Slitherine

New operators have appeared in the unit files (Unit.TXT) in FoG2M: FREQ and DELAY. Are they associated with some file or script command? And what exactly do they describe? I found a certain clue in Bombards.TXT:

//[Wait00] // Disappearing cannon ball
//FRM 216 259
//FREQ 100
//DELAY 10

But I would like to know a little more about these operators. As far as I understand they do not work in FoG2A.

They are rarely used, but are documented here:

https://archonwiki.slitherine.com/index ... umentation

IIRC they are likely to work for FoG2(A) as the EXEs are the same.

Cheers

Pip

They do work in FOG2 and you will find them in some of the later units to be added. e.g. Ghilman

FREQ

If there are multiple animations for a category (e.g. Wait) this governs the relative frequency they will be picked.

The default is 100. Lower numbers allow an animation to be run less frequently.

For example if all of the Wait animations are given the same DELAY the units looks very undisciplined with too much fidgeting. I usually give the fairly static Wait animation FREQ 100 and the more active ones 10 or 5.

You can achieve much the same effect by simply duplicating the more common animations, which is what we did in the earlier stages of FOG2, but FREQ is more elegant.

DELAY adds a random delay (in frames) to the start of each animation, so that they don't all move in synch.

Cronos09 wrote: ↑Fri May 27, 2022 6:13 pmI found a certain clue in Bombards.TXT:

//[Wait00] // Disappearing cannon ball
//FRM 216 259
//FREQ 100
//DELAY 10

That isn't a clue., That animation is commented out so is completely ignored by the game. We comment out animations that can't be made to work correctly with a particular model.

Thanks for your detailed replies.

rbodleyscott wrote: ↑Sat May 28, 2022 6:33 am

Cronos09 wrote: ↑Fri May 27, 2022 6:13 pmI found a certain clue in Bombards.TXT:

//[Wait00] // Disappearing cannon ball
//FRM 216 259
//FREQ 100
//DELAY 10

That isn't a clue., That animation is commented out so is completely ignored by the game. We comment out animations that can't be made to work correctly with a particular model.

I mean //Disappearing cannon ball is a clue. I thought that these two operators were responsible for disappearing cannon balls. Is ir true? If this is not so, then what determines the lifetime of cannonballs on the map? Maybe, explosions.fxf?

Cronos09 wrote: ↑Sat May 28, 2022 9:07 am Thanks for your detailed replies.

rbodleyscott wrote: ↑Sat May 28, 2022 6:33 am

Cronos09 wrote: ↑Fri May 27, 2022 6:13 pmI found a certain clue in Bombards.TXT:

//[Wait00] // Disappearing cannon ball
//FRM 216 259
//FREQ 100
//DELAY 10

That isn't a clue., That animation is commented out so is completely ignored by the game. We comment out animations that can't be made to work correctly with a particular model.

I mean //Disappearing cannon ball is a clue.

It really isn't. It is just a comment saying why the animation is commented out - because it does not work correctly because the cannonball disappears when it shouldn't.

I thought that these two operators were responsible for disappearing cannon balls. Is is true?

No. I described what they are for above.

If this is not so, then what determines the lifetime of cannonballs on the map? Maybe, explosions.fxf?

Nope

The scripts are coded to allow up to 50 projectiles on the ground. When those spaces are full, the older indices get re-used, and that causes the oldest projectile to disappear.

See CUSTOM_TRIGGER() in /Data/Battle/Scripts/trigger.bsf

MAX_PROJECTILE_EFFECTS is currently set at 50 in /Data/scripts/Macros.bsf

Thank you, Richard! I understood that.
I only have Bombs and Cannonballs as projectiles. The Cannonballs have a height of 250 (I see them on the battlefield) while the Bombs - zero (I do not see them on the map - this creates the effect of their destruction in the explosions).