AotCR Mod, Pelican Mod

Halo 2 Rulez · Post by **Halo 2 Rulez** » Sun Feb 15, 2004 11:32 am

Hey mono just tell us what is new in the version u were working on.

TsukasaZero · Post by **TsukasaZero** » Sun Feb 15, 2004 12:09 pm

yeah, are you still working on the Hanger mono?

BTW, Im still looking at the code to HMT to see if I can alter it so we can:

A) batch extract modded maps (if what I heard about some pre-calculated formula is true).
B) Rebuild single-player maps (dont have any basis on what to go by, so might take awhile).

Then again, I only understand about 55% of the code in there...
Or if the HEK comes out EVER we wont need to worry any longer

HunterXI · Post by **HunterXI** » Sun Feb 15, 2004 1:30 pm

TsukasaZero wrote:yeah, are you still working on the Hanger mono?

BTW, Im still looking at the code to HMT to see if I can alter it so we can:

A) batch extract modded maps (if what I heard about some pre-calculated formula is true).
B) Rebuild single-player maps (dont have any basis on what to go by, so might take awhile).

Then again, I only understand about 55% of the code in there...
Or if the HEK comes out EVER we wont need to worry any longer

ive been trying to understand map files... maybe if i learn xml a little bit better things will become more clear...

ZERO · Post by **ZERO** » Sun Feb 15, 2004 1:34 pm

The only thing currently bothering me about the preview Pelican mod is the Pelicans' screwy engines. If they were at least stationary, and not at funky angles, I would be content. The twitchy engine dealy is buggering the Jebus out of me. Meh. That's my two cents.

TsukasaZero · Post by **TsukasaZero** » Sun Feb 15, 2004 1:34 pm

You thought I meant I was looking over map XML code?

Nah, I meant HMT v.3's VB .NET source code. I heard mono did batch extracting by a forumla, and I think I found the section where that bit of code is. I just have to decypher it all into a form I can read (its in VB...I know C++), re-edit what is calculated, and we should be able to port the pelican into other maps if I am successful.

Then again, I may be taking that bit of code the wrong way.

HunterXI · Post by **HunterXI** » Sun Feb 15, 2004 1:39 pm

TsukasaZero wrote:You thought I meant I was looking over map XML code?

Nah, I meant HMT v.3's VB .NET source code. I heard mono did batch extracting by a forumla, and I think I found the section where that bit of code is. I just have to decypher it all into a form I can read (its in VB...I know C++), re-edit what is calculated, and we should be able to port the pelican into other maps if I am successful.

Then again, I may be taking that bit of code the wrong way.

I can understand some VB... maybe if u sent it me I could understand it somewhat? oh well at any rate I know VB better than any variant of C..

as for my last post, Im just really tired ( was owning the forums until 5 last night). sorry if what I said was incoherent... I was refering to understanding some of the plugins of HMT so I can understand the map and its structure a little bit better...

Kamatzu · Post by **Kamatzu** » Sun Feb 15, 2004 4:41 pm

The almighty modder has spoken, BOW DOWN! Well what problems were there? The engines are all flappy because its the crashed pelican. but other than that i saw no bugs..so what do we fix

TsukasaZero · Post by **TsukasaZero** » Sun Feb 15, 2004 4:49 pm

I thought the engines were flappy because it was easier to get on top and into driver seat...

Off Topic: We're suppossed to get 3 to 5 inches of snow where I live tonight.

gmp_gmp · Post by **gmp_gmp** » Sun Feb 15, 2004 10:47 pm

me too lol

[VC]CaptainValor · Post by **[VC]CaptainValor** » Mon Feb 16, 2004 6:14 am

We got like 2 to 3 inches of snow here in Austin Saturday morning.

But I degress...

Sorry to hear that the mod is cancelled. But Mono, I thought you said Anon's was an early version of the mod and not as good as the "preview release" you gave out.

Well, I'm sticking with the preview release simply because it's fun and it came straight from you.

Halo 2 Rulez · Post by **Halo 2 Rulez** » Mon Feb 16, 2004 7:05 am

Mono will you ever work on this stuff anymore.

sharkface217 · Post by **sharkface217** » Mon Feb 16, 2004 7:51 am

gmp_gmp wrote:me too lol

Ditto, only more.

MonoxideC · Post by **MonoxideC** » Mon Feb 16, 2004 10:20 am

Hey - lemme see if I can try to answer a few questions that are going around.

First off, the pelican can theoretically be ported to other maps now, but it's definately not an automated process - just like adding it in the first place wasn't. However, with the HMT3.1 source that i released, there are methods to help with it - but it requires manually editing the code and compiling a custom exe for a specific edit. If there is anyone who knows vb.net well, and has vs.net 2003, feel free to drop by #halomods on irc.shadowfire.org and I'll explain it to you and maybe you can get the bird as well as other models ported to a few more maps.

The flaps are messed up for God only knows what reason. It happened after I added the secondary fire to the weapon (I had to add a Secondary Trigger marker to the model meta, and I think that confused the animation trigger)

The version you guys have is newer than the one Assnon leaked. But it actaully has *more* problems hehe.. Some side effects of the changes I was making, such as the 10mb decrease in file size.

Just to clarify, you *can* batch extract a modded map. What you can't do, is batch extract a map that has an offset swap done. This is because of the way HMT calculates the metadata sizes. If you're interested, here's some info:

Say that the Tank is item 100 and it's at offset 10000. Also, let's say that the next item (101) is the rocket hog and it's at offset 10201, and there is a third item at offset 10500.

HMT gets the metadata sizes by subtracting the next items meta offset from the current items. In the example above, the rocket hog meta size would be 299 (10500 - 10201)

When you swap an item's metadata offset, you have effectively killed that method. For example - let's say you swapped the Rocket Hog's meta offset to be the pelican (which I did in the preview version i released) If the Pelican's Meta offset was 5800, then you would have - following the formula, (5800 - 10201) which would give you a meta size of -4401 - of course meta can't have a negative size.. and that's why HMT can't extract it. It will always fail on the object right before the one you swapped - since it's size will be wrong too.

So the solution to this problem of batch extracting the Preview version of this mod, would be to change the rocket hog back to it's original offset rather than the pelican's meta offset - which it was swapped for.

You could look at rocket hog meta from another map, and search for similar strings in the pelican map - by doing that you could probably find the original offset and change it back.

I hope this helps someone out

~Mono

PS - Kamatzu, the crashed pelican reference you're seeing is to the collision model - it uses that one because - if you've ever noticed - you can't walk into the back of the normal pelican. Like in SP at the end of Silent Cartographer - you have to get into a seat - you can't just walk in. Well , that would normally be fine - except that not being able to get in means not being able to get out

So there was a problem that once you got into the pelican, you - in most cases - couldn't exit. I fixed this problem by using the crashed pelican's collision model - which you can freely walk into and out of.

XeRoWaVe · Post by **XeRoWaVe** » Mon Feb 16, 2004 10:47 am

uhhh you lost me but to put it easier is there any simpler way to get the library nuke in wit hthe pelicans ???

ZERO · Post by **ZERO** » Mon Feb 16, 2004 10:50 am

From what I just read, I doubt it would be a walk in the park, but it's possible with with what MonoxideC provided.

spartan1016 · Post by **spartan1016** » Mon Feb 16, 2004 12:14 pm

hey mono there is still one unansewered question and that is will you be releasing the hanger mod or did you scrap that idea as well because we dont need the pelican in the hanger for it to be fun thx for your time

TsukasaZero · Post by **TsukasaZero** » Mon Feb 16, 2004 1:00 pm

Mono thanks a bunch

I understand it completely and I'll see if I can do it after I finish my HW. If I can do this...you can expect a pelican for Timberland mod out whenever I finish.

Once again, thanks a ton.

mooseman2004 · Post by **mooseman2004** » Mon Feb 16, 2004 8:43 pm

That sucks thanx for taking the time to try though

gh2256 · Post by **gh2256** » Tue Feb 17, 2004 2:28 am

Mayby its because of your limit mind span that you do not undertand it.

The use of the word "sucks" in this reply shows the limit of your vocabulary.

This is what it seems like but im sure your a bright person.

A more constucted reply would contain the reason why you do not understand this ans what he could possibly do to help, agree?

Why dont you try that?

Kamatzu · Post by **Kamatzu** » Tue Feb 17, 2004 2:32 am

And was the animation problem the thing from Anons leaked one where the engines didnt move, if so..can you say how you fixed it?

Its kinda funky lol,

and sorry i thought the pelican took on the collision models attributes somehow as a side effect of something

MonoxideC wrote: and there's one new feature that'll blow you away (I was shocked as hell when Viper showed me - it's all his doing)

and ive been curious...what was that