Octopus Rex

Rating: Rookie to Competent

Required knowledge: Attribute Editor, specifically how to add and manipulate researches.

Leaders can add many new options and spice up existing squads greatly, but the use of them comes with certain limitations that may not seem obvious at first. Just to clear it up, by 'leader' I mean any troop that is added to a squad using the leader extension, i.e. any troop that is different from the main troop in the squad and is added in the reinforce bar. Examples: Sergeants in Marine Squad, Drones and Shas-ui in Fire Warrior squads and all three types in IG command Squad. Inquisition Daemonhunt mod uses this extension to great effect to create many interesting varied squads.

By Commanders I mean the unique stand alone guys that often can attach to squads, the Force Commander, the Farseer etc. There's not a great deal to say about them, but I figured that what little I wanted to say would fit in here somewhere.

Tau Commander with Drones

In this tutorial I'll show you how to add drones to the Tau Commander as this will illustrate many of the issues for us.

So, set up a fresh mod for yourself (tutorial here ).

first we need to add the leader extension to the Tau Commander. The leader extension lives on the SBPS; it affects the squad and not the indivdual entities. Find your Tau Commander's SBPS, not the advance_sp or whatever, just the basic one that is used in skirmish - to find it expand squad_blueprint, squad, then find it in tau_squad. Right click on the right hand side of the AE - add reference - squad_extension - then choose squad_leader_ext from the drop box - autoname it - then OK it. It should appear on the TC's SBPS now.


Fig. 1 - adding squad_leader_ext

Go into the squad_leader_ext you just made and you'll see 4 empty slots for leaders. These slots link to entities that you can specify in each drop box, leaders themselves don't need their own SBPS as they are part of this one (eg the shield drone for the Fire Warriors have no SBPS file, only an EBPS). In the slots you can also dictate the price of the each leader and time taken to build in the same way as reinforcing - the price is set here and not on the EBPS, there are no modifiers to alter these prices ingame either. Using the drop boxes set the first entry to tau_shield_drone_commander_sp and the second to tau_drone_squad_commander_sp. Then set reasonable prices/build times for each. The order that you list them is the order they will appear in game.


Fig. 2 - leader details

Note: also if a squad does not already have it you must add squad_reinforce_ext for your leaders to be reinforceable. Without it you'll be able to see those leaders you've added, you just won't be able to build them, they'll be disabled. You should check that your TC has a reinforce cost and time, as he may die before your drones and stopping him doing that is not in the scope of this tutorial.

Restriction 1 - you can only set 4 different leaders. I know it looks like there's more room in the reinforcement box ingame but seriously don't bother messing around editing the squad_leader_ext.lua or anything, it won't help. 4 max. Also, if you have 2 or more leaders, the maximum allowed leaders must be at least 2 for both of them to be buildable. Example: if you reduce the Fire Warriors leaders to max 1 then you will not be able to see both leaders as an option, you will only see the first one.

You can then set the total amount of buildable leaders that you would like the maximum to be using the max_leaders line. Note that this can be larger than 4, you are only limited to four different kinds of leader. The max_leaders attribute can be modified ingame with the max_leaders_squad_modifier.

Restriction 2 - you cannot limit any specific leader for each squad. e.g. for Firewarriors you cannot limit the Shas'ui or drones to one (max one of each) - they must stay as two of either kind being possible. (Also, for the smart-asses out there, the required_cap requirement doesn't do shit in this circumstance - so you can't even limit them for unique squads)

Now, go and check the EBPS files for the drones - expand entity_blueprint, troop, then tau_troop and find them in there (remember, the names need to be an exact match to what you just typed in to the leader_ext).


Fig. 3 - the drone EBPs

You'll need to get rid of the current research requirement and change the requirements of both to requirements of your choice (though you can just choose to have no requirements for now if you want). Use the drop boxes to select which requirement you want and then use the fields that appear to specify what you want to require. Try setting the shield drone to require the Path of Enlightenment structure (tau_research_building) and the attack drone to require either/or command post using the special 'required_stucture_either' requirement. Also, set the attack drone to require the path of enlightenment as well.

Restriction 3 - This one is uncommon and very puzzling when it first happens. The leader in slot 1 must be buildable for any others to be buildable - i.e. it must become available before (or at the same time as) any of the others and must remain so for them to stay buildable. This is why I asked you to set the PoE building for the attack drone too - if you didn't then the PoE could get destroyed, making both the shield drone and attack drone unbuildable, even though the attack drone wouldn't require it. The attack drone icon would look buildable and would be full colour, but clicking on it would do nothing. The leader in slot 2 doesn't have to be there to get the one in slot 3, the only important one is the leader in slot 1. So: all requirements on the leader in the first slot apply to slot 2,3 and 4 as well. Slightly odd really, choice of position is critical here.

Ok, so now you've added your drones and all is well. The next problem is the weapon upgrades that the Tau Commander has - where are they going to go? There's not enough room for them anymore so we have to remove them: go to the SBPS for the TC again, find the squad_reinforce_ext and then untick the can_upgrade box.


Fig. 4 - can_upgrade

Restriction 4 - you cannot have both weapon upgrades and more than 1 leader. 1 leader and upgrades is fine, like the Tactical marine squad, but a second leader will make them disappear. There is no way to combine the space used, it's either all leaders or all weapons, never both (you can't have the four slots taken up with 2 leaders and 2 weapon choices). This is hardcoded. Live with it. Again, no satisfactory workaround has ever been put into practicethough many people have tried; although several ways have been discussed the effort involved and the incurred drawbacks have made them pointless.

Update to this problem - In SS a new boolean was brought in: in squad_reinforce_ext there is a tick box multi_with_upgrades which will allow you have two upgrades and two leaders at the same time. It also limits your leaders in some way, though I'm not sure as I don't have SS.

As for DC, work has done to finally get around this problem, though it involves significantly altering the gamescreen visually and recoding taskbar.lua, which you can't do in the AE. Check out Codex Evolutions in the mods in progress section.

So, the alternative is to make a series of 4 permanent researches for the TC, and stick them on the barracks or something. These should mimic the requirements of the normal weapons (which can be found on the actual weapon's file) but you will also have to add another one - the plasma rifle research must require the fusion blaster research first (and also for display purposes too). They can use the same icons too. Each research should use default_weapon_modifier_hardpointX, where X is the hardpoint you are modifying. Use the Space Marine Commander melee and range upgrade researches as a reference point for these. Remember to set a cost and build time for these, UCS too, and icon position (ui_index_hint - put the fusion and plasma on the same space), and also remember to actually assign them to a building (easy to forget). To find the icon you should look on the original weapon's file, it will have the icon that normally appears as an upgrade for the TC listed there for each weapon.

More about how to do all that crap here - researches and hardpoints .

There's actually four researches already setup that can be used for this purpose, they are the original wargear researches.


Fig. 5 - wargear researches

Feel free to appropriate these instead as much of the work is already done with these. These already have a minimal UCS done and the correct hardpoint modifier too. Just make sure you put them on a building and set the requirements correctly, (note that this plasma research will already require the fusion blaser). Don't forget the cost, build time and icon reference too.

Important note: if you leave the upgrades on you will not be able to see them, the leader_ext will override them, but they will still be present in the engine all the same. It may seem that it's all working and this will work fine in skirmish, but it will crash a multiplayer game as soon as you click on the TC. No idea why it only happens in multiplayer, it just does - moral of the story is make sure you turn off them upgrades!!!

Luckily these drones have icons already done and coded in, but otherwise you'd list the icon on the EBPS for each drone in the ui_ext, icon_name.

So save to binary, and that's it really.

Small addition: the TC drones don't have wtp team-colourable skins. It's not essential but if you want you can use these , put the 'art' folder in the download inside yourmod's 'data' folder.


Fig. 6 - view of Tau Commander with drones and barracks selection menu with researches


Command Squads

To make command squads simply fill each slot with the desired leader type. Don't be afraid to make new entities to go in these slots, use a sergeant as a champion, a slightly edited guardsmen skin for an IG medic.

Icon weirdness: The IG command squad only has four leaders on it and not 5, the icon for the General is misleading - if you have 2 or more leaders, but only a squad max size of 1 then the normal trooper loadout will appear as a pictoral icon rather than the usual 'plus' symbol.

Commanders and Attaching

Commanders are really only defined by a couple of things: 1. Commander armour type, which is set in the EBPS in type_ext (more on armour here), 2. having that icon on the UI on the left hand side of the screen to shorcut to your heroes, this is set on the EBPs again at the bottom in ui_ext, simply tick the box called use_hero_ui (max 4 of these onscreen at once), and 3. they tend to be solo. But definitions don't matter at all really.

To attach heroes you need 2 things: an attachable unit (the hero) and a unit that can receive/be attached to (basic squad).

To make a unit attachable you must add the squad_can_attach_ext to their SBPS. You don't need to edit the extension at all, just make sure it's present. To make a squad able to receive commanders add the squad_attach_receive_ext to its SBPS, and again, no need to edit. Note how Kroot Shapers can only attach to Kroot squads, this is because the Fire Warriors don't have the "receive" extension.

Restrictions (mesing these up will cause fatal errors):
- the attaching squad/hero can only have a max size of 1, no more.
- the attaching squad/hero cannot have weapon upgrades in the style of the Tau commander. (i.e. complex_upgrades)
- the attaching squad/hero cannot have any extra leaders (i.e. the Guard Command Squad cannot be made attachable).

Again, it's hardcode, live with it.

Also, a hero that can jump/teleport will lose this ability if it attaches to a squad that can't, the opposite happens if a non-jumping leader joins a jumping squad, the leader will magicly be able to jump/teleport along with his troops all of sudden. I'll leave you to find out how the Big Mek does it.

Imperial Honour

That was a very insightful and useful tutorial there Octopus Rex, should help anyone experiancing any problems with these methods.

Regards,
IH

Corsix

horusheretic

i may as well add that you can have a squad like the tau fire warriors that have 2 leaders can be made so that you can only upgrade one or the other instead of being able to upgrade two leaders. being able to upgrade one of each is something different though. just add a modifier to the squad or entity that modifies how many leaders you can have. set it to -1 and set it to squad. you may want it to be exclusive also or the modifier will keep going if done on the entity.

this is useful in the fact that you need the total amount of leaders to 2 or more to have more than one type of leader iirc



notice the leader reinforce area

Octopus Rex

Indeed, that method is used in DoWpro for exactly the same unit, I just didn't feel like getting into squad modifiers in this tutorial.

Warren5251

Nice tutorial

I think i stuffed up my game.........

I was making a chaos command squad and i selected first leader as aspiring champion

I made it require nothing to build and my game did not work when i tried loading it

any help?

warnings.log

Octopus Rex

Hmm, could be many things, especially if those aren't the ONLY things you changed. (the slightest wrong entry can cause a fatal error) go here to do find out how to fix it, or at least to find what has gone wrong.

Did you select a basic unit for the squad? For example, the Imperial Guard general is actually just a regular trooper in a squad of 1, he just happens to have 4 leaders with him.

Warren5251

Maby I need to edit blood thirst or no aspiring champion

EDIT:

Found it i messed with blood thirst posses

lol

Octopus Rex

Good! When you mentioned the bloodthirster I thought the possession thing was the most likely culprit.

Unregistered

is there a way to only allow certain squads to get a certsin attachment eg a eldar grav platform can only attach to a guardian squad and a farseer can only attach to a seer council

Octopus Rex

No.

Shas'oofFi'rios

So I'm the same person ask in the other thread could you add kroot hounds to the kroot canivore squad. Well i did add them and krootox and i'm confuse about the icon in the ui . If I'm right it so it appears in the squad so you can upgrade it but i dunno on how to edit so the icon is included. I'm using Corsix and i think adding the icon will overide the current icon in icon_name. Please assist.

So basically I'm saying i'm having trouble for the icons of kroot hound and krootox to appear to upgrade in the kroot canivor squad

Varellian

It's not an upgrade, merely a leader, so it should have any effect on the UI.

Not really sure why you were asking about upgrades, though.

Octopus Rex

Shas - most squads have their icon set in the Squad file (as oppose to the entity file). For the leaders icon to appear you must set it in the entity file for that trooper otherwise it won't work.

Are you getting pink squares? Invisible squares? Or no squares at all?

Shas'oofFi'rios

Invisible square for the Krootox. Varellian your right it's a leader I just called it an upgrade on accident. Okay I fix the kroot hounds now i have to fix the krootox.

Octopus Rex

Invisible square means you haven't assigned an icon to the unit I think. Pink square is for when the icon file you've linked either isn't there or isn't displayable (eg wrong file type). Check the EBPS for the krootox, the ui_ext and check there's an icon listed.

Somi

Can i attach units (like Skull Probe) to armored units (Predator Tank, Land Rider ...) ?

Octopus Rex

Why don't you try it and find out?

Somi

maybe i asked in bad way. On default, i cant attach anything to support units. i copied the squad_attach_receive_ext into "dreadnought" (SBPS) but not working.

Octopus Rex

Vehicles are not inherently different from any other squad. They are just a squad of one. Double check that a) the attaching unit was compatible, and b) that the receiving unit is compatible too.

i.e. complex upgrades, which the dreadnought has. Edited the tutorial to make that a bit more clear.

Somi

You were right THANK YOU ! Now i can attach Skull Probe every support unit (excpet airforce that doesnt work very well.)

Octopus Rex

Yes, BUT remember you can attach all the leaders too. Which is a bit odd. But possibly fine.

Somi

Another thing. When i attached a unit to vehicle, in the group menu the attached units lifebar is disappear can i fix this ?

Octopus Rex

I can't remember if it does that for all squads or not (those of more than one member). Either way, the answer is no, you can't.

Somi

I see looks like i want to much thanks for your help !!!

apoclaydon

i tried to add a leader to my tau broadside team but its grayed out with no research needed. there are no other upgrade or leader options for the squad. is their a way to sort this

corncobman

Did you check the max_leaders in the squad leader_ext section?

apoclaydon

yh its set to 1

Octopus Rex

I'm not sure leaders are compatible with the entrench_ext either (don't know for sure, but suspect they're not).

apoclaydon

still no luck dnt have a clue wot i'm doing wrong

coffee demon

hey,
do you have a proper squad_reinfroce_ext and a true in can_upgrade ?
The broadside doesn't have one, so you would have to copy it from another squad.

apoclaydon

yh copied it from the fire warriors. well thx for the quick replies i've got them working (redone the entries by scratch) also entrench does work with leaders but 4 sum reason the animation is broke (cud be the broadside model i'm using tho)

Another question i have is that after playing some mods i've noticed that some squads start off with some of their leaders inplay (greater knarlock with its goaders and sniper teams with a spotter and sniper drone) how is this done?

Octopus Rex

Glad you got it working to some degree.

Just a note about entrench: (I remembered what it was that I was referring to in my last post)

in DC 1.0, Broadsides came as a squad of three rather than one dude. However, you couldn't reinforce them. This was because it lead to issues of reinforcing the squad while entrenched which totally borked it all as one member in un-entrenched and the rest are stuck in the ground. They changed to one member per squad in DC 1.2. You will have similar problems with your leader I imagine (it sounds like you are already). Basically, reinforcing troopers on an entrenching squad (by it regular joes or extra leaders) will noticeably break it.

Leaders in play: I'm not sure, but I believe that's done with SCAR coding, which I have no idea about.

apoclaydon

yh just noticed that in order to reinforce without error they need to be in normal mode (shame cant make that happen) but yh everything seams fine just need to put the ui info back to normal and ensure stats are normal again

again thanks for your help

EDIT

Yh to get the squad to start of with their squad its to do with scar coding