Modular UFOs - Discussion and Suggestions

[Gauddlike]

I noticed one problem with having multiple facings of UFOs.

Things like engines and weapon batteries don't have alternate facings for when the ship is turned round.

[KevinHann]

I noticed one problem with having multiple facings of UFOs.

Things like engines and weapon batteries don't have alternate facings for when the ship is turned round.

True, I noticed it as well - but this can still be addressed by relatively minor tweaks or reshuffling of some assets.

[kabill]

1) DON'T USE THE UFO WALL TILES AT THE BOTTOM OF THE SUBMAP EDITOR SCREEN! With the modular UFO system, those are redundant. (Hopefully that's what you were referring to.)

2 and 3) The red objective tiles indicate where the UFO is to the AI and also act as spawn points for defensive AI alien types. The orange command tiles indicate where the command room is. These indicate where the command room is to command AI aliens and acts as their spawnpoint. You should lay both objective and command tiles down in the place you want the command aliens to be.

Note that the command room tiles don't necessarily have to be a command room. It's basically just wherever you want the command aliens to be. Also, the command tiles are currently irrelevant for Light Scout and Corvette UFOs as they don't have any command alien types specified in their crew loadouts (although I imagine if you made a UFO where it would be appropriate to have a command room spawn, then the crew lists would alter to reflect that).

4) No, you don't need to do anything outside the UFO. Any tile which doesn't have a prop or ground tile on will not overwrite anything that was already there due to another submap. However, I think it would be good practice to place invisible ground tiles around the entrances to the UFOs to ensure that they are never blocked by props from other submaps.

5) Don't think so.

EDIT: @Gauddlike: Ugh, good point This might be something Chris could sort out if he wanted to support that function, though. It doesn't actually affect very many props* and I presume GH still have the original 3d models.

* Off the top of my head:

- Light Engine;

- Heavy Engine;

- Hyperdrive;

- Torpedo Tubes;

- Console 2 (kind of: the image has a kind of facing but you could probably get away with using the same prop)

Edited July 2, 2014 by kabill

[KevinHann]

Ugh you are so quick you beat my edit to add more questions with posting the answers to the original post

Edit: How do you paint invisible ground?

[kabill]

You'd have to set up a new spectre, but just not give it an image. Best bet would be to make a copy of the new UFO roof spectre, then edit the spectre in a text editor to delete the image file paths (as you can't remove images in the submap editor itself).

EDIT: Also, regarding the cntl-z undo: it took me a *long* time to work out I could do that. So much wasted time switching between screens...

Edited July 2, 2014 by kabill

[KevinHann]

Okay, is there a quick way to play-test or I have to replace all UFO maps and get a crash site in my normal save?

[kabill]

You could set up something using the quickbattle function (there's instructions in the mapping questions thread in the mapping subforum, IIRC). However, you have to set up the alien crews manually (and I've found this to be a bit buggy), so if you want to do a 'proper' test like you were playing an actual ground mission it might be quicker to just start a game and speed up time til a relevant UFO comes along.

Another Pro-Tip! Make a save with a crash site for the UFO you're wanting to test. That way you can just load up the save game and start the mission that way. In the long run, probably a lot quicker and easier than using the quick-battle.

[KevinHann]

Ahem unbelievable! The resolutions in which I can run the SubmapEditor literally do not allow me to see the bottom options (including the Teleporter settings) - hence my newbie questions how to actually manipulate the bloody thing! No matter what I do - hide the taskbar, resize the Editor, etc. - the bottom options on the panel are out of visual access. Is there anything I can do to fix this?

kabill - a Pro-Tip! would come really handy here, otherwise I'm out past Corvette submaps

EDIT: I figured it, I'll be the first to design multi-floor UFOs with bloody stairs!

Edited July 2, 2014 by KevinHann

[kabill]

Um, if your computer doesn't support the necessary resolutions, then I guess nothing.

On the other hand, I'm sure if you made designs that needed teleporters adding in and uploaded them, someone else could finish them for you.

[KevinHann]

Um, if your computer doesn't support the necessary resolutions, then I guess nothing.

On the other hand, I'm sure if you made designs that needed teleporters adding in and uploaded them, someone else could finish them for you.

I guess that's the only possible solution then Feels so... incapacitated!

Could you look at this one for me?

https://www.mediafire.com/?1fo8b8o08h55b8e

[kabill]

I will do at some point (if someone else doesn't get there before), but not right now. It's midnight here, and I have a load of work I still haven't finished (this being entirely my own fault, mind).

[KevinHann]

I will do at some point (if someone else doesn't get there before), but not right now. It's midnight here, and I have a load of work I still haven't finished (this being entirely my own fault, mind).

Jeesh, you should have said so instead of guiding yet another moron across the street! Close that browser and do it properly, we need you fresh and rested here

[kabill]

Jeesh, you should have said so instead of guiding yet another moron across the street! Close that browser and do it properly, we need you fresh and rested here

You're presuming that I'm incapable of finding other ways to distract myself from work

[KevinHann]

This is strange. I made a submap appear in my game but the UFO didn't have a floor and I can't figure out why.

This happened in 1.06. I then transferred that submap from my 1.06 maps respective subdirectory to the 1.07 one to try and run it in an up-to-date game but it caused the game to freeze during GC loading screen. Could that be because I have the tiles unzipped in my 1.06 folder but not in the 1.07 one or it's something else?

EDIT: Yes, I keep older versions of the game alive, all those updates have me paranoid over messing up something with multiple mods installation. Just happened to get into modular UFOs before I got 1.07 so all those files are actually in my "old game".

Edited July 3, 2014 by KevinHann

[kabill]

You need to set your UFO floor with the UFO floor variable (which possibly you can't see as it's right at the bottom of the window).

[KevinHann]

So just painting UFO floor tiles on layer 0 does literally nothing?! Jeesh, this is getting hilarious. Do I need to buy a new computer to just draw a functional submap?!

[kabill]

It doesn't do nothing, it's just that the spectre needs to be set up right. You could actually set it by editing the floor tile spectre you're using in a text editor, but I don't know what the variable is exactly that you'd need to add off the top of my head.

(Actually, if you have a copy of Fire in the Hole kicking around, load up one of the ground tiles packaged with that. You should be able to find what the variable is from that. Just copy-paste the relevant section into the same place in the spectre you're using.)

[KevinHann]

Is there any limit to how big a submap can be?

Edited July 4, 2014 by KevinHann

[KevinHann]

After epic struggles with Paint, here is a screen of my first take at Mothership (this is just the ground floor):

Note: If you click "Open image" or "Open image in new tab", you will be able to see it full size.

It is the first genuine Mothership you encounter, being capable of launching a full squadron of Corvettes. I picked Corvettes because they are a mid-tier ship, therefore much more intimidating on their own than scouts. Also by the time you get to Motherships you will have forgotten how they even look.

All three Corvettes differ in design - I recreated the original vanilla and the alternative vanilla versions, and threw in one of my own for good measure (you can see by the lacking doors I forgot to paint while scrolling up, down, sideways all the time...)

But beware, the Mothership ground floor isn't just a hangar, it's where the Corvette crews reside in their sleeping chambers. They are fully stocked for urgent landing and the multiple exit points allow them to pour out of the UFO and overwhelm any threat. In addition, those exit points can turn into heavy barricades should someone be reckless enough to try and breach them!

It is hard to see in the terrible quality of an image I patched together, but all three ground hangars have two teleports leading to the upper floor.

Edited July 6, 2014 by KevinHann

[kabill]

I'm not sure that will work as I think there's a hard limit on 30x30 as a submap size (I might be wrong, but I'm fairly certain I tried this at one point and 30x30 was the maxmimum). Although it's a good idea. Might be able to do it with smaller UFOs (e.g. do some Fighters or Light Scouts or something).

[Aaron]

Cool stuff guys, I am following this with interest.

Also if you want to make maps larger that 30x30 you just need to create a 30x30 empty map using the submap editor, save it, exit the editor and then edit that map using notepad (or better notepad++) and change the dimensions listed at the top of the file to whatever you want (I think even some of ours, like the Carrier, are larger than 30 in at least one dimension).

[kabill]

Thanks for the tip! I seem to remember wondering how that had been possible, but totally forgot about it as an issue.

[Skitso]

Woah, Aaron! Long time no see.

[KevinHann]

Cool stuff guys, I am following this with interest.

Also if you want to make maps larger that 30x30 you just need to create a 30x30 empty map using the submap editor, save it, exit the editor and then edit that map using notepad (or better notepad++) and change the dimensions listed at the top of the file to whatever you want (I think even some of ours, like the Carrier, are larger than 30 in at least one dimension).

I just used the "Resize Submap" button, adding the necessary number of tiles in both directions. The size of my Dreadnaught take is 52x56. Hope that doesn't cause a problem in game!

Thank you for the feedback, it's massively important to get some encouragement to keep going!

Just to confirm: there are two vanilla UFO submaps above the 30x30 limit. Carrier is 14x49 and

Battleship - 30x36.

To be honest I'm more concerned with getting the crew to take positions in all the areas I will need them to. It will be a 4 level map and there are a number of "rooms" that will require some presence. The only tools I can think of to use in that direction are the crew size (much larger than the regular vanilla maps) and then using "Target Point" and "Command Room" to assign their positions. Theoretically it would only let me assign two groups to specific areas but I will have little control to their movement around the ship.

Edited July 4, 2014 by KevinHann

[KevinHann]

Just finished the second floor of the Mothership. Here it is:

Also a reminder of the first floor for the sake of visual convenience:

Note: If you click "Open image" or "Open image in new tab", you will be able to see it full size.

A few comments:

The left wing is a research division. It captures living specimen from around the globe for further testing and has a tiny security buffer between the researchers and the "cages" as a precaution against a breakout.

The right wing is a pretty straightforward supply depot, similar to a Carrier.

The core is race specific - it's the equivalent of the orlop deck of the slave ships. This particular Mothership happens to be Andron. I will re-design it for all three races when the entire layout is finished.

A quick note about teleporters: each of the three Corvette hangars on floor 1 has two of them - they lead to the two teleporters you see on the NW section of the wings. The "orlop deck" is different - the floor 1 teleporters lead to the two teleporters you see in the middle, forcing the player to choose which way to head.

Despite my intentions of building a 4-level UFO, I've decided to cut the top floor as the orlop deck pretty much covered what I had in mind for the next floor. There will be just one more level. After that I will need some help in turning this into a fully functional playable submap.

As usual, feedback would be appreciated.

Edited July 6, 2014 by KevinHann