Righty, so, I've just got into modding BF1 (been doing it all last week) and I've got the hang of modding all the .ODF files. But there is still a few things I don't understand and a few things I'd love to change to add a dash of realism and canon-ness to Battlefront.
The whole reason I took up modding BF1 in the first place was to get rid of the tiny, annoying little things that just make the game no fun at times to play. So, I'm gunna come up with a list of things I'd like to change, and if some kind soul could kindly point me to a tutorial or something that will help me do it, then that would be _greatly_ apreciated.
Ok... So heres the list. Its all CIS at the moment, 'cos the Confederacy are the only side I'm modding at the mo.
Unit changes:
-Get rid of the Super Battle Droid and replace it with the standard B1 Battle Droid. (I _loathe_ the Super Battle Droid; Its Wrist Rockets eliminate the use of the Assault Class Droid. I get the feeling this is map specific, so I'd probably have to edit all of the retail maps to get rid of the SBD.) This is, for the most part, finished. Just need to change the name of the unit in-game, and its finished. Thanks goes to Adrenaline for this one.
-Correct the skin confusion between the Pilot and Assault classes. (Red is for security classes, blue is for Pilots. Like, duh.) I've managed to change a few of the skins around, for example, the first 2 levels of the Clone Wars Campaign I was able to swap around the skins of the Assault and Pilot classes. The only problem is, is that after the second level, they revert to their normal, retail skins. Ive tried using the 'OverrideTexture = "cis_inf_battledroid_red/blue"' line in their .ODF's, but it doesn't work after the second level. I've tried a few Instant Battles as the CIS, and the Assault class droid has his normal red paint job, but the Pilot stays with his default B1 uncoloured skin. This one is also completed. Turns out there are about 2 .ODFs per unit, because they change after the second Clone Wars Campaign level.
-Correct a few of the names. (I've been using the Label = "[Name]"' in their .ODF's, but it doesnt seem to have _any_ affect in-game.) I get the sneaky feeling this is also map-specific...
-Destroyer Droid/Droideka repeater blasters. (This annoys me the most out of everything in the entire game.) I know that I'd have to use the 'ShotPatternPitchYaw =' tag, but without being able to see the Droideka and the location of each barrel on both repeaters, this is something I cannot do.
-Create a working Vulture Droid class. (Now, this may be completely impossible, but while I was watching EPIII last night, an idea suddenly hit me...) Is it possible, to change the Droideka class on some maps (obviously very _very_ large maps, where the Droideka serves no purpose) to that of a Vulture Droid? You could have the standard walking Vulture being the walking mode of the Droideka, with the 2 Blaster Cannons under its 'head' being used as the main weapons, then, when you press 'E' to go back into the Droideka roll mode, the Vulture could hop off the ground, like they do in BFII when you take off in a hanger, and start flying around the map, using its main twin linked Blaster Cannons as weapons. Again, this may be completely impossible, but I just thought it would be really cool. This could come in handy in BFII as well, seeing as how Vulture Droids are Droids themselves; They dont have pilots.
-Re-add the MTT to a few maps. (I know its in the game, fully finished and everything, it just wasn't added due to map size contraints on Naboo: Plains. Correct me if I'm wrong here.) One of my other gripes about the game, is the complete lack of size of some maps. the Naboo maps and most other maps for that matter. They are _tiny_. Eventually, when I get slightly better at using BFBuilder, I'll try to recreate all of the retail maps, to make them more realistic, so things like Naboo: Plains will actually be rolling green plains, rather than the rather small field it is now... This is mostly just editing maps to get it to work now. I've sorted out its front guns and all its .ODF settings.
-Re-add the Dwarf Spider Droid. I think this one was removed from the game, but some clever chap is working on it right now. If thats the case, then I'll leave that to the experts. I am but a lowly newb when it comes to this sort of stuff.
-Global redesign of _all_ classes. Frankly, they are apalling. A sniper class wont need grenades. An assault class wont need them either, they have a rocket launcher to use. So I'm going to radically redesign the classes weapons. Not just for the CIS, but for all the sides. Notably:
Only the factions soldiers will carry grenades, and a very small amount of them. Default rifle, no blaster pistol, and about 2 or 3 Thermal Detonators.
Assault classes will have a slightly tweaked version of their factions rocket launcher, depending on the faction, may carry their default rifle (not the clones or rebels though, their rifle is _huge_) and will carry DetPacks and mines.
Sniper classes will carry a slightly tweaked version of their factions sniper rifle, faster ROF and more ammo, will carry a modified blaster pistol that wont 'overheat' after 4 shots. Will be renamed to Scout, and will be given the Pilots health and ammo dispensors. It made no sense that Pilots were on the front line, without a vehicle.
Pilot classes will be nerfed almost completely. Pilots are there to drive vehicles, not launch radiation mortars while running along on the front lines. They are only going to have a tweaked blaster pistol and a fusion cutter. Also, if anyone can think of a way to make _only_ pilots drive vehicles, that would be greatly apreciated. If not, then never mind.
Other Class; Dark Trooper, Droideka, Jetpack Clone guy, and Wookie Smuggler.
=Droideka will have a slightly modified shield. It wont drain while its active now, and regenerates very slightly, but not enough to help at all during a fire-fight. It will also have their twin shot Repeater Blasters, firing 2 shots per 'arm'.
=Dark Trooper no longer carries that poor as crap 'blast cannon'. It now carries a decent repeater cannon, similar to the weapon they carried on Star Wars: Dark Forces.
=Jetpack Clone trooper guy. Their jetpacks are now greatly modified, so thet dont run out after 4 seconds. They are near enough infinite lasting. Their EMP Launcher has bit the dust too, I hated it. Instead, they now carry a Blaster Cannon; Seeing as how the gun is so large, I thought why not make the gun fire a big-assed laser?
=Wookie Smuggler. I honestly have never played as the Smuggler. Their weapon sucks, alot, though, so I think I'll change it to a slow firing blaster, with the charge up attack as secondary. I'll increase their health a bit, seeing as how Wookies are walking tanks with hair. This is almost done, most of the CIS units are sorted and alot more class defined. I'm play testing now to see how everything feels and if I could change anything.
Righty. I've now got an RSI, so I'm going to end this post. Anyone thats actually still reading through my rambling, congratulations!
If anyone can think of any suggestions or other things, please dont hesitate to point it out. Thanks in advance to anyone who gives me advice about how to go about doing any of the above.
Thank you and goodnight.
Ænima.
[EDIT] Righty, so I've come up with a few things since I first posted.
-AAT missiles. The .ODF for the AAT has the locations and weapons for the missiles it was _supposed_ to have, but when activated in-game, all the missiles fire from under the bottom of the tank. They should fire through the holes on the front of the tank. This is the same problem with the Droideka; Without actually having a look at the unit and being able to tell the locations of each missile pod thing, this is something I cant do.
-AAT proper pilots. Right, so according to Wookiepedia, the AAT-1 has 4 pilots; 1 driver, 2 gunners and a commander. The way I see it, the AAT could be modified like this:
The driver has control over the tank, and has the missiles as their one and only weapon.
One gunner, has control over the 2 guns mounted on the side of the tank. They would have to be modified so they could turn left and right slightly, allowing that gunner to shoot at anything within a 45 degree angle of each gun, and would be made to work a bit like the Republics LAAT/i's co-pilot lasers. The AAT's side guns have been sorted out and work perfectly.
The other gunner would have control over the turret. No changes here I think.
The commander however, could play a role similar to OOM-9 in EPI: The Phantom Menace, when he sticks his head out of the hatch on the top of the turret with a pair of binoculars. An invisible mount could be added, with the binoculars acting as a sort of turret, that has no weapon, but has a 4x zoom, so he could act as a spotter for the main turret. Or, if that doesnt work, the commander seat could be removed completely.
So far, thats all that I can think of. If anyone can help me achieve any of the above, that would be _greatly_ apreciated.
