Gunner IFVs

Gunner=yes units support changing their weapon depending on their first passenger. While it was quite versatile for players and while it supported some customization for modders, this logic added in Red Alert 2 was rather rigidly hardcoded internally. Ares changes this.

Multiple IFVs

The [FV] was the only unit to be checked for the special turret and weapon flags, such as SniperTurretIndex. With Ares, all VehicleTypes with Gunner=yes set will read those flags. This means that you can now have multiple types of IFV.

New in version 0.1.

More Turrets and Weapons

Ares supports more than 18 different turret and barrel voxels, which means TurretCount now can be set to values greater than 18. TurretCount values greater than 127 are not supported, though.

Also, units having multiple turrets enabled by the use of TurretCount have been expanded to support more than 18 weapons along with their elite counterparts, thus more than 18 different IFVModes are now possible.

New in version 0.E.

Defining IFV Modes

Ares replaces the original parsing of the tags mapping weapons to turrets like InitiateWeaponIndex and InitiateTurretIndex. No longer are the values applied even though the weapon index is -1 (which is the default and which usually resulted in corruptions and crashes). Gunner=yes units will not change properties if their section is defined for example in a map file without restating all those mappings.

For the additional IFVModes Ares adds an alternative way to define which turret to use for which weapon using a single tag each. Also, a warning message is put into the debug log if an index is set to an invalid value.

[TechnoType]►WeaponTurretIndexX= (integer - turret index)

The turret index used when WeaponX and EliteWeaponX are active, defined by IFVMode on the passenger. X is the number from 1 to WeaponCount. Defaults to -1.

Note

Note that WeaponX is 1-based while IFVMode is 0-based. For example IFVMode=4 activates Weapon5 and uses the turret index set as WeaponTurretIndex5.

Optionally, the Gunner=yes unit can have its own custom tool tip text for each active weapon, which can be set using the following tags.

Note that this is different from the original game’s approach which focused on the active turret index to determine what name to show. The game used hardcoded labels for certain turrets and could also merge the final tool tip from the passenger type’s name and the transport’s name.

[TechnoType]►WeaponUINameX= (CSF label)

If set, is used as tool tip for this Gunner=yes unit if weapon X is active. X is the number from 1 to WeaponCount. If not set, defaults to the original behavior.

New in version 0.E.

VoiceIFVRepair

In Ares you can specify the VoiceIFVRepair tag on any IFV unit.

[VehicleType]►VoiceIFVRepair= (soundmd entry)

Specifies the response this IFV gives when ordered to repair something. If this value is not set, [VehicleType]►VoiceAttack is used. Defaults to [AudioVisual]►VoiceIFVRepair for [FV], otherwise to none.

New in version 0.2.