Duck and Cover

I am writing after having read both the "Part 1" and "Placing NPCS in multiplayer maps" tutorials Goldenbeast wrote at http://www.duckandcover.net/tactics/edi ... ials.shtml. I really appreciated the first, being detailed and all, but I really need help with placing start points. What I want to make is a map in which two human players, both using a different computer, play against some raiders. Hence called a "coop level".

I make all my architecture...(and I don't know how to rotate tiles, especially doors, I would like to be able to put them "the other way". Please specify which key to press.) and then I put "team spawns" assuming that if I put three for player one and three for player two, both will be able to have a three man squad. Player one has a "team color" of blue and player two a "team color" of red.

I did as Goldenbeast mentionned for the npcs in multiplayer tutorial, adding a third team (numbered 8) and assinging them their minus 4 hostility towards team 1. In "players" of the level tab, I put "player one" and "player two" in team 1 and "NPC" in team 8. I assume the npcs will attack the players on sight, starting the turn based combat mode.

I also put triggers, that redirect the players to the victory screen if the alive team 8 npc count is equal to exactly zero(which means theyre all dead, right?) and another which redirects them to the fail screen if all of their characters are dead(same here, alive count equal to 0)

Problem being, when I start the game and specify I am player 1 and on team 1, and I start the game, once I join I instantly win.

Could you fellow mappers be nice and provide what is needed as team spawns, npc specification, all of the things to include in the "levels" tab (team matrix, players, etc) and also how to rotate a door the other way. Also to specify loot on an npc would be nice.

Thanks for taking the time to answer me.

cooleyo wrote:I am writing after having read both the "Part 1" and "Placing NPCS in multiplayer maps" tutorials Goldenbeast wrote at http://www.duckandcover.net/tactics/edi ... ials.shtml. I really appreciated the first, being detailed and all, but I really need help with placing start points. What I want to make is a map in which two human players, both using a different computer, play against some raiders. Hence called a "coop level".

Co-op maps in FOT have been the dream of many people, but to my knowledge, none have succeeded. You could try a search of these fine forums to find the names of the people who have tried. I haven't (multiplayer FOT isn't my bag), so I can't offer much more help for ya.

and I don't know how to rotate tiles, especially doors, I would like to be able to put them "the other way". Please specify which key to press.)

First off: Doors aren't tiles -- they're entities. VERY important difference. The actual definitions of tiles and entities are up for debate, but in general, anything that can be used in any way (i.e. picked up, turned on/off, shot with, shot at, etc.) are entities. Everything else are tiles. I made a thread in this forum titled "Mappin' Lingo" -- do a search for it. You could also go to the sticky thread here with links to bunches and bunches of tutorials. I forget the actual title of the thread and I'm too tired & lazy to check, but there's only 3 sticky threads in this forum :)

Anyway, the process of rotating entities is quite simple. Simply go to "Entity Edit" (as opposed to "tiles," "level," "zone," etc. and scroll the left-hand gray column down until you see "Animation Rotation". This should be 0 (as in zero), and the entity in question should be facing North (i.e. the top-left corner of the screen). Simply change the 0 to anything from 1-7 and watch the entity turn. Here's a general guide:

0 -- entity facing North
1 -- Northeast
2 -- East
3 -- Southeast
4 -- South
5 -- Southwest
6 -- West
7 -- Northwest

Some exceptions here, most notably Doors and Vehicles. Vehicles have 32 animation rotations (IIRC, mind you.), and doors only have 4. Most Containers (chests, crates, etc.) have 4 as well.

Note that to "rotate" tiles, you have to find the tile that's facing the direction you want. Most (if not all) tiles have 4 directions - NE, NW, SE, and SW.

I did as Goldenbeast mentionned for the npcs in multiplayer tutorial, adding a third team (numbered 8) and assinging them their minus 4 hostility towards team 1. In "players" of the level tab, I put "player one" and "player two" in team 1 and "NPC" in team 8. I assume the npcs will attack the players on sight, starting the turn based combat mode.

You might want to use Team slots in consecutive order, that is, use Team 1 & 2 for your human players and Team 3 for the AI. I've always used consectutive teams in my maps and I've never had a problem. Also make sure the "MP Enabled" box is checked, even if you're making a SP map.

I also put triggers, that redirect the players to the victory screen if the alive team 8 npc count is equal to exactly zero(which means theyre all dead, right?) and another which redirects them to the fail screen if all of their characters are dead(same here, alive count equal to 0)

Try and use "Less than 1 Alive" -- the game engine could screw up and think there's something like -4 of a player index "alive," and your trigger might not work.

Problem being, when I start the game and specify I am player 1 and on team 1, and I start the game, once I join I instantly win.

Personally, I don't think the FOT engine was designed for Co-op maps, so that's probably the problem. I'm not saying Co-Op maps are impossible, I'm just saying you've got to do some "working around" the limits of the engine.

Could you fellow mappers be nice

Nope :)

Also to specify loot on an npc would be nice.

Eh? Whatcha you mean?

Thanks for taking the time to answer me.

No prob!

cooleyo wrote:Problem being, when I start the game and specify I am player 1 and on team 1, and I start the game, once I join I instantly win.

Like Max-V multi-player is not my thing but I don't think that you can test mp maps offline.

cooleyo wrote:Also to specify loot on an npc would be nice.

If you mean adding inventory items to the npc then there are 2 ways to do it.

If you've created new npcs in the entity editor then you can just add to their inventory and define what they are equipped with there.

If you are just adding the default actors to your map then when you go to entity edit as Max said scroll down the left hand column to near the bottom there you will see left hand, right hand and armour overides and a inventory section. Here you can change what people are equipped with and what items they have on them that players can loot.

Well you can't test the MP part, but you can still run aounrd the map in SP...

Wow, thanks Max and Requiem, that "left hand scroll bar" didnt catch my eye so that's why I couldnt edit the npc's. (What does IIRC stand for?)

:oops: I bought Fallout Tactics because i had played the demo and enjoyed it, and just quite suddenly on the back of the box it said "battle against or with up to 17 other humans." So that with, to me implied cooperativeness. Even in searching for maps, I couldnt find any multiplayer map that featured "cooperative" or "against AI". Only skirmish, assault, dual assault and ctf...

I'll check out the MP Enabled box on all teams, to make sure, as Max said. I'll also redo the teams to have them in consecutive order.

And that "less than 1 alive": well to me, if they allow you to use exactly 0 remaining I was thinking they had coded it right, but it's true than less than one is more foolproof...

And requiem, I'll try testing my map again sometime with a friend.

Thanks for the input :)

cooleyo wrote:(What does IIRC stand for?)

"IIRC" stands for "if I remember correctly". Max remembered correctly in that passage, too, since a functioning vehicle does indeed have 32 animation rotations. (A disabled/destroyed vehicle only has 8, however, which is why vehicles often "hop" into a different facing when they are disabled or destroyed.)

Cheers,

OTB

I would also like to know, when i place a raider (from the actors list, right?) and select him using entity edit, I can specify which level he is, etc. But I can't even specify which team he is in! Nor can I see any of his hand one hand two and armor slots...

If possible, I'd also like to know how to turn a certain placed actor to be a player character (in single player missions) because as opposed to multiplayer, I cant go and choose a premade(or custom) character from a list, I instead just spawn without any squad...

I also need to know how to make minimap images, I have already found out how to add pipboy comments to them but I dont know how to create a small image of it(the editor allows you to load an image, but any idea on how to create it in the first place?)

cooleyo wrote:I would also like to know, when i place a raider (from the actors list, right?) and select him using entity edit, I can specify which level he is, etc. But I can't even specify which team he is in! Nor can I see any of his hand one hand two and armor slots...

If possible, I'd also like to know how to turn a certain placed actor to be a player character (in single player missions) because as opposed to multiplayer, I cant go and choose a premade(or custom) character from a list, I instead just spawn without any squad...

I also need to know how to make minimap images, I have already found out how to add pipboy comments to them but I dont know how to create a small image of it(the editor allows you to load an image, but any idea on how to create it in the first place?)

I think all the answers you need are covered here at JimmJay86's Tutorial page. Most of what you want to know is covered in the basic tutorials and how to make mini-map images is under the enhanced readme IIRC : ) The equipment slots are right at the bottom of the column, if you click and hold anywhere in the grey area and move your mouse down the column will scroll down further.

ooooooooooooh its that "scroll the grey bar" thing that I hadent noticed!

whee, thanks, now I can set the player, the weapons, the ai state...brilliant!

yep and thanks to the tools-->make picture I can now have a minimap!

thanks for the help, I'm going to bed as of less a newbie as I was!