As Oddy mentoined, if there's something in progress when the cinematic ends it will be stopped at once. Your case is exactly that (the status of being stunned lasts 90 seconds), the only possible solution is to work with the abort cinematic condition (as you presumed). But I think that'll get difficult with a GP...

Now you know why ES' never used GPs in one of there intros ...

[This message has been edited by AoMPlayer000 (edited 01-20-2004 @ 01:54 PM).]

Hmmm... i'll try to create that situation to think of a solution...

I don't really know how the abort cinematic works, but if you make it only possible after a lets say 30 sec. and in that time you invoke the GP you should have no problems, but if it is at the end of the cinematic it has no use.
So condition: Timer X sec. (X = something you want)
Effect: Abort Cinematic

I don't know if it works, but you can try.

abort cinematic is a condition, no effect...

Hm... I'll have to keep the stoppage effect in mind for my other intros. The only solution I've been able to come up with is the one I mentioned above, invoking a second custom GP with "Abort Cinematic".

But I'm having trouble working out the logistics of the GP to get it to work the way I want... I've timed it to be 15 seconds shorter stun-time than the original, with minimal "throw" effect, but the units keep disappearing when I test it.

[This message has been edited by King Jared (edited 01-21-2004 @ 01:25 PM).]

I'd try to get that GP somehow completely out of your cinematic. How about creating a visual effect in the cinematic like a heavenlight or osiris box glow or so (and bringing that home with a dialog) and invoking the actual GP after the cinematic.

[This message has been edited by AoMPlayer000 (edited 01-21-2004 @ 01:29 PM).]

Ha! In all my planning of just working around the problem, I never thought of actually tackling it head on. I may just do that, taking it out of the intro. I won't even need to put in a visual effect, because the reason for the stunned soldiers is explained in the cinematic scenario directly previous.

Of course, I will have to move the units to a different area, in both the intro and cinematic scenario, and edit the existing custom GP to facilitate the changes, but it's still a simpler approach than my original idea.

So that's the new plan, lest oddy can up with something better. Thanks for the suggestion, AoMPlayer000.

[This message has been edited by King Jared (edited 01-21-2004 @ 01:52 PM).]

I did what AoMPlayer000 (more or less) suggested. Just took the GP right out of the cinematic. It works fine now. Thanks.

oh Great King

wouldst thou be kind enough to share with your subjects how you created the super shockwave GP? Please tell me it's not just invoking the GP a few times in succession. Have you figured out a way to get at the "stun" part of the GP without triggering the "throwback?"

How exactly does it play out in-game? For example, does the player first invoke the GP, the enemy units get thrown back, then stunned, then stunned again and again and again without being thrown each time they're stunned? Or is there a way to just extend the "stun" portion of the GP, which, I assume, incapacitates any affected units for the duration of extended stun?

thanks much!
:z

[This message has been edited by zamond (edited 01-22-2004 @ 09:46 PM).]

Well, I went into the "godpowers2.bar" with the BAR Explorer, and extracted the "tremor.xmb", and converted it to XML with AoMEd. Then I went in there and scouted it out.

The code was pretty straightforward. It basically just had values for the attack radius, the throw distance, the stun length, and all sorts of other things. Trust me, if you look at it yourself you'll see how simplistic it is. So I edited what I needed to, increasing the radius, decreasing the throw distance, increasing the stun length (it's just a time value), removing the invoke GP sounds, that sort of thing. Nothing complicated, just changing numeric values.

Then I went into the "data2.bar" and extracted the "techtreex.xmb" (... well, not really, I had extracted and edited several times beforehand...), and searched for the "Tremor" GP tech. I found it, copied it, pasted it to the bottom, renamed it to "LSA Super Tremor", changed a couple of other things (again, really simple... I pretty much just made it UNOBTAINABLE and unavailable in the help), and saved the XML.

Then I went back to my edited "tremor.xml", put in the tech name I used and renamed the GP itself, changed the filename to "lsa super tremor.xml", converted it to XMB, then put the "techtreex.xml" into the "data" folder, and the new GP into the "godpowers" folder.

When invoked, it's just like the Shockwave power, only with a much larger radius (30 rather than 5), and it throws the units a lower, shorter distance, leaving them stunned for longer (75 seconds rather than 5). I was unable to completely remove the throwback effect... the units just kept disappearing... so I simply shortened it. Your LOS is positioned elsewhere when gameplay starts, you by the time you look over there the units are already standing in a daze.

For solving the problem, I moved the two armies that were supposed to be stunned further from the gate (where your army comes out in the intro), granted the GP to player 0 (Gaia), and invoked it directly after the intro ends (very high priority, always, etc). That way, Gaia, being enemies with all players, invokes the GP, knocking the enemy armies asunder while still maintaining a safe enough distance to leave your armies unharmed.

And that's what I did.

[This message has been edited by King Jared (edited 01-23-2004 @ 01:12 PM).]

very cool... tnx for the detailed explanation. At some point, I will try to do this... and will probably screw it up pretty badly

:Z