Some new "files"

[Dusty]

A while back, I remember @@katanamaru making a suggestion for creating .style files, to define saber styles, and a similar thought being extended to weapons, force powers, and items.

 

I feel like this would be a great way to separate coding from modding a bit more, and is something I would be willing (and able, I think) to look into personally. You could customize and get more versatility out of existing hard-coded behaviors and functionalities, without ever having to touch a piece of code. And that would IMO make it more motivating to write new code behavior, because it would be more reusable.

 

My ideas for definitions so far:

 

.style (saber style definition):

• name: for use with addsaberstyle command
• stance animation: animation.cfg ref
• walk animation: animation.cfg ref
• run animation: animation.cfg ref
• attack/transition/defense animation set: some list of constants (FAST, MEDIUM, DUAL, STAFF, would need to code in any others); perhaps attack, defense, and transition anims need not match?

Level stats --- (can define "levels" for styles, level 1, level 2, level 3, and change the following))

any .sab file fields... plus more?

• attackAnimSpeed: float
• kataStandard: standard kata if any
• kataSpecial: a kata performed with +forcefocus, if any
• specialAbility: list hardcoded constants here, for behavior that is difficult to define outside of code (for example, uninterruptible)

 

For the next two, the point is that you can have weapons based off existing weapons with different properties, such as model, icon, damage, etc. without needing to code it explicitly.

 

.weap (weapon definition):

write new entries into weapons.dat file:

• name: WP_MYWEAP (used for reference in console commands)
• baseWeap: WP_BLASTER (which weapon's coding and physics to use)
• effectRef: folder name prefix to find .efx files, will use effects in the same manner as the baseWeap, but inside it's own folder)
• all weapons.dat fields

.force (force power definition):

create a forcepowers.dat file:

• consoleName: myforcepower (to be used in setforcexxx)
• constantName: FP_MY_FORCE_POWER (for any reference in UI files that might be necessary)
• basePower: FP_PUSH
• level: which level of the power this controls
• alignment: LIGHT/DARK/NEUTRAL (affects whether powers can be used together)
• similar fields to weapons.dat (icons, sounds)
• effectRef: folder name prefix to find .efx files, will use effects in the same manner as the basePower, but inside it's own folder)
• fields that may be unique based on basePower: fpInitDrain, fpContinuousDrain (Absorb, Protect), cooldownTime (Speed, Rage), hpDrainRate (Rage), hpIncreaseRate (Heal), etc.
• annoying part here is the levels, may need separate entry for each level of a power, which is more of a pain than saber styles since there are 15 force powers

 

Any thoughts on the matter? Part of me feels like maybe it wouldn't be worth the work though, in that it wouldn't see much usage relegating the state of the matter back to being "well might as well just hardcode it" due to my perceived lack of popularity of SP modding. Whatch yall think?

[Futuza]

You should look at how JKG does most of our stuff, we haven't gotten to force powers yet, but we try to make things as "softwcoded" as possible so everything can be changed in json files on the server host's whim.

[Dusty]

I know eezstreet had mentioned that in the past. I guess I'm wondering, what the benefits are of using JSON files over the existing game file structure, or maybe JK Galaxies written that way simply because there wasn't already any file system for MP?

[eezstreet]

Our JSON files load faster than COM_Parse reads files because of how the format works. It's also readable by Javascript and Apache, making documentation (through a generated wiki, for example), an extremely easy task. Plus it's not buggy like COM_Parse is.

[katanamaru]

I'm glad I started playing JA this winter break. I came back to see if any progress was being made for adding saber styles.

 

I haven't animated in 10 years, but it's something I'd like to do again.

[TheWhitePhoenix]

I'm glad I started playing JA this winter break. I came back to see if any progress was being made for adding saber styles.

 

I haven't animated in 10 years, but it's something I'd like to do again.

It would be nice for you to make something again. I don't think I need to remind you of your amazing work making the DF2 stances.

[katanamaru]

I still use those gun animations!

[TheWhitePhoenix]

I still use those gun animations!

I still use your DF2 saber animations!

[Dusty]

The JSON sounds pretty cool then, but is a bit out of my ready-made knowledge to code. Is there any progress currently made on implementing JSON for JK Enhanced? Or maybe I could look into implementing that?