FFX Requests

[Epimethee]

Continuing the thread archived at http://freedomreborn.net/archive/index.php?topic=42125.0

Tell us what you'd like to see in upcoming releases of FFX 3!

[BentonGrey]

Howdy Ep!  I just thought I'd note that my biggest request for a new version of FFX would be thrown knockback.  Also, an ability that would allow you to either A) immediately change the AI of all civilians on a map into cops, or B) summon all of the cops on a map to do your bidding.  I'm thinking about Aquaman being able to call in his finny friends, but being limited in who is nearby. 

[Champion 2 of 11]

I'm not sure if this has been done but like in summoner instead of summoning a bunch of minions, how about a whole team! A group with different meshes and powers being summoned. 

[Vertex]

Well, I doubt you can do it but what I'd love more than anything else....

For animations like take_flight and land_from_flight to actually work 

[BentonGrey]

I think that is semi do-able now, at least to some extent.  You can't tie it directly to damage, but you can set up accidental change to switch to another character/mesh.  I use it for Juggernaut, when his helmet is knocked off.

[BentonGrey]

Ahh...interesting IPS, very interesting.  I don't know if it would be do-able, though. 

[Epimethee]

Benton:
– Thrown KB: I had an early look at it and it appeared much, much harder than I first thought. But yes, this would be a very good thing.
– AI: I'll just defer to any other FFX team member, as I know too little on the subject.

Champion: Noted. There should be a straightforward way of doing this.

Vertex: Sadly, I really don't see how it could be done, except for a specific scripted sequence (i.e, using different meshes with different jump animations)

IPS: Apart from using Accidental Change (or Russian Doll), I dont think it's possible. The only possible hope is using the undocumented loadChars() function, and it is not supposed to work with customs, campaign mode or template attributes, plus it behaves weirdly. Hum...´could we use FXes instead?

[BentonGrey]

Russian Doll.......hmm...that'd be a much better way to handle that, giving you actual control over their hitpoints.  Well, I am keeping hope alive for the KB issue!

[GogglesPizanno]

IPS: Apart from using Accidental Change (or Russian Doll), I dont think it's possible. The only possible hope is using the undocumented loadChars() function, and it is not supposed to work with customs, campaign mode or template attributes, plus it behaves weirdly. Hum...´could we use FXes instead?

What if you did it an FFX plug in that cheats it a little and sort of recreates Russian Doll but on a universal scale..

Have the plugin register all the heroes for a specific damage level, then when that happens trigger a function that looks to see if there is "damaged_<charname>" template or something like that -- some kind of agreed naming scheme. If it exists, swap the character out, if not, just ignore it. The advantage over russian doll is that it works universally for all characters all the time (like IPS said), not a case by case basis that needs to be set up. It still means having to create a seperate character for the damage and not near as clean as just being able to change skins....

As for my own request... well its not mine, but someone requested it before. Having some kind of Team attribute. where you select a "character" that is assigned up to 6 teammates. So  instead o putting together your JLA team from scratch on the character selection screen, you select the JLA character, and the game starts by loading up those members assigned to that team. Kind of an offshoot of private army. I have an FFX plugin that does this, but it's rough and I'm having some AI issues... but I think its somewhat doable.

[Champion 2 of 11]

Having some kind of Team attribute. where you select a "character" that is assigned up to 6 teammates. So  instead o putting together your JLA team from scratch on the character selection screen, you select the JLA character, and the game starts by loading up those members assigned to that team. Kind of an offshoot of private army. I have an FFX plugin that does this, but it's rough and I'm having some AI issues... but I think its somewhat doable.

[yell0w_lantern]

It would be very helpful for me to have an attribute like that - I'm using Private Army but I end up with some duplicates - requires a lot of suspension of disbelief. It would solve my multiple nemeses problem where I try to get all the main villains from Flash's Rogues Gallery to appear at once in the middle of a mission.

1) Accidental Change with multiple forms each related to a different state. Now that I think about it, a percent chance of changing into one of several forms with the same trigger would be cool too.

2) Limited shapeshifter requiring a hero point or maybe a token system of some kind (charges? cans of spinach?)

3) Dependant - a character you have to protect from harm/KO (Jimmy Olsen, Aunt May, Scrappy Doo, etc.) that has a percent chance of showing up during a mission (like nemesis)

4) Grades of Vulnerability - grade 2 has 2 vulnerabilities, grade 3 has 3 vulnerabilities, etc.

[Courtnall6]

just imagine... aquaman is gettin the snot beaten out of him... his tights tear and scales fall out of his armour.... gets all bruised... how cool would that be to see in game? and all your other characters at the same time...

Oh sure it would be cool...but then we skinners would have to make "battle damaged" versions of all our skins! Thanks for doubling my skinning work load!

[GogglesPizanno]

What work load?

[DrMike2000]

The battle damaged skin stuff would take heaps of work however you tried to set it up.
You'd either need to create a template for the damaged character, or look for a hero file of a procedural name eg Aquaman searches for "aquaman(damaged)" when he hits 25% health.
This does have the bonus that you could downgrade powers, say if Iron Mans armour is fritzing out, but then again, negative feedback loops make bad gameplay. If you're losing, its no fun to make things even harder.

You'd need to do it by switching characters just like shapechanging - theres no way to swap a texture around on the fly. I remember the trouble I had getting the Spider's costume to change in between missions, let alone during a mission. That always introduces a whole host of problems. Any primary or secondary states dissappear as soon as Aquaman's pants fall off, if the characters moving from A to B they'll stop. Any AI attacking them will pause, and mission objectives have a chance of messing up.

So while its a nice idea its one of those thats incredibly hard to implement in the game.

[DrMike2000]

Getting Summoner or Private Army to summon a random selection from a group of uniques would be a piece of cake, however.

[Xenolith]

One thing i like about built ins is that you can set the radius of the character so the computer knows how much space it occupies.  Would there be a way to make this available for non-buitl in characters.  At least the Abomination wouldn't run down narrow alleys that way.  At least i don't think he would.

[Champion 2 of 11]

Oh sure it would be cool...but then we skinners would have to make "battle damaged" versions of all our skins! Thanks for doubling my skinning work load!

What work load?

Now that was funny!!!

Oh I better shut up!

[yell0w_lantern]

Non-random private army is what I'm after so I can have Captain Boomerang accompanied by only one each of the other Rogues.


Btw, weren't you so-called champions supposed to making yourselves known like 2 months ago?

[Champion 2 of 11]

Btw, weren't you so-called champions supposed to making yourselves known like 2 months ago?

[Gremlin]

Awkward moment saved by QUEEN!

Weeeeeee are the champions, my frieeeends...

[daglob]

you missed it: Champions was last Saturday. I won't run another game until after the first of the year.

[Xenolith]

Is there a way to add some of the newer customizable features into the control center?  I've still never been able to get grapple to work, and that's no fault of Taskmaster Xs, just my inability to manipulate the code.

I'd like to see obstacle navigation be more effective.  Espeically the movement around/over buildings.

[Blitzgott]

If thrown-knocback can be done, it will be freakin' amazing.

I have a request, as well. I wish it would be possible to customize a power's state swap individually for hero files, just like it can be done for built-ins.

In case it's not clear, I wish that you could, for an hero file, choose an individual power, set a state swap for it of, say, stun to magnetise, and have only that one power inflict the magnetise effect, while other powers that have a chance of inflicting stun would still inflict stun normally.

[Epimethee]

Xenolith:
– FFXCC customization: not currently doable, sorry.
– Obstacle navigation: my knowledge of the AI systems (built-in and M25's) is very weak, but the biggest issues are probably the two following limitations in the game engine: Primo, no feedback from the AI pathfinding. Secundo, no information about object dimensions.

Blizgott: Can't be done, as hero file-based characters don't have unique power IDs.

[Xenolith]

the non-random private army (also able to only select one version of each model) would be a real boon.

[The Nemesis]

Currently the "Summon Rain" command 'power nulls' characters made of fire (and those in the fireTemplates list), but is it possible to make a list of characters for whom it's even more detrimental? Like actually reduces their health, or energy regen rate (or something) on top of the other penalties.

I ask because I was just adding some tweaks to Sandman, and it would have been cool if the water had a greater effect on him than others.

Then again, I'm just getting back into  after a short while, is this possible already?.
Would you say it would just be simpler for me to put sandman (and others) in the fireTemplates list in the Control code in ffx.py instead?

[UnkoMan]

Currently the "Summon Rain" command 'power nulls' characters made of fire (and those in the fireTemplates list), but is it possible to make a list of characters for whom it's even more detrimental? Like actually reduces their health, or energy regen rate (or something) on top of the other penalties.

I ask because I was just adding some tweaks to Sandman, and it would have been cool if the water had a greater effect on him than others.

Then again, I'm just getting back into  after a short while, is this possible already?.
Would you say it would just be simpler for me to put sandman (and others) in the fireTemplates list in the Control code in ffx.py instead?

And how about electrical characters? They should be affected somewhat, right?


I was thinking of something the other day... I know there's some sort of stealth that, while I don't recall 100%, turns you somewhat undetectable unless you are in line of sight or using powers too close to somebody? Am I remembering this wrong? Anyhow, I was wondering if this could get customization to become a sort of "sneak" attribute that is able to turn on and off. It could turn your character invisible or not, and could play a different animation.

For a specific example, I want to make a character who has a "sneak" attribute that forces him to walk slower and use his walk animation, and now he's less likely to be detected by enemies, unless they are looking right at him, or he attacks or something. If they do see him the sneak ability is dropped and he resumes being a normal character, until he gets far enough away to reactivate it, IE: no enemies chasing him. Is this at all possible through FFX or would it be too complex? Is it even possible in a self contained mod of some sort?

[Epimethee]

I didn't realize that there was a fireTemplates list in ffx.py; it ought to be moved in ffxextras.py. I should also change the ffq_firehydrant plugin accordingly.

Instead of adding customization code in the Weather Control attribute itself, I'd probably have the attribute throw an event (alert) when a character gets wet. Mission-specific scripts or other attributes such as Vulnerability could then use this easily.

[Vertex]

Here I be with a request for FFX...

1st is there a comprehensive list of what attributes and powers call for what animations? (It would seriously help me (and others) figure out what to include for animations in our sets.

2nd. I wish this had been done originally when FFX started up but would it be possible to say... redo some assignments for animations so we can put the right animations with the right attributes and powers.
  For instance I noticed last night using a tk attribute that it used ranged and throw_object animations. While I could certainly set up the first ranged attack to look proper for that attribute I'm sure another attribute or power might use the same anim and look nuts, while if I set throw_object anim to look like a psychic toss anim.. it would then make it look stupid when the character might actually pick something up. If it could be set up for attributes to call out animations made just for them.. it would make things a lot more adaptable. I really wish when all this stuff had been setup it had been put out as a list of what needed what.. so all these sets that exist now.. could already have animations set up for them. Since this would be done so "post production" I'd even be willing to make up some male_basic and female_basic animations that hexers could stick into existing sets making things work much better all around for everybody.

[GogglesPizanno]

I wish this had been done originally when FFX started up but would it be possible to say... redo some assignments for animations so we can put the right animations with the right attributes and powers.

Since some of the FFX attributes have the ability to specify animations by typing it in (Enhanced Senses comes to mind), how possible would it be to add that animation option to all attributes that play back an animation, but set the attribute default to whatever it is currently hard coded for now?

By doing it that way, all the animations that are currently set would stay as the initial setup, but it would allow people to manually set a new one for specific characters that have an enhanced animations.