Mech Factory v2.0 final, warning: big gifs Options

[Lin Kuei Ominae]

After i saw that nearly all of my mechs were to big for the normal GDI/Nod Weapon Factorys i decided to make a new one.
This Factory is supposed to produce even the biggest units the battlefield has ever seen and is this way the biggest i know.
Here it is.
\EDIT
new version 2.0 with enhanced damage frames. Thanks to all for your constructive criticism to improve this.
Mech Factory Icon GDI: Nod:
new Buildup:
Ingame building Annihilator:
Ingame new damaged building Annihilator:
I know the gifs are quite big, but they show best all features of the building.

Zip with all shp's:  LKOmechfact20.zip ( 163.32K ) Number of downloads: 5812

have fun and credit me if you use this in your mod.

btw the code example for art and rules is in the zip
note
the first undamaged anim still shows the old press anim that is shown through the annihilator.
the second damaged shows the new one that stops the press while a unit is leaving the factory. The code how this is done is also in the zip.
And so it works right now. (just a short description) Press anim is a Production anim. after the first unit is build it starts and loops until the next unit leaves the factory. it stops for a fixed duration (quite as long as a unit needs to come out) and then starts looping again.

\EDIT
obsolete
question
as you can see, the press anim is showed through the annihilator. Does anyone know how to avoid this?
Is there a way to deactivate the anim while a unit is build? (At least this happens only while very high units are coming out, and stops after the unit has entered the bib and switches to player control)
And for what purpose is the command AnimActive=x,y,z good for?

P.S.: the building has no snow frames. For me it was to much work to add those in the 3dmodel, but i know we have very good picture artists here. maybe someone is willing to make them.

This post has been edited by Lin Kuei Ominae: Apr 26 2007, 11:05 PM

[Bittah Commander]

Looking very good, LKO (as usual) Once thing about the buildup though... In the buildup animation the foundation seems to appear instandly. Maybe it'll be better if you make the foundation appear in a simillar way the foundation of the War Factory or Refinery appear in the buildup.

as you can see, the press anim is showed through the annihilator. Does anyone know how to avoid this?
Is there a way to deactivate the anim while a unit is build? (At least this happens only while very high units are coming out, and stops after the unit has entered the bib and switches to player control)
And for what purpose is the command AnimActive=x,y,z good for?

I'm assuming that's the active anim. It's impossible to make the active anymation stop playing when something happens... It should be possible to make the active anim appear behind the unit that's exiting the building (or any other unit) however.
To do this you'll "simply" have to adjust 'ActiveAnimZAdjust='. The higher the negative value of this is, the the higher it will be displayed. For example: When there are 2 animations, one of them has 'ActiveAnimZAdjust=-32' and the other has 'ActiveAnimZAdjust=-50', the one with the value '-50' should overlap the one with the value '-32'.
So to make the active anim appear behind a unit, you'll have to change the value to 0 or if that doesn't work, even change it to a positive value. Once you've done this, it's most likely that you'll find the animation isn't appear at all anymore (meaning the problem is solved... In a way ).
This is because animations often need a negative Z Adjust value to overlap the building they are the animation of, so now the building is overlapping the animation instead (do test first to make sure you're really having this problem; you might not have to do what's following). The only way (I can think of) to solve this problem is by simply exactly removing the pixels of the building on exactly the spot wher the animation is supposed to play. Now to prevent a hole from appearing at certain moments, you'll have to add the part you cut out from the building to the bib... There's only one drawback; the bib doesn't have a damage frame, meaning that part of the building should look exactly the same in the normal and damaged state.

Have fun now (I sure had alot of fun with this myself :wacko:)

[Lin Kuei Ominae]

In the buildup animation the foundation seems to appear instandly. Maybe it'll be better if you make the foundation appear in a simillar way the foundation of the War Factory or Refinery appear in the buildup.

better?

zip with new buildup:  mechfactmk2.zip ( 98.06K ) Number of downloads: 1048

I think Textures and bits of it crumbling. Contrast Between the undamaged sections and the damaged sections is important aswell.

i see what i can do, but this i much work and thus can take a while. (5 max files need to be changed)

btw does someone already noticed, that the annihilator is shown through the roof fan? That is something i'm really happy about, that it works as espected. :biggrin:

\EDIT
i found a way to avoid the anim covering the leaving unit.
I set LoopCount=1 and made it as a Production anim. This way it is played only one time starting with open door anim. It ends just before the leaving unit can cover it. Now i have to find a way to reverse this. Play it looped all time except the leaving unit phase.
Too bad that the PreProductionAnim doesn't work. I've tested this and nothing was shown.

This post has been edited by Lin Kuei Ominae: Apr 26 2007, 11:07 PM

[Bittah Commander]

better?

Yeah, it's alot better

About the bib having a damage frame... I think I got confused with _1 and _2 thingies then. Also, now you mention it you would indeed see the units through the hole if they'd stand behind the building, but I've been in a simlillar situation myself and managed to solve it. I'll look into it when I get home.
I'm at school right now... My mind isn't very clear (didn't get enough sleep either) and I'm writing everything from top of my head (seeming I have no art.ini file at my disposal).

[Lin Kuei Ominae]

About the bib having a damage frame... I think I got confused with _1 and _2 thingies then.

you know that for the building phase, the normal shp MECHFACT.shp doesn't gets used anymore. instead the game uses
UnderDoorAnim=MECHFACT_1
DeployingAnim=MECHFACT_2
_1 is for the background, that gets masked by the leaving unit
_2 is for the foreground, that masks the unit

To make _1 always behind the unit it seems to be hardcoded that this is set to absolute ground level. There is nothing that can be hidden by this except normal ground. So an anim, whatever zadjust-value it has, is shown over this one. Thus making an anim with a high zadjust value visible while the unit leaves, and not while it does nothing, because then the normal building masks it again.

i've tested a bit around.
now the small side exit anim (the spotlight) and the glowing yellow ring are separated from the press anim. (mechfact_b)
the press anim is now an own anim: mechfact_p.shp.
the zip with mechfact_b and _p:  LKOmechfactanim.zip ( 4.55K ) Number of downloads: 858

mechfact_b is looped and plays always.
mechfact_p is a production anim.
for that i took the following code to make it work as good as possible
art.ini

CODE

[MECHFACT]
Remapable=yes
Cameo=MECHFACTICONG
Foundation=4x3
Height=3
AnimActive=0,0,0
Buildup=MECHFACTMK2
DemandLoadBuildup=true
FreeBuildup=true
DeployingAnim=MECHFACT_2
DoorAnim=MECHFACT_D
DoorStages=17
DamagedDoor=yes
UnderDoorAnim=MECHFACT_1
;NewTheater=yes
BibShape=MECHFACT_BB
NormalZAdjust=8
ActiveAnim=MECHFACT_A
ActiveAnimZAdjust=-119
ActiveAnimTwo=MECHFACT_B
ActiveAnimTwoZAdjust=-25
ProductionAnim=MECHFACT_P
ProductionAnimZAdjust=-125

ActiveAnimThree=NAREFN_B;just a test
ActiveAnimThreeZAdjust=-250
ActiveAnimThreeX=5
ActiveAnimThreeY=-30
ActiveAnimThreeYSort=-50

[MECHFACT_A]
Normalized=yes
LoopStart=0
LoopEnd=8
LoopCount=-1
Rate=400
Surface=yes
DetailLevel=1

[MECHFACT_B]
Normalized=yes
LoopStart=0
LoopEnd=19
LoopCount=-1
Rate=300
Surface=yes
DetailLevel=1

[MECHFACT_P]
Image=MECHFACT_P
Normalized=yes
Start=20
End=24
LoopStart=20
LoopEnd=24
LoopCount=1
Rate=150
Surface=yes
DetailLevel=1
Next=MECHFACT_P2

[MECHFACT_P2]
Image=MECHFACT_P
Normalized=yes
Start=0
LoopStart=0
LoopEnd=19
LoopCount=10
Rate=300
Surface=yes
DetailLevel=1

mechfact_p.shp has now 5 empty frames, where's nothing to see.
Those are played for the time a unit needs to come out [MECHFACT_P]
then it starts [MECHFACT_P2] that plays the press anim 10 times and then stops, so it doesn't plays as soon as a new unit is leaving.
But don't forget to add MECHFACT_P and MECHFACT_P2 to the animationlist in rules.ini
btw ActiveAnimThree=NAREFN_B is just a test, taking the smokestack fire from the refinery for the big smokestack on top of the mech factory (not well adjusted at the moment)

Will you add this to your signature LKO?

was already done

And thanks to all for your good comments and constructive criticism.

\EDIT
sorry, but i have to mention that i've found another error.
due to the fact that the building is very high and mechfact_1 (the part that gets masked by the leaving unit) is always on ground level, ALL units and buildings standing behind the factory are shown through this part. Damn, sometimes i hate TS. And i'm quite sure that this isn't avoidable. Except you can have a 4x4 foundation sized factory to avoid units/buildings standing direct behind this.

This post has been edited by Lin Kuei Ominae: Apr 26 2007, 11:10 PM