Using Existing Unit Effects to Create Custom Units

[sman1975]

Unfortunately, I couldn't get the updated .gr2 to work. The units were "invisible" - but all the VFS settings were correct. I didn't see "Qtip_Bone_FX" in the Cannon's collection of bone bindings, and the index & vertex counts were the same for the new and old versions of the .gr2 file. Not sure if that means anything, though. I tried using several different bones, but none of them changed the look (i.e. invisibility). Will keep experimenting with it, but am not very hopeful.

Have basically completed the unit pack, which includes the model using these attacks: "acid" (XCom), "fireball" (modified city attack), "flame thrower" (dromon), "grenade launcher" (guided missile), "lightning" (GDR), "mithril" (combined GDR/XCom/modified city attack), and "rocket launcher" (rocket artillery).

It's not easy capturing the animations with screen grabs, but here are some pix of the attacks in action:



Not sure if I'll "finish" the mod with customized icons/promotions, but will look for some artwork to recycle in the meantime.

Appreciate the help getting to this point!

 

[sman1975]

Am no artists, but think a couple of these turned out ok. Good enough for a basic unit pack. Am sure if someone felt strongly about using one of the models, they could easily find an icon they liked better. Still, here's the "basic" icons for the models:



Working on the "Dwarf Cannoneer" promotion next - I guess it came out ok, at least for V1....

 

[Nomad or What]

Unfortunately, I couldn't get the updated .gr2 to work. The units were "invisible" - but all the VFS settings were correct. I didn't see "Qtip_Bone_FX" in the Cannon's collection of bone bindings, and the index & vertex counts were the same for the new and old versions of the .gr2 file. Not sure if that means anything, though. I tried using several different bones, but none of them changed the look (i.e. invisibility). Will keep experimenting with it, but am not very hopeful.

Have basically completed the unit pack, which includes the model using these attacks: "acid" (XCom), "fireball" (modified city attack), "flame thrower" (dromon), "grenade launcher" (guided missile), "lightning" (GDR), "mithril" (combined GDR/XCom/modified city attack), and "rocket launcher" (rocket artillery).

It's not easy capturing the animations with screen grabs, but here are some pix of the attacks in action:

View attachment 491696 View attachment 491697 View attachment 491698 View attachment 491699 View attachment 491700 View attachment 491701 View attachment 491702

Not sure if I'll "finish" the mod with customized icons/promotions, but will look for some artwork to recycle in the meantime.

Appreciate the help getting to this point!

Yeah, I realize why the unit was invisible; I haven't modded with Blender in about a year and I forgot that I had re-installed Blender - without updating the NexusBuddy scripts. Ooops! It works now:

Modified Dwarf Flame Cannon

 

[sman1975]

@Nomad or What - THANKS!!!! I got it working right away - and man, it looks good! The gunner - when he transitions from idle to fidget and back to idle, "drags" the green ball around, which leaves a nice trail behind it. Looks pretty cool! I'm also pretty happy with how the "fireball" and "mithril" attacks turned out.

The mod is finished, well V1 is. I've tested it and have had absolutely no issues with it, which actually make me kinda nervous... If anyone is playing it, please let me know if there are any problems.

https://forums.civfanatics.com/resources/dwaven-cannon-unit-pack.26771/



And thanks again to the one who kicked this all off - @Nomad or What. It's really his mod, I just fiddled with a few lines of code - which were also originally his ideas...

 

[sman1975]

Have added a couple of modern units (advanced SAMs) that use modified versions of the XCom/GDR animations:

https://forums.civfanatics.com/resources/advanced-sam-units.26779/

They're "improved" versions of the Mobile SAM unit. Am also working on a few more modern units that will also reuse these animations - to beef up the end-game experience.

Have also added similar units that reuse these animations:

Railgun Tank: https://forums.civfanatics.com/resources/railgun-armor.26791/

Railgun Destroyer: https://forums.civfanatics.com/resources/railgun-destroyer.26782/

Advanced Artillery Units: https://forums.civfanatics.com/resources/advanced-artillery-units.26781/

 

[Tonas1997]

Hi, I'm trying to change the game's air units so that they can pillage tile improvements, like in Civ III. Basically, the mod is intended to work like this:

1- The attack overlay of air units includes enemy tile improvements as valid targets, like any other ground unit.
2- The flyby+bombing animation plays normally, and after the sortie the tile is pillaged. The airplane is still vulnerable to air defenses.

Most modding tutorials stick to things like adding new civilizations and buildings, and since this thread seems to deal with event-level programming, I though about posting my issue here.

 

[Nutty]

Hi, I'm trying to change the game's air units so that they can pillage tile improvements, like in Civ III. ... since this thread seems to deal with event-level programming, I though about posting my issue here.

These XML event codes are very different than the Lua and/or C++ you'd need to create your mod.

Since this is off-topic, I'll post my advice (such as it is) in your other thread.

 

[sman1975]

@Nomad or What - here's another little gem I've found - using the Great Prophet's "Active Religion" animation in support of a "normal" melee attack. Really adds a "magical" feel:



Unfortunately, the screenshot doesn't do the animation justice...

Original credit goes to yourself, of course, as I found this little beauty in the "Beholders" unit pack. I'm just pointing this out to anyone else using this forum to build fantasy-type mods. Hate for anyone to miss this amazing find!

And adding this animation to a normal trigger file is super simple. Here are the only 2 lines of code required:

<trigger type="FTimedTriggerEffect" id="200" time="0.105557568" duration="2" repeat="0" ec="1100" track="2" event="ART_DEF_VEFFECT_RELIGION_ACTIVATE" bone="Point_SWORD" />
<trigger type="FTimedTriggerTransfer" id="201" time="0.105557568" duration="0" repeat="0" ec="1100" track="3" refid="200" speed="0" tangent.x="-90" tangent.y="-90" tangent.z="0" />

You'd need to find the highest 'id' used in the trigger file and pick a higher number, ensure the refid matches, and finally pick the correct bone you want to tie the animation to. Piece of cake!

I'm currently adding this effect to a "Wandering Monster" expansion mod I'm adding to my "Fantasy Army" mod.

Cheers!


EDIT: One thing I've noticed in testing, is there isn't any sounds to go with the attack. Am experimenting with that at the moment, using the Dromon's sounds.

And another thing.... If you put this animation on a ranged attack unit, with a range or 2 or more tiles, it's a really cool, wavy attack animation. Perfect for Wraiths and Beholders...


EDIT 2: My, getting sounds to work as expected is starting to prove problematic for me. May have to put this one on the back burner for now until I can figure out how to sync some sounds with the GP animations. Anyone know of a good sound tutorial???

 

[Deliverator]

@sman1975 Have a look at my T-Rex unit. I added custom sound fx for that.
https://forums.civfanatics.com/resources/tyrannosaurus-rex.24779/

Also the complete list of available visual effects is here if you want to experiment further:
https://forums.civfanatics.com/thre...eate-custom-units.528638/page-5#post-14205303

 

[sman1975]

Thanks, Mr. Deliverator, the legend!!! And thanks for all the models, code, etc., that I've been able to work with!

I'm not trying to create a new sound palette from scratch. I was simply trying to use existing sounds (aka the Dromon sounds) at the same time the Great Prophet animations were playing.

I used sample triggers which worked in other models successfully, but for some reason, no sounds emitted. All the id's were set correctly (all unique) and the "time" and "duration" settings were correct. Still, nothing but crickets. Well, crickets would have been an improvement...

I'll take a look at it again later. Maybe, after I find some kind of trigger tutorial.

Thanks again!

 

[sman1975]

Also the complete list of available visual effects is here if you want to experiment further:
https://forums.civfanatics.com/thre...eate-custom-units.528638/page-5#post-14205303

I'm experimenting with adding some of these effects to an existing model (The Sandworm, https://forums.civfanatics.com/resources/sandworm-dune-wars.22814/).

Unfortunately, there are no bones listed under the BoneUsage in the fxsxml file. I used Granny Viewer to get the bone names I wanted to use for various effects, adding them into the file, then referencing them in the ftsxml trigger file.

After testing about 20 effects in various events, I've yet to see a single instance of it working - even for effects I've gotten working before with other models. The main events I was testing were 1160 (city attack), but I also added EC 1000 (idle) which was not in the trigger file before. It didn't work, either...

I'm starting to think the trigger file isn't using the bones properly at all. Is there some step I'm missing to make a bone "usable?"

The mod is uploaded at https://forums.civfanatics.com/resources/kronian-sandworm.26892/

Thanks!

 

[Astrostar]

hi im having multiple problems with Nexus...

Unable to Launch asset'- Nexus 4320'. check path location

Viewer. Failed veiwer has closed unexpectedly (restart?)

The Extract PAK in Script Browser does nothing

 

[Deliverator]

The Extract PAK in Script Browser does nothing

Nexus is fairly useless. It is buggy and was never fully fixed by Firaxis. If you only want to Unpack the .fpk files then use Dragon Unpacker.

 

[Astrostar]

Nexus is fairly useless. It is buggy and was never fully fixed by Firaxis. If you only want to Unpack the .fpk files then use Dragon Unpacker.

Thank you... I figured out a cruder method, i just deleted the path to assets in regedit... then it worked.

 

[Usernamehere]

Is there an advanced tutorial yet for how to make a unit use either the Rocket Artillery's missile barrage animation or the Giant Death Robot's missile barrage animation? I'm trying to do exactly that with a unit that has both melee and ranged attack capabilities but can't quite seem to figure it out.

Edit: I want to have Rocket Artillery missiles come out of the rear of the Modern Armor's turret only during ranged attacks, to give the implication that it can launch a barrage of missiles from launch tubes in its turret in support of itself.