The Blue Sun Mod

[Chortles]

Originally Posted by R@S

Yeah, when creating the new player guards I'll create new ini files for them and setting them accordingly. There is a random option to make some variations in those inis, so they likely have small differences even if they are the same type.

You mean through the Variants option already in the Editor, or using the Probability option? (i.e. setting percentage chance that that item will appear when that variant is used.) That's cool, but I never did understand what Templates meant compared to the Variants.

Originally Posted by R@S

The skills for the presets(player) are hard coded and you can't change them through their ini files. The parameters on the other hand aren't and you can change them freely.

The thing is, I don't understand why said skills would be listed (without any line break) then... seems a waste of space in the INI file. I'm guessing that this is not the case for the NPCs and recruitable mercs though?

Also, I'm looking at the ITEMINFO (where weapons' display names and Info are kept... but what's "a SUM rifle"?), WEAPONINFO and WEAPONINFO_ALT (can't tell which is entirely yours, though I see that they have different weapon stats), but how much of the weapon attributes are editable by text editor? For example, I'm guessing that I can change the HK416's default magazine to a standard "M16" magazine instead of a "C-Mag (M16)," as well as allow a MP5A5 RIS to accept "Weaver Rail" (should be called Picatinny) optics?...

Personally, I think a great solution to the "redundancy" or "incorrect stats!" dilemma would be if the INIs can be tweaked enough that we can excise or restat weapons.

Originally Posted by R@S

The game engine will recognize a full inventory and will place the given objects on the ground if that happens, no need to worry about inventory space in those situations.

Great, glad to hear.

Originally Posted by R@S

I've made some preset inventories that will be given depending on player class, there is no random element involved.

Considering that you're not using the class system as default yet (though for that preset inventories makes sense), what's the case right now when not using classes?

Originally Posted by R@S

I have the ability to make a similar setting in this project, making mercs with high leadership and intelligence train the militia faster, and maybe also a little cheaper. I would have to adjust the merc salaries oc, and maybe some other stuff to make it balanced. But as I said before, this game offers a lot of variables to tweak the economics. It'll require a lot of testing, I hope you feel up for that

Hey, I'm already checking out and 'playtesting' your mod, though mainly the weapons.

**

I can sympathize with Ninjadan, as besides redundancy, "too many guns" results in screen clutter -- in JA2's "Bobby Ray's" (the in-game online store) using v1.13, last I played that mod, the first four pages of the Assault Rifles section were all Kalashnikov variants. On the other hand, I feel that R@S has already done at least a decent job of avoiding this in many cases while leaving plenty of visual variety for people that say, might want a MP7A1 over a TMP. There do seem to be limitations though, such as the vertical foregrips being treated as "separate weapons with non-removable bipods" due to the game engine, or the HK416 variants being fixed-stock weapons due to being imported from HLA.

I do feel though that at least according to the Editor stats, some of the weapon variants don't seem different enough... or rather, that you have stuff like "same inventory size, slightly faster Ready Time, but much worse Accuracy" for certain carbines... or situations like how the M4A1 becomes a "4-square" weapon when its stock is collapsed, yet it's a 5-square weapon when the stock is extended, even though the barrel is 5.5 inches shorter than the full-length M16's either way. (By the way, the "M16A1 late" is actually the M16A2 visually.) I noticed a similar issue with the shorter HK416 variants and the G36C/G36KE... except that the G36C and G36KE both become 3-square when folded.

I do have to find it oddly amusing though that if I fold the stock, I can fit a suppressed SMG or the HK53 into a guy's Ammo Pouch, but not a HK416 CQB... oddly amusing, considering that they're all collapsible-stock "subcompact" carbines, aka "subcarbines," or "short-barreled rifles" (SBRs); heck, I'm surprised that suppressors don't affect weapon size! (In JA2 you could suppress a MP7A1 while it was in the Machine Pistol Holster, but once removed it could no longer be put back in unless you removed the suppressor or had a larger container.)