Hello

[Smoq2]

Not sure if "Off-Topic" is the right place for this, but seemed to me as most relevant.
I just wanted to say hi to all the people in this community, and to compliment everyone here on what has been accomplished so far. I guess there are not many modding communities when it comes to stalker out there, that do not share knowledge in Cyrillic. At least that's the first one I stumbled upon.
Well, that being said, hi to everyone!

[Alundaio]

Welcome! Yeah I started a forum a couple years ago, then my site was taken away for some unknown reason by my host (Probably because of "stalker".) But now it's back. A good place to come to when you want to share or learn what others know. I have unlimited bandwidth and file storage so you are more then welcome to upload files to the FTP site in the hidden forum for modders. It defaults to http://www.epicstalker.com/Modders/.

[trojanuch]

Hehe,

No i siemka - mi?o, ?e zawita?e?

Now returning to 'proper' language - welcome to the forum smoq, hope that you'll find it comfy (some of the best things for CoP has emerged from this community in past - especially from its previous iteration - but this one is very promising as well).

BTW - alundaio - dont know wheter you are aware of this but smoq is the author of the most advanced a-life mod for CS (and possibly the most advanced a-life mod for all 3 games altogether) call S.T.A.L.K.E.R: The Faction War (or Total Faction War):
http://www.gsc-game.com/index.php?t=com ... &sec_id=22

(it has quite a lot of stuff which we were discussing already done on very high level, including NPC <-> NPC trade, off-line combat simulation and very functional companions)

So I think you guys have a lot of stuff to share - hopefully to the benefit of us all

[Smoq2]

Thank you both for a worm welcome.

Yes, that's the exact reason I came here - to share my resources in order to save development time of any projects you might have running, though I am aware that adopting those for CoP might take some time as well, but 50% ready product is better then none, right?

I can list some features that I have already 100% implemented of the top of my hat:

- Companion system - Although my companions are pre-defined NPCs, the solutions I used in their mechanics can be very helpful. I took my inspiration from Mass Effect series, and tried to make them work largely the same.

- Offline combat simulation - I guess that one is self-explanatory, although I also added some other neat aspects, like the victor taking over the victim's inventory (money included), as well as including the equipment (weapons and armor, in addition to rank) of the fighting parties in calculations.

- NPC<>NPC trade - NPCs trade with each other just as the player does. I tried to make money exchange for sold/bough items to mimic the formulas used for pricing the player, and include the prices listed in trader configs. So far traders and trader locations have to be input manually into the script file, but I'm working on a script that will determine which NPCs want to trade with another NPC automatically, to give them the same freedom as the player has when choosing NPCs for trading.

- New combat AI modules - But I believe you have that covered.

- HUD overlay system - If anyone has played Battlefield then he should have a picture of what it is. Basically it's a set of functions that return the X,Y on the 2d player's screen of any X,Y,Z position on the map.

- Custom trading UI - WIP - I basically remade the whole trading UI just to include demand and supply as a price influencing factor.

- packet_utils.script v2.1 - Co-developed with Barin. Actually Barin did it and I adopted it for CS/CoP. A tool for retrieving, parsing and editing server object packet information. Basically allows for editing character names, meshes, weapon upgrades and addons, etc. via scripts.

There are many more that I don't remember, so if you have an idea, just as if I have some resource that can help realize it.

[Alundaio]

- packet_utils.script v2.1 - Co-developed with Barin. Actually Barin did it and I adopted it for CS/CoP. A tool for retrieving, parsing and editing server object packet information. Basically allows for editing character names, meshes, weapon upgrades and addons, etc. via scripts.

I don't use it, I made something for myself on that aspect largely taking from Rulix and Xstreme. I did however rip the read/write chunk functions.

Re-creating the UI seems like a tough job. I'm not even sure if it is possible to implement drag&drop with the limited exported class functions for CUIWindow. You literally have to make each icon it's own window and move it according to mouse position while the button was held.

What do you mean Mass Effect like companions? Can you actually order them to a location? My companion mod is dynamic in that anyone can become your companion. I had to create my own companion scheme and behavior logic. The only way it was possible was to edit xr_logic to read NPC info portions. Though I never did finish it, it's pretty cool. I wanted to add more ways for stalkers to become your friend and join up with you. I wanted to make a radio item you could put in a quick slot and order them to a position using xray extensions. Is that what you did?

[Smoq2]

Re-creating the UI seems like a tough job. I'm not even sure if it is possible to implement drag&drop with the limited exported class functions for CUIWindow. You literally have to make each icon it's own window and move it according to mouse position while the button was held.

D&D is out out of scope right now, so I did those in a form of a list, that will be sorted by item category (AR,SMG,Pistol,Armor,etc) http://img802.imageshack.us/img802/4854 ... 657gar.jpg

Are you sure that getting mouse X,Y in custom UIs is possible? If so, then I might have an idea how to implement that. Also, the picture has been taken about a week ago, so it's far more into development right now. The UI will resemble old Fallout 1 and 2 it terms of mechanics. Backpack items in outer lists and items proposed for trade in inner lists.

What do you mean Mass Effect like companions? Can you actually order them to a location?

Exact position no, as I don't know how to get the position on the ground the targeting reticule is aiming at. If I could do that, then deriving the lvid would be a nobrainer. Instead I use smart_terrains that are largely scattered around CS maps and use dialog/radio to navigate them.

My companion mod is dynamic in that anyone can become your companion. I had to create my own companion scheme and behavior logic. The only way it was possible was to edit xr_logic to read NPC info portions.

Well, mine do not have logic at all. I wrote one manager script that governs their statistics, HUDs, level transition, teleportation to player if one gets too far, etc. Basically a manager that handles companion<>player commands and relations, statistics such as health (they use an external health system), armor modifiers (exact properties as for the player) and ammo consumption (since NPCs do not consume ammo by default). The other is an AI module that basically acts as the companion's brain, performing commands, navigation, adaptation to terrain and combat.

I wanted to make a radio item you could put in a quick slot and order them to a position using xray extensions. Is that what you did?

Yep, that's what I did. A custom UI radio item for managing companions as well as faction squads. Though CS does not support custom hotkeys, so I'm unable to bind it anywhere other then a consumable-replicating item.

Since you're so interested in companions I can list all of their features:

- Attack smart terrain command
- Follow me command
- Hold position command
- Hold fire command
- Fire at will command
- Defensive stance
- Aggressive stance
- Manageable inventory - You have to outfit your companions yourself, including armor. And they make use of all armor properties (with upgrades and artifact properties, provided their armor has enough slots). They can be overweight too - same effects
- They use all consumables depending on the illnesses (irradiation, bleeding, critical health, low stamina)
- Custom relaxed behavior - They go into a bar if you're visiting a base, comment on situations.
- Custom combat behavior - Depending on the carried weapon, stance and enemy type. Sniping, charging, stalking, covering, etc.
- Custom HUDs so that the player is always informed about their status.

The biggest problem so far, is that you cannot dismiss them, and most ppl complain that they are stuck with a following lapdog.