://www.cannis.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=5668 ).

Mod Writers Toolbox: some links changed, some new tools were created, ... ( http://www.tiberiumsun.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3388 ).

[Marshall7a]

Arhg DCoder gets three of my discoveries up there first. Lol.
In addition:
InvisibleInGame=yes causes recon error.
Pip= has to be redeclared for every infantry unit that gets redeclared in an mp mode file (and presumably maps too), otherwise the Pip colour and/or shape will be set to something else.


ImmuneToPsionics=yes does not make a unit immune to warheads with PsychicDamage=yes, contrary to what is stated in the guide.

I'm 99% certain that SecretHouses= works in reverse to what is stated in the guide (i.e. SecretHouses=Americans means Americans WON'T be able to get it from a Secret Lab). However, this needs confirmation.


Many of the guide entries to do not state the default values.
It would be nice if we had a structure like

Warpable=
Type: boolean (yes/no)
Default: yes
[description]

Just a suggestion.

[DCoder]

Marshall, Invisible(InGame) problem only applies to player-owned objects. Neutrals can own such objects without problems (light posts).

btw, your "structure" is already being used at ModEnc :P

oh, and one more thing - Suicide= tag is not listed in the rules guide, though it works.

[Renegade]

My most recent problem with the guide? The fact that it lists values the INIs have never heard of before...

Read Priority and Type for examples.

[CannisRabidus]

Originally Posted by martyr";p=&quot

I'm 99% certain that SecretHouses= works in reverse to what is stated in the guide (i.e. SecretHouses=Americans means Americans WON'T be able to get it from a Secret Lab). However, this needs confirmation.

Actually, SecretHouses= does nothing. I believe it was intended to work as you describe, but that presupposes that what the SL boon is would be determined at the moment of capture. IOW, I capture it, I get this one thing chosen randomly, then you capture it, and you get another thing chosen randomly. But SLs set what their boon is on map load, and never change no matter how many times they change hands.

This is another example of incomplete code.



=========

In RULES4.doc -

SubjectToElevation=
Can be set to 'yes' or 'no' and determines if the projectile is blocked by variation in terrain height on the map (ie hills).

SubjectToElevation= actually means the weapon range will be affected by the values set in the [ElevationModel] section. IOW, does the weapon get a range bonus for height or not.

[Marshall7a]

True, but what I meant about SecretHouses was that, IIRC, as Yuri getting a Yuri Clone endowed CASLAB, when I did not already have the requirements to build a Yuri Clone normally, I did NOT get a Yuri Clone made available to me.

I assumed that if your country is a member of RequiredHouses or SecretHouses, then you will not get the SL Boon in question.

Like I said this would need testing. I can't see why anyone would want my assumption to hold true.

Either way, I'm pretty sure that, as, say, Britain, I DID get access to the Yuri Clone. So the guide entry is definitely wrong in that respect.

[CannisRabidus]

Originally Posted by martyr";p=&quot

True, but what I meant about SecretHouses was that, IIRC, as Yuri getting a Yuri Clone endowed CASLAB, when I did not already have the requirements to build a Yuri Clone normally, I did NOT get a Yuri Clone made available to me.

But in my test, I did. (I modded the SL section so that the Yuri Clone was the only possible boon). That's why I said it does nothing.

Of course a repeated test to confirm is always welcome.

============

And to take the opportunity to add something -

In APPENDICES.doc, the building number identification list is wrong.
This list is correct.
http://www.cannis.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=5882

=============

MAPS2.doc (where's MAPS.doc?) should have sections for

[Header]

[Basic]

[SpecialFlags]

[Map]

and stuff like that. I can write some things up if desired.

[DCoder]

(where's MAPS.doc?)

In MAPS1.doc.

[CannisRabidus]

Hmm, I was missing both that file, and PKT.doc too.

In MAPS1.doc (I'll be poring over this one -

[Map]
This section specifies the dimensions, visible area and theater for the map. The information here is used to determine how big the map is, which part of it can be seen by the player(s) and which theater it uses. There is little point detailing any information about this here as the section can be edited by Final Alert 2. NOTE: simply changing the Theater= setting is not a quick way to alter the theater specific setting for the map as tile sets used differ between the theaters.

I can add some info here but for right now - the [Map] section must occur after the [Preview] section, else the map will cause an internal error; and must occur after the [PreviewPack] section if the map preview image is to appear.

==========

PKT.doc

MinPlayers=/Maxplayers=
In YR this is overridden by the presence of waypoints 0-7 in the map, and the value of NumberStartingPoints= in the map's [Header] section. Not sure which takes precedence though.

GameMode=
Some mention should be made these values are the mapfilter values referred to in MPMODES.ini, and that the modder can certainly create completely new mapfilters.

However should a gamemode be 'active' (last used mode as set in RA2MD.ini), and the game is loaded this way, but there are no maps which use the mapfilter required by the game mode, the game will crash with an IE when attempting to go to a map screen. You need at least one map for each gamemode IOW.