On a side note, is there a way to visualize the offset without having to restart a test every time? Like, I don't know, through the model viewer or something. Just wondering.
I usually test this with a kind of "attachment test actor"; an actor which attaches a small model (I usually use the photon cannon projectile) to the specific unit. Then I change SOps until the photon cannon ball is exactly at the position where I want it; then I use the SOps for the real Actor.
Make sure you set the attachment model to be created at unit birth, set host to _selectable and use the SOps you gonna use for your final Actor. Also after each change, replace the unit on the map, not all changes get changed for pre-placed units in the editor (ingame they should, but in the editor they still show up the old way most likely)
Is the Art - Missile field of your attack actor correctly linked to your missile actor? This was my main problem with this when I started creating missiles.
There were quite a few issues with the test map you sent me with regards to not following the details in the tutorial. That being said, it would likely be easier for you to just walk through the tutorial again than for me to list off every change you should make given that I'd just be quoting parts of the tutorial. Don't change things like movers (Why Stalker?) or cut out Site Operations unless you know exactly why they were being used. While you can skip a few of the SOps for the Overlord, you can't cut out half the SOps for the Overseer's Return fields.
The Overseer was not based on your tutorial at all (in fact, I created it without even knowing your tutorial), I based the attack on the spinecrawler attack and tried to modify the missile that way it requires no tentacle at the unit at all. I basically had the overseer with the spinecrawler attack (which did not work, of course), then I changed the missile from invisible to tentacle. This made the weapon work exactly like it is now. After this I began to cut/modify site operations, movers, actor events etc etc to filter out the thing, which was responsible for this behavior. However, nothing changed at all, so mover and the whole stuff I changed does not really have influence on this, I suppose.
Your method is quite different, since you are not creating a missile with a tentacle look, but you have an invisible missile, where you attach an existing tentacle of the source unit (or one of its attachments).
I have no idea, how to transfer sites and site ops from this method to my overseer, which does not have such a tentacle at all. But like stated, the overseer was just an experiment to find out what is really essential for a tentacle missile, so I did not expect it to be perfect in the first place ;) Also, like stated, I messed around with the values , site ops, movers etc quite a lot, but nothing of it seemed to have any influence at all to this problem.
Quote:
So in order to fix the Overseer, you need to treat it exactly the same as the Uberlisk tentacles, but only change where the Site Actor is attached (the center). You don't have one at all which is what prevents the tentacles from animating how they should. By including the SOps you left out, this should fix the tentacle curling I saw when they attacked.
So I would need to attach a whole spine crawler again? Not possible without this? Too bad, I created the Overseer just to find a method without having to do this.
So basically, what you are saying is: There is no workaround to this tutorial. In order to create a working tentacle missile, you need to have some kind of tentacle attached to the unit. Correct?
Can I somehow utilize different tentacle optics that way? Like the RoachTentacle used by the Overseer? Simply changing the model of the attached spinecrawler to the tentacle does not work.
Quote:
Now for the Overlord, part of the problem is that the tentacles launch from a Site that both the attacking and defending unit have. This is causing the missile to launch from the Site Actor closest to the target so that it appears to be attacking itself. This is the same for any unit that attacks another unit with the same Site Actor.
To fix this you need to either make validators for the Site Actor and the Missile Actors that tie the Site Actor to a specific unit (preventing it from being shared by attacking units) OR use the Host fields to set scopes that check for the Caster/Source of an effect.
The validator method will say "launch from the Site Actor that is attached to the unit this fires from"
The scope method will say "launch from the unit that created the effect specified here "
Okay. Was this a mistake on my part again? Or does the uberlisk in your tutorial also attack itself
€ using scope caster instead of implicit for the missile actor fields Host Supporter+ and Host Return+ worked nicely.
Not generally vs tentacle units, though, just specifically when encountering the same target; I probably misformulated that one. (Uberlisks fighting other Uberlisks for your example)
The Overlords got a spine crawler attached to their heads, following this uberlisk tutorial (I skipped the site operations part and straight up attached it to the head).
The Overseers got a tentacle missile like I described in the other thread.
Attacking the spine crawlers on the map works fine but attacking enemy overlords causes all damaged overlords to hit themselves with their tentacles.
Attacking with the overseers against either target has the problem mentioned in the other thread, where the tentacle would not attach to the overseer properly but will just be thrown onto the enemy in an unextended version (maybe some values are a little off in that current version, I messed around a lot in order to get it to work. For the original preferences, you could have a look at the other thread again)
Thank you very much for taking your time for this :)
I followed your tutorial (mainly for the sake of adding a tentacle attack to a unit) and the tentacle works great. However I encountered a problem when 2 units with tentacles encounter each other. The tentacels work kinda strange in that case; the attacked units tentacle seems to attach to the missile instead of the tentacle of the attacker. So the attacked unit appears to be hitting itself with the tentacle.
Also, you could also have a look at this thread, where I have another strange problem with tentacles (just if you have some spare time ;) )
I usually test this with a kind of "attachment test actor"; an actor which attaches a small model (I usually use the photon cannon projectile) to the specific unit. Then I change SOps until the photon cannon ball is exactly at the position where I want it; then I use the SOps for the real Actor.
Make sure you set the attachment model to be created at unit birth, set host to _selectable and use the SOps you gonna use for your final Actor. Also after each change, replace the unit on the map, not all changes get changed for pre-placed units in the editor (ingame they should, but in the editor they still show up the old way most likely)
Is the Art - Missile field of your attack actor correctly linked to your missile actor? This was my main problem with this when I started creating missiles.
The Overseer was not based on your tutorial at all (in fact, I created it without even knowing your tutorial), I based the attack on the spinecrawler attack and tried to modify the missile that way it requires no tentacle at the unit at all. I basically had the overseer with the spinecrawler attack (which did not work, of course), then I changed the missile from invisible to tentacle. This made the weapon work exactly like it is now. After this I began to cut/modify site operations, movers, actor events etc etc to filter out the thing, which was responsible for this behavior. However, nothing changed at all, so mover and the whole stuff I changed does not really have influence on this, I suppose.
Your method is quite different, since you are not creating a missile with a tentacle look, but you have an invisible missile, where you attach an existing tentacle of the source unit (or one of its attachments).
I have no idea, how to transfer sites and site ops from this method to my overseer, which does not have such a tentacle at all. But like stated, the overseer was just an experiment to find out what is really essential for a tentacle missile, so I did not expect it to be perfect in the first place ;) Also, like stated, I messed around with the values , site ops, movers etc quite a lot, but nothing of it seemed to have any influence at all to this problem.
So I would need to attach a whole spine crawler again? Not possible without this? Too bad, I created the Overseer just to find a method without having to do this.
So basically, what you are saying is: There is no workaround to this tutorial. In order to create a working tentacle missile, you need to have some kind of tentacle attached to the unit. Correct?
Can I somehow utilize different tentacle optics that way? Like the RoachTentacle used by the Overseer? Simply changing the model of the attached spinecrawler to the tentacle does not work.
Okay. Was this a mistake on my part again? Or does the uberlisk in your tutorial also attack itself
€ using scope caster instead of implicit for the missile actor fields Host Supporter+ and Host Return+ worked nicely.
Not generally vs tentacle units, though, just specifically when encountering the same target; I probably misformulated that one. (Uberlisks fighting other Uberlisks for your example)
I uploaded the map Link Removed: http://www.mediafire.com/?7c1i538mqkwje0e .
The Overlords got a spine crawler attached to their heads, following this uberlisk tutorial (I skipped the site operations part and straight up attached it to the head).
The Overseers got a tentacle missile like I described in the other thread.
Attacking the spine crawlers on the map works fine but attacking enemy overlords causes all damaged overlords to hit themselves with their tentacles.
Attacking with the overseers against either target has the problem mentioned in the other thread, where the tentacle would not attach to the overseer properly but will just be thrown onto the enemy in an unextended version (maybe some values are a little off in that current version, I messed around a lot in order to get it to work. For the original preferences, you could have a look at the other thread again)
Thank you very much for taking your time for this :)
Hey
I followed your tutorial (mainly for the sake of adding a tentacle attack to a unit) and the tentacle works great. However I encountered a problem when 2 units with tentacles encounter each other. The tentacels work kinda strange in that case; the attacked units tentacle seems to attach to the missile instead of the tentacle of the attacker. So the attacked unit appears to be hitting itself with the tentacle.
Also, you could also have a look at this thread, where I have another strange problem with tentacles (just if you have some spare time ;) )