Is it possible to add shields to troopers and such enemies?

[ravager]

Hello, everyone. I apologize if my english is not good. Is there some way to add shields to cerberus troopers, geth troopers, etc? I've tried to tweaking Coalesced.bin in "biodifficulty" section, but it doesn't work. I think that's because enemies like troopers don't have sections related to shields in SFXPawn_(enemy name).pcc files. Centurion, for an example, has some shields sections.

I'm newcomer in masseffect modding, so i might be wrong. I've searched a lot but couldn't find any solution. I would be very grateful if anyone could help me, or maybe give me a link, if that theme had already discussed. Thank you.

[sil]

Hullo Ravager,

You've come to the right place for a question like this. I would expect that the Coalesced is the right document to edit to add shields, but I've never experimented with it. Someone else might know, I expect someone will answer with more knowledge soon.

[Deleted]

I'll check on this tonight as this has interested me as well.

[mgamerz]

Very unlikely. The shields module is loaded in the AI init, and enemies that don't have shields normally don't have that object initialized. It would require unrealscript editing.

Technically possible if there were no if statements - but since we don't know the size of jumps to make writing new code is a huge guessing game.

Also, writing unrealscript via hex editor tokens is a massive, massive, massssiiivvveee pain.

I've worked pretty extensively on game scripts and MP so I've worked a lot in the area you describe.

It is possible to give an enemy one though, like with barrier engine. However I am unsure how you would bake that into the game for real world use.

Also in SP every enemy is baked into the level files. You'd have to edit it everywhere level it was baked in. It's why there's very little enemy modding for SP. It's also why editing MP enemies is a lot easier as there is only one copy of the enemy file to edit.

The SFXPawn_Enemy.pcc files are used in MP. These files are fully cooked into SP level files (notably Biod files) where there's also a full copy of it. This is done for consoles to load faster (less seek time)

Incidentally that's why ME3 SP Controller mod is so big - tons of files with a single UI that has to be replaced.

[kinkojiro]

It is actually possible but tedious.

You need to find the SFXPawn's loadout and add shields to it.   This requires updating every single Pcc that has that spawn in it.  You also must have the correct particlesystem and sound files present (or copy them all in, and relink everything inside the emitter).  So I guess it would be easiest if you can already find a file that has something with shields (e.g. Cerberus Troopers and Centurions etc).

[ravager]

Thanks to everyone for answers. I had feeling that might require a lots of files editing. I assume objects called "PawnShield" in "DrawDifficulty" and "Initialize" reply for that. But I don't see a way how add it to troopers without repacking pcc file. Also I suspect it might require some textures, animations, sounds for a proper work.
I find something related to shields in SFXPawn_Trooper.pcc. For example - "GetMaxShields", "ShieldsUp", "ShieldsDown". Probably it used for those cerberus shields generators you mentioned, which able to create shields for any enemy (also biotic barrier generators for the reapers). Maybe there is some way to force that option without generators itself.
Thank you for your detailed answers, Mgamerz!

[ravager]

O, thanks Kinkojiro, but I'm not much of a modder, maybe its also language barrier. Whats the loadout, and how to add shields to it?


UPD: Okay, I think I get it. Probably.

[mgamerz]

The loadout is an object that is attached to the archetype of the enemy. In Package explorer tree view you should see archetypes. In there it will list the gun (an export) and a shield.

If you are using a husk it will list neither. The items listed must be included in that file or imported.

[ravager]

I add shield objects to geth trooper for sublevel of "geth dreadnought' where we had first encounter with geth.
Most of the objects are already been there because rocket troopers appears in that sublevel as well, and they have shields. So I just copied some of it and attach to the trooper's initialize. Package Explorer shows me that shields were successfully added to trooper.

Then I compared script of trooper to the script of rocket trooper. These scripts are almost similar, except shields. Based on that, I manually wrote tokens of shield scripts in "Initialize" and "DrawDifficulty".
But for some reason shield script gives a links to float settings of the rocket trooper instead of the trooper. For example, "PawnShield.ShieldRegenDelay.Value = DH.GetFloat('AIShieldRegenDelay','GethRocketTrooper');". This value specifies how fast shield should be regenerated after its was broken.

I also add shields to troopers in the Coalesced biodifficulty, but i think it shouldn't work anyway because scripts referred to rocket trooper.
I've tried to run level, though. Game just freezes in the beginning of sublevel.