(*) Bugs in Original TS/FS (and how to fix them) Options

[Lin Kuei Ominae]

Hi

I found some bugs/errors in the art.ini causing some animations not showing up.
In the following list you see the changes/additions i've made to make them work.
In most cases it was just a wrong zadjust value so the building itself was hiding the animation.
art.ini

CODE

[GAPLUG]
ActiveAnimZAdjust=-100
ActiveAnimTwoZAdjust=-125

[GAPLUG_BD]
PingPong=no;else it ends after a while

[NAHAND]
ActiveAnimTwoZAdjust=-100;antenna flash lights

[GAPILE]
ActiveAnimThreeDamaged=CAARAY_CD;invisible anim
ActiveAnimThreeZAdjust=-75;tiny flashlight on antenna

[GASILO]
ActiveAnimZAdjust=-100

[CAARAY_A]
LoopEnd=16
DemandLoad=true

[CAARAY_B]
LoopEnd=16
DemandLoad=true

[CAARAY_C]
LoopEnd=16
DemandLoad=true

[CAARAY_CD]
LoopEnd=32
DemandLoad=true

[CAARAY_D]
LoopEnd=12
DemandLoad=true

[CAARAY_DD]
LoopEnd=24
DemandLoad=true

[CAHOSP_A]
DetailLevel=2

[CAARMR_A]
DetailLevel=2

the [CTDAM] made some more problems
The animations were originally commented out and i couldn't find a solution.
CTDAM_B needs to be made completely new (maybe through color conversion from the original) because the colors and its palette are completely messed up.
you can find a fix for them made by DeeZire on ppm.

-GAPILE has an anim for the small antenna that was not shown (just a flashing pixel). This anim also plays while damaged and thus a flying pixel occurs. To avoid this i added for damage stage "ActiveAnimThreeDamaged=CAARAY_CD" because this is a clear/invisible anim. GAPILE_B originally has no damage anim.
-The CAARAY now shows all animations, for that i added the demandload=true tag to all anims and fixed the loopend tags.
-SILO with 1 pixel sized flashlights at the peaks
-GAPLUG antenna lights and the small radar dish


I found out that some projectile anims aren't played. The proton actually wobbles while flying and the Discus used by the Disc thrower doesn't even had an entry. Thus it had ingame the wrong palette and no anim.
here is what you have to change/add in art.ini

CODE

[TORPEDO]
AnimPalette=yes
AnimLow=0
AnimHigh=2
AnimRate=1

[DISCUS]
AnimPalette=yes
AnimLow=0
AnimHigh=5
AnimRate=1

[CANISTER]
AnimLow=0
AnimHigh=13
AnimRate=1

;unused but in the original mixes (maybe planned for the orcabomber)
[BOMB]
AnimPalette=yes
AnimLow=0
AnimHigh=13
AnimRate=1

;unused but in the original mixes
[PARABOMB]
AnimPalette=yes
AnimLow=8
AnimHigh=12
AnimRate=1

;unused but in the original mixes
[MISSILE]
Trailer=SMOKEY2
Rotates=yes

;unused but in the original mixes
[PATRIOT]
Trailer=SMOKEY
Rotates=yes

\EDIT

[CANISTER] doesnt use a Anim.pal ... it use Unittem.pal. Seems this projectie will requre a fixed artwok aswell.

projectile code fixed (removed AnimPalette=yes key) and in palette.pal converted shp uploaded.
 canister.zip ( 529bytes ) Number of downloads: 2695
\EDITEND

To get the harvester unloading animation to work, simply clone in art.ini the [NAREFN] entry and rename it to [PROC].
You have to add the following lines to the refinery entries in art.ini:

CODE

PreProductionAnimX=2
PreProductionAnimY=0
PreProductionAnimZAdjust=-75

ProductionAnimX=2
ProductionAnimY=0
ProductionAnimZAdjust=-75

for a more detailed description you can take a look on Aros post here or visit the tutorial topic at ppm.

btw, Nod weapon factory is suposted to have an own animation (i made it an active animation, but i can be used as produktion animation)
[NAWEAP]
...
ActiveAnim=NAWEAP_A
ActiveAnimDamaged=NAWEAP_AD
ActiveAnimZAdjust=-119

[NAWEAP_A]
Image=NAWEAP_A
Normalized=yes
NewTheater=yes
LoopStart=0
LoopEnd=15
LoopCount=-1
Rate=400
Surface=yes
DetailLevel=1

[NAWEAP_AD]
Image=NAWEAP_A
Normalized=yes
NewTheater=yes
LoopStart=16
LoopEnd=31
LoopCount=-1
Rate=400
Surface=yes
DetailLevel=1

don't forget to add the animations NAWEAP_A and NAWEAP_AD to rules.ini [Animations] list.

When I started modding I found that when I collected a armor powerup the unit didn't get the thicker selection box, it gets when it collects an attack or speed powerup.
...
[Powerups]
Armor=33,ARMOR,2.0 ; armor of nearby objects increased (armor multiplier)
...
I set it to Armor=33,ARMOR,10.0, and set the shares of the other powerups to zero, so I could only get this powerup, I also increased the number of crates, so I could easly get them.

Ingame, I ordered a titan to get a crate, incredibly, it was an armor powerup //sarcasm :biggrin:
then I attacked that Titan with other, the powerupped Titan died with one shot. I also attacke a non-powerupped Titan, it survived more than 1 shot, so infact, the powerupped Titan was weaker.

Then I returned to rules.ini and set the values to:
Armor=100,ARMOR,0.5 ;*; verses multiplier ; armor of nearby objects increased

Ingame I repeated the same steps, but I got different results as I've expected, the powerupped Titan died with twice the number of shots than the non-powerupped, I also saw that the selection box did change when a unit collected an armor powerup.

GATECH_AD has "LoopStart=80" instead of "LoopStart=8".
normaly, damaged animations would be played indefinitely and loop till the building ist destroyed or repaired. But due to this mistake, the whole GATECH_A.shp will be played once and then stop playing :wacko:

theres also a strange thing will NATECH_A, instead of using the first part as ActiveAnimation and the second part as DamagedAnimation, the whole animation will be used as ActiveAnimation (so it has no DamagedAnimation)

here the correct code.

CODE

[NATECH_A]
Image=NATECH_A
Normalized=yes
LoopStart=0
LoopEnd=9
LoopCount=-1
Rate=350
Surface=yes
NewTheater=yes
DetailLevel=1

[NATECH_AD]
Image=NATECH_A
Normalized=yes
LoopStart=10
LoopEnd=19
LoopCount=-1
Rate=350
Surface=yes
NewTheater=yes
DetailLevel=1

and again don't forget to add these two, to the rules.ini [Animations] list

Fixing the waterfall anims, which have a messed up first frame.
for [WA01X] and the other following waterfall entrys (last is [WD04X]), change Loopstart to 1

CODE

[WA01X]
Theater=yes
Normalized=yes
LoopStart=1
LoopEnd=8
LoopCount=-1
Rate=220
Flat=yes
DetailLevel=2
DemandLoad=true
ShouldUseCellDrawer=true

Component tower bugs.

the GACTWR_C.shp is messed up. The frames are in wrong order, thus causes the tower to shoot from its side.

copy gtctwr_c and rename it to gactwr_c or download it here

another bug is the small flashlight that is shown trough a building which stands right before the CTWR. For that to fix change the ZAdjust value.

CODE

[GACTWR]
ActiveAnimZAdjust=-19

This is also a problem on the Nod powerplants which show their activeanim through a very high building standing in front of them. Though there aren't much buildings high enough for this bug to occur. Anyway here the code

CODE

[NAPOWR]
ActiveAnimZAdjust=-55

[NAAPWR]
ActiveAnimZAdjust=-55

Obelisk Charging anim is bug too it show all 24 frames of NAOBEL_B before firing instead 12 frames.

this is fixed in artfs.ini from firestorm, due to 3 new lines

CODE

Start=0
LoopStart=0
LoopEnd=12

and that's enough to add to make it work. However i've never saw a problem in TS anyway.


GARADR and NASTLH damage anim fixes.
They have a problem due to the messed up PingPong= key. The only solution is to remove this key and add the backwards anim to the normal shp and also create separate shps for the damage anims.
Download the zip and add the fixed anims to your TS:  radrstlh.zip ( 95.85K ) Number of downloads: 2544
Then change the art.ini code of the building anims to the following

CODE

[GARADR_A]
NewTheater=yes
Normalized=yes
LoopStart=0
LoopEnd=27
LoopCount=-1
Rate=220
Surface=yes
PingPong=no

[GARADR_AD]
NewTheater=yes
Normalized=yes
LoopStart=0
LoopEnd=27
LoopCount=-1
Rate=180
Surface=yes
PingPong=no

; Active animation for stealth generator
[NASTLH_A]
Normalized=yes
LoopStart=0
LoopEnd=5
LoopCount=-1
Rate=350
Surface=yes
PingPong=no
NewTheater=yes
DetailLevel=1

; Damaged active animation for stealth generator
[NASTLH_AD]
Normalized=yes
LoopStart=0
LoopEnd=5
LoopCount=-1
Rate=220
Surface=yes
PingPong=no
NewTheater=yes
DetailLevel=1

The damage stage for the Silo fill anim isn't played. It uses the normal stage anim for this too.
just add to GASILO_AD the key Start=4

CODE

; Tiberium silo fill animation
[GASILO_AD]
Image=GASILO_A
Normalized=yes
Start=4
Rate=0
Surface=yes
NewTheater=yes

The harvester harvesting anim wasn't played in unittem.pal. Thus converted into anim.pal.
Download:  harvestr.zip ( 2.4K ) Number of downloads: 2779
Add the SHP to your TS and watch the much better looking anim.

This post has been edited by Lin Kuei Ominae: Jun 11 2008, 12:03 PM

[Aro]

Well done LKO..
Ima attempt to fix these Right away.

[ORCACommander]

could we see a pic of the fix for the Comp tower?

[Creagor]

Hmm, I had a list of fixes for TS bugs (Not all anim bugs though). If I can dig it up ill send it to you, so you can add it here/play around with them yourself if you want. I also attempred to fix [CTDAM] a bit ago, I will search through my files for that too...

Also, Moved to tutorial area, as it is a tutorial really. Gave it a difficulty of (*) as its only really a copy+paste tut.

EDIT: Okay,wont let me edit your post title. But its in the tutorials section anyway.

This post has been edited by Creagor: Jan 21 2007, 05:57 PM

[Anderwin]

This is old. IS a lot some are wrong. Look in the ART.ini where are the NAWEAP _a _b _1 _2 and GAWEAP _1 _2.

The art.ini are a lot of things some are wrong.


Look here what i mean

[Creagor]

Admittedly, they are old in terms of being discovered, but to a new modder its not old, its useful.

[Chriz]

@ Anderwin

not every animation needs to be defined in art.ini. i guess if the animation works with the default settings, theres no reason to make an art.ini entry...

btw, Nod weapon factory is suposted to have an own animation (i made it an active animation, but i can be used as produktion animation)


[NAWEAP]
...
ActiveAnim=NAWEAP_A
ActiveAnimDamaged=NAWEAP_AD
ActiveAnimZAdjust=-119

[NAWEAP_A]
Image=NAWEAP_A
Normalized=yes
NewTheater=yes
LoopStart=0
LoopEnd=15
LoopCount=-1
Rate=400
Surface=yes
DetailLevel=1

[NAWEAP_AD]
Image=NAWEAP_A
Normalized=yes
NewTheater=yes
LoopStart=16
LoopEnd=31
LoopCount=-1
Rate=400
Surface=yes
DetailLevel=1

[Lin Kuei Ominae]

could we see a pic of the fix for the Comp tower?

what do you mean with comp tower. GACTWR isnt in the list

Look in the ART.ini where are the NAWEAP _a _b _1 _2 and GAWEAP _1 _2.

those are needed for the unit-is-coming-out time.
NAWEAP_1: the door and ground-bib, the part that is always under a unit and thus on a lower height than the leaving unit
NAWEAP_2: the building roof, the part that hides a unit under it
NAWEAP_b: the door opening-animation of the factory
these 3 dont need an art.ini entry because they have a very specific style for the frames in their shp file. sth like hardcoded.
NAWEAP_1 and _2 have only 2 frames. 1 normal and 1 damage frame.
NAWEAP_b is defined in the factory entry with DoorStages= and DamagedDoor= the game knows everything it needs.

NAWEAP_a: chriz already said, this was planned as a produktion anim, but this works for conyard only; so make it as an ActiveAnim

GAWEAP_1: =NAWEAP_1 but for gdi factory
GAWEAP_2: =NAWEAP_2 but for gdi factory

This post has been edited by Lin Kuei Ominae: Jan 22 2007, 12:40 AM

[SMIFFGIG]

great post Lin Kuei Ominae

I will add to this list when I get some time ... the only ones i can think of that you have missed off the top of my head are

The missing unloading and loading anim for the Tiberium Refinary
The missing glowing red cross animation for the Civilian Hospital
(im sure there is some sort of missing anim for the Civilian armoury too)

[ORCACommander]

civ armory is supposed to have a blowing flag. And I think the glowing cross looks tacky. Needs a new better shp or just leave it out IMO

[Clazzy]

That's not a bug, that's a changed feature. The Cyborg Commando was once to have those two weapons but they changed it to a single plasma cannon.

[Lin Kuei Ominae]

The missing unloading and loading anim for the Tiberium Refinary

right, i see if i get it work

The missing glowing red cross animation for the Civilian Hospital
(im sure there is some sort of missing anim for the Civilian armoury too)

both are already in the list CAHOSP and CAARMR
they have set Detaillevel=3 so it was never played. now with 2 it works (glowing red cross for HOSP and animated flag for ARMR)

The Cyborg Commando was once to have those two weapons but they changed it to a single plasma cannon.

compared to the plasmagun the fireballlauncher is so weak that it weaks the whole unit if it fires. Thats why i think they removed this.

This post has been edited by Lin Kuei Ominae: Jan 22 2007, 12:45 PM

[ORCACommander]

I think they removed it for ballance even though the platnium edition manual says it is suposed to have it.

[Machine]

Hi, I'm new to the forums, but I've been visiting it for a while.

When I started modding I found that when I collected a armor powerup the unit didn't get the thicker selection box, it gets when it collects an attack or speed powerup.

I searched trought rules.ini and I found this:
[Powerups]
Armor=33,ARMOR,2.0 ; armor of nearby objects increased (armor multiplier)

And I thought, that this setting would modify the verses values of the weapon, when attacking the unit, but a bigger than 1 multiplier would cause that unit takes more damage form weapons. So I tested this ingame.

I set it to Armor=33,ARMOR,10.0, and set the shares of the other powerups to zero, so I could only get this powerup, I also increased the number of crates, so I could easly get them.

Ingame, I ordered a titan to get a crate, incredibly, it was an armor powerup //sarcasm :biggrin:
then I attacked that Titan with other, the powerupped Titan died with one shot. I also attacke a non-powerupped Titan, it survived more than 1 shot, so infact, the powerupped Titan was weaker.

Then I returned to rules.ini and set the values to:
Armor=100,ARMOR,0.5 ;*; verses multiplier ; armor of nearby objects increased

Ingame I repeated the same steps, but I got different results as I've expected, the powerupped Titan died with twice the number of shots than the non-powerupped, I also saw that the selection box did change when a unit collected an armor powerup.

Finally, I apologise by such a large first post, but I must show proof of what I'm saying, so I posted the experimental procedure I followed.

This post has been edited by Machine: Jan 22 2007, 08:07 PM

[Lin Kuei Ominae]

good proof Machine i wondered too, why this powerup never had the bigger brackets.
i add this point to the list of the first post.
btw this is a good point for modders if they want crates with negative effects!

This post has been edited by Lin Kuei Ominae: Jan 23 2007, 12:31 PM

[Bittah Commander]

Very interesting find, Machine. So you're saying that the normal armor powerup actually makes units weaker instead of stronger?
This is actually new to me

[Machine]

In fact the armor powerup does make the units weaker. Recently I also tried to give values lower than 1, to the speed and attack powerups, and the result was that the selection box didn't change; so I think that it only changes if a unit has stronger base stats (excluding, in this way, bonus gained by veterancy) than the values stated in rules.ini.

This post has been edited by Machine: Jan 23 2007, 01:25 PM

[Morpher]

This is a very interesting find, good work, you fixed an unknown but obviously a large issue bug, out of interest, possitive values make it less effective, 0.X values make it more, have you tried it with any negative values example -5 or -0.5?

[Tratos]

Negative numbers would probably cause a crash because the value represents a multiplier to the base value of the units armor. However, WW screwed up and instead the value acts as a divisor.

Example, say the unit has 80 armor. The armor crate is set at 2.0.

The unit picks up the crate giving it 80 armor divided by 2.

80/2 = 40 armor making it weaker.

If the crate is set to 0.5 the unit picks it up:

80/0.5 = 160 making it twice as strong.

If the crate has a negative value, say -4.

80/-4 = -20 essentially the unit is dead as armor is below 0.

Ingame i have no idea what would happen but i can hazard a guess that it wouldnt be positive. Either:

1) the unit dies instantly
2) the game crashes
3) the unit has its armor reduced below 0 rendering it invulnerable as any further attacks will not cause the armor to reach 0 instead pushing it further into negative numbers.
4) the unit becomes unusable, as in it is still visible and possibly selectable but cannot move/shoot or perform any other action.

[Crimsonum]

I doubt we need to try it, if it works with value lower than 1 (otherwise it would just decrease the armor).

Btw, here are some animations I'm not sure if works/doesn't work at all, and I don't know how to fix them myself:

- The waterfall animations,
- The dam animation,
- The harvester dumb animation.

Oh, and does somebody know how to add an active animation to a building with a voxel turret? I need to give the laser turret an active animation, but the game crashes when the turret tries to shoot.

[Machine]

@Morpher $ Tratos:
Haven't tried negative values; but it might cause that the unit heals when attacked, or it could produce IEs.
I think of it like a multiplier to damage; so 20 (damage)*0.5=10, so 20*-1=-20 (damage), so it might produce a healing effect?. But I don't find any utility to this, because, if it works in that way; it will cause a normal unit to heal when attacked with a normal weapon.
I might try it anyways; haven't thought of that before

[The DvD]

About the unused Nod Warfactory anim, doesn't it have to be listed in the Rules.ini [Animations] list first? I remember it isn't in the list by default.

[Lin Kuei Ominae]

right, added to the first post. thanks DVD.

[Chriz]

found another animation bug:

GATECH_AD has "LoopStart=80" instead of "LoopStart=8".
normaly, damaged animations would be played indefinitely and loop till the building ist destroyed or repaired. But due to this mistake, the whole GATECH_A.shp will be played once and then stop playing :wacko:

theres also a strange thing will NATECH_A, instead of using the first part as ActiveAnimation and the second part as DamagedAnimation, the whole animation will be used as ActiveAnimation (so it has no DamagedAnimation)

This post has been edited by Chriz: Feb 23 2007, 08:24 PM

[Lin Kuei Ominae]

cool, thanks chriz
i've added this to the first post. And also the code for the damage anim of NATECH

[Crimsonum]

Oh, there's a problem I just remembered seeing while playing a game. The Nod Stealth Generator damaged animation doesn't work, it still plays the undamaged animation.

[Tartan Bunny]

you can just download the 2.03 TS patch and all those bugs will be fixed...

[ORCACommander]

nonononono these are bugs with it still patched

[jadems]

Sorry for the bump, that's not that big >.>

What about the Door opening animation for the Nod Missile Silo?
I heard someone was working on, are the results back?

[Creagor]

Researrch was done into getting it to work, but alas, it is impossible to re-activate correctly. The same goes for the firestrom defence activaition animaition.