[SDK] Dale's Combat Mod!

[Ijuin]

I think that either side should be able to retreat with the penalty that the opposing side gets an extra First Strike "shot in the back" at them. However, if you are defending a fort or a city, you should not be allowed to retreat (i.e. no abandoning the civilians to be captured).

[Dale]

Beta1.5 is now available for testing.

Please see the first post of this thread for details.

Dale

[PJayTycy]

Instead of asking people to backup the dll and relpace the vanilla one, why don't you release a zip to be extracted to the mods directory?

ie: \mods\dalecombat\Assets\CvGameCore.dll

That works too, without modifying original files.

[Dale]

Yeah I know, I'll do it for the next beta test.

[Dale]

Posted at CFC, useful to you guys too:

For all wondering, yes just pop it into your custom assets folder. The reason I didn't think it necessary is with this beta you'll probably only use it a couple of times, report the bugs and suggestions here, then go back to the original dll. From the next beta (which will be stable and just lacking polish) there will be a proper mod folder created for it.

To clarify with the virtual map:
It is an "under the hood" map. It doesn't exist within the graphics engine, nor will you see a seperate combat screen like call to power had. The array is all processed out of sight with the results simulated by the normal combat animations and reported into the combat logs.

Oh, if you don't see the animations check your user options and turn on "Stack Attack".

[skodkim]

Sounds very promising. I'll definately keep myself updated on this!

\Skodkim

[Kinjiru]

Originally posted by PJayTycy
Instead of asking people to backup the dll and relpace the vanilla one, why don't you release a zip to be extracted to the mods directory?

ie: \mods\dalecombat\Assets\CvGameCore.dll

That works too, without modifying original files.

Not sure of the legality on that actually. While it is true that the mod would be useless to someone unless they actually owned a copy of the game, Dale would still be distributing a piece of intellectual property owned by a publisher with a legal team. Not really work the risk to sidetrack one of the most eagerly awaiting mods! In fact having it on Dale's website is risky already.

An alternative would be to include a batch file that automatically creates a backup of the original DLL. I guess that would only work for the default installation path though. I am no expert on making batch files so I don't know how dynamic they can be in 'reading in' a path.

[Stuie]

Originally posted by Kinjiru
Not sure of the legality on that actually.

Not sure you read PJ's post accurately - he was suggesting installing to a mod folder, not distributing the original dll file.

[Dale]

Air units defend their stack:

[Kinjiru]

Originally posted by Stuie




Not sure you read PJ's post accurately - he was suggesting installing to a mod folder, not distributing the original dll file.

Ah, I see, that's what I get for posting at work... during a long and boring meeting...

[Dale]

Some more screenies. I've finished implementing the full combined arms attacks in a stack (air, ranged, flanks, melee):


Beginning combo (list on left is the enemy, icons me) musket-cannon battle between two stacks......


During combat of above stacks.....





Naval stacks face off, including carriers with fighters......


During naval battle (notice fighter event notifications on left)......


After combat. Navys are now even more useful!

Dale

[aran]

Dale, you should scale down the size of the models by around half so that they don't all go inside of each other. That would make things much more visually pleasing.

[Dale]

Beta2 is currently going through some final tests and then I'll be able to upload it for you guys to play with.

Features of Beta2:

- Full seperate mod (no need to overwrite other dll's or customassets)
- xml flags for Civ4UnitInfos.xml to indicate bombarders, ranged and flanking units (optional flags so only add to units requiring those flags [vanilla units xml file updated and included in mod as an example]) so you can indicate what your custom units are to do in stack attacks (the xml schema file MUST remain with the mod)
- Full combined arms: air, bombarding, ranged, flanking and front line troops all work together on the enemy stack
- Fighters in cities and on carriers will auto-scramble to defend the plot they are stationed on, performing intercept missions for control of the skys and air strikes against ground units
- Animations reflect the entire battle; ranged and bombarding will hold back, other troops will melee and try to break through to the backline troops
- Field bombardment means any unit that can bombard (ie: catapults, artillery) can bombard any other unit in adjacent squares (ie: land bombardment, sea bombardment, coastal bombardment)
- Bombarders required to demolish city defenses before defending units take damage (defenders "hide" in the defenses, so they must be destroyed first)

This is just a quick list of features of Beta2. I have a lot more to add before I'd call it a final release, but we're well on the way.

Dale

[aracuan_76]

problem

Dear Dale,

While i have tried to run the game after putting your dll,and start a game,the gameitself reboots...
so,waiting for the complete mod
!

[Kinjiru]

Hey Dale,

Just curious, how will Forts be treated? Will the attacking stack need
to demolish the Fort before the units inside will be harmed (i.e.
treat the Fort as a city) or will the attacking stack simply be able
to choose either the Fort or the Units?

Very much looking forward to a Beta 2 release!