Bot Support for Skins

[BabyEater]

Starry Night pointed out some really good issues with my Speculum Skinpack over on UT2003HQ.

I'm going to post it here:

First, I noticed that in your BOTSUPPORT.txt file, you say to copy certain stuff into the xplayersL1.upl file. You should NEVER mess with the game`s xplayersL1.upl and xplayersL2.upl files (or at least back them up if you do)! If you do, you won`t be able to play online or on LAN due to version mismatch errors. Custom skins, models, and skin/model packs can have their own .UPL files (and your skins do have their own .UPL files) and they`ll still work.

Second, I noticed another problem with the strings in the characters` .UPL files that are linked to the Bios that go in the XPlayers.int file:

Text=XPlayers.JuggMaleBA=
Text=XPlayers.MercFemaleAB=
Text=Xplayers.MercMaleAB=
Text=XPlayers.MercMaleDA=
Text=XPlayers.HellionsAB=

Those strings are already in use by characters that come with the game (Cannonball, BlackJack, Torch, Malcolm, and Garrett, respectively). You should give them their own Text strings (such as Text=XPlayers.SpeculumSludge=, Text=XPlayers.SpeculumSynth=, Text=XPlayers.SpeculumWelder=, Text=XPlayers.SpeculumCondor=, and Text=XPlayers.SpeculumWreckingBall= - no quotes!) in their respective .UPL files so they don`t clash with the stock characters.

These are some really great points. When I put it together, I was seriously doing things exactly how I'd seen them done in just about every skin I'd downloaded. I had no clue you could put bot info straight into the character UPL and whatnot. Plus, this these player strings things are completely foreign to me. I typically don't change anything that I don't absolutely have to, but apparently I need to be.

Does anyone know of a tut about this kind of thing? Or better yet, does anyone know enough to take the time and make a rundown of all the things you need to include in your UPL files for bot support?

It'd be phat appreciated.
BabyEater