I didn't really get the "missile skill" question since I just used a basic projectile, attached it to a wand and tried to get a proc working upon hitting an enemy, so there were no extra skills involved....although I was considering doing a two-stage skill, one attached to a weapon directly through [SKILL] brackets with fixed cast odds/chance, then a subsequent one firing from [EXECUTE_SKILL] when a condition was met.

Is that what you mean with those two files? Because again, it's a weapon proc, not a character skill.
And I honestly didn't consider EVENT_UNITHIT because I always thought it implies the player character, not enemy, though I was probably wrong and that bracket relies on target alignment for checks on what to apply and where, oh well.

Anywho, thanks for the solution, I'll see if I can integrate this somehow and will post results, probably very soon since it's bound to go wrong at some point.

Edit: just tried using the exact files you provided, after adjusting internals/names etc, but it doesn't work at all, so kinda back to square one with this.

Edit 2: another issue I'm having is if I fire the weapon at point blank range, particles defined under missile's "HIT" section don't play, presumably because the missile doesn't have enough room to spawn. I'm also unsure if there is a way to override them to always play or something along those lines.
Obviously weapon damage still connects as normal and the particle issue is mostly visible on melee enemies.

Thanks for that @Phanjam looks like it works as intended, but one issue remains: the skill procs off another weapon if I'm using two 1-handed ranged weapons, even if they're completely different ones, eg default starter pistol from outlander preset char [GUTS testing] and the main wand I'm working on.

This will defo sound a bit roundabout but it might be possible to reverse exploding glaive and how it casts a skill on missile impact. I know it would pretty much waste your effort here but at the same time it would also ensure that the proc doesn't fire via another weapon, especially if said weapon is something that isn't even supposed to fire that skill.

So here's a "quick" rundown of what I'm thinking.
Change effect type strapped to the wand to "CAST SKILL", modify base/parent skill to include a layout which spawns wand missiles, have an EVENT_MISSILEDIE bracket that calls 2nd skill which procs the shockbolts, and that should cover it.

Oh yeah and then there's that thing poking my tiny OCD, the whole "no hit particles on point blank strike" zzzzzzz.
But if memory serves, layouts can contain a type of "starting" particle, stuff that shows as soon as the skill is cast.

The above is just "thinking out loud", I'd be happy to see what you reckon because there might be an even easier way, cos the one I'm pondering now is kinda technical, a bit roundabout, but overall not too complicated.

Good grief, tell me about it...

I also realised that my proposed solution will be a mess too, since I completely forgot that 100% cast chance is ONLY during testing to make sure the procs work, while it would normally be 12-16% in release version, since I normally base odds on DPS and weapon speed etc.

But yeah, I was thinking about attaching a skill, like rifles and cannons do to all the weapons.
Said skill spawns the missile, and the detonation particles on impact would spawn via EXECUTE_SKILL, but that creates an issue because it would need another skill that has a chance to proc shockbolts.

And here's where the fun begins: how do we link a missile spawner from the parent weapon skill and tell it to ALWAYS spawn the missile, BUT also give the missile a 16% chance to proc shockbolts???

If that can be figured out, then we are golden and I do appreciate your interest and will to experiment with this weird creation.
I was thinking about 2 EXECUTE_SKILL brackets, one calling the missile spawner with 100% chance, while the shockbolt proc would have its own cast chance INSIDE the skill file. Do you think that would work or would EXECUTE_SKILL just override that?

Hiya @Phanjam finally got a few days off so decided to give this a proper go.

I got good news and bad news: good news is using the missile/impact FX spawner works fine for now; haven't tried making it cast shockbolts just yet, only just about getting the hang of advanced layout use.

Bad news is... the missile "skill" fires about 20 times per second as long as the target is highlit. Yes, 20 times per second with no player input.
How do I remedy this?

Here's the "parent" skill code. By parent I mean it's attached directly to the item via Skills tab, not via Effects or Affix list.

Spoiler (hover to show)

Code: [Select]

[SKILL]
<STRING>NAME:EEC_Gauss_Wand_Skill
<TRANSLATE>DISPLAYNAME:Gauss Wand Fire
<STRING>ACTIVATION_TYPE:NORMAL
<STRING>TARGET_ALIGNMENT:EVIL
<FLOAT>RANGE:12
<BOOL>CAN_PROC_FROM_SKILL:0
<FLOAT>SPEED:1.3
<BOOL>IGNORES_CAST_SPEED:1
<FLOAT>FINDTARGETANGLE:360
<FLOAT>TURNRATEOVERRIDE:-1
<BOOL>SHOW_IN_BUFFLIST:0
<BOOL>CAN_BE_SILENCED:0
<INTEGER64>UNIQUE_GUID:-4531513201108269957
[LEVEL1]
[EVENT_START]
<STRING>FILE:media/skills/weapon/eec_gauss_wand_missile_spawner.layout
<BOOL>ATTACHES:1
<FLOAT>WEAPONDAMAGEPCT:100
<FLOAT>CHARGESCALEPCT:50
<BOOL>USEDPS:1
<BOOL>DAMAGESHAPES_HIT_ONCE:1
<BOOL>STATSHIDDEN:1
<BOOL>CAN_CLONE:0
<BOOL>BUILD_CHARGE:1
[/EVENT_START]
[EVENT_MISSILEDIE]
<STRING>FILE:media/skills/weapon/eec_gauss_wand_impact_fx_spawner.layout
<BOOL>CAN_CLONE:0
[/EVENT_MISSILEDIE]
[/LEVEL1]
[/SKILL]


Also, it would appear the missile itself fires from character's feet rather than wand. Any ideas as to which file controls this?
Is it down to the spawner or can skill controller modify firing offset/position?

Yep, that's a complete replacement for missile, as spawned with skill layouts.
To be fair, all I've done was retracing RNF's TL1 rifles which attach base skill to items, with said skill having a .layout which spawns units.

And well, I might have been exagerrating with 20, it's more like 5-6 or so, but the wand seems to continue firing without player input, OR as long as target is highlit after being clicked on once, not entirely sure as I didn't catch the exact timing.
If memory serves, his rifle skill entries don't have a cooldown either, so it might be something in missile spawner .layout, I'll have a look later on, in the meantime, I can paste a couple codes.

Unit data:

Spoiler (hover to show)

Code: [Select]

[UNIT]
<STRING>NAME:eec_gauss_wand
<STRING>BASEFILE:media/units/items/wands/base_wand_unique.dat
<INTEGER>DAMAGE_FIRE:5
<INTEGER>DAMAGE_ICE:5
<INTEGER>DAMAGE_PHYSICAL:10
<TRANSLATE>DISPLAYNAME:Wand Of The Fallen
<INTEGER>LEVEL:96
<INTEGER>RARITY:45
<INTEGER>SPEED_DMG_MOD:100
<INTEGER>SPEED:130
<INTEGER>DAMAGE_POISON:5
<INTEGER>DAMAGE_ELECTRIC:100
<INTEGER>MAGIC_REQUIRED:90
<TRANSLATE>DESCRIPTION:Possessed by a spirit of a fallen Embermage.
<STRING>ICON:icon_weapon_wand22
<STRING>MESHFILE:wand22
<STRING>RESOURCEDIRECTORY:media/models/weapons/_Wands
<FLOAT>RANGE:12
<STRING>UNIT_GUID:-3278069737865128824
<INTEGER>MAX_SOCKETS:5
<INTEGER>MINDAMAGE:80
<INTEGER>MAXDAMAGE:92
<INTEGER>MINLEVEL:82
<INTEGER>MAXLEVEL:999
<INTEGER>RARITY_DMG_MOD:160
<FLOAT>STRIKERANGE:0.01
[SKILL]
<STRING>NAME:EEC_GAUSS_WAND_SKILL
<INTEGER>LEVEL:1
<INTEGER>CHANCE:100
[/SKILL]
[/UNIT]

Missile spawner:

Spoiler (hover to show)

Code: [Select]

[Layout]
<INTEGER>VERSION:4
<UNSIGNED INT>COUNT:2
[OBJECTS]
[BASEOBJECT]
[PROPERTIES]
<STRING>DESCRIPTOR:Unit Spawner
<STRING>NAME:Unit Spawner
<INTEGER64>ID:-2767900070586214794
<INTEGER64>PARENTID:-1
<STRING>MIN RADIUS:0,0.1
<STRING>MAX RADIUS:0,0.5
<STRING>ANGLE:0,0
<UNSIGNED INT>COUNT:1
<FLOAT>DURATION:0.1
<STRING>GROUP:Missiles
<STRING>RESOURCE:EEC_GAUSS_WAND_MISSILE
[/PROPERTIES]
[CHILDREN]
[/CHILDREN]
[/BASEOBJECT]
[BASEOBJECT]
[PROPERTIES]
<STRING>DESCRIPTOR:Timeline
<STRING>NAME:Timeline1
<INTEGER64>ID:-1905267641609544168
<INTEGER64>PARENTID:-1
<STRING>NAME:Timeline1
[TIMELINEDATA]
<INTEGER64>ID:-1905267641609544168
[TIMELINEOBJECT]
<INTEGER64>OBJECTID:-2767900070586214794
[TIMELINEOBJECTEVENT]
<STRING>OBJECTEVENTNAME:Spawn Units
[TIMELINEPOINT]
<FLOAT>TIMEPERCENT:0
<STRING>INTERPOLATION:Linear
[/TIMELINEPOINT]
[/TIMELINEOBJECTEVENT]
[/TIMELINEOBJECT]
[/TIMELINEDATA]
[/PROPERTIES]
[CHILDREN]
[/CHILDREN]
[/BASEOBJECT]
[/OBJECTS]
[/Layout]


Alternatively, I can copy entire mod folder, isolate the files I'm working on and then pack and attach for your consideration if you'd like.
As you've noticed from parent skill, I moved every skill/layout file to "media/skills/weapon" dir, might do the same for other skills in next update; seems a lot easier to work skills from a single folder as long as names are really obvious and verbose.
Also, if the whole shockbolt deal doesn't work, and chances are that might be the case, there's a fallback I have in mind, but more on that later.

Edit: I've done some more testing and....I still don't know how to make it fire once, or make it fire from the weapon rather than character bone.
At least this time I know what the skills is doing. It's firing new missile as soon as old missile registers a hit, but I still have no clue how to make it fire manually.
Tried different strings/bools/etc like duration override, cooldown, execute skill count, cloning set to 1, that sort of thing.
At this stage I'm curious if the skill loops between _START and _MISSILEDIE because there is no EVENT_END, but TL1 rifle skill only has EVENT_START and works just fine.
I've done a side-by-side comparison between TL1 rifles' skill, unit spawner and timeline properties; no changes, still reactivates the moment an existing missile hits target.

Edit 2: something weird just happened with GUTS. I restarted it to make sure skill edits take effect, and now it insists on using default FIREWAND missile no matter what. It makes all edits and the attached skill completely useless. I keep manually deleting the missile entry but it keeps coming back.
Other than creating new basefiles that omit MISSILE entries, I have no clue what to do.

Edit 3: tried the new basefile route, made sure everything is identical to vanilla basefiles barring missile entries and GUIDs. Still no dice, skill won't fire.
I'm attaching the archive for the wand, its associated particles, skills, missiles, anything related to the item itself.
Perhaps you can shed some light on why it doesn't work or maybe why GUTS suddenly decided to start breaking things.

Funny you should say that @Phanjam


I've already learned to have at least 2-3 fallback ideas when dealing with the editor.
Anywho, gonna work on final class-themed weapon soon, a shotgun for outlander that spawns netherling brute on kill, 5% chance or so.
Already analysed wand chaos shadow bat proc for basic skill-to-proc conversion template, as well as main skill data for the shadowling brute.

The only advice I can ask from you, since you're awol from modding - what sort of affixes/data I can ditch from the skill and affixes it adds, which bits of info I can integrate into summon's main data file: health? Armour? Damage ranges and/or graph use?

Also, should I make it, a) timer-based and invulnerable BUT relatively weak? -or- b) isn't bound by timers and can be killed, BUT would also be kinda powerful ?

Other ideas for balancing would be appreciated, not direct help, just general tips etc, since I'm already torn after playtesting gauss wand, since it turned out....possibly more OP than vanilla prismatic bolt with maxxed focus :v
Maybe not as badly, but it's still a meat grinder in the dungeons, though that kinda is the point of all 4 class-inspired guns.

oh hey @F430 i hope u dont mind but i plugged your EEC mod on both the Runic Games and Trochmodders discord servers