How To Make a Blast/Projectile/Ranged Attack?

[Sirius]

I know this is kinda of a dumb question, but im working on a new character(NO NAME GIVEN YET ILL RELEASE BETA SOONER OR LATER) and i dont know how to make a ball/blast(davis's for example) please give me an idea or template of some sort.( I HAVE ALL DATA CHANGING TOOLS!)

Thanks in advance

[vandesdelca]

try to understand this(for making object from a character or something):
http://www.lf-empire.de/en/lf2-empire/da...ject-point

and this(for the projectile/blast/whatever like davis blast):
http://www.lf-empire.de/en/lf2-empire/da...-3-attacks

[MH-Razen]

if you want a template I dont understand why you just pick the one you want, make a copy, rename it and change the opoint within the characters file to the opoints from the char qho could originally spawn these balls (note the new dat.-file in data.txt with a new id and change the oid in the opoints to this one)

[JossuaDC]

Not everyone's instantly familiar with Data-Changing terms, guys.

Okay, I'll write a short and easy tutorial for you, Sirius.

HOW TO FIRE A BALL

JDC

How to shoot a projectile. (Click to View)

Open davis.dat, davis_ball.dat and your character's data files with a Data Changer (I use the one made by Jiquera) and open data.txt (can be found inside the 'Data' folder).

We know that pressing Defend, Forward and Attack will make Davis shoot a projectile, so we're going to use that to find the right frames.

Code:

<frame> 0 standing
   pic: 0  state: 0  wait: 5  next: 1  dvx: 0  dvy: 0  dvz: 0  centerx: 39  centery: 79  hit_a: 0  hit_d: 0  hit_j: 0 hit_Fa: 240 hit_Ua: 300 hit_Da: 270 hit_Uj: 290
   bpoint:
      x: 39  y: 34
   bpoint_end:
   wpoint:
      kind: 1  x: 23  y: 55  weaponact: 23  attacking: 0  cover: 0  dvx: 0  dvy: 0  dvz: 0
   wpoint_end:
   bdy:
      kind: 0  x: 21  y: 18  w: 43  h: 62
   bdy_end:
<frame_end>

This is the first standing frame of Davis. Have you noticed the weird tags at the end of the first line?

Code:

hit_Fa: 240 hit_Ua: 300 hit_Da: 270 hit_Uj: 290

We need hit_Fa: 240, because pressing Defend, Forward and Attack will make Davis shoot his balls (LOL).
hit_Forwardattack.

Now, scroll down until you find frame 240.
The frame is called 'ball1'.
These are the frames which Davis uses to shoot his balls (LOL), but they look pretty normal to me... They use the same tags as the 'standing' frame!
That is, until you scroll down to frame 244.

Code:

<frame> 244 ball1
   pic: 144  state: 3  wait: 1  next: 246  dvx: 0  dvy: 0  dvz: 0  centerx: 30  centery: 79  hit_a: 0  hit_d: 0  hit_j: 0
   opoint:
      kind: 1  x: 90  y: 43  action: 0  dvx: 0  dvy: 0  oid: 207  facing: 0
   opoint_end:
   wpoint:
      kind: 1  x: 30  y: 50  weaponact: 30  attacking: 0  cover: 1  dvx: 0  dvy: 0  dvz: 0
   wpoint_end:
   bdy:
      kind: 0  x: 21  y: 18  w: 43  h: 62
   bdy_end:
<frame_end>

This frame introduces a new tag called: opoint.
We want to know what it does, right?
Copy the opoint part and insert it into the following frame:

Code:

<frame> 60 punch
   pic: 10  state: 3  wait: 1  next: 61  dvx: 0  dvy: 0  dvz: 0  centerx: 42  centery: 79  hit_a: 0  hit_d: 0  hit_j: 0
   itr:
      kind: 2  x: 27  y: 57  w: 36  h: 25  vrest: 1  
      
   itr_end:
   bdy:
      kind: 0  x: 28  y: 12  w: 33  h: 70
   bdy_end:
<frame_end>

<frame> 61 punch
   pic: 11  state: 3  wait: 1  next: 62  dvx: 0  dvy: 0  dvz: 0  centerx: 23  centery: 79  hit_a: 0  hit_d: 0  hit_j: 0
  sound: data\007.wav
   itr:
      kind: 0  x: 21  y: 31  w: 43  h: 18  dvx: 2  bdefend: 16  injury: 20  
   itr_end:
   bdy:
      kind: 0  x: 13  y: 11  w: 31  h: 68
   bdy_end:
<frame_end>

It should look like this after inserting the opoint:

Code:

<frame> 60 punch
   pic: 10  state: 3  wait: 1  next: 61  dvx: 0  dvy: 0  dvz: 0  centerx: 42  centery: 79  hit_a: 0  hit_d: 0  hit_j: 0
   itr:
      kind: 2  x: 27  y: 57  w: 36  h: 25  vrest: 1  
      
   itr_end:
   bdy:
      kind: 0  x: 28  y: 12  w: 33  h: 70
   bdy_end:
<frame_end>

<frame> 61 punch
   pic: 11  state: 3  wait: 1  next: 62  dvx: 0  dvy: 0  dvz: 0  centerx: 23  centery: 79  hit_a: 0  hit_d: 0  hit_j: 0
  sound: data\007.wav
   opoint:
      kind: 1  x: 90  y: 43  action: 0  dvx: 0  dvy: 0  oid: 207  facing: 0
   opoint_end:
   itr:
      kind: 0  x: 21  y: 31  w: 43  h: 18  dvx: 2  bdefend: 16  injury: 20  
   itr_end:
   bdy:
      kind: 0  x: 13  y: 11  w: 31  h: 68
   bdy_end:
<frame_end>

Why insert it into frame 61 and not frame 60?
That's because an opoint tag will not work in the first frame of a move.

Now save davis.dat and start LF2.
Select Davis and punch.
You'll notice that Davis now shoots ball whilst punching (well, not always, but that's because we didn't add the opoint tag to all punching frames).

Adding an opoint tag to a frame, allows your character to shoot projectiles.

How to shoot your own ball. (Click to View)

Brilliant!
Now we know how to shoot a ball.
But that's not good enough, right?
We want to shoot our own balls, with their own looks and properties, without replacing Davis' balls.

First, save the following image and place it inside the sprite/sys folder.


Open davis_ball.dat and change this:

Code:

<bmp_begin>
file(0-23): sprite\sys\davis_ball.bmp  w: 81  h: 46  row: 4  col: 6
weapon_hit_sound: data\020.wav
weapon_drop_sound: data\020.wav
weapon_broken_sound: data\020.wav
<bmp_end>

Into this:

Code:

<bmp_begin>
file(0-23): sprite\sys\ball.bmp  w: 81  h: 46  row: 4  col: 6
weapon_hit_sound: data\020.wav
weapon_drop_sound: data\020.wav
weapon_broken_sound: data\020.wav
<bmp_end>

You'll notice that only the second line has changed; the file should now use the looks of our own balls instead of Davis' standard balls.

Save the new file as special.dat inside the 'data' folder and open data.txt.
We need LF2 to load the new .dat file, so let's add the following line of text underneath julian_ball2:

Code:

id: 230  type: 3  file: data\special.dat

id: identifies the file and gives it a number so we can use it in-game.
type: assigns several properties to the file loaded. type: 3 is used for special moves.
file: notes which file should be used and where it's located.

Save data.txt and open davis.dat again.
Scroll down to frame 61 and change the oid: 207 inside the opoint to oid: 230.
objectidentity

Code:

<frame> 60 punch
   pic: 10  state: 3  wait: 1  next: 61  dvx: 0  dvy: 0  dvz: 0  centerx: 42  centery: 79  hit_a: 0  hit_d: 0  hit_j: 0
   itr:
      kind: 2  x: 27  y: 57  w: 36  h: 25  vrest: 1  
      
   itr_end:
   bdy:
      kind: 0  x: 28  y: 12  w: 33  h: 70
   bdy_end:
<frame_end>

<frame> 61 punch
   pic: 11  state: 3  wait: 1  next: 62  dvx: 0  dvy: 0  dvz: 0  centerx: 23  centery: 79  hit_a: 0  hit_d: 0  hit_j: 0
  sound: data\007.wav
   opoint:
      kind: 1  x: 90  y: 43  action: 0  dvx: 0  dvy: 0  oid: 230  facing: 0
   opoint_end:
   itr:
      kind: 0  x: 21  y: 31  w: 43  h: 18  dvx: 2  bdefend: 16  injury: 20  
   itr_end:
   bdy:
      kind: 0  x: 13  y: 11  w: 31  h: 68
   bdy_end:
<frame_end>

Save davis.dat and start LF2 again.
Select Davis and punch... Davis now shoots our own ball!

Modifying the properties of a ball and adding the move to your own character. (Click to View)

Read all of the articles on Data Changing inside the Data Changing-section on the LF-Empire mainsite.

This is a list of all the articles which explain all of the tags used in balls and such:

• An article explaining the different tags in balls/special moves.
  
• An article explaining the different tags inside an opoint.
  

Making your character shoot the new ball itself is really easy... Just copy the opoint:-part from Davis' frame 61 and add it to one of your own character's frames!

Final words. (Click to View)

I'm not going to write a tutorial on how to create entire moves.
You should be able to do so yourself and if you do not, read the articles on LF-Empire.

Got any questions? Message me.

Edit:

I better get a lot of positive 'Reputation' and 'Thanks' on this.
This has taken me a lot longer to write than I initially thought it would.