-= Gametoast.com =-

Im making a new map and need and object for it. It would be an explosion such as a grenade or time bomb explosion, or bigger and go off every once in a while. It is supposed to be like a random explosion to create the whole large scale battlefield experience. I was thinking that in the odf, to create the random explosion, use the overheat and recharge rates, such as in the pistol odfs.

so it would be like a bomb dropping? if so that would be cool

yeah, if you have played swbf2, it would be like the explosions on kashyyyk. They are just there.

A big explosion is no problem as you can set the radius of the explosion in its ODF. I don't know if there's any limit on it, but you should be able to get it as big as you want.

Randomness is probably going to be difficult. All the values for shot delays and recharge times in weapon ODFs are absolute. I don't think the game engine allows for any randomness there. The only random value I can think of is spread, which is random up to the limits specified in the ODF. With some careful work you might be able to create a false impression of randomness though.

Do you want the explosions to keep going off in the same place at random intervals or do you want the positions to be random as well?


EDIT: I think I've worked out how to do it. You just need to use vehicle spawns to spawn invisible mines! Although you can't get true randomness, you can put 2 or 3 spawns near each other and set them to spawn at different intervals. With a bit of calculation and a bit of luck you can make the pattern complicated enough to not look too regular. Think of the Omaha beach level in MOHAA.

Let me know if you want me to upload a demo or source files.

Saberhagen, thank you for investigating this. I know that it would almost be impossible to have the randomness of location for the explosion. What I meant was the interval, meaning they would go off every 45 seconds for example, but I know that my first post was not completely clear. If you wouldn't mind I would like the source files, you could pm me or post a link here, and you will get 100 percent credit. Thank you

OK, the source files for the custom side are here:

http://www.4-lom.com/mc5exp.zip

And there's a demo map where you can see it in action here:

http://www.4-lom.com/exptest1.zip

I've put instructions in the readme. You can edit the explosion ODF in the side source files to change its size, appearance, damage etc. It's all commented.

Saberhagen, 4-lom does not work. Could you try savefile or another file host? Thanks

Have you tried right clicking and Save Target? These are direct links to the file itself. I can't see any reason why it wouldn't work unless your browser is trying to open the file when you left click the link instead of saving it. I can download stuff from there.

Could anyone else reading this try and download from the first link (it's only about 6k). If it doesn't work, post here with your browser version and what you tried to get it to download.

Im pretty sure I tried right click, but I will try again because I think my internet may have been screwing up last night

~EDIT~
I got it to work and will try tonight, Thanks

Anyone got any feedback about this? Does it work? Any problems? Is it something people would like to see in more maps?

I'm thinking of releasing an explosion pack as a mini-mod with various different kinds of explosions which can all be spawned at intervals. Would it be worth doing? It wouldn't take long anyway.

Yeah I put it in game and it works fine. This would be great to have in maps but its probably a little too late for that now. But for swbf2 it would rock.
The explosion pack would be cool