Profile of Sie_Sayoka

Unfortunately, no. The best you can do is make your own version and link them with the commander.

Since my mod is meant to be played on annihilation win condition I need the AI to devote all of its units to attack the enemy base. However from what I can tell the AI assigns a certain amount of units to defensive tasks which make them camp an area it deems important. Whilst changing the ai_settings/skirmish_settings/defend_importance does seem to work for some things it doesn't work when placing an AI owned building within the enemy's command sector. Ultimately what ends up happening is that there will be a large amount of units camped around the map causing lag. Does anyone have ideas on how to fix this?

Previewing Markers in Worldbuilder

When attaching things it becomes necessary to test as many markers as possible. Fortunately we can preview markers (with limitations) in Worldbuilder.

• Create a new NIS file. Refer to this guide if you don't know how to use NIS.
  
• Place down the (parent) entity that you want to preview markers on.
  
• Open the archive viewer and find the .mua file of the entity.
  
• Place down any infantry (child) entity.
  
• Target visual on the parent entity with name: target
  
  
• Start action: passenger_attach
  
  
• Action parameter. The value is the marker you want to preview.
  
  
• The entity will not change its location on the first frame so you'll need to press play.
  
  

The animation order does matter. You want target visual to be at the top. The other two don't matter. The child entity will only use the last target_marker so you can make multiple of them.

You may also use barricades to preview attach_bulldozer actions but barricades are just lumps of dirt which make it difficult to see which direction it faces. Instead just imagine infantry rotated 90 degrees on the X axis.

Unfortunately we aren't able to change the abp files within worldbuilder so you'll be limited to only vanilla blueprints.


Reading Markers

I've managed to decipher some of the meanings within the mua files. It wont always match up but it should be fairly consistent for the transforms will integers.

Although limited in scope, it's possible to change the way some textures are mapped and look on models. Many of the "skins" look terrible but there are a few usable ones. Any model that has an alternative skin, i.e. winter variant, has the potential to use this system which means infantry, vehicles, buildings, etc.

A big thanks to Hash_Silencer Li for discovering this.


How It Works

Textures are normally mapped on a model using both a diffuse map (dif) and normals (nrm). These can be seen within the archive viewer by opening any Art(race).sga. When selecting a skin in World Builder or Attribute Editor (ebps\ui_ext) it will look in the 'skins' folder for the skin's name. Always use the archive viewer as a guide as some things may not be named properly. By using a forward slash (backward slashes will not work in-game) we are able to choose the next folder.


AEF Rifleman on the left, OKW Medic center, OST Medic with default winter on the right.

winter/skins/cavalry_winter

winter/skins/west_winter

As you can see by using this method it works correctly only for the Rifleman. The Rifleman models for both summer and winter are the same so there's no issue. However since the Medic uses a different model in winter the mapping is screwed up.


SOV female snipers. Default winter left, dif center, nrm right.

winter/sniper_female_dif.

winter/sniper_female_nrm.

We are able to take this a bit further and specify which texture file (.rgt) to use within that folder. In the picture above we see that the dif version is mostly fine except for some weird stuff going on with the hat. The nrm is blue/green and this is the same for all nrm so it's not recommended. Do note that nrm is a type of bump map so when using dif textures on their own the model will be look flatter and darker.




Most just look bad or too subtle to use. But there are a few that look cool. If the front of an infantry model looks decent but the back is a mess you can always add a cape to cover it up. I've used quite a lot of these within my mod along with model stacking.


Left to right. SOV elite_rifleman winter default, summer elite_rifleman with winter cape, partisan_female_01 winter default, partisan_female_01 with winter dif, female_hair_hat with winter dif.

winter/cape_dif.

winter/partisan_female_01_dif.

You can also specify a model to change the texture within an abp.

Limitations

This method is buggy at best and there's a lot of inconsistencies that I can't understand. If we are able to go up a level for folders this will have great potential.

• Inconsistent: It just doesn't work for some models.
  
• Reverting in World Builder: If you save an NIS file and reload it some models will not display the skin. You will not be able to change the skin again in that NIS file.
  
• Not displaying in-game: Even though it may work in World Builder it doesn't in-game.
  
• Blue Box (Missing RGM): You may have mistyped something or used a wrong slash.
  

Using Skeleton Attachments

Normally skeleton attachments are used for rigging on infantry models to attach certain bones to the animations. There are some blueprints that can do this for tanks as well. This can be useful for dragging certain parts of the model down. In this way you wont need a custom skin pack to hide these parts.

Add a blueprint below into the ABP.


"..\\..\\..\\common\\vehicles\\tanks\\maingun\\maingun",

The maingun blueprint will drag the turret down on most tanks, usually to the hull level but it depends on the model.



"..\\..\\..\\west_german\\structures\\west_german_command_post_sandbag_02\\west_german_command_post_sandbag_02",

The sandbag blueprint will hide the weapon barrels and tracks on some, notably DLC faction, tanks, for others it will make the tank disappear. Most constructable blueprints will do the same but this one is small enough to be hidden underneath vehicles.

There are possibly more blueprints that affect vehicles in a similar manner but I don't know what the criteria are.

model =

{

	"..\\..\\..\\..\\test\\missing_objects\\missing_objects",

	"..\\..\\..\\common\\vehicles\\tanks\\maingun\\maingun",

}

If you want to add tracks onto something you can use the missing_objects blueprint which is a Stuart missing some parts. The maingun blueprint is added to lower the barrel. The turret functions normally but the tracks don't turn.

	"..\\..\\..\\..\\outsourced\\armies\\german\\vehicles\\panther\\panther",

	"..\\..\\..\\..\\outsourced\\german\\vehicles\\panther\\panther",

There's also some thread only blueprints without wheels, likewise these do not turn.