I got into a thread about bot pathing just to correct and help someone , and ended up convincing myself that i needed to make a easyer way , yeah pathlogic can edit the maps and add pathnodes but it needs native code and 227. thers has to be a way to go from editor to uscript in one pass.Thers is many benifits to this including pathing 3rd party maps that are subject to change.and doing complex decoration schemes serversde to avaid downloads.
So it began my crazy idea:
Make a t3dmap export difference pharser that phrases the additional actors straight into uscript spawn code, and puts the difference into a new t3d level import file allowing the person to reimport the changes he made into the editor to be edited , the actors in the patch t3d layer ( editor only)can use light color to differentate the additive actors in the editor. This way you [b]add[/b] stuff in any version editor,(pathnodes etc) export the map , compare the exported t3d text to the original t3d text , and the program can create a uc file with level title check and the spawns and properties as usript and compile it as a level patch,and send the diference into a new t3d file with hidden color difference added so you can edit the imported t3d patch in the editor reexport and diff again…
sounds easy enought for me to make ;D
Well it didnt quite turn out that way , as opening 5 mb textfiles is beyond the limits of the IDE im using to program ( wtf ir?), So you cant diff the files , but you can search for certain actors like custom pathnodes. after striping out the irrelevent geometry in the t3d files
How this works:
you open your map in the editor and use a special package of placeable actors. and you place these in the map where you want them , ie pathnodes , and export the map as t3d when your finished.
Then you open this t3d with a program i wrote , that phrases the additional actors into raw unrealsript spawn calls that can be directly compiled into a unreal mutator. it adds a check for the maptitle automaticly so it one click and done
it so simple any one can do it it! cross compatibly with ever damn unreal version ever and spits outgeneric unrealscript. even can has support to set properties of the placed objects , tag name etc.
it took me all of 2 hours to make . 1 hour was spend struggling with string ops math that my brain can never deal with without completly melting down.
I went ahead and pathed the first 4 maps in the japan caves set , the one issue i found is that any monsterspawner that will use the pathnodes , needs to spawn after all the pathnodes are done spawning , so you may need to add a spawn call to your monsterspawn at the end of the the patch mutator common sence here 400 pathnodes arnt gonna magically appear in one tick it takes to get to the next hook mutator.
so if you see any apples in the maps on the server it’s me testing the new pathing system.