New monsters

[OjitroC]

Steele Dawn ScriptedPawns

IF YOU HAVEN'T PLAYED STEELE DAWN BUT INTEND TO DO SO, YOU MAY WISH TO SKIP THIS POST (OR NOT READ THE SPOILERS)

This is the basic list of 'monsters' in SteeleDawnPak.u - set out in no particular order

SteeleDawnPak.FlamingGasBag
SteeleDawnPak.GoldenBlade
SteeleDawnPak.SkaarjPraetorian
SteeleDawnPak.Pirate
SteeleDawnPak.PirateEye
SteeleDawnPak.PirateGlasses
SteeleDawnPak.Predator
SteeleDawnPak.Quadrapred
SteeleDawnPak.Scorpion
SteeleDawnPak.SDKrall
SteeleDawnPak.SDKrallB
SteeleDawnPak.SDLavaBeast
SteeleDawnPak.SDLavaBeastB
SteeleDawnPak.SKaarjGrenadier
SteeleDawnPak.Spinner
SteeleDawnPak.Spiner
SteeleDawnPak.Maiden
SteeleDawnPak.Shadow
SteeleDawnPak.SkaarjBoss
SteeleDawnPak.Skaarjworshipper
SteeleDawnPak.LesserSkaarjworshipperA
SteeleDawnPak.LesserSkaarjworshipperB
SteeleDawnPak.PirateTaylor

There are also a number of friendly Nali types including females.

A ScriptedPawns not unique to Steele Dawn
SkaarjPraetorian
Predator
Maiden
Shadow
Scorpion
Spinner

Familiar enough and, as far as I can tell, nothing out of the ordinary about them.

B Variants of 'default' ScriptedPawns
FlamingGasBag

Spoiler

This is indeed a flaming gasbag - nice skin and effects - projectile is a flaming gasbag belch. In SD this GB is a minion for the SkaarjWorshippers - see later for a fuller explanation

FGB.jpg

GoldenBlade

Spoiler

A SkaarjWarrior type - the skin reflects the name as it has elments of gold - fires a golden coloured version of the normal skaarj projectile though it is much more deadly as it is explosive and will 'throw' the player quite a distance so dodge them as much as possible

GBlade.jpg

SDKrall
SDKrallB

Spoiler

Dragonkin Krall - a distinctive skin and looks a little fatter than normal - they have an explosive fireball type projectile that causes continuing fire damage to the player and 'burns' the area where it hits leaving flames for a while - the projectile is fast and has a long range - it is also large and this will make it difficult to pinpoint the Krall's position exactly. The difference between the two types is in their health - the one shown here is a SDKrallB - the SDKrall has 180 health

SDKrall.jpg

SkaarjGrenadier

Spoiler

A Skaarj Trooper armed with the F-3 Grenade Launcher a SD special - take out a Grenadier early to get the weapon! I think everyone knows what a Skaarj Trooper looks like - get hold of Steele Dawn to see the Grenade Launcher and the other 'special' weapons, unique to SD

Spiner

Spoiler

A much quicker and more vicious variety of Spinner

Spiner.jpg

C Scripted Pawns Unique to SD
Pirate
PirateEye
PirateGlasses

Spoiler

A unique model - the three pirate types are distinguishable by their faces (Eye having only one eye, Glasses having well ... glasses). They have a built-in weapon firing a form of Krall bolt - the other difference between the types is in their health as you can see

Pir.jpg

PirGlass.jpg

PirEye.jpg

They talk quite a lot - taunting the player.

Quadrapred

Spoiler

Related to the predator, the Ravager shares its aggressiveness but has, as the name suggests, four legs - also has a gel-like projectile

QuadP.jpg

SDLavaBeast
SDLavaBeastB

Spoiler

A Titan that lives in and emerges from a pool of lava - initally there is just the pool of lava, when the player comes within range then the Titan will emerge and start throwing magma - when killed it will spawn 2 slightly smaller versions and this process of spawning smaller types will continue for several cycles (4 cycles I think but when faced with them one doesn't spend too much time counting how many emerge!). Nicely textured with some great effects - all in all, a great idea that shows what can be done with some imagination!

No difference between the two types as far as I can see in the default properties or the code. Used in MonsterSpawn, they may not emerge at all or the lava pools may be left over once they are all killed - no idea what happens in MH - would need to be tested particularly if one doesn't want lava pools all over the place
A Glasses Pirate with the LavaBeast lurking in its lava pool in the background

LavaBeast.jpg

An enraged LavaBeast hurling magma at Konoko

LavaBeastA.jpg

She didn't hang around to try to kill it and get some shots of more spawning - get Steele Dawn and see that for yourself!

[OjitroC]

D Scripted Pawns Unique to SD that could be used in other contexts but are specificaly coded for SD
In essence these will not work as well as they do in SD if used in other contexts.

Skaarjworshipper
LesserSkaarjworshipperA
LesserSkaarjworshipperB

Spoiler

Formidable foes - the Worshippers have high health with the Lesser having, as their name suggest, less health (1K as opposed to 2K); they are quick and fire a projectile based on the SkaarjProjectile though with a range of effects that are quite spectacular. The three types have different skins though this is isn't noticeable as they all have a shieldbelt effect. They take damage at a low rate and will, at certain points as their health drops, summon minions (2 FlamingGasBags) to carry on the combat whilst they relax for a while. Their projectile also changes with decreasing health. Their other power is teleportation - at certain points in combat they will teleport - of course they require Destinations placed in a map in order to do this so the full effect is best observed in Steele Dawn. Again two interesting features that are seldom used elsewhere and which could, suitably adapted, find a place in the more imaginative MH maps.

When spawned in MonsterSpawn they start off with the ButtonPusher animations - which look rather odd - would do the same in MH unless that property is set to False.

Because they will try to teleport, if they are placed in a map with no destinations there will be a LOT of ScriptWarnings

Code: Select all

LesserSkaarjWorshipperB1 (Function SteeleDawnPak.SkaarjWorshipper.Teleporting.ChooseDestination:00F6) Accessed None 'N'

in the log - their teleport effects and sound will also play which may or may not be desirable.

The SkaarjWorshipper

Worshipper.jpg

The projectiles

WorshipProj.jpg

SkaarjBoss

Spoiler

The key Boss - a Skaarj warrior type with a range of special powers, including an invulnerability shield and the power to teleport. Play Steele Dawn to see the boss in action - but beware, be afraid, be very afraid!

PirateTaylor

Spoiler

The Boss of the pirates - same model, different face - higher health than the other pirates and a more damaging projectile - can telepor. Play Steele Dawn to see Taylor!

As an aside
Some projectiles, notably the SDKrall's, currently give rise to ScriptWarnings - using a lot of SKKrall in a map may result in quite a lot of log spam. The SkaarjWorshipper types will also generate log warnings if they have no destination to teleport to.

[EvilGrins]

Are all the Steel Dawn monsters dependent on Oldskool Amp'd?

Because I don't use that and I'm not seeing any of these monsters in either SteeleDawnPak.u or SteeleDawnPakUT.u at all.

[OjitroC]

No, not according to UTPT - outside of a number of 'usual' external files (UnrealI, UnrealShare, etc), they require the files that come with SD (the FNali Skins, the Brandon skin, SDVoices).

Check the Editor log for any messages when you open SteeleDawnPak.u - you should see this

Spoiler

Log: Loading class from C:\UnrealTournament\System\SteeleDawnPak.u...
DevLoad: Loading: Package SteeleDawnPak
DevLoad: Loading: Package SDVoices
DevLoad: Loading: Package genfluid
DevLoad: Loading: Package SpaceFX
DevLoad: Loading: Package GenFX
DevLoad: Loading: Package male3skinsbrand
DevLoad: Loading: Package AmbAncient
DevLoad: Loading: Package Activates
DevLoad: Loading: Package FNaliSkins
DevLoad: Loading: Package GenWarp
DevLoad: Loading: Package Ancient
DevLoad: Loading: Package Detail
Warning: Property bNetNotify of Class SteeleDawnPak.QuadrapredProjectile not found
Warning: Skipping 0 bytes of type 3

Or a log error saying why SteeleDawnPak.u can't be opened. The list of loaded packages tells you what the dependencies are and confirms that Oldskool and related files are not required.

A tip - always use UTPT to look at unfamiliar .u files - you would need to look at every branch in the Actor tree to get a comprehensive idea of what's in a .u when using the Editor - using UTPT sets it all out clearly with no hassle.

[OjitroC]

A brief update on the Steele Dawn SkaarjWorshippers :

When spawned by MonsterSpawn in certain maps, the SkaarjWorshipper (and the LesserSWs) will, after first taking damage, teleport to a central point in the map some distance above the ground and fall playing its teleporting animation and firing at the player - it will continue to do this, teleporting up and falling, until damaged enough to summon its minions. This cycle will continue until killed or until the end of the MonsterSpawn cycle when it will be removed.

The overall effect is quite spectacular especially when the SW's health is lowered and the number of projectiles it fires increases.

As far as I can tell (and this is largely a guess as the code is obfuscated and I would struggle to understand it anyway) MonsterSpawn places a some form of QueenDestination in the centre of the map so that a Manta can be spawned to alert the player should there be an error in the spawning of monsters (most often a typo in the MonsterSpawn.ini which of course means that a particular package can't be found or a particular monster can't found in a package). So it appears that the SW can use this though it should be noted that it still generates a load of ScriptWarnings.

No idea why only in certain maps - possibly something to do with the size of the map?