All-in-one Helipad + Service Depot, UnitRepair=yes + UnitReload=yes + Helipad=yes gets me nowhere Options

[KajiTetsushi]

AGENDA
I've thought about going convenient by letting aircraft be able to dock, reload and repair at a Service Depot... or Helipad... or whatever.
In effect, I'll hopefully be able to RTB a damaged, empty helicopter and Oscar Mike it back with full ammo and full health, and by using just one repair bay, gameplay imbalance notwithstanding.


APPROACH
1. I took [GADEPT], then shoved one Helipad=yes up the code.
2. I took [GAHPAD], then threw UnitRepair=yes into the code.
3. I took [ORCA], then changed Dock=GAHPAD,NAHPAD to Dock=GAHPAD,GADEPT.


ANSWER
Effect seems the same whatever I do.
Orca Fighter

100% health + 0% ammo >> Land + Reload + Takeoff.
0% health + 0% ammo >> Land + Repair + Reload + Takeoff.

Stealth Tank

Executable crash

It would've been kinda nice if I could somewhat emulate the RA2 Allied Airforce HQ all-in-one Repair + Reload somewhat for the fun of it, but I'm not getting any.

Is this already proven to not work?

This post has been edited by Chris Ichikawa: Dec 13 2010, 04:52 PM

[Team Black]

hmm I guess one more thing you could try is Bittah's method of using particle systems with negative damage.

I haven't done a thing with these yet, so I wouldn't have any helpful advice as to how to implement it.
Also worth trying might be to assign a negative damage to the helipad's active anim - though that might only affect the helipad itself.
If it's possible to assign a particle system to animations, you could also possibly make the animation spawn the negative-damage-particle system, which in turn would heal the heli.

LKO would be a better guy to ask about this, he's done all sorts of stuff with anims and particles and stuff

[Lin Kuei Ominae]

I don't think there's a way to do this with anims or PSs, because both would also repair/damage the building.

Using an art.ini anim with negative damage doesn't works. So you're forced to use art.ini debris spawned by the activeanim. However, even if the art.ini debris allow to use a certain warhead (like repair WH with neg verses), the debris still damage the building. Regardless if they have negative damage or positive damage with negative warhead verses and they need at least +1 or -1 damage to use the warhead (with Damage=0 the warhead is ignored).
Thus the building would slowly get destroyed.
You can of course assign a repair particlesystem to the warhead to counter the damage effect of the debris, but this would heal the building also when it got damaged by the enemy.


However i've found a way to give aircraft a selfhealing ability without using the SelfHealing key, which renownedly causes bugs like invincible but constantly rotating aircraft.
You can give the aircraft a special DamageParticleSystem which has negative damage. Since the PS won't hit the unit during the flight, because PS can't hit flying objects, the aircraft will repair only when landed. Thus you get the impression the aircraft gets healed whenever it lands on the helipad. (though only to half strength as then the DamagePS is stopped and it also heals when it lands on normal ground)

This post has been edited by Lin Kuei Ominae: Nov 18 2010, 10:29 AM

[KajiTetsushi]

hmm I guess one more thing you could try is Bittah's method of using particle systems with negative damage.

I haven't done a thing with these yet, so I wouldn't have any helpful advice as to how to implement it.
Also worth trying might be to assign a negative damage to the helipad's active anim - though that might only affect the helipad itself.
If it's possible to assign a particle system to animations, you could also possibly make the animation spawn the negative-damage-particle system, which in turn would heal the heli.

I've tried that already, it doesn't work, but thanks for your suggestion, anyway.

--------------------

Crash? I love crashes, hit me up with a except.txt

But let's try and keep off .exe hacking here.

--------------------

I don't think there's a way to do this with anims or PSs, because both would also repair/damage the building.

Aiiih... Okaaaaay, that's one fun feature down the drain...

Using an art.ini anim with negative damage doesn't works. So you're forced to use art.ini debris spawned by the activeanim. However, even if the art.ini debris allow to use a certain warhead (like repair WH with neg verses), the debris still damage the building. Regardless if they have negative damage or positive damage with negative warhead verses and they need at least +1 or -1 damage to use the warhead (with Damage=0 the warhead is ignored).
Thus the building would slowly get destroyed.
You can of course assign a repair ParticleSystem to the warhead to counter the damage effect of the debris, but this would heal the building also when it got damaged by the enemy.

I see. I'll try that anyway. So, you're saying that I need some kind of debris that has these?

; art.ini

CODE

; *** Animation Overlays ***
; Active animation for helipad.
[GAHPAD_A]
LoopCount=-1
Spawns=REPAIRDEBRIS
SpawnCount=1

; Damaged active animation for helipad.
[GAHPAD_AD]
LoopCount=-1
Spawns=REPAIRDEBRIS
SpawnCount=1

[REPAIRDEBRIS]
Damage=1
Warhead=RepairWH

; rules.ini

CODE

; *** Warhead Characteristics ***
[RepairWH]
Particle=RepairParticleSys

[MechanicalInverseWH]; [Mechanical] with inversed values
Verses=0%,-100%,-100%,-100%,-100%

; *** Particle Systems ***
[RepairParticleSys]
HoldsWhat=RepairSpark
BehavesLike=Spark; let's just pretend it is

; *** Particles ***
[RepairSpark]
Damage=2; or -2?
Warhead=MechanicalInverseWH
BehavesLike=Spark

However i've found a way to give aircraft a selfhealing ability without using the SelfHealing key, which renownedly causes bugs like invincible but constantly rotating aircraft.

Yeah, I know... I discovered that waaaay back then. The aircraft just continues on flying and tumbling because it repairs itself by 1 unit of RepairStep whenever its Strength=0.

You can give the aircraft a special DamageParticleSystem which has negative damage. Since the PS won't hit the unit during the flight, because PS can't hit flying objects, the aircraft will repair only when landed. Thus you get the impression the aircraft gets healed whenever it lands on the helipad. (though only to half strength as then the DamagePS is stopped and it also heals when it lands on normal ground)

Compromise, compromise... Oh, well, I'll try that, too. All I actually wanted was to prevent the aircraft from SelfHealing=yes while flying.

This post has been edited by Chris Ichikawa: Nov 18 2010, 02:38 PM

[Nyerguds]

But let's try and keep off .exe hacking here.

Odd statement. Any insight into the problems that occur when trying this could possible lead to a solution that DOES work, even without hacking. and I see nothing wrong with giving him the opportunity to fix a bug, since he's working on a patch.

This post has been edited by Nyerguds: Dec 7 2010, 11:07 AM

[KajiTetsushi]

Odd statement. Any insight into the problems that occur when trying this could possible lead to a solution that DOES work, even without hacking. and I see nothing wrong with giving him the opportunity to fix a bug, since he's working on a patch.

Quite frankly, I can't tell whether Hyper's being serious or just pulling my leg.