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[MOD] Siege Evolution - a Siege2004 Expansion
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Author:  Bulska [ Sat Sep 12, 2009 10:58 am ]
Post subject:  [MOD] Siege Evolution - a Siege2004 Expansion
Long time, no see, Runestorm!

I've come to pop in and say hi because I've started coding for UnrealScript and mapping for UT2k4 again.
The new Crucible is awesome, I love to see that RuneStorm never ceased to outdo themselves.

The thing with UnrealScript I'm working on is Siege2004. This mod was abandoned by the original creators, and I and MMM decided to continue where the creators left off. We are making the Siege2004 Rebalance Mod.
I think a new name could pop up in my mind soon enough though.

Siege2004 is a Total Conversion mod for UT2004, where you play in a CTF or BR map. The flags and gates are replaced by a BaseCore. This structure looks a lot like the PowerCore from Onslaught. Your goal as a team is to destroy the other team's BaseCore, however, all pickups are removed from the map and you start with only an Assault Rifle, ShieldGun and the MultiTool. With the Multitool you can build structures. Shields, Turrets, Portals, Armories, Generators, Outposts and Warheads. You can repair, recycle and upgrade these structures with the device too.
So build up a base, protect your BaseCore, suit up and go out to destroy the enemy base.
No bot support, bots roam around aimlessly untill they've spotted an enemy after which they will persuit troughout the whole game. Killing other players gives you resources, so does the Generators you can build.

The Siege2004 Rebalance Mod aims to balance the gameplay while adding more content. So far we've succesfully added: Guardian (short range gatling turret), Defender (long range sniper turret), Med Station (gives health to players in area) and Shield Charger (gives shield to players in area).
We've also added the option to change the speed a structure is build and how many Maximum Energy a player can have. (original siege had no maximum)

However, I need some help with coding. Sometimes I get stuck on a problem which I can't figure out by myself.
My current problem is how to add more than 9 structures in the structure list. You know the list where you can choose a taunt animation? Well, selecting the structure you want to build goes the same way, but when you press (0)More it just selects the first structure instead of showing the rest.

I could also use new models for all the structures. All original Siege2004 models are made out of stock UT2k4 models transformed and mixed together. Really well-done, but we want real new models.
It's possible to give the red team different models than the blue team.

Any questions are welcome
And help is much appreciated.


PS: MMM has made a working Ballistic Weapons mod for Siege2004, which we will later mix with the rebalance mod so we have 4 version of Siege2004. The original, the Rebalance mod, the BW mod, and a BW/Rebalance Mod.
Author:  Sgt. Kelly [ Sat Sep 12, 2009 11:21 am ]
Post subject:  [MOD] Siege2004 Rebalance Mod
Oooh, this sounds interesting! I used to love Siege2004 back in the day. I remember it had a sweet nuclear bomb launcher.

Glad to see you're back, Bulska. :)


If you guys need help with textures and sounds, I can probably lend a hand. Coding too, but UI work is not my strong suit.
Author:  Bulska [ Sat Sep 12, 2009 11:29 am ]
Post subject:  [MOD] Siege2004 Rebalance Mod
I might have need of your services sometime Sgt. Kelly ^^

If anyone ever wanted something to be added to Siege2004, now is really the time to tell, because if the concept is balanced, fun and fitting enough, it will be added. :D
Author:  Bulska [ Sat Sep 12, 2009 1:51 pm ]
Post subject:  [MOD] Siege2004 Rebalance Mod
Lemme sum up what I have working so far:

Changes:
* Shield
- costs 20e

* Protector
- costs 150e
- level 3 now has same range as level 1 and 2
- does less damage
- new death messages
- meant to be an anti-missile turret

* Armory
- doesn't give shield anymore
- gives more skillpoints when level 3

* Generator
- costs 500
- when it's lvl 3, there was a damage multipier set to 5, now it's set to 3
- does not extract extra energy from minerals

* Outpost
- costs 1000
- disabled speeding up construction

* Warhead
- costs 6000
- it takes much longer to build
- the structure has less hp


New Structures:
* Guardian
- costs 200
- Protector with high refire, short range, low damage

* Defender
- costs 300
- Protector with very high range, slow refire, high damage

* Extractor
- costs 500
- gains energy income when mining a mineral. No income when it's not next to a mineral

* Med Station
- costs 150
- gives health to players in the area

* Shield Charger
- costs 200
- gives shield to players in the area


New Features:
- Option to change the buildspeed before the match starts
- Option to give and change a Maximum Energy for players before the match starts
- Can now choose to drop 50, 100 or 500 energy instead of only 50.


Planned:
* Control Stabilizer
- Adds more control. With adding this, removing the control added by an Outpost

* Construction Booster
- Speeds up construction in its area

* Energy Processing
- Increases the rate of energy gained by Generators and Extractors in its area

* Energy Storage
- If a player has reached his maximum energy, the additional energy goes to an Energy Storage, this can later be extracted by going to the storage

* Energy Stabilizer
- Increases the maximum energy a player can carry. This allows for 'tech levels', if the first maximum is set to 2000, you can't build a Warhead (which costs 6000) before you've build a few Energy Stabilizers

* Bubble Shield
- A structure with a shield bubble which blocks out all enemy projectiles, shield can be damaged but regains strength over time. Players can walk trough the shield, allowing them to shoot anything within the shield.

* Mine
- A mine, like any structure, can be placed anywhere. Nearly invisible, explodes and destroys itself when enemy comes close. Use DepthRadar to detect them on time.

* Vehicle Factory
- Constructs vehicles in exchange of energy from the player.



------------
I've converted ONS-ArticStronghold to CTF-ArticStronghold. Powernodes are now super health packs, and there are a few more super health packs spread around the map. A small amount of vehicles can be found at the bases and troughout the map. They work, even if it's CTF and not VCTF.

In this map you can play Siege2004. The vehicles work with Siege2004. :d

When I'm sending this mod onto the internet, I'll add a few converted Onslaught maps with it.
Author:  James [ Sat Sep 12, 2009 6:35 pm ]
Post subject:  [MOD] Siege2004 Rebalance Mod
I played this mod back in the day, i really loved it. No one played online though...
Good luck with further development!
Author:  Captain Xavious [ Sat Sep 12, 2009 8:57 pm ]
Post subject:  [MOD] Siege2004 Rebalance Mod
Much easier to read that change list on the forums! :D

By the way, sorry for kinda cutting out on you earlier today, was having computer problems. My computer kept dying; turns out the power cord somehow got partially pulled out so the slightest bump would kill it. :P

I fixed it.
Author:  Bulska [ Sun Sep 13, 2009 5:00 am ]
Post subject:  [MOD] Siege2004 Rebalance Mod
Heh okay, good to know.

Anyways, I fixed the problem of the UI structure selecting. It appears that the creators of Siege have been coding things very sloppy. I had to convert the Select Structure system so that it would work the same as the Select Weapon (from armory) system. Strange that the creators of Siege didn't do that when they wrote the entire code.

I also got a new problem. The Extractor is a new type of generator, and it can only gain income when it's placed next to a Mineral, so what I'm trying to do is make it so people can't place it if there is no mineral in the area. All the changes I make to the 'checkdistance' things are all very buggy :S
Author:  SHAD0Wdump [ Sun Sep 13, 2009 2:44 pm ]
Post subject:  [MOD] Siege2004 Rebalance Mod
Siege? Shweet!

It's good to see you back Bulska.


If you get this all worked out,count me as one of the potential players.
Author:  Bulska [ Mon Sep 14, 2009 1:34 am ]
Post subject:  [MOD] Siege2004 Rebalance Mod
Nice, I could use some testers ^^

I got the Extractor working (only need a fail message when you're too far away from the mineral, I think I know how)
I also made icons for the new structures, and they work flawlessly ^_^

Now I just need to make some staticmeshes for them to make it all look much more professional and not a poor extension of Siege made by some nubbins :P (Yeah Im actually a nubbin with UnrealScript, but I know the importance of details in my works)

So far, it all works out very nicely and most problems I've encountered I fixed.

However there is one thing that puzzles me a lot. I messed things up and if you die now, no ragdoll appears, your body just freezes in the air. Where is the code located which handles the ragdoll and ragdoll spawning?
Author:  Bulska [ Mon Sep 14, 2009 2:28 pm ]
Post subject:  [MOD] Siege2004 Rebalance Mod
Here's some eye candy of the new Game Rules and two of the six new structures, the Med Station and Control Stabilizer.

New Game Rules:
Construction Speed: The multiplier of how fast structures are build
Maximum Inventory: The maximum amount of skillpoints you can spend in one life.
Maximum Energy: The maximum amount of energy a player can hold.
Mineral Energy: How much energy is in a mineral. Once mined out, it dissapears.

If you put Construction Speed to 0, everything builds instantly. If you put the other three on 0, they will be infinite.

Image
Image
Author:  Sgt. Kelly [ Mon Sep 14, 2009 3:25 pm ]
Post subject:  [MOD] Siege2004 Rebalance Mod
Interesting use of super healths there. Did you export and modify them by hand?
Author:  Bulska [ Tue Sep 15, 2009 12:06 am ]
Post subject:  [MOD] Siege2004 Rebalance Mod
I put them together in the Unreal Editor, selected them all and did: Convert to staticmesh. That way it becomes one staticmesh :d

I did 'export' (actually taking a screenshot of the skin texture in the texture browser) the skins from Unreal Editor and edited them in Photoshop.
I also made new little icons for the new structures. In that screenshot you see the old icon for upgrade, I've made new ones for the new structures.

Oh there was also a bug with the original Siege2004 where one team could build within the radius of the other team's outposts and basecore. So you could head up to their base and immediatly build structures to keep them pinned down. I fixed this bug and you can now only build in your own team's construction areas.
Author:  Bulska [ Wed Sep 16, 2009 2:23 pm ]
Post subject:  [MOD] Siege2004 Rebalance Mod
Found a problem I can't fix by looking at other code.

Lemme explain:
Energy is generated by structures such as the Generator or Extractor.
This energy goes to the function AddTeamRes
This function spreads the energy equally to all players in the team.
When a player has reached his maximum amount of energy, the AddTeamRes still gives him part of the energy your team produces, which will dissapear.

I need to make a code that notices how many players have space for some energy, and divides the energy to those players. This way, energy won't go to waste if someone has reached his maximum.

Here is the original code:
Code:
function AddTeamRES(float amount, int t, bool individual)
{
    local int i;

    if(!individual) amount/=team[t].size;

    for(i=0; i<PRIArray.Length; i++)
   {
       if(PRIArray[i].Team.TeamIndex==t)
            tfpri(PRIArray[i]).AddRES(amount);
   }
}


Anyone with any expierence with UnrealScript, please lend me a hand. I might figure it out eventually, but I lack knowledge of inbuilt functions and commands of UnrealScript to get this working.
Author:  Bulska [ Sun Sep 20, 2009 4:10 am ]
Post subject:  Re: [MOD] Siege2004 Rebalance Mod
I Fixed it again...

Energy Storages work perfectly now.
In normal settings, the Energy Storages will recieve energy when all the players have reached their maximum energy. So it's a sort of backup so energy isn't lost. To extract energy out of a storage, just walk up to it and acces the build menu, just like with an Armory. You'll get the option 'refill energy' which once selected will give you as much energy as your maximum and the stored resources allow.
To manually give energy to a storage, you can place those Energy Spheres next to it. The storage will detect them and eat them up.

You also have a new setting, 'Energy To Storage Only'. With this on, the basecore will have the abilities of a level 1 Energy Storage.
Also with this on, players will not recieve any energy. All the energy generated by extractors and generators is spread across the storages. So if you're out of energy, you have to return to a storage or the basecore and refill.


Also new is the 'Cease Fire Time' game rule. You can enter in here how long in minutes the Cease Fire will last.
The Cease Fire will hit at the begin of the game, which makes all structures invulnerable to any damage. When the Cease Fire is active, you can't build any outposts, so you're confined to the radius of your Basecore. When the Cease Fire ends, a warning is given and the invulnerability of Structures is gone.

I didn't find a way to make players invulnerable while the Cease Fire is active.


I've got new problems now too... I'll post those later
Author:  Bulska [ Mon Sep 21, 2009 3:43 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: [MOD] Siege2004 Rebalance Mod
The new problems are caused by me trying to create things I'm not capable of creating.

The things I want to make for Siege2004.
A shield dome. The structure itself is easy to code, but how can I get the shield dome itself working properly?
The shield dome should block all projectiles and weapon traces going from outside the shield into the shield. You can shoot from within the dome. I have NO idea how to check this sort of collision, I really need help with this one. I'll be sure to put you in the credits :)

Cease Fire, invulnerable players.
Currently, the Cease Fire only makes structures invulnerable. I need a way to make players invulnerable too during the time. But I don't know where I can edit that piece of code.

Team Beacons for mines.
The mines, explosive type, are nearly invisible to the enemy, but they should have something indicating themselves for their own team.
How can I spawn working, short-ranged, 'beacons' for the land mines? So you know where to upgrade.

I might or might not figure out a few of these, but so far, I have no idea where to look, so any hint is much appreciated.
In the meantime, I'll just work on the spawn icons, models and sounds to give the new structures a better atmosphere.
Author:  Sgt. Kelly [ Mon Sep 21, 2009 3:51 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: [MOD] Siege2004 Rebalance Mod
Team mines should be fairly easy by just coding in an emitter and attaching it to one of the mine's bones.

You can probably just stick the emitter code in whatever code you have for mine IFF.
Author:  Bulska [ Tue Sep 22, 2009 12:10 am ]
Post subject:  Re: [MOD] Siege2004 Rebalance Mod
Yeah that wouldn't be too hard, but wouldn't that also be visible for the enemy?

I need something only your team can see, because they become stealth mines at level 2.
Author:  Herr General [ Tue Sep 22, 2009 4:30 am ]
Post subject:  Re: [MOD] Siege2004 Rebalance Mod
I like it. Now if I could get the emitter for the nuke to not crash when looking at it in the editor... :-\
Author:  Bulska [ Tue Sep 22, 2009 10:11 am ]
Post subject:  Re: [MOD] Siege2004 Rebalance Mod
I'm not very good with FX and sounds.

But here's a quick update, I've now got models and skins for the: Shield Charger, Energy Storage and Defender. I'm working on a model for the Guardian. The Defender is a pretty big cannon. Looks a lot like the old Protector, but is a lot different too.
Author:  Bulska [ Tue Sep 22, 2009 11:56 am ]
Post subject:  Re: [MOD] Siege2004 Rebalance Mod
I would also like to create a Siege2004 Wiki, containing all information about the structures, weapons and features of the mod.

I know Runestorm has a wiki, how did they get it? :O Me want too! ;D
Author:  Bulska [ Thu Sep 24, 2009 12:51 am ]
Post subject:  Re: [MOD] Siege2004 Rebalance Mod
About two days ago, I finished all the models and skins for the new structures. Here's some screenshots. ^_^

Shield,
Protector (anti-missile),
Guardian (anti personell),
Image

Defender (slow, long range)
Portal (transportation)
Med Station (gives health)
Image

Armory (weapons, ammo, equipment)
Shield Charger (gives shield)
Generator (constant income)
Image

Energy Storage (backup, refuel)
Constructor (faster building, repairs)
Control Stabilizer (increases control)
Image

Outpost (base expansion)
Warhead (mass destruction)
Image

Extractor (Mineral Miner)
Image

All structures (except mineral miner, you can't build those if there is no mineral around)
Image
Author:  MMM [ Thu Sep 24, 2009 11:08 am ]
Post subject:  Re: [MOD] Siege2004 Rebalance Mod
Hi there people!

like bulska said, i am working on making the siege mod work with BW and it does now.
i have also added a feature that allows the player to get multiple (up to 4) weapons from a class.
like for example you get the medic gun, SAR and the D49 when choosing the medic class.

however i am doing very little for this mod at the moment because i'm already busy with a mod for fallout3.
but when that is done i think i'll construct some custom maps specially for siege.
Author:  Bulska [ Thu Sep 24, 2009 12:56 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: [MOD] Siege2004 Rebalance Mod
Nice idea :P

I'll see if I can work your BW mod into the Rebalance Mod, shouldnt be hard at all.
Author:  MMM [ Sun Sep 27, 2009 5:59 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: [MOD] Siege2004 Rebalance Mod
Herr General wrote:
I like it. Now if I could get the emitter for the nuke to not crash when looking at it in the editor... :-\

if you copy the windows-batch file in the siege folder and edit it, it should work.
change: "..\System\UT2004.exe -mod=Siege2004"
to: "..\System\UnrealEd.exe -mod=Siege2004"
and it should fully work. however the actual effect consists out of multiple emitters and Xemitters.
Author:  Black Eagle [ Mon Sep 28, 2009 4:03 am ]
Post subject:  Re: [MOD] Siege2004 Rebalance Mod
Interesting mod there.. Never played any mods other than BW, except for killing floor and defence alliance, and damnation, ok so i have played others..

Anyway, this certainly looks like a good idea, and most of the work is already done..

I hope they know about this right, the creators?..
Author:  Bulska [ Mon Sep 28, 2009 3:25 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: [MOD] Siege2004 Rebalance Mod
The creator of the original Siege2004, Leviathan, is hard to get in touch with. I've tried using two of his emails and I visited the Defence Alliance forums looking for him. He hasn't responded with anything yet.

I suspect he wouldn't mind me working on his old project, but I would like to be sure.

Being allowed to release it or not, making this mod is good practice for me.


I still haven't found a solution to the shield problem. How can I make weapon fire go from within the shield, to out the shield, while colliding with other weapon fire and that weapon fire damaging the shield.
Author:  Bulska [ Sat Oct 03, 2009 1:08 am ]
Post subject:  Re: [MOD] Siege2004 Rebalance Mod
Soo yeah the shield problem is over my head, I dunno how to do that.

However, I can still continue on the mod on other parts. For example, game balance and performance.
This mod had a couple of memory leaks... When you'd place a few structures, the server host begins to loose performance real fast. When you'd add 31 bots into the mix, you just can't hit anything anymore with a sniper.

I looked into the compiler log and found 83 Warnings, 0 Errors. Erros would abort the compiling and send me back to programming to fix the error. Warnings are accepted, but can be dangerous, such as in this case to the server hosts performance.
About 50 warnings were from the original Siege2004! This mod added about 30, mainly the same piece of code copied from an old structure for a new structure.

So with the compiler log and the location of each warning with me, I went into the code and fixed them all. Now you can run Siege2004 with 31 bots and many, many structures, and you wouldn't notice any drop in the frame rate. It's even better than the original Siege, which had trouble handling many bots (according to my memory).

For the scripters: Most warnings were Unrefered local variables.

I'm now trying to edit the game type so that vehicles aren't this buggy. For this, I look into the code of Vehicle CTF and Onslaught.
Author:  Herr General [ Sat Oct 03, 2009 6:55 am ]
Post subject:  Re: [MOD] Siege2004 Rebalance Mod
Do the bots actually build now? ;)
Author:  Bulska [ Sat Oct 03, 2009 4:22 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: [MOD] Siege2004 Rebalance Mod
Heh, bots building structures would require very advanced AI, something I don't see happening anytime soon :(

I once had some bug with Siege, before making this mod, that the Shield Gun was gone. So when they ran out of ammo for their Assault Rifle, they switched to their Multitool and began spamming shields at random locations.

Funny when they spawn a shield in the middle of a jump of a jumppad, and bump against it the next time they take the jump when it's done, falling to their deaths.


Although I can't make bots build anything with some intelligence, I can try to make them attack structures, which they aren't doing at the moment. Turrets build by players won't shoot at structures of the enemy too! This is something I'll look into too.
Author:  Sgt. Kelly [ Sat Oct 03, 2009 8:08 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: [MOD] Siege2004 Rebalance Mod
Aww, does this mean it's still impossible to have a decent match in Instant Action?

In the original Siege it often just ended up with me building a gigantic stronghold and then running over to blow up the undefended enemy core. The bots would pitifully try to kill me with their assault rifles as my turrets blew them to smithereens. :P
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