white and wrong parts ...

[SpyGuy]

Yeah, I know - I did that title on purpose ... :)

Okay, this post is relating to custom parts on both RA2 and DSL, plus a question or two ... I believe I got all of these parts from RFSHQ.com.  Don't know if anyone can answer  them, but wtf, gotta try, right?

1.  I've noticed now and then there are "white" parts, and wonders what causes this?    I have several parts from other sources (bullhorns from El Toro.bot, Aftershock axe from HackerX's AU hacks pack, etc.) that will show up and are useable parts, but they are all white.  Why is this?

2.  Software glitch on robot/component: There is a robot named REDRUM that I downloaded a while back (wedge-type with a rotating drum on the front) while I was collecting parts and robot designs.  It worked okay for a while, but after I installed a few more parts, the robot began appearing with a flipper scoop mounted sideways where the drum was originally mounted.  Very annoying, trying to run over someone with a sideways-mounted scoop .... doesn't work that well, let me tell you.  It took a long time for me to find this, and only after I un-cfl'd a number of files did I find the glitch.  Someone else had created a flipper scoop that was ALSO named REDRUM, and when the game booted up, it mistook the flipper for the barrel, ths the mixup on parts.  A quick directory and txt file change to "rd_flipper", and the problem went away.

3. Software glitch on component:  Fedexirico had created a components pack, one of the items being a red devil's fork flipper.  This component was put into a directory named "fork", with a .cfz file pointing to it.  At the same time, someone else had released another fork, this time a table fork. with a .cfz file pointing to THAT one.  However, BOTH directories and component names were called "fork," so I would get Fedex's red fork, but the description from the table fork.  After uncfl'ing the two files, Fedex's component and the corresponding files have since been renamed "redfork" - no more problems with mixing the two up anymore.  This is another good reason NOT to have the cfz's.

4.  Smart-zones:  For some reason, the smartzone from RFSHQ is not working correctly.  The game tends to crash whenever I use it, i.e. removing the smartzone on RA2 AI robot Sentinel to change the flipper to a hammer- or axe-type weapon.  Maybe I'm not installing it or labelling it correctly, I'm not sure, but I figured it couldn't hurt to ask.

5.  Is it possible to make an AI robot with two different weapons, such as a "primary" and "secondary" weapon?  For instance, Coal Miner (orignal RA2) having a smartzone on the rear to fire a spike or swing a mace on a snapper2 motor.  Just a thought ...

That's all I can think of at the moment .... I'm sure there's more I'll remember later.

[Mr. Weedy]

1. Answer to 1 is that there isn't any preview bmp file in that component's directory. Put there something and edit the text file so it will load that picture be the preview picture and thats it. Take a look to some components' folder's what has a preview picture and then look inside the text file and then you might understand what I'm meaning if you didn't understand me at that previous text.

4. And there is already smartzones what comes with DSL-TC mod so that is the reason why those RFSHQ's smartzones crash the game.

Or at least I'm very sure that is the case.

[Metal Virus]

Just for referance, REDRUM is a real robot.  Some of it's matches can be found here.

[SpyGuy]

1. Answer to 1 is that there isn't any preview bmp file in that component's directory. ...

4. And there is already smartzones what comes with DSL-TC mod so that is the reason why those RFSHQ's smartzones crash the game.

Or at least I'm very sure that is the case.

Weedy -

1. No, the problem is not the preview picture - I have that.  The problem is the actual component itself that shows up as white.  I get the 3-D form of the component, but there's no color on it - it's just plain white.

5. Oh, okies ... must've missed them somehow .. have to go back and look for them.  Are the smartzones under Power or Extras?

MV - Thanks! That was cool!

[Mr. Weedy]

The smartzones show up under the first panel is it that... power or control panel or whatever it is where is that control board. They are normally hidden.

And on that 4.

Then I think you don't have any bmp files under your maps folder under that component. For example D:\Robot Arena 2 1.2\Components\servo_motor\maps

There are servo's maps and I think if those pictures are corrupted or missing then the parts will show up totally white.

[SpyGuy]

Okies, will go looking for the smartzones, see if i can get them working - I'd really like to be able to build some AI bots to fight against besides basic pushers and spinners ...


Hmmm...... corrupted.bmp file, eh?  Okay, THAT i will go check on right now to see if that's the problem ...

There is a .bmp in the maps folder, but the 3d model is still coming out white.  i tried goofing with it a little to see if i could get the part to sow all colors, but nope .....  Ah, well, i'll keep messing with it.  Thanks for the help, though - 'preciate it.

[Clickbeetle]

Since you apparently know something about CFZ's and txt files, here's any easy way to get smart zones.  Decompile Components.cfz, and find smartzone1.txt.  Copy/paste it into your Components folder.  (Recompiling the cfz won't work because you can't compile styles; at least I've never gotten it to work.)  Edit the copied smartzone1.txt and change hidden = 1 to hidden = 0 (or hidden = 2 if you want it to be cheatbot2).

It is possible to make AI bots with multiple weapons each with their own smart zone (Topknot II has a total of 6 - one for each axe, one for all four, and one for spinning) but you need to make custom AI bindings.

For the white components, decompile the .gmf and find the file name for the skin.  Make sure this matches the file in the maps folder.  If it doesn't, change it.

[SpyGuy]

*blinks* SIX smart zones?  Wow!  That's a lot of weaponry!  Must have been a major headache doing all the coding for that ....I noticed that the Emergency vehicle had a second set of bindings for it - I figured each one was for the flippers, or one for the flippers and one for the ramplates.

Ah, okay, hadn't thought about decompiling the gmf file.  I think I have that exporter somewhere around here - i pretty much downloaded everything RFSHQ had on their site ...

I was having some trouble with the CFZ files crossing over each other and mixing up parts, so when I revved up DSL TC, I decided to uncfl everything except the original components listing.  Makes things a lot nicer, since I like going in and tweaking some of the files here and there.  Haven't worked up to actually building parts from scratch, though that's coming sooner or later ... I'll probably wind up uncfl'ing everything on the original version of RA2 while I'm at it, and get things all cleaned up.

On a slightly different note ....
I've also been tweaking some of the bindings around a little, making some of the original AI robots invertible.  I always thought some of them should be able to run upside down, like Lugnut and The Boxer, and got really bored really fast with just flipping them over and waiting for the timer to count them out.  My new invertibles include:
BOT-204
Catfish
Civil Disobedience
Li'l Dog (running 4 Z-Teks, needs more battery power)
Lugnut (running High Power Z-Teks)
M.A.D.
Sabertooth (still in beta stage)
The Boxer

I'll see about getting pics of all of the above, in original and rebuilt form, along with any other rebuilds i'm working on, and put them in the showcase.