New Ability problem

from Sins Forums
Hi im making a new ability for one of my ships and it just wont appear on the ship i asign it to, the ability is supposed to be availiable as soon as the game starts and have one level so ive set it to

maxNumLevels 1
levelSourceType "FixedLevel0"

and ive just used the ones from the collony ship ability for the ID stings because i assume they set where the

nameStringID "IDS_ABILITY_COLONIZE_NAME"
descStringID "IDS_ABILITY_COLONIZEFRIGATE_DESCRIPTION"
hudIcon "HUDICON_ABILITY_COLONIZETECH"
smallHudIcon "HUDICON_ABILITY_COLONIZETECH"
infoCardIcon ""

The mesh im using has an ability-0 point and i just cant work out what could be stoping the button to use it pop up ?

any advice would be great.
modding
3,944 views 5 replies
Reply #1 from Sins Forums Top
What ability are you trying to assign to the new ship?

It looks like you're trying to add the colonize ability to another ship? If so you'll have to edit the .entity file that pertains to that ship.


Towards the bottom of the colony ship .entity file you'll see:
ability:0 "AbilityTechFrigateColonize"
ability:1 "AbilityCaptureNeutralEntity"
ability:2 ""
ability:3 ""
That's the colony frigate. If you add those lines to another ship it should activate the ability as well as add the button.

Example:
Heavy Cruise:
ability:0 "AbilityDamageOverTimeAura"
ability:1 "AbilityTechFrigateColonize"
ability:2 "AbilityCaptureNeutralEntity"
ability:3 ""

If you're still having trouble go ahead and upload the .entity files you've edited along with a description of what exactly you're trying to do.

=)
Reply #2 from Sins Forums Top
Ive already done that.
At the bottom of my ship I have

ability:0 "TESTAbility"
ability:1 ""
ability:2 ""
ability:3 ""

where the name of the abilitys entitiy file is TESTAbility.entity (I've triple checked they have the same name)

heres the entity file for it


TXT
entityType "Ability"
buffInstantActionType "ApplyBuffToTargetWithTravel"
instantActionTriggerType "AlwaysPerform"
buffType "BuffMYabilityblast"
targetFilter
numOwnerships 1
ownership "Enemy"
numObjects 3
object "CapitalShip"
object "Frigate"
object "PlanetModule"
numConstraints 0
range
Level:0 5000.000000
Level:1 5000.000000
Level:2 5000.000000
travelSpeed 500.000000
hasWeaponEffects TRUE
weaponEffectAttachInfo
attachType "Ability"
abilityIndex 0
weaponEffectImpactOffsetType "RandomMesh"
canWeaponEffectHitHull TRUE
canWeaponEffectHitShields TRUE
weaponEffectsDef
weaponType "Missile"
burstCount 1
burstDelay 0.000000
muzzleEffectName "Weapon_TechCapitalPlanetBombing_Muzzle"
muzzleSoundMinRespawnTime 0.100000
muzzleSounds
soundCount 1
sound "WEAPON_GENERICFIRE"
hitEffectName "CapitalAbility_RazePlanetSurfaceImpact"
hitHullEffectSounds
soundCount 1
sound ""
hitShieldsEffectSounds
soundCount 1
sound ""
projectileTravelEffectName "Weapon_TechCapitalPlanetBombing_Travel"
needsToFaceTarget TRUE
canCollideWithTarget TRUE
moveThruTarget FALSE
isUltimateAbility FALSE
maxNumLevels 1
levelSourceType "FixedLevel0"
aiUseTime "OnlyInCombat"
aiUseTargetCondition "Any"
isAutoCastAvailable TRUE
isAutoCastOnByDefault FALSE
pickRandomPlanetToExploreForAutoCastTarget FALSE
ignoreNonCombatShipsForAutoCastTarget TRUE
onlyAutoCastWhenDamageTakenExceedsPerc 0.000000
isPassive FALSE
antiMatterCost
Level:0 75.000000
Level:1 0.000000
Level:2 0.000000
cooldownTime
Level:0 40.000000
Level:1 0.0000000
Level:2 0.0000000
researchPrerequisites
NumResearchPrerequisites 0
nameStringID "IDS_ABILITY_COLONIZE_NAME"
descStringID "IDS_ABILITY_COLONIZEFRIGATE_DESCRIPTION"
hudIcon "HUDICON_ABILITY_COLONIZETECH"
smallHudIcon "HUDICON_ABILITY_COLONIZETECH"
infoCardIcon ""
End of quote


This is designed to launch a missile that will damage a target

the indents don't show up on the quote but there there
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Reply #3 from Sins Forums Top
I am not 100% sure on this, but I think tags that reffer to buffs/abilities have to start with 'buff' or ability.' So instead of 'TestAbility.entity' it should be AbilityTestAbility.entity. I'm not sure on this one, but I think the game engine needs the file to start with 'Ability' in order to recognize the file as an ability.
Reply #4 from Sins Forums Top
I am not 100% sure on this, but I think tags that reffer to buffs/abilities have to start with 'buff' or ability
End of quote


From my exprience they dont. i found the problem, the game was confused as to if the weapon was a projectile or a missile, with a few added lines to make sure it knew it was a missile (turn distance ect) it worked fine...although i found out that the missile used in planetary bombardment is actually a projectile

Reply #5 from Sins Forums Top
actually if your creating a new ability it does need to have the "Ability-name-.entity" and the buff has to have the "buff-name-.entity" from my experience in moding anyhow. Also there is another thread here https://forums.sinsofasolarempire.com/306405 which provides a nice list that may help you late on. one question tho, what exactly are you trying to do? it would be allot easier to copy or attempt to help you if we could recreate the same effect that you wanted (since you didnt really explain what you were trying to do)