AE file

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The .AE file is located in various Object folders located in LegoRR0/Buildings, LegoRR0/Creatures, LegoRR0/Mini-Figures, and LegoRR0/Vehicles.

This file contains all the information about the model and animations of an Object and its properties, such as the scale, and how the model changes due to upgrades.

General Structure

AE files contain several sections, such as Upgrades {}, Activities {}, and the basic properties. All AE files need at least the Activities {} section. Some properties are specific to certain types of objects, but a few are shared.

Common Properties

• Scale: Determines the scale of the entire object. The reference point is the origin of the object's animations. This is not a necessary property, but is useful if you wish to make a larger version of an existing object. It can be a floating point number.
• CameraNullName: Like WheelNullName, this defines which nulls are to be used for the first and second-person cameras.
• CameraNullFrames: Ideally, this should always be 2. If it is 1, then one of the two cameras may crash. If it's greater than 2, the game may not like it, but only two cameras are programmed into the game so there's no reason to go higher.
• CarryNullName: For objects that can carry things, this defines the null(s) to be used.
• CarryNullFrames: This defines how many carry nulls the object has. It must be an integer.
• DrillNullName: This defines the null that is used as the drill "sensor." When this null touches a wall, the drilling activity is called. Ideally, this should be placed well in front of the object.

Minifig Properties

• CameraFlipDir: When FALSE, the first and second-person cameras are rotated 180 degrees.

Creature Properties

• FootStepNullName: Unknown at the moment. Not every animation uses the null that is defined here, so it may be deprecated.
• CarryNullName: Defines the null used for positioning the boulders that monsters can throw at buildings.
• ThrowNullName: Defines the null where the boulder projectile originates.
• DepositNullName: This defines where a Rock Raider will be when being picked up by a monster.

Vehicle Properties

• WheelMesh: For a vehicle, this determines what LWO model will be mounted onto the wheel_nulls. The model must exist in the vehicle's folder. If the wheels are to be invisible, the wheel mesh must be defined as NULL_OBJECT.
• WheelNullName: This defines the nulls that are to be used for mounting wheels. The name defined here must match with the nulls used in the LWS. The nulls in the LWS must all have the name. When duplicated, a number is automatically appended to the null for convenience, but only until you export it. If you add the numbers yourself, then the nulls will not work.
• WheelRadius: This determines the collision radius of the wheels without taking their actual size into account. A small WheelRadius with physically large wheels will cause the wheels to be partially sunken into the ground. It can be a floating point number.
• DepositNULLname: This is a necessity for vehicles that tells the game where to put the Rock Raider after it gets out of the vehicle. Without this null, Rock Raiders cannot enter or leave vehicles.
• DriverNullName: This is a deprecated property as nulls are not required for Rock Raiders to mount vehicles. Instead, when making the animations for the driver, imagine that the driving animations are combined with the vehicle's animations, but the vehicle is removed, leaving the Rock Raider floating where the vehicle's seat would be.
• HoldMissing: When a vehicle is moving and then stops, this causes the current activity to freeze rather than resetting to the Stand activity. It is used in the Granite Grinder to prevent the legs from shuffling around whenever it stops.
• xPivot: This defines which object in the laser LWS scene is to be used as the rotational base. If the entire scene will be rotated, the xPivot should be defined as Rotator. Without this property, lasers will not fire.
• yPivot: Like xPivot, this defines an object to be used as a rotational base, but for vertical rotation. The object defined will not rotate vertically, but everything that is a child of the object in the LWS will rotate.
• PivotMaxZ: Though misleading, this defines how far the vertical rotation is allowed to go before stopping. Numbers between 0 and 1 work best.
• PivotMinZ: Same as above, but the numbers should be negative.
• FireNullName: This defines the null or nulls used for positioning the laser emitters. There can only be a maximum of two fire_nulls per object, else the game crashes.

Building Properties

• Shape: This defines the shape of the building's foundation. Though the format is complicated, Amauros has made a tutorial on how to create custom foundation shapes.
• DepositNullName: For the Tool Store, Teleport Pad, Docks, and Super Teleport, this defines where teleported objects will be spawned. For refineries, this defines where objects will stand when throwing ore or crystals into the buildings. For the Upgrade Station, this defines where objects will sit when being upgraded.

Activities

Activities control every animation in the game. All activities contain an action and an event. Every time an action is called, an event is played, so whenever a Rock Raider shovels rubble, the ClearRubble event is played, for example.

Format

• Activity_Action NameOfEvent: "Action" would be changed to something like "Stand" or "Route". All actions are predefined by the game and cannot be changed, with the exception of animations for when an object is driving another object. In that case, the driver's activities will have the name of the vehicle being driven appended to the Action. Compare "Activity_Stand" to "Activity_StandBulldozer".

NameOfEvent {

• FILE: The name of the LWS used for this event, minus the file extension.
• TRANSCOEF: A scaling factor used to speed up or slow down the animation. Numbers less than 1 slow down the animation, and numbers greater than 1 speed it up. 0.0 is the default.
• LWSFILE: It's purpose is unknown, but this should always be TRUE. Since there are no cases where this is FALSE, it may be deprecated.
• LOOPING: If TRUE, the animation will loop, otherwise it will stop at the last frame until the activity is finished.
• TRIGGER: For certain actions, this causes something to happen during the frame specified here. For the Shoot action that Rock Raiders use, the trigger defines when the laser shot is emitted from the raider.

}

Activity_Build Activity_Stand Activity_Destroy Activity_TeleportIn Activity_Crumble Activity_Waiting21 Activity_Waiting20 Activity_Waiting19 Activity_Waiting18 Activity_Waiting17 Activity_Waiting16 Activity_Waiting15 Activity_Waiting14 Activity_Waiting13 Activity_Waiting12 Activity_Waiting11 Activity_Waiting10 Activity_Waiting9 Activity_Waiting8 Activity_Waiting7 Activity_Waiting6 Activity_Waiting5 Activity_Waiting4 Activity_Waiting3 Activity_Waiting2 Activity_Waiting1 Activity_Open Activity_Closing Activity_Opening Activity_FloatOff Activity_FloatOn Activity_Train Activity_WakeUp Activity_Recharge Activity_FreezeMelt Activity_FreezeStart Activity_Freezed Activity_FireLaser Activity_Unpowered Activity_Explode Activity_Upgrade Activity_BuildPath Activity_GetUp Activity_ThrownByRockMonster Activity_ThrowMan Activity_Stamp Activity_Eat Activity_Rest Activity_Slip Activity_Repair Activity_Place Activity_Clear Activity_Deposit Activity_Dynamite Activity_HitHard Activity_HitBack Activity_HitFront Activity_HitRight Activity_HitLeft Activity_CarryStand Activity_CarryTurnRight Activity_CarryTurnLeft Activity_Throw Activity_CarryRubble Activity_Carry Activity_Gather Activity_Collect Activity_EnterRein Activity_Enter Activity_Emerge Activity_CantDo Activity_TurnRight Activity_TurnLeft Activity_Reverse Activity_Reinforce Activity_Walk Activity_Teleport Activity_Drill Activity_RunPanic Activity_RouteRubble Activity_Route