Mission File Discussion

[D2k Sardaukar]

with what programs do you edit the bytes?

looks like you did a lot of restarting the game to test if the changes work.  :O  :)

[lovalmidas]

Only one: the Hex Editor Neo.  All I need is something to allow me to read and overwrite bytes, nothing more. But I wouldn't even get anywhere if I don't know about, for instance, the 72-byte event or the 28-byte trigger and where they are.

Restarting, hell yes, quite a lot.  But it can be fruitful, especially if you are testing with your own map.

Now, I need to find out the structure codes in the conditions, so that I can fuse the gameplay of A5V1 (capture the Smuggler starport to receive MCV), and O9V1 (the 3 armies against 2).  Sadly, Fremen and Emperor appear to be a fused house altogether.  Reinforcement for house 03 - Emperor, Reinforcement for house 04 - Still Emperor.  So no 4v2v1.  That poor loner is the smuggler.

Loval Midas

[lovalmidas]

I nearly have to disappoint you again... events and conditions HAVE to be declared.  I tried to repeat my 'duplicating feat' only to discover that I had merely overwritten an existing one in my success.  And yes, the rest will be junk; you can type anything, even random strings, and no error will occur.

Now, it was a 'nearly', because I hereby present to you a profound discovery!  So they have to be declared, right?  The question is, where?  In O9V1, 49 working events and 37 working triggers mean a search for a 0x31 and a 0x25 - and Volia!  At the very two bytes before the timer (0x10728 and 0x10729), the values are there, side by side!  I increased the number of events by 4 and gave myself 4 more reinforcements.  And they appeared.  Aha!  Now that's what I call an Eureka! 8)

I'm still hopeless at AI though. :-[

[Gruntlord6]

Only one: the Hex Editor Neo.  All I need is something to allow me to read and overwrite bytes, nothing more. But I wouldn't even get anywhere if I don't know about, for instance, the 72-byte event or the 28-byte trigger and where they are.

Restarting, hell yes, quite a lot.  But it can be fruitful, especially if you are testing with your own map.

Now, I need to find out the structure codes in the conditions, so that I can fuse the gameplay of A5V1 (capture the Smuggler starport to receive MCV), and O9V1 (the 3 armies against 2).  Sadly, Fremen and Emperor appear to be a fused house altogether.  Reinforcement for house 03 - Emperor, Reinforcement for house 04 - Still Emperor.  So no 4v2v1.  That poor loner is the smuggler.

Loval Midas

Thats not all true, westwood was lazy and uses some sort of instruction in the mis to convert houses. For example if a mission has two ordos factions, it simply has harkonan placed on the map and the mis file does the conversion.

[sandworm]

Yea grunt is right, notice Atreides mission, A8V1, theres an ordos base on the bottom right then another base north, with a barracks and light factory.. That base is actually player 4 which is emperor (if you place that base on another map it will come up as emperor's base). Westwood just converted the house to ordos, to make them more tougher.

I was also looking at the events and conditions, I really hope we can crack on them. I edited O9V2.mis file, so that Ordos receives reinforcements via starport. What I did is i replaced one of the emperors drops with ordos's allegiance, so now they receive the reinforcements. The problem is, once the emperors starport is destroyed, you do not receive reinforcements anymore, so im trying to figure out how to change it to "if player 3 has starport, receive reinforcements"

[lovalmidas]

To gruntlord:

Thanks for that information.  I haven't searched far enough to consider this.  This, I believe, is coded either in AI or events.  An earlier experiment involved me copying H4V1 fremen AI, to O9V1 fremen AI - Fremen units still belongs to the Emperor.  So I think I could be stored in the events.  I am now a working serviceman, so I can't test anything.  Too little time.

To sandworm:

Search for the conditions that the event refers to.  One of them should contain the strings:

00 00 00 00    00 00 00 00    00 00 00 00    00 00 00 00

00 00 00 00    00 00 00 00    03 00 2f 00

03 represents the Emperor's house, 2f represents a Harkonnen-based starport.

Now, change the last four bytes to 02 00 30 00  (30=Ordos-based starport)

This should answer your query.  Note however, a condition can linked to many events.  So, do check that other events do not use that particular trigger.  If so, employ a new condition (increase declaration of events by 1, change relevant condition called in the event section to the number of events minus one, put your desired code)

Loval Midas

[Gruntlord6]

Maybe make a tutorial, even I have trouble finding event blocks related to reinforcements and identifying them.

[sandworm]

It was difficult but what I did, is just changed the condition to if emperor has starport, to if mercenary has starport. So as long as their starport remains I receive reinforcements via starport.

Im trying to understand fully on what the conditions mean. I see in O9V2.mis file, offset: FAC0A, this is where they get 5 sardukar dropped from the starport. The conditions are as follows 00 00 00 01 0d 0b 00 00. It obviously means that as long as the emperor has a starport they receive these reinforcements. But understanding exactly which does what would be great.

[mvi]

Sandworm, I figured out the events and condition system a while back. I've got a list of specs for the different types, if you've got msn I can explain exactly how it all works.

[sandworm]

Sandworm, I figured out the events and condition system a while back. I've got a list of specs for the different types, if you've got msn I can explain exactly how it all works.

Great!

Unfortunatly I do not have msn. But i have plenty of other ways, i have chris.simonetti@yahoo.com if you wanna drop me an email, and theres always facebook. Thanks alot

[sandworm]

Working with Active AI:

I was fooling around with some coding, and managed to get some AI working when they are not originally placed in a map

I know others have been able to get AI working on maps, but they would only do basic things IE. Build destroyed structures, Defend base etc.

But I was able to place a mercenary base on a couple maps and activate them to attack and defend as well.

Open O3V1 for example

I first looked at offset B2A09. To the left of this byte you see 06 indicating player 7 which is mercenary. FF to the right, im not sure what it stands for. But If you switch the 00 to 01, this sets active AI. NOTE: When you activate an AI player make sure to set their Tech levels and starting money, or it will crash.

After doing this, i looked at other AI players that had active AI, where they attack and defended etc.

If you go to offset B2C04, switch the 00 to 01. What I think that does, is enable the AI to attack. I noticed when 00 they dont attack but just build units.

After changing that byte to 01, the mercenaries sent units to attack the harkonnen. Now Im pretty sure there is more to be done and edit in the AI section. At least it was a little advancement to be made with AI.

[AMIgaBot]

it works

[Gruntlord6]

Working with Active AI:

I was fooling around with some coding, and managed to get some AI working when they are not originally placed in a map

I know others have been able to get AI working on maps, but they would only do basic things IE. Build destroyed structures, Defend base etc.

But I was able to place a mercenary base on a couple maps and activate them to attack and defend as well.

Open O3V1 for example

I first looked at offset B2A09. To the left of this byte you see 06 indicating player 7 which is mercenary. FF to the right, im not sure what it stands for. But If you switch the 00 to 01, this sets active AI. NOTE: When you activate an AI player make sure to set their Tech levels and starting money, or it will crash.

After doing this, i looked at other AI players that had active AI, where they attack and defended etc.

If you go to offset B2C04, switch the 00 to 01. What I think that does, is enable the AI to attack. I noticed when 00 they dont attack but just build units.

After changing that byte to 01, the mercenaries sent units to attack the harkonnen. Now Im pretty sure there is more to be done and edit in the AI section. At least it was a little advancement to be made with AI.

basically we did this, but it was done in a more primitive way, nice find.

[sandworm]

Yea i definitly knew that MVI and others looked into this and already found it. But I think we were having trouble making AI behave in a more offensive way rather then defensive.

So far what i switched worked, kind of. The AI behaves and attacks erratically. I noticed that they will build any thing if they have the money when switching that one value to 01 where i think makes them offensive. They would train engineers! and alot of them, and actually use them, I also see them build MCV's. I also noticed that with one refinery they build almost 7 harvesters! So I dont think there is a limit to what they create.

Now to control this im pretty sure there is alot more to edit in this section with AI coding. Im trying to find patterns in AI sections that was developed by Westwood in missions where the AI is active. The way it works: pretty much they are coded to create certain types of units. When the computer creates this amount it sends them to attack, and this is repeated in a fluid motion.

I also think when lovalmidas was working with the reinforcements, he mentioned in post #137 the value 02 or 04 which may mean produce, and I think hes right. When you see for example 03 02 05 00, It may mean the Atreides will produce 5 units, and the units will be displayed in the section of this reinforcement time. Im going to copy values like this an assign them to another house to see if this actually works. Ill update when im finished.

[Gruntlord6]

Yea i definitly knew that MVI and others looked into this and already found it. But I think we were having trouble making AI behave in a more offensive way rather then defensive.

So far what i switched worked, kind of. The AI behaves and attacks erratically. I noticed that they will build any thing if they have the money when switching that one value to 01 where i think makes them offensive. They would train engineers! and alot of them, and actually use them, I also see them build MCV's. I also noticed that with one refinery they build almost 7 harvesters! So I dont think there is a limit to what they create.

Now to control this im pretty sure there is alot more to edit in this section with AI coding. Im trying to find patterns in AI sections that was developed by Westwood in missions where the AI is active. The way it works: pretty much they are coded to create certain types of units. When the computer creates this amount it sends them to attack, and this is repeated in a fluid motion.

I also think when lovalmidas was working with the reinforcements, he mentioned in post #137 the value 02 or 04 which may mean produce, and I think hes right. When you see for example 03 02 05 00, It may mean the Atreides will produce 5 units, and the units will be displayed in the section of this reinforcement time. Im going to copy values like this an assign them to another house to see if this actually works. Ill update when im finished.

What Mvi did on paper was different then when we were testing the missions, we used to copy the ai from 1 house to another, which though achieving the end result, is rather crude. What I think you did is engage in the skirmish AI, as building MCVs and harvesters is something I have observed the skirmish AI to do, as well as engineer spam.

[sandworm]

What Mvi did on paper was different then when we were testing the missions, we used to copy the ai from 1 house to another, which though achieving the end result, is rather crude. What I think you did is engage in the skirmish AI, as building MCVs and harvesters is something I have observed the skirmish AI to do, as well as engineer spam.

Actually you can set it to either Skirmish AI or regular campaign style AI.

I was fooling around a bit more and noticed that if you change the values after FF it can set them with skirmish style AI

It will look like this:

With mission file O6v1, offset B2A0B and 0C, change the two 00 00 values to 01 01. With this set, they built mcvs and engineers. Also when they lost their harvesters and probably did not have enough money, they sold ALL their structures and attacked. This is exhibited in Skirmish as well. But with those values set to 00 00 they did not behave like that.

I also did some minor changes at the bottom of the section of the AI coding, and it altered the way the AI mercenaries behaved alot.

I took the values from offsets CFA0 to CFE0 from O9V2 and entered them in the same way in O6v1. With just a construction yard and a couple of windtraps i placed in the map, the AI mercenaries placed down concrete and built a couple of structures. It built heave and light factories, barracks, a high tech factory and repair pad. Its quite odd because the mercenaries do not own either a high tech factory or repair pad in mission 9 of the ordos. Somewhere in these values enables the AI to THINK its suppose to own these structures, and when they are either destroyed or not built, it will rebuild them

[Gruntlord6]

Actually you can set it to either Skirmish AI or regular campaign style AI.

I was fooling around a bit more and noticed that if you change the values after FF it can set them with skirmish style AI

It will look like this:

With mission file O6v1, offset B2A0B and 0C, change the two 00 00 values to 01 01. With this set, they built mcvs and engineers. Also when they lost their harvesters and probably did not have enough money, they sold ALL their structures and attacked. This is exhibited in Skirmish as well. But with those values set to 00 00 they did not behave like that.

I also did some minor changes at the bottom of the section of the AI coding, and it altered the way the AI mercenaries behaved alot.

I took the values from offsets CFA0 to CFE0 from O9V2 and entered them in the same way in O6v1. With just a construction yard and a couple of windtraps i placed in the map, the AI mercenaries placed down concrete and built a couple of structures. It built heave and light factories, barracks, a high tech factory and repair pad. Its quite odd because the mercenaries do not own either a high tech factory or repair pad in mission 9 of the ordos. Somewhere in these values enables the AI to THINK its suppose to own these structures, and when they are either destroyed or not built, it will rebuild them

Like most dune files, the AI is probably not sensitive by house, and builds whatever is available to it. I read on this forum from someone who was decompiling the dat (thumper?, idk) that there are commands that can influence the aggression and such, perhaps these lie buried in these layers of data.

[AMIgaBot]

this means build order can be changed??  because  if yes  it would be great  as  it coult use  3heavy factories/light factories/barracks thingy  and they would be  more dangerous than normal ai. howewer  let them build on concrete and  their turrets.  if ai has find out that he is in big place maybe  ai can wall his base around like  does on tiberian sun?

[sandworm]

this means build order can be changed??  because   if yes   it would be great  as   it coult use  3heavy factories/light factories/barracks thingy  and they would be  more dangerous than normal ai. howewer  let them build on concrete and  their turrets.  if ai has find out that he is in big place maybe   ai can wall his base around like  does on tiberian sun?

Yes it can be changed, as what I did changed the mercenaries building setup. What I did was copy their ai data at the end of the section for player 7 in mission 9 of the ordos, and then enter it in mission 5. What they did do that was unusual was build a repair pad and a high tech factory even though they do not create them in mission 9. So I may have entered in some values that cause them to create these buildings. If we find out what these values mean, we can order the ai to build what we want them to

[AMIgaBot]

can you post that missiion here?

by the way  we should make  more agressive ai to make them very hard for both missions and skirmish

[sandworm]

Here, this is the map i used, and the edited mission file of o6v2

You will see the mercenaries to your right, build additional buildings.

They will build a high tech, outpost,barracks, turret, silo, repair pad, ix center, and even a  PALACE.

So What i think i did was i enabled them to build additional buildings

O6V2.zip

[AMIgaBot]

ooooo great job.. now lets find more

[SCX]

I was able to play the map. I replased this map to one of the missions map and play it.

Well I see, the mercenaries where build buildings. But they were not build any more refineries. No more harvesters and they did not protected they're harvesters when they wear under attack. The mercenaries almost did not attack the enemy.

[sandworm]

I was able to play the map. I replased this map to one of the missions map and play it.

Well I see, the mercenaries where build buildings. But they were not build any more refineries. No more harvesters and they did not protected they're harvesters when they wear under attack. The mercenaries almost did not attack the enemy.

Yes I know they were not attacking, because I did not have them functioning properly, I was merely testing their building capabilities.

Here is an example of how Ive been working with the AI, Its another release of my O9V2 map. I know the terrain placement is not professional, I need more time with it.

But I wanted to show an example on tweaking the AI.

I placed a smuggler outpost between the ordos and mercenary bases here. They will get reinforcements via starport.

I set their AI to heavily attack, like other houses on this level. I THINK I may have found the function that sets their attack level and defense level. Ill update regularly. Set this level to hard, and youll have a blast.

A final note, this level is a true battle field, youll see all types of colors flying across the map :)

O9V2.zip

[AMIgaBot]

can be starport captured to  receivie their reinforcements?