23 replies to this topic

[Cataphractos]

Hello, everyone. I hate to introduce myself with questions, straight out of the gate, but...

Is anybody familiar with the MechCommander 2 mission editor? I hope so, because otherwise I have to junk a campaign idea I've already sunk two weeks into. If you are:

1. When I try to play the campaign, it tells me something's wrong with the "mission settings block". Any idea what this is, and how to fix it?

2. In the Mission>Mission Settings menu, does it matter which "scenario tune" you set for the mission? I've tried setting it to options 0 and 3, but it seems like the same music either way.

3. Also in the Mission>Mission Settings menu, do the "All Tech", "Resource Building", "No Variants" and "RPs for Mechs" options matter for single-player games?

PS: I feel really bad about posting this here, but the MWO forum is the only one that's currently active where MC2 is being discussed. I've tried "Dropship Command", but I don't think anybody's even been on there for two years. The official "BattleTech" forums are active, but nobody's talking about MC2; I'm not even sure it's allowed. And to top it all off, I can't even fight the requisite number of MWO battles to put this in the proper sub-forum, because I'm having trouble downloading the game in the first place! (It's not the game, it's my connection. Booooooo.) So in conclusion: wow, much sorry, so confuse, plz help.

[luxebo]

Hey, get your Cadet Bonus (or ask a mod to move to off-topic area)! (Reread the last part, it's alright. )

Yeah, I'm familiar with MC2, MC2 Omnitech, and Wolfman's expansions. Wolfmanx.net is not bad of an area to go to as well, I usually take a look after a few days there even though it's dormant. Why would you junk a campaign, ever? Keep everything.

1) You would need to give the entire bug report (well the first 3 lines or so is good enough). Otherwise, judging from info given, you'd have to set stuff in mission settings and objective settings area, but I think you already did.

2) I wouldn't bother with tunes just yet, but there are ways to change music wav files via _script files, find the proper areas to change the music wavs (there are a lot of em).

3) No, they really don't matter. And nobody plays online/multiplayer MC2. It's rare enough to find a guy with MC2 experience, and with online/multiplayer too...

I would suggest porting the campaign to MCO or MC2X, as those will result in much easier creation of your campaigns. I look forward to the full release and/or maybe video taping your gameplay of these campaigns, etc. Good luck.

BTW, hopefully you can figure out how to download the game and patch in one shot, maybe get better Internet and hope it works. Once again good luck.

[TheCaptainJZ]

Yes, I've played around with that program, but it's...touchy and I never could get the resource.fit files to work properly.

1. Not sure but like luxebo said, probably some settings aren't set up right. Could also be a problem with syntax in the file. I believe it creates example files you can compare with.

2. I think this picks the first tune played but that is it.

3. Nope. Those are for multiplayer maps.

Sadly, there are many things the manual does not tell you how to do for making your own missions

[990Dreams]

• Install the Wolfman X Expansion pack.
  
• Click here to install the correct XNA build.
  
• With Wolfman X and XNA installed your editor should run like new. You may need the Visual C Pack as well.

Why take my advice? I make MC2 missions all the time. So trust me.

Also, here are some tips:

• Install GIMP 2.0, as it can do TGA images (which you need to make custom textures)
  
• Use height maps (Black and White maps with white as the highest point, you can assign the height maps in the "File" tab)
  
• You may be able to go without Wolfman X but it adds so much stuff to the game.
  
• MechCommander 2 for free.
  
• Not my RTF but it is still helpful.
  
• Contact me via PM if you need anymore help!

Edited by DavidHurricane, 22 March 2014 - 05:36 AM.

[Cataphractos]

Luxebo: Yeah, it's a connectivity problem. Hopefully within the next couple of months, I'll have cleared enough off my To-Do list to put "decent Internet" on it. And then...oh, and then!...the world shall feel the wrath of my Flea, MWAH-HA-HA-HAAAAA! Ahem...anyway... My understanding was that the "Wolfman" website was just for the "Wolfman" expansion pack, which I'm more than a little wary of using. (My RTS philosophy has always been that campaign design is quite complicated enough without throwing mod-packs into the mix. And I don't want people without "Wolfman" to feel left out!) As for the code that pops up when I hit the "New Campaign" button to test it, here it is:
STOP : [ASSERT 0] Coudln't find the mission settings block in the mission file
Address : 0x00512C16
Location : Assert()+0x36
File : C:\mc2build\mechcmd2\MCLib\err.cpp(34)

Call Stack
==========
0x004CFC07 LogisticsSaveDialog::readCampaignNameFromFile()+0x87 C:\mc2build\mechcmd2\Code\LogisticsDialog.cpp(649)
0x004CF9C9 LogisticsSaveDialog::initDialog()+0x2F9 C:\mc2build\mechcmd2\Code\LogisticsDialog.cpp(550)

TheCaptainJZ: I found an editor guide on the original CD, but it's only helpful for single-player games. It doesn't tell you anything useful about making whole campaigns. Which is why I've put it off this long. I'm leaning pretty heavily on a "Saved Game Editing FAQ" by somebody named "Blood Asp".

David Hurricane: Once I've got the "skeleton" of the campaign worked out, I'll probably talk to you about terrain. Luckily, the story I want to tell happens to be set on a planet that's mostly vast flat expanses of boring, but I'll have to throw a few hills and craters in at some point.

[luxebo]

Can you run the single missions or no? If campaign playing is bugged, then try the solo mission to test the missions themselves. I think what you may want to do is check the campaign screen in the editor and try to fix up all the things there, you maybe forgot to input missions into the campaign, or purchasing files not there, etc.

I would highly suggest porting the entire campaign to MC2X (wolfman's mod) as DavidHurricane has mentioned, and/or you may want to wait for the next revision and Warlords of the Rim Colonies! You could also port to MCO (Omnitech is magic's mod), but it's easier to use MC2X in my opinion if you want stuff like vehicles, aircraft, dropships, infantry, etc, lots of good stuff in MC2X. MCO is more related to battletech and is more utilitarian, as it's tough to do a complete campaign on this editor (though it's a different feeling.) Up to you, but I will also try to do a full on campaign based on MWO and MWLL using the new revision coming out soon (assuming this game gets far enough), possibly creating more models and stuff to match both of these games and create similar maps to what is in both of these awesome games!

About modding, it's been a while for myself since my last campaign, but you should attempt to contact wolfman and magic, wolfman-x forums and hard light production forums should be around still. Good luck once again, and hope to see you in this game also!

[Cataphractos]

Okay! Here we go...

Yes, I can run the missions just fine in single-player solo. Of course, it offers all the Mechs and pilots at once, when I want a very limited selection in the first few missions of the campaign...but that's what campaign purchase files are for. I've made a purchase file; here's what it looks like:
FITini
FITini

[Components]
b AllComponents = FALSE
l Component0 = 7
l Component1 = 10
l Component2 = 25
l Component3 = 99
l Component4 = 100
l Component5 = 101
l Component6 = 102
l Component7 = 103
l Component8 = 104
l Component9 = 108
l Component10 = 112
l Component11 = 114
l Component12 = 120
l Component13 = 125
l Component14 = 140
l Component15 = 142
l Component16 = 143
l Component17 = 144
l Component18 = 145
l Component19 = 155
l Component20 = 156
l Component21 = 160

[Mechs]
st Mech0 = "data/objects/raven.csv"
st Mech1 = "data/objects/fireant.csv"

[Pilots]
st Pilot0 = "PMWdagger"
st Pilot1 = "PMWflash"
st Pilot2 = "PMWhammer"
st Pilot3 = "PMWghost"
st Pilot4 = "PMWtwitch"
st Pilot5 = "PMWvenom"
FITend

Maybe I need to specify ranks and skills for the pilots?

Alternatively, do you know whether a campaign "mission group" needs to have more than one mission in it? The campaign moves from a "recruiting world" in the first mission, to the main planet, so I've got the first mission in its own mission group.

As it happens, it doesn't matter that I have a phobia about mod-packs, because I need Java to access Wolfman's website, and Java simply refuses to download on this computer. ("Unable to download [indecipherable computer code] for installation.") I've gone ahead and sent a message to what I deeply hope is his e-mail, and we'll see what happens.

[luxebo]

Sadly, wolfman-x's page is forced with java, and you can't really fully do much of it until you can somehow get Java or something similar. Probably somewhat connected to the issue of trying to download this game too, just have to hope/get better computer, etc.

Purchasing file looks perfectly fine. Don't think it's an issue, as you have the '0' prerequisite and all parts filled from 0-end #.

Each mission group has a minimum of 1 to a maximum of 5.

I honestly don't have a clue on why this bug is appearing, I'll link a few other areas you could ask.
Wolfman's forum: http://z8.invisionfr...orum/index.php?
Mechcommander Omnitech forum: http://www.hard-ligh...php?board=210.0
Moddb has MCO download, you could try there too. Same as Warlords of the rim colonies moddb site.

Once again wish you good luck with the campaign.

[990Dreams]

Cataphractos, on 22 March 2014 - 05:58 PM, said:

Maybe I need to specify ranks and skills for the pilots?

Alternatively, do you know whether a campaign "mission group" needs to have more than one mission in it? The campaign moves from a "recruiting world" in the first mission, to the main planet, so I've got the first mission in its own mission group.

Mission groups can have as many missions as the operation file allows. You can have as many groups as you want too.

No ranks need to be specified for the pilots. The FIT looks fine to me.

I can customize a purchase for you if you give me a list of the components, Mechs, and pilots you want.

[Cataphractos]

Son-of-a-Steiner. I figured out the problem. I'll give you a minute to guess what it might be.

...
...
...

Give up? (If it's any consolation, Wolfman couldn't figure it out either.) Well, I'd been saving the purchase file in the "Campaigns" folder instead of the "Missions" folder, and the program literally couldn't find it. I moved it to "Missions", and everything was fine.

♪ Da-da-da da-da-da! WHAAAAAAAAH! ♪

Furthermore -- of course there's a furthermore! -- it turns out I couldn't download Java because it was being blocked by my firewall. I turned it off for a minute, and -- that's right -- everything was fine. I'll try downloading "MWO" again in a few days, in case that was the problem there, too. In case it is, is there any way to paint a derp-face on my BattleMech? It's apparently the best possible customization I could have...

[luxebo]

Good job solving all the bugs, and great now that the campaign is up and running. Hopefully later on you'd be able to try and play MWO, though it has some extensive requirements in order to play this game.

[TheCaptainJZ]

Wrong folder huh? haha. If it's any consolation, the first time i made a purchase file I had 1 instead of l or | or whatever that character is in front of each line. Could not figure it out at first until I copypasted. Never did figure out how to set up the first mission to automatically start (like the game with minimal logistics) then have new .fit files load and add items over the next few missions. It would just never work for me. But I stopped messing around with that a long time ago. I do wish they would make another Mech Commander. There are things I liked from both.

[990Dreams]

Well, I've done far stupider things before. Don't feel too bad.

I prefer the Wolfman X pack because it adds a lot of new (and OP) weapons and Mechs and vehicles, along with useful structures (Magic is like that to an extent).

The ABL maker that comes with it is also useful.

[luxebo]

TheCaptainJZ, on 24 March 2014 - 12:26 AM, said:

Wrong folder huh? haha. If it's any consolation, the first time i made a purchase file I had 1 instead of l or | or whatever that character is in front of each line. Could not figure it out at first until I copypasted. Never did figure out how to set up the first mission to automatically start (like the game with minimal logistics) then have new .fit files load and add items over the next few missions. It would just never work for me. But I stopped messing around with that a long time ago. I do wish they would make another Mech Commander. There are things I liked from both.

If you want to start a game with whatever is on map (helps with vehicle starts, infantry starts, etc), you must click in options that you want no pre-logistics and such, therefore starting with whatever placed on map without doing anything, just clicking launch. Then the next missions can be set to have purchase files. However, you may want to separate missions without logistics with missions with logistics into different groups, otherwise the campaign might bug out sometimes due to mixture of mission types and going into them may result in having no purchase file/weight limit set, and would screw you over.


Also, Mechcommander Omnitech is the closest to a new Mechcommander that relates directly to Battletech. Wolfman's mod is completely away from the realm of Battletech, and is a different universe. My favorite MCO campaigns were the updated Carver V, with a better story, more realistic technological advancing, and more differences in the game, Exodus, as it was a long mercenary campaign from Locusts to armies of Dire Wolves, and the remake of Mechwarrior 2 Mercenaries, as it was very similar to the actual campaign (with slightly less options and contracts).

[Cataphractos]

Resurrecting this thread after a couple of days... I figured that's better than cluttering up the forums with a new thread about what's pretty much the same topic.

I'm talking with David Hurricane about textures, but I'm also having some trouble customizing pilots. For instance, I want a version of "Dagger" with 45 Gunnery and 45 Piloting. But in the game, she always ends up with 50 Gunnery and 48 Piloting. Here's the code:
[Pilots]
st Pilot0 = "PMWdagger"

[Pilot0]
st FileName = "PMWdagger"
l Rank = 0
f Gunnery = 45.000000
f Piloting = 45.000000
l Kills = 0
l VehicleKills = 0
l InfantryKills = 0
l MissionsCompleted = 0
b Dead = FALSE
b Medal0 = FALSE
b Medal1 = FALSE
b Medal2 = FALSE
b Medal3 = FALSE
b Medal4 = FALSE
b Medal5 = FALSE
b Medal6 = FALSE
b Medal7 = FALSE
b Medal8 = FALSE
b Medal9 = FALSE
b Medal10 = FALSE
b Medal11 = FALSE
b Medal12 = FALSE
b Medal13 = FALSE
b Medal14 = FALSE
b Medal15 = FALSE
b SpecialtySkill0 = FALSE
b SpecialtySkill1 = FALSE
b SpecialtySkill2 = FALSE
b SpecialtySkill3 = FALSE
b SpecialtySkill4 = FALSE
b SpecialtySkill5 = FALSE
b SpecialtySkill6 = FALSE
b SpecialtySkill7 = FALSE
b SpecialtySkill8 = FALSE
b SpecialtySkill9 = FALSE
b SpecialtySkill10 = FALSE
b SpecialtySkill11 = FALSE
b SpecialtySkill12 = FALSE
b SpecialtySkill13 = FALSE
b SpecialtySkill14 = FALSE
b SpecialtySkill15 = FALSE
b SpecialtySkill16 = FALSE
b SpecialtySkill17 = FALSE
b SpecialtySkill18 = FALSE
b SpecialtySkill19 = FALSE
b SpecialtySkill20 = FALSE
b SpecialtySkill21 = FALSE
b SpecialtySkill22 = FALSE

I've also tried using "PMP_dagger" -- a format I've found snooping around some of my old saved games -- instead of the official, editor-recommended "PMWdagger". No luck; for some reason she gets 44 Gunnery and 58 Piloting, along with two skills.

[luxebo]

A good bet is to talk to Wolfman-x, as he has some ways of changing pilot skills and creating a ton of pilots. (Well only like 12ish and 6 of them are legitly created from scratch with his friends, while the others are just clone copies of already there pilots without the picture). Magic is also another guy you could try to ask, as he ported all the MC Gold pilots into MCO.

[Cataphractos]

Wolfman-X created new/clone pilots by altering the game's source code. I'm having a surprising amount of trouble finding a contact for Magic...but I expect he (or she) changed the source code as well.

What I want to do is something "simple" with just purchase files, so the only thing players have to do is download the campaign (and maybe a Read-Me file). It looks like the most I can do with that is compare the "PMW" version of a pilot with the "PMP_" version (original "Carver V" campaign vs. mutliplayer, probably, but whatevs), and go with the least-overpowered option (even if that option still ends up being a Regular with pre-programmed skills). But I want to make double-sure.

[luxebo]

Magic's Mechcommander Omnitech board forums: http://www.hard-ligh...php?board=210.0
Magic's mod download section: http://www.moddb.com...mander-omnitech
There's the best bet to find Magic. He checks it oftenly.

Edit: I noticed a few updates to mechs and such in the MCO moddb section, to Davidhurricane if he reads this, the Thunderbolt is out and some new other mechs/textures for mechs are out. I know he's hard at work on his Mechcommander campaigns and MWO tutorials, so I'd just like to quickly tell him that. To the OP too, yeah MCO has some really updated models if you want and would help create a better campaign if you relate it to battletech. MC2X is a bit outdated in comparison to MCO version 304 (soon to be even bigger).

Edited by luxebo, 01 April 2014 - 04:13 PM.

[990Dreams]

Notice that the source code is available for MechCommander 2. Anything made custom (except for purchases, scripts, textures, height maps, AI brains, Mech Variants, campaign and mission op files, sounds) has to be referenced in (I think) mc2res.dll (or editores.dll).

Custom pilots aren't a thing I'm afraid. You have to change the normal files used by everything else.

Side note: How did the textures and height maps go? If you need to I can make them for you.

Edited by DavidHurricane, 01 April 2014 - 04:42 PM.

[Cataphractos]

Luxebo: I'm not sure what you mean by "if you relate it to battletech". Does MCO have prices and weapons load-outs that are closer to canon? (If it matters, the campaign takes place in the good ol' Chaos March, in the middle of the FedCom War.)

David Hurricane: I re-read what you told me, re-made the required files, and the texturing works fine now! Well...good enough for something I'm not being paid for. Thanks for clarifying the pilot question; I'll have to hand-wave a reason for everybody to have wildly different and slightly absurd abilities. They're...they're from House Marik, House Marik does everything a little wacky.