Modding Help

Posted: Sun Oct 18, 2009 10:10 pm

heretic: use rwd extractor to unpack the files. i think you already knew that, but still. if you plan on modding animations etc. then i would use nifskope. most of the animations are .nif and .kf

for .dds files, i honestly don't know. sorry!

most everything else is in .tgi files. i just use notepad to open it, it works just fine. you can open and edit it with no problems.

so please, go ahead, try it. i'd be more than happy to help and/or test. Very Happy

Sergeant (SGT) Joined: Apr 29, 2009 Posts: 99

.dds paint.net FTW

http://www.paint.net/

paint.net is what isue because it easy to use and many other things and also you could use gimp but i onlyu use gimp for textur editing.

Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 1:09 am

ok, sorry guys that i havent posted for like 2 months, but i have bad news and good news.

bad news: the pc all my data was on completely crashed. (i'm posting this from a mac.) not even the pc guru i kinda know was able to save any data off of it. so all the mod data went bye-bye. gone. s**t. so i have to start over at square one.

good news: i have to start over at square one. so as soon as the pc gets reconfigured and i install the game again, i can start remodding it knowing what i know now. so if you have any suggestions, POST THEM NOW!! it's pretty much gonna be like a brand new mod from here on out, as soon as i get started, which could be a while, but still. expect updates by new year's at the latest. thanks for your patience! btw tell your friends and buddies and have em give suggestions. This will also help because I want to be a game designer, and knowing what is important to people in a game will help a lot.

Gameliker: thanks a lot, I'll have to remember that!

Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 1:15 am

also, this time i'm thinking of making the mod more large-scale, maybe assembling a team. i will let you know once i'm ready to start up the mod again. the people i need the most are people who can make good animations and textures, plus know their way around the game code in case i screw up, which, knowing me, is pretty likely. another advantage of the team: sharing data. so if my rapidly-becoming-ancient pc crashes again, i don't lose all the data! YAY!

if you are a good texture/animation editor, let me know. also, gameliker, as soon as the PieceofCrap is up and running with A&A, i will let you know, because i think you would be an invaluable addition to the team, based on all your help so far.

PS i will try to post some gameplay videos to youtube (once able) to try and get a bigger audience for the mod.

Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 2:48 am

Quote:

, plus know their way around the game code in case i screw up

Think best guy to help ya out with that if u mess somethin up is Valdarez , just pm him at xXx website
www.triplethreatclan.com

Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 2:20 pm

Quote:

for .dds files, i honestly don't know. sorry!

here's some tools that will deal with dds files. some are command line tools and a little hard to use.... but there are some useful plugins if you have 3ds max and/or photoshop, as well as add the ability in windows to view dds files
http://developer.nvidia.com/object/nv_texture_tools.html

Quote:

also, this time i'm thinking of making the mod more large-scale, maybe assembling a team.

I was thinking along the same lines. Would obviously be a small team, but I won't have time to setup the infastructure till the holidays.

Quote:

This will also help because I want to be a game designer.....

That's cool to hear. I just recently joined a development team so I have a little insight on how development projects work from the inside.
Eventually a mod team should have at their disposal:

an installer to add/remove mods
a sub version control system
a bug tracking system
a web repository

May sound a little technically challenging but it's not that bad once you get the system down. I don't have time to outline the entire process atm, but I will at some point Smile

The basic goal of the team being to create one "main" mod, with an installer that will also support other (user created) mods.

Quote:

another advantage of the team: sharing data. so if my rapidly-becoming-ancient pc crashes again, i don't lose all the data! YAY!

the core mod files will all be stored on a server and can be updated by developers right from within windows explorer. Updating changes from other users is as easy as right clicking your "working copy" of the mod, and selecting update.... any changed files are downloaded automatically. The uploading is about as easy, but there is a process that takes a couple steps I'll outline some other time. Smile

Quote:

expect updates by new year's at the latest. thanks for your patience!

this would be a long term project, I wouldn't expect any playable beta of the "core" mod for a few months..

For those interested make sure to get registered on

http://www.axis-and-allies.com/

Sergeant (SGT) Joined: Apr 29, 2009 Posts: 99

Quote:

for .dds files, i honestly don't know. sorry!

better Paint.net like a said befor u can do alot more with it with .DDS and its free and easy to use

Posted: Mon Nov 30, 2009 12:45 pm

Okay, thanks guys! Spas, I appreciate all the help. (FYI: when I said updates, I meant about my computer being up and running with A&A installed. ATM, it's refusing to play any sounds at all, and somehow it sees my 2 hard drives as a single one. In short: it's still f***ed up.)

I might start a new thread on the forums here soon, where the team-yet-to-be-assembled can throw around ideas, etc. For example, a couple of things I'd like to see:
1. more variety. In deaths (so that you don't get 6 people dying the same way at the same time), uniforms, explosions, pretty much everything.
2. realism. I don't care what your version of reality is, it should not take around 4 attacks with a single flamethrower to kill a single infantryman.
3. BETTER GRAPHICS! I've heard of mod teams making the graphics for a game better before, but I also know that by myself, I would never be able to do it.

In the possible new thread (let me know what you think of that) I would mainly be trying to put a team together, and, until my pc is fixed, giving ideas.

BTW, spas, what you said about development teams is interesting, I will definitely have to keep that in mind. but I'm not sure the mod or the team is ever gonna get big enough for that. Laughing

But thanks for all the help in that post! That was insightful.

Posted: Wed Sep 15, 2010 9:30 pm

All right, sorry about the wait guys, I know it's been for-fucking-ever. And I'm sorry. As previously stated, my computer died. Like entirely. Lost all my files.

But now, I AM working on rebuilding this mod! That's right, as of this moment, my so-far unnamed mod is now active again. If any cares, please let me know. If you really don't care, then I won't waste my time with it. Well, maybe I will. Anyways... hopefully this time I can finish it and upload it. I'll keep you guys posted. Again, thanks for all the help guys, post ideas and/or suggestions if you've got 'em.

First Sergeant (1SG) Joined: Mar 21, 2007 Posts: 262

what is this mod about?

Posted: Mon Sep 20, 2010 1:12 pm

it's mostly about re-balancing the game to make it more realistic. guns do way more damage, they can actually hurt vehicles, although not by too much, and I'm working on some new units now. I'm going to contact Valdarez (again) to see if he's still got any of the modded files for the Art of War mod that I can use. Hopefully I can get some of 'em and implement them into the mod. Ask a more specific question if you want more info! Very Happy

Private (E2) Joined: Mar 12, 2007 Posts: 19

can you mod rollercoaster tycoon also? I would like to see better physix for vomiting people on my outrageous rollercoasters. nah, on a serious note gl with the mod, it would be cool if you would actually deliver a finished product.

Posted: Fri Mar 11, 2011 1:19 am

Alright, so once again, the mod is under protection.
When I started it again last time, I ended up screwing up some stuff I didn't want to, so this time I pretty much started from the ground up. I hope to have a beta up by the end of the month, hopefully. I'll keep you guys posted, if anyone still cares.

Currently, here's the changes:
-everything does more damage
-infantry are more vulnerable (more realistic, it won't take a single machine gunner 5 minutes to take a single guy down)
-vehicles have more armor- even halftracks, but these can still be taken out by regular infantry (grenades help)
-dead bodies stick around longer

Again, if you have any suggestions, hit me with 'em. Thanks for your patience.

Posted: Fri Mar 11, 2011 6:24 pm

Whered you find the thing to edit how long corpses stay??

Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2011 5:34 am

I'd love to see some much needed changes to this game, And I think a new mod may jsut be what we need to renew interest.

Although obviously, multiplayer still needs to be viable within the mod yes? So keep balancing in mind throughout, as I'd be much dissapointed if an infantry game becomes moot with the increased vulnerability aspect. Perhaps make infantry cheaper and vehicles more expensive to compensate? I'm not sure.

But overall, the changes i'd love to see would be more variety within the factions special units, and special abilities, but balanced at the same time. (Balance is MUCH overdue)

And as a side note: Are multiplayer games recorded in stats when playing on a mod?

Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2011 12:21 pm

Yea they are I have a couple games with Finland and Netherlands on my account...it just doesn't show up under categories other than overall stats

Posted: Wed Mar 28, 2012 7:43 am

Alright, I'm (finally) back!

I'm currently in college, I came home over my last break, rediscovered this game, and decided to start up the mod again. So in my spare time here at college, I'm working on this again. It's been a long time coming, but I think I can get this done in a month, month and a half maybe. I'm redoing some of the units I added, and messing around with some of the other factors, but I haven't tested anything on MP just yet. I'll let you guys know when that happens.

Hopefully, I can finally make this mod happen.