Antstafer's Many Modding Problems

[Antstafer]

Ran into a frustrating problem that I hope one of the expert map makers can answer.

So I got some building pieces set up, with spawn paths on top of it-



Even though I have the barriers set up correctly, and hubs leading down with their respected connections, the units make ZERO effort to move. They just stand there.

Is there something I'm missing?

[Antstafer]

So I got rid of the building, and I'm having this problem at a few other command posts as well.

I'm sure the hubs and connections are set up correctly, but the units refuse to move when they spawn.

At some command posts, most of them stand still while only a couple of them actually go and follow the path.

Am I hitting some weird memory limit? The map is pretty large.

[Antstafer]

So apparently having over 250 hubs causes most of the ai to stop working haha. The less hubs I had, the more units would stop standing around and actually going places.

This normally Isn't an issue on open maps like hoth or geonosis, but Mos Eisley is a whole other can of worms. I've never even heard there was a limit to paths. Zero editor prompts you once you hit the 256 hub limis.

I managed to consolidate the default hub placement to something more streamlined so I could utilize the extra space.

Still never figured out why they won't move on the buildings through. Very strange.

[Led]

Thanks for the follow-ups.  Good stuff to know the limitations.   

[Antstafer]

Having an issue with units standing around again.

At each command post, there's a good 10 that stand around, while 2 or three of them actually go out and follow the paths.

I'm having to delete more hubs and command posts than necessary to even get them to do THAT much. Its bizarre. I can't pinpoint what's causing this, but it seems the default Pandemic hub placements have no issue, and units spawning close to those do just fine. I have no idea what's going on.

[Antstafer]

Did some more testing, and I don't think the planning paths I place end up finalizing in the main map for some reason. The units don't follow the ones I placed, but they seem to follow the default ones laid out by Pandemic.

What will happen is a group of units will spawn, wait around for like 10 seconds, then one or two will slowly trickle out and seek a command post. I noticed these units do not follow the planning paths I laid out, but instead are navigating around the barriers.

SPTEST throws an error akin to- "memory pool "obstacle" is too low, set to at least 2100".

Which is obviously ABSURD. I have reason to believe now that these planning paths aren't working at all for whatever reason, and engine is struggling having all the units try and chart their own course in a very convoluted way.

Either way, I'm sure its something really dumb and obvious that I'm doing wrong, but I can't seem to find it.

[Antstafer]

So I found a solution, but I'm not 100% confident that this is what fixed it, but here it goes.


So I got units moving around most of the map, except for this one section separated by a broken bridge. Basically it was almost like two battlefields that were separated by the downed bridge, but with a CP in the center that when captured, would allow the other team to spawn on the other side. Sounds cool, right? Well not to battlefront it seems.

My guess is Battlefront doesn't like it when hubs aren't connected to one big main net. Even though mine technically was, the end of the bridge was blocked with barriers to keep the units from falling off.

My guess is half of them wanted to fight on this isolated side, and the other half didn't want to. They wanted to go to the other command posts. To the main net.


One more tricky troubleshooting session down. Now I can continue with these maps until the next headache surfaces.

[Antstafer]

So this is the big smoke effect that appears on the downed technounion ship on Geonosis.

After 40 seconds it slowly starts to disappear and never starts again.

I've tried messing with the 'LifeTime' values, but it doesn't solve the issue.

Am I missing something obvious in the code here in the fx?



ParticleEmitter("Smoke")
{
   MaxParticles(10000.0000,10000.0000);
   StartDelay(0.0000,0.0000);
   BurstDelay(0.2000, 0.4000);
   BurstCount(1.0000,1.0000);
   MaxLodDist(1000.0000);
   MinLodDist(800.0000);
   BoundingRadius(40.0);
   Size(1.0000, 1.0000);
   Hue(255.0000, 255.0000);
   Saturation(255.0000, 255.0000);
   Value(255.0000, 255.0000);
   Alpha(255.0000, 255.0000);
   Spawner()
   {
      Spread()
      {
         PositionX(-0.4000,0.4000);
         PositionY(3.0000,4.0000);
         PositionZ(-0.4000,0.4000);
      }
      Offset()
      {
         PositionX(0.0000,0.0000);
         PositionY(0.0000,0.0000);
         PositionZ(0.0000,0.0000);
      }
      PositionScale(0.0000,0.0000);
      VelocityScale(1.5000,1.5000);
      InheritVelocityFactor(0.0000,0.0000);
      Size(0, 5.0000, 7.7500);
      Red(0, 175.0000, 175.0000);
      Green(0, 117.0000, 117.0000);
      Blue(0, 78.0000, 78.0000);
      Alpha(0, 0.0000, 0.0000);
      StartRotation(0, -30.0000, 30.0000);
      RotationVelocity(0, -10.0000, 10.0000);
      FadeInTime(0.0000);
   }
   Transformer()
   {
      LifeTime(10.0000);
      Position()
      {
         LifeTime(3.0000)
         Accelerate(2.0000, -0.1000, 0.0000);
      }
      Size(0)
      {
         LifeTime(10.0000)
         Scale(3.0000);
      }
      Color(0)
      {
         LifeTime(1.0000)
         Move(0.0000,0.0000,0.0000,170.0000);
         Next()
         {
            LifeTime(9.0000)
            Reach(175.0000,117.0000,78.0000,0.0000);
         }
      }
   }
   Geometry()
   {
      BlendMode("NORMAL");
      Type("PARTICLE");
      Texture("underlitesmoke2");
   }
   ParticleEmitter("Smoke")
   {
      MaxParticles(10000.0000,10000.0000);
      StartDelay(0.0000,0.0000);
      BurstDelay(0.2000, 0.4000);
      BurstCount(1.0000,1.0000);
      MaxLodDist(1000.0000);
      MinLodDist(800.0000);
      Size(1.0000, 1.0000);
      Hue(255.0000, 255.0000);
      Saturation(255.0000, 255.0000);
      Value(255.0000, 255.0000);
      Alpha(255.0000, 255.0000);
      Spawner()
      {
         Spread()
         {
            PositionX(-1.0000,1.0000);
            PositionY(3.0000,4.0000);
            PositionZ(-1.0000,1.0000);
         }
         Offset()
         {
            PositionX(-3.0000,3.0000);
            PositionY(-1.0000,1.0000);
            PositionZ(-3.0000,3.0000);
         }
         PositionScale(0.0000,0.0000);
         VelocityScale(1.5000,1.5000);
         InheritVelocityFactor(0.0000,0.0000);
         Size(0, 2.0000, 4.7500);
         Red(0, 175.0000, 175.0000);
         Green(0, 117.0000, 117.0000);
         Blue(0, 78.0000, 78.0000);
         Alpha(0, 0.0000, 0.0000);
         StartRotation(0, -30.0000, 30.0000);
         RotationVelocity(0, -10.0000, 10.0000);
         FadeInTime(0.0000);
      }
      Transformer()
      {
         LifeTime(10.0000);
         Position()
         {
            LifeTime(3.0000)
            Accelerate(2.0000, -0.1000, 0.0000);
         }
         Size(0)
         {
            LifeTime(10.0000)
            Scale(4.0000);
         }
         Color(0)
         {
            LifeTime(1.0000)
            Move(0.0000,0.0000,0.0000,170.0000);
            Next()
            {
               LifeTime(9.0000)
               Reach(175.0000,117.0000,78.0000,0.0000);
            }
         }
      }
      Geometry()
      {
         BlendMode("NORMAL");
         Type("PARTICLE");
         Texture("underlitesmoke2");
      }
   }
}

[Antstafer]

So this is the big smoke effect that appears on the downed technounion ship on Geonosis.

After 40 seconds it slowly starts to disappear and never starts again.

I've tried messing with the 'LifeTime' values, but it doesn't solve the issue.

Am I missing something obvious in the code here in the fx?



ParticleEmitter("Smoke")
{
   MaxParticles(10000.0000,10000.0000);
   StartDelay(0.0000,0.0000);
   BurstDelay(0.2000, 0.4000);
   BurstCount(1.0000,1.0000);
   MaxLodDist(1000.0000);
   MinLodDist(800.0000);
   BoundingRadius(40.0);
   Size(1.0000, 1.0000);
   Hue(255.0000, 255.0000);
   Saturation(255.0000, 255.0000);
   Value(255.0000, 255.0000);
   Alpha(255.0000, 255.0000);
   Spawner()
   {
      Spread()
      {
         PositionX(-0.4000,0.4000);
         PositionY(3.0000,4.0000);
         PositionZ(-0.4000,0.4000);
      }
      Offset()
      {
         PositionX(0.0000,0.0000);
         PositionY(0.0000,0.0000);
         PositionZ(0.0000,0.0000);
      }
      PositionScale(0.0000,0.0000);
      VelocityScale(1.5000,1.5000);
      InheritVelocityFactor(0.0000,0.0000);
      Size(0, 5.0000, 7.7500);
      Red(0, 175.0000, 175.0000);
      Green(0, 117.0000, 117.0000);
      Blue(0, 78.0000, 78.0000);
      Alpha(0, 0.0000, 0.0000);
      StartRotation(0, -30.0000, 30.0000);
      RotationVelocity(0, -10.0000, 10.0000);
      FadeInTime(0.0000);
   }
   Transformer()
   {
      LifeTime(10.0000);
      Position()
      {
         LifeTime(3.0000)
         Accelerate(2.0000, -0.1000, 0.0000);
      }
      Size(0)
      {
         LifeTime(10.0000)
         Scale(3.0000);
      }
      Color(0)
      {
         LifeTime(1.0000)
         Move(0.0000,0.0000,0.0000,170.0000);
         Next()
         {
            LifeTime(9.0000)
            Reach(175.0000,117.0000,78.0000,0.0000);
         }
      }
   }
   Geometry()
   {
      BlendMode("NORMAL");
      Type("PARTICLE");
      Texture("underlitesmoke2");
   }
   ParticleEmitter("Smoke")
   {
      MaxParticles(10000.0000,10000.0000);
      StartDelay(0.0000,0.0000);
      BurstDelay(0.2000, 0.4000);
      BurstCount(1.0000,1.0000);
      MaxLodDist(1000.0000);
      MinLodDist(800.0000);
      Size(1.0000, 1.0000);
      Hue(255.0000, 255.0000);
      Saturation(255.0000, 255.0000);
      Value(255.0000, 255.0000);
      Alpha(255.0000, 255.0000);
      Spawner()
      {
         Spread()
         {
            PositionX(-1.0000,1.0000);
            PositionY(3.0000,4.0000);
            PositionZ(-1.0000,1.0000);
         }
         Offset()
         {
            PositionX(-3.0000,3.0000);
            PositionY(-1.0000,1.0000);
            PositionZ(-3.0000,3.0000);
         }
         PositionScale(0.0000,0.0000);
         VelocityScale(1.5000,1.5000);
         InheritVelocityFactor(0.0000,0.0000);
         Size(0, 2.0000, 4.7500);
         Red(0, 175.0000, 175.0000);
         Green(0, 117.0000, 117.0000);
         Blue(0, 78.0000, 78.0000);
         Alpha(0, 0.0000, 0.0000);
         StartRotation(0, -30.0000, 30.0000);
         RotationVelocity(0, -10.0000, 10.0000);
         FadeInTime(0.0000);
      }
      Transformer()
      {
         LifeTime(10.0000);
         Position()
         {
            LifeTime(3.0000)
            Accelerate(2.0000, -0.1000, 0.0000);
         }
         Size(0)
         {
            LifeTime(10.0000)
            Scale(4.0000);
         }
         Color(0)
         {
            LifeTime(1.0000)
            Move(0.0000,0.0000,0.0000,170.0000);
            Next()
            {
               LifeTime(9.0000)
               Reach(175.0000,117.0000,78.0000,0.0000);
            }
         }
      }
      Geometry()
      {
         BlendMode("NORMAL");
         Type("PARTICLE");
         Texture("underlitesmoke2");
      }
   }
}

Hey if anyone ever runs into this problem, you need to set the MaxParticles to MaxParticles(-1.0000,-1.0000);. This will create an infinite loop of particles, sort of like a fountain effect. Took me way too long to figure out.

[Led]

Hey if anyone ever runs into this problem, you need to set the MaxParticles to MaxParticles(-1.0000,-1.0000);. This will create an infinite loop of particles, sort of like a fountain effect. Took me way too long to figure out.

nice find 

[Dark_Phantom]

Lol, I wish I had remembered this post was here.
I learned this when building my electric trap thingy for Ruusan. Took me a while to figure out as well.