Spring RTS Engine

I've just gotten back into TA altogether recently, and have been working with the good old TA and TA:CC.
With the units and maps and stuff, I've been working with a lot of tdf and fbi files.

My question was, last I was following this project, we had moved away from the ufo file and into another structure..? or unit compilation altogether, to get more from the engine. So, do we still use fbi files to define unit characteristics, or has that changed?

Yes, we do.

However, a number of TA tags are unsupported / obsolete, and there are many, many new tags for Spring also available

Guessmyname wrote:Yes, we do.

However, a number of TA tags are unsupported / obsolete, and there are many, many new tags for Spring also available

I figured as much. I wasn't planning on porting anything, yet, mostly because of the need for conversion from 3do to, what was it, s3o?

I was more interested in making a copy of spring and playing with the units to get some fun stuff to goof off with.

Eaglebird wrote:

Guessmyname wrote:Yes, we do.

However, a number of TA tags are unsupported / obsolete, and there are many, many new tags for Spring also available

I figured as much. I wasn't planning on porting anything, yet, mostly because of the need for conversion from 3do to, what was it, s3o?

I was more interested in making a copy of spring and playing with the units to get some fun stuff to goof off with.

I think the 3do models are still compatible in Spring (considering the number of people who complain when they are used).

To port something I think some minor changes are needed to make it 'Spring-compatible' from TA.

[quote=thehive]
To port something I think some minor changes are needed to make it 'Spring-compatible' from TA.[/quote]

Yea, I remember reading up on it a bit a long time ago.
I think it came where you need UV mapping; I couldn't seem to get the hang of it.

you don't have to uvmap anything...

the changes you would need to make are in the scripts and the fbi's of the units...

If you just want to use your favorite unit pack in Spring that is all you will need to do.. no models, no uvmaps, just fix the scripts and fbis (though that in itself can still be pretty difficult)

j5mello wrote:you don't have to uvmap anything...

the changes you would need to make are in the scripts and the fbi's of the units...

If you just want to use your favorite unit pack in Spring that is all you will need to do.. no models, no uvmaps, just fix the scripts and fbis (though that in itself can still be pretty difficult)

What about the scripts, what needs fixing?

Not much actually. Only if the script is complicated (Ie shielded units in Spring work far differently than in TA). If it isn't, you should be fine

I don't have any shielded units. They were all compatible with the original TA. As for the fbi file, if there's something in it that won't work in spring, will spring ignore it or do I have to go through each one and delete it?

Nah. Chances are they'll be fine. Try it first. If a problem comes up, then you'll need to start fixin' stuff

Well it'd help if I knew what I was doing in the first place

I pretty much took my old ufo files and extracted them, then just compressed them back into a sd7 archive and put it in the mod directory, but it crashes at game start.

This is just a unit pack, right?

If so, you'll need that unmodified TA port of zwzsgs, and your pack will have to use that as a dependancy. (I'm assuming you added a modinfo.txt or it wouldn't have shown up in the mod list)

Guessmyname wrote:This is just a unit pack, right?

If so, you'll need that unmodified TA port of zwzsgs, and your pack will have to use that as a dependancy. (I'm assuming you added a modinfo.txt or it wouldn't have shown up in the mod list)

Ah, alright then.
Where should I find it? Fileuniverse, here, etc.?

Eaglebird wrote:Well it'd help if I knew what I was doing in the first place

I pretty much took my old ufo files and extracted them, then just compressed them back into a sd7 archive and put it in the mod directory, but it crashes at game start.

I remember a while ago I added some units by simply putting the .ufo in my spring directory (not in mods or anything). Doesn't work in multiplayer (I don't think), but it was fine for single player.

Doing that with the unmodified TA mod might work the best.

theHive wrote:

Eaglebird wrote:Well it'd help if I knew what I was doing in the first place

I pretty much took my old ufo files and extracted them, then just compressed them back into a sd7 archive and put it in the mod directory, but it crashes at game start.

I remember a while ago I added some units by simply putting the .ufo in my spring directory (not in mods or anything). Doesn't work in multiplayer (I don't think), but it was fine for single player.

Doing that with the unmodified TA mod might work the best.

I remember, but wasn't that with an older version of spring?

Eaglebird wrote:I remember, but wasn't that with an older version of spring?

Probably.

I'm just trying to feel included/helpful

Use some kind of TA mod as a dependency or base and add the units one by one to see if there are issues.