SFall party member control no longer working?

J_Fred

J_Fred

Long time lurker
First post under my new name here (seems the forum change got rid of some of the older members?). Anyway, I searched and couldn't find an answer to this.

Game in question is Fallout 2. Currently I'm running RP 2.2 and Magnus' Weapons Redone. Nothing else.

When I go in to change the current line in Sfall:
;Set to one to directly control party members in combat
ControlPartyMembers=0

With the 0 now a 1.

I still can't control my party members (namely Sulik since I just started). I've had this work before with few issues (though your companions take on any perks you may have). I can't find any updates to Sfall (has this feature been removed), and there don't seem to be many people who use the option.

Is there a reason why this is no longer working? It's worked before, only thing different is I'm using RP 2.2 now instead of RP 2.1.2b.

Thanks for any help!
 
I re installed the older version of the Restoration Project (2.1.2b) and the option works well. So I guess it has something to do with the latest RP ?
 
If I remember correctly, it was pulled from newer versions of sfall. I think it was reinstated though. So either wait for the approaching RP 2.3 or manually download the latest version of sfall.
 
The party member control was removed along with multiplayer functions when sfall hit version 3.0, and got added back in 3.2. But the "ControlPartyMembers" setting in the current ddraw.ini is obsolete.
To use the new party member control, at least you need to add "ControlCombat=2" in ddraw.ini. Setting it to 1 or 3 enables other "advanced" functions:

  • 0 - disable the party control, obviously.
  • 1 - allow you to control certain critters with a given list of PIDs (see details below)
  • 2 - allow you to control all party members, should be good enough for most people.
  • 3 - allow you to control ALL critters in combat, no matter friend or foe. I recommend not to use this because the combat will become long & tiresome, plus it can easily crash the game if you're poking around inventory or character screen (e.g. checking Frank Horrigan's character screen with Hero Appearance mod enabled = crash). But might be a good fun to control enemies to kill each other, or drop Frank Horrigan's weapons or turret's .223 heavy dual miniguns.
For setting ControlCombat=1, there are two more options to make it work properly, here's an example:
ControlCombat=1
ControlCombatPIDCount=3
CombatControlPIDList=61,3E,59,A1,1F6
Click to expand...
I set a PID list in the order: Sulik, Vic, Cassidy, Marcus, and Kitsune. But since I set the PID count to 3, I can only control the first 3 PIDs in the list. That means Sulik, Vic, and Cassidy are in my control. Marcus and Kitsune are on their own.

Hope my explanation helps. I sux at explaining things, especially not in my native language.

EDIT: The info above only applies on sfall 3.2~3.5. For 3.6 or later please refer to the included INI.
 
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Excellent. Thanks fellas. I'm downloading RP 2.3 now, going to restart and see about getting sfall 3.2 companion commands working.

I'll post back here if I have issues.
 
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Thank you NovaRain.

BTW: where can i find those other pids?
Myron, Lenny, Miria or the dogs?
 
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Oh, you probably mean for matching purposes. That's a good question. Maybe someone else will chime in.
 
NovaRain gave them already in another topic.
;Sulik - 61
;Vic - 3E
;Davin - A3
;Miria - A4
;Cassidy - 59
;Lenny - 6B
;Marcus - A1
;Myron - A0
;Skynet (Cyber brain) - 4F
;Skynet (Human brain) - 17D
;Skynet (Chimpanzee brain) - 17B
;Skynet (Abnormal brain) - 17C
 
From today's sfall commit:

3) ControlCombat config changes:
- ControlCombatPIDCount was removed, it's not needed anymore;
- CombatControlPIDList renamed to "ControlCombatPIDList" and not can take both hex and decimal numbers.
4) Party Control feature was rewritten from scratch (more C++, less ASM) and improved:
- Correct active hand is selected at the beginning of controlled NPC's turn (no desync between art and actual weapon);
- It is safe to change weapon of NPC from inventory screen, his main art FID will not change, only the weapon type (note that appearance when changing armor is a scripted mod and cannot be made compatible with this sfall feature, only the other way around);
- Player is now blocked from placing invalid weapons into active slots for an NPC (AI logic decides if it's valid, mainly checks for available art, but also checks skill and AI packet);
- A crash was fixed when re-loading game during combat control.
Click to expand...

If anyone wants to test it, I can provide an sfall binary.
 
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Hey @phobos2077, I put together something very simple that lets you control party member movement outside of combat (in case nobody else had done this yet). The way it works is you press ctrl+1-5 for the party member you wish to control, then ctrl+0 to switch back. The PC stands in place and you can use left mouseclick to move your party member around. Useful for positioning before combat ;).

add to hs_keypress:

Code: 
         if type == 1 then begin
         if key_dx == D0_key and key_pressed(LeftControl_key) and len_array(party_member_list(0)) > 1 then begin
            party_member_controlled:=0;
            party_no_follow_off;
         end
         counter:=2;
         while counter < 11 do begin
            if key_dx == counter and key_pressed(LeftControl_key) and len_array(party_member_list(0)) > counter - 1 then begin
               party_member_controlled:=(counter - 1);
               party_no_follow_on;
            end
            counter+=1;
         end
  end

add to hs_mouseclick:

Code: 
      if type == 1 and button == 0 and party_member_controlled > 0 then begin
	         reg_anim_clear(get_array(party_member_list(0), party_member_controlled));
	         animate_move_obj_to_tile(get_array(party_member_list(0), party_member_controlled), tile_under_cursor, 1);
	   end

add to some global script running continuously:

Code: 
  if party_member_controlled > 0 then begin
	  reg_anim_func(2, dude_obj);
  end

and then import/export the variable party_member_controlled in each of them, and presto!
 
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@JimTheDinosaur: that's cool, but dude, use global scripts + register_hook_proc, really. There will be no need for export variable in this case.

Hey, I have an idea! You should integrate this into party orders addon! Like, you are telling specific NPC to move to a position: "Sulik, move there!". Take the one from my mod sources, it is vanilla-compatible and has some extensions and refactoring over the original.
 
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Haha, crap, knew I forgot to do something self-explanatory. Sure, I'll put something like that together in a single script. Which mod sources do you mean exactly?

edit: Couple of changes I'm doing: one key for establishing the new party member control options, this simply stops everyone from following you.

Right Control + 0-5 gives you exclusive control over one party member/PC. Left Control + 0-5 adds/removes (depends on whether the character is already under control) a character to your control.




btw, I'm (for my own mod) thinking of using within_perception to cause party members to be "visible" (i.e. when the AI is looking for the player, to see if he needs to engage or warn him, this also gets triggered for a party member), sneaking should become a bit less silly this way (hell, you can even sneak with party members).
 
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Hey, so how's that NPC control thingy working out? It feels like good ol' Wasteland and pretty comfortable to not have bursts up your rear, at the worst moments.

So, sign me up for testin' the Direct NPC control if you please.
 
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It works in SFALL now as is, I think.

Just add "ControlCombat=2" to ddraw.ini. Makes it a different game.
 
I’m playing with it right now. Really makes for a totally different experience. Like it very much. Playing with ECR (buy on expansive).
While controlling more party members naturally takes more time, I would like to cut the permanent counting up and down from the armor class every time I end one guys turn. Is there a way to do this, so the changed armor class just appears?

Cheers guys, having so much fun!
 
I think there is a mod in sfall for HP counter speed, you might could find one for AC changes as well. I would just search ddraw.ini for "speed" or "AC". Other than that I can't help.

Glad you like the combat control. I honestly couldn't play FO2 any other way now.
 
Found it!

;Set to 1 to speed up the hp/ac counter animations
SpeedInterfaceCounterAnims=1

Really speeds up the combat especially with direct follower control. Any reason why this is not activated by default? Buggy or just cause it differs from the original?
 
I guess sfall default settings aims to introduce only those changes that considered to be "bug fixes". So you get your vanilla game, slightly fixed up, but with default behavior everywhere.
 
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