Battlezone Forums

Nielk1 wrote:All the LUA currently lets you do is use far more complex pass/fail triggers for an AIP step...

Perhaps some commands are processed through DLL then. I'll look in to it.

AIP files do most of the heavy lifting for things, Lua conditionals were added more recently. Conditionals is about all that AIP lua files can do for now. RD is probably one of the experts on AIP and AIP+Lua files now.

More advanced scripting of units to build, and in-map behavior would probably have to be done in DLL space, the way G66 does it. Once again, pick RD's brain.

-- GSH

AI_Unit wrote:

Nielk1 wrote:All the LUA currently lets you do is use far more complex pass/fail triggers for an AIP step...

Perhaps some commands are processed through DLL then. I'll look in to it.

What would be nice would be extended LUA that gives mission commands to the AIP, but even doing the bindings for the missions is a slow process I haven't managed to finish.

Honestly I find the entire AIP system the only part of the game that is still pretty much ancient and hard to work. I wonder if I can just replace it entirely with mission script. What can an AIP do that a mission DLL can't (admitting I might need to track every unit in the mission to do what the AIP does with attack matching)?

I've been working on a mission DLL that dynamically loads partial mission scripts based on LUA (had a few restarts, the latest skeletal lua binding source is on github) that might be the way I go for all AI Plans in the future.

Back in the day (1999), compilers to make DLLs were $$$. Giving everyone on the development team (or every possible modder) a compiler was $$$$. Lua was a barely-known research project and not even considered by anyone. That's why homegrown scripting languages like the AIP processor were done instead.

Nowadays, the 'Express' (i.e. freely downloadable and usable) versions of Visual Studio contain more power than the $$$ compilers in 1999. And many scriptable/moddable games use Lua.

-- GSH

Speaking of the Good Old Days, can I make a suggestion? I looked at trying to get the Thug/Commander Mode working for Instant again. The Var's work fine, however, an AIP is not set for the Friendly Recycler when you pick Thug Mode. Any chance of adding those options to the Extra Options Window and applying it to the DLL?

I have a working version of Thug/Commander mode.

It needs 1 DLL line fix to function again as it did in 1.2, but the AIP should really be re-written or it'll get stomptromped by the stock13 aips.

General BlackDragon wrote:I have a working version of Thug/Commander mode.

It needs 1 DLL line fix to function again as it did in 1.2, but the AIP should really be re-written or it'll get stomptromped by the stock13 aips.

I can take care of AIP's, also be aware that Units are not given to the Player in 1.3 as they were in 1.2

i have it working for G66 and it gives you units. playing on the isdf side in isdf vs. scion, the isdf always win, so i need to tweak them to get them to a stalemate.

Red Devil wrote:i have it working for G66 and it gives you units. playing on the isdf side in isdf vs. scion, the isdf always win, so i need to tweak them to get them to a stalemate.

I'd recommend getting the Scion's to focus on the Defenses first. Might be ideal to help a stale mate.

i have it working for G66 and it gives you units. playing on the isdf side in isdf vs. scion, the isdf always win, so i need to tweak them to get them to a stalemate.

I suspect this is due to the inherent design of the races for the single player game. The extended range of plasma for example allows ISDF to destroy spires almost without loss. The ISDF are designed to be the easier race, and the Scion's only become more powerful once a player is in control and knows how to use them, it is an asymmetric balance.
I would think it best to leave it that way...then it will be up to the Player Thug to make the difference.

you know, that is a very good point. my main focus was in balancing the AIP's, but having the human in there does help. i'll weaken the isdf a tad to compensate.

MrTwosheds wrote:

i have it working for G66 and it gives you units. playing on the isdf side in isdf vs. scion, the isdf always win, so i need to tweak them to get them to a stalemate.

I suspect this is due to the inherent design of the races for the single player game. The extended range of plasma for example allows ISDF to destroy spires almost without loss. The ISDF are designed to be the easier race, and the Scion's only become more powerful once a player is in control and knows how to use them, it is an asymmetric balance.
I would think it best to leave it that way...then it will be up to the Player Thug to make the difference.

Might be useful balancing the engage range between the Assault tanks and Titan. I think the engagement range for the Ass Tank is something like 360.

260, with a max range on the weapon of 270. It is one of the better balanced units in the game when it comes to engage range. I'm not sure, but I believe the Titan is set pretty nice as well. They are not the same unit and cant be balance vs each other. The Titan costs 20 more scrap and is the top-tier unit while the Atank still has a bigger brother.