Creating healing auras using the Advanced Genie Editor

Age of Empires II: DE II - Modding
1

A while ago I had an idea: to create a mod that enables campaign heroes for some (if not all) civilizations and give them an aura, similar to the 3K civs.

I discovered and figured out how to use the A.G.E, thanks to this video and this page , among others. My favorite civ is the Achaemenids, so I started with them. Their primary hero is Artaphernes. My idea for him was to have a healing aura similar to Liu Bei, but larger, possibly faster, and for archers & cavalry only. I used the A.G.E. to enable him for the Achaemenids, make trainable in the castle/fort, and create a build limit of 1. Then I copied over the (I think) healing aura tasks from Liu Bei for Archers, Cavalry, and Cav Archers. I can start a game and create Artaphernes just like any ordinary unit. He regenerates HP, cannot be converted, glows, has a build limit of 1, and . . . does not have any sort of aura.

I tried copying those 3 tasks TO THE LETTER-no deviation whatsoever, not even the “Resource Gathering/Deposit Sound”. Still nothing. I searched in the techs, effects, and units tabs for ANYTHING related to Liu Bei’s aura. Nothing except what I already found in the Task section of the unit.

Below are pictures of Liu Bei’s and Artaphernes’ (nonfunctional) Cavalry Archer healing auras.

Liu Bei Cav Archer Aura
Liu Bei Cav Archer Aura1920Ă—1080 153 KB

Artaphernes Cav Archer Aura
Artaphernes Cav Archer Aura1920Ă—1080 149 KB

I have 2 theories as to why the aura isn’t working: the first and most likely is that I somehow have to designate the effect of the aura. Liu Bei, Cao Cao and Sun Jian all have different aura effects, but when I compared the task sections of Liu Bei and Cao Cao, I found no significant difference. Is there some way to specify the effect of an aura that I haven’t yet discovered?

My 2nd (and probably not realistic) theory is that I need a unique value for one of the variables, such as Search Wait Time (anybody know what that is?). The two heroes might be trying to use the same effect and cancelling out the auras.

Does anybody have experience with this? If so, please let me know the answer! This is my first time using the A.G.E, and I have absolutely no idea what to do at this point. Thanks!

Is it possible to create units like we do in scenerio editor in REAL game?
Custom Unit Descriptions in the A.G.E
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The main piece that you’re currently missing is the value of the “Break off Combat” field (just above the tasks section, it’s visible in both your screenshots). You need to set it to 32 to have auras take effect, and set it to 96 if you want an aura like the Monaspa (where it draws strength from others rather than giving it). You may also find this page useful in terms of documentation for a lot of the fields in AGE (even if they don’t always go by the same names). Hope that helps.

3

Thank you! It works now, though the side of effect of not enabling infantry healing means that Immortals have to be in ranged mode to heal.

Now for the other civs’ heroes: how do I specify what the aura does if I want it to, say, increase attack/movement speed or add armor to nearby units? And what do “search wait time” and “unused flag” do?

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Go here

And Search for

New Updated Functionalities

and then, open it and then Search for

New/Updated Tasks

Each task has it’s own meanings for their parameters

If you have more questions, maybe you could try here

Really nice people

5

Thanks! So based on that page, the Search Wait Time box specifies which attribute is modified? And I can modify ANY ATTRIBUTE from this list?

1 Like
6

For task 155, yes

I guess. Give it a try and tell us what you find

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Last I heard, no. But that was when it was first introduced. So they may have added more. I guess the best way would be get it working for one attribute then change it to one you want to test.

1 Like
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I’ll add that in this case t shiuld be easier to use .xs to change attributes, foe testing purposes, so they don’t need to open and close the game every time they need to modify an attribute