How to make a map with no air units?

[aWarNoob1]

I want to make a version of Sedona Pass for sovwars that does not allow any air units or V3 to be built.

I'm using Final Alert 2

Edited May 19, 2018 by aWarNoob1

[McPwny]

you gotta make a small .ini file. take rulesmd copy it, delete everything on it, then find every single unit you dont want in the real rulesmd and add it to the file like you dont want [ZEP] or [ORCA] or [BEAG] or whatever in your map just put all the entries on your blank file and under them put TechLevel=-1. save, use FA2's ini editor function to insert the ini file you made into the map, and it will overwrite the techlevel entry of those usits rendering them unbuildable. you can also edit lightposts or well.... anything... like this.

[aWarNoob1]

29 minutes ago, McPwny said:

you gotta make a small .ini file. take rulesmd copy it, delete everything on it, then find every single unit you dont want in the real rulesmd and add it to the file like you dont want [ZEP] or [ORCA] or [BEAG] or whatever in your map just put all the entries on your blank file and under them put TechLevel=-1. save, use FA2's ini editor function to insert the ini file you made into the map, and it will overwrite the techlevel entry of those usits rendering them unbuildable. you can also edit lightposts or well.... anything... like this.

Thanks man, but i don't understand how to do any of this. Is there a tutorial video on youtube i can watch?

[McPwny]

idk but if you give me a list of things you want disabled from your map ill make an ini real quicc

[aWarNoob1]

4 hours ago, McPwny said:

idk but if you give me a list of things you want disabled from your map ill make an ini real quicc

Hey McPwny, thank you for your support. Just to let you know, user MustacheX has already walked me through step by step. We went about it slightly differently by using only the ini editor in Final Alert 2, adding sections, and command "ForbiddenHouses=Americans,Alliance,French,Germans,British,Africans,Arabs,Confederation,Russians,YuriCountry" To each section. We used the rulesmd only to look up the unit names used in the game script.

I've tested the map and can say that this way does work.

 

Edited May 20, 2018 by aWarNoob1

[McPwny]

kind of stupidly easy when you know how right? glad you got it working.

[Dctanxman]

Don't take this the wrong way but...

Never use the FA2 ini editor. Never make a ini file yourself to insert into a map. Both are a huge waste of time.

it hurt's my brain to see people still doing stuff like this the hardest way possible and others still telling/showing people the hardest way possible to do it.

Just open the map with notepad++ and copy/paste each air unit inside and save. Nothing else. 1 minute max and done.

Even flyingZ said this 10+ years ago. https://sites.google.com/site/flyingzmaps/tutorial-on-map-making

Q: How do I edit INI a map?
A: Never use the INI editing offered in FA2. Open the map in NotePad and add your new editing anywhere.

Learning from one of the best will only make you better.

[McPwny]

what? you literally paste the stuff onto an empty ini and insert it. no ghetto rigging the map file with notepad involved. you can change values and check and tweek the mods in game almost instantaneously there is a reason that is a function in the map editor.

[Dctanxman]

7 hours ago, McPwny said:

what? you literally paste the stuff onto an empty ini and insert it. no ghetto rigging the map file with notepad involved. you can change values and check and tweek the mods in game almost instantaneously there is a reason that is a function in the map editor.

Why do extra steps? When you can skip the middle man and just put it right onto the map manually. You can change all the values there also.

Its not ghetto rigging lol. Its called being advanced. The function was made for those that don't know what they are doing and so you don't make mistakes. When you know what you are doing which is not hard to figure out. Its much better/easier/faster to use notepad++.

So think of it this way. When you paste it into the ini. You could have just pasted the same stuff right into the map yourself. No need to load the editor. All the editor serves for is to hold your hand and do all the work for you but slow you down at the same time. Sure it seems easier but when you get rid of that crutch it opens up so much more.

The whole point is to save time. You spend more time using the editor and you are limited.

When i make a survival map, 95% of my work is done in notepad++. You really think i make all my scripts/taskforces/teams/triggers in the editor? A normal survival map will take someone about 12+ hours in the editor but i can cut that down to under 4 hours not using the editor and using notepad++.

[McPwny]

its like 3 extra clicks to do it the proper way you make it sound like some huge chore i mean i have made some pretty intricate mods to map files that do a lot more than bulk spam units via trigger and i have done it using the ini editor and map functions. yeah i can see how you might want to copy over say 20 ai triggers and ai trigger teams like that but ini edits? there is nothing difficult about ini editing the proper way.

[Dctanxman]

If you could double click a custom shortcut to load yuris directly to skirmish and it picks the map you want plus starts the game.

You would rather double click the exe and then click skirmish and then pick the map and then hit start?

All I'm trying to say is using the editor for ini is the old way to do things mate. Its 2018, don't you want to do things faster and more effective?

What if all of the editors just vanished? What program would you use to do the work for you?

I have been doing this from day one and at some point you need to break free. Get more advanced and start doing stuff on your own.

But you can keep doing it how you know how to do it if you want. Just trying to help you advance to the next level man.

[McPwny]

doing it my way you can have a map open in fa2 while running yr, test the map, then minimize yr tweak the ini hit save pop up fa2 hit insert ini hit save the map switch back to yr and restart the map in about a minute flat you can mod the game and test it without restarting yr. As many times as you want untill it is perfect. it is by far the easiest and fastest way to test a mod. period. i dont use any external programs or fancy tricks, i just use normal notepad and fa2. im not going to tell you how you ought to be modding the game, but maby play and look into some of the maps i have made for vs the AI if you want to talk about the specific topic of editing map ini well.

Edited May 30, 2018 by McPwny

[Dctanxman]

Actual you are wrong. Its not the easiest or fastest way to test a mod.

Lets break this down step by step..

 

Your way...

Step 1: Open FA2

step 2: Open custom ini file

Step 3: Open Yuri's to test map

Step 4: Tweak ini (save it)

step 5: Insert the ini into the map via FA2 (save it)

step 6: Restart the map to test again

 

My way...

Step 1: Open the map in notepad

Step 2: Open Yuri's to test map

step 3: Tweak the map in notepad (save it)

step 4: Restart the map to test again

 

You proved me right without even knowing it.

Less steps === faster and easier? Seems like simple math to me.

While you insert the ini file into the map via FA2, I am already in game testing.

Every edit you make to the ini file can be done directly to the map via notepad. Why do we need FA2 again?

I can do it your way just as fast. That's the way i used to do it and its the way most learned first.

Have you done it without FA2? Don't say one way is faster or easier when you can't do it both ways.

Sure you might have done some nice work. I never questioned that, but the speed at which you did it i would question that. btw, i have never seen any map with your name on it before. Can you show me?

[McPwny]

you are splitting hairs here. the ini feature isnt a novelty for making a lot of crates spawn on happy trails it was a dev tool, just like the ai trigger editors, and script functions. and you are like "thats stupid 60 seconds to test a mod is stupid you are doing it wrong stupid it could be 45 seconds" as you splice maps with a freaKING TEXT EDITOR just to quickly make lots of maps with bulk spammed triggers and have the nerve to lecture people on how to mod just for it? cmon m8.

[Dctanxman]

I agree some cringe stuff but....

 

I still think that ini editing with a text editor is far superior if you're testing a map (in-game) at the same time making changes to anything ini related.

If you are doing ini edits while also editing the map in the editor, then yes, I would be using the editors ini injection also.

 

Both ways work but it matters what you're doing. Glad we agree on this 4-6 years later.

Worst part was you saying that even if you're testing a map in-game and needing to make changes to ini settings, you would still edit the ini file and inject it into the map via FA2 editor. Then saying I'm splicing maps when we both changed "speed=8" to "speed=10" as example in a text editor but mine was direct into the map file and yours was into a ini file. I skipped a step to be faster and you did it by the book. We both ended up with the same results.

Edited June 24 by Dctanxman
uwu

[McPwny]

wow my 2018 posts were pretty cringe. to this day i still maintain that ini file injection is the superior way to do it on the grounds that you can update the ini file and edit the map simultaneously where with direct text editing making ini edits is a few clicks faster per update but there is no way to edit the map itself without going through a huge ordeal of saving the text, exiting, opening in fa2, editing, saving, exiting, opening in map tool, compiling, opening in text editor again, and losing any ; notations you had in the process

Edited September 19, 2022 by McPwny
uwu

[aWarNoob1]

I wouldn't mind learning how to do smart A.I. triggers for survival maps whether that be with FA2's .ini editor or using Notepad++  Just whatever works really.

It's hard finding survival maps with decent A.I, so I'd rather try to make one myself. Maybe i'll start a new topic related to this. In the meantime I think Yosefanan has a number of survival-map making tutorials on youtube that i could check out.

Any help is appreciated. I've made various custom maps over the years, but I still have lots to learn, I admit.

Edited September 1, 2021 by aWarNoob_sed0na

[Mi8]

On 5/20/2018 at 3:56 AM, aWarNoob1 said:

Hey McPwny, thank you for your support. Just to let you know, user MustacheX has already walked me through step by step. We went about it slightly differently by using only the ini editor in Final Alert 2, adding sections, and command "ForbiddenHouses=Americans,Alliance,French,Germans,British,Africans,Arabs,Confederation,Russians,YuriCountry" To each section. We used the rulesmd only to look up the unit names used in the game script.

I've tested the map and can say that this way does work.

 

Hello, 

 

Can you please elaborate how u disabled air units on a map? i am also using final alert 2.

[McPwny]

make an empty .ini file, then go into rulesmd.ini (which you will find inside of ra2md.mix→localmd.mix with xcc mixer) and find the section that lists the units you want to edit, in this case it would be air units like [ZEP], [JUMPJET], [BEAG], [ORCA], etc. add the bracketed headers you want to the ini file, and then under the headers list the edits for the unit that you want to make. in this case, setting techlevel=-1 will disable them; so it would look something like

[ORCA]
Techlevel=-1

to disable the harrier. after you write your edits out, save the small .ini file, and in FA2 go to edit→ini editing, and select "insert ini selection" it will prompt you to select the ini file. select it and it will load up all of your edits straight into the map file. after that you still need to save the map

[boumbo]

2 hours ago, McPwny said:

make an empty .ini file, then go into rulesmd.ini (which you will find inside of ra2md.mix→localmd.mix with xcc mixer) and find the section that lists the units you want to edit, in this case it would be air units like [ZEP], [JUMPJET], [BEAG], [ORCA], etc. add the bracketed headers you want to the ini file, and then under the headers list the edits for the unit that you want to make. in this case, setting techlevel=-1 will disable them; so it would look something like

[ORCA]
Techlevel=-1

to disable the harrier. after you write your edits out, save the small .ini file, and in FA2 go to edit→ini editing, and select "insert ini selection" it will prompt you to select the ini file. select it and it will load up all of your edits straight into the map file. after that you still need to save the map

Is it possible to download the rulesmd.ini as a text file somewhere if XCCmixer cannot be used/installed. 

Also, how do i know what unit in english (rocketeers, kirov, tanya, boris, robot, prism etc… ) is linked to abbreviation [ORCA], [BEAG] ? Is it part of that file also?
 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 19, 2022 by boumbo
Separate topic for other question

[McPwny]

i cant imagine xcc mixer wouldnt work since ive used it on everything from windows 11 to windows 98 without issue, but if you need i could extract and share a copy

inside of the .ini file itself will be the object names so open the file, hit ctrl+f, and type in what you are looking for and you will find it in no time.

[aWarNoob1]

On 9/19/2022 at 9:50 AM, McPwny said:

make an empty .ini file, then go into rulesmd.ini (which you will find inside of ra2md.mix→localmd.mix with xcc mixer) and find the section that lists the units you want to edit, in this case it would be air units like [ZEP], [JUMPJET], [BEAG], [ORCA], etc. add the bracketed headers you want to the ini file, and then under the headers list the edits for the unit that you want to make. in this case, setting techlevel=-1 will disable them; so it would look something like

[ORCA]
Techlevel=-1

to disable the harrier. after you write your edits out, save the small .ini file, and in FA2 go to edit→ini editing, and select "insert ini selection" it will prompt you to select the ini file. select it and it will load up all of your edits straight into the map file. after that you still need to save the map

I recently tried to make another map with air units disabled, but i'd forgotten how I'd done it before. I tried this method of yours but it seems not to work. This is what the ini file i created looks like:

[V3]
Techlevel=-1

[SCHP]
Techlevel=-1

[ZEP]
Techlevel=-1

[JUMPJET]
Techlevel=-1

[ORCA]
Techlevel=-1

[BEAG]
Techlevel=-1

[DISK]
Techlevel=-1

 

I then inserted it into the map with the ini editor in FA2. It seems to have added all the sections into the map and it shows each unit having value -1, but when i run the map in a skirmish game I'm still able to build these air units. Are we doing the command to disable units wrong? Maybe it should be Techlevel=0 instead? Not sure. I might try later.

 

Edited June 19 by aWarNoob1

[aWarNoob1]

Command BuildLimit=0 finally worked for me.

[Dctanxman]

On 6/18/2024 at 11:38 PM, aWarNoob1 said:

I recently tried to make another map with air units disabled, but i'd forgotten how I'd done it before. I tried this method of yours but it seems not to work. This is what the ini file i created looks like:

[V3]
Techlevel=-1

[SCHP]
Techlevel=-1

[ZEP]
Techlevel=-1

[JUMPJET]
Techlevel=-1

[ORCA]
Techlevel=-1

[BEAG]
Techlevel=-1

[DISK]
Techlevel=-1

 

I then inserted it into the map with the ini editor in FA2. It seems to have added all the sections into the map and it shows each unit having value -1, but when i run the map in a skirmish game I'm still able to build these air units. Are we doing the command to disable units wrong? Maybe it should be Techlevel=0 instead? Not sure. I might try later.

 

Its case sensitive mate. Capital L

TechLevel=-1