Can't select Alien in Skirmish?

[hushicho]

I've been having a heck of a time with this game. It's interesting, but I'm still not sure about it. And now I find it's not letting me select Alien in Skirmish. Is this a bug or is it really impossible to play Alien in the Skirmish mode? I really hope it's not and I'm just missing something obvious...

[Mad Max RW]

There never was a skirmish mode designed for Alien players. I can quickly and easily convert the maps so you fight endless respawning waves of marines by yourself, but it gets boring without other players. Also, the alien enemy AI doesn't attack the Alien player. Replay the singleplayer episodes instead.

[BleedURealQuiet]

There never was a skirmish mode designed for Alien players. I can quickly and easily convert the maps so you fight endless respawning waves of marines by yourself, but it gets boring without other players. Also, the alien enemy AI doesn't attack the Alien player. Replay the singleplayer episodes instead.

Actually that's not an entirely terrible idea.

But I doubt it can be made where players will be able to select Alien for Co-Op mode just to fight AI-controlled marines and predators. Or unless I misunderstood something O_o

What about endless amount of AI controlled FaceHuggers, and Maybe Xenoborgs and Queens? I bet it would be the most scariest custom map ever if it was dark and filled with Face Huggers.

Oh can you make hatching eggs and have huggers jump out of them. Is that also possible?

AvP2 had that but never understood why they couldn't have that in AvP1, my best guess had to do with engine limitations.

[Mad Max RW]

It can be done but not for online coop. Only singleplayer or offline skirmish by yourself. If Rebellion released the updated AvP Classic source code it might be another story. But for now you'll just have to trust me. I played around with converting maps and it gets boring fast. Better to replay the already existing singleplayer episodes on Director's Cut difficulty.

In short, multiplayer with computer controlled marines, predators, facehuggers, queens, androids, or anything other than Aliens (aliens, predaliens, and praetorians) is totally impossible.

[BleedURealQuiet]

It can be done but not for online coop. Only singleplayer or offline skirmish by yourself. If Rebellion released the updated AvP Classic source code it might be another story. But for now you'll just have to trust me. I played around with converting maps and it gets boring fast. Better to replay the already existing singleplayer episodes on Director's Cut difficulty.

Or Impossible Mission if Marine or Alien. Can these maps be converted with a Tool Patcher utility of some sort or will manual editing be required?

In short, multiplayer with computer controlled marines, predators, facehuggers, queens, androids, or anything other than Aliens (aliens, predaliens, and praetorians) is totally impossible.

And this is entirely Rebellion's fault for not willing to release an updated Source Code with Editing Tools? Or would it take more than a source code?

(BIG SIGH)

But what about the original source code? Although I think that is entirely up to sirlemonhead since he is the only one who actually did an update fix patch of some sort.

[Mad Max RW]

Or Impossible Mission if Marine or Alien. Can these maps be converted with a Tool Patcher utility of some sort or will manual editing be required?

You have to manually edit the maps with the official AvP Gold editing tools by adding spawn points and NPC (non player character) generators, as well as creating paths for the AI to follow. Unfortunately, the editors only work properly (or even install) if you have AvP Gold Edition and Windows XP 32 bit. As far as I remember none of the unofficial editors such as the Patcher and other things work for AvP Classic.


And this is entirely Rebellion's fault for not willing to release an updated Source Code with Editing Tools? Or would it take more than a source code?

To my understanding it's entirely up to Rebellion. When AvP Classic was first released on Steam many of us emailed asking them to also re-release the AvP Gold editors as well as the source code updated to the same version of the game we have on Steam (AvP Classic 2000) as well as updating to modern operating systems. The response was always a short "No".

The source code is basically the whole game and how it functions. New weapons can be added, change running speed, new vision modes, AI, everything. You edit files with C++ then compile a new executable, so you then have a new separate game to launch from.


But what about the original source code? Although I think that is entirely up to sirlemonhead since he is the only one who actually did an update fix patch of some sort.

It's funny, because the initial release of AvP Classic was nearly identical to his AvP Gold source patch. A few official patches later and Rebellion changed things enough it's basically a whole new game. The Steam integration for multiplayer is awesome. I'd rather go forwards than backwards. Plus AvP Gold with source mods remains buggy as hell on just about any OS.