These can easily be added to maps using the ever available PROPS OBJECT. Right Click to call up the objects menu and expand props and choose what you need.
When you think about it, the AMMO BOX is basically a complex pickup. It can contain all the same objects, but it offers it in one collection. Great for multiplayer.
The various skins correspond to a code for the various teams, Marines, Corporates and Predators. They share the same basic commands.
STORY OBJECTS
The three basic Story Objects are MEMO, PC, and PDA. you can choose any one of them respectively, each one valid for a different location and or situation.
When you click on the property tab you get various options. The important one is the TEXT ID. It corresponds to STRING RESOURCES stored in the CRES.DLL. You place the number of the string and it displays it in game when the story object is activated.
Also notice the Bitmap field. The PCX file that is indicated there will be the background of your message. Choose wisely. Keeping the MAX views to -1, will give you infinite view potential, and thats a good thing. And as usual for most props, (except perhaps on terrain) MOVETOFLOOR is set to TRUE.
You can tell an entire Backstory with the Story objects?
If the actual AvP2 game is any indication, huge amounts of the story were expositioned through these story objects. they are a quick, organized method for giving observant and investigative gamers, additional information they can use.
You will need something like RESHACK or VisualC++ 6.0 to look into the cres.dll and read the resource strings.
These other props have basic AI components?
They see the player or other characters and react to them as threats or Aliies. The most powerful of these is the Sentry Guns/TURRETS which can target. The other's function with a proximity radius. Player enters the radius, Active PropObject reacts.
A STRIKER is a great example of an active prop.
It will target onto a player in much the same way as a SIMPLE AI ALIEN. No AI volume necessary. Its just a simple code, Target the player, and attack.
Included in these, though it is merely availbe to mess up the marine's motion tracker is the Beetle. It flies around and generates a blip on the MT. But it does not attack the player.
Similar to this is the PLANT. it works on the concept of a proximity mine with an easily set DETECTION RADIUS in dedit unit. Player enters the radius, and the plant exudes a damaging vapor.
EGG
The Egg Generates a facehugger, which can be simple or Standard. If you haven't done anything with AI yet, you need an AI Volume for standard AI, but no Volume is necessary for the simple AI.
Again it works off the proximity radius. Player's bounding box, and in this case a AI's bounding box, (you can choose this) will activate the egg. And if the player does not leave the area, the egg will open, and spawn a FACEHUGGER. The facehugger then can take on all the elements of an AI. You'll need to look into AI Basics.
SENTRYGUNS
Before you do anything, decide what way you want your gun to face. Though sentries have an active radius they point in a direction. By default the gun places it's 0 degree to North (same like all object, in the floor view)
Click on rotation to set.
Yaw: Left and Right.
Pitch: Up and down
Roll: A combination of the above
DamageProperties lets you define parameters for the gun, like how much armor and hitpoints it has, and whether or not it can be destroyed
Most of the flags are self explanatroy, note both TargetDelay, which is the detect time, (here very quick it will shoot you) and IdleTimeOut defines what the gun does when it's not shooting at targets. It will either go to sleep (default) or it will remain online by the "sweep" mode.
The important thing is the listing of different species and how the gun will react if it sees them.
Interest If gun sees species, it'll point at the species but not shoot. The gun returns to it's idle state if the species leaves the gun's tracking range.
Target Will shoot the species until it's either dead or gone.
Ignore Sentry gun will behave as though it were friendly to the species. It will not fire at the species and will ignore them.
Preferred orders the gun to shoot at the species first before it kills any other species. Example. If we set predator to "preferred" the gun will not fire at other species until the predator is killed first.
Motion sets the angle at which the gun pivots about it's tripod.
SweepPauseTime: How many seconds the gun waits before moving back along it's 'Yaw' path.
Think of the placement to make a hallway like this defendable. What kind of yaw setup and pitch setup would protect the area from intrusion and still not have the guns destroy themselves.
Defending a Hallway T junction:
3 hallways come together at a T-Junction.
Only other limitation you only have two guns. And think about a sense of balance, there should be a way for the opposing team to come in and destroy the guns from behind. Some sort of a drop down from vent scenario.
Ceiling Mounted Turrets have a different model, dtx texture and attributes list. You can easily change it by typing turret2 in place of tripod.
