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Additional UFO interiors


Axiomatic

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Sure, you are welcome to do the work of converting those submaps to the format matching the new UFO submaps. And it'd be also necessary to check how they affect game balance, because at least before opening doors could trigger reaction fire these UFO layouts with small rooms had made the game noticeably easier.

It might actually be probably simpler to just create additional new UFO interiors anew.

I'm run Xenonauts\assets\mods\xce\GCSubmapEditor.exe

and tried to open, for example

Xenonauts\assets\mods\xce\maps\ufos\Landed\lightscout\lightscout_layout.xml

or

Xenonauts\assets\mods\xce\maps\ufos\shared\lightscout\layout\lightscout_layout.xml

But there is not happens.

Unpacked Game Tiles I placed to Xenonauts\assets\tiles

What I did wrong? How I can load layouts?

Thank you

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Sadly the map editors do not support mods. It is necessary to move the relevant files from assets/mods/xce to assets/ . For UFO interiors I think it should be enough to copy maps/ufos/ and tiles/ufo/ , if not, go up and try to copy more.

You'll need to copy the edited files back to mods/xce when trying it out in an actual game. If you don't want to do that repeatedly, remove the files in mods/xce , so that they do not override the ones from the base game. Also, it's a good idea to back up modified folders before overwriting them, so that you can restore the game to the original state later.

The mapping howto doesn't say anything about UFO maps, so some more info: You can edit level_quickbattle.xml to set a UFO type and then run the game with -quickbattle to quickly see it for real. You cannot specify which variant of the interior submap will be chosen (it's random), but if you give the game only one option, it'll have to take it. So temporarily remove *_alt.xml files and the one in layout/ , put your submap to test into layout/ and it'll be the only option. When the submap is done, it should stay in layout/, all of them (the _alt variants are a leftover from the original way the UFO variants used to be done, I shouldn't have done that this way, I'll probably just move the _alt variant to layout/ as well for 0.35).

EDIT: Ok, I got this part wrong. In order to add a new layout, it is necessary to add the interior submap to another folder (e.g. layout_alt_2). And it is necessary to add another submap to both inside/ and inside_damaged/ that will reference the new folder. I forgot that the datacore object differs for landed and damaged UFOs, and so it is part of the inside(_damaged) submap rather than the layout itself. So basically for every new layout you need make another duplicate of everything that has "alt" in its name, put the interior submap itself into the new layout_alt_2 (or whatever) folder, position properly datacores in inside(_damaged) submaps and make sure the submaps link layout_alt_2.

I think this should do, if there will be some more problems that the mapping howto or looking at the existing layouts don't solve, just ask.

edit them using the vanilla map editor?

Do not use the editors from the vanilla game for anything X:CE-related.

In fact, incidentally I've put a build of current unstable pre-0.35 X:CE at https://www.dropbox.com/sh/tb50osg7bh18sah/AAD4iigebNE-YKcjf3gkndy4a?dl=0 . Since it's just a random build of X:CE, general use of it is at one's own risk (blah blah blah), but I think it should work to just copy out the editor .exe's from there and use those, they should be a bit better than 0.34's (a bit faster, few crashes fixed and the submap editors has a toggle for showing contents of linked submaps, so if you open e.g. your maps/ufos/shared/lightscout/inside/lightscout_layout_alt_2.xml, the submap editor will show you also the linked submap with the interior, so it'll be easy to properly place the datacore).

Edited by llunak
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Ok, I copied files as said before.

Create new submap in Xenonauts\assets\maps\ufos\shared\lightscout\layout_alt_2\lightscout_layout_alt_2.xml

After this I loaded Xenonauts\assets\maps\ufos\shared\lightscout\inside\lightscout_layout_alt.xml

and try to change submap to just created, but without any result, only info window appeared.

What am I doing wrong?

submap.jpg

P.S. After I changed link to submap by manual edit file (as text at F4).

submap.jpg

submap.thumb.jpg.3d02605ba99e1f530028d94

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Some more question, please.

As I understand, in XCE 0.34+ crashed UFO different from landed just damaged hull and datacore?

Is other interiors tiles the same?

Gameconfig.xml have such settings:

<powerCoresExplodeChance value="20" comment="The chance that UFO power cores will explode on UFO crash." />

<powerCoreExplosionRadius value="5.0" comment="The blast radius of the power core when it explodes on crash"/>

<powerCoreFireChance value="60" comment ="The % chance a tile will be affected by fire when the power cores explode"/>

<killCrewOnCrashChance value="25" comment="The chance for an alien to be killed on UFO crash when power cores don't explode." />

<killCrewOnPowerCoreExplodedChance value="25" comment="The chance for an alien to be killed on UFO crash when power cores explode." />

What is PowerCore? Is it DataCore? If not, where is it placed (to estimate powerCoreExplosionRadius)?

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After this I loaded Xenonauts\assets\maps\ufos\shared\lightscout\inside\lightscout_layout_alt.xml

and try to change submap to just created, but without any result, only info window appeared.

What am I doing wrong?

Clicking the 'Link Submap' button and selecting one only activates the mode (similarly to 'Paint Tile'). You still need to place the link somewhere in the submap (top-left corner in this case). Yeah, it's probably not the best UI design.

And since the screenshot shots the datacore, it's already correct there. If you want to see the whole UFO, open e.g. maps/ufos/landed/lightscout/lightscout_layout.xml .

P.S. After I changed link to submap by manual edit file (as text at F4).

Yes, that works too.

By the way.

What is the difference between wall_ne and wall_sw tiles?

North-East and South-West. NE is along the top-right edge of a tile, SW is along the bottom-left.

Some more question, please.

As I understand, in XCE 0.34+ crashed UFO different from landed just damaged hull and datacore?

Is other interiors tiles the same?

Yes (and it's not specific to 0.34+). You can compare (as text) inside/lightscout_layout.xml and inside_damaged/lightscout_layout.xml and you can see that they link the same internal layout and only additionally place a datacore, normal or damaged one.

What is PowerCore? Is it DataCore? If not, where is it placed (to estimate powerCoreExplosionRadius)?

No. Datacores are probably sort of a UFO's main computer, they are used by the game to mark that the player has already captured that specific kind of UFO (so e.g. recovering it triggers the Xenopedia arcticle about the specific UFO type).

Powercores are UFO's power sources, such as the one in the middle of the back part of the scout (note that the lightscout doesn't have any power source, as also stated in Xenopedia). Technically, they are objects with the isPowerCore flag set, specifically they are all objects in tiles/UFO/ that have reactor or powersource in their name.

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Clicking the 'Link Submap' button and selecting one only activates the mode (similarly to 'Paint Tile'). You still need to place the link somewhere in the submap (top-left corner in this case).

I copied files from XCE to Xenonauts\assets\maps, then created additional submaps for inside and inside_damaged folders.

After open Xenonauts\assets\maps\ufos\Landed\lightscout\lightscout_layout.xml

When I tried to change Xenonauts\assets\maps\ufos\shared\lightscout\inside\lightscout_layout.xml

to lightscout_layout_alt_2.xml (pressed "Link submap" then selected file then checked top-left corner) there is nothing happens.

inside.jpg

When I rename lightscout_layout_alt_2 to lightscout_layout.xml and select another file, I received a correct result.

it seems that the editor always links lightscout_layout, no matter what file was chosen.

inside3.jpg

And if I try to load submap from any other folder (even named as lightscout_layout), I receive message "Not a valid submap"

Also, why Xenonauts\assets\maps\ufos\Landed\lightscout\lightscout_layout_alt_2.xml

is not built as lightscout_layout.xml (with submaps)?

inside.jpg

inside3.jpg

inside.thumb.jpg.3b3de4ea769df6f5564d46a

inside3.thumb.jpg.b439a541ad63c271291680

Edited by Axiomatic
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it seems that the editor always links lightscout_layout, no matter what file was chosen.

Note that when a submap is used by something (link submap functionality, levelmap editor), they are referred to using the folder name, and the actual submap gets chosen at random as one of the .xml files inside. So when you select a submap with 'Link Submap', you actually select the folder, it doesn't really matter which .xml inside you select.

But I don't understand your problem description, so if this doesn't help, then please try to describe the problem better, or upload your ufos somewhere, so that I can have a look myself.

Also, why Xenonauts\assets\maps\ufos\Landed\lightscout\lightscout_layout_alt_2.xml

is not built as lightscout_layout.xml (with submaps)?

You do not need to do anything inside Landed/ if you only want to add more interiors. The file maps/ufos/Landed/lightscout/lightscout_layout.xml is from the vanilla game, it doesn't exist in X:CE, it stayed there when you copied over the X:CE files. You can safely delete such files while working on your designs. I work with X:CE developer setup, and I do not have those files anymore, so I didn't realize, I'll need to do something about those for the normal setup.

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Here is 2 versions of interiors for lightscout.

ls_alt_2.jpg

ls_alt_3.jpg

On first variant image on the center of floor was splited by wall (marked by red arrow).

It's not pretty, but I can't change it properly (because maps\ufos\shared\lightscout\base\lightscout_layout.xml can't be linked to specified "inside" submaps). Please correct, if I'm wrong.

What do you think about these micro maps :)?

Are there some mistakes in your opinion?

Additional UFO interiors 0.1.zip

Additional UFO interiors 0.1.zip

ls_alt_2.jpg

ls_alt_3.jpg

Additional UFO interiors 0.1.zip

ls_alt_2.thumb.jpg.7f0c11f2a9b3e37c7b15c

ls_alt_3.thumb.jpg.0e419522c2d722fde3c9d

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On first variant image on the center of floor was splited by wall (marked by red arrow).

It's not pretty, but I can't change it properly (because maps\ufos\shared\lightscout\base\lightscout_layout.xml can't be linked to specified "inside" submaps). Please correct, if I'm wrong.

A way to handle this would involve making copies of the relevant floor tiles, changing those, and then getting this layout to use it. Which would probably mean splitting the floor into another submap (the same way e.g. hull is a separate submap) and getting each submap in inside/ and inside_damaged/ link also the proper floor variant. However, in my opinion it'd be better to simply alter the interior layout if you think this looks too bad (but I'm not stopping you if you'd be willing to do the work, I just don't find it worth the effort).

What do you think about these micro maps :)?

Hmmm ... I think that if you make this demo mod into a "full" mod, I'd like to include it with X:CE.

Are there some mistakes in your opinion?

The worst technical problem I see is that the version in modinfo.xml shouldn't be so long, because it can't fit the UI :).

But, given what I wrote above, let me list here some things I think would be good guidelines:

  • I think the larger a UFO is, the more it matters to have more variants of the interior. You did this the right way of starting small in order to try and learn, but small UFOs are simply too small for variants to matter much. On the other hand, fights e.g. in carriers take much longer and so there diversity matters. So while working your way up I recommend not spending too much time on the smaller UFOs.

  • Note that for larger UFOs the command room is marked specially (it's the "Command Room" button, works similarly like "Paint Tile" but is a toggle). You'll also need teleports but I hope you can figure them out easily (besides placing the teleport objects, the tiles also need to be linked using matching IDs, see the bottom buttons row in the submap editor).

  • You might find it useful to reuse objects from alienbase layouts. You cannot use objects from other tilesets directly, but you can copy them. So in order to use e.g. tiles/alienbase/props/UFOwalltube object, copy the _spectre.xml plus all the images it refers to inside to let's say tiles/UFO/copies/alienbase/props/ , and modify the _spectre.xml file to refer to the images using correct paths. That should be enough I think.

  • I'm not a fan of small rooms. The reason the Fire in the Hole mod is not included with X:CE is because I think it alters balance, but primarily because of its small rooms. That was after seeing a YouTube video where the player very easily cleaned up a whole UFO simply by breaching a room with a shotgunner, shooting the possible one alien that was inside before it could do anything, and did this room by room, while the defensive aliens inside the UFO didn't really stand a chance. The defensive alien AI is simply not good at making counter-attacks, which would be probably the only way. I'm not saying small rooms are wrong as such, it may be good to have some to have variety, but I don't think an amount anywhere near FitH would be good for the way the game is now.

  • Speaking of that, apparently the hardest UFO to breach is actually the corvette, because of its entrance. So I think it'd be good to have layout(s) for larger UFOs with similar ideas somewhere, not necessarily again as the entrance.

  • I like things to have their logic and consistency. There are limitations to this e.g. because of technical reasons, but there shouldn't be things which are obviously strange, such as a UFO's command room being on the ground floor, or a maze of rooms done just for the sake of it. With the alien base maps I created recently, the first step I did was always having an idea about what the layout was about and how it fit together. In your first layout, the added wall makes a lot of sense, it separates the technical part. But the second one makes me wonder if the aliens would really build a UFO like that, or if was human thinking that lead to the layout. I'm not saying the layout is wrong, but it makes sense to occassionally do a check, especially with larger maps, whether a map doesn't end up being artificial, "cool" but non-nonsensical, or something similar.

  • Each layout should get at least some practical testing. Besides the obvious reason of finding mapping mistakes, it'd be also good to check things like whether the AI doesn't end up doing something really stupid.

Thank you for this and I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with. If you'll need help with something, just ask.

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I do not hope, nevertheless want to ask.

Is it possible to do specific UFO maps, which will be used with dependence on main crew's races (androns/caesans/sebilians) or UFO mission (scout/ground attack/...)?

No, it is not.

But since I like the idea, if you update the pre-0.35 build, there it is possible. It has to be done manually in the submap XML, there's no UI support for it, but the submap editor will keep this information. The races are from ufocontents/races.xml, mission types can be seen in mission_researches.xml, upppercase/lowercase must match, more items are separated by semicolons and no extra spaces. A submap like this will (possibly) be used only for caesans on either scout or research missions, otherwise it will be skipped. Information on which submap variant is used and if it's being skipped is part of debugging info.

<?xml version="1.0" ?><tilemap name="lightscout_layout" width="8" height="14" version="1" alienRaces="caesan" ufoMissions="ScoutMission;Research">   <level>...
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BTW, one more thing for UFO submaps, rather important. Some UFO objects provide recoverable resources, be it alenium, alien alloys, or item items (this can be seen in the submap editor info on the object). New submaps shouldn't break this, so e.g. a lightscout should not provide a power source or excessive amount of alien alloys.

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