Author
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Topic: adding new monsters
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bitesizedchunks Squire

Posts: 27 From: Registered: Jan 2002 |
posted 30 January 2002 13:28
does anyone out there know if it is possible to create new monsters, instead of just replacing existing ones? it seems that you could just add another line to the end of monsters.txt, and add one in, but i know that adding setitems is a bad idea, as it screws up the drops, making it harder to get any sets. will adding a new row to monsters.txt mess up the spawning of existing monsters? or is it even possible? any help would be much appreciated.

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Apocalypse Demon Moderator
   
Posts: 4023 From: Mississauga, Ontario Registered: Oct 2001 |
posted 30 January 2002 14:04
Adding new monster lines WILL mess it up. To get this to work, you need to edit allot of code in the animdata and make .cofs and other things for that monster which is too much work. See, animdata.d2 has every single animation for every single monster. Adding a new monster line in monstats.txt will not add a bunch of extra code lines in animdata.d2 for that monster, you will need to add the code and rewrite the whole animdata.d2 for this. ------------------ God gave me a brain to use but I miserably failed to use it to my advantage

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bitesizedchunks Squire

Posts: 27 From: Registered: Jan 2002 |
posted 30 January 2002 14:11
holy hell. just as i had assumed. let's say one wanted to edit the *.d2 files...is there a tutorial out there that anyone knows of on this subject? i would love to check it out before i start asking questions that have been answered already. also, where are the *.d2 files located? i can't remember seeing them in patch_d2... thanks again.

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Myhrginoc Honorary Warlord
   
Posts: 1326 From: Percussion U Registered: Dec 2001 |
posted 30 January 2002 15:29
Adding a monster would require extensive DLL editing. So far, I see the following files for any monster. I probably missed other files.DCC files for the various activities. COF files to assemble all DCCs related to a particular activity. AnimData.D2 hold all references to COFs and has a frame count for each one. Sounds.txt holds the links between handles and sound files. Where are those handles defined? Monstats and Montype to define monster abilities and characteristics. We know some of the columns in these files are overridden in the DLLs. If it were just a matter of assembling the pieces, and expanding collection files like AnimData.D2...it would be done by now. The gold ring goes to the one who does crack that mystery.

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bitesizedchunks Squire

Posts: 27 From: Registered: Jan 2002 |
posted 30 January 2002 17:33
well, f*#k that idea. i'll just stick to making mosters drop guts and weed. thanks anyway, guys.

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FoxBat Moderator
   
Posts: 1618 From: PA, USA Registered: Feb 2001 |
posted 30 January 2002 17:35
There's several unused monsters you can modify.

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bitesizedchunks Squire

Posts: 27 From: Registered: Jan 2002 |
posted 30 January 2002 17:43
hmmmmmmmmm.....if i assumed that they could be found in monstats, would i be a fool?

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Apocalypse Demon Moderator
   
Posts: 4023 From: Mississauga, Ontario Registered: Oct 2001 |
posted 30 January 2002 18:37
Well, there are some unused monsters that have all the animations already. For example, the QuillBear is one, then there is the Man Eating Plant(not in the txt files though) which is only missing a gethit animation. By the way, Myhorginoc, is there a way to rewrite the .dll to add this gethit .dcc to the Man Eating plant(token XZ)? Because it's missing it...------------------ God gave me a brain to use but I miserably failed to use it to my advantage

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jbouley Forum Admin.
    
Posts: 4907 From: Portland, Maine, USA Registered: Jan 2001 |
posted 31 January 2002 01:40
What if you set the gethit column in monstats.txt to 0?Will the plant still be able to be hit, but then no longer need the animation? Or will a crash result? ------------------ - JEFF "A hero is no braver than anyone else. He is only brave five minutes longer." For my latest mod (for LoD/expansion), download Version 1.1 of Sanctuary in Chaos - Or for old stuff (for classic D2), visit my orignal mod site at www.planetdiablo.com/sanctuary

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Myhrginoc Honorary Warlord
   
Posts: 1326 From: Percussion U Registered: Dec 2001 |
posted 31 January 2002 17:49
Is the man-eating plant incomplete because the game expects a gethit animation which is missing? I encountered something similar using the elemental demon (FM) for testing...game crashed because no RN animation. So I created a one-frame one-pixel DCC with the right name, copied a one-frame COF and renamed it, and updated AnimData.D2 no crash, and my new additions stood around just fine. (I had problems for other reasons, but that's a different thread.) Seems to me you could do the same for gethit animations. The trapped soul towers you can kill in Act 4 have no gethit anims, but they die just the same.I believe all the DLL would do is "if monster at location x,y is hit, play gethit animation now". Tangential thought of the moment...will it work if you copy a data block in AnimData.D2, insert the copy right behind it, then edit the copy with new COF and frame data? I'll have to try that on my next anim test. I see nothing in the file that resembles a checksum at either end, and in almost every case, the only non-zero bytes are the COF name, the frame count byte, and a byte a few further that is usually 01. I'll have to rip into this file after I finish what I already started 

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Apocalypse Demon Moderator
   
Posts: 4023 From: Mississauga, Ontario Registered: Oct 2001 |
posted 31 January 2002 18:01
Soo, you are saying that you do not need to write any entries in animdata for missing animations? Is that true? Can you reply to my question about adding stuff in animdata in the Code Editing Forum?------------------ God gave me a brain to use but I miserably failed to use it to my advantage

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Apocalypse Demon Moderator
   
Posts: 4023 From: Mississauga, Ontario Registered: Oct 2001 |
posted 31 January 2002 18:05
So, does this also mean that I can "make" or give animations to incomplete monsters that are completely missing entries for the animation in animdata?------------------ God gave me a brain to use but I miserably failed to use it to my advantage

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