Kasarov's Collective Thread of Questions

Coming out of a long hiatus, I've come back to modding. There are a couple of things I either never knew enough about the tools in the first place, or that I've forgotten over the months of my inactivity. Either-or, here I will ask the community about all the challenges I can't figure out.

1) Speech codes for finishing production of a unit?

I know that all factions have a generic "Combat unit ready" sort of quote, but I'm having trouble getting this to play upon production. I'm also interested in a few of the unused lines. I'm not sure what the codes are, nor which fields within the attribs file should be changed.

2) Generic affirmative speech codes for abilities and upgrades?

I know they exist, as can be seen with all the WFA generic voice files as well as placeholders for some of the new things the balance team has been putting out. I've tried playing with speech codes to limited success, but again, not sure what the correct codes are.

Speech codes in general are just UGH. If someone would be kind enough to supply me a list of speech codes outside of what's already in speechtuning.lua (since the ones in the .lua seem different from what's in AttributeEditor) that'd be awesome.

3) Turret spotters for Soviet tanks?

Probably not possible anymore as indicated by this thread, but I'd just like to make sure if there are any known Soviet vehicles that correctly support manned opened hatches.

4) Possible to add more ability_states through .abps?

Such as giving kubelwagen suppression floating circle thingy to infantry?

5) Sticky Molotovs like satchel charges?

I was able to create a Molotov ability that mimics the satchel charge when targeting vehicles, but I'm having trouble mimicking the sticky behavior of the satchel charge when I target a position instead of the actual vehicle.

6) Negative cover for wirefields?

There's an interesting type of barbed wire that's unused in live that slows infantry by forcing prone and crawling through it through a small aura. The obj_cover already has negative_cover, although it doesn't seem to actually apply it to infantry crawling through the field. A workaround is obviously to add the same penalties of negative cover to the aura, but it's confusing visually since the player wouldn't know it's negative cover until it was too late. Is there a way to show the red shield through the aura, or even better, just apply negative cover to the area (kind of like light cover from craters)?

Recovering Casualties?

Here is an interesting video showing that medics have an animation to recover casualties from the battlefield in what seems to be the NIS editor. Curious to see how it can be implemented in-game?

That's about all I can think of for now, but if there's anything that comes to mind later, I'll ask here.

1) Speech codes for finishing production of a unit?

I know that all factions have a generic "Combat unit ready" sort of quote, but I'm having trouble getting this to play upon production. I'm also interested in a few of the unused lines. I'm not sure what the codes are, nor which fields within the attribs file should be changed.

2) Generic affirmative speech codes for abilities and upgrades?

I know they exist, as can be seen with all the WFA generic voice files as well as placeholders for some of the new things the balance team has been putting out. I've tried playing with speech codes to limited success, but again, not sure what the correct codes are.

Speech codes in general are just UGH. If someone would be kind enough to supply me a list of speech codes outside of what's already in speechtuning.lua (since the ones in the .lua seem different from what's in AttributeEditor) that'd be awesome.

I would like to know a thread or location to voice line codes.

I can't give you definitive answers, since I'm away from my modding tools machine. However, I can provide you with hints and hopefully that will help you figure out what you're looking for.

5) Sticky Molotovs like satchel charges?

I was able to create a Molotov ability that mimics the satchel charge when targeting vehicles, but I'm having trouble mimicking the sticky behavior of the satchel charge when I target a position instead of the actual vehicle.

Look under the projectile for the collision type. I don't remember what it was exactly, but it should be different from a normal grenade.

Collision types look like "tp_homing", "tp_artillery_inf", etc.

If you're still unsure compare Churchill grenade projectile with infantry grenade projectile. Churchill crew grenades are sticky, whereas infantry grenades are not.

Recovering Casualties?

Here is an interesting video showing that medics have an animation to recover casualties from the battlefield in what seems to be the NIS editor. Curious to see how it can be implemented in-game?

That's about all I can think of for now, but if there's anything that comes to mind later, I'll ask here.

I've no idea about how or why that works. However, when I was looking at activating medic extentions (activate repair_ext), I also found an aide_ext. I think aide_ext counts for zombie-gren recovering medics.

Try adding aide_ext and see what happens. I've never tried it!

1+2) I also had these problems. It seems that some speech codes are somehow tied to certain abilities or units. Sadly, I don't think there's a list other than "speechtuning.lua", at least not from Relic.

3) As a general rule of thumb, any vehicle that can have a pintle MG gunner can also have a spotter instead, so it should be possible to give the IS-2 and ISU-152 one and it definitely is for the M4A2(76)W. As for the other vehicles, you will have to check yourself - here is a tutorial, in case you don't know how that works. I tried giving the KV-1 a spotter, but it didn't quite work out as intended, as you can see here!

Regarding 6 (negative cover wirefields), I think this might be something that has to do with cover priorities.

Try the following:
- Change cover type from negative cover to yellow cover and see if the shield is visible

^ If the shield is visible it means that negative cover is overwritten by no-cover (which might be of higher priority).

Thus, to investigate how to give negative cover, I would have a look at the Sherman bulldozer barricade, or Sapper cover-explosive things. When you use the ability, that thing sweeps through the area and removes all cover effects (including yellow or negative cover).

Have a look at those abilities, see how they do it, and modify them to make them give negative cover to the terra-formed area. if that works, do the same for your wirefield.

Look under the projectile for the collision type. I don't remember what it was exactly, but it should be different from a normal grenade.

If you're still unsure compare Churchill grenade projectile with infantry grenade projectile. Churchill crew grenades are sticky, whereas infantry grenades are not.

Yeah, satchel charges use tp_homing. Is there any reason why I wouldn't want a Molotov to be tp_thrown, or is this completely safe to change?

Also, Churchill grenades are sticky? Didn't know that before.

Try the following:
- Change cover type from negative cover to yellow cover and see if the shield is visible

I tried setting obj_cover's cover_type to tp_light, and it displays nothing.

Yeah, satchel charges use tp_homing. Is there any reason why I wouldn't want a Molotov to be tp_thrown, or is this completely safe to change?

Also, Churchill grenades are sticky? Didn't know that before.

tp_thrown/to_homing etc only control what objects the projectile will collide (and stick) with and nothing else.

Yeah, satchel charges use tp_homing. Is there any reason why I wouldn't want a Molotov to be tp_thrown, or is this completely safe to change?

Also, Churchill grenades are sticky? Didn't know that before.



I tried setting obj_cover's cover_type to tp_light, and it displays nothing.

Have a look at how commando light smoke grenades work, and try to do the same for your wirefields. First with light cover, and then with negative cover.

What's the difference between multiply and multiply_add?

Multiply is pretty straight forward, but I'm not sure if multiply_add 0.5 for example multiplies it by 0.5 and then adds on (basically the same as multiply 1.5) OR if adds 0.5 to an existing multiply, so that multiply 1.25 and multiply_add 0.5 becomes 1.75. Or, you know, I'm wrong for both. In any case, I'd like to know.

(Also, thank you PlanetSmasher and Mr. Smith!)

What's the difference between multiply and multiply_add?

Multiply is pretty straight forward, but I'm not sure if multiply_add 0.5 for example multiplies it by 0.5 and then adds on (basically the same as multiply 1.5) OR if adds 0.5 to an existing multiply, so that multiply 1.25 and multiply_add 0.5 becomes 1.75. Or, you know, I'm wrong for both. In any case, I'd like to know.

(Also, thank you PlanetSmasher and Mr. Smith!)

The difference multiply and multiply_add is what about what happens when multiple operations are involved. Multiply always applies on the latest value. However, multiply_add always applies on the original value. I can only explain it through an example.

Say you start with value 2. If you do multiply by 1.2 and 1.3 you get:

2 * 1.2 * 1.3 = 3.12

With multiply_add instead you get:

2 * 1.2 = 2.4
2 * 1.3 = 2.6

Thus, multiply add gives you 2.4 + 2.6 = 4.

Suppression Values?

What's generally the numerical suppression value required for a single squad to be suppressed? And the suppression regen rate? Looking to add suppression to the first strike bonus of a sniper.

Automatic Squad Behavior?

Such as automatically switching rounds to engage appropriate targets instead of the manual toggle AP/HE? I think the only workaround I found was to make abilities that fired a single shot of said ammunition and make it autocast, although it's not without its own problems. Is this something that is done via SCAR instead?

Squad Transport Vehicles?

Looking to make motorized infantry squads with a truck as transport upon build that travels to the rally point, unloads the squad, and (the truck) then withdraws off the map?

On a related note,

Best Way for Kubel to be an Officer Transport?

I've been meaning to make the Kubelwagen into a transport vehicle, perhaps for a 2-man Officer squad. The easy way might be to make the Officer squad the driver squad that can decrew and recrew the vehicle at will. However, I'm not very familiar with the decrewing and recrewing mechanic the AEF uses right now. Before I start fumbling around with it, is it possible to set which model of the driver squad is set to which role? For example, the bodyguard always drives the vehicle and the officer always fires the MG?

If there is a way to add a passenger seat that looks decent for the Kubelwagen, that'd also work. However, as far as I'm aware, marker_ext is for standing up animations, and I'm not sure how great that would look on the Kubel.

Entity Abilities Transferring?

Would things like the Osttruppen cover bonus transfer when merging squads together, or when crewing abandoned weapons? Would the ability work just fine as a squad ability as opposed to an entity ability?

Weapon Crew Sizes?

Is there a setting hidden somewhere that determines the "default" squad size of a weapon crew for each faction for the purpose of crewing abandoned team weapons?

Suppression Values?

What's generally the numerical suppression value required for a single squad to be suppressed? And the suppression regen rate? Looking to add suppression to the first strike bonus of a sniper.

The thresholds themselves should be somewhere in the sbps file of the suppressed squad. I don't know the precise values you need to put. Why don't you try increasing the suppression value of sniper's kar by 1? Just look at how luchs suppressive fire ability adds suppression.

Squad Transport Vehicles?

Looking to make motorized infantry squads with a truck as transport upon build that travels to the rally point, unloads the squad, and (the truck) then withdraws off the map?

On a related note,

- Ability spawns an invisible entity on the target that acts as a trigger
- Make it spawn a neutral vehicle (so that the player can't control it)
- Add a requirement action to the vehicle. When the vehicle closes in on the invisible entity, it disables hold_ext (look at flameHT/Quad upgrades), which forces the squad out
- After hold_ext is disabled, look at what ability/critical withdraw and refit uses to force the retreat
- Requirement action on the entity to change faction of the infantry squad to the player?

I dont know if that will really work, but that's an idea.

Best Way for Kubel to be an Officer Transport?

I've been meaning to make the Kubelwagen into a transport vehicle, perhaps for a 2-man Officer squad. The easy way might be to make the Officer squad the driver squad that can decrew and recrew the vehicle at will. However, I'm not very familiar with the decrewing and recrewing mechanic the AEF uses right now. Before I start fumbling around with it, is it possible to set which model of the driver squad is set to which role? For example, the bodyguard always drives the vehicle and the officer always fires the MG?

If there is a way to add a passenger seat that looks decent for the Kubelwagen, that'd also work. However, as far as I'm aware, marker_ext is for standing up animations, and I'm not sure how great that would look on the Kubel.

Firstly, I think that the crew/decrew mechanic is faction wide. If you want to make OKW officers able to drive kubels, all OKW squads will also be forced to drive kubels. There might be a way to limit this functionality to specific squads. However, a solution to this is beyond my imagination, atm.

In that case, you need to copy-paste whatever USF is using for capture options (abilities to bring/etc). Otherwise, you will have squads being trapped inside the vehicles.

For instance, launch cheatmod and play as USF. Spawn yourself a conscript and tell the conscript to capture a decrewed sherman. The squad will be permanently stuck inside.

Secondly, to execute actions depending on what kind of squad is inside, you need to do some checks on the driver. Look at WC-51; it has some funky looking actions that change the gun from 50cal to mg42, if the driver is an mg42 team. (unfortunately mg42's can't drive wc51's, which is why you never see that).

To check whether your squad is an OKW officer, you probably need to execute a requirement action like that. With respect to how you change the appearance of crew-members if the driver is an officer. Well, I don't know. Try removing the old crew and assigning new crew by yourself.

I'm completely clueless about what kind of animations you can use for Kubels.

Entity Abilities Transferring?

Would things like the Osttruppen cover bonus transfer when merging squads together, or when crewing abandoned weapons? Would the ability work just fine as a squad ability as opposed to an entity ability?

I've no idea, tbh. Try making an entity ability that boosts the received damage of a unit, and see how it behaves. Then report back to this thread.

Weapon Crew Sizes?

Is there a setting hidden somewhere that determines the "default" squad size of a weapon crew for each faction for the purpose of crewing abandoned team weapons?

This should be under EBPS, and should be easy to find. Look for mg42 entity, and search for "soviet" and/or "6", and it should be there.

Original OKW SwS Halftrack Dispatches?

So we all remember the old 3-minute timer or so for the faction when it was first designed, right? I found an sws_interval_dispatch under abilities, and sws_interval_unlock, sws_starting_dispatch_unlock under upgrades. However, when I assign the sws_interval_dispatch to the OKW under armies and add the either of the unlocks (tested both) to the start_actions, they aren't on a timer -- it'll spawn a new one as soon as you don't have a SwS truck on the field until you have all the tech buildings. What's the correct way to re-create the old SwS behavior?

Original OKW SwS Halftrack Dispatches?

So we all remember the old 3-minute timer or so for the faction when it was first designed, right? I found an sws_interval_dispatch under abilities, and sws_interval_unlock, sws_starting_dispatch_unlock under upgrades. However, when I assign the sws_interval_dispatch to the OKW under armies and add the either of the unlocks (tested both) to the start_actions, they aren't on a timer -- it'll spawn a new one as soon as you don't have a SwS truck on the field until you have all the tech buildings. What's the correct way to re-create the old SwS behavior?

ಥ_ಥ

G43s without scopes?
This requires an Object Editor and possibly some model work (if the mesh is one piece). So, not possible with what we have tool-wise.

Squad name changes?
Upgrades have ui_squad_*_override properties for this.

Permanent weapon switching?
You could try using the action_apply_ext with a requirement_action that switches the weapon based on the upgrade.

Forcing special skins?
Entity blueprints (ebps) have skin_pack_override, skin_winter, and skin_summer in the ui_ext for this.

Permanent weapon switching?

I'm trying to add a weapon upgrade that switches the primary weapons of the whole squad and I'd like to not bloat the squad with slot items. I assigned a second hardpoint and tried making them switch weapons from hardpoint 1 to hardpoint 2. However, the change is not permanent, and reinforcements come equipped with hardpoint 1 again. Is there a way to force hardpoint 2 on reinforcements to the squad or is slot items the only way?

While we were trialing Penal flamer & ppsh for WBP we did the following.

Say that you want your upgrade to switch SVTs to PPSh:

In your penal EBPS do the following:
- Combat: add ppsh as weapon #2 under hardpoint #1

Create a package upgrade that does the following:
- Requirement action -> if SVT active -> change-weapon to PPSh

To make this work for reinforced models add a requirement action under penal EBPS:
-> Requirement (check once):
- Upgrade active
- Active weapon: #SVT

If yes: change-weapon to PPSh

This definitely works if you have 1 slot item (flamer) that you want to carry around. I haven't tried to see what happens if you have 2 slot items that you want your squad to carry with them

PS: Would it be possible to create a new thread for every question you ask? That way other modmakers that want to have the same questions answered could find the same answers easier

PS: Would it be possible to create a new thread for every question you ask? That way other modmakers that want to have the same questions answered could find the same answers easier

Sure, no problem!

Thanks for all the pointers you guys have given me!