Author: Zoinkity
Date: March 9, 2009
Category: GE Misc
Description:
NOTE: Apply last (and backup original patch before using) since it is not compatible with editor's 21990
Tank! 4:49 PM 3/9/2009
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Tank! adds in a few features to make tanks into a more generic ridable vehicle. For setup meisters, it allows you to choose the weapon you recieve when you enter the tank or remove it entirely, as well as set the speed and sounds the tank uses. The ammo set when you enter a 'tank' is of whatever type the weapon uses, and that ammo stays with the object. If the player already has a weapon of the same type that the 'tank' gives them, if doesn't remove it when they exit.
The best part is that normal tanks, including those in the original game's stages, are unaffected by the patch. They work as they always did. In addition, if you write a stage with Tank!'s features and a person does not have the patch, they just wind up with a normal tank. So, in other words, it doesn't break anything old or new.
The patch must be applied to an an unbyteswapped, NTSC-USA ROM (NGEE). It will not interfere with any other patches made to this date. You must recalculate the checksum before playing the game. It has been verified to work on N64 hardware.
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Using Tank! Functionality:
Tank objects can now set the speed, acceleration rate, and sound effects used when riding the object. These act as overrides, so if you don't set a field it will use the original tank's values instead. In brief:
Top Speed Override:
This value sets how fast the player can move when riding the object at top speed. The default value is 15, and for comparison, the default for the 'Fast Bond' cheat is 10. You can also set the object so it is immovable, which may be useful to create a 'turret' or fixed artillery piece.
Acceleration Override:
This is how fast the vehicle steps up and down in speed. Normally, this value is 0.5. If set high enough, the vehicle can immediately hit its top speed.
Lower Sight Limit:
When aiming from in a tank, the lower sight limit sets how far down you are able to look. Normally this value is set to -20. At zero you will no longer be able to look down. Note, you can't use this value to look beyond a player's own lower sight limit.
Item:
Use this to set the item added to inventory when riding in the object. When in the vehicle the player has this in inventory, and when they leave the vehicle it is stripped from their possetion unless they own their own copy of it. You can also disable the weapon field so no item is added.
Ignition and Idling Sound Effect:
When you first enter the vehicle this sound effect is played. If the sound effect loops, then it will continue playing as long as the player is in the vehicle. Otherwise, the idling sound effect below is used.
Idling Sound Effect:
If the ignition sound effect doesn't loop, this sound is played repeatedly so long as the player is in the vehicle. By default, the idling sound is set to the ignition sound. Note, that if the ignition sound does loop, this sound effect is not used.
Motion Sound Effect:
While the vehicle moves forward, back, or rotates, this sound effect is played. Often, its volume is proportional to how fast you are moving.
Crush Sound Effect:
If the vehicle runs over a character, this sound effect is played in addition to the screaming sound normally used. By default, this sound is 0D5, which is a nasty crushing noise under treads. For other forms of transportation it would make more sense to use a thud or bang.
Until the editor supports these features, you can manually add in the new tank features at these offsets within a tank (2D) object:
0xB6 2 [float - upper short only!] acceleration override
0xB8 1 top speed override 0 defaults to 15, -1 sets to immovable
0xB9 1 lower sight limit override 0 defaults to -20
0xBA 1 item type when riding: 0 defaults to tank, -1 no item
0xBB 1 reserved. used at runtime to determine if the item was already in inventory
0xBC 2 SE ignition. 0 defaults to 042
0xBE 2 SE idle. 0 defaults to ignition effect
0xC0 2 SE motion. 0 defaults to 03E
0xC2 2 SE crush. 0 defaults to 0D5
*_*
Planned Features:
These features are planned in future versions of the patch:
1) PAL and Japanese region support
2) Rotation speed override
3) Upper sight limit
However, don't hold your breath ;*)
%_%
Bugs:
1) A notable glitch found in the original game, if more than one tank object is in a stage there is no way to determine which tank the player has entered. The first tank to be processed will be used. Usually this is the correct tank, but there is no absolute way to be certain.
2) When you exit the tank with a weapon that uses the same ammo type as the tank gives the player and you happen to have no ammo in reserve, the tank does not steal the ammo from the weapon in the player's hand(s).
For example, if you have the "All Guns" cheat active but did not activate "Infinite Ammo", then you would normally be able to use the tank weapon but would not have ammo for it. If you enter the tank and bring up the tank weapon, you'll be using the ammo from the tank. However, when you leave the tank, it will not remove the one round left on the clip. So, if you have no ammo, you get one clip's worth of bonus rounds.
This is an obscure glitch and not easy to remedy. There are no plans to apply a bug fix.
3) If you collect ammo the tank can use while riding, that ammo will stay with the tank.
For fellow developers, this patch uses empty space from 8007FF60-8007FF80. So please, pretty please, don't hijack this memory range ;*)
^_^
If you have any questions, comments, or there is some hideous problem please feel free to write. I don't get to the internet often, but pending your letter didn't wind up in the spam folder I will eventually respond. Slowly but surely…
-Zoinkity
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