gametechmods
Robot Arena => Discussion => Topic started by: thurston_studios on September 16, 2013, 06:13:14 PM
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Hello again gametechmods! I have been working out a project with an acquaintance of mine to make a goal possible:
In the DSL3 readme, there was a single line stating more or less that the components would not work with each other.
Taken the challenge, we reached a consensus that you should be able to play with all the parts; any version, all parts, side by side. Since the beginning of this very ambitious project I have realized that what this version could provide to the community. Taking back up the torch, not only has this project given me a great glimpse into what modding really entails, it also brings the question of what the players would like to see in a component pack.
So it is that I have begun co-developing jimsmod, I would like to provide a comprehensive pack.
Please respond to this with exactly what you would want included, be it new components / skins / version inclusions / etc.
I would like to get a glimpse into what the community would like to have.
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The different versions have different parts and they're kept seperate for a reason. Stock parts are much weaker than DSL parts and the parts in DSL2 are so far off balance that you are literally only left with 2 or 3 options to be competitive. DSL3 is being made to counteract the imbalance and give more options.
tl;dr: The components shouldn't be mixed.
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:arrow: Better bursts & servos
:arrow: Motors for smaller weight classes
:arrow: New, balanced, realistic spikes
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Id like to see IRL components, e.g. LEM 130
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Lasers with an insane frequency setting and perhaps some different lengths, cannons, flame throwers, some sort of super sharp blade with a mild frequency and last but not least: super-heavy, super grippy, super indestructible wheels.
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What about Hardox armor?
And galactic, too unrealistic for me. Chaos AI is like that.
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Good point.
well the blade, I don't see how that is unrealistic...
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Lighter motors? The lightest one in standard DSL is 11kg.
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that is heavy if you need 2 of those, a baseplate anchor, an extender and an iron spike.
plus armor, wheels, batteries and a mini-control board.
EDIT:
For a sub-light weight.
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No its not. Ive built a fleaweight in DSL, so it cant be THAT hard. Although what id like to see is an AW/FLW motor that spins REALLY fast, but cant spin much weight.
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we need a smaller motor, one that fits in an infantismally small bot.
EDIT:
And is set for wheels by default.
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we need a smaller motor, one that fits in an infantismally small bot.
EDIT:
And is set for wheels by default.
copals
besides, any smaller motors will almost always havok itself to death.
anyway, i would like to see more components that i can use as a sort of armour, like shell panels
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besides, any smaller motors will almost always havok itself to death.
AJ's Tank pack.
the tank track motors work just fine, and are TINY.
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:arrow: Different wheels, preferably ones linked to robot combat (I.e Colson wheels in DSL3)
:arrow: New real batteries
:arrow: Lighter, flatter motors (Like the Reservable Angle Motor)
:arrow: More ant weapons
:arrow: New, realistic, pre-made saws and axes/hammers
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Thanks for all the input guys, this has turned out to be a challenging and rewarding build process and a great stepping stone into the modding world.
The idea behind combining the components from released editions had started with my co-creator's idea of doing something that has been said to not be doable. This evolved into the current ambitious project to allow any bot from any version to be able to be loaded into a standalone version of the game.
Now the ambition has grown, and the project has taken on a great magnitude. Eventually I would like to include all parts that are currently available (and allowed by the creators involved) as well as many, many new textures and new Components.
Currently I have been absorbing as much knowledge as possible about add bits and pieces to this project which is still alive, even though people are abandoning this fantastic title to the newer, more flashy games out there. Our team would really like to make a comprehensive pack for all players to enjoy and also provide a platform wherein people can put their "two cents" in and actually influence the development of future versions.
I reall like the ideas that some of you have given on this thread, and I really appreciate the constructive critisicm for this build. This has been a monumentous task to undertake largely in my free time, and I hope to provide a quality mod when the development process has been furthered a bit. As of now, I have successfully integrated the DSL versions that exist and included the Darkpacks and NARAI bits. I would really like to further this project for the good of all the players who enjoy this title (whether they prefer to build or seriously play).
In conclusion (man, this is a wordy post) - please feel free to be a contributor to this project. I would definitely appreciate any and all help in this build, and anyone who contributes will get their proper mention when all is said and done. So feel free to send me your homebrew components or your research notes into the true robotics world (this would be of tremendous help). Remember, the only thing standing between you and making your own contributions to this are a few hours and a little effort. In no way do I wish to take a position of grandure here, I am only a lowly keybanger. Thanks and have fun
- Cameron A
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Wait, how is that even supposed to work ? You want to mix up different ai packs ? For the most part, nar ai components and DSL components have the same names in .txt form.
If you change the names of all the txt's, you'll screw up compatibility between nar ai and this pack OR between DSL and this pack.
If you use a system of different folders you cannot use both systems at the same time.
Not to mention that with all parts of 3 or more ai packs crammed into a game, the botlab's component lists would be so long it would be a chore to build in this mod.
How are you managing all that ? If you do have tricks that would help modding ra2 in general, it would be good to share them.
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You know, seeing as how 90% of DSL2 components are useless due to balance issues, adding another 300 components in isn't going to help.
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Instead of replacing the components with the newer version, I have included them in the proper folder with slightly adjusted names (in this case windows has taken care of this with ease ie awbatt.txt and awbatt (2).txt ) It seems to work quite well.
In addition I have taken the previews for all of the components and added stamps to them denoting which mod version they came from. This does make for a longer list of parts indeed, but for many of the components there was no change in between versions of DSL, thus no added duplicates/triplicates for certain parts. As of right now my development version has over 1,000 parts and I hope to expand that to include new original parts.
I understand the idea of some of the older parts being unbalanced or needing nerfing or buffing (as was provided by updated DSL editions), but the ability to import any bot built in any mod edition is seemingly a feasibility. I have been working toward providing this for the community, and though I am doing much of the work myself (and intend to carry on ) - the community's input and efforts would be much appreciated.
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1,000 parts?
That would be totally kick-arse, but it would be impossible to balance all those parts and be able to put any proper effort into each individual component. Not to mention the insane lag that would create.
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I have been hitting some difficulties in making a comprehensive, all-inclusive pack lately, but I have found a workaround to my first problem of crashing over certain duplicates not being included. I will include many of the older versions of parts in a "hidden=1" state so that bots from any edition can be included without trouble and the parts list will be manageable.
This leads me to a second problem that really calls for the community to help fix - there are a lot of parts missing previews altogether. I can post a .txt file with a list of these issues, but I was wondering if the community could provide access to a version of the game that has a fully complete components pack without error (or let me know if the error is within the DSL build itself)
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Instead of replacing the components with the newer version, I have included them in the proper folder with slightly adjusted names (in this case windows has taken care of this with ease ie awbatt.txt and awbatt (2).txt ) It seems to work quite well.
Have you taken into account the fact .bot files write the file names and path's inside the file?
so for example, importing a robot which requests the part "components/awbatt.txt" when in reality it requires the now renamed awbatt (2).txt
while your solution works for a standalone situation, robots cannot be imported nor be compatible with other versions of RA2 because of this..
:smile:
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Instead of replacing the components with the newer version, I have included them in the proper folder with slightly adjusted names (in this case windows has taken care of this with ease ie awbatt.txt and awbatt (2).txt ) It seems to work quite well.
So yeah... Importing a nar ai bot to your pack will make it so it has DSL stats.
This leads me to a second problem that really calls for the community to help fix - there are a lot of parts missing previews altogether. I can post a .txt file with a list of these issues, but I was wondering if the community could provide access to a version of the game that has a fully complete components pack without error (or let me know if the error is within the DSL build itself)
There is none. all the previewless parts are cheat parts and/or parts used for replicas, that is not supposed to be used in the botlab but via BFE building.
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Hmm, thanks for the creative criticism, it really gives me food for thought as to what problems are going to be faced through this build process.
For the most part the newest version of each of the parts I have included is the default one, with the older ones following suit
In any case, this project has been serving as a launching point into the world of modding for me and I would like to eventually provide a comprehensive standalone build for the community. I would like to fix some of the parts that are broken at this point, though.
I did see that many of the ones that are missing previews are indeed replica parts, but I don't really want to deny these parts to players. It appears the only way to get them going is to insert my own previews I take it?
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A gyroscopic part would be wonderful for making walker-style bots in RA2!
Or maybe a flag part like the Competition Flag in RA1! :dumb)