Allow Mods to Control the Disabled Units List

[REVENGE]

Give mods the option to control this list, via lua, modoptions, or directly, and allow predefined sets of disabled units, etc.

[smoth]

. . . . .

[Gnomre]

Just remove the unit...?

Though it would be nice to be able to set a filter for "accessory" units or units which are 100% necessary for gameplay (the flags in IW/S44 for example). I don't think putting a restriction on them in the lobby actually does anything since they're all lua-spawned, but since that's the case, there's little point in having them in the list in the first place.

[KDR_11k]

I think if a unit is forbidden its unitdef isn't loaded which could break mods with mandatory units. Overall I'm in favour of removing the list completely, you can disable a unit with Lua anyway and most mods aren't designed to have random units removed. A mod that wants a superweapon enable/disable switch and such would be better served to make one with lua for consistency.

[Argh]

+1, to KDR's suggestion. Hardly anybody uses this feature anyhow, it would break practically all custom games, and it could be done with Lua internal to a game's code, frankly.

[hoijui]

-1

i use that list sometimes. when playing CA with KAIK for example, KAIK builds a metal extractor, and then starts building an experimental gantry. disabling that building results in KAIK beeing much more usable (though, still hardly so (in CA)). of course, this problem should be solved differently.

in the past, i also used the list in BA, just to see how gameplay changes if.. for example, i remove all artillery. so it is kind of a possibility to mod through the lobby. of course you can only do that against AIs or with mates in LAN, but i would prefer the list to stay. it gives kind of a cool feeling to be able to experiment with mods, and everybody can do it.

[imbaczek]

this one of those "type 'I KNOW WHAT I AM DOING' to confirm" options.

[ZellSF]

-1

I've used disabled units at times. Sometimes to disable overpowered units (which the mod developer can't predict a mod option is needed for), other times just for gameplay changes.

[TradeMark]

lol i use disabled units list like in 80% games i host.

+1 to the first post idea, predefined lists would be nice, like NOAIR, NONUKES, NOBB

etc, then you could just like check them:

[ ] no nukes
[x] no air
[ ] no water
[ ] no hovers
[x] no LRPC

[AF]

No reason why they couldnt be implemented as mod options

[smoth]

lol i use disabled units list like in 80% games i host.

+1 to the first post idea, predefined lists would be nice, like NOAIR, NONUKES, NOBB

etc, then you could just like check them:

[ ] no nukes
[x] no air
[ ] no water
[ ] no hovers
[x] no LRPC

No reason why they couldnt be implemented as mod options

+1 to af

[Pxtl]

+1 to KDR. Need better support for modoptions in its place - that is, a way to "conceal" a section of modoptions in something collapsible for places where you want a really long modoptions section, and a way to save modoptions for later. Then you could include a checkbox for each unit.

Look at the last release of Hardcore Annihilation - I created 3 modoptions, one for each set of OTA additional units, allowing players to choose which unit packs to play with - CC, rev3.1, and the download-only Cavedog units. So not only is Trademark's suggestion doable in Lua, it has been done... iirc, CA also has similar code too.

[ZellSF]

I think the functionality should stay, just give mod developers the option of disabling it?

[smoth]

Look at the last release of Hardcore Annihilation - I created 3 modoptions, one for each set of OTA additional units, allowing players to choose which unit packs to play with - CC, rev3.1, and the download-only Cavedog units. So not only is Trademark's suggestion doable in Lua, it has been done... iirc, CA also has similar code too.

pretty neat stuff pxtl! Can I steal it!?!?

[Pxtl]

Go nuts. As far as I'm concerned, my Lua code is open to the public. I'm pretty sure the relevant code is in the Modoptions.Lua (obviously) and the unitdefs lua thingy... haven't started porting it to 77, so I don't know if the changes to defs have had any impact.

Really, the code was the easy part. The hard part was figuring out which units were in CC(sans 3.1) and 3.1 (sans CC).

[KDR_11k]

A mod that disables the disable units feature should have that tab removed from the battle screen completely. Look att he current battle screen, there's four tabs, the first one is almost entirely TA options with the exception of the unit limit and start pos, the second is TA again (TA has so many units you can easily remove some, most mods don't have so much redundancy), third is map options that almost nobody uses and only the fourth contains the mod options that are more likely to be used for really changing the game.

[hoijui]

i think imbaczek's idea is the best so far: showing a warning dialog when the user wants to disable some units that sais: "WARNING: You disabled some units. This is most likely to change gameplay dramaticly, ..."
i also think it should probably not have its own tab, but open in a dialog when you click a button on the main one (so it appears less important in a way, which it is). There should be a warning message in red right next to that button, that indicates that some units were disabled, so all users can see it on the main tab.
As KDR said, i also think that mod options should be the second tab, and some of the TA things should be removed from the main one (Commander Ends, dimmishing metal makers, ...)

[KDR_11k]

OTA had a tag that hid some of the units from the limit dialog (I think it was used for stuff that appears only in campaign missions).

[REVENGE]

Go nuts. As far as I'm concerned, my Lua code is open to the public. I'm pretty sure the relevant code is in the Modoptions.Lua (obviously) and the unitdefs lua thingy... haven't started porting it to 77, so I don't know if the changes to defs have had any impact.

Really, the code was the easy part. The hard part was figuring out which units were in CC(sans 3.1) and 3.1 (sans CC).

Very nice, thanks for this entirely useful contribution!

[lurker]

lol i use disabled units list like in 80% games i host.

+1 to the first post idea, predefined lists would be nice, like NOAIR, NONUKES, NOBB

etc, then you could just like check them:

[ ] no nukes
[x] no air
[ ] no water
[ ] no hovers
[x] no LRPC

Hmm, now I want to see a game with no air, no T2, no defensive structures or any turrets except LRPCs.

OTA had a tag that hid some of the units from the limit dialog (I think it was used for stuff that appears only in campaign missions).

gogo Truck!