I've been playing with HHT for a while and decided it would be awesome to be able to spawn my own army at will. I know that you can swap the projectile (proj) dependency of any weapon to a biped (bipd) to spawn characters into a map on fire (assuming the necessary meta data is already in the map). Thing is, no actor initializes when a biped is spawned, which defeats the purpose.
Here's what I've learned from my various attempts:
1.) Actors (actr) and Actor Variants (actv) cannot replace the Projectile (proj) dependency of any weapon. (Causes an Exception error)
2.) The actv dependency of all bipeds has no noticable effect when spawning bipeds using the described method.
3.) Actor Variants can successfully be spawned by giving value to the actv dependencies in a vehicle (i.e. a Warthog) and spawning a vehicle using the described method. (Problem is, you die half the time you spawn one and they're never right-side-up.)
Now, I've also tried using grenades to spawn AI using the third item in the list (replaced the effe: weapons\frag grenade\explosion dependency with a pre-modded vehicle) and had no luck even spawning the vehicle.
I know I can set spawn points with SparkEdit, but I'd like to be able to spawn AI on demand and with freedom of position. If anyone has had any experience or has any other ideas, I'd be grateful if you would share them.
Spawning Actor Variants
Here's my method that somewhat works for AI at will. It has a couple of glitches during gameplay and after lots of use will lag horribly. (regardless of whether the AI have been killed or not.)
Along with the AI stuff, import a vehicle into the map (if you want the original vehicles to stay the same. I just use the turret because I'm lazy).
Once it's rebuilt, put the AI into the imported vehicle using the technique you already know. Using HHT, d-swap within the mod2 of the vehicle all of the soso, schi, sgla and other shader tags for ligh: effects\lights\coop teleport circular. That makes the vehicle invisible. Then within the vehi tag of the vehicle swap the coll tag to be something small that doesn't fit the model like the healthpack. It will now not be noticeable except by vehicles running over it. Finally, (might have to use HMT) change the seat name(s) in the vehicle to be something MC can't use like P-driver. Now you have a vehicle that is invisible, can't be driven and isn't noticeable. Just swap a projectile for that vehicle and you can spawn AI on command.
Along with the AI stuff, import a vehicle into the map (if you want the original vehicles to stay the same. I just use the turret because I'm lazy).
Once it's rebuilt, put the AI into the imported vehicle using the technique you already know. Using HHT, d-swap within the mod2 of the vehicle all of the soso, schi, sgla and other shader tags for ligh: effects\lights\coop teleport circular. That makes the vehicle invisible. Then within the vehi tag of the vehicle swap the coll tag to be something small that doesn't fit the model like the healthpack. It will now not be noticeable except by vehicles running over it. Finally, (might have to use HMT) change the seat name(s) in the vehicle to be something MC can't use like P-driver. Now you have a vehicle that is invisible, can't be driven and isn't noticeable. Just swap a projectile for that vehicle and you can spawn AI on command.
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Admiral Lyoko Samus
- Posts: 9
- Joined: Tue Jul 19, 2005 3:00 pm
Works pretty well. I used a Pelican (Halo level on Campaign) so there were a few inconsistencies, but I know how to fix them. As far as the glitches...heh...
I basically swapped every actv dependency except the driver seat with a sniper marine and used an assault rifle ammo pack for the collision model. Lag wasn't an issue (I have a fairly powerful computer)considering I spawned about 240 AI, but their responsiveness was short-lived.
Of all the Pelican's I spawned, only about 7 actually dumped the AI. The rest remained "floating". Explosives and melee attacks couldn't flip the Pelican (the things huge; how can you not hit it), maybe because of the mod2 (I know the coll is supposed to determine dynamics, but still...), so I can't say for sure that this was factoring into the issue. To the point, the first four or five spawns worked flawlessly. Complete AI. However, as I progress to the first spire I noticed not only the spawned AI, but ALL AI began to act erratic.
The initial Covenant dropship you encounter near the spire required a few seconds before the spawned AI even knew there were enemies. But, once the second landed, my spawned AI became completely unresponsive. Their animation triggers continued to work (miscellaneous movement), however they would not acknowledge enemy presence, let alone mine after killing 12 in a row. Enemy AI (perhaps from an overload of sensory data) began having trouble targeting (only the Elites actually shot at anybody) and I noticed that the crewmen that are usually at the spire's platform weren't there (is there a specific amount of AI that a map can handle?).
I think I understand the lag issue (probably due to so many vehicles; need to find a way to destroy them or make them spawn-out after a certain amount of time) and modifying the vehicle's physics to flip should be easy enough, but do you know anything about the AI unresponsiveness?
I basically swapped every actv dependency except the driver seat with a sniper marine and used an assault rifle ammo pack for the collision model. Lag wasn't an issue (I have a fairly powerful computer)considering I spawned about 240 AI, but their responsiveness was short-lived.
Of all the Pelican's I spawned, only about 7 actually dumped the AI. The rest remained "floating". Explosives and melee attacks couldn't flip the Pelican (the things huge; how can you not hit it), maybe because of the mod2 (I know the coll is supposed to determine dynamics, but still...), so I can't say for sure that this was factoring into the issue. To the point, the first four or five spawns worked flawlessly. Complete AI. However, as I progress to the first spire I noticed not only the spawned AI, but ALL AI began to act erratic.
The initial Covenant dropship you encounter near the spire required a few seconds before the spawned AI even knew there were enemies. But, once the second landed, my spawned AI became completely unresponsive. Their animation triggers continued to work (miscellaneous movement), however they would not acknowledge enemy presence, let alone mine after killing 12 in a row. Enemy AI (perhaps from an overload of sensory data) began having trouble targeting (only the Elites actually shot at anybody) and I noticed that the crewmen that are usually at the spire's platform weren't there (is there a specific amount of AI that a map can handle?).
I think I understand the lag issue (probably due to so many vehicles; need to find a way to destroy them or make them spawn-out after a certain amount of time) and modifying the vehicle's physics to flip should be easy enough, but do you know anything about the AI unresponsiveness?
The problem with the pelicans possibly has to do with the shape of the model and attempts to make the model fit against the collision model. I wouldn't know exactly. As for them being unresponsive, I'd wager it has to do with too many AI on the map. Just like there's a limit on how many bodies, decals (bullet holes).