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Patching extra functionality into <gamemd.exe> - Printable Version

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- pd - 02.02.2005

Hm changing the order COULD be easy, but could also be extremely hard as well.
I'd have to check out where they're loaded, but I have check out MANY stuff... :blink:

But what would you be able to do with a new order? And how should it be changed?

Ah yes something came into my mind when writing about the ??? limit about the InfDeaths.
Is there anything the AI builds ALL THE TIME?
If so, I may know a possible reason for the "100-unit-bug".


- DCoder - 02.02.2005

All the stuff (except structures) built by the AI has to be listed in aimd.ini. Except possibly miners (HarvestersPerRefinery* fluke, anyone?). Besides, the sides do not share any units (unlike in TS), so if all three AI sides did build the same stuff, it would be a bug.

* HarvestersPerRefinery= ; how many harvesters to automatically create for each refinery the AI has? h,m,e
Addendum by CannisRabidus: DON'T MAKE THIS CHANGE.
What happens is, the first AI player on a map will build the extra harvesters. But any other AI players on that map will not.... and they will do nothing else until they have the extra harvesters they are supposed to have. So, if you destroy the first AI player, the second AI player will suddenly build the extra harvesters it needs, and its AI will wake up. In order for the 3rd AI player to wake up, you need to destroy the 2nd AI player so it can build its extra harvesters, and so on.


- pd - 02.02.2005

Hm that's weird.

My thought is that data for more than 100 units would overwrite data stored for other stuff.
Maybe there's a specific amount of room between the vehicle/infantry/aircraft data and some other data. If there are too many units and the room isn't enough, maybe the other data is being overwritten, which may cause errors.
That would mean there's a limit for buildings also, but we didn't reach it yet, or it doesn't matter if it overwrites other data.
It's not that hard to check if that's the case, so I'm going to do it this evening.

If it's true, we can't WW make responsible for that, but the compiler they used Wink
A solution would be expanding the exe again... :huh:


- Renegade - 02.02.2005

@marshall: All the workaround does is freeing up space before 100. i.e. it makes sure you can use all the 100 places you have. But as I showed you, 100 are not enough.


- Daedalus - 02.02.2005

Great work PaD
@Marshall: Its 100, but 2 units where removedfrom the list so you can count up to 102 I beleave


- Guest - 03.02.2005

Is the 100 unit bug a bug with how the game loads the INI files, or a bug with something internal relating to how many units it can think about at once?


RE: Patching extra functionality into &lt;gamemd.exe&gt; - CannisRabidus - 03.02.2005

DCoder Wrote:BTW, Cannis' question was about "which mix files the game searches for specific types of files in, can we change that order?"
See this page for exact info on how the game reads the files.
No, that's not my question. I'll go into more detail.

Although the mix files may well complicate things.

Put simplistically, right now if the game needs to call SOMEFILE.SHP, it looks in the program folder (\RA2\). Suppose it instead looked for SOMEFILE.SHP in \RA2\SUBDIR\, and if it didn't find the file there, it would fall back to looking in \RA2\.

The value of SUBDIR would be set by a command line parameter, like "-mod SUBDIR". This way SUBDIR can be anything you like...

For example, I could put all my mod files in a directory called 'cannisrules': \RA2\CANNISRULES\. When the game is run normally, the contents of that directory are ignored, of course. But if the game is run with the command line parameter "-mod cannisrules", then the game looks for files in that folder first, falling back to the default program directory for files that are not found.

This would mean that any number of mods could be installed at the same time, and the user could play any he wanted to by simply clicking on the appropriate edited shortcut. Plus, this would keep mod files out of the default directory where they really don't belong anyway...

(btw this is how Quake-based games operate)

This is like a holy grail for users, and therefore it should be a holy grail for modders too. Think of all the crappy mods that dump loads of loose files in your program folder. I have no idea if this can be done, but if it can be, then this is potentially the most important change of all IMO.


- Apollo - 03.02.2005

Granted that is a good idea but not so much of necessity, there are more pressing concerns and at the moment xcc launcher for example is sufficient so that would have lesser priority Wink


- Guest - 04.02.2005

Return of the Dawn uses an edited exe to look for its own Rules.ini, .mix files, etc. Not sure if that kind of thing can be command-lined though, but definitely can be edited.
-Chronojam


RE: Patching extra functionality into &lt;gamemd.exe&gt; - Big Jah - 04.02.2005

DCoder Wrote:Tank Bunker issue: lol, that'd be funny Big Grin Actually, Robot Tanks and other hover/amphibious vehicles can't go into bunkers either.
AlternateArcticArt - that already is implemented on infantry, but only in arctic theatre. It works by appending "A" to the art, like seal.shp becomes seala.shp. I'd like to see that expanded onto vehicles.

Won't HoverPad=yes solve the tank bunker shit?

And I would also like to see alt. art expanded to other theatres - like desert for exapmle.


- Marshall - 04.02.2005

I don't know whether or not that would work. It's a good idea to try, however: HoverPad=yes causes internal errors.


- Guest - 04.02.2005

No, i tried it combined with helipad (to get free aircraft) and it worked... I was trying to get soviet ai use aircraft, but I've failed. Yes they built an airstripe with the plane on it instantly. And despite all taskforces it didnt work. As for human player it worked but there were some landing problems (i gotta re-check that again).

Btw are you Marshallus from FedNet?


- Marshall - 04.02.2005

Nope, not me. I'm Marshall from C-GEN.

Regards to HoverPad=yes:
Make sure there's a building with that flag present in the game.
Have an AI player who is Allied or Soviet.
Super weapons ON.
Watch what happens when the AI uses a Weather Storm or Nuclear Missile.
See? Internal Error.


- Renegade - 04.02.2005

AlternateDesertArt=yes sounds like fun...Big Grin

And for Cannis' idea...

ra2md.exe -mod td

--> tdmd.mix

Now that'd be cool.


RE: Patching extra functionality into &lt;gamemd.exe&gt; - DCoder - 04.02.2005

Big Jah Wrote:Won't HoverPad=yes solve the tank bunker shit?

As far as I know, HoverPad=yes doesn't work with amphibious units, only hovers.