Helpful tutorial for OGR-Coop maps.

[Evilducky]

<!--Work In Progress-->

Here you go guys. I have decided to give you guys some basic scripts to get some things to work for your custom [GR]-Coop maps. These will be what you need to get things to work. The areas will be basic and simple and I will explain where to put them. These won’t be the full script, from start to finish, so don’t say that I need to end the script data. To test these, make a very small map and make sure you throw the AI graphs and vehicle graphs. To get the vehicle nodes, go to the AI graph layer, then hit ‘n’ and the AI graph will clear, but not disappear, and now you can set the vehicle graph. After you make the map, set up the scripts what each of these are for. Ex: if you want to make guys work, use your small test map, place a guy, set him to patrol/guard/sniper or whatever you want. Then use the first script I wrote and set up the area like I explain and it should work. Now there’s 2 ways to trigger an event. The first way is to just have them all spawn at the start of the game, and the other to have them spawn with a trigger point. You will have to change the areas, and group id's for your script to fit your map, but this should help out a lot of people. I use my small test map to test out these scripts before I post them, so they will work for how I explain them so the rest is up to you to make sure you change the info to what you need.

Guy set up

We will start off with a spawning 1 guy.

	<script_data>


		<xi:include href="/data/levels/common/common.xml#xpointer(/common/*)"/>


		<!--<area_group name="area1" area_name="area1" group="mp_players" interval="0.3" condition="1"/>-->

		<area_group name="group01" area_name="group01" group="mp_players" interval="0.3" condition="1"/>


		<!--<user name="user" type="once">

			<trigger type="UnitInArea" area="area1"/>

			<event name="event"/>

		</user>-->


		<user name="enemy01" type="once">

			<trigger type="UnitInArea" area="group01"/>

			<event name="group01"/>

		</user>


		<event name="start_game">

			<element type="ActivateGroup" group_id="enemy01" start_time="5"/>

		</event>


		<event name="group01">

			<element type="TriggerEvent" event="activate_enemy01" start_time="0.1"/>

		</event>


		<event name="activate_enemy01">

			<element type="ActivateGroup" group_id="enemy01" start_time="0.0"/>

			<element type="UnitInArea" area="group01" state="deactivate"/>

		</event>


 

Now to set up the area. You would put an area box around the guy that you placed and name it whatever you like. Mine is group01. The "user name="" " part you can put whatever you want as a user name, but to help keep confusion down keep it to the enemy that your spawning name. Next is the "<trigger type="UnitInArea" area=""/> " part. You will need to put whatever the name of the area you set around the guys, between the ("") part. That’s telling the game to to look at the area. Next is the <event name=""/>. This part is important because you will need to make sure that you don’t screw up names here. You can name the event whatever you want it to be. I usually just name it whatever I named my area to help with confusion. What this will do, is tell the game to look at the scipt down at the event second of it. Now that that is done, we will move on to the next part. The next part is setting up the <event name="start_game"> part. This will set up how your map will start. Underneath this line you will put 1 of 2 things. 1st: if you want to have the guys just spawn you set it up like I have it <element type="ActivateGroup" group_id="" start_time="5"/>. This will tell the game, that 5 seconds after you start it will spawn the guy with the group_id of whatever you named the guys under group. In my 1 guy set up, the group_id I gave him was enemy01 and you set that up when you place the guy, there is a little text box that will ask you what group_id you want to give him, and what transport_id you want to give him, along with some other things. The transport_id isn’t important to spawning guys unless you want them to spawn inside a vehicle. Like I said that line will be for having the guys just spawn at the begging after 5 seconds. If you want to the spawn with a trigger line, you have to set things up a little different. That is the 2nd way to spawn guys. What you need to do after the <start game> have it say<element type="UnitInArea" group_id="" state=â€activate†start_time="5"/> instead of <element type="ActivateGroup" group_id="" start_time="5"/>. What that does is, tells the game that after 5 seconds of crossing the trigger line, the guys will spawn where you put them. Next, under </event> you will set up the trigger for the group. Starting off with <event name="group01"> and you get that even name from what you put back in the <user name> area of the script. Next fill in the <element type="TriggerEvent" event="activate_enemy01" start_time="0.1"/> with the proper info. The element type has to have the capitals where they are, or it wont work right. The event=â€â€ is a little different this time, because your going to have it go to another line of text in the script. In this case, I put the event name as “activate_enemy01†which will have the game go to the final part of the script to activate the guys. And the start time is jus how fast you want it to do it. Keep it at 0.1 for time sakes. Now to set up the last lines of script. To start off you need to have the event name again, which will be whatever you put in the last part we just did. <event name="activate_enemy01"> is what mine looks like. See how the 2 are the same. This will tell the game to come to this part of the script next. Under that you will have 2 lines 1: <element type="ActivateGroup" group_id="enemy01" start_time="0.0"/> which will tell the game to spawn the guys, with a start time of 0.0 because it will spawn at the guys at the time you put back in the start time under <start game> lines. You put the group_id in this part as you can see, which again you got from when you made the guy. And the second line is <element type="UnitInArea" area="group01" state="deactivate"/> which will deactivate the area from being triggered a second time. Then just end the event like shown, and you’re done. Go test it out. Machine gun set up. Next we’ll set up a guy on the machine gun. To do this, set up the script just like the first one, but with a few changes and lets pretend that there is no area, and guy just yet. It’s just a fresh new map. I won’t go on explaining it to great detail like I did before because you can just follow what I did before. To do this, you can again do it one of the 2 ways. By having them spawn at the beginning or to have a trigger line for them. The way to set this up is by first going to your map, and setting up the MG. It’s located in the props section and is called “m2hb_tripod†and place it somewhere. Next you will set up a guy; it can be any enemy but make sure that there is just 1 guy that will spawn there and just keep him in guard and make sure he is close to the gun. Now you’re going start naming things. When you place the machine gun name it something like mg01, this is for just for the tutorial purposes and in your map, you can name it whatever you like. Next make sure you name the guy that you put near it the same thing, mg01. This will have him spawn using the machine gun. Next set up an area around it and name it mg01 also, to keep things easy to start with. Later on you can experiment with areas, and group names and stuff and see if you can get them to work. Now just tide up your script to look like this and it will work:

	<script_data>


		<xi:include href="/data/levels/common/common.xml#xpointer(/common/*)"/>


		<!--<area_group name="area1" area_name="area1" group="mp_players" interval="0.3" condition="1"/>-->

		<area_group name="mg01" area_name="mg01" group="mp_players" interval="0.3" condition="1"/>


		<!--<user name="user" type="once">

			<trigger type="UnitInArea" area="area1"/>

			<event name="event"/>

		</user>-->


		<user name="mg01" type="once">

			<trigger type="UnitInArea" area="mg01"/>

			<event name="mg01"/>

		</user>


		<event name="start_game">

			<element type="ActivateGroup" group_id="mg01" start_time="5"/>

		</event>


		<event name="mg01">

			<element type="TriggerEvent" event="activate_mg01" start_time="0.1"/>

		</event>


		<event name="activate_mg01">

			<element type="ActivateGroup" group_id="mg01" start_time="0.0"/>

			<element type="UnitInArea" area="mg01" state="deactivate"/>

		</event>


 

Like always, use your small test map to make sure you can do things and have them work. And make sure you export after you make changes and save your script. Vehicle set up This is where it gets hard and tricky. You can have the vehicle do a few things. Again, when it spawns it can come in, in the 2 ways mentioned before. Then you can have it patrol an area, or have it move to an area, and guard it. Since you know how to make them spawn, Ill just keep it to the way it moves. Tanks For the tanks, there are 2 types. There is the Abrams and the US_Abrams. The Abrams are AI driven, which means that it doesn’t need a tank crew. This is the one you set as hostile and you will most likely put into your game. The US_Abrams I just use for decoration, like if you build a friendly base, you throw those in there so they don’t constantly shoot at you. Now, when you place a tank down, there is 3 things to do. 1: give it a Vehicle_id, which will be important. For the tutorial, let us just give our pretend tank the name of tank01. Next, you want to check the box “sequenced spawn†, which will give it a sequenced spawn, and lastly change the dropdown menu to “hostile†which will make it the enemies tank. Now that we set up the tank and placed it on the map where you want it, you need to set up the area and when you set it, name it patrol_tank. Now it’s time for the script. Ill put both the patrol script, and move script, which are very similar, with only 1 part changed.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>

<World>

	<!-- World -->

	<load_scene file="/data/levels/custom_levels/Blackhawk_down/Blackhawk_down.diesel" use_lightset="true" materials="/data/levels/custom_levels/Blackhawk_down/materials.xml">


		<object name="world_bb" hidden="true"/>


		<object name="room01" hidden="true"/>

		<object name="Plane01" hidden="true"/>


		<global_ambient color="60 60 40"/>


	</load_scene>


	<load_scene file="/data/objects/lens/normal_lens.diesel">

		<object name="normal_lens" hidden="true"/>

	</load_scene>

	<load_scene file="/data/objects/lens/zoom_lens.diesel">

		<object name="zoom_lens" hidden="true"/>

	</load_scene>


	<script_data>


		<xi:include href="/data/levels/common/common.xml#xpointer(/common/*)"/>


		<!--<area_group name="area1" area_name="area1" group="mp_players" interval="0.3" condition="1"/>-->

		<area_group name="patrol_tank" area_name="patrol_tank" group="mp_players" interval="0.3" condition="1"/>


		<!--AREA TRIGGERS-->

		<user name="patrol_tank01" type="once">

			<trigger type="UnitInArea" area="patrol_tank01"/>

			<event name="patrol_tank01"/>

		</user>


		<event name="start_game">

			<element type="UnitInArea" area="patrol_tank01" state="activate" start_time="5"/>

		</event>



		<event name="activate_tanks">

			<element type="ActivateVehicle" vehicle_id="tank01" start_time="1.0"/>


<element type="OrderTank" vehicle_id="tank01" ai="true" order="patrol" <!--world_x="-8266.8818" world_y="3262.9829"--> start_time="5.0">

				<waypoint position="-7687 2987 0"/>

				<waypoint position="-2012 2957 0"/>

			</element>

</event>


		<event name="patrol_tank">

			<element type="TriggerEvent" event="activate_tanks" start_time="0.1"/>

		</event>


		<player name="player1" mod_name="OnFoot">

			<spawn unit_name="ghost_player" object="spawn_player1"/>

		</player>

		<player name="player2" mod_name="OnFoot">

			<spawn unit_name="ghost_player" object="spawn_player2"/>

		</player>

		<player name="player3" mod_name="OnFoot">

			<spawn unit_name="ghost_player" object="spawn_player3"/>

		</player>

		<player name="player4" mod_name="OnFoot">

			<spawn unit_name="ghost_player" object="spawn_player4"/>

		</player>



		<gametype_info name="enemies_to_kill" value="60"/>


		<spawn_manager>

			<!--<xi:include href="/data/levels/merge_xml/common_spawn.xml#xpointer(/to_include/spawn/*)"/> -->

		</spawn_manager>


	</script_data>

</World>

Now if you want friendly tanks in there, you would need to put the US_Abrams in there, and then throw the tank crew guys in, and make a few changes to the script there. I haven’t experimented with that yet, so Ill hold off on that part. But as you can see, there is some new lines in there.

 <event name="activate_tanks">

			<element type="ActivateVehicle" vehicle_id="tank01" start_time="1.0"/>


<element type="OrderTank" vehicle_id="tank01" ai="true" order="patrol" <!--world_x="-8266.8818" world_y="3262.9829"--> start_time="5.0">

				<waypoint position="-7687 2987 0"/>

				<waypoint position="-2012 2957 0"/>

			</element>

This right here is important. This will activate the tank, and then will assign it to what you want it to do. Because it’s the abram, you need to have the (ai=â€trueâ€) part in there. Without it, the tank wont move. Next you have to give it an “order†which we did, patrol. Now is the fun part. You get the waypoint positions from the saved “world#†XML files in your graw/custom-levels/work/your_map folder. Getting the 2 right points is fun.. (sarcasm). To get it, here is what I do. You lay down 3 vehicle AI nodes at the point where you want the tank to start. Save it, and go into that XML file, and copy the 3 points to notepad. Then go back into the editor and take out the one you want to start. Then save it, and go back into the XML and compare the remaining 2 ai nodes, to the orginal 3 and see what one is mission. Now go back into the editor, and place the 1 last vehicle node that you took out, pretty close to where you had the original one, and save it. Now go get the one that was close to it, and there is your start point. <!- -IF there is an easier way to do this, please post up and let us all know- -> That will give you the first set of waypoints “which is the -7687 2987 0†on mine there. Yours will change on your map, so don’t keep my positions there as they are just to show you how they look Now you will do the same thing with the end position, and past it in the second part of that, and your tanks will Now patrol. Now just go into your little test map that you should of made, and fiddle around with that script, and get areas, and tank names that work for your map to work in the little test one. Also see if you can add more if you want. Now to get it to just move to a point, you take that small part of the script and change it some.

 		<event name="activate_tanks">

			<element type="ActivateVehicle" vehicle_id="tank01" start_time="5.0"/>

			<element type="OrderTank" vehicle_id="patrol_tank01" ai="true" order="move" world_x="-287" world_y="-902" start_time="5.0">

			</element>

		</event>

You can see where the changes are. They are small and simple changes, but what you need to do is change the “order†from patrol, to move and then instead of a start waypoint, you just put in the end waypoint as shown. And what it does is, it will get the tank to move to that point and just stay there and defend that point.

Ill add more for you guys later, like the blackhawk, panhards and apaches. Hope this helps out alot of people.

<!--If you guys see any errors in spelling/grammer please dont hound me for that. I'm doing this to help, not get hit from the spelling/grammer nazi's out there.-->

-Ducky-

Edited September 23, 2006 by Evilducky

[sui317]

just praises for you ducky

may you be fat for X-mas....

thank you very much for this tutorial

[Rocky]

Wow, nice tute, great work!

[Evilducky]

Im still writing the vehicle part of it, cause im still experimenting/reading to get the apaches to work. So ill update it when I get that working.

[Colin]

Thius needs tidying up and given a more prominant spot.

[Wille]

Thius needs tidying up and given a more prominant spot.

I think perhaps in the graw modder section of the site?

[fr1j0l3]

sweet writeup ducky.

Love the <!-- comments at the end of yer post too, nice touch.

[Evilducky]

cleaver eh? haha it was more of a joke to see if anyone picked it up.

[silent_op]

How do I navigate in the editor?

Does anyone else have problems navigating as well?

Now I have read the following from the Editor Tutorial folder:

Navigation

As you notice from the start you cannot move around. To get into the menus you need to have the camera locked and it is also very useful when placing units. To move around you need to toggle to camera move, do this by pressing “spaceâ€, press “space†again to toggle back. When the camera is not locked you can look around with the mouse and fly around with the arrow keys and control movement speed with the mouse wheel.

This would seem very straight forward, but I'm having problems. The problems I have are with the " ...fly around with the arrow keys and control movement speed with the mouse wheel." section.

I can easily unlock the camera by pressing "space", but the arrow keys and mouse wheel do nothing at all. I just need to get past this one basic hurdle before I can even begin to explore [GR] COOP modding.

Any suggestions, anyone?

silent_op

Edited September 22, 2006 by silent_op

[Evilducky]

aswd my friend..

[silent_op]

aswd my friend..

That is just too funny...Arrow keys...What was I thinking?

Thanks Evilducky

silent_op

[Evilducky]

Glad to help silent. haha

And sorry for the long time for the vehicle part. I have been helping out other people with there maps, and tring to work on my new one, and working. Ill get around to it for you guys. I have gotten the blackhawk to fly in scripts, tanks to move and patrol scipts, and possible the panhards move scipts. I still need to work on the apache and then I can write it up and give it to you guys.

-Ducky-

[sui317]

take your time, helping others is very important

if you help them, or write these tutorials, we all are happy and benefit from both

thanks

[Zebb]

Nice job mate, thanks.

[Evilducky]

updated it, and included the tank part now.

[duck4cover]

Many thanks for your Help guides... I know I'd be nowhere without them !!!

Time to return the favour !

I've got a much easier way of finding those waypoints bud, all you need to do is go to the multiplayer set and add single point zones where ever you want your vehicle to go... ie right click (create zone) left click (place zone) just take note of there names !!

Do this as many times as you need and then save, ( I use 4 to patrol a square) after just open up your zones file in the xml folder and your waypoints are ready to cut and paste into your mission xml

[Evilducky]

wow.. haha why did I think of that. Hahah, let me join ya in the bashing of the head on the wall.

[GRIM-GENERAL]

Ok why are all of the enemy soldiers facing the same direction?

I rotated the green/red deal with the arrow keys but they still face the same direction.

[duck4cover]

Ok why are all of the enemy soldiers facing the same direction?

I rotated the green/red deal with the arrow keys but they still face the same direction.

I noticed that to, i think its just standard so i just try get them to trigger outside LOS or inside buildings as long as you have a reasonable guard or patrol zone they will start moving and make it look more natural

[Evilducky]

They do have a defult way they face when you place them, but to rotate them when they spawn all depends on how you put click for there guard area, and sniper ways. If you leave them to defult settings, they will face that way when they spawn. But lets say you make the guard area bigger, click how big you want the guard area, but were the little stickfigure thing is when you click, is the direction he will face after you click the guard area. See what im saying? haha, that was kind of confusing.

[GRIM-GENERAL]

haha, that was kind of confusing.

huh, say what?

[Evilducky]

Ok.. When you place a guy in guard mode, they have a blue like connecting the stickfigure looking thing for a guy, to a blue guard ring around him. That blue line is the direction he is facing. Now, lets say you want to make the guard area bigger, you go out some, then middle mouse click to get the area bigger. Depending on where you click to make the area bigger, the blue line direction will change to where you clicked. That is now the way they are facing. See now?

[AJ59]

Sticky?

[RavenousNC]

Thius needs tidying up and given a more prominant spot.

I think perhaps in the graw modder section of the site?

Not trying to argue, but am curious why put this in a part of the site that is not about mapping? From what I see this will be a next step for me when the map is complete. Since I am making a map, and this is part of it, I would hate to think that I have to go to another section of the site to find answers. That is how why some questions get asked over and over, because someone thinks it doesn't belong, but other don't know better. In this case, for me anyways, I'm building a map, and this is part of that process.

Not arguing, just stating an opinion, and welcome any suggestions.

I know that I have many questions about mapping since this is my first one for GRAW, and I haven't mapped since Descent 2. (showing my age) It is also my observation that most experienced mappers speak there own language and can get over the head of us noobs. So laymans terms is always nice, and again, it keeps the repeat questions from coming up.

BTW, is there any way to copy sections or pieces (say gate pieces for example) and lay them without have to do each thing one by one? And is there any place where a list of ALL the keyboard commands are shown?

Thanks,

Peace!

[Wille]

I wasnt saying that this shouldnt he here, ofcourse it should:) im just saying, that after tutorials have been put here, its best to put them in the modders section of the site www.ghostrecon.net/modder for safe keeping so it doesnt get lost!