AIP making (topic split)

[Zero Angel]

If your AIP files are in a location that can be read by bz2 (e.g. addon or maps13) then bz2 should be able to see them. If they're using a different filename than already existing AIPs then you will need to follow the naming syntax that they use (e.g. protrectorfi0.aip, protrectorfi1.aip, protrectorfis.aip, etc) and then will need to create an autoreg file for them. Look in maps13/autoreg/ for existing autoreg files and copy and modify them as needed.

If you're just taking an existing aip (like extremefi0.aip, etc) then you don't need to create autoreg files for them since they're already made and they can already be selected from within bz2. But of course if you use aip files that are just modified existing ones (instead of new ones with new file names) then you will obviously have trouble playing with people that dont have your versions of the AIP files.

[Protrector]

thanks

[General BlackDragon]

Your questions are not AIP specific, but reflect a general lack of understanding in how BZ2 works:

Lets start at the beginning: Go to your BZ2 folder and open bzone.cfg with notepad.

You will see several AddDirResource AddDirPack, etc, addon, maps13, patch13.pak, data.pak, etc.

These control where the game looks for things. It looks in them in order from top to bottom. So, when searching for say, ivrecy.odf, it will search in addon first, then in maps13, then in patch13.pak, then in data.pak, and then in data folder. It stops looking once it finds it, so the top layer will always be used.

You can specify a different CFG to launch with, via the /config BLA.cfg command on the shortcut target line. i.e. Target = "C:\Program Files\Battlezone II\bzone.exe" /config MyMod.cfg /win /nointro /whatever other commands u want.

So, placing things anywhere inside addon will make them used instead of the "stock" things. Note that replacing stock files likely will cause you to get Bad Assets, unless they are: .cfg, .dxtbz2, or .wav/ogg. These won't break assets, but anything else will if it overrides a stock file.

As for setting the AIP, the DLL's control the AIP file names used. Conventional naming scheme is as follows:

AIPBASENAME_[CHAR HumanTeam] [Char CPU Team] [AIP Number Type]

The following are the aip types used by stock:

0, 1, 3, a, s, l

So, Stock13_ aips have the following files for ISDF(human) vs Scion(cpu): stock13_if0.aip, stock13_if1.aip, stock13_if3.aip, stock13_ifa.aip, stock13_ifs.aip, stock13_ifl.aip.

Next: Creating new AIP sets:

There are stock AIP .autoreg files located in the BZ2 folder under maps13/autoreg/ I suggest copying one of the aip ones and renaming it to your aips and editing it in notepad to point to your AIP files.

There are a few folders inside of those adddirresrouce locations that ARE hard coded folder names it looks for. They are as follows:

/missions/ - DLL files must be here.
/missions/Instant/ - Any .bzn map files here will be loaded into the Instant Action map list.
/missions/Mulitplayer/ - Any .bzn map files here will be loaded into the Multiplayer map list.

/autoreg/ - This is where .autoreg files are located. They're a new 1.3 feature for automatically adding things to the following lists: AIPs, Recycler Variants, Animals, and STCTF Goals. This is what you'll use to add your AIPs to the AIP list below Insane. (though ordreing i believe is alphabeticle)

/CDAudioAsOgg/ - This is where any .ogg files go, which must be named cdaudiotrack2 - cdaudiotrack256. These will be used in place of the in-game music when the audio option for random music is on, and will randomly play them. They must be in order, i.e. no gaps in the numbers, for them to all play. i.e. If you put in cdaudiotrack2-cdaudiotrack20, and then skip 21, and put cdaudiotrack22 - cdaudiotrack200, it will not read/use 22-200.

Other then that, any file can be anywhere within the directory or pak file that is listed in the bzone.cfg, or whichever mod CFG you choose to use to launch BZ2 with. Go forth and explore

[AI_Unit]

Well, not each and every one builded an AIP until now. I will wait for better AiP from others

Actually, most of us have, in fact that's my favourite part of making a mod. Seeing the AI move how you want them to, how tactical you can make them and how efficient they build. Some AIP's are even linked to DLL's to create Patrolling AI and Defenses like in my Mod.

[AI_Unit]

I also find it irritating that you expect others to make some for you. Do you struggle to understand how easy it is just to download the AIP editor from BZScrap and start off from there? It's like child play.

[General BlackDragon]

The AIP Editor on there is horribly out dated. It's easier to do it in notepad now days.

[MrTwosheds]

A lot of additions to AIP commands have been added since the Aip editor was made.
You will need to search the changelogs for all the details, as far as i know nobody has collected these into a useful AIP information source yet...
It is now possible to make some quite complex aip sets, and everytime something new gets added the possibilities change again.

[AI_Unit]

I've had no issues with the AIP makers, seems to work fine and handles the set quite nicely.

[MrTwosheds]

It does not use any of the new AIP functionality added to 1.3. It was created in 1.2 times.
If your making aip's for 1.3 you really do want to do a search through the changelogs to figure out what else you can now do.
For example you can now make one aip switch to another when conditions defined by you are met. Or define what gets built by the current availability of scrap. Quite a lot of stuff has changed since I last looked at aip's, so I'm not even very sure quite how many ways they could all be fitted together.
I would recommend doing searches in the changelogs for AIP, and then just copying out every section you find into a new document, that way you might be able to get some idea of just how much more is possible now without all the other stuff getting in the way.

[GSH]

If 1.2-era AIPs can do all you want, great, use the editor.

If you need more modern AIPs, then you might need to drop to something less user friendly.

-- GSH

[AI_Unit]

Well I'll be sure to use the change log to see what I can find, I mean I'm already using the AIP Change plan in the editor.