Understanding attack animation "Tracks", actions and effects

[Lucubration]

Hey, folks. I've finally gotten a mod to a state where I'm comfortable showing my work, but along the way I've run into some issues. I thought I'd toss one out here to see if anyone else has run into similar issues yet.

 

I'm trying to do a custom set of visualizations for an ability. In this one, I'm trying to apply a hidden effect to the soldier using the ability that will play the Advent reinforcement flare out in the world. The issues here are two-fold:

 

First, the visualizations for the targets time out because they don't register that they're hit with an attack when I apply a (different) debuff effect to them. I think they're actually waiting around to be hit by projectiles, and I'm just not sure how to resolve this (besides removing those lines, but it seems like there should be a way to do this without disrupting the normal animation sequence where the targets react to being hit).

 

Second, the flare effect itself isn't playing. It's supposed to be part of the X2Effect_Persistent subclass that's silently applied as a buff to the soldier using the ability, but it doesn't seem to be playing at all. This one I'm going to be actively working on, but if anyone has experience things like the effects just refusing be applied like this before, I'd love to hear about it; it may be relevant in this situation.

 

A distant third (which I'm not even sold on doing yet) is putting the Advent captain's Marked target effect on the affected targets with the debuff. I can't find anything in the UnrealScript source referencing this effect or how it's applied to a unit. Anyone seen it in their exploration?

 

The mod is available here if you're interested in checking out the actual source. It's a custom class with a lot of new abilities, and is partly just a sort of a tutorial I put together for myself to learn Xcom 2 modding. (If you're learning the same stuff, you might find it a useful resource, too).

 

Thanks for any help. :smile:

[Lucubration]

Okay, the second problem I figured out myself; definitely my own fault.

 

I'm still kind of stumped about the mechanics of the X2Action_WaitForAbilityEffect class and how it interacts with effects applied to the target, though; why doesn't any effect trigger it, what's special about X2Effect_ApplyWeaponDamage, and how can I work around it?