Making the Keeper a playable race - a modding tutorial for newbies.

[Moe]

I'm glad to hear that people find it useful. And big thanks to Dei for correcting my mistakes, teaching me how to count to three and telling me the difference between left and right.

Keep in mind though that modelling and texturing ships means a lot of work, and you have to add junk like engine glow hardpoints, FX, sounds and whatnot. If I may suggest something, I would try simply importing a primitive into the game first - see if you can get a square or something in-game. It would really suck if you spent hours on modelling a Wraith dart only to find out that you can't get it into HW2.

[bluvishnu]

Well, the game doesn't load with the kpr_bentus file removed, so I assume then (as you said) that the problem is in the weapon file. I'll do some digging around in there, but I don't know quite what to look for.

[Moe]

Ok hang on.
Go through these steps:

1) Leave all folders in, try to launch as Hiigaran, not as Keeper.
2) Remove the kpr_bentus folder (with all three files in it), try to launch as Hiigaran.
3) Remove the whole weapons folder and try to launch as Hiigaran.

[mongoose]

All I had to do was remove the *formation and weapons folders. I found them out tho by looking at the logfile, the logfile however is not one of those 'errorlog.txt' things, its the one called 'hmw2.log' and it will tell you where the offending file is whenever you crash.

[Moe]

That's what I meant by "please post the HW2.log"

Vishnu, can I see yours please?

mongoose: What weapon folder exactly did yours refer to?

Also, if removing kpr_bentus doesn't help we can at least assume that the ship files are ok, which is a good thing - it's easier to find a mistake in the weapon file.

[mongoose]

sorry, its not the weapon folder i had to remove, it was the attack and formation folders.

[Moe]

Well yeah, like I said, nuke everything from your scripts folder except these:
.

Some of the scripts seem to mess up something, but we don't need those anyway, so it's all good.

Does that mean that the tutorial is working for you now? *Moe crosses thumbs*

[Moe]

Bump time. I've started with the building section, however I've run into a little problem. Does anyone know stuff about adding resource dropoff points to ships? Do I need docking paths and other evil things like that?

[mongoose]

Yea its working for me, I finished all of the orgional tutorial

As for the keeper ships, I think we should use the movers as resourcers, cuz thats what they do in the storyline i believe. :Puppy:

[bokboren]

Great tutorial Moe! Thanks. Just what I needed, also got me started with hardpoint editing too.

[Deionarra]

DEIONARRA HELP ME!!

lol

Bump time. I've started with the building section, however I've run into a little problem. Does anyone know stuff about adding resource dropoff points to ships? Do I need docking paths and other evil things like that?

I'm afraid that you need exactly those kind of evil things to make the dropoff points.

You can actualy use any docking path such as a fighter, corvette or frigate dock path to drop off resources, not just a utility latch point. However that is a mute point as Bentus has no dock paths of any kind.

I think pipakin made a tool for dock paths but I don't know if it was ever finished or if it works properly as i've not tried it myself.

Otherwise you would need Maya to make them

EDIT: Good news, I tested the Dockpath Editor and it seems to work fine!

Now you just need to decide where you want your ships to dock and work out what co-ordinates you need for each point in the dock paths.
Just ask me if you need any help figuring it out.

The basics are to put your .hod file in the same folder as the files in the zip and rename it "newhod.hod" then run the .bat file and it'll open up a notepad window with the dock path info in it. (seems I was wrong there are some supercap dockpaths already there). Once you edit what you want you just close the notepad and it'll output a new .hod file with the new dockpath info in it.

Try using the tool on the Hiigaran carrier to see and good example and copy and paste all of this script into the notepad for Bentus (replacing the existing script). It should work in game then but everything will get stuck on Bentus when launching and docking because the dock paths are all too short.

Try making the following changes to paths 1 and 4 which are the fighter launch and dock paths.

path1={
	AttachObject=world
	NumberOfParams=10
	Exit=1
	Latch=0
	Tolerance=0.000000
	CanDock=Fighter
	UseAnimation=0
	ShareWithPaths=none
	NumberOfPoints=2
	point0={
		Position={
			x=-0.0
			y=0.0
			z=1500.0
		}
		Angles={
			x=0.000000
			y=180.000000
			z=0.000000
		}
		UseRotation=1
		Tolerance=5.000000
		DropFocus=0
		MaxSpeed=300.000000
		CheckRotation=0
		Slide=0
		PlayerHasControl=0
		QueueOrigin=0
		ClipPlane=0
		ClearReservation=0
	}
	point1={
		Position={
			x=0.0
			y=0.0
			z=-4000.0
		}
		Angles={
			x=0.000000
			y=0.000000
			z=0.000000
		}
		UseRotation=1
		Tolerance=75.000000
		DropFocus=0
		MaxSpeed=300.000000
		CheckRotation=0
		Slide=0
		PlayerHasControl=0
		QueueOrigin=0
		ClipPlane=0
		ClearReservation=0
	}
}

-- skipping paths 2 and 3

path4={
	AttachObject=world
	NumberOfParams=10
	Exit=0
	Latch=0
	Tolerance=0.000000
	CanDock=Fighter
	UseAnimation=0
	ShareWithPaths=none
	NumberOfPoints=4
	point0={
		Position={
			x=-0.0
			y=-100.0
			z=-4500.0
		}
		Angles={
			x=0.000000
			y=0.000000
			z=0.000000
		}
		UseRotation=1
		Tolerance=100.000000
		DropFocus=0
		MaxSpeed=0.000000
		CheckRotation=0
		Slide=0
		PlayerHasControl=1
		QueueOrigin=1
		ClipPlane=0
		ClearReservation=0
	}
	point1={
		Position={
			x=0.0
			y=-100.0
			z=-4000.0
		}
		Angles={
			x=0.000000
			y=0.000000
			z=0.000000
		}
		UseRotation=1
		Tolerance=100.000000
		DropFocus=0
		MaxSpeed=300.000000
		CheckRotation=0
		Slide=0
		PlayerHasControl=1
		QueueOrigin=0
		ClipPlane=0
		ClearReservation=0
	}
	point2={
		Position={
			x=0.0
			y=-100.0
			z=-2000.0
		}
		Angles={
			x=0.0
			y=0.0
			z=0.0
		}
		UseRotation=1
		Tolerance=25.000000
		DropFocus=0
		MaxSpeed=300.000000
		CheckRotation=0
		Slide=0
		PlayerHasControl=0
		QueueOrigin=0
		ClipPlane=0
		ClearReservation=0
	}
	point3={
		Position={
			x=0.0
			y=-100.0
			z=1500.0
		}
		Angles={
			x=0.000000
			y=0.000000
			z=0.000000
		}
		UseRotation=0
		Tolerance=20.000000
		DropFocus=0
		MaxSpeed=300.000000
		CheckRotation=0
		Slide=0
		PlayerHasControl=0
		QueueOrigin=0
		ClipPlane=0
		ClearReservation=0
	}
}

The changes for speed are not nessesary but they have to go quite a long way to get clear of Bentus so a speed increase seemed in order

Changing the latch points is basicaly the same although they are slightly more complicated. Each Latch point needs a dock and launch path and the end position of the dock path should be identical to the start position of the launch path.

Or as i mentioned you can just change the dock family of your collectors to Fighter and they will then use this dock path to drop off resources.

[Moe]

That does sound rather complicated. Thanks for the pointers, I think I will go with a standard resource controller for now and maybe include dock paths later on.

[acebris_mk5]

Any way to make the ships hyperspace-capable during the single player missions? I've had...limited...success by using the Sajuuk, Keeper, and Drone hyperspace commands...they dont seem to work all the time though.

Also, is there a way to speed up their hyperspace transit time? I know you can edit how fast they "respond" after they exit hyperspace.

I have a vision of boosting all of the Vaygr ship stats and taking the dreadnaught on a hyperspace frenzy of destruction!

[Moe]

I'm not sure how that is related to this tutorial? You'd probably be better off making a new thread or PMing one of the help guys rather than dragging an existing thread off-topic.

PS: Sorry for the lack of updates, I've been busy. I haven't forgotten this tutorial, more updates will come.

[acebris_mk5]

Well, yeah, it does relate...if you wanted to make the Bentus jump like the Sajuuk...or if you wanted to use "keeper" destroyers and drones (and allow them to jump). You mention allowing movement and such as well as weapons...why not opening up coding that would be restricted (for singleplayer) otherwise?

[bokboren]

Hmm, I'm trying to make the Mover a resourcer. I gave it a harvest capability and added the hiigaran Resource Controller. The Mover harvests, but the program crashes when its belly is full and wants to come home.

What needs to be edited here to make the Mover dock with the Resource Controller and/or Bentus? I assume the Dockpath Editor is still required, any additional .lua editing too?

[AceRimmer]

acebris_mk5, there is a way to modify those values i.e. hyperspace recovery time and time taken to hyperspace. Go to scripts\building and research\hiigaran, and open research.lua. This is the file that defines the research tree for the Hiigarans.

Then, scroll down aways until reach the paragraph in brackets with the line:
Name = "HyperspaceCost1" or something like that. This block defines this research item that allows the Hiigarans to lower the cost of hyperspacing.

There should be a line like this:
UpgradeType = "HyperspaceCost"
This is what it upgrades. Change this to "HyperspaceTime". The upgrade now makes all Hiigaran ships upgrade faster (via the UpgradeValue line or something similar to that) for example if you wanted them to go into and out of hyperspace faster by 50%, you would put 0.5 in that line.

As for recovery time, use this instead of HyperspaceCost: "HyperspaceRecoveryTime".

Bit of an ad hoc tutorial on tweaking research there. If Moe allows it, I'll do a full tutorial for research and put it here for all.

[Moe]

Sure, that'd be awesome. I'll edit my first post to include it if you want.

[Teleros]

Sure, that'd be awesome. I'll edit my first post to include it if you want.

Might also want to put something about the resourcers in too . Great tutorial here Moe, thanks .

[AceRimmer]

Sure Moe, go right ahead. Speaking of research, here comes a bit of help right now....

When looking a research, there are three different types of research item you can make: new (stepping-stone) items, upgrade items and ability items. We'll look at all three as we go.

First, the new items. These are the simplest type of research item, as all they do is allow you to carry out new research, unlock a ship or subsystem and so on. In keeping (geddit?) with making the Keepers a playable race, we'll make it so that you have to research "Plasma Blasters" before being able to build Keeper Drones.

So without further ado; the research.lua file for the Keepers:

-- LuaDC version 1.0.1
-- 8/11/2005 11:47:17 PM
-- LuaDC by Age2uN
-- on error send source file (compiled lua) and this outputfile to Age2uN@gmx.net
--
Icon_Speed = "data:ui/newui/research/icons/speed.mres"
Icon_Health = "data:ui/newui/research/icons/health.mres"
Icon_Tech = "data:ui/newui/research/icons/tech.mres"
Icon_Ability = "data:ui/newui/research/icons/ability.mres"
Modifier = 0
Ability = 1
AllShips = 0
Family = 1
Ship = 2
research =
{
{
Name = "PlasmaBlasters",
RequiredResearch = "",
RequiredSubSystems = "",
Cost = 500,
Time = 20,
DisplayedName = "Plasma Blasters",
DisplayPriority = 1,
Description = "These modified coolant coils and capacitors allow for extremely rapid firing of plasma weaponry. \n\n<b>Prerequisites:<\b> None. \n\n<b>Allows:<\n> Keeper Drones.",
TargetName = "Kpr_Drone",
Icon = Icon_Tech,
ShortDisplayedName = "PBs", },
}

Okay, so what did we just do here? Let's take it from the top.
Name. This will be what other things in research.lua and build.lua will reference. E.g. since Drones will need this research item in order to be built, then in the Keeper's build.lua it would read: RequiredResearch = "PlasmaBlasters"

RequiredResearch. This is what needs to be researched first before you can research this item. For example, "CorvetteChassis". You can also use Boolean operators to make complex dependancies:
RequiredResearch = "CorvetteChassis | PlasmaCoils"
That means that you need either CorvetteChassis or PlasmaCoils researched to research this item. On the other hand...
RequiredResearch = "CorvetteChassis & PlasmaCoils"
would mean that you need BOTH items researched to research it.
Finally, you can use Boolean NOT as well:
RequiredResearch = "! FrigateChassis"
That means if you decided to go for frigates (by researching FrigateChassis instead of CorvetteChassis), then CorvetteChassis can't be researched. I haven't tried boolean NOT yet, but certainly plan to try.....

But enough digressing. On to the next one...

RequiredSubSystems. Similar to RequiredResearch, only it's subsystems this time. All the boolean operators are available here too. Since Bentus can't build subsystems (Yet!), we'll leave it blank for now (note: by blank I mean "").

Cost. Fairly self-explanatory, this is the cost of the research in RUs. One thing I will check though, will this field allow a negative value?

Time. Another no-brainer, this how much time in seconds the research will take.

DisplayedName. This is the name the game's UI will use in the research menu, in our case "Plasma Blasters". Therefore you could use something completely different from the Name field, but I wouldn't do this as it would only serve to confuse.

DisplayPriority. In the research menu, all items will be sorted by their display priority, with the lowest number on top. For this item it's 1, so that means it will always be on top. The game will allow two or more items with the same priority, but what it does then, I don't quite know (will check on it)

Description. This is what the game will display when you move the cursor over the arrow to the side of the research item in the menu. Normally it contains this:
Description = "$5739" or some such obfuscation (it's actually a reference to a .dat file somewhere containing all the text strings), but here I've put a string of my own there. Note the backslashes:
\n means a new line
\t is a tab
<b> <\b> gives BOLD text

There are others but those are probably the only ones you'll use.

TargetName. This tells the game what picture to put above the research item. So if it read "Hgn_Mothership" then we would see the mothership's icon there.

Icon. This tells the game what icon to use. In this case it uses the one with little rings and makes the research item a dark red/orange colour. You may have noticed this at the top of the file:
Icon_Tech = "data:ui/newui/research/icons/tech.mres"
This tells the game where to get these icons. Naturally there are others, like "Speed", "Health" etc. also available. You can even reference other icons by adding similar lines:
Icon_Attack = "data:ui/newui/research/icons/attack.mres"

One to go...
ShortDisplayedName. This is what the game puts when you press the Q key to see the build and research queues on the left of the screen.

Phew.

That's all there is to putting a new research item in Homeworld 2.

Part 2: Arms race!

Now, having research items that lead onto other things is all well and good. The original Homeworld did this, for example. However, generally these days people want upgrades to get an edge over their opponents, and vice versa. You know, a little arms race, to get the best weapons, armor, engines and whizz-bang buttons that beep in the cockpit. Therefore, this part will be about upgrade research items. These are fairly similar to the new research items as seen above, but with a few crucial new fields added...(copy and paste the below into the Keeper's research.lua)

{
Name = "KeeperDroneHealthUpgrade",
RequiredResearch = "PlasmaBlasters",
RequiredSubSystems = "",
Cost = 500,
Time = 30,
DisplayedName = "Keeper Drone Armor 1",
DisplayPriority = 401,
Description = "Upgrades Keeper Drone Armor by 25%.",
UpgradeType = Modifier,
TargetType = Ship,
TargetName = "Kpr_Drone",
UpgradeName = "MAXHEALTH",
UpgradeValue = 1.25,
Icon = Icon_Health,
ShortDisplayedName = "Drone Armor 1", },
{
Name = "KeeperDroneSpeedUpgrade1",
RequiredResearch = "PlasmaBlasters",
RequiredSubSystems = "",
Cost = 500,
Time = 30,
DisplayedName = "Keeper Drone Speed 1",
DisplayPriority = 402,
Description = "Upgrades Keeper Drone Speed by 25%.",
UpgradeType = Modifier,
TargetType = Ship,
TargetName = "Kpr_Drone",
UpgradeName = "MAXSPEED",
UpgradeValue = 1.25,
Icon = Icon_Speed,
ShortDisplayedName = "Drone Speed 1", },

First, note that you need to research Plasma Blasters first before researching these items.

Second, there are a few fields that require explanation.

UpgradeType. This tells the game whether the item is a Modifier, or an Ability (see later on this one).

TargetType. This indicates what the upgrade will affect, in this case a single ship. You could also have Family, which means all ships in a single class, or AllShips (self-explanatory).

TargetName. The name of the ship/family to upgrade, in our case "Kpr_Drone". If you wanted a catch-all upgrade for all corvette class, then you would use "Corvette".
Note that even AllShips needs this field in order to display a ship icon above the item (e.g. use Hgn/Vgr_Mothership for these)

UpgradeName. What this research upgrades on the ship(s). For Armor it's MAXHEALTH, for speed it's MAXSPEED. There is in fact a huge range of possible upgrades beyond health and speed, see the appendix for the full list.

UpgradeValue. How much you want to upgrade this variable by. In fact the game multiplies the variable by this value, so 0 would disable it entirely, 1 would do nothing, and 2 would double the value. So if the Drone has an initial armor value of 12000, then an UpgradeValue of 2 would double it to 24000 (!!). In our case we're upgrading by 25%, so this field has a value of 1.25.

NOTE: Successive upgrades of the same value (like a second upgrade of MAXSPEED for example) do not use the modified value. So putting 1.25 in that second upgrade would do nothing (as it already HAS the new value) You would need to put 1.5 in UpgradeValue for it to work.

And that is that. Simple, eh?

Part 3. You've just levelled up....

This is the final part of the tutorial, concerning ability upgrade items. These are near identical to normal upgrades in research.lua, but they need extra help elsewhere in order to work correctly i.e. not crash the program. For this example we'll make an upgrade that allows the Keeper Drone to launch anti-subsystem bombs, like the Hiigaran/Vaygr Bombers. Copy and Paste this into our burgeoning research.lua file:

{
Name = "KeeperDroneImprovedBombs",
RequiredResearch = "PlasmaBlasters",
RequiredSubSystems = "",
Cost = 1000,
Time = 40,
DisplayedName = "Heavy Plasma Bombs",
DisplayPriority = 30,
Description = "Allows the Drone to launch anti-subsystem plasma bombs.",
UpgradeType = Ability,
TargetType = Ship,
TargetName = "Kpr_Drone",
UpgradeName = "UseSpecialWeaponsInNormalAttack",
Icon = Icon_Ability,
ShortDisplayedName = "Heavy Plasma Bombs", },

The only real difference here to what we've been doing is UpgradeName; that long string means that it will use the ability in it's normal attack, rather than waiting for any keypress from you to use it. If that is what you want, then you would use:
UpgradeName = "SpecialAttack" instead.

However that's not all there is to it for abilities. We also need to tweak Kpr_Drone.ship so that the game knows what the hell to do whenever a drone is told to attack that hapless hyperspace module.

Go to ship\hgn_attackbomber and open up hgn_attackbomber.ship in a test editor. Then scroll down aways until you reach these lines:

StartShipWeaponConfig(NewShipType, "Hgn_AntiSubSystemBombLauncher", "Weapon_L", "Weapon_L")
StartShipWeaponConfig(NewShipType, "Hgn_AntiSubSystemBombLauncher", "Weapon_R", "Weapon_R")

Copy and paste them into kpr_attackdroid.ship, just below the existing weaponconfig lines, then change them to this:
StartShipWeaponConfig(NewShipType, "Hgn_AntiSubSystemBombLauncher", "Weapon_Cannon1", "Weapon_Cannon1")
StartShipWeaponConfig(NewShipType, "Hgn_AntiSubSystemBombLauncher", "Weapon_Cannon2", "Weapon_Cannon2")

Now when the upgrade is researched, the Drone can now fire anti-subsystem bombs!

Appendix.

Here is the list of all possible values you could put in UpgradeName.

MaxHealth
Maximum health multiplier
Speed
Maximum speed multiplier. Influences the speeds and the acceleration of the ship. (If you lower the speed, the ships take longer to brake as well, as the acceleration is lowered, too)
MaxSpeed
Influence only the maximum speeds, and not the acceleration of the ship. This makes the ship actually able to stop when the maxspeed is lowered.
BuildSpeed
Buildspeed of ships multiplier
ShipHoldRepairSpeed
Modifies the speed at which ships are repaired when docked
HealthRegenerationRate
How fast ships self heal
WeaponAccuracy
Changes the chance of a shot missing
WeaponDamage
Changes the damage a bullet or missile does that's fired from the ships (I'll check on whether this affects ion cannons and plasma bombs)
ShieldRegenerationRate
How fast shields regenerate.
MaxShield
Modify the shield capacity (I think this means how resistant the ship is to an EMP attack...check back on this)
HyperSpaceRecoveryTime
Modify the time during which a ship is disabled after coming out of hyperspace.
HyperSpaceTime
Modify the time that it takes to hyperspace.
HyperSpaceCost
Modify the RU cost of hyperspace
HyperSpaceAbortDamage
Modify the damage taken when a ship leaves hyperspace abnormally (like hitting a grav well)
Capture
Modify the progress of a capture attempt
CloakingStrength
Modify the cloaking value used when comparing vs. detection attempts. Bigger numbers mean harder to spot.
CloakDetection
Modify the detection value used to compare against cloaking
CloakingTime
Modify how fast a ship uses up its cloak capacity. < 0 means more time spent cloaking and faster recharge, > 1 means less time for cloaking and slow recharge.
SensorDistortion
Sensor distortion multiplier. This multiplier makes ships harder (if multiplier is [0..1]) or easier (if multiplier is greater than 1) to detect by sensors. The multiplier is applied to the detectors’ sensor ranges.
VisualRange
Influences the visual range of the ship
PrimarySensorsRange
Influences the primary sensors range of the ship (the blue bubble in sensors manager)
SecondarySensorsRange
Influences the secondary sensors range of the ship (ever noticed that you can see carriers outside of the blue area? That's secondary sensors)
DustCloudSensitivity
Sensitivity to DustCloud charge damage (damage ships inside
dustclouds). If this one is set to 0, no damage is taken. If set to 1, full damage is taken.
NebulaSensitivity
Sensitivity to Nebula charge damage (damage ships inside nebulas receive). If this one is set to 0, no damage is taken. If set to 1, full damage is taken.
ResourceCollectionRate
Modifies the rate at which a collector collects resources
ResourceDropOffRate
Modifies the rate at which a ship removes resources from a collector when it is docked.
ResourceCapacity
Modifies how many RUs a ship can store.
DefenseFieldTime
Modify how fast a ship uses up its defense field capacity. < 0 means more time spent shielding and faster recharge, > 1 means less time for shielding and slow recharge.]

Is there anything I've missed? Any comments are greatly appreciated.

[ScarleTomato]

Hey guys, I downloaded and installed Net framework without a hitch, but when I try to download and run the HardED installer it comes up with this:

I also noticed the NET installer had to stop my IIS service to install. Could that be the problem?
I also use XPPro w/ SP2

Edit: Well I uninstalled IIS and it still gives me the same error.
Any suggestions?

Edit2: Oh, :loco: I had to download the file and then run it. Cool
Awesome tut BTW :thumb:

[Moe]

Heh, so I take it your issue has been resolved then?

[maxdamage]

Can you use the kpr_destroyer instead of the Bentus ship as I'm trying to add the Keeper race as a buildable race but there are certain problems which I'm having and I remembered about this interesting topic and now I can check to see what am I doing wrong with my version?

I think my problem is in the race.lua file where I did not remove NOT from NotPlayable for the Keeper.

You should try the LoadSharedModel(NewShipType, "name of model to be used") commandline in the ship file if you do not need to change the .hod file and it saves space.


maxdamage.

[Moe]

I'm not sure what you mean, maxdamage. What do you want me to do with the destroyer?

[ScarleTomato]

Now youve done drawn in a newb like a moth to flame

I sucessfully finished the tut and have started adding weapon HP to everything I can think of. (BTW, I noticed capturing collectors tends to freeze the game quite frequently, any idea how i could resolve this?)
But i digress, thats not my biggest concern. I'm having trouble adding a buildable module HP onto a ship.

This is the HP (a child strait off the root) I mainly just copied from the battlecruiser.

Direction: 0,10,0; Rest: 10,0,0

The game loads up fine with the HP doing nothing in particular.

But, when I add

addAbility(NewShipType, "CanBuildShips", 1, "SubSystem_Hgn", "SubSystemModule")
and
StartShipHardPointConfig(NewShipType, "Generic 1", "HardpointGeneric1", "System", "Generic", "Destroyable", "", "Hgn_C_Module_Research", "", "", "", "", "", "", "")

HW2 goes caput at 'universe'.

I looked Here at Karos Gravyards and I think my problem is the Maya joint name. Do I need maya?

[maxdamage]

Posted by Moe:I'm not sure what you mean, maxdamage. What do you want me to do with the destroyer?

What I meant was in mission 7 or 8 the kpr_destroyer is scripted to build kpr_attackdroids and maybe could be used as a carrier in your mod?Also this is missing from the shipicons.lua file for the Kpr_bentus:

Kpr_Bentus = 
{ 
    LargeIcon = 
    { 
        texture = "DATA:\\Ship\\Icons\\icon_ships.mres", 
        textureUV_TL = 
            { 800, 640, }, 
        textureUV_WH = 
            { 200, 64, }, 
        stretchOnDraw = 1, }, }

as the game will display the default ship icon for ships or objects that have no ship icon by default.

btw I tried adding a weapon hardpoint to the bentus ship after following the tutorial and then loading the game and a map the game crashes just as the load screen goes to the map itself.I looked in hw2.log but nothing to explain why it crashed.

Tue Nov 15 19:00:23 2005
·Loaded Archive: 'Homeworld2.big'·
·UTIL -- filepath failure, path doesn't exists 'C:\Program Files\Sierra\Homeworld2\data\locale\english'·
·Loaded Archive: 'english.big'·
·Uing ..profiles\ for profiles folder·
·GAME -- Using player profile maxdamage·
·Changing from a 32 bit colour depth in winNT (5.1 build 2600), Service Pack 2·
·Using NVIDIA Corporation's 2.0.0 GeForce 6800/AGP/SSE2 renderer (Suspected driver is nvoglnt.dll 6.14.10.7730)·
·Loaded Archive: 'englishSpeech.big'·
·Loaded Archive: 'Music.big'·
·SOUND -- created destination [ fdaudio ], handle [ 4 ] with [ 48 ] channels created·
·SOUND -- created destination [ fda streamer ], handle [ 5 ] with [ 8 ] channels created·
·Build name: The Dust Wars  - AutoBuild3569 - Ordered by smmatte·
·Built by  : mrbuild·
·Data path : C:\Program Files\Sierra\Homeworld2\data·
·Resetting fp control word.·
·CmdLine: -overrideBigFile·
·Starting Level: data:LevelData\Multiplayer\Deathmatch\2P_HYPERTEST.LEVEL·
·HGN_HSCORE is marked as salvageable in the shiptuning but has no salvage points!·
·

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Could you post the co-ordinates of the Weapon_Hulldefense1_Position on the kpr_bentus as I think where I put mine could be causing the game to crash as it is intersecting part of the mesh maybe?

maxdamage.

[Moe]

That shouldn't be a problem, I accidentally put one of them inside the ship once and it worked perfectly.

I kinda lost most modding data because my hard drive exploded, I'm still trying to recover stuff. If the mod data is undamaged I'll post the position for you.

[maxdamage]

Posted by Moe:If the mod data is undamaged I'll post the position for you.

thanks!


maxdamage.

[swindad2]

I've been working on this mod for the last 2 days. Haven't played HW for months, so I decided to get it out and do some modding. I followed the tutorial and got the Bentus in-game the first try. Moves around fine. But when I put the weapon on, the game crashes before loading the universe. I have only added the first position weapon. I have probably followed the tutorial and redone everything 15 times or more. I can remove the weapon line from the .shp file and it will load. This is the first mod I haven't been able to get to work. AAAAAh! Does it matter where the weapon line is added in the .shp file, I have moved it around. Does the hardpoint have to be in a certain area? Here is my last logfile:

Sat Nov 19 19:36:52 2005
Loaded Archive: 'Homeworld2.big'
UTIL -- filepath failure, path doesn't exists 'C:\PROGRA~1\Sierra\HOMEWO~1\data\locale\english'
Loaded Archive: 'english.big'
Uing ..profiles\ for profiles folder
GAME -- Using player profile Viper
Changing from a 32 bit colour depth in winNT (5.1 build 2600), Service Pack 2
Using NVIDIA Corporation's 2.0.0 GeForce 6600 GT/AGP/SSE2 renderer (Suspected driver is nvoglnt.dll 6.14.10.7730)
Loaded Archive: 'englishSpeech.big'
Loaded Archive: 'Music.big'
SOUND -- created destination [ fdaudio ], handle [ 4 ] with [ 48 ] channels created
SOUND -- created destination [ fda streamer ], handle [ 5 ] with [ 8 ] channels created
Build name: The Dust Wars - AutoBuild3569 - Ordered by smmatte
Built by : mrbuild
Data path : C:\PROGRA~1\Sierra\HOMEWO~1\data
Resetting fp control word.
CmdLine: -overrideBigFile
Starting Level: data:LevelData\Multiplayer\Deathmatch\2P_HOSTILITIES_END.LEVEL
Warning! WeaponStatic file 'Hgn_BentusHullDefenseGun' not loaded! -- FATAL EXIT -- weaponstatic/232:! --stack trace-- 0x0044A097: GSLobbySessionDesc::operator= () 0x0047B7F8: GSLobbySessionDesc::operator= () 0x003C46B5: lua_error () 0x003C4749: lua_error () 0x003C4751: lua_error () 0x003C47EE: lua_error () 0x003C481E: lua_call () 0x003C4A13: lua_dobuffer () 0x0046CB81: GSLobbySessionDesc::operator= () 0x0047681E: GSLobbySessionDesc::operator= () 0x00442EA9: GSLobbySessionDesc::operator= () 0x0043180C: GSLobbySessionDesc::operator= () 0x0058B3A1: getLibraryID () 0x00571D25: getLibraryID () 0x00572023: getLibraryID () 0x0057223A: getLibraryID () 0x0049279C: GSLobbySessionDesc::operator= () 0x00495163: GSLobbySessionDesc::operator= () 0x00490C11: GSLobbySessionDesc::operator= () 0x004911D2: GSLobbySessionDesc::operator= ()


Thanks for any help.

[ScarleTomato]

I had a problem with loading the game until I moved the HP call to right after LoadModel (Look in hgn_mothership.ship)

LoadModel(NewShipType, 1)
StartShipWeaponConfig(NewShipType, "Hgn_mshulldefensegun", "Weapon_HullDefense1", "Weapon_HullDefense1")

From the warning though I'd guess the .wepn file is not named Hgn_BentusHullDefenseGun.wepn

[Jaen-ni-rin]

Yup, ScarleTomato is right. The file is probably misnamed.

[swindad2]

Thanks for the help guys. When I started having trouble, I started copying and pasting most of the text directly from the tutorial. I copied the filename "hgn_bentushulldefense" (no "gun" on the end) directly from the tutorial in part 7. I can't believe I didn't notice the "...gun: attached to the end of the weapon in the HP call, not sure where I got that from. I just added "gun" to each filename. But I have another problem now. Not sure on this one. I used HardEd and everything looks exactly like the tutorial. I have only attached the first weapon. See what you think:

Sun Nov 20 11:01:40 2005
Loaded Archive: 'Homeworld2.big'
UTIL -- filepath failure, path doesn't exists 'C:\PROGRA~1\Sierra\HOMEWO~1\data\locale\english'
Loaded Archive: 'english.big'
Uing ..profiles\ for profiles folder
GAME -- Using player profile Viper
Changing from a 32 bit colour depth in winNT (5.1 build 2600), Service Pack 2
Using NVIDIA Corporation's 2.0.0 GeForce 6600 GT/AGP/SSE2 renderer (Suspected driver is nvoglnt.dll 6.14.10.7730)
Loaded Archive: 'englishSpeech.big'
Loaded Archive: 'Music.big'
SOUND -- created destination [ fdaudio ], handle [ 4 ] with [ 48 ] channels created
SOUND -- created destination [ fda streamer ], handle [ 5 ] with [ 8 ] channels created
Build name: The Dust Wars - AutoBuild3569 - Ordered by smmatte
Built by : mrbuild
Data path : C:\PROGRA~1\Sierra\HOMEWO~1\data
Resetting fp control word.
CmdLine: -overrideBigFile
Starting Level: data:LevelData\Multiplayer\Deathmatch\6P_TORA.LEVEL
Cannot find the Weapon_HullDefense1_Position joint in weapon Hgn_BentusHullDefenseGun on ship/subsystem KPR_BENTUS
Are you sure you provided the correct jointName in ShipTuning.xls? -- FATAL EXIT -- sctobjectload/402:! --stack trace-- 0x0047B2E6: GSLobbySessionDesc::operator= () 0x0047B815: GSLobbySessionDesc::operator= () 0x003C46B5: lua_error () 0x003C4749: lua_error () 0x003C4751: lua_error () 0x003C47EE: lua_error () 0x003C481E: lua_call () 0x003C4A13: lua_dobuffer () 0x0046CB81: GSLobbySessionDesc::operator= () 0x0047681E: GSLobbySessionDesc::operator= () 0x00442EA9: GSLobbySessionDesc::operator= () 0x0043180C: GSLobbySessionDesc::operator= () 0x0058B3A1: getLibraryID () 0x00571D25: getLibraryID () 0x00572023: getLibraryID () 0x0057223A: getLibraryID () 0x0049279C: GSLobbySessionDesc::operator= () 0x00495163: GSLobbySessionDesc::operator= () 0x00490C11: GSLobbySessionDesc::operator= () 0x004911D2: GSLobbySessionDesc::operator= ()

I know this is a stupid question, but does the .wepn suffix need to be placed in the file name? I know that it is placed as the file extension by default.

[ScarleTomato]

I'm not sure what exactly you're asking about the wepn suffix...
Do you mean in the weapon's filename? or in the .ship file where it calls for the weapon?

The warning though seems to indicate the weapon's name isn't a problem anymore.
What that says to me is that it can't find the "Weapon_HullDefense1_Position" child in the hod.

What is the name of your first child in HardEd?
and
What do you have typed after the first "StartShipWeaponConfig(NewShipType, " in kpr_bentus.ship?

Also, did you ever get this window (or something similar) at any time while you were saving your hod?

I had this alot while I was editing the HOD, and everytime I got it I had to start over from the last save, cause if I hit continue HW2 would crash if I used it.

[Moe]

Yeah, HardEd is, well, kind of an alpha build, and the author (pipakin) has left these boards long ago, so I'm afraid there are no updates coming. Delphy is working on HWSE2, the ultimate ship editor, but that will probably be released some time around Halloween 2016, so for now we're stuck with HardEd.

[ScarleTomato]

K now I have a question. I want to play around with the turret on the marine frigate. How exactly does it work? In the ship file it says to mount the turreted weapon onto the HP where the turret goes, there is no turret in the HOD, and the weapon just seemds to be a weapon, not the turret.
Where is the turret?

[swindad2]

Yeah, I did get that warning a couple times. It was because Windows security had blocked the program (coming from someone else's computer). I just unblocked it and it started working.

The first child in HardEd is: Weapon_HullDefense1_Position
I pretty much copy pasted everything from the tutorial. And then went over it all, many times. I don't quit easily. This is about all I have done for the last 3 days. Pathetic?

This is the line in my kpr_bentus.ship file:
StartShipWeaponConfig(NewShipType, "Hgn_BentusHullDefenseGun", "Weapon_HullDefense1", "Weapon_HullDefense1")

I placed it right after: LoadModel(NewShipType, 1)

I used the HGN mothership file as a placement guide. I suspected a problem with HardEd, but everytime I open the kpr_bentus.hod file, it shows what I saved correctly.

My weapon filename is: hgn_bentushulldefensegun
The .wepn file inside that is: hgn_bentushulldefensegun.wepn

I notice the line, "Are you sure you provided the correct jointName in ShipTuning.xls?" In the error log. Is this necessary? I assume you don't need this when using HardEd.

I'll keep trying.

[ScarleTomato]

I never went into shiptuning for mine to work. I did however have to do the whole model without pasting anything. I found I get that message alot if I don't type everything in by hand. I think (mind, this is just speculation) the main reason is because two (or more) objects had the exact same name (I may have accidently overlooked one).
So I took the original idea and just made everything without referencing the tut; saving it as frequently as I could. If you get the error you have to quit and start from the last save.

I'd reccommend reextracting the HOD and start from scratch, add one weapon HP, add in the proper line in the .ship, start the game and see if that works.
If it does, add a second, third, etc...

It may be time consuming but you get the hang of it.
Besides, you've already spent three days on it :P
Also, you don't have to use Weapon_HullDefense# every time. After starting over the umpteenth time I shortened it to Wpn_HD1_Position. (Saved me alot of boring work.)

This was the easiest way for me, and its how I had to go about making a destroyer with a broadside of Plasma Bomb Launchers. (14 new HPs, but worth it in the end )

[swindad2]

I'll keep at it. Thanks for the help. You just gave me an idea for another project. Your plasma bomb destroyer sounds cool.

[maxdamage]

Got all 6 hardpoints on Kpr_Bentus working.It turrns out that the wepn file I did something wrong and the code that is added to the ship file is case sensitive as I had put Weapon_HullDefense instead of Weapon_Hulldefense and game kept crashing due to it.HW2 is case sensitive with regards to joints in the hod file?


This topic should be made a sticky if it hasn't been done so already?


maxdamage.

[myles]

Moe-

I folowed ure tutorial i got as far as the weapons and then when i had got the one laser done i tryed to test it but when it was loading it crashed?

Thanx

[Moe]

Post your hw2.log please.

[myles]

Sorry my fault just found out wat i did i spelt Defense as Defence Sorry

By the way i dont know if this is in the tut but type

addAbility(NewShipType, "CanBuildShips", 1, "Fighter_Hgn, Corvette_Hgn, Frigate_Hgn, Utility_Hgn, Platform_Hgn, SubSystem_Hgn,Shipyard_Hgn, Probe_Hgn", "Utility, Fighter, Corvette, Frigate, Platform, SubSystemModule, SubSystemSensors, Capital")

At the bottom of the bentus.ship

This enables the bentus to build certain ships!

[maxdamage]

Busy repairing Meg_bigred.hod and giving it the ability to move,fire,engine glow,etc



maxdamage.

[ScarleTomato]

Are there any tuts on how to add module HPs? I've been playing with them for a while and they don't seem to be as strait forward as wepn HP's.

[maxdamage]

Posted by ScarleTomato:
Are there any tuts on how to add module HPs? I've been playing with them for a while and they don't seem to be as strait forward as wepn HP's.

Extract the hgn_carrier.hod from homeworld2.big file.Open it in HardEd to see the naming of modules and what the vectors,etc.. are for each module hardpoint in the hod and use it to create your own module hard points,etc..


maxdamage

[Moe]

This enables the bentus to build certain ships!

I'm still hoping to get the building part of the tutorial done at some point.

[maxdamage]

There is a bug with HardEd that causes some of the co-ordinates of the hard points to be set to 0.It could be the x or y or z or be all three vectors that are set to 0.

Once that happens then you have to start all over again unless there is a backed up version of the Hod file.

The unhandled exception is easy to get around.Just re-edit one of the values a hard point and then save.Do not copy paste.This works for me but strangely I haven't had an unhandled exception lately except the above problem.

Moe:Thanks for the tutorial on HardEd.Now only if there is a tutorial for adding turrets and muzzles to a ship?:thumb: :thumb:

maxdamage.

[Viperslayer]

You know, theres docking bays inside the detail of bentus! That could be a little update to this tut as well!

Edit: max, thats the same damn problem i have. It fails to save for some reason. I think if you do to many changes at once it wont save. Thats why you should constantly save.

[maxdamage]

Do what I have suggested and it should work as I have been able to save the hod afterwards but the other problem that I mentioned is far more painful and time consuming if you haven't backed-up the hod under another name after adding each hard-point.Why it does that can only be explained by the creator....



maxdamage.

[Viperslayer]

I actually Think I experineced that one time. I just could not use the hod after a hardpoint was saved. It just glitched up somewhere in the hod. I then went to a new stock hod and it worked fiine after the next hardpoint. I guess it is just a programming error. Maybe if someone would try to finish the program up to 1.0?