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Mod tag enhancement feature (idea)


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Maybe somebody already thought of this? Or whatever.

 

Anyway, I was on the treadmill and was thinking of the AI triggers and how FIRST you create an objective with your green squares and then you do the drop down for objective type, one of those types now fairly recently being your various AI triggers. And then and only then  does the game internally tell your AI orders sections that you have those to work with.

 

OK, so that whole general idea keep in your mind but now we go into the purchase screen where you eventually have your unit purchased and can change experience and motivation and at the very bottom you have "appearance".

 

"appearance" now is a dropdown menu that I guess is waiting for its big day to shine.

It is only being lightly used with greatcoat, shorts (shorts! hilarious! those ugly white legs, who was the model for that? :D) and a few others.

 

How about you have a "user mod" selection on that dropdown and then this initiates the naming field to appear and accept, like in the naming of the AI triggers objectives, some alphanumeric, let me say 28ID for example?

 

This then creates an internal look for that unit/platoon/team to be decked out with the mod in the z folder with the associated [28ID] tag. 

 

Errors could be returned as "incompatible mod" or "mod not found" or screen results show the usual "The Thing" type freak and player must go back and fix it.

 

What this would get me is more granularity in the scenarios and it seems aligned with the mechanism already in place.

 

I am speaking of uniforms on soldiers but I think it would be well appreciated to do this with vehicles as well,

 

We could then have specific vehicles in a platoon pointed toward the specific modtagged files and see a platoon of 5 tanks each with a different hull number and nickname, kill rings, etc.

 

I sincerely appreciate your consideration. And of course the devil is in the details...etc etc

 

:D

Edited by kohlenklau
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If I understand you correctly the drop down would effectively edit the tags text file for the scenario with whatever text you included.  As long as you know what text to include, sounds good to me!

 

I could then ask Mord to change all his unit mods to have tags..... Mord,... Mord... are you okay?  Mord wake up... damn.

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Hi Steven, I am not sure. Mord's unit mods are uniform bmps? Or user interfaces? If uniforms, then the answer is yes, add a simple modtag at the end of those files and you can bring them into this idea..

 

A. The mechanism seems to be in place already but just not in player adjustable mode.

snow and muddy conditions triggers an automatic internal modtag look to the stock brz.

Availability of greatcoats, shorts, armored engineers, 101 airborne, 82 airborne, Soviet Guards, modtagged uniforms in the stock brz has been coded as a dropdown menu choice.

Locations and certain date ranges are coded to look for [mainland] in CMFI and of course [holland] and [easterneurope] for buildings...

 

B. We have quantity limits on AI groups, number of objectives, orders for AI group. So it would seem reasonable that we would have quantity limit on the number of "purchase screen appearance modtag imports".

 

<<I will use the p is silent pronunciation and coin the term "Sammy's" for Purchase Screen Appearance Modtag Imports (PSAMI's). :D >>

 

C. There must be a pecking order so it becomes like hands of poker?

 

1. The Sammy's (Z folder tagged and "appearance" dropdown menu specified in scenario editor) overrides z folder tagged and modtag text file imported in scenario editor

 

2. Z folder tagged and modtagged inported in scenario editor overrides z folder non-tagged AND automatic internal modtag from stock brz

 

3. automatic internal modtag from stock brz overrides Z folder non-tagged AND stock brz

 

4. Z folder non-tagged overrides stock brz.

 

5. stock brz

 

D. The Sammy's will be limited in number as the program has shown precedence to do for other concepts. A dozen?

 

The manual will be written to give a good explanation on how to do the Sammy procedure. Like anything in the editor or with modding it will take attention to detail to get the correct results.

 

Just like the game does not yet support a ctrl-c/ctrl-v in the scenario editor ACROSS scenarios, you will probably have to re-enter your Sammy's in a new scenario.

 

The Sammy system differs from modtag text file in that this is specifically aimed to FURTHER modify the unit appearance for individual line items in the purchase screen. Your HQ's, your squads, your teams, your

 

various vehicles. Anything already with the ability to be edited for experience, name, motivation, etc.

 

Sammy system is NOT for buildings, signs, That best stays under the modtag textfile method.

 

Let me make up a dozen Sammy's. Standby.

Edited by kohlenklau
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A dozen Sammy's per side

 

<I will go ahead and utilize a Bulge flavored example...>

 

Allied:

 

In my z folder I have say for example purposes 5 complete sets of Sherman bmp images, they can be different models as long as each set is modtagged differently [sherman1], [sherman2],[sherman3],[sherman4] and [sherman5]

 

A Sammy for each set for the vehicles will solve the hull to turret mismatch issue. On screen would appear in this example 5 distinctly different vehicles. Turret matched to hull for camo, vehicle number and/or nickname, etc.

 

This is very useful for the half-tracks as well. They borrow hull from other models and it is tough to have good visual results without a Sammy. [halftrack1],[halftrack2],[halftrack3].

 

Maybe a jeep also? [jeep1].

 

OK, now for some troops we can use the stock [101st] which should be already there. Plus we can bring in the following Sammy's: [28id], [101st-greatcoat], [28id-greatcoat]

 

So, if left to "standard" appearance then the game goes and runs through the pecking order for appearance selection. But when you use Sammy's, they always show up.

 

Axis:

 

Of course the same basic approach for panthers. [panther1], [panther2], [panther3], [panther4] and [panther5]. All would have distinct turret numbers, camo and nick name (if desired).

 

And I would love to be able to use this Sammy:  [schwimmwagen1]  hinty-hint-hint  :D

 

Axis troops could have a nice variety in the usual axis hodge-podge we see for the Ardennes. Sammy's would be the answer to provide that.

 

[waffen1], [waffen2], [waffen3], [waffen4], [fj1], [fj2], 

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What can we currently do for visual appearance variety?

 

If you modtag as we do now with the text file import [panther1] then ALL panthers of that model would show as that mod appearance. <Sammy idea allows appearance modification down at the individual vehicle level.>

 

If you did a multiple tag text file  panther1,panther2,  then you are probably allowing the random vehicle thing to still occur. You might be able to tightly control appearance in a small scenario by using different versions

 

of a panther or sherman and combining the normal modtag system with your mods for those versions and only purchase one of each. A scenario with maybe 2 or 3 tanks per side could be done, all being different

 

versions but showing distinctly different in appearance. Historically might/will be inaccurate if different versions? But the visual look could be adequate.

 

But for infantry troops, the mixing is much more limited under the current system. The axis troops within a squad can seem to automatically select m43 uniforms as well as a smock.  I think that is [full camo] in the

 

appearance dropdown. So, BFC is thinking of this type of visual variety but it is just that the player cannot yet tap into it beyond normal modding.

Edited by kohlenklau
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one more thing!

 

 

OK, if this system is way too hard to code or a low priority, then possibly shift it to a preset options hardcoded as currently done in the dropdown.

 

Purchase Screen Appearance dropdown would have usermod1, usermod2, usermod3, etc. at least preset as available to exploit if you tag and load those mods in your z folder.

 

In this lesser scale solution, player would not be able to edit or import the names but would have to match the nomenclature that BFC decides to use.

 

For a vehicle unit in the purchase screen, appearance dropdown could list vehiclemod1, vehiclemod2, etc.

 

Appearance would always default in the dropdown to "standard" as it does now and game uses the current pecking order to assign visual bmp files.

 

For the preset options, the player would have to make sure that the unit was then assigned an appropriate mod. No different than the player now having to have his act together when he ventures into the editor.

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I've been interested in this very thing for a while now. You would tag your graphics files, then they would show up in the Editor under"appearance". That would allow individual squads and vehicles to have different graphics applied. I've suggested this, so maybe we might someday see it. It would be very useful to be sure.

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I could then ask Mord to change all his unit mods to have tags..... Mord,... Mord... are you okay?  Mord wake up... damn.

 

LOL. FAT chance buddy boy.

 

As for vehicles, I have brought up the issue of the game not matching hull to turret (and how hard would it be to code?) about four times and have received crickets. The opportunity is there to have multiple vehicles skins (and it can already  be done if the camo is kept the same and only decals are applied) I just don't know why I haven't been able to get an answer on it for the last 4 years.

 

 

 

Mord.

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LOL. FAT chance buddy boy.

 

As for vehicles, I have brought up the issue of the game not matching hull to turret (and how hard would it be to code?) about four times and have received crickets. The opportunity is there to have multiple vehicles skins (and it can already  be done if the camo is kept the same and only decals are applied) I just don't know why I haven't been able to get an answer on it for the last 4 years.

 

Mord.

 

Correct me if I am wrong but doesn't it with the current system still possibly grab 2 or more of the same one if you had 5 decal choices with a nominal 5 tank platoon?

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Correct me if I am wrong but doesn't it with the current system still possibly grab 2 or more of the same one if you had 5 decal choices with a nominal 5 tank platoon?

I think what mord wants is a way to map the turret and hull for example.  Right now if you have 5 turrets and 5 hulls they will mix and match in multiple options, but will not stay fixed resulting in different camo schemes for example.  The only answer is they all have to have the same camo scheme or only one set is used.  a mod tag won't help as it would still have the same mix and match.  What mord wants if I understand correctly is hull 1 and turret 1 would always map together as would hull 2 and turret 2 etc.

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Yes, Sburke nailed it.

 

I hope one day they'll implement it. It would be really cool to have customized markings and/or camo on each vehicle. I doubt it would be that much of a drain on your comp as long as you weren't fielding a battalion. We already have the deal where we could theoretically load up 70 different uniforms with 70 different helmets for each side. It must be something in the code that keeps it from happening but considering there was no way at all to have multiple textures in CMSF, the fact we can now (though not at all optimal) must mean they were looking into the future when they coded CMBN.

 

 

Mord.

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